Better late than never???

SOOOOOO… I actually thought that I wrote this blog and posted it, but turns out I was wrong and only typed half of it up and never finished (oooops). But here we go, my journey from Berlin to Houston.

Again, what’s a trip in Europe without having any delays? Tuesday we headed out to Berlin, but we first had a connection to make in Cologne in only five minutes. Of course, our train leaving Bonn was delayed and we missed our connection. Luckily there was another train we could catch in only 30 minutes though. Once we got to Berlin and carried our luggage to the hotel, we had a guided bike tour through the city. Though we already rode bikes in Norderney, this was a little more intimidating because we were biking through traffic and had to be more aware of our surroundings. Thankfully, everyone did fine and we had no injuries, yay. The guided tour was really neat because we saw a lot of historical sites and our tour guide was excellent. Seeing remaining parts of the Berlin wall was neat. It is said that the wall was built in just one night, but that’s not entirely true. It originated as just a barbed wire fence, and as more and more people tried escaping, they modified the wall so people in the future couldn’t escape the same way. I also enjoyed seeing the divide of the east and west side (yes, I was a tourist and took the cliché picture with one foot on each side). We also saw the memorial dedicated to the Jews that were killed during the Holocaust. It was interesting to hear about the controversy of the memorial because some think that it displays a cemetery, and some people do not have respectful behaviors and play around and eat picnics in the area. Of course, art is always up for interpretation to the viewer, and regardless how the artist meant for the memorial to look like, people observe things differently. After our tour we were starving, so Hailey, Kathryn, Alana, Jules, Gabe, Carter, and I all went to Vapiano for dinner. Vapiano is a modern Italian food restaurant that I kinda relate to a Mongolian style place where you go to the counter and tell them what you want and they cook it in front of you and then you bring it to a table. It’s delicious. I may or may not have gone four times while in Germany. I vote that one should be in College Station, and I honestly think it would be a big hit. Anyways, Vapiano was yummy and then we went to the hotel and spent the evening hanging out.

Wednesday morning after breakfast we made our way to the train station and headed to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. This camp had more than 200,000 imprisoned from 1936 to 1945. Most of the prisoners were males, and a large portion were Jews, but also included homosexuals, gypsies, and mentally disabled. When we made our way from the train station and to the entrance of the camp, we actually were taking the same path that the prisoners would take as well. It wasn’t hidden from the public by any means. The entrance of this camp has the gate with the famous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work will free you) sign that every individual saw amongst entering. From the moment of walking through that gate until well after we left, I felt sick to my stomach. I was disgusted and nauseous. The barracks are not intact anymore, but they have outlining of all of the buildings. For a very, very small room, they would house 144 inmates. Inmates were given enough food to survive, but not thrive. The food did not have any nutrients, and even lacked salt, so many died from starvation alone. If it wasn’t from starvation, they would die from disease, exhaustion, medical experiments, forced labor, or mass murders. Obviously the visit is disturbing and isn’t pleasant, but it is also very important to visit those places and learn about the history. On a wall there was a quote that stated “And I know one thing more- that the Europe of the future cannot exist without commemorating all those, regardless of their nationality, who were killed at the time with complete contempt and hate, who were tortured to death, starved, gassed, in incinerated and hanged…” And it is true, we cannot ignore what happened. And I remember previously people saying that Germany is removing that history away from being taught in the classrooms and that they are not owning up to it, but this entire trip has taught me otherwise. The older German generation has been living the consequences of these things, and the younger generations have been trying to improve and better their future. We then headed out for lunch at a place, that unfortunately I cannot remember the name of, but everything served was made out of potatoes!!! It was awesome and so dang delicious. I had a potato casserole, but I wish I could have tried someone’s potato pancakes. The rest of the evening we didn’t have plans, so I went to the hotel and started my essay and went to bed early. 

Thursday morning I got up early to work on my essay and eat breakfast before the rest of the group did. After breakfast we went to an Alchemy Exhibit. I don’t know how, but I never heard to alchemy before and was really confused going into the exhibit and not having an idea what to expect. There seems to be a lot of Harry Potter references with alchemy and well, I never read the books or watched the movies so that probably explains why I was so confused. The exhibit was filled with artwork and different metals, and it expressed the influence of culture with medicine. We then had a lunch break, where I most likely ate Vapiano again (I swear, it’s the best). Afterwards we all met up and went to the Otto Bock Science Center, which is an interactive exhibit for prosthetics, and it was really cool! It blew my mind how recent research has provided a for nerve genesis to certain muscles to control the prosthetic limb to provide functions. For instance, if an individual has lost his arm, the pectoral muscle has lost the need of functioning, so my implanting certain nerves and connecting it to the prosthetic, the prosthetic arm will be able to move different directions for movements. I enjoyed looking at all of the different types and learning the basic overview of the biomechanics behind the prosthetics. The entire day it was raining, and by the time we were done at the exhibit, it started to pick up some more. Most of the group was headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Blink 182 concert, but for those who weren’t going, we decided to go to the Pergamon Museum to see the Ishtar Gate, which was an ancient Babylonian gate from 575BCE. I was indifferent about going to see the gates, and I almost decided not to go because it was raining so hard. But I sucked it up and went, and I am SO glad I did. I had no idea what to expect, and I was overwhelmed when I saw it. It was absolutely massive, and I loved the dark royal blue colors of the bricks. I was also surprised to learn that it was initially one of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world, so boom, got to see that, which is freaking neat! We also went to the Neues Museum to see the bust of Queen Nefertiti. Again, I had no idea what to expect, but she was perfect. I am sure the set up of the room had a lot to do with the moment as well, because she was isolated in her own room, security guards surrounding the room, and she was in the center with lights hitting her perfectly. She looked so elegant in all of her power. I was really glad that I sucked it up and went. Though it was still raining, no trip out is complete without a gelato stop. We also went to a souvenir store, and then went to find dinner. Professor Waltz recommended we go to this Indian food place by the hotel, so we went. I’ve only had Indian food one other time, and someone prepared my plate for me, so I did’t know what I got before and what I would like. So Alana ordered for me and I got Chicken Tikki Marsala (or at least that’s what I think I ordered, I really don’t remember). But regardless IT WAS SO GOOD. And the non. It was yummy. We all kinda shared our food, so I got a wonderful combination of things and yes, I am disappointed that I’ve gone this far in life without eating Indian food. I must find a place at home that serves great Indian food. After dinner I showered and crashed for the night. 

Friday morning I woke up early and submitted my essay and had breakfast. Dr. Wasser gave a lecture in the breakfast room before we headed out for the day. Sad to know that was the last lecture I’ll hear from him. He is such a great professor and I learned so much from him. His brain is a sponge that soaks up everything and he constantly and passionately shares it with his students, and that was amazing. Anyways, we went to a museum of the history of medicine, which was a neat way to end the course since that is the name of our class. The museum was filled with displays of organs affected with different disease and illnesses. This place, along with many others we visited, also had an iron lung. Looking at the iron lung really bothers me, just because I cannot imagine having to live in one of those to simply breath, and that there are so many people against vaccines right now, where polio may become a huge problem yet again, and children would have to fully depend on the iron lungs. Shortly after the tour was over, we headed back to the hotel for just a few minutes to change clothes and put things up before we headed out to our farewell dinner. Again, it was still raining and it was pretty chilly, so we tried walking to the restaurant as fast as we could. We were always following Henning and Dr. Wasser around, and I think we were all convinced that we were lost because it seemed as if we were walking around forever and in circles to get to this random restaurant, but man it was worth the long walk. The place was sooooo good! It was a Moroccan restaurant, and I have never had Moroccan food before. We started off with some bread and appetizers, and to be fair, I never really knew what the appetizers were, but they were really yummy. The main meal was lamb and chicken, with couscous shared family style and it was delicious. I’m not sure why I haven’t ever had this type of food, but I know for sure it wouldn’t be the last. Through dinner we were all taking pictures, talking about favorite parts of the trip, what we were going to do when we got home, and tried our best to convince Henning to come visit us in Texas. It was a great dinner, with great people. Towards the end of dinner we gave Dr. Wasser, Professor Waltz, and Henning each a picture and card, with some wine for Dr. Wasser, to simply thank them for everything they did for us and the incredible journey while we were there. Dr. Wasser shared some sweet and thoughtful words, and Henning thanked us and gave us each a signed copy of his newest album (how cool???) We left after dessert and went out to take pictures with everyone and capture the memories. A lot of tears were shed, but I kept reminding myself that we will all be back in college station together and that our friendships can continue to grow, that they don’t stop here. We headed back to the hotel and finished packing things up. Me, Alana, Juliette, Hailey, Kathryn, Gabe, and Carter went and bought ice cream and watched Spirit to finish off the last night in Germany. We all had early mornings the next day, but for whatever reason we decided to stay up as long as we could. I am pretty sure I got 3 hours of sleep, so it was more like a nap??

 The next morning, me, Kathryn, Abbey, Miguel, and Henning caught a cab and headed to the airport. Henning said final goodbyes and he was headed to Frankfurt. Our plane was delayed over an hour and so we went and got breakfast, compliments of United, and then spent our last Euros on random things at the airport. As time approaches for us to board the plane, it keeps getting delayed further and further. At this point, there was no way I was going to catch my connection flight from Newark to Houston unless they held the plane. We finally get on the plane (like 3 hours later) and head to Newark. I was exhausted so I slept nearly the entire flight. We get to Newark 30 minutes after my connection flight. I’ve heard horror stories about Newark, and boy I had mine too. Nobody was willing to help, they sent us to another terminal to get “customer service” and there were millions of people with nobody to help anyone. Luckily I had my United app and found my own alternative way to get home. I had an hour to recheck my bags, get to security, and then my gate before boarding ended. Long story short, I was the crazy person running down the terminal to my gate. And no worries, I gave United a nice little comment section in the survey they sent me because I missed my flight. So I get on the plane, and then it rains and we sit on the runway for over an hour (good thing I ran, right??) But it’s fine, I eventually got home to Houston safely, and that’s what matters.

During the trip, I was looking forward to go home during different times and for different reasons. Of course I missed my family and friends. But the lifestyle that I am used to was often missed as well. The convenience and familiarity of everything was missed. I cannot say that I like the Texas lifestyle more than the European lifestyle, but I hope that I live a combination of both and bring the good things from both sides together. On my flight back to the states, I knew I was headed back home because I ordered an apple juice on the flight and it came with ICE!!! ICE CUBES! I hadn’t had ice in a drink in nearly 6 weeks. I stepped off and entered a building blasting AC!!! The first language spoken by the flight attendants was English! I could say “y’all” freely and be completely understood! The initial plans that night was when I got picked up from the airport we would go to Papasitos because TexMex is the best. But since I didn’t get home until nearly 11PM, Whataburger was the alternative, and just as great. I did, however, get Papasitos the next day for lunch, no worries. And those were my initial few moments back into Texas, home sweet home. But I also know I will always have a home in Germany too!

It was fun, y'all!

Emily