First Adventures in Germany!

Ever since I have arrived in Germany it has already been an adventure. Both flights here were great, and I got lucky, because two of the other students in the program happened to have the same flight itinerary as I did, so that eased a little bit of my initial traveling anxieties, while also giving me the chance to get to know a couple of my peers right off the bat!

The first couple of days, we stayed in dorms in Bonn. It was nice having our own building and also having Olaf there, who cooked great breakfasts for us each morning we were there. Dr. Rainer gave us a tour of the city of Bonn, and a man named Andre gave us a guided tour of Cologne and the cathedral there the next day. The golden coffin which holds the remains of the three wisemen is in that cathedral which I found very interesting, and somewhat surreal. We also heard a proffessor speak about Homeopathy, which is an alternative medicine that utilizes plants, minerals, and animials for healing. It was quite interesting to me, personally, because I had never been formally taught about anything like that before. Wasser also gave a lecture on the history and evolution of Euthanasia, which was not only very interesting and enlightening, but a little horrifying to hear about all the different ''reasons'' they would kill people that were considered to have no reason to live. (i.e. the mentally and physically disabled, people that werent within the ''preferred'' race, etc.)

We then made our way to Berlin, but not in the way we had originally planned! We arrived at the airport only to find out that our tickets had never been formally confirmed and the plane was full. Thankfully, Wasser was able to get us all tickets on the high speed train and we made it in time for the New Years Festival in Berlin. That was so much fun, but also very crowded and crazy!

The next day was a free day in Berlin, and 11 of us students took the subway to northern Berlin to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp there. It was a very moving experience that I think everyone should have a chance to do. The weather was strangly appropriate for the occasion also, I think, because it was a overcast and foggy day, with a constant light snow for most of the day.

Today we took a bus tour of Berlin, seeing the Holocaust Memorial, the remains of the Berlin wall, and the Embassies of various countries, among MANY other things. So far, I have found the German people to be very friendly, and it seems that all of them are fluent, or at least know much of the english lanuage, and are willing to help out a lost American tourist such as myself. :)
The first free weekend is already almost here, so Prauge, here I come!