Week 9: March 6-11

 This week was very busy. It felt like we were in class all day every day, and when I wasn’t in class, I was studying for a test. On Monday, I had a full class day – 10:15am to 5:00pm. The morning consisted of physiology and history of medicine, and the afternoon was pharmacology and German. Dr. Fajt is in Germany now, so it was nice to have fully in-person class for pharmacology. We had our German midterm exam, which was more difficult than I anticipated, particularly the section where we had to write questions. But thankfully, that class is pretty laid back and we were able to work through it. I stayed late at the aib to rewatch a physiology lecture, and the Elizabeth and I went shopping for Erin’s birthday present. That night, I did not have the energy to study after so much class, so I watched Gilmore Girls with Wyatt and went to bed early.

On Tuesday, it was Erin’s birthday! I got to the aib early to start studying for physiology. Then, we had enmodes and physiology lab. Dr. Wasser led physiology lab since it was about turtle hearts. After class, I stayed at the aib to continue studying. Around 6pm, I took a study break and played Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza with Elizabeth, Jackson, and Milo. I only got mildly injured during the game, but that has happened every other time I’ve played that game too, so nothing new. Around 8pm, Elizabeth and I met Erin and her host mom, sister & Switzerland friend for a birthday dinner at Tacos. It was really fun getting to meet her host family and enjoy dinner together! By the time I got home, it was 11pm, so I went straight to bed.

On Wednesday, it was another early morning studying at the aib, except it was snowing! Crazy! We had history of medicine, pharmacology, and the review for our physiology test. After the phys review, we had student evaluations with Dr. Wasser. On Thursday, it was Pat’s birthday. Pat and Erin both got their birthday cakes from the aib, and we sang Happy Birthday to Erin in English and to Pat in Spanish. I ate way too much sugar between the cakes and the brownies from Pat’s mom. We had a pharmacology workshop and an enmodes session before the physiology test. I didn’t feel the best after the phys test, but it all turned out okay, so I guess that’s good. Afterwards, I met with one of my research advisors over Zoom, and then went to TK Maxx to buy a new suitcase. At home, we had family dinner and talked for a couple of hours, which was really fun.

On Friday, we had pharmacology, and then Austen came to hear our preliminary enmodes project ideas. I was a little disappointed that our idea didn’t pan out like we were thinking, but once we get the bigger groups after Spring Break, we’ll just go from there. After class, Elizabeth and I went to Bӧnnsch for a glass of wine and then got dinner at Bono. It was really nice to relax and have fun after a busy and stressful week. Throughout the day, though, the weather went from 50 and sunny to sub-freezing and snowing, so my walk home was very unpleasant (especially because I dressed for the morning weather, not the evening weather). I am very ready for winter to be over in Germany. Once home, I packed for my spring break trip to Barcelona.

On Saturday, I had breakfast with Daryna and got to catch up with her. Then, I finished packing and headed into Bonn to have lunch with Elizabeth. We tried a new Italian restaurant called Tuscolo, and we almost made it all the way through lunch without having to ask the waiter to speak English. After lunch, I headed to the airport and flew to Barcelona. I am now sitting in the Barcelona airport waiting for Wyatt’s flight to land! Stay tuned to hear about our spring break adventures in Spain!