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umichenginabroad · 4 months ago

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Week 9: German Final, Final Trips, and Finally Free from my Research Paper

Willkommen zurück to week 9 out of 10 of my UROP experience in Aachen! With us being in the final weeks of the program, things have been wrapping up in all the bittersweet, nostalgia-filled, and occasionally stress-inducing ways. The research symposium is just around the corner now, and our papers/posters are due Monday (aka 3 days from now… aka AAAAH). Thanks to the Berlin trip I have planned for this weekend, I had extra motivation to put my head down and actually get all my work in order by the end of the week. Such a feat was looking highly unlikely a few days ago, but I am happy to say I will not have to write about Intrusion Detection Systems and dataset generation to the background noises of my Berlin walking tour or Techno music in the club Saturday night. This is a win.

On Thursday, I had my German final which ended up being one of those exams that inspires you to tap into your philosophical side and begin wise internal dialogues about the benefits and unavoidable nature of failure (yes, this is just me coping). The five T/F questions in our Reading section worth 30/90 points left something to be desired and the Listening section somehow found a way to connect ice cream (in Cyber Space?) to the Industrial Revolution in one confusing speech. (It may be wise to note on that last point that I still have no idea what this man was talking about.)

All that random Cyber Space ice cream talk inspired our German class to get some of our own (normal) ice cream to recover from being collectively humbled by the exam, and it was indeed the perfect cure. I’m going to miss my German classmates and our unifying dread of getting picked for Taboo (a game we played at the start of every class where one person had the unfortunate, isolating task of explaining new German vocab auf Deutsch and the others simply guessed). Though I sometimes wished my German classes were with all the other UROP students, I ended up really enjoying the unique opportunity my course provided to meet people from all different parts of the world studying here and learning German like I am.

Dunkel Schokolade und Menz Eis aka Emergency Post-Exam Mood-Recovery Ice Cream

Even in spite of my looming deadlines and questionable German Final, I still managed to fill the past week with travel and making the most of the finally summery weather (*knock on wood*). Last Saturday, I went to an impressively large fun fair in Duesseldorf that put my sad county fair with its three rickety, life-endangering rides and show-stopping prize chickens to shame. The delicious fair food, loud music, and bright energy felt like a taste of home on the Jersey Shore Boardwalk (without the weird teenagers and suspicious piercing shops) and it was exactly what I needed.

Scenes from Duesseldorf's Fun Fair

We also had Ramen for lunch to make up for not getting it here when the lines were ridiculously long on Japan Tag, and it fully lived up to the hype.

Ramen from Duesseldorf’s Little Tokyo

On Sunday, I traveled with one of my friends to Liège where we made sure to accomplish all the Liège Musts:

✅ Eating a LiègeWaffle

Incredibly yum waffle. 8/10. For two point deduction reasoning: see part 3

✅ Climbing the Montagne de Bueren, a 374-step staircase

Beautiful views from the top of the staircase. I promise I was also enjoying them and not only suffering from getting to the top.

✅ Having a disastrous, embarrassing, all around self-esteem-destroying attempted conversation with a French-speaking person

✅Finding somewhere (with weird black burger buns?) to eat lunch where we could order online to avoid more of said conversations

The strange burgers in question. Not sure where they were going with the whole “accidentally forgot how to use an oven while cooking your meal and it burned” aesthetic, but it did taste quite good.

✅Exploring lots of beautiful architecture

Some of the gorgeous sites found while roaming Liège

After completing our official Tourists Guide to Liège, we ended the day by visiting a small aquarium/science museum where we proceeded to get distracted by pretty fish, fun interactive exhibits, and these jump-scare-inducing holographic portraits until their closing time. Unfortunately, their closing time also happened to be a few minutes after we would've needed to leave to catch the next train back to Aachen. What followed was a semi-panicked, 2,5 km run with my unathletic jeans, unathletic tank top, unathletic hoodie, and unathletic self. Was it worth it for the single hour we saved by not waiting for the next train? Probably not. Will I be adding this to the official Tourists Guide to Liège anytime soon? 100% no. But I did leave feeling at least 15% as much accomplished as I was tired and sweaty, so that’s something…

Emo Nemo, Hologram Dog, and distractions from the aquarium that had the audacity to almost make us miss our train

I promise I did do actual work at some point this week, but on Wednesday we had a nice, relaxing UROP picnic that served as the perfect break from it. There were delicious baked goods, volleyball/frisbee games, lots of reminiscing, and enough sun to make up for at least three days of Aachen rainstorms.

We’re at the point of the program where everything is starting to be labeled some kind of last: Last German Class. Last UROP Weekend Travels. Last Wednesday UROP Activity. Last Motor Bar Night. And it’s all starting to feel extremely bittersweet. I’ll save all my sentimentality for my final blog (consider yourself warned), but I am really looking forward to making this official Last Weekend in Berlin one to remember. Until next time!

Sarah Bargfrede

Computer Science

UROP Program in Aachen

#UMichEnginAbroad #IPEAachen #SarahBargfrede #IPESummer24 #Germany

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