See ya week 3

For the weekend before Norderney, a few of us traveled to Brussels and Bruges. After I told my host family that I was going to these places and asked for recommendations, they told me just to “eat French fries and chocolate.” As soon as they told me this, I knew that I was going to love these places, and as it turns out, they were right! Over my time in Brussels, I got to eat the best waffle I have ever had, try some different local beers, and see the beautiful golden details of architecture of the Grand Place. My absolute favorite thing to do when traveling is to walk and eat my way through a city, which is exactly how my time in Brussels was spent and I loved it.

Week 3 was certainly different from the other weeks I have experienced thus far. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect for Norderney, or what was really going to happen with my biking experience. Sadly I have little to no experience biking at all, and despite the practice I put into learning before this trip, I still wasn’t feeling very confident that I could bike successfully in a group this large, not to mention the other people on the street. I was super relieved to realize that I was better at biking than I ever thought I was! As soon as we started biking to the hostel on our first day in Norderney, I felt so much better. I loved riding over to the beach and seeing the beautiful sunset that, to my surprise, didn’t happen until 10:00 each night. After our lecture last week in class about sauna, I was really excited to get in and try it with a fresh set of knowledge. Let me just say, the trip to the Badehaus did NOT disappoint. I absolutely loved getting to enjoy the various hot water pools, my favorite being the hottest Japanese pool. I also didn’t know how much I would enjoy the mud treatment, but I was really open and excited to try it. This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the excursion to Norderney. It was so cool to participate in a treatment that dates back so many years and get to experience the benefits of it myself, especially after learning about the effects of sauna in class and being able to apply that knowledge. While most of the excursion to Norderney I really enjoyed, I had a bit of a hard time with the mud flat hiking that we did. As someone who doesn’t really love being out in the rain, particularly in combination with cold weather, I was a bit hesitant already for any activity that involved me being out in this weather for multiple hours. I tried my best to listen to our tour guide and was really impressed with how much knowledge she had about the various forms of life that exist within the mud flats, but I had trouble focusing on the lesson as we were out there for longer. Despite all of this, I think I would have really enjoyed the mud flat hiking if the weather was nicer, I believe I would have really enjoyed learning about the wildlife on the island. It definitely felt really good to make it back to the hostel after that experience, put on dry clothes, and eat a warm meal. Overall, I very much enjoyed the excursion to Norderney. It was very much a different place from anywhere I’ve ever been, but it was a beautiful place and I definitely learned a lot (both from bike riding and experience at the Badehaus!)