Travel Weekend to Week to Weekend

Wow.

I honestly don't even know where to start with this one...

With our first travel weekend coming up on us, everyone was excited to get out and go somewhere altogether (for the most part). We actually split off into two different groups, one on their way to Amsterdam and the other out to Munich. I was off with the group to Amsterdam, and the story is as follows...

First thing's first, we have to catch the 5:45 train going out from Bonn Hbf, right? So Matt and I decide that we aren't playing any games, and woke up at 3:30 to catch the 4:02 night bus out of Heidebergen...

Well we missed it.

But wait! Here's the best part!

We were actually at our stop with plenty of time to spare, but had no idea that the night buses only ride on ONE SIDE OF THE STREET...

we were standing on the other :)

Our 608/609 bus into town usually comes through on the side we were standing on (of course), but we had no idea that the N4 route didn't play by the same rules. So there we are, standing at the stop literally watching our bus drive off, and someone who had hopped off it starts walking over to us. He starts off in German as one would here, and I hit him with my usual, "Sprechen sie englisch?".

He answers, "Yeah you just missed your bus."

Great.

Aren't adventures supposed to be riddled with problems that you overcome though? Is this NOT what the hero's journey is all about??

I pull out my phone. Moovit app is about to save my rear once again. I type in the central station, and we are now left with two options:

1) wait an hour for the next N4 bus to make its' way out to Heidebergen

2) walk 1.5 miles to another stop that can get us into town at an earlier time

...game on.

Writing that was almost as exciting as experiencing it had been tbh...

But now I have all 3 cities to still cover in this post, so I regret to inform you that I will not be able to keep up this writing style from here on. Maybe in another post one day... We'll see :)

AMSTERDAM

 What a wild ride! I actually got to meet up with some of my highschool friends on this trip as they are on their own study abroad in Spain and planned out the same weekend as us. We had a wonderful time walking around the market, eating local dishes, and checking out the beautiful scenery! 

We got to go into the Anne Frank house the first night, and that was truly something amazing to experience. Learning about the history of WWII and her story back in elementary held nothing to how REAL this felt. I would recommend the visit as a must if Amsterdam is ever in your future travel plans.

The second day we were planning on checking out the Van Gogh Museum, but unfortunately arrived too late to get any tickets. We then opted out for a nearby modern art museum which I also felt was a great way to spend the day!

Coming back to Bonn was a mess. 3 transfers on train lines, and one of ours had gotten cancelled so we ended up having to hop on a different one to make it back. Matt and I made it back home at roughly 2:30 in the morning with an 8:45 German class that following morning. Honestly the only thing that got me up for that class was the fact that it would be our only day of school that week. The rest of the week we would be taking a group excursion to...

VIENNA

This was a week just absolutely PACKED with history! It was really cool to have an excursion as a group as we weren't just mindlessly wandering the city with no guide, but instead had Wasser and Mats to take us around and explain the history behind a lot of it!

I think my favorite thing we got to participate in was the Wax museum of the many skin diseases. Disgusting? Absolutely. Mind-blowing and interesting? nothing less. We got to hear about how many doctors treated their patients back in the day. One particularly interesting way was a doctor that would cure a disease (I forget the name) by giving his patients Malaria! He would then treat them for this Malaria of course, but talk about a process!

Although we did have to attend one lecture for the history of medicine class, I found this lecture over Sigmund Freud to be fascinating! The history of his life I have to admit was not so much so... but his work on the psyche I found grasping. I even ended up buying one of his books that talks about his patients and work he performed on them.

Aside from my favorites, there were of course many other activities we got to take place in. Some of these things were more museum tours, city tours, and even a concert in beautiful St. Anne's Church!

Now moving on to the final (and favorite) travel destination...

PRAGUE

This one I have to admit was a struggle. I was sick the entire time we were there, but there was absolutely NO way I was letting that define how much fun I was going to have.

I went with a group of 4 of my close friends here in the program and we had an amazing time! Such a great time actually, that we decided to send a hurricane to Germany so we could get an extra day ;)

The city and all its' sites are in a rather close proximity to one another, which makes Prague a wonderful place to travel on foot! No need for public transport at all. From the Astrological Clock to the Charles Bridge, it was truly something else experiencing my own culture for the first time. A good half of my ancestry is of Czech descent, so it was very exciting to go back and see where that all came from. 

The St. Vitus Cathedral within the castle walls was one of my favorite cathedrals I have seen so far in Europe. And not to mention this was the first castle I had ever set foot in! 

A wonderful week it was, moving between 4 different countries in the span of 10 days. Definitely an opportunity I am so very thankful for.

Tschuess! Bis naechste Woche!