Europe, here I come!

After having traveled to Germany for my first time over Spring Break, I am extremely excited about visiting again. It was my first time to travel to Europe and I absolutely loved and enjoyed my week there. Because I traveled with my boyfriend to visit a friend of ours that was studying in Germany at the time, I am quite nervous about making this trip all on my own. My anxieties come from knowing how confusing and frightening airports can be, especially in other countries! I just want to get there with my luggage and without getting lost!

I imagine that I will truly enjoy being involved with the AIB program and being guided throughout this entire experience because I know that I will be provided with a schedule that will allow me to experience the most within the five weeks I am there. I am anxious to learn about Germany and its medical history while I am there surrounded by the culture. Seeing the buildings and visiting the places that are spoken about in books and during lectures makes the lessons dimensional and fun.

For our weekend travel, many of us have already planned out where we would like to go and what we could possibly do and I cannot wait because I have never visited any other country in Europe aside from Germany. At the end of each week I will be able to visit a new country and experience a different culture. It's like visiting the children's museum where they have a different country set-up in each room but the food on the tables will be real and the culture will be lively. I cannot wait to visit Italy! I have always had an interest in ancient italian art and am planning on visiting an art museum. Other travel plans include going to Switzerland, Prague, and France.

I have always been a very sheltered person; always shy, reserved, and dependent on others for the most part so I am proud of myself for taking this trip. I will get to know people that I don't, visit places that I haven't, and do things that I have never even thought of doing all without my comfort blanket. I have to say that I am having trouble fitting five weeks of my life in a small suitcase but it excites me to see just how little I can get by with when I typically take five bags just for a weekend trip home.

I have communicated with my host mother through email. She is actually retiring the day before I arrive! She told me that she has a daughter and that another student will be staying with us for half of the trip. However, her daughter will be studying in Spain the entire time we are there so, I will not be able to meet her. I guess that since neither of us will have our mother-daughter counterparts we can fill the voids and get along just great.

With just a little over a week until take-off, I am nervous, anxious, afraid, excited, and just a little overwhelmed but I know it will be amazing!