7 Juli - Project Ideas

When I woke up this morning my back was really sore. Maybe I slept wrong or did something odd at Capoeira without realizing it. Skylar went to the theater with his school today to see a play about a witch. We had both completely forgotten about it until this morning, so we had to stop at the bakery to get something he could bring for lunch on the way to school.

Then I went to the University to meet with my advisers about my project.  First I met with Lael and Diana and explained a few of the things they were unsure about related to the project. Lael brought me a bike kit from Sweden... a really nice one too. She seems to have taken kind of a grandmotherly liking to me. It's incredibly sweet, but I am not used to getting gifts from my teachers. Still just blows my mind how incredibly nice and helpful she was in getting this trip to happen for me and continues to show her kindness. I was afraid she would be upset with me for making a fuss about the project.

Then we went to Wendelin's office to meet. He went through each of my ideas that I sent them and rested on the last one: a cost analysis of diabetes therapies. I am not even sure what I meant when I threw that one in there, but they seemed to think it was a great idea. My back had started to hurt so bad by this point I could barely pay attention, but I agreed that it was a great idea and would love to get started right away. Wendelin said he would send me the literature he had on the topic and I would begin looking for sources from the US. We would meet again on Thursday to set up a project plan.

Then we all we went to lunch in the Mensa and talked about Skylar and traveling and whatnot. Wendelin had a meeting, so Lael, Diana, and I went over to the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee and chit chat some more. Diana invited me to come to Karlsruhe where she lives to meet the son of a friend of hers who is also interested in country comparisons of health systems. He is a nurse who spent some time in Portland, Oregon. 

I went back to my office to check if Wendelin had sent the literature and then decided I could read it from back at the flat. He sent me eight journal articles, seven of which are in German. Either he was more upset with me than he let on or he wasn't paying attention. Hopefully, the latter. 

I really wanted to climbing tonight, but my back was now in excruciating pain, so we stayed home. I felt like a little old lady hobbling around with my hand on my back barely able to get up off the bed. I forced myself to do some yoga and stretches and finally was able to fall asleep.