I despise when people say something was "a life changing experience" because I think that frankly it's used too often. When I hear "life changing" I think of a someone's life being completely changed around, they were an addict and now they've quit, they wanted to be an astronaut but now they want to be an oncologist, they lost or gained faith in humanity. So when I heard from people that study abroad was a "life changing experience" I kind of rolled my eyes, after all I'd been to foreign countries before, I'd even been to Europe.
Did the Summer 2009 Germany History of Medicine trip change the basic core of who I am as a person? No, but did the trip change me? Yes, it most certainly did. I'd like to think that the person I am now is the person I would have been at one point in my life, study abroad or no study abroad, but the things I did and experienced were like a catalyst, accelerating that process. If you had told me before the trip that I would come to love Germany so much I'd be plotting ways to go back or that my older brother would look to me for guidance in planning our activities in London and Ireland I would pat you on the head and dismiss you as slightly odd.
Despite loving traveling, before this trip I was terrified of it, I couldn't fathom traveling alone or without a concrete plan, but now I'm much more willing to go with the flow a little. Even more than that, the devil's in the details. Not a day goes by that I don't think to myself that whatever it was I did that day I learned the courage, tenacity, "go-get'em" attitude or knowledge (because I did gain real, concrete, can-be-put-in-a-book knowledge) to do so from my trip this summer.
I'm loathe to call this trip "life changing" and yet I would be lying if I said that this summer in Germany (and Austria, Switzerland, England, and Ireland) didn't change my life. Each and every thing I go through changes a piece of who I am as a person, this trip changed a whole lot of pieces in an immensely positive way.
Sincerely yours,
Caitlin Vanasse
Showing posts with label Caitlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caitlin. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Goodbye Berlin...
(Yes, I'm finally updating about our week in Berlin)
I never expected to like Berlin so much. Throughout our trip when interacting with my host mom and other people in Germany they would all ask if I was going to visit Berlin and encouragingly tell me that I would love it when I affirmed that Berlin was part of our trip. I didn't quite believe them though. In all honesty it's a very special big city that I like. I love Chicago, but that's because I have so much heritage and relatives there, I also love Minneapolis and St. Paul, but they're smallish for big cities, especially when counted seperately.
Anyway the point being that I thought I would get to Berlin and be like "Oh, this is nice to visit" and then go on my way again, instead a small piece of me has fallen in love with Berlin. I suddenly understand why every German I met told me Berlin was a "special place" with fondness in their voices, and I understand why it's being split for so long was such a travesty. Berlin's charm is inexplicable, but without being too annoying I'm going to try to explain some of it here.
Berlin is alive, in fact Berlin is overflowing with life... Being on the streets you can feel it. Berlin is a place where things happen, where strange monuments are built, where personal submarines are invented, where tear-filled confessions are made, it's a place perhaps summed up by the last place we all went together, Tageles. Tageles is this 5 story building in the old east side of the city that squatters and artists moved into and have kept since the wall fell 20 years ago. It cost 2 euro to get in (apparently an increase from the past) and is well worth the cost because once inside you can buy food or drinks at the beach bar while listening to live music (or watching contortionists and fire breathers, or so I'm told) or you can go into the building. Each floor of the building is something unique, on the top, a bar and a viewing area from which you can see art installments projected on the wall of a neighboring building or just look out at the city. The fourth floor is where people live, but is also full of graffiti that instead of looking disrespectful or like an eyesore, looks like it belongs, sort of how I imagine the graffiti on the west side of the wall looked. The third floor is full of artists pedaling their wares including postcards, shirts, prints, oil on canvas, jewelry, and many other things. Second floor is a bar and a theatre that shows things like Slumdog Millionaire alongside German and independent films. The first floor is just the entrance, but the whole building and in fact the whole place just has this air of magic about it. I'd never have guessed I'd like the place so much, but now I can't seem to stop talking about it.
Already I'm planning to return to Germany, perhaps my friend will make it into University in Berlin, or perhaps I'll find a way to feasibly study in Germany again, maybe I'll even go the way of my friend Ellen and work in Germany for a few years. Whatever happens, all of Germany, Berlin especially, has wormed its way into my heart and I'll never be quite the same person I was at the beginning of July.
And so that's all. I might get back on when I return to the USA on Saturday and am not so pressed for time about how much I miss everyone, but otherwise this chronicle is over, just as this chapter of my life is over. See you in 4 weeks for the retrospective.
Sincerely,
Caitlin
P.S. I am writing about my week in London/Ireland on my lj if you're curious including a bit about adjusting after all my time in Germany to the cultural differences.
P.P.S. Sorry about all the run-ons.
I never expected to like Berlin so much. Throughout our trip when interacting with my host mom and other people in Germany they would all ask if I was going to visit Berlin and encouragingly tell me that I would love it when I affirmed that Berlin was part of our trip. I didn't quite believe them though. In all honesty it's a very special big city that I like. I love Chicago, but that's because I have so much heritage and relatives there, I also love Minneapolis and St. Paul, but they're smallish for big cities, especially when counted seperately.
Anyway the point being that I thought I would get to Berlin and be like "Oh, this is nice to visit" and then go on my way again, instead a small piece of me has fallen in love with Berlin. I suddenly understand why every German I met told me Berlin was a "special place" with fondness in their voices, and I understand why it's being split for so long was such a travesty. Berlin's charm is inexplicable, but without being too annoying I'm going to try to explain some of it here.
Berlin is alive, in fact Berlin is overflowing with life... Being on the streets you can feel it. Berlin is a place where things happen, where strange monuments are built, where personal submarines are invented, where tear-filled confessions are made, it's a place perhaps summed up by the last place we all went together, Tageles. Tageles is this 5 story building in the old east side of the city that squatters and artists moved into and have kept since the wall fell 20 years ago. It cost 2 euro to get in (apparently an increase from the past) and is well worth the cost because once inside you can buy food or drinks at the beach bar while listening to live music (or watching contortionists and fire breathers, or so I'm told) or you can go into the building. Each floor of the building is something unique, on the top, a bar and a viewing area from which you can see art installments projected on the wall of a neighboring building or just look out at the city. The fourth floor is where people live, but is also full of graffiti that instead of looking disrespectful or like an eyesore, looks like it belongs, sort of how I imagine the graffiti on the west side of the wall looked. The third floor is full of artists pedaling their wares including postcards, shirts, prints, oil on canvas, jewelry, and many other things. Second floor is a bar and a theatre that shows things like Slumdog Millionaire alongside German and independent films. The first floor is just the entrance, but the whole building and in fact the whole place just has this air of magic about it. I'd never have guessed I'd like the place so much, but now I can't seem to stop talking about it.
Already I'm planning to return to Germany, perhaps my friend will make it into University in Berlin, or perhaps I'll find a way to feasibly study in Germany again, maybe I'll even go the way of my friend Ellen and work in Germany for a few years. Whatever happens, all of Germany, Berlin especially, has wormed its way into my heart and I'll never be quite the same person I was at the beginning of July.
And so that's all. I might get back on when I return to the USA on Saturday and am not so pressed for time about how much I miss everyone, but otherwise this chronicle is over, just as this chapter of my life is over. See you in 4 weeks for the retrospective.
Sincerely,
Caitlin
P.S. I am writing about my week in London/Ireland on my lj if you're curious including a bit about adjusting after all my time in Germany to the cultural differences.
P.P.S. Sorry about all the run-ons.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Alex could've been a pimp... or the adventures of Stephanie and Caitlin part deux
Our last full day in Bonn, Stephanie and I decided to visit the famed Drachenfels, which is the site of two castles (one was built in the 19th century and is home to a rich guy, the other is in ruins) and the quarry sandstone for the Koeln cathedral was taken from until they realized they were destroying the mountain.
For this adventure I took the bus for the first time out of the city to meet Stephanie in Ramersdorf, this was weird because thanks to the fact that I live right in Bonn, I've really lived as a city girl and can walk you around good chunks of Bonn but have very little idea how to use most of the public transportation. Thankfully Stephanie met me on the bus and made sure I didn't get off at the wrong station. Of course, the both of us did get off two stops late in Koenigswinter so Stephanie led us through the city and we eventually came to the Drachenfelsbonn, the private railway we took to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately the donkeys were only for children, this was a huge disappointment, but on the train Stephanie and I did get to use our burgeoning ability to smile, nod, and generally give the perception that we can understand the kind people who chat with us in German.
The top of the mountain gave an incredible view of the surrounding countryside which would have been even better if it wasn't misty and threatening rain. We walked up to the ruins and took some fun pictures and I remembered that my camera has a timer feature, so that proved useful. Before leaving the mountain Stephanie and I had some pommes in honor of Alex, who pondered and then rejected the idea of staying in Bonn with us.
This is Stephanie's and my second most romantic outing for two, and of course the pommes.
The hike down the mountain provided even more wonderful views, and we purposely ended up in the town Conrad Adenauer used to live in. Although we didn't visit his house (it was starting to rain) just being in that charming little town was proof enough for why Mr. Adenauer promoted Bonn as the place for West Germany's capital so heavily.
I'm off to enjoy my last dinner with my host family.
Ciao,
Caitlin
For this adventure I took the bus for the first time out of the city to meet Stephanie in Ramersdorf, this was weird because thanks to the fact that I live right in Bonn, I've really lived as a city girl and can walk you around good chunks of Bonn but have very little idea how to use most of the public transportation. Thankfully Stephanie met me on the bus and made sure I didn't get off at the wrong station. Of course, the both of us did get off two stops late in Koenigswinter so Stephanie led us through the city and we eventually came to the Drachenfelsbonn, the private railway we took to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately the donkeys were only for children, this was a huge disappointment, but on the train Stephanie and I did get to use our burgeoning ability to smile, nod, and generally give the perception that we can understand the kind people who chat with us in German.
The top of the mountain gave an incredible view of the surrounding countryside which would have been even better if it wasn't misty and threatening rain. We walked up to the ruins and took some fun pictures and I remembered that my camera has a timer feature, so that proved useful. Before leaving the mountain Stephanie and I had some pommes in honor of Alex, who pondered and then rejected the idea of staying in Bonn with us.
This is Stephanie's and my second most romantic outing for two, and of course the pommes.
The hike down the mountain provided even more wonderful views, and we purposely ended up in the town Conrad Adenauer used to live in. Although we didn't visit his house (it was starting to rain) just being in that charming little town was proof enough for why Mr. Adenauer promoted Bonn as the place for West Germany's capital so heavily.
I'm off to enjoy my last dinner with my host family.
Ciao,
Caitlin
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Schokolade... or my adventures with Stephanie
Today, after a very lazy morning Stephanie and I met to fulfill our joint destiny, that is to visit the Chocolate museum in Koeln.
It was a sunny morning, one well suited for the ten minute stroll from the Koeln Hauptbahnhof to the museum, but nothing not even a wonderful sunny day could have prepared us for the wonders that awaited. We entered the chocolate museum at about 1:30 pm and first read about where chocolate comes from, sent ourselves an interenet cocoa bean tree, and entered the sweltering hot greenhouse just long enough to get pictures of the tropical plants. As we wound our way through the three story museum we saw wonderful things, like a chocolate production line, the most glorious chocolate fountain you'll ever see in your entire life, truffles getting filled, and a hollow molded chocolate making machine. It was fascinating as well as tasty (we were able to sample a few things) and altogether a great experience. There was even a room where they showed old chocolate commercials and one was really adorable.
Three hours later we were in the gift shop and it was crazy, they had everything from chocolate liquor to elaborate models of the Cathedral (in chocolate) to chocolate cell phones, but my favorite item had to be what was called a "first date kit"(pictured at the right.
) That's right it was what appeared to be either a non-alcoholic Cranberry schorle or some kind of cranberry champagne with a condom and perhaps some chocolate (we weren't very clear on that) and it was apparently "for girls only." That really provided immense entertainment for us, but little were we to know that real romance was right outside. As we exited the chocolate museum we saw a cround of well dressed people near a door and turned to see a just married couple exiting the chocolate museum, that's right they got married at the chocolate museum, how cool is that! Anyway we ended our time in Koeln by wandering back to the Hauptbahnhof stopping to get presents for our mothers along the way.
In the evening Stephanie and I had a romantic dinner for two at the little Italian place we'd been to with the group at the beginning of our trip and now I'm going to cut this short because Stephanie and I will be rounding off our evening with a free concert we're already late for near the old Radhaus.
Ciao!
Caitlin
It was a sunny morning, one well suited for the ten minute stroll from the Koeln Hauptbahnhof to the museum, but nothing not even a wonderful sunny day could have prepared us for the wonders that awaited. We entered the chocolate museum at about 1:30 pm and first read about where chocolate comes from, sent ourselves an interenet cocoa bean tree, and entered the sweltering hot greenhouse just long enough to get pictures of the tropical plants. As we wound our way through the three story museum we saw wonderful things, like a chocolate production line, the most glorious chocolate fountain you'll ever see in your entire life, truffles getting filled, and a hollow molded chocolate making machine. It was fascinating as well as tasty (we were able to sample a few things) and altogether a great experience. There was even a room where they showed old chocolate commercials and one was really adorable.
Three hours later we were in the gift shop and it was crazy, they had everything from chocolate liquor to elaborate models of the Cathedral (in chocolate) to chocolate cell phones, but my favorite item had to be what was called a "first date kit"(pictured at the right.
) That's right it was what appeared to be either a non-alcoholic Cranberry schorle or some kind of cranberry champagne with a condom and perhaps some chocolate (we weren't very clear on that) and it was apparently "for girls only." That really provided immense entertainment for us, but little were we to know that real romance was right outside. As we exited the chocolate museum we saw a cround of well dressed people near a door and turned to see a just married couple exiting the chocolate museum, that's right they got married at the chocolate museum, how cool is that! Anyway we ended our time in Koeln by wandering back to the Hauptbahnhof stopping to get presents for our mothers along the way.In the evening Stephanie and I had a romantic dinner for two at the little Italian place we'd been to with the group at the beginning of our trip and now I'm going to cut this short because Stephanie and I will be rounding off our evening with a free concert we're already late for near the old Radhaus.
Ciao!
Caitlin
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
My mother would be so proud.
To Renee: I apologize in advance for using the English spellings of these cities but I'm not really feeling like looking for an umlaut version of the characters online right now and my keyboard is in English mode.
This past weekend I split off from the group and traveled alone (eek!) to Salzburg and Nuremburg. The defining element of the weekend really wasn't what I did on my journeys but rather who I met as I traveled.
In Salzburg as I got off the train I was first worried because it's not really a pretty part of town, I remember thinking to myself "Okay, why did I need to come here again?" But as I took the bus to my hostel, A family got on the bus and the young girl who sat down in front of me was wearing a Minnesota Zoo shirt. It turned out that the entire family was from St. Paul and in Europe on vacation. I was so happy to meet them that I missed my stop, but when I did eventually make my way to my hostel, I met two wonderful girls who were staying in my room. One of them was from Argentina, and the other an Australian who's lived the last two years in London, England. They were both really fun to hang out with and sort of took me under their wings for the evening, not to mention the fact that they recommended a few things for me to do the next morning.
On Saturday as I took the train to Munich (where I would switch to a different train) I met an Austrian/German woman with this beautiful and very sweet Golden Retriever, the conductor who checked my ticket was alto very kind and we chatted for a little bit. In Nuremburg right after I ate alone (which is second only to going to a movie or the theatre alone in my mind as far as levels of loneliness and should only be done when absolutely necessary) I met a really great group of people at my hostel who were for the most part all travelling alone as well and had just met each other. They really took me under their wings for the next few days and I was able to experience everything from going out on the town, to the documentation center, to Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz auf Deutsch thanks to them.
Monday, my luck seemed to be running out when my train was late, switched platforms, and once again the DB messed up my reservation, making it non existent. But I was able to find about about the switched platform from a kind group on the platform, and even more amazingly a very kind German woman who got off the train at it's first stop picked me of the four people sitting without seats to give hers to and led me to it (because I didn't 100% understand where it was when she described it to me in German.) Thanks to her I was able to spend 4 hours of my 4+ hour train ride sitting in a real seat instead of on the ground.
All in all it was an amazing testament to how helpful and kind people can really be, whether they're taking a much younger lone American girl under their wing when travelling around a foreign city, or offering a foreigner who doesn't even understand German their seat on a train. People basically win at life.
-Caitlin
This past weekend I split off from the group and traveled alone (eek!) to Salzburg and Nuremburg. The defining element of the weekend really wasn't what I did on my journeys but rather who I met as I traveled.
In Salzburg as I got off the train I was first worried because it's not really a pretty part of town, I remember thinking to myself "Okay, why did I need to come here again?" But as I took the bus to my hostel, A family got on the bus and the young girl who sat down in front of me was wearing a Minnesota Zoo shirt. It turned out that the entire family was from St. Paul and in Europe on vacation. I was so happy to meet them that I missed my stop, but when I did eventually make my way to my hostel, I met two wonderful girls who were staying in my room. One of them was from Argentina, and the other an Australian who's lived the last two years in London, England. They were both really fun to hang out with and sort of took me under their wings for the evening, not to mention the fact that they recommended a few things for me to do the next morning.
On Saturday as I took the train to Munich (where I would switch to a different train) I met an Austrian/German woman with this beautiful and very sweet Golden Retriever, the conductor who checked my ticket was alto very kind and we chatted for a little bit. In Nuremburg right after I ate alone (which is second only to going to a movie or the theatre alone in my mind as far as levels of loneliness and should only be done when absolutely necessary) I met a really great group of people at my hostel who were for the most part all travelling alone as well and had just met each other. They really took me under their wings for the next few days and I was able to experience everything from going out on the town, to the documentation center, to Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz auf Deutsch thanks to them.
Monday, my luck seemed to be running out when my train was late, switched platforms, and once again the DB messed up my reservation, making it non existent. But I was able to find about about the switched platform from a kind group on the platform, and even more amazingly a very kind German woman who got off the train at it's first stop picked me of the four people sitting without seats to give hers to and led me to it (because I didn't 100% understand where it was when she described it to me in German.) Thanks to her I was able to spend 4 hours of my 4+ hour train ride sitting in a real seat instead of on the ground.
All in all it was an amazing testament to how helpful and kind people can really be, whether they're taking a much younger lone American girl under their wing when travelling around a foreign city, or offering a foreigner who doesn't even understand German their seat on a train. People basically win at life.
-Caitlin
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Traveling Alone
In the interest of space and time today you get the post I would've put on my personal blog and my personal blog gets a more detailed account.
Things I like about traveling alone:
- I get to go exactly where I want to when I want to
- I feel brave and empowered, and my mother would be very proud
- I spend exactly as much as I want to on the things I want to spend it on
- It gives me time away... which is good for me.
- It gives me time to think and be logical
Things I don't like about traveling alone:
- No one to eat with
- No one to share with
- Being too chicken/cautious to leave my hostel past 8 pm
- feeling über nervous when wandering around town in the early evening is uncomfortable.
- It gives me time to think/be illogical.
More on this experience later/on my other blog.
-Caitlin
Things I like about traveling alone:
- I get to go exactly where I want to when I want to
- I feel brave and empowered, and my mother would be very proud
- I spend exactly as much as I want to on the things I want to spend it on
- It gives me time away... which is good for me.
- It gives me time to think and be logical
Things I don't like about traveling alone:
- No one to eat with
- No one to share with
- Being too chicken/cautious to leave my hostel past 8 pm
- feeling über nervous when wandering around town in the early evening is uncomfortable.
- It gives me time to think/be illogical.
More on this experience later/on my other blog.
-Caitlin
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A week in the city of music
Vienna, or Wein to the natives has been an interesting place. We're here in what seems like the off season for t would have been nice to see the Vienna Boys choir in concert or an opera or something. Wednesday we did catch a tourist-y Mozart concert and the string orchestra was really good, but the two singers were not at the same level.
Today started out in the Vienna graveyard where we spent quite a long time searching fruitlessly for the graves of Sigmund Freud's parents and the people who've donated their bodies to science. It reminded me of spending 45 minutes looking for Jim Morrison's grave in Paris and then not having time to look at any other graves. I think because of that experience and being able to visit the church the morning was actually pretty pleasant. In contrast with the medical tour of the city on Tuesday morning, which if I'm being honest I found uninteresting and boring, this tour actually had things that were still there we wer looking for (even if we couldn't find them) we weren't just imagining what the Jewish section of a cematary would look like because we could see it.
Also the best part of the morning was certainly the Cemetary church. I've always kind of tough that Art Deco was a tacky style of art, but this church which was decorated inside completely Art Deco was wonderful. The simple repetition of paterns and the wonderful color choices were just so appealing and the inside of the dome was more beautiful and moving than a more traditional mural by tenfold.
I split off from the group when we had free time for lunch to practice my traveling alone skills before this weekend, Stephansplatz was quite pleasant this afternoon.
Desert at Cafe Demel started off the afternoon activities right and I had a delicious piece of super chocolately cake. Then we went to the University's History of Medicine museum which had a bunch of interesting old instruments and information about developments in medicine as well as an absolutely amasing collection of wax anatomical models that were so well done they relly reminded me of Gunther Von Haagen's plasticine models, they were truly pieces of medical art.
The day ended with wonderful traditional Vienese (sp?) food and a rain storm that will hopefully tame the terrific heat that's plagued our entire time in Wien.
-Caitlin
Today started out in the Vienna graveyard where we spent quite a long time searching fruitlessly for the graves of Sigmund Freud's parents and the people who've donated their bodies to science. It reminded me of spending 45 minutes looking for Jim Morrison's grave in Paris and then not having time to look at any other graves. I think because of that experience and being able to visit the church the morning was actually pretty pleasant. In contrast with the medical tour of the city on Tuesday morning, which if I'm being honest I found uninteresting and boring, this tour actually had things that were still there we wer looking for (even if we couldn't find them) we weren't just imagining what the Jewish section of a cematary would look like because we could see it.
Also the best part of the morning was certainly the Cemetary church. I've always kind of tough that Art Deco was a tacky style of art, but this church which was decorated inside completely Art Deco was wonderful. The simple repetition of paterns and the wonderful color choices were just so appealing and the inside of the dome was more beautiful and moving than a more traditional mural by tenfold.
I split off from the group when we had free time for lunch to practice my traveling alone skills before this weekend, Stephansplatz was quite pleasant this afternoon.
Desert at Cafe Demel started off the afternoon activities right and I had a delicious piece of super chocolately cake. Then we went to the University's History of Medicine museum which had a bunch of interesting old instruments and information about developments in medicine as well as an absolutely amasing collection of wax anatomical models that were so well done they relly reminded me of Gunther Von Haagen's plasticine models, they were truly pieces of medical art.
The day ended with wonderful traditional Vienese (sp?) food and a rain storm that will hopefully tame the terrific heat that's plagued our entire time in Wien.
-Caitlin
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A terrible ending to a wonderful weekend
Moin Moin! Which is hello if you're a northern German.
(Dr. Wasser please consider this to be from the weekend of July 17-19)
On Friday when at the Hauptbahnhof in Hannover I made my first big split from the group as a whole. While all 14 of my fellow students went to Prague for the weekend I took a pleasant one hour and 4o minute train ride north to Hamburg. You may wonder why I decided to venture to this city, which is (strangely) not well known in the United States. Hamburg, aside from being the second largest city in Germany and a port city renowned for its fish and nightlife, is also where two of my friends from high school live.
The weekend and Hamburg itself were wonderful, I was so blessed to have my two friends to stay with and to see the city with. We went clubbing until 4 am together (that's early by Hamburger standards) wandered around the city sights, and woke up super early on Sunday to see the fish market, which had some of the best fresh fish available than I've had since my Uncle gave us some fresh walleye in May.
Sunday afternoon it was time to go and my friend Ellen, who I'd stayed with, brought me to the train station and waited with me until my train came in. This is where the weekend took a turn for the worse: I had reserved seats on both my train to and from Hamburg on Monday when I'd still been in Bonn and it had worked wonderfully on the way there. When I tried to look up my car on the handy train guide at the gate I couldn't find it. I figured that they'd probably just switched the trains and it didn't really matter if I my reservation was messed up I would just find one of the unreserved seats to sit in. Unfortunately when the train arrived it was all compartments. If you've never been on a train with compartments, imagine the Hogwarts express from HP but not scarlet or magical. This means that every single seat was reserved so I basically spent the first two hours of my 4 hour train ride to Koeln siting in the aisle of the train. Finally a seat opened up when someone got off at Muenster, so I snatched it and was li=uckily able to spend the rest of the ride sleeping in a chair.
Of course this was probably all a little my fault, I could've done a few things to fix it:
1. I could've tried to ask someone if they knew what was happening or what to do. I've had good luck asking people for help on trains before.
2. I could've tried asking the woman who checked my ticket.
3. There was a woman who I think had a similar problem (she was speaking German so I'm not sure) and I could've asked her if she was having the same issue and for help.
4. I could have looked up and down the train for an open seat after the first couple stops.
Of course I was too chicken to do any of these things, but at least there were a few things that made the whole experience better:
1. The first hour I got to sit next to this really cute German boy until he got off at some B named city.
2. Right as the Cute German boy started leaving I found the super wonderful candied almonds Ellen and I had bough at the fish market and I snacked on them along with our 8 euro supply of candy.
3. I was able to catch up on some of my daily Bible reading.
4. I was able to see some really cute little German children when people watching.
So all in all it wasn't totally terrible. I'll leave you with a bit of advice:
1. Visit Hamburg
2. Eat Franzbroetchen and quarkballs when in Hamburg.
Ciao!
Caitlin
(Dr. Wasser please consider this to be from the weekend of July 17-19)
On Friday when at the Hauptbahnhof in Hannover I made my first big split from the group as a whole. While all 14 of my fellow students went to Prague for the weekend I took a pleasant one hour and 4o minute train ride north to Hamburg. You may wonder why I decided to venture to this city, which is (strangely) not well known in the United States. Hamburg, aside from being the second largest city in Germany and a port city renowned for its fish and nightlife, is also where two of my friends from high school live.
The weekend and Hamburg itself were wonderful, I was so blessed to have my two friends to stay with and to see the city with. We went clubbing until 4 am together (that's early by Hamburger standards) wandered around the city sights, and woke up super early on Sunday to see the fish market, which had some of the best fresh fish available than I've had since my Uncle gave us some fresh walleye in May.
Sunday afternoon it was time to go and my friend Ellen, who I'd stayed with, brought me to the train station and waited with me until my train came in. This is where the weekend took a turn for the worse: I had reserved seats on both my train to and from Hamburg on Monday when I'd still been in Bonn and it had worked wonderfully on the way there. When I tried to look up my car on the handy train guide at the gate I couldn't find it. I figured that they'd probably just switched the trains and it didn't really matter if I my reservation was messed up I would just find one of the unreserved seats to sit in. Unfortunately when the train arrived it was all compartments. If you've never been on a train with compartments, imagine the Hogwarts express from HP but not scarlet or magical. This means that every single seat was reserved so I basically spent the first two hours of my 4 hour train ride to Koeln siting in the aisle of the train. Finally a seat opened up when someone got off at Muenster, so I snatched it and was li=uckily able to spend the rest of the ride sleeping in a chair.
Of course this was probably all a little my fault, I could've done a few things to fix it:
1. I could've tried to ask someone if they knew what was happening or what to do. I've had good luck asking people for help on trains before.
2. I could've tried asking the woman who checked my ticket.
3. There was a woman who I think had a similar problem (she was speaking German so I'm not sure) and I could've asked her if she was having the same issue and for help.
4. I could have looked up and down the train for an open seat after the first couple stops.
Of course I was too chicken to do any of these things, but at least there were a few things that made the whole experience better:
1. The first hour I got to sit next to this really cute German boy until he got off at some B named city.
2. Right as the Cute German boy started leaving I found the super wonderful candied almonds Ellen and I had bough at the fish market and I snacked on them along with our 8 euro supply of candy.
3. I was able to catch up on some of my daily Bible reading.
4. I was able to see some really cute little German children when people watching.
So all in all it wasn't totally terrible. I'll leave you with a bit of advice:
1. Visit Hamburg
2. Eat Franzbroetchen and quarkballs when in Hamburg.
Ciao!
Caitlin
Friday, July 17, 2009
Swine and Poultry and Cows, Oh My!
This is a repost of what I would've written when the blog was down (I posted it on my personal blog at the time instead.)
Part of the reason I was so excited to do this specific study abroad program (Studying abroad was always part of my college plan) is because it was specifically targeted to my area of interest, something not super common among science majors and something pretty much non-existent for animal science majors.
The thing about the trip thus far though is that it's pretty much been all human medicine. Don't get me wrong I considered being pre-med and I think human medicine is fascinating, but program wise the past two days have been the best we've spent thus far. We're staying in Hannover right now which is home to Germany's longest running Vet School, the TIHO (sp?). Yesterday started out like some of our other days, we woke up early and rode the subway out to the MHH (M-Ha-Ha) which is a German Med. School in Hannover. There we talked with the head of the Nephrology department about the differences between the USA's health care system at present and Germany's present Health Care system (and education a little bit.) This was super interesting and informative, but I'm definitely still riding in my "capitalist corvette." After that we spent the rest of the morning learning about kidney failure and dialysis, we got to watch a patient who was in the process of getting hemodialysis, and we learned about some interesting kidney drug research. This was all well and good but the best part of the day was after lunch.
In the afternoon we took a bus out to the veterinary school's teaching farm. This is a place they send all their students for two weeks so the suburbian and city kids can learn what it's like to be around and interact with farm animals and what the industry is like today. This was super cool because I got to really see things we'd only really talked about in my animal science classes. The EU has more strict animal welfare laws to some extent which means they have to test out new methods of raising animals that are not yet used in the USA. They also as a teaching farm had some very interesting technological advancements we'd only talked about in ANSC 107H or ANSC 310, like a robotic milker or an automatic feed dispenser that both use bluetooth-like technology to identify the animals.
If all of that wasn't cool enough in the evening we went to a cook out at the TIHO where we were able to meet German veterinary students and 3rd and 4th year veterinary students from the big 10 schools in the USA who were on a school trip abroad also. It was a really unique and wonderful experience because the US veterinary student were from all different schools (including the U of M) and they were really kind and gave me some really great advice.
So Wednesday night I went back to the hotel happy as a clam, but today things got even better. We woke up early and started the morning out at TIHO's anatomical collection which was really fascinating and laid out in such a way that each case allowed you to compare the anatomy of say, the stomach in large and small ruminants with that of a hind gut fermenter and a monogastric.
After this, we went to the cattle center of the school and it was absolutely amazing. We got to rectally palpate a cow and watch the collection of oocytes for in vitro fertilization, for the first time in my life I saw an intact male dairy bull, we saw part of a surgery to correct a displaced abomasum and were able to feel the knee of a cow who's ACL was torn. Not to mention the camel we looked at and the adorable two (maybe three) week old calf we saw who accidentally inhaled some amniotic fluid during his birth by cesarean section and was in critical condition with pneumonia as a result. We were blessed to really be taken around to see everything exciting or interesting there was to see and it was so amazing and really really makes me think that I want to work with cattle. They're so sweet and gentle (except the bulls, who are actually quite dangerous) for example the cow who we saw surgery being performed on had only local anesthetic, and here there were two veterinarians and two students sticking their hands in her abdomen (not all at once) and 7-15 of us crowding around watching it all and she was absolutely chill about it, just the sweetest thing. We also got to learn a lot about in vitro fertilization techniques in cattle, which was very interesting and not something I've really learned a lot about before, having not taken repro. yet.
After lunch we went to the new campus and got a tour of the pathology department, which was interesting despite the extreme weariness of our entire group. The most interesting thing was talking to our guide about the most interesting necropsies he'd done. It was really interesting to talk to someone who works with animals only really after they're dead about the things they look at and the methods they use. I still prefer live animals and the people associated with them though.
Anyway that's all for now, I've got to go eat dinner.
Ciao!
Caitlin
Part of the reason I was so excited to do this specific study abroad program (Studying abroad was always part of my college plan) is because it was specifically targeted to my area of interest, something not super common among science majors and something pretty much non-existent for animal science majors.
The thing about the trip thus far though is that it's pretty much been all human medicine. Don't get me wrong I considered being pre-med and I think human medicine is fascinating, but program wise the past two days have been the best we've spent thus far. We're staying in Hannover right now which is home to Germany's longest running Vet School, the TIHO (sp?). Yesterday started out like some of our other days, we woke up early and rode the subway out to the MHH (M-Ha-Ha) which is a German Med. School in Hannover. There we talked with the head of the Nephrology department about the differences between the USA's health care system at present and Germany's present Health Care system (and education a little bit.) This was super interesting and informative, but I'm definitely still riding in my "capitalist corvette." After that we spent the rest of the morning learning about kidney failure and dialysis, we got to watch a patient who was in the process of getting hemodialysis, and we learned about some interesting kidney drug research. This was all well and good but the best part of the day was after lunch.
In the afternoon we took a bus out to the veterinary school's teaching farm. This is a place they send all their students for two weeks so the suburbian and city kids can learn what it's like to be around and interact with farm animals and what the industry is like today. This was super cool because I got to really see things we'd only really talked about in my animal science classes. The EU has more strict animal welfare laws to some extent which means they have to test out new methods of raising animals that are not yet used in the USA. They also as a teaching farm had some very interesting technological advancements we'd only talked about in ANSC 107H or ANSC 310, like a robotic milker or an automatic feed dispenser that both use bluetooth-like technology to identify the animals.
If all of that wasn't cool enough in the evening we went to a cook out at the TIHO where we were able to meet German veterinary students and 3rd and 4th year veterinary students from the big 10 schools in the USA who were on a school trip abroad also. It was a really unique and wonderful experience because the US veterinary student were from all different schools (including the U of M) and they were really kind and gave me some really great advice.
So Wednesday night I went back to the hotel happy as a clam, but today things got even better. We woke up early and started the morning out at TIHO's anatomical collection which was really fascinating and laid out in such a way that each case allowed you to compare the anatomy of say, the stomach in large and small ruminants with that of a hind gut fermenter and a monogastric.
After this, we went to the cattle center of the school and it was absolutely amazing. We got to rectally palpate a cow and watch the collection of oocytes for in vitro fertilization, for the first time in my life I saw an intact male dairy bull, we saw part of a surgery to correct a displaced abomasum and were able to feel the knee of a cow who's ACL was torn. Not to mention the camel we looked at and the adorable two (maybe three) week old calf we saw who accidentally inhaled some amniotic fluid during his birth by cesarean section and was in critical condition with pneumonia as a result. We were blessed to really be taken around to see everything exciting or interesting there was to see and it was so amazing and really really makes me think that I want to work with cattle. They're so sweet and gentle (except the bulls, who are actually quite dangerous) for example the cow who we saw surgery being performed on had only local anesthetic, and here there were two veterinarians and two students sticking their hands in her abdomen (not all at once) and 7-15 of us crowding around watching it all and she was absolutely chill about it, just the sweetest thing. We also got to learn a lot about in vitro fertilization techniques in cattle, which was very interesting and not something I've really learned a lot about before, having not taken repro. yet.
After lunch we went to the new campus and got a tour of the pathology department, which was interesting despite the extreme weariness of our entire group. The most interesting thing was talking to our guide about the most interesting necropsies he'd done. It was really interesting to talk to someone who works with animals only really after they're dead about the things they look at and the methods they use. I still prefer live animals and the people associated with them though.
Anyway that's all for now, I've got to go eat dinner.
Ciao!
Caitlin
Monday, July 13, 2009
Catching up
Alright, since the first time I used my host family's computer I got the blue screen of death (in German) I've decided only to post from the AIB computers, which means I'm like a week and a half behind so I'm catching up now.
My host family:
I love my host family, it's just my host mom and I most of the time because her children have grown up and moved away. She makes really amazing food, it reminds me of home where Mom makes amazing food without a recipe and just by looking at what's in her cupboard. At meals is when my host mom and I socialize the most, she teaches German to international students at the University, so I'm learning a little German too, although not much.
Class Activities:
Already we've done so much in just a week or so. We've visited Köln twice already, the first time we had a tour of the medical school's anatomy collection as well as a tour of the city and a special rooftop tour of the Cathedral. It was absolutely amazing. I'm one of those people who tends to actually like visiting Cathedrals, even when you've already seen a ton, and the Köln Cathedral is definitely one of my favorite experiences for a couple of reasons:
1) It's gothic, but so towering and impressive in its appearance that it really epitomizes what I imagine all Gothic architecture is meant to look like, you feel the power and strength and magnificence of it.
2) We got a rooftop tour, which was an amazing experience. We got to go into the eaves and learn about how it was built, both in the middle ages and the 19th century, and we took an elevator ride and then some stairs up to 70m and were able to go out and see an amazing view of the city.
3) I really feel like to the umm... Köln-ers (people who live in Köln) the Cathedral is theirs and they love it and cherish it. Some other Cathedrals I've been in have really felt like the people who live in the city have basically abandoned it to the tourists and really feel no attachment to it, but the Kölner Dom (sp?) felt like the people of Köln were really proud of it and loved it and actively used it, kind of like the church in Assisi.
Our second time in Köln we went an old SS headquarters that has been turned into a museum. There are some amazing messages prisoners scratched in to the walls of the cells that have been translated for visitors, but there was also a wonderful museum showing what life in Köln and the surrounding area was like during the Nazi regime and how life changed and didn't for the people living there.
After our very busy week, Nicole, Stephanie, Brittany, Coral, and I went to Switzerland for the weekend. My brother's friend had recommended a hostel for us to stay in and said of all the places that she'd been in Europe, Switzerland was the absolute best, so we had very high hopes.
The train ride to Switzerland from Bonn is not direct, we had to take a tram to Siegburg, then catch an ICE train to Mannheim where we got on our final ICE to Interlaken Ost. For pretty much first time train travelers (I'd only ridden in groups before) we did very well, mainly because of the kindness of strangers. We had reserved seats on both of our ICE trains, but the first train we got on there were people in our seats already so we were confused as to wether or not we'd actually reserved specific seats or if we just had space in the compartment. We turned to a kind looking woman and asked if she spoke English, she referred us to I think her son sitting next to her who was probably in high school, we could tell he was a little annoyed, but he didn't show it in his mannerisms to us and answered all of our questions politely. He was such a Godsend because from then on we were pros at finding our place on the trains we rode. On the next train, on which we had a 4 hour ride, we were in a little compartment for 6, our extra member of the compartment was first an very nice Swiss man, and next a kind rock climber, both of them we were blessed to have.
Anyway this is getting a bit long and so I'll be brief in the next bits. My traveling companions have already described our wonderful experience canyoning anyway.
We arrived at our hostel as it was getting dark but this didn't stop us from enjoying the absolutely beautiful view. We took a cable car into the mountains where the hostel was nestled in an adorable Swiss community highly recommended by Rick Steves (who is the favorite travel guide of PBS, my mother, and our neighbor Marsha.) I don't think there are words to describe how beautiful the mountains were, but I can say this: I have been to Alaska and Colorado and sat wondering why my mother made such a big deal of the mountains and why we needed to take so many pictures of them, but that time I spent nestled in snug among them in Switzerland I think is the closest I will ever come to understanding Mom's and Laura Davis' love of mountains.
I'm going to end here, but I'll try to go further into detail about a few of these things on my livejournal for my friends back home, so if you have a great desire to hear more you can find in here: http://lalaith7.livejournal.com/ . I cannot guarantee that the posts will always be unlocked, but generally on the whole most of what I write is open to the public. That's all for now.
Ciao!
Caitlin Vanasse
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
I wish I understood more German...
Thus far in Bonn I've had a few minor adventures.
I live right in Bonn, which makes me very close to things, but I use the public transportation less than everyone else. I'm getting the hang of things pretty quickly, mainly because I have a weird knack for public transportation. On Sunday, Stephanie, Andrew, and I took the tram out into the countryside to this rock climbing place. The people there were so immensely helpful in explaining things. Although Andrew only had a little rock climbing experience and I had even less, Stephanie teaches at the A&M rock wall so they put her in charge of teaching Andrew and I what we needed to know. I had a lot of fun mainly because Stephanie and Andrew picked the easiest walls out for me. On the way back though I forgot to get my house keys out of Stephanie's backpack so I couldn't get into the house. Luckily Stephanie had only gone to the AIB, unluckily I got lost 3 times trying to find the AIB and had to call my host mother and tell her to go to dinner without me. I was worried that she was mad that she'd waited for me, she and some friends were going on a picnic, but I think she was just concerned.
Monday I made sure to be on time for dinner with my host mother, we chatted about the Museum König, a natural history museum in Bonn, and also about Konrad Lorenz a pioneering animal ethologist that Dr. Friend (my ethology prof.) is very enthusiastic about. It was fun because she told me a few interesting stories.
The German parliament first met in the Museum König and they hid all the taxidermied animals except the giraffe so in the pictures there are all these dignitaries and towering above them is this stuffed giraffe.
She also told me about this famous swan that imprinted on this boat (I think in Holland?) and so it would follow the tourist boat all around and got so sad when it was taken out of the water for the winter that they put it back in this special pond and tourists from all around the world would come to see the swan. It reminded me of The Trumpeter Swan this old E.B. White book my family listened to on tape when we were kids. In the story this swan cannot trumpet, but his father steals a brass trumpet for him and the swan spends some time bugeling for a summer camp and in a pond playing for a swan boat all in pursuit of this special lady swan who gets stuck in a zoo.
Today, Tuesday, we visited the Museum König to see a Darwin exhibit and we're supposed to write a couple paragraphs about one of the exhibits. The problem is that the exhibits explanations were all in German. Dr. Wasser and Stephie sorf of translated for us but it was a bit difficult and I'm one of those people who likes to read all the signs in an exhibit (this is why my mother and I were kicked out of two museums in Washington D.C. because they were closing and I was still reading the exhibit descriptions.) I can't help but feel that once again on this trip I would get more out of it if I understood more German. I think when I get home I'll endeavor to actually learn German, I've always preferred it to Spanish or French, I think German just sounds wonderful to listen to and maybe I'll have a German Expressionism movie binge while I'm at it.
Anyway This is already way too long so I'll end it here.
Tschüss!
Caitlin
I live right in Bonn, which makes me very close to things, but I use the public transportation less than everyone else. I'm getting the hang of things pretty quickly, mainly because I have a weird knack for public transportation. On Sunday, Stephanie, Andrew, and I took the tram out into the countryside to this rock climbing place. The people there were so immensely helpful in explaining things. Although Andrew only had a little rock climbing experience and I had even less, Stephanie teaches at the A&M rock wall so they put her in charge of teaching Andrew and I what we needed to know. I had a lot of fun mainly because Stephanie and Andrew picked the easiest walls out for me. On the way back though I forgot to get my house keys out of Stephanie's backpack so I couldn't get into the house. Luckily Stephanie had only gone to the AIB, unluckily I got lost 3 times trying to find the AIB and had to call my host mother and tell her to go to dinner without me. I was worried that she was mad that she'd waited for me, she and some friends were going on a picnic, but I think she was just concerned.
Monday I made sure to be on time for dinner with my host mother, we chatted about the Museum König, a natural history museum in Bonn, and also about Konrad Lorenz a pioneering animal ethologist that Dr. Friend (my ethology prof.) is very enthusiastic about. It was fun because she told me a few interesting stories.
The German parliament first met in the Museum König and they hid all the taxidermied animals except the giraffe so in the pictures there are all these dignitaries and towering above them is this stuffed giraffe.
She also told me about this famous swan that imprinted on this boat (I think in Holland?) and so it would follow the tourist boat all around and got so sad when it was taken out of the water for the winter that they put it back in this special pond and tourists from all around the world would come to see the swan. It reminded me of The Trumpeter Swan this old E.B. White book my family listened to on tape when we were kids. In the story this swan cannot trumpet, but his father steals a brass trumpet for him and the swan spends some time bugeling for a summer camp and in a pond playing for a swan boat all in pursuit of this special lady swan who gets stuck in a zoo.
Today, Tuesday, we visited the Museum König to see a Darwin exhibit and we're supposed to write a couple paragraphs about one of the exhibits. The problem is that the exhibits explanations were all in German. Dr. Wasser and Stephie sorf of translated for us but it was a bit difficult and I'm one of those people who likes to read all the signs in an exhibit (this is why my mother and I were kicked out of two museums in Washington D.C. because they were closing and I was still reading the exhibit descriptions.) I can't help but feel that once again on this trip I would get more out of it if I understood more German. I think when I get home I'll endeavor to actually learn German, I've always preferred it to Spanish or French, I think German just sounds wonderful to listen to and maybe I'll have a German Expressionism movie binge while I'm at it.
Anyway This is already way too long so I'll end it here.
Tschüss!
Caitlin
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