Week One: It's Been a Bonn-anza

We've only been in Germany for three full days so far, but it’s already been amazing. We’ve done and seen so much, that it feels like we’ve been here a lot longer. Exploring Bonn on Monday was a lot of fun. The city looked so pristine and rustic in the snow, and the architecture and layout of some of the older buildings was so interesting. Dinner at the Rheinish restaurant was cool too, because I survived my ordering off a German menu, and we also got to know each other a little better.

My favorite part of the tour of Bonn on the second day was learning about the architecture of the cathedral, and the differences between the parts built in the Roman style and parts that were Gothic. Once you knew what to look for, it was really neat to see how the windows and other subtler pieces were different, but they still all looked good as a whole. I loved the history museum that we visited on Tuesday. I don’t really like museums that are just about history, but the layout and displays on this one were really neat, and I liked the inside of the building and how open it was. I also liked the museum because everything was in German, so I didn’t feel like I had to read everything. We went to Pizza Hut for dinner that night which was really different from an American one (and not only because they served .5L beer.)

Wednesday was my favorite day so far. The surgery that Katie and I watched was on a woman who had a problem with her artificial knee replacement, so the surgeons had to remove her old joint and replace it with a spacer that contained antibiotics. Watching the surgeons work was so amazing. They were so quick and sure of what they were doing, and even though I’m sure that their skill comes from doing the procedure so many times, but I was still impressed. It seems like such a common sense idea, but I was also really impressed by the curved needles that they use to stitch the patient back up. I sometimes just wonder who would think of something that is so simple but also so ingenious. It also surprised me that the surgeons used a hammer and chisel to remove the bone cement. I had only ever seen cardiac surgery before, which required really small movements, so the big, drastic movements of chipping away at the bone shocked me.

My favorite part of the trip to Cologne today was the cathedral. The architecture was so breathtaking, especially when we first stepped out of the train station and the sun was coming from behind the building. The glass windows and the mosaics of the floor on the inside of the cathedral were also impressive. The tour of Cologne was also fun and I really liked out guide. We also got gelato in Cologne which was probably the best gelato I’ve ever had.

I’m really excited about heading to Berlin and Prague in the next couple of days, and especially the party on the New Year’s party!