One major lesson I have learned over the past two weeks is that no matter how hard I try to plan things, there’s always something that’s not going to go according to plan. That’s not to say plans are pointless and irrelevant. I would have spent several of the past couple of nights on the street or stranded at a random, foreign train station/airport had it not been for planning. What’s pointless is the stressing over details such as a delayed train or a lack of a complete detailed schedule. However, anyone who knows me knows I’m the type to still stress, and to them I would like to point out that my week 2 stress was far less than that of week 1, despite catching the wrong bus twice, being a few minutes late to class because we ran for the bus and still missed it, and having to decipher night train schedules in Cologne - all proof that I am learning abroad.
Simultaneously, I have also been learning German, the truly sexist history of medicine, the difference between the US health system and those of other countries, everything there is to know about saunas, and the basics of pharmacology. Week 2 truly put the “study” in study abroad. I was exhausted due to four class days from 9-5, questioning how I ever survived such long days in high school and truly appreciating the more relaxed blocked scheduling of fall and spring semester. Nevertheless, I finally discovered the windows in my room have blinds (supposedly here they they’re at the bottom of the window and move up?) and so my sleeping greatly increased, allowing me to handle the long days. We also got a small classroom break on Wednesday as we took a day trip to Cologne where we toured the city, ate authentic German food, took a break to sit by the Rhine and rest, and then split up to see the Cologne Zoo and the top of the Cologne Cathedral. At the zoo we got to look at animals ranging from cows and chickens to giraffes and elephants, followed by a visit with the zoo vet. She explained to us how she works with different animals, talked about the German protocol on using human drugs vs. animal/canine drugs in treating orangutans, and then showed us the different sizes of tranquilizer darts. Following our school activities for the day we were free to do as we pleased so we stayed in Cologne for the evening and tried the special Kolsch beer, grabbed tai food for dinner, and then took over a small Spanish bar where the DJ played Baby Break a Sweat (a song Dr. Wasser hilariously paired with his sauna lectures) per our request. It was so much fun and we all navigated the night trains and were able to get back to Bonn and to class the next morning so I call it a win.
Donnerstag (Thursday) was filled with several hours of German class and we learned to conjugate verbs, speak about our families, and order food. The language itself is very challenging, especially when my brain automatically thinks “foreign language” and defaults to Spanish, but I’ve been able to pick up a few words and notice them in daily conversations around town. For lunch I went to the supermarket and got a salad from the salad bar - a habit I’ve picked up when in Bonn which helps save money and makes me feel a little better about the fact that every meal revolves around beer, bread, and potatoes. That afternoon we had our first pharmacology class and it was extremely interesting, particularly since I know very little about the subject to begin with. One of the tasks we were given was to go to an Apoteke (pharmacy) in Bonn and see how it differs from one in the states. Fun fact - every medication is behind the counter in Germany, even if it doesn’t require a prescription, forcing you to talk to a pharmacist about proper usage and potential side effects before even getting your hands on the container. Of course there are pros and cons for both systems, but seeing the difference first hand and then reading about further differences in drug approval processes opened my eyes to other possibilities instead of just relying on the thought process of “this is the way we do it so it’s the right way”. Filled with this knowledge we ended our school week by visiting ruins of a Roman bath underneath a monastery in Bonn where the Romans would have practiced cleansing/purifying techniques similar to the sauna practices Dr. Wasser had taught us about earlier in the week, and with that we were prepared for week 3 in Norderney studying and enjoying Thalasso Therapy at the badehaus. But first I was going to Dublin for the weekend!
Sarah Bohac
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