Germany Week 01

I think there are a lot of things I didn’t expect to do in Germany and one of that was falling in love with the country. I like to find the beauty in every place I go to, but at the same time I feel as if I only take my experiences at face value. Moreover, I did not expect to enjoy my host family as I would have presumed. At first, there was this overwhelming feeling before I met her about how it would be so strange and awkward to live with someone I don’t know in a country I don’t know. Although the more I think about my anxious feelings, the more I realize it’s because I’ve never set foot in a country I don’t know the language of. 

As a person who is trilingual and with a family that speaks multiple languages, traveling to multiple countries had never been too difficult or scary due to us knowing the languages to keep us suspended and safe in the country. Germany is a whole different ballgame for me.

Back to my thoughts, I love my host mom. She is the sweetest person alive. Although sometimes I do feel awkward having to tell her if I like her cooking or not, I do love the fact that as I come home from school, she always takes the time out of her day to sit with me while I have dinner and talks about mine and her day. I enjoy listening to her stories and the adventures she used to have. She had experienced so much before me and I truly do inspire to be as well traveled as she has been.

Class has been interesting so far and I’m really loving the fact that it is my side interests (history) combined with my main interests (medicine). While most of what I have learned pertains to European medicine, it has been really cool to see the crossing of the techniques with Asian ones. It makes me feel in tuned with the world seeing how no matter how far apart certain practices takes place, the medicinal knowledge still managed to travel to Asia or Asia coming up with the same ideas despite probably never meeting a European.

This weekend I traveled to Cologne and had a wonderful time with my friend. It startled me at first seeing how it was mainly a party city as some would say. However, with the comforting presence of my friend I managed to feel more at ease.