ICH BIN EIN BERLINER!

These past two weeks have been so freaking amazing that I didn’t even get time to write on our wonderful IRES blog (sorry Leah)! But you were all on my mind, especially last weekend when we played England, and this weekend when we played Argentina (shout out to Alex, Ogy and Rachel)!So I have two weeks worth of stories to fill you guys in on so let’s get cracking straightaway. The last last 2 weeks were CRAZY busy because my research picked up big time. I’m usually in early and stay til late to try and get my work done, but it’s been fun because we have random dinner nights and baking nights when experiments don’t work out, and because there are 30 people in my group, chances are you will always find yummy goodies in one of the kitchens. I ordered 3D printed objects for my experiment from France, which was quite the adventure, and they should be here sometime today! I spent a lot of time sketching and drawing these designs and I’m happy to say that I have retained some artistic talent over the years. I’m also learning how to program in Matlab. For those of you that don’t know what that it, let me tell you that it is a beast that has engulfed my soul. The good thing is that I’m pretty good at learning new programming languages, and I know how to code in IDL, so I’ve been able to put the two together and come closer to conquering the evil demon (aka Matlab). But at the end of the day, I still LOVE all of this. I really wouldn’t have it any other way because being in Germany, being able to do research that I’m interested in, and having the opportunity to transform into a legit scientist one step at time has been an incredibly enriching journey so far. I’ve been here for a month now, and I feel so much more prepared about taking on the world of physics research in the long run.Now onto the more fun stuff so that I don’t bore you with my love of physics. I went to Bonn and Cologne last weekend! I went on a ferry on the Rhine right after sunset, and felt a warm, fuzzy feeling spreading through me. I think it must have been that sense of security that comes with returning to a city that gave you so much as a child. Here's the lovely Rhein...

I visited Ludwig’s (van Beethoven’s) statue and house in the city center.I was staying with our family friends and we went to all the places that I had wanted to see for years. I realized that everything looked so much smaller, just because I was so much bigger. It definitely made me feel old, but in a good way. Going back to my roots made me marvel at how much I’ve grown as an individual and that warm, fuzzy feeling made me feel very grateful for the life I’ve been able to live. On Sunday, I went to Phantasialand, which is this giant theme/amusement park close to Cologne. I rode many roller coasters and got splashed on in many water slides...and it was a ton of fun! What was even better was that GERMANY WON AGAINST ENGLAND!! I left Phantasialand soon after and headed over to Cologne and the streets were ringing with vuvuzelas, screaming fans and loud music. All in all, it was like being at the Koelner Karneval (which usually happens in the spring) and man do these people know how to throw a party! The energy was electrifying and Cologne really impressed me with it’s ability to celebrate.Now let’s flash forward to this past weekend, because I was in breath-taking BERLINNNNNN, which is by far the most awesome city ever. I can’t get enough of it. It was great to see my uncle, aunt and cousin after several years!! I did all the fun touristy stuff as a tourist for the first time in the city. It was kind of strange/surreal/sentimental/too complicated of an emotion to describe in words being back in the city that comes closest to being home for me. If you’ve met me, you may know that I struggle to find one place that represents home for me... but Berlin comes pretty damn close to it. There’s this strange connection that I feel with the city and just gets me super-pumped like no other. I went to the Brandenburger Tor:Here's the old half-destroyed church on Kurfuersten Dam:This is the best Gelato in Berlin (or so they say) and this was the biggest portion of gelato I have consumed in a long time. It literally was the size of my head... which is rather big!

And here's the Berlin wall (with my cousin):I watched the Germany-Argentina game in East Berlin, next to Checkpoint Charlie, where they had turned the public viewing zone into a beach with a ton of sand! It was pretty epic. I mean, I’ve been to many exciting things during my 20 years on this planet, but I think this was definitely one of the highlights. I mean, WHAT ON EARTH?!??! How did we beat Argentina by so many goals?!?!?!?!? I’m still rather flabbergasted by the whole event. But it was AMAZING being in the city I love most, with my wonderful family and experiencing history with an ecstatic audience. What a glorious day with my cousin Tamida!
Even if Germany doesn’t make it past Spain on Wednesday, I’m so proud of the team. We’ve come this far when nobody expected it. And I’m loving every moment of it. Oh, and did I mention that I’m having the time of my life?

Let’s go Deutschland, let’s go!