week 4
You know the
drill. Try to stick with me. I’ll do my best to make it worth your while.
Monday was the
day we left for Hannover. After the adventure that was coming back from
Brussels, I had to get up early once again to make it to the train station on
time. Somehow, we all managed to arrive punctually and our morning was fairly
uneventful (most everyone slept on the train rides. Naturally, I colored.) We
got to Hannover soon enough and walked through a little bit of the city to our
surprisingly aesthetic hotel. After checking in, we made our way to the axolotl
research center where we split into two groups (I was in the first group…not
that it even matters.) We were led into a conference room where we were given a
short presentation on axolotls: the different types, what they eat, their
health, their regenerative abilities etc. I really enjoyed hearing about it
from the scientists, as their passion was evident—one of them even kept them as
pets and said they were delightful. Then, after donning shoe covers, we got to
go inside the room where the axolotls are kept and wow, what cute little
creatures. Dr. Wasser wasn’t lying when he said it looks like they’re smiling. While
we were in there, the scientists showed us all the different types of axolotls
and some other little reptiles. Of course, I also noticed the copious amounts
of little bugs they keep to feed them. We also learned some pretty cool facts.
Alana being Alana meant she asked about their reproduction, and we found out
that the females have the ability to choose when their eggs are fertilized
(basically their own version of birth control). One of the questions I asked
was about the extent of their regenerative abilities, and the scientist
actually told us that one axolotl that had lost a good portion of its
face/brain/eye had regrown everything which is totally nuts. Once we finished
up in the room, they led us back outside which unfortunately meant no spider
room, which was a bit of a letdown after all the buildup (but honestly, the
spider room probably would’ve been a lot worse than I was expecting and thrown
me for a loop). My group then went to a “park” to hangout while the other group
experienced the axolotls. This park was really just a circle of benches but we
all just sat around and talked, particularly to Jane, Dr. Wasser’s wife, and
got to know her a bit. She really is a lovely lady. At one point, Jane, Abby,
and I constructed a flower crown for Carter (I really just held it while Jane
and Abby did most of the heavy lifting) and he wore it like a champ. I also
tried to take some pictures, some of which turned out very cute and others that
turned out not so cute. There was one in particular of Kathryn, Hailey, and
Gabe laying in the grass, and I was taking the picture from above them, but
even though it wasn’t super sunny, it was still very strangely bright, so they
couldn’t really keep their eyes open and this resulted in some pretty funny
faces. Afterward, we headed to the hospital where we received a presentation on
the development and history of LVAD machines from a doctor there. He seemed to
me to be on the younger side, but the dude knew his stuff and was very knowledgeable
and had almost a quiet passion to him. It was pretty fascinating stuff, but I wish
I knew a little more about the anatomy/physiology for a better understanding.
Next we actually got to talk to this sweet old man that had an LVAD, and he showed
us the machinery and the knobs and whatnot he controlled. He told us about what
it was like to live with an LVAD, and I’m not gonna lie, the whole time I was
thinking about Grey’s Anatomy and how Izzy was in love with Denny and, in order
to move him up in priority on the transplant list, cut his LVAD wire illegally
to try to save his life. Back to our day. I’m fairly certain that after we were
done at the hospital, our day was technically done. We went back to the hotel,
received our food stipend, and then went to eat at an Italian restaurant that
actually played an Italian song I recognized from a Josh Groban CD (thanks mom)
and served food that wasn’t too bad. We finished eating, snagged some gelato
from a supermarket, and hung out for the rest of the night, attempting to write
blog posts, not accomplishing much, and complaining about the lack of wifi—so a
solid evening to finish off our Hanover stay. I thought Hanover was pretty
nice. It didn’t have much of a big city feel and was on the quieter side, so it
seemed to have a little more charm. The buildings were older but still pretty
and added an almost sophisticated feel. Overall, I’m glad we went.
On Tuesday, we
headed to Norderney!!! We arose bright and early like always (the hotel
actually started breakfast early for us) and after a couple of train rides—the last
of which was very entertaining with Henning—we made it to Norddeich Mole, where
we then took a ferry to Norderney. I really enjoyed the ferry ride and got some
great pics, but it was also in a way our first taste of cold weather and it actually
felt pretty good. We got to Norderney and went to get our bikes. I honestly
loved that we just biked everywhere because not only is it faster than walking,
but it’s also more fun and enjoyable. It was by far the fastest transportation
we’ve had that gave us independence to go where we wanted when we wanted since
leaving our wonderful cars back home. Gabe thrived because the dude bikes
extensively apparently. I struggled in some bits, but I’ll talk more about that
later. Our first ride from the ferry to the hotel was very interesting as everyone
got acquainted with the bikes. We had some falls (cough cough Carter) and
run-ins but overall we all made it to our hotel, which turned out to not be a
conventional hotel. There’s a German word for it that I’m forgetting, but
basically it seemed like a hostel type place but for children. There were
children there, and Maike told me that sometimes towards the end of the school
year, teachers will take their classes to these places as like a field trip.
Basically, the rooms we stayed in all had bunk beds, and there was a dining
hall where the children ate (we ate in a separate, smaller room) and a
playground and basketball/soccer goals behind the main building. It was a super
cool place, and it was also like a ten-minute walk from the beach which was
super dope. We dropped off our stuff, grabbed a quick bite to eat where I
literally inhaled some delicious doner, and then began the bike tour. Like I
said before, I really liked experiencing the island this way. It was super fun
and we were able to cover so much space in very little time. It also felt SO
good to do some real physical activity other than just walking. Dr. Wasser
showed us around, told us about some birds in the area, took us to some very
neat vantage points, and showed us the lighthouse on the island. The island is
also SUPER quiet. There’s minimal traffic and most people that are there are
older and looking for a relaxing time, so it was very tranquil. We probably
created the most noise that people heard while they were there. Like I said,
most of the time we were riding, it was fairly smooth but there were a couple
instances I struggled. One such instance occurred when we were just beginning
to climb a small hill. Me being competitive, I was towards the front of the
pack for most of the excursion, and this instance was no different. However, I
goofed. Instead of shifting my gear down, I shifted it up. Yup. Which meant
that my pedaling became very difficult. And I slowed down. And had to stop and
walk. Which meant everyone behind me (aka over half our group) also had to do
the same thing. So, all in all, not my proudest moment. But hey we all survived
and no one got hurt. The rest of the bike tour passed without much event. It
got a little more difficult towards the end, but like I said, physical activity
felt really good so I wasn’t complaining. We got back to the hotel and had a
solid chunk of time that was at least two hours before our planned barbecue, so
for most of us it meant playing sports. Most of the guys ended up playing basketball
and then soccer (plus Alana, Hailey, and Emily, the brave souls) but. BUT. I
was able to snag a volleyball. Pretty much the first volleyball I’d touched in
a month or two. Even just randomly passing it around in a bumping circle (lol
middle school) was great. BUT THEN. Kathryn and I peppered, and it felt
freaking amazing. Oh my goodness, what a relief to even be able to play that
much. You never realize how much you miss something until you get a taste of
it. Even though she said she was “horrible,” Kathryn did pretty great even
though she said that she hadn’t played since sophomore year of high school.
Either way, I could have peppered for literally the entire night (even though I
was dying to hit on a net) but our time came to a close as dinner time
approached. But man, I cannot express enough how amazing it felt to play and
actually exert myself. What a rush. It was so cathartic. Now I’m dying to play…Anyway.
The cooking started for the barbecue and some beers were passed around. We were
also playing on the playground (naturally), so Kathryn and I took our beers
back to the playground tunnel, which we had deemed our clubhouse, with a
password and everything. It was a pretty ironic moment and also hilarious. The rest
of the evening was spent talking, laughing, eating hot dogs and s’mores, and
just spending some really amazing time together. On the playground, there was a
zipline, so we played around on that, all of us taking a ride or two, and then
finally making the guys push us to see just how fast we could go. That ended up
backfiring, as Hailey was literally launched down the zipline and at the end where
it jerks to send you back in the other direction, she went too high, let go,
and ended up falling all the way to the ground. It was pretty stinking
hilarious. Probably not the funnest thing in the world for her, but I’ll have
you know that she also laughed. Like I said, it was a super enjoyable evening.
We had no responsibilities for the time being and purely enjoyed each other’s
company. However, that was not the way the day finished. Once the s’mores were
done and everything was cleaned up for the most part, it was show time. Earlier,
Henning had challenged us to take a polar plunge in the North Sea. A good
number of the guys were game, but most of the girls not so much. I, however,
was. Granted, I do have to give a good amount of credit to Hailey, as I
probably would have been less likely to do it if she wouldn’t have also done it
with me. And so, after dinner we headed back to change into our swimsuits. The
whole walk down to the beach was just Hailey and me wondering why the heck we
were about to do what we were going to. We were at the front of the pack, so
when we got to the beach and started to take off our clothes, we noticed the
guys starting to like take pictures. But Hailey and I said screw that, and
before we lost our nerve, we ran into the ocean. And wow it was a tad chilly,
but also super fun. The first time we went in, we dove in and ran straight back
out. But afterward, we kind of figured, well, we’re already soaking and cold,
so we got back in and kind of hung out for a brief period of time in the water.
I was really proud of us for doing that. Afterward, once we got back to the
hotel (and got sand everywhere, sorry Alana) and especially when I got in the
shower, I realized that I had lost quite a bit of feeling all over, so that was
fun. Anyway, this was probably one of my favorite days of all-time. We had been
doing the city-touristy-exploring thing for so long, that to finally have a day
where we were outside all day, played around like kids, and relaxed a bit, was
incredible. I loved it.
On Wednesday,
Carter, Gabe, Alana, Hailey, and I got up early and went to the beach before
breakfast. Even though it was early, I’m really glad we did so. The beach is my
happy place, so despite the fact it was cold, it was empty and beautiful. I got
some great pictures. After breakfast, we biked to the Thalasso Badehaus and Spa.
Another bike struggle: on the way there, I’m not entirely sure what happened,
but somehow my pedal kind of spun a little out of control, and I lost my
Birkenstock and had to go back and grab it and spent the rest of the ride at
the back of the pack. Nonetheless, I made it. When we got there, we were given
a lecture on the history and medical aspects of the spa. One thing that I cannot
get over is the fact that people are prescribed a spa trip when they’re
stressed. If that was the case in the states, half the population would be out
of commission and we’d fail to function as a country. We then went to the
locker room to change into our swimsuits and were split into groups for the mud
bath. My group wasn’t until later, so Alana, Kathryn, Gabe, Carter, Emily,
Hailey, and I decided to explore the lower level of the spa (the clothing
required section). We started off in the family section, which was empty thank
goodness, but had some cool cave things, some water spouts, a slide (which, if
you weren’t being strategic with your body, you went down at a snail’s pace),
and Russian roulette buckets whose ropes you pulled to pour water of an unknown
temperature on yourself…or others. The pool even turned into a wave pool at one
point. We also explored the main area and experienced the 6 meter showers, the
pool with the high salt content you could float in, the steam room (not my
favorite), the fire pool, and other pools of various temperatures. While the
guys were doing their mud bath, we decided to get a little snack before our mud
bath. Then it was our turn. We all filed into a little antechamber of sorts and
were given little bowls of mud and salt. We stripped down, all 9 of us,
completely naked, totally exposed. It was a fun time. Can’t say that I’ve done
anything like this before. Then we went into the little shower type rooms,
where we put the mud on our face and then mixed the salt and mud and applied it
to the entire remainder of our bodies. And then we sat. And pretty much stared
at each other’s faces for 15 minutes. And it was hot. So the mud gradually
became liquid consistency as it mixed with your sweat (yum) and it was a
struggle to try to keep it from sliding completely off. Then the showers came
off and we rinsed and felt amazing. Rather than put our swimsuits back on, we
decided to just wrap ourselves in towels and experience the saunas. I enjoyed
the saunas a lot more than I thought I would. We experienced four different
ones, I believe, and each time it became a little easier. I probably could’ve
stayed in there for much longer than we did, but such is life. What felt almost
more amazing than the sauna itself was the cold dunk pool afterward. For a
typical sauna cycle, you’re supposed to stay in the sauna for 15 minutes and
then hop into a super cold pool right afterward. And that’s exactly what we did
(maybe minus like 5-10 minutes from the sauna part). We even dunked multiple
times after a sauna. We headed to the roof and tanned a bit, talked to Carter
and Gabe about their mud bath experience, and continued to wander.
Unfortunately, our time came to an end all too quickly and we had to head back
to the locker room to get dressed. We then went to eat (we were all pretty much
starving) at a nearby restaurant. A few of us got chicken tenders. Hah. We
finished eating, and all of us except for Alana, who went to explore the town,
went back to the hotel where we grabbed the volleyball and headed to the beach.
There was a net there (a crappy one but what can you do?), so we proceeded to
play quite a few games of beach volleyball. We mixed up the teams a bit, some
won, some lost, but we had to stop in the middle of a game to go eat before the
mud flat tour, so we have a game to finish when we get back to College Station.
We went back to the same restaurant from the day before for another quick meal
and met with Dr. Wasser and the group back at the hotel. We biked to a spot we
had actually visited the day before. After parking our bikes and meeting our
guide, we shed our shoes and valuables and headed down from the path into the
mudflat. The deal with the mudflat is that during low tide, the water recedes a
great deal, so you can walk all along what used to be covered with water. That’s
exactly what we did, and our guide would stop and show us a bunch of different
little organisms and creatures that are common in the area. The mud was pretty
interesting as well. It heavily ranged in consistency, so sometimes you’d be up
to your ankles and sloshing about and other times you could walk normally but
would have to watch for slipperiness. She led us all the way from the bike path
to the water’s edge (not a short distance). It was very cool because it was
kind of like a beach, but a dangerous one, because apparently the tide can come
back in very quickly and sweep you away. Another interesting thing was that there
was a little river flowing through the mudflat with a current and everything.
It was in the river that I actually sank almost all the way up to my knees. It
was kind of fun. I had my camera with me, so I was trying to be extra careful,
but it ended up being totally worth it because the sunset was absolutely breathtaking.
The golden hour here is so long because it takes so long for the sun to set so
I took SO MANY pictures and actually a lot of them turned out pretty well for
somebody with no prior experience, if I do say so myself. I’ll try to remember
to insert my favorite picture I took (both in Norderney and on this trip)
later.
Thursday was
unfortunately the day we left Norderney. We had breakfast at the hotel and then
biked for the last time back to the port. We took the ferry back to the
mainland where after a quick bite to eat, we all boarded the train.
Unfortunately, this weekend I split from the group. They were all going to
Paris, while Marissa and I were going to Amsterdam. Granted, I still had a
great time, but I actually really did miss all of them. Towards the end of the
weekend, I actually ended up texting all five of them individually at one time.
It was kinda nuts for my phone, but it was nice to have some contact with them.
Marissa, Anne-Marie, and I got off at an earlier stop than everyone else, so I
said brief bye’s to everyone (they were all sleeping) before parting ways. We
got on our train to Amsterdam and made it there in good time. We had some
really surprisingly delicious Asian food (there’s been no shortage here, thank
goodness) at the station before taking the bus to our Airbnb. We got off the
bus, pretty much lost, and started wandering around when a woman approached us.
Now, I’m still not really sure how I view this interaction because on the one
hand, she was really sweet, and on the other hand, it was super creepy. It was
this older lady who clearly knew we were lost, so she decided to come up to us
and try to help us out. I told her where we needed to go and she started
leading us to her home (in the opposite direction) because she said her husband
knew better English and could more adequately help us. Yeaaaaaaaaah. I’ll never
know for sure whether we were gong to be kidnapped or not because Linda, our
Airbnb host, found us and led us back to her apartment. What a woman. By far
the best Airbnb I’ve stayed at, not so much because of the characteristics of
the apartment (we were in an apartment on the upper two floors of her home,
with a bathroom, small kitchen, and two beds), but because of her. This amazing
lady went all out. Most of the time, Airbnb hosts just give you a place to
sleep and shower, and maybe throw in some towels and wifi. Linda gave us not
one but two towels per person, Dove soap, wifi, a Netflix account, tea, coffee,
chocolates, a bottle of wine, a map of restaurants within walking distance with
type of food and hours, a map of the area around the ferry with more
restaurants as well as some things to do, information about transit, a list of
popular tourist attractions, and a considerable breakfast our first morning there.
She also brought my camera back to town the day we left as I had forgotten it.
Like I said, she made it so easy to jump right into Amsterdam. We showered and
went to bed pretty quickly, as we were both fairly exhausted.
On Friday, we
woke up ready to take on Amsterdam. We took the scenic (and free) ferry ride
into town and once again, when we made it to the front of the station and were
looking lost, somebody approached us. The man actually worked for the station,
so when we told him we were looking for public transit passes, he was very kind
and sold us some on the spot. Then, we headed to the Van Gogh museum, which I
had heard really good things about (I also love Van Gogh, so), but it was
unusally busy so we decided to momentarily pass on it, and headed to the Rijks
Museum instead. Our time in there was a bit briefer than I would’ve liked, but
we hit up the important things, such as the Night’s Watch by Rembrandt, a Van
Gogh self portrait, and the library to name a few, before having to head to the
Anne Frank House. I’ve always wanted to visit the Anne Frank House, so it was a
very high priority for me. I’ve always been fascinated by the Holocaust and
even read parts of Anne’s diary in middle school, so I was very, very keen on
making sure we got there. I was so keen, actually, that we got in line at
1:30pm. Tickets for people without reservations go on sale at 3:30pm (I had
actually looked in March for reservation tickets and there were none
available.). So I played cards with Marissa, went to an ATM, called my mom, and
tried to kill two hours. It actually went by fairly quickly—I’ve waited longer
than that for concerts. At 3:30pm the line finally started moving and we made
it inside around 4:00pm. What an experience. The first part leads you through
the offices of the various workers and tells you about Anne’s life leading up
to hiding, the social climate at the time, and some other background
information. But then it got really crazy and I get chills thinking about it. I
mean, I’ve been learning about this stuff for so long. When I was in middle
school, her diary might as well have been a book of fiction to little Juliette,
but actually being there was something else. It wasn’t so bad going through the
offices, but then you hit the bookcase and stuff gets real. You go inside, with
a staircase directly in front of you and a small hallway to your left, and you
walk through—in probably what was no more than half an hour—what eight people
lived in for two years. Through pictures, you see what room was what, and there
were cases along the edges that showed additional photographs or offered some
history about the person living there if it was somebody’s room for instance.
The entire tour is punctuated with snippets of Anne’s diary, and it makes the
whole thing incredibly real and personal. When I first entered her room, I was
surprised because there were large glass cases coming off the wall with what I
originally thought were photos put up by the museum inside. Then the audio guide
played a snippet of Anne’s diary where she detailed that she had put up these
pictures herself to make the place look more lively and wow, that hit me, and I’m
not really entirely sure. It just gave me such a vivid image of a young girl
uprooted from her world and meticulously putting up these photographs in order
to give herself a little bit of joy and hope. She picked the photographs out
herself. She chose exactly where she wanted to position them. She glued them on
herself. I mean, that’s something I do now! Obviously, our circumstances are so
very different, but it made her relatable to a certain extent. You hear all
this stuff about what living in hiding was like for Jews and the sacrifices and
hardships they went through, and you can nod your head and pretend like you
know what it’s like when in actuality (and hopefully) none of us will ever have
to go through such a thing. But the photographs on the wall. They were just so
personal and an incredible indirect insight into Anne as a person. If you can’t
tell, I could’ve stayed there all day long. I could also write about it all day
long. She was an incredible girl and was able to leave such an impactful legacy
without even meaning to (there was even a video at the end of the museum about
her legacy). She had no idea her diary would be published and translated into 70+
languages. She had no idea that the window of insight she offered about life in
hiding would be so potent some 60 years later. And yet she persevered and was tenacious
(one of my favorite qualities) in the face of such bleakness. Safe to say, it
was an experience of a lifetime. Once we finished there, we were starving. We
decided to go to a pancake restaurant I had seen on my way to the ATM, and boy,
am I glad we did. It was probably one of my favorite meals on this trip. We
decided to split one savory and one sweet pancake, as they were huge. The
savory one (coincidentally called the Canadian) had bacon, ham, onion, and
cheese on it, while the sweet one had chocolate shavings, whipped cream, Dutch
cookies, and cinnamon ice cream. It was heavenly, especially on such empty
stomachs. After we finished eating, we went to the Van Gogh museum, another
really incredible experience and somewhere else I could have spent all day. I
had been told by friends to buy the audio guide which ended up being totally
worth it. The museum is set up in such a way that it walks you through Van Gogh’s
life and show you how his style and art developed in conjunction with it. Once
again, the whole tour is punctuated by quotes and snippets from the countless
letters he wrote to his brother, Theo, giving you a very real sense of the type
of person he was. I loved seeing his artwork, like his self portraits, Almond
Blossoms, and Sunflowers (funnily enough, there was no mention of Starry Night,
my favorite Van Gogh piece that is actually at the MoMA. I’m sensing some
pettiness.), but almost more so I loved hearing about the development of his
methods, how he would experiment with color combos and painting methods,
sometimes laying on the paint so thick that you could physically see the
layers, and how he didn’t care about what was accurate and instead decided to
use color to express emotion. His art, which is usually of more simple,
arguably mundane subjects, was able to exude expression with simple color. What
a concept. I found his mind utterly fascinating and I also probably could have stayed
there all day. But unfortunately, Marissa and I were getting a little worn out,
so we decided to head back to the Airbnb, where after showers and a quick
FaceTime home, we went to bed.
On Saturday, we
woke up earlyish to head to town and stash our luggage. The first thing we did
was a canal boat tour. It was very unique to experience Amsterdam from the new perspective
as well as learn some history, and I’m glad we did it, but we also did it on
empty stomachs. So I probably didn’t take in as quite as much information as I
would have liked. We stopped for food at a place with probably some of the
slowest service (which is saying something here) but I had a surprisingly delicious
sandwich, so no complaints here. Next, we decided to be super touristy and go
on the highest swing in Europe (might need a fact check on that). Basically,
you take an elevator up 22 floors to a sky deck of sorts where we looked around
for a bit, and then you head up another small flight of stairs that takes you outside,
and you can wait in line for the swing. The line was short, so after a brief
waiting period, we hopped onto the swing. Basically it’s this automated metal
contraption that lifts you up over the edge of the building and then swings you
for a couple of minutes. It wasn’t scary for me at all, but I believe it was a
little bit nerve-wracking for Marissa, as she has a fear of heights. Regardless,
it was a wonderful view and a pretty relaxing experience actually. Afterward,
we decided to do a little bit of shopping and walking around through the city,
which is actually something we didn’t do a lot of, as we were always going from
one thing to the next. We bought a few things here and there, took a short walk
through the Red Light District (in broad daylight) just to say we did, and then
headed to the train station. We made it back to Bonn after some (thankfully)
fairly uneventful travel, got a pizza, and headed home to go to bed.
Sunday was super
uneventful, and this post is 7 pages long so I’m probably going to keep it very
short. I woke up late, hung out with my host family, and did a whole lot of
nothing. It was pretty great. I texted my friends while they were on their 8-hour
bus ride back from Paris. I got the package my mom sent me, which contained
some gifts for my host family, as well as copious amounts of Cosmic Brownies.
And honestly, there’s not much to say about it.
I think this
week was my favorite. I’ve already said how I feel about Norderney and how
great those couple of days were for me. They really solidified the fact that I
am going to be ever thankful for being able to go on this trip and that it’s a
truly unique experience I’d never be able to get otherwise. I’m finally
understanding why people who have studied abroad say the things they do.
Anyway, to go from days as great as ones in Norderney and then straight to
Amsterdam, a wonderful city with great people and such rich culture and with
such intellectually yet emotionally stimulating experiences was truly
unforgettable. It was so surreal how great this week was that one might call it...magical. I love Europe.
Once again, you’re
a trooper, and I commend you on another blog post read. #proud.
JMD
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