MAR 2nd-5th:
By catching up on the majority of my blog posts way late down the road, I have one advantage I've been able to find so far: it is much easier to split my posts more by one event to another, as opposed to week to week to week to week...
And THAT is the exact reason this post appears to be only four days long... because it IS only four days long! Not too much went on this week before spring break aside from our German exam on Monday and a 211 exam we had the Thursday before we left. I was expecting a better grade in 211 than I received for sure, but was happy nonetheless that it beat my first exam.
My German grade? Yeah I've been wondering what I got since I took it haha!
Getting back to my initial point though: I wanted to keep this blog short and confined to only the week's classes, because now comes the most significant emotional roller coaster I think I've ever been on and will ever be on... ever.
Monday, May 4, 2020
Northern Lights...Now What?
FEB 25th-MAR 1st:
After the most exhilarating weekend of my life, here we are getting back to the normal routine: coffee and classes. Fortunately for us, the only big thing to worry about was our first physiology exam that would be taken at the end of the week; and ooh boy we were NOT prepared for that one..
But that's okay! Do you know why?
Because we were heading to Berlin that following morning :)
Why?
IT'S KEVIN'S BIRTHDAY
We arrive in Berlin early Friday morning just in time for me to roll my ankle and make this trip *interesting*... and we only have the two days to explore as much as possible. After we start ourselves off with some breakfast at a nearby cafe, we head into town. We were able to get around everywhere we needed Friday without any public transportation assistance, but the next day it became necessary if we were going to make it to East Side Gallery.
Across the full weekend, we were able to see the gallery, the Reichstag Building, The Berlin Cathedral, the Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe, and Brandenburg Gate!
I enjoyed being able to check out each of these places but if I had to pick a favorite from them, it really only comes down to two: The Holocaust Memorial or East Side Gallery.
The memorial was unlike anything I had experienced before. I feel I'm not often moved emotionally by inanimate objects, but when you take that number "6,000,000" and begin to actually provide some point of reference as to how astronomical the reach of the Holocaust truly was, it can't help but change you.
East Side Gallery holds a dark and heavy truth to itself as well, as it was part of the infamous Berlin Wall that kept the East and West separated. In my own personal opinion, THIS is some of the realest artwork you will ever see. The artists that worked on this wall poured their emotions into their masterpieces, and it is almost as if you can feel their pain through their creation.
Truly remarkable.
A wonderfully spent weekend celebrating Kevin and now with our eyes on spring break next!
After the most exhilarating weekend of my life, here we are getting back to the normal routine: coffee and classes. Fortunately for us, the only big thing to worry about was our first physiology exam that would be taken at the end of the week; and ooh boy we were NOT prepared for that one..
But that's okay! Do you know why?
Because we were heading to Berlin that following morning :)
Why?
IT'S KEVIN'S BIRTHDAY
We arrive in Berlin early Friday morning just in time for me to roll my ankle and make this trip *interesting*... and we only have the two days to explore as much as possible. After we start ourselves off with some breakfast at a nearby cafe, we head into town. We were able to get around everywhere we needed Friday without any public transportation assistance, but the next day it became necessary if we were going to make it to East Side Gallery.
Across the full weekend, we were able to see the gallery, the Reichstag Building, The Berlin Cathedral, the Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe, and Brandenburg Gate!
I enjoyed being able to check out each of these places but if I had to pick a favorite from them, it really only comes down to two: The Holocaust Memorial or East Side Gallery.
The memorial was unlike anything I had experienced before. I feel I'm not often moved emotionally by inanimate objects, but when you take that number "6,000,000" and begin to actually provide some point of reference as to how astronomical the reach of the Holocaust truly was, it can't help but change you.
East Side Gallery holds a dark and heavy truth to itself as well, as it was part of the infamous Berlin Wall that kept the East and West separated. In my own personal opinion, THIS is some of the realest artwork you will ever see. The artists that worked on this wall poured their emotions into their masterpieces, and it is almost as if you can feel their pain through their creation.
Truly remarkable.
A wonderfully spent weekend celebrating Kevin and now with our eyes on spring break next!
Rhineland Traditions and Lights in the Sky
FEB 17th-24th:
After all the intense travel throughout Amsterdam, Vienna, and Prague, a relaxing weekend and week to follow were most definitely in order. Only 3 days of classes and then the Karneval celebration starts that Thursday! Our Differential Equations class was supposed to have an exam after the morning parade, but luckily our professor allowed us to move the exam to a day earlier. Big shout out to our professors for that one!
Now HERE is where the week really starts to break into a full sprint straight ahead...
To begin, we must first start with the parade! This was something that was very exciting to experience and be a part of. It reminded me a lot of the high school pep-rally parades we would do with the football team but much, MUCH longer!
After walking through the city of Bonn and throwing candy to all those along the streets, our Biosciences crew was ready to party! We quickly made it back to AIB, got changed into our costumes, and then were back out on the street in no time.
I would say we got a good 4 hours of fun in before it was time for a group of friends and I to catch a train out to Dusseldorf. We were all heading to Sweden for the weekend in hopes of catching some of those famous Northern Lights...
Spoiler Alert.
Our travels there would not hold a candle light to the troubles we dealt with on our journey back... we got trapped in Norway after a blizzard hit the day we had planned to return to Germany. The snow shut down the ONE road that took us back to Kiruna, Sweden (the location of our train station) and after waiting the entire day to make it through with 2 hours left even after that, there was not a chance in the world we were making it on time.
Now picture this: you pull up to Kiruna with your homies, you drop off the van (driven by Ashley ONLY), and boom. We've got nothing but our luggage and our own two feet. Oh, did I mention it was 11pm at this point?
If I were in your shoes and listening to me tell this story right now, I might ask: were you scared? Concerned about how severe your situation actually was?
Nah. Not in the least.
We make our way over to a nearby pizzeria, and by the end of our meal we had everything worked out; new flights leaving before the sun is up the next morning! Hooray!
We found a nearby motel to crash in for the night too, so that saved us from sleeping on the floor in the airport... which is nice I guess. To be honest though, I was ready to crash on the floor to save ourselves even just a few dollars haha.
We decided we would take the public transit to the airport the following morning, and all was right with the world...
WRONG.
the bus never came.
Now here we are, waiting for a bus that isn't going to come that we DESPERATELY needed for our hail-mary flight purchase from the night before. Man I tell ya, never seen a group of people come together so quickly and efficiently when your Rosen Montag experience is on the line!
Just when it seemed there was no hope left for us, we get in contact with a taxi service. They send us a van, and I'm pretty sure we tried bribing this guy to break the speed limits to get us there in time (he didn't take the offer by the way).
We finally arrive at the airport with approximately 4 minutes till our flight cuts off boarding. If it weren't for Kiruna being the smallest airport I have ever seen in my life, we wouldn't have made it...
But guess what!
WE MADE IT.
From that point on, it was some very well-deserved smooth sailing. And the nightmare we experienced getting back? Yeah, I wouldn't trade that for anything.
So what made it all worth it? Was it because this was my first time seeing snow on the ground? Maybe because it was my first time skiing? Or was it the Northern Lights?...
It was definitely the Northern Lights. Yep, no doubt.
After all the intense travel throughout Amsterdam, Vienna, and Prague, a relaxing weekend and week to follow were most definitely in order. Only 3 days of classes and then the Karneval celebration starts that Thursday! Our Differential Equations class was supposed to have an exam after the morning parade, but luckily our professor allowed us to move the exam to a day earlier. Big shout out to our professors for that one!
Now HERE is where the week really starts to break into a full sprint straight ahead...
To begin, we must first start with the parade! This was something that was very exciting to experience and be a part of. It reminded me a lot of the high school pep-rally parades we would do with the football team but much, MUCH longer!
After walking through the city of Bonn and throwing candy to all those along the streets, our Biosciences crew was ready to party! We quickly made it back to AIB, got changed into our costumes, and then were back out on the street in no time.
Spoiler Alert.
Our travels there would not hold a candle light to the troubles we dealt with on our journey back... we got trapped in Norway after a blizzard hit the day we had planned to return to Germany. The snow shut down the ONE road that took us back to Kiruna, Sweden (the location of our train station) and after waiting the entire day to make it through with 2 hours left even after that, there was not a chance in the world we were making it on time.
Now picture this: you pull up to Kiruna with your homies, you drop off the van (driven by Ashley ONLY), and boom. We've got nothing but our luggage and our own two feet. Oh, did I mention it was 11pm at this point?
If I were in your shoes and listening to me tell this story right now, I might ask: were you scared? Concerned about how severe your situation actually was?
Nah. Not in the least.
We make our way over to a nearby pizzeria, and by the end of our meal we had everything worked out; new flights leaving before the sun is up the next morning! Hooray!
We found a nearby motel to crash in for the night too, so that saved us from sleeping on the floor in the airport... which is nice I guess. To be honest though, I was ready to crash on the floor to save ourselves even just a few dollars haha.
We decided we would take the public transit to the airport the following morning, and all was right with the world...
WRONG.
the bus never came.
Now here we are, waiting for a bus that isn't going to come that we DESPERATELY needed for our hail-mary flight purchase from the night before. Man I tell ya, never seen a group of people come together so quickly and efficiently when your Rosen Montag experience is on the line!
Just when it seemed there was no hope left for us, we get in contact with a taxi service. They send us a van, and I'm pretty sure we tried bribing this guy to break the speed limits to get us there in time (he didn't take the offer by the way).
We finally arrive at the airport with approximately 4 minutes till our flight cuts off boarding. If it weren't for Kiruna being the smallest airport I have ever seen in my life, we wouldn't have made it...
But guess what!
WE MADE IT.
From that point on, it was some very well-deserved smooth sailing. And the nightmare we experienced getting back? Yeah, I wouldn't trade that for anything.
So what made it all worth it? Was it because this was my first time seeing snow on the ground? Maybe because it was my first time skiing? Or was it the Northern Lights?...
It was definitely the Northern Lights. Yep, no doubt.
Finals Week
After the Enmodes project week, there was very little class left. During the first two days of finals week, we reviewed material and took our third physiology test. I managed to grind and study quite well for physiology, but I lost a lot of motivation after that and half-assed the rest of my test prep. Despite that, I think I did as well as I needed to. I am just happy that school is over and I can finally whither away as I play video games and watch TV for fifteen hours a day. Maybe I can get a bit of studying in for the MCAT. Our final test, if you can call it that, is the group History of Medicine final tomorrow. I have no idea how that is going to go but I anticipate it will not be too bad. If it is hard, I can only hope someone in my group can carry me to a decent grade.
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Enmodes project and finals
The last few weeks of the semester with the Enmodes project and finals has been a wonderful experience. It was unfortunate that we were not able to finish off the semester in Europe as planned but I still believe that it all came to a wonderful conclusion. The entire experience has for sure been an experience to remember and I will not forget it anytime soon. I hope for all future groups that decide to undergo this this study abroad have the same rewarding experience.
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Enmodes Project Week
Finally, the week of reckoning is upon us. There were few classes the week of April 19th. Dr. Wasser wanted us to spend most of our time preparing our final presentation for Enmodes. After Tuesday, the fun began. Our group, Donatello, my personal favorite Ninja Turtle, got on Zoom at 9:00 AM Wednesday and worked on our slideshow until late that night. Thursday was much of the same. One slide I worked on involved sending collected data to the cloud for use in a separate app. My mom works for google in this field, so I had her help me figure out how to actually make the cloud services work in reality. Travis, Dr. Wasser, and the TAs gave us critiques throughout the process of building our presentation. At first, the critiques seemed necessary and really helped our presentation make sense; however, the critiques seemed very nitpicky as we got late into Thursday night. Although I was not happy about the continual changes we had to make at the time, I am glad they continued to push us to make every possible improvement, because the presentation turned out very well and looked very clean. I learned a lot from Dr. Wasser, Travis, and the TAs on how to make an effective presentation.
On Friday, each group had to give their presentations to the Enmodes team. Everyone had clearly prepared well and put maximum effort into their projects. Although technical difficulties over zoom were expected, each presentation went extremely smoothly. Our project seemed to have the least amount of questions asked afterwards (it was still quite a few however), which I hope means that we had the best presentation. Overall, I am proud of the work that everyone from the study abroad put into to making their projects as presentable and effective as possible. It was nice to have a drink with everyone one last time at the end of presentations, even if it was over zoom.
On Friday, each group had to give their presentations to the Enmodes team. Everyone had clearly prepared well and put maximum effort into their projects. Although technical difficulties over zoom were expected, each presentation went extremely smoothly. Our project seemed to have the least amount of questions asked afterwards (it was still quite a few however), which I hope means that we had the best presentation. Overall, I am proud of the work that everyone from the study abroad put into to making their projects as presentable and effective as possible. It was nice to have a drink with everyone one last time at the end of presentations, even if it was over zoom.
April 5th through 19th
I am combining two weeks of blogging. Honestly, quarantine has not been eventful enough to write two whole blogs out of these mind-numbingly boring fourteen days.
Throughout quarantine, I continued studying and doing schoolwork at a decreasing rate as the quarantine continued. I began to realize how much I missed the freedom of being able to drink in the streets and travel to virtually any European country at any time. I felt trapped and vitamin D deficient at times. I found some escape in walking my dog and taking thirty minute showers but I always had a dwindling feeling of boredom. Thankfully, I have been able to distract myself from the existential dread by playing video games with my friends and zooming with Jack and Jen.
Easter weekend had a little bit of excitement (at least as much excitement as one can get during an endless quarantine). We had a nice family meal with ham, rolls, and veggies. My mom hid Easter eggs around the living room, so I have been picking those up and eating candy out of them at random intervals throughout the week.
During the week of April 12th, my grandmother and uncle managed to figure out how to set up a zoom call. I got to talk to them for a good hour, so that was nice. Overall, these two weeks were fairly boring, but the next week was a bit better (at times) as we had the Enmodes project to distract us.
I am very much looking forward to actually being able to see my friends again.
Throughout quarantine, I continued studying and doing schoolwork at a decreasing rate as the quarantine continued. I began to realize how much I missed the freedom of being able to drink in the streets and travel to virtually any European country at any time. I felt trapped and vitamin D deficient at times. I found some escape in walking my dog and taking thirty minute showers but I always had a dwindling feeling of boredom. Thankfully, I have been able to distract myself from the existential dread by playing video games with my friends and zooming with Jack and Jen.
Easter weekend had a little bit of excitement (at least as much excitement as one can get during an endless quarantine). We had a nice family meal with ham, rolls, and veggies. My mom hid Easter eggs around the living room, so I have been picking those up and eating candy out of them at random intervals throughout the week.
During the week of April 12th, my grandmother and uncle managed to figure out how to set up a zoom call. I got to talk to them for a good hour, so that was nice. Overall, these two weeks were fairly boring, but the next week was a bit better (at times) as we had the Enmodes project to distract us.
I am very much looking forward to actually being able to see my friends again.
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