Ananas Belongs on Pizza

Monday: After Professor Waltz’s lecture, we embarked on our excursion to Koblenz. Overall, a very cool experience. We first received a back-stage tour of the opera house. This was totally new to me in all aspects. My favorite part of this tour was seeing the two makeup artists preparing a wig / mask for an upcoming play. The character in the play has burns on his face, and they were using a picture of Niki Lauda, one of my favorite athletes of all time, as a model for the look. Later on we went up to a fort that overlooked both the river and the city. The boys and I wandered around a bit, found some cannons, and had a lot of fun together. A nightcap with the host fam ended a great day.

Tuesday: this day consisted of time in the classroom. I’ve come to find that any given day spent with Dr. Wasser will undoubtedly consist of two things: learning something new and interesting, and cultivating my life-force through the art of Tai Chi. Later we experience German class with Hilda. My oh my, she is likely my favorite German I’ve met so far (sorry Brian and Mats). I learned a lot, and laughed even more.

Wednesday: After a morning lecture with Professor Waltz, we went to Cologne. I love this city. Just awesome. The cathedral was nothing short of a marvel, and the people are so relaxing and easy going. Our walking-tour of the city was led by a small, German woman who was a total hoot. She made me want to turn my “quiet box” into a “loud box” and party. We had lunch at a Brewery in the city, and I ate a bratwurst labeled on the menu as for those with a “big appetite”. I put it down like a true, obese American. Represent. Later on, AIB held its barbecue. I actually enjoyed this so much. Good friends, good food, and good Kölsch made it a good time.

Thursday: Looking forward to this day on the schedule, it was sort of dreaded. But, I very much enjoyed Dr. Wasser’s lectures on eugenics and operation T-4. I liked learning about them, that is. This was also the last night we’d get to spend with Mandy and Wolli for a while, as we’d be traveling. We stayed downstairs, watched some soccer and had some great conversations with them.

Friday: My major takeaways from this day were: Dr. Wasser and the Fins like the sawnah, and Baby Break a Sweat. I enjoyed these lectures so much. Not because I was super interested in what was being taught, but because I love a man who has passion. We then were briefed on our upcoming trip to Norderney. I am so so so looking forward to it. I very much want to take some cold dips in the North Sea, and bathe myself with mud and steam. Treat yo’ self. After this, we hopped on a bus to Brussels. It was fairly late, so we decided to just über straight to the airbnb (this was out in the middle of nowhere Belgium, about 30 minutes away from the city by car). The family hosting us was incredibly nice. We ventured about 3 km looking for Belgian fries only to find the shop to be closed. The family then cooked us incredible pasta, and treated us so well.

Weekend:

Brussels and Brugge were incredible cities. The architecture and food (waffles) were just breathtaking. The group of people who came along made this a great weekend.