On Montag, we had our visa meeting, and it went by very smoothly. During lunch, a group of us went to get a membership at a gym suggested to us by Dr. Wasser. The location and actual gym are great minus the very public showers. We had our first German lesson, and the teacher is wunderbar, but since it was the first class, it was mainly just introductions. After class, we started planning our first trips for the weekend. I was team Switzerland until Patricio and Jackson convinced me to go to Brussels. Planning was so stressful, so I left AiB feeling drained. That did not stop me from going to Aldi and being the slowest bagger Germany has ever seen. By the time I got home, I got to my room and crashed. Dienstag was more productive, and I got to meet my host brother. He seems a bit shy or maybe he just hates speaking English. Mittwoch was Köln. As soon as we exited the Köln station, I was mesmerized. The Cologne Cathedral was towering over the whole station, and we all tilted our head as far back as we could to try and glimpse the highest point. Inside, it was so beautiful, and it was filled with stained glass that I could stare at forever. I did a small prayer for my family, then we headed out for lunch. The schnitzel I had was fantastisch. It almost reminded me of milanesa empanizada. After the program ended, a few of us stayed to go to the Lindt Chocolate Museum, and it was fun to get to see the process it takes. Later, we met up with a few others at Früh, and that was the best beer I had tried so far. We enjoyed a couple of beers and then, we returned back to Bonn. Donnerstag morning, IT WAS SNOWING. Even though it wasn’t that much, I still thought it looked very nice. On Freitag, I had no classes, but to be productive, I still went to AiB to look over online material. After Peri got out of class, we went to look for a small bag, which was a success. On our way to the Hauptbahnhof, we ran into Amanda, who invited us for a beer, and I tagged along. Peyton, Victoria, Amanda, and I also went to dinner at Burgermanufaktur, which was soooo good. When I got back, I talked to my host mum about baking, Christmas, etc. It was such a nice conversation, and she offered me kartoffektorte, and that was amazing too! She even gave me the recipe. When I got to my room, I started packing for Brussels and slept as soon as I could because we had an early morning.
At this point, I think I’m accustomed to having a weird schedule because my 4:30am alarm did not bother me. The plan was that Emi, Pat, Jack, Vic, and I were to meet at Bonn Hbf at 5:45am to leave on a tram to Köln at 6:05am and get there with 40 mins before our ICE. Emi and Vic were there before me. It was 5:55am and still no sign of Pat and Jack. We called Pat, and he said that their tram had gotten cancelled or something, but they were close. We looked at the time chart, and we saw that the tram to Köln was getting to Hbf before their tram by one minute, and the next Köln one wasn’t for another 35 minutes. We were so nervous because it would be cutting it close to the ICE in Köln if we waited for them. Then, in the last minute, the trams switched on the chart. As soon as Pat and Jack got out of the tram, the Köln tram arrived.
We met up with Peyton and Amanda, and we got to Brussels somehow. It was incredibly fun. Beer Capital is a must. I found my favorite beer ever (Liefmans Fruitesse On the Rocks). The fries, chocolate, and waffles were unreal. The basilique was heavenly. The Grand Palace was beautiful, especially at night. The chocolate museum was very informative. Did I mention that the chocolate was so good? Our train back got cancelled, so we all ended up leaving on the same train. We got back safely, and I was ready for bed, but my front door had other plans. It took me two hours and a half to open the door with my fingerprint. I got in at 2:30am. Other than that minor inconvenience, I really enjoyed this weekend, and I would do it again. Now, I’m ready to annoy Peri and Erin again.
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