week one classes koln

Week one of classes has come and gone. Even though I was interested in pretty much all of the matter at hand I feel as though it went in one ear then straight out the other, needless to say I have a lot of reviewing to do before our first exam. The subject matter of our course is titled ‘History of European medicine’ with an adjunct in bioethics and world health care in a sense. Starting pretty much with the Babylonians, moving through ancient Greece and all the influence they had, going into the Roman world coinciding with middle eastern practices, we have somehow made our way all the way up to Nazi practices (after extensively covering the middle ages of course and certain plagues encompassing  thus). Needless to say I am overwhelmed.  Although the subject matter is incredibly interesting I must admit so far my favorite parts of this trip have been the class tours of exhibits, notably our tour of the Koln cathedral.

There are few words to describe the majesty of the cathedral, which from hence forth I will abbreviate in its German form as ‘dom’. After touring the dom my perspective on time was thrown out the window. Living in America everywhere you turn now in my eyes from hence forth will be regarded as new. My house which I previously regarded to as old I would now consider new all because my comparative scale being thrown off. Construction on the dom initiated in the 9^th century, being a fraction of the church that it is today. And little by little they continued making additions until the 14^th century when construction ceased until pretty much the 18^th century when over the next 80 years they finished it in almost its entirety. Being at the time the first building to use steel in its major construction work, it was also for the next 6 years the tallest structure in the world. My favorite part about it had to be the gargoyles (along with the history of course). The church is famous for being said to be the final resting place of the three kings from the Bible during the nativity in the gospels retelling the birth of Jesus. Kind of a big deal to me having been baptized into the Catholic Church as an infant.  It was surprising to me that a couple of friends in our group did not know of the history behind who they were and their significance and I took it as an open invitation to preach my lord and savior. It is nothing short of an act of God that during the bombing raids during WW2 the dom was hardly hurt and was quite literally the only structure left standing in the entire area. I very much look forward to another visit sometime in the future.

If class continues to take the course it is on then needless to say I could possibly regard this as the best trip I have taken in my entire life. I write this now on the train to Interlaken Switzerland where my friends will be sky diving,  where we are planning on white water rafting, and I also spend countless hours fly fishing to my heart’s desire. Updates on how that goes to come soon. Adios for now.