Bonn in Retrospect

It's been 8 weeks since I left Germany, my home away from home, to return to the United States. Now, as I sit in my room in College Station amidst the heavy rain from the remnants of hurricane Harvey, there are few things I long for more than to go back to Bonn. Sure, I've had the glorious dining experience that is Whataburger, and I've enjoyed finally having ice in my drink and not having to pay for water, but I still long for the cool, historic air of Germany. To say it was the best trip and best summer of my life would be the smallest compliment I could give. I know that's something that seems to be reiterated over and over again by me if you've read any of my previous blog posts, but that's just the best way to describe it. Hopefully, this post can help explain what made that trip, that experience, such an unforgettable one.

This trip was filled with incredible sights that I know I've already spent some time talking about in previous posts, but it doesn't mean they weren't amazing. Norderney, in particular, will always hold a special place in my heart. Dr. Wasser had told us how great a place it was, but I had my doubts going into the trip about how nice an island in the North Sea could be, but I was dead wrong. It's a place that seems so relatively untouched by people, and so free from other worries and issues that you hear about on the mainland, all while being just miles off the shore. It was a strange feeling of being as free as you could possibly be, all compounded by the fact that I was in this beautiful place with amazing friends having a once in a lifetime experience. I promise I will go back there one day, and hopefully whoever goes with me will get to experience the most pure sensations of joy that I got to feel during our time in Norderney.

Luckily, Norderney wasn't the only place where I got to experience some introspective thought that I carried home with me from the trip. In Paris, as I think I talked about in a previous post, I got to go to the Eiffel tower for the second time in my life, and I spent some time at the top just reflecting on the time I was getting to spend there and in Europe as a whole. For some reason, it took me until the moment I was on top of the Eiffel tower looking out over Paris at sunset to fully realize how lucky I am, and what an amazing thing it was that I was getting to experience this. Not just that it was my second time in Paris (as I went over in my blog about that trip), but that I was getting to roam Europe as a college student surrounded by friends. Some people go their entire lives looking at icons like the Eiffel tower, the Cologne cathedral, or the Brandenburg Gates, all without ever getting the chance to see them, and here I was at 21 seeing all three of those for the second time. It's a difficult thing to word this part of my post without coming off as arrogant or entitled, but I try because I think it was such an important feeling for me on this trip. The realization that I was getting to experience so much in my life at such a young age was incredibly humbling as I realized how little of it would be possible without the enormous support cast around me that guides me and walks with me throughout all of my journeys. I think about the fact that I could never have been there if my grandmother, who worked at the post office sorting mail, hadn't pulled together enough money to barely help my mom through college, who then paid her own way through medical school, and is now supporting me in everything I do. I don't know, maybe this still doesn't read well, maybe it still doesn't come across the way I mean it to, or maybe it's not a sensation that can be experienced reading words on a screen. The important thing is that I know I felt the immense gratitude and humbling joy that I felt, and it left a lasting impression in my memory.

Places like Palma de Mallorca and Bussels will always have a special place in my heart, and they too offered similar sensations as the ones I described above, albeit they weren't the same as those momentous occasions where I felt as though a light had gone off in my head. It's a bit of a strange concept, this trip, in that you do so much in such a short time that you have to be careful or it can start to overwhelm you to the point that you start taking things for granted. If anyone for the next trip looks back on these and reads them, don't take any of it for granted. You may be exhausted, you may want to sleep till 10 just once on your weekend trip, you may want to skip that one sightseeing walk, but don't. Miss those, and you miss the whole point of going abroad. You'll see things you can never see at home and may never have a chance to see again, all for a little more sleep. I'm unbelievably happy I was with a group that was so willing to push ourselves to make sure we saw everything we could in each city, or else I know I would be looking back now with a great deal more regrets than I have (which I can honestly say I only have one or two regrets at most). Add this all to the list of lessons I learned and brought back from this trip.

As a bit of a side note, since this isn't really one of those profound lessons I learned in Germany but more of some literal ones, I'd like to take a short segment just to thank everyone once again. To my host family, a huge thank you for making me feel so welcome from the moment you picked me up at AIB and then took me to your friend's concert later that evening. The experience would not have been the same if I hadn't lived with Aenne, Andreas and Johanna, and I truly hope that if I'm ever there again or they ever find themselves in Texas that we can get together. To Henning, thank you for making us all laugh so often throughout this trip, and for helping to keep everyone safe. You're kind of a big teddy bear once you get past that hard rock outer theme, and I hope we didn't disappoint as your first group. To Professor Waltz, thank you for always being willing to move down to my lame end of the table and chat with us about anything, never failing to inject some sass into our conversation. You really do know your stuff about music too, and I've been working through the playlist you gave me since I got back. I'll see you soon. Finally, to Dr. Wasser, thank you for getting us all to come on this trip with your excitement and genuine interest in us developing into better people. You contain a wealth of knowledge I don't think I've ever seen before and most importantly have an unending drive to share as much of it as you can with all of us. As much as the trip taught me about myself and as many of these lessons I learned for myself as I traveled around, I know that none of it would have been possible or even the same without you there leading the way. I hope we get to see you again in College Station, because I could always use some more German phrases in my life.

I remember in my first post that I talked about having some level of anxiety about going on this trip, partially stemming from the total freedom we would have without really possessing a strong grasp on the country's transport systems or language. Luckily this fear was put to rest quickly after arriving. There seems to be a common misconception about the German people that portrays them as these cold, calculating, unwelcoming individuals when in reality everyone I spoke to was kind and willing to help if you looked like you couldn't figure out what was going on. I think this first experience describes a theme I found throughout my time in Germany: nothing was ever as scary as I made it out to be in my head. When I got back, I told everyone that asked that it was a life changing experience in part because it forced me to do things that I would never have to be put through here in the United States. Sure, eventually I'll travel alone or with friends here, but even that is easier when working with an American airline through a website based in English than when trying to navigate a German website translated to English. Even still, it seemed as though everything always worked out the way it needed to. I had hoped that this trip would force me to step outside of my comfort zone in some ways in an effort to make myself more mature and more confident, and I think it did much more than I had hoped for. I came back with more confidence in myself than I had ever had before, especially in making decisions quickly and dealing with new people. I feel like it instilled that sense in me that things will work out as long as you're willing to work through whatever problems arise, and I feel like that lesson is one I wouldn't trade for anything. I learned about things that we do as Americans that could use some work, from simple annoyances like the volume of our voice (why do we talk so loud?) to bigger issues like our complete disregard for the environment when it comes to recycling and scaling back. While I know I may not have the power to change policy for the rest of the country, it has made me change some of the ways I do things, and I spread the word to anyone who is willing to hear about it. It was also reinforced to me that it isn't always about having the nicest things or staying in the nicest places but being with fun people. This really became more apparent after I met up with my mom to continue our travels together. Clearly as students we didn't stay in the nicest places (nor the worst) when we traveled on our own for the weekends. That being said, I had so much fun with everyone around me that it never seemed to matter, and in some cases gave me better memories from the trip. Once my mom arrived, we stayed in nicer hotels and went out to eat for meals, but I noticed that it wasn't those things that made me have any more or less fun. To be fair, it was nice to stay in great hotels, but I also loved staying in the Airbnb in Prague with only freezing cold water, because I was surrounded by other great people.

Despite all of these great lessons I feel like I learned from the trip, I still think the most important lesson may have come from just choosing to go in the first place. Beforehand, I would have been terrified about the concept of going off on my own for this length of time, and while I would've thought it was cool, I probably would have chickened out and not signed up. Somehow, I stuck with it and didn't back out of the process, and I embarked on a life-changing 6 weeks of my life where I learned more about myself than I had in the past few years combined. Now I know; if there's ever an opportunity that is this exceptional, this rare, or even just one that might be worth it, I need to do it. The worst that can happen is I don't enjoy it as much as I thought, or it could go better than I could have ever imagined and led to the greatest trip of my life. To anyone who is thinking about going on this study abroad trip, stop thinking and just do it. I promise you won't regret a thing.

Until next time, Bonn.

Gabe