Nose bleeds are unexpected, unavoidable, and in most public social circles (minus fighting) is considered disguesting.
Caitlyn and I located ourselves into some seats facing an elderly couple for our train ride back to Bonn from the Zoo in Cologne. I settled in and pulled out my book and just when i was about to start enjoying it I felt a tickle in my nose. Being sick and all I was prepared for this and pulled out my tissues to blow my nose. When I felt I could get no more out from my labors, I continued to read my book. And wouldn't you know it, I felt my nose start to drip again! I thought nose this is getting rediculous to which it replied you don't even knose the half of it. (I know it's corny but I had to throw that in there.) Before I could get another tissue out, it dripped onto my shirt. I looked down at it out of habit and realized it was blood! I got a little bit of toilet paper out in time to stop the on pour but knew it would not be enough. I needed back ups! Luckily Caitlyn also had some tissues that were much thicker than the toilet paper I was using. Several pieces were used but it finally stopped after sometime.
But you know what? Despite haveing blood on my WHITE shirt, back pack and hands and the annoyance of an unexpected nose bleed, I felt more sorry for the elderly couple sitting across from me than I did for myself. Here they were trying to enjoy a quiet pleasent train ride, and I show up. Bleeding from the nose and causing such a rukus to fix the situation. All the while I'm right in front of them. They can't really avoid looking at the scene unfolding in front of them. They tried. From the little bit I could see of them behind the tissue, I could tell the old lady directly in front of me was very disgusted and trying very hard to avoid looking at me. She would gaze out the window on her left or look at her husband on her right, but staring off into space looking forward was out of the question.
One can't really be mad at the person for the nose bleed, but a part of you wants to because they're inadvertently forcing you to watch something grose. Not like horror movie grose but like changing a poopy diaper grose. Unavoidable and necessary to take care of.
-Stephanie
Friday, July 31, 2009
July 27, 2009
So we're on our way home from Italy now and I really wish we didn't have to leave. I love it here, this is by far my favorite city. The sunsets, beaches, atmosphere, food.. Italy has it all.
Although our Italian experience was wonderful, it was a rocky road getting here. Wow, there's so much to say about our trip here and I don't think I can even express in words the emotions I had on our journey. We started by flying from Vienna to Milan. The plane ride was short, but I was scared for my life for the hour we were in the air. I felt like the plane was about to crash at any moment. I think the pilot was playing tricks on us.. he wanted to see all the looks on our faces everytime my head hit the wall.
But we got there safe. From the Milan airport, we took a bus to the train station. Here, we walked around Milan for a while, got a glass of wine, and headed for the train to Verona. When we got to Verona, there was two hours until our next train (Note this is at 2 am). So, we find our platform and decide to try and get some sleep. That is until the crazy couple next to us started fighting and yelling. I found it hard to sleep when all I could hear was "To hell with you" and "F*** you" over an over again. I think those were the only english words they knew. Shortly after they finish, one of the many creepy homeless guys taking shelter in the train station came up to Coral and Laura to beg for money. I was about to pee my pants. Justin got up and scared him off. I don't know if I would be able to still tell this story if Justin wasn't with us on this trip...
So we move. Coral, Laura and I start playing SkipBo while Justin layed on the nasty floor to sleep. As the constant flow of creepy homeless guys pass us, we figure out that the train has been sitting there. We get on and no one speaks english, there are no seats, and we find our home on the floor. Next to the trash cans. And we go to sleep.
We got to Venice and it was beautiful! And then everything was wonderful :)
Although our Italian experience was wonderful, it was a rocky road getting here. Wow, there's so much to say about our trip here and I don't think I can even express in words the emotions I had on our journey. We started by flying from Vienna to Milan. The plane ride was short, but I was scared for my life for the hour we were in the air. I felt like the plane was about to crash at any moment. I think the pilot was playing tricks on us.. he wanted to see all the looks on our faces everytime my head hit the wall.
But we got there safe. From the Milan airport, we took a bus to the train station. Here, we walked around Milan for a while, got a glass of wine, and headed for the train to Verona. When we got to Verona, there was two hours until our next train (Note this is at 2 am). So, we find our platform and decide to try and get some sleep. That is until the crazy couple next to us started fighting and yelling. I found it hard to sleep when all I could hear was "To hell with you" and "F*** you" over an over again. I think those were the only english words they knew. Shortly after they finish, one of the many creepy homeless guys taking shelter in the train station came up to Coral and Laura to beg for money. I was about to pee my pants. Justin got up and scared him off. I don't know if I would be able to still tell this story if Justin wasn't with us on this trip...
So we move. Coral, Laura and I start playing SkipBo while Justin layed on the nasty floor to sleep. As the constant flow of creepy homeless guys pass us, we figure out that the train has been sitting there. We get on and no one speaks english, there are no seats, and we find our home on the floor. Next to the trash cans. And we go to sleep.
We got to Venice and it was beautiful! And then everything was wonderful :)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
I Think I am in Love
So here we are after our two week long excursion living out of our backpacks while travelling throughout the continent of Europe, and we finally made it back home. It is funny that home has become a relative term because we all have parents' homes, and homes in College Station, but for now, our home is Bonn. And just like the first time in college, or the first time studying abroad, leaving home is hard to do.
Upon departing our early arriving train at 520 am, the air seemed a little bit crisper, the sparce amount of people people a little bit friendlier, the döner shopps a little bit more delicious, and the streets a lot more familiar. So my initial deep breath of relief that we made it back from our sixteen hour trian ride was both comforting and realxing in that I felt at home once again.
The fifteen minute walk through the early morning, dew covered streets of downtown Bonn was an eye-opening experience for me and gave me a new perspective on the town. Despite the fact that I had on my spine-deformingly heavy duffle bag across my shoulder , the pain seemed to vanish when I was able to reflect and see the city in this way. I was virtually the only person in the streets, and the solitary walking helped me to see the essence of little Bonn. From the Beethoven statue and Münster cathedral in Münsterplatz to the Sterntor and the quasi-deserted Friedensplatz, the atmosphere seemed to calm any nerves that I had from the two week excursion and our subsequent arrival in Bonn. It made me appreciate and cherish the memories that were made in these locations across the city. With the formation of eternal friendships in our first days, pictures with complete strangers during the scavenger hunt, pizzas at the snack shop behind the Sterntor before the train departed for Amsterdam, innumberable stops to the T-mobile store, frequent ice cream cones and fun-filled trips through the Marktplatz, how can this be forgotten? So there I was, half-way home in the early hours of Monday morning contemplating if going to class was still an option (which I think was a side-effect of the long train and the early awakening haha), schlepping my deceivingly heavy duffle bag through the quaint cobblestoned streets, when I realized that this was the start of my last week in Bonn.
So after the existential fog cleared from my head, I was promptly in class at 8 am for our fun-filled first day back. We started with a Rhine Cruise from Bacharach, which was very relaxing. The warm sun and the gorgeous landscapes was a great way to spend the afternoon. The hike up to the Marksburg was long and quite the contrast from the relaxing cruise atmosphere. I thought that it was very interesting how the tour guide was an actual resident of the estate! It brought a strange modern sense to the medieval architectrue of the castle. To end the day, we had a fantastic evening with the wine tasting at the Arwheiler. The endless wine, cheese, and bread was a perfect end to the first day back.
Each day that passed brought me a little closer to the realization that I would be leaving Bonn for what very well could be the rest of my life...this hurts to think about. Friday morning arrived and I had to part ways with my host mom. This was sad, but I thinnk that the experiences that we had were great memories, and I think that the host family experience is one that should not be taken for gratned on a trip such as this one.
Anyways the week went by fast and before I knew it the end of the week had come and we were sitting in the Köln zoo. I thought that this was a great day excursion because the zoo was always one of my favorite places to visit as a child. The guide was also informative on the different types of animals and their individual characteristics. There was a baby elephant that was born recently at the zoo, and although I didn't see it with my own eyes, Stephanie got a picture of it in between the other elephants. It was neat to see how small the baby was when compared with the mature elephants in the group. After this exhibition, we made our ways and actually left for the weekend and our excursion in Berlin.
Bonn, I will miss you and I will always consider you my home away from home.
Matt
Upon departing our early arriving train at 520 am, the air seemed a little bit crisper, the sparce amount of people people a little bit friendlier, the döner shopps a little bit more delicious, and the streets a lot more familiar. So my initial deep breath of relief that we made it back from our sixteen hour trian ride was both comforting and realxing in that I felt at home once again.
The fifteen minute walk through the early morning, dew covered streets of downtown Bonn was an eye-opening experience for me and gave me a new perspective on the town. Despite the fact that I had on my spine-deformingly heavy duffle bag across my shoulder , the pain seemed to vanish when I was able to reflect and see the city in this way. I was virtually the only person in the streets, and the solitary walking helped me to see the essence of little Bonn. From the Beethoven statue and Münster cathedral in Münsterplatz to the Sterntor and the quasi-deserted Friedensplatz, the atmosphere seemed to calm any nerves that I had from the two week excursion and our subsequent arrival in Bonn. It made me appreciate and cherish the memories that were made in these locations across the city. With the formation of eternal friendships in our first days, pictures with complete strangers during the scavenger hunt, pizzas at the snack shop behind the Sterntor before the train departed for Amsterdam, innumberable stops to the T-mobile store, frequent ice cream cones and fun-filled trips through the Marktplatz, how can this be forgotten? So there I was, half-way home in the early hours of Monday morning contemplating if going to class was still an option (which I think was a side-effect of the long train and the early awakening haha), schlepping my deceivingly heavy duffle bag through the quaint cobblestoned streets, when I realized that this was the start of my last week in Bonn.
So after the existential fog cleared from my head, I was promptly in class at 8 am for our fun-filled first day back. We started with a Rhine Cruise from Bacharach, which was very relaxing. The warm sun and the gorgeous landscapes was a great way to spend the afternoon. The hike up to the Marksburg was long and quite the contrast from the relaxing cruise atmosphere. I thought that it was very interesting how the tour guide was an actual resident of the estate! It brought a strange modern sense to the medieval architectrue of the castle. To end the day, we had a fantastic evening with the wine tasting at the Arwheiler. The endless wine, cheese, and bread was a perfect end to the first day back.
Each day that passed brought me a little closer to the realization that I would be leaving Bonn for what very well could be the rest of my life...this hurts to think about. Friday morning arrived and I had to part ways with my host mom. This was sad, but I thinnk that the experiences that we had were great memories, and I think that the host family experience is one that should not be taken for gratned on a trip such as this one.
Anyways the week went by fast and before I knew it the end of the week had come and we were sitting in the Köln zoo. I thought that this was a great day excursion because the zoo was always one of my favorite places to visit as a child. The guide was also informative on the different types of animals and their individual characteristics. There was a baby elephant that was born recently at the zoo, and although I didn't see it with my own eyes, Stephanie got a picture of it in between the other elephants. It was neat to see how small the baby was when compared with the mature elephants in the group. After this exhibition, we made our ways and actually left for the weekend and our excursion in Berlin.
Bonn, I will miss you and I will always consider you my home away from home.
Matt
My advice: Don't Jump
Upon arriving back in Bonn at around 545am from Venice, I had plenty of time to go back to Roisdorf, shower, and be at the old AIB by 8am. From here we went on a Rhine cruise that showed us beautiful villages, steep vineyards, and medieval castles. One could not have asked for better weather while we were set out on our voyage. Upon arriving in Brabach we took a tour of the only medieval castle on the Rhine that has not been destroyed at some point in history. That castle on the hill is exactly what I think of when I think castle, and naturally this made me very happy that we were given the opportunity to explore within its walls. Once inside we had got to look at suits of armor, old kitchenware, and torture devices (very cool stuff).
Side note about the Rhine cruise: I was talking to my host family last night and they told me that one of their previous host students went on this Rhine cruise with his program and was dared to jump off the boat, which he did! Ending in his expulsion from the program. I found this so bizarre.
The following day started with a discussion with Dr. Wasser about socialized medicine and rationing our health care. Singer presented a nice arguement in the New York Times in favor of this change. He has a wonderful way with rhetoric that makes the reader feel that after reading such an article that this change would be the way to go, however I believe that an equally skilled orator arguing in the opposing view would present a similar feeling upon the reader/listener. Now I will say that I would oppose complete socialization of medicine in our country, however I do not feel as if I have steadfast and firm confidence in our health insurance policies of today. Thus leaving me in the middle of the argument.
Anyway, I am really looking forward to the zoo and what the rest of this week has in store!!!!
Roger
Side note about the Rhine cruise: I was talking to my host family last night and they told me that one of their previous host students went on this Rhine cruise with his program and was dared to jump off the boat, which he did! Ending in his expulsion from the program. I found this so bizarre.
The following day started with a discussion with Dr. Wasser about socialized medicine and rationing our health care. Singer presented a nice arguement in the New York Times in favor of this change. He has a wonderful way with rhetoric that makes the reader feel that after reading such an article that this change would be the way to go, however I believe that an equally skilled orator arguing in the opposing view would present a similar feeling upon the reader/listener. Now I will say that I would oppose complete socialization of medicine in our country, however I do not feel as if I have steadfast and firm confidence in our health insurance policies of today. Thus leaving me in the middle of the argument.
Anyway, I am really looking forward to the zoo and what the rest of this week has in store!!!!
Roger
Dearest Bonn, you will always have my heart.
I have enjoyed this last week in Bonn very much and am definitely going to miss calling it home. On Tuesday I had the pleasure of taking my very first cruise and along the Rhine River of all places. The weather was perfect and the atmosphere relaxing as we cruised past small towns and large mountains. Many people took this opportunity to take a nap in the summer sun but I was enjoying the sights far too much to sleep. Although the castles were quite impressive, I would have to say that the best part of the trip was when Sarah, Jenna and I kindly asked a gentlemen also riding on the ship to take a picture of us. Of course, we got his attention by asking, "Entschuldigung, can you take our picture?" with his response being a grunt and a stumble towards the outside deck of the ship. After five minutes of waiting for the ship to reach the next town for a nicer looking background, the man finally decides to take our picture. After another five minutes of posing, he says "I need to take a picture, not a video." Let's just say it was one of the funniest videos I have ever seen; three girls smiling while constantly fixing their hair as it is being blown in the wind with the camera being slung about by a very confused photographer.
After the cruise, we had lunch and marched our way up to the Marksburg Castle very full and very sleepy. It was neat to see the living quarters of medieval times and/or modern times considering our tour guide actually lives there today. My favorite part of the day however, was the wine tasting. After a short tour of the winery, we were seated and provided with an overwhelming amount of food to accompany the five different wines we were going to taste. After approximately five sandwiches each, one white wine, one rose wine, and three red wines, we were all pretty happy.
These past two days I have really enjoyed the free time here in Bonn. Today I decided to make a trip to the Akademisches Kunstmuseum der Universität Bonn because of my love for ancient Greek and Roman art. After figuring out that what looks like the front entrance is just for show and finally making my way to the back of the building, I walked inside and my mouth literally dropped in awe. The lady at the front desk did not speak english but we were able to communicate enough for me to know that I had 30 minutes to look around and absorb what was before me. To avoid exaggeration I will just provide the information that I found in the brochure: plaster casts of 300 statues, 200 reliefs, and 2000 original objects of marble, terracotta and bronze. There before me were all the figures I had studied in art history from the early archaic period to the expressive forms found in later times. I took pictures of and with Athena and Apollo, Aphrodite and Hercules, the Winged Victory if Samothrace. And then I walked into the room with the pots, vases and drinking cups or kylix. The intricate designs on these vessels get me every time. I was honestly like a kid in a candy store. Oh, Bonn, you will be missed.
Tomorrow we are going to the Köln Zoo, which will be so much fun! And then off to Paris! I could not ask for a better week.
Brittany
After the cruise, we had lunch and marched our way up to the Marksburg Castle very full and very sleepy. It was neat to see the living quarters of medieval times and/or modern times considering our tour guide actually lives there today. My favorite part of the day however, was the wine tasting. After a short tour of the winery, we were seated and provided with an overwhelming amount of food to accompany the five different wines we were going to taste. After approximately five sandwiches each, one white wine, one rose wine, and three red wines, we were all pretty happy.
These past two days I have really enjoyed the free time here in Bonn. Today I decided to make a trip to the Akademisches Kunstmuseum der Universität Bonn because of my love for ancient Greek and Roman art. After figuring out that what looks like the front entrance is just for show and finally making my way to the back of the building, I walked inside and my mouth literally dropped in awe. The lady at the front desk did not speak english but we were able to communicate enough for me to know that I had 30 minutes to look around and absorb what was before me. To avoid exaggeration I will just provide the information that I found in the brochure: plaster casts of 300 statues, 200 reliefs, and 2000 original objects of marble, terracotta and bronze. There before me were all the figures I had studied in art history from the early archaic period to the expressive forms found in later times. I took pictures of and with Athena and Apollo, Aphrodite and Hercules, the Winged Victory if Samothrace. And then I walked into the room with the pots, vases and drinking cups or kylix. The intricate designs on these vessels get me every time. I was honestly like a kid in a candy store. Oh, Bonn, you will be missed.
Tomorrow we are going to the Köln Zoo, which will be so much fun! And then off to Paris! I could not ask for a better week.
Brittany
I am going to miss Bonn
I wish we could have spent some more time in Bonn with our host families. This is not to say I haven't loved the excursions.
On Tuesday we went on the cruise down the Rhine River. That was a lot of fun. It is so gorgeous. I took so many pictures! We were lucky and had amazing weather. After the two hour boat ride we got off and had some lunch. I have noticed that I barely eat vegetables here and my stomach has paid the price. I appreciate getting to eat German food but I think I am ready to eat some healthier foods now. After eating we “marched” up to the Marksburg castle. That was impressive! I can't even image how old that building is. It is impossible for me to imagine buildings being older than the USA because I am so used to thinking everything made over fifty years ago is old. The view from the castle was almost equally impressive. I can't wait to show my parents the pictures from this whole trip! Our last stop for the night was the wine tasting. I honestly liked all the wines we tried. That was a fun experience. I think I am going to try to go to some more wine tastings now.
Last night my host mom took me to the park in Bonn for a concert. They were playing Aracbic music. We rode our bikes there. It was a gorgeous half hour ride. The only thing that could make it better was if I didn't have to carefully jump off the bike each time I must brake. Sometimes its not fun being 5 feet tall. We went with one of her old friends. She was from Poland and didn't speak much English but I found myself being able to get the general idea of what they were talking about. We all had a lot of fun! I really love the vibe here in Bonn and I am going to miss it here a lot when we leave. Maybe I should learn German and just move here...
On Tuesday we went on the cruise down the Rhine River. That was a lot of fun. It is so gorgeous. I took so many pictures! We were lucky and had amazing weather. After the two hour boat ride we got off and had some lunch. I have noticed that I barely eat vegetables here and my stomach has paid the price. I appreciate getting to eat German food but I think I am ready to eat some healthier foods now. After eating we “marched” up to the Marksburg castle. That was impressive! I can't even image how old that building is. It is impossible for me to imagine buildings being older than the USA because I am so used to thinking everything made over fifty years ago is old. The view from the castle was almost equally impressive. I can't wait to show my parents the pictures from this whole trip! Our last stop for the night was the wine tasting. I honestly liked all the wines we tried. That was a fun experience. I think I am going to try to go to some more wine tastings now.
Last night my host mom took me to the park in Bonn for a concert. They were playing Aracbic music. We rode our bikes there. It was a gorgeous half hour ride. The only thing that could make it better was if I didn't have to carefully jump off the bike each time I must brake. Sometimes its not fun being 5 feet tall. We went with one of her old friends. She was from Poland and didn't speak much English but I found myself being able to get the general idea of what they were talking about. We all had a lot of fun! I really love the vibe here in Bonn and I am going to miss it here a lot when we leave. Maybe I should learn German and just move here...
last days in bonn :[
tomorrow and i guess technically sunday evening will be our last days in Bonn. i wish we had more time to spend in Bonn. its a great atmosphere with affordable food and shopping. not to mention the delicious fruit you can buy in the marketplatz.
last night i went out to dinner with my host family and we ate tapas at a cute little spanish restaurant. the food was good but the rabid wasps that kept landing on my face..not good. there are actually a few hole in the wall restaurants around bonn! hopefully i'll be able to make it back here in future years and enjoy this area again.
yesterday we had a heated debate about the american health care system. it was interesting to read that article and hear what the rest of the group had to say. i like debates because you can see who is truly passionate about their stance or who will waiver in the face of opposition. luckily our group is pretty head strong and everyone who was actively debating held their ground! sometimes we got off topic but i think alot of good ideas were brought to the table. all in all i guess the essense of the debate was there will always be a price on each human life one way or another, it is inevitable.
after that we had a full free day! some people went to the haribo outlet and the others went shopping. my group found an AMAZING accessory store and i bought some cute jewellry. i also found the cutest boots EVER... too bad they were 110 euros. my mom wouldn't have appreciated that purchase.
today we watched a movie about berlin wall. it was a very emotional movie and it sparked my interest to learn more about that period of germany's history. i have to admit, i honestly have very little knowledge about germany post WW2. i'm going to talk to my host dad about how we felt about the wall and what it was like growing up during that time!
we leave for paris tomorrow evening after we visit the Koln Zoo! update on that when we get back.
ciao,
s
last night i went out to dinner with my host family and we ate tapas at a cute little spanish restaurant. the food was good but the rabid wasps that kept landing on my face..not good. there are actually a few hole in the wall restaurants around bonn! hopefully i'll be able to make it back here in future years and enjoy this area again.
yesterday we had a heated debate about the american health care system. it was interesting to read that article and hear what the rest of the group had to say. i like debates because you can see who is truly passionate about their stance or who will waiver in the face of opposition. luckily our group is pretty head strong and everyone who was actively debating held their ground! sometimes we got off topic but i think alot of good ideas were brought to the table. all in all i guess the essense of the debate was there will always be a price on each human life one way or another, it is inevitable.
after that we had a full free day! some people went to the haribo outlet and the others went shopping. my group found an AMAZING accessory store and i bought some cute jewellry. i also found the cutest boots EVER... too bad they were 110 euros. my mom wouldn't have appreciated that purchase.
today we watched a movie about berlin wall. it was a very emotional movie and it sparked my interest to learn more about that period of germany's history. i have to admit, i honestly have very little knowledge about germany post WW2. i'm going to talk to my host dad about how we felt about the wall and what it was like growing up during that time!
we leave for paris tomorrow evening after we visit the Koln Zoo! update on that when we get back.
ciao,
s
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Crazy Venice (Last week)
Today I took a nap after our long long train ride. It felt really nice. The rest of our group made it to the bed and breakfast around 11. We all went to lunch together. I really didn't like the food and my chicken was really undercooked. Nicole ordered fish and was served a whole fish! She had some trouble eating it. The food here is so expensive!! Most of us then took the boat bus to St.Marks Square. It was so crowed but beautiful. We did a lot of walking around and shopping. I really like all the glass and I got some for my mom and myself. We all did a gondola ride together. That was so relaxing except I am pretty sure our driver was a little drunk. He was funny; he sang us songs and told us he was having a party tonight. The city is just incredible. It looks like a movie set! Its really easy to imagine Mozart walking around years and years ago. For dinner we had pizza. The pizza here is really good. Its a thin crust.
At night we all decided we wanted to check out the beach. Marco (person running the bed and breakfast recommended the rock beach) We follow his directions and soon find ourselves walking down a dirt road. No one had ever heard of a beach being at the end of a dirt road. We all keep walking though. I start to get a little freaked out and once we heard drumming I was freaked out big time. We still kept walking. Amazingly there was a beach at the end of this creepy dirt road. By the shore was a group of Indians playing tribal drums by the fire. They were dancing and it looked almost like some kind of ritual. I am now nervously laughing and have to breath in my towel to prevent hyperventilating. As we past them we can see two life sized voodoo dolls by the fire. I had never seen something so creepy before in my life. It was like the beginning of some horrible horror movie. I was so mad at the guys for making us keep going down the beach. We finally go out on some rock peninsula. It was actually peaceful watching the current and sitting under the stars. Andrew decides to jump in and we all get freaked out. Turns out it was still really shallow. Most of us join him in the water. Unfortunately there were clams on all the rocks which are sharp. As I tried to climb up a mossy rock the tide slammed me into the rock and then pulled me away. I was cut up pretty good. I didn't notice till I saw my knee covered in blood. It ended being a really fun night.
At night we all decided we wanted to check out the beach. Marco (person running the bed and breakfast recommended the rock beach) We follow his directions and soon find ourselves walking down a dirt road. No one had ever heard of a beach being at the end of a dirt road. We all keep walking though. I start to get a little freaked out and once we heard drumming I was freaked out big time. We still kept walking. Amazingly there was a beach at the end of this creepy dirt road. By the shore was a group of Indians playing tribal drums by the fire. They were dancing and it looked almost like some kind of ritual. I am now nervously laughing and have to breath in my towel to prevent hyperventilating. As we past them we can see two life sized voodoo dolls by the fire. I had never seen something so creepy before in my life. It was like the beginning of some horrible horror movie. I was so mad at the guys for making us keep going down the beach. We finally go out on some rock peninsula. It was actually peaceful watching the current and sitting under the stars. Andrew decides to jump in and we all get freaked out. Turns out it was still really shallow. Most of us join him in the water. Unfortunately there were clams on all the rocks which are sharp. As I tried to climb up a mossy rock the tide slammed me into the rock and then pulled me away. I was cut up pretty good. I didn't notice till I saw my knee covered in blood. It ended being a really fun night.
It's like time travel
This past weekend there were several of us that travelled for at least 28 hours, 12 hours to get to Venice and 16 to get back. Of that 28 total hours, I was probably awake and concious for about 7 hours, how wonderful! The ability to sleep in public places is a quality of mine that I possess and it came quite in handy this weekend while travelling. Our first directions to our hotel upon arriving in Venice was "take the water bus to lido". Yes that's right, water bus. Just about anytime you want to go to a different place in Venice you must go by water.
During the day Saturday a bunch of us went into town to visit the famous St. Mark's square. Let me tell you that the birds in this square are fearless. You can walk up to them and they dont budge an inch. I was observing this at one point when someone decided to throw some bread at the birds and let them eat. There was a frenzy around this bread which ended with me taking a wing to the face and a claw to the back. I'm scarred. But it was great.
Sunday was a day that I will not forget. We awoke quite early on this day where Marco made us breakfast, yogurt, bread, and espresso in a coffee cup. We then rode bikes throughout the island of Lido, occassionally stopping for a photo op or a closer look at a beautiful beach. After this we all decided to head to the SANDY beach where Justin, Andrew, and myself donned Speedos. Being slightly shy and awkward at first I quickly loosened up when I saw an 80 year old man waddle past me in the same attire that I was currently wearing. Besides having slightly pink upper thighs and a back with my own handprints from attempting to apply sunscreen, I was not very sunburned but rather had the time of my life.
Just keeps getting better and better.
Roger
During the day Saturday a bunch of us went into town to visit the famous St. Mark's square. Let me tell you that the birds in this square are fearless. You can walk up to them and they dont budge an inch. I was observing this at one point when someone decided to throw some bread at the birds and let them eat. There was a frenzy around this bread which ended with me taking a wing to the face and a claw to the back. I'm scarred. But it was great.
Sunday was a day that I will not forget. We awoke quite early on this day where Marco made us breakfast, yogurt, bread, and espresso in a coffee cup. We then rode bikes throughout the island of Lido, occassionally stopping for a photo op or a closer look at a beautiful beach. After this we all decided to head to the SANDY beach where Justin, Andrew, and myself donned Speedos. Being slightly shy and awkward at first I quickly loosened up when I saw an 80 year old man waddle past me in the same attire that I was currently wearing. Besides having slightly pink upper thighs and a back with my own handprints from attempting to apply sunscreen, I was not very sunburned but rather had the time of my life.
Just keeps getting better and better.
Roger
Gummy bears anyone?
So we are finally back home in Bonn! I really enjoyed the marathon of traveling we did over the past 2 weeks but it feels good to be back with my host family (and to not be carrying my luggage everywhere!) Yesterday we got to go on a Rhine cruise which was awesome. It was so relaxing to sit and watch all the pretty towns pass us by. Every town had old houses and a castle on a hill. It was a beautiful cruise. I did however get very sun burnt on my right arm,causing me to have an extremely hideous tan line from my shirt. After the cruise was over, we "marched" up a hill to the Marksburg castle. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic (probably because she lives in the castle!) which was good because I really enjoyed the tour. I learned the reason for the military salute and that the Marksburg is the only castle to never be conquered.
Today after class a small group of us went to the Haribo factory outlet. This was so cool because when you walk into the factory you are surrounded by gummy bears! If I was under the age of 12 I probably wouldn't be able to control myself around the open bins where you can try all the different kinds of candy! :) They also had a section with Ritter Sport chocolate, which is a German chocolate that hasn't made it to the states. For 11 euros, you could get a HUGE bag of chocolate. I split a bag with 2 other people and I still have an enormous amount.
~Sarah
Today after class a small group of us went to the Haribo factory outlet. This was so cool because when you walk into the factory you are surrounded by gummy bears! If I was under the age of 12 I probably wouldn't be able to control myself around the open bins where you can try all the different kinds of candy! :) They also had a section with Ritter Sport chocolate, which is a German chocolate that hasn't made it to the states. For 11 euros, you could get a HUGE bag of chocolate. I split a bag with 2 other people and I still have an enormous amount.
~Sarah
8 Friends + 28 Hours in a Train = 1 Long Weekend to Italy
So I think that the general atmosphere of the long weekend can be summed up in the following statement: "Dude...we're in Venice!!"
It is pretty safe to say that this weekend was definitely surreal and awe-inspiring. So initially getting to Venice was a 12 hour train ride, which would prove to be my first experience with the semi-claustrophobic atmosphere of the six person sleeper cars...definitely worth it. After I awoke from "time travelling" on the train, my first impressions were spectacular. Looking out the window in the morning I could see the green valleys and the rolling mountains that are in northern Italy, but most striking was the sounds of the somewhat irate Italian man talking lightspeed in Italian. This was the moment I knew that we had arrived haha.
Once we set foot in the train station, we immediately hopped on the water bus transportation system and headed off to the island where we would be staying, named Lido. The transportation in Venice was spectacular and an entirely new experience because of the fact that the city roadways are water as opposed to the conventional concrete and asphalt. Despite the fact that it took a long-ish time, and it was cramped and I was sweating, we made it to Lido unscathed. Marco was the owner of the hotel/bed-and-breakfast that we stayed in, and he was very helpful in any way possible. He provided us with food and directions and places to visit and eat, so pretty much he was a lifesaver. Anyways, after our arrival on the first day, a group of us travelled back into town to visit St. Mark's square. Although it was heavily populated with tourists, I think that the population of the pigeons in the area was higher. Throughout the mobs of people flocking in between the kiosks of what seemed to be the same souvenier items, the pigeons were able to stand their ground in hopes that some tourist would throw out some bread for the ever so popular picture with the birds. Either way, the architecture and shopping in this part of town were both exquisite. Eventually our walking in the streets brought us to the classic gondola ride through the canals. This was probably one of the most relaxing things that I have ever done, aside from the occasional songs from our driver. Finally, that night we headed out to the rocky beach for a night swim. I would like to hope that this is a much more comforting place during the daytime, but nonetheless the experience was creepy but fun at the same time. Luckily, the next day we found the sand beach haha.
Then day two rolls around, which was probably my favorite of the two because we were pretty much lounging. From the morning bike ride around the island to the full day at the sand beach, the mood was that of summertime. Being carefree in the Italian sun was such a good feeling, and I think that this was probably the most needed time for this type of day. While at the beach, speedos were donned, sandcastles were built, volleyball was played, and backs were sunburned. I am almost over it, but the thought of sunscreen seemed to slip my mind. Either way, the day was wonderful. Then, that night we all went into town for a large dinner with an even larger check. Venice is supposedly one of the most expensive places in Italy when referring to food, and we definitely supposrted that statement. There was wine, salad, bread, pasta, and some of the most delicious apple desserts that I have ever had in my entire life. So the meal was pretty much worth it, and a beautiful end to a beautiful weekend.
The next day we packed up and got on our 1:20 pm train that would be getting us to Bonn at around 5:20 the next morning. This is where the other 16 hours of travel comes into our equation. With the first quarter of the trip spent without air conditioning, the lack of comfort on the train was combatted by the breathtaking views of the mountains on either side of the train. This part of the trip was very cool for me because I have family that originated in those very mountains. My Italian heritage comes from some of the smaller towns near Venice such as Bergamo, Verona, and Valley de Pasubio. Being this close to the places where my great great great grandfather was born, in a country that I have wanted to visit for my entire life, made the train ride/weekend that much cooler.
Anyways we had out quick dinner break in Munich and then made it home promptly around 5:45am and were all present for class the next day bright and early. Although we did travel a lot this weekend, I feel that the weekend experiences themselves outweighed any amount of time that we spent in a train. Overall, the 28 hours was more than worth it in my opinion(but to do it again would take some serious consideration haha).
I can't wait for what more is in store, in terms of the program, the excursions, and the memories that will be built between this great group of people, in the remaining two weeks that we have on the trip!
Until Next Time,
Matt
It is pretty safe to say that this weekend was definitely surreal and awe-inspiring. So initially getting to Venice was a 12 hour train ride, which would prove to be my first experience with the semi-claustrophobic atmosphere of the six person sleeper cars...definitely worth it. After I awoke from "time travelling" on the train, my first impressions were spectacular. Looking out the window in the morning I could see the green valleys and the rolling mountains that are in northern Italy, but most striking was the sounds of the somewhat irate Italian man talking lightspeed in Italian. This was the moment I knew that we had arrived haha.
Once we set foot in the train station, we immediately hopped on the water bus transportation system and headed off to the island where we would be staying, named Lido. The transportation in Venice was spectacular and an entirely new experience because of the fact that the city roadways are water as opposed to the conventional concrete and asphalt. Despite the fact that it took a long-ish time, and it was cramped and I was sweating, we made it to Lido unscathed. Marco was the owner of the hotel/bed-and-breakfast that we stayed in, and he was very helpful in any way possible. He provided us with food and directions and places to visit and eat, so pretty much he was a lifesaver. Anyways, after our arrival on the first day, a group of us travelled back into town to visit St. Mark's square. Although it was heavily populated with tourists, I think that the population of the pigeons in the area was higher. Throughout the mobs of people flocking in between the kiosks of what seemed to be the same souvenier items, the pigeons were able to stand their ground in hopes that some tourist would throw out some bread for the ever so popular picture with the birds. Either way, the architecture and shopping in this part of town were both exquisite. Eventually our walking in the streets brought us to the classic gondola ride through the canals. This was probably one of the most relaxing things that I have ever done, aside from the occasional songs from our driver. Finally, that night we headed out to the rocky beach for a night swim. I would like to hope that this is a much more comforting place during the daytime, but nonetheless the experience was creepy but fun at the same time. Luckily, the next day we found the sand beach haha.
Then day two rolls around, which was probably my favorite of the two because we were pretty much lounging. From the morning bike ride around the island to the full day at the sand beach, the mood was that of summertime. Being carefree in the Italian sun was such a good feeling, and I think that this was probably the most needed time for this type of day. While at the beach, speedos were donned, sandcastles were built, volleyball was played, and backs were sunburned. I am almost over it, but the thought of sunscreen seemed to slip my mind. Either way, the day was wonderful. Then, that night we all went into town for a large dinner with an even larger check. Venice is supposedly one of the most expensive places in Italy when referring to food, and we definitely supposrted that statement. There was wine, salad, bread, pasta, and some of the most delicious apple desserts that I have ever had in my entire life. So the meal was pretty much worth it, and a beautiful end to a beautiful weekend.
The next day we packed up and got on our 1:20 pm train that would be getting us to Bonn at around 5:20 the next morning. This is where the other 16 hours of travel comes into our equation. With the first quarter of the trip spent without air conditioning, the lack of comfort on the train was combatted by the breathtaking views of the mountains on either side of the train. This part of the trip was very cool for me because I have family that originated in those very mountains. My Italian heritage comes from some of the smaller towns near Venice such as Bergamo, Verona, and Valley de Pasubio. Being this close to the places where my great great great grandfather was born, in a country that I have wanted to visit for my entire life, made the train ride/weekend that much cooler.
Anyways we had out quick dinner break in Munich and then made it home promptly around 5:45am and were all present for class the next day bright and early. Although we did travel a lot this weekend, I feel that the weekend experiences themselves outweighed any amount of time that we spent in a train. Overall, the 28 hours was more than worth it in my opinion(but to do it again would take some serious consideration haha).
I can't wait for what more is in store, in terms of the program, the excursions, and the memories that will be built between this great group of people, in the remaining two weeks that we have on the trip!
Until Next Time,
Matt
July 29, 2009
So, after an exhausting two weeks traveling around Europe we have finally come back to Bonn! Yesterday we went on a Rhine cruise which was nice and relaxing. Along the banks of the river you could see all the grapes growing for the wine that is made in this area. They still pick the grapes by hand because of the steep land the crops are planted on. During the cruise we passed so many little villages, each with its own castle. The castle we got to visit was Marksberg Castle, the only one that has never been over-taken or destroyed. I think it is also the the highest one of all the castles too, because we had to hike to the top of a mountain to get to it. In the Marksberg, many the rooms were as they would have been back in medieval times. The bedroom had a tiny bed in it which the tour guide explained was actually a double bed! She said that people back in the day would sleep sitting up because the laying down position was reminiscent of death. This was quite horrifying to me! I can barley sleep for five minutes on the train sitting up; i would have died of sleep deprivation! After a trip to Marksberg we went on a tour of a winery and had a wine tasting. We got to see the grapes that were being grown that day in action.
Today, a group of us went to the Haribo outlet store. I have never seen so many gummy bears in one place. There are enough gummy bears in that one store to feed a small town. They have open bins where you can go around and just taste every kind... I´m pretty sure I got the biggest sugar rush of my life.
Side note: In the last couple of days I think I have run into at least 5 if not more people from Texas and 3 of them have been from A&M.
AND Germans make the stranges pizzas...today I had broccoli, cheese, and ham. Another was tuna and pineapple.
Today, a group of us went to the Haribo outlet store. I have never seen so many gummy bears in one place. There are enough gummy bears in that one store to feed a small town. They have open bins where you can go around and just taste every kind... I´m pretty sure I got the biggest sugar rush of my life.
Side note: In the last couple of days I think I have run into at least 5 if not more people from Texas and 3 of them have been from A&M.
AND Germans make the stranges pizzas...today I had broccoli, cheese, and ham. Another was tuna and pineapple.
My mother would be so proud.
To Renee: I apologize in advance for using the English spellings of these cities but I'm not really feeling like looking for an umlaut version of the characters online right now and my keyboard is in English mode.
This past weekend I split off from the group and traveled alone (eek!) to Salzburg and Nuremburg. The defining element of the weekend really wasn't what I did on my journeys but rather who I met as I traveled.
In Salzburg as I got off the train I was first worried because it's not really a pretty part of town, I remember thinking to myself "Okay, why did I need to come here again?" But as I took the bus to my hostel, A family got on the bus and the young girl who sat down in front of me was wearing a Minnesota Zoo shirt. It turned out that the entire family was from St. Paul and in Europe on vacation. I was so happy to meet them that I missed my stop, but when I did eventually make my way to my hostel, I met two wonderful girls who were staying in my room. One of them was from Argentina, and the other an Australian who's lived the last two years in London, England. They were both really fun to hang out with and sort of took me under their wings for the evening, not to mention the fact that they recommended a few things for me to do the next morning.
On Saturday as I took the train to Munich (where I would switch to a different train) I met an Austrian/German woman with this beautiful and very sweet Golden Retriever, the conductor who checked my ticket was alto very kind and we chatted for a little bit. In Nuremburg right after I ate alone (which is second only to going to a movie or the theatre alone in my mind as far as levels of loneliness and should only be done when absolutely necessary) I met a really great group of people at my hostel who were for the most part all travelling alone as well and had just met each other. They really took me under their wings for the next few days and I was able to experience everything from going out on the town, to the documentation center, to Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz auf Deutsch thanks to them.
Monday, my luck seemed to be running out when my train was late, switched platforms, and once again the DB messed up my reservation, making it non existent. But I was able to find about about the switched platform from a kind group on the platform, and even more amazingly a very kind German woman who got off the train at it's first stop picked me of the four people sitting without seats to give hers to and led me to it (because I didn't 100% understand where it was when she described it to me in German.) Thanks to her I was able to spend 4 hours of my 4+ hour train ride sitting in a real seat instead of on the ground.
All in all it was an amazing testament to how helpful and kind people can really be, whether they're taking a much younger lone American girl under their wing when travelling around a foreign city, or offering a foreigner who doesn't even understand German their seat on a train. People basically win at life.
-Caitlin
This past weekend I split off from the group and traveled alone (eek!) to Salzburg and Nuremburg. The defining element of the weekend really wasn't what I did on my journeys but rather who I met as I traveled.
In Salzburg as I got off the train I was first worried because it's not really a pretty part of town, I remember thinking to myself "Okay, why did I need to come here again?" But as I took the bus to my hostel, A family got on the bus and the young girl who sat down in front of me was wearing a Minnesota Zoo shirt. It turned out that the entire family was from St. Paul and in Europe on vacation. I was so happy to meet them that I missed my stop, but when I did eventually make my way to my hostel, I met two wonderful girls who were staying in my room. One of them was from Argentina, and the other an Australian who's lived the last two years in London, England. They were both really fun to hang out with and sort of took me under their wings for the evening, not to mention the fact that they recommended a few things for me to do the next morning.
On Saturday as I took the train to Munich (where I would switch to a different train) I met an Austrian/German woman with this beautiful and very sweet Golden Retriever, the conductor who checked my ticket was alto very kind and we chatted for a little bit. In Nuremburg right after I ate alone (which is second only to going to a movie or the theatre alone in my mind as far as levels of loneliness and should only be done when absolutely necessary) I met a really great group of people at my hostel who were for the most part all travelling alone as well and had just met each other. They really took me under their wings for the next few days and I was able to experience everything from going out on the town, to the documentation center, to Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz auf Deutsch thanks to them.
Monday, my luck seemed to be running out when my train was late, switched platforms, and once again the DB messed up my reservation, making it non existent. But I was able to find about about the switched platform from a kind group on the platform, and even more amazingly a very kind German woman who got off the train at it's first stop picked me of the four people sitting without seats to give hers to and led me to it (because I didn't 100% understand where it was when she described it to me in German.) Thanks to her I was able to spend 4 hours of my 4+ hour train ride sitting in a real seat instead of on the ground.
All in all it was an amazing testament to how helpful and kind people can really be, whether they're taking a much younger lone American girl under their wing when travelling around a foreign city, or offering a foreigner who doesn't even understand German their seat on a train. People basically win at life.
-Caitlin
Holy Crap it's Dusseldorf!
Dusseldorf is so pretty along the Rhine! I had the luxury of seeing the wonderful city people in this program past have gotten to see. With beautiful weather and a large variety of ethnic foods to choose from, my cousin, his wife and two boys, and I enjoyed lebanese food in the shade outside. If you don't know what to get share the grillteller (something like that). It has chicken, lamb, and steak! mmmhmmm Finger licking good.
After that we started walking along the Rhein to decide what to do next when low and behold a carnival on the otherside! My cousin's wife Maija showed us a ride she had done before, so we set out to try it for ourselves. Once there only my cousin Curt and I got on the ride because his two boys were too young and little. I am going to do my best now to describe this ride to you. you sitting with your feet dangling and this big black thing strapping you in from your shoulders down. you start swinging back and forth but as you are swinging you are also rotating in a circle slowly. it would be like if you were on a swing at the park and started spining yourself while going back and forth. the only difference is a park swing will usually stop once you get to a 90 degree angle. This one reached about 150 degrees. never quite 180 though. when i got off i understood what Maija had meant about having a feeling of euphoria. Curt and I were sweating too. It was intense, and allowed me to see Dusseldorf from all sides!
On our way back to the car and to get some icecream, I finally got to see the famous Garry buildings!
Chow!
Stephanie
I'm on a Boat!
To conclude our 2-week long backpack through Europe, 8 of us went to Venice. There were three incidences I sincerely thought my life was in danger just on the way to Venice. Our plane was banging heads on walls, someone definitely had a gun or knife in the Verona train station, and the bus driver in Milan had never heard of hydroplaning. By the grace of god we made to Venice as the sun was rising. Although we watched the sunrise from the floor of the empty wagon it was beautiful. Beautiful I say! Transportation everywhere in Venice is by a boat. So conforming to the title of this blog, I found myself on a boat most of the weekend.
Saturday, we had our first meal in Italy. I had pasta and Nicole got fish, a whole fish, a whole fish with a head, a whole fish with head and all its scales; probably still partially alive. Some went into the city and I went to the beach. The beach in Italy is my kind of place. Freedom is the theme and if you aint free get off the beach. I communicated my freedom with a Speedo. Pearly white thighs and the remnants of healthy body exposed to all of Italy and they had plenty to show in return. When with friends, you should nap. Nap I did! Being I was a bit exhausted from the travel to Venice I found a nice square of sand and napped on the beach in Venezia. Life was good.
Sunday the whole group rented bikes and headed off to see the island of Lido while exhausting our muscles. We managed to get split up, lost, mad, sweat, and then find each other get unmad, cool off, eat, and then go to the beach again. This time I was not the lone American in my Speedo. Roger and Andrew joined in the freedom party and we all made sure there was enough pictures taken to embarrassed ourselves for the next year via fb. We kicked a ball, kicked the ball at people, and in all had a jolly time. We ended the day with a group dinner in which we all spent more money than we had and drank more wine than is recommended. Venice has to be the most gorgeous city I have been to in Europe and I can’t wait to go back
Saturday, we had our first meal in Italy. I had pasta and Nicole got fish, a whole fish, a whole fish with a head, a whole fish with head and all its scales; probably still partially alive. Some went into the city and I went to the beach. The beach in Italy is my kind of place. Freedom is the theme and if you aint free get off the beach. I communicated my freedom with a Speedo. Pearly white thighs and the remnants of healthy body exposed to all of Italy and they had plenty to show in return. When with friends, you should nap. Nap I did! Being I was a bit exhausted from the travel to Venice I found a nice square of sand and napped on the beach in Venezia. Life was good.
Sunday the whole group rented bikes and headed off to see the island of Lido while exhausting our muscles. We managed to get split up, lost, mad, sweat, and then find each other get unmad, cool off, eat, and then go to the beach again. This time I was not the lone American in my Speedo. Roger and Andrew joined in the freedom party and we all made sure there was enough pictures taken to embarrassed ourselves for the next year via fb. We kicked a ball, kicked the ball at people, and in all had a jolly time. We ended the day with a group dinner in which we all spent more money than we had and drank more wine than is recommended. Venice has to be the most gorgeous city I have been to in Europe and I can’t wait to go back
July 24, 2009
Today we went to the Medical University of Vienna. We were taken on a tour of the campus by medical student at the University. She took us to one of the rooms and showed us how to do a urethral catheter, take blood, do sutures, take blood pressure, and examine the lung. It was really pretty cool. Then, we went out to eat lunch. I got Weinscheinschnitzel (I think), which is wild pig with a berry sauce on the side. It was delicious, I ate the whole thing! Whoops!
From there, we walked to the museum district and got some drinks. We sat in the middle of the square in these really weird yellow chairs. They were supposedly "art"...
But here's my list of weird things that happened in Vienna:
1. The rude hotel guy who wouldn't fix our internet and didn't want to be in the same room as Coral.
2. Dogs pooping on the sidewalk.
3. Walking EVERYWHERE. I don't think Europeans understand that Americans enjoy driving around and being lazy.
4. No air conditioning in the extreme heat.
Overall, I really enjoyed Vienna. I wish we were able to go out a little bit more, and it wasn't so hot, but I had a wonderful time!
But now Justin, Coral, Laura and I are on our way to Italy!! Wow. I can't believe that we're actually going to Italy right now! It's crazy. In the Vienna airport, I got speedos for the boys. It's going to be funny. We have an agreement that if I bought the speedos, they will wear them to the beach. I'm keeping my side of the deal... We'll see! haha
From there, we walked to the museum district and got some drinks. We sat in the middle of the square in these really weird yellow chairs. They were supposedly "art"...
But here's my list of weird things that happened in Vienna:
1. The rude hotel guy who wouldn't fix our internet and didn't want to be in the same room as Coral.
2. Dogs pooping on the sidewalk.
3. Walking EVERYWHERE. I don't think Europeans understand that Americans enjoy driving around and being lazy.
4. No air conditioning in the extreme heat.
Overall, I really enjoyed Vienna. I wish we were able to go out a little bit more, and it wasn't so hot, but I had a wonderful time!
But now Justin, Coral, Laura and I are on our way to Italy!! Wow. I can't believe that we're actually going to Italy right now! It's crazy. In the Vienna airport, I got speedos for the boys. It's going to be funny. We have an agreement that if I bought the speedos, they will wear them to the beach. I'm keeping my side of the deal... We'll see! haha
Back in Bonn and in the Rhine
It was a really good feeling going back to Bonn after two weeks of constantly not having a steady home/ room to live in. The last two weeks were a blur of sight-seeing and excitement but I am definitely glad to be 'home'! Bonn has turned into my home-away from home and I really feel comfortable in the small city. I even feel confident getting lost in it because I feel that I could find my way back comfortably- unlike the first night I arrived!
The day trips we've taken to the Rhineland yesterday was extremely new and fun as well. We got to Braubach to meet the boat (a three story floating fortress) and enjoyed a plesant drift toward Marksburg Castle. Before we went to the castle though, we got to eat some very good snitzel and pommes!! The march up to the castle was pretty fun because some of us decided to go up steeper parts that weren't a part of the official trail. I was definitley out of my breath when I got to the top, but the castle looked inviting. The cool thing about the castle was that it hadn't been attacked during war so it was in the pristine original condition. Dr. Wasser even put on a midevil helm that soldiers back in the day used to wear. And the craziest part was finding out that our tour guide actually lived in the castle with her family!!!-In modern rooms of course.
The end of the day was the best part where we got to try out some wines. We tried out a white, a rose, and three reds. I am a red man myself and really enjoyed those. I also love cheese and grapes so I basically pigged out on wine, cheese and grapes to put a marvelous end on a long but seemingly short day.
The day trips we've taken to the Rhineland yesterday was extremely new and fun as well. We got to Braubach to meet the boat (a three story floating fortress) and enjoyed a plesant drift toward Marksburg Castle. Before we went to the castle though, we got to eat some very good snitzel and pommes!! The march up to the castle was pretty fun because some of us decided to go up steeper parts that weren't a part of the official trail. I was definitley out of my breath when I got to the top, but the castle looked inviting. The cool thing about the castle was that it hadn't been attacked during war so it was in the pristine original condition. Dr. Wasser even put on a midevil helm that soldiers back in the day used to wear. And the craziest part was finding out that our tour guide actually lived in the castle with her family!!!-In modern rooms of course.
The end of the day was the best part where we got to try out some wines. We tried out a white, a rose, and three reds. I am a red man myself and really enjoyed those. I also love cheese and grapes so I basically pigged out on wine, cheese and grapes to put a marvelous end on a long but seemingly short day.
No Place Like Home
After 2 longgg weeks of traveling all over Europe, we're finally back in Bonn! Don't get me wrong, I've absolutely loved every place I've been to, it's just nice to not have to lug my suitcase around with me for a couple of days. This week sounds like it's going to be pretty easy going and then we kick it in to high gear for our final week in Berlin. We also have an awesome weekend in Paris that I'm very excited about.
Yesterday was a great way to start the week. We spent the morning on a huge boat crusin' down the Rhine. After a nice nap in the sun, we arrived for lunch and a tour of the medieveil Marksburg castle. The Marksburg castle is the only castle in Europe that has never been destroyed. We got to see the old living quarters, kitchens, and even a torture chamber. It's so cool to see cities that are so close, but so different. In the evening, we headed to an event I've been looking forward to the whole trip- winetasting!! :) Let's just say I could do this all the time if I could. We tried two lovely white wines and three reds. The also had enough cheese, meat, and bread for a family of 20. It was awesome.
Today we had a heated debate about the health care system in the U.S. Although it's a very touchy subject, it's cool to hear what other people think. We talked alot on the subject of "the value of life" and who has the right to health care when say it's between a cripple and a non-cripple. Everything else not considered (age, money, etc.), it was very interesting to hear what people would do. For me personally, I have no right to say who has a higher value of life and I believe it should be alloted equally. However, many others did not feel that way. Also, the question of giving money ($50,000 +) to a complete stranger to prolong their life for 6 months came up. A majority of the class said they wouldn't fork out the money, but again some did. As a student going into the medical field, these are very important things to consider. It defenitely got my brain going.
Well, we have the afternoon off. I think some of us are going to the Haribo gummy bear factory :). I'm excited to spend some time with my host Mom as well seeing as I'll be leaving her on Sunday.
Cheers,
Coral
Yesterday was a great way to start the week. We spent the morning on a huge boat crusin' down the Rhine. After a nice nap in the sun, we arrived for lunch and a tour of the medieveil Marksburg castle. The Marksburg castle is the only castle in Europe that has never been destroyed. We got to see the old living quarters, kitchens, and even a torture chamber. It's so cool to see cities that are so close, but so different. In the evening, we headed to an event I've been looking forward to the whole trip- winetasting!! :) Let's just say I could do this all the time if I could. We tried two lovely white wines and three reds. The also had enough cheese, meat, and bread for a family of 20. It was awesome.
Today we had a heated debate about the health care system in the U.S. Although it's a very touchy subject, it's cool to hear what other people think. We talked alot on the subject of "the value of life" and who has the right to health care when say it's between a cripple and a non-cripple. Everything else not considered (age, money, etc.), it was very interesting to hear what people would do. For me personally, I have no right to say who has a higher value of life and I believe it should be alloted equally. However, many others did not feel that way. Also, the question of giving money ($50,000 +) to a complete stranger to prolong their life for 6 months came up. A majority of the class said they wouldn't fork out the money, but again some did. As a student going into the medical field, these are very important things to consider. It defenitely got my brain going.
Well, we have the afternoon off. I think some of us are going to the Haribo gummy bear factory :). I'm excited to spend some time with my host Mom as well seeing as I'll be leaving her on Sunday.
Cheers,
Coral
back to BONNNN
this week i'm back in BONN! oh how i've missed it here.
we got back from switzerland around 8pm monday night and i finished reading "time traveller's wife" and i sobbed for like an hour. it was such a sad ending. if you haven't read that book yet, you should. its very good.
yesterday we took a cruise down the rhine! the weather was nice and everyone got a sweet tan! it was nice cruising down the river and admiring the vineyards on the sides of the mountains. after the cruise we visited the Marksbourg Castle. it was on top of a hill and we walked all the way up! the castle was very interesting. we saw alot of the major rooms, dining room, torture room, etc. it turned out that the girl who was doing our tour actually lived in the castle! how crazy is that?
after the castle we drove to a local winery and had a wine tasting! i loved the white wines but i'm not a fan of red wine...so i just sipped on those. i bought a bottle of the Papillion to take home, it's delicious.
right now we're about to have a pizza party!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yummy (as alex would say)
-s
we got back from switzerland around 8pm monday night and i finished reading "time traveller's wife" and i sobbed for like an hour. it was such a sad ending. if you haven't read that book yet, you should. its very good.
yesterday we took a cruise down the rhine! the weather was nice and everyone got a sweet tan! it was nice cruising down the river and admiring the vineyards on the sides of the mountains. after the cruise we visited the Marksbourg Castle. it was on top of a hill and we walked all the way up! the castle was very interesting. we saw alot of the major rooms, dining room, torture room, etc. it turned out that the girl who was doing our tour actually lived in the castle! how crazy is that?
after the castle we drove to a local winery and had a wine tasting! i loved the white wines but i'm not a fan of red wine...so i just sipped on those. i bought a bottle of the Papillion to take home, it's delicious.
right now we're about to have a pizza party!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yummy (as alex would say)
-s
Matt Bersi: A Gentleman and a Scholar
The date is June 20, 1989. In the distance, a lion roars. A single ray of sunlight peers through the hospital window. The world is not ready for what is about to happen, for in that little room, a hero is born. Matt Bersi is born.
Character is the word when describing Bersi. Unassuming and meek as he may seem, he is nothing less than an exceptionally interesting and capable person. As long as I've known him, he has always considered other people before himself. Especially in the episode for which this blog is written.
Not once, but twice now, has Bersi allowed me into his home. Most recently, my key was broken, and I had no means of getting into my house. At ten-thirty at night, I call Matt from the laundromat that had been exhausting my time for the last hour or so, and he did not hesitate to invite me to stay on his couch for the night. This is what Matt Bersi's about, and for that, I am grateful to know him.
To avoid unneccessary or unwanted flatter, I will end my blog now with a simple thank you.
Thank You Matt. Mi sofa, es tu sofa.
Character is the word when describing Bersi. Unassuming and meek as he may seem, he is nothing less than an exceptionally interesting and capable person. As long as I've known him, he has always considered other people before himself. Especially in the episode for which this blog is written.
Not once, but twice now, has Bersi allowed me into his home. Most recently, my key was broken, and I had no means of getting into my house. At ten-thirty at night, I call Matt from the laundromat that had been exhausting my time for the last hour or so, and he did not hesitate to invite me to stay on his couch for the night. This is what Matt Bersi's about, and for that, I am grateful to know him.
To avoid unneccessary or unwanted flatter, I will end my blog now with a simple thank you.
Thank You Matt. Mi sofa, es tu sofa.
Over 20 hours of travel, but so worth it!
I can’t believe that another weekend has passed. We’re currently sitting in the Munich Hbf, 7 hours away from Bonn. We spent 3 days in the beautiful city of Venice, Italy. But before I begin about our weekend, I think it’s appropriate to talk about our adventures getting to Venice.
A month or two before we even left for Europe, 4 of us decided we would fly into Milan and then take a train over to Venice. The flight went fine…no problems at all. Our travels to Venice from Milan are a different story. The most eventful of our stops was our stop at the Verona train station. We had a lay over there for about 2 hours (2:30am-4:30am). Let’s just say that the people at train stations changes dramatically at this time of night. As we played SKIP-BO to pass the time, at least 5 different “creepers” made their way over to us. And…I don’t think they wanted to play SKIP-BO. Thank goodness for big man Justin. He scared all of them away. After they were all gone, we boarded our train to Venice. In Vienna, I was told that we didn’t reallllly need to reserve our seats for this train. Boy was she wrong. Every seat was taken because it was a night train so where do we end up?? On the floor with everyone else who didn’t have a place to sit. I thought my back was permanently disfigured when I woke up.
After 2 hours of floor sleeping, we finally made it to Venice. As soon as we walked outside my mood changed. To get to our hostel, we had to take a water taxi 30 minutes through the Grand Canal of Venice. The whole town is surrounded by water so the only way to get around is by water taxi. It’s a fun system, but is really crowded and busy on the weekends. When we finally made it to our hostel/bed and breakfast we were very pleased. These were last minute reservations and we didn’t really know what we were in for. It turned out to be a very nice place with a great owner named Marco. That day was spent in town enjoying the “touristy” part of Venice. We even did the classic gondola ride through the hidden canals of the city. Sunday was my favorite. We all woke up early and rented bikes from a local place. We spent 2 hours cruising around the streets of Lido (the island our hostel was on). We couldn’t have had better weather. After a quick lunch break we headed out to the beach. 3 of the 4 boys may or may not have been wearing speedos…just saying. But the funny thing was that NO ONE cared at all! Speedos are the norm. It was awesome. We ended our weekend at a nice Italian restaurant with wine and great conversation.
I can’t decided which city has been my favorite thus far. Each one has something completely different that I like more than the other. Italy is definitely at the top of the list though. I’ll make it back some day for sure.
It’s very hard to believe that there are only 2 more weeks left of the trip. This week we’ll be in Bonn and Cologne, spend the weekend in Paris, and then finish with a week in Berlin. It's crazy to think of all the cities I've been to in just the past 4 weeks.
Cheers!
Coral
A month or two before we even left for Europe, 4 of us decided we would fly into Milan and then take a train over to Venice. The flight went fine…no problems at all. Our travels to Venice from Milan are a different story. The most eventful of our stops was our stop at the Verona train station. We had a lay over there for about 2 hours (2:30am-4:30am). Let’s just say that the people at train stations changes dramatically at this time of night. As we played SKIP-BO to pass the time, at least 5 different “creepers” made their way over to us. And…I don’t think they wanted to play SKIP-BO. Thank goodness for big man Justin. He scared all of them away. After they were all gone, we boarded our train to Venice. In Vienna, I was told that we didn’t reallllly need to reserve our seats for this train. Boy was she wrong. Every seat was taken because it was a night train so where do we end up?? On the floor with everyone else who didn’t have a place to sit. I thought my back was permanently disfigured when I woke up.
After 2 hours of floor sleeping, we finally made it to Venice. As soon as we walked outside my mood changed. To get to our hostel, we had to take a water taxi 30 minutes through the Grand Canal of Venice. The whole town is surrounded by water so the only way to get around is by water taxi. It’s a fun system, but is really crowded and busy on the weekends. When we finally made it to our hostel/bed and breakfast we were very pleased. These were last minute reservations and we didn’t really know what we were in for. It turned out to be a very nice place with a great owner named Marco. That day was spent in town enjoying the “touristy” part of Venice. We even did the classic gondola ride through the hidden canals of the city. Sunday was my favorite. We all woke up early and rented bikes from a local place. We spent 2 hours cruising around the streets of Lido (the island our hostel was on). We couldn’t have had better weather. After a quick lunch break we headed out to the beach. 3 of the 4 boys may or may not have been wearing speedos…just saying. But the funny thing was that NO ONE cared at all! Speedos are the norm. It was awesome. We ended our weekend at a nice Italian restaurant with wine and great conversation.
I can’t decided which city has been my favorite thus far. Each one has something completely different that I like more than the other. Italy is definitely at the top of the list though. I’ll make it back some day for sure.
It’s very hard to believe that there are only 2 more weeks left of the trip. This week we’ll be in Bonn and Cologne, spend the weekend in Paris, and then finish with a week in Berlin. It's crazy to think of all the cities I've been to in just the past 4 weeks.
Cheers!
Coral
Wienerschnitzel
After Prague, the group zipped over to Austria for a week long excursion in the capital city of Vienna. My first impressions were of awe of both the size of the city and the resounding architectural prowess that the city possesses. The statues that scattered the landscape of the city were beautifully mastered and detailed, as well as seemingly innumerable.
From a touristy standpoint, we were able to see many of the sights and sounds of Vienna. From the monuments and statues to the gardens and buildings, I thought the city was a sight to see. In the open air tour bus, we were able to see a majority of the districts that make up the city, as well as many of the important landmarks in between. For example, the Hundertwasser house was phenomenal because of the colors and the architectural uniqueness of no straight lines. We also enjoyed the sounds of a Mozart orchestral performance at the Vienna Concert Hall one night. Although the sounds of classical music are soothing to the ear, the downside is that this soothing quality encourages sleep. Despite this fact I was able to remain conscious, partially due to the fact that we moved closer to the stage in the second half, and I greatly enjoyed the performance.
Now, as we are here for work and not play, from the scholastic standpoint, we saw both interesting and intriguing aspects as well. Freud’s house was very interesting to me because I had little previous knowledge in his field of psychoanalysis. Both he and his daughter, Anna, were influential people in their field, and helped to bring the field to where it is today. I wish that we could have seen the actual couch were he performed his analyses, but that has to be another trip. Also, the unsuccessful, but still eye-opening, trip to the cemetery was done in Vienna. We were on the search for the graves of Freud’s parents as well as a collection of anatomical graves, but despite the fact that their location remains a mystery, we were able to see the size and grandeur of the gravestones and were able to walk through the different sections of the cemetery. Finally, probably my favorite excursion of the trip was the visit to the Medical School in Vienna. The collection of the anatomical wax models was almost overwhelming. To think that these models were all hand crafted from the specimen of the time period is just mind blowing. I also like the way that the full body sculptures were arranged in such a way that was both artistic and anatomically interesting. I felt that this brought a sense of life to the wax models, as opposed to a mere display. Anna (no relation to Freud lol) was a great tour guide of the facilities, and the skills lab that she brought us to had many practical applications set up. This was the first time that I was able to do many of these things, such as suturing, catheterization, and drawing blood from an arm. I can definitely see how the skills lab can be beneficial for the many up and coming medical students in any university.
Then after a long and exciting week in Vienna, the group made the split to different parts of Europe: 8 to Venice, 5 to Switzerland, 1 to Salzburg/Nuremburg, and 1 to Duesseldorf. We are quite the world travelers.
Ps. Venice was the bomb.
Until Next Time,
Matt
From a touristy standpoint, we were able to see many of the sights and sounds of Vienna. From the monuments and statues to the gardens and buildings, I thought the city was a sight to see. In the open air tour bus, we were able to see a majority of the districts that make up the city, as well as many of the important landmarks in between. For example, the Hundertwasser house was phenomenal because of the colors and the architectural uniqueness of no straight lines. We also enjoyed the sounds of a Mozart orchestral performance at the Vienna Concert Hall one night. Although the sounds of classical music are soothing to the ear, the downside is that this soothing quality encourages sleep. Despite this fact I was able to remain conscious, partially due to the fact that we moved closer to the stage in the second half, and I greatly enjoyed the performance.
Now, as we are here for work and not play, from the scholastic standpoint, we saw both interesting and intriguing aspects as well. Freud’s house was very interesting to me because I had little previous knowledge in his field of psychoanalysis. Both he and his daughter, Anna, were influential people in their field, and helped to bring the field to where it is today. I wish that we could have seen the actual couch were he performed his analyses, but that has to be another trip. Also, the unsuccessful, but still eye-opening, trip to the cemetery was done in Vienna. We were on the search for the graves of Freud’s parents as well as a collection of anatomical graves, but despite the fact that their location remains a mystery, we were able to see the size and grandeur of the gravestones and were able to walk through the different sections of the cemetery. Finally, probably my favorite excursion of the trip was the visit to the Medical School in Vienna. The collection of the anatomical wax models was almost overwhelming. To think that these models were all hand crafted from the specimen of the time period is just mind blowing. I also like the way that the full body sculptures were arranged in such a way that was both artistic and anatomically interesting. I felt that this brought a sense of life to the wax models, as opposed to a mere display. Anna (no relation to Freud lol) was a great tour guide of the facilities, and the skills lab that she brought us to had many practical applications set up. This was the first time that I was able to do many of these things, such as suturing, catheterization, and drawing blood from an arm. I can definitely see how the skills lab can be beneficial for the many up and coming medical students in any university.
Then after a long and exciting week in Vienna, the group made the split to different parts of Europe: 8 to Venice, 5 to Switzerland, 1 to Salzburg/Nuremburg, and 1 to Duesseldorf. We are quite the world travelers.
Ps. Venice was the bomb.
Until Next Time,
Matt
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Our week in Vienna (Blog for last week)
So, I’m not sure why I keep putting these off until the end of the week…I guess we get pretty busy and then we’re pretty exhausted when the day is over. However, now I’m on a train and I have no excuse...
This past week was spent in Vienna, Austria. Vienna was definitely a pleasant surprise. Like many of the other cities I have been to, it was absolutely beautiful. A huge thing I noticed was that it was very clean. Something I definitely wasn’t expecting was such incredible architecture. I know, I know…I say this every week, but it just keeps getting better! Vienna also lovesss statues. If you did anything worth anything in Vienna, you have a statue. We had a lovely open air bus tour and got to see all the well-known areas.
Later that day we visited the Sigmund Freud museum. Mr. Freud was quite an interesting man. It was very cool to hear some of his theories, but I’m not sure I would’ve taken the advice of such a strange guy. The night ended at a karaoke bar. Highlight of the trip without a doubt. Almost everyone got up on stage and sang. A group of us even stayed later to make sure we had our 3 minutes of fame.
Wednesday was a very relaxing day. We went to the Vienna museum in the morning and learned all about the extensive history of Vienna. I didn’t realize so many countries were once a part of Austria. Later we went to the catacombs of the Vienna cathedral. These were a little creepy for me. Something about over a hundred year old bones stacked in patterns just didn’t settle right. We then had a long break until our Mozart concert that night. Everyone dressed up and it was an awesome way to end the day.
Thursday morning we visited the Vienna cemetery to see the gravestones of people related to medicine. Unfortunately, the cemetery is huge and we were unsuccessful in finding the gravestones. It was also quite hot. Apparently we were in Vienna during the hottest time of the year. Still no Texas weather, but because Europeans aren’t fans of AC, it feels pretty darn close. In the afternoon, we visited the Josephenium. We got to see some very impressive wax models of the human body. Not one single detail was left out. The day ended with a very nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant. I ate some traditional Austrian food along with an Austrian favorite- the erdbeere boula (sp?)! On our way back to the hotel, it started raining…then hailing! Then it was over…in 20 minutes…so weird.
Today was one of my favorite parts of the week. We got a tour of the University of Vienna. Anna, our tour guide, was our age and going through medical school so it was very cool to hear her perspective. Towards the end of the tour, we visited their lab facilities. Here we practiced taking blood, stitches, chest examinations, etc. It was so cool.
Vienna was definitely better than I expected. Now I’m off to my next weekend destination, Venice, Italy. It’s supposed to be beautiful this weekend so I’m very excited! Until next time!
Cheers!
Coral
This past week was spent in Vienna, Austria. Vienna was definitely a pleasant surprise. Like many of the other cities I have been to, it was absolutely beautiful. A huge thing I noticed was that it was very clean. Something I definitely wasn’t expecting was such incredible architecture. I know, I know…I say this every week, but it just keeps getting better! Vienna also lovesss statues. If you did anything worth anything in Vienna, you have a statue. We had a lovely open air bus tour and got to see all the well-known areas.
Later that day we visited the Sigmund Freud museum. Mr. Freud was quite an interesting man. It was very cool to hear some of his theories, but I’m not sure I would’ve taken the advice of such a strange guy. The night ended at a karaoke bar. Highlight of the trip without a doubt. Almost everyone got up on stage and sang. A group of us even stayed later to make sure we had our 3 minutes of fame.
Wednesday was a very relaxing day. We went to the Vienna museum in the morning and learned all about the extensive history of Vienna. I didn’t realize so many countries were once a part of Austria. Later we went to the catacombs of the Vienna cathedral. These were a little creepy for me. Something about over a hundred year old bones stacked in patterns just didn’t settle right. We then had a long break until our Mozart concert that night. Everyone dressed up and it was an awesome way to end the day.
Thursday morning we visited the Vienna cemetery to see the gravestones of people related to medicine. Unfortunately, the cemetery is huge and we were unsuccessful in finding the gravestones. It was also quite hot. Apparently we were in Vienna during the hottest time of the year. Still no Texas weather, but because Europeans aren’t fans of AC, it feels pretty darn close. In the afternoon, we visited the Josephenium. We got to see some very impressive wax models of the human body. Not one single detail was left out. The day ended with a very nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant. I ate some traditional Austrian food along with an Austrian favorite- the erdbeere boula (sp?)! On our way back to the hotel, it started raining…then hailing! Then it was over…in 20 minutes…so weird.
Today was one of my favorite parts of the week. We got a tour of the University of Vienna. Anna, our tour guide, was our age and going through medical school so it was very cool to hear her perspective. Towards the end of the tour, we visited their lab facilities. Here we practiced taking blood, stitches, chest examinations, etc. It was so cool.
Vienna was definitely better than I expected. Now I’m off to my next weekend destination, Venice, Italy. It’s supposed to be beautiful this weekend so I’m very excited! Until next time!
Cheers!
Coral
Entschuldigung, err I mean scusi!
Post for July 27th.
The weekend in Venice was surreal. I feel like I say that about everything but it really was. A group of us left Friday evening from Vienna around 8:30 pm and arrived in Venice around 8:30 am on Saturday. The train ride was interesting. We were able to reserve beds for the night train, which allowed us to time travel since we went to sleep on one day in one country and woke up the next day in another. Just stepping out of the train station and seeing the "city on water," as Roger put it, was breathtaking. I could not believe that we were actually taking a water bus to get to the island where our hotel was. And by hotel I mean Marco's house. Marco basically let us stay in the rooms of his home, gave us breakfast each morning, and let us use his personal office and computer for internet access for 25 euro a night. I appreciated the welcoming, homey feel to it all especially after traveling in and out of hotels and hostels for two weeks straight. It was funny because we kept trying to speak in german, which did not work at all. But we eventually got the hang of it because italian and spanish are so similar.
Our first day started with an early lunch and shopping at St. Mark's Square. There was so much to see and do but it was all expensive so, we walked around and enjoyed our time sightseeing. A group of us were able to take a tour on a gondola ride for about 13 euro a piece, which was definitely worth it. I could not get enough of the typical Venice activities no matter how touristy or stereotypical they may have been. We were excited simply because the gondola men were wearing striped shirts! Then, in the evening we went to a rock beach, which was dangerous and creepy but somehow still fun.
On Sunday morning we decided to rent bicycles and ride around Lido island for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing. We made a stop at one of the beaches to collect sea shells and walk in the water. After returning the bicycles, we decided we would make a day at the beach and, of course, this could not happen without the appropriate european attire. So, three of the boys in the group wore speedos despite their very white thighs and lack of confidence at first. It was pretty hilarious. The weather, much like the entire day, was just perfect. We all got sunburned even though we used sunscreen but it was worth it. Venice is definitely my favorite city so far. And I say so far because it changes every week.
Our trip back was long. We left Venice on Monday at 1:20 pm and arrived in Munich for a two hour layover around 8:30 pm. We had dinner and got on another train at 10:45 pm to get to Bonn at 5:45 am on Tuesday morning. Just in time to get back to our host homes to take showers and get ready to be at the AIB at 8:00 am this morning. Let's just say we're amazing and so was the weekend.
Ciao,
Brittany
The weekend in Venice was surreal. I feel like I say that about everything but it really was. A group of us left Friday evening from Vienna around 8:30 pm and arrived in Venice around 8:30 am on Saturday. The train ride was interesting. We were able to reserve beds for the night train, which allowed us to time travel since we went to sleep on one day in one country and woke up the next day in another. Just stepping out of the train station and seeing the "city on water," as Roger put it, was breathtaking. I could not believe that we were actually taking a water bus to get to the island where our hotel was. And by hotel I mean Marco's house. Marco basically let us stay in the rooms of his home, gave us breakfast each morning, and let us use his personal office and computer for internet access for 25 euro a night. I appreciated the welcoming, homey feel to it all especially after traveling in and out of hotels and hostels for two weeks straight. It was funny because we kept trying to speak in german, which did not work at all. But we eventually got the hang of it because italian and spanish are so similar.
Our first day started with an early lunch and shopping at St. Mark's Square. There was so much to see and do but it was all expensive so, we walked around and enjoyed our time sightseeing. A group of us were able to take a tour on a gondola ride for about 13 euro a piece, which was definitely worth it. I could not get enough of the typical Venice activities no matter how touristy or stereotypical they may have been. We were excited simply because the gondola men were wearing striped shirts! Then, in the evening we went to a rock beach, which was dangerous and creepy but somehow still fun.
On Sunday morning we decided to rent bicycles and ride around Lido island for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing. We made a stop at one of the beaches to collect sea shells and walk in the water. After returning the bicycles, we decided we would make a day at the beach and, of course, this could not happen without the appropriate european attire. So, three of the boys in the group wore speedos despite their very white thighs and lack of confidence at first. It was pretty hilarious. The weather, much like the entire day, was just perfect. We all got sunburned even though we used sunscreen but it was worth it. Venice is definitely my favorite city so far. And I say so far because it changes every week.
Our trip back was long. We left Venice on Monday at 1:20 pm and arrived in Munich for a two hour layover around 8:30 pm. We had dinner and got on another train at 10:45 pm to get to Bonn at 5:45 am on Tuesday morning. Just in time to get back to our host homes to take showers and get ready to be at the AIB at 8:00 am this morning. Let's just say we're amazing and so was the weekend.
Ciao,
Brittany
Monday, July 27, 2009
Lucy from Interlaken
I love being in mountains, therefore Switzerland was amazing. I wish I could live on a mountain, but most likely I´ll be stuck in Texas for the rest of my life, which is still ok. Yesterday we went canyoning, against the strong requests from Dr. Wasser and Dr. Zäck. There was not a single cloud in the sky, so I felt like we would be fairly safe, apart from repelling down cliffs and jumping into pools of water 20 feet high!!! It really was amazing, definitely worth the money spent.
We also went horseback riding along the river and below the mountainside. That was really fun although Charlie (my horse) like to try and yank the ropes from my hands. We still got along very well and even got to trod with him at the end. That night, three of us went to Lake Thunersee for a party that our hostel was hosting. That is where I met Lucy. Right when I called to her, she came and we spent a good 15 minutes embracing eachother´s presence. I will never forget her.
By the way, Lucy is a dog...
We also went horseback riding along the river and below the mountainside. That was really fun although Charlie (my horse) like to try and yank the ropes from my hands. We still got along very well and even got to trod with him at the end. That night, three of us went to Lake Thunersee for a party that our hostel was hosting. That is where I met Lucy. Right when I called to her, she came and we spent a good 15 minutes embracing eachother´s presence. I will never forget her.
By the way, Lucy is a dog...
Vienna Medicine
Date: July 24
Today we got to visit the Medical University in Vienna. It is housed in the second largest hospital in the world. I found that hospital to be a little ridiculous... First, for the patients. Who wants to be one patient out of a couple thousand? It doesn´t seem like they would be treated with as much individual care as one might have seen in Bad Oyenhausen, or any other small specialized hospital. And when we walked through the front doors, it was like walking into a massive shopping mall, there was even a tobacco shop!
Otherwise, it was still impressive. I am sure the patients do receive quality care, I am just used to smaller hospitals. It was fun going to the skills classrooms to perform stitches and catheters. I feel like I could suture anything up right now! Afterwards, five of us left for a 13 hour train ride to Switzerland.... more into that in my next post.
Today we got to visit the Medical University in Vienna. It is housed in the second largest hospital in the world. I found that hospital to be a little ridiculous... First, for the patients. Who wants to be one patient out of a couple thousand? It doesn´t seem like they would be treated with as much individual care as one might have seen in Bad Oyenhausen, or any other small specialized hospital. And when we walked through the front doors, it was like walking into a massive shopping mall, there was even a tobacco shop!
Otherwise, it was still impressive. I am sure the patients do receive quality care, I am just used to smaller hospitals. It was fun going to the skills classrooms to perform stitches and catheters. I feel like I could suture anything up right now! Afterwards, five of us left for a 13 hour train ride to Switzerland.... more into that in my next post.
Vienna Culture
Date: July 21
During these first two days in Vienna, we have focused a lot on its history and culture. Yesterday, we had both an open-bus tour and a medical walking tour of the city. I love the beautiful architecture here and all of the history that goes along with it. We also got to visit Freud´s house, which I enjoyed because when you learn about a person over and over again in school, it is almost like they are an imaginary person. So, I enjoyed seeing that the father of psychoanalysis was just another regular person with a family and routine, including smoking 20+ cigars a day!
Tonight, we got to witness the works of Mozart at the Grosser Saal. I really enjoyed everything about the performance. The building that housed the company was amazing and beautifully decorated. After the intermission, a couple of us were able to sneak up to the 8th or 9th row on the side, which was cool because we could clearly see the expressions and emotions that went into the music. And this allowed me to decide whether each one was a boy or girl, which was hard from the back row!
During these first two days in Vienna, we have focused a lot on its history and culture. Yesterday, we had both an open-bus tour and a medical walking tour of the city. I love the beautiful architecture here and all of the history that goes along with it. We also got to visit Freud´s house, which I enjoyed because when you learn about a person over and over again in school, it is almost like they are an imaginary person. So, I enjoyed seeing that the father of psychoanalysis was just another regular person with a family and routine, including smoking 20+ cigars a day!
Tonight, we got to witness the works of Mozart at the Grosser Saal. I really enjoyed everything about the performance. The building that housed the company was amazing and beautifully decorated. After the intermission, a couple of us were able to sneak up to the 8th or 9th row on the side, which was cool because we could clearly see the expressions and emotions that went into the music. And this allowed me to decide whether each one was a boy or girl, which was hard from the back row!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
July 26, 2009
This past week in Vienna was full of program activities. On Wednesday we visited the catacombs in St. Stephens Cathedral It was weird to see mass graves from hundreds of years ago. It was a tad bit creepy but never the less interesting. There was one room with bones stacked from floor to ceiling! The next day we went to the Josephinum, which had a collection of medical wax figures. They were amazing to look at, each with a layer removed showing different organs and systems. We also went to the teaching hospital in Vienna where they showed us how to stitch and draw blood! That was pretty exciting, although I didnt feel very well that day. I think I caught a little bit of Alex's sickness...
This weekend a few of us went to Switzerland. The first day we went horse back riding through the mountains and down by the river. The water here is so clear and blue, and the air is so clean. Today, we went canyoning! It was so much fun, but very very cold.
This weekend a few of us went to Switzerland. The first day we went horse back riding through the mountains and down by the river. The water here is so clear and blue, and the air is so clean. Today, we went canyoning! It was so much fun, but very very cold.
Weekend in Paradise
The week in Vienna was wonderful. Most of our time there was focused around dead people but it was still pretty cool. We got to see the catacombs underneath the St. Stephan's Cathedral. This was really crazy because we saw a bunch of mass graves where all the bones were visibly. One of them was even "organized" to save space. We had a nice tour of the cemetery of Vienna. It was really hot and we were unable to find the graves we were looking for but we got to look inside the church used for the cemetery. It was in the art deco style, which I'm not really fond of but it was still nice to see. To end the week, we went to the Medical School of Vienna were we got to see the wax collection and we also go to see the skills lab. The lab is where the med students practice suturing, drawing blood, and inserting catheters. Everything's a lot harder than it looks!
Five of us spent the weekend in Switzerland, which was awesome! It's so beautiful here and there is so much to do, but it's kind of expensive. On Saturday we went horse back riding through the base of the Swiss Alps. On Sunday we went canyoning! This was amazing too. I'll have to admit I'm not too brave when it comes to repelling. I'm not really scared of heights but I am scared of jumping off the side of a 50 meter cliff! I surprisingly was able to do the repel which was the worst part of the entire thing. After that we got to slide down natural slides into freezing cold water from the Swiss Alps glacier! There were a couple of times I was in shock and had to wait a few seconds to catch my breath...haha.
Sadly we leave tomorrow morning but we do head back to Bonn! I'm excited because I miss my host family and I feel like Bonn is kind of a second home...I've caught myself saying, "When we go home..," in reference to Bonn! :)
Five of us spent the weekend in Switzerland, which was awesome! It's so beautiful here and there is so much to do, but it's kind of expensive. On Saturday we went horse back riding through the base of the Swiss Alps. On Sunday we went canyoning! This was amazing too. I'll have to admit I'm not too brave when it comes to repelling. I'm not really scared of heights but I am scared of jumping off the side of a 50 meter cliff! I surprisingly was able to do the repel which was the worst part of the entire thing. After that we got to slide down natural slides into freezing cold water from the Swiss Alps glacier! There were a couple of times I was in shock and had to wait a few seconds to catch my breath...haha.
Sadly we leave tomorrow morning but we do head back to Bonn! I'm excited because I miss my host family and I feel like Bonn is kind of a second home...I've caught myself saying, "When we go home..," in reference to Bonn! :)
Hannover
Today we traveled to Hannover, Germany to MHH medical school. We were greeted by a friendly professor/doctor who we were to have a medical discussion with. The discussion was intiated by the simple question "What do you all know about the German health care system?". Being the majority of us knew very little of the system, that one question resulted in a full blown interrogation of the German system. After a few Q&A I found my assumption of a low quality system to be incorrect and discovered their system has quite a few advantages for the lower middle class and very effecient for general medicine. The doctor was great at providing examples of why the system evolved to what it is today and how they go about financing all things medical in Germany. He also pointed out strengths of the American health care and areas his system could improve on. Though I still do not completely agree with the German medical system, I do see why so many similar systems have been implemented throughout the world today.
Vienna
We visited the medical university and the medical history meseum in Vienna this week. The meseum was absolutely fascinating. It began with an exhibit displaying centuries of medical device history with such things as old bone saws and blood letting utensils. It was a brief look into biomedical engineering's ancestry and I loved it. The museum also had a complete anatomical wax collection which revivaled body worlds in its detail.
Our tour guide at the medical school was a medical student going into her fifth year. We began our day with a biochemistry professor who gave a lecture on the Austrian medical school system and facts about the Vienna Medical School and Hospital. It is the second largest hospital in the world! He talk spoke of how medical students in Vienna enter their studies straight out of high school as other Europeans do and it takes them six years to finish. I'm glad this isn't the case back home because I would be in search for another profession. I have seen many med schools in Texas so it was cool to see how other aspiring physcians continents away make into doctor-hood. I think I definately could spend a few years studyin the human here!
Our tour guide at the medical school was a medical student going into her fifth year. We began our day with a biochemistry professor who gave a lecture on the Austrian medical school system and facts about the Vienna Medical School and Hospital. It is the second largest hospital in the world! He talk spoke of how medical students in Vienna enter their studies straight out of high school as other Europeans do and it takes them six years to finish. I'm glad this isn't the case back home because I would be in search for another profession. I have seen many med schools in Texas so it was cool to see how other aspiring physcians continents away make into doctor-hood. I think I definately could spend a few years studyin the human here!
Praha
I spent a large portion of my life participating in organized events while wearing tight pants. Baseball, football, and track all required that yor entire butt be secure. When all goes awry, it is unadventageous to have these body parts flopping here and there.
While in Prague, I encountered another such situation. Ballet. The best of Swan Lake to be exact. I had never seen a live ballet before and figured I would endow my maniless with a little Praha ballet. Seven of us went to the show and I absolutely loved it. I found myself overcome with interest and awe as the twirls and tippy toe walks ensued. I was snapping pics and taking video of none other than my brothers in tight pants. It was great. The non-speaking theatrical performance had all the parts of an exciting drama and ended in an exhilarating dance off fight scene! Prague had many high points, but no one forgets their first ballet.
While in Prague, I encountered another such situation. Ballet. The best of Swan Lake to be exact. I had never seen a live ballet before and figured I would endow my maniless with a little Praha ballet. Seven of us went to the show and I absolutely loved it. I found myself overcome with interest and awe as the twirls and tippy toe walks ensued. I was snapping pics and taking video of none other than my brothers in tight pants. It was great. The non-speaking theatrical performance had all the parts of an exciting drama and ended in an exhilarating dance off fight scene! Prague had many high points, but no one forgets their first ballet.
ze weekend
FRIDAY
on our last day in vienna we hung out with Anna, a local medical student. she took us to the vienna general hospital and showed us around. the best part was we got to play around in the medical student's skills lab. we used mannequins to draw blood, suture and insert folies. it was a very cool experience. i really like the suture station, it was really cool being able to stitch!! i've seen it done so many times i also wondered if it was easy as it looked. (almost)
SATURDAY-MONDAY
switzerland baby. so we left vienna at 1:40PM and arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland at 2:30AM. it was the most ridiculous travel experience! the train ride was actually pretty easy going, we were out in open seats so it was relaxing. the views from the train were impeccable and made me really anxious to see the mountains in its entirety.
we arrived very late on friday night and the hostel we stayed at apparently shut down at 11PM. so we had to bang on the doors so that the owners would wake up and let us in. needless to say the guy was pretty pissed off. he was mocking me and didn't accept any apologies (it really wasn't our fault the train took longer than it was supposed to) after a little bit of that we got to our room and passed out. in the morning the view from the back of the hostel was insane:
on saturday we woke up and changed hostels (one closer to the interlaken adventures). alex wasn't feeling too well so he stayed at the hostel and slept and we walked around the main street. after we bought a bunch of souveneirs and cuban cigars (hehe) we went horse back riding!!! that was alot of fun and we got to see alot of pretty areas! the water here is THE prettiest sea foam green color. absolutely gorgeous.
today we went CANYONING!!!!!!! best exerience of my life to date. we started off with a 500 meter repel down a canyon. that was so much fun. i thought i would be scared but i wasn't! the guy fed the rope kinda fast but it was exhilarating. once we were to the bottom we walked down stream and did a series of slides and jumps! the water was so cold and refreshing! i was expecting the jumps to hurt but actually i didn't feel anything at all. the views were amazing and the slides/jumps were lots of fun. we also got to do 2 zip lines through some holes in the rocks! freakin badass.
all in all the weekend in switzerland has been my favorite! gorgeous views and exciting adventures. i wish i could spend more time here and relax, but i will definitely have to come back in future years.
cheers,
s
p.s. doesn't this look unreal?
on our last day in vienna we hung out with Anna, a local medical student. she took us to the vienna general hospital and showed us around. the best part was we got to play around in the medical student's skills lab. we used mannequins to draw blood, suture and insert folies. it was a very cool experience. i really like the suture station, it was really cool being able to stitch!! i've seen it done so many times i also wondered if it was easy as it looked. (almost)
SATURDAY-MONDAY
switzerland baby. so we left vienna at 1:40PM and arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland at 2:30AM. it was the most ridiculous travel experience! the train ride was actually pretty easy going, we were out in open seats so it was relaxing. the views from the train were impeccable and made me really anxious to see the mountains in its entirety.
we arrived very late on friday night and the hostel we stayed at apparently shut down at 11PM. so we had to bang on the doors so that the owners would wake up and let us in. needless to say the guy was pretty pissed off. he was mocking me and didn't accept any apologies (it really wasn't our fault the train took longer than it was supposed to) after a little bit of that we got to our room and passed out. in the morning the view from the back of the hostel was insane:
on saturday we woke up and changed hostels (one closer to the interlaken adventures). alex wasn't feeling too well so he stayed at the hostel and slept and we walked around the main street. after we bought a bunch of souveneirs and cuban cigars (hehe) we went horse back riding!!! that was alot of fun and we got to see alot of pretty areas! the water here is THE prettiest sea foam green color. absolutely gorgeous.
today we went CANYONING!!!!!!! best exerience of my life to date. we started off with a 500 meter repel down a canyon. that was so much fun. i thought i would be scared but i wasn't! the guy fed the rope kinda fast but it was exhilarating. once we were to the bottom we walked down stream and did a series of slides and jumps! the water was so cold and refreshing! i was expecting the jumps to hurt but actually i didn't feel anything at all. the views were amazing and the slides/jumps were lots of fun. we also got to do 2 zip lines through some holes in the rocks! freakin badass.
all in all the weekend in switzerland has been my favorite! gorgeous views and exciting adventures. i wish i could spend more time here and relax, but i will definitely have to come back in future years.
cheers,
s
p.s. doesn't this look unreal?
vonderful vienna
so we spent the last week in the gorgeous city vienna. i had no idea austria would have such a pretty capital! every street was lined with buildings with very impressive roman-esque architecture.
on the first day we went on an open air bus tour! this was really relaxing and it was interesting to hear about the history of the city. after that we visited a museum and saw some more pretty buildings.
on wednesday night we went to a mozart orchestra! it was unbelievable! i loved hearing my favorite mozart songs and all the orchestra members were dressed up in old time clothing (wigs included) back home i listen to classical music to fall asleep, so it was hard staying awake during the concert! i managed to keep consciousness for the most part :)
the following day we went to a big cemetary and the josephinum, a big medical wax museum. in the cemetary we tried to find sigmund freud's parents but were unsuccessful. it was still interesting to see the grave stones. some were REALLY big and ornate! i can't imagine spending that much money on a grave stone. apparently some of these people were big ballin. i also had the GREATEST peach tea ever on thursday afternoon at this nice cafe we went to.
overall vienna was a BLASSSSST!
love it,
s
on the first day we went on an open air bus tour! this was really relaxing and it was interesting to hear about the history of the city. after that we visited a museum and saw some more pretty buildings.
on wednesday night we went to a mozart orchestra! it was unbelievable! i loved hearing my favorite mozart songs and all the orchestra members were dressed up in old time clothing (wigs included) back home i listen to classical music to fall asleep, so it was hard staying awake during the concert! i managed to keep consciousness for the most part :)
the following day we went to a big cemetary and the josephinum, a big medical wax museum. in the cemetary we tried to find sigmund freud's parents but were unsuccessful. it was still interesting to see the grave stones. some were REALLY big and ornate! i can't imagine spending that much money on a grave stone. apparently some of these people were big ballin. i also had the GREATEST peach tea ever on thursday afternoon at this nice cafe we went to.
overall vienna was a BLASSSSST!
love it,
s
Vienna/ Interlaken
Currently I am in Interlaken Switzerland, probably one of the best places to be on earth if you are an adrenaline junkie, which I am. This weekend we were planning on canyoning, which involves propelling down a mountain and doing flips into icy Switzerland water, and horseback riding through the gorgeous mountains. Fortunately, my group got to do all these things! Unfortunately for me though, I was too sick to do them. I caught a rather nasty stomache bug and it has rendered me Hostel-Ridden...luckily this program contains all pre-med students who knew how to take care of me pretty well haha. Besides that though, Switzerland is gorgeous. The air seems cleaner, the water bluer and the mountains greener than anywhere else I've been. I see now why the number 1 tennis player in the world is from Switzerland- with conditions like these, it's hard not to feel good. In fact, I feel better already...
The last couple of days in Vienna were really fun. The best time I had there was the Mozart Concert in the Weiner Concert Hall. The flutist and violinist, in fact all of the musicians, were true virtuosos. The conductor was very charasmatic and got the crowd involved on a couple of numbers- having us clap to the beat! He even conducted all of us to cresciendo and decresciendo!! Also, there were two opera singers. I thought the woman was brilliant and the man was just okay. The next night we had dinner at the Piarsten Keller which had some of the best pork I've ever had in my life! That night it hailed ice cubes.
The last couple of days in Vienna were really fun. The best time I had there was the Mozart Concert in the Weiner Concert Hall. The flutist and violinist, in fact all of the musicians, were true virtuosos. The conductor was very charasmatic and got the crowd involved on a couple of numbers- having us clap to the beat! He even conducted all of us to cresciendo and decresciendo!! Also, there were two opera singers. I thought the woman was brilliant and the man was just okay. The next night we had dinner at the Piarsten Keller which had some of the best pork I've ever had in my life! That night it hailed ice cubes.
Vienna
When first arriving to Vienna I was captivated by the brilliant architecture running through the enitre city. The open air bus tour really did a good job in letting the whole class see it. I liked listening to Mozart in between the audio concerning the famous sights. Vienna was special to me because I music was and still is a big part of my life. And being in the Musical Arts Capitol of the world, where Beethoven and Mozart came to compose, was surreal. In Bonn I got to see where Beethoven was born, and in Vienna I got to see where he lived. In Vienna I also got to see the house- which is now a store!- where Mozart died in.
The Sugmund Freud Museum was pretty cool too. Freud's flat in Vienna was opulent back in his day and very spacious today. We got to see his old hat and cane and the room where he psycho-analyzed all his patients. Unfortunately the famous couch was not there- it was in London where he died.
The next day in Vienna we got to go down into the catacombs of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The dark and twisting cooridors of the catacombs were intense and exciting-and also creepy due to the stacks and stacks of human bones in certain rooms. I didn't realize, but people paid to be burried under there because of the hallowed ground. So far Vienna is an amazing city, despite the heat.
The Sugmund Freud Museum was pretty cool too. Freud's flat in Vienna was opulent back in his day and very spacious today. We got to see his old hat and cane and the room where he psycho-analyzed all his patients. Unfortunately the famous couch was not there- it was in London where he died.
The next day in Vienna we got to go down into the catacombs of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The dark and twisting cooridors of the catacombs were intense and exciting-and also creepy due to the stacks and stacks of human bones in certain rooms. I didn't realize, but people paid to be burried under there because of the hallowed ground. So far Vienna is an amazing city, despite the heat.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Music, Mozart, and Medicine
Post for July 24th.
Oh, Vienna. The city felt so clean and quaint because of the stark, white buildings and the large, detailed statues in every direction. My favorite style of art includes the statues of the greek and roman time periods and seeing Vienna so nicely decorated with them was unbelievable. I cannot imagine getting up every morning to start my day and seeing such beautiful works of art as I make my way to school. My favorite was the statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, in front of the Parliament because she is my absolute favorite goddess of greek mythology.
Vienna was so rich in musical culture and I was glad that our program activities for the week focused on that part of the city. The Mozart concert was one of my favorite cultural experiences thus far. I have never been to anything like it before and I really enjoyed the sophisticated atmosphere and the music of Mozart's Greatest Hits. The conductor made the concert much more entertaining with his ability to instruct the entire audience to clap along without saying a single word!
On Thursday we visited the Josephinum, which was like a medical wax museum with models of the human body used for teaching. The exhibit reminded me of Body Worlds, which I love, so I enjoyed that very much. It was just amazing how the models were simply that and not real bodies because of the accuracies and the great detail of them all. Although medicine has advanced greatly, it was unbelievable to think that many of the tools and techniques that we use today were discovered so long ago and have only been modified and not necessarily changed completely.
My favorite part of Vienna by far was the trip on Friday to the Medical University. I found the skills lab with Anna to be one of the most interesting and helpful things that we have done. My first reaction was that I did not want to attempt anything because I am definitely not well equipped to be successful at any of the medical skills that we were there to practice. However, I was brave enough to try and ended up enjoying all that I was able to learn. I learned how to do stitches, draw blood, and insert a catheter. My favorite was drawing blood because I was able to get it on my first try!
Although not part of the program activities, karaoke night was Tuesday because of the convenience of the bar across the street from the hotel. All I can say is that I am definitely coming out of my shell thanks to all of the wonderful friends I have made on this trip because I sang a song all by myself! I have never done anything like that before because of how shy and reserved I am but it was fun! I love everyone on this trip.
Even though Vienna was super hot without air conditioning, I enjoyed my time spent there.
Cheers,
Brittany
Oh, Vienna. The city felt so clean and quaint because of the stark, white buildings and the large, detailed statues in every direction. My favorite style of art includes the statues of the greek and roman time periods and seeing Vienna so nicely decorated with them was unbelievable. I cannot imagine getting up every morning to start my day and seeing such beautiful works of art as I make my way to school. My favorite was the statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, in front of the Parliament because she is my absolute favorite goddess of greek mythology.
Vienna was so rich in musical culture and I was glad that our program activities for the week focused on that part of the city. The Mozart concert was one of my favorite cultural experiences thus far. I have never been to anything like it before and I really enjoyed the sophisticated atmosphere and the music of Mozart's Greatest Hits. The conductor made the concert much more entertaining with his ability to instruct the entire audience to clap along without saying a single word!
On Thursday we visited the Josephinum, which was like a medical wax museum with models of the human body used for teaching. The exhibit reminded me of Body Worlds, which I love, so I enjoyed that very much. It was just amazing how the models were simply that and not real bodies because of the accuracies and the great detail of them all. Although medicine has advanced greatly, it was unbelievable to think that many of the tools and techniques that we use today were discovered so long ago and have only been modified and not necessarily changed completely.
My favorite part of Vienna by far was the trip on Friday to the Medical University. I found the skills lab with Anna to be one of the most interesting and helpful things that we have done. My first reaction was that I did not want to attempt anything because I am definitely not well equipped to be successful at any of the medical skills that we were there to practice. However, I was brave enough to try and ended up enjoying all that I was able to learn. I learned how to do stitches, draw blood, and insert a catheter. My favorite was drawing blood because I was able to get it on my first try!
Although not part of the program activities, karaoke night was Tuesday because of the convenience of the bar across the street from the hotel. All I can say is that I am definitely coming out of my shell thanks to all of the wonderful friends I have made on this trip because I sang a song all by myself! I have never done anything like that before because of how shy and reserved I am but it was fun! I love everyone on this trip.
Even though Vienna was super hot without air conditioning, I enjoyed my time spent there.
Cheers,
Brittany
Traveling Alone
In the interest of space and time today you get the post I would've put on my personal blog and my personal blog gets a more detailed account.
Things I like about traveling alone:
- I get to go exactly where I want to when I want to
- I feel brave and empowered, and my mother would be very proud
- I spend exactly as much as I want to on the things I want to spend it on
- It gives me time away... which is good for me.
- It gives me time to think and be logical
Things I don't like about traveling alone:
- No one to eat with
- No one to share with
- Being too chicken/cautious to leave my hostel past 8 pm
- feeling über nervous when wandering around town in the early evening is uncomfortable.
- It gives me time to think/be illogical.
More on this experience later/on my other blog.
-Caitlin
Things I like about traveling alone:
- I get to go exactly where I want to when I want to
- I feel brave and empowered, and my mother would be very proud
- I spend exactly as much as I want to on the things I want to spend it on
- It gives me time away... which is good for me.
- It gives me time to think and be logical
Things I don't like about traveling alone:
- No one to eat with
- No one to share with
- Being too chicken/cautious to leave my hostel past 8 pm
- feeling über nervous when wandering around town in the early evening is uncomfortable.
- It gives me time to think/be illogical.
More on this experience later/on my other blog.
-Caitlin
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wayward Aliens
As American students in Europe, we have a unique opportunity to see some of the greatest places in the world.
Now read that with the emphasis on the word "see."
As American students in Europe, our experiences will make for some of the best memories of our young lives. We will not, as I am starting to grasp, have a firm concept of what life is like for a native European. We are, as it is, only travelers.
We cannot expect to have a perspective beyond what we can see from the outside looking in. For that to happen, we would actually have to live and grow with Europe for some extended period of time; to contribute to the continuation of European society, rather than simply observe its characteristics.
Just as no one is expected to take an active role in the plot of a movie as the screens flick from reel to reel, we are not obligated to be any more than an educated group of spectators golf-clapping our way through the eighteen holes across the pond.
That doesn't mean that we aren't learning facts and figures and customs and traditions. We just don't feel them as an organic part of who we are. You could say the same of a visitor in any part of the world. But as visitors go, I'd say we're doing a pretty good job at whatever it is we're supposed to be doing with our time here.
Now read that with the emphasis on the word "see."
As American students in Europe, our experiences will make for some of the best memories of our young lives. We will not, as I am starting to grasp, have a firm concept of what life is like for a native European. We are, as it is, only travelers.
We cannot expect to have a perspective beyond what we can see from the outside looking in. For that to happen, we would actually have to live and grow with Europe for some extended period of time; to contribute to the continuation of European society, rather than simply observe its characteristics.
Just as no one is expected to take an active role in the plot of a movie as the screens flick from reel to reel, we are not obligated to be any more than an educated group of spectators golf-clapping our way through the eighteen holes across the pond.
That doesn't mean that we aren't learning facts and figures and customs and traditions. We just don't feel them as an organic part of who we are. You could say the same of a visitor in any part of the world. But as visitors go, I'd say we're doing a pretty good job at whatever it is we're supposed to be doing with our time here.
Dear Vienna
Vienna is a unique place in the respect that it has a history like no other. The architecture here is unreal and is something that makes for fantastic pictures. While in Vienna we visited three different burial sites including Vienna's main cemetary. We walked around that cemetary for three hours and did not even come close to seeing all of it, how amazing. I really enjoyed that part of the day because it was just relaxing to walk through and see the ornate and magnificent tombs and the average tombs as well. Also the comraderie on the walk through the cemetary was great and added to the relaxing atmosphere. The church in the cemetary was fantastic. I really enjoyed the art deco inside that church and I found it to be fitting because it demonstrates that a cemetary is not just a place for death but a place for life after death, so I found the light paintings to be wonderfully placed inside this church.
Also while we were on our excusion in Vienna we attended a Mozart concert in which we listened to what Dr. Rainer called "Mozart's Greatest Hits". It was obvious that this concert was for tourists but I really enjoyed it and the conductor was entertaining. The only thing I would change about it would have Dr. Wasser sing the opera instead of that below average male singer they had.
Today at the Medical University in Vienna was perhaps one of the best part of the trips so far as far as medical knowledge goes. I really liked having the opportunities to learn how to stitch on a prosthetic arm and how to take blood, neither of which I had been able to do before. I now know that when the time comes for me to do either of these things I will feel more comfortable and hopefully not mess it up too bad! The Austrian food we had while we were here was superb to say the least. I really enjoyed the schnitzel as well as some other entrees that I can no longer remember the name for. The wine and sodawater at the restaurant the program took us too was very interesting and I hope I have the opportunity to try this again at some point in my life.
Let's see what Italy has in store...
Roger
Also while we were on our excusion in Vienna we attended a Mozart concert in which we listened to what Dr. Rainer called "Mozart's Greatest Hits". It was obvious that this concert was for tourists but I really enjoyed it and the conductor was entertaining. The only thing I would change about it would have Dr. Wasser sing the opera instead of that below average male singer they had.
Today at the Medical University in Vienna was perhaps one of the best part of the trips so far as far as medical knowledge goes. I really liked having the opportunities to learn how to stitch on a prosthetic arm and how to take blood, neither of which I had been able to do before. I now know that when the time comes for me to do either of these things I will feel more comfortable and hopefully not mess it up too bad! The Austrian food we had while we were here was superb to say the least. I really enjoyed the schnitzel as well as some other entrees that I can no longer remember the name for. The wine and sodawater at the restaurant the program took us too was very interesting and I hope I have the opportunity to try this again at some point in my life.
Let's see what Italy has in store...
Roger
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Gestapo Headquarters and Prison
Today we traveled to Cologne, Germany to visit an old Gestapo police Headquarters that was also used as a prison. It was transformed into a museum like many Nazi establishments preserving and revealing its dark history. There was no medical aspect to the museum but I found it quite educational. We had an extremely knowledgeable guide who took us down into the orison first . I knew this place was serious when a metal chain barrier was pulled down to block the entrance once we had entered.
The prison was located in the basement. On the walls were inscriptions of past inmates, some still very defined and others faded. We were able to walk around in some of the cells but other had been glassed off to preserve the wall inscriptions. The guide informed us of the many interrogations, beatings, and murders that place in here. This knowledge and reading the inscriptions alone brought about a real sense for the pain and suffering experienced in these rooms.
Upstairs, in the old headquarters portion, a brilliant museum of Nazi Germany was available and our guide explained and pointed out many interesting aspects of that time period that I did not know of. Afterwards Olaf took us to get currywurst. I may never try that dish again.
The prison was located in the basement. On the walls were inscriptions of past inmates, some still very defined and others faded. We were able to walk around in some of the cells but other had been glassed off to preserve the wall inscriptions. The guide informed us of the many interrogations, beatings, and murders that place in here. This knowledge and reading the inscriptions alone brought about a real sense for the pain and suffering experienced in these rooms.
Upstairs, in the old headquarters portion, a brilliant museum of Nazi Germany was available and our guide explained and pointed out many interesting aspects of that time period that I did not know of. Afterwards Olaf took us to get currywurst. I may never try that dish again.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Death
This week has been filled with tombs, catacombs, and a cemetery. For the Catholics here (as I'm sure they are in other places and with most religions) are very serious about death and how the body is prepared and what can be done to the bodies. Well after hearing about this process and seeing that we were walking in this cemetery for 3 hours and barely even scratched the surface of all the people it contained, I came to the conclusion that there were too many graves in this world, and when I die I will not add to its ranks. Instead I want to be cremated. Then I would like my ashes to be spread throughout the Swiss Alps. But half during the summer and the other half during the winter. Why you may ask. Well here you go. Some of my ashes can go snow skiing, some rock climbing, some sky diving, some hang gliding, some whitewater rafting, some canyoning, and any other possible sport involving nature in Switzerland : )And if ever my family wants to visit my "grave site" they can go to Switzerland and do one of these many awesome things and think of me. They could even just enjoy the scenery and think of me, because I'm sure some of my ashes will be doing that as well. They would celebrate the time I had on earth by participating in some of the things I love to do!
Auf wiedersehen
Stephanie
P.S for those of you who don't know this song reference go to this web site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo
Auf wiedersehen
Stephanie
P.S for those of you who don't know this song reference go to this web site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo
A week in the city of music
Vienna, or Wein to the natives has been an interesting place. We're here in what seems like the off season for t would have been nice to see the Vienna Boys choir in concert or an opera or something. Wednesday we did catch a tourist-y Mozart concert and the string orchestra was really good, but the two singers were not at the same level.
Today started out in the Vienna graveyard where we spent quite a long time searching fruitlessly for the graves of Sigmund Freud's parents and the people who've donated their bodies to science. It reminded me of spending 45 minutes looking for Jim Morrison's grave in Paris and then not having time to look at any other graves. I think because of that experience and being able to visit the church the morning was actually pretty pleasant. In contrast with the medical tour of the city on Tuesday morning, which if I'm being honest I found uninteresting and boring, this tour actually had things that were still there we wer looking for (even if we couldn't find them) we weren't just imagining what the Jewish section of a cematary would look like because we could see it.
Also the best part of the morning was certainly the Cemetary church. I've always kind of tough that Art Deco was a tacky style of art, but this church which was decorated inside completely Art Deco was wonderful. The simple repetition of paterns and the wonderful color choices were just so appealing and the inside of the dome was more beautiful and moving than a more traditional mural by tenfold.
I split off from the group when we had free time for lunch to practice my traveling alone skills before this weekend, Stephansplatz was quite pleasant this afternoon.
Desert at Cafe Demel started off the afternoon activities right and I had a delicious piece of super chocolately cake. Then we went to the University's History of Medicine museum which had a bunch of interesting old instruments and information about developments in medicine as well as an absolutely amasing collection of wax anatomical models that were so well done they relly reminded me of Gunther Von Haagen's plasticine models, they were truly pieces of medical art.
The day ended with wonderful traditional Vienese (sp?) food and a rain storm that will hopefully tame the terrific heat that's plagued our entire time in Wien.
-Caitlin
Today started out in the Vienna graveyard where we spent quite a long time searching fruitlessly for the graves of Sigmund Freud's parents and the people who've donated their bodies to science. It reminded me of spending 45 minutes looking for Jim Morrison's grave in Paris and then not having time to look at any other graves. I think because of that experience and being able to visit the church the morning was actually pretty pleasant. In contrast with the medical tour of the city on Tuesday morning, which if I'm being honest I found uninteresting and boring, this tour actually had things that were still there we wer looking for (even if we couldn't find them) we weren't just imagining what the Jewish section of a cematary would look like because we could see it.
Also the best part of the morning was certainly the Cemetary church. I've always kind of tough that Art Deco was a tacky style of art, but this church which was decorated inside completely Art Deco was wonderful. The simple repetition of paterns and the wonderful color choices were just so appealing and the inside of the dome was more beautiful and moving than a more traditional mural by tenfold.
I split off from the group when we had free time for lunch to practice my traveling alone skills before this weekend, Stephansplatz was quite pleasant this afternoon.
Desert at Cafe Demel started off the afternoon activities right and I had a delicious piece of super chocolately cake. Then we went to the University's History of Medicine museum which had a bunch of interesting old instruments and information about developments in medicine as well as an absolutely amasing collection of wax anatomical models that were so well done they relly reminded me of Gunther Von Haagen's plasticine models, they were truly pieces of medical art.
The day ended with wonderful traditional Vienese (sp?) food and a rain storm that will hopefully tame the terrific heat that's plagued our entire time in Wien.
-Caitlin
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
July 23, 2009
I just got out of the shower and I'm already sweating again. I will never take advantage of the air conditioning at home ever again. I woke up this morning sweating and I have a feeling I'll be sweating the rest of the afternoon. Lovely.
So last night we went to a concert at the Konzerthaus here in Vienna. It was an orchestra playing mostly Mozart, with two opera singers who would accompany the orchestra every once in a while. All of the performers were dressed in old fashioned clothes (like what Mozart would wear) and wigs. I thought that part was a little cheesy, but overall I enjoyed the concert.
We also saw the catacombs yesterday. It was pretty much unreal. There were thousands of bones and skulls in a small, dark and creepy room. What really scared me when we were down there (besides the possibility of getting locked in) was the room with the bones stacked in organized piles with the heads placed on the edges. It was so creepy that it was underneath the Cathedral. I would have never guessed that there were graves under the beautiful church.
Oh! I can't forget about karaoke! We went to karaoke on Tuesday after we ate at a Mexican food restaurant down the street. I was feeling pretty good when we got to the bar, so I jumped right in to sing. Justin and I sang Jay Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulders." Hah that was funny. I was his backup dancer/singer. After the first song, I was addicted. I just kept requesting songs and made everyone listen to my beautiful voice. Well it sounds beautiful to me at least.
These are the songs I serenaded everone with:
1. Justin and Nicole- "Dirt Off Your Shoulders"
2. Coral and Nicole- "Come on Over"
3. Stephanie, Caitlin, Laura and Nicole- "Oops I did it Again"
4. Matt, Justin, Andrew, Mark, Roger and Nicole- Backstreet Boys
I hope I don't become a karaoke junkie...
So last night we went to a concert at the Konzerthaus here in Vienna. It was an orchestra playing mostly Mozart, with two opera singers who would accompany the orchestra every once in a while. All of the performers were dressed in old fashioned clothes (like what Mozart would wear) and wigs. I thought that part was a little cheesy, but overall I enjoyed the concert.
We also saw the catacombs yesterday. It was pretty much unreal. There were thousands of bones and skulls in a small, dark and creepy room. What really scared me when we were down there (besides the possibility of getting locked in) was the room with the bones stacked in organized piles with the heads placed on the edges. It was so creepy that it was underneath the Cathedral. I would have never guessed that there were graves under the beautiful church.
Oh! I can't forget about karaoke! We went to karaoke on Tuesday after we ate at a Mexican food restaurant down the street. I was feeling pretty good when we got to the bar, so I jumped right in to sing. Justin and I sang Jay Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulders." Hah that was funny. I was his backup dancer/singer. After the first song, I was addicted. I just kept requesting songs and made everyone listen to my beautiful voice. Well it sounds beautiful to me at least.
These are the songs I serenaded everone with:
1. Justin and Nicole- "Dirt Off Your Shoulders"
2. Coral and Nicole- "Come on Over"
3. Stephanie, Caitlin, Laura and Nicole- "Oops I did it Again"
4. Matt, Justin, Andrew, Mark, Roger and Nicole- Backstreet Boys
I hope I don't become a karaoke junkie...
July 23, 2009
This week we are in Vienna. It is much bigger than any of the cities we have been to so far. Everywhere you turn there is a historical government building. We went on an open bus ride through the city and I'm pretty sure we only covered a fraction of Vienna's many districts. On the bus tour, we stopped at the Hunterwasser Haus, which is an apartment building designed by a modern artist. He believed in using organic shapes and colors to allow for the people living in the building to truly express themselves. The building is very colorful and has trees and plants everywhere.
One thing I wish we had more of was free time. There are so many museums and things to do here and not enough time. At some point, I would like to visit the Leopold Museum were the Klimt paintings are kept. We will see if time allows.
One thing I wish we had more of was free time. There are so many museums and things to do here and not enough time. At some point, I would like to visit the Leopold Museum were the Klimt paintings are kept. We will see if time allows.
Where am I?
This post is intended for July 19.
Aside from the exciting and exhilarating events that we enjoyed in Hannover, the second weekend travels brought me to Prague, in the Czech Republic. Prague was one of the most beatiful cities architecturally that I have ever seen. This is right up there with Vienna, which we were in this week, but back to the weekend...I had a blast!
Although first impressions were not the best, what with the damp, rainy weather on the first day, the irate security woman in the train station, and the temporary inability to hail a cab that would take us to the hostel, the overall atmosphere of the weekend was one that will not soon be forgotten. It was almost as though walking through the streets of the historic town center was like taking a trip back in time. There was the huge cathedral and a strangely arranged astrological clock, which a group of us sat in front of and enjoyed a warm capuccino and soup as a pickup on the cold rainy afternoon.
The hostel, Sir Toby's, was a space that had a very unique atmosphere. There was the meeting room out front, the pub/relaxing area downstairs, and five floors of rooms that contained a varitable melting pot of cultures. For example my room, which I shared with Andrew and Roger, contained some German people, Dutch people, a Canadain, and an Australian. It was just a neat concept to think that little ol' me from a small town in Texas would be in a hostel in Prague that would be shared with such a variety of people.
Probably my favorite part of the weekend was walking. We saw the historical parts of town, the Prague castle, the Charles bridge, and other social aspects such as the pub crawl, but the most interesting thing for me was seeing the town at night. Being able to walk around in a foreign city in Europe with no restraint but my own often makes me take a step out of reality and make sure where I am. While I am in the moment of the trip and the excursions with friends and teachers, I feel like some of the importance and grandeur of the things we are seeing and participating in is lost. So there, around midnight in the streets of Prague chillin with Roger, I found myself stepping out of reality and looking at the big picture in the hope that this is actually happening and I am experiencing this trip to the fullest. I think that this innocent question will help me to get back down to earth and realize that this is reality, and the reality is that this trip is only half-way over!
I literally have no idea what adventures the last half of the trip will bring, but I am sure that they will be priceless.
Until next time,
Matt
Aside from the exciting and exhilarating events that we enjoyed in Hannover, the second weekend travels brought me to Prague, in the Czech Republic. Prague was one of the most beatiful cities architecturally that I have ever seen. This is right up there with Vienna, which we were in this week, but back to the weekend...I had a blast!
Although first impressions were not the best, what with the damp, rainy weather on the first day, the irate security woman in the train station, and the temporary inability to hail a cab that would take us to the hostel, the overall atmosphere of the weekend was one that will not soon be forgotten. It was almost as though walking through the streets of the historic town center was like taking a trip back in time. There was the huge cathedral and a strangely arranged astrological clock, which a group of us sat in front of and enjoyed a warm capuccino and soup as a pickup on the cold rainy afternoon.
The hostel, Sir Toby's, was a space that had a very unique atmosphere. There was the meeting room out front, the pub/relaxing area downstairs, and five floors of rooms that contained a varitable melting pot of cultures. For example my room, which I shared with Andrew and Roger, contained some German people, Dutch people, a Canadain, and an Australian. It was just a neat concept to think that little ol' me from a small town in Texas would be in a hostel in Prague that would be shared with such a variety of people.
Probably my favorite part of the weekend was walking. We saw the historical parts of town, the Prague castle, the Charles bridge, and other social aspects such as the pub crawl, but the most interesting thing for me was seeing the town at night. Being able to walk around in a foreign city in Europe with no restraint but my own often makes me take a step out of reality and make sure where I am. While I am in the moment of the trip and the excursions with friends and teachers, I feel like some of the importance and grandeur of the things we are seeing and participating in is lost. So there, around midnight in the streets of Prague chillin with Roger, I found myself stepping out of reality and looking at the big picture in the hope that this is actually happening and I am experiencing this trip to the fullest. I think that this innocent question will help me to get back down to earth and realize that this is reality, and the reality is that this trip is only half-way over!
I literally have no idea what adventures the last half of the trip will bring, but I am sure that they will be priceless.
Until next time,
Matt
Good Stuff
I have to wonder whether our trip is intentionally scheduled to become more impressive every time we travel to a new city. Bonn is quaint in it's being our first experience in Germany. Amsterdam is a good time, but nothing you couldn't do at home (illegally, but still). Hannover is a clean and pleasant university town that would probably be a great place to live. Prague is interesting and cheap enough to do everything you could possibly want on a weekend without breaking the bank. Vienna, however, is somewhat astonishing.
Every street is decorated with so much pride that your first instinct is to reach for your camera, whether or not you have already take one or more pictures. The sheer number of monuments and the detail that is put into them easily rivals our nations capital, and probably outdoes D.C. as far as international influence. I could spend weeks here, and not be bored for lack of things to do and see.
That said, I can't imagine how impressive Berlin must be. If things continue on their current trend, we have a lot to be excited about in the weeks to come.
Every street is decorated with so much pride that your first instinct is to reach for your camera, whether or not you have already take one or more pictures. The sheer number of monuments and the detail that is put into them easily rivals our nations capital, and probably outdoes D.C. as far as international influence. I could spend weeks here, and not be bored for lack of things to do and see.
That said, I can't imagine how impressive Berlin must be. If things continue on their current trend, we have a lot to be excited about in the weeks to come.
A terrible ending to a wonderful weekend
Moin Moin! Which is hello if you're a northern German.
(Dr. Wasser please consider this to be from the weekend of July 17-19)
On Friday when at the Hauptbahnhof in Hannover I made my first big split from the group as a whole. While all 14 of my fellow students went to Prague for the weekend I took a pleasant one hour and 4o minute train ride north to Hamburg. You may wonder why I decided to venture to this city, which is (strangely) not well known in the United States. Hamburg, aside from being the second largest city in Germany and a port city renowned for its fish and nightlife, is also where two of my friends from high school live.
The weekend and Hamburg itself were wonderful, I was so blessed to have my two friends to stay with and to see the city with. We went clubbing until 4 am together (that's early by Hamburger standards) wandered around the city sights, and woke up super early on Sunday to see the fish market, which had some of the best fresh fish available than I've had since my Uncle gave us some fresh walleye in May.
Sunday afternoon it was time to go and my friend Ellen, who I'd stayed with, brought me to the train station and waited with me until my train came in. This is where the weekend took a turn for the worse: I had reserved seats on both my train to and from Hamburg on Monday when I'd still been in Bonn and it had worked wonderfully on the way there. When I tried to look up my car on the handy train guide at the gate I couldn't find it. I figured that they'd probably just switched the trains and it didn't really matter if I my reservation was messed up I would just find one of the unreserved seats to sit in. Unfortunately when the train arrived it was all compartments. If you've never been on a train with compartments, imagine the Hogwarts express from HP but not scarlet or magical. This means that every single seat was reserved so I basically spent the first two hours of my 4 hour train ride to Koeln siting in the aisle of the train. Finally a seat opened up when someone got off at Muenster, so I snatched it and was li=uckily able to spend the rest of the ride sleeping in a chair.
Of course this was probably all a little my fault, I could've done a few things to fix it:
1. I could've tried to ask someone if they knew what was happening or what to do. I've had good luck asking people for help on trains before.
2. I could've tried asking the woman who checked my ticket.
3. There was a woman who I think had a similar problem (she was speaking German so I'm not sure) and I could've asked her if she was having the same issue and for help.
4. I could have looked up and down the train for an open seat after the first couple stops.
Of course I was too chicken to do any of these things, but at least there were a few things that made the whole experience better:
1. The first hour I got to sit next to this really cute German boy until he got off at some B named city.
2. Right as the Cute German boy started leaving I found the super wonderful candied almonds Ellen and I had bough at the fish market and I snacked on them along with our 8 euro supply of candy.
3. I was able to catch up on some of my daily Bible reading.
4. I was able to see some really cute little German children when people watching.
So all in all it wasn't totally terrible. I'll leave you with a bit of advice:
1. Visit Hamburg
2. Eat Franzbroetchen and quarkballs when in Hamburg.
Ciao!
Caitlin
(Dr. Wasser please consider this to be from the weekend of July 17-19)
On Friday when at the Hauptbahnhof in Hannover I made my first big split from the group as a whole. While all 14 of my fellow students went to Prague for the weekend I took a pleasant one hour and 4o minute train ride north to Hamburg. You may wonder why I decided to venture to this city, which is (strangely) not well known in the United States. Hamburg, aside from being the second largest city in Germany and a port city renowned for its fish and nightlife, is also where two of my friends from high school live.
The weekend and Hamburg itself were wonderful, I was so blessed to have my two friends to stay with and to see the city with. We went clubbing until 4 am together (that's early by Hamburger standards) wandered around the city sights, and woke up super early on Sunday to see the fish market, which had some of the best fresh fish available than I've had since my Uncle gave us some fresh walleye in May.
Sunday afternoon it was time to go and my friend Ellen, who I'd stayed with, brought me to the train station and waited with me until my train came in. This is where the weekend took a turn for the worse: I had reserved seats on both my train to and from Hamburg on Monday when I'd still been in Bonn and it had worked wonderfully on the way there. When I tried to look up my car on the handy train guide at the gate I couldn't find it. I figured that they'd probably just switched the trains and it didn't really matter if I my reservation was messed up I would just find one of the unreserved seats to sit in. Unfortunately when the train arrived it was all compartments. If you've never been on a train with compartments, imagine the Hogwarts express from HP but not scarlet or magical. This means that every single seat was reserved so I basically spent the first two hours of my 4 hour train ride to Koeln siting in the aisle of the train. Finally a seat opened up when someone got off at Muenster, so I snatched it and was li=uckily able to spend the rest of the ride sleeping in a chair.
Of course this was probably all a little my fault, I could've done a few things to fix it:
1. I could've tried to ask someone if they knew what was happening or what to do. I've had good luck asking people for help on trains before.
2. I could've tried asking the woman who checked my ticket.
3. There was a woman who I think had a similar problem (she was speaking German so I'm not sure) and I could've asked her if she was having the same issue and for help.
4. I could have looked up and down the train for an open seat after the first couple stops.
Of course I was too chicken to do any of these things, but at least there were a few things that made the whole experience better:
1. The first hour I got to sit next to this really cute German boy until he got off at some B named city.
2. Right as the Cute German boy started leaving I found the super wonderful candied almonds Ellen and I had bough at the fish market and I snacked on them along with our 8 euro supply of candy.
3. I was able to catch up on some of my daily Bible reading.
4. I was able to see some really cute little German children when people watching.
So all in all it wasn't totally terrible. I'll leave you with a bit of advice:
1. Visit Hamburg
2. Eat Franzbroetchen and quarkballs when in Hamburg.
Ciao!
Caitlin
July 20, 2009
Vienna is so much more beautiful than I expected. I had no idea that the architecture here was so impressive. The streets are lined with beautiful apartment buildings and shops. I just wish I had enough money to go to all of these expensive stores I have to walk past everyday.
This weekend we went to Prague, which was also very beautiful, but in a different way. The style was completely different. I feel like Prague was more about taking in the landscape, while Vienna is about the immediate wow on the streets.
Today we went on a quick tour of the bus system and the area around our hotel. Then, we went to an italian restaurant. It was really good pizza, pasta and wine. Everyone had a great time at dinner, and they definitely gave us a good share of wine!
After we split from Dr. Wasser and Dr. Zect, everyone went back to the hotel and we all hung out in Roger, Matt, and Justin's room. We played "telephone pictionary" (I think) and it was so much fun! You start with a sentence and from there everyone passes the paper and alternates drawing the sentence or interpreting the drawing. that's a really bad explanation of the game, but it's fun!
This weekend we went to Prague, which was also very beautiful, but in a different way. The style was completely different. I feel like Prague was more about taking in the landscape, while Vienna is about the immediate wow on the streets.
Today we went on a quick tour of the bus system and the area around our hotel. Then, we went to an italian restaurant. It was really good pizza, pasta and wine. Everyone had a great time at dinner, and they definitely gave us a good share of wine!
After we split from Dr. Wasser and Dr. Zect, everyone went back to the hotel and we all hung out in Roger, Matt, and Justin's room. We played "telephone pictionary" (I think) and it was so much fun! You start with a sentence and from there everyone passes the paper and alternates drawing the sentence or interpreting the drawing. that's a really bad explanation of the game, but it's fun!
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