The First Week

This first week has been an absolute whirlwind. It feels like I've done enough things to last a month--and all of them have been amazing. My host mother is so sweet and accommodating and has made some incredibly good food. Our first night she was very excited to make spargel, which ended up being basically white asparagus. Apparently it's very big during this time in Germany, although I'm not sure she realized we have something very similar in America. I was expecting lots of meat but she really enjoys cooking with vegetables, which is great because I don't think the tomato sauce on the pizzas I'm eating outside of the house is counting much towards my daily vegetable serving (don't worry, I've also eaten lots of authentic German food). She loves hearing about what we're learning in German class and helps us out so much with recommendations and advice we need.

The city of Bonn is not quite like I expected. I initially envisioned Bonn to be a small town, and all of our host houses to be within walking distance of each other and the AIB. Instead, we're all spread out around Bonn and during the day the city is bustling with people and their dogs. However, it seems like at night all of the commotion stops right when it gets dark. We tried going out a couple times and it was definitely fun inside the pubs but outside it looks almost like an abandoned town or a movie set. Regardless, I like Bonn as a home base for us, especially because most of our excursions and weekend trips are to bigger and more crowded cities.

Our academic portion is also very unique, and I like it a lot. I learned pretty early on that Dr. Wasser is incredibly knowledgeable about just about anything you throw his way, and it's always hilarious starting off a lecture to a loud rock song. I really enjoy his teaching style and I feel very engaged and interested. The same is true for Neurophysiology of Music. I never realized how much thought goes in to planning things like concert venues but it's absolutely fascinating, and I love all the hilarious comments he throws in to his lectures. Lastly, German class is something else. Hilde's teaching style initially intimidated the crap out of me because I hate being quizzed on the spot for things I haven't had the chance to study, but after the first day I just learned to embrace it. It also helped me learn about people's names and where they're from, not to mention all the help it's given me while attempting to communicate with the locals.

This Thursday was Ascension Day, so we had a public holiday and chose to spend it climbing Drachenfels in Seven Hills. Eiffel was beautiful and it was another opportunity for all of us in the group to bond. So far I really like everyone in the program and climbing this massive, and very vertical, hill definitely brought us together. I like that we're so close to places like this magnificent castle that make taking little day trips so fun.

This weekend was our first experience traveling alone around Europe. The train from Bonn to Cologne was much different than I expected because we sat by a soccer team that played loud music and sang along the entire way while drinking beer. I actually thought it was hilarious and loved it, but I was a little glad they weren't coming on our next train because I don't think I would've been quite as charmed after hearing them for four hours. Things definitely didn't go quite as planned around the time we tried to board our train from Cologne to Amsterdam because, even though there were about seven of us traveling together, we still somehow went to the wrong area and missed our train. Fortunately there was another one set to come three hours later, so we had a great time exploring Cologne and bonding over a couple beers. Although it was stressful in the moment it ended up turning into a really great afternoon and we made 1000% sure we were ready at the right platform for the next train.

Amsterdam was absolutely amazing and I ended up loving it even more than I thought I would. There were people everywhere and it was refreshing to hear English. Surprisingly we met lots of people from Britain and enjoyed taking in all the sights and culture. It actually reminded me a lot of a cleaner and more beautiful version of New Orleans because there were plenty of bars and rowdy bachelor and bachelorette parties going on all around us. One of my favorite things we did was visit the Heineken Experience, which was basically a brewery tour plus plenty of added special effects, like an interactive video where you get "brewed", and a big theater room playing all of their advertisements. At the end of the tour they give you a wristband for two free beers to be enjoyed at their rooftop bar. I'm glad we did this early in the trip because it made it easy to see the whole city from the top of the building and point out some landmarks for later. I also really liked just walking along the river and stopping in on little shops--although I definitely saw my life flash before my eyes a few times as bikes flew past me seemingly unbothered by my frantic leaps out of their way. I'm pretty certain that had I been there more than two days I'd have to add "visiting the ER" to my list of activities done in Amsterdam.

Overall it's been an incredible first week and with each day it gets more exciting. I'm already calling Bonn home and becoming very comfortable and familiar with the town and the things to do in it. With that said, I'm ecstatic to see what Vienna has in store and equally as excited for all of the pizza and gelato I'll be scarfing down next weekend when I visit Florence.