Week Two

I made it through the second week here in Germany. We started our classes this week for real, and getting back into the groove of things with school is, as usual, a bit difficult. I already feel like I am behind in physiology even though we've only had two lectures, so I feel that I am going to have to work really hard in that class to keep up with everything. I'm very excited that I'm starting to learn about all the pieces involved in the enmodes program, it's going to be interesting. German class has been a bit difficult, but I think that I am starting to get better at it.

We went to Cologne on Tuesday for the day. I love the way that they have the train station set up there. Most of the time, the hauptbonhof isn't in the best part of town, but in Cologne when you walk out you're immediately greeted with an amazing view of the Cathedral. We got to go up to the roof of the cathedral, and I don't think I've ever been colder in my life than I was there. I felt like my face was about to fall off.

I'm starting to settle into life with my host family. They invited me to go with them to their niece's (11th or so) birthday party, which was nice (even if I didn't go). I've found that the food they've made while I've been here isn't really that different from what my family would make back home, although I find myself longing for tortillas occasionally. Crepes kind of make up for the hole though. Most of the people I've encountered here are very nice, and they are patient with our lack of understanding of the German language.

I went back to Cologne with a couple other people on Saturday. It was nice to get to explore the city a bit more at our own pace and see some of the things we missed. We had some mishaps on the way there, turns out there are different types of trains going to Cologne, and the cheaper tickets don't work for the more fancy trains. Fortunately, the train officer didn't find us or anything, apparently we seemed clueless enough to be innocent. We went across the bridge of locks, and it was so cool to get to see all different kinds of locks from different people across the past 40 years or so. Then we visited the Ludwig art museum, which was pretty cool. I don't really understand a lot of contemporary art, but it was cool to see the pop art and the Picasso's. We had lunch at another traditional Cologne brewery (Fruh), which tasted great but reminded me that I need to go to the gym. Finally, we went to the chocolate museum. I'm not going to lie, that place is heavenly. It smelled amazing and the chocolate tasted even better. There was a chocolate fountain and a whole production line set up to look at. It's been a busy two weeks, but exploring a country I've never been to before has been a lot of fun.