History + Wildlife

[July 22] Following the making of some hasty weekend plans after Monday’s class, I was taken by an AIB coordinator to the UN headquarters in Bonn to learn about the logistics of international migratory bird laws. We spoke on the topmost floor of the building, with a breathtaking floor-to-ceiling view of the Rhine; if you have any excuse to somehow get into the UN in Bonn... do it.

The Convention for Migratory Species meets annually to discuss the funding of conservation projects in countries all over Europe and Africa. Proposals are submitted by participating countries (mainly requests that other countries take certain measures to protect a specific species from hunting, pollution, or other human threats) and voted on by the others. While this project does eventually get a lot of legislation passed, it cannot make any of its ruling mandatory, due to the fragility of many nations’ economies.

The next day was spent mostly on the Rhine. A tiring trek through Bacharach’s wine country was a small price to pay for a few long hours relaxing on a boat. We saw Lorelei Rock, responsible for many a shipwreck at a particularly sharp bend in the river, and countless castles that sent everyone running to one side of the boat with their cameras in the air. We disembarked to tour Marksburg castle and learn about the dreary lives of old lords. Some of the doors were remarkably short, but none of them were too short for me! The day ended with a (rather educational) wine-tasting at Mayschoss and a more than entertaining bus ride back to Bonn.

This week seemed to be a lot more class than usual, with the break of a cruise stuck somewhere in the middle. Between movies/documentaries about Berlin’s recent history and lectures about the country’s last century, we visited the Haus der Geschichte, a modern history museum. We went through twice; once with a tour guide, and another time so that Dr. Wasser could include the interesting parts that the guide... forgot.

The day before we departed from Bonn, we went on a long-awaited trip to the Cologne Zoo, where they have ditches to keep animals in their places instead of bars. I thought it was kind of amusing that they kept raccoons on display, but my favorite were the elephants and their babies. Their enclosure took up ten percent of the whole park, and it was both natural-looking and aesthetically original. Then I slept my last night at the Nipkow Family Residence and headed to Munich in the morning with a ton of gift-snacks at the top of my bag.