From Berlin to Galveston

On our final day in Bonn we headed to the anesthesia museum.  Sadly Dr. Stockel (sorry if I misspelled it) could not be there for our tour.  Instead we had Dr. Wasser lead us through the museum with the occasional interjection from the doctor's daughter.

 The anesthesia museum was really cool for me.  I do not plan on focusing on anesthesia later in life but I do find it really interesting.  My stepdad is an anesthesiologist so he has really taught me a lot in relation to this field.  One thing I have learned is that in a room full of doctors the anesthesiologist is typically the smartest.  This is a bit of a blanket statement but it does seem like they typically have a very wide range of knowledge.  The anesthesiologist has to know all about various drugs and the affects that they can have on their patients as well as how various physical factors can impact keeping someone asleep.  I thought it was really cool to see the very early anesthesia apparatuses.  The transition from a glass vessel with a sponge inside to the huge machines of the future is crazy.  It is also really cool to see how some of the massive machines we used to use have become way more compact.  After the museum we headed back to town and Dae and I headed back to our house.  Once we got home our host family took us out to dinner for our last night.  Our host family took us to a beautiful dinner at a winery.

At dinner we all shared a bottle of wine and reminisced about the time that we had spent together.  It was not until this night that I fully realized how close I had become with my host family.  I have been extremely busy during the entirety of this trip but we have always found time to hang out and talk.  I have learned a lot about the German culture from my host family and I am very thankful to them for this.  At the the end of the meal my family gave me a book about Bonn (in german and english) as well as a post card with a note from my family.  We had to say goodbye to our host family that night since we were leaving for Berlin so early the next morning.  I was sad to leave my host family but I was even more sad when I saw how sad my host mom was that we were leaving.  I think she was actually close to crying.  The next morning we woke up super early so that we could be at the train station by 7:00AM.  This was not too bad except that I remembered that we had a bike ride coming up later after having gotten almost no sleep.  At this point in the program the lack of sleep was seriously catching up with me.  I think I have blogged about that a couple of times now but it was seriously affecting me.  It seemed like no matter what we were doing I had a super hard time focusing and I was just perpetually tired.  We had an interesting trip to Berlin as we missed our connecting train to Berlin.  This meant that we did not have reserved seats on the train we ended up on.  I actually got lucky and did not have to move.  Most of the people in the group had to move throughout the train as they got ousted at each stop the train made.  On the train I worked on a blog post and read my book.  I should have also worked on my paper buuuuuut I did not.  Once we were in Berlin we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then headed out for our bike tour.  

On the tour we saw pretty much all of the big sights.  One thing we saw that really stood out to me was the parking lot where Hitler's bunker used to be.  In fact it is still there, it is just filled in with dirt.  This stood out to me because of just how underwhelming it is.  One would think that the place where Hitler died would be more of a standout place.  I had assumed that the site had been filled up so as to cover up the fact that Hitler had died within the city.  It turned out the site was actually filled in so that it could not end up as a memorial site.  In Germany it is illegal to be a Nazi, but that does not mean that some people would not still try to come and pay their respects to a memorial.  After visiting the site of the bunker we then visited the Holocaust Memorial as well as the Reichstag.  The Holocaust Memorial is a very powerful site.  From the outside you can see across the entire thing but then once you enter the memorial you feel trapped.  I thought the memorial was very effective in having a powerful effect.  It does sadden me to hear that a lot of people make light of the memorial though.  Whether it be by taking photos of themselves within the memorial or disrespecting it in other ways.  The Reichstag was really cool to see just because of how grand it is.  It is also interesting to hear about how the Reichstag has changed so that people have a different view of it.  The building obviously had an ominous presence in the past so the addition of the glass dome on top signifies it changing to a building for the people.  After one more stop we headed back to the bike shop where we ditched the bikes and then headed to dinner.  A group of us headed to a restaurant called vapiano.  Vapiano is really commercial but the food was really good and it was a nice stop after our bike ride.  Afterwards we headed back to the hotel.  Once we were back at the hotel a bunch of us hung out outside for most of the evening.  The guy's room had a really nice outdoor patio so we stayed out there most of the evening just talking about random things.  I was supposed to write the majority of my paper this night but this did not happen.  I was starting to cut it really close but these were also my last few days on the trip.  I really enjoyed the time I spent with my friends and at the end of the day I thought that being with my friends was more important.  Obviously I could not just forget about the school portion of the trip but I figured it was important to spend time with the people who made this trip so special to me.  After hanging out for a while we finally went to bed.  The next day we went to Sachsenhausen.  

The first thing that struck me about Sachsenhausen was that it reminded me a lot of Dachau.  This makes a lot of sense though since Dachau was a model camp.  The front gates that you enter through are almost a perfect copy of those present at Dachau.  I think that Dachau had more of an impact on me but Sachsenhausen was still very impactful.  Like Dachau, it was a beautiful day when we went to Sachsenhausen.  You would never know that such horrible things had happened there if it were not for the remnants of the camp that stand there.  The contrast between the beautiful scenery and then the camp was something that really hit me when I visited Dachau.  Upon entering the camp you are welcomed by a huge open space.  The camp obviously used to be a lot more packed but the expansiveness of the camp can really be grasped now.  Another interesting thing about the camp is looking at how it changed between Nazi control to Soviet control.  Sachsenhausen is an extremely important place because it not only reminds us of one horrible use of power but two.  Even once the Nazis were removed from power the Soviets then took control of the camp and proceeded to use it for the illegitimate persecution of even more individuals.  After Sachsenhausen we headed to the potato restaurant (I apologize for not remembering the name).  

 After a long day this meal really hit the spot.  I had chicken, pork, and sausage with potatoes all covered in a mushroom gravy.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel, but not before I made a stop at the convenience store by our hotel.  At the beginning of the trip I had brought up that I kind of wanted to bleach my hair.  I had said that I would do it during the final week if I were going to do it.  I decided that I was actually going to do it.  I had talked about doing it a while before leaving for Europe so I decided that it was about time I actually did it.  With a little help from Hailey I bleached my hair.

As one can see from the pictures I made a pretty big transition.  Everyone was really shocked that I had actually done it.  By day two though most people had gotten over the initial shock and most of the people in the group told me that they actually like it.  Bleaching my hair took up the majority of the night.  After my hair adventure I decided to work on my paper.  I got most of the way through my paper before deciding that I really needed to go to bed.  As I stated earlier the lack of sleep was really starting to get to me.  On Thursday we visited the Alchemy Fair Exhibition and the Otto Bock Science Center.  Thursday was a really cool day.  The alchemy exhibit was actually one of my favorite things we saw on the trip.  It stood in very stark contrast to a majority of things we had seen up to this point on the trip.  The exhibit had a very apparent scientific background, but it presented it in an alternative way that I thought was really interesting.  The pieces found in the exhibit were very unique and thought provoking.  After the museum we had time for a quick lunch and then we headed to Otto Bock.  At Otto Bock we had a pretty funny tour guide which made the tour fun.  We learned a little bit about the history of Otto Bock, including the period where the Nazis were in power.  Rather than cover up the fact that Otto Bock was owned by a Nazi at the period they present it openly.  I think this shows a lot of character on their part.  Rather than cover it up they accept it and do their best to help the people who need their services.  The prosthetics produced by Otto Bock are extremely high tech and it was cool to get an up close look at them.  Personally, if I had a prosthetic I think I would sport it proudly, without a cover.  Obviously I am saying that from the outside looking in though.  Who knows how I would actually feel if I were put in that situation.  The tour also made me a lot more aware of the struggles that people with prosthetics go through.  I really cannot imagine what it would be like to be missing a limb but I now know a little bit more about the struggles people have to go through.  After Otto Bock we went back to the hotel and changed really quick before going to the Blink 182 concert.  This was one of my favorite nights of the entire trip.  At this point in the trip we had all become pretty good friends and going to the concert was an awesome opportunity to kind of let loose and have fun with the awesome new people I had come to know so well.  

A good portion of the group went to the concert, including Henning.  We all had an awesome night and then some of us even got burger after the concert.  

The burger was delicious.  After getting a little bit of sleep, we all woke up for the last day of the program.  We got our last lecture from Dr. Wasser and then went to tour the Charité.  The Charité was a really cool museum.  We had already seen a lot of specimens from touring the Narrenturum, but I preferred the Charité because it was not as creepy.  Our guide was really knowledgeable and he taught us a lot about the various pieces in the museum.  After the Charité we went back to the hotel to get ready for the farewell dinner.  Our farewell dinner was at a delicious Moroccan restaurant.  We had a huge amount of food and we laughed and talked throughout the meal.  Good food and even better people are what make an amazing evening.  It was this night that I realized just how close I had become with a lot of the people on the trip.  I feel like I have truly made friends that will last a lifetime.  We took pictures outside of the restaurant for a long time, I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that we did not want to leave each other.  Once we finally split we picked up ice cream and headed back to the hotel.  A group of us then hung out in one of the rooms all night.  I had to leave the hotel at 5:00AM for my flight so I figured I would just stay up.  We watched a couple of movies and then just like that it was time for me to go pack and shower before leaving.  After the long night I said my goodbyes and then got in the cab to head to the airport.  My flight back to the US was pretty easy.  My connection in Munich was a little stressful, but I made it onto my plane back to Houston.  Once back in Houston, America welcomed me with massive lines at the airport.  

After six weeks I was back in America.  I did not really get time to sit down and contemplate this though.  As soon as I was through security my mom picked me up and we headed to Galveston.  A family friend was having a party so we stayed in Galveston for the night.  I loved almost every minute of my trip in Europe but I think I was ready to be back in America.  I really only wanted to be back because I was missing all my people back in America.  I think I could have happily stayed in Europe if my family and friends had been there.  Also, I think a lot of me wanting to be back had to do with how exhausted I was at this point.  I was really looking forward to having a couple of relaxed days.  One thing that really struck me upon coming back to America is being back right as Independence Day is approaching.  During my time in Europe we learned all about what can happen when nationalism gets out of control.  I am not writing this to say that I disprove of my country now that I have been to Europe but I think we do need to be aware of just how strong nationalism is in our country.  Sometimes I think it becomes way too easy to be caught up in nationalism and then you lose sight of the fact that there are other people in the world.  One should most certainly love their country, but not at the cost of losing sight of all the different people there are in this world.  A big thing that I learned from this trip is the importance of being aware of all of the people who live in this world with us.  Given the current political climate I think it is becoming more and more important that people make an effort to learn more about each other.  Immersing yourself in another person's culture is an amazing learning experience and has a lot to offer.  If we make an effort to learn more about each other I think the world might be a better place.  I know that after visiting Europe I want to do everything I can to learn more about people from all across the globe.