I've been in and around Bonn for just over a week now, and the experience has been absolutely incredible. It didn't take long at all to get adjusted to living with our host family; they are extremely kind and accommodating. Our house has 3 floor and a basement, with 7 different apartment units throughout. We live on the ground floor in our own flat with separate bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen while the family lives on the first floor above us, another lady lives on the other ground floor flat, four German students live on the top floor, and an AIB student worker lives in the basement. Its a great big house with lots of activity and no dull moments to be had. During week the mother of the house runs a day care in the extra room in our flat, watching after young children whose parents' are at work. Often times I come out of my room in the morning to find a room full of 1-3 year old German kids to my right, saying "Hallo!" and otherwise being ridiculously adorable. I really enjoy the situation, having my own privacy when I want it, home cooked meals and interactions with the family each day, and a bunch of tiny German alarm clocks to help me get out of bed and to the AIB on time.

Classes at the AIB have been fun and interesting as well. Our crash course in German has already proven immensely useful, and being able to say one or two sentences tends to make people we meet excited and even more friendly right as we switch to English. I also really enjoy the history of medicine course, and look forward to visiting the locations that we've talked about so far later on during our excursions. The program has included many great things outside of the classroom as well. We went to the local museum on German history after World War 2. Our tour guide was himself a child during the war and gave us first-hand accounts of the history he was teaching, making it much more interesting and giving a real human perspective of such troubling times. We also went to the anesthesiology museum in Bonn, which as the personal collection of Dr. Stoeckel, who was a famous anesthesiologist and played a significant role in the development of modern closed-loop anesthesia systems. Dr. Stoeckel himself was our tourguide, and many of the technologies he presented he had himself used throughout his career. We visited a former Gestapo prison in Cologne, learned about their operations there during the war and saw the life stories of former inmates written on the walls of the cells. We got a private tour of the Cologne Dome, the massive cathedral that dominates the city skyline. We walked along the top of the cathedral on the inside and outside, and ultimately got to view the whole city from the private observation platform at the top. It was absolutely breathtaking.

My favorite part of my time here in Germany has definitely been the world cup games. It's been incredible to experience the insanity of the world cup with all the German soccer fans here. Germany won against France and then completely destroyed Brazil, and each time the public viewing we were watching from became a full-blown party afterwards. I love seeing the entire country unite and go crazy cheering for the team. With the way things are going, I can hardly imagine the chaos that will ensue if Germany wins the world cup final against Argetina.