Saturday, June 30, 2018

shadowing doctors and an intense fear of heights (week 4)

This week we split the group in half with one group shadowing doctors for the day and the other group attending class, then switching the next day. My particular group went first to the hospital on Monday.

When we got the hospital I was fairly worried as I hadn't ever watched a surgery before, and the outcome of it was going to be very influential on whether I would continue to pursue the medical field. Basically, this short trip was going to determine if coming on this medical study abroad was even worth it or not, as I would throw the entire medical route out the window if I hated it or became sick to the stomach just watching...

I didn't hate it. I didn't pass out, puke, or have to look away. I actually loved it.

We put our scrubs on and headed to the operating rooms. I was assigned to a group of 4 so I was prepared for a group experience, but whenever we got to the first operating room they said they only needed one to go in. The doctor pointed at me to go in, and I kind of panicked because I wouldn't have any support from my friends for something I was completely new to, but after a quick hesitant second I scooted on into the room. There they were preparing a patient for the room, putting him under, making sure he could breathe, positioning him correctly, etc. The anesthesiologist informed me that the patient was in a motorcycle accident a few weeks prior and already had a surgery on his arm and was now going to get a second surgery to repair tendons and ligaments in his lower hamstring. They then wheeled him in and after a few final preparations, they began the cutting. I thought I would be weak in the knees at this, but I actually began leaning this way and that to get a better view on it...It was just so interesting, seeing everything so close and like...I was looking at the inside of this dude's leg, it was all crazy to me. Anyways, the surgery came and went, nothing too eventful, and then the patient was rolled out and the next was rolled into the preparation room. This woman had shattered her pelvic bone on the right side. She had to have 2 separate surgeries to repair the damage, the first being a while back where they repaired the front and side of the pelvic girdle with plates and screws, and now this time she had to get the rear side of the bone plated. They literally cut under her entire butt and lifted it up to have access to the desired part of the bone. This particular surgery worried me a bit as the patient lost significantly more blood than the last, but the anesthesiologist assured me everything was fine and they only had to apply one bag of additional blood through an IV into the patient. It took around 3 to 4 hours but they ended up closing her up with just a small 3-4 inch incision mark left to prove the surgery happened at all. Overall, I was impressed with the staff and their professionalism and efficiency in the surgeries. They genuinely helped assure me that this is the route I want to pursue for a professional career. 

2 days later we went to Cologne, Germany again, and this time I attended the cathedral tour. I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to heights...this didn't help whatsoever. 40 meters up and I could feel my butt tightening up while peering over a set of thin bars separating myself from a horrific fall. I mean I'm typing this so nothing happened, of course. But, it didn't change the fact that I swore the building was going to collapse and we would all go down with it in some movie-like fashion. 

Once we got to the top the view was immaculate. The vastness of the city was calming and I got such an appreciation for where I was and what I was being able to experience. I'm very grateful that I've been able to attend this adventure for a whole 40 days and I intend on appreciating the very few weeks I have left before heading back home to Texas.



Friday, June 29, 2018

The one where Chandler saunas with his bros. Week 3 (and Amsterdam)

Ok but this inevitably had to be one of my titles, and might be the theme for the rest of them because Chandler Beam and Chandler Bing are basically the same thing, right?

We ventured up to northern Germany to Norderney, home of every bird that Dr. Wasser can name and describe in encyclopedia-like detail. But then again, what can't he describe like that? We biked everywhere which was a fun change, but after the first day, I could say that about three quarters of our group had sore butts from the seats and pedaling all day to get around. However, the wind and weather combined for a very freeing feeling while biking down the streets of the little island with very few cars. 

The bike tour was fairly long which got tedious going up and down hills while battling a brutal wind, but the experience of the full island and the complete lack of obligations to anything made it so wonderful. 

Okay so now, the best part of the whole trip thus far that was compacted in a mere two hours. When we got to the bath house I was a tad nervous of the mud treatments and exposure that the sauna entailed. But like everyone else, I just kinda went with it and it turned out soooo amazing. We got in and tried every pool and definitely annoyed at least 20 people with our excitement. I laid down in a salt pool that let me float super easy, and I like, hit a zen moment and closed my eyes there for like 20 minutes, 10/10 would recommend. Then when we got to the mud treatments, we (the dudes) slathered every inch of of our body with this warm, sticky mud/salt paste. Every. Inch... We sat on benches as the room began to heat and steam until we began to sweat down black streaks of mud for 14 minutes. Then waterfall showers started without warning, pouring out hot water that washed us off. Well, kind of. The shower heads were small and located directly over the benches so Bryan and I had to awkwardly stand on the benches and squat to not hit our heads while cleaning up. We then wrapped up and waddled to an 85 C sauna (that's 185 degrees Fahrenheit, mom). I thought Texas summers were hot, but this dang room was stifling. Our small group of guys sat there, sweating profusely and joking around about random stuff. We made it all of 10-12 minutes before the first few of us decided to get out, and I left around 13 minutes when my nose literally stung from the pain...It felt like my nose hairs were being singed off. Going from that to the extremely cold "dipping pool" was very relieving but very shocking as the temperature change was so extreme. But after, man, after that... Every single person can agree that you could not get any more relaxed than that. Head to toe your muscles were all loose and you just wanted to lay in a bed motionless for hours after that. An experience like this makes me wanna become a sauna master like Dr. Wasser, sauna cap and all. 

The trip came and went, and by Friday night, a group of us made it to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We visited the attractions, took a canal tour of the city, and experienced the city's nightlife (the I AMsterdam sign was a no-go though, that thing was swarming with people touring the city and you couldn't get a good picture). The Dutch people were in fact huge, and my 5' 11" self was smaller than most of the city's residents. Overall, the weekend was very fun and I highly recommend a stop there if anyone who hasn't ever been there can get the opportunity. 

Halfway done with our studying abroad, 3 more weeks to go!














Thursday, June 28, 2018

Canada Looks Just Like This!

After getting back on a night train from Copenhagen, the best start of the week was not having class until 2 pm on Monday aka sleeping in. Having the last class with Dr. Fajt was extremely sad! I will definitely miss her even though it was a very short amount of time. Class this week was awesome though, I loved hearing Dr. Wasser talk about the Nuremberg doctors/trails because I've actually seen and been to many of the places he spoke about in the lectures!

On Tuesday we went and shadowed at the hospital in Bonn. Even though I'm not 100% on the pre-med train anymore, being able to still see what goes in the hospitals I want to be influencing is awesome! We shadowed in the LAO department (still not sure what it means) and saw them remove a lipoma from a woman's back. It was a tumor about the size of a softball! We also talked to the anesthesiologist a lot and he made us feel extremely welcome in the otherwise German speaking OR

The next day we got to tour the towers of the Cologne Cathedral, and while I may be partial to the Sagrada Familia, it is still BEAUTIFUL. It was one of the most beautiful views and one of the coolest tours ever. That night we again stayed in Cologne and hung out and got to eat dinner as an almost whole group. It's made me realize I'm really going to miss these people when we're gone. I don't think I noticed how close I got to so many of them until I started thinking about not seeing them 24/7.

An iron lung!





We also toured the anesthesia museum, which was founded by one of the cutest old men. The Horst-Stoeckel museum had one of the coolest collections of old anesthesia equipment and history behind what makes it what it is today! 

The weekend was one for the books. We got out of class fairly early on Friday and went back to our houses (or Bonnox) to pack and chill before our night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. After a fantastic dinner at Vapiano (love of my life) Jen, Lauren, Catherine and I sat and hung out until it was time to leave. Who knew going from Mamma Mia songs to Problem would be so fun?

We get to the good ole Hauptbahnhof and not to our surprise sadly, the train was delayed. and then cancelled. and then moved to another station in Bonn. THANKS DEUTSCHE BAHN. An 11 euro "you will be reimbursed" taxi and a creepy man talking to us while we waited an hour for the train and we were off.

Switzerland, wow. Stepping off the train was surreal. The water was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and even with my exhaustion, I had to spend as much time as possible outside enjoying the views. We walked around, sat by the most beautiful lake, and of course, PARAGLIDING!!!

Paragliding was the absolute coolest experiences of my life and even if you're slightly scared of heights, DO IT. It was beautiful. My guide Nick from paragliding Interlaken was fantastic and answered my 1000 questions about everything in Interlaken and Switzerland. 

That night we cooked pasta in the hostel kitchen (have to be cheap), ate some fondue and prepared for what would be the longest hike we didn't know we were getting in to!!

Harder Kulm was exactly how it sounds. HARD. 6.5 miles straight uphill and 2.5 hours later we made it to the top.




The view was the prize at the end and it did not disappoint. 

After eating some pizza, walking down the main road and eating some Swiss chocolate, it was time to say bye to our happy place. Even if according to Catherine "It looks just like Canada!!", Interlaken is one of a kind!

Monday, June 25, 2018

Hoppin' On the Hauptbahnhof.

It's time to do some checking in again.  I don't mean just about writing this blog post but I mean about doing some reflecting.  I was just about to do some more (much needed) napping on the train I am currently on to Vienna instead of writing this post, but then "American Girl" came on which was the title of my first blog post for this trip, and I viewed it as a sign to start writing.  It's crazy how something so dreamlike can become your life in a few mere moments.  To the point that it becomes necessary to make yourself sit down for a minute and actually realize all that your life is.

This was a week of incredible variety.  First part of the week?  Our hospital site visit where we would be shadowing a doctor performing surgery.  Now I was excited for this, and each time I shadow, I learn a little bit more and somehow become even a little bit more eager to one day have patients of my own.  However, this experience turned out to be more than I could have ever hoped for.  I was lucky enough to go to a cardiology operating room and observe a double valve reconstruction surgery.  I literally stood over another human being as I had a direct view down onto a beating heart inside an opened chest.  Miracles like this continuously amaze me.  It's the sort of stuff I used to one day only watch on the television.  Plus, what made this experience even sweeter was that though I had seen a variety of other surgeries, I had never seen a cardio surgery.  Now, my first time watching one was in Germany!  Life is unreal.

Later that night after going home and taking in what I had just seen, the girls (Cassidy, Maddie, Madison, and me) were out first to the botanical garden to walk around and then to Sausalitos for some $1 tacos and happy hour jumbo drinks (highly recommended).  As we then went to the beer garden to relax in the grass, we talked and listened to a number of feels-provoking songs that led to a few happy tears amongst us all.  We are on an incredible journey right now.  And I love these people.

The next day was our second program excursion to Cologne.  This time, the group that went to the zoo the first time would see the cathedral this time, and vice versa.  I was the latter.  Though I expected to be underwhelmed by what I thought to be "just another zoo," that certainly was not the case.  Though I must admit, it had a bit of a rocky start.  First stop: prairie dogs where, to everyone's amusement including locals at the zoo, I dropped my phone into the open-topped exhibit seconds after joking about this exact situation.  Instant karma for a very unoriginal joke.  But all is good.  After silently panicking for a few minutes as the fallen object sparked the interest of a devil prairie dog that ran over to scratch at it, Robert saved the day by balancing his whole body over the ledge and into the exhibit to grab my phone just before the prairie dog dug a hole to store my phone away forever.  Anyway, after taking some well-deserved jokes from our zoo tour guide, we were on to more exhibits.  All of which were pretty cool, but none of which quite compared to the elephants.  We first saw them just as any zoo visitor would.  We then went into the elephant keepers' control room where they taught and showed us how they managed the locations of the elephants with a gate system.  That's when one of the keeper's made a "special offer" to our group for us to go down into the feeding halls of the elephants and to huge gates where several enormous elephants were only feet away from us.  Their size and demeanor was shocking.  They were marvelous.  Not to mention the "little" babies that were so curious.  One even reached his huge trunk through the gate right in front of all of our faces.  It was a very unexpected and cool experience, to say the least, to be so close to an animal as incredible as those.  After a few more exhibits, including the cheetahs, apes, chimpanzees, flamingos, and more, we were done for the night and onto the next step.  Dinner and drinks.  Another long night was spent in Cologne before hopping on a late night train and making it back ~mostly~ safe to the Hauptbahnhof then back to home-sweet-home.

Thankfully, it wasn't too early of a morning the next day for class. Then, after class was a visit to one of only three anesthesiology museums in the world.  A very interesting experience and one that was relatively relaxing compared to the crazy days we've been having.  I'll once again say how mind-blowing it is each time Dr. Wasser gives a tour.  I honestly do not have any clue how he stores and is able to recall so much information.  Anyway, once coming home, this day was for some much needed relaxation as I could feel myself becoming sick.  I came home, ate, did some journaling, and packed for our weekend in Paris, as we would be catching a train there soon after class got out the next day (Friday).

In class, Dr. Wasser gave a fun lecture containing some upbeat music videos that really peaked everyone's interest.  Wasser and Henning gave us a breakdown at lunch of our Vienna excursion the following Monday, and after that, we were done for the day.  All us girls sat in the university lawn then grabbed sushi and baked goods before heading to the train station with a few others.  Next stop: Paris, France.  Not getting there until around 23:00 that night, we walked around for a little bit to marvel at the lights of the beautiful city and catch a glimpse at the Eiffel Tower before heading back to our cute little Airbnb for the night.

Saturday, we were ready to explore as much of the city as we could.  After a quick breakfast with the best fresh-squeezed orange juice I'd ever had, we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower.  Walking up to it, it was even more shocking than I imagined.  But it wasn't just the structure itself, it was the fact that I was standing right there.  In front of a landmark known around the world.  People travel across the globe to see this.  And I was only 21 years old.  And I was there.  How ever so lucky I am.  As I watched people much older than me and of all nationalities take pictures and marvel at this incredible view, it really moved me.  People go their whole lives without having the opportunity to see these things. I don't know how I got so blessed to be able to see so much already, but I am truly never going to take this for granted.

After lots of pictures, we walked around, grabbed a quick pizza lunch, and were on our way to buy some macaroons and wine for a picnic in the grass under the Eiffel Tower.  What a magical thing to be able to do.  After even more cliche pictures while playing every song ever that mentions Paris, it was time for our night bike tour of Paris at 06:30 (quick suggestion: don't wear a dress for this...  moving on).  This was one of the best things we could have done.  We saw SO much and in such a fun way.  We passed beautiful sites and views again and again - including two men performing with a cello and guitar on a bridge over the river as we sat and enjoyed gelato.  Funny the feelings music instills in us.  My favorite moment of the night, however, was our bike into the Louvre at sunset. As we rode under the big entrance on the back wall that opened into the large square, a beautiful solo violin was being played by a lady sitting at the steps of the Louvre where the infamous pyramid-shaped glass structure housing the entrance to the Louvre below it first appeared to us.  It was an emotional and sort of spiritual experience, and I am literally tearing up as I am writing this.  This world is so incredible, and it is remarkable the emotions it can lead you to experience at any given passing moment.

After our biking, it was time for the boat ride with (drum roll please) free wine!!!!  We talked with our tour guide Jack for awhile whom, to our, surprise, was from Scotland and only 23.  A very cool guy who has been traveling around the world with various odd jobs.  No time like the present to experience your life.  We saw the Eiffel Tower at night, and saw it sparkling for the first time on the bike back.  We all stopped to watch, and this was when the tears really began to flow (granted, we were also all fed a healthy amount of wine on the boat).  But needless to say, it was simply beautiful and awe-inspiring.  I cannot explain what being with these people in this moment felt like.  All I can say is that these are the moments I will remember for a lifetime.  Back at the bike drop-off, our tour guide recommended a bar that he later met us at.  He even gave each of us girls a nice kiss on the cheek (shoutout to foreign boys).  We ate a little and were back again at the Eiffel Tower until around 01:00 where we continued to watch the sparkling view.  It's a good life.

The next morning, it was time to walk through the Louvre.  We saw countless famous paintings, including the intriguing Mona Lisa.  How the heck am I getting to see so much.  It's not always until I reflect and write about these things that they truly kick in.  But oh my goodness.  After the Louvre, I had escargot for my first time ever and in PARIS.  After finishing lunch, we were off to explore the city some more.  We took our time strolling through the city, stopping at flea markets, souvenir shops, and more along the way.  Soon, we were back at our place, and sadly, it was time to pack up yet again and leave another incredible city.  For now, but not for long.  We all tried our best to sleep on our train ride home, knowing that we would not be home until around 00:00 and still needed to pack and shower for our next excursion that would actually require us to be up the next morning at 04:00.  Not only were we packing for this excursion (Vienna, Austria Monday morning through Thursday afternoon) but also for Budapest, Hungary and Prague, Czech Republic that we would be visiting Thursday night through Sunday night.  We were home and asleep quite quickly after eating some soup our host mother made us.

After only three hours of sleep, it is now Monday morning as I write.  Now, I sit on a train toward Vienna listening to "Vienna" by Billy Joel on repeat.  "Vienna waits for you."  I suppose so.

I was thinking about it yesterday in Paris (I can't believe I just typed that) about all the stories I am accumulating and all the memories and feelings I will have to look back on.  I don't think it has been until now that I truly understand what my mom always told me growing up: "Life is your masterpiece.  Paint a beautiful one."  Though it has been something I have often found myself striving for, this trip has given it a different meaning to me.


-Kylie Reis



Life in the operating room!

My girls and me in Paris.


Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The Louvre.

My friend, Mona.

                                  
Views from our boat tour.



Week 2: Bonn, Cologne and Dublin

Classes:
We started class with Dr. Fajt this week. I really enjoyed her class structure. The combination of activities, lecture, and discussion, made the class much more interesting than if she just lectured. This gave us the opportunity to find information on our own and talk about it as a class.

Cologne Excursion:
The most striking part of Cologne was walking out of the train station and immediately seeing the Cologne cathedral.

 The first thing we did in Cologne was a tour of the city, starting at the cathedral. We got to see the ancient Roman ruins in a parking garage under the city. We got to see many parts of the city, including this love lock bridge.
 After touring the city we went to lunch, where I had a delicious schnitzel and saw one of my favorite English translation. "Potatoes boiled in their jackets"

We had a break between lunch and touring the cathedral so we went to the chocolate museum!
 An example of blood letting from the chocolate museum:
 After the chocolate museum we went back to the cathedral early to look inside before the tour.
 Shrine of the Three Kings in the Cologne cathedral:
We had a very unique experience getting to tour the cathedral from different levels, ending about half way up the towers.



Dublin:
On the way to the airport our train got stopped in Cologne for 30 minutes, because the ticket checkers from another train that was late need to switch to our train. We missed are connecting train to the airport, but luckily we were able to get on another. After getting through security and running to the terminal with no time to spare, we found out that are plane was delayed. While normally this would be a frustrating experience, it worked out for the best because it gave us time to eat dinner. When we finally arrived in Dublin, it was pretty late, so Carol and I decided to call it a night.
Saturday morning we decided to visit Howth. We got breakfast/lunch at a seafood restaurant in town before hiking out to the cliffs. 
Some seals that were being fed by a fisherman:
 We stopped here for a few minutes to listen to a musician playing the bagpipes:

 I don't know if I've ever seen something more beautiful.




After hiking we went to a pub called the Ginger Man where we met an and incredibly nice bartender who gave us some ideas of what else to see in the city. On Sunday we went to a service at St. Patrick's Cathedral and had the opportunity to hear their world famous choir. After the service we toured the Guinness factory and sampled several beers, including one released two week prior for the summer. 



We then stopped at a pub for dinner where we had some amazing Shepard's pie.

We went to The Temple Bar after and got to hear some amazing performers there. We got up at 4 am Monday morning to go to the airport. After a short flight and train ride we were back home in Bonn.


Strip, Dip and Repeat - Week

The week in Norderney, correction, the freezing week in Norderney. I never knew that going to the beach could be so cold. I bought a jacket, a beanie and searched high and low a non-existing pair of gloves. Believe it or not, this prevailing cold was still not enough to keep us from getting ice cream every chance we got. The week on Norderney was one that I truly enjoyed. It was nice to be in a place that had a slower pace and a more relaxed feel to it. The island itself is somewhere that I found to be fun and different, it is relatively small so we were able to bike everywhere, which eventually led to the Tour de Wasser that took us around the Island, but first lets talk about the main reason we went to Norderney in the first place.
                                           

Being able to visit the Badahouse in Norderney was a huge treat. I would have spent the entire day at that spa if I was able to. The different saltwater pools were all really great to try out but my favorite was the high salinity pool. Once you got in you would just float because there was so much salt in the water, and the room was dark with green lights projected onto the ceiling. It was so relaxing and quiet that I would have been perfectly happy just floating there for hours. But the really fun part of the excursion was the mudbath and saunas. Strip down, rub on some mud and then sit in a hot, steamy room for 20 minutes? Sure! Why not, sounds like a good time; and it was. Honestly the only thing that I would critique is that the mud could use a few drops of lavender or some other essential oil to help it smell less like mud, but even that wasn’t much a deal breaker. After the mud bath we all headed down to the saunas. In total I was able to sauna 3 times. Each time in the sauna that was 85 degrees and the longest I was able to last up to was 12 minutes. Saunaing is something that I haven’t ever really done but I enjoyed the whole experience. It took a little bit to get used to but once I got over the feeling of it being awkward it was nice. No amount of listening to Becky G could prepare me for how much I truly broke a sweat. It was unreal if I’m being honest. In true sauna fashion we went straight from the steam and into the freezing water of the dipping pool and then off to the recliners to relax. The relaxation was one of the best things that I have ever experienced. We sat in those recliners just blissfully floating away until it was time to leave. So the sauna house 10/10 would recommend and do again.
The other experiences we had on Norderney were also some that deserve some recognition. The biking trip that almost killed me, the mud flats and the memories from the beach. The Tour de Wasser was the easy bike ride around the island that ended out being the biggest workout of the trip. Even so it was still nice to ride around the island and get to see what makes it such a special place. Which leads us to the walk on the mud flats. It was honestly a mixture of fun, interesting and painful. I liked getting to hear about the different aspects of the mudflat that made it such a unique place and getting to learn about everything that lived there, but I did not enjoy the shells. Afterwards there were definitely some cuts on the bottom of my feet but none of them were anything serious or deep.
Overall Norderney was an amazing place that I enjoyed very much and I wish that I could spend more time there. I will always cherish the memories of nights at the beach with a great group of friends. All of us marveling at where we were in the world and how lucky we were to be there. There was a lot of laugher, some late night swimming, and some fun walks through the sand back home. Norderney was a place I will never forget, and a place that I will cherish the memories from forever
 

After Norderney it was on to Amsterdam. A truly wild city. I know that there are many thoughts that are associated with Amsterdam with its coffeeshops and red light district. It is looked at as the city of freedom and I would have to agree with that. It was an interesting and new place that I am glad I had the chance to go to, thought there were definitely some aspects that I could have done without- such as the constant smell of marijuana that blankets the city and the fact that I almost got killed by a wild biker on an hourly basis. Other than that it is a city with character that I would recommend anyone to go to at least once. For me, the best part of the trip was having the opportunity to visit the Anne Frank house. We somehow snagged tickets for it the night before and were able to go. I remember reading Anne Franks diary when I was in middle school; I remember reading it and not being able to imagine what that kind of life would have been like. Now I can imagine it, now I can see it because I have been there. I have walked through the halls of the shop, up to the secret door that was hidden behind a bookcase and into the space where eight Jewish people lived in hiding and in constant fear for their lives. I saw the small space where they lived for two years but were ultimately discovered and, for all but one, sent away to their deaths. It was an experience that made everything much more real. In class today Dr. Wasser said there is something different when you learn about these kind of events in the place where they actually took place, that is absolutely what I felt when I was in Anne Frank’s house. It is one thing to read her story, but it is completely different to see where that story took place. I was moved to tears at the story of Anne and her family as I walked through. These kinds of experiences are ones that I believe are important. They are from a part of the past that should always be remembered. I was able to go through the house at my own pace, to not talk to anyone and just experience a piece of history that was as painful as it was powerful.
After the Anne Frank house we went to the Van Gogh Museum. I was a little disappointed to learn that most of Van Gogh’s famous paintings were nor actually housed there; but it was still a place that was worth visiting.
We ended the day with a river cruise that included Pizza and wine, some more museum exploring and then into an underground club full of odd techno music. 

Amsterdam was a place full of surprises, interesting museums and new adventures.
  

The Land of the Giants, a Dutch Weekend

If Germany is the land of potatoes, "Kartoffelland", then Holland is the land of Stroopwafles & Tulips. Ask me a year ago if I would ever find myself in Europe- let alone a place I have heard so much about when growing up? No you'd be crazy, there's no chance. But, against all odds, here I was in Amsterdam with my girls.
Pick your Stroopwafle of choice
It was an enchanting place, a huge city, but still decked with flowers along the charming labyrinth of canals. The train ride there from Bonn was sleepy, but the closer we got to Amsterdam the more real it became and the excitement sunk in. I love riding the trains in my travels- getting to see the Rhineland turn into farmlands with windmills, and the German houses turn into the Dutch domed roofs.
Canals of Amsterdam
The Dutch have a very special place in my heart thanks to the Den Harders. My Dad played soccer in college and has kept the game in his life by coaching in his free time. When I was little he coached a group of boys with quadruplets on the team. The boys were born in the states, but Cora & Peter were from the Netherlands. Our families grew really close together over the years. Peter & my Dad both coaching for the club teams, and the boys being our adopted older brothers. The boys would come over and babysit us as a team, and honestly were among the only successful babysitters of the five of us kids. Anytime I would come over to their house, Cora would lay out a huge blanket and dump buckets of Leggo's on top for us to play. Other times I came over, she and I would cook sugar pies and other Dutch sweets together. Cora remains one of the most organized human beings to exist.
I loved their house decorations- the boys were colored coded at birth and their little onesies were framed on the walls. They had all of their wooden shoes by the front door, and tulips all over the house. The living room had a view of the Dutch flag, and the kitchen had Delft pottery.

So experiencing the country that formed Cora and Peter was a true privilege. The bikes all over the place, the extremely tall natives, the abundance of flowers, and the Dutch pancakes.
Flower Market
Sunday we found a cool place with outstanding (gluten free for our sweet Carol) pancakes, and had some great conversations. One of my favorite moments of the trip was getting to go to Mass, in English, in this beautiful little church squeezed in between stores. There are many little churches like this throughout Europe, and I think it's the neatest thing. The rest of our Sunday we spent at a small little restaurant, where our hilarious waiter was the menu. I loved the vibe of the narrow street it was on, and the fresh food and wine.
Pannenkoek
If you get the chance to go to Amsterdam do the following- stay at Hotel Casa Amsterdam, drink the excellent coffee, see the Rijk's Museum, eat a fresh stroopwafle, laugh with friends, buy a coffee and spill it all before drinking any, then be graced by Carol's generosity, enjoy the parks and flowers, see the Tulip market if in season, eat a fancy meal or two, and soak in the beautiful culture.
Classic Me

Classic Art- Rijk's Museum

I plan to go back and spend more time exploing the small little Dutch cities at some point in my life- maybe sooner rather than later... Cora & Peter- I may sneak into your luggage next time you visit home.

-much love Mary-Cate
See ya soon Holland