Mardi Gras, but the Greeks call it [expletive]

Week 9- Spring Break

Spring Break? Did I read that right?

This semester has absolutely FLOWN. We are in mid-march. Nearly APRIL!!!!!! Everyone knows April means your Spring semester is truly over. The first week of May will come in the blink of an eye. I have no clue how that happened and I’m not happy about it. How is my time here ending? I was at Mayschoss yesterday.

On Friday night, I spent the night in the Frankfurt airport. I did not say ‘slept’ because I absolutely did not sleep. I called my dad and caught him up on how things have been going. Then I went up to McCafe and starved as I lay on the benches with my headband over my eyes. The blasting Shawn Mendes songs weren’t helping the situation. I decided to work on some homework until the security lines opened and met with Jessica and Masha to find our gate. My first RyanAir flight- and it does feel like Spirit. Those tiny spaces aren’t super comfortable, but I was tired enough to knock out for a good two hours.

We landed in Athens. It was warm and bright and sunny and every sign was a combination of random shapes. The extent of my duolingo skills was knowing what sounds were associated with each shape- so I knew how to read them but no clue what any of them said. Nevertheless, the girls and I were ecstatic. We grabbed our coffee and hopped on the tram to take us into the city, a 70 minute journey. We walked to our Airbnb- a cute and quaint apartment next to a lively bar, and got ready for the day. We walked all around town and took pretty pictures and bought too many earrings- and I don’t regret it at all. They were beautiful! And I love buying natural or handmade items from locals. We had coffee and falafel and stuffed peppers, explored the parks and churches and even stumbled upon a beautiful attraction- Pnyx. At this high point, you get a beautiful view of the city and the Parthenon perched on the Acropolis.

Once Adriana and Melania arrived, we got ready for dinner- an awesome café at the bottom of the Acropolis with a beautiful view of the sun setting on the city below us and the lights of the Acropolis above. We shared dinner family-style and I had my first mimosa. I’m a fan. We explore for a few more hours and found out that it was actually the Greek equivalent of Karneval that weekend. It suddenly made more sense why the streets were wild and costumes kept passing us. The Greeks, however, call it Penis Fest (but they don't use Penis). It’s supposed to be a celebration of the book of Genesis, but they celebrate by putting strap-ons around their waist and jiggling them around as they circle the city. (Opa!)

As we walked around the city, we came across a group of two guys and a girl. They were Ukrainian and had been travelling since January of 2018, not planning to stop until April 2021. Greece was their 21st country on their list, and they had 69 in total on their goal list. They were perched on the corner telling people about their adventures and welcoming any monetary help. They were my age, and I was in utter amazement thinking about how cool their journey must have been. They invited me to come with them to Crete, and I genuinely considered it! Their plan was a dream. I wished I could have friends that were just as adventurous and flexible. But who knows? Maybe something as crazy is in store for me, too.

The next day, we went to Acropolis, had amazing food and free shots at lunch, and then a DELICIOUS dinner with free shots and cake! It was a beautiful weekend and not too crazy but extremely enjoyable. We went to bed early since we had to leave our apartment at 5:20 AM to make it to the port where our ferry would be. Especially since Monday was a public holiday (Clean Monday, their equivalent of Lent). Although I was nauseous and nearly threw up on the tram (that we BARELY made, thanks to our running past the turnstiles and down the stairs, and my slamming on the doors after they close) everything went perfectly! We boarded the ferry early and got a perfect seat in the front where you could see the blue waters. The 4 hour trip was pleasant and the island was quiet and looked exactly how you’d picture a Greek Island. We hiked and tanned until it was too cold, and at dinner we were given free dessert yet again. I truly am in love with the Greeks.

Week 8: Countdown to Spring Break

Tuesday (3/5): Typical cramming day

I had a normal day at school and studied as much as possible for my genetics test Wednesday. I also got back my first physiology test and was pretty satisfied with it. Just need to study harder for the next one. 😊

Wednesday (3/6): Test day

Luckily, I had almost the whole day to study for my night exam. It went well! I was SO happy to finally be done with tests for a week. Once I left school for the day, I couldn't help but get super excited for the week to come (Greece🌺🍃🌊)!

Thursday (3/7): Normal school day

Just another basic day at school -- I swear I'm not trying to bore you, my b. I got to go home early, enjoy beautiful weather, and hang out with my host mom. :)

Friday (3/8): Preparation day 😎

Side note: I love Fridays because we always get out at lunch -- I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before, oops... I stopped by UniGrill to grab doner (yum) and went shopping with Jessica. We were on the lookout for cute outfits to wear in Greece! After shopping, I went home to clean my room and laundry, pack my bags, and relax before my flight tomorrow. A perfect Friday :)

Check out next week's post for Spring Break adventures ;)

Immer Borussia

I was absolutely exhausted from the busy Karneval/travel weekend. My body was in dire need of rest, but there was no rest for the weary. About a month before, Sebastian, Park, and I had purchased tickets to a soccer game. But this wasn't just any soccer game; it was a Champions League match, the most elite soccer competition on the planet. Tuesday evening, after getting out of class, the three of us began our journey to watch the Tottenham Hotspurs take on Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany. Tickets and train passes packed, we started our journey with a train to Cologne, but our next connection was twelve minutes late. This should not have been an issue, but we had one more connection, and now we were due to miss it by three minutes. I was sweating from nervousness, but had to remind myself to calm down and trust God to let it all work out. When Park and Sebastian asked me if we would make it, I assured them the next train would be late as well, and shortly after we arrived at the transfer station. There, on one of the travel boards, were the words, "Funf Minuten Spat," or "five minutes late". We were ecstatic, dancing around the platform chanting "Funf minuten Spat, Funf minuten spat!" I think we drew a few looks from the others on the platform...

An hour later we arrived in Dortmund, stepping off the trolley from the Dortmund central station to view the Signal Iduna Park for the first time - and it was glorious. I was living a literal dream come true; I was in Dortmund, at the largest soccer stadium in Germany, about to see two of the European giants of soccer play out a Champions League Match.

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After a little confusion finding the correct entrance, we made our way into the stadium and found our shockingly good seats. As the fans cheered, sang, and chanted, we joined in for the pre-game festivities by enjoying beer and wurst. It was not long until one of my favorite parts: the player walkout. As the players enter the field, the iconic Champions League song is played, and it this moment, when I heard those angelic voices singing, I felt tears in my eyes. Literal tears of joy streamed down my face, and I just had to breathe and enjoy this moment.

The famous "Yellow Wall" of Dortmund; these fans are called Ultras

Immediately after, the game began, and we enjoyed the next ninety minutes of the best soccer I ever watched in my life. While Sebastian and I were rooting for Dortmund, Park was cheering for the Hotspurs, who scored in the second half to win the game. Despite the disappointing result, we loved the game and cheered every minute of it.

Me, Sebastian, Park - we all bought scarves

Once the game ended, we stayed, savoring the atmosphere and moment, not wanting to leave. Eventually, we slowly made our way out and trekked back to the city center. Since we had a few hours to kill before our train back, we found a bar to pass the time in. Then, back at the central station, we grabbed dinner at a KFC and began our two and a half hour train journey back to Bonn. Fortunately, we were able to sleep on the train (we left Dortmund at 2 AM, and would not get back to Bonn until after 4 AM). After arriving, we went straight to school and fell asleep in the basement until classes started the next day. Although exhausted, I was ecstatic to have experienced this bucket list item and will always remember that day as one of my favorite in Europe.

The rest of the week passed fairly quickly. I felt under the weather (probably from exhaustion), but classes went well, and I completed the last of my spring break planning.

My Wild Spring Break

Everybody got their plan to spring break and so do I.
My boyfriend traveled all the way from the US to Bonn to visit me for the spring break, so I plan to take a break from the group and travel with my boyfriend instead (I mean, of course, everybody would travel alone if their beloved comes to visit them).
So what I thinking was that I will travel to 5 difference capitals for my spring break since if I break it into a smaller number of days, it would be the same if I travel during the weekend. Plus, I also want to see if I will survive my plan or not. Let's start
Amsterdam: Typical tourist day.
It was kind of rainy when we got to Amsterdam Central. I hate it when it was raining (everybody hates it -.-). We arrived on Friday night. Since I was carving for some chickens, we went to have KFC for dinner (yep, I missed American food). Then we walked around the town a little bit and then headed to the Airbnb. The next day, we explored the town, had some traditional dishes and walked along the flower market. It was a typical day for a tourist. We stopped for some ice cream while it was raining outside. We also saw a protest on the street. And of course, we couldn't miss the red light street at night. It was pretty lit at night.

Brussels: Pickpocket
The first pickpocket I ever experienced was in Brussels. It happened after we left the hostel and headed to the town. We were walking and looking at the phone at the same time for the direction (This obviously make us look like a tourist). There was a guy that was in front of us stopped and looked at his jacket, pretended to search for something. We passed him, I put my guard down since nothing had happened to me so far, ever since I travel.  We kept walking until I looked at the glass door beside me and then turned to my boyfriend. I saw a hand in our backpack. I hit the hand (like a mother hit their child when they did something wrong). He immediately took his hand out and walk away. Lucky, we didn't lose anything. I didn't put any valuable things in the front of the backpack. Also, like broken college students, we don't have anything valuable to steal, except our old iPhone and passports.
We were pissed a little bit by that, but everything returns to normal. we enjoy our tour and hate the weather again. It was super windy. If I don't have anyone or anything to hold, I would be blown away by the wind. We went back to the hostel early since there not much to do in Brussels. Anyways, Brussels was all about a pickpocket and how bad the weather was for me.

Rome: Finally some sun.
Forget about the pickpocket and bad weather, and headed to Rome :))))
Hopped on the airplane and took a small nap, open your eyes, Welcome To Rome. Our Airbnb located pretty close to the town. After what happened in Brussels, I was really careful putting our stuff away when travel. Like what we did, we get some traditional dishes and visit all of the popular sites in Rome. We wish we got more time in Rome. We were kind of wasting our time in Brussels.

London: Construction destroyed the view
London is expensive. Lucky, we didn't spend that much time in London. One thing that I regret in London was letting my boyfriend getting a haircut. We spent around 33 dollars for a haircut (I know, it was quite stupid), we could have used that money for food (everything is about food, y'all know). Anyways, we went to the food market, get some lunch, and then headed to the town. Castel, palace, London eyes, cathedrals, everything look pretty, except the Big Bag. I was internally crying, why, whyyyyy? why construction? I couldn't see anything. I was walking for my whole entire day and what I saw is construction (T.T). Bruhhh, forget about the construction part I'm still pissed about it, let's focus on food. Food in London is expensive, we got some fish&chips and really cheap Indian food from the recommendation of our Airbnb. For dinner, I give up searching for a good cheap place to have dinner, since we were wasting our money on the haircut already. We ended up having dinner at China town. China town looked pretty at night, but you have to be careful in picking a restaurant over there.  My advice for those who want to eat some Chinese food in Europe countries or North America is: look inside, if there is a lot of Asian in there, it means the food is good; if there is not a lot of Asian, don't go inside. Trust me, Asian knows the taste of the food over there.

Paris: Peaceful but also annoying
Paris, the city of love. I like how peaceful it is. I and my boyfriend kept walking along the river from hour to hour. We love the view. Except for the police and ambulance. Broooo, the atmosphere was so nice and then suddenly, the alarm of the police and ambulance goes off, disrupt the whole entire mood. It is understandable, but it is too much for me. They are everywhere we go. My advice for this city is: BRING YOUR OWN EAR BUG.

After all, I survived, returned back to Bonn on Sunday morning. Relax to bring energy back to fight with the school, and say goodbye to my boyfriend for another few months (sadly, I am internally emotional crying right now).  It was a fun experience, a little wild with 5 countries in 9 days, carefully divided so we can explore most of the main sites in cities. I like the plan, and I would do it again if I have money.

I am the new Appendicitis Boy

The next morning in Brussels, Katarina and I had not booked tickets for the Brussels Chocolate Tour, but the boys were set to go at 10:30. So while they walked to the center, we scootered around town (a very difficult thing to do on the harsh Brussels cobblestone). We came upon a very cute coffee shop right next to the famous museums. As we waited for them to open, I got a special latte and we walked to take pictures at the Royal Palace. We went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Belgium- which I really loved because they had pieces I studied in high school like Rembrandt, Franz Hals, and Hieronymus Bosch.

Katarina and I had lunch at a noodle house- some of the best food I’ve had all semester. We walked around the Grand Plaza- which was absolutely gorgeous, and then we stumbled upon a beautiful market as we were on our way home.

Katarina and the boys went to their bus and I rode a metro to my host mother’s boyfriends apartment. She picked me up and took me back to the apartment to get her things and for me to meet the neighbors. Two adult couples and four children- they all spoke French and were unbelievably friendly. They greeted me with hugs and kisses and gave me so much food and about four glasses of wine. I used all the French I knew, and they were so pleased with how much I could say and I was ecstatic that I could understand their conversations. I’ve never even taken a French class! But over the course of my life, I’ve picked up enough to make it by. I’ve never been so content. My host mom drove me back to Bonn and we continued our great conversation about what success means and we even had an awesome discussion about etymology and the meaning of happiness and how distorted it can be across cultures!

I went home content. Ana and Madyson stayed the night and we got our Karneval costumes together to go to Cologne with the rest of the students the next morning, Rosenmontag. I love those girls. We got to Cologne and eventually were the last to find the group- getting there at about 11:30. That was such a good day. Everyone was happy and free without a care in the world. Even though I broke my teeth at the end of the parade, I can still say it was one of my best days! Somehow I still got home and ran into Ana and Madyson at the bus station in Bonn and we arrived home at 6:30, flopping into bed to take a group nap.

All was well. I texted Dr. Wasser to tell him about my teeth, and I had them fixed by 11 AM the next morning! Shoutout to caring teachers, AIB, CISI, and the German healthcare system. I'm sure Wasser will tell my story to future students now, just like all the stories we heard of past students. (Ex: Appendicitis Boy)

After classes were over, I went for a run along the Rhine- probably the most scenic run I’ve had in my life. It was so blue and beautiful, and I definitely want to start doing it regularly. Wednesday and Thursday were just full of classes, but I started feeling very sick Thursday and stayed home on Friday to rest and recover before Spring Break. My host mom’s family came over after their ceremony of spreading the ashes, and I was able to speak with her 90 year old father completely in German. We had a conversation about his family and his hometown and wine. Then I spoke with her brother-in-law about folktales and travel locations. I was very proud and excited to navigate a social situation in a different language for the second time that week. At 9 PM I was driven to the Flixbus Station, and at 1 AM I arrived in Frankfurt to wait until my 6:30 flight to Athens.

Anticipation week

It's the week before Spring Break! Lucky for me, all the tests are over and I can sail by while counting down the days before another 11 day long vacation! On top of all the excitement, this week was shortened thanks to Rosenmontag, and we only had 3.5 easy days of class before the fun began. A lot of the focus this week is going into the Enmodes project, so hopefully we start making some real headway on the developments! My team (named Donatello) has a lot of ideas so I'm excited to see what we can come up with.

What did I do for fun this week? More planning for spring break! I will be adding a few more countries to the "abroad" part of study abroad... France, England, Belgium, maybe some others? I wanted to get to Scotland and/or Ireland but I'm not entirely sure if I have enough time to do all that! But so far, what we do have planned is going to be a nice easy going relaxing vacation abroad. I can't wait!

A walk to the river, a march in a parade, and a stroll along Belgian streets

Thanks to my one-second-a-day video and obsessive documentation habits, I can actually remember what happened since the week of Uniklinik, Drachenfels, and sunny days spent studying (the last time I wrote my blog).

After we did Chi Gong and I wrote my post on Monday, I took my math test- which could have gone well, but probably didn’t. I brushed it off. The next day was spent studying for the next test. Then all day after that. Before the engineers took the physiology test, Ryan Blanchard invited anyone to walk along the Rhine with him to relax before the test. I thought it was a great idea and soon the whole classroom stood up to walk outside. It was a beautiful day. We walked up to the top of the viewpoint near AIB and watched the water run past us. It was the calmest and happiest I had felt all day. Although the test could have gone better, it was alright. The torture was over. We went out to get ice cream and I went home to rest.

Finally- it was Karneval. Ana and I took the 7:50 bus and were the last to reach New AIB. Somehow, Masha and Adriana were able to fit that tiny wig over my mane (the first time I’ve ever worn a wig) and I unexpectedly love how I look in blue. That day was amazing. Walking in the parade while the children called out to us for candy was precious. I even saw the family that I stayed with when I had to evacuate for the WWII bomb.

The next day, I relaxed until it was time for my host mom and I to drive to Brussels together. I spent the day resting and running and showering and studying. It was around 6:30 pm when we got in the car. I had planned to write an essay while in the car, but my host mom makes such good conversation. I told her how I was having trouble making lasting friendships and she gave great advice. I started to truly feel like she was my mom. We spent the entire three hours talking about this and that and family and friends and love and life and death.

When we arrived at my hostel, I met the boys at a bar and we talked for a while. We woke up the next morning to get to Bruges, a quaint and beautiful town. It was peaceful and easy on the eyes- though the weather wasn’t great. I would have loved to bike around, but shops were closed due to rain. We got back to Brussels around 8 and the boys were more tired than they were hungry, so we went back to the hostel to rest. I went to my separate room (I had booked the hostel a bit late) and wrote in my journal until my roommates came home. They consisted of 4 male college students from the US studying abroad in Ireland. They were very friendly and suggested some places in Brussels to see. At around 11:30, Katarina and I finally had dinner together at a DELICIOUS burger restaurant. We talked and got to know each other- my favorite thing to do on this trip. When we got home, I was exhausted and although I wanted to see Brussels night life, I went straight to sleep.