Week 6: Hello Berlin and Goodbye

 This last week in Germany was one to remember. Saying goodbye to Eva was a little sad. She was a great host mom to have, and I really appreciate the memories we made. The most recent one being at our last outing. We were enjoying a meal when all of a sudden, a pigeon came by and landed on the ledge on top of me, and whatever, you are thinking, yes, yes that is what happened. It was definitely a funny moment and a lasting memory that I am sure I will be telling for a long time. 

Nevertheless, I had to say goodbye to Eva and it was a bittersweet moment. I have had such good talks with her that I'll miss her, but hopefully I'll be able to see her again soon. 

On our way to Berlin, it was a huge feat to get all our luggage to the hotel room up and down the stairs, but we managed, and what an interesting city Berlin is. The amount of history present in the city, from ancient to modern times was incredible. I really enjoyed the walking tour of Berlin. History has always been of interest to me, and our guide did a great job detailing all of the intricate history details of Berlin. Berlin is a wonderful city that I truly enjoyed and am glad that I got to experience. It was also a fantastic place to end our journey. The farewell dinner was full of conversations and joy, and I am truly grateful to everyone I meet. So many amazing people were on this journey with me and I learned so much from them. Everyone will be missed, and I truly hope that we will meet again. 

Week 5: Vienna and Munich

What a wonderful week this was. Both Vienna and Munich were wonderful and beautiful places. After an 8-hour train ride, we made it to Vienna! The train went relatively smooth, and I am slowly becoming a travel-by-train enthusiast! My first thoughts of Vienna were that it was beautiful and stunning. The walking tour was a pleasant surprise. Dr. Schnable was a very knowledgeable tour guide and made the tour very interesting and thought provoking. I also loved the tour of the crypts. I just find it so fascinating that there is so much history in one city.  

However, my favorite part of Vienna was definitely Josephinum Museum. Seeing those old wax figures was stunning. They were so beautiful and detailed, and I couldn't believe how they studied anatomy in the past. I also found the other museums we went to fascinating as well. Seeing the molds of the past disease too was fascinating because they were so detailed. After a few days of staying in the city, I realized that this was one of my favorite places that we have been to. it was beautiful and a place that I would want to come back to. 

After Vienna, Linh and I were off to Munich in one of the most pleasant train rides that I had. Arriving in Munich we went out on the town and had a great night. The next day we went to the Botanical gardens and a palace. As always the buildings were stunning, and I am always amazed at the beautiful plants that can grow in Germany at this time of the year. We happened to be in Munich during Pride, so we caught the celebration. One thing that was crazy to me was seeing the juxtaposition between the pride parade and the old buildings that were the backdrop of such festivities. It was a crazy sight and made me think about what the people who occupied this city back then would think of such festivities. 

Nevertheless, we headed back to Bonn to have one last week in Germany. I am getting sad that my journey is coming to an end, but I have one last week to enjoy my time and the weather here! 

Week 4: Bonn and around

 I must admit, after that hectic weekend, I wanted a break from all of the traveling and focused on my studies and exploring Bonn more. My host mom, Eva, was excited to have me back, and we were able to chat more! Now that we had known each other for long, the ice was broken, and conversation flowed freely. She told me great stories about here time travelling when she was younger, and I really enjoyed those moment. 

The lectures were also very interesting this week. I loved the lecture given by Reagan and appreciated the effort put in to make sure that we learned about women historical figures in medicine. Additionally, the excursions we went on were very interesting. I particularly enjoyed our time south of Bonn when we went to Bingen and Andernach. The Johannes Winters Museum in Andernach was of particular interest because it was very interesting to see all the old technology and medicine used to treat medical problems in the past. One thing I found particularly interesting was the Iron lung. That device was definitely a feat of its time, and it was so interesting to see what they did in the past to treat polio. 

Next week, we will be travelling to Vienna, and I am excited for that! We will see where adventure takes us then! 

Week 3: Amsterdam, Paris, and More

 What a crazy week this was! After my trip to Nordeney, I was ready to travel around Europe and beyond. The first stop was Amsterdam, and I was not prepared for what happened there. First of all, I first realized why people are not the DB's number one fan. With delays following us on every train we took, I was everything but calm. Nevertheless, we finally made it to our destination after traveling all day. Amsterdam was beautiful; the canals, architecture, and everything else made it a wonderful place to be! However, I soon reached a snag in my trip. Without realizing how strict the hotels of Amsterdam were, my friend booked a single room for the both of us. However, what we did not realize was that a single room was in fact a single room - only one person was supposed to stay there. At this point, my friend and I had two options, try and find a new place for me to stay, or try and finesse this single room - we opted for the latter. After developing this elaborate plan, my friend and I tried to get in the room and failed miserably, the front desk guy clocked us right away. The whole plan was for me to 'act drunk' so that I would be forced to stay in the room with her, although after I managed to get into the room, the front desk guy was persistent and came and knocked on our door to have me leave! In the end, through much convincing and pleading, he allowed me to stay with an additional fee, but that was the start to this eventful trip. 

The next day we went to Paris, and I meet with my cousin. I got there without any hiccups, and I had a great time. I hung out with my cousin and other friends there! The big conflict happened when I was headed back. I got to the train station early and was just - waiting. About 30 minutes before my train is scheduled to leave, I go upstairs and look for the platform just to find out that I was at the wrong station! In a hurried state, I realize that it is not too difficult to get the right station, but of course everything was going wrong. The line to buy a metro ticket was long, then I missed the train and then because of so many hesitations, I missed to train by no more than 2 minutes. I must admit, during the next hour, I was all over the place. I was sad, frustrated, angry, worried, but I pulled myself together and just perservered. I must also thank my cousin and friends for giving me strength and keeping me leveled. I just got on the next train and from there it was smooth sailing. My connection went smooth because I was able to just catch the next train and made it back in time for SZA!!

After reflecting on this day and trip, I realized that I just need to trust myself. If I had just trusted myself, after I made an initial mistake, I could have made my train on time. However, I kept on doubting myself and missed my train. But if I had gone with my gut, I would have made it. Trusting my gut is something that has always been difficult for me because I am an overthinker, but from now on I will try and trust myself and realize that even if I make a mistake when boking a hotel or miss my train, I will find a way to push through and make it pass whatever hurdle I have. 

Week 6 - Bonn & Berlin

 Our last week was spent soaking up our last days in Bonn and traveling to Berlin.

In Bonn, we made our last trips to Rewe and the Rheinlust. Flo was not there :( so we did not get free drinks, but Rike and Reagan came! We had a great time drinking our last Sangrias and eating delicious pizza. We had our final exam in HoM, and the Slytherin team dominated no matter what anyone else says. We had our last trip to Pendal and ate one last dinner at Mutter's. 

In Berlin, we had a hectic journey to the hotel with our giant suitcases. My arms were definitely sore the next day. We took a walking tour with a fun Scottish tour guide and saw all the main sights. My favorite was the reflective memorial art installation maze near the US embassy. The next day, we went to a few medical museums and had a rainy lunch at an Italian restaurant. Afterwards, we ate Indian food and went on a Pub crawl (not my favorite lol). On our last day, we visited a concentration camp - it was really impactful and a profound experience. We ended the day with a candlelit dinner.  

Week 06: Berlin and Bonn

 Bonn

It was my last week in Bonn and no matter how I look at it I could never imagine how much I will miss it. I’ll miss the sight of the Rhine River, my host mom, the beautiful sunny, cool weather, the people…all of it. I had no idea that I would fall in love with the experiences that I’ve had on this program as much as I thought I did. 

I would do this a million times over with the same amazing people if given the chance. Thank you Bonn for everything.

Berlin

When I think of Berlin, I imagine the streets filled with people that are blasting techno from their portable speakers while wearing all black and being completely crazy. Instead, Berlin was calm and beautiful in its own way. 

The city was not at all as I expected it to be. Although I knew the war had impacted it greatly, I was still expecting a bit of historical architecture to still lie around. However, what lined the streets were very modern buildings which threw me for a loop just a bit as it had a very American city feel to it.

Berlin was a very fun and exciting city and the things I learned from the walking tour as well as our trip to the holocaust museum expanded my world views in more ways than one.

Week 6

 This was our final week in the program! On Monday we took a cruise down the Rhine, then toured a castle in Braubach. It was really interesting to see a lot of the simulated furniture in the castle from medieval times. On Tuesday, we spent one last evening at the Rheinlust (our favorite beer garden) and our TA and program coordinator even joined us! I am really going to miss these evenings. 

On Wednesday we had class and then had one last meal at Pendel, and almost everyone had to get the Gnocchi Italia because of how delicious it is there!

On Thursday we went to Berlin. We saw the Berlin wall, which surprised me because I didn’t know there was a piece of it still standing. We also saw the Brandenburg gate and the holocaust memorial, among other notable attractions. 

On Friday, we toured the Charité museum, and saw all sorts of preserved specimens that really freaked us out, like tapeworms in the brain EW. Although it rained a lot on this day, we still did a pub crawl in the evening and I met a lot of people from Australia. 

On Saturday, we got to tour a concentration camp, which was very somber. Afterwards we got froyo, and ended the day by going to the farewell dinner, where I danced with a belly dancer!

I am really going to miss the friends I made on this trip, although I am so excited to see them in College Station again. 

Week 5

 I forgot to make a post for week 5 (Oopsies) so here it is. Week five was very good! I enjoyed Vienna a lot. I especially liked the tour of the crypt. After Vienna I went to Barcelona to visit my BMEN friend who is doing research there. Barcelona was awesome. The first night I got there was the summer solstice, so there was fireworks and drinking and it was a lot of fun, but to be honest, there were probably too many people peeing in the streets for my taste. 

The rest of the time I spent in Barcelona was primarily touring, works of the architect Gaudi, who is very famous in Barcelona. I have attached some pictures of Barcelona below.

Week 5

 This week was a lot of travel, we went to Vienna and Prague! Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to my host sisters because I would not see them again once I came back from these travel days :( I loved the energy in Vienna so much, and as soon as we got off the train in Austria I felt that the energy there was much more relaxed.

On the first day, we explored the city a little bit. We saw the Stephansdom and a piano player in the square. The next day, we started by meeting Dr. Schnabel and having a tour of Vienna where we learned more about the history of medicine in Vienna. After lunch, we had a tour of a crypt, which I personally found to be the coolest thing that we did. It was very interesting to see the skeletons and the mummies and the clothes that they were wearing. 

The day after, we started by going to the Johannes Museum with all of these really cool wax medical figures. Afterwards, we went to the Freud museum and had a lecture about him in his house! That night we went to a classical music concert in Anna’s Kirche and I learned that I really like Beethoven. 

On the third day we went to the Natural History museum, and I learned about kiwis, and I think they are my new favorite animal. Afterwards, we got on the train and went to Prague where we spent 1 day seeing all the sights!

All in all, this was a very full week, but it is bittersweet because next week is the last week of the program. 

Until then,

Cassandra