My Hero's Journey Begins...

Well I finally made it to Bonn, and I have already had some of the most amazing experiences of my life! The first stop of my journey was meeting my host family. With an artist as a host mom, a mathematician as a host dad, and two new siblings (age 17 and 10), I was beyond excited to meet my new family! When the time finally came... we were taken to a hospital and the top of a mountain. Now let me explain, because I was very confused at first as well. 

We were in the car driving home, and my host mom points across the Rhine, and says, “we must go see my art!!” So we drive across town and end up at a hospital, but the first floor of the building was filled with different, beautiful artwork. She would show us a few pieces, and then continue to say, “but wait there’s more!” I think we got to see around 20 pieces that were absolutely incredible!

I asked her where she gets her inspiration and she replied, "I just love people!!"

Kelbi and I with our host mom!

After this adventure, we continued on until they claimed we should go to the top of a mountain where you could see all of Bonn! The view was out of this world and interestingly enough, this is the same place that we would later learn about at the House of History museum in Bonn.

The view from the top of the Siebengebirge mountain range!

This was a picture taken on our museum excursion of the famous Hotel Peterson, once known as the Stromberg, where important political meetings took place. 

At this point, we were almost home, but not until we stopped to get “ice!” The store was about to close, but my host mom convinced them to give us some gelato just in time! Needless to say it was amazing, and I was more than happy to eat dessert before dinner. After a long and eventful journey, we finally made it home. The house was filled with more of my host mom’s art and our rooms were the cutest! I could tell this was going to be an exciting 6 weeks.

Later on in the week, the class received the opportunity to learn about A Hero’s Journey. I had never heard of this before, nor I had I realized that this concept is evident in so many old fairy tales, movies and stories today. This was by far one of the most moving lectures that I have received in my college career, and it made me so much more excited to take on this study abroad journey. We have experienced the call to adventure, accepted it and have a long road ahead of us that I am so ready to tackle. Something that Dr. Wasser said that really stuck with me was, “we must appreciate what it means to be the other.“ Being in Bonn in only a weeks time, I have found myself in situations where I am “the other.” Language barriers are present, there have been difficulties with public transportation, and other differences that can represent the road of trials present in the Hero’s Journey. However, it is nice having 31 new friends by my side to tread on this path. I am excited for the future, the self knowledge, and the return back home to share what I have learned on this trip because I know it will be life changing.