Berlin and Dresden

So far, this trip has been amazing and it seems like each day gets even better. When arriving back in Berlin, the city tour was amazing! It's crazy to me how each city is different in so many ways. My favorite part was being able to see the Berlin wall that is still standing. Though I'm not part of the generation that experienced the Berlin wall, learning about how bad it was and then seeing it in person made me appreciate it a lot more. After the tour was the visit of the medical school. Learning about their "reformed" way of teaching was very interesting and I think that it should be offered this way back in the states as well. Everyone learns differently, so having different options of teaching styles would probably make for better doctors.

On Tuesday when visting Dresden, I was blown away by the Church of Our Lady. The fact that people took so much time and donated so much money to reconstruct it is amazing to me. It just shows that with a lot of support and help, people can come together and do really good things in this world instead of all the bad that goes around. I enjoyed seeing the recovered cross and the new underground where people can go to pray. This church is truly beautiful and it's crazy to think that it was ever blown up and was still ruble nearly 5 years ago.

Another part of this week I enjoyed was on Wednesday visiting the MDC Center for Research. Hearing the researchers explain their projects and seeing their enthusiasm and how much they cared about it made me very exciting about getting involved in the research field. I feel that if I can find something to be excited about like the one researcher we met was about crystallography of proteins, my future would be great. I'm so ready to find that subject, but I know it will come in time. Seeing all the other cool gadgets and projects being worked on was truly amazing. There are so many smart people! I can't wait to see what the rest of this week brings and am excited about Paris this weekend!

It is only Wednesday night and I feel like I have already done SO much this week. It has definately been my favorite week so far.

On Monday we recieved a "walking tour" of Berlin, and of course it was by far the coldest day ever. However, it was an incredible tour. The best part is when we saw the monument of stones in the city center for the jews that were exterminated during the holocaust. It is definately a site that will bring tears to your eyes, it is such a moving place. Later on Monday we got to visit the hospital where the "reformed" medical student track classes take places. It was very interesting to understand their process. I definately like their system a lot better. I think having to recieve a four bach. degree and then goes to four years of medical school on top of residency after that is just too much of school. I also liked that as soon as they began medical school they also started clinical rounds. The Doctor that gave us the tour pointed out that students are more able to retain what they are learning in the books if they also see it in practice. I thought this statement was very true. Another very surprising thing I found out that I definately wish the U.S. did is that medical students do not have to pay tutition. Can I live in Germany please??
Tuesday started off with a very early morning train ride to Dresden, although it was nice to get an extra few hours of sleep. I loved that the sun was shining when we got to Dresden. (Definately can't wait to be back in Texas where it sunny at least some part of the day.) The city tour of Dresden was very informative. It is a beautfiul city and I especially like the Prostant Church alond with the film of how they rebuilt it. The rebuilding of that church had to bring that town so close together and bond over such an amazing event. After the city tour we visited the Hygiene Musuem. The hygiene musuem has defintely been my favorite musuem so far, I could have spent hours in there. I liked that they had interactive activities to help you better understand the concept they were talking about.
Today we went to the MD center for Research. I thouroughly enjoed the speaker on stem cell research. It such a fascinating topic that brings so many new ideas to the table. Although the second speaker spoke about protein crystals, which I must say does not sound that exciting to me. I love his passion and enthusiasim for what he did. I hope one day with whatever I choose to do I can love my job and get as excitied about it as he did for protein crystals. We also got to visit where they made devices to help surgeons in the operating roomk see things 3D and devices to enable telemedicine better. The devices were unbelievable, and so cool to see and play with. Lastly today we got to visit the Otoo Braun Center for Prosthetics. I really enojyed visiting this musuem because it has special meaning to me because my mom has polio, therefore she has barely any muscles in the right side of her body therefore making it very difficult to walk or pick up her right foot. So seeing these innovative devices to help people with problems like hers is amazing, because I know she definately had a hard time growing up with people making fun of her. So there is definately hope for the future as these devices become more widely known.
Well that is all for now can't wait for tomorrow we leave for hannover!!

Did I Really Just Do That?

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about writing a blog for this week is how I had my arm inside a cow's body! Though I know I want to get into the human medical side of things, I've really enjoyed learning about the animal teaching hospital and touring all the different clinics. Our first stop at the equine clinic was very cool to me because of my background with horses. I started riding horses when I was about 5 and competed for about 10 years and took care of my horses at home (with my dad's help of course!). Though I've been to a horse vet many times, it was interesting to see their facilities and I was very impressed by its cleanliness and high tech tools! It was also interesting to learn about different horses because most of my horses have been American Quarter Horses, which they don't have in Germany. The small animal clinic was also interesting though I didn't enjoy seeing the sick animals, especially the sad little Westie! By visiting these facilities, I now know for sure that I could never be a veterinarian. It may sound odd, but I feel so bad for dogs and cats and other animals when they're sick, especially because they can't tell you what's wrong with them!

To get back to how I started this blog, visiting the clinic for cattle was by far one of the most interesting and exciting experiences of my life. As I said before, I've been around horses a lot and gone to many large animal vets, but I have never been able to give a rectal exam to a cow! To think that I performed a task that a 5th year vet med student does just blows my mind away. I was so nervous about doing it but I'm so glad I did. Lena the cow (I think that's how you spell her name!) was very nice and I was so surprised it barely phased her that 8 other students gave the exam as well. It was so cool learning about the reproductive system of cattle and then getting in there and actually being able to feel it. I was able to feel the uterus of a cow!! I truly appreciate this opportunity and will never forget it!

Hanover!

I am in Hannover now, we left Berlin yesterday. Berlin was pretty fun. Monday was so tiring because got back from Prague to the main station in Berlin at around 12 AM and then the trains werent running frequently so we decided to walk back to the hotel, which was a terrible idea since it urned out to be more than 3 miles away and there has been a high of -6 Celsius here. So this week was pretty exciting, we visited the medical training facility in Berlin and learned how to properly resuscitate someone. This week we also went to the Max Delbruick research center in Berlin, whcih is one of the best research centers in Germany. The stuff that they have developed is incredible...but i wont go into detail now. We also went to the Otto Bock Scicnce center, which is the biggest creater of orthopedics in the world. They have some pretty col stuff too. Our train to Hannover was canceled, so we had to get the next one and I ended up sitting in a random spot since we didnt have reservations for that train. I talked the whole two and a half hours with the guy next to me who is a Historian, focusing on Eastern Europe. It was an excellent conversation...we talked about european culture vs american, american history, bush and obama, european perspective of the united states, the role of the united states in the world...among other things. It was fascinating talking to him because he provided such a unique perspective to the conversation being a historian.

Berlin

Monday the program started again, which meant no more sleep and long days. The day started with a guided tour of Berlin. Fortunately this was the coldest day yet and we were outside for the tour. Luckily the tour guide did a good job of finding time to talk to us inside when he could. Also I had all ready taken my own tour of the Brandenburg gate, Reichstag building and Holocaust memorial, which was good because the tour wasn't able to spend much time at these places. After the tour we went off to visit a medical school. They teach the alternate curriculum, which is focused on problem based learning. In fact we got to do a little hands on learning ourselves.

On Tuesday we got up early in order to travel to Dresden. Some of you may know this town from the Kurt Vonnegut book "The Slaughter House-five". During the was this city was firebombed and much of it was brought to the ground. In the time since then the old part of town as been reconstructed in its old fashion. After the city tour, we went to the German Hygiene Museum. The museum was very interactive. I wish I was able to understand everything in it because I feel that I miss out on a lot of the exhibits because of the language barrier.

Wednesday we were back in Berlin and had a tour of the Max Delbruck Center for Research and the Otto Braun Center for prosthetic's. The work that goes on at both of those places is amazing and it is incredible what they are able to accomplish.

Today we left Berlin to make our way to Hanover. After battling through a train cancellation and overcrowded train, we made it to Hanover. Once we made it we toured the new facility of the Large Animal Veterinary hospital and then had a tour of the small animal teaching hospital.

I'm off for the night, next time I post it will be from Switzerland.

I love Germany.

Yesterday we went to the Hygiene Museum. I honestly had no idea what to expect but it was a surprisingly fascinating place. I love hands on interactive museums and this was definitely one of those. My favorite part was watching Olaf and Ryan race around in the old people gear. I must say that was very entertaining! The motion exhibit was also interesting and is the one I had to do a presentation for. I learned that motion can affect a person both physically and mentally. Overall I thought the museum was a success.

Dresden is a beautiful city! The old buildings were breathtaking. One of the things that caught my attention was when the tour guide told us about the King's mistress. I realize back then that they simply married for political reasons and not for love, but I still can't believe that the king was publically allowed a mistress and that it was considered normal! This concept is so strange to me. I guess it is a good thing that I was never a Queen in that time period!

Well we arrived in Hannover today. It is yet another beautiful city in Germany that I can't wait to explore, but before I am able to do that I get to go to Paris! Traveling to Paris is something that I have wanted to do my entire life. It's the city of romance! By Saturday morning I will be strolling through the streets of Paris and just might be the happiest girl alive!

Adventures?

Prauge was an interesting place, not at all what I thought it was going to be. The hostel we stayed in was an adventure in itself. There was no real check in place, we had to go in a restraunt where they kept the keys inside a hiden cabinet, then to get to the hostel we had to go up four flights of stairs and the lights would go off everytime before we could make it to the top, and then to top it all off when we got to our room it was TRASHED so we had to go switch. Also, there was no heating so it was FREEZING so we slept in our clothes, boots, and coats. It definately made me appreciate my home a lot more.
On Saturday we explored the city. Prauge is full of beautiful buildings, towers, cathedrals, and castles. My favorite building was the "dancing building". It was built after Fred Astaire and it looked like two people actually dancing. I danced all throughout highschool and have always heard about Fred Astaire so it was really cool seeing a building after him.
Lunch was probably my favorite part of prauge. We ate U Flecku, local cz food which tasted wonderful. The atmosphere was wonderful they people who came around table to table singing and playing instruments. As soon as we walked in the waiter sat beers in front of us and then two seconds later another waiter came around with a tray full of shots. This seemed so crazy to me, since it was only noon. In my home town, Rowlett people would look at you like you were crazy if you took a shot at resraunt in the middle of the afternoon.
Since it was so cold in our hostel we decided to go out saturday night and then catch the 3:30 am train back to berlin. We went to an Irish pub, where we met an England Band called the paperboys who were on a tour in Europe. It was alot of fun. The pub closed at 1 but they let us stay til about 2:30 then we headed to catch our train. We get to the train station and they don't open their doors til 3 am so we had to hang out outside in the cold, then finally at 3 we head inside only to find out our 3:30 a.m. train is delyed for 70 minutes. We finally get on the train and there were absolutley no seats on the train so we had to sit in the hallway. It was an adventure. I am glad I got to see Prauge but I was definately happy to be back in Berlin.

Living the Dream!

After arriving in Prague, the group decided to eat at a classic Czech restaurant. Other than the food taking 2 hours to be cooked, it was a nice experience. On Saturday, the touring began. Walking through the beautiful city, I stopped at a small sandwich shop and ate both a sandwich and a Belgium waffle. The waffle was so good that I got another one. After site seeing all the landmarks on the map I picked up from the hostel, everyone decided to experience hookah.

Sunday, we had a bit more site seeing. I did not tour the Jewish Cemetery. I am not Jewish and cemeteries freak me out. I did meet a couple from Rome though in Starbucks. They recommended visiting Berlin more so than Prague. They thought Prague was too small comparably to Rome.

Monday was a cold day in Berlin. Snow was everywhere during the morning tour. The most interesting fact I learned is that the Disney castle is a replica of the Neuschwanstein Castle from Germany. The afternoon was more interesting, because we practiced CPR. It brought back memories from when I had to learn CPR in Boy Scouts. After dinner, we stopped by a truly Bohemian building where squatters sell their fantastic art.

Free Weekend in Prague

On New Years Day, we took a train to Prague! It was our first free weekend and our first time doing stuff all by ourselves. When we arrived in Prague, the train station was a little overwhelming. Not very much was in english, but we made it to the hostel all by ourself. We stayed at the Chili Hostel, where we got exactly what we paid for: a bed. It was fine with me. We ate at a traditional Czech place and then on Saturday morning we walked around Prague. The old buildings were gorgeous especially with all the snow. We saw the astrological clock and the changing of the guards at the castle. On sunday, we visited the Old Jewish Cemetery which was really cool. Then we took the train back to Berlin. We arrived pretty late, so some of walked back to the Hotel, but it was all good. It was actually a relief to be back in Germany because I am more comfortable with the german language just because I can say thank you and excuse me.

We've done so much in Europe so far, but its hard to believe the program is almost halfway over. I'm excited for Paris next weekend.

ps. Happy Birthday Nick!

HERE!!!

(originally written 29/12/2009)

Oh man!! I'm exhausted, but in a good way...I assume. My head is full of information...so much so that I doubt I can regurgitate one fact that I learned today, but I'll try my best.

I'' start with yesterday, Monday, December 28th. I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany and had to catch the train to Bonn. The train ride was calming yet adventurous. Ryan and I accidentally sat in first class and luckily weren’t kicked out. There was a German lady in the booth with us. She was so friendly (at least when compared to the mean Germans I had to sit by on the plane for nearly 9 hours). Although she didn't speak much English, she tried her best to tell us stories about the towns we rode through. Unfortunately, I only remember one story semi-well. It was about a woman named Lorily (forgive my spelling) who played music from the strands of hair on her head. The music drew men to her which led to tragedy...their ships wrecked. Interesting, right? Along with these interesting German stories was the beautiful German scenery. Sadly, there was only a small amount of snow left from the night before. However, the mountains, the Rhine River, and the historic little cities were amazing. Definitely eye-catching. There were even castles...real castles. Had to have passed at least four of them.

It was gloomy and rainy when we arrived in Bonn. Not too chilly. All the staff at AIB seemed nice. The dorm is comfty and my roomie, Maggie, is sweet. Having internet in the room makes everything much better. I was able to e-mail and chat with my family and friends, which is awesome. Dinner at a traditional German restaurant was different. The menu was in all German of course, making it all the more "interesting" to order. I was happy with my choice however. I had some kind of spinach chicken and a fruit sauce with ice cream for dessert. Wish I could remember the German name of my meal...but I doubt I would even be able to spell it. The serving sizes here are huge!! I was definitely stuffed by the end of dinner.

Today has been hard for me. For some reason I'm truly tired yet I slept well last night. maybe it's the time change. Got a lot of good pictures though, especially during the tour of the city center. Most exciting part of the day...eating a döner. Different yet kind of tasty...although not my favorite.

It's only my second day here and overall...Germany is amazing. This trip is off to a great start. Funniest thing I've learned so far...stare your neighbor in the eye when making a toast or you'll have 7 years of bad sex...YIKES...lol.

Oh my Lanta!

This past weekend we travelled to Prague. Besides getting lost in the train station of a brief period, the trip went pretty smoothely. The first thing you notice about Prague is how beautiful it is. Everywhere you look, you want to take a picture. Word for the wise: "Camera batteries are NOT everlasting, despite what the little pink bunnies might tell you." But locals are happy to sell you batteries for only 100 Kc a pack. Another plus about Prague is you become excessively wealthy as soon as you cross the Czech boarder. You take out $50 and get 1000 Kc!! An American's dream. We stayed at a nice little hostel called "Chili." It was about 15euro a night, decently clean, but nothing too spectactular. You got what you paid for. But the staff was friendly and extremely helpful, and all the guests there were in the 20-25 year age group so there was always an adventure to be taken. We mainly just walked around the entire city hitting the main touristy attractions and stopping whenever we saw a cool shop. We walked all day/night, but it was well worth it and never seemed to get tiring. Prague was a really amazing experience. Tonight we are back in Berlin and oh my lanta, it is freezing!! We have, yet again, an early morning, but should be exciting. We are going to lab tours at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine. Can't wait!

Praha

As I sat on the train on my way to Prague, I couldn't believe how beautiful the scenery was outside. There was snow covering all the houses, buildings, and little town squares. What i saw is nearly indescribable. I was slightlz nervous about being off on our own in another country with a different language, but so far Caitlyn, Joanna, and I have been able to get around well and not get lost. After New Years Eve the night before we decided to sleep ini and take the later train, so we arrived in Prague at about 5:30 and just walked around Old Time Square that night.

One of the things I will probably never forget about this excursion is the hostel we stayed in. It probably wasn't the worst one we could have gotten, but it was so cold that we had to sleep in all our clothes at night- our coat, jeans, and many many layers.

The next day was extremely better. We ate at the most amazing restaurant called U Fleku, founded in 1499. It was great Czech food-I had roasted pork with the most AMAZING bread and potato dumplings. We were also served some great Czech beer and some cinnamon-y shots (yes, at lunchtime!) as well as being able to listen to three guzs playing the accordian and trumpet. This was probably my favorite restaurant yet and would go back in a heartbeat.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the scenery by going to see Charles Bridge, Powder Tower, Prague Castle, The Dancing Hall, and a ton of other beautiful buildings. Everywhere you looked in Prague was pure beauty especially with the snow! After our day, we decided to not stay in our hostel again and took the 3:30 train back to Berlin so we could have the day to rest. We spent our time waiting for the train by hanging out at an Irish pub and met and English band named The Paperboys (maybe someday they'll be famous!!) and some other people from Luxemborg. I would love to go back to Prague, but only if I got to stay in a hotel and it was a bit warmer. Also, the people weren't as nice and we all missed the people of Germany.

Prague

Prague started off as a disaster. We arrived at our hostel around 7:30 and it took us 30 minutes just to get our keys. Once we had the keys and our room number we started the long treck up four flights of winding stairs to our hostel. When we opened the door we found our room trashed, beds slept in, and windows open. The room smelled like a cigarette. They let us exchange our room for another one that was at least clean, but the beds still weren't anything to I'd look forward to sleeping in. After this experience I'm not sure I ever want to stay in a hostel again!

After a rough nights sleep we up still tired, sore, and hungry. We wanted to eat original Czech cuisine so we asked around for a suggestion. U Fleku was the restaurant we decided to try. The food and beer were amaying! Right when we sat down they handed each of us a one of their famous beers. It tasted even better than German beer to me, which is something I didn't think was possible. I had beef tende and bread dumplings to eat. Unfortunately the food was so good I cleaned my entire plate. This meal was by far the best I've had on the trip. They also had a band playing that would walk around and serenade different tables. The music they played was a little odd but I stil enjoyed it. I loved everything about this restaurant, the food, the waiters, the beer, the entertainment, and the atomosphere. It just might be my favorite restaurant in the world!

Satuday night we decided to go to an Irish pub. It had great music and good beer. We met several people from different places around the world. Including a band from England called The Paper Boys. I hope they become famous one day so that I can tell the story of how I met them!
We left the pub around 2:00 and boarded a 3:30 a.m. train back to Berlin. We thought it was a prettz good idea at the time but the train was packed and we hadn't made reservations because the lady at the train station told us it wasn't necessary. We had to sit on the floor by the bathroom for nearly 8 hours. It should have only been a 5 hour train ride but it was 8 hours due to a 3 hour delay in Dresden. Needless to say we weren't very happy. We arrived in Berlin around 11:00, ate some lunch at the hotel, and passed out in our clean warm beds.

I've had so many wonderful experiences on this trip and cannot wait for more to come. We have the city tour of Berlin tomorrow. Everyone better bundle up because I'm sure it is going to be a cold one!

The weather has gotten really cold compared to Bonn and it was tough to get used to at first, but once you learn to put on a lot of layers it isn’t that bad. The busy schedule has already started to take a toll on me, we see so much in such little time and are constantly travelling. It is amazing how ordinary buildings in Europe look so much better than they do in the US but I guess that goes with the amount of history behind everything. It is weird how none of the natives really pay much attention towards any of the historical landmarks, but that makes sense because that is all they ever really see.

I have tried a lot of new food and drinks and I would say I have mixed feelings about them. The food is really good, but I miss American food and I miss knowing what everything on the menu actually is. The thing I miss the most though, is ice. None of the drinks over here ever have ice and it didn’t bother me at first, but after a week I just want my drinks to be cold and stay cold through the entire meal. Also, I miss American soft drinks because they actually taste good and the soft drinks here taste funny.

Overall, I am having a great time though and I am very glad I decided to go on this trip. I have met so many cool people and had plenty of unforgettable experiences and its only been one week. I can’t wait to see what happens the rest of the trip.

Prague

So I am in Prague right now and I think it is me new favorite city. It is just so pretty everywhere you go, from the buildings to the scenery, from the castles to the bridges. We walked everywhere today just taking it in. First we went to the castle. It took us forever to walk there because we all stopped every few seconds to take pictures. The main bridge across the river is awesome. There are statues every few meters with incredible detail, as well as musicians playing. This one violinist was playing ave maria and it was so beautiful. The castle was cool. We got there on the hour so we could see the changing of the guard which was very interesting. The cathedral inside was so beautiful. I know i said that the one in cologne was amazing, but this one was right up there with it. It wasn't as big, but the artwork and architecture and stuff inside was amazing. So after that we went to the astronomical clock tower, which is this beautiful tower with this huge clock that i cant read because its an astronomical clock, but its beautiful. We stayed for the hour change because on the hour these statues come out and circle around it and bells ring. There was a church next to it that we went in after that. This one was a lot smaller than the other one, but the amount of art per square foot along with the beauty of the sculptures surpasses both of them. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside because it would damage the art, but i could have stood in there all day admiring it. I would say that so far Prague is my favorite city that I have been to.

Berlin and Prague

Though I was only there for one day, Berlin was an amazing city. The amount of culture and excitement that everyone there felt was intoxicating to say the least. Every German there was enthusiastic and downright proud to be a German. There was one experience, though, that really stood out in Berlin. Maggie, Phillip, and I met a Berliner and his daughter while we were waiting for the tram to take us back from the new years party. We got into a conversation concerning Americans, Germans, and the corresponding relationship. The man talked about how he felt a slight resentment and distrust for the American government. It was amazing the amount of intelligence he displayed concerning the subject while speaking in English. He talked about how the past only points to the future and how studying America´s history demonstrates the a trend for the future. But he did allow for us to make points concerning the change we hope for in Barrack Obama, and he even agreed with us, saying that he hoped our generation would bring about a new America, a better America. It was quite an experience seeing and understanding how the world felt about America through the eyes of this man.
Moving on to our trip to Prague for the free weekend, the city is gorgeous. I really wasnt expecting the types of churches and buildings that we saw here. We took our own little tour of the city, visiting the castle, watching the guards change post at the wall, checking out every church we saw, seeing the astronomical clock change hour and even going up to the top of the tower for a breathtaking view of the city. The food here isn´t quite as good as Germany, but everything else lived up to and surpassed expectations. If I had to choose one city as my favorite so far, it would be Praha.

New Years Eve and Berlin

When I last left off I believe I was packing everything up and preparing to leave Bonn. Well when we got to Berlin there was snow everywhere. After making the trip to the hotel we set out to go to the party mile at the Brandenburg gate. That was a New Year's party like one I have never been to in my life. There were thousands of people. I even met these guys that graduated from A&M in 2005. The bands there really liked to play American music and apparently the Germans are big fans of it. One the way back we got a little lost due to an issue at the subway station. Looking at the map first in this case would have really helped our cause.

After the long night I looked forward to sleeping in on Friday which was accomplished. I kept it simple for the day and just went to the Alexanderplatz to eat and take some pictures. I did meet some Australians while I was eating lunch. They were a fun group to talk to. Other than that nothing really eventful happened just took it easy and took pictures.

Trip to Prauge!

The train to Prauge was a a four hour ride which gave us a lot of time to think and talk. One of the things that was so surprising to me was the lecture Dr.Wasser gave on T4 because it was something I had never heard of. It was intersting when Dr.Wasser poined things out making it more surreal.For example that I could have possibly survived only because I had blonde hair and blue eyes. I can't wrap my head around what it must have been like to live in Germany during those days, worrying about someone capturing you and putting you in a camp all because of what you looked like. It was alaso surprising to me when Dr.Wasser showed us propaganda that the Germans posted and they put the U.S. flag to support their cause because at one point we implemeneted a sterilazation program for people who we felt should not be able to procreate.
I am excited to visit prauge, I have heard it is a beutiful city with lots of things to see and do. Til' next time.

and more thoughts...

After being in Germany for a few days I definitely miss the practice of chivalry.  Everyone around here seems to truly believe in equality.  Which I guess isn't  entirely bad.  I'm sure women are paid the same as men here and hold just as many high postion jobs; however, I'd prefer a little of both worlds.  I'd love to be considered an equal in all situations and also have my doors opened for me!  

The trip to the Body Worlds exhibit was interesting to say the least.  I've never experienced anything quite like it before.  I've always said that when I die I want to donate my body to science, but after seeing the exhibit it frightens me.  I know it is a great learning tool but when I saw the bodies all I could concentrate on were who the people were.  What was their name?  How did they die?  How would they feel about their body being displayed this way.  I thought the exhibit was a wonderful contribution to science but I'm uncertain where I stand of the morality of the exhibit.

Well my stomach is growling so it is time to grab some original Czech cuisine!  I'll let y'all know what I think!

Today is only day 5 of the trip and I have already had a blast. I was looking forward to this trip, but wasn't to sure how much I would like Germany. I was expecting to have more fun on the free weekends visiting Paris and Prauge. However, it really surprised me that I fell in love with Germany. I love and the rich history, beutiful scenery, and helpful people. I have really liked taking all the city tours, it is in interesting to know the history behind everything. Learning about Germany history during World War II is so different from the states. It makes it so much more real when your standing in the city center and they explain to you that this huge cathedral was the only thing stading after the city was bombed, it is truely uncomprehensible.
Being here with two of my Best Friends has also helped being comfortable and not becoming to overwhelmed. When leaving the states I knew I was going to a country where they didn't speak english (although many do) , however I was still overwhelmed riding the subways not understanding a word that came overhead or any of the signs. Surprisingly we came with familiar with the subway system quite quickly, however we used the color systems for stops than the actual name for them. However, I know really want to learn German. Everyone we met knew at least 2 or 3 languages, I felt so ignorant only knowing English. In bonn we had a blast experiencing the night life, which is a lot different then in the States. All the food and drinks were amazing. The people we met were also wonderful, in Germany chilvalry isn't dead.