Good Times in Bonn and Koln

My experience thus far in the Deutschland has been nothing short of spectacular. Before the study abroad even started, I had spent about a week in Germany, travelling to Heidelberg, Freiberg, Lake Konstanz (called something else that slips my mind by the locals), and Fussen all in the span of about 7 days. Though this was definitely a wake-up call to new culture and heritage, living with a German family and spending even more time engulfed in their social lives has opened my eyes to completely new styles of living. Just because someone spends what time they may have on this earth doing things differently from what you may be doing, does not mean that they are living incorrectly. We have no right, before experiencing what someone else has experienced, which in itself is nearly but not always totally impossible, to judge the actions or motives behind actions that may only seem to be negatively directed towards you. One cannot assume to know the motives of the hearts and minds of a completely different people group, so one must focus on what is best and most favored in something or someone that is different. I believe that when you fully understand and know someone, you cannot help but love them, no matter how they may differ from you. Taking the time and will power to overcome the obstacles in a relationship that may seem impossible shows true devotion and love for that person. This may go unnoticed, but unlikely. People can usually tell when you make an effort to overcome differences there may be between you.

Seeing this relational side of a new culture for the second time this summer in a completely new country has most definitely made me more universally aware in my daily actions. Every little thing doesn't make me want to just go back to the states, rather I want to learn even more about the world outside of the United States. I feel almost ashamed for not having put forth enough effort to have learned the language of a people group other than my own. I hope, now, to be able to find a nationality or dialect that I can personally connect with, because I want to at least learn a second language and then a third. This makes me want to be able to communicate globally with people that may be polar opposite from me, converse with them in ways that make both of us contemplate on the reasons behind what we may do and believe every day, and ultimately know and understand them for who they are in this world.

It is hard not to have fun in a country like this, especially when you have as good a group as ours. Alexis, Sarah, Katharine, Mario, Morgan, Mikaela, Michelle, Jooyeon (Jooey), and Meredith. These people are a blast and make the trips worth while. Then there's Olivia, who seems to have everything planned perfectly for our sake and devotes herself to helping us further understand German people. Dr. Wasser, for sure, adds experience and history to the trip with his descriptions of historical background on almost everything we encounter. It's really a joy to see these two interact and guide our group along with the sincerity and devotion that is obvious to me. Fenja helps us literally understand with language, Maggie shows us where to go, Timo brings us chocolate and bananas (haha! along with tons of other things), and the whole AIB team has been nothing short of ecstatic to help us out and show us around. We could not have had this much fun and learned this much at all without the efforts of all these people. This makes things like Koln, the dom, the zoo, the bier garten, etc. so much better. I'm having a blast, and I can't see the end!