Week 2: Kaffee & Lederhosen

MilchKaffee

This week started off with baggy eyes from the long, amazing journey to Interlaken, Switzerland. However, German MilchKaffee came to the rescue instigating a reversion back to my excessive caffeine consumption.
It feels like I have been in Germany for months: navigating the cobblestone streets of Bonn, fearlessly hopping from bus to train to subway to bus, and comfortably telling my host mom that I am full and don't need a fifth helping of her delicious goulash. Ah Germany.

I am in love with the view I get in the mornings and will miss it. The cool, brisk air coming in from my window that overlooks the forest in our backyard, with a cup of black coffee accompanied by fresh bread and my journal. Germany has reminded me that I need time to myself in the mornings for prayer and reflection in order to really be awake the whole day. If I can describe Germany in a few adjectives it would be green (in every sense of the word), organized, peaceful, and quaint. Where we live is almost provincial, even though it is right outside of the city.

The Dom

This week we had an excursion to Cologne and I got to visit the cathedral. It was enormous. You could break your neck trying to look up at it. Inside is full of miniature side chapels and one adoration chapel. I would have to say that missing Mass on Sunday due to travels, poor planning, and language barriers put a little storm cloud over my week, but getting to visit the house of my Father and pray put me at ease. Interestingly enough, Germany doesn't have daily Mass in every church. They have one church have mass every day per area and it is very early in the morning. Sometimes it is hard to find because I don't speak or read the local language. But anyways, I got my time with Christ and all was well again.

The week flew by, with the majority of our time spent in German class, History of Medicine lectures, or our Pharmacology seminar (which began this week). One of my favorite lectures covered the disparities in our healthcare system as compared to the German system and the systems of other successful models and unsuccessful models around the globe. Dr. Wasser explained it really well and it helped to finally bring clarity to our current condition, especially before I dive into medical school applications. I'm curious to learn more and to see in what direction of change our system will follow throughout my lifetime for the better.

PicNic

During the middle of the week the student workers had a picnic planned and we took a bus to this quaint little river just outside of Bonn, and we played games and ate lots of bread and had a little of this lemonade beer called Radler, it was different. Lots of laughter was involved and I reached a milestone in my life: consistent success at skipping rocks. I am in love with the European pace of life- their work ethic and how they prioritize. Spending quality time with friends and family, enjoying the outdoors, and biking and walking everywhere.

Friday was the ripest day of the week. I felt more rested, and we had a half day of classes. I wandered around with my friend Carol trying to find the Beeethoven haus and we ended up stumbling upon this very cute Bavarian style teehaus. So we went in and looked around at the different teas they had to offer. We ended up sipping tea and chatting for over an hour on the second floor of the building. We both had awesome window seats and laughed at how many people stopped to take a touristy picture in front of the building. That evening, we had our AIB Wlecome BBQ, so many good types of food, live music, dancing, soccer, socializing, and our Ultimate skit throwdown between the programs. The small group of us able to attend the BBQ made Wasser proud with our "History of Medicine through the ages" skit. Sitting eating outside at a picnic table with our professors in the backyard of the Old AIB I couldn't help but think that this is how school should always be- getting to really know and learn from professors in small group settings. I love our program.

Nymphenburg Palace

After the BBQ, I packed for a girls trip to Munich, got on a night bus, and woke up to the ancient city. Our Air BnB was adorable and really close to many of the museums we wanted to see. My favorite moment was walking into different churches on Saturday and stumbling into mass (amazing). We walked around the English gardens (yeah they go nude here), saw the van Gogh Sunflowers, beautiful stretches of flower stands at the market, shared a Bavarian sized beer and pretzels, and got rained on in the romantic & enchanting garden at Nymphenburg Palace (picture walking around the palace grounds of Genovia like in Princess Diaries... amazing). Week two was a breath of fresh air.

English Gardens

 Plot twist- they do still wear Lederhosen in Bavaria. 

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