Friday marked two weeks since our arrival at Robert Bosch College, but it honestly feels like it’s been more than a month. Spending all your time with your classmates definitely leads to deep, meaningful relationships in a short amount of time. It’s hard to believe so much has happened in just 16 days.
Last weekend, my Swiss roommate and I went for a short walk (well actually, we got almost all the way to the mall before realizing it was a Sunday and German stores are closed on Sundays).
Over the past week, we got the chance to attend CAS “taster sessions” to try out the CAS activities we might be interested in, and I really enjoyed bouldering at the Blockhaus, a climbing gym about a 30-40 minute bike ride from our school. It was really nice to get off campus for a few hours and do something physically and mentally challenging. We came back quite late, and it was amazing to bike under a night sky full of stars; I almost forgot what it feels like to look up and be unable to count how many there are.
I also tried contemporary dance and mountain biking, both of which were fun! Right now, I’m most interested in joining the school orchestra for Creativity (and to keep up practicing piano!), and bouldering for Activity. We haven’t been presented the Service activities yet.
Classes started on Tuesday, and so far I’m enjoying them. I’m quite happy with the courses I chose, and I look forward to getting deeper into the content this week. Orientation week made RBC feel like a vacation, so it was a bit strange at first to have to begin associating it with classes and academic obligations, but we are after all here (at least partially) for school!
I didn’t end up getting my first choice Project Week (canoeing in southern France), but I did get my second choice, biking along the Rhine up the Black Forest. I’m a little nervous for a full week of biking and camping but also excited for the experience. Yesterday we did a (5-hour) test run with the touring bikes we will use for project week (which is three short weeks away!).
I also found out this week that I was accepted into my first choice college job! (My parents asked if I get paid, but all college jobs are voluntary :)) Over the following weeks, five other first-year students and I will be receiving first aid training and serving as the First Responders of the school.
I didn’t think it would happen this quickly, but I’m definitely starting to miss food from home… Perhaps I’ll be able to cook some meals in the near future, but that involves a bit of planning to find all the ingredients and carry them back – I now realize the luxury of having a car and knowing your way around a city!
Until next week!
all that jazz 