Bonn Breakdown Week 2

This past week in the Germany Journey consisted of delicious sangria, climbing a lot of stairs, and getting to try schnitzel for the first time. A group of us found a cute little restaurant bar on the Rhine which had the best sangria I've ever had. We also got to visit the city of Cologne, or as the German call it Köln, and it was amazing. My favorite part was getting to see the view from the top of the Cologne Cathedral because I had to work for it a bit by going up about 533 steps. I was surprised as to how dizzy I got going down the staircase because it was just like walking down a non-ending spiral staircase. But it was all worth it because the view of the city was beautiful along with the view of the Rhine. We also learned a lot about the city itself from the city tour and got to go to EL-DE Haus which is a Nazi-victim memorial in a former Gestapo headquarters. I had learned a bit about the Gestapo but it was surreal seeing the cells, the writings on the walls, and the actual offices used for interrogation all in real life. 

Along with a cool day trip this week, we also got to start our first pharmacology lectures with Dr. Fajt. During the first lesson, she made us list all the drugs we could think of that we've seen or used and I didn't realize how many drugs I use in my daily life and that my family members use. It was also interesting to learn how to narrow down certain aspects of a medical article to help you figure out whether that article can be useful or not. In the continued Dr. Wasser lectures, we learned more about medical saints, I didn't know there were so many! I was extremely interested in his sauna lecture and to learn the history behind why saunas are still used today. 

We leave for our first excursion to Norderney tomorrow and I'm beyond excited. I've never been to a bath house and I'm curious to see how the mud flat hike will go because I love hiking but I've never done one in that type of setting before. I'm also just generally eager to experience all that Norderney has to offer and to see what the mud treatment will do for my skin.

Tschüss for now!