Back Home Texas

How great it is to be back in the great state of Texas! Hard to believe that I have been back for over a month now.  I cannot express how happy I was when I got in my truck and drove directly to my destination without having to wait on any trains or look at any maps in another language to attempt to figure out where to go.  Not to mention I am no longer freezing every time I step out side. But what I am most thankful for being back in Texas has to be the easy access to water where ever I go!
However there are many aspects of Germany that I miss, the most obvious is the great beer.  I do miss having Dr. Wasser give walking a lecture through cities, being back to sitting in a classroom for 50 minutes is not nearly as exciting or interesting. Thinking back on the trip if I would have written this blog right after being back it probably would have been much different, I would have focused on the cold, or the lack of water fountains, and Tex-mex, but with the additional passing of time I have noticed how this trip has changed me.  For one I have all of my roommates saying "das boys" and "nein" almost as much as I do.  And I do find myself reflecting on the trip and laughing about some of the jokes that our group came up with as well as missing the time that we all got to spend together.  And every time I find myself in the library all I cannot help but think about how I would prefer to be in Germany drinking a cold Kolche with some schniztel.
 This trip was a life changing experience and if I had any regret it would simply be that the trip was only 3 weeks long and not longer. I learned more about German history and the history of medicine in those 3 weeks then I would have during a full 15 week semester in a class room.  I thought that I knew a good amount of European history before this trip but I learned more than I expected to and being able to see many of the things I had read about in textbooks in person was incredible.  It is really cool to think that I am one of a very small percent of A&M students to have been in Sigmund Freud's house or stood in a former concentration camp or been to a new years celebration in Berlin.  These types of events will remain as events that I will not soon forget.    
Although the course material covered on the trip was very interesting and as far as Texas A&M is concerned was the most important part, I believe it was the cultural experience that will be most impact full on my life going forward.  Seeing how another culture handles many of the same situations we face in different ways is very interesting and speaks toward the idea that there can be more than one solution to the same problem.  Although there were plenty of things that I found to be odd or I disagreed with politically with the way the Germans did things I did see first hand that every culture and country has its own characteristics and thus for many situations there is not a one size fits alls solution.  Being able to see the different health care policy of Germany and Austria made me thankful for what we have in the United States as a future physician but it also showed me many areas that we as a nation have room to improve on going forward.  
I am extremely glad that I went on this trip I came back with a better understanding of the world and had a ton of fun while I was on the trip.  I am already looking forward to my next trip to Europe and I know that on my second trip there I will be more prepared because of everything I learned from this trip.