Bonn

26/27 December 2012, Day 1

Airport arrival was at 10:30 am for my 12:50 flight to Detroit. Every thing went very well for that leg of the flight. I had a great neighbor on my flight that told me all about her abroad travels. She grew up in Turkey and now resides in New York. The plane landed in Detroit at 4:45, and got stuck on the on the landing strip for a good 30 minutes due to snow, and a taxi not being able to retrieve the plane. After that delay, I had a short 20 minute connecting plane to catch that was boarding two terminals away. Never have I had to run to make a connection, but this time I did. Thank goodness they held the plane since ours had been delayed. We then had to sit on the runway for about an hour while they de-iced the plane and cleared the runway with snow plows. The 8 hour plane ride was very enjoyable, with all the stuff they had to entertain us.  ( TV shows, movies, games, etc ) I landed in Frankfurt at 8 a.m., and headed straight to customs to get my second passport stamp! Yay me! As I proceeded to baggage claim, I was rudely awakened when I found out my luggage didn't make my plane in Detroit, and got sent to Paris instead of Germany. After I filed a lost claim, I conveniently bumped into Sam and Patrick, two of the other people on the trip with me. Shortly after the luggage ordeal, I decided I needed my first german Bier (beer) to get that saga off my mind. We then decided to find our meeting point, which was in a separate terminal, so we had to catch a airport tram. We met up with the Houston crew, and awaited Susanne's ( our right hand lady ) arrival to fetch us. We left the airport at 1:15 ish and took a charter bus to Bonn. ( 1 hour and 3/4 bus ride ). Upon arrival we checked in our hotel, chose roommates, and had a short siesta.  We then proceeded to the AIB for a short orientation and meeting. We then walked the city district and had a traditional dinner of Schnitzel an Kölsch. After that we headed back to our hotel and hit the sheets to sleep off some jet lag. 

28 December, 2012, Day 2

Our day began with waking up at 5:30 a.m. to have breakfast at 6:00. Breakfast had a delectable and interesting selection. It consisted of various rolls, meats (mostly pork ) and salmon, cheese, cereal, yogurt, and Quark ( which tasted similar to cream cheese, so I ate it like I do cream cheese, and just hoped for the best ). We also had coffee, tea, apple juice, and orange juice. After breakfast we headed to Bus stop A 1, to catch s bus to take us to the University Clinics of Bonn. We then checked in with the hospital and proceeded to scrub up to watch the various surgeries scheduled for that day. The surgeries consisted of 2 cardiovascular procedures which were bypasses and valve insertions. There was also a hip surgery, liver transplant, cancerous tumor removal, and insertion of an artificial disk in a patients neck. We said goodbye to the hospital at about noon, and took a train back to the city center where we dined on a dish called " den" I believe. I ordered a pepperoni supreme pizza, which I thought would have traditional American pepperonis. However, I was surprised to see a pizza with den and peppercini. Shortly after eating we figured out "den" was LAMB! We then proceeded to the AIB for our lecture. After lecture we had tour of the City Center in Bonn. We saw the city center, farmers market, Rheine river, and roman ruins under the city streets. We then headed back to the AIB for traditional German Feuerzangenbowle which is wine, sugar, rum, oranges and various spices. We also watched a traditional german movie that is watched every new years called a day for one. We then headed back to the hotel with my suitcase that arrived earlier that day. I was so glad to finally change clothes! We went out to dinner at a restaurant that was a supposed 500 years old. Following dinner we went bar hopping and to the disco. 

29 December, 2012, Day 3

Today began with us waking up and heading to lecture at AIB at 8:15. We had a two hour lecture over the history of medicine, anesthesia, and a tad bit of background information on our tour guide. We then caught the bus and went to the museum for the history of anesthesia. The museum's  curator, is the man that collected and manages all the relics. He was very knowledgeable about all his pieces and gave us a very thorough, and lengthy tour. He had everything from an operating room set up, equipment relating to polio, various medicines ( muscle relaxers, pain relievers, antibiotics etc ), various breathing machines, spinal taps, and even the equipment used for the earliest anesthesia which consisted of ether. After the tour we got lunch. We all split up and 3 of us ended up having pizza hut, which is a lot tastier than American pizza huts. The group then met back up at the underground ( subway ) and went to the museum of Bonn. Dr. Wasser was our tour guide for this tour. He is very knowledgeable  and did a fantastic job. We then headed back to the AIB for our free night which we spent hanging out at the hotel.  We played some games and got to know each other. 

30 December, 2012, Day 4

Today we ventured to Köln ( Cologne ) and took in some historical sight seeing. We caught a train at 9:01 and arrived at about 9:30. Immediately as we stepped out of the trains station we were practically on the doorstep of the Köln cathedral which was an amazing feat. After taking a few snapshots and a group picture, we met up with the tour guide and headed to the various historical landmarks. They consisted of a fountain that had a local fairy tale with it, the roman ruins under Köln, St. Martins Church, and the town hall of Köln. Shortly after the tour we bid our tour guide farewell and headed to The Gaffel Kölsch brewery for lunch. I had a marinated pot roast and potato dumpling with Kölsch for lunch. After the brewery we headed to the Elde Haus to take in some more german history. The Elde Haus tour lasted for about an hour, and then we took a train back to Bonn. Our last night in Bonn the group dined at Casa del Gatto, where I had pizza salami and a long island ice tea. Proceeding dinner,  some of the group took a train to Köln to check out the night life there. Unfortunately we forgot it was Sunday, and their discos were closed, so we went to a cozy little bar for about an hour or so. We took a train back to Bonn, and ended our evening early to prepare for the journey to Berlin.