Kylie Takes Vienna!! (and Budapest and Prague and Germany again at last)

WOOOO WEEK 5 AND STILL CRUISINGGGG!!! (only slightly getting sick from a weakened immune system due to being on the go 24/7, but like my host dad says, "You can sleep when you're home!"

Okay, so this week started out heading to Vienna, Austria - one of our excursions as part of the program.  The train ride wasn't too bad, and before we knew it, we were there!!  For the first day, we started off with a tour of the city by the amazing and talented Dr. Schnabel (who knew time travel was possible!!)  But in all seriousness, thank you Dr. Wasser for encouraging the little kid in us all.  It's really inspiring to watch you do things like dress up like Dr. Schnabel and guide us around the city without a single care what other people think.  You have added so much fun and happiness to this trip just by being who you are with us.  Anyway... this is is a beautiful city.  There are impressive buildings and structures EVERYWHERE as well as so many horses!!! (I'm the weird horse girl).  After touring the city and having sample "medicines" from back in the plague era, we had a little bit of free time! We walked around some more, and I bought some street art from a kind lady while out!  Next for dinner... the GOULASH MUSEUM (not to be mistaken for an actual museum).  It was so good, oh my goodness.  I had the beef goulash and of course had to try some of the famous horse goulash (contrary to previous statement about being a horse girl).  After that and some wine, it was time for dessert!  The chocolate goulash was literally incredible.  a bowl of chocolate basically with some sort of cake baked good in it.  I could eat that every day for the rest of my life.  After dinner, we went out for a casual night and ended up in some smoky bar playing pool.  A shock to everyone, it was Cass and I who beat the boys in pool.

The second day in Vienna, we started off with a trip to the anatomical wax museum.  It was truly remarkable the creativity and precision it must have taken the creators of these masterpieces to utilize.  Though I respected, admired, and enjoyed the museum thoroughly, I can say one thing - it surely made me reconsider any thoughts I previously had about having children (that's all I'll say).  After the museum, we did some ore exploring of our own, went back to the hotel to get ready for later that night (the one time we all were actually required to dress up a little bit!) and headed to dinner before the classical concert we would be seeing afterwards!  It was the girls (Cassidy, Maddie, Madison, and me) plus Bryan at a nice restaurant where we all had different kinds of pasta - which by the way was delicious.  It was so relaxing, and I always love spending moments like that with my people that I've grown to love so much.  Done with the sentimental stuff (for now), it was soon time for the concert!  We walked into the beautiful St. Anne's Church with perfect timing for the performance to start!  We watched and listened peacefully to several pieces from Mozart and Beethoven.  The music was wonderful, and being in that church made the experience all the more beautiful.

The next day, we went to tour an old psychiatric hospital.  Along with some cool facts, we largely learned how far we have come as a society in our treatment of mental disorders, and the differences are dramatic.  It's always shocking learning of how medicine has changed through time.  After, the girls and I went to a nice coffee shop in town for some coffee and the best chocolate mouse cake ever.  Once it was our group's time, we met at the church right in the center of town to go down into the crypts.  What an eerie experience.  We walked into the church then through several doors that took us underground the ginormous building and to the crypts themselves.  We saw all sorts of coffins and bones and even a few mummified bodies.  It was also only after the tour was over that our tour guide informed us it was actually old bones and other remains we had been walking on throughout our time down in the crypts.  No wonder it was such uneven ground, wow...  A very cool experience and one of my favorites in Vienna but certainly a little creepy!  After that, it was time to lighten up the mood a little bit with gelato of course!  Then, it was on to the Natural History Museum which included the famous Venus Von Willendorf we had learned so much about from Dr. Wasser!  A very cool museum with such variety of things to see and learn about.  Then, Cassidy and I visited the Belvedere Palace in our free time for some good art!  We even got to see The Kiss painting by Gustav Klimpt which I now can say was my favorite painting I was able to see on the trip - just so happy and peaceful.  After finishing up there, we headed home for a nap then (supposedly) went out that night (...should've eaten dinner...).

The next day (Thursday) was also the last day of our Vienna excursion.  In the morning, we went to the Sigmund Freud Museum which was very interesting.  Something about the id, the ego, and the superego that I just find super interesting, I don't know.  Ever since beginning to learn about Freud in high school I've loved psychology, so this was super intriguing.  After this last and final event for Vienna, it was time to grab our bags from the hotel and head to our next destination... Budapest, Hungary!  And this time it was just the four of us girls...

It was just a short train to Budapest which was great to finally have after a lot of long travels!  When we arrived, we checked into our airbnb (which was so so cool by the way - it was so modern and decorated so interestingly).  We then were super hungry so we went to find food after first pulling our some "forints" (the currency in Hungary).  It was definitely the most confusing currency we had dealt with as just 1 USD is equivalent to about 280 Hungarian forints.  As we were walking the streets, we passed a restaurant we thought looked good and boy were we right.  Living and going to school in Texas now for the last three years, I've had my fair share of amazing Mexican food, but I can hands down say I had the best quesadilla of my life at this place (I have actually been craving it ever since I had it).  After dinner, it was time for dessert, and since we had heard so much about things called "chimney cakes," we had to find them - which certainly was not hard.  Our first ones were from a stand on the street.  They're sort of like ice cream cones except the "cone" part is actually like a flavored bread (most of the time cinnamon sugar) and you have a choice of ice cream as well as toppings and what the inside of the cone is filled with (nutella was the best).  These are incredible.  Literally the best of everything... baked goods AND ice cream AND candy.  So good.  After this little adventure, we had heard a lot about ruin bars in Budapest and had to check it out.  We found our way to one and WOW was it cool.  When you walked in, there was a map with different areas and bars including cocktail bars, wine bars, beer bars, disco areas, and so much more.  This place was HUGE plus it had several levels!  After exploring for awhile and ordering a few drinks, we began talking to a fun group of London guys who were celebrating for a bachelor party.  Little did we know the bachelor himself would offer us what was equivalent to over 400 USD to buy drinks for us and a few of the other girls on the program that also made a trip to Budapest (28+ and all investment banking Ferrari owners, it did not hurt these guys financially to drop that sort of cash).  Anyway, as you can imagine, this lead to a good time, and before you know it, we were about to hop into a few cabs with these guys to head to another bar (thankfully our senses kicked in and we decided against this... see mom and dad, your all your lessons regarding the movie "Taken" really did pay off!! And dad, you didn't even have to use your Liam Neeson skills!!!).  All in all, it was a great night and so, so much fun - as it always is when I'm with my girls!

The next day in Budapest was our time to do all the site seeing we wanted.  We saw and were able to go inside a magnificent church first off.  Then we saw the Hungarian Parliament Building (which we walked up to right as some strange ritual was going on with the guards directly on the steps of the building  - still, we have no idea what was happening, but it seems we always came upon interesting ceremonies like this one on our trips).  This was a truly impressive building with its red roofs and numerous peaks.  We also saw the shoes on the Danube Bank (a memorial sculpture for the Jews of this time), the chain bridge, and many, many other landmarks.  It was then time for some lemonade as we sat down for a moment after all the walking.  Once we finished and walked across the bridge, we took again what seemed like a mountain climbing train up to another area of Budapest (it truly felt like we transported to a different town altogether - there was a different feel up there).  We saw more architecture, fountains, and the most beautiful view of the city from the top.  At the top, we window-shopped and had dinner at a nice restaurant where I had some delicious pasta (pasta and pizza were always go-to meals for me and most people).  It was then time to head back to where we were storing our luggage - after a stop at the famous thermal baths - so we could gather our things and head to Prague! (not before another chimney cake, though).  And it was a good thing we had those to put us in a good mood, because we didn't realize we were about to be on an overnight train from hell.  Between being asked for our tickets one thousand times, the drunk people playing music and pacing up and down our cart, the uncomfortable sleeping positions, and more throughout the night until around 06:00 the next day, it was easy to label this as our least favorite train ride.  Still, all was good because eventually, we made it to Prague, Czech Republic!!! (plus we passed through Slovakia, which is a pretty cool thing to do).

After storing our luggage at the hotel we chose since our airbnb guy hadn't messaged us back, we were ready to get going on our new day and on our Prague adventures - especially in our accidental perfectly matched outfits.  We headed to the Old Town Square first which was only a couple minutes walking distance from our hotel.  Our first introduction to Prague was some drunk man at 07:00 telling us he lost his friends and that we should be drinking right now so it was in our best interest to follow him to a bar.  Hm.  Thanks but no thanks sir!!  No worries, though because it only got better (and I mean a lot better) from there.  Prague is simply amazing.  There is no other way to put it.  We started our site seeing by making our way to a garden by which we could hike our way to the top of a lookout over all of Prague.  Seeing all the red roofs, the green copper tops, and more was breathtaking and truly awe-inspiring.  These were once-in-a-lifetime type views and here I was at 21 seeing all of it.  I am so lucky.  We also saw the amazing St. Charles Bridge that led us to the other side of the river.  This side was home to the Lennon Wall, which by far was something I was most excited for.  We went both days we were there, and on the second day, a man was playing guitar and singing Beatles songs with a sign on his guitar case that read, "I need money to repair my time machine to go back to the 60's."  I made sure to take a picture, as I know my dad would relate to that. We also saw another beautiful cathedral before grabbing lunch (this is when I ate and finished the biggest calzone I'd ever seen in my life).  And of course, why not another chimney cone (I wonder why I've gained ten pounds on this trip).  When we were back at the hotel, we were shocked at our room which was actually a suite with a terrace overlooking the beautiful city.  We grabbed some bottles of wine and talked until it was time for bed.

The next and final day of our long weekend trip, we did some more exploring and once again came upon another strange event.  This one, however, seemed to take up the whole city.  All that we could gather was that it was like a parade with members from all countries imaginable.  Tons of roads were even blocked off, as our Uber struggled in finding a route to one of our destinations across the bridge!  Not entirely sure still what was going on, but it was pretty cool.  After making it back to the Old Town Square, we grabbed some good sausage and a potato type dish before grabbing our things from the hotel.  We took our time before getting to the train station later in the afternoon and were soon on our way back to Bonn.  Though I had sworn the last train ride was the worst I would ever have, I was proven wrong as we hopped on this train that appeared to not have enough seats since a field trip of what seemed to be one hundred kids plagued the entire train, filling up each seat and even two to a seat - which was the case in the cart where mine and Cassidy's seats were.  Wow, I have had a lot of instances on this trip that have discouraged me from being a mother.  Anyway, no complaining here, it was honestly hilarious that this was our circumstance with all the jokes we had been making.  We put our headphones in, and by around midnight, we were home!  We walked in to our host family up with guests, warm soup, and a glass of wine from the best host parents two girls could ask for.  After our nice meal, it was not long before we were in bed and asleep, preparing for our next and last week of adventure as part of the program!!  It's a good life.


-Kylie Reis

Right in the city.

A spectacular show by the one and only Dr. Schnabel.

Budapest temple bar.

Hungarian parliament building.

Views in Prague and matching outfits.

We love chimney cakes (note chocolate on Madison's face).

The Lennon Wall.

St. Charles Bridge.

Bonn Voyage - Week 6

On Monday morning, we had our last history of medicine lecture. We discussed a few prominent figures in the more recent history of medicine. Specifically, we learned about Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow and his mentors. Virchow was taught by Müller, the man who discovered “the Law of Specific Energies.” The law explains why when you press on your closed eyes, you see light spots. The perception of sensory input does not depend on the input itself, but rather, on the sensory organ that perceives the input. Virchow researched physiology and different disease outbreaks. His research on disease made him an advocate for freedom from Prussian rule, which was ironic since he was sent to research the outbreaks by the Prussian king. He became a social reformer, as he realized that if people were autonomous and better educated, they could better take care of themselves and prevent disease.

After class on Monday, we walked around Bonn. We enjoyed stopping in little shops and enjoying the atmosphere of the city. I even walked out to the Botanical Gardens. I had a very peaceful and enjoyable afternoon.

In the evening, the class ate at an Ethiopian restaurant. It is traditional at the restaurant to eat with your hands. We dipped teff bread, which is quite a lot like a thin, soft tortilla, in different toppings. I am not entirely sure what all of the toppings were. I know that one of them was made of lentils. I also know that they were delicious! It was a really fun way to spend one of our last evenings in Bonn, especially since Henning, our program coordinator, didn’t come with us to Berlin.

On Tuesday, we met as a class to go over the itinerary for our trip to Berlin. Then, we dispersed for the rest of the day. I returned to Drachenfels. It was at Drachenfels nearly five weeks earlier that I felt like I was really in Germany. I felt like I was really in a new world. So, I decided that I wanted to return there before I left. I am so glad that I did. It was peaceful and beautiful. I hiked to the top of the hill this time, instead of stopping at the castle. The view was magnificent. I sat in the shadow of the castle ruins and wrote my host mother a thank you card. I cannot think of a better way to say goodbye to the romantic Rhineland. Only, it's not goodbye. Not really. It’s just a bittersweet bis später.

I found the dragon of Drachenfels

I got to have dinner with Josefine in the evening. We talked about everything from my favorite German word to the pros and cons of public transportation. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to live with her this summer. I had expected to stay with a family, but I think that staying with Josefine was just what I needed. She helped me learn German words and watched the news with me. She didn’t mind that I occasionally disappeared into my room when I was tired. She always ate dinner with me and was so pleased that I liked to try everything she cooked. She didn’t even mind when I broke a kitchen drawer or when I didn’t know how to use the washing machine. I don’t think I would have changed anything about my time staying with her in 202 Meßdorfer Str.

On Wednesday, we rode a train to Berlin. I was amazed that we managed to fit all of our luggage in our train car! Once we got to Berlin, we went on a bus tour of the city. We saw prefabricated apartments that were built in East Berlin. These apartments were made off site and then put together like legos. They were good housing because they had elevators, but they only had elevators on every other floor to save money on elevator doors. We saw the Reichstag building and talked about how Hitler came to power. We saw the site of the book burnings and the plaza where Hitler gave speeches in Berlin. Seeing all of these places was really impactful for me. It really made the events of WWII seem real and immediate. We also saw the holocaust memorial. The memorial has blocks of stone of various sizes organized in a grid. It is abstract. I think thinks fitting because visiting it impacts everyone in a different way. The memorial has had its share of controversy. For one, it was very expensive. Also, the chemicals used on the stones to prevent graffiti were made by the company that made the gas used in gas chambers. This just goes to show how everything in Berlin has been influenced by WWII. We saw a statue of Friedrich the Great. Apparently, he said that “crowns were just hats that let the rain in” and that “the more people he met, the more he liked his dog.” He sounds like he was a funny guy. We learned the history of the statue on the top of the Brandenburg Gate. It was stolen by Napoleon and then taken back by the Kaiser. The statue overlooks a square. The square is called the “Pariser Platz” as a jibe toward the French. Finally, we stopped at the longest remaining segment of the Berlin Wall. The segment has been painted by many street artists. Street art is a really big deal in Berlin. It also has piping on the top. Apparently, East Berlin had such a bad sewage system that the American West Berlin smelled terrible, so the US gave the Soviets piping to repair their sewage system. The Soviets used the piping to prevent people from escaping to West Berlin. We learned about many ways that people escaped to West Berlin including riding a homemade hot air balloon into the West and zip lining over the wall. There were even professional tunnel builders who could be hired to build a tunnel from West Berlin to East Berlin. These tunnels would be used to transport as many people as possible to the West in one night. Other escapes involved impersonations and stolen passports. One woman escaped through Checkpoint Charlie by hiding in a hollowed-out space between two surfboards.

The longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall

Art on the Berlin Wall

        On Thursday, we had a really amazing opportunity. We got to tour Berlin in a few different groups to see the city from our guides’ experiences. One group was with a Syrian refugee, another with a beekeeper, and the third with a professor in meditation. My group was with Edgar Guzman Ruiz. He is an architect and artist from Colombia. He researched and build a model of Germania, and he showed us how WWII and Hitler's plans for Germania influence Berlin today. Germania was the city Hitler planned to build in place of Berlin after he won the war. The capitol building of Germania, the Großehalle or the Volkshalle (grand hall or people’s hall) would have been 300 meters tall and big enough to hold 180,000 people. To put this in perspective, the hall would have been almost big enough to fit the Eiffel Tower inside of it. We visited the Holocaust Memorial. We saw the parking lot above Hitler's bunker and buildings that were used by the Nazis. We also visited a panoramic picture of the Berlin Wall. This was all a really moving experience for me. It made the events or World War II seem real and immediate. I realized that I can't even imagine what it was like to live during those times. I discovered just how blessed I am to live where and when I do. This was an important day for me, and I am so very glad that I got to experience it. I really can't put into words how moved I was by this experience. All I can say is, it truly changed my perspective.

Holocaust memorial

Holocaust memorial

Berlin Wall panorama

We talked a lot about the significance of architecture during our tour. Hitler used architecture strategically to intimidate his opponents and to make himself seem powerful. His office building was very long. Any foreign diplomat who had a meeting with Hitler would have had to walk over 150 meters down a hallway with finely polished and slippery stone flooring to get to Hitler's office. By the time they arrived, they would have been physically fatigued and off balance only to see Hitler's grand and intimidating desk. The architecture on the exterior of Nazi buildings was also symbolic. Their buildings were made of stone instead of concrete with vertical windows. The vertical windows reminded people that there was a strict hierarchy of power in Nazi Germany. Stone was used instead of concrete, which would have been cheaper and easier to work with, because Hitler was obsessed with being greater than the Romans. The Großehalle was also Romanesque in design. It was modelled after the Pantheon, and it had an eagle at the front. The Großehalle had a platform for the speaker that was raised above where the people would have been. The platform looked eerily like Hitler's face from far away. Here, he was once again making himself appear powerful. Architecture in Germany today is equally symbolic. All of the Government buildings have huge glass windows. The Reichstag even has a glass ceiling so that that public can see the Government employees at work. The glass shows the German people that the Government wants to be transparent, open, and honest with the people. The government buildings are even oriented on an East-West axis because the government wants to show a complete break from Nazism and Germania was meant to be oriented on a North-South axis.

Nazi style building

New government building

In the evening on Thursday, we presented our experiences to all of the other groups. I really enjoyed seeing what the others got to do, but I wouldn't have traded with any of them. I learned and experienced so much today. I am so thankful for this opportunity. I am especially thankful because even though my asthma was really bad, I was able to continue with the tour.

We ate dinner at a small Thai and Vietnamese restaurant. The goldfish in the fish tank were really funny. One of them was spitting rocks at the others:

After the presentations, we went to the Fairy Tale Bar. At the bar, all of the drinks were named after fairy tale characters. The menu looked like a story book, and we were given little “eat me” and “drink me” cookies when we arrived. I really enjoyed the environment in the bar. It was so much fun. I got a pineapple-based non-alcoholic drink named after Kaa from Jungle Book. This was really the first bar I visited on their trip where I didn't feel pressured to drink, and I really appreciated that. It was just a lot of fun to dress up and go out for a couple of hours with a small group of girls.

On Friday, we visited the Charité museum of medical history. Our tour guide was charismatic and energetic (and actually not Dr. Wasser)! He told us stories and explained different historical medical procedures. The Charité was built to be a plague hospital in the 1700s. When Berlin was spared from the plague epidemic, the hospital became a training institute for military physicians and a hospital for the poor and unmarried pregnant women. Now, it is associated with the Humbolt University Medical School. The museum houses Virchow’s specimen collection. The collection includes preparations from many different diseases and conditions. They were very interesting, but truth be told, they made me kind of nauseous. Instead of looking at the preparations during our free time, I returned to the museum exhibit about individual patients. That exhibit was very interesting! They had one display about a man who had nose reconstruction surgery and another about early glaucoma treatment.

On Friday afternoon, we visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. We saw barracks and an extermination facility. We learned about all of the different groups of people, besides Jews, who might have been sent to the camp. We also learned about the medical experimentation that took place at the camp. This was a really powerful experience for me. I didn't really learn new information, but I came to understand the information in a new way. The atrocities of World War II became more real to me. Interestingly, the museum at the camp was actually opened by the Soviets. It was used as propaganda to promote communism.

In the evening, we had our farewell dinner. It was bittersweet. On the one hand, I have had a great trip and I am ready to see my family. And my dog. I'm ready to play fetch with my dog for hours and hours. On the other, I am sad to leave what has been such an amazing experience. I was glad to remember that all of us attend the same school, so my friends and I are all returning to the same place! But for right now, traveling with my parents and brother will be the next adventure!

Mile count for the week: 45.9 miles

Week 5: Heading East

Belvedere Palace in Vienna

This week has been my favorite week yet! It began in Vienna with a tour led by Dr. Schnabel, a real life plague doctor who was definitely not Dr. Wasser. Dr. Schnabel's theatrics and his lack of concern for all the people staring at his "work clothes" (and beak-like mask) made for a tour that no one will soon forget. I have learned about the plague in school many times  before, but hearing about it from someone who was actually there left a lasting impression, as did all the remedies we took to protect ourselves from getting sick. Some were good (Haribo peach gummies), others were bad (cloves), but the urine from the young boy was just plain ugly. No one got the plague, however, so I suppose they must have been effective.

While in Vienna, we went to some very interesting medical museums, but the one that stood out to me most was the Josephinum. This museum housed incredibly detailed wax anatomical models. The anatomical accuracy, artistry, and preservation of the models was all very impressive.

Another highlight of Vienna was going to the Gulaschmuseum. Unlike the name would lead you to believe, the Gulaschmuseum was a restaurant, not a museum, and we did not have to take a tour before we could eat. I enjoyed this restaurant because gulasch is not something that I would usually order on my own, and it was fun to try something that was so quintessentially Viennese.

St. Matthew Cathedral in Budapest

Hungarian chimney cake

We finished our Vienna excursion on Thursday afternoon and then had a three day weekend to travel on our own. I took advantage of the long weekend and our relatively eastern location to visit Budapest, Krakow, and Auschwitz. Budapest was beautiful, had great (cheap!) food, and was so much fun. It is on my list of places to go back to because one day was certainly not enough to see everything I wanted to see. One place we did visit in Budapest was the famous Szechenyi thermal baths. Unfortunately, we did not have towels and were therefore unable to visit the sauna, but it was very fun and relaxing to enjoy the warm baths. 

Sunday was a weird day. It was a day I had been nervously anticipating for a while, but also looking forward to, sort of. On Sunday, we took a tour of Auschwitz. It felt very surreal to be walking in a place where so much evil had taken place, especially when you consider that there are still people alive today who were taken to the concentration camp as children. While I am not someone who believes in ghosts, it was almost like you could feel the spirit of the people who were so unjustly abused and murdered in that very place 75 years ago. Its hard to imagine that humans are capable of inflicting so much pain on other people, but when you are standing in an old gas chamber in Auschwitz, the depth of human depravity is impossible to avoid. I definitely think that its somewhere everyone should visit once in their life if they have the chance. Human nature has not changed since World War 2. If the holocaust was possible then, it could be possible again, and in order to keep from reliving history, we must learn from it. 

Week 6- Bright as Day, Black as Night

I have experienced both the magic and treachery of Europe.

I arrived back in Bonn, with only two days to say goodbye to the city and my beloved host family. I told my family about my travels and soaked up as much as them as possible. They were truly wonderful. I will never forget the laughs we had over dinner, the goofiness of the boys, and how wonderful it was to read in the sunroom while my host dad played the piano. They showed nothing but kindness and compassion to me, and I will be forever grateful to them for opening my eyes up a little more about the world. I learned their hardships and how life was like as a German with the Berlin wall up and the country divided. I shared meals with the son of a Nazi and found much more goodness in his heart than I have found in many other people. We shared our perspectives of the world and our nations, always in with the upmost respect. I fell in love with a strange family who I was thrown with for a month and who spoke a completely separate language than I. After extending an invitation out to me numerous times for me to go back and visit them, I know I will. I was so worried about what kind of family I would be put with (and living with four grown boys), but they filled my heart with so much joy and were my most difficult goodbye. It makes me sad writing this now, because I miss them so deeply.

I had the most wonderful last day in Bonn. After our pre-departure meeting in the morning, I had a coffee with the other Mikayla, finally took some pictures of the town, went to a stall to buy roses for my host mom, then sat outside and enjoyed my final Sion Kolsch. This city is something special, and it was difficult to say goodbye to it too. It was a warm, sunny, beautiful last day.

Happy Independence Day!! Off to Berlin. We arrived and I had ALL of my belongings. As soon as we got there, we went on a bus tour of the city. I honestly didn't know that there was so many different things to see in Berlin. We were definitely not going to have enough time to roam around and see everything. We were let out to roam along the Berlin Wall, which was honestly much bigger than I was expecting. Beautiful and unique artwork filled it up, allowing us to walk for a while and soak up a bit of it. We went back to the hotel and got situated, then Mikayla and I went out for a nice burger dinner in honor of Independence Day. The burgers were really good if I'm going to be honest. We explored a bit of the city but went back before it got too dark... this was a city I could easily get lost in. The next day we had "My Berlin Day." My group was put with a Syrian refugee named Mohammed. He showed us around Berlin, and explained how German history connected to Syrian history. He told us about his terrible experience being smuggled out of the Middle East, and into Europe. Looking at him and hearing his story made me just want to give the man a hug. I felt so many emotions. My first emotion was honestly anger. I was actually angry that my life is so so good. I have heard many things about the Syrians lately, but standing before this man and hearing his story made a huge impact on me. It really put me into reality. I was no longer behind my American curtain. I decided after his tour that I will sponsor a Syrian child. It may not be have a huge impact in the scheme of things, but if I can impact one life, it is worth it. Mohammed then took us to lunch at a restaurant that is run by a Syrian family. The food was absolutely INCREDIBLE. We sat and talked about our favorite movies and tv shows, along with Mohammed's dreams for his future. That night, all of the groups got together and presented their experiences with their "My Berlin Day." Afterwards, a few girls went down to the Fairytale Bar, where we sipped champagne out of Louis Vuitton glass slippers, found "Eat me," and "Drink me" items in the storybook menus, and were served by the White Rabbit. It was a fun final celebration in Europe. The next day happened to be our last. We started with a guided tour at the Charite Museum of Medicine, where many specimens were held similar to those of the Fool's Tower. Next, we toured the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. What really stood out to me was the fact that a town was directly next to this camp. Houses were right next to this camp. It was mind boggling that people were able to live next to such horror and not do anything about it. Maybe some did. I wish I knew. The day was ending, and it was time for our class' final meal together. We all went and had dinner next to our hotel. It was again, very good (food doesn't seem to disappoint in Europe.) At the end, Dr, Wasser had a little surprise for everybody. Music came on and a belly dancer came out. We all cheered for her and clapped along with the music. The next thing we know, she was pulling us out of our seats to individually dance with her. Everybody let loose and danced and we all laughed and clapped along. Seeing Dr. Wasser bellydance was one of the best parts. It was the perfect way to end our study abroad. Everybody together, having fun, and laughing hysterically. We gave our hugs and said goodbye to Dr. Wasser. It was very difficult. The experience I had was truly a once in a lifetime experience with amazing people, and a caring, fun, and knowledgable professor (he seriously knows everything about everything). Dr. Wasser, thank you again for such an amazing experience. It would not have been the same without you, and I really appreciate all of the work and time you put in to teach us in the most unique way. Then like that it was over. I had quite the experience traveling back home. My first flight from Berlin to Cologne was a mess. Even though I had a ticket, I did not have a seat, because they overbooked the flight. This was a problem, because I needed to catch my next flight to Las Vegas soon after landing in Cologne. They finally got me a seat 10 minutes before the gates were supposed to close, so I checked my bag and hurried through security, just for my flight to be delayed for 3 hours. The flight to Las Vegas waited for us, but when showing my passport and ticket to a lady at the Cologne airport, she asked very rudely why I even bothered showing up since I was so late. I let her know that my flight was very late, in which her response was that I better run quickly. I made my flight to Las Vegas, but my luggage didn't. I spent over an hour waiting to give the airport my information so my bag could eventually be sent to me. Finally I was on a flight back to Houston and I was home. I did get my bag a few days later, thank goodness.

I want to say again, I have experienced both the magic and treachery of Europe. I have basked in the glory of Europe. I soaked in the beauty of its mountains, lakes, hills, and architecture. Just when you think you've seen everything, something new will amaze you. I have eaten some of the best food I have ever had and enjoyed good company. Europe is plain and simple quite glorious. It is also deep and dark though. Beautiful walls hide many little known stories. Families ripped apart, people left with no hope, not having a place to call home let alone find safety. I have seen the evil that has dwelled in the land. Evil that gained favor of many people. Evil that masks itself in order to persuade people to give into their sinful natures. I walked along streets where thousands were shot or died starving. I listened to a man who in this generation, fled for his life due to unspeakable horror. My heart grew heavy at the sights and stories of so many different events. Did they really happen in this lifetime? But I also learned the beauty of people. In spite of evil that lurks and covers a land, the inspiring stories of brave people shine out like a beacon of hope and light. People who risked their lives, their families lives, and everything dear to them to help strangers who were experiencing extreme injustice. Would I have given my life to help people fleeing and hiding for their lives? I would certainly think so. Would I have done it if it put my children's' lives in danger? I honestly don't know if I would've. Just how brave are we, and where would we stand if such evil were to come to America? It would be terrifying how many people would join in, but shouldn't we find hope in the few who are pure at heart? Those who stand in the face of evil strongly? I aspire to be such a woman. Although I am back safely in America, I know Mohammed's parents are still enduring daily hardships in Syria. Should I forget about them and continue my daily life? What can I even do to help them? One thing is for certain now, and it's that nothing is the same for me anymore. Beauty and treachery exist daily side by side. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the beauty in the midst of treachery, but it's there, crawling out of the cracks like a little weed. I will return to Europe someday to enjoy the endless beauty that it offers, but I will also stand up against evil in today's world instead of hiding behind my American curtain.

Yours truly,

Mikayla O'Leary