Friday, June 30, 2006

My Bad

Sorry guys. Its been awhile since I last blogged, and I am still figuring this out. You can disregard one of those.

Two More Days!

My name is Katie Ramirez, and I am a junior biomedical engineering major from Houston, Texas. I cannot believe we only have a few more days until leaving for Germany! I have never been out of the country before, so I am tremendously excited! My family is somewhat of a soccer family, so we have been following the games pretty closely (Germany 1 Argentina 1 at the moment). It should be an experience being in Germany for the final game in the World Cup.

This summer thus far has been pretty uneventful. I was waitressing at a restaurant in Houston called Pappasito’s, but I had my last day on Tuesday which was great! I love it for the most part, but I can do with out being on my feet for 12 hours for awhile. The chips and tortillas are great, but they were starting to get to me. I am glad to be done with Mexican food for a time. Sausage, bread, and beer is sounding much better!

I still have so much to do before leaving on Sunday. The more I think about all the things I need to get done the more I want to not do them, which has been the trend the last couple of days. My hope is that Saturday will be a productive day. One of my best friends is getting married this Saturday night to a man she has been dating for 5 years, so there has been a lot of last minute wedding details I have been helping her with. But, like everything else it seems, all these things will get done, the wedding will be beautiful, and we will all be in Germany in just a few days!

I am also very exciting about meeting my German family! We have been communicating through e-mail, and they are so sweet! I am just hoping they will like me. I am unsure of what my expectations are for my trip to Germany, but I am looking forward to getting to know everyone, being challenged and having a great time. See you all in a few days!

Duesseldorf Digest

Two More Days!

My name is Katie Ramirez, and I am a junior biomedical engineering major from Houston, Texas. I cannot believe we only have a few more days until leaving for Germany! I have never been out of the country before, so I am tremendously excited! My family is somewhat of a soccer family, so we have been following the games pretty closely (Germany 1 Argentina 1 at the moment). It should be an experience being in Germany for the final game in the World Cup.

This summer thus far has been pretty uneventful. I was waitressing at a restaurant in Houston called Pappasito’s, but I had my last day on Tuesday which was great! I love it for the most part, but I can do with out being on my feet for 12 hours for awhile. The chips and tortillas are great, but they were starting to get to me. I am glad to be done with Mexican food for a time. Sausage, bread, and beer is sounding much better!

I still have so much to do before leaving on Sunday. The more I think about all the things I need to get done the more I want to not do them, which has been the trend the last couple of days. My hope is that Saturday will be a productive day. One of my best friends is getting married this Saturday night to a man she has been dating for 5 years, so there has been a lot of last minute wedding details I have been helping her with. But, like everything else it seems, all these things will get done, the wedding will be beautiful, and we will all be in Germany in just a few days!

I am also very exciting about meeting my German family! We have been communicating through e-mail, and they are so sweet! I am just hoping they will like me. I am unsure of what my expectations are for my trip to Germany, but I am looking forward to getting to know everyone, being challenged and having a great time. See you all in a few days!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Oops forgot a pic



Sorry guys I forgot to put my picture up!

This is me, Kathy! See you in Germany!

Almost There!!

Howdy everyone!! My name is Kathy Breffeilh and I am a Junior Biomedical Engineering Major from Madison, Alabama. I now have four days left until I leave for Germany...and I am no where near being ready!! I am starting to get things together, but I know there are many things I still have to do.
The main thing I have been doing this summer is working. I babysit these two boys that live down the street for eight hours a day three days a week. Tomorrow is my last day for babysitting them and I'm excited because that means I am very close to leaving for Germany. I am really looking forward to being in Germany and I can't wait to get there!! I will admit, though, that I am kinda nervous, too. I have been to Europe once before, but this will be the first time on my own there.
I've been talking to my host family via e-mail and I am very excited about meeting them. I've also been trying to learn German so I won't be completely clueless! I know this program will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me and I am hoping to see as much as I can, learn as much as I can, and get as much out of it as I can! See you in a few days in Dusseldorf! Tschüss!!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Oops

Oops

Sorry guys, I'm new to this whole Blog thing, and I didn't think it worked the first time. Disregard one of those blogs.

Oh My Stars!

Duesseldorf Digest

Howdy! I'm Rebecca Hubley, a senior Biochemistry and Genetics major. I'm from Canyon, TX (just south of Amarillo), but I've been in College Station taking classes for summer one and oh my stars am I ready for a change. I'm of course so excited that I'll be in Germany in less than a week. I've been to Europe once before, but not Germany so I'm really excited to go somewhere new. Erin and I are rooming together this summer, and when I received my first email from my host mom; it was in all German. Geez oh Pete, I don't speak a lick of German. However, I'm always ready for an adventure and am looking forward to this summer. I don't know what to expect from this experience. I'm just hoping whatever happens, I'll be able to laugh about it. See you all on Monday!

OH MY STARS!

Duesseldorf Digest
Howdy! My name is Rebecca Hubley, and I'm a senior Biochemistry and Genetics major. I've from Canyon, TX (just south of Amarillo), but I've been in College Station taking classes for summer one and I am ready for a change. I'm so excited that I'll be in Germany in less than one week. I've been to Europe once before, but not Germany so I'm really excited to go visit someplace new. I love to travel and plan on visiting a different place every weekend. Erin and I are rooming together this summer, and when I received my first email from my host mom; it was in all German as well. This worries me a tad seeing as even Erin speaks more German than I. The only phrase I know is "it's windy", which I don't see coming in very useful. However I'm really looking forward to learning some German, and I'm always ready for an adventure. I don't really know what I expect from this experience; I just hope whatever happens, I'll be able to laugh about it. See you all Monday!

Monday, June 26, 2006

Deep thoughts by Erin: issue 1

Deep thoughts by Erin:
I will start off this first blog posting with the traditional line, “I can’t believe that our trip is here, I am so excited”. I am an Animal Science / Genetics major from none other than the Big D (Dallas). Home of Dirk Nowitzki, and where there is an average of 26.3 square feet of retail space for every man, woman, and child. That’s all you really need to know about my hometown. On another note, I received an email from my host family. And let me tell you… the email was what I like to call, “All German all the time.” I had to go onto an online translator to read it. I don’t really know what I was expecting, but it was definitely one of those fun shocking moments. I really hope I can learn some more German while I am there other than the four things I currently know. I can count to 10, say beer, tell someone it is windy and ask where the toilet is. So hypothetically speaking, I could say, “It is windy, one beer please where is the toilet?” but hey, you got to start somewhere. I also hope I can use this trip (here comes another cliché line) to spread my wings. I am pretty sure I am traveling alone on the way to Düsseldorf. Therefore, I am armed and ready for this German adventure only with my one suitcase, one line of German, and a passport. Do I need more? I think not. Can’t wait to see the rest of you guys in T minus 6 days.

This paragraph is just a little more about me. It is not connected to the trip to Germany you can stop reading now if you choose. Like I said, my name is Erin Briskie. I was on the A&M swim team for 4 years. It was a fantastic experience full of motivational and inspirational stories. My future plans include winning the lottery, but if that doesn’t work out then I want to go to vet school. Other than that, I am pretty outgoing, creative and overall like to make the best of every situation.

Life motto: Do what you like, like what you do

It`s time.!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone. Its time at last!!!! I hope everyone is excited as I am. Hi everyone, my name is Masanori Nobata, just in case if ya`ll don't remember. "Mas" for shorting .
Im in Japan as of right this second, and leaving for the U.S tomorrow afternoon. My parents live in Japan because of their work, so Im here to visit them, and see some of my good friends since I also spent a good amount of time here in Japan when I grew up. Because I have lived in Japan, which is north east Asia, I also had the opportunity to travel to Thailand & Austraria. I been to north America of course...lol. and other places as well. I have been around, but, never Europe!!. This is my first time to Europe, really exciting!. I think its great that though this program, we can go to Europe and experience the medical society at the same time.
Well everyone, I will see all of you guys very soon in Germany. Lets make the best of it.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

I've always wanted to go to Geranium

Hey Everyone!
This is Stuat Womack reporting to you from the comfort of my own home in Eustace Texas.
I'm really looking forward to our up-coming trip, but to be honest, I don't really think the reality has quite sunk in yet. I never expected to participate in anything akin to studying abroad, and the decision I made to participate in this program was somewhat of a last minute inclination.
I've always been interested in Germany, mainly for its history and architecture, and I can't wait to discover more recommendations for the country. I don't speak a bit of German, except fpr a few words that I picked up from Hogan's Heroes. I love that show and own copies of the first and second seasons.
Besides the country, I also chose this program because I plan to enroll in vet school after obtaining my bachelors and I'm very interested in learning about common veterinary practices over seas.
I don't know very many of you, but I look forward to our time together and if we don't get along, it's only a month. lol.
I'll be flying out from DFW, so I hope to see some of you on the plane and please accept my best wishes for a happy preparation for our trip. See you soon!

It's Germanization Time


HI! My name is Shannon Skinner, and I'm a senior BIMS major from Colleyville. This summer I have been teaching cheerleading camps, and taking a class that requires me to leave my house at 6:30 every morning. It has been quite thrilling. It seems like a lot of my friends have studied abroad recently, but nobody goes to Germany. It's most likely because Germany requires very cool/smart people like ourselves to live in their country for five weeks. I have never been to Europe, and am so excited to travel and live like Europeans for a while. The nervousness kind of set in last night as I was trying to plan the whole traveling on weekends ordeal. I was picturing myself in a busy train station, trying to figure everything out, and hoping to not end up on the wrong train by myself. That would be scary. I ended up getting the Eurail flexipass which is for the "fly by the seat of your pants" individual...this is not me, but I am willing to try. My mom got me an Instant Immersion German book which I have read a few pages from hoping it would instantly immerse me...but so far all I've retained is how to say "I'm Hungry." I figured it was nearly one of the most important phrases. Through this trip I hope to better understand the different European cultures. I also am so happy to be sharing this experience with a bunch of people that I don't know now, but am sure to know very well by the end of the trip. I think the last two issues that I need to conquer before leaving in a week are packing, and deciding whether I should take Tylenol PM before getting on the plane. I'll see everyone soon!

Get Ready Germany


Well...I can't believe that in one week at this time I'll be sitting in the airport waiting impatiently for the plane. My name is Leslie Whelan and I am from Kerrville, TX (right in the middle of the hill country). I am a junior BIMS major and have been looking forward to this trip for the past year. As of my now, my plan is to go to medical school but as far as "what I want to be" is concerned....I'm not quite sure. I have been overseas once before and have been dying to go back ever since. I did not have the opportunity to visit Germany so this will definitely be a completely new experience for me. One reason I am so excited about returning to Europe is because I love their way of life. I feel like everyone over there has a different mindset about life than the way we view and live life in America. It seems so laid back to me & everything runs at a much slower pace. Well, maybe not with the World Cup going on... Anyway, I have a very independent personality, and have no problem at all with doing things by myself or on my own. Don't get me wrong, I truly value all of my friends, and my family is some of the most important people in my life, but being on my own doesn't bother me at all. I also tend to be very organized and prefer to have my life planned out (which is obviously impossible to do), so going on trips like this forces me to just plan as I go and be a lot more spontaneous and unstructured.

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone, and I have no doubt in my mind that this will be a life changing experience. I have a test and a final this week, and I am having the hardest time ever motivating myself to study. All that has been going through my head for the past couple of days is how much I need to do before I leave to prepare and pack and all that great stuff. I'll see everyone soon...

Friday, June 23, 2006

Here We Go!


Hi guys! My name is Robin Melson and I am a Junior (that felt weird - as I tried to type sophomore...) Biomedical Engineering Major from Corpus Christi, Texas. I am really excited about going on this trip. For those of you who may not know, I wasn't originally going on this study abroad until at the last minute I was offered a spot. (Talk about distracting - that made it impossibly hard to study for those last three finals.)

This summer I have been taking Organic Chemistry I at home, its been going really well, but I'm looking forward to a change in pace and surroundings. I'm not particularly nervous about the travelling itself, as I had the opportunity to travel in Europe before my senior year of high school, though I am a bit concerned about the language difference, since like most everybody else I was a spanish girl in high school.

I can't wait to meet all of you on the third - I just hope I make it through my three tests this next week. See ya'll real soon. ~ Robin

Oh and P.S. that's me in the middle of the picture.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

I can hardly wait!

So, I leave in 2 1/2 days and I'm not even packed yet!! I can still hardly believe I'm going to Europe all summer...I don't think it will feel real until Priss and I are sitting on the plane together.

Prissy and I are leaving early on the 25th to go to London for a day, then Portugal and Spain for a week...mostly to the beach. Ya! I just got back from a cruise with my family so I'm excited to continue getting a tan. :) We will be flying from Spain to Germany on the 3rd to meet everyone. We're also hoping to go to Paris, Italy, and Amsterdam during our trip. I hope we can get a big group together and all go have fun.

I'm so incredibly excited about this trip. I can't wait to meet everyone...we are going to have the time of our lives! With the exception of my cruise last week, I have never been out of the United States! So of course I'm nervous, but I know I'll be just fine.

I am a Senior Applied Exercise Physiology major, hoping to get into Physical Therapy school when I graduate. I have no idea where I'll be going to school yet though. I love my major; I have fun in alot of my classes. I also currently, at least until tomorrow, work at Old Navy in College Station. I'm not sure if I'll be going back in the fall or finding a new job. I love all the people I work with, but retail can get really old after a while. I am from Brownwood, TX and am a first generation Aggie. WHOOP!

See you all in Germany!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

To be quite blunt... I'm nervous!

Well, I'm Karen, I love traveling, and I'm really good at getting lost. I'm pretty nervous about this trip. I've never been to Europe before, but it seems that it has become all my Europe-acquainted-friends' new hobby to tell me stories about pickpockets. Thanks, friends.

I like being able to see things from different perspectives, and I think this program is going to help a lot. It will definitely be a challenge trying to communicate in German.

I lived in Taiwan for the first few years of my life, and I remember accidentally speaking Chinese to my 1st grade teacher. Well, let's hope that won't be happening in Germany. Any way, I'm really excited so let's go already!

So close I can taste it!!

I am very ready to leave and start my traveling! Chrissy and I leave in 4 days... we are leaving Houston Sunday, 25 at 3:40. I am leaving college station Friday to tie up so loose ends before I leave. Chrissy and I are going into London for a day then flying to Faro, Portugal then taking a bus to Lagos. I was told that this was "the beach" to go to for the younger crowd. I know I live a rough life having to lay on the beach all day... but someone has to do it! Then Chrissy and I will make our way to Madrid then Barcelona. Then we will be flying to meet everyone on the 3rd. Hopefully my fathers contacts come through and Chriss and I will be staying in a condo :)

So enough with my plans... I will tell you about my frame of mind going into this trip. I am a myspacer... it is addicting and dumb but o well... if you visit my myspace page you will see that all over I say two things over and over... 1) I want to get my MD/PhD and 2) I want to travel around the world. Well when I was driving home for fathers day I was thinking and pondering about that which is my life. I came to the realization that although my life is by no means perfect I really have nothing to complain about. The two things I want most in my life are coming true and my only dilemma is now I need to find new goals. At the time it was one week until I left to go travel around Europe and the whole MD/PhD is looking very good. So I could not be more ready to leave and fulfill a dream.

But of course I have my reservations about leaving. I love my friends and I will be leaving a few really close friends who I see everyday, that will be hard. Also I will miss my cat and her waking me up at 5:30 to kick me off my pillow and sleep on it. But I am not a home body and I have never been home sick... unless you count sick of being at home, home sick. I have traveled before and I feel my parents have raised me to be more of a worldly person than the most Americans, so it will be interesting to see how I will grow in this whole experience. I am also excited to see how Chrissy will change, as she is one of my best friends I am glad that we will be sharing this experience together. I will also miss Mexican food... I love and eat it all the time, so you can bet that when the 'rents pick Chrissy and I up from the airport on the Aug 5th we will head to the nearest Mexican food restaurant. My biggest concern though is that since I have lived in the south all my life the only other language I know is Spanish, broken Spanish that is just enough to get me in trouble. I am worried that when I do not understand what people are saying I am going to revert to Spanish... which will make the look dumb because they are going to look at me and think..."Ok that is still not German."

I also have other reasons that make me wish I would of left yesterday... it will do me good to be across the pond for awhile. I am looking forward to (for lack of a better phrase) running away from everything that hopefully will sort themselves out while I am away and if they don't at least I will get to get away for a moment.

So I'm off to start packing... this will take awhile because I do NOT know the meaning of "light packing" and always feel the need to take everything I own which can fill up two full sized closets... I love clothes and do not know how I will narrow down what to bring!! I will see everyone in Germany and good luck with your flights!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The blogging...it begins

Howdy, Derek Gower here. I'm a senior (feels weird to say it) Biomedical Science major from Corpus Christi, (now Mansfield) Tx. I'm leaving on the 28th to stay for a few days on my own at a friend's house in Munich, and then catching a train to start the program on the 3rd. Here's to a few more days to get over jet lag. Anyways, it's only one week until my departure, and my mind is only now starting to wrap itself around what's about to happen. I've been working full time in the registration office all summer sitting at a desk, so I'm ready for something a bit less monotonous, a little more stimulating. Being as I'm still deciding what to do with this degree once I'm finished, I'm hoping this trip will shed some kind of light on the field and give me some feel for potential careers. Mostly, I'm just coming into this without any unrealistic expectations, wanting to experience things to the fullest. I'm hoping to go to Prague, Amsterdam/Belgium, Switzerland, and maybe France, but those plans are flexible. I can't wait to be in Duesseldorf and get started with this amazing experience with all of you. I hope everybody has a safe trip, see you all in Germany.

Ready to go!


Howdy! My name is Regina and I'm a biomedical science major from San Antonio. I'm so excited to meet all of you and am looking forward to our stay in Germany. I cannot wait to meet my host family and to travel on weekends. I have emailed back and forth with my host family twice now, and they sound really nice. Up until now, I've been working in a vet clinic here in San Antonio, but I'm ready for a break. Its been really exciting to dig out my passport and euros and to start planning what I'll be bringing. Although I'm looking forward to the trip, I am a little nervous, especially about arriving, because I only know a couple words in German. Still, I've traveled quite a bit and have been to Europe twice before, so I suppose I'm not as nervous as I could be! My mother is half German, so I grew up hearing some German, but I never tried to learn the language (wish I had!) I'm not leaving until the 2nd, but I'll be in California next week, so I've got to pack now... Ok, hope everyone has a safe trip over and I look forward to meeting you!

P.S. If anyone is interested, I will be going to Dresden on one of our free weekends. Its a historic town in Germany, and my relatives have a bed & breakfast there, so I'll be staying there. Anyone is welcome to join me!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Preparing for Departure!


Howdy everyone! In case I haven't formally met you, my name is Sarah and I'm a senior (WHOOP) biology major from Denton! And that's a picture of me getting my ring in April! I am really excited to be going on this trip with all of you. I never ever thought I would ever be traveling outside of the U.S., but here I am, attempting to pack for a trip to Europe. The plan so far is to leave from DFW on June 19th to London Gatwick, along with my boyfriend. We'll spend a couple days in London, then we're flying into Paris, then taking the train to Berlin, then train to Bamberg, then a train to Amsterdam. From there I will take the train to Duesseldorf and my boyfriend will fly to London and then back to DFW. Even though I am going early, I am hoping to do even more traveling during the program, including revisiting anything I've already seen, so if you're up for exploring, let's go! I don't know when I'll ever have this time in Europe again so I want to do EVERYTHING!!! I can't wait to see all of you in Germany! Auf Wiedersehen!

Sunday, June 11, 2006

And We're Off 2006!!

I'm heading up before the rest of the group with my girlfriend Stacey. We're flying out tomorrow, June 12, 2006. We'll be flying out from IAH and getting into London Gatwick. There are so many trains to catch and money withdrawls to be made. Stacey has never flown before and neither of us have really traveled so we're pretty much freaking out here. I realize they speak English and they're a completely industrialized nation, but for some reason there is still a deep fear that we're going to get pushed around and mugged as we make our way through the streets with our backpacks. I'm so excited to get this trip underway as I've been waiting to see the world my entire life. This experience will be one I'll never forget and hopefully one I'll learn a great deal from. I'm glad that by the time the rest of you arrive in Germany I'll be the calm, cool, and collected one that can offer advice and share tales of my travels. I can't wait to see you all. Wish me luck! Bon Voyage...