Thriving in Bonn!

This past week I felt like everything was getting back to normal. After traveling so much the first month of the semester I was looking forward to spending some much needed time in Bonn to recuperate. Thankfully this week we were BLESSED with the most perfect weather. It has been getting up to about 50 degrees everyday which means I have been spending a ton of time outside! This also was the first week that I had finally started to feel at home here. The first month had some tough moments, I felt like I was going through such a long adjustment period. Everything was so new; it was not just the location, but also the people I was surrounded by. Now I finally feel like I've gotten to know everyone better and am feeling a lot more comfortable. Classes are also going very well. I am loving physiology so far, it is definitely my favorite. I am also starting to get the hang of the whole enmodes project. At first I felt pretty lost because I don't have an engineering background and a lot of the terms they would throw out would go completely over my head. But now I am getting used to it a little bit more and actually feel like I have something to contribute to the group.

Even though I stayed in Bonn I decided to take a quick day trip on Sunday to Vallendar. The town was a couple hours away and I went to see the original Schoenstatt shrine which is basically a Catholic movement that started there and then spread around the whole world. It was such a peaceful place. I went to Mass there, had lunch, and hiked up to the top of a hill. I'm really glad I made the trip and am hoping to go again in about a month or so. I feel quite proud of myself for getting used to traveling on my own a little bit. It isn't anything too crazy because I'm not alone during night time, but at this point I've taken multiple day trips alone and it has been really great! Before coming here I never would've thought that I'd be comfortable doing that. It is really reassuring to know that I am heading towards accomplishing the goal that I had of becoming more independent!