After a great weekend in Ireland, it was time to head back to Bonn and prepare for our trip to Norderney. I knew that the weather was supposed to be cooler, but nothing prepared me for what came. After our train and ferry ride to the island, it was quickly apparent that we were going to have a cold and windy week ahead of us. Our first evening we had a biking tour into town, which was slightly difficult with 30 people. The town was adorable; it was something that you would see in a movie. The chilly little beach town picked up everyone's spirits. The following day, we got to experience the badehaus. This was one of the best experiences thus far. Downstairs I relaxed in the various pools. The high salt pool was my favorite. In a dark room with some eerie green lighting, you can step into the water and float and float and float. I stayed there as long as I could before it was time for our mud treatment. At first, you could tell the girls weren't very excited about stripping down in front of each other, but once we all did, we all got comfortable quickly. After covering our bodies in mud, we looked like beautiful Grecian statues. We felt renewed and radiant once the mud was all washed off. Next was the moment we were all waiting for: the saunas. We officially became sisters in steam as we sweated our worries away in a sauna. The cold showers before and after were pretty rough though. We left feeling warm and refreshed; not quite ready to bare the cold of Norderney again. I spent my free time that afternoon napping in the middle of the local park with Mary-Cate. Our class met up that evening for a fantastic barbecue (props to Henning). We sang and danced with our professors when dinner was done, and that was when I realized how special this class really is. It is very rare, especially at a large university, to be able to bond with your classmates and professors. Some people went to swim in the North Sea that night (crazy), but I went and snuggled into my warm bed and got an early nights sleep. The next morning, Dr. Wasser took us on a 3,000 mile bike ride (not really... it was about 14 miles). We went through the national park, and it was very very nice at first. It wasn't until we turned around to head back that it became brutal. The wind was against us, making it almost impossible to bike uphill. We were panting and walking our bikes towards the end... Except for Dr. Wasser. He showed us all up. We made it back to our hostel pretty exhausted but shortly left again for the badehaus museum. We learned about the evolution of swimwear through time, along with the island's history on water therapy. While we were there, it began raining fairly hard, so leaving was quite the task. It was very miserable biking in the cold rain. A few of us stopped for coffee before finishing our journey back to the hostel. The next day it was time to leave. While waiting for the train to come, a few guys approached us (they were drunk), and before they could get two words out, Henning came through like the Hulk and pushed them all back. He told them to back off and spoke to them in German for a bit. They finally wished us farewell and went away. It's pretty awesome having a body guard in Europe. Thank you Henning!
From Norderney, a group of us headed to Palma de Mallorca. We had a late flight that was interesting to say the least. Many groups of guys ready to party were on the plane and drank the night away. The were very loud and obnoxious the entire time. When it was time to land, the poor flight attendants begged for everyone to be seated, but even while the plane was still in the air, drunk guys roamed the hall and opened the overhead compartments to grab their belongings. We landed around 1:00 in the morning annoyed and exhausted. We arrived at our resort and were in awe at how beautiful it was. I woke up early to go down and enjoy the beach. It was amazing. I went from shivering in Norderney to basking in the warm sun on a beautiful beach. It was a lovely change. All the girls got bad sunburns even though we applied sunscreen several times throughout the day. The rest of the weekend was filled with good seafood and more sun. The cliffs and crystal clear water of Mallorca will forever stay in my memory. It was hard to believe I was in a place so beautiful.
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