This was a strongly mixed week. There were, as always, highs and lows but the two seemed a bit further apart than usual. I'll start with the high points as they are more fun to write about and end with the lows as they are more interesting to read about.
This week in the Rhine valley it is Karnival. Actually it has been Karnival since November but this week it is quite the party. On Thursday there was a parade through Beule which the AiB participates in. We walked through the town throwing candy and confetti at small children, quite a few adults as well. The most exciting moments were when we passed people in balconies and everyone started trying to throw sweets up to them. Most missed and landed in the crowd below but it was a lot of fun trying. After the parade I did the boring thing and went back to the classroom to study. I also had math that afternoon.
The other highlight of the week was my trip to Amsterdam. I left Saturday morning and after another exhausting train experience I got to the train station. My plan was to walk to the Anne Frank House but unfortunately they were booked solid for the next two weeks. So I walked to the Rijksmuseum, which was booked solid for the day. I had no idea that it would be so busy in February. My phone also decided to contribute to the chaos by dropping more than fifty percent in battery in twenty minutes. For this reason I decided to go back to the hostel to regroup and plan. The place I stayed at was great; it was a hostel called Generator and it was really good considering what I payed for it. That evening I went back into town and took a tour of the canals and learned a bit of the history of Amsterdam. Then had dinner and went back to the hostel. The next day I went to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. Both were really interesting but I definitely prefer Van Gogh. I find his work a lot more interesting than the classical stuff and the portraits of rich people I've never heard of. The Rijksmuseum also had a modern art section. In my opinion modern art is ridiculous; one of the pieces was a blank canvas with three lines on it. How the heck did the artist persuade someone to pay for it? I can do the exact same thing and no one is going to stick that in a museum. Another particularly ludicrous item was a lump of blue aluminum. I can appreciate sculptures as an art form but this looked like someone had pulled the bonnet of a wrecked car (and according to the description that is not the look they were going for). The rest of it was fine; they have a large collection of crystal and porcelain stuff which was pretty cool and a room devoted to model ships.
Now on to the not so fun part of the week. We got our 211 test back; I passed and let's say no more on the subject. That started the freaking out phase of the week. I have a math test on Thursday and really need to study hard for it. The solidworks project is also due on Wednesday but I've finished the course and the part and so just need the drawing and the quiz which hopefully won't take too long. I am also really behind in my physiology reading and the test is the week after next so I need to catch up. And we have another 211 test that week as well. So I cut the Amsterdam trip a day short and am planning to spend tomorrow with my blitzing through my to do list.
Because I don't want to end on a sour note I will add that there is a lot to look forward to in the near future. Carnival Row season two is out with new episodes being released on Fridays. More importantly, Scotland vs France is this weekend. If we play like we did against Wales we might have a shot at beating them. France has been looking really good recently but they did struggle against Italy so who knows. The Italians are doing surprisingly well this year and came really close to beating France. They did alright against England but in the end it was a fairly decisive victory for the roses. We still have to play them and knowing us we'll make stupid mistakes at key moments and throw the game. And we need to play Ireland... that will be a depressing match. Still, we are undefeated at the moment and tied for first place in the rankings so for now life is good.
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