Oh Yeah, Also I Learned Some Stuff

[July 15] I feel like I have learned more German in one week than I knew after an entire semester in Spanish class. Now I couldn’t hold a conversation with a German, but I can pick out enough words in what a server says to respond with ‘Ja’ or ‘Nein’. Of course, the moment I open my mouth, they instantly realize that I am not a native speaker and answer me in English. Whether that’s convenient or offensive, I haven’t decided.

Tuesday, we went to Köln. It is a city of pride and flippancy, manifest of the sort of ironic beauty that you would more readily expect from the French. Upon first exiting the Haubtbahnhof, the giant Dom cathedral greets you like a terrible, but handsome, hostess to her touchable, but delicate, home. Boy statues moon you from the sides of buildings while archaeologists excavate an ancient synagogue from the middle of the street. And where Kölsch is King, I spend the allotted shopping time touring breweries.

There we also visited the Elde Haus, a Gestapo prison with restored cells that still contained inmates’ thoughts and hopes scrawled on its walls. The tour was interesting but, like most Nazi-themed things, ultimately depressing. Between that trip and Thursday’s bioethics lecture, I hardly anticipate that future discussions on the topic will be any less disconcerting. I know it is important to understand and remember that time in this country’s history, but I will probably not be able to appreciate future lessons on the subject as anything but educational.

I much prefer the ‘Medicine’ half of this program’s title. Our visit to Bonn’s University Clinic was the first time that I’ve shadowed human surgeons. I saw a cyst removal and part of a hip replacement. To be honest I was surprised at the similarities between the doctors’ treatment of a human body and the abrasive and exploratory techniques of a veterinarian’s operation on a dog. Those hours of bloody, physical practice were a sharp contrast to the next day’s tour of a garden with a homeopath. I know a lot of people were incredulous when they learned about the spiritual levels of healing and the less-is-more mentality of basically pure drugs, but I genuinely thought the lesson was interesting. I’m a strong believer in the power of the mind to project and, in turn, heal, but I do admit that I probably won’t consider it as even a piece of my career—at least, not without a little more research.

From the Europeans’ contribution to the space station to the Rococo elegance of Schloss Brühl, this week was an exploration of German culture. I saw a giant football game between France and the US two nights after a neighborhood choir production of Mamma Mia by my host brother’s school. Between the language and extensive history, I have definitely learned some stuff.