Let's Start at the Very Beginning...

(First I have to apologize for the very long post, I hope to keep up a little better in the future so that they end up shorter).
(Dates Dec 27 through Dec 31, 2012)
The last few days have been a blur of excitement. It's funny to think we took a flight here starting on a Wednesday evening and upon getting to Germany it was then considered Thursday morning. We were made to wait for all of our 13 fellow students to arrive before leaving to Bonn, Germany. Due to jet lag a majority of us passed out on the bus ride(including myself). We then walked in the drizzle/ cold to the hotel a good number of blocks away. After we got done settling in, we took a quick walk around the city (getting a feel for the place) and we ended our day by eating a "popular" German dinner (all of us having gotten beer and a variety of schnitzel).

On the second day we were made to wake up really early to meet at the A1 bus top so as to head over to the hospital where I got to watch a cardio bypass surgery along with them replacing the man's aortic valve. Afterwards we ate lunch at the one popular Turkish cuisine and then met up at AIB for lecture. Afterwards we went on a quick city tour of Bonn (seeing some ancient roman ruins, town hall, the Rhine river) and then met back at AIB to have a hot cup of a popular cold weather German drink (I don't remember the name but it was alcohol heated over sugar). We watched then 2 clips of 2 "movies", the more popular being an 11 minute video of a 1960's English comedy "Dinner for One" ("...same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie? Same procedure as every year, James.."). Afterwards we headed out as an almost complete group to the 500 year old restaurant where I ordered a kosch (beer) with sprite along with ordering a pretzel with butter. The rest of the night was spent enjoying Bonn's nightlife with the group.

Next day, we headed by bus to the anesthesia museum where we stayed for a little over 2 hours. Though the concept was interesting I think that the tour should only be around 1 hour long. After getting 2 hours for lunch we proceeded to head for the U to go to a post WW2 german history museum. We stayed until closing and then headed out for another fun night with the group.

The third day of the trip, we headed out for Koln (Cologne in English). Right after getting off the train the church loomed before us in all its splendor. With a guide we traveled around to parts of the city, seeing the famous brewery, hearing the children's tale of the gnomes, seeing some more Roman ruins. We proceeded to going inside the Cologne Cathedral with the 3 kings within it (the insides were very beautiful and though the Arch Bishop may not like the "newest" stained glass additiono to the church, I found it a good addition to the architecture), then we headed to the Elde Haus, where the Nazi's had tortured and imprisoned their convicted criminals (the walls still containing final written messages). I cannot begin to describe how sickening the Nazi history was, and it makes me feel worse when I learn about more of the terrible things that they have done (like rewarding women to have more kids by giving them medals, treating animls to the same "Aryan" code). What makes me glad is seeing how German's have accepted that era of their history and have shown the world that they can move past their miseries and become one of the top nations in the European Union today.
After visiting the Nazi SS Headquarters we were then given some free time and we all headed back to Bonn where a good group of us went to see Beethoven's house. After this we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant and took one last walk around Bonn, going and seeing the Rhine up close and grabbing a small prayer book from the telephone booth.

On the last day of the year, we woke up and checked our room for any last items and ate breakfast. We walked to the train station where went on platform 2 to get on train 7 to Berlin. The couple hour train ride allowed me to write a majority of this post along with getting to move at a max speed of 253 km/hr through the German countryside. Upon arriving in Berlin we took a number of transportation stops to arrive at Alexanderplatz and, finally, our hotel, The Alex Hotel. We did a brief exploration down the street around the area of Alexanderplatz (trying out the New Year's celebration of food) until heading back to get ready for the last day of 2012.

The night was one to remember. So I end this with HAPPY 2013!!!! (whoop!)