This past weekend I had a meeting in Heidelberg for four days with people running the RISE program and other RISErs. The train trip down on Thursday was pretty short at 1 hr compared to other people farther away. Some had to take a train for 8 hours from Berlin before they got to Heidelberg. The first day wasn't that eventful since the talk only consisted of the US, Canadian, and UK embassy giving us some sort of mini-speech. It was so insignificant that I can't even remember what they said. A past RISE student and a current German exchange student from California spoke to us briefly about their experiences and what has changed after their participation in the program. Most of what they talked about was how awesome Germany was which makes sense since the purpose of this DAAD-RISE program is to build connections with people around the world with Germany. They hope that in the future there would be more collaborations with researchers in Germany or for us to work there in general. At least that's what I think the whole purpose of this entire program and meeting in Heidelberg was all about.
After the meeting with everyone in the RISE committee introducing themselves, we bused over to a brewery that was kinda far out. During the entire bus ride, Karen and I were trying to build up some courage to talk to some new people (especially the ones with the English accent, Karen has the hots for those ones LOL.) In the end we didn't really make any new friends on the ride to the brewery. Since it was such a fail to meet new friends on the bus, we decided that we'd sit with some new people so we wouldn't get locked into sitting with people we already know. Once we sat down at a table, we were immediately approached by a waitress asking us what kind of beer we wanted (light or dark). That lady is like a hawk, she came within 10 seconds! The people we sat with were pretty nice except the two MIT guys kinda just talked to each other. At one point they were talking about grades I think, they were probably just talking to measure each other up and compare who is better. The two dudes had some pretty major bling going on, they were both wearing their class rings (at least that's what I think it was). They didn't really socialize with us much, they were probably just being super exclusive, since they're both from MIT and all. Anyways, the meal was alright (buffet style since we were such a large group) and I ordered a second beer. There were some random conversations and mostly small talk so I don't really remember what we talked about.
Afterwards we went back to the hostel and then we tried to find a bar near the area that Kurtis spotted before. However, it started to rain and we thought we were going in the wrong direction so we went to the bar that was located within the hostel (it was a humungous hostel that could fit 300+ people, it was more like a hotel in hostel form). I just had a cocktail at the bar and chatted with some new people. Karen, Kurtis, and I didn't want to drink too much or stay out too late since we had company visits the next morning so we didn't go out to the old town with a bunch of other RISE students.
The next day we woke up bright and early to visit companies the program chose for us to visit. We could have gone to BASF, PI, Merck, and lots of other companies. I was assigned to go to Merck, a pharaceutical company, which I have to mention is not the same Merck in America. According to our tour guide, the two Mercks used to be one company but after WWI, the company split. I'm not totally sure on the details, but the history is on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_%26_Co. ) . The visit was pretty interesting, it made me feel that going into the industry for research would not be that bad. Honestly, it didn't seem too different than going into academia. According to some of the people who work there, they decided to go into the industry because they liked a beginning and end to their work. For instance, in academia, you are focused on one topic for the rest of your career. In my lab for example, they will be studying ADAM10 and how it affects the body when it is upregulated or downregulated, or how it can be induced or whatnot. Ok, that was a super bad explanation but point is, working in the company allows you to explore different topics. You aren't focused on one specific enzyme forever. I don't know, I think going into the industry can't be that bad. I can kinda see myself doing it and possibly not hating it. I mean, if there's always something new to do at a company, why not? At least I wouldn't be bored. But I don't want to put down my hopes to become a doctor just yet. Maybe I could try to pursue an MD/PhD but I know my GPA is not high enough to get in. *sigh* Why is life so hard.
Anyways, the visit to Merck was nice. I never knew what it meant to go into the industry so I never really thought much about it. Now that I know what going into the industry is all about, it is now a path I can think about seriously. I can already see my dad being super sad that he let me go on this internship since it might be the one thing that stops me from being a doctor :P
We arrived back at the hostel at around 5 in the afternoon so Karen and I just had our free dinner and lounged around. At dinner, we met some guys and we played foosball with them while drinking some beer. When Sarah and Kurtis finally came back to the hostel from their company visit, us and a bunch of other RISE students decided to head to the old parts of town. We bought a 20 bottle crate of beer and two six packs and went by the river at a park to just chill out and drink with other RISE students. Anyways, as you can see on the left, that is a tally of what we had to drink (we made that the next day). We first had 3 beers by the river. During this time, I was trying to master the skill to open a beer bottle with another beer bottle. I have to say I totally failed at doing that. I opened the bottle a little bit and so it just leaked most of the time. I did however succeed in opening a beer with a lighter though. It's a lot easier. Three beers,
three tries, ultimately failed to open another beer with a beer. Afterwards, Karen, Kurtis, Tanner (a Canadian we met from the river that is also in the RISE program), and I went bar hoping in the old town area. It was an entire street of bars, and we just went into each one and
got a shot pretty much. I have to mention that I had to pee during our walk there so I was preeeetty delusional during our trip. I mean come on, with three beers in my belly, how can I not have the urge to urinate. In the end, we snuck into a restaurant to use their toilet. So relieved by the end of it :P Anyways, got to the bars/clubs and drank lots. Keep in mind all these shots probably occurred within 2-3 hours? This may seem like a long time, but if you're light weight like me, it was preeetty crazy.
Anyways, at one point we say some people order some shots that were ON FIRE! So I'm like, dude, I got to get me some of those. So we asked the bartender which shots could be lit on fire and he said B52s! So I tried to order 4 shots of B52 but they were not served lit on fire. So I'm like what the heck?!?! I just brought our drinks back to the table and then tried to light them on fire. They were lit very briefly but did not stay lit up. Total fail on my part. So Tanner thought he'd give it a try and ordered 4 more B52s from the bartender and asked how to light them on fire. Apparently you have to put your lighter/fire on the drink for a pretty long time to get them lit. So Tanner has them all lit up at the bar so we're super excited. He decides to bring the glasses of shot that are ON FIRE to the table which.....may or may not have been a good idea. But hey, we weren't totally there. He brought 3 of the shots to the table without spilling a drop but for the last one...he spilled a bit on the table so then the table was ON FIRE!!! (and so was Kurtis's hand cuz he spilled some of it on his hand while trying to pick it up). So I ended up blowing out all the B52s :( Later on in the night, I felt my hair and one side definitely had a different texture. I looked at it and guess what I found....burnt hair -____- I didn't even know when it happened! (well I do, but I didn't know at the time when my hair was actually on fire). Good thing only a little bit of it was burnt off. Don't worry, my hairdo is still symmetrical :).
4 beers and 10 shots later (throughout the night), it was time to head home at 2:50am because the bus leaves at 3 or something at Bismarkplatz. So we start treking back but Karen saw another bar, so we had to go in and have another shot :P At this point, I felt a little bit queasy and so I didn't have another one but one of the dudes wasn't too far gone yet, so I had to order him a shot. Since it would be quite sad if he had to drink the shot alone, I ordered a shot for myself as well (2 blowjobs, one each). Ok, I didn't drink the blow job correctly because I didn't feel like it at 3am and I'm pretty queasy so I didn't do the lift shot w/ mouth then tip head back thing. I just downed it like a normal shot. To be honest, I don't remember how it tasted like, but it was probably ok. Since it was already way past when the last bus came, we had to walk back to the hostel and we didn't get back until like 4am. On the way, the boys had the urge, so they had to pee in a bush/tree. Of course none of us really cared because if you have to go, you gotta go :P
That night I threw up a little bit before going to bed. I made the mistake of not eating a little bit or at least drink a lot of water before sleeping so I felt quite queasy until lunch. So that morning we were supposed to listen to presentations from other RISE scholars in the program this summer (they volunteered themselves to talk about their project). I was very curious as to what type of person would submit themselves to such torture. There were a total of 5 students that were presenting from the biology section of the program. Only two of them were actually pretty good in that they explained their project well and the pulled the audience into what they were saying. The other students just seemed way too nervous and didn't really explain their projects well enough so that people in the room understood what their project was about. The entire time, I would be wondering what is the point of their project (it's significance in the real world) and what exactly they were doing to prove whatever they wanted to prove. Some of the not as good presenters didn't really seem like people that would volunteer themselves to do something like this. It's possible that they were probably just trying to challenge themselves and whatnot.
Anyways, as I said earlier, I was pretty queasy so I couldn't pay attention to everything they were saying (this could be why 3/5 presenters weren't that good to me, but Karen agreed!). Near the end of all the presentations, I was basically tuning them out and trying to control the weird feeling I had in my throat/stomach telling me that I might have to throw up. Thankfully I did not, but afterwards, we were supposed to have lunch so I tried to get rid of this queasy feeling in the lady's room. Sadly, I couldn't do it and I am not skilled enough to stick a finger down my throat to make myself throw up. I eventually threw up a little after I smelt the food and threw up outside by a bush in front of a good amount of people. That was pretty embarrassing.
Hold up, in defense I was drinking that much last night because it was Kurtis's last night in Germany and I was never going to see him again probably. Also, I want to say I knew what I was doing and I wasn't going to do anything stupid that would endanger myself. As I was drinking, I was gauging my condition as well. I realize that my blog posts consist of a lot of drinking and I don't want to be seen as an alcoholic when I come back to the States. It just happens when anything post worthy happens, I'm drinking. On normal days, I'm just at my flat making pasta for myself to eat. Otherwise, I would be out at a cafe with Karen/Kurtis/Sarah to have a nice dinner with some coffee or something.
Ok, back to the weekend. I'm going to zoom through this because I've been writing this post for a week now and never got around to finishing it because I'm being too detailed about boring stuff. Anyways, we toured around the city and I moved into a different hostel in Heidelberg that afternoon (I couldn't book an extra night at the hostel I was already staying at) and then Karen and I trekked over to the park by the river for a BBQ hosted by one of the RISE students located in Heidelberg. We bought beer (2.5% girly stuff) and some meat on a stick.
Pondzie inside the castle, you can see parts of the town and the river in the background.
As we were walking to the river, Karen and I were approached twice by a bachelor and bachelorette party. Here in Germany, bachelor/bachelorette parties aren't like those depicted in American blockbusters/himym where there would be some crazy drinking and strip clubs. Instead, bachelor parties consist of a good amount of drinking at various locations (they usually have a list where they just check it off) and they all wear matching t-shirts. The groom is also expected to do very embarrassing things such as asking random girls for numbers or something (yesterday, we were approached by a groom dressed as a surgeon holding syringe shots of some mixed drinking. He was trying to sell it to us). It is a very embarrassing ordeal. Bachelorette parties are quite similar in the drinking and stuff and I think they tend to sell stuff to "fund their wedding". At least that's what they said. Alright, back to the ones that approached us. A groom approached us and got our number and a bride (I don't these two people were marrying each other because there were A LOT of different bachelor(ette) parties going on in this old part of Heidelberg) just handed us a lot of candy and penis cookies. Yes, that's right. Penis cookies. I think they just gave a bunch to us because it was getting dark and they had to get rid of their goods :P
The rest of the trip wasn't quite as eventful. I drank three 2.5% girly beers, each time attempting to open it with another beer and still failed. Afterwards, we went to the old part of town to maybe get some drinks but I didn't since I was still suffering from the night before. The next morning we just went up the philosopher's walk which is on the hill directly opposite from the castle and got a nice view of the town. The following picture is me at the top of the hill :)
I have to mention during this entire trip, I was very very happy sleeping in a bed with some sheets and a proper pillow. I don't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post, but after I moved into the new flat, I found that they didn't provide any bedding and so I'm too cheap to buy some. Currently a running shirt filled with more running shirts with a nice knitted scarf (makes the "pillow" more snuggle-able) on top is being used as a pillow. For a blanket, I am using a fitted sheet borrowed from another RISE student located in Mainz. Initially, I used my jacket as a blanket. You might think, why not just buy one! But then I'm just going to dump it/leave it when I leave and I already only have 2 weeks left! Don't worry, I'll make it :P
And that's pretty much my Heidelberg trip, near the end of the post, I cut out random details you didn't need to know about like lunch and blah blah blah, because come on, how interesting can that be. I'm going to finish the new post I started now :P
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