Slowly but surely, I'm getting this blog up to date... Now I'm writing about Sunday, August 3 - the second half of my first weekend in Germany.

My day started quite early thanks to the incessant ringing of church bells right outside my window at 8:30 am (which is pretty early for a non-morning person). The church responsible for the racket isn't even particularly old or historical (by European standards - it's about 60 years old, which would make it a monument in L.A.), so I may still be a bit bitter.

Sarah, the other program participant living with my host family, and I live way out in a northern part of the city called Longerich. It feels like a suburb but is still within the city limits of Cologne. After a walk to the station and a quick train ride, we were in the center of the city, where we met up with some friends and explored our new stomping grounds.

The exterior of the Cologne cathedral, which has fast become one of my most favorite buildings

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Today's the 24th of August... but I have yet to write about July 30th, the first day I arrived in Germany! Oops! Here goes.

We flew Luthansa, of course, into Frankfurt and bussed to Budenheim, where we were to have our orientation sessions with our German program administrators. We had the afternoon off, so I took the opportunity to play some Kegelbahn (German bowling, which is much harder than the American sort), try my hand at foosball, play table tennis (a major pastime here, with many competitive clubs and leagues),  and take a walk in the surrounding area. 

Only in Europe could you take a short stroll and happen across an old stone tower built in the 1800s - and that's just what we did! I found a German webpage that tells me a local painter and stuccoer named Adam Allendorf constructed a platform that still offers views of the Rhine River and the nearby city of Mainz.

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Continuing with the retro-blogging, live from Cologne!

On  July 27, I spent my last free day in D.C. seeing what few things I had not gotten to already in the previous three days. Ranjani and I started out in the National Gallery of Art, where we saw works from the likes of Titian, Van Gogh, Raphael, Monet, and Picasso. 

I love this sort of art! "Multiverse" by Leo Villareal

Still can't believe I saw some of Van Gogh's work!

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As usual, everything here in Cologne is still amazing! Just in the last 5 days I sampled some German wine's at the city's Wine Week, headed out to dinner with another program participant and her host family, visited the city's botanical gardens, and took a day trip to Maastricht! Lots of excitement over here. But there are still events in the U.S. about which I have not yet blogged, so here goes - some of my last memories on American soil for the next 365 days.

On July 26th, I continued my pre-orientation sightseeing blitz through D.C., this time with my host Ranjani by my side. I started out at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. From neanderthal skeletons to a preserved giant squid, this place has it all, including a hall full of countless rooms displaying innumerable gems and crystals. It also had an installation where you could touch a meteorite that fell from Mars. Between touching that and the moon rock in the Air and Space Museum the day before, I think it's safe to say I've basically been to space.

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Life here in Cologne is as awesome and busy as ever! I can't wait to blog about it. But the reality of the situation is that, once again, my progress trudging through the thousands of photos I've taken since the start of my experience is lagging way behind the pace of real life. So, it's time to continue with retroactive blogging! 

On Friday July 25, I continued the world's fastest sightseeing blitz of D.C., starting at 6:30 a.m. as I took the train back to the National Mall. A quick note about D.C. residents - every last one of them loves reading the newspaper or a political novel during their commute on the train. In L.A., everyone on the train simply zones out or listens to music. Not so in the nation's capital. It's been 2 days and I'm already spotting cultural differences! Neat!

After a 2 hour wait to snag tickets for ascending the Washington Monument later, it was off to see over a hundred years of aviation history at the country's most frequently visited museum - the National Air and Space Museum! But first, there was still time to snag some morning shots of the Washington Monument. Priorities, people.

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Life abroad has been extremely exciting and busy! While that's great for me, that also means this blog is hopelessly behind what's happening right now. So, basically it's time to start retroactively blogging, starting with my first day in Washington, D.C. on July 24!

This trip is my first time visiting the East Coast. I was so excited, not even the gloomy skies and oppressive humidity could keep me from nabbing a quick picture of the mall's major sights. 

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