Duesseldorf Digest and Bonn Blog: Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!

Somehow my last week in Europe has already come and gone. Filled with some of the most amazing memories, I have mixed feelings about being home. Rewinding back to last weekend though, I had the best time in Prague. The beauty of the city sort of surprised me if I am being honest. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t some of the most amazing architecture, food, and night life. Right of the bat we were let known that this was a city that never sleeps. We arrived pretty late at night, and our hostel was in the middle of the city which didn’t get quite until 7am I think. The next morning we decided to explore the town, walking from Old Town Square, over the Charles Bridge to the Garden on the Ramparts, Prague Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral. At one point on our way up to see these places, we were looking for a WC and followed a sign that took us to a beautiful garden that, to our surprise, had peacocks everywhere! When we finally reached the top of our hike, the view was nothing like I have ever seen before. Red roofed buildings scattered everywhere, mixed with the greenery and water… it was beautiful! On our way back down, we stopped to get one of Pragues most famous desserts, a Trdelnik. I couldn’t pronounce this though, so I just ended up calling them “Tradelinks” lol. It is sort of like a cinnamon sweet bread, hollowed out and filled with either ice or whipped cream! Later we saw the John Lennon Wall and the Dancing house, both excellent pieces of art. On Saturday night we did the Prague Pub Crawl which was fun to say the least…and we will keep it at that. When we got back to Bonn, we only had two days left which was spent packing, stocking up on Haribo and spending time with my host family. One of the last things we got to do together was visit a beautiful town called Linz. Filled with traditional German houses, this deserted town could have been easily looked over if not for our host fam’s insight. When it came time for our last excursion to Berlin, it was a sad goodbye to my host family. They really were such a loving, compassionate family that taught me so much about the European culture. They walked us to the bus station, and Consuelo blew us a kiss as our tram steered off.

Finally in Berlin, the day was started with a tour of the city! We got to see all the major sites like Alexanderplatz, Berlin Cathedral Church, Reichstag Building, the Brandenburg Gate and more. My favorite however was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It was chilling to be in the midst of the memorial, look around and see the vast amount of columns surrounding me representing the lives lost in the holocaust. Another eerie sight was the original bullet holes present on the pillars at the Old National Gallery from World War II. A city rich in history, it was nice to be reminded about the events that took place a mere 74 years ago.

One of the last activities we did in the program was called “My Berlin Day.” Divided into 4 different groups, we were each given a tour from a Berlin local to show the city from their perspective. I was lucky enough to go on the Listening the City: Contemplative Urban-Nature-Art-Tour led by Dr. Nico Roenpagel. Starting in the city, we took our time listening to all of the noises from the transition of city to nature. We made stops throughout the tour to listen to a specific sound, analyze it and then shift to another sound, either appreciating the vast amount of hustle and bustle from the city or the simple birds chirping in nature. A lesson learned was that it can be easy to get caught up in life and only focus on sounds that are the loudest. However, some of the most important sounds are those that are more subdued in the background of life. On our hike, we first made it to Dragons Hill which plateaued and overlooked the entire city of Berlin. It made me stop and think about how people can get caught up in their personal life and fail to look at the bigger picture. Myself included, I tend to stress over the smallest of tasks, and often get absorbed in my own life. Being on top of this hill made me stop and think about life in a bigger perspective and realize that there are far larger issues in the world than my own. Our final destination on the tour was the Teufelsberg, which translates to Devil’s Mountain and was a former US listening station during the Cold War. Built on rubble and debris, you could look around and see a piece of metal, concrete or wood and think that it could have been a part of someone’s house that was destroyed in the war. When we finally reached the listening point, I was surprised to find that it had been turned into a beautiful art gallery with paintings and graffiti detected after every turn. It was moving to see this former site of war turned into something so beautiful. We ended the day very relaxed and appreciative of what nature and the city had to offer, and that night each group prepared a presentation to show Berlin through their guide’s eyes. It was interesting to hear the diverse day my classmates had. We all had so much fun, and I definitely think that this day as a whole was one of my favorites of the trip. Our final day in Berlin was topped with a farewell dinner at a delicious Turkish restaurant. Laughter, stories, and sounds of reminiscing about our time abroad filled the air. To make things even better, we got a surprise performance from a belly dancer which led to everyone on the dance floor having a good time. I couldn’t think of a better way to end this journey!

Well...my time in Europe has come to an end, and I am now writing this from the couch in my living room in good ol’ Azle, Texas. I learned a lot of about the history of medicine, how the brain can be influenced by sound, and a heck of a lot of Tai Chi. When I sit back and think about the lecture Dr. Wasser gave us about the hero’s journey early on, I can’t help but smile in disbelief that I have finally reached the return. The point where I can take what I have learned, apply it to my life back home and even share the knowledge with my friends and family. I will be forever grateful for the experiences, memories, the friends I have made, the AIB, my host family, and my family back home for allowing me to take part in this beautiful lifestyle that I have been living for the past 6 weeks. I have experienced what It means to be the “other”, mastered public transportation and can say that I have been to over 20 different cities and 8 different countries. Although I am sad to go, I am pretty excited to sleep for at least 20 hours in my bed at home.