Bonn Sweet Bonn

July 6, 2015

This first week in Germany has been absolutely incredible. I can't get over how beyond blessed I feel to be able to have this experience. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will never forget and I know the next month is going to fly by so quickly. I am already dreading having to say goodbye even though we just got here.

Our flight left from the Dallas airport on June 30th and we flew for a little over 9 hours and arrived in Frankfurt on July 1st. I watched some movies on the flight but most of the time I was passed out asleep. (Shout out to Kasey for sitting next to me because I'm sure I was not a graceful sleeper.) Sleeping most of the flight was helpful but nothing can prepare you for the jet lag that hits soon after. We waited in the Frankfurt airport for a while until everyone had arrived. We then took a bus from Frankfurt to Bonn. Our host families came to pick us up from the old AIB location in Bonn. Callie and I are living together and our host mom, Ana, was at work so her neighbor Lisa and her daughter Sophia picked us up. Lisa actually is originally from Maine and so she spoke really good English and they were very kind to us. Soon we met our host family. We're living with Ana and her daughter Clara and they are wonderfully kind people. I find it amazing that they open up their homes so willingly to students all the time. I have loved getting to see firsthand what a German family is like.

This past week has been full of classes and lots of adventures. Bonn may be a small city but when you don't know the language and have little to no cell data it can be easy to get lost. But we've all been looking out for each other and always make sure we each get home safe. The classes have been very interesting. Dr. Wasser's first big lecture was about the differences between the major health systems of the world. We learned a lot about the U.S., British, and German health care systems. I find this to be a fascinating topic and I learned a lot that I did not know. The United States is the only developed country that doesn't cover every citizen with the assurance of health care. We have amazing doctors and unbeatable surgical procedures and technology but we are lagging way behind other countries in how we provide this health care. I knew of a lot of the problems with the American system but it was fascinating to learn the true facts and statistics while in another country who has a leading health care system.

We also have been taking Deutsch classes. That has been interesting to say the least. It is very very difficult. Even when we do learn it our American/Texan accents kick in and we have a lot of trouble generally with pronunciation. Most of us learned some Spanish in high school so we have a tendency to revert back to words we learned in Spanish when we can't remember the German words. It's very entertaining but I hope that by the end of the trip we will have made some progress!

Our adventures outside of the classroom have been nonstop. Some highlights from this past week were the 4th of July party that the AIB hosted. There were American flags and delicious food and more American flags and a live band... It was amazing! The 4th of July is my favorite holiday so I was pretty bummed about missing it but I thought it was so cool and thoughtful that they threw a party for America's birthday! USA. We also went to some castle ruins called Drachenfels Ruins which were originally built in the 1100s and we also went to Drachenfels Castle near the ruins which was absolutely beautiful. The castle has definitely been my favorite part so far.

Today we adventured in Cologne for a bit. We walked out of the train station and the first thing we saw was the Cologne Cathedral and all of our jaws just dropped. No words can describe seeing this cathedral in person. I can't wait until we get to go on the rooftop tour. While in Cologne today we rode a cable car across the Rhine River and saw beautiful views. We also went to the Claudius Therme (spa). It was super nice and relaxing but I experienced a bit of culture shock because half of the spa was clothed and half was nude. I was shocked but tried to act mature about it and just hung out on the clothed side. It makes for a great story to take back home though!

Can't wait for all the adventures to come!