The. End.

Has anyone ever realized how big an elephant seal is? It’s massive. Day 33 had us at the Natural History museum where Dr. Wasser and his colleague guided us around the massive house of History. Part of the Winter Palace, Maria Tesera’s husband had nothing better to do with his time while his wife ran a country. So he bought up a collection of artifacts and asked the original owner to come to Vienna to continue expanding it. We saw the world’s largest meteor collection, a very tiny stone statue that historians go ballistic over, and Dr. Wasser’s favorite fossil which turned out to be a massive turtle. There was also thousands of stuffed animals, some as old as the 19th century, well persevered and slightly creepy to look at. Th end of the day had me trading Viennese heat for Milano heat as I flew to Italy. 

Day 34 is the day my bank account cried. After a very hot night in our hostel, we set off with the purpose to spend all the money we saved up for this trip. Although ironically our first stop was the Duomo Cathedral. They’re a lot stricter covering the shoulders and knees, so Holli and I purchased these atrocious paper ponchos so that we could enter. But it was worth seeing the massive stained glass windows that told an intricate Biblical story and massive arched ceilings. We then delved deeper into the city and found a massive castle with a bonafide moat, no alligators unfortunately. A quick lunch and then we hit the shopping strip. Sunglasses and shoes and makeup and clothes and jewelry. It was paradise. We had a nice dinner of pizza and pasta, and then enjoyed the hostel happy hour, somehow managing to write our music paper in the heat. 

Day 35 another hot, hot, hot night later, we woke and made a full circle around the city center. I almost regret having such a late flight but it was nice to go from park to park and just sit and relax and read. The day was mostly uneventful but as always, I was eternally grateful to be back in my host room. 

Day 36 we had a guest lecture on bioethics. Dr. Wasser’s colleague lead us in multiple discussions on what we would do in different situations. We kept up a constant debate of what decisions we would make in different scenarios, it was interesting to see how everyone would react in life and death situations. He posed the classic question of if a trolley was going to kill 1 person or 5, would you pull the lever to change the tracks. While most chose to change the tracks to only kill one person, the decision got harder to make as more factors were added. 

Say goodbye to Gesine was too hard. We hugged multiple times and she was on the verge of tears. If I ever come back to Germany, my first stop is to go back to Bonn and visit her. Day 35 ended bittersweet but the end of the adventure is here. 

Another early morning, another long train ride. Day 36 we left Bonn behind for the foreseeable future and said a hearty hello to Berlin. Our first stop was the hospital museum where Tiny Tom lived up to a very big expectation, not only was he hilarious, we also allowed us to carry around chairs while he present different artifacts and did no get annoyed when we all started to drift off from our long day. We also met one of our guides for the week, Ryan and once he started walking, he did not stop. He led us through much of Berlin, although my notable favorites was the Holocaust memorial and where we ended, the Berlin wall. I’ve spent years in history classes learning about the atrocities and particulars of World War 2, I was in awe when we rounded the corner and the Berlin wall was splayed out in front of us. A piece of history that fell only 30 years ago. After a nice dinner out with friends, it was time to crash in the hotel room. 

Day 39 held the My Berlin Day excursions. We met up with architecture expert, Jan Fischer, who although did not take us very far, but showed us a deeper side of Berlin. We saw hidden or forgotten memorials to the many different victims of WWII. Tiergartenstraße 4 was for the mentally and physically disabled Germans who were murdered at the hands of their own doctors. Deemed unfit for the Aryan society, these were Germans who’s only crime was to be born with a disability. The Bendlerblock commemorated the 5 German heroes that attempted to assassinate Hilter with a bomb. They were hunted down and shot at point blank for their brave try to end his reign of terror. This memorial would have gone unnoticed by most as it is tucked away in a courtyard with only a few plaques to mark the scene of their deaths. The Bundeswehr memorial is for all the members, past and recent, who have died in service of the people who work for the ministry of defense. Our final visit was the the Staatsbibiothek du Berlin, the library of Berlin. With it’s organic architecture and loads of natural lighting, this massive structure is home to hundreds of thousands of books. We then put this all together is a powerpoint and presented after listening to the other students days. 

It is the final fay of our study abroad. The morning was grey and windy, like the sky was reflecting the mood we had going to one of  Germany’s first concentration camps, Sachsenhausen. Ryan led us through the site, from the massive field where the camp population was meticulously every morning and night to the camp hospital where the people were given bed rest as “healing” or where they were experimented on. Although we think as these camps being hidden from the world, quite often they were shown off to outside media as relativity clean and keeping the undesirables off the streets and reforming them into hard working citizens. We left with a much harsher understanding of how many people suffered under the Nazi regime. But just as the clouds cleared away, our mood lightened as we went to the music museum where our enigmatic tour guide flexed her music skills on us and played a massive variety of instruments. We were left in awe after she played one of the biggest instruments I’ve ever seen that could make the sound of an entire symphony and then some. A quick trip to the hotel to change and then it was time for the farewell dinner. The small restaurant was charming and the food was delicious. The funniest part was seeing Dr. Wasser show off his moves after we pulled him up to dance with the belly dancer that joined us. A night to remember for sure. 

And Saturday morning had me on a very, VERY crowded train to Prague to see my mom and brother.