Last weekend, I made a trip with my roommate to Dortmund, Germany to take in a Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and SV Werder Bremen. Perhaps the most exciting part of the trip was visiting USA soccer prodigy, Christian Pulisic’s apartment and meeting his cousin Will. I was lucky enough to be invited along by my roommate, Logan, who has a connection with Christian and was able to arrange a visit. I had planned to see this game months before, but could never imagined having to opportunity to have this experience in 1,000 years.

After the game, we went our separate ways, and I continued on to the city of Cologne, Germany, while Logan stayed in Dortmund with Christian. Aside from dealing with a very hectic travel situation between Dortmund, Cologne, and eventually back to Berlin, I had an amazing time! I had the opportunity to see the Kölner Dom (the Cologne Cathedral), which was one of the most amazing buildings I have ever laid my eyes on in my entire life thus far. I had seen pictures of it and learned about it in one of my German classes, but no photo or textbook description could ever do this incredible building the justice it deserves of seeing it with one’s own two eyes.

As I mentioned earlier, traveling was a bit hectic. Things went pretty smoothly during the first leg of my trip when I was traveling alongside my roommate, but after I went off on my own, things became increasingly difficult and hectic. I think I learned a lot from this experience, as I realize that I did not plan nearly as well as I could have for my journey from Dortmund to Cologne and eventually back to Berlin. It ended up costing me a considerable amount of money and plenty of time and energy. Nevertheless, I think I learned some very valuable life lessons and was able to prove my independence as an adult to myself, even if things did go a little hectically. All in all, I there were more positives from this experience than there were negatives and I think I have a lot to take away from last weekend!