Last Week in Bonn (August 1, 2010)
We haven't had a ton of time in Bonn since the first week. The last time we were in Bonn, it was our first week in Germany. We were still learning how to get around and order food. Everything was so new and unfamiliar. Since we left for Switzerland, we went to Vienna and Prague and we had to carry huge suitcases for the ten or so days we were away from our home in Bonn. As much as I enjoyed our excursions, I looked forward to the day I would come back to our home in Bonn and not have haul my suitcase up and down the flights of stairs in train stations.
We had a couple of slow paced days in Bonn, where the only plans were classes at the AIB, and a couple of short day trips. On Tuesday, we hopped on a train to a small town called a Bacharach. There we saw the classic timber frame houses, one was built in 1300s. We took a river cruise down the Rhine: the banks were covered with timber frame houses, castles, and vineyards. Later on in the day we toured the Marksburg Castle, which has never been defeated since the Middle Ages. Everything here in Europe is so old. Over the past few weeks I've almost become immune to the shock of how much older everything is. So many buildings here have been standing hundreds of years before the United States was a country or even the New World was discovered. Most of the houses, shops, and churches that I go to in Shreveport or College Station were built within the last 20 years; they weren't even standing when I was born. On Thursday we went to one of the best museums yet. The Haus of History focused on German history from 1949 to the present. I particularly liked seeing the everyday household items that the Germans made from what was left after WWII. A hand grenade acted as an egg holder and women made dresses from parachutes and colanders from helmets. It was one of my favorite museums and the admission was free!
On our last night in Bonn, Shayna and I decided to make dinner for our host family. They have made so many great meals for us, and we wanted to give them a taste of Texas! We chose tacos as an easy Tex-Mex staple. We found a kit with seasoning and shells. We were hoping to get ground beef, but since it's not a popular ingredient here, I didn't think we would find it. Sure enough, the grocery store we went to did not have ground beef. We ended up just buying some beef and cutting it up into small pieces. Once the tacos were served, Shayna warned our family that people usually eat with their hands and that tacos usually fall apart mid-bite. It only took two bites before our family requested silverware. It was a great last night in Bonn; I was so blessed to have such a nice host family. I will definitely miss them and try my best to keep in touch once I go home.
Throughout the trip, my anticipation for the Berlin excursion grew, especially after visiting the Czech Republic, seeing the video on the Berlin Wall, and hearing from our host family how unique Berlin is. Now that we've spent a week here I can say that this was definitely the perfect city to end our stay in Germany. There is so much history here and it's all so recent. The fall of the Berlin Wall is such a major historical event, and it happened during our lifetime!
The activities during this week were a perfect combination of German history and medical history. On our first day we had barely been in town for an hour before we were heading toward the old death strip (a portion of land between two parts of the Berlin Wall) on bikes. The bike tour was a great change from our walking city tours. We were able to see the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, the Spree River, and other big Berlin sites without having sore feet at the end. On Tuesday we traveled about an hour to tour the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where we saw how cramped the living conditions were and remains of the examination rooms, gas chamber, and furnaces. After we returned to Berlin and had lunch, the eight of us walked around Postdamer Platz to see Checkpoint Charlie. On our way there, we came across a museum, called Topography of Terror, about the Nazi Party and Holocaust. There were so many pictures and plenty of English captions, so we were able to spend a good amount of time there. On Thursday we took a day trip to Dresden, but Wednesday and Friday were heavy on the medical history. The Otto Bock Center showcased the capabilities of prosthetics with some hands on stations. We saw our final anatomic collection at the Charite on Friday. That afternoon we had a few lessons on how to examine ears, find veins and take blood, and suture. I wasn't as good at it as I hoped, but I'll have plenty of time to practice. I loved Berlin and it was the perfect way to the end of the program!
Eating Abroad: German Food (August 7, 2010)
Before leaving to come to Germany, I was told by quite a few people that I probably wouldn't like German food. A friend who had gone to Germany last year complained of the use of the same ingredients in every meal, and I had my own worries of only having odd meats and sauerkraut to eat. I could not have been more wrong! The food here is something that I will definitely miss when I'm back in the States!
Breakfast is the most different meal of them all. Cereal, toast, fruit, and yogurt are all norms here just as they are in America, but most breakfast spreads I've seen both in my host home and in hotels include cold cuts and raw vegetables. Tomatoes and cucumbers seem to be the most popular breakfast vegetables. At Hotel Alex in Berlin, the breakfast set up looked like it included a salad bar!
Lunch and dinner are very similar to American meals in the types of food that are served. I do miss turkey and beef, though. Most of the meat served her is either pork or chicken, but mostly pork. I've enjoyed most of the meals I've had, though goulash is not my favorite, at least not in the summer heat. I usually steer clear of cabbage, but schnitzel never disappoints. I think my most memorable schnitzel was at the Concordia after our visit to the Vienna cemetery. It was served with a potato salad like side and cranberry sauce. The meals that Shayna and I have had with our host family have been the best by far! Our host mom has come up with some tasty dishes! One of our first meals was a knödel (dumpling) served with a bacon and mushroom gravy. It was so good, we hinted for her to make it again during our last week in Bonn. She also made a couple of pea dishes from a magazine. One was a pea and potato puree and the other was a pea bread/cake with green polka dotted slices. There have been so many other good meals, but these are the dishes that stick out the most in my memory. Overall the coffee, cheese, and ice cream/gelato here in Europe is better, but I am really looking forward to a big iced tea with free refills when I'm back home!
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