Week 4- Back to the new normal

    This last week looked to be a little less eventful than the last week. There was no trip to a spa island or no weekend trip to another country. This week saw a lot of getting back to what I would call the "new normal". Now this "new normal" isn't really normal, but it is the idea of being grounded in a place and sticking to some of those things. For me, this meant getting back to my host family and experiencing more of Bonn and Remagen. It meant going back to the market by the old city hall building and eating from the food trucks for lunch. It meant coming home to my host family and eating around the table with them. It also meant using my base of Remagen and Bonn to expand what I can experience here in Germany. One of the greatest examples of this occurred on Tuesday during lunch. During our daily trips to find lunch in Bonn, I ran into two guys that live in the same town as me and are on another program run by AIB. Although our conversation was brief and seemingly trivial, it was that small moment that made me realize how I feel so much more comfortable in Bonn in comparison to other places where I've been just due to the amount of time I have spent here. It has only taken a couple weeks, and this place already feels a little like home.

    Even though I have embraced this "new normal", that does not mean there are not new experiences and cool things that can happen. On Wednesday during a free day for our program, we went to a place called Black foot beach in Cologne. It seemed to be a little man-made lake that had a small beach. While it was nothing spectacular, it was a great place to relax and soak up the sun on a hot day in Germany. The study trip on Friday offered great views of the vineyards and the Rhine river in both Andernach and Bingen. The weekend was very fun yet not too intense, just how I like it. It involved a trip to a nice park in Bonn where a massive flea market was going on (where I got a decent jacket for super cheap), a birthday dinner and accompanying karaoke for one of my host family's friends, and a small hike nearby to see roman ruins that was later followed by a small barbecue with my host family. These were all experiences that didn't require a lot of traveling, but they offered lots of enjoyment with small moments of glee. 

The first picture below is of the center of the park where the flea market was. The garden and flowers were simply immaculate in the center of this park. The second picture is from the hike that I went on with my host family. This tree was on the side of the path, and I thought it was quite interesting. We commented on how it looks a little like a similar tree in "Game of Thrones". The last picture is of one of Hildegard von Bingen's visions in the museum dedicated to her that we visited as a program on Friday. I thought this particular vison was quite fascinating as it dealt with more cosmic ideas.