Prettiest Weekend Ever.

We got to Interlaken late Friday night, and found out that our hostel was actually in a neighboring town (not my planning), and walked about 30 minutes to get there.  I didn't mind though, it was really nice out, and we had a nice view of the mountains the whole way there.
The next morning, we got up early to start our day of canyoning.  I was a little nervous from the videos I had seen online.  I’m usually ok with heights, but not so much with jumping off of stuff.  I had issues with jumping off smaller cliffs on our camping trip to Inks Lake a few weeks ago.  But I was really excited about the amazing views of the Alps.  So the guide stopped by our hostel and drove us to Outdoor Interlaken, and then took my money :( It is NOT cheap to jump off of waterfalls.
They fitted us for all of our gear; a wet suit, a wet suit jacket, shoes, a helmet, and a life jacket, and we loaded up in their van for an hour drive out to the canyon.  We had amazing views of the mountains the whole way there.

After a short hike from the van, we hit our first waterfall.  The guide told us that we had to be absolutely sure that we wanted to do this, because past this first jump, we would have to make it to the end, or be airlifted out.  So obviously, I jumped.

After a long day of that, our guide offered to take us back to our hostel.  He was off work after our trip, so this cut into his free time, but he still offered, and even took a detour to show us around town.  Aside from the few souvenir shop owner that hated tourists, Interlaken seemed like a very friendly town.  So when we got back to the hostel, we said bye to Carrie, who was leaving for her hang gliding trip, cleaned up, and spent the rest of the day walking around the streets of Interlaken.  Most of the stores were Swiss Army Knife or Swiss chocolate stores.  We knew how expensive Switzerland was supposed to be, so we packed our food in from Bonn.  So I walked around gnawing on bread and sausage.

The next morning, I had to walk back to Outdoor Interlaken to pick up my canyoning video.  I made it probably 3-4 miles there and back in less than an hour before we had to meet for checkout.  It was pretty exhausting, but I made it just in time.  With the little time we had before our train, we took a tram to the top of a mountain for lunch.  There was an awesome view, but it was a rainy day, so it didn’t look nearly as good as the day before.

This is what “not as good” looks like in Switzerland:

So after lunch, we headed back to the train station to go back to Germany.  I had another amazing dinner with my host family to get ready for our last week in Bonn.

Loooonnngg week

Monday wasn't the most exciting day ever.  We had class in the morning, and then went to the anesthesiology museum in the afternoon.  Some of the older anesthesiology equipment was pretty cool, but the tour went kind of slow, and it was hot with everyone crammed into the small area.  We had to take turns moving away from the group so we wouldn't pass out.

The next morning, we took a train to Cologne, where we went on a city tour.  Apparently, Cologne is like the San Francisco of Europe; there were some….interesting… people there.  After walking around the city, our guide took us inside the Cologne Cathedral, and told us about some of the statues and stained glass inside.  I couldn’t believe how detailed everything on the inside and outside were of this church.  It’s probably the most impressive thing I’ve seen so far. 

We also went to an underground museum, where we could see some old Roman ruins underneath the city.  There wasn’t a whole lot to say about them, but it was cool to see such old walls still standing.  Above ground, we walked past a big excavation site, where some more, recently found, Roman ruins were being dug up.

One of the bridges we walked across in Cologne was covered in padlocks.  Couples engrave their names into one, and lock it onto the fence.  There were probably hundreds of thousands of them covering this bridge.

Next, Dr. Wasser and Nils (our program coordinator) took us to the Elde Haus, the former headquarters for the Gestapo, for another tour.  

In the basement there were several prison cells big enough to fit maybe three people uncomfortably, but apparently, up to 30 were crammed in at once.  There were still writings on the wall from the prisoners.  We were also shown the torture room, and the back courtyard where prisoners were shot.  It was a pretty depressing tour just for a prison and the headquarters;   I can’t imagine what Sachsenhausen will be like. 

After shopping around Cologne for a few hours, we went back to the cathedral for our rooftop tour.  I was really impressed by the cathedral, so I was looking forward to this tour.  Unfortunately, the guide never showed up.  Nils is going to try to reschedule it for next week.

Wednesday was a really fun day.  Early in the morning, we met at Bonn Hauptbahnhof (central train station), to go to the Bonn University Clinic.  Here, we split up into small groups, and went into several different operating rooms in the orthopedic surgery hall.  My group watched a spinal fusion, where they secured two vertebrae with a bar and some screws.  I was surprised about how rough it went.  There was one part where the surgeon took out something that looked a lot like a hammer and chisel and started smacking away inside the hole in this guy’s back.  The surgeon was actually pretty funny, for what I expected to be a more serious thing.  He made faces like he was disgusted by the stuff he was pulling out of the patient, and just joked around a lot.  He didn’t speak perfect English, but tried to explain what they were doing along the way, and kept us entertained.

After the surgery, we had some free time to get lunch and relax, before taking the train to Mönchengladbach for the Womens World Cup.  We played France and won 3-1 :)

On Thursday, after class, we went to the Bonn University Botanical Gardens to learn about homeopathy.  Here, they treat patients using natural remedies; They take the desired drug from the thousands of plants they have in the different climate greenhouses, and dilute it down to nothing, so only the “energy” is left…or something like that.  One example was that the main focal point of a certain cactus was the large opening flowers, so they would use this for angina, to help “open up” the chest to relieve pain.  Dr. Wasser warned us before that it would sound weird, and to just keep an open mind about it.  So I tried listening to the guide, but I think he lost most of us when he said a large side effect of one of the plants made women get the urge to go shoe shopping.

At least the greenhouses were impressive.

Before going back to our host family’s house, we all went to the train station to make our reservations for Paris.  We found out at the last second that our Eurail passes wouldn’t work for the direct train to Paris. We checked into rerouting onto several different trains that it would work for, but that would have extended the trip to 8 hours.  Plane tickets were 300 euros for a round trip, so we had a stressful afternoon trying to decide what we were going to do.  Most of the group was set on Paris, so they waited out the ridiculously long train ride, while five of us decided on Switzerland for a more relaxing weekend.  One guy in the group was already planning on going to Interlaken, so we joined him.  We’ve been told several times that Paris is a dirty city anyway, and that the people were rude, so I was pretty happy with the sudden change of plans.

Friday, we got a tour of the European Space Agency, and saw some of the training facilities, and learned about the European Space Program.  There wasn’t much to it, but we got a pretty detailed description of the parts and uses of the ISS.  Then we took a train to Schloss Brühl, a huge palace between Bonn and Cologne.  The outside was pretty plain other than the bright yellow color, but the inside was incredible.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing in the main staircase.  We all stood there for a while just taking it all in.  They didn’t allow pictures, so these are the best I could find of this staircase.  They definitely don’t do it justice.

After the tour, we headed to the train station to start our weekend excursion to Interlaken

Amsterdam

I finally found some free time to write, so here's my weekend in Amsterdam.

I guess we didn't look into hostel location as much as we should have because our "Amsterdam" hostel was about an hour and a half away from downtown using public transportation.  The first night, we didn't get to bed until about 2, just from wandering around, trying to figure out where we needed to go before the busses stopped running.  We had to take a bus and a train to get there.  I was slightly worried that we would be walking all night, but we made it.  

The hostel wasn't what we expected.  The main office was basically a bar, so it was kind of different.  Everyone was very nice though.  It just felt really relaxed. I kind of liked it.  The girls definitely felt differently though.  They all started freaking out cause guys were staying there and we were all probably going to die in their sleep.  Telling them they were going to be fine didn't seem to help, so I ignored them and went to sleep. 

After surviving the night with all the scary sleeping men, we had a really busy day.  We took a city tour cruise through the canals of Amsterdam, and toured the Heineken Brewery and the Anne Frank House.  Walking around Amsterdam was....interesting.  We passed several coffee shops, and there were people just sitting out on the patio smoking.  I wasn't expecting them to be so public, but yea...they were everywhere.  Also, the bikers have their own lane, and you DON'T walk in it.  They will ring their bell at you, but they don't even attempt to slow down.  We saw people jumping out of the way of bikes and busses and trains at every intersection.  I don't know how there aren't wrecks all over the city.  I guess the constant fear of being squashed kept everyone alert.

The next day was much more relaxed.  In the morning, the small group of us that stayed at the beach hostel walked to the beach and hung out for a little while.  I was with a bunch of girls so I ended up doing a “photo shoot” for them.  This wasn’t the first time I’ve had to do this either.  I’m going to start charging them.  

After the beach, we picked up lunch and ate a really nice park.

Then we went to the Van Gogh Museum.  It wasn’t as cool as I expected it to be for the price, but I really liked a few of the paintings, and it was pretty crazy how one guy filled up such a large museum. 

One more shot of Amsterdam:

After the museum, we got on the train, and headed back to Bonn.

Every Sunday night, my host family has friends come over for a really nice (multi-course) dinner.  One of their friends used to be a chef; so he makes some pretty awesome food.  It's like eating at a really nice restaurant every week for free.
So that’s what I am greeted with when I get home from our free weekends.  I think I could get used to this.

Wattwanderwhat?

I haven’t forgotten my blog!  The past 5 days have just been crazy.  I've been getting about 4 and a half hours of sleep each night with almost no time to sit and relax.  We have to keep telling ourselves that sleep is a waste of time so we can go see everything we want to see.  We’ll have a bit more free time now that we’re back in Bonn though, so I’ll be able to catch up.

So lets see how much of this I can get done tonight.  I don't think I will have this large of a break in my updates anymore.

Not much happened on Tuesday.  We just had a German Class and “Cultural Studies” class before lunch.  That afternoon, we took a bus to the Alexander König Zoological Museum, where they had tons of taxidermied animals, plus over 5 million other species in storage for research. 

Wednesday was the start of our insane week.  I got up at 4:30 to meet the group at the train station to head to Hannover.  After lunch in Hannover, we visited the nephrology wing of the Marguerite Hepton Hospital, where a specialist lectured to us and showed us around.  We learned about how dialysis machines work to go along with last semesters lecture, and about the kidney failure associated with the recent EHEC outbreak in Germany.  Some of the patients affected in the outbreak were taken care of in this hospital.  After the hospital, we went to the Axolotl Research Lab.  I wasn’t really sure what we were going to see, but axolotls are the coolest lizards ever.  They can regrow limbs that have been completely cut off, and can even get back parts of their eyes, liver, and brain.  So, the lab is trying to figure out how to make whatever magic is in these axolotls and apply it to human medicine.  Apparently, they never undergo metamorphosis, so they are basically full grown fetal salamanders.  (I’m trying to prove that this whole trip isn’t just a vacation.  Is it working?)

                             

Later that night, I walked around Hannover with two friends, while everyone else laid around in the hotel.  We ended up finding a carnival, and rode a few rides, then found a nice place to sit by a lake.

There were also some pretty buildings.  I think this is the courthouse.

Early Thursday morning, we left on a train for Norddeich-Mole.  This is where we got on the ferry to cross over to Norderney.  After getting settled in our hotel, we went to the Institute for Rehabilitation Research, which was pretty much a combination of physical therapy, school (for the patients to learn about their diseases, and a spa getaway.

That afternoon, we walked back along the beach towards the hotel.  The water was freezing, and I wasn’t planning on getting in, but there was peer pressure, so I did.  And now I can say I’ve been swimming in the North Sea.  After swimming, we played Ultimate Frisbee on the beach.

That night a small group of us went out to watch the sun set over the water.  It was amazing.

                

Friday morning, a smaller group of us woke up to go bird watching at 5; the island was really pretty in early morning.  It’s also overrun with rabbits.  They were running all around the trails we walked down, and we saw about 30 take off across a big pasture later on in the hike.  They don’t have predators on the island, so they keep breeding like rabbits.  Then after breakfast, we headed out on our Wattwanderung.  The “Watt” is the mudflats left early in the day during low tide of the Wadden Sea, so “Wattwanderung” means mudflat hike.  We put on our high top Converses, and hiked through the mud from Norderney back to the mainland before afternoon, when the water would come back to high tide and be several meters deep.  It took about 3 hours, and was actually a lot more fun than expected. 

Here’s our bird watching group, and a picture from our hike out to the Watt.

    Norderney is very pretty.

Back on the mainland, we rinsed off our feet, and headed for the Seal Center in Norddeich-Mole.  Here, they pick up baby seals along the shoreline that are hurt or have lost their parents, and help prepare them to go out into the wild on their own.

Then we went to the Walloseum  (Whale Museum).  This is the skeleton of a Sperm Whale that got caught in the Wadden Sea’s low tide.

That gets me caught up to the weekend.  I’ll update about the weekend in Amsterdam later.  We have a long day in Köln tomorrow, and I need sleep.

We will be going on a rooftop tour of the Cathedral, so I’m pretty excited!

First Day of "Class"

Yesterday was a tiring day.  I met up with some friends downtown, where we walked around all day, with our own tour guide - One of the host dads.  He seemed to know quite a bit about the city and enjoyed showing us all around.  There's a really nice path down the Rhine, so we also walked a few miles down that.  

Here are some pictures from the city. This is a church that we toured that was built in the 13^th century.  It’s called Münster. 

Here's a view of the inside courtyard:

Also, the two guys who founded this church were beheaded, so it only made sense to put their heads on the ground in front.

So, that was really pretty.  The rest of the town basically looks the same (like this):

and one more of the old courthouse:

So yea, the town is pretty cool looking.

Today was our first day of class.  First, we got a tour around the city, pretty similar to the one yesterday.  Then we had a quick overview of early German history, and then a class on speaking German.  I just got back from downtown again, where some friends and I just walked around and had dinner.  We all have to split up to go home, so I’m getting more familiar with public transportation.

Hello from Bonn!

I’m at my host family’s house now. Yesterday, after waiting around for several hours for everyone’s plane to arrive, we took a 2 hour bus ride from the airport to AIB. We were there just long enough for them to hand us our phones and an info packet, and introduce us to our families. I was picked up by the son of my host parents (I think his name is Rüdigar?), and his girlfriend, and one other friend. They’re all around 25, so it hasn’t been bad so far. And they all speak English. So they made me dinner, and we just hung out until the parents came in later last night. I think I’m the 6^th student they’ve hosted, so they’re used to this. They were very nice, and showed me around the area, mostly to help me find the bus stops. This morning for breakfast, I had some kind of meat and bread. Very German; it was pretty good. Now they’ve gone to work (he’s a lawyer, I’m not sure what she does), and everyone is talking on Facebook because we’ve all been abandoned and can’t read German. I think I’m about to leave to meet Emily at AIB (hopefully), and then go see Beethovenhaus. So wish me luck.

Also, I wouldn’t expect updates this often from now on :p. Class starts tomorrow, and maybe we won’t all be afraid to go outside.

Long Flight

Well, I’ve landed now. One of the busiest airports in Europe doesn’t have free wifi, so I guess I’ll be posting this later.

Today is going to be an interesting day. I’m starting out with a nice mixture of melatonin and caffeine in my system (they brought us coffee on the plane J) I slept some on the plane, so I’m ok for now. I feel like I could make it to bedtime here, but that might be the coffee talking.

I ended up talking to the guy next to me on the plane quite a bit. He was American but lives in Germany now, so that actually turned out pretty well. He had some stories and recommendations of cities to see, so the flight wasn’t bad at all. They also showed “The Adjustment Bureau”, and dinner was pretty good.

I did have another scare already though. My baggage didn’t come out with the rest of the planes. Neither did my friend’s from the plane. Everyone had gotten their luggage and left, and we were left there looking sad and lost. Another carousel came on though, and popped out a few more bags. I have no idea why they were so late, or why they were separated, but my bags were there so I don’t really care.

Now I’m waiting at the meeting point. I think. The email I got said to meet on the first level at the “meeting point”. I was told I’m on the first level, and I found a meeting point sign.But there’s also a huge 3 on the wall. I don’t know what it means, but I don’t see any more down stairs, and there are cars on this level. Also, they didn’t specify A, B, or C within this terminal. Obviously B is in the middle so it’s the best guess. So I guess I’ll just sit here and look lost until someone takes me home.

Also, here's a picture I took flying into the sunrise. I believe this is over Ireland.