Week 13: April 4-10

This week was different. We had Monday off after the France excursion, and then we also got Friday and Monday off for Good Friday and Easter Monday, so I only had three days at home before traveling again. And of course, they were busy three days filled with school and working on the draft of my medical school application.

On Tuesday, we had pharmacology, which was back on Zoom since Dr. Fajt went back to Texas. Then, we had an enmodes session, where we tried to nail down some more details of our design. After lunch, we had physiology lab. On Wednesday, we had history of medicine, German, and physiology. On Thursday, we Zoomed with Austen from enmodes and presented our design ideas. This presentation went much better than our first one before Spring Break. Our idea was more fully developed and it was better received by all. They were particularly interested in our ideas for temperature sensing, so we’ll have to hone in on that in the coming days. After lunch, we had another enmodes session, where we started working on our DHF, and then, we ended the day with physiology.

Erin, Elizabeth, and I woke up bright and early on Friday morning to catch a train to Antwerp. We ended up running into lots of other people at hbf taking the same train to Cologne on route to our various destinations. We made our transfer in Cologne with plenty of time to spare, but in Brussels, our 6-minute transfer turned into a -1-minute transfer that we only made because the last train left late. I’m sure it was quite the scene watching me, Elizabeth, and Erin sprint through the Brussels train station. Once in Antwerp, we ate a Belgian waffle with chocolate and strawberries (of course), checked into our hotel, ate at a less-than-stellar burrito place that made us wish we had Freebirds, and then went back to the hotel so Elizabeth could register for classes. After, we went to Chocolate Nation, which was the coolest museum on how Belgian chocolate is made. The three of us spent WAY too much money on chocolate, but it was so worth it. We went back to the hotel to work on homework and then splurged on a nice Italian dinner, which was definitely a highlight.

On Saturday, we ate breakfast and then walked around the city. We wandered past the city hall building only to find about 5 couples getting married! One bride was wearing a full wedding dress and had bridesmaids, one was wearing a simple long white dress and had a bouquet, and another pulled up in her fiancé’s baby blue Porsche wearing a gorgeous white cocktail dress. We had lunch and then went back to the hotel to do more homework. In the evening, we bought more chocolate, wandered some more, had dinner at a burger place on the water, and got another Belgian waffle.

Sunday was Easter! Praise God for the gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of His son! It was definitely a different Easter than the ones I’ve had in the past. We had breakfast and got one more waffle before catching our train to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, we checked into the hotel and then found a place to eat lunch. After, we wandered around the city. On our way to see a church, we stumbled upon the red-light district, which was quite an experience. We got stroopwafels, saw the Anne Frank House, and walked through the tulip market. We went back to the hotel to do more homework. I ended up watching the live stream of the Easter service at Grace Southwood, which was really nice. Then, we had a really fun dinner at an eccentric street taco place. While I missed being with my family and celebrating Easter the traditional way, it is still fun to be traveling and making memories.

On Monday, we wandered even more (can you tell we didn’t really plan anything?!). We took a canal cruise and had wine and cheese. The cruise ended about 75 minutes before our train left, so we rushed back to the hotel to get our stuff and then to the train station. The train ride consisted of yet even more homework.  We made it back to Bonn around 9:30pm.

This upcoming week is sure to be even busier. My med school application draft is due Thursday, and we have lots of work to do on enmodes with only two weeks left. We also have two excursions this week, so that should be fun. Hopefully I won’t be too stressed this week because it’s only going to get worse as we round out the semester.