Looking Back

This trip was my first major trip abroad—I’d been to Mexico and Canada but to me, they really don’t count. This was the first time I had to be a big girl and get across the world all by myself. With everything that has happened with my family in the last couple of years, I think I was using this trip to get away from them and from everything else and looking back I know that’s why I wasn’t really homesick for anyone. I was looking forward to having some life changing experience (I just didn’t know what yet).
Academically speaking, my perspective has changed in several ways. I know that our health care system is flawed in numerous ways but after speaking with Dr. Penner I don’t think I’d like to be a patient in a German hospital. Yes, the doctors and nurses are extremely well trained but what the patient wants doesn’t seem to be a top priority with everyone else. I am so glad I didn’t have to go see a doctor while I was there. I can be very stubborn when it comes to my health and I don’t like people telling me what to do (I like to tell them what to do) but the first week I was back in the states I was still sick. I finally gave in and just went to the doctor. Also, there was a time when I wanted to be a vet, but that changed after I realized that I’d have to work with other animals besides dogs and I really don’t like other animals besides dogs and so that aspiration went away very quickly. But I really enjoyed the vet school at Hannover. The lady veterinarian that showed us around was so nice and knowagable and seemed to loved her job so much and the cows really liked her back. It made me want to be a cow vet. Overall, it was interesting to compare our two systems.
One part of the trip that affected me the most was the German history. Before we went I thought I knew I a lot about WWII (and I still do), but I defiantly didn’t think about it in the same way as the Germans do. I wasn’t taught in school to blame the German people for WWII. We were taught that it was all Hitler’s fault. But there is still this cloud that hangs over Germany and I find it tragic. The people are just so afraid that another Nazi Germany will arise that they won’t let go of the past. My host father, who is in his mid-30, says he even carries around a sense of guilt. It’s something that I don’t think I can ever understand but that I am definitely more mindful of. It’s made me more aware of my country and my countries actions and how I really feel and how I will feel in 20 years from now. Also, as several people have said, you can read about all of these places in text books and Dr. Wasser can tell us about them, but there is nothing like visiting Dachau or the Nazi rallying grounds for yourself. History is amazing.
This trip has made me comfortable with, I don’t know how to put it, but everything I guess. I tend to get road rage when I drive, and now I don’t. If I would normally get lost I would freak out. Although I do still have my time issues and like to be early, I’m not as early as I used to be. In Europe, everything was just more laid back. I got lost, several times in fact, and I just had to figure out what to do next. We missed a train on the way back from Heidelberg and we had a 1 minute to catch the next one, but we figured it out. We had to buy train tickets from people who spoke little or no English and we spoke no German. We had to navigate our way through horrible metro systems but we did it. Okay, so maybe those last two I kind of let other people do for me… ;). But the point is, we were in a country were we could not speak the language and we managed to get ourselves around just fine. It was like a big game: “Who Can Make It Back to The U.S. In One Piece.” And I think we’ve all won.
Thank you Dr. Wasser for a wonderful experience with great host families, great field trips, and great food. Thank you everyone else for helping me up mountains, getting me on the right train (or metro, or bus), sharing hotel bathrooms with me, eating granola bars, letting me talk to monkeys, and dancing in cages!