This week was relatively normal; I changed media, differentiated cells, isolated RNA, etc. On Wednesday all the Erlangen DAAD Rise interns got to meet the president of FAU (the university that most of us are working for). This was pretty cool, but the main event was the free ice cream after the group photo! America will sadly never be able to do ice cream like Germany does.
I wish I had more to say about the week, but everything just paled in comparison to the weekend, when I went to Barcelona! I swam in the Mediterranean, drank sangria, got a little tan (but mostly sun burned), and saw all the abstract master pieces of Gaudi, including the world famous Sagrada Familia and Park Guell! I did take several pictures while there, but unfortunately, can’t really post any of the beach because there isn’t a single photo without a topless woman! Europe sure is different from the US!
The flight was quite cheap, only about $150 round trip for a nonstop flight, and Hostel only about $20 a night for an 8 bed dorm, so it was a pretty sweet deal. One travel tip I have learned: flights tend to be a lot cheaper if you fly back on Monday, and it isn’t so bad actually because you get a little more travel time, and then you can just go straight to work from the airport. It can be exhausting though. My travel buddy/roomie/co-worker/friend, Emi, and I came back on Monday morning and went straight to the lab, starting our work at around 4 and finishing around 8, then attended a good bye dinner for one of the interns who was leaving, which didn’t end till around 11, so we were a little burned out.
One thing to watch out for in Barcelona, if you do go, is the pick-pocketing. I had heard stories and warnings about the stealing there, but I actually experienced it first hand when my roommate had her purse stolen from right under our noses at the beach. It would have been really bad if her passport was in there, but luckily she stuck it in the hostel just before leaving because she wouldn’t have been able to get back into the states for a while. We did lose the only phone between the two of us (since mine was dropped in the toilet and is still broken), so its been a little rough!
Anyways, here’s some pics:
Germany 2015 