Finals Week, the Final Week (Week 16)

We started the week off with a relaxing bike ride to Remagen on Monday. It might be one of my favorite activities that we've done as a group. The weather was, thankfully, bright and sunny and the ride was the slowest-paced thing we've done all semester with everyone together. We rode to a museum within an old bridge that was destroyed during WWII. Here, we learned a bit more about the local history during that time period and about some conflicts since WWII. After the museum, we had a group lunch, our last one, before making our way back to Bonn. The rest of the week was mostly finals. We had our third physiology exam Tuesday and the physiology final Wednesday, which everyone did well on. The genetics final was Friday, and it was harder than any of us expected it to be, but I still feel like I did pretty well on it, like a high B. Tuesday and Wednesday I took a break from studying to watch the final Harry Potter movie and "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" with Astrid and Naja.

Saturday was the Rhinecruise for us and the Vis program. The weather wasn't that good early on, but the cruise was still nice and the scenery beautiful. We had our History of European Medicine final during the cruise, which was fun and went pretty well. After the cruise, we toured Nassau castle, which is the only castle in the Middle Rhine to have never been conquered. It was cool to see the different rooms, like the bedroom and kitchen, as well as the armor and torture devices on display in other areas of the castle. That evening, about half of our program, plus John from the Vis program, went to see the fireworks that were part of the Rhine in Flammen (Rhine in Flames) festival. They were much more impressive than I thought they would be and we all had a really great time hanging out, talking about our plans for the summer, and reminiscing on the last semester. It was pretty melancholic. A few of us went out afterwards because we didn't want the night to end just yet, which was kind of a reflection of my attitude about the semester itself.

Today, Sunday, was packing day, but I've been packed since Tuesday night. I wanted to go to Cologne and go to Claudius Therme, but didn't end up going since the store I wanted to go to in Cologne was closed. Since that was the case, I had a hard time justifying 16 euros for the tickets to Cologne to go to the spa, where I'd be spending 24 euros to use the spa and sauna for two hours. Instead, I used the morning to pack for my trip to Portugal. In the afternoon, the theater students from LMU had their performance of Spring Awakening, which I went to see with the others. Honestly, I didn't understand what was going on for a good portion of the play and definitely didn't enjoy the style of the play. But I can acknowledge that the students did an excellent job with their performances.

Once the play was over, most of us went to old AIB to kill time before the farewell party. The farewell party was a great time for pretty much everyone, although a few people left early to eat with their host families one last time. That was kind of a shame, since we got a group picture towards the end of the party. Most of our program ended up in the lounge downstairs to talk and hang out with just us one last time. Again, pretty melancholic. I had to say goodbye to a few people who were leaving really early tomorrow morning and to those who I wouldn't see again before I left with some of the others on my shuttle to Frankfurt. Tomorrow, I'll have to say goodbye to the ones on my shuttle and on the 14th, I'll say goodbye to Sid one last time in Frankfurt. It's weird to think about how we won't see each other every day come tomorrow. And, even though everyone except Madyson will still be in College Station, it won't be the same as it was here. I'll miss it.

The Countdown Begins (Week 15)

This past week actually had a few big events taking place. On Tuesday, we held a small Muster ceremony at the old AIB. Lindsay was the one responsible for putting most of it together and she did an excellent job. I really enjoyed being able to participate in an Aggie tradition even though we were so far from campus and even a few days late. But the meaning of the ceremony holds more weight than time and distance, which is one of the reasons why I was surprised none of the previous groups in Germany had held a Muster ceremony.

Thursday, we went to Bingen and visited two very different museums. The first museum was for Hildegard of Bingen, one of the only females we learned about in our History of European Medicine lectures. Even though a lot of her theories were wrong, since she believed in humoralist practices, she still sounds like a very strong individual and was very influential in the area. The second museum was in a man's house, since the city hadn't gotten the museum it's own space yet, and had a wide variety of pieces. It was kind of like a highlight real of a lot of what we covered in lectures and some of the pieces were actually impressive, considering the size of the museum.

Friday night, I went to see Avengers: Endgame with Joshua, Park, Ryan B., and Josh. It was a long movie but so so good. My favorite part was when Captain America finally used Mjolnir - I've been waiting for it for so long! Saturday, I watched another Harry Potter movie with Astrid, so there's only part two of the Deathly Hollows left in the original series, plus the Fantastic Beasts movie. The rest of the weekend wasn't very productive, outside of a bit of studying for the third physiology exam and the genetics final today.

Enmodes Death and Revival in the Netherlands (Week 14)

The only thing this week was about was finalizing our enmodes project, which we presented on Thursday, and studying for my third genetics exam, which was Wednesday. It was really frustrating to have enmodes work all day Tuesday and Wednesday when there was a genetics exam, but there wasn't really any way around it. After taking the exam, I know I didn't do as good as I did on the last exam, but I hope that it was at least as good as the first exam. That will make it easier to get an A overall. Actually, I guess one other thing that had to be done this week was the extra credit paper for genetics. It's worth 20 points, so there was no way I wasn't going to do it. Anyway, Tuesday and Wednesday were really late nights for everyone and it was pretty miserable. But it was worth it since our presentations on Thursday all went very well. And now it's all over - unless you're an engineering student that still has to do the DHF or someone who signed up for the research credit, since they have to put together the enmodes booklet.

Today is Easter Sunday and this weekend was a long one. We all had Friday off and tomorrow off as well. I thought about joining Madyson, Ana, and Joshua to hike in the Black Forest for the weekend, but it was going to be hard to book and expensive, so I decided to go to Utrecht. The original plan was Amsterdam, but hostels there were twice as much. I got to Utrecht Friday morning and will say that the town is amazing. In fact, Utrecht is my new favorite place in Europe thus far, closely followed by Budapest. There's a lot of interesting history, similar to Bruges, and the town feels very close-knit. After dropping off my bag at the hostel, I spent the day exploring and visiting a few major sites. I started off with climbing the bell tower, which had some great views of the city, then went to the Clock Museum. This museum was actually pretty great because it had a lot of musical clocks and automated musical instruments, including some street organs, for which the Netherlands are famous.

On Saturday, I started the day by going to the flower market and then with some reading in a garden behind the bell tower. Later, I explored the town some more and then visited the de Haar Castle, the biggest castle in the Netherlands. It was super impressive and the gardens were beautiful. My favorite part was feeding the deer kept in the garden. Unfortunately, my phone spazzed out and I couldn't take any photos of the last half of the castle or the gardens, which I walked through after my castle tour.

This morning, I left my hostel ridiculously early to go to the Keukenhof gardens. It was so worth it, though, because the gardens were absolutely breathtaking and I spent almost four hours there. When I got back to Utrecht, I had a few hours before I had to catch my train back to Bonn, so I bought some souvenirs and walked around the southern part of the city, which I hadn't seen yet. I feel like my trip to Utrecht had the best pacing out of all of my trips thus far. There's always so much I want to see, I feel pressured to make it all happen and then feel rushed for most of my trip. That definitely wasn't the case with Utrecht, and I really enjoyed that.

Enmodes.... (Week 13)

Nothing exciting happened this week, outside of our trip on Tuesday to Aachen to tour the enmodes facilities. That was actually pretty interesting, to see where they worked and their labs. That set the tone for the rest of the week, which was filled with efforts to finalize our group's enmodes presentation topics.

On the personal side of things, I hung out with Lindsay, Kevin, and Sid on Friday night. We all just had a good time playing Phase 10, Taboo, and Cards Against Humanity. Incredibly, I won all three games, plus Lindsay, who was my partner for Taboo. I was also able to watch another Harry Potter movie with Astrid. We've made it through six movies now, which is nice since I'll be leaving soon. Actually, that's kind of sad to think about. So I won't think about it for now. There's still about a month left, after all.

Belgium, Big Event, and a Half-Marathon (Week 12)

Monday, we had off since we weren't released from Paris until Sunday morning. I spent it in Brugge/Bruges, Belgium and really wish I wouldv'e had more time there. Especially since a lot of the museums are closed on Monday. I should have gone to Bruges literally any other day of the week. Fortunately, I was able to see Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child," which was exciting, the Diamond Museum, and the Lace Museum, which was eye-opening since I had no idea how lace was made.

Bruges is basically a town out of a fairytale and super quaint. In the morning, I was able to do a walking tour of the city, sample some local chocolate and beers, and even explore the canals by boat. The city is beautiful, but I also wish that I could see it in the summer. I think I've just committed myself to the goal of coming back to Europe in the summer and re-visiting all the places I've seen.

Nothing big happened this week as far as classes go. I just had a few assignments due and that was pretty much it. Although, I did get my grade back for the physiology lab exam and was extremely happy with the results. Saturday was Charity Day/Big Event, which was actually a lot of fun. I was in a group with Vivian, Josh, Ryan, and a few LMU theater students and we all ended up at a retirement home where we worked in the garden. We all helped bring out benches, since the weather will be shifting soon, and then Vivian and I painted a sculpture of a spider that was in the garden. It was pretty fun since Vivian and I were joined by another woman volunteering and her two kids, although they did make a mess a few times. The others in our group worked on laying out wires for growing berries and laying down a concrete base for a bench. All in all, it was a good time and the lunch and cake that we were given afterwards was delicious.

Today is Sunday and this morning was the Bonn marathon. I almost didn't make it in time for the half-marathon. Mats had sent out an email correcting the start time for full-marathon, which was later, but when I read it, I just assumed that the time applied to me too. The email just said "marathon," so when I look back on it, I can understand how I got confused, but it also wouldn't have confused me if I just paid a bit more attention. Luckily, not even Germans can start every participant of a half-marathon on time and I was able to run without any issues. I ended after 2 hours and 23 minutes, which is literally the average time for women in 2016. Considering my training didn't go as well as I'd hoped and it was the first time I'd run that far in my life, I was pretty happy to be average. The food and drinks at the end were really nice and I spent a lot of time with the others just hanging out when everyone was finished.

Paris Is Always a Good Idea (Week 11)

So we didn’t actually leave for France until Wednesday and didn’t get to Paris until Thursday evening. Not too much happened Monday but Tuesday was our second physiology exam. Again, the review Sarah did was super helpful and I think that I did a better than the last exam. Come Wednesday, we drove to Colmar, a cute town that exchanged hands between France and Germany quite frequently in the past. We were only there long enough to get lunch, buy some Kugelhopf and souvenirs, and see a museum, which was a shame since it seemed like a nice place. The altar piece we saw at the museum was interesting because of the style used to portray Jesus, who looked green, and his resurrection. Part of the altar piece was actually under restoration, but they still had it on display. It was cool to be able to see the art restoration taking place real-time. 

After Colmar, we drove to Beune, another cute little town. Here, we just checked in to the hotel and then were free to go for dinner. Six of us were wandering around for a bit before we found this hole-in-the-wall place that looked promising for local food, but when we went in, the host said that the kitchen was closed. So we ended up at the best pizza place in town, supposedly, which was very good. I liked that the three of us girls got pizzas shaped like hearts. Afterwards, a lot of us wound up at a nice wine bar, where I bought a bottle to bring back for my mom. When I got back to the hotel, I had to write a paper for VIBS 311, so I was in the common area with some of the others for awhile. Joshua, Sid, Lindsay, and I actually stayed up until around 0130 talking about Christianity, which was interesting. Vivian was there for a good portion of the conversation too, but she went to bed a bit earlier than the rest of us. 

Thursday morning, everyone dropped off our bags at the bus and then went on a tour of an old hospital for the poor, which was actually really cool to see. Even though it was built to treat the poor, it was quite luxurious, as far as hospitals go. There was another altar piece at this museum that wasn’t as big or out-there as the one we saw Wednesday, but was still impressive. The amount of detail that went in to every character, especially the angel, made the people seem very life-like. After the tour, we all went back to the bus and started the drive in to Paris, during which pretty much everyone slept. 

When we got to Paris, we checked-in at the hotel before meeting up with Julian, our tour guide for the duration of our time in Paris. Julian took us on a walking tour of Paris, which was a lot of fun. We walked through the Latin quarter by the hotel, down by the river, to Notre Dame, and then to dinner at a crêperie. Notre Dame was an impressive building, and had beautiful artwork and stained glass inside. But, honestly, I don’t think it was as impressive as the cathedral in Köln. The gothic style just incorporates a lot more detail and visual interest for me. Nevertheless, Notre Dame is a beautiful structure and I do think everyone who visits Paris should see it. My favorite thing about the crêperie that we went to for dinner was actually the local wine we got to have there. It was delicious and went well with the savory crêpes. But I’ve never had a savory crêpe before and wasn’t too impressed with the taste of the different flour. I did, however, enjoy my Nutella crêpe very much, as well as the tastes I got of the other flavors, which were the crêperie’s homemade chocolate and lemon and sugar.

Friday morning was an early one for us because Julian wanted to get us to Versailles before all of the crowds. The train ride was nice though, just talking with Park, Josh, Katarina and her sister. Versailles is probably the most impressive palace in Europe. It is huge, beautiful, and has an expansive garden. We had two hours to explore the palace and gardens before everyone had to meet up for lunch, and that time passed quickly. I was glad that we got a free audio guide though, since I like learning about the purpose and history of the rooms and what’s in them. I spent about an hour and a half in the palace and then the last half hour in the gardens, which were beautiful but probably are even more so in the summer. 

When Reagan (finally) came to get us, she lead us to the area of the park where we’d be having a picnic. It was a pretty traditional French lunch, with baguettes, various meats, cheeses, and wines. I tried literally everything that Julian brought us, except for the wines. I got a glass of champagne (from a bottle I opened for the first time, with instruction from Dr. Wasser) and one glass of wine. I wanted to try the other two wines Julian brought us, but because everyone in our program is a wine fiend, when I went back for a second glass, everything was gone. Nevertheless, the picnic was great and probably my favorite part of the entire Paris trip. It ended on a high note, with an impromptu yell-practice for Pull-Out Day. There was a couple walking by when we did it who were actually graduates from A&M, and they yelled “Gig ‘em!” when they heard us. 

When we got back to Paris, we had free time but Julian took some of to the Arch de Triumph because he said everyone should see it when in Paris. Apparently, since it’s all stone, it weighs something like five times what the Eiffel Tower does, even though the Eiffel Tower is five times the size of the Arch de Triumph. We had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the top, but it was so worth it. The view was incredible! I could see everything from Sacré Coeur to the Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower and then some. After the Arch de Triumph, I went with Joshua and Ana to Sacré Coeur, which was beautiful and had some more great views of the city. Joshua and I wanted to climb to the top, but we would have had to pay for it and we were running out of time before we all had to be back at the hotel for dinner. 

We went to a fancy restaurant for dinner and everything was absolutely delicious: wine, dinner, and dessert. I even got a second dessert because Mats didn’t want one and Julian let me take his portion, since the budget for the dinner was already set. After dinner, we all went to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, we got to the front of the line immediately after they stopped selling tickets to the summit, so we all were only able to go to 2nd floor. It was still a good view of Paris at night, but kind of disappointing that I couldn’t go to the top. Guess I’ll just have to come back to Paris and make it happen. 

Saturday started off with another walking tour with Julian. This walking tour was different from our last one because it was three hours long and we saw a lot more of the city. I was so impressed by the architecture and history everywhere I looked. Paris really is a gorgeous city. We had a break for lunch and I actually got Chipotle - the only one I’ve ever seen in Europe - with Joshua, Vivian, and a few others. It was amazing to have really familiar food again. We ended our walking tour at the Lourve, which was much bigger than I expected it to be. We spent about four hours just in one building and, while it was interesting, a lot of us were feeling pretty run down at the end of it. And, even though Dr. Wasser warned us about it, I was still surprised by how small the Mona Lisa ended up being. I was also disappointed that the largest painting in the world, which was in the same room as the Mona Lisa, was covered up to protect it while renovations were being done. I was actually looking forward to seeing that painting the most and was sad that it didn’t work out. After the Lourve, I went with Marcus and Ryan B. to this a place Julian recommended. Julian had said that this place served his favorite eclairs in Paris and that, once it’s in your mouth, you forget about the price. I originally just bought a sampler of 5 mini macaroons- the one thing I wasn’t leaving Paris without having eaten - but after seeing Ryan’s eclair, I ordered also ordered an eclair for myself. I don’t regret spending 22 euros on these desserts at all because they were life-changing. I don’t think I’ll ever have a better macaroon or eclair. When the three of us went back to the hotel, it was sad to hear about how the others went to a cheaper place and were severely disappointed in their macaroons. 

Dinner Saturday was on our own and I went with Marcus, Ryans, Kevin and Vivian to the Latin quarter for whatever we could find. We wandered around for a while trying to find something with enough space for all of us and a kind of food we could agree on. We ended up at a place that had pate for Ryan to try - although, Vivian and I tried it as well - and some super tasty burgers. Our waitress was really sweet too and, after we had paid for our meals, she invited us all to take a shot with her. Overall, a good way to end my last full day in Paris. 

Today is now Sunday and we were released this morning to travel, but my BlaBla Car ride wasn’t until 1300, so I had enough time to go to Berthillon, an ice cream shop that Mats had recommended. It was the best ice cream I’ve ever had, that’s for sure. While I was there, I met an older lady visiting her daughter, who had just recently started working there. This older woman said that the only place she would eat ice cream was Berthillon because it was the only ice cream she ever liked. I can’t say I don’t understand where she’s coming from. After I finished my dessert for lunch, I started making my way to Shakespeare and Co., a really cool bookstore that was, again, recommended by Mats. I wasn’t in a hurry since the bookstore didn’t open until 12, so I took my time looking for souvenirs and street art - which is where most of the money I spent in Paris went. 

After Shakespeare and Co., I rushed over to where my BlaBla Car was picking me up and then had a two hour drive to Tournai. They had apparently just had a parade for Carneval and everyone was still in costumes and confetti was literally everywhere I looked. Tournai was another cute French town, with a few sites I was able to see before I had to make my way to the train station. While I waited for my train, I grabbed some chicken strips and fries from this fast food place across the street. I mention it because they gave everything to me wrapped up in parchment paper, which reminded me of whenever I would get fish and chips to-go in Australia. Also, these were the best chicken strips I’ve ever had in my life. I know I’m saying that about a lot of different foods during this trip, but that just shows how amazing the food is everywhere you go in France. Anyway, I caught my train and made all of my transfers until I got to Brugge, where I am now. I caught a bus to my AirBnB and met my host just a bit ago. She’s super sweet and the space is really nice. Now, all I have to do is figure out what to do while I’m in town. Brugge has more to see than I initially thought, so it will be difficult to do everything I want to do. Even if I can’t though, I know I’ll have a good time here. 

What's a Week Without at Least One Exam? (Week 10)

Coming back from spring break Monday morning wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be. I got in around 2200 Sunday night, but that still allowed for about eight hours of sleep, which was really nice. I had a few assignments due during the week, but what I stressed about the most was the first lab exam, which was Friday morning. Thankfully, the review that Sarah put together was really great and I feel like I did well on the exam. Part of the reason I was so stressed was because we also have our second physiology exam next week. Basically, spring break was the only week within a month-long time period where there wasn’t an exam. 

Honestly, I didn’t do a whole this week outside of school work. But there were a few interesting things that happened with my host family. First, Astrid brought the snake out of the fridge and hibernation to put him in his cage. She also took me out Saturday to ride her horse, who was really sweet. It was pretty cold out, but besides that the ride was nice. Today, Sunday, I also got to see a toaster from the 60s. Astrid pulled out her grandmother’s old toaster when two of the slots in their 4-slice toaster stopped working right before the family brunch this morning. It was pretty interesting to see and surprising that Astrid still had this toaster. 

And On the Sixth Day, God Created Man(chester) - And Basically All of the UK and Ireland (Week 9)

It's spring break! I have 10 days to see and do pretty much whatever I want - so I decided to spend all of it in the UK and Ireland. I started off in Manchester and, since I spent the night at the airport, the first thing that I did when I got to the AirBnB was take a nap. I was in Manchester for three nights but took a day trip to Liverpool, which was pretty cool. I think that Sean and Ryan would have liked it because of all of the Beatles history. After Manchester, I was in Edinburgh, which was such a cool and beautiful city. Since I was in Scotland, I had to try haggis. I played it kind of safe by getting in a soup, but it was actually one of the best meals I've had the whole trip. I was in Edinburgh for two days and then spent a day in Glasgow. Glasgow had a lot to see, but it was a bit hard to get around the city because their subways aren't very developed. But it was more than Edinburgh had, which was something to appreciate. It was a really nice way to round out my trip in Scotland and the people were super nice.

From Glasgow, I flew to Dublin and checked in to my pretty awesome hostel. The ammenities were great and the receptionists were always helpful. They offered city tours, but I wasn't able to do any of them because of my day trips. The first full day I was in Dublin, I actually spent on a tour to the Cliffs of Moher. The trip itself was a lot of fun because I ended up sitting in the guide's seat at the front of the tour bus with the driver. He was a funny guy and, again, very nice. I've always loved costlines with cliffs, but the ones at Moher were definitely the most beautiful ones I'd ever seen. Only the coastline of Esperance in Australia would come close, at least from my own experiences so far. The second day I was in Dublin I spent on a tour to Belfast and Giant's Causeway. The weather wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, so we couldn't go to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which I was really wanting to do. That was disappointing, but the tour guide and driver took us to a castle instead, which was interesting to see.

My last day in Dublin I did actually spend in Dublin, since it was St. Patrick's Day. I had met up with Madyson, Ryan, Kevin and Joshua the night before for some drinks and to catch up and we all planned to meet up again to watch the parade together. Unsurprisingly, the crowds prevented that from happening, and I ended up on the opposite side of the street from everyone else - we were able to see each other though, which was funny. The parade itself was exciting to see, although shorter than I expected. Anyway, all of us met up after the parade ended and hung out for a while before the others had to go back to their hotel to get their bags. I got some lunch and a half dozen donuts from stores near my hostel and then headed to the airport myself. The five of us met up again at the airport and made our way back to Bonn together. Overall, spring break was one of the best weeks of my life and it ended on a really high note since I was able to spend time with the others.

Spring Break Prep (Week 8)

This week was all about getting my assignments done before Spring Break. My flight out of Cologne is early Saturday morning, so there were a few due Friday and Saturday that I wanted to get done a bit early. Honestly, though, up until Wednesday, I was just concerned about the second genetics exam. Genetics was pretty much the only thing I did until Wednesday night, when we took the exam. In the few hours before the test, I was quizing Youngjun on all of my notes for the six chapters being tested. That was a really helpful review for me too and we got to clarify a few facts talking with Lindsay, who joined in for a bit. The exam itself went really well and I guessed correctly on a couple of questions, which I know because I googled said questions right after the exam. I was a bit worried though because I thought it was a pretty easy exam, even easier than the first test we had, but a few of the others came out of the exam saying it was really hard. So I didn't know what to think for a while. Just going to move past it and wait for grades, I guess.

I had one big assignment due later in the week, which my third writing assignment for Health Systems Planning; unfortunately, it took me longer than I thought it would. For Exploratory Narrative, I had to post a reflection of the two short stories, which was also due Wednesday, respond to others' reflections, and then do two peer reviews for our writing assignment from last week. My reflection being due Wednesday meant that I stayed up late to finish it. I didn't think it was worth completing before the genetics exam, since I wanted that time to review. The peer reviews and responses weren't a big deal though and I got through those pretty quickly on Friday.

Unfortunately, because of the exam and packing, I didn't get to spend much time with Astrid or Naja this week. It's Saturday now and my flight is at 0620 but I've been at the airport since around 2300 last night. The bus from Bonn to the Cologne airport (a 30-minute ride) doesn't start running until 0530 Saturdays, so I had to spend the night at the airport. I was really hoping to never have to do that again after Bergamo, especially since there is limited WiFi and very few outlets to charge my devices. In the future, I'll probably think twice when weighing the savings of an early flight to the discomfort and lack of sleep that comes with a night at the airport.

Karneval, Not Carnival (Week 7)

This week was a short one since we got Thursday and Friday off for Karneval, the Rhineland's pre-Lent celebration. But it was still quite stressful since everyone had the first physiology exam on Wednesday. BMEN and BIMS took different exams, since we cover different topics in class. I don't think the exam was hard, necessarily, but there were a few questions that were very confusing due to the wording. Of course, a couple of questions I just couldn't remember the pathways being asked about, so that's on me. But now that I have a better idea as to the structure of Dr. Wasser's exams, I think I'll be able to do a bit better on the next exam.

We got our grades back for the genetics exam, which was good. I scored a bit above average, so I'm feeling pretty secure there. Just have to keep it up for the next two exams and the final. I'm thinking that I'll take all of the exams before the final, that way the comprehensive final isn't weighted any more. I would just get so stressed and worried about my performance on the final if it counted for more than the 25% it already does. Skipping exam two or three would make the final count for 50% of my grade, since the exams are all we have. I just can't handle that pressure. Exam one wasn't very hard, so I don't think it'll be a problem to take the rest of the exams.

Thursday, all of the students part of an AIB program were part of the Karneval parade in Beuel. Everyone met at the new AIB building, picked up a sweatshirt, and picked up either a blue or orange bob wig. The sweatshirts apparently ran a bit small, so I can't wear the hood on my medium sweatshirt without the fabric on the shoulders being pulled up. But it's comfy, so I'll probably use it around the house, at least. The wigs were terrible and made me flashback to the Enigmatic show that Johnson High School did. Since I was in the color guard, I had the same wig, just platinum blonde and not blue. Didn't want to ever wear a wig again but it was for a parade, so I sucked it up for the morning. Being in the parade, we all got bags full of candy to throw out to onlookers. I was a bit too generous early on, unfortunately, and didn't have much to give in the last half of the parade. Also, going through the candy, we all found some really odd ones. One of them was a lollipop contained in a plastic shell- a supreme choking hazard- and mini cheeto-esque chips with a candy coating. There was plenty of Haribo gummies, and I will admit to enjoying a few of those myself. 

Didn't do too much the rest of the weekend. I was just doing my writing assignment for VIBS 311 and preparing for the next genetics exam on Wednesday. I did all of the chapter questions, because that helped me a lot in the last exam, and then reviewed the PowerPoint presentations. Pretty boring Karneval weekend compared to some peoples', I'm sure. Actually, my host mom's older daughter was in town for a few days this weekend for Karneval. She and Naja went out to some of the parades and different things in town and seemed to have a good time.

Today, Monday, we also have no class because it's Rosen Montag, which is the biggest day of Karneval with the biggest parades. I thought about going to the parade in Cologne, but I wasn't feeling up to dealing with literally a million other people and possibly not being able to get back to Bonn on the train. Instead, I just went to the parade in Bonn for a bit, which was still quite nice to see. The weather was pretty bad and it started raining pretty badly about 1.5 hours into the parade, and at that point I decided to just go home. I collected a bit of candy, or Kamelle, that was thrown by the people on the floats, mostly gummies, of course. Some of the kids around me, though, were getting a lot of candy and their moms were vicious in helping them grab as much candy as fast as possible. One girl almost got run over by a float because she went out into the road to pick up a little chocolate bar. 

The parade was nice before it started raining, but I didn't stay too long. This whole week I was feeling pretty worn out and I wasn't up to staying for the entire parade, especially in the rain. But I'm glad I went for a bit because it was still fun and you can't not do something for Rosen Montag. 

The World Is My Runway (Week 6)

This week was pretty relaxed as far as classes go. We had our genetics exam last week, so not too much happening there. I did have my first final writing assignment for my biomedical narrative course. My goal for that assignment was to finish it and turn it in before Friday, when I left for Milan, but that didn't happen.

Two big events did happen this week: an enmodes meeting and a trip to Uniklinik. The enmodes meeting wasn't too bad, since we were just presenting some really basic ideas for solutions to the problem we chose to concentrate on, which was hemocompatibility. Our presentations all seemed to go pretty well and the people from enmodes were helpful pointing out areas to focus on. And the lunch that we had afterwards was super tasty. They brought in soups and one of them had this mashed potato base that you put in the bowl first, before adding the beef soup. I wish I knew where the soup was from, because I would totally go for more on my own time. 

The Uniklinik trip was pretty cool and interesting because we got to observe different surgeries. We were split up into BMEN and BIMS and visited on different days. What was nice about that is whichever group wasn't going to the hospital had the day off of class. Honestly, I wasn't very productive on my day off. I did a bit of studying and a little bit of work on my writing assignment, but no significant progress was made. Since BIMS had Wednesday off, I still had my genetics lecture at 1945, which was the only annoying part of the day. Thursday, when I got to go to Uniklinik, I had to get up earlier than normal and we took a long bus ride to the outskirts of Bonn. 

When we got to the hospital, we dropped off our stuff, got split up into groups, and went through a dressing room to get scrubs, hair nets, etc. before passing over to the "clean" side of the hospital, where the surgeries took place. The surgery I watched first was where this old man was getting a colostomy bag. It was hard to get a good look at what was going on because of the surgeons and nurses working on the guy, but I was still able to watch some of what was going on. I talked to the anesthesiologist for a bit about the patient and the kinds of things he has track. He told me about the brain waves that are monitored so the patient isn't sedated too deeply but also so they don't wake up during surgery. I also learned about this tool that the surgeon used, which utilized an electrical current to basically cauterize the incisions, so the patient doesn't bleed all over the place. I also learned a bit about the patient himself. He was older, in his 60s, and had very poor heart health. The anestesiologist told me that his heart output was about 30% of what is normal and throughout the surgery, he had multiple arythmias that set off alarms on the monitors. 

The second surgery I saw was quite similar, but it was a much younger patient getting a colostomy bag removed. She had been in the ICU for around six months after developing a severe infection throughout her abdominal cavity. I guess that she had recovered enough for her bag to be removed, which is really good for her. It's also really nice for people such as this woman, who are in the hospital long-term, that Germany has the health care system it does. I don't even want to think about how much that kind of care would cost someone in the US. What was really weird was that when the bag was first removed, there was a little piece of the woman's intestine sticking out of her abdomen. I could see it pulsing with her heart beat as it was outside of her body. For this surgery, I had a better vantage point, so I could see the different layers of tissue the surgeon cut through- the skin, fat, and muscle- to get to the intestine. I left before the surgery was over because our time as a group at the hospital was up. We could have stayed longer individually, but I wasn't positive that I'd be able to find my way back on my own, so I left with the others. Before we left, while we were waiting for everyone to meet up, I also got the chance to peak in on an open-heart surgery. That was pretty amazing, to clearly see someone's exposed heart. I saw the beating of the heart during the second surgery I watched, but that was through the diaphragm. Seeing the open-heart surgery was definitely the hightlight of the day. 

On the personal side of things, this weekend I was in Milan. To be honest, despite the title of the post, I wasn't able to see any fashion shows while in Milan for the end of Fashion Week. Only one show was open to the public and it was for a brand I'd never heard of and on Sunday evening, so that wasn't going to work with my plans. But I did pass by/through a photo shoot, saw some interesting street styles, and can still say I've been in Milan for Fashion Week, so I'm satisfied with how things went. For now.

There was actually a group of us, but we were all staying in different places and everybody wanted to see something different than I did, so I ended up by myself for the trip, until we were getting on the plane at the airport. We got in to Milan Friday night and ran into a girl from Florida who was there for fashion week. She had been to Milan before and told us about this great little family-run place, Ristorante Da Oscar. The group of us went with her to the restaurant and were lucky enough to get the last table with room for the six of us. Pretty much everyone got one of the pastas with the Sauce de Oscar, which was super yummy. Definitely would recommend this place for anyone visiting Milan. 

After we split up to go to our respective accomodations, I didn't see anyone the rest of the weekend. Mostly because the others wanted to see Lake Como on Saturday and Sunday and I wanted to see Milan, Turin and Bergamo. I had and itinerary planned that would have let me split Saturday between Milan and Turn and then spend Sunday in Bergamo, but I planned it based on when everything opened in Milan. Come Saturday morning, I found out that everything actually opened up later than what I had found online and once I was told I wouldn't be able to see the Last Supper until 1630, I knew my plan was completely shot and Turin wouldn't be happening. That was pretty disappointing since Turin is supposed to be the chocolate capital of Italy and there's a church there that has the supposed burial shroud of Jesus, which has the image of his face basically scanned on to it. I say scanned because I saw in a documentary that a scan, as with a copy machine, is the only kind of light exposure that would produce the image that is on the cloth. 

Since I had the whole day in Milan, though, I was able to take my time seeing everything, which really wasn't much, and do a few extra things. I ended up going back and forth across the city just because I wanted to see some sites before other places opened and then found out I'd be there the whole day, and revisted most of what I saw in the morning. I went to Santa Maria delle Grazie, found out they opened much later than I thought, then walked into town to see other sites while I killed time. I went to Sforza Castle, which also opened later than I thought, then the Cathedral and Palazzo Reale, and the Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore before returning to Santa Maria delle Grazie. Buying the ticket from Santa Maria delle Grazie was my priority for the morning, since I didn't want them to sell out, and I made sure to get to the church when the ticket office opened. Even then, the only single ticket that was available for Saturday was for the 1630 tour. The tours are only 15 minutes, in an effort to preserve The Last Supper, since it's not a typical fresco and was already deteriorating during da Vinci's lifetime. 

Realizing that Turin wasn't happening, I went back to Sforza Castle to see their museums. It was actually really interesting because I got to see Michelangelo's Pietà. Even unfinished, it still holds a lot of meaning due it's portrayal of suffering and is a unique portrayal of many moments of Jesus' life. There's also work by da Vinci at the castle, in the Sala delle Asse, but it's been undergoing restoration since 2013 and is not open to the public. 

The Egyptian museum was also closed for renovations, which was disappointing, but there was still a lot of medieval and renaissance works to see, along with Roman ruins, an armory, and an interesting book display that taught about how various forms of damage occur to books, such as water damage, rats eating pages, cuttings of illustrations, and the effects of some inks. 

Next, I walked through Parco Sempione to see the Arco delle Pace, which was impressive. After a few photos there, I walked to Brera, a smaller neighborhood on the NE side of the city with a bunch of cute shops, restaurants, and lots of charm. I got a pizza for lunch, because it's Italy, at a place called El Beverin. Best pizza I've ever had thus far in my life. Everything about it was absolutely delicious. 

After lunch, I still had about 2.5 hours before my tour to see The Last Supper. I hit up the Teatro Alla Scala next and went into the museum. The most impressive thing about the museum, for me, was all of the old instruments and the history of the building itself. Apparently, the theatre burned down multiple times and pretty much every time it was rebuilt, it was financed by wealthy patrons in exchange for ownership of the boxes. I also found out that they had matinee seats for €18. I had to put my name on a list (#119, A-WHOOP!) and then come back at 1730 for them to go through the list and give tickets to the people who were there. The opera that night was Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's Cenerentolla, which is basically another version of the Cinderella story. For €18, I couldn't not see it. 

With still more time to kill, I went into the Palazzo Reale, a super high-end shopping mall by the Milan Cathedral (the Duomo). I just walked through it though, since I'm not bougie enough to be able to afford anything from the stores there. After that, I went to the cathedral again and got a ticket to go inside the cathedral and museum and up to the roof. I didn't end up going into the museum, unfortunately, because I ran out of time. As the third largest cathedral in Europe, the Duomo is an impressive feat of architecture. On both the outside and the inside, there is so much detail in the columns, glass, etc. that it's hard to absorb. After almost 200 stairs, the views from the roof were amazing too, since you could see most of Milan by walking around the cathedral. I couldn't go up any of the spires, so it wasn't the panoramic view that we got at the Cologne Cathedral, but still quite breathtaking. 

This picture is from the morning, when there weren't many people out because of how cold it was.

And, finally, it was time for me to go back to Santa Maria delle Grazie to see the famous Last Supper mural. Unfortunately, when I got there, I discovered that at some point in the day I had lost my ticket. I was almost crying at the desk to the church, digging through my purse and bag of souvenirs and receipts. Since I didn't buy it online, there was no way for them to look up my ticket. But the guy at the front had mercy on me and said that if I bought another ticket, he would still let me in with my group. That was really amazing of him because he also said that tickets for the next few weeks were sold out. So I ran over to the ticket office and bought another €10 ticket, ran back to the museum entrance where the guy wrote 1630 over the time printed on the ticket, and then caught up with the tour group in the room where the mural is. Since I was late, I didn't get a headset from the tour guide and had to stick by her the whole time we were in there. She was an excellent guide though and pointed out so many details that I wouldn't have noticed or thought about and explained each of their meanings. After she explained some of the details, I had a better appreciation for the movement and emotion of the work. And I'll say that the mural is much larger than I expected it to be, spanning the entire wall of one end of the dining room in which it is located. There is also another mural in the dining room, on the opposite wall. It's by a different master artist of a completely different style. That fresco took 6 months to finish, compared to the 4 years it took to complete The Last Supper, but is a flat, traditional renaissance style. The Last Supper, by comparison, is much more life-like and impressive. Leonardo da Vinci's use of light and perspective was truly masterful. 

Once that short, 15-minute tour was over, I headed back to the Teatro alla Scala to secure my ticket for the opera. Just a few minutes into my walk though, I accidently walked through a photo shoot. There was a guy on the side walk who tried to talk to me but he was speaking Italian and I was in a hurry, so I just kept going. There was an asian woman modelling a dress and a photographer and a few other people were standing around a car parked by the sidewalk. I didn't notice until I was already in their way, since the street was curved. But at least they got a picture of my good side.

I arrived at the theatre about ten minutes before they started calling numbers. I met this really nice woman from Lebanon, Zineb, and we talked while we waited. She was in town for fashion week too but wasn't able to see any of the shows. Both of us were able to get a ticket and when we lined up to pay, we started talking to the group in front of us. It was a daughter, mother, and grandmother from the US. The daughter, Mia, is actually studying abroad in France but her mom and grandmother surprised her by coming to Europe to visit and they were all vacationing for a bit in Florence, before ending their trip in Milan. They were all really nice and funny. It took forever to pay for our tickets, so we only had about half an hour before the theater opened for the show. I went with my fellow Americans to a little restaurant/café by the theater for a light dinner and then we said our goodbyes when we had to split up to find our seats. 

The theater itself is gorgeous and the opera was entertaining, even though I had no idea what was being said. The opera was in Italian and the supertitles were also in Italian, so that was helpful. The opera itself, La Cenerentola, was a different take on the Cinderella story than I am familiar with. In this story, the prince disguises himself as his own valet and his valet pretends to be the prince. This way, in his search for a bride, he can observe the aspiring brides and figure out their true intentions and personalities. Instead of a cruel stepmother, Cenerentola/Angelina has a cruel stepfather, which was unexpected but her stepsisters are the same vain and arrogant girls as the Disney story. Basically, the prince falls in love with Cenerentola as soon as he sees her, when delivering the invitation to the ball disguised as a valet. Cenerentola's stepfather doesn't take her to the ball with her stepsisters, but she is accompanied by the prince's tutor, who Cenerentola treated well when he pretended to be a beggar in order to inspect her stepfather's palace. At the ball, the prince suspects the beautiful lady who arrives late to be Cenerentola, which it is, of course. His valet, still pretending to be the prince, proposes to Cenerentola, but she declines and says she loves the fake prince's valet. When the real prince hears, he reveals his identity and Cenerentola gives him one of her bracelets before running off, I guess agreeing to marry him if he can find her. When the prince searches for the mysterious lady, a storm causes his carraige to breakdown outside of Cenerentola's stepfather's castle, where he seeks refuge. While there, he sees the matching bracelet of the one given to him at the ball on Cenerentola's wrist and declares his love and reveals his identity. The last act is the wedding, where I think Angelina also asked for the prince to forgive her family. 

The cast all had impressive voices, of course, but my one complaint was that the leading male actor, the prince, didn't project his voice very well. It was so hard to hear him from my seat any time he had a part to sing. And if other people were singing too, he was just completely drowned out. Besides that, the entire show was quite impressive. The stage design and costumes were both unique and beautiful and the story was entertaining, even without me knowing exactly what was being said. All in all, I'm very glad that I ended up spending the whole day in Milan and got to experience the opera at Teatro alla Scala. 

Cenerentola/Angelina's entrace at the ball.

The wedding at the end of the opera.

The last thing I did in Milan was walk back to the Palazzo Reale and spin on my heel three times on top of the bull. According to Mia, it's supposed to be good luck and, sure enough, when I went there was a little line of people taking turns spinning around on their heels. So many people have done this that there is actually an indent in the floor! Honestly, I'm just hoping for a good GPA this semester. 

Come Sunday, I left Milan and caught a bus back to the Bergamo airport, where we were flying out of. From the airport, I bought an all-day pass for the bus to Bergamo and transportation in the city. Since I only had my one Nomatic backpack, I decided not to worry about finding a luggage storage place and just carried it around with me during the day. I spent all day in Upper Bergamo (Città Alta) and it was exactly what I imagined an old city in Italy to be. There was cobblestone everywhere, narrow streets, lots of hills, and even Roman ruins. I got off the bus at the Funiculare station in Lower Bergamo (Città Bassa), which is where you catch the funicular coach up 85 meters to Città Alta, passing through Bergamo's ancient Venetian walls on the way to the upper station. At first, I just walked around the upper city, exploring pretty leisurely. There was one shop I found, Trattoria da Ornella, that had pizzas bought by the slice, but the slices were rectangular and quite large and made to be carried out. They also had a bakery, but I didn't buy anything sweet to go with my pizza because I don't have three arms to hold everything. This pizza was not quite as good as the one I had in Milan, but it was still one of the best pizzas I've ever had the pleasure of consuming. 

As I ate, I walked around some more and I ended up going all the way over to the northern gate, Porta San Lorenzo, and then working my way back around the outer edge of the walls to southern gate, Porta San Giacomo. After that, I headed back to the main part of the city to see the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, which dates back to 1137 when it was built on the ruins of a church (also dedicated to St Mary) from the 8th century, which was built over a Roman temple. Adjacent to the church is the Cappella Colleoni, the personal church and mausoleum of Bartolomeo Colleoni and his daughter, Medea, who were part of one of Bergamo's most outstanding families. I couldn't take pictures inside of the chapel, but I was allowed to take photos of the basilica's interior. The amount of detail in nearly every inch of the basilica blew my mind. The ceilings are incredibly intricate, there are statues everywhere, and large paintings and/or tapestries are on every wall. On another side of the same plaza is the Duomo di Bergamo, or Cattedrale di Sant'Alessandro. This is another impressive, neo-classical church that is apparently the seat of the Bishop of Bergamo. It is built on the site of an older cathedral dedicated to St Vincent but was dedicated to St Alexander (the patron saint of Bergamo) when the cathedral was rebuilt. 

Next, I went across the plaza, to where there was a special exhibit going on at the museum. The exhibit was super interesting because it was all about how Bergamo came to be. People have pretty much always lived in the area but, as a city, Bergamo started off as a Roman outpost and developed further due to its central location for trade, fertile land, and defensible position. The exhibit had a lot of Roman artifacts on display, which was pretty cool, in addition to an enlarged replica of an ancient map of the Roman empire that included Bergamo. 

Of course, one of the things on my list of things to do in Italy was to have gelato. So that's what I did next, as a snack before dinner. I went to Gelateria Cherubino and got a cone with three different flavors: Kinder, Fragola (strawberry), and Nocciola (hazelnut). I haven't had gelato in Germany yet, since most of the shops are still closed for the season, so I don't have another European location with which to compare my Italian gelato, but I will confirm that gelato in Italy is exquisite. 

While enjoying my gelato, I made way to Torre del Gombito, a 52-meter-tall medieval tower. The corner on which the tower is located is part of the intersection of the ancient Roman streets il cardo and il decumano, which is super cool. Next, I went to an archaeological site where archeaologists have unearthed remains of civilizations, including Roman, going back to prehistory. 

The last site that I saw in Bergamo was Rocca, a 15th century bastion that houses the Museo del Risorgimento, which was closed because it was Sunday. It would have been interesting to see the museum because it's all about the struggle for Italian independence from Austria. Anyway, since Rocca is at the top of a hill, views of Bergamo cover a full 360 degrees. The city from up there was beautiful, especially with the sun starting to set. 

To finish out my day in Bergamo, I decided to have dinner at Da Mimmo. The restaurant has existed since 1956 and is famous for pizza, since it's one of the first pizzarias in Bergamo. But, since I had already had pizza twice while in Italy, I decided to balance the pizza out with a second pasta dinner. I ordered the slow-cooked tagliatelle in a cheese sauce and it was so delicious. There really wasn't too much to it, but this was absolutely one of the best pastas I've ever had in my life. The house wine was quite nice as well, not as amazing as the pasta but still good. Although, thinking about it, I think the wine at Oscar's from Friday night was better. The downside of the restaurant, for me, was the service. I was seated next to where they kept the little bags of bread and small plates for appetizers. The waitress wouldn't look at me and never took my order. Instead, I grabbed my own bag of bread and plate and the host from the front is the one who took my order and interacted with me. When I was full, I finally got the waitress to talk to me and asked for a take-away box, so it wasn't as if she couldn't understand any English to the point where she couldn't have served me. And when she took my plate to put it in a container, she didn't even let me keep the last full piece of bread that I had left. Nope, just the pasta in my little box, which was frustrating. I'll just say that, at least for Americans, service will probably not be the best at this restaurant and the food, while amazing, doesn't hide that fact. So my last impression of Italy was a mixed bag: great food but difficult people.

After dinner, I headed back down the funicular and caught the bus to the airport, and got there around 2100. The airport was another bad impression to leave with because I waited in the security line for half an hour, only to be told I couldn't check in until 0300 since my flight wasn't until 0600. The airport also had no outlets, only charging stations that you had pay for. I was wandering around, trying to figure out how I was going to spend the next nine hours and was lucky to find that the chapel in the airport had no less than four outlets for me to choose from. Unfortunately, they apparently close the chapel, along with most of the airport at eleven. I was actually yelled at to get out of the chapel and then when I found an open seat that I could sleep in, I was kicked out of that too because it was apparently in the area of the airport being closed. Once again, I was blessed to find an open few seats, where I tried to lay out. It wasn't very comfortable though and I don't think I ever really fell asleep. At 0300, I was at the roped-off section of the airport waiting to be let in so I could go through security but they only let people through on an earlier flight and didn't actually let me or anyone else through until 0400. So now, after about 20 minutes spent getting through security, I'm finally at the gate I wanted to be at 7.5 hours ago. But it's fine. I'm fine. 

Class is going to be extremely hard to get through today. 

What Day Is It, Again? Oh Yeah- My Birthday. (Week 5)

I actually had this thought when I woke up Friday morning. Honestly, this entire week the days were blurring together. I was so exhausted from all the travel. Of course, I really enjoyed getting to be in four different countries over the last week and a half, but it really took a lot out of me. This week I just wanted to get back into some kind of routine.

As far as classes go, I was really focused on genetics, since we had our exam on Wednesday. Everyone back in Texas took it last Wednesday when we were in Vienna. But even though we had a full extra week before we had to take the exam, I really wasn't able to get much extra studying done because of all the traveling. I feel pretty good about the exam though. There were only a few questions I felt two answers could have worked, so I think I'll pull out a B. Something interesting from this week though, is that there was a pharmacology workshop for everyone on Monday and Tuesday. There are only a few people taking pharmacology, so it was a chance for the rest of us to learn more about how drugs are manufactured and we even got into a bit of toxicology. The toxicology was probably the most interesting part for me. I always thought it was interesting that dosage determines toxicity. The workshop was also interesting because of the fact that our enmodes project working with ECMO units can affect drug delivery in ECMO patients. The use of ECMO units actually results in drug sequestration very early on, which only gets worse over time and can make it difficult to determine the proper dosage for patients. It's a difficult problem to address but would be worth considering for the project, I think, since reducing drug sequestration would reduce the amount of monitoring a patient would need.

I got to watch another Harry Potter with Astrid on Thursday night. It was the third movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban. Honestly, I think Lupin as the name of the new teacher was too on-the-nose, but I liked his character. It was a bit surprising and disturbing that Ron's rat turned out to be Pettigrew. And I don't understand how Harry and Hermione could go back in time and not think about catching him since there was enough time between when Pettigrew got away and Lupin fought Sirius, but what do I know?

Friday was my birthday and it was a pretty relaxed day. In the morning, everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and I got a cake, which is always a plus. We only had a few classes, so I got to go home early and even went running. I even got an extra award on my Nike app because I ran on my birthday. Later in the evening, I went to Drachenfels castle with Sean to see the light show. It actually turned out to be an entire exhibit by one artist, with pieces all over the castle grounds and in the castle itself. Some of the displays were pretty weird, but it was a fun night overall. When I got home, it was even better because I could have some of the zucchini cake that Astrid and Naja made for me. It was so good and much sweeter than I expected.

Saturday, I went to Cologne with Sean. We originally planned to go around eight, but I woke up feeling really sick, so we pushed it back until ten. The first thing we did was go to the Ludwig Art Museum. They have one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe, which was pretty cool. I don't think that I'll ever really understand the finer points and meanings behind some art pieces. There was one display that was basically a big bundle of interwoven clothing tags with the artist's name on them. Apparently, the piece was supposed to question the value of goods and people. I didn't even realize that the little clothes were supposed to be clothes tags, so.... Anyway, after that, we went for lunch at Früh. I got their goulash and it was super tasty, as expected. The bread was really good too, especially with the goulash. Next, we stopped by the Fragrance Museum because we thought they actually sold the original Eau de Cologne that we were looking for. But they actually only sold the brand's more modern perfumes and colognes. They did have a tour about the history of the brand and cologne, but it was an hour long, so we decided to just head to our next and most important destination: the Chocolate Museum.

It was a bit of walk to get there, but we went along the Rhine and got to enjoy some scenery, so it wasn't bad at all. The Chocolate Museum was definitely my favorite place, for a number of reasons. First, they had a great layout for the museum that guided you through the process of making chocolate from the growing of the tree to the actual production of chocolate pieces. Second, part of the first area of the museum had a greenhouse area that was super warm and humid with beautiful tropical plants, including the cocoa tree. For a minute, it was like I was back home. Third, we got to see a lot of machinery that is actually used in the production of chocolate, like the roaster and mixer. Some of the machines were even being used so we could see melted chocolate be put into molds, shaken, cooled, and packaged. Fourth, not only could we watch little chocolate pieces be made, but we also got to take a piece directly off the production line! It was just like the Krispy Kreme by my grandparents' house that gives you a free donut off the line if you go in at certain times of the day. And the fifth reason the Chocolate Museum was my favorite place of the day is all of the free (re: included with the price of admission) chocolate! While we waited in line to get our free piece of chocolate off the line, we were given wafer cookies dipped in the chocolate of the museum's famous chocolate fountain and, my favorite, a truffle! We even got more pieces of chocolate when we left!

There was another cool area after the production line where they had a lot of old molds on display and you could watch a worker prepare molds by hand with different types of chocolate. Some of the old molds were much bigger than I expected and a lot of them were super intricate. There was a place where you could order a personalized chocolate bar and watch the chocolatier make it for you, which was pretty cool. I would have done it but the sign said that the service would take 45 minutes, and Sean and I thought we were pretty much done with the tour, so we decided to forgo the personalized chocolate bar. In retrospect, we probably could have ordered one without any issues but it's not a big deal to me since I don't have specialized tastes when it comes to chocolate. I don't need pistachio, strawberry, and marshmallow, which I saw someone else order; I'm happy with pretty basic flavors. Anyway, we probably could have gotten a personalized bar because there was another section of the museum that we didn't realize was as big as it was. This last part was basically all about the culture of chocolate from Meso- and South America to 17th century Europe up to today. I didn't realize that chocolate was available only as a drink for so long, or that ancient and Enlightenment-era people had dishes specifically devoted to chocolate. In fact, the museum mentioned a Prussian lord who had a chocolate service that had over 1,000 pieces!

After some time in the Chocolate Museum's gift shop, Sean and I went to the Lock Bridge. It's the main bridge in Cologne and it's like the lock bridge in Paris, where people place padlocks on the links of the fence along the bridge and throw the key in the water as a symbol of their- hopefully- lifelong long. The side that we were on had tons of locks- it was kind of crazy. The other side of the bridge had a lot, but not as much for some reason. Our last stop for the day was the 4711 Fragrance House, where we were finally able to buy little bottles of the Eau de Cologne. It smelled better than I expected, and there were even a few new scents that I really enjoyed. It's still hard to believe that people used to drink the stuff. Once we got the cologne, we decided to call it a day and headed back to Bonn. Once I was back home, I was just in time to have dinner with the others, which I was afraid I'd missed. Sunday I just slept in and then studied, so nothing too exciting. Overall, the week was fairly relaxed and just what I needed after the constant traveling we'd all been doing. I'm glad that I was able to take it easy and that I was able to see the castle lights before the display is taken down next week.