Final Thoughts

Since I had never been out of the country prior to this trip I can say almost everything I did while in Germany was a new experience. Before leaving I was so worried about everything from would I be able to make it through the airport to getting food poising. Luckily I can now say that I have successfully navigated through many airports and I did not get food poisoning. I think though I have learned more on this trip than I have in any other college class that I have taken thus far in my career.

Dr. Wasser’s presentations were very interesting about the histories of medicine and veterinary medicine, but what I think I learned the most academic information from was going to the various museums and historical sights. You can learn history from books and from class but it is so much more meaningful to actually go to the places where this history occurred. This was especially evident to me when we went to Nuremberg. In school we mostly learn about the Holocaust and Auschwitz and looking at just this you think how can people be stupid enough to follow Hitler? Going to all of the museums, Dachau, and the Documentation Center you understand some of the situations and history that led to Hitler’s coming to power, which I think is more meaningful than just learning about the Holocaust because now we know what to look for so that this doesn’t happen again.

It was also very interesting to me that German culture could be so different in many respects, but at the same time many things were the same. Normally I am a very punctual organized person, who follows all traffic laws and such so in that aspect I got along with the German people well. They were a lot more liberal in their views on social issue then I thought they would be, for instance it seemed like everyone above the age of thirty there was divorced and this was totally acceptable where as in the US this carries such a social stigma. Frau Pilartz’s classes were interesting too hearing her opinion on Americans and Germans. I did make one big improvement though in my general way of thinking by giving up my idea that the American way is always the best way of doing things.

Since I am hopefully going to medical school next year I tried to learn as much as possible about the differences and similarities between German and American healthcare systems. It was especially interesting hearing all of the drug names and procedures in German. The doctor that worked in the cardiac surgery recovery area was especially kind to his patients. Like he would talk to them and put his hand on their arms even though they were totally drugged. Dr. Penwar’s talk on healthcare was also very interesting and it got me thinking more about the problems that we have in the US and that we are not unique in having such problems.

At the end of the trip I was very ready to go home because traveling for almost two weeks with thirteen people was very tiring, but now I always bring up Germany and I really appreciate all of the experiences that I had there. I still use German words in my Spanish class and I would kill of a good donner right now and I don't think I will ever forget this trip and the things that I learned from going.