Ciao Bello!

I am sitting on a couch once again... but this time in Cedar Springs, MI. Not on my couch back in Ingelheim, Germnay.

I have been back for a week, and I haven't settled down yet. I have been hanging out with friends, I have had three sleep overs and I have gone to the beahc and biked 46 MI! I love my friends here in GR and I am glad I am back in MI!

I wanted to show you a few pictures from Italy. We arrived to Bergamo on Friday night, my friend Casta picked us up, then we stayed the night in Bresia. Venice came right after that, Florence, Rome, Pisa and Cinque Terre followed.

There are way too many stories to tell you all of them. All I can say is that we had a ton of fun, we laughed so hard that my ribs would hurt from laughing the next day. We encountered a lot of creepy guys, we ran to catch trains, we were homeless for two nights! and slept out there in the street.

I loved all the places we went, Cinque Terre was probably my favorite. Rome had a lot of history behind it and the Colloseum was also one of my favorite places, I had been waiting to go to this place since I was in middle school. Florence was a beautiful place, overall Italy was an awesome country that I will definately come back and visit again.

Last day of work!

Time flew by, I am now on my last day of work, anxiously waiting for 4:56pm... because that means that it will be 4:56 on the 07.08.09 (They write the day first here in Germany!)So yeah it will be 456789!!!!! hahaha... ok I am done..

Anyways, today is a sad day because I do not think I am done here. I will truly miss this place, I will miss the mountains, the Rhine river, black hill 782, my apartment, Rewe (The store), people at work, my hood, the weekend trips, german lesson (and the awesome teacher Oliver), the best sunsets ever from the window in my apartment, the random friends I made on my trips, the real European soccer games, the smell of my project!! I will miss too much of this place, I got too attached to this way of living that now, I do not want to leave.

Germany is a wonderful country, I had a great summer and I could not have asked for more. I went to two banks this morning to close the accounts, then I returned my bike, then the apartment keys... I went to like 4 different places to do all of this, and I spoke German in all of them! (Oliver you should be proud of me!)

My boss picked up my luggage from my apartment this morning. He is letting me store it at his place for a week, since I leave for Italy today and will be back in week.

I am indeed really sad and it will break my heart to say goodbye to all these people at work, after I closed the apartment door I felt like I was closing another door of a place that once I called home. I know I was here for only 2.5 months but I loved every single minute of it, this place had become home.

On the other hand, excitement has not hit me yet. I leave for Italy today and I get to see three friends. (Katrina, Andre and Casta)Casta is a friend from Highschool from back home!!!!!! I am really excited to meet with her at the airport in Bergamo tonight.

I will prolly update this blog in Italy but nothing is for sure, since I do not know how the internet situation will be.

Thank you for following my adventures!!!
Hasta pronto!

Why would I not miss this place?

Last weekend

I left work on Wednesday and off to Munich. I had been waiting for this soccer game all summer long, FC Bayern Munich-AC Milan and Manchester United-Boca Juniors. Got to Munich, quickly found the hostel and started walking to the tram station to go to the stadium. I was all by myself in this big city so I decided to be friendly and make friends.

I made friends on my way to the soccer game, I don’t remember their names but they were from US and had internships in Berlin, all engineering, chemistry related so we had a great time. We got to the stadium, sat on the stairs because there were no more empty chairs. I soon left and sneaked into the 60€ section. I started painting my face with the FC Bayern colors. I was sitting right behind the players. I decided to call my dad and tell him to look for me on TV because I was for sure gonna get on no matter what! Well sure enough, some players were about to go in the game, as I was talking to my dad, he says: “THERE YOU ARE!! WAVE!!!” I didn’t know where the camera was, since there were many in front of me. Well I started waiving everywhere and got my parents excited, since they haven’t seen me for a while… Well they got to see me on TV! The game was a blast, I got Van Gaal’s autograph (The FC Bayern trainer) and I got to be on TV not once but many times, they even took pictures of myself! (This had happened before 3 years ago when I went to the Barcelona game in CA)

I was exhausted after the game, it took forever to get out the stadium, there were too many people and we were all over each other in the tram… I made it back to the hostel and had a great night, my roommates were a mom and her two kids so it was nice.

Off to Salzburg in Austria the next morning, it was only 7:00am and I was already at the train station. Salzburg is a nice little place, famous because Mozart was born there and he spent a lot of his years in that town. I walked around the entire city, went up to the fortress in a hill. I could hear music everywhere, there was someone playing a guitar, a violin, a harmonica, and many other instruments in every corner. I was tired by the end and decided to go to Berchtesgaden, my destination for the night and the next day.

Berchtesgaden is located at the very south of Germany, it is right by the Alps and you could see all the mountains when going in the train to this town. It was a 30 min walk to the hostel, this being uphill! I checked in, left my stuff at the hostel and decided to go for a walk around the town. I was once again walking around a town by myself, I wanted a picture by the mountains so I asked this couple who seemed nice, and I ended up making friends with them. Phil and I don’t remember her name, they were from the States, (California, and Chicago)! haha. My plan was to go to eagle’s nest the next morning, come back and go back to Ingelheim. Well that was not quite what happened. I did get up at 6:30am to go to Eagle’s nest, the couple I had met the night before were going to take the same bus up the hill with me at 9:00am so we met at the train station.

Eagle’s nest was Hitler’s holyday house, he got it n his 50th birthday and there is an elevator that takes you up into the house, and there is also a path that you could take to go up the house. This is the path the American soldiers took when they found this place. I walked up the path on the way there because the elevator was not working, and took the elevator on the way down when I was working.

It was sooo disappointed being up on the eagle’s nest and not being able to see ANYTHING!!! Not even 10 ft away from me. It was soo foggy and cloudy, I wanted to cry. I love the mountains, that is one of my favorite things in the entire world and wanted to see the Alps from the prettiest view you could get of the Alps from Germany and not being able to I just wanted to scream and cry. Everyone has to pay 15€ to go up there, cause the bus is owned by a private company, so I basically wanted to throw myself down the hill where all I could see was pitch white! I was so high up there in the Alps and I wasn’t getting what I wanted to. Disappointed of the situation, went down to Berchtesgaden, I was at the train station wondering if anyone knew what the weather was going to be like for the next day.

I found an information point across the street and went there, they said the next day was supposed to be a beautiful 82F degree sunny day. At this point, turned around, and walked in the opposite direction of the train station, I was walking to back to the hostel I had stayed at the night before! Call me crazy or something, but I was melting to see this view from the Eagle’s nest. They did have a bed for the night (The same bed I used the night before) , so I booked another night and made friends with two other girls staying there.

I walked to the koningsee lake that day, and this added 10km to my shoes! I was dead tired after doing this, my legs were giving up and all I needed was sleep. This lady was snoring at night and it took me 2 hours to fall sleep! Not even my ipod could block her snores! It was crazy, I wanted to throw a tomato I had gotten as part of breakfast for the next day! I was soo upset at this lady that I really wanted to throw something at her! Haha but I was nice and I didn’t.

Another night at the hostel, another early morning, another bus ride and NO! I didn’t pay 15€ again, I cheated the system. I was planning on walking for 2 hours, because I did not wanted to pay again, I pretended like I stood in line to buy the ticket, pulled out my ticket from the day before (I am sure God loves me soo much, since they actually hadn’t ripped my ticket at the entrance of the bus the day before, like they normally do).. I got in the bus, and they ripped it, I totally got in like if nothing had happened. They driver had seen me “buying” the ticket, so why was he going to check on the date right?

Eagle nest’s view was the most amazing view I have ever seen in my life, I saw the Watzmann mountain, I saw Salzburg from far away, I saw everything I could see! The sun was shining, it was a hot day, it was a wonderful day. I was once again in the Eagle’s nest. I sat on this bench for about 30 min, staring at the Alps, thinking about everything I had gone through to get to this place. My friends from the hostel were going to meet me there later one, so they did, we had a great time. I told myself I would come back and hike up the Watzmann someday. It is only 8 hours to get there, so why not do it right?

My determination to reach what I want had once again won the battle, I got on TV with a painted face, I got Van Gaal’s autograph, I went to the Eagle’s nest twice! I had gotten what I wanted.

Last week I got asked about what the best place I had gone this summer was and I couldn’t answer, cause I thought all the places were great! But now If I had to answer that question again, no doubt, it would definitely be this one, the Alps.

TWO HOURS AND A HALF BEFORE THE PROPOSAL

I am posting this longer than a month after it happened, because I wanted Michelle and Mike to tell the story first!

Read under your own risk! I almost had a heart attack.

12:17 Mike is supposed to arrive in Mainz on platform 3 a/b (His train was delayed 25 minutes)

12:30 Michelle and Diane get to the train station and start looking for a train to Bingen.

12:30 Mike was suppose to be taking a train to Bingen on platform 11.

12:35 Michelle and Diane stand on platform 3 a/b (Diane tries to convince Michelle to get out of there, she thinks Mike’s train could be delayed  which it was!)

12:36 Michelle and Diane step out of the train station and look for a train on the internet.

12:42 Mike gets to Mainz, he arrived on platform 3 a/b

12:48 Michelle and Diane go back to platform 3 a/b to look for the train schedule

12:50 Michelle and Diane got on the train to Bingen, platform 11.

12:51 Mike takes a picture of the front of the hbf (train station, Michelle and Diane had left 11 minutes ago! They almost made it into the pic taken by Mike!!)

12:54 Diane is sitting by the window because she thinks that Mike’s train was delayed and it might be possible that he will get on the same train.

13:04 Mike was supposed to arrive in Bingen, but he has missed the train cause his other one was delayed!

13:17 Diane sees Mike walking towards the train and she panics.

13:17-13:18.5 Diane pulls out the worst story she has ever come up with. Her voice is breaking and she is literally shaking. She tells Michelle to come by the other side of the window and to look at a “gray wall” and says: if you go that way you will find this huge mall, they sell everything”… it is hard to convince Michelle to stand up after walking 3 hours with the huge backpacks! She does not want to get up (she obviously can see everything from where she is sitting so why would she get up!!!!  I couldn’t come with ANYTHING else! I was about to have a heart attack), so Diane raises her voice! Michelle finally stands up and goes to look at the “gray wall”. Diane is actually pointing at the “gray wall” but she is actually looking at Mike through the reflection on the glass!!! And thinks Michelle will see Mike through the glass too!) Mike is right behind them! Mike is asking a question to a guy outside the train.

13:19 Mike gets in the train one door farther up from where Michelle and Diane are sitting, Diane thanks God he doesn’t get in through the door right next to them.

13:19 Diane says: “Michelle I am going to the bathroom and looks for Mike. Diane finds Mike and pokes him from the back. He turns around, his face is priceless, he looks nervous, he is sweating, he says he just changed in a McDonnalds (Diane and Michelle had walked by the same McDonnald’s 20 min ago). Diane explains that they are in the same train and that he should seat farther up. Diane’s voice is still breaking… She tells Mike that in Bingen, Diane and Michelle would get off the train first, they would walk towards the city and he should walk towards the river. Diane goes back to where Michelle is sitting, she never made it to the bathroom!

13:30 the train leaves Mainz and Michelle, Mike and Diane are in the same train (This was not supposed to happen!!! Mike was supposed to be in Bingen already).

13:54 Michelle takes a picture of the backpacks on the seat

13:58 Diane takes a picture of Michelle being clueless of what it’s about to happen.

14:00 it starts pouring outside! Diane prays the whole way so that God would stop the rain.

14:08 The three musketeers get to Bingen. Diane hopes Mike realizes that HE needs to get off first because the steps to cross to the city and to the river are closer to his exit in the train. Mike is brilliant and smart, he gets off as soon as the train’s door opens, runs downstairs and stands by a wall peaking out to check on her, about to be, fiancé (they haven’t seen each other for approximately one day!)

14:09 Michelle and Diane walk really slow towards the steps, they go downstairs, Diane sees Mike and points towards the river. Michelle and Diane walk towards the city. It is pouring outside!

14:19 Michelle and Diane are up in the Burg Klopp in Bingen, Diane makes a few videos of Michelle and she loves the fact that Michelle has not idea about anything! It stops raining so Diane says they should leave and walk to the river, and emphasizes the fact that they could come up here again later. Michelle wonders: “why would we come up here later?, it is quite the walk, it is uphill, it is kind of raining and we have huge backpacks!-->Diane is crazy!”

14:24 Diane tapes a video of Michelle walking under the rain saying a few words to Mike. Diane tells her that she will show it to Mike when she sees him (Michelle has no idea how soon this would be, but Diane knows that it would be in about 10 min!)

14:24-14:30 Diane makes Michelle walk fast: “work those legs up!” they are heading towards the Rhine river now! It has stopped raining. Mike has been sitting on a bench, under the rain, reading a newspaper waiting for his loved one. He is praying so that God would stop the rain, and that some people who have just stopped to see some flowers about 10 feet away from him would leave!

14:33 a minute until Michelle and Diane get to the Rhine, people looking at flowers by Mike leave, the rain stops!!! GOD IS AWESOME.

14:34 Diane and Michelle are standing in front of Mike’s bench. Diane says: “Michelle wait for me here” I am going to ask someone if we can cross the river in the ferry”. Diane has seen Mike on the bench with the newspaper, she points to Mike and waves as she is thinking: “I am done with the plan, it is your turn to take over and steal Michelle, I am about to collapse from excitement and anxiousness”

14:35-14:55 Mike comes from the back and says “Michelle”…… Diane tapes a video from where she is “asking the guy how to cross the river”
………….. 20 min go by…….. I can’t tell you what is going on, because I am sitting on another bench farther from where they are, looking at a castle. I meditate and thank God of how he has stopped the rain, the sun is shining now, and he has worked everything out in such a perfect way. He is just AWESOME! And as I sit on the bench, I think of how I should make this my last prank ever… Why not ending with this master piece, right? I sit on the bench for a while, I have a mix of feelings, I feel relieved that everything has worked out. I think of how much little sleep I had gotten all the past week from being too excited about this moment.

14:59 Mike and Michelle come find me, Michelle has WHAT!?? SHE’S GOT A RING ON HER LEFT HAND!!!

15:00 they all take pictures, they laugh, they tell the stories, the just engaged couple look like the happiest people I have ever seen in my entire laugh, they look like they have just won the lottery (I think they have won something more rewarding than just the lottery). I almost want to cry from excitement! I congrats the happy engaged couple and we walk along the Rhine river, across from the Germania statue and the Ruine Ehrenfels.

You might wonder how I put this together with the exact times. Well Mike was taking pictures, Michelle was taking pictures and I was taking pictures. All the cameras tell you the exact time the pics were taken so I have three folders open, Mike Michelle and my pictures are on my computer and I went back and checked on the time the pics were taken! I made sure the times on the cameras was the same, Michelle’s was an hour and 14 min behind Mike’s and my camera.
I hope you enjoyed the awesome story of Mike’s perfect brilliant proposing plan.
Congrats to you Mike and Michelle! I wish you the best in your lives.

Mike proposed!!!!! the story!

Saturday, June 27th Train ride from Koln to Berlin.

When sitting on train ICE 655… going to Berlin
AHHHHHHH what an exciting day, best day I have had in uhmmm… A LONG TIME!
I have pulled the best prank I have ever pulled, I did not come up with it, but I want to thank Mike for letting me be part of this master piece.… I really do not think a prank will ever get better than this!
I am sitting behind Mike Slager and Michelle deMaagd who will soon become Michelle Slager now!

How did everything start? Yeah that is exactly the question that goes through my mind right now…
Monday (Not even a week ago), I go to work, there is this email on my inbox saying: I need your help!!! From Mike!... I figured it had to do something with Michelle since she was coming for a visit! Then I figured he was coming to propose!!!!!! I ALMOST FELL OUT MY CHAIR AT WORK! I have not been able to get a good night of sleep all week! Why!? I was way too excited!!!! Way too excited for Michelle and Mike! And everything!....

Mike planned everything, I helped. He came up with ideas, he thought of places and I took trains to go check them out and took pictures! Bingen was the place… Beautiful city, by the Rhine, with a castle and just everything. We scheduled rides (the plans I had with Michelle got a bit pushed back so that we would meet Mike in Bingen on Saturday morning and not leave for Berlin early Saturday morning as I had planned earlier).
Michelle was a bit confused when I said we were not getting up early to go to Berlin but instead we would sleep in, then go to Mainz then Bingen…

Michelle arrived in Mainz on Friday, June 26th at 20:55, I could not wait for her to get all the way to Ingelheim so I went to Mainz to meet her there. Mike was arriving on Saturday and meeting us in Bingen. We were just hoping trains wouldn’t be delayed or something like that.

Mike was supposed to stop in Mainz and take a train to Bingen. I got nervous and started thinking we were going to see Mike in Mainz so I went outside the train station and I tried to play the: “Michelle let’s go out and check what the train schedule says online..” There was supposed to be a train leaving from platform 3a/b but I did not want to take that one, because according to the plan, Mike was gonna get off on that platform! … Michelle REALLY wanted to stand on 3 a/b and wait for that train! I didn’t know what to do.
Well we ended up on gate 11, we got on the train with Michelle we were now going from Mainz to Bingen. The whole time I was hoping Mike would be in Bingen already waiting for us, I sat by the window and started looking around in case I would see Mike walking towards the train!
Guess what!? I see Mike walking towards the train!!!!! I had a panic attack! Michelle was about to see him too! So I stood up and said: Michelle come here hurry up! LOOK! And I was pointing the opposite direction from where Mike was; I didn’t even know what to point at! I said Yeah there is this cool mall that way and ahhh! I was shaking! My face was for sure going from purple to blue to green (I thought: Michelle will think I am soo stupid after pointing at this building and not being able to see anything).
I could see Mike on the glass reflection while I was pointing to the buildings; I thought Michelle was for sure going to see him! (Michelle adds: Diane was pointing at a GRAY WALL. There was absolutely nothing there for me to see!)
Fortunately Mike got in the train one door farther down from where we were. We sat down again and I let Michelle take the window seat. I said: “I have to go to the bathroom”. I went and poked Mike from behind the seat! Here we were sitting, on the same train going to Bingen!!!! Mike on one end, Michelle and I on the other end of the train! I was literally shaking!

Got off the train and I saw Mike heading towards the river as we had agreed. He was quick at thinking about this one, he got off the train as fast as he could and I walked slowly with Michelle so that she would not see him. We headed towards the city with Michelle. About 30 minutes later we started walking towards the river with Michelle. (Another Michelle note: Diane told me to “work my legs” and walk faster so that we can take pictures of the river without rain. Now, we had just gotten done taking pictures from the great view with it raining, so I was a bit confused.) Mike was sitting on a bench with a Newspaper I saw him from far away and we stood right in front of him cause Michelle wanted to get a picture of the nice view. I told Michelle: “Wait for me here, let me go ask someone when we can cross in the ferry” I left Michelle there, by the Rhine river taking the picture!
It was time for Mike to take over the plan!

I sat on a bench by the river thinking: How did we do this in 4 days!? How!? Mike told me on Monday, by Wednesday I had booked hostels in Berlin and Munich. I had printed out train rides, maps and flights from Mike and Michelle. There was no way this could have worked out better than it did! NO WAY!
--riding the same train, making sure Michelle wouldn’t see Mike, working out schedules and everything--
I stayed up really late every night during the week, thinking about Friday (Michelle arriving) and Saturday (Mike proposing). I was soooo EXCITED all week long! I had promised Mike not to tell anyone about this so I didn’t but at work people could just see it on my face, hear it on my voice. I am sure people on the street thought I was under drugs… I just couldn’t contain myself from thinking I was about to help out in the biggest most perfect plan I have ever heard.

I wait for Mike and Michelle at the bench by the river, this is when Mike is proposing…

Mike and Michelle come back and Mike tells me: “Guess what Michelle said 5 min ago?” She said: “we have to go find Diane, she was going to go ask a question to this guy…”
We walked along the river for a while, we laughed, told our stories and the major planning we did in less than one week. Michelle had no idea about any of this!
Mike had gotten up at 1:45am on Wednesday so that we could talk! He was just soo awesome about planning all of this.
I must say that I do not think I could pull this off with another person but Mike. I give him all the credit, cause he thought of this crazy idea and was always really quick at thinking when it was needed.
Planning an international prank I guess I could call, is hard! And working everything out can get stressful and nerve-racking, but I loved EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT! –except for when I saw Mike coming towards the train and I pulled that crazy story making a fool of myself; I knew Michelle would understand that I am not going crazy after all.

This past week (22nd-27th of June) added 10 years to life, all the planning, not sleeping well, not being able to concentrate on things, waking up every night thinking that I am late because I have to go pick up Michelle at the train station when it is only 4:00am is when you realize you are way too excited about someone, coming up with stories out of nowhere, convincing Michelle about not wanting to stand on gate 3 a/b! Way too crazy of a week.
Nothing could have worked better, NOTHING. We literally prayed to God to stop the rain, I was praying all the way from Mainz to Bingen. Mike was paying as he was sitting on the bench in the park by the river while holding a soaking wet newspaper while this guy was laughing at him.
God stopped the rain, we had a wonderful day, and we laughed sooo hard all the way to Berlin, Munich and back to Ingelheim.

Luxembourg, Brussels, Rotterdam and Delft

I have been wanting to stop by Luxembourg and Bruxelles. My cousin lives in Delft, The Netherlands, my cousin Liliana, his sister, is visiting him this month so I decided to go over the weekend and say hi.

I took Friday off from work because I urgently needed to see Luxembourg and Bruxelles, so I did. Friday was a very exhausting day, I walked for about 12 hours. I saw the places I wanted to see in Luxembourg, I even had time to go into the case mates and they were awesome, I made it out of them without getting lost! The casemates are underground tunnels that that run for about 17 km. Of course I didn’t walk for 17 km… I stopped by a shop to buy a postcard and send it to my family, and I ended up making friends with the girl from the shop, she was really nice, she asked if I was traveling alone. This question shocked me for some reason, I realized that most of the trips I have done, I have been with someone, but not this time. I was in Luxembourg, going to Burxelles and then to Delft, all by myself.

I enjoy train rides, and I have counted how many hours I have spent on trains, it adds up to 99 hours now! That is soo crazy! My train ride to Brussels was not enjoyable at all. I was sitting on the train, people were still boarding, there were many seat still available. This guy came and sat right in front of me, I almost wanted to leave because I don’t like sitting in front of people. Well I decided to be polite and stayed on my seat. He asked where I was from, I said El Salvador, so he started speaking Spanish, he was getting on my nerves with all of his questions. I was just annoyed and wanted to leave, he told me all the possible phrases that a typical Mexican (sorry if there are any Mexicans reading this) would say to a girl, I hated it. I was soo tired from walking in Luxembourg and all I wanted to do was sleep, but I couldn’t cause this creepy guy was probably going to take a picture of myself. I tried sooo hard to keep my eyes open, and failed once for about 5 seconds. I woke up and there he was staring at me, it was disturbing! I was counting every single second for the train ride to be over, and he was counting but in sadness, he would say! He asked for a picture but I refused and said I don’t like giving pictures to strangers… The train ride was finally over so I quickly got out the train and left, worst train ride ever, it is not fun to hear the most stupid “piropos” ever, I just wanted to punch him, I was really upset.

Well I tried to forget all about the train ride and enjoy my time in Brussels, the capital of the European union, I saw the main places, but I literally had to run to get to places. I saw the maneken peeing, the main palace, the town square, and the Atonium. I was really disappointed when I went into a souvenirs shop to look for a map and asked: Where is the atonium? He said, ohh that is far from here, 20 min in tram! He advised me not to go it, since I only had 4 hours in town. I am a disobedient person sometimes, and being a chemical engineering major, of course I went and saw the giant Fe atom! It is in the same family of my favorite element, Copper! So why not a quick visit to the cousin right!? Haha…

Brussels was a busy city, not very clean but ok to see. Luxembourg was really clean, calm and quiet. I spent the rest of my time in Delft, Friday and Saturday night. We went to Rotterdam with my cousins because there was a big festival , we had a lot of fun. We all decided to take a nap by the harbor in Rotterdam in some benches, and as I was sleeping this guy came and started playing the guitar, right next to me. I jumped, I was not expecting a “serenata” haha…

That was the weekend in Luxembourg, Brussels, Rotterdam and Delft. I had a great time!

One week left of work!

I have been working on a new project at work. A project that no one in the lab has ever done before, last time this process was made was nine years ago, and it was made by another department at Boehringer Ingelheim. I started this project on Monday and it has been a lot of fun, enjoyment and excitement, except for one little thing, the smell. We never know what is going to happen when we add something else, we don’t know how reactive the substance is going to be.

I was adding E-Wasser once, and the temperature rose from 45C to 90C in about 5 seconds, it started boiling and the temperature was still going up, I called Mrs. Kröber and she quickly ran to get ice. I have been mixing, stirring, distilling, heating, crystallizing, vacuuming, rinsing and drying my substance. It all started with 1-Napthyalmine and this is a really smelly substance, I have actually gained the “Stinky Diane” title at work. Yikes! Haha

This project consists on an impurity, so basically I am making an impurity for analyzing, updating methods. I enjoy it a lot though, it has been like putting all of my Organic Chemistry abilities in practice, and it has been great.

When I was in Giethoorn!

Weekend in Bremen

I wrote this a week ago...

This past weekend I visited the other two interns from Calvin and the guys who are doing the Engr. 202 summer program up in Bremen.

I had a great time, Katrina met me at the train station then we proceeded to go to the teerhof where the 202 summer program guys are staying. We finally got into the building, after Katrina’s attempts of trying to hit the windows with small rocks.

We visited the place where Eric and Chris (The other two interns from Calvin in Germany) are living this summer. For dinner, we went out to get a dönner, while sitting we decided we wanted to go up to the North Sea go to the dunes and the mudflats and walk to the island. Well we thought the last train was leaving at 11:00pm, it was 10:00pm already. We hurried up, walked back to the teerhof, got everything packed up for an all nighter and a beautiful sunset at the beach. These sweet plans got destroyed once we realized that the last train had left at 9:30om and not 11:30pm as we thought. It was a really sad moment for a lot of people, since we were all ready to go.

The summer program guys were sweet and let us use a mattress they had, there was a couch downstairs in the lobby so Katrina and I slept in the lobby of the place. We woke up at 6:00am to go up to the North sea, Eric and Chris met us at the train station and here we were all ready to go, this time we were for reals going.

We all had a great time at the beach, we walked on the mudflats, found a lot of crabs and took pictures. Then it was time to leave and head back to Ingelheim. After a 6.5 hour train ride I was back in my apartment. I had been craving gummies, because I had finished a 1Kg on Thursday, it turns out that Carsten who actually stayed in my apartment until Sunday (I was gone all weekend) had left two bags of gummies on the counter for me as a present for letting him stay at my place. It was a great feeling.