Photo taken by Elisa Bennie

On our last day in Germany, I decided that I wanted to show Robyn the other side of the River Elbe, going through the old tunnel. The German Studies program had since finished, and most participants were already in the United States by now, leaving just a few of us. Six girls were left, with three leaving the next day. Elisa Bennie, another program participant, would leave in two days. So, I woke up at 3:30 am, and Elisa, Robyn, and I left at around 4 to go to the Elbe Tunnel.

We went to the other side of the River Elbe and I decided to go ahead and jump the railing and walk down the cobbled, slanting ‘wall’ leading to the water, as I had done so before with Kari. It has a great view and is perfect for pictures, etc., especially at sunrise. There were steps in the middle of it, but I had come here before and walked down that cobbled wall. I didn’t realize how wet and slippery it was, and the first step I took was the last cuz I slipped, fell onto the wall and slid quickly down that thing, with no control. It was fast and I was sliding on my butt. I put out my knee and stopped, just a few centimeters away from the water. I could’ve fallen into the River Elbe. I stayed in the crouched position that I had stopped in, and Elisa and Robyn were just staring at me. I wasn’t sure if they had realized what had happened so I said, ‘It’s a little slippery.’ LOL. When Robyn came down, she yelled at me. She showed me these areas of ‘calm’ water in the river and how they are really dangerous with rip tides, etc. There were a lot of such areas near where I almost fell in. I had a small cut on my left index finger, but that was pretty much it. I think I may have pulled something my back but so far it's holding up.