I Can(not) Ride My Bike With No Handlebars

Week 3 brought the new adventure of heading to Norderney! Although the week ended up incredibly relaxing, it started out with an all out sprint to the tram station. We were meeting at 7 am, and I decided to wake up at 6:40. After grabbing my bag and sprinting through my neighborhood, I made it to the Bonn Central Station at 7:07 just in time for our train to Norderney.

Norderney is an island off the coast of Germany in the North Sea. It is known for its healing air, healing sea, and healing spas. German doctors even write prescriptions to the Norderney Badehaus (bathhouse) for overstressed patients! When we got off the train, I immediately regretted the lack of pants and long sleeves in my duffel. The windy sea air was colder than anything we had experienced in Bonn, and I was grossly unprepared. Luckily, I had my trusty grey Patagonia and rain coat that I proudly wore for three days.

Norderney is a biking island, and our first stop off the ferry was to the bike rental shop. Something about biking throughout a German island just felt right. The air would hit you in the face (hello windburn!). Your thighs would burn slightly as you pedaled up a path over a sand dune. Biking brought back so many good memories of playing with my friends as a kid, and it was so surreal. I just tried to live in the moment as much as possible. The Famous Wasser Bike Tour on Thursday was definitely less-than-relaxing, but the view at the end was incredible. And hey, if you're going to be in severe bike-induced pain, it might as well be in Norderney!

Norderney came with three distinct highlights. First, we visited the Badehaus. Rejuvenation was the name of the game, and the Badehaus did not disappoint. We began with some simple floats in the several pools offered at the spa. It had a large swimming pool, a fire pool, a high salinity pool, an ergonomic pool, an outdoor cooler pool, a steam room, and three 20 foot showers that acted as massages. The showers were definitely my favorite part, and they released so much tension that I had in my neck and shoulders. After the pools, it became the guys turn for the mud and saunas. The mud treatment was definitely the most ~interesting~ thing I had ever done, but my skin was singing praises to the mud. When we rinsed off, we moved into the sauna. I might not love saunas as much as Dr. Wasser, but I have a new respect for the pageantry that is the sauna.

The next highlight was when we played soccer with some of the kids that were staying in our hostel. They were probably 12, and still some of the best soccer players I'd ever played against. I managed to score a header, and gave a beautiful assist to Bryan who scored his own goal. I'm pretty sure we still lost though :-/

The third highlight of Norderney was walking through the tidal mud flats on the Wattenmeer. Our guide was incredible, and super knowledgable. Norderney has relatively large tidal differences, and at low tide, the area becomes a hotbed for biodiversity. When we walked out to the sea, we were walking in the water, when our guide told us to look behind us. The tide had already started coming in, and we were standing on a small island! The water was only inches deep, so we escaped back to the shore.

Catherine and I after conquering the Wattenmeer!!!

When we left Nornderney, I returned back to Bonn with several other students. That Friday night, Jen, Emily, and I threw together plans to go to Brussels for the day on Saturday. There were NO RAGRETS. Brussels was amazing. The architecture, the waffles, the beer, the fries, the people, the smell. Literally the whole city smells like fresh waffle. It's incredible. I just wish I had more time to wander through the city. The highlight of Brussels came just as we were leaving (and eating our last waffle). We look in the street and see hundreds of naked bikers. Fully naked. No clothes. Biking shamelessly through the city. You really couldn''t look away. Naked bikers aside, I cannot wait to visit this city again.

Emily, Jen, and I recreating a Belgian Statue!

On Sunday, I woke up at 3 pm. I definitely needed the sleep. I met Emily and Alexa at a pub to watch the Germany v. Mexico game. Although I didn't see the result I wanted, watching a World Cup soccer, I mean football, match in a European country definitely checked a box on my bucket list. 

Wow long post sorry! Tune in next week to hear all about shadowing (spoiler alert: I almost passed out), Cologne pt. 2 (and probably pt. 1 since I skipped over that oops), classes, and my upcoming trip to Milan and Switzerland (will we choose Zurich or Interlaken???)!