First week abroad!

My journey to Germany was a rather smooth and pain-free experience. Neither one of my flights were delayed so I arrived in Frankfurt around 5:30AM on July 3rd. I was quite tired but excited for my first day abroad. While I waited for the rest of the students to arrive, I tried to locate a place to charge my phone. As I was trying to some how make my outlet converter fit into the socket, an Indian man saw that I was having troubles and offered to help. It was a lost cause but none the less we began to talk about where we came from and where we were headed. He had just come from Brazil watching the World Cup and was headed back home. I naturally asked several questions about his experience due to my love for the sport. We talked for the next 30-40 min about not just culture and life in Brazil, but in Indian, the United States and all over the world. It was a very interesting conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed exchanging thoughts and experiences about medicine, education and general culture.

Once we arrived in Bonn at the AIB later that morning, I met my host mom Ellen. She gave me a ride back to her house in her cute Mini Cooper convertible. The weather was very nice that day and the next. However, I learned very quickly through the rest of the rainy weather that week how much sunny weather is not so common in Bonn. My host families house is a cute white, three story house with blue shutters. I have my own room and my own bathroom. That night Ellen and her youngest daughter, Rahel, enjoyed a nice chicken and rice dinner on the back porch next to the very lovely vegetable and herb garden in the backyard. The following morning I took the 603 bus into town to the Bonn HBF to meet for our city tour. Olivia gave us a nice introduction to the city center area and showed us how we can get to the AIB from the train/bus station. Just within the first couple hours of being in this new country and city it was easy to pin point several cultural differences from Texas/USA. Firstly, I noticed how no one talked on the bus into town. Nick had warned us of this in the orientations but I was unsure of it was true. Second, I noticed how nicely everyone dresses. Generally, everyone had presented themselves very nicely and professionally.

A group of girls and I were off to Amsterdam Friday evening for our first free weekend. It was odd that we had just arrived in Bonn and were leaving already for a free weekend. Never the less, our weekend was a blast. I experienced so many firsts on this weekend. First hostel stay, first time in Holland, first time watching an international soccer game in Europe. The list went on and on. The city was even more beautiful and historic than I even imagined. Although most of the city is quant and historic, there is also a very unique night life and lifestyle, in general, there. We walked everyday from about 8 or 9 in the morning until midnight or later every night. We enjoyed a bit of everything the city had to offer such as, historical sites, scenery, food, culture, and shopping. My favorite part of the entire weekend was the Anne Frank House. The tour was not guided but I liked that because I was able to move at my own pace through the house. The entire experience was a privilege that I will tell all of my friends and family that are willing to listen. We also went on a canal tour through the city.  Although it was raining most of the weekend, it was a very good experience to be able to see the city from the water. One major theme through out the weekend that was most striking to me was, the availability and presence of marijuana everywhere. People were smoking that like most Europeans smoke cigarettes. This is a very odd for me coming from a very conservative state where it is looked down on. Overall, I would recommend the city to anyone who has an appreciation for European history and lovely scenery.

Our train ride back to Bonn was made very enjoyable by a German college student who sat next to us. He spoke very good English so I seized the opportunity to ask him all my questions I had thus far about the differences I had observed in German vs. American culture. Mostly, I was pleasantly surprised that even though he is from a different continent and grew up in a much different society, many areas of our life as students in college are very similar. We talked about difficulties with technical classes, noisy roommates, and the balance between social and academic time at school.