Pre-Departure

Today is the day! I can't believe that today I am leaving for Germany for FIVE weeks! I've been to Europe once before, but I was definitely more of a tourist on that visit. I am really excited about getting immersed in the culture and experiencing the everyday things with my host family. I'm looking forward to seeing a real German home and places like grocery stores and schools instead of only hotel rooms and museums.

Along with the culture, comes the German language. Right now, it is my biggest worry. German is so far from any language I have studied. At least it uses the same alphabet! I know that there are plenty of English speakers there, but I can't help thinking of being stuck somewhere or lost and not being able to communicate with the people around me. I bought a German-English pocket dictionary, just in case. I bookmarked a few key phrases and looked up the German word for peanut to avoid and allergy issues that may arise. I'm also a little anxious about actually getting to Bonn because I don't fly very often.

Overall, I'm really looking forward to this program. It's the perfect combination of my interests in medicine and history. I love that I'm getting to spend some time with a German family but also able to travel to so many different European cities. I'm hoping to learn a lot of history! Not just about medicine, but about Germany, Europe, and hopefully a little about art history, too! Can't wait to land in Germany!