France! (3/25)

What a week it was! France was overall one of the best excursions we have been on. We began our trip in Colmar. It was such a nice and sweet little town, and I really loved how it seemed to be in its own world. The mix of French and German cultures gave it a unique look and feel to the town. We got to see the Isenheim altar, and that was one of the most beautiful paintings/altarpieces that I had ever seen. We then headed to Beaune. The bus ride to Beaune was beautiful. I never knew how beautiful the French countryside was. Compared to Texas, it was absolutely astonishing. Once we arrived in Beune we settled in, and went out for dinner. We had pizza at apparently the best pizza place in Beaune. Which I guess isn’t that hard to believe since Beaune is a pretty small town. After we ate, a few of us went to go get wine at a wine bar. It was here that I gained a new appreciation for wine. I had some of the best burgundy wine ever! Granted, I haven’t had much wine in my lifetime but the general consensus was that the wine was delicious. The following morning I woke up and went for a run around Beaune. I was so glad that I did because I saw some of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen!

We then went to Hotel Dieu; that place was very cool, and I’m glad we got to see a really old hospital. I learned to appreciate how people were treated in medical facilities way back in the day. We then left Beaune and headed for Paris.

Paris was tons of fun, and I got a new perspective on the French people. They seem to be very passionate about the things that they do, and I really admire that. We got to do all sorts of cool things. We saw Notre Dame, the Palace of Versaille, Sacre Coeur, the arc de triomphe, the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, and Sainte-Chapelle. The one thing I wish we could have seen was the catacombs. I was really looking forward to that, but it just never came into fruition. Nothing particularly exciting or crazy happened in Paris, but crazy stuff happened when Ana and I tried to get to Lisieux. We woke up at around 6:15 to catch a train to Lisieux. We ended up going to the wrong train station and barely missed our train by one minute. We spoke to someone at the ticket desk and they said another two tickets would be 60 euros. Ana started crying when she heard that, but she thought that he said 60 euros for just 1 ticket. We took a moment to recollect ourselves and we then decided to buy the tickets. We figured that we had already seen enough of Paris. It was time to see something new, and I knew that going to Lisieux was really important to Ana. So we went to Lisieux to see Saint Therese. I had a great time. It was very spiritual and very well needed. Despite me not being catholic, I was still able to appreciate St. Therese’s impact on her community and on people’s lives. We left and returned to Paris in the same day, and went to the hostel to pick up our bags. As soon as we tried leaving the hostel a fight broke out and we had to sneak out the back of the hostel in order to escape the fight. We got to our overnight bus and headed back to Bonn. I fell asleep immediately and woke up at the Cologne/Bonn airport. Then I headed to Bonn and then to Bad Godesburg to get some rest. It was an awesome week, and I was really able to enjoy myself in France.

Paris Is Always a Good Idea (Week 11)

So we didn’t actually leave for France until Wednesday and didn’t get to Paris until Thursday evening. Not too much happened Monday but Tuesday was our second physiology exam. Again, the review Sarah did was super helpful and I think that I did a better than the last exam. Come Wednesday, we drove to Colmar, a cute town that exchanged hands between France and Germany quite frequently in the past. We were only there long enough to get lunch, buy some Kugelhopf and souvenirs, and see a museum, which was a shame since it seemed like a nice place. The altar piece we saw at the museum was interesting because of the style used to portray Jesus, who looked green, and his resurrection. Part of the altar piece was actually under restoration, but they still had it on display. It was cool to be able to see the art restoration taking place real-time. 

After Colmar, we drove to Beune, another cute little town. Here, we just checked in to the hotel and then were free to go for dinner. Six of us were wandering around for a bit before we found this hole-in-the-wall place that looked promising for local food, but when we went in, the host said that the kitchen was closed. So we ended up at the best pizza place in town, supposedly, which was very good. I liked that the three of us girls got pizzas shaped like hearts. Afterwards, a lot of us wound up at a nice wine bar, where I bought a bottle to bring back for my mom. When I got back to the hotel, I had to write a paper for VIBS 311, so I was in the common area with some of the others for awhile. Joshua, Sid, Lindsay, and I actually stayed up until around 0130 talking about Christianity, which was interesting. Vivian was there for a good portion of the conversation too, but she went to bed a bit earlier than the rest of us. 

Thursday morning, everyone dropped off our bags at the bus and then went on a tour of an old hospital for the poor, which was actually really cool to see. Even though it was built to treat the poor, it was quite luxurious, as far as hospitals go. There was another altar piece at this museum that wasn’t as big or out-there as the one we saw Wednesday, but was still impressive. The amount of detail that went in to every character, especially the angel, made the people seem very life-like. After the tour, we all went back to the bus and started the drive in to Paris, during which pretty much everyone slept. 

When we got to Paris, we checked-in at the hotel before meeting up with Julian, our tour guide for the duration of our time in Paris. Julian took us on a walking tour of Paris, which was a lot of fun. We walked through the Latin quarter by the hotel, down by the river, to Notre Dame, and then to dinner at a crêperie. Notre Dame was an impressive building, and had beautiful artwork and stained glass inside. But, honestly, I don’t think it was as impressive as the cathedral in Köln. The gothic style just incorporates a lot more detail and visual interest for me. Nevertheless, Notre Dame is a beautiful structure and I do think everyone who visits Paris should see it. My favorite thing about the crêperie that we went to for dinner was actually the local wine we got to have there. It was delicious and went well with the savory crêpes. But I’ve never had a savory crêpe before and wasn’t too impressed with the taste of the different flour. I did, however, enjoy my Nutella crêpe very much, as well as the tastes I got of the other flavors, which were the crêperie’s homemade chocolate and lemon and sugar.

Friday morning was an early one for us because Julian wanted to get us to Versailles before all of the crowds. The train ride was nice though, just talking with Park, Josh, Katarina and her sister. Versailles is probably the most impressive palace in Europe. It is huge, beautiful, and has an expansive garden. We had two hours to explore the palace and gardens before everyone had to meet up for lunch, and that time passed quickly. I was glad that we got a free audio guide though, since I like learning about the purpose and history of the rooms and what’s in them. I spent about an hour and a half in the palace and then the last half hour in the gardens, which were beautiful but probably are even more so in the summer. 

When Reagan (finally) came to get us, she lead us to the area of the park where we’d be having a picnic. It was a pretty traditional French lunch, with baguettes, various meats, cheeses, and wines. I tried literally everything that Julian brought us, except for the wines. I got a glass of champagne (from a bottle I opened for the first time, with instruction from Dr. Wasser) and one glass of wine. I wanted to try the other two wines Julian brought us, but because everyone in our program is a wine fiend, when I went back for a second glass, everything was gone. Nevertheless, the picnic was great and probably my favorite part of the entire Paris trip. It ended on a high note, with an impromptu yell-practice for Pull-Out Day. There was a couple walking by when we did it who were actually graduates from A&M, and they yelled “Gig ‘em!” when they heard us. 

When we got back to Paris, we had free time but Julian took some of to the Arch de Triumph because he said everyone should see it when in Paris. Apparently, since it’s all stone, it weighs something like five times what the Eiffel Tower does, even though the Eiffel Tower is five times the size of the Arch de Triumph. We had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the top, but it was so worth it. The view was incredible! I could see everything from Sacré Coeur to the Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower and then some. After the Arch de Triumph, I went with Joshua and Ana to Sacré Coeur, which was beautiful and had some more great views of the city. Joshua and I wanted to climb to the top, but we would have had to pay for it and we were running out of time before we all had to be back at the hotel for dinner. 

We went to a fancy restaurant for dinner and everything was absolutely delicious: wine, dinner, and dessert. I even got a second dessert because Mats didn’t want one and Julian let me take his portion, since the budget for the dinner was already set. After dinner, we all went to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, we got to the front of the line immediately after they stopped selling tickets to the summit, so we all were only able to go to 2nd floor. It was still a good view of Paris at night, but kind of disappointing that I couldn’t go to the top. Guess I’ll just have to come back to Paris and make it happen. 

Saturday started off with another walking tour with Julian. This walking tour was different from our last one because it was three hours long and we saw a lot more of the city. I was so impressed by the architecture and history everywhere I looked. Paris really is a gorgeous city. We had a break for lunch and I actually got Chipotle - the only one I’ve ever seen in Europe - with Joshua, Vivian, and a few others. It was amazing to have really familiar food again. We ended our walking tour at the Lourve, which was much bigger than I expected it to be. We spent about four hours just in one building and, while it was interesting, a lot of us were feeling pretty run down at the end of it. And, even though Dr. Wasser warned us about it, I was still surprised by how small the Mona Lisa ended up being. I was also disappointed that the largest painting in the world, which was in the same room as the Mona Lisa, was covered up to protect it while renovations were being done. I was actually looking forward to seeing that painting the most and was sad that it didn’t work out. After the Lourve, I went with Marcus and Ryan B. to this a place Julian recommended. Julian had said that this place served his favorite eclairs in Paris and that, once it’s in your mouth, you forget about the price. I originally just bought a sampler of 5 mini macaroons- the one thing I wasn’t leaving Paris without having eaten - but after seeing Ryan’s eclair, I ordered also ordered an eclair for myself. I don’t regret spending 22 euros on these desserts at all because they were life-changing. I don’t think I’ll ever have a better macaroon or eclair. When the three of us went back to the hotel, it was sad to hear about how the others went to a cheaper place and were severely disappointed in their macaroons. 

Dinner Saturday was on our own and I went with Marcus, Ryans, Kevin and Vivian to the Latin quarter for whatever we could find. We wandered around for a while trying to find something with enough space for all of us and a kind of food we could agree on. We ended up at a place that had pate for Ryan to try - although, Vivian and I tried it as well - and some super tasty burgers. Our waitress was really sweet too and, after we had paid for our meals, she invited us all to take a shot with her. Overall, a good way to end my last full day in Paris. 

Today is now Sunday and we were released this morning to travel, but my BlaBla Car ride wasn’t until 1300, so I had enough time to go to Berthillon, an ice cream shop that Mats had recommended. It was the best ice cream I’ve ever had, that’s for sure. While I was there, I met an older lady visiting her daughter, who had just recently started working there. This older woman said that the only place she would eat ice cream was Berthillon because it was the only ice cream she ever liked. I can’t say I don’t understand where she’s coming from. After I finished my dessert for lunch, I started making my way to Shakespeare and Co., a really cool bookstore that was, again, recommended by Mats. I wasn’t in a hurry since the bookstore didn’t open until 12, so I took my time looking for souvenirs and street art - which is where most of the money I spent in Paris went. 

After Shakespeare and Co., I rushed over to where my BlaBla Car was picking me up and then had a two hour drive to Tournai. They had apparently just had a parade for Carneval and everyone was still in costumes and confetti was literally everywhere I looked. Tournai was another cute French town, with a few sites I was able to see before I had to make my way to the train station. While I waited for my train, I grabbed some chicken strips and fries from this fast food place across the street. I mention it because they gave everything to me wrapped up in parchment paper, which reminded me of whenever I would get fish and chips to-go in Australia. Also, these were the best chicken strips I’ve ever had in my life. I know I’m saying that about a lot of different foods during this trip, but that just shows how amazing the food is everywhere you go in France. Anyway, I caught my train and made all of my transfers until I got to Brugge, where I am now. I caught a bus to my AirBnB and met my host just a bit ago. She’s super sweet and the space is really nice. Now, all I have to do is figure out what to do while I’m in town. Brugge has more to see than I initially thought, so it will be difficult to do everything I want to do. Even if I can’t though, I know I’ll have a good time here. 

Week 11: Bonn to Paris and a few stops in between

          The beginning of this week was pretty stressful since we had a few 211 homework's due and a 253 test on Tuesday, but all in all it went fairly well. We got to make a "cheat sheet" for the 253 test and it helped me for quite a few things but there were definitely a few questions that I didn't have an answer for cause I didn't think to go over it...

          Wednesday started the beginning of our adventure to Paris. We stopped at a few towns along the way, going to a museum and an old hospital. 

          We then got 4 days in Paris, 2 days with the program and 2 free days. We went to so many cool places over this trip and I got to see so many amazing monuments while I was there. We even had some free time on the last day when we didn't know what to do with ourselves so we went to the Eiffel tower and sat under it for a bit while I tried to draw it in my sketchbook! We ended up going to a garden where I finished the drawing. It was definitely a cool life goal to cross off the bucket list! 

Week 9 (Spring Break)

Geneva, Switzerland: 

To kick off the long anticipated week of travel, I decided to take an overnight bus to my first destination: Geneva, Switzerland. The countryside between the cities of Lyon, France and Geneva is easily one of the most beautiful landscapes that I have had the chance to see. Deep snaking valleys laying in-front of snow capped mountains set the scene for the first hour of the trip. As we neared Geneva, the mountains gave way to verdant hills that put Texas hill country to shame. While busing across Europe for 14 hours was not exactly what I’d call enjoyable, getting an unexpected scenic tour made at least the daytime leg of the journey very memorable.

 

Fondue at Auberge de Savièse

Geneva turned out to be a very enjoyable detour on the way to the United Kingdom. While being EXTREMELY expensive, we were able to find plenty of things to see and do without completely wrecking our bank accounts. The highlights of sightseeing came from ascending the 157 step north tower in St. Peters Cathedral in the heart of the city to get a panoramic view of both the city and the mountainous backdrop. For food, the must trys were chocolate and fondue, both of which Geneva is internationally known for. 

Liverpool:

Being the home to the birthplace of the Beatles, Liverpool was a must. Due to the young vibrance of the city that just didn't seem to be present in any other place I went to in the UK coupled with the seemingly endless list of live-music venues carrying on the Beatles's roots, I think I can safely say that Liverpool is my favorite city in the UK.

Edinburgh, Scotland:

Edinburgh Castle

Scotland was easily the most beautiful of the British countries that I visited. Hills and waterscapes dominate the northern horizon while the combination of old and new city coming together dominate the south. I was able to try two traditional Scottish dishes: haggis and raspberry/whiskey based desert cranachan (pronounced cranacan), both of which were delicious. 

London:

London Eye

Fish and Chips

Tower Bridge

Sunset on the River Thames

Till next time France...Au revoir!

France was full of memories! Before we left for France we had two days of classes. I was sad that I would miss German on Wednesday but at least I had it Tuesday. We finished our tests then left for France Wednesday. Starting in Colmar, we visited the Isenheim altar. I'm not super into art but I liked this museum because of the building and exhibits. The religious panels were beautifully painted. After that we kept driving to Beaune, the French Bonn. It was a day full of travel on the bus, seeing the French countryside, so we slept hard that night. The next morning we went to Hotel Dieu which was lovely. The building was beautiful, the beds in the sick ward were wonderful and the history was fun to learn about. I can't wait for the apothecary garden installation. I also loved that they support older people with their revenue.
Next, we were off to Paris! Our hotel was nice and the group dinner at the creperie was so good. I love the times where everyone can just hang with each other. The next morning, we left early to go to the palace of Versailles. I enjoyed actually being able to control the tour and learn what you wanted to learn about since it was self-guided. I wish I had spent way more time in the gardens though. I heard a lot of history in the palace but it didn't stick and I missed the part that interested me the most, the grounds. I did get to walk through them a bit on the way to the meeting point. Once we gathered, we sat for a picnic thanks to the hard work of the teaching team. So yummy! The weather was perfect, too. We did some yells since it was pull out day back home and the sophomores wanted to be able to whoop. It was such a fun memory because an older Aggie heard us across the garden and came to say hi. Once back in the city, we had an amazing dinner with delicious food and wine. Unfortunately we had such a good time we didn't leave for the Eiffel tower in time. We got there late and didn't get to go up to the top floor. The height scared we but I got to chat with friends and take lots of pictures. After our long day, we headed back for a good nights rest.
Saturday, we did a city walking tour which I absolutely loved. Julien is so nice and a really good guide. After seeing the Notre Dame, which tragically burned a few weeks later, we went to the louvre on a medicine dedicated tour. Honestly I didn't have that much fun. I am not super into art so I thought that was why but others felt the same. The tour was cool but we missed most of the highlights and more than anyhting it was way too long. It was hot in the building too. Once it was over we went to a lovely quarter in Paris and ate dinner on our own. I bought some neck/head scarves for my sister in law (to be) and enjoyed walking down the streets. I love macaroons so it was a fun but expensive time. On our way back to the hotel, Joshua, Ana, and I decided to walk back to enjoy the city the way Mats recommended. I have to say, I recommend it too. It was still beautiful at night and we got to enjoy boba. That night I had to write a paper and get ready for the time change because I'm going to Palma for our two day break! I'm excited to see the Mediteranian and hopefully catch some rays.

Snap Back to Reality

We're back from spring break, and we got absolutely destroyed by homework. Just to quickly break it down, us engineers had signals and systems homework due Tuesday, medical device design due Wednesday, a design history file due Friday, differential equations due Friday night, and then extra credit and a homework due for signals and systems on Monday. Essentially, we worked from Monday to Sunday, so I guess that's what we get for having a week off. I feel really behind on pretty much every class except physiology, and that's gonna come back in bite me once the second round of testing comes around. Speaking of, we have a device design test next week, which better be easy for our sake. It's our final exam strangely enough, but that doesn't mean the class is over; we still have a whole DHF and tear down analysis to do. But, with the formal class ending, that means class time will be dedicated to those two projects thankfully. Upcoming, we have two homework assignments due while we're in Paris, so here's hoping we get those moved. All in all, school is the same great struggle as always, with no end in sight.

The temporary light at the end of the tunnel is France next week. We had the trip broken down by Mats this week, and it's looking to be a fun trip. I didn't know we were going to two other cities on the way to Paris, but I like that we are. Experiencing Paris will be fun, but experiencing France will be much better. My mother was actually baptized in the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, so I plan on taking pictures to show her what it looks like nowadays. After the excursion officially ends Sunday morning, I'll stay in Paris with some of my other classmates. It'd be nice to travel somewhere else, but there really isn't enough time. I've also booked a trip to Florence in April, but it so happens to be the weekend before the big Enmodes week. That definitely wasn't a good idea but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I paid for it, so I'm gonna go, and if I have to do some work while I'm there then no problem. Here in Bonn, the cherry blossom trees have bloomed and it's starting to look like spring finally, so hopefully the weather will follow suit.

Spring Break Part II

The second week of my spring break was just as fun as the second half. We started on Tuesday from King's Cross Station after a relaxing breakfast, and we hopped on our train on the way to York. It was definitely one of the nicest trains I've ever been on. I didn't really know anything about York going into this part of the trip, so I was not sure exactly what to expect there. But what I found was a really charming town that had a really nice city center. After checking into our airbnb, we explored the city a bit before settling down for an early evening.

The next day we spent further exploring the town. We went to the Yorkshire Castle Museum, which had a very large collection of random items, and inside had a mock medieval town set up, showing what York would have been like back in that time. After that we went down the Shambles, which is a cute street with lots of shops and market stalls. We went to a small sandwich shop there, where we had a conversation with the nice chef there making the sandwiches right across the bar counter. We went to the York Minster, the most prominent icon in York, which is one of the most important church in the Church of England, where the Archbishop of York used to be based. There was a museum under the church that went through the entire history of the church, from Roman times to today. We finished up the day by going to a pub in town and having one of the famous Yorkshire puddings.

Most of our third day in Yorkshire was spent in the countryside, in the Yorkshire Moors, which is a national park. I really liked the British countryside, it was very peaceful, although very windy. We stopped in Whitby on the eastern coast for a few hours, getting by far the best fish and chips I've ever had. We spent some time by the beach, and just enjoyed the ocean air. That evening we got to try a North African restaurant in the heart of York that was very nice.

We then again took a train to Edinburgh, which ended up being delayed for a bit. By this time in our trip, all of us were quite tired, but Edinburgh was the nail in the coffin of my stamina. When we arrived at Waverly Station in Scotland, we checked into our apartment and then immediately made the walk to Arthur's Seat, which is the peak of the hills in Edinburgh overlooking the city. By the time we got there, both of my parents were really tired, so I made the hike up to the top on my own. The view from the top was awesome, but the wind was crazy. The hike definitely wasn't one of the hardest ones I've ever done, but I was very tired afterwards. We found a pub near our apartment, and I got to try haggis for the first time, which contains, among other things, sheep's pluck. I actually really liked it, it has a nice crumbly texture.

The next day the weather was really awful. It both rained and snowed, creating a wet slush on the ground for which I wasn't prepared. We trekked to the national museum of Scotland, where we got to learn about the history of Scotland. We got to try the British chicken fast food shop Nando's, which I thought was pretty good, a bit better than some equivalent fast food in the States. We then went to the Surgeon's Hall, which had good exhibits on surgery and pathology. It was a bit of a slower day, as this is all we did before going back and resting.

My last day before getting back to school, we spent the morning at Edinburgh Castle, which is a big military structure in the center of the city. I then had one last meal with my parents, and made my way to the airport. I had a little trouble getting to my gate, as there was a fire somewhere near there in the terminal and they closed it for about 20 minutes very close to my flight leaving. I also had an interesting time getting back to Bonn from Düsseldorf, as I couldn't find the trains that I had bought my tickets for. After such a long trip, it was nice to be back in Bonn, but I wasn't ready to get back to school already.

Post Spring Break

Following up from my last post, my family arrived in Cologne on Monday at around 15:00. They got a great first impression at the Koln Hauptbahnhof, when a lady left her stroller and baby at the top of the stairs, and when someone else failed in trying to prevent the stroller from falling down the stairs, promptly accused that person of pushing the stroller down the stairs. The police ended up getting involved, and it was a big mess but that was the worst of our travels that week. We took the train back to Bonn, showed them my house in Mehlem, and then hopped back on the train to Bonn. I established my role as navigator and tour guide early this spring break, and gave them a tour of Bonn, or at least the parts that I experience. They were really intrigued by my school, I guess because it's a smaller building. But, I made sure they also experienced some German food at the Machold Bierhaus, where my host family took me for my late birthday the week prior. This dinner also set a precedent for the rest of our meals, which were all very German and included lots of beer. What I didn't realize coming into this week, was that my family had done almost zero planning as far as going to Munich and Prague. So, we spent the rest of that night trying to find lodging in both of those cities. This was particularly annoying because they were mad that prices had gone up, as if that isn't exactly what happens when you wait too long to book something. But nevertheless, we booked two hotels in Munich and one hotel in Prague.

Tuesday we got on the high speed train to Munich, marking my first experience on a high speed train. Munich itself ended up being pretty forgettable, though I still had a good time. The night that we got there, we walked through the center of town, including the beautiful Mariensplatz, and had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. The Hofbrauhaus was a very cool experience. It was packed, but it felt like a true beer hall, and the liter sized Hofbrau beers were amazing. The next day we met with an Irish tour guide, and traveled to Schloss Neuschwanstein. It was a Bavarian paradise in Fussen, where the castle was. It was sunny, and with a light snowfall the castle looked even more beautiful. The tour given by the guide was entertaining and very informative, and while that didn't include the tour inside the castle, it was ten times better than that tour. The castle and the Hofbrauhaus were my favorite parts of Munich, and the rest was about average. 

Prague however, was beautiful. I wish we had more time there, because I fell in love. We took an early morning bus on Thursday to get there, so we had most of the day to explore. We instantly got to see just how pretty the architecture was, and then checked into our hotel. As I mentioned before, we had to scramble to book everything, but we scored big on this one. It overlooked the river and the Charles Bridge, and was a lot of fun to stay in. Later that day we walked to the castle, stopping by a beautiful cathedral. The castle required us to climb 200 some odd steps, but it overlooked the whole city, and was well worth it. The St. Vitus cathedral had a different vibe than the first one we walked into but it was wonderful all the same, and so were the castle grounds in general. I had an interesting meal that night, consisting of raw meat on fried bread and garlic. My mother of course was scared I'd get sick, but I was deadset on trying something new. My sister was pretty much the opposite the whole trip, but she eventually opened up and ate some different food and ended up really liking the beer we had. We left on Friday, but not before we walked the Charles Bridge, saw the astronomical clock chime, visited a market or two, and tried some Czech pastries.

Once we got back to Bonn, we got a burger, and went home and crashed. Saturday, we went into the city and walked around the various shops, the market, and had dinner at Bonnsch before they left for Frankfurt where they would spend the night before flying out on Sunday. I desperately needed to do homework that day and Sunday, but I was so exhausted from guiding my family all over Europe, and I killed all of my time by catching up on Game of Thrones. Thankfully I have no other homework or school related stuff to write about this week, but that of course won't last.

Back to reality

A week after spring break was hard to go through. We, especially me, was not ready to be on the field to fight again. It took me a few days to woke up from my dream and be back with reality.
We had normal class on Monday as scheduled, except Dr.Wasser was calling in sick so we don't have Physiology for both BMEN and BIMS. But then, we have an early makeup class two days later so we did not miss anything. Math homework was up so we have to run with the deadline again. I wish he posts it earlier so we can take care of it before we were off for our trips. But oh well, doesn't matter, we still to run anyway. One week break, but it felt like a month, I completely forgot almost all the lectures we had to learn before. I need a review.
Back to my normal life, my host sister had returned from her trip. The house fills up with a lot of the hero's journey of me and her. The weather is pretty nice during spring. It is hard to miss some nice cherry blossoms on the side of every street we passed by. It is a beautiful picture. Anyways, back to the house, my host mom still coughing from the fever she had earlier. I feel bad for her, part of it is that she got the fever from me, and another part is that it took her so long to heal. My host dad sleeps in a different room for almost a month now since he couldn't sleep because of the cough. On the weekend, we had a lot of guesses, on Saturday we had my parents' friends stopped by for dinner, and on Sunday, my host sister's boyfriend came. He is going to stay there for a week so I have to face him every day which is kind of uncomfortable for me. I got used to the house and the people and now there is somebody else in the house, it is hard for me to adapt. But I will leave for France next week anyway so it wouldn't bother me much. I will leave them some time and space together since it is kind of hard to see him since he has to train for the Olympic game. Oh, I forgot, my host sister's boyfriend is going to represent Germany for the Olympic game next year. Pretty cool right. Well, I hope they will have a great time together before he leave and I return back again.

Spring BREAK

Obviously since it is spring break I will thankfully not have too much to write academics wise other than we had some homework due as soon as we got back after the break so you could say I was productive for a solid 30 minutes the entire break.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I was still back at home in Texas for the after wedding festivities and enjoying time with the family and friends that had come a long way to be there. We went to where JFK was shot, the stockyards, Buc-ee's, and of course, Whataburger and Chick fil a. On Wednesday night, my plane was leaving from Dallas to London. I got to London on Thursday night (thanks time difference) and made my way directly to my hostel. I spent Friday in London all by myself, making it my first official solo trip and it was amazing. I was able to do whatever I wanted, at the pace I wanted. It did feel a little awkward and lonely from time to time, but I am sure the more I do it the more I would get used to it. That night, my brother was finally able to get to London after a couple missed flights, but it was already pretty late so we just went to a couple bars and then went back to our hostel. Saturday was the most touristy day of my trip. We saw the London tower and bridge (AMAZING), we got the VIP Champagne experience at the London Eye (AMAZING) and we explored more of the city and palaces, museums, and parks (SO AMAZING). That night I had a flight going to Dublin and my brother was meeting up with a friend in Oxford so we parted ways. If I could describe the negative side of London in a couple words: public transportation SUCKS and everything is too expensive.

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day, and what better way to spend it than in the one and only Dublin. Unfortunately, I was only in Dublin for not even a full 24 hours since we started classes back up on Monday, but I still enjoyed very much being a part of the parade and the true Irish festivities. I will definitely want to go back at some point to really see and experience the city.

I can't believe the semester is half way over. It feels as though I have been here for years and at the same time like I just got here. Seeing my family made me even more homesick once I came back, but I also know that my life has just begun and I have so much more of this world to see.

Pre-Spring Break

After all the Karneval festivities and having had a 4 day weekend, going back to class felt a little weird and I felt specially slow. Since we have also no upcoming tests, classes have been very packed with information and a ton of homework. On the enmodes side of school, we are on full throttle. We have been assigned our groups, our tasks and everything else we need to find the solution the company asked of us. It is getting very stressful realizing how little time we really have on the project since spring break is coming up and then the France excursion not too much after. I am very excited to see what our group is able to come up with though.

Every year I have been in school, Spring Break has been something everyone desperately longs for. The days are longer and warmer (at least in Texas) and it is a full week where you get to do whatever you want and go wherever you want with no responsibilities. This year, the need for Spring Break was not there (as much). The reason I have always longed for the break was because my family usually road trips somewhere or more recently we've gone skiing. But since pretty much every weekend since I have been in Europe I have been to a different country or a different city, Spring Break would be nothing more special. The one and most important thing that kept me looking forward to this weekend was my sister was getting freaking married. So on Thursday I flew back to Fort Worth, Texas (with a 12 hour layover in London) to help out a bit with the wedding that was on Saturday. What can I say other than my sister was the most beautiful bride and everyone (I mean EVERYONE) cried. We had a lot of family and friends that had flew in from Mexico so on Sunday we took some of them around Fort Worth and Dallas to show them a little of the city.

I am very very excited for next week when I will start my actual travelling and I will be accompanied by my brother through the majority of it. London and Dublin here I come.

Glad to be back in Bonn!

It’s funny how a place and a group of people can start to feel like home for you after such a short period of time. I thoroughly enjoyed spring break with my family, but at the end of the week I was excited to be heading back to Bonn. It really hit me that we were just about half way through the program. I really want to cherish every moment, because I know that it won’t last forever. Getting back to classes was not the most fun thing in the world. This week we had a lab exam and more physiology lectures. Both of those classes are starting to get more complicated, but I love the challenge. Muscle physiology has been one of my favorite things we’ve learned so far. 

The sunday I got back was St. Patrick’s day, so a group of us went to an Irish pub in Bonn. It was so much fun to be able to catch up with everyone and see how their spring break’s went! During that week I had really been wanting to travel since we were going to be heading to France the following week and weren’t going to have any major tests. Joshua and I decided to head to Trier and Luxembourg City on Saturday and Sunday and just do day trips so we wouldn’t have to pay for a place to stay. Both of these cities were definitely not on my radar at all before coming to Europe, I only decided that it would be fun to go because Madyson had recommended it. But unfortunately she wasn’t able to go with us because her parents were in town :( but I still ending up loving these cities so much! Trier had a lot of Roman history and was one of the oldest cities in Europe. My favorite thing about both Luxembourg and Trier was that both of the cities were very walkable, most of the top things to see were outside! At this point in the semester my planning skills have slowly been declining, but I'm not too mad about it. One of my favorite things has been to just go to a city and figuring out what I want to do on the spot. It makes the adventure more exciting! I usually am the type of person that likes to have everything figured out, Europe is slowly teaching me the importance of just letting everything happen and enjoying the moment. 

The beginning of spring break

Athens is definitely a more liberal place compared to Bonn Germany where I’ve been living. My first night in Athens I went to the city center were there seemed to be a protest. Since my friend really wanted to join the rally, I thought it would be smart if we knew what they were supporting. So, I asked a group of young people who were wearing I’ve crowns on their heads that matched some of the things in the rally. They spoke perfect English; however, when they told me what the celebration was I completely thought they were speaking another language. The man tells me it’s a celebration of men’s cocks. At this point I’m still confused so he begins to point to his crouch area and says “penis fest”. My face literally looked like I had just been hit by a car. I was just so flabbergasted that people celebrated men’s private parts. This made it very clear that I wasn’t from the area and came from an area that was more conservative. Even if I came from a conservative state like Texas still something didn’t make sense. Germany had already stop partying after Karneval ended for Ash Wednesday. Why hadn’t this Country also? My first thought was this country just wasn’t as conservative and strict as the Germans. My second thought was this area of Athens was so touristy that local Catholics were probably not around this area. However, after traveling a little more around the city on Sunday and everyone saying a local holiday on Monday would make most stores closed I decided to look into this local holiday. This holiday that would be on Monday was basically lent, so that day was the last day to party. So I expect to see less partying when I go back to Athens after travelling from the islands. 

Academically I’m so glad spring break is almost here. I can escape from my responsibilities for a little while. I might study for physiology but we will see. I have two exams, one for the lab and the other for class. Hopefully, I do better on these. 

What's a Week Without at Least One Exam? (Week 10)

Coming back from spring break Monday morning wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be. I got in around 2200 Sunday night, but that still allowed for about eight hours of sleep, which was really nice. I had a few assignments due during the week, but what I stressed about the most was the first lab exam, which was Friday morning. Thankfully, the review that Sarah put together was really great and I feel like I did well on the exam. Part of the reason I was so stressed was because we also have our second physiology exam next week. Basically, spring break was the only week within a month-long time period where there wasn’t an exam. 

Honestly, I didn’t do a whole this week outside of school work. But there were a few interesting things that happened with my host family. First, Astrid brought the snake out of the fridge and hibernation to put him in his cage. She also took me out Saturday to ride her horse, who was really sweet. It was pretty cold out, but besides that the ride was nice. Today, Sunday, I also got to see a toaster from the 60s. Astrid pulled out her grandmother’s old toaster when two of the slots in their 4-slice toaster stopped working right before the family brunch this morning. It was pretty interesting to see and surprising that Astrid still had this toaster. 

Week after Spring Break (3/18)

Nothing really eventful happened. It was filled with incredible amounts of homework as usual. I don't think there has been a week that hasn't been flooded with homework in one way or another. The best thing to happen was Mats coming back to AIB from his 3 week long vacation. That was a breath of fresh air. I don't think he realizes how much we missed him. Things were rough while he was gone. There seemed to be homework all the time and there was an overall depression throughout the whole AIB. I can't be certain as to why that was, but I would like to say that it was because Mats wasn't here. Other than that, it was just a normal week filled with a lot of homework. My host family always tells me that I'm the first student they've had that does as much homework as I do. They also comment on how I don't do much other than study on the weekends. It's a little discouraging hearing that, but I don't have a choice. So I have to sacrifice my free time for school. I think they feel bad for me, and I feel bad that I can't spend more time with them. But it is what it is, and I can't do anything to change that.

The Wynns in Bonn

The week after spring break was somewhat uneventful class wise. I'm learning a lot in German but am sturggling a bit with physiology. I hope to find a good way to study soon. The lab exam is coming up and I'm very grateful for Sarah's help. History of medicine, as always, is covering all sorts of interesting amterial and is one of my favorite calsses. I got sick again which I usually don't get sick this much back home. Thankfully this time my parents were here. The Wynns toured Bonn! I missed my Mom and Dad a lot so it was so nice to see them and break up the time that we were apart. They got a nice room in the Hilton so I got to splurge, my only complaint was there was no bathtub. But the free, unlimited breakfasts were amazing! I ate so much and packed some for later. I showed my parents the school and were I study and all the food places I frequent. My dad kept taking weird pcitures so I asked and he told me, you see this everyday so you don't understand how special it is. That meant a lot to me. I just had to laugh when he took a picture of my favorite fry place! We didn't do many museums since we didn't have the time but we did walk along the Rhein and the weather was pretty nice. They got to meet some friends and I was so sad to see them go.
I'm very close with my mother so it was hard seeing them go to travel Germany for the next week instead of staying with me. It was nice when they returned to the states though because then I could actually call and talk. When they were in Germany I studied too late to be able to talk to them at night.

Week 10: Trying to run and working on the DHF again

          This week I tried to get in a few days of running but after one of the days, I realized that my knees hurt too much after my time in Edinburgh. I tried to run out in the forest behind Petra's house and it  was really beautiful, but it was not a good trail for my dead knees...

          Our DHF was due on Friday and thank goodness my team has 4 engineers on it because there was no way I would have been able to do it without them... There was so much work to do and trying to do that while working on the math homework that was due tonight as well was pretty near impossible. I'm so thankful for Yoong, as she definitely did a good portion of the work on that project. A lot of what I did was go through the things that she had typed up and made sure that they were spelled correctly or that they said what she meant to say. 

          I didn't do much on Saturday other then wake up late and eat breakfast with Petra. Later that night though, I went to go see Captain Marvel again with Vivian since I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss anything. 

Spring Break, Part I

Before I can make it to spring break, I had to make it through a week of school first. This week of school wasn't too bad, I used Solidworks for the first time, and it actually didn't turn out too bad. We started learning about renal physiology, and it's quite complicated. We have started creating our solutions for our project with Enmodes, which has been challenging. We're coming up with a device to improve the hemocompatability of the ECMO circuit, by reducing/catching clots.

After the week was done, spring break began! I hopped on a flight to London and took the Tube into town. I finally got to see my parents! It was really nice to get to see them again. The first night that I was there we saw Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and we saw a bunch of protests going on on the steps of the Parliament. That evening we went to see Wicked. I really liked all of the effects, sets, and costumes they had. It was very impressive. 

The next day we explored the City of London. We saw the Tower of London, where we got to see the crown jewels of England, the Tower Bridge, the HMS Belfast, which is a WWII cruiser that is now a museum on the Thames, and we went up the Shard, the tallest building in London, to the 72nd floor. It was really wild looking down on buildings that from the ground were skyscrapers, but from up there are really small. That night we got a chance to go to a nice Indian restaurant, which was very tasty. I got to sample a lot of different foods, including bebinca, which is a Goan carnival pudding. Our last full day in London, we went to the British Museum. We saw the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, and tons of other cool pieces of history. That museum is massive, and I could've spent multiple days there. That night, we spent our last evening in London at another play: the Book of Mormon! That play is absolutely amazing. It's by far the funniest play I've ever seen, and although it was a bit offensive, we were all laughing the entire time. Relaxing in England with my parents was really nice, but we still had another week together over spring break! 

Spring Break Part 1

I did not have much time to rest and recuperate following the Borussia game. The rest of the week flew by, although I was feeling under the weather until Thursday evening. But as soon as class ended Friday, Spring Break officially began.

That evening, I caught a flight from the Cologne airport to London-Stansted and spent the night in a hotel. I made my way to the city (the airport was about a forty minute train ride from downtown) the next morning, purchasing my first of what seemed like a million public transportation tickets that were outrageously priced compared to the rest of Europe - I would learn soon that everything in London was ridiculously expensive. Madyson and I spent the rest of Saturday hitting the major tourist highlights. We saw the London Tower and Tower Bridge (I thought it was called the London Bridge, oops), grabbed some Starbucks, and made our way to Parliament/Big Ben. They must have heard I was coming though, because Big Ben was under construction and closed. We walked around Westminster Abbey, and then rode the "tube" to the Natural History Museum. Afterwards, we walked around Hyde Park before grabbing dinner and swinging by Buckingham Palace to say hi to the Queen. We found our AirBnB early so we would be well rested for Sunday, but not before finding the old location of the Embassy of the Republic of Texas to the UK.

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Surprisingly, a friend of mine from College Station (my freshman year prayer-teamer from Impact) saw on social media that I was in London and invited me to her church the next morning. I made my way to Real Life Church in downtown London and got to experience my first church service in English since January. It was a great service, and I enjoyed seeing an old friend from home again (talk about Aggie Network*TM). Madyson and I spent a large chunk of the day at the British Museum of History, which was probably the best history museum I have ever been to. They had exhibits and artifacts from nearly every period, age, and civilization, including the famous Rosetta Stone.

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Afterwards, we grabbed some fish and chips, rode a double-decker bus, and explored one of London's famous markets. We then started walking around the city, visiting Trafalgar Square and Chinatown, which I enjoyed because I had never been to a Chinatown before. On our way back to our AirBnB, we visited King's Cross Station to see Platform 9 and 3/4ths from Harry Potter. That night we visited an English pub to end our time in London with a completed experience.

The next morning I caught a plane to Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon arriving, I quickly realized I may have found my favorite city in the UK. Edinburgh is surrounded by hills and mountains, on the coast, with lakes dotting the countryside. The city itself surrounds a large hill dominated by Edinburgh Castle, the very center of Scottish history. Nearly every building has a grey stone facade, and the variety of buildings and architectures on display is reminiscent of an ancient European center of culture. I began exploring the city once I met up with Ryan, who had also arrived that morning from Switzerland (Madyson was staying behind to explore Oxford and Bath). Our first stop was Edinburgh castle itself, which can only be described by a picture:

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Unfortunately, we could not go in that day, so instead we visited the gardens and some of the other famous sites in the city. For dinner, we tried traditional Scottish haggis (sheep's organs cooked inside the stomach) and whiskey...I hate to admit it, but we actually liked the haggis. It tasted like shepherd's pie. We explored the city some more and visited some local pubs before turning in for the night.

The next day we cooked breakfast before hiking up a nearby hill to see the city from above. I was surprised by how high we were, and the wind was howling at that height. Sean arrived shortly after our hike, so we met him and the three of us went back to the castle to explore the inside. I enjoyed learning about the history of Scotland from the castle, which has been a center of most of the political events of the country/region. I don't know if anyone else would find it as interesting as I did, or if I am just biased by my love for the movie Braveheart....

After touring the castle and the Scottish Art Gallery, my time in Scotland came to an end and I caught a flight to Dublin. There, I met up with my old buddy Park, and we prepared for our journey, which I was sure would be the highlight of our spring break.

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