Goodbye Host Family, Hello Berlin

It was so hard yesterday to say goodbye. I know realistically I probably won't ever see my host family again. They gave us so much, teaching us about their culture and the language as well as just welcoming us into their family. I could never have asked for better hosts. They made me feel at home almost. Whenever we came back from the weekends or long excursions I always felt like I was coming home. They kept wanting our flights to be canceled so we would have to come back and stay with them. They also offered us and our family or friends a place to stay if we were ever in Dusseldorf again. It was just amazing the kindness the showed us. I have great respect for how they are constantly opening up their home to foreign exchange students. Julia will leave in a week for Michigan to go to school for a year. I would be freaking out if I were her, but she is so excited and not nervous at all. I know she is going to have a wonderful experience there. I hope I can keep up with my family through e-mails. I am going to really miss them for awhile once I'm home again. I almost lost it yesterday when we had to say goodbye. I don't know how they do that every year with new students. They have made me want to host students once I have a home to host them in. Of course I only speak English so that might not be the ideal situation. We'll see.

I have discovered my least favorite aspect of the trip. Moving to Berlin. I think the program should be restructured so that the second week we go to Munich and the fourth week we go to Berlin. It was incredibly inconvenient to pack everything up and move, knowing I would just have to repack in a couple of days all over again. It would be much easier if we just packed for a couple of days instead of the five weeks. After I was packed I almost wanted to go to the airport instead of loading everything on a train. Also, it would be so much more affordable to buy plane tickets when you arrive and leave from the same city. This trip is already very expensive, and it would be nice to leave from in airport we already somewhat know, especially in a foreign country.

I am loving Berlin! I really enjoyed the bike tour yesterday. I really miss riding my bike. I was pretty nervous during some parts though, especially when Hannah and Jon almost got ran over. This is definitely a gorgeous city with lots to see. Today our visit to the Molecular Medicine Center was awesome! I really enjoyed learning about all the research going on, especially the stem cells advancements they are making. The tele-medicine room was incredible! It was wonderful how they incorporate so many different areas of science to create such useful products. Today was one of the best excursions of the trip, right behind the Heart and Diabetes Center.