my final thoughts

As I sit here writing this I’m trying to compare three aspects of myself- the person I was at school here in College Station last year, the person I was this summer in Germany, and the person I am at this moment. Its funny to see that who I am right now is a combination of who I was 6 months ago and who I became while traveling abroad.

My time in Duesseldorf definitely changed me. While abroad I learned to be much more flexible about plans and schedules, and I definitely became more confident in my ability to function on my own and get things done. I gained patience when dealing with people from different cultures, as well as my own culture. And I found that stressful situations usually do work out in the end if you just take a step back, take a deep breath, and then do your best to make it better. At least that’s what would usually work when we were stressed out about train tickets, or hotel accommodations, or getting on the right metro at the right time and getting off at the right stop. The types of stressful situations are little different back home, but I’ve realized that the same philosophy should work.

This summer I feel as though I achieved a type of go with the flow attitude that allowed me to take a situation as it would come. I think that it was easier to have to kind of attitude over in Germany than here in College Station because everything was a new experience and we didn’t really have an extremely structured expectation of what was supposed to be happening. That is partly why our course was so unique-it allowed us to absorb what knowledge was being passed our way, and then turn around and apply it on different field trips. Our class was never the same from day to day. Not even the location was the same with Dr. Wasser using every opportunity to teach- from the AIB classroom, to a bus, to a train, or even over a meal. Back here in College Station I’m in the same type of classes that I’ve had in the past years-in big lecture halls every day, trying to learn information for an upcoming test instead of learning information to apply it to what I want to do with my life. Now it’s like a routine that follows similar routines of the past, which makes it easier to revert to my old attitudes. Whenever I find myself getting stressed out, or irritated with someone I work on meshing the old personality with the new traits I learned this summer. When I remember and apply the flexibility, confidence and patience that I got from studying in Germany this summer it helps me calm down more than anything.

Its not just these personality traits-I think that everything I learned and experienced while living in Duesseldorf this summer is somehow incorporated into who I am now. Even though I am sure that I will never want to practice human medicine, the things we learned and experienced helped me to appreciate my doctors more and the things that they deal with. Gaining a historical perspective of medicine is important in understanding how we practice medicine here in America. All medicine stems from the basis in Europe and its interesting to compare the variations. Now, after my application has been turned in and I’m waiting to hear about an interview, I tend to think about how the German system of education. If I lived over there I could be into my 2nd year of vet school already and I wouldn’t have to worry about how I’m going to pay for it. The other day my lab partner told me about this vet school in Canada that has a program where you can get certified to practice in Canada, the US, and Western Europe. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me-I definitely would consider moving back to Germany and working over there. I appreciate every aspect of my time in Duesseldorf this summer. I’m extremely jealous of my friend who just turned in her application to study abroad and go with the program next summer. Because its not just about all the valuable information we learned in class, its about the life lessons we picked up while being there.