Once home, Carrie and I had dinner. Schnitzel again, and french fries. Definitely way better than the one from the cafeteria. I am about to take a power nap before we meet some other students at a local brewery to celebrate the 4th of July! Happy birthday America!
Tuesday was a very busy day! First thing this morning, Carrie and I rode the bus to class. We are practically pro's at the public transportation system in Bonn now and we feel pretty comfortable, even though we can't read any of the signs. We know our stop at home and our stop at school. It has been nice because we received a public transportation pass for the 3 weeks we will be in Bonn. We had another German lesson with Hilde this morning. It was fun, she is a very good teacher! Here is what I learned: Ich heisse Aubrey. Ich komme aus Houston. Ich bin zwanzig. Ich studiere medizin. Ich wohne in Heidebergen bei familie Welker. Ja! Ja! Next we had "cultural studies" with Nils. It was fun, we just basically just got to ask Nils anything we wanted about German lifestyle, stereotypes, etc. For lunch a group of us went to a small hamburger joint. We were told by Nils that they have better burgers than in America. While this proved to be false, they were very good! Not better than Hubcaps though. Next we had a quick meeting about the excursion over the next three days. We will be traveling by train out of Bonn to Hannover and Norderney. Then this weekend I will be going to Amsterdam with my fellow students. Will return Sunday night!
The last activity of the day was a visit to the Alexander Koenig Museum of Zoology. It was very interesting... kind of a taxidermy museum I suppose. They said they had millions of different species there (mostly insects of course) but it was very cool. We got a private tour of the storage room collections. AND they had penguins! After that Sam and I explored a little in the streets looking for a store to run an errand for her host father. My evening has been spent trying to plan for Amsterdam this weekend! We still have to find a train to take us there. For dinner we had "Bridgette Special" (Bridgette is my host mom). It was good! I'm just not sure what it was exactly.
Wednesday I started the day by waking up at 5 am. This was made up for by the fact that I ate a Berliner and a chocolate croissant for breakfast at the train station! We traveled to Hannover, which took about 4 hours. Next our group checked into the hotel - me and Sam got a room to ourselves! After a little break, we all walked to the cafeteria at the medical hospital in Hannover. Next we went to the hospital and got a tour / lecture by Dr. Roman Shmitt (a nephrologist) about the kidneys, dialysis, kidney failure, and in particular the recent E. Coli outbreak in Germany and France. We were assigned a project for the class I'm taking about E. Coli, so this was helpful. I especially found interesting the way the dialysis machines work and getting to see one up close. Next we walked to another part of town which held a small research facility. Their primary research involves the Mexican Axolotl. Don't worry if you've never heard of it before, neither had I. But it turned out to be the most interestingly strange thing ever. They are a type of salamander that have the ability to regenerate their limbs and eyes. Of course, this would be extremely beneficial if the regenerative ability could be exploited in human wound therapy. This research is still in the very beginning stages and it may be several years before a clinical trial would ever be approved.
This same research clinic also had a wing devoted to researching spider silk used as a biomaterial. It was interesting to see the way they obtained the silk from them and also to feel the silk. They had an entire room where they let the spiders go free and build their webs on whatever the could find! And we went in. For dinner, a couple of us decided to be frugal and buy stuff to make sandwiches at a grocery store. They were so good! Everything here is delicious because it is so fresh - the bread, the cheese, the meat, the spreads. We enjoyed our dinner with wine while watching the women's world cup game!
Thursday we woke up early, ate a delicious breakfast at our hotel and took a train from Hannover to Norderney. Norderney is one of the seven populated East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany. It is only 10.2 square miles! Technically we took the train to the water then a ferry to the island. The ride was beautiful! We saw several seals out on the sand as we passed. The weather was pretty cold and rainy that day, though. For lunch, we ate as a group at a local seafood restaurant on the island. I had salad with tiny, tiny shrimp on top - probably one of my least favorite foods so far. Next, we walked to our hostel where we'd be staying 4 to a room. It was pretty nice for a hostel! We had our own bathroom. Next we walked along the beach to our next destination. It was so pretty! It was very chilly and the water was freezing but it was nice to put our feet in as we walked. There were tons of people on the beach just hanging out.
We then reached our destination - the Norderney Rehab Clinic. Basically, it is where the government sends working class people to recover from surgeries, injuries, etc (and prevention), to ultimately get them back into the work force. It's basically a paid vacation! The facility was so beautiful - work out rooms, gyms, a bowling ally, pools, spas, massages, everything! Of course they also had medical diagnostic areas.
On our walk back, we stopped at the beach again - but this time we went swimming! It was very cold, less than 60 degrees Farenheit. It wasn't so bad once your whole body went numb, though. Even our professor and our program coordinator got in! Afterwards we all played ultimate frisbee in the sand. For dinner we went to a local biergarten near our hostel. I had salami pizza and it was delicious! Afterwards, some of us went back to the beach to sit in the sand, chat, and watch the sunset. It was a beautiful day!
Friday, I started the day off VERY early (4:30 am) to go birdwatching and watch the sunset with my professors and some other students. It was crazy how many birds there were. I was slightly more interested in bunny watching than bird watching though!
Next we did what the Germans call a Wattwanderung, or mudflat hiking through the Wadden Sea. Basically, when there is a low tide, it is possible to walk from the island we were at (Norderney) back to the coast of Germany on the mudflats. We essentially walked over 10k through grass, sand, thick mud, thin mud, and water. Wearing converse. It was so fun! (But definitely physically challenging, especially since I hurt my knee the night before playing ultimate). We stopped several times along the way to look at clams, worms, and other creatures. The sad part - at the VERY end, I dropped my camera on some rocks and it landed in the water :( It's a goner.
Next we ate a quick lunch - the best fish sandwhich I've ever had! Plus fries (in a cone, of course - the German way), and ein bier. After that we went to a baby seal rehab facility. They were so cute! I wish I had pictures from that. When baby seals get separated from their mother for whatever reason, trainers go find them and bring them back to feed them, make sure they're healthy, and ultimately get them back in the wild. We got to watch a feeding and hear a short lecture on them. We also went to their sister facility - a whale museum. It was cool too. After this, we were free for the weekend. My group chose to travel to Amsterdam. The journey itself was very long, stressful, and tiring. We already had to transfer several trains, then our last one had "technical difficulties" so we got kicked off with no help at midnight. After some panicking, we got on another train, then a bus, and finally made it to our hostel The Flying Pig. It was a hostel for students, so there were several other people in our room (bunkbeds). Interesting. Cheap, though!
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