We have officially entered the midterm season in the semester and my naïve self was expecting this semester to be a breeze and a great GPA booster, but oh was I wrong. I had my first Circuits and Signals exam on Friday, and after studying every day during the week for it, I felt as unprepared as if I had not even studied. I also have my German final on Tuesday and a Physiology exam on Wednesday so after the circuits test, the stress was not over. We also had our first official presentation for enmodes!! It was extremely nerve racking presenting weeks of research to the people that are actually designing a product that will help so many people. Even though the atmosphere was very chill and we had met them already, I was still freaking out the entire time. But at the end I think it went pretty well. I am very excited to start the next step of the project with our bigger groups trying to solve an actual problem.
On Wednesday we had the unbelievable opportunity to go to Uniklinik Bonn and shadow surgeons. At first, I was put in outpatient care and got to see two kids get their tonsils removed and then get some sort of surgery to help with their hearing (did not quite understand what they were doing), and then I got to see a mitral valve annuloplasty. I got to see the inside of a heart in a living person and it was so amazing. Before going, I thought all the blood and cutting into people was gonna make me dizzy or something, but it did not and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having this experience encouraged me to keep working hard and one day I will be able to be the one doing the cutting.
With two exams coming up, the smart thing to do would be to start studying early and spend the weekend either at home or at AIB, but did I do that? Absolutely not. Instead, I went to Milan and then to Lake Como. It was the most BEAUTIFUL PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN IN. We rented an apartment that was right on the shore and we had gotten to Lake Como in the night so we could not really see the lake or the mountains, which made waking up the next morning even better because we saw an amazing sunrise and finally the lake. There was not much to do in the little town that the air bnb was in so we walked for an hour to a neighboring town (Varenna) and we spent the day there. No number of pictures could come close to capture how beautiful this place is. We had pasta for breakfast -AMAZING- and gelato for dessert -EVEN MORE AMAZING- and then we just walked by the shore. At 16:37, we took the bus back to Milan and found a nice bar to chill in for a bit before we had to go to the airport. Our plane did not leave until 6:50, but since all the metros closed at midnight and the taxis were super expensive, we figured we could just spend the night at the airport. I managed to sleep quite a bit, but everyone else had to endure 8 hours of studying and exhaustion.
I took this trip not only to visit Italy, but because I felt like it would be the best way to relax and destress from the previous week, and I managed to study for German at night and during the train rides, but I really just wanted to enjoy myself and the amazing nature. I will definitely want to go back to Milan since I did not actually get to see the city at all other than the train station, but it was still the 2nd best trip I've taken so far. But now, I will suffer the consequences by having to stay up extra late trying to cram all the German and physiology for my exams. So worth it.
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