I felt like a fugitive on the buses because half of the time I would just get on and just act like I was supposed to be there and that I had a pass and they wouldn't question me. So I didn't buy a pass the whole way to the Airport and I was a little skeptical that someone was going to check for a ticket but I was fine. I got to the airport and I saw a HUGE line... I thought that was the line for security, but it was just the line for check-in which I had luckily already done online. I headed to security and it literally took me less then 5 minutes to get through. I was already an hour early so I just sat at a coffee shop and tried to figure out my plan for the Köln zoo and how I would buy a ticket and get there. We then boarded and we were on the tarmac and ready 15 minutes before the departure time. It was probably the easiest and most laid-back boarding that I have ever been through but it was great. I got asked to move to the emergency exit since it wasn't a full flight and there was no one in that row.
We landed about 25 minutes before we were supposed to and then I took the tram to the Köln zoo. The zoo was really cool and there were so many animals there. It took me about 3 or 4 hours to go through the whole thing When I was done with the zoo, I still and a pass to the aquarium but I was so tired that I just got on the tram and headed back to the house. I took the 18 tram all the way from the zoo to the Bornheim stop but it took forever, probably an hour or so. once i got there, I took a nap for about an hour and then had some dinner with Petra.
On Tuesday, I didn't set an alarm since I thought we didn't have class until 11:45, but Sid woke me up at 9:20 saying that we had BMEN 253... I guess Mats slipped the class in there and I didn't realize it because it wasn't on the initial schedule. Luckily I can take the 9:48 tram and still get to class at 10:15 on time because there was no way I was going to make it to the 9:28 tram.
In the 253 class we went over what we had to do for our final DHF for the project and then for the rest of the class period we worked on those changes. In history of medicine, Dr. Wasser gave us an interesting lecture on the medicine properties of saunas and how they have been important throughout history. He also made the mistake of saying that Qigong was optional today and literally 6 people went out there to do it with him, including me because I knew no one else would go... I quite enjoy Qigong because its relaxing and just something different.
A few of us went to Mandu after that and I sort of zoned out after I ordered and when Seb asked me if some dish was number 5, I said yes because I wasn't thinking and apparently it was wrong and he got something completely different...
We had a math tutorial later that day and he basically went through most of the questions that Dr. Roque Sol gave us to review for the final. After that I went to the Haribo store since I had ran out of gummy bears and I needed some for the rest for the semester. I then went to the DM next door to get a "healthy" snack since I have been chowing on candy for pretty much the whole semester.. I got some muscli, which is basically granola, and headed back to the AIB for our math class...
Later that night, we had Aggie Muster. We got pizza ordered for everyone before we did the actual ceremony and everyone chowed down. Marcus and I always eat a lot, with him eating 14 slices while I only at 9. The ceremony was really nice and one of the coolest things I have ever done. It was my first muster and I was not disappointed. It doesn't seem all that significant, but the meaning behind it is so powerful. It only lasted about 15 minutes but it was amazing to honor those that we lost in the past year.. It was also a really special one since we were recognizing President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush.
We then waited at the AIB until it was time to head over to Bad Godesburg to go to the movie theater to see ENDGAME!!! Somehow we are seeing it a whole two days ahead of everyone in the US. I felt so powerful when the movie was over because I could spoil it for all of my friends but of course I didn't do that. It was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Even though it was 3 hours long, never did it feel like that. There was always action or some story element that kept pulling your attention back to the movie. I don't quite like the ending of the movie but it definitely brings the whole thing to a close really nicely while leaving a few things still open for other movies. When we got out, it was 3 in the morning so we waited for a train to come and then took it back to the AIB and I slept there for the night while some people went back to Kevin's place for the night.I woke up Wednesday with walking into the library while I was sleeping on the couch. She asked me a question but my mind was still asleep so I said something but I don't think it was even an answer😂.
I went back to the house around 10:20 since I didn't have to go to 211 anymore! I searched through Sid's room for like 5 minutes trying to find his German book since it was due today... His room is such a mess, I don't know how he ever finds anything in there (sorry Sid!). My train was a little late today so I didn't get back to the AIB until about 5 or 10 minutes into the History of medicine lecture...
After that class, we went to Uni-burger and Seb had told the guy that works there that we were leaving in 2 weeks and he was really sad cause we were some of his favorite customers! After we got back, we had a double block of math tutorial and it was super helpful. He went straight through the problems and went through how all of them worked. I'm glad that he did that cause I'm not too keen on some of these topics... In between the two blocks, I took pictures of the German book so I had a "copy" of it so I could continue learning it even after I leave if I wanted to.
I forgot to set my alarm again on Thursday, but it wouldn't have done me any good because I forgot to put my phone on the charger again... Thankfully Sid was gonna take an earlier tram so he woke me up with just enough time to take the next tram. Somehow I ran into Sid at central station and I don't know how that happened since he took the tram before me. We were going to Bingen and Andernach today, so we took a charter bus there. for the first hour or so, I read one of my books that I brought with me. For the rest of the ride, I took a nap since we got up "early" for this bus ride.
When we got there, we walked over to a museum where Dr. Wasser changed into a new costume and assumed another personality of a monk and gave us a lecture outside about the castles that were on the Rhine next to us. We then went into the museum and he told us about the life on Hildegard von Bingen. He also sang to us in some Latin ceremonial song inside of the museum that Hildegard would have sang. We then went outside into the "Hildegarten" where he had us run around and find a certain plant that he wanted to tell us something about.
We then got back on the bus and rode to Andernach. I read my book again on the way over since my phone was still dead... Once we got there, we went to the restaurant that we were eating lunch at and we all ordered beers. Both the beer and the schnitzel that I got there were pretty good. A few people didn't want their drinks so they gave them to our table to drink.
We then walked about half a mile or so over to the museum that we were here for. The group I was in went first and it only took about 30 minutes. Once we were done, we switched with Dr. Wasser's group and we sat outside while we had a few snacks. We then waited there for at least an hour and a half to two hours for the other group to get through... While we were waiting, we all talked about anything and everything just trying to pass the time. There was also a dog on the upstairs balcony that was really fluffy. I tried to convince Sarah and Mats to let me climb up on top of a shed to pet it. I knew they would say no. and I just wanted to mess with them, but if they had said yes then I for sure was gonna do it!
Once we were finally done, Dr. Wasser talked to the guide for another 15 minutes and then we headed all the way back to the bus. For the whole ride back, read my book and got pretty far into it. We got back about 25 minutes before our math class, so I read my book until Dr. Roque Sol got on the web-stream. I tried to pay attention in class, but it was just confusing me even more so I just went back to reading my book. I ended up finishing my book while I was in class (I finished the whole thing in one day!) and then I worked on the DHF through the end of class.
Reagan stayed there with us to answer any questions that we may have had about both the DHF and the math homework.
Around 9, we got hungry so we went over to over to Miss Siam to get some crispy chicken but apparently they close at 9... So we ended up just walking back and getting some Uni-burger since that's the only thing open at this time of night. Once we got back we just kept working on the DHF until it was time to take the last tram back to our house...
On Friday, we just had a few normal classes. I thought I would have time to work on the DHF during the second class since it was supposed to be due at "midday" whatever that meant (it wasn't actually due until midnight...), but the schedule got changed and I had to take notes in both classes. We had a physiology review after our last class today and Reagan went through pretty much all of the material that we covered in the past 2 months.
We then went into the library and worked on the DHF some more to try and finish it... I talked with Reagan a few times to make sure that my parts were up to standard. For the rest of the night, I worked on the math homework that was due. I was really stressing about it since it is actually a big part of our grade and I knew I would have to put a lot of time into it to actually understand it...
Saturday was a chill day since I didn't have anything due today. I slept in a bit and then went downstairs and made some breakfast with muscli and yogurt and apples. It was actually really god an if it didn't take so long to make, I would have eaten it a lot more often! For most of the day, I played video games of watched Netflix. I was going to just play video games for a few hours and then study for the rest of the day but of course that didn't happen. It just so hard for me to stop playing video games since there is just so much to do and they are so captivating...
I went down for dinner around 9 and had some quiches that our host mom had made for us a day or two ago. Once I was done eating, I took the tram into town to meet up with a few people for Jessica's 21st birthday!!! When I got to the bar, the bouncer asked me something in German and then asked if I was looking for my friends. I said yes and that I didn't know if they were here yet and then the waitress came out and asked if I was looking for Jessica Lawrence. I said yes and she gave me directions to the table like she was a celebrity. When I got to their table, I ordered a drink adn we all talked for about 45 minutes or so while we slowly got through our drinks. Lindsay and Sid got there around that time and we ordered another round of drinks. The second one that I got was not very good, too minty for me, and we talked for a bit linger. We then tried to get Jess to finish her drink since they wanted to go to a club before they had to take the trams home.
Once she was done, we went to Mcdonalds to get some food. Since it was Jessica's birthday, I paid for her food and she told me probably 4 times to send her a Venmo request tomorrow so she could pay me back, always forgetting that she had already told me that. I just kept telling her "Ok I will" since I knew she was pretty drunk from that last drink. Once we were done eating, I had to take my tram home, but the others went to the club since they still had another hour until their tram/bus.
I sort of wasted most of Sunday by sleeping in until 1... I woke up at 10 and I was just gonna sleep for a few more minutes and I ended up sleeping for 3 more hours... When I finally got up, I went downstairs to make some "breakfast." I tried to make a boiled egg, but couldn't figure out how to turn the stove on to boil it... I spent probably 15 minutes pushing random buttons, trying to figure out how to turn it on but I finally gave up and just had some cereal.
I was going to study for physiology, but I got distracted by this book that Petra gave me that she wanted me to write a message about my time here to her. She had done that for most everyone that had stayed with her on a study abroad, so I wanted my message to be good. I spent probably 2 hours writing a rough draft in my notebook on what I wanted to write to her and finally got it down and transferred it to the journal.
After that I finally got to work on physiology, going through the powerpoint that Reagan had given us for her review on Friday. I worked on that until 8 or so and then I went downstairs to see if Petra was about to make dinner. She was just going to make some salad so I had the Quiches again but they were so good that I didn't mind. We talked for about an hour and I finally went back upstairs when she had a guest over. I tried to work on physiology after that but since I was laying on my bed studying, I was getting pretty sleepy. So I ended up just putting up all of my stuff and going to bed.
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