Week 1

     Starting with us arriving in Bonn on Sunday, I was exhausted and hungry. Once we got to the AiB, waiting for our host family made me slightly anxious. I kept thinking about whether or not they would be nice, if they would like Amanda and I, and what our home would look like for the next 4 months. When they picked us up, the drive to Siegburg wasn't bad at all. It felt super quick and we got to see a few pretty buildings on the way. Once we arrived home, we had to carry our luggage up so many stairs. That was an entire workout in itself. Where we are living is extremely nice, and I love that we are technically independent but live with a host family.  On Monday, we had orientation meetings and a housing meeting. Amanda and I went to Starbucks and just walked around Bonn for a bit. On Tuesday, we had to take COVID tests, and we ended up finding a gluten free restaurant called "Bono Fresh and Tasty". Amanda, Victoria, and I all went and the food was amazing. The waitress was also extremely nice and was very patient with us when we were trying to order. Bono is definitely still one of my favorite places here. Tuesday night, we found another restaurant that had gluten free food called "Casbah". I ended up getting a salmon burger, and the "buns" were actually sticky rice. The food was amazing, and the service was also extremely nice. On Wednesday, we ended up hiking Drachenfels with Dr. Wasser. That was the most I had worked out in maybe a year. My legs were screaming at one point, but the view was so worth it. It was amazing being able to see the clouds and being eye level with them. The view of the castle was also amazing. I also ate a pb&j while hiking because I was starving by the time we got to the top of the hill. Later that night, we found a burger joint called "Burger Manufaktur" and this was the best burger I have had in my entire life. It was so good, the fries were good, and the service was great again. It was also really nice because most of the girls went too, and this made for some good memories as well. After eating, Amanda and I ran to the grocery store to grab some groceries and we actually saw someone get arrested inside. I can say that was the first time I have ever seen someone get arrested in a grocery store. Thursday was our first actual day of school, and the weather was not fun. It was pouring and windy, so our umbrellas were quite literally trying to fly away. School itself was nice, I am honestly kind of nervous about the workload. I'm nervous that I won't be able to manage the work with all of the trips we are taking. Thursday went by fairly quickly. Friday was our first school trip and we went to Aachen! We had to get up so early and I ended up sleeping on the bus. The cathedral was amazing, it was so beautiful. The girls and I actually found a gluten free bakery nearby called "Isabella Glutenfreie Patisserie". I sent my mom so many photos of the treats in there and I just wanted to cry. Actually being able to find a dedicated gluten free bakery was amazing, and I got quite a bit of treats to try and I loved them all. After the bakery, we went to "Vapianos" and it was a pizza place. That was literally the best pizza I have ever had. It was seriously so good, and we had a good amount of the girls come too, so it was fun getting to know everyone more. On Saturday, the entire student group went out to a few bars and we all tried some pretty good drinks.