Week One

The first week of being in Germany was absolutely amazing. The city of Bonn is so beautiful.  It definitely took me a few days to figure out where everything is around the city, though, but I am happy to say that I have not yet been lost.  Which isn’t hard to do considering that my host family lives in the city; therefore, I never have to hurry or rush to catch a bus or train.  I just have a twenty minute walk in practically one direction to the AIB.  Which is very fortunate for me because I am directionally challenged. 

The first week of class was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed the History of Medicine lectures and found them to be very interesting.  It’s amazing how far we have come as a society in the advancement of human medicine. The Deutsch classes were a little rough though.  I really wish I could speak better German, though.  That way people could at least kind of understand me when I say that I want to order something off of the menu instead of me resorting to just pointing at the number that I want.  Today is our last German class, and I am kind of sad.  I’m glad that I got the opportunity to learn at least some
"survival German” that way if I ever do get lost I can ask someone where I am.

Two days ago we were able to go to the House of History museum in Bonn. Although the tour got pretty long and the headset given to me ran out of battery before the tour ended, I still thought that it was great.  Dr. Wasser did an amazing job about teaching us the main aspects of Germany’s culture and history.  Yesterday we went to Cologne and were given a private tour of the city.  There were no words to describe the cathedral there. It is so beautiful and very tall. We were supposed to have been able to ride the elevator to the top, but our tour guide never showed up. So we had to climb the winding staircase for thirty minutes before we reached the top.  I was definitely out of breath by the time we reached the top.  The view was great though, and I really enjoyed seeing the bell tower.  The cathedral was built to have such an amazing and grand structure because the Three Kings who visited Jesus after he was born are said to be buried there.

My favorite part about being in Germany is getting to see all of the different architecture and trying all of the different food.  The only hard part is trying to order off of a German menu and not realizing what it is actually in the food.  I’ve resorted to just ordering Schnitzel when I can because I definitely know what that is.  I love seeing all of the different buildings and houses here.  They are just so different from the houses back home, also because they lack AC.  It’s okay though, I’ve gotten used to opening all of the windows in my room.

Today we are leaving for Salzburg, and I am SO excited!  It’s going to be an amazing weekend.  I just hope that I’ve packed enough clothes. I guess we’ll see!