Baby Break a Sweat

Week 14

This week the cherry blossoms came out in Altstadt (old city). It was gorgeous!! On multiple occasions I went and walked through the main streets of Altstadt to look at the beautiful pink trees. This is a major tourist attraction in Bonn. The streets of Altstadt were full of people taking pictures of themselves amidst such a beautiful landscape. It really feels like springtime now. It's amazing because the winter felt so long and I didn't expect the people of Bonn to essentially "come out of hibernation" after the cold left. It was fun to see everyone dressing up and taking pictures to welcome spring in. I also celebrated the warmth by getting Ice Labour gelato. This is supposedly one of the best gelato places in the world. I was impressed; it was really creamy and rich. I tried the following flavors: milk, stracciatella, chocolate, and melon. All of them were incredible.

Dr. Wasser gave his famous lecture on saunas on Friday to conclude the lecture portion of the History of Medicine course. Although it was long and I may not use the information he taught, I did take something away from the lecture. As I get older, I want to find my passions and pursue them, and Dr. Wasser has done just that. He had created a life for himself that he really enjoys, even if I wouldn't have originally known it was a possible option for a life. I hope I can do something similar.

During this weekend, there was a large flea market at the Rheinau in Bonn. It was huge! We walked along in one direction for over an hour and didn't see even the end. I got a patch from the market and a dreamcatcher, both of which I plan to give to friends.

Other than these things, I spent the week preparing for my finals and tests. It's funny, even the stress and studying here doesn't feel bad. I have loved my time here. It's hard to believe its almost over.

Enmodes, Big Event, Marathon

Week 13

This week was one of the more chaotic weeks of the program because the enmodes presentation provided a time crunch. Every day, classes started at 8:45. On Wednesday, we stayed until around 8 pm and Thursday my group (Team Rafael) stayed until 11:30 pm. Within two days alone, we spent over 25 hours working solely on the project and the presentation. However, I felt really productive and my group worked really well together. We were able to nail our presentation first out of all of the groups. Also, we worked well to get some of the DHF done while working on the presentation. I even got a chance to learn solidworks and really begin to focus on learning that software. I was able to create a fairly complete model of our design and then proceed to animate the important portion of the insertion process. I am proud of my work and want to continue to learn more solidworks.

Overall the presentation went well. I felt like my group really nailed it down during our practice times. It was really rewarding to know that the effort that I put into the project and the presentation was not wasted and the presentation did indeed improve as a result. I will definitely take this lesson with me in the future as I look towards giving a lot more presentations in labs, meetings, classes, jobs, etc.

This weekend was one of my favorites. Big event was a blast! I volunteered with a volunteer fire department. I went to the station and painted the two garages and the inside walls white. It turned out pretty good. The whole time they served us beers and drinks. Afterwards, the chief took us on a ride around the city in the firetruck. I had a strange moment sitting in a firetruck, holding a beer, and looking down a the people we drove by, sitting about eight feet higher up than them. I never thought I would have that experience and it felt surreal. After the ride, the firemen made us a phenomenal BBQ dinner. We sat and ate and talked both in German and in English for almost two hours before we headed home. That night, I went out with Steffi and Bryan. I had a blast getting drinks with the two of them. I wish I had gotten to know them sooner, since I will be leaving in just two weeks.

The next day, I cheered on everyone who ran the Bonn Marathon. I made a big sign that said, "You're Killing It!" with everyone's names who ran written on it. I got a lot of compliments of my sign and I made a lot of people smile while they were running, not only my friends but others too. Some people on the streets stopped me to ask what my sign said. The most interesting was right at the beginning, not 15 minutes after I arrived to my spot for the start of the race across the bridge towards Konrad Adenauer Platz, a man with a camera came up to me and asked if he could take pictures of me with the sign. I agreed and he proceeded to tell me I had a lot of friends. He was a strange guy but seemed very nice. I was so proud of everyone who ran the half marathon and the legs of the full. It is an incredible feat and it made me want to do the equivalent in a biking race, a sport I can still do with my hip. I plan this summer to bike a half century (50 miles), or at least that is the goal. I have gotten tickets to go up to Denver to bike it, and my dad will be coming to cheer me on.

In other developments, I have decided to pursue an architecture minor if I can, specifically a minor in architectural fabrication and product design. I have contacted the advisors and am looking forward to this academic journey. I realized I want a creative outlet because I like visualization and art but in a practical design setting. I have a talent for seeing objects in 3-space and would like to develop this further and see where it can take me. I realized that this minor will provide me will another side of engineering as a more artsy and dynamic realm. This will add to my abilities as a designer and engineer.

Well, I have only a short time left but I have every intention of celebrating it all!

211 Test and Cologne

Week 12

This week was slightly less chaotic and stressful than the one before it. First, it was a shorter week because we got the Monday off . Also, the homework died down a little bit. Instead, the majority of my academic time was spent preparing for the 211 test. On Wednesday I took the test and I think I did well, knock on wood. This time around, I'm more caught up on my blogging so I haven't received the test grades back by the time I am writing this blog. That's a strange thing to celebrate but I will anyways.

Also, we took an excursion to Bingen. Here we visited the Hildegard von Bingen museum. This was pretty cool because I had previously done research on here while in high school. If I remember right, I even had to dress up like her for a school day, so it was cool to visit her hometown. The museum and history of her life and mission was interesting. She was a very strong-willed, determined woman who created a life that she believed in and enjoyed within the frame of her culture and expectations. One thing that remained with me from the experience was the moment she created her own convent. She and the other nuns were going to leave, an action that would be highly disadvantageous for the presiding monk of the monastery. So Hildegard said that it was God's will and left. This strong action made me wonder how much of the decisions she said were "God's will" or "visions from God" were her imparting her incredible knowledge upon the world. However, she was a strong believer so I guess it could be argued that her knowledge derived from God so anything she knew and believed and learned were all derivatives of God's knowledge, so her sharing it in fact imparted God's knowledge upon the world. It was an interesting thought exercise for me.

Illnesses have been running wild here and so many people are going to the doctor. Joseph got sick and went to the hospital. We found out he has appendicitis and had surgery to remove it. Also, Jack has been sick with different things that he has been going to the doctor for. I hope everyone remains healthy from here out; this is such an amazing experience to study abroad and we have only a limited time left. It would be a shame to miss any of it with sickness.

For my weekend travels, my friends and I decided we were a little bit tired of traveling in cars and trains so much and staying in places for such little time. So we stayed near Bonn by going up to Cologne, biking along the Rhine and visiting the Chocolate Museum. I had an amazing time biking. I realized that I really miss just biking and exploring. I want to do more of this back home. It was a wonderful sunny day to explore the paths along the Rhine. My favorite thing at the Chocolate Museum, I got to see how the chocolate is made in the factories. I got to see how the machines are created to ensure precision of wrapping and quality. I couldn't help but flash back to the freshmen marble project when I saw that a color sensor was being used to detect the small black rectangle at the edge of a wrapper to know when to cut the paper strip of wrappers. The system ran so efficiently and effectively. I enjoyed watching it and trying to figure out the technical aspect being it. I guess I am destined to work in a mechanical engineering aspect.

The following day was one of the first warm sunny days that I spent in Bonn, so Camella and I met some friends at the Hofgarten. We intended to have a picnic, but the stores were closed because it was Sunday. We made do with a burger from Uniburger and some Dominos to pass the time. I loved just being out in the sun and enjoying the warmth after the long winter. The grass field was packed with people who had similar ideas. There was even a huge swing, about 20 feet tall that adults were playing with. They would get enough momentum going to loop all the way around the top of the arc. I was impressed just watching them. I am loving the warmer weather!!

Easter

Week 11

The week before Easter was fairly typical. We had 211 homework and worked on the DHF for the enmodes project. Other than that, nothing academic really stood out all that much to me with one exception. Dr. Wasser gave us lectures on Operation T4 and the Nuremberg Trials. These lectures really struck me. It made me consider how humans can do something like determining who to kill and who to not. Also, I was trying to realistically consider how far the Holocaust is different from many other tragedies and systematic discrimination. Dr. Wasser ensured that he included the counter-arguments in the Nuremberg Trials, something I really enjoyed hearing. I agree that the Holocaust was a horrible event but it is taught about in all schools, without acknowledging the complex political and cultural environment of the times and similar events around the world in history and today. I like that he implicated the US to some extent and pointed out a little of the hypocrisy of the placing blame. Of course, I am not arguing that the Holocaust is ok or that the Nazi's committed horrible actions, but I believe the environment of the times and the motivation behind other atrocities should also be considered.

We embarked on our Easter adventure Thursday evening. We drove first to spend the night in an RV park next to the Rhine that had liquid ice for shower water. We drove along the Romantic Road, a popular travel route in Germany. We stopped in Rothenburg for a while to visit the popular churches. Also, Darby, Michelle (her mom), and I climbed the Rathaus tower and overlooked the city. It was a beautifully surreal. Here, I entered a church on Good Friday for the first time ever. Also, the city was all set up for Easter with many of the little shops closed, but with the fountains decked out with strings of painted real egg shells. We enjoyed the sunshine and cheery-nature of the city and went to Munich for the night.

When we arrived in Munich we visited the Rathaus and had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. This was incredible just like it was the previous time I had gone. I ate weißwurst this time with beer and pretzels of course. When we returned the following day, we went to Viktualienmarkt and found some great presents for friends back home with all of the Easter merchandise. I really enjoyed Munich as a city both times that I visited. To me, it seemed very family oriented and fun while being more down to earth and realistic than Berlin. I can only equate Berlin to Austin, TX in that eccentric people seemed to reside there. Munich seemed more like what I imagine Dallas to be, more settled and stable.

From Munich we left to go visit Dachau on our way out of town. The history behind Dachau is incredibly sad. This was the first Nazi work camp. Here, over 188.000 people were held and over 30.000 died. Also, this camp was infamous for medical experimentation on inmates, specifically some of those as part of Operation T4. Even just the simple action of stepping into the ground of the camp was an experience for me. While crossing the threshold of the gate that read "Arbeit macht frei" (work will set you free), I became acutely aware that incredible numbers of the people who had passed that same gate, only did so once and died on the inside of it dreaming of crossing it again. There I stood, waiting to willingly cross it, when so many people would have never dreamed of doing such a thing. I wasn't sure if I could even step foot inside the camp, but finally did so. Inside, I got to see the locations of so many atrocities and consider the depths of the human heart that could commit such things to other humans. We watched a short movie about the history of the camp and got to know more about the procedure and the practices. Finally, we walked out towards a small building, just outside the gates of the camp. I wasn't sure exactly what the building was but went inside. Based off the labels on the walls I walked first into a room where bodies were stored, then into a second corpse storage room. Third, I walked into a room with incinerators and chimneys. Fourth I walked into an empty dark room with no windows or doors and no labeling. I was confused what this room was until I went into the next and read that this was the changing room where the inmates would derobe before entering the room I had just come from, the gas shower. I was shaken to find out I had just walked through a gas chamber. I had to go back into it to take it in more fully. After all of this, I was emotionally exhausted and I had to leave the camp and go back to the RV. I couldn't shake the thought that I had been able to choose when I wanted to be there and when I wanted to leave, but almost two hundred thousand people hadn't had that choice. I had walked freely in places that people would have been shot for walking in 70 years before me.

We left Dachau and headed to Fussen for the remainder of the weekend break. There we visited Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle, as well as some of the churches and shops in town. The castles were surreal and fairytale-like because they were built by Ludwig II, the Bavarian crazy king. We got to hike to a beautiful bridge while it was snowing in a light fluffy way. Also, the castles sit in the Alps, which I have always wanted to see. The inside of the castles was ornate and incredible, but the tours were minorly disappointing because they felt rushed. One of my life goals has become to backpack from city to city along the Alps. I want to go during the summer, backpack into the mountains for a couple days and hike along towards another town and come out the mountains to stay a couple nights there. Then repeat the process all along the beautiful valley.

On Monday we headed back to Bonn, but made a quick stop in Ulm. We got to see the largest church steeple in the world that was the top of a wonderful church. I really liked a large statue of the crucifixion placed at the back of the church opposite the alter. My Monday evening, I was ready to be back home in my bed in Bonn, although the trip was amazing and unforgettable. I am having the most incredible experiences studying abroad. Its amazing to think they are coming to a quick close.

Uniklinik und Berlin

Week 11

When we returned from spring break, we hit the ground running. Engineering homework kicked up with a time crunch before our next systems and signals test and a couple fast approaching deadlines for the 253 Toothbrush Teardown project. I procrastinated with my work this week and only realized towards the end how much I really had. Despite this, I got it all done in time with relative quality I think.

Also this week, I went to visit the Uniklinik with the intent of shadowing surgeries. However, the first time did not go as intended. Instead of shadowing the anesthesiologist, we followed a medical student around who took us to the break room and talked about her schooling, the customs of Germany, and generally found ways to "entertain" us and keep us occupied. The most blatant waste of time was a tour of the hospital and a description of where the best coffee was on campus. We were clearly in the way and wasting everyone's time that took part. Eventually, we talked to the anesthesiologist and got see the last 30 minutes of a surgery where they were closing the wounds. Since we didn't get to experience the shadowing in a complete fashion, Dr. Wasser arranged for us to return the following day and shadow again. We almost returned to the same surgical ward, but it was children's day so we were redirected to renal surgery. I got to see a man get his urethra cleaned out and expanded endoscopically and then a woman get a tumor removed endoscopically from her kidney. I got to ask all the questions I could think of to the anesthesiologist and to the doctors. Both also took the time repeatedly to make sure I had a good view and a good understanding of the process. It was really interesting. Some people had a changing experience during this day in that they left sure they wanted to be doctors, but I still don't have that desire. I want to do engineering and I am sticking to engineering.

I set out this weekend's travels with Darby, Deanna, Camella, Darby's parents (Michelle and Roudy), and Darby's Nanna in an RV that Michelle and Roudy rented. The first night we stopped by a McDonalds to submit homework and ended up camping in the parking lot. The second day we made it up to Berlin for lunch with a friend of Camella. Next we got to see the Brandenburg Gate, with a protest happening in front of it. Ironically, from what I could tell the protest was against the amount of guns in the US and the NRA. I was actually mildly offended by this; although, I agree there needs to be action taken against the amount of gun violence in the US, I think it is an internal affair for the US. We don't protest about what Germany does wrong. I understand that my take on this event was skewed by how little I could understand of the protest (it was in German) and many other factors and therefore was not necessarily my permanent opinion of the matter. We also got to see Checkpoint Charlie and a piece of the wall. We stopped by the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe also. This was incredibly sad. One of the pieces of information that stuck with me was a testament I heard about a Nazi who went home to his family and told the story of his day at the dinner table to his wife and children. That day he had been at a concentration camp shooting the women and children coming off the trains. He said the first load his hand was shaking, but by the third or fourth he was steady and they had made a game. The Nazis would shoot the women and the babies would go flying up in the air, which they would then pick off like pigeons. He told this to his wife and kids as casual dinner conversation. When I heard it, it made me want to throw up a little and this was "normal". I found that horrifying. 

The second day of our travels, we got to see Potsdam and Sanssouci Palace. Sanssouci was a beautiful palace. It was the summer palace of Frederick the Great in the late 18th century. It was really intricate and gorgeous. Also, the garden was massive with so many other places for workers and servants and gardeners and other structure to get away. Just overall, I was incredibly impressed with the infrastructure and design. The US just doesn't have the same history of nobility and extravagance that gives Europe its' historical beauty. 

Spring Break: Barcelona, Rome, Cinque Terra, Bergamo

            If I talked about every moment and every amazing memory from spring break, I’d be writing this blog post exclusively until the moment I arrived back in the US. So instead, I will give a summary and some of the highlight moments. I will start by saying that this spring break was the most amazing time of my life. I got to travel and be fully responsible for myself and do exactly what I wanted to each day. I even got to go to whatever country I wanted to. I think that experience alone helped shape me because it helped me feel more independent and capable. I also had plenty of time to think about my future while on spring break, and I came up with a couple necessities and goals.

1)   I need to travel as part of my life. I have begun realizing how much of the world I haven’t seen even in places that I have been and I want to see so much more and have so many more experiences. I want to see new places and bring people I love there.

2)   Before the end of undergrad, I want to figure out if I want to do industry or research for my biomedical career. If I do industry, I want to join a consulting or broader company where I am not specialized to a type of engineering so I can evaluate my options while working many different areas (and preferably traveling). That way I can see what I want to do with valuable experience and gauge whether or not that specific field requires a masters or not and go from there. Otherwise, if I determine I want to do research as a career field, I want to start graduate school directly after undergraduate school and get my PhD (preferably not in Texas so I can explore and experience a new place).

3)   I want to spend my life adventuring even in tiny ways and doing new things. Mini adventures could even be finding out who lives down the street. Thoreau always discussed how there is more to discover is a 10-mile radius from you than you will ever find. I want to know my radius well and have so many fun days finding it.

4)   Books and experiences are not meant to be memorized; they are to plant seeds for later. Even all of these experiences aren’t meant to be remembered exactly and it’s ok if I don’t see everything in a place I visit because I am just getting the seeds of ideas and the seeds of a life that I will live.

Now I can start telling about my spring break experiences.

            I travelled to my first destination was Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, with Austen Fricks and Vijay Sinha. We got to see were the beach, the Picasso Museum, the Segrada Familia, the arc and the central park, Park Guell, some incredible fountains, and an awe-inspiring art museum. I also had an amazing seafood Paella dinner and some sangria. I thought I would be a bigger fan of sangria but I think it was just too sweet for even me, the person who puts two heaping spoonfuls of sugar in a small coffee cup. However, the most sight to me was the Segrada Familia, it is a modern cathedral still under construction. They are building it to the plans of Antoni Gaudi, a famous Barcelonan architect. He took over the plans of his mentor, who had planned a gothic cathedral for the location. However, when the crypt was famous, Gaudi had become famous for some other projects he had designed around the city of Barcelona and therefore he designed a new modern cathedral on top. Many of the design features mimic nature, as Gaudi’s style tended too and the church gives the feeling of a lit up forest. His plans are not down to every detail and many of it is left up to the interpretation of current artists such as the design of the stained glass, the style of the entrances, and many other factors. This has helped keep the building modern and changing with the times. It is a beautiful building and by far my favorite church I have seen in Europe because its so different. It will be completed in 2026, and I plan to go back and see the completed state.

Next stop on the best spring break trip ever was Rome. We arrived Tuesday evening and stayed in a wonderful Airbnb. By this point, Austen and I had become good travel buddies because we both had a sense for different things and we were acting more like siblings than anything else, but we got mistaken for something else a couple times. For example, while we were in Rome, some people stopped me and asked for a picture, and then when I gave their phone back, they asked if I wanted a picture and pointed towards Austen. That happened a couple times, but it got even funnier when it happened and the people asking pointed to a complete stranger, implying that I was dating him. However, the sights of Rome were incredible! My favorites were the coliseum, the forum, and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The forum was outdoors so we were able to explore around in an ancient Roman marketplace. It was an incredible outdoor museum and was like a dream to adventure in. Also, while entering the forum, I meet two deaf people communicating in sign language so I attempted to communicate back. However, I only speak American Sign Language but they knew sign language from another country so we were not able to communicate much. I could tell they did appreciate my efforts though and they were very friendly. One of my life hobbies as I get older will definitely be to learn more sign language. Overall, Rome struck me as an impressive city with more things to see than time. I hope I can study Roman history and understand the culture and innovations of the Roman people and return someday to Rome and show it to someone that I love. Also, it is worth saying that I had some of the most delicious gelato at a place called the Frigidarium and the most delicious pasta carbonara at Abruzzi. My trip to Rome was a little bit stressful due to the people that continuously approached me about tours and the tightly packed schedule that we adhered to in an attempt to see all the major monuments. However, Cinque Terra was very different.

            My trip to Cinque Terra was much more relaxing because the five cities are very small and less in your face touristy. Also, they are incredibly beautiful. Our main objective in Cinque Terra was to hike between the cities on a trail that leads up into the hills and has wonderful views of the ocean and the cities. We stayed in Levanto, just outside the main five.  On Saturday, we hiked through the first three cities, but the trail was closed to the last two so we took the train to see them in the rain. It was wonderful because on top of the expansive view of the water which at times felt like you were walking on a trail that only a couple feet from your path had a shear drop straight to the water a ways down, there was also an amazing view every time you came into a city. This was my favorite part of the trip just because of the shear beauty of the landscape and how relaxing I found it. On Sunday, we travelled to Bergamo to fly out of there. Ironically we got Americano pizza in Bergamo. It had hotdogs and French fries on top.

Luckily, I did not have any travel mishaps like I usually do while in the processes of arriving at cities. However, we had a major mishap in Barcelona when Vijay got his first bloody nose ever, which lasted 4+ hours. After three hours, Austen and I took him to the hospital with a tampon up his nostril. While waiting for the doctors, the bleeding stopped due to the pressure of the tampon. Therefore, the doctor took the tampon out, put in salinized sterile cotton to keep it clean and keep the pressure until the morning. This worked for a while, until the next evening when it began bleeding again. We tried all the normal tricks but after another hour or two of bleeding, we all headed back to the hospital where they tried for hours but couldn’t stop the bleeding. That night, with cotton in his nose, and blood still rushing into the nasal passage, Vijay didn’t sleep and threw up twice due to swallowing so much blood. So, on Tuesday, when we were all set to head to Rome, Vijay flew back to Bonn. There, after multiple days of hospital visit and many attempts in Cologne and Bonn, they finally fixed the bleeding and solved all the problems. Despite this one misfortune, the trip was amazing and I couldn’t have asked for (now probably will ever have) a better spring break.

France: Pre-Spring Break

Week 9:

Our trip to France began in Colmar. Here we visited the Isenheim Alterpiece.  This piece folds out to have four facades. Each shows different pieces of Christ's life. This was an impressive piece of art and is rightfully renowned. I was amazed how much medical history is embedded into this piece also such as the plants growing and the blemishes on Christ himself to resemble plague boils. Ironically enough, even though Dr. Wasser and Nick told me that the Museum in Colmar was not famouns for much besides the Isenheim Alterpiece, it was not my favorite piece in the place. In a room all by itself, there was a wooded sculpture of Christ's crucifixion which hung on a wall. It was about 1.5 - 2 times life size so one had to look up to see God's face but he looked back at you from not so far away. What struck me was the emotion on the wooden face of God. Usually crucifixion pieces have sadness or repentance in their eyes, but this one had only love. The expression captured me and I stood alone in this room for many minutes just looking upwards. I was moved almost to tears by this piece and considered for a while kneeling in front of it even in the museum. I have never seen such a moving version of the crucifixion before. I wasn't allowed to take a picture of the piece and I was so engrossed that I didn't even catch the name or artist, but I'll have it in my memory forever.

We drove from Colmar on Monday afternoon to Beaune. In Beaune, I had some great escargot and chocolate mousse. However, I ate a new food, a mashed fish rolled patty, that I was not as big of a fan of. However, the croissants in provincial France are as wonderful as advertised. In Beaune we visited the Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital run by the nuns. Here the amount of work that the nuns did to heal the patients really struck me. Also, the fact that the hotel focused on curing the mind as well as the body seemed very standard for the time, but struck me because it would be incredibly strange to me to see an elaborately painted altarpiece near the beds of hospital patients in today's society. I enjoyed Beaune because the narrow streets made everything beautiful and shrouded in adventurous mystery.

On Tuesday we left Beaune and arrived in Paris. This was the main portion of the trip and we got to see so much! It's funny, although I recognized things from the trip my parents and I took a few years back, I still felt like their was infinite parts of the city to discover. I could go back 100 times and still not be satisfied that I had seen enough of Paris' beautiful cityscape and landmarks. The most memorable parts of Paris to me were the incredible crepes, both the savory and the sweet; the trip up to and the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower; and the artist village on top of Montmartre with Sacré Couer. These were all new to me despite the trip I had previously taken with my family to Paris. Although I really enjoyed the Louvre, where I was able to see the Mona Lisa, the Winged Nike, and Venus de Milo, these were not new experiences for me and thus I felt less awe than the first time I saw these pieces. However, I got to stand in the Eiffel Tower with friends, on my way down the stairs when the twinkling lights went off. I was able to sit in Sacré Couer staring at one glass stained window for ten minutes or so in just utter awe. The building and the pieces were incredible. Overall, Paris once again captured my heart. I particularly enjoyed the relative dichotomy in the fact that the first time I went to Paris I explored the city as a dependent person, rarely making any substantial decision, and this time I was able to find time to explore on my own and I was responsible for myself. This made me feel more grown up and mature and I enjoyed the freedom and fun that this allowed.

On Friday, our trip to France reached a conclusion with a quick trip to Versailles and a wonderful picnic in the gardens. This was amazing because we were able to eat antipasti like the French do with many different types of bread and jam and cheese and meat and wine. I enjoyed it a lot and I plan to have parties like this as I get older to share quality wholesome food with my friends. At the end of the day, I set off to begin my individual spring break by boarding a flight to Barcelona, but I'll talk more about that in my next blog.

Munich: Pre-Pre-Spring Break

Week 7:

This weekend I got to go to Munich and stay with some family friends as we explored the city together. I had an amazing time.

Arriving was an adventure all of it's own. First, I got onto the wrong train at Bonn Hauptbahnhoff. Instead of an IC train to Nuremburg, I got onto a regional train towards Koblenz and didn't have service enough to figure out how to fix my mistake. I actually realized my mistake just as the doors shut and the train started to roll. However, a nice couple helped me and figured out the right route for me to take. I stayed on the train to Koblenz and was able to catch my IC train at that station because it was delayed. Well, the delay kept getting longer and I ended up missing my connection in Nuremburg by almost an hour. However, a woman on the train could tell how lost I was and helped me because she was headed to Munich as well. She told me that on DB, a delay of more than 20 minutes that makes you miss your connection means you are allowed to take any train to get to your destination. I was able to take an ICE train and actually get in 1 minute ahead of schedule. My dad's friends greeted me at the train station and welcomed me. They hadn't seen me in over 5 years so they found me using our family's Christmas card and a description of my brightly colored jacket and backpack.

While in the city I got to see how family-centered the town is. Part of this was due to the family I was staying in, Jochen and Mecki treated me more like family that I have experienced in Germany thus far. They were so friendly and explained as much as they could fit and made sure I had an amazing trip. I felt like a child again (I think mostly because they have 3 grandchildren and I felt to them like an older grandchild). We got to take a city bus tour where I saw some of the main sights, I went to see the Rathaus and its dance when the clock hit noon. I loved the Viktualienmarkt with all of the easter stands beginning to come out. One of my favorite parts of the trip was my trip to the Haufbrauhaus where I enjoyed pretzels, beer, a chicken leg, and lots of trilingual conversations. Jochen and Mecki (both native German speakers proficient in English), a man (originally from Spain and fluent in Spanish who worked in Germany and knew a little bit of German and was fluent in English) and his parents (who only spoke Spanish), and I (native English speaker with moderate skills in Spanish) succeeded in having a wonderful conversation in all three languages with enough laughter and joy to go around. As cliche as it sounds, it really went to show me that happiness was universal and a little bit of effort to communicate a message to someone goes a long way. The food and beer were amazing at the Haufbrauhaus but my favorite part will always be the challenge and fun I had with the multilingual conversation.

On the Sunday of my stay, Jochen and Mecki and I explored the English garden, a massive park stretching throughout the city with statues and monuments throughout. I got a great view and walked through some of the prettier parks. Before we took off, we stopped for nearly an hour to watch some young adults surfing on a man-made wave in a channel. I thought this was really interesting. The people (mostly men with a couple very talented women) wore wetsuits and the majority were very good. Mecki told me that it is very difficult and that her sons had tried when they were little but could not manage. It made me think of being in California with my brothers, but this wave was fixed in place and always present, which seemed much more convenient than what I had done when I tried surfing in the ocean. Maybe someday I'll return to live in Munich and try to learn to surf here.

Test Week = Stress Week

Week 7:

This was test week. I had a German test, a physiology test, and my initial presentation to Enmodes on the design our pilot team suggests. There was a lot of stress and hard work and studying packed into this week but I felt that I used my time pretty well. Camella and I helped each other study a little, mostly by keeping each other accountable for really studying rather than procrastinating. This was incredibly helpful because it kept me on track and motivated. I studied a lot for this test, not the most I ever have but I spent a significant amount of time reviewing. I took the test and felt relatively good about it. (Since this is written a little bit late, I can say that I did fairly well on the test!)

Also, I presented to Enmodes about the medical device our initial team came up with this week. The presentation was successful and the members of Enmodes enjoyed some aspects of our design, so we will be expanding on them in our bigger team. During the weekend, I headed to Munich, but that was really the start of my spring break, so I’ll write about that in my upcoming posts.