A Lifetime of Memories

I'm not too sure that I can accurately put into words all that I experienced this summer and what it has meant to me and how I am forever changed because of it. This summer was way more than seeing some cool places and meeting cool people. I experienced so many different cultures, lived like the Europeans do (at least for a few weeks), and met some of the very best people while traveling and that I got to travel with for a whole six weeks.

Getting off of the plane in Frankfurt was exciting and terrifying all at the same time, and while a great majority of German's speak English, there are a good amount who don't and learning how to navigate a new place with signs that I didn't understand with a language that I didn't speak pushed me so far out of my comfort zone. Slowly but surely as I learned more German and as we had more and more dinners and conversations with our host family, Germany felt less like a place we were simply staying and more like a home away from home. The very first day when Rachel and I had to navigate the tram to class and got lost, it was a blow to the confidence and I surely thought that this is how everyday was going to go, but thankfully I was wrong and with every tram/train ride, I got more and more comfortable with traveling, even traveling by myself one afternoon to go visit my cousin in Koblenz. By the end of week six, I think I could have probably done my daily commute with my eyes closed and felt like I deserved a medal. I loved every minute of the different types of travel and learning how to use them, even though it was frustrating to get lost at times and end up in the wrong place, but with a little trial and error, I made it and then in the following three weeks I was able to navigate my family through Italy and the Paris metro system like a champ. 

All of the excursions and weekend trips taught me so much about myself. My strengths and what I contributed to a group when traveling to all these different places and planning out our days. These places taught me about who I am, and taught me about how big the world is and that the best part of any place was the people that I was with and met along the way. I loved being immersed in a different culture each weekend and trying to find local places that really gave us a good sense of what a place was like and known for. The week we went on excursions with the class were some of my favorite. I loved getting to travel with Dr. Wasser who has such an extensive knowledge of each place we visited and was able to share that knowledge and love for each place so well so that we could share in that. For example, I don't think most of the world knows that Germany has islands or would typically visit them, but Norderney holds a special place in my heart and was honestly one of the best places that we visited. Dr. Wasser loves sauna and has a passion for this little island and the little things like sharing his favorite ice cream shop with us one afternoon, made us all fall in love with the island too.

I loved that learning wasn't confined to a classroom but was in museums and in spas and the streets of Vienna. This unconventional way of learning not only taught us what you can learn on a powerpoint slide or in a textbook, but as we walked the very streets that individuals did with the plague and explored museums that had wax models, we learned more than we ever thought we would. The best things about these classes were that they didn't feel like work. For the first time in a long time, learning was interesting and fun and didn't feel like a chore, but instead learning was mixed with travel and cultural experiences and I looked forward to each and every different museum and experience on the streets of the cities that we were in. Even pharmacology, even though it was so short, was one of the best classes that I have taken at Texas A&M. The class was discussion based and really engaging and was so fun because it made us all think not just memorize information.

On my hero's journey, I would say that I am forever transformed and that I will carry these experiences with me for the rest of my life. It wasn't always easy, getting lost was frustrating, the language barrier was frustrating, my foot blowing up to the size of a bowling ball for unknown reasons was FRUSTRATING, but each time getting lost or hobbling through the streets of Budapest taught me that even though it wasn't picture perfect, it was mine and it was perfect to me. My foot slowed me down and allowed me to realize that experiencing a place wasn't all about seeing everything in the city but was about taking it all in and allowed me to see that the people that I had become friends with weren't simply fair weather/good time friends, but were willing to stick it out with me when things weren't necessarily as fun. I have taken all of these life lessons back with me and have done my best to apply them to my life here. I feel more confident, less stressed because if I could survive there I can survive here and all the little trials that each day brings. I am already itching to go back. I am taking a gap year between undergrad and medical school and would love to live in Europe once more. I know if I do go back it will be different, different people and different experiences so I will hold this one close to my heart forever. Thankfully the best parts about this summer are back in College Station with me. I see the friends that I made just about everyday in my classes and walking around the vet school, and am so grateful that if I ever want to talk about this summer they will never get sick of reliving it with me (unlike all of my other friends who already are). Even traveling those three weeks after the trip ended with my family, I missed the class and traveling with friends, it was so different in a good way, but still different.

Since I have been back these past three weeks in the States, I have grown used to the comforts of home again like air conditioning and ice in drinks and beds that aren't twin sized. I do miss the weather in Germany and not sweating buckets every day, but am happy to be back in a place that I can understand the language.

Germany, I will miss you but see you soon!