In the two days that I have been in Germany I have more to discuss than I thought I would after the entire trip, but I guess I will try to keep it short and sweet and under thirty pages. The culture here in Germany is incredible. To study the history of the German people is truly an incredible experiment in psychology due to the fact that not only has Germany had some of the most guilt inducing events in history, but their history is fraught with division and reconstruction. The way in which they can talk about incorporating Eastern Germany after the Berlin Wall fell is both amazing for the fact that the Western Germans did not create much of a feud with the Eastern Germans (seeing as the incorporation was within our lifetime!) as well as the fact that Eastern Germany, having accepted little blame for the war, did not implode upon finding the "truth" about the war. It would be interesting in time to compare how Germany reacted to reintegration to how the Koreas ever react if they ever do become one single nation. All in all it is a true credit to the German people the way the handled the entire period post WWII and essentially took what can only be viewed as the worst possible situation for a sovereign nation and quickly turned into another world power that arguably deserves a seat at every major world discussion.
On a more practical note, I experienced a true traveler's moment today when me, Vasana, and Paul took the wrong train in the wrong direction at around 23:00 tonight. Not only did we learn valuable lessons in how to read train maps and schedules, but we also learned just how far the subway system truly runs. After experiencing Bonn's subway system over the past few days I am quite impressed by how well it runs and how efficiently the citizens of Bonn are able to use it. It would be interesting to see if College Station was able to adopt a public transportation system that was as effective as the one here in Bonn. Till next time...
Chris
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