The end.

This is it: my last full week in Bonn, my last tests of Sophomore year, and my last blog post of the semester. I'm not ready for it to be over, but I'm so ready to be back home, and that's a feeling I've been struggling to deal with for a few weeks now. But for blog's sake, I'll give a retelling of finals week. Monday, we went on a bike tour to Remagen, which is about 22 kilometers south of Bonn. It was a perfect day for it, not too hot and not too cold. We rented bikes near the Hauptbahnhof, and Mats led the way. In Remagen, we got Italian food and ice cream next to the river, before heading back into Bonn. I took the train back, because I wanted to stop by my house in Mehlem to grab my bags, because it was about to be another long night at the AIB. Before I started studying though, some of us watched the new Game of Thrones episode. It was a long and tiring episode, and not as many people died as we predicted, but it was still so good. I studied for physiology the rest of the night, before our test the next day. I got a B on that test, which was fine, it just meant I would have to do decent on the final Thursday. After the test, I studied the rest of the night for the math final Wednesday, and ended up staying the night at AIB. We requested aid from Reagan on what would be on the final, and it probably saved us from failing entirely. It was almost nothing like the review, and had nothing to do with material from the first exam, so we would've failed miserably without some insight. Instead, we probably barely passed. It will be interesting to see how that test is graded though, because on the last test we did much better than we thought we did. Here's hoping we all pulled out A's. The physiology final wasn't going to be very hard, as it was just all of the questions from the first two exams plus some. I glanced at some notes, but I mostly focused on memorizing the old test questions while we had the chance to look at them. I got an A, and will get an A in the course, so that seemed to be the correct course of action. So, all that was left was the signals and systems final, a take-home exam that we received Tuesday and that I had not really looked at yet. I was able to do 3-4 of the problems without much effort, but the other 3 were very hard. In total, I worked on that final from about 3 pm to 12 am. But, that was the last major final. Before I went home that night, a couple of us stayed at AIB for a couple rounds of Phase 10 to cap off our year.

I handed in my final Friday, and spent the rest of the school day doing course evaluations, blogs like this one, and an exit interview. Then I went and did a little shopping, to try and pick up something to remember all of this by. Saturday was the Rhine cruise, and the start of a great day. We had to meet at the Hofgarten early so we could ride two hours to the ship. It was cold, but the Rhine was looking its best, and the surrounding hills were very lush. We boarded in Bacharach, and got off in Braubach. In the middle of all that, we had our History of Medicine final, where we were sorted into Hogwarts houses by the sauna sorting hat. I was put into Slytherin, which is the last house I would actually be sorted into but it's fine. Our team got last by a mile, but we couldn't care less. A 100 is still a 100. In Braubach was the Marksburg castle, a castle that had stood for centuries and was never taken by an enemy. The armor displayed in the castle was the coolest part, along with the weapons. After Braubach, it was another two hour bus ride back to Bonn. In Bonn, we tried to make plans for our second to last night in Bonn. The Rhein in Flammen was that night, and the consensus was to watch the fireworks at Rheinaue park. Before that, I picked up a glass from Bonnsch as a last minute souvenir, hung out at the Biergarten, and briefly went home. The festival at Rheinaue was incredible: there were rides set up everywhere all lighting up the night sky, and tons of pop up food places along the hill. A good group was able to make it out to see the fireworks, and it was well worth it. We have a fireworks show back in Plano, but this was much better. At that festival, my mother likes to point out new colors whether they're actually new or not, but this time there were definitely new colors. It was a fantastic show, and a great way to end the semester.

Or last day in Bonn held the farewell party. All of the different programs gathered at our AIB for a barbeque and one last get together before our departures in the next few days. Biosciences kind of just hid out in the lounge downstairs with our food while the other programs ran amuck above. For some of us, it would be the last time we would see each other in Bonn. I, along with four others, were leaving Bonn at 5:45 in the morning, so our goodbyes would have to happen at the AIB. It was a little fitting, seeing that we spent on average 12 hours a day, every day (including many weekends), with the same 20 something people, in that building. That group was basically my family, and I can't imagine waking up Tuesday and not being able to see them. I can't even imagine not being in Germany; it'd been my home for more than four months and that's all I knew. The transition back to an American lifestyle wouldn't actually be a hard one, but it's not one I was a fan of having to make. I miss everything about the U.S., specifically my friends and family, but I could easily see myself living in Germany. In an ideal situation they would all live here too lol. But, that's not the case, so I had to say my goodbyes to Josh, Sid, Vivian, Sean, Yoong, Ryan, Ryan, Katarina, Kevin, Jessica, Masha, Adriana, Melania, Park, Lindsay, Ariella, Joshua, Sebastian, Madyson, Ana, Reagan, Sarah, Mats, and Dr. Wasser. I promise I will see most of them back in CSTAT, but I'll miss our German lives.

Having to be up so early to leave also meant I had to say goodbye to my host family that night. I could not have been given a better, more accepting, and more loving family to stay with. My only regret of the semester was that I spent too much time studying at the AIB, and not enough at home with them. Regardless, I enjoyed every second of my time with Ulrich, Conrad, Jakob, and the cats Paula and Minka. Paula actually made sure to pee on my bed on my last night in the house. I'm going to miss them the most I think, because it'll be the longest before I see them again. For this reason, it hurt a little more saying goodbye, instead of just good night. But, I love them, and I can't wait til I can see them again.

Lastly, I'm excited to see my family again. They visited over spring break of course, but actually getting to see them back in Plano is something else entirely. I already have plans to hang out with my friends the whole upcoming week too, and I'm thrilled. But honestly, I don't even remember how to America. All of the signs are going to be in English, the coins are going to be useless, the water will be free and with ice, everyone including me is going to be driving, everyone is going to be speaking English and I'm probably going to still say hallo and tschuss during every interaction I have, and it's going to actually be hot outside. I'm ready, but also absolutely not ready. I think I have one last blog post after this one, in a month or so. In the meantime however, wish me luck on trying to readapt to my old life. Bis spater!