The time is whizzing by. I think I've been busier at work, especially now that we have to plan the colloquium for the end of the program. My social life has been crazy lately too, it seems. The week after I came back from Passau flew by like no other. I think something happened every night. I hung out with a new friend Monday night, which proved to be quite an adventure. Thursday was the Midterm BBQ for the program. I had the day off till the evening, so I headed to the West Park for some sun. I'd never been there before, but it's quite lovely. It's a great place to BBQ or hang out. It's only about a 20 minute walk, even shorter bike ride, though my bike is a little kaputt at the moment. It was nice to lay in the sun and do nothing, though it was quite humid. I eventually went into work to answer some emails and prepare for the BBQ. The day before we went to the German equivalent of Costco and some other places and dropped 300EUR on food. If you ask me we could have had some more variety, despite the fact that we had a lot. We had plenty of different kinds of meat, but we had potato salad, noodle salad and kraut salad. the first two salads contained tons of mayo, so I felt like it was just a lot. The BBQ was tons of fun, though I mainly worked/served the whole time. We three girls worked the grill the whole time, till a guy friend of us from the office showed up. I think everyone was quite impressed. Despite the fact that I was a bit tired, I decided to meet up with some people to go to a club called B9. I had realized I hadn't been there yet and had been wanting to check it out. After making a short pit stop at a hookah bar, we headed over there. It is not in the main drag, but rather about ten minutes away. It is not sketchy, but you definitely notice a difference in the atmosphere. Some people would call the bar trashy and the people are definitely a bit odd, but the music was absolutely awesome, so that combined with only a 3EUR cover charge and most drinks only 1EUR (including some amazing/strong tequila shots), we had a blast. Through that event, I met a friend of a friend, named Hendrik. We get along swimmingly and have actually been hanging out/chatting a lot lately, even though it's been less than a week. It's quite a nice change, and I'm looking forward to the coming weeks.
Friday I also went out. The evening was better than expected because as I was out with some American friends, some German friends ran into me. That is always something someone hopes for, and in the US it's quite normal for me. I ended up hanging out with the Germans and managing to meet back up with Americans later. Eventually we went to one of the student's buddy's apartment and hung out there. He, Dimitri/Dietrich, was very friendly and I hope to see him again. ;) He even gave me a book to read (b/c that's what you do with books...), so I'll have to see him again to return it. Again, another wink ;) At his place we had some Czech schnapps with apple juice that tastes like Christmas/gingerbread. He told us it would, but we didn't actually believe him till we tried it. I didn't leave his place till 3am, despite the fact that I had to catch a train at 10am the next (same) day to go to Cologne.

So Saturday, William, a student in UROP, and I went to Cologne to see the cathedral and Christopher Street Day, a pride festival. The cathedral is an amazing example of Gothic architecture and the detail is stunning. The vaulted ceilings and open spaces are the best. People always say this church is stunning, yet having been to the Vatican twice, I've always wondered how it compares. It's hard to compare the two, since they have very different styles. St. Peter's is huge and has tons of artwork, but it's almost too big, once you've seen the Cologne Cathedral. William and I walked the 533 stairs to the top. Along the way you can see the bell tower space. Walking up is a lot more comfortable than walking up the cuppola of the Vatican, that's for sure. Though, afterwards my legs were shaking for ever. It was crazy. CSD was so amusing. There were some very interesting tents and great people watching. We had a good time. We actually met up with two people who are in the German internship program with me from UofM. It was nice to see some familiar faces, and all in all it was nice to finally spend some quality time in Cologne.





William and I decided that we wanted to get back to Aachen in time to make the 4th of July BBQ with some of the other students. The evening was well enjoyed and somehow I ended up being the 'grill master' for large part of the time.
Sunday, I accompanied the 25 students to Wildenhof, a camping area-ish on Lake Rur, with one of my coworkers. We were going to kayaking midday and then hang out in the afternoon and evening. We had an awesome: great weather, great moods, etc. It was nice being the main one in charge. This happened purely out of coincidence, mainly because I speak German and English, almost equally well, so I became the main communicator of all info. Although it started to rain and we decided to leave early, the trip was not a waste. I love water, so it was nice to get some swimming in and also work my arm muscles while kayaking. That evening I met up with Hendrik and some other friends to chat and what not.
Like I said, it's been very social lately, which may explain my sleepyness, despite the fact that I still sleep at least 8hrs a night ususally.
This week I'm running a 5mile race (up- and downhill). Don't ask me what I wasthinking. There's going to be a happening after party. :P We're also planning on going to B9 again this Thursday. This Saturday I'm going to Liege with a group, which should definitely be nice. I love Aachen's location!!
Lately I've been so busy with people here or just haven't been able to talk to certain people at home. It's been okay, but now that contact has finally started happening again with certain people at home, I realize how much I love them, and how no one here is quite like that. I love the people I've met here and what I'm doing, but when I think about, there are definitely no replacements, especially not in this short amount of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment