First Week of Class

First week Blog

This first week of class has been a week that was unlike any other week of studies I have ever experienced. It is one thing to listen to lectures and look at pictures of pieces of Germany history and medical history, but it is another thing entirely to actually see and walk around in some of these historic sites.

            The first week of classes consisted of 6 German language courses taught by Hilde, which to my surprise were not too painful and I am much more comfortable speaking with Germans in restaurants and around the city than I was when I first arrived. The history of medicine classes consisted of Paleolithic to Middle age medical practices along with a bit of necessary history about German history and German doctors. To say the lectures were teeming with information and important people in the history of medicine would be an understatement. We covered a lot of material in this first week, but it was nice to have talked about many of these things before actually visiting sites of history such as the former Gestapo prison in Koln.

            We also visited Beethoven’s place of birth this week. The artifacts on display in his house such as the ear trumpets that he used in his later years of waning hearing and his desk were very cool to see. It was a disappointment that he only lived in the house for three years though and the front of the house today was not the one that he lived in. Our trip to Koln was a lot of fun and very interesting. Our trip to the top of the Cathedral and all around the innards of the cathedral was awesome and our tour guide covered almost every inch. My favorite tour was the trip to the Gestapo prison. It is a miracle that the building did not get destroyed in the War and it is a very real and personable part of history. The horrendous conditions that the prisoners had to face was easily seen walking through and the old inscriptions on the walls made everything so much more personal and real. I have learned more this week that I could have imagined and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the trip has in store.