Bonn and the World Cup Final

July 7^th was the first full week in Bonn. Within this week I became more comfortable with using the bus system and other local transportation. We had our first History of Medicine class and German class as well. Monday morning Dr. Wasser gave us our first lecture on the health care systems of Germany and some other European nations compared to the US. I really enjoyed and valued this lecture. It was very eye opening to be informed about how other countries deal with the complex and ever growing issue of public health. I have been aware for a couple years throughout my internships at hospitals of some of the problems with our health care system in the US. The mentality and logistical methods that Germany uses to finance and structure their health care seems to be very much more simplified and practical than our current system in the US. I also had no idea how many things in the Affordable Care Act, enacted by President Obama, was similar to the current European system. Personally, I feel like the current American health care system has let private health insurance companies obtain a monopolistic role over Americans. Instead of the companies being non-profit, many of them are for-profit which resulted in them all being able to charge whatever they wanted to maximize profits. There was not enough incentive to compete, but with a government option that should be more affordable, they will have to compete. Also, the fact that certain people with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage makes no sense to me. The reason we have health insurance is so that people with large health expenses will not go bankrupt from the sky-rocketing medical costs of treatment today. In Europe, almost everyone if not everyone has some form of health care available so they do not have to worry about not having access to care if they need it. One mentor of mine put the current American health care system and its effects on society this way: we not have health care, we have sick care. Due to the current system many Americans must wait until their health issues are at a critical emergency status to get care instead of having preventative medicine and regular checkups.

We also had our first of five German classes on Monday with Susanne. We started with the basics and played fun games for practice with pronunciation and conversation skills.

Later in the afternoon, we went on a historical city walk with Rainer Zack. I knew Bonn had a strong rooted history, but it wasn’t until our walk that I realized how long it is and the many sites within Bonn that hold strong historical significance in Roman times and in World War II. Rainer made the walk very enjoyable and fun. We went to the Biergarten next to the old AIB and the Rhine. One of my favorite spots was the old Roman villa ruins that were discovered underneath the monastery. I was surprised that the Romans had established small civilizations and homes in present day Germany. I especially enjoyed Rainer’s explanation of the innovative engineering that went into these ancient Villas.

Tuesday we went to the House of History guided tour. This was one of my favorite tours that we have gone on so far. The set-up of the museum was very well done and our guide was excellent. Having a guide who has actually lived through these important events in history and hearing about his first hand experiences with life in pre and post WWII was priceless. Most of the museum focused on WWII and the division of Germany after it up until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bonn was the formerly the capital of West Germany before the Berlin Wall was taken down in the 80’s.

Later that night we went to the public viewing of the Germany vs. Brazil semi-final game. Since it had been raining so much we went to an indoor viewing. This was my first public viewing so I was very much anticipating what the atmosphere would be like. The social experience was one of a kind. Because we were all standing and there is a lot of tall Germans I was not able to see much of the game but still enjoyed being around my group and other locals. I will never forget the game because of the number of goals Germany made on Brazil, the host country, in such a short time frame. Everyone was going crazy and I almost thought I was in a dream since I didn’t get to actually see how the goals were scored. By the end of the game we were all singing along to the German chants.

Wednesday we paid a visit to the Anesthesia Museum and was guided by one of the leading pioneers in Anesthesia in Germany. The tour was very informative and again, I was very appreciative to be guided by someone who has experienced much of the history first hand. We went through the inception and evolution of anesthesia to how we know it today.

Tuesday and Wednesday I experienced how much the weather in Germany can fluctuate. The entire day Tuesday was rainy and cold, at least by my standards. Wednesday and the rest of the week was very unpredictable. It would be bright and sunny for a couple hours, then become dark and rainy for about 30 minutes and then the sky would clear up and be sunny again. I have rarely ever experienced weather that has changed so fast.

Thursday we took a day trip to Cologne and nice warm weather returned for the whole day! We started off with a historical city tour through the city center area around the love lock bridge, the infamous Cologne Cathedral and market areas. Much like Bonn, there is a rich Roman and medieval history in Cologne. We ate lunch as a group at the Gaffel Dom restaurant where we got to try a lot of the German novelty drinks and dishes that Olivia and others had told us about upon our arrival in Germany. One of my all-time favorite moments of this trip was being able get a rooftop tour of the Cologne Cathedral. I took an architecture class my sophomore year at A&M and much of the class was studying the gothic cathedral period. Since that class it has been a dream since then to experience seeing one of these in person. The three wise men are known to rest there which made the visit even more special. The views of the cathedral and the surrounding city from the rooftop were breathtaking.

Friday we had our final German class with Susanne and afterwards she took all of us out for ice cream! It was nice conclusion to our lessons and was a good feeling being able to order my food in German. That afternoon we finished off the week by visiting the Haribo outlet store.

Now we are to my favorite part of the week, and maybe even the whole trip. Sunday July 13^th was the 2014 FIFA World Cup final match between Germany and Argentina. While watching the world cup games at home in the US and seeing how solid Germany came out in their opening game, I had considered how amazing it would be if Germany advanced to the finals while I was going to be here. Once they won their semifinal game, I was counting down the days until the final. That day and a couple days previous I had tried to find a jersey to wear for the final but all the stores I went to were sold out. I made do with what I could find and geared up for the game. We went to a public viewing in an outdoor park with a huge stage and a giant screen big enough that I could actually see the game this time. A massive crowd had formed by the time kickoff came and the town was buzzing! We all watched in terror and anticipation as each team had shot after shot and still no goal. There was a couple close calls where Argentina scored but the referees called it offside and the goal was taken back. Then Germany had a near goal that hit the post later on in the second half. By the end of the 90 minutes in regular time the crowd was anxious for a goal. Toward the end of the second half it started to rain and pour down on everyone. Some left and I was tempted to watch the rest of the game inside but I knew I would never forgive myself if I missed something so I stuck it out in the rain. A little later it stopped and shortly into the first extra time period one of Germany’s youngest player had a spectacular goal off a volley past the Argentinian goalie. It was as if someone had just popped the cork off a champagne bottle. The entire crowd erupted in screaming, jumping, beer-tossing, and hugging. Some people around me even started to cry. It was just a matter of time until the game was over and sure enough Deutschland came out as the Welt Meister!!! That evening was an absolutely priceless moment that made the entire trip worth while and made me feel very privileged and lucky to have been able to truly experience the mentality and love for soccer here in Germany.

 

Maybe I'm Crazy

Craziness. Absolute craziness. There are no other words to describe this past week. After Vienna for 4 days, a group of six lovely ladies and I traveled to Salzburg, Innsbrook, and Munich in a span of 4 days. As I travel to Hannover, I reflect upon these life-changing few days.

As we arrived in Salzburg, the beauty of the city and the surrounding mountains overwhelmed us. From the beautiful bridges and river, to the towering palaces and churches, Salzburg was by far the prettiest city I’ve ever seen. The day after we arrived, we took a trip back to my childhood by going on the Sound of Music Tour. The tour took us to the film locations of the major scenes from the “Sound of Music” and the beautiful areas of Salzburg. While slightly touristy, the sights and sounds of Salzburg were breathtaking to a point where no photos or description of the city could ever do it justice. The tour bus driver was a jolly Austrian man wearing Lederhosen named “Ferdinand”. He and the tour guide made the tour very fun with sing-alongs, jokes, and laughs along the way.

After our Sound of Music tour, we went straight to a tour into the Bavarian Salt Mines, where I learned about the “white gold” (don’t worry, I mean salt). Did you know for example that salt can eliminate fresh stains with ease? I did not have high expectations for this tour, but it came with the Sound of Music tour. However, the old “don’t judge a book by its cover” came into play here. The tour was an absolute blast (pun intended). We started off by suiting up in appropriate attire—like a miner. Then, we took a train down into the mines and along the way, took two slides down into the mines, as well as a boat to cross a salt water lake. The tour exceeded my expectations and overall, Salzburg was amazing.

The next day, we took a train to Innsbrook to go paragliding over the Alps. As I soon discovered, I have a slight fear of heights. While going up the ski lift, I had my doubts. However, the experience was one I will never forget. “Run, just run”, my paragliding instructor told me. While we did aerials in the air and got scary to close to trees, it was a rather pleasant ride. Unlike skydiving, there is no free falling; it is all just flowing with the wind. I got to see the Alps from about 2 km up in the air and the view was breathtaking. The same day (post para-gliding), we traveled to Munich. 

After some struggles finding the hostel and deciphering the maze that is the public transportation of Munich, we explored the city. Finally, we were at the city center of Munich—Marienplatz (named after the Virgin Mary). For the weekend, Marienplatz hosted “Christopher Street Day”, celebrating the LGBT community and their allies. For me, it was amazing seeing the cultural difference from Munich and College Station. There were couples of all nationalities, ethnicities, sexualities, genders, etc. in the festival. As an advocate for LGBT equality, it was refreshing to see the freedom of these couples. In College Station, I feel that the LGBT community is sometimes recognized, but not celebrated. It was interesting for me to experience a completely unique culture; we picked a great time to be in Munich! On Day 2, we took a bike tour around the city to learn important buildings, monuments, history, and of course, visit the Englisch Garten (a massive park that was incredible). Overall, I’d say the brief whirlwind tour of Munich was fantastic. It is a city with a deep history that I was curious to learn more about. From the lions’ noses that locals rub for good luck, to the famous Hofbräuhaus, to the events from WWII and the 1978? Olympic games, Munich is a fantastic city.

As I head over to Hannover and reflect on this past week, I think of how life-changing this week was. I have always been open about my personal struggles with mental illness, particularly depression. I feel otherwise, the stigma of mental illness grows. I see it like any other disease or disorder that people fight through. My tour around Europe is making me realize that there is a world outside of depression and my life as a student. Sometimes, I lose direction in my life. Life seems to be point A to point B with no purpose. This lack of direction is a fairly natural part of being a 20 year-old figuring out life. Travelling is making me realize that we live in an amazing world to explore and learn. Some of my favourite parts of the trip so far have been conversations with random strangers and hearing their stories. I love meeting new people and hearing about their hometowns, the sights and sounds, and their intentions. I love listening and having my views of the world challenged. This is what studying abroad is about for me: change.

Always Confirm the Street Name

As you can probably guess from the name of this post, I'm writing this because we indeed did NOT confirm the street name. But first, let me start from the beginning.

The beginning starts in Munich. Well kind of, it starts right as we were leaving. We had looked up the train times and found a train departing around 6 for Hannover. As the train pulled up we noticed that it was quite full. We all lugged our luggage on board to find almost no seats. As we were pulling our stuff down the isles, we all discovered every seat on this train was reserved. Why hadn't the website told us this?! We found a place to drop most of the luggage and found a few seats spread out that nobody appeared to be sitting in. Rebecca and I found two seats across from each other, next to two guys who basically laughed and talked about us in Italian the entire time we were sitting there.  We thought they were just laughing about the 7 Americans trying to find open seats on a train that was 95% reserved. We soon found out why the guys were actually laughing… apparently 98% of the train was reserved and the people who had the seats we were sitting in were just in the cafe eating. After a couple train stops, only a couple of us still had places to sit and the rest of us were left standing in a passage way between cars. At this point all we could really do was laugh at ourselves for not knowing to reserve seats. After a while of us sitting on the floor, and having to stand up every time a person walked by, this nice young man popped his head out of his reserved air-conditioned box on the train and told us the hall had fold out seats built into the wall that we could sit on. We laughed some more at ourselves as we folded down the seats and tried to enjoy our train ride, while people still had to constantly climb over us. About 15 mins later, we finally found out some of the seats in the boxes belonged to people who had already gotten off the train and we're not reserved anymore! Thank you Jesus, we now not only got real seats but also air-conditioning, score!

When we finally arrived in Hannover 4 and a 1/2 hours later after some train delays. We were all exhausted and dragged our luggage to the nearest ticket kiosk. Which, we could not figure out for the life of us. Half of us went to find food and the other half headed to the information desk. Apparently in Hannover, they don't sell tickets at the info desk. Oh, joy. We were however informed that our train wouldn't be until 12 am. Oh, joy, again. We decided to get a cab to the other train station where the hotel was going to send a shuttle to pick us up from. After trying and failing to find that address, we looked up the address of the hotel and saw it was only 9 mins away by cab. We decided it would just be easiest to take a cab straight there! After finally finding a taxi to hold all 7 of us and our baggage, we were finally off to our hotel. I had already been in contact with the hotel manager and he told me to call again when we arrived. We arrived at the hotel, in a dark and sketchy area, split the 10 euro taxi ride. and unloaded our stuff to find the hotel door locked and no one at the reception desk. I called the manager and he said he would come right down… after about 3 mins and still no manager we came to the realization we were probably at the wrong hotel. We called our other friends who were already checked into the same hotel we had reservations for and figured out we were definitely at the wrong hotel. They were by a McDonalds, and we were by nothing but a sketchy part of town. After spending at least 10 mins trying to find our reservation address and failing, finding a nice German girl who then went and woke up someone staying in the hotel that spoke english to help us, and many laugh attacks, we finally got sent the correct address. Who would have thought there were two Hotel Marjani's in Hannover? Not us, seeing as it was very small and more like a hostel.

We then tried to call a cab, again. After about 5 mins of trying to say the name of the street we were on correctly in German, and even spelling it all out, two cabs were sent our way. Thank the Lord, we were finally on our way to the correct hotel. As we drove, and drove, and drove, I watched the cost of our ride increase, and increase, and increase. We went all the way through the city and through some scary looking woods. I started to question if our cab driver knew where he was taking us, or if he was just taking us to these sketch woods to murder the 4 pretty girls in the cab. 70 euros worth of taxi time later, we finally arrived at the correct hotel. By this time it was one am. We practically all fell into bed that night and we all learned two important lessons:

Google sucks. Because when you search for this hotel in Hannover, only one address comes up
Always confirm the street name on the reservation before you jump in a cab

We all got there safe though, and we all got some good laughs at ourselves that day too!

My Week on the Road

The past week has flown by due to the amount of traveling we have done. I am struggling to remember exactly what we did each day because every day brings something new and exciting.Germany won the World Cup last week, which was incredible to see first hand while cheering along with the fans. Unfortunately this meant that we didn't get home until 1 am and had to get up at 3 for our flight to Vienna. This made for a very long first day in a new city, but it was worth the tiredness to learn about the history of such a cultural city. During the next three days there we saw several medically relevant museums, saw a string quartet play, learned about the medical education in Austria, and made countless memories with the group.

After leaving Vienna, a group of seven of us set off for a weekend of traveling and exploring. We first took a train to Salzburg where we spent time walking around the old town center. The next day we went on a Sound of Music tour and a Bavarian Salt mine tour. Seeing the different locations of where the Sound of Music was filmed was very interesting to me and had some beautiful views in the mountains. On our bus ride to the salt mines, we had a crazy bus driver who was flying through the twists and turns on the mountains. Thankfully, we made it safely to the mine where we ended up with a Germany speaking tour group and had to use audio guides to follow along. I will remember a lot more this time than just the slides that I remember when I came with my parents 10 years ago. Salzburg was a beautiful city to be able to explore, one of my favorite cities I have seen so far! It was a little touristy but the views were incredible and well worth the trip.

Then came one of the most exciting days yet, paragliding in the Austrian Alps!  We took a  train to Innsbruck where we met with our paragliding guide who took us straight up a mountain near the city. Soaring through the air over the alps was an experience I will never forget. The ride was comfortable smooth apart from a spiral the instructor performed. The view from the top of the mountain left me wanting to stay so much longer, but unfortunately we did not have enough time to stay. So we were off to Munich after being in Innsbruck for only 6 hours.

Munich was a big city, with people coming and going from all over the world. Even though we were only there for 24 hours, I enjoyed every minute of it! We made it to the city early enough to do shopping on Saturday afternoon, which was a relief to us, since most shops are closed on Sundays in Europe. One of the girls on the trip, Angelica, turned twenty one at midnight so we all helped to celebrate her birthday that night! The next morning we went on a bike tour through Munich which was  a great was to see the city with limited time. Englisch Park was one of the stops on the tour that made me want to stay in Munich forever. It was a giant park double the size of Central Park with man made rivers and everyone comes to swim and play sports and just be with friends. I wish that we had more places like this in Texas!

Traveling with the same seven people all weekend was a great experience for me, but there were times when we just needed a break from one another. When running on 5 hours of sleep it is hard to remain positive at all times in all types of situations. I tried my best to be someone who everyone wanted to be around even during stressful situations. You will have to ask the others in my group if I was successful in this though.

Small Experiences; Big Impacts

This past week we traveled to the Josephenum museum in Vienna.  I honestly didn't really expect to be so intrigued by wax anatomical models.  I've taken two semesters of Anatomy and Physiology, and was hoping I wouldn't have to look at bones and body models anytime in the near future.  Little did I know that the Josephenum museum would have a large impact on what I thought would be in my future.

We walked through the first couple of rooms with all of the wax models and I was impressed, but not fascinated quite yet.  I guess you could say that I was just plain burnt out of looking at anatomical models after studying them everyday for two semesters straight.  I did feel accomplished when I could still remember most of the muscles, though!  Then, as we walked into the room with all of the fetus and pregnant mothers, I suddenly perked up.  I had always had a small interest in working with babies and pregnant women, but had never really seen anything like the models to really spark my interest.  It was new and exciting, and I honestly didn't want to leave.

Later that night, I really got to thinking about wether or not I would want to be an OBGYN or not.  I haven't been this interested in something since I became so passionate about my major.  I do think that it is possible that I could work in this field, and be excited about what I would learn.  Now, it is just getting to that point that will be hard.  People have always said that studying abroad will open your eyes, and you will learn a lot about yourself, but I didn't believe them.  I was completely in the wrong to doubt them.

This small experience has made a huge impact on my future.

Amy Rawls : So Many Cities, So Little Time

Just as I expected this past week has been incredible! I’ve gotten to know the people on the trip a lot better and they are all awesome. This past week I’ve been to Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Munich, and am heading to Hannover right now.

Vienna was so neat! It was a cool city although I must say the citizens of Bonn seem sweeter than the citizens of Vienna. I didn’t have a significant experience of rudeness they just didn’t go out of their way to help as much as Germans. My favorite parts were probably the museum with wax figures, basically the first body worlds, the Fools Tower, and the Schonbrunn Palace. It was neat seeing how medical students used to learn and how people had to make wax figures before preservation was possible. Then seeing all the things that can go wrong with the body just fascinates me. It’s pretty impressive to know how many points in the body there are for absolute failure and yet it functions properly or close to most of the time. I hate to say that seeing the diseases were cool because disease itself is not cool, but the body just amazes me! The Schonbrunn Palace was just incredibly beautiful. I didn’t expect it to be that huge! Not even close to that huge! There’s an entire zoo in the Palace property. Going to the palace was finally something that felt like something Austrian to me. I definitely recommend going. I got there and immediately said “Now this is Vienna.” It sort of let me see some of the beauty without leaving the big city.

Free Weekend:

Salzburg was a surprise! I was just going because it was had the Sound of Music and salt mines my friend raved about and I’m a crazy Sound of Music fan. On the train ride in I was shocked at the beauty. I guess it was the first time I was outside of a city since I’d been abroad. It was a nice change of pace. The sound of Music tour was life changing! It shows you obviously different sets that were filmed but you also get to kind of go on a bus ride around the city and see some really neat stuff! Then we did a salt mine tour. Also awesome. It wasn’t quit as awesome as the Sound of Music tour but still neat and worth it.
The next morning we went to Innsbruck just to paraglide. It was kind of a crazy idea to travel to a whole town, but now I can say I went paragliding in the Alps. It was amazing! It was definitely something I will remember forever. I was scared and freaking out a little bit at first and then once we took off it was easy, peaceful, and not scary at all. The views are just unexplainable really. Innsbruck to my surprise was even prettier than Salzburg. Super great experience. Mountain Fly was the cheapest company we found and I had a lot of fun. We didn’t get to really walk around the little town because we grabbed the next train to Munich.
I wish we had more time in Munich, but I still enjoyed my time there. There was a lot going on this weekend in Munich. The biggest thing was probably that it was Christopher’s Annual Street Parade. That was for sure a cultural experience. We don’t really have LGBT weekend long festivals very often in Texas. It was pretty cool and looked like loads of fun. We were barely in Munich so we didn’t participate to heavily because we had sights to see and places to be. We had a bike tour for 4 hours with Mike’s Bike Tours. It was awesome! Im so happy I haven’t bought ticket for a tour and been disappointed yet. Since we didn’t have much time I think it was the perfect thing to do. We got around town quickly and got to see loads of stuff.
 The rest of the trip has a lot to live up to, but I think it’ll be equally as wonderful!

Amy Rawls

Is this real life?

This week abroad has been quite an adventure! The past week was mostly spent in Austria, Vienna with the program, and then Salzburg, and Innsbruck for our free weekend before heading to Munich. Even though the traveling has been exhausting, it has all been worth it. I would not trade a single minute I have spent in Europe for anything in the world.

Being able to see and tangibly experience the things you have learned about growing up is just an awesome experience.  I took piano lessons for many years when I was younger and my piano teacher would always make me study the history of the classical composers before learning their music. I spent years learning about Beethoven and Mozart for example and it was beyond awesome to stand in the same room that Beethoven had performed in and to see the place where Mozart died. They were such influential people and the only way to really experience those things is to get out of your little bubble of life and go forth and see the world. I am forever grateful for the experience.

I think it is obvious that the program activities were all pretty great. In the few hours we spent at the Josephenium, I feel like I learned more than I did all last semester in physiology class. And the Fools Tower? Awesome! I had never seen specimens like that before and after doing the project on Harlequin Ichthyosis last year, being able to see the young girl specimen with HI was really cool. Since the disease is very rare, I would have never thought I would have seen anything like that in real life.

Vienna was a very pretty city but I would have to say my favorite city so far is Salzburg. A few of us went on a Sound of Music and Salt Mines tour that took us up into the mountains. Luckily, it was warm and sunny that day and the views were spectacular. The lakes in the mountains were so blue and beautiful that it really looked fake – like something edited for a movie. Innsbruck was the same way. We visited Innsbruck on Saturday for a paragliding excursion, which was absolutely wonderful! The paragliding experience was something I will never forget and the views were something you see once in a lifetime.

Paragliding in the Alps! 

My week concluded with a visit to Munich, which I enjoyed very much! I am happy to have added a few Steinbach nutcrackers to my collection, as well as a few steins. The bike tour we took on Sunday morning was really good and I would definitely recommend it. I think it was a great way to see the city in a short amount of time. My favorite part of the tour would definitely be the English gardens where we were able to eat what I have always thought of as a ‘traditional’ German lunch of sausage, pretzels, and beer.

Overall, this has been a week for the books. Can’t wait to see what Hannover and Norderney have in store!

Tchüss,

Emily

As much as I love Bonn, my favorite part of the program is definitely the traveling. The group excursions and free weekends offer opportunities to experience a great diversity of cities each with their own unique culture and lifestyle. So far I've been to Paris, Cologne, Vienna and Amsterdam.

Paris was an amazingly beautiful city, oozing rich history wherever you go. You can go to a random place in the city center and start walking in an arbitrary direction and stumble upon monuments and landmarks that you probably didn't know existed, and we did this several times. In fact the city was so saturated with monuments that we sometimes had the bizarre problem of not knowing which fabulously adorned street and buildings to head toward. We saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Mont Marte (sp?), the Louvre, the Arch du Triomphe, and countless other points of interest. I especially enjoyed the Louvre, particularly wandering through the back halls and areas away from the throngs of other tourists. Near the famous landmarks were always enormous crowds, and a huge number of sketchy street vendors, scam artists and tourist-trap restaurants. At one point I even had to forcefully shove a woman away who had grabbed onto a member of our group and was trying to distract them to pick their pockets. We made an effort to leave the popular areas and find the locals whenever we could. Occasionally we encountered people who were very rude to us for no apparent reason other than us being Americans, but on the whole they were kind and hospitable. We spent the last evening sitting on the lawn before the lit up Eiffel Tower dark, having a picnic of French bread, cheese, and wine - a suitable way to wrap-up our Paris experience.

As part of the program, our entire group traveled to Vienna for three nights. I hadn't heard much about the city before, but it turned out to be a bastion of history and culture. We took a medical history tour of the city, guided by a mysterious man in a full plague doctor outfit complete with the beaked mask who turned out to be our professor. It was hilarious to see heads turn our way in surprise and confusion as he lead us on our walk through the city. We went to the Joesphinum and later the Fool's Tower, both old medical facilities that were now museums full of ultra-realistic wax models of the body showing different organ systems and diseases in great detail. These were previously used to train medical students, and occasionally showcased to the public to blow their collective minds (many of these figures weren't exactly modest or entirely pleasant, to say the least). I particularly enjoyed our tour of the crypts beneath St. Michaels cathedral, which ended up looking exactly like the.stereotypical catacombs in videogames and movies. With coffins lining the cool, damp chambers with dirt floors concealing thouadands of remains and enormous stacks of bones in the alcoves,  I half-expected a skeleton to pull itself out of the ground at any moment. There were also several bodies which had been naturally mummified by the conditions within the crypt, and we were right up close and personal with them. Later we attended a string quartet concert in a church of all places, whose acoustics uniquely complemented the classical music. We went out as a group a few times and had a full Viennese meal with plenty of white wine and Wiener schnitzel (Wien is the German name for Vienna). It was a nice city to explore, and on my own I saw the House of Music, the museum of crime and the Viennese Museum.

Of all the European cities I've been to, Amsterdam is definitely my favorite. The entire city is built at sea-level and has a spiderweb of canals everywhere. It looked like what I thought Venice would be before I visited it in a previous trip to Europe. Strips of land dense with buildings, narrow streets, and alleys were separated by long, open canals edged with cobblestone roads and spanned by dozens of bridges. Huge palaces and buildings that might as well be palaces could be seen from almost any major street. Further from the city center were large parks and open spaces which were incredible. I particularly enjoyed Vondelpark, a large park filled with bike lanes, gorgeous landscaping, and people grilling food, celebrating, or otherwise just enjoying the nature. I spent most of my time wandering the city on foot and later on a bicycle that I rented. The city was incredibly bicycle friendly, with generous bicycle lanes everywhere and often entire dedicated parallel streets complete with lane lines and traffic signals. I'd confidently guess that half of the area of paved roads in the city were for bicycle traffic. With these accomodations and everything so flat and close together its no surprise that cyclists far outnumbered cars. Bikes were parked absolutely everwhere, and I even saw multistory bicycle parking garages with thousands of racks mostly full. I saw the infamous Red Light District which was possibly the strangest place I've ever seen. It was a nice part of town like any other and was dotted with bars, cafes and stores as usual. Between these more normal establishments were hundreds of windows and glass doors on the street level where very scantily clad prostitutes would stand in a glow of red light, posing and beckoning passerbys to come in. There's even a large church in the middle of it all, a place of worship surrounded by redlights, working girls and drugs. It was an incredibly bizarre place, but also had a strange air of normalcy and other than the obvious moral objections did not feel sketchy or unsafe at all. It would seem that the Dutch ideology of bringing such vices out of the criminal world and into legal regulation works well for them.  Overall, visiting Amsterdam was an eye-opening experience in some ways for sure, but beyond its international infamy it was an amazing city which I will certainly be going back to some day.

Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest

Nishah and I traveled to Budapest for our long weekend and while we've had loads of carefree fun roaming about the city and stumbling upon panoramic sights, we've made sure to set apart time to educate ourselves about some of the troubling past that has helped to shape the modern city. On Friday, we visited the Holocaust Memorial Center and viewed the histories of many Hungarians who were persecuted during the Nazi regime's spread to their then kingdom. I noticed that a large emphasis was placed on highlighting the Roma or Gypsy population who have historically been ostracized in their societies and were also made targets of Nazi activities. I learned that of the approximately 600,000 civilians that died during World War II, about 30,000 of them were Roma. Both Jews and Romas as well as Jehova's Witnesses, mentally disabled persons, and homosexual people were sent to Nazi extermination camps such as Auschwitz. There really was no place in Hitler's Master Race for a beautiful thing called diversity.

One of the exhibits that tugged at my heart was about Mengele's Children, sets of twins who were subject to brutal medical experiments under Dr. Josef Mengele's oversight in Auschwitz. Last fall semester, I wrote a term paper for my U.S. History class about the ethics of using Nazi medical research for modern gains and discussed the opinions of Eva Mozes Kor, one of the twins who was essentially a human guinea pig. Eva and her sister Miriam were born in a Romanian village and at the age of 6, the village was occupied by a Hungarian Nazi armed guard. Their whole family was torn apart at Auschwitz and the twins never saw their relatives again. The women survived crazy experiments like Miriam being injected with viruses to induce heavy fevers while Eva was used as the control. However, Miriam died of kidney complications in the late 90's. One amazing thing about Eva Kor, who has become a public spokesperson, is that she has said that, "It is time to forgive, but not to forget" the horrors of the Holocaust. She has become a point of contention among her community because many people feel that their parents or relatives who died in the Holocaust would disagree with her view.

Eva and Miriam were at the front of the group of children who were released at Auschwitz

The exhibits of the memorial center ended in a private synagogue with sketches, portraits, and biographies of and by survivors displayed around the edges. I had never stepped foot in a synagogue before, but I had a most peaceful feeling walking around and viewing a group of people's catharsis through artistic expression set in a clean and pure place.

Dear reader, if you ever find yourself in Budapest, I certainly recommend visiting the Holocaust Memorial Center!

Elisa Vengalil '16

Vienna or Paris??

How do I even begin to describe this week? Vienna was flawless. Paris was…eh. 

Lets start with Vienna… We were there with the rest of our group and went to quite a few museums. Josephinum, Sigmund Freud, House of Music and the Fools Tower, just to name a few. The Fools Tower was definitely my favorite. It was the huge pathology museum with lots a real specimens, it was pretty creepy. In the cool kind of way. 

The best part of Vienna though, besides the incredible town/views/people, was the Amusement park. We seriously had so much fun there. That was something I didn’t really expect to see in a place like that. We also met some really cute guys, so that totally made me wanna stay there even more. It was a city full of Brads.

All in all, Vienna was my favorite place I have been. It was somewhere i could see myself going back to in the future and wanting to take my family there.

Paris on the other hand…

Honestly, it was really cool. The Lourve, the Arc de Triumph, the Champs Elysees, the original Chanel store.. Paris has so much to offer and it was incredible to go to all the museums and eat macaroons and drink wine near the Eiffel tower.. BUT it was SO hectic.

The subways were a MESS. first of all, metro means subway, NOT bus. That took us awhile to figure out. secondly, it was always packed with no air circulation. and third, it was the most confusing system i’ve ever tried to navigate. after being in Vienna and using their subway systems i was definitely not impressed with Paris’ metro system.

My favorite part of Paris though was the Palace of Versailles. It was gorgeous. Louis XIV had it going on back in the day!! The Lourve was pretty incredible too. It was just so big, and there were so many people it made it kind of hard to enjoy all the beauty of the museum and its art. I saw the Mona Lisa, obviously. And i’m shocked by how small it was. I know everyone says that its pretty small but I think compared to all the massive paintings in that room it just really highlighted the average sizedness of the Mona Lisa. 

Paris was a fun city, it really was. Its just so big i wish we had more time to see everything it has to offer. But on the other hand, its really crowded and idk i feel like it was a little bit dirty too, like my hands constantly needed sanitizer. But i still liked it.

Also, I went to the original Chanel store in France and bought myself a pair of Chanel earrings. That was my big purchase of the trip and i can’t believe i even bought them but i love them and they were worth the price tag. It was a big moment for me and something I'll never forget from this trip.

Bye Vienna, Hello Hungary!

Each day passes by with a glimpse of the eye! We are finally leaving Vienna, Austria towards Budapest, Hungary. Vienna was far beyond imagination—simply beautiful might be the right way to describe it. I loved every part of this short trip. On day one, we had the opportunity to explore the history of Vienna through a medical perspective. Dr. Wasser dressed up as Dr.Schnabel and took us around Vienna. This was a great surprise for us since none of us knew what Dr. Wasser was up to before he showed up with that attire. It was interesting to learn about the medical students who drank alcohol from the supply meant to be for the specimens. We also learned about a lady who carried a dead fetus for four years! The first c-section thus took place in Vienna in order to remove the fetus. In addition, we learned more about the plague and the plague doctor as well, and how measures were taken later to improve the environmental conditions of the city. Next, we visited the catacombs at St. Michael’s Kirche. To be completely honest, seeing skeletons and long dead people should have creeped me out but I found it rather interesting. I am thankful for being able to observe and analyze skeletons in an anthropological sense. Since most of us had stayed up all night for the FIFA finale, we were tired and exhausted way before our day was over . Nevertheless, I rested well that night.

The next day was pretty fun! We visited the Josephinum museum, and I was astonished by the intricate design of the wax models. The understanding of anatomy back then was complexly elaborated in each wax model. Ranging from the skeletal and muscular system, to the cardiovascular and lymphatic system, each piece of art was simply breath-taking. The most exciting part of this trip for me were the OB-GYN models. Each model described the different complications of delivery, and how physicians dealt with them. The purpose of these intricate models was to help medical students learn in an engaging fashion. After the museum trip, we had about 7 hours of free time to explore Vienna on our own. Angelica, Elisa, Edward and I wandered off to look for THE Giant Ferris Wheel. We ended up in an amusement park and, instead of riding the ferris wheel, we sat in a roller coaster and a humungous swing. It was perhaps the most memorable day of my trip to Vienna. Then, we ventured off to find a flea market, but instead ended up at the city parliament and took some wonderful pictures. Later that night, we had a concert at St. Anna’s Kirche. 

Our third day in Vienna consisted of a trip to the hospital and the University of Vienna’s medical school. Dr. Richard Maerz gave us a very interesting lecture on how the American and the Austrain medical schools systems differ. I still cannot believe that medical education in Austria is essentially free! There were other quite astonishing differences in the two systems. Next, we had a group lunch at a restaurant where I ordered a delicious steak burger. Later, we visited the fools tower (insane asylum) where a medical student at the University of Vienna showed us various preserved specimens from deceased persons. We identified various diseases from the specimens and saw preserved babies in a jar. Moreover, we went over treatments that were provided to such in the past. This was more creepy than the catacombs, but it was very educational. After the tour, Olivia and some of us went to a traditional cafe for Viennese coffee and pastry. I ordered Grientorte and it was deliciously good. Shortly, we also had a group dinner where finally most of us order true Viennese Schnitzel. It was great and was mostly like chicken fried steak. Also, we had apfelstrudel and other Viennese desserts for the first time as well.

Viennese Schnitzel!

On the last day, which is today, we visited the Sigmund Freud museum and had a lecture on him. I have taken Psychology 107 during my freshman year of college, but I learned so much more in depth about Freud and his personality. Now Elisa and I are headed to Budapest. I am beyond nervous of how we will get about and find our hotel. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Above all Expectations

As I flip through my journal from the past week, there seems to be a reoccurring theme. Each day's entry ends with something like "Wow! Today was a really great day!" Everyday I find myself falling more and more in live with Germany and this program. While I expected to enjoy myself, I never expected it to impact my life as much as it has.

Our time in Vienna left an exceptional impression on me. I enjoyed every aspect from visiting the Catacombs at St. Michael's and the Josephinum to spending time at the Schonbrum Palace and the House of Music. The city was absolutely beautiful, and I cannot wait until I am able to visit again!

Standing in Front of the Josephinum which houses a collection of more than 1,000 anatomical wax models.

One of my favorite parts of the week was hearing a lecture over the medical education system in Austria from Dr. Richard Marz. He spoke on the differences that are present within America and Austria. I was very impressed by some of the benefits to having the EU as a medical unit including free movement throughout many countries. Additionally, I was very surprised to learn that there is little to no tuition for a medical school in the EU. This is so different than in the United States where there is a constant under supply of physicians due to the financial commitment associated with school. I was quite enlightened by the lecture of Dr. Marz and greatly appreciate him taking the time to share his knowledge and experiences.

Following my departure from Vienna, I have had the absolute pleasure to spend our long free weekend with family friends in Stuttgart, Germany. Our families have been friends for more than three decades, and I am so excited to have this time with them. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting the feeling of "everyday life" in Germany! Last night, we attended the performance of Tarzan at the musical theater, and it was wonderful! The entire show was in German, so I understood very little. Nevertheless, the show was quite amazing! I loved having the apes running through the crowd and swinging above our heads. It was also very neat to recognize the Disney songs even though they were in a completely different language. In just a few short days, Stuttgart has stolen my heart!

Our tickets to see Tarzan at the theater in Stuttgart!

All in all, it has been an incredible week. Each day is better than the last. I have found myself becoming more and more confidant in my chosen path of medicine. I am more than thankful for the opportunity to be part of this program, and I am greatly excited to see what lies ahead.

Our Short Stay in Vienna!

I was nervous about traveling to Vienna at first, mostly because it was the first program trip that required all of my luggage. But I was pleasantly surprised in how smoothly everything went! While the scenery of Austria still had a European vibe, it presented itself in a very different way than Bonn. For starters the amount of people never came close to the amount in Bonn. Also I noticed a much more prominent older population, although it could just be the area we were staying in. Everything seemed to move at slower pace,  bit more relaxed. But I guess no matter how relaxed a city is the subway doors still close just as fast! The subway system was the bomb dot com. I haven’t gotten a chance to use the one in Bonn, but the simplicity of the Vienna’s transportation made the trip way less stressful and easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Vienna also felt cleaner somehow, most likely due to the lack of people.

 

The Josephinum and the Pathology Museum came in a close tie for the win. The win being the exhibit that intrigued me the most. I think Pathology would have came in first by a smidgen if the texts on the bottom floor rooms had been in English. But regardless they both gave me insight on the different time periods. 

From the detail and accuracy of the wax models one could consider the creation process an art form. Aside from the shock of wax model process and the actual amount of them present in the Josephinum, I enjoyed learning that people of the 18th century were so interested in knowledge of the human body. I was really upset to hear the library was so difficult to access. I would have loved to spend some time there.

The Museum of Pathology was the perfect mix of creepy and interesting. Cool but disturbing. A ying and yang if you will; how appropriate that both form a circle.

I really liked that I was  introduced to a lot of new concepts, diseases, mutations, etc. These exhibits made a pretty rad link between the endless occurrence of human imperfections and old fables and riddles. Suddenly the creation of monsters and cyclops stories all made sense.

Free time was super! We managed trips to the Schonbrunn Palace, an amusement park with rollercoasters, the Haus der Musik, and a street market with food and clothes. All around a great four day venture!

  

Little Sleep and Sore Feet

Our first official week in Germany started as a long one! In order to see more of Paris, we decided to stay in the hostel again Sunday night and take an early early train back to Bonn Monday morning for classes. This turned into us waking up around 4:30 and having an incredibly long day. But of course, Paris is always worth it!!! 

We arrived to class right as it started at 10:15. After a full day of History of Medicine and German classes, we got a tour of Bonn from the head of the AIB. Every little part of every little town here has so much history! I suppose some of our towns have more history then we assume too, but I guess European towns just seem so much cooler! We finally got to crash Monday night, but were up and at em' Tuesday morning in class by 8:45. After another day of classes, we were taken to the House of History Museum. I'm not a huge fan of museums, especially when everything is written in German. But our tour guide made this museum one of the best I've been to! Instead of having some student worker who has memorized the details, our tour guide actually lived through the rough times of German history. He remembers what it's like to go to bed hungry because your family has zero money for food, and he remembers the day the Berlin Wall came down. That made it one of the coolest experiences so far! Wednesday, we had another early day and then went to the Anesthesia museum in Bonn. I was a little skeptical as how a whole museum could be made about Anesthesia, but turns out we scored a private tour with one of the guys responsible for many advances in the world of Anesthesia. While he was a little hard to understand, he genuinely cared about what he was showing us and had years of knowledge working in the field of Anesthesia to back it up.

On Thursday we embarked on an all day trip to Köln, not Cologne like American's usually pronounce it. Köln is about a 30 minute train ride from the Bonn central station, so it was nice to go somewhere that was easy to get to. Upon arriving and walking out of the train station, you immediately see the Köln Dom, or Cathedral. This cathedral is beautiful beyond all belief and so huge you couldn't miss it if you tried. Later we got a private tour of it and were taken all the way to the top, but first we had a tour of the city. Köln is an old city, like most in Europe, and all the buildings are so cute and adorable! Most of them are built taller then they are wide and it makes them so charming looking.

Friday was a full day of German class, and then we all went out and ordered our meal in German. It's crazy after just one week of living in the culture how fast you can already pick up so many words and meanings of things. When I first got here, every sign and menu was nothing but foreign words. Now I can not only pronouce most of the words correctly, I can understand what most of the menu is saying or what a sign is indicating.

Saturday we slept in, which was very much needed!! Then we went to a welcome party thrown by the AIB for all the students and host families. Each group had to introduce themselves and we chose a line dance. It was kind of embarrassing at first, but we just embraced it after a couple minutes and had everybody clapping at the end!

Sunday involved packing and the World Cup Final. Being in Germany during the Final deserves a whole post of it's own- coming soon! And with only an hour of sleep between us getting home from the soccer match and us leaving for Vienna, the start of our second week abroad started just as crazy as the first one!

Deutschland = Weltmeister!

Studying abroad is opening my eyes to a world that I have not seen before. The more places we travel to, the more I feel that my views and perspectives on life were narrow. I believe that I'm changing and growing as a person while enjoying my time in Europe. I see that there are so many more cultures in the world to explore. I see that there are new experiences, new sights, smells, foods, and people to meet. I see that there is more to life. First and foremost, everyone on our trip is amazing. We're starting to open to each other and I feel that we have a little History of Medicine family growing! Everyone is considerate and look out for each other--I'm blessed to have such an amazing group! 

This past week, we had the opportunity to go up to the Cologne Cathedral, which was absolutely breathtaking. Taking selfies all the way, our group triumphed and reached the top. Seeing Cologne from the top took my breath away. At about 157 m high, it is one of the top 5 tallest cathedrals in the world. For me, the interesting part about Cologne was the contrast between the traditional and modern aspects of the city. Right next to the cathedral is the Cologne Hauptbahnhof, the central station of Cologne. Around the cathedral are also shops like Lacoste, H&M, and etc. For me, the fact that a cathedral is the center of a burgeoning city is incredible. 

Souvenir shopping in Cologne was awful. I bought a 3 Euro Deutschland flag for my apartment back at home. When I arrived at my aunt's house, I embarrassingly discovered that this flag was indeed, a Belgian flag. After much laughter from my aunt and cousins, I finally got to meet my nephew/first cousin first-removed (does anyone actually know what a cousin's son is to me??). His name is Jonathan and is absolutely precious! He's very intelligent, very curious, and very courageous. When he fell running, he did not cry; he just kept running! He's one to watch in the future.

Finally: Weltmeister. OF THE WORLD CUP 2014!!!!!! I am so blessed to have been in Germany as they won their 4th World Cup. Celebrating the victory with my friends at the public viewing of the game was a memory I will never forget. The celebrations had to be cut short as I am now currently in Vienna! I slept in until 4:00 am (not a typo) and madly rushed to be ready by 4:30 am. Oh, by the way, I hadn't packed my suitcase at that point. Somehow, in 30 minutes, I managed to grab breakfast, shower, pack my suitcase and backpack for a 12-day excursion, and brush my hair/teeth/etc. I was proud of myself. My schedule for the next two weeks is as follows:

Vienna --> Salzburg --> Innsbrook --> Munich --> Hannover --> Nordeny --> Bonn --> Switzerland --> Bonn. 

It'll be a crazy two weeks, but I'm excited for these new and exciting adventures. Tschüss from Austria!

Edward Ji '15

First week abroad!

My journey to Germany was a rather smooth and pain-free experience. Neither one of my flights were delayed so I arrived in Frankfurt around 5:30AM on July 3rd. I was quite tired but excited for my first day abroad. While I waited for the rest of the students to arrive, I tried to locate a place to charge my phone. As I was trying to some how make my outlet converter fit into the socket, an Indian man saw that I was having troubles and offered to help. It was a lost cause but none the less we began to talk about where we came from and where we were headed. He had just come from Brazil watching the World Cup and was headed back home. I naturally asked several questions about his experience due to my love for the sport. We talked for the next 30-40 min about not just culture and life in Brazil, but in Indian, the United States and all over the world. It was a very interesting conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed exchanging thoughts and experiences about medicine, education and general culture.

Once we arrived in Bonn at the AIB later that morning, I met my host mom Ellen. She gave me a ride back to her house in her cute Mini Cooper convertible. The weather was very nice that day and the next. However, I learned very quickly through the rest of the rainy weather that week how much sunny weather is not so common in Bonn. My host families house is a cute white, three story house with blue shutters. I have my own room and my own bathroom. That night Ellen and her youngest daughter, Rahel, enjoyed a nice chicken and rice dinner on the back porch next to the very lovely vegetable and herb garden in the backyard. The following morning I took the 603 bus into town to the Bonn HBF to meet for our city tour. Olivia gave us a nice introduction to the city center area and showed us how we can get to the AIB from the train/bus station. Just within the first couple hours of being in this new country and city it was easy to pin point several cultural differences from Texas/USA. Firstly, I noticed how no one talked on the bus into town. Nick had warned us of this in the orientations but I was unsure of it was true. Second, I noticed how nicely everyone dresses. Generally, everyone had presented themselves very nicely and professionally.

A group of girls and I were off to Amsterdam Friday evening for our first free weekend. It was odd that we had just arrived in Bonn and were leaving already for a free weekend. Never the less, our weekend was a blast. I experienced so many firsts on this weekend. First hostel stay, first time in Holland, first time watching an international soccer game in Europe. The list went on and on. The city was even more beautiful and historic than I even imagined. Although most of the city is quant and historic, there is also a very unique night life and lifestyle, in general, there. We walked everyday from about 8 or 9 in the morning until midnight or later every night. We enjoyed a bit of everything the city had to offer such as, historical sites, scenery, food, culture, and shopping. My favorite part of the entire weekend was the Anne Frank House. The tour was not guided but I liked that because I was able to move at my own pace through the house. The entire experience was a privilege that I will tell all of my friends and family that are willing to listen. We also went on a canal tour through the city.  Although it was raining most of the weekend, it was a very good experience to be able to see the city from the water. One major theme through out the weekend that was most striking to me was, the availability and presence of marijuana everywhere. People were smoking that like most Europeans smoke cigarettes. This is a very odd for me coming from a very conservative state where it is looked down on. Overall, I would recommend the city to anyone who has an appreciation for European history and lovely scenery.

Our train ride back to Bonn was made very enjoyable by a German college student who sat next to us. He spoke very good English so I seized the opportunity to ask him all my questions I had thus far about the differences I had observed in German vs. American culture. Mostly, I was pleasantly surprised that even though he is from a different continent and grew up in a much different society, many areas of our life as students in college are very similar. We talked about difficulties with technical classes, noisy roommates, and the balance between social and academic time at school.

German Lifestyle Change

There are many difference I have noticed about being here in Germany after only a week. I was reading an article recently about the fifteen things Americans don't notice. How much water is in the toilet, the portion size, how loud we are and the list went on. Before I came over here, I find it easy to admit I overlooked every single one of those things. Upon my arrival, everyone from here that we came in contact with commented on EACH of those things. As time goes by and I begin to take hold of the subtle differences, I become self conscious of our american habits. People don't talk on trains or busses, they don't waste much time to stop and talk to the people they pass on the street, it feels like they are always on a mission to accomplish the task ahead. On the other hand, we are embarrassingly loud on the bus -especially altogether, and we are always in the way of people trying to get somewhere -that could partly be because we are always lost and not acquainted to having bike lanes. In the end, if we subtracted all the time we waste on a few minutes of talking or not paying attention, we would have as much free time in the afternoons as they do. It is quite beautiful really, the lawns are always filled with people in the late day while they visit with their friends and family. It's a complete lifestyle change for someone who is used to getting home at the end of the day, making dinner and going to bed.
The history is absolutely overwhelming. Everything here is aged, and if you pay close attention the little details can tell you how old something truly is. In Amsterdam walking down the street, if you look up you see hooks on the roofs of the buildings. These are there because they used to be warehouses and the hooks were used to pull goods up to the top since there was no elevator. -You can also find much of this in Germany too. The roman ruins are beyond any expectation you could have for them. The way they heated their houses using a floor beneath their home with hot stones and fire, and also the way the vent was positioned so that it flowed up the outer walls and kept them warm. They even invented the concept of a "hot tub," with less than half the technology and architectural concepts we have today. Even the latter years like the building of the Cologne Cathedral, it is so intricate and detailed it is hard to believe how much they did with such underdeveloped machines. Once you realize it was built in the year 1250 (even though it took them over 600 years to "almost" complete) it becomes even more unbelievable. It shows that there aren't any excuses for something being too big or too much to achieve.
The museum experience was beyond compare. Our tour guide not only taught us about the history of Germany after WWII but he really made me question how much we take for granted. When there was nothing, just being able to see trinkets in a store and window shop was an inspiring form of hope. What would life be like if we were inspired by only window shopping? Knowing that it was right there in front of us and not being upset we had no money, but happy that it even existed at all. The story from the "other side" changes the meaning of German history completely. There are many other things we have visited that I would love to share about, but I will put them in another blog. All in all, I haven't been here very long and it has already exceeded every expectation I had.

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.

FIRST WEEK IN BONN

This first week has been anything but slow! We've already done so much I don't know where to start. The days are filled with lectures, German class, museums, and exploring while the nights are spent soaking up as much time as possible with our host families.

Upon arriving the oddest part was the language barrier. Everyone here looks and acts just like people from home but when they speak you suddenly realize that you are in a foreign place. It's such a strange feeling of blending in yet still separated. I think that's what made German class so enjoyable. Besides our wonderful teacher Suzana, it took a little bit of that barrier away. Our kindergarden vocabulary came in handy, allowing us to read direction signs a little better and even understand tidbits of conversations we overhear. It was also nice that everyone in the class started at the same level so practicing together wasn't intimidating. It seems the Germans are very encouraging to people who try and speak their language. Even our waiter in Koln, who spoke perfect english, playfully acted like he didn't understand what we wanted to order unless we said it in German. We are in a way forced to have this false confidence while speaking, which makes for a lot of funny and embarrassing moments! 

Lecture has been just as opening to new things, or at least for me. I was completely unaware of different health care systems, especially ones like the Beveridge system in the UK. Just from the first day of class I realized how little I knew about working systems outside of the US. Which got me thinking "what else am I not aware of?". It was almost like I've been in this box where I am only curious in what surrounds me or rather what effects me. And of course Dr. Wasser presents it in a purely informational way, without opinion or biasness, which I greatly appreciate.

While exploring the city and searching for shops and food is always fun I find the museums and tours to be the highlight of the week. Being in a different place emphasizes different parts of the story. I would have never known that there was a period of time where the German people were ashamed of their country, when people wouldn't even put up the flag. The thing that stuck with me the most was something the tour guide at the history museum said. How German and other countries have the ability to talk about previous conflict between them and not get upset. How accepting the good and the bad of your country is necessary to move on. 

I can't wait to see what else is in store for us.

Amsterdam!

My first week in Germany has been unbelievable. Everything has seemed so surreal so far and I am truly loving every minute of this trip. I have experienced so many new things in the past week that I never thought I would ever get to experience. Everything from currywurst to Radler, the Cologne Cathedral to watching a World Cup game in the country that's playing, and even ordering ice cream in German has been awesome. I can't wait to see whats in store for our trip to Austria next week!

This past weekend I went to Amsterdam with several other girls and wow... what an experience! First of all the hostel was nothing like the reviews posted online. Our stay in Bobs Youth Hostel was characterized by very hot rooms that reeked of sweat, ice cold showers, beds hard as rocks, smelly pillows, and a lobby that was encapsulated by a permanent cloud of smoke. Nonetheless, we survived! I can not say that I would recommend this hostel to anyone but we made it out alive and without bed bugs so I guess I can't complain. Otherwise, Amsterdam was a wonderful place to visit. The canals and building architecture were beautiful and our visit to the Anne Frank house was one of the greatest history lessons I've ever experienced.

My favorite picture of the canals in Amsterdam!

 Amsterdam was also quite the culture shock for this Texas girl. It was interesting to see how these people lived and handled their freedoms, which are very different from those that we have in the States. When in Amsterdam, I was also astounded by how good the food was! I loved the croquettes we had for lunch, the traditional Dutch breakfast of eggs, ham, and cheese on toast, and of course the waffles!

The best waffle EVER.

Another thing that was really cool was watching Holland BTHO Costa Rica in the World Cup game and watching the entire thing from a place in Amsterdam! The weekend overall was definitely one for the books and I cannot wait to see what the rest of my time in Europe has in store for me! 

On a different note, the Cologne Cathedral was something I have always wanted to see and to be able to take the tour to the top was unbelievable! The city of Cologne is such a special place and I am really glad we got to go with the program. The place is so rich in history that when I think back to what we learned in history classes in America, I realize that American history really doesn't go back that far and that there is so much more to the world than what I experience in everyday life back home. 

Tschüss,

Emily Thompson

Paris, Bonn, and Cologne

I have been overseas for 10 days now and the time has flown by. From watching Germany play in the World Cup, to roaming the streets of Paris, this trip has been full of surprises and excitement. There are differences in daily life here and I am adjusting to most of them. The hardest thing to get used to is that people walk everywhere here, which left me with exhausted legs and feet for most of the week. I have seen the Eiffel Tower, the view from the top of the Cologne Cathedral, and spent time getting to know my host family here in Bonn during my time here so far. We leave for Vienna monday morning and I cannot wait to see what is in store for me there!

Paris is a city full of history and I was excited to be able to spend last weekend there. I went with three other members of the group; Angela, Edward, and Sean. We  left saturday morning after watching Germany defeat the French in the World Cup. There is so much to see and do in the city that it was hard to choose what to do first. We decided to buy two day transportation tickets so that we could take the metro, bus, or tram to wherever we wanted to go. Notre Dame was first up on our list, followed by the Sacré-Cœur, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel tower. We walked a lot that day but it was worth it to see so much of the city. One of my sorority sisters has spent all summer in Paris, and she showed us around where she lived and we had some of the best gelato of the trip! The next day we went to the Louvre as well as the Luxembourg palace, and ended the day with a picnic by the Eiffel Tower at night. Overall, Paris was a fantastic city to visit, although the French are not the most welcoming of Americans.

After waking up at 4:30 and leaving Paris monday morning at 6 am we had our first full day of class in Bonn. The rest of the week was spent having History of Medicine class, German class, and visiting Cologne and various museums. The history of Germany museum and the anesthesia museum in Bonn were both very interesting to go to. In both places, our tour guides were what made the museums really special. They both had lived through the times described in the museum. It is one thing to walk through a museum and read the signs and its another when you have someone who told you what they were doing during that event. While in Cologne we took a city tour, a tour of a gestapo prison, and took a private tour up the second tallest Cathedral in the world. I have had a wonderful time so far traveling, and I hope it only continues to get better!

What better way to end the first week of class than with a trip to the Haribo outlet store in Bonn! I was able to buy a lot of candy for only 4 Euros, what a deal!

The group at the Haribo Factory Store!

Tschüss, 

Morgan Schultz

Firsts

This first week was quite a whirlwind. We figured out how to use a highly efficient public transportation system, tried popular fast food like currywurst and Dönertasche, and started our History of Medicine and German language classes. Dr. Wasser and Olivia, the program coordinator, explained that these five weeks may seem like a 'fat camp' because it is packed full of tours and excursions with lots of physical exertion. It really has seemed that way so far because my quads are still burning from the climb up the Kölner Dom two days ago!

My first experience getting lost and finding my way home using public transportation without help in a different country was quite the feat. Nishah and I left early from the public viewing of the Germany vs. France game last Friday to get ready for our early morning trip to Duisburg to visit my great aunt. I learned that I am truly spoiled by having access to GPS directions on my smartphone in the U.S. and was a bit worried about our walk from the park on the other side of the Rhine to find a tram or bus back to the Bonn Hauptbannhof. We relied on our weak photographic memories to find the bread crumbs out of the acres of park 'back to civilization' and found our way to the HBF to catch the U-bahn back home. We certainly could have called a cab on our German phones, but pushed through and felt very proud of ourselves :)

The first time I ate currywurst mit pommes frites was at the Sea Life Oberhausen in Duisburg. The texture was surprisingly quite soft, meaning the sausage gave little resistance to the bite. Since then, I've had it once more but can't say that it's my favorite street food. Our AIB German teacher, Susanne, explained that in Vienna one can find people drinking champagne while eating currywurst. I find it hard to believe that this is a popular food pairing!

Yesterday, I successfully ordered food in German for the first time! Susanne took us out for ice cream nearby the AIB. Can you guess what this means: "Ich möchte ein Kugel Amarena und ein Kugel Snickers im hörnchen, bitte"? I ordered a scoop of cherry and a scoop of Snickers ice cream in a cone and it was quite tasty.

Next time I'll blog about our museum visits and excursions!

Tschüss,

Elisa Vengalil '16