Take Me Back

I haven't even been back home for a week and I'm already looking forward to going back. As soon as we got off the plane in Dallas, last week, we all were saying how much we missed Germany already.

Also, as soon as we got off the plane we could immediately sense the change in culture. 

It was strange being able to understand people talking around us. Those of us who had connecting flights got a little bit more time to talk together. We had no idea when all the others disappeared, but it was understandable they left quickly because Dallas was their final destination. Those remaining, we talked about how it wasn't rude to eavesdrop in Germany because we couldn't understand what they were saying. 

I kind of miss that. Listening in on other people's conversations, trying to recognize any German words that I could. I miss taking public transportation to school in the morning. I miss my host family's pugs. I miss getting to travel to a new place each weekend and being able to plan a trip without my parents' help. Although, I am glad that I get to be home and just take naps with my doggies and binge watch Grey's Anatomy with my mom. 

If you are ever considering studying abroad, just do it. If money is an issue, consider that schools commonly give scholarships to their students who want to study abroad. Everyone in this program received a scholarship to help get them to Germany. 

Before this trip people said that it would change your life. I thought, ehh, I don't know if that's true.  I am still the same person after this experience, but now I look at things differently. I never thought that I was the type of American that thought the US did things best, but I realized I was. Just after a few days in Germany I could see that they were much more environmentally friendly: they separated trash, reused grocery bags, and along with the rest of Europe, they had accessible public transportation. I knew we, the US, didn't do everything the best before, but now I can see just how much further we have to grow and change as a nation. 

I did not expect my post to go in that direction. But, long story short, I miss Germany and Europe and I love what this experience did to mold me as a world citizen.

I can't believe I got to live here. 

Also, we went to a Lumineers concert in Cologne. That was cool.

The Rheinland

enmodes Presentation: Yes, the 'e' is Lowercase on Purpose

After coming back from Dublin we had a lot of work ahead of us. The end of the week was our presentation day at enmodes. This meant that we had to wrap up our SolidWorks drawings, make a slide presentation and practice. 

This week went by very slowly because each day was filled with hours of studying and preparing. That Wednesday we also had a 211 exam that nobody was prepared for. This prompted my second and last all-nighter of the semester. I didn’t plan to stay up that late, but I just kept finding more things that I didn’t understand. 

As soon as this exam was over we all had to spend the rest of our precious hours preparing for our presentation. Once our slides were complete, we rehearsed our presentation individually in front of Dr. Wasser and Haley. On the last night we stayed at our school building until 10pm to finish practicing.

The next morning we loaded up the bus again, in our business casual attire, nervous and excited for how we would perform. We met the CEO of enmodes at the Hemhotlz Institute in Aachen and he gave us a tour of their bioengineering labs. They've developed lots of devices mainly for the heart and lungs. After the tour came the moment of truth... time to present our device designs that we had been working on the whole semester. 

The presentations went well and they liked all of our designs. They said that their final design would probably be a combination of all three, which was to be expected. After our presentation we ate lunch at the university and walked around the city for enough time to get some of the famous Aachener Printen(a type of chocolatey gingerbread) and throw the frisbee around. 

This experience felt very rewarding and taught me a lot about the design process. After getting back to Bonn, I’m pretty sure I passed out on my bed until the next morning.

Obviously we are very professional 

Reagan and Elaine having a mini photo shoot after lunch 

France: Elegant Agression

For our second multi-day excursion as a program we traveled to Colmar, Beaune and Paris, France. I was looking forward to adding another country to my list and I never thought that I would ever actually be going to Paris in my life. 

So we loaded up the bus early Monday morning and set out for Colmar, which is located in west France, very close to the German border. When we arrived we first went to the Unterlinden Museum where we saw medieval and early renaissance art, including the Isenheim altar. Most commonly, plague or ergotism victims would come to pray at this alter. The alter depicts images from different moments of Christ’s life, as well as the patron saint for ergotism, St. Anthony. Hence, this is why ergotism is commonly called St. Anthony’s fire. From the museum we made our way through the streets lined with medieval buildings and bakeries filled with the smell of macaroons, where we definitely stopped to take free samples. 

That afternoon, we hopped back on the bus to drive to east toward Beaune. That night we ate some traditional French dishes which included beef bourguignon and Burgundy wine. We spent the night at a small little hotel and woke up to the smell of warm croissants and fresh orange juice. We then had a tour of the famous Hotel Dieu, well, famous for wine auction goers. This hotel used to be a hospital that was built in the middle ages and used until the 1970’s. 

From Beaune, we made our way to the most touristy city in the world, Paris! I honestly did not have any expectations for the city, except that the Eiffel tower would be there. I didn’t think I would like Paris, I thought that everything I heard about it would be overrated. But I was wrong! I really liked Paris, I liked the art, the wide streets, the river, the beautiful buildings. It was great, and we were fortunate enough to have un-european-like whether, aka sunny. 

While here we got to see a lot and our tour guide Julien was great. One of the first things he instructed us on was crossing the street. He said that the French tend to be aggressive, but also elegant; hence the term, elegant aggression.  We continued to repeat this phrase for the rest of the trip. 

We went on a bike tour where we stopped by the Eiffel tower and Notre Dame to take pictures. We had crepes and crepes, and more crepes. We toured the Pasteur Museum, you know, the guy who discovered the rabies vaccine, which wasn’t all too exciting. Even Dr. Fajt was telling us to hang in there till the end.  We also toured Versailles and Marie  Antoinette’s village, aka the Queen’s Hamlet. At Versailles we had a picnic with all sorts of French cheeses and quiche that Julien’s fiance made. 

One night we also went up the Eiffel tower and got to see the skyline of Paris at night. Another day, Kelly and I went to visit the Muse de Orsay before it closed. Although, we only got a chance to look at the impressionist art before they closed. Speaking of museums, we of course made a visit to the Louvre. It was fairly crowded but still an enjoyable experience that I never thought I would have. 

After the program ended on Friday, a small group of us prepared for our flight to Dublin that night. 

Hotel Dieu in Beaune, France

Degas in the Muse de Orsay

Me with the Mona Lisa and other people

The Queen's Hamlet

Dublin the Fun, Half the Sleep

Dublin was definitely an interesting trip for a few reasons, but I’ll expand on that later. So, on Friday, while still in Paris we had to take a bus out to the airport, which is about an hour away, not even inside Paris. That night we flew in to Dublin and took a taxi to our hostel. Some of us went out, but others stayed in for the night. I was one that stayed in to sleep. The next morning we had a tour bus prepared to take us around Ireland for the whole day. 

That morning we secured all of our things in one bin, because we only had one lock for all of our things. This was really my first true hostel experience because at the hostel we stayed at in Amsterdam it was only people in our travel group in the room. But in Dublin, there were two random people in the other beds. Hence, this is why we locked up some of our things. We made it onto the paddywagon tour bus and headed through the Irish country side to the Cliffs of Moher. 

Along the way we made a couple of stops at convenience stores. Our bus driver, Sean, was an okay tour guide. We were thinking that he might have showed us more things or talked more, but he didn’t, so we ended up sleeping most of the way. Once we arrived at the Cliffs, we were all eager to get out, take pictures, and observe the views. This was my favorite part of the trip. It was an incredible view and like something I had never seen before. I was also able to get some great pictures, which I was happy about. My Instagram account appreciates the subject matter. 

To no one’s surprise I rolled my ankle again, and on a completely smooth surface. This was when I was going to look at the souvenirs near the Cliff, but after that I decided to just head back to the bus. 

The next day we spent most of our time in a McDonalds where we hogged the wifi and power outlets so that we could study and do homework. When I got back home to tell my host mom, she said that this was an expensive way to do homework. I reassured her, though, that we were able to walk around the city and get some souvenirs. That night we went to eat some traditional Irish cuisine, which consisted mostly of lamb, beef, potatoes and Guinness. 

In order to conserve money, we decided in advance to spend that night at the airport until we had our flight early Monday morning. This is where half of the sleep came into play. We stayed in this cafe area that had a bunch of booths that we could camp out at for the night. I went to sleep maybe at 1:30 and woke up to one of the employees at 4:30am saying, “Please get up,” but in the most polite way possible. 

We caught our flight to Dusseldorf, got a train to Bonn, and arrived to a review session for 2II maybe 30 minutes late. Another weekend in another city, and now we were back to school in time for exams and finishing our project work. 

Me in my natural state

Back to Berlin

After spring break we only had four days of class and then Easter break. Our break here included Friday and the following Monday, which is longer than the break we get back in College Station. For this weekend I got to go to a campus ministry retreat in Berlin. I was very excited to meet and spend time with my brothers and sisters in another part of the world. 

This was the first trip that I traveled alone for and thankfully it went smoothly. I was able to get on the train and meet Alisa at the Berlin station. If you've ever been to the Berlin Central Station then you know that it's similar to the maze in the tri-wizard tournament, minus the witchcraft. From there we took another train to meet everyone at the retreat, which was in the southern part of Berlin. 

While there, it was a time to relax, get to know each other and play lots of ping pong. There was actually a few students from the US there. Nick was an exchange student from Connecticut, Amanda had moved to Berlin from Seattle, Collin had also moved to Berlin from the US, and Rebecca has lived in both the US and Germany. Saturday morning we all went hiking in this forested area that was near a lake of sorts. We had lots of fun just talking, playing music, and eating our homemade cuscus for lunch. 

Saturday and Sunday night we had a campfire, made s'mores, and sang songs with the acoustics of guitar strings. It was really cool getting to sing songs I knew but with the German lyrics. Sunday, we all made our way to church where I got to meet more of my brothers and sisters and also practice my German by trying to understand the sermon; however, I had English translation to help me understand most of it. Our tram ride back was filled with a series of what are the odds, which ended in Nick and Dan playing the harmonica and dancing for money on the tram and Dan and I having to jump in the lake when we got back to our retreat site. Which was incredibly unfortunate because my odds were one in 50 and Amanda and I both said 12. When Dan I went, we both dragged Simone in with us, so it made jumping into what felt like subzero water much more enjoyable. 

After our lake-jumping extravaganza, we came back to take part in Easter festivities. Johanna prepared carrot and rabbit shaped cookies and frosting for us to decorate. Then Dan and Hannah prepared an easter scavenger race of sorts where each team had to find all of their hidden chocolates the fastest. That night Rebecca, Hannah, Alisa and I stayed up late talking about our life stories and how we came to know God. 

It was a very refreshing weekend, which I already mentioned in an earlier Facebook post, but it still rings true. I had a great time just fellowshipping with my Berlin family and it's something I'll hold on to for years to come. 

  

                                               

International Big Event

After Easter weekend we had a full week of class, where on Friday we made a visit to the Museum of Anesthesia. There, I was able to take a picture of the old anesthesia equipment and send them to my dad, who is an anesthesiologist. His response, “those are my peeps!” 

The next day, Saturday, was a big day, especially for Aggies. It was the Big Event: a day filled of serving the local community. Here, at the AIB in Bonn is actually the biggest international Big Event in the world where we had students from LMU and Penn State accompanying us Aggies. 

That morning, we all met at the old AIB building to organize into our groups and get our t-shirts. My group went to help paint at a high school. Which included grades 6th or so until 12th. The school system here in Germany works a little bit differently than in the states, and other students as well as I have tried to understand all the different pathways but we’re still a little lost. 

Once we arrived at the school one of the teachers met us there and explained that we would be painting the hallways as well as their school ‘logo’ in the entry way. Haley, her mom, and I ended up painting this. It was great way to serve the community that has welcomed all of us, students, as well as therapeutic. Our painting turned out pretty well, although it was difficult to trace the smaller letters correctly because the projector couldn’t focus very well and it was in German, but thankfully we had students of the school to help us. 

Talking with these students was the first time that I really got to interact with German students that were younger than me. The teacher who first met us also made us two cakes and brought apple juice. After a few hours at the school we wrapped everything up, cleaned the floors, and took the tape from painting down. We made our way back to the city center tired and ready for naps.  

photo credit: Stephanie Kelly                                      

photo credit: Stephanie Kelly                                      

   

photo credit: Stephanie Kelly                                      

Seven Cities, One Week

After returning home from Zurich, we had one week of school before spring break. It's funny, home for me has now been Germany. During this week of school we had our final exam for our German course, which I actually have no idea how I did on that. We still haven't gotten our grades back for that, and I'm not thinking we will at this point in the semester.

The Thursday of this week Ralf and one of his colleagues came to listen to our initial design ideas for our device. After this presentation we then split up into groups of more similarly concentrated ideas. 

Then on Friday, my mom arrived in Bonn. I was very excited to see her. For the rest of my break we had a trip planned around Germany. To make things simpler, I'll just list out the places we went and what we did. 

Saturday: My mom and I took a 5-6 hour train to Berlin. I can't exactly remember what we did each day we were there. We took a walk around the city using an app with a guided tour. We were able to see almost all the highlights: the Brandenburg Gate, The Reichstag, and Museum Island. One morning we went to go eat breakfast at the Reichstag and it was great just getting to roam around on the roof afterwards. We also made a visit to the Victory Column and the Tiergarten, which is kind of like Central Park in New York.  While in Berlin, I got to meet up with an old friend from Kansas, along with her roommate. It was a great coincidence that we were both in the same city at the same time and I only found this out via Facebook. Thank you social media. 

Tuesday: After 3 days or so in Berlin, my mom and I made our way to Munich on another train ride. We arrived at the Hauptbahnhof(Central Station) in the evening and recognized right away that it was the sketchy side of Munich. After this sight I was worried that Munich wasn't going to be a worthwhile city to visit. However, I got to see more of the city another day, and thankfully it was a great city worth visiting. That night I was able to visit with a friend from high school who was an exchange student from Germany. I also met his girlfriend and friend who were also studying abroad in Germany for the semester. Later that night my mom and I made a visit to the famous, Hoftbrauhaus, which was filled with beer and lots of people filled with beer. 

Wednesday: The day after we arrived we made a day trip out to Salzburg, Austria. I was already very excited to see this city with beautiful mountain views. I was not disappointed. Salzburg is beautiful. It easily became one of my favorite cities. It's not too big, although there is a lot of tourism, which I could do without. It's also the hometown of the child prodigy, Mozart. Now I've been to the hometowns of two famous composers.

Thursday: This was the day my mom and I got to actually explore more of the city. We visited the open market, complete with a may pole and tents selling various foods and crafts. We made the trip out to the olympic stadium where we saw numerous people out running, riding their bikes and walking their dogs. We also saw the deserted stadium filled with bright green chairs, where the track and field events took place. We were also able to climb up the stairs of St. Peter's church in Marienplatz, where we were able to look over the expansive city.

Friday: Before leaving the Munich area, we made the trip out to the Dachau Concentration Camp. My mom had been there once, about 25 years ago, and she only recognized parts of it. We walked around a bit on our own before we met for a group tour of the camp. It was very surreal to be there and hard to imagine or grasp the events that took place in the longest running concentration camp. From here we began our journey to the medieval town of Rothenburg. We arrived at our bed and breakfast and shortly after we went on the famous Night Watchman tour. The Watchman took us around the inner city and explained the duties of the Night Watchman as well as the history of the town.

Saturday: In the morning, my mom and I explored the tourist-filled town on our own. We browsed through the shops of homemade goods and made our way back to the train station to continue our trip of mother-daughter bonding. From Rothenburg we arrived at our 6th city, Bacharach. While here we only spent the night and got an overlooking view of the town in the morning. Walking to our Inn, we could tell that the town was less of a tourist attraction now than in its former glory. That night we ate dinner at the inn's restaurant, where we had the choice of ordering wine from the local wine country. I had a sweet and fruity wine, which seems to be the only wine my tastebuds can handle.

Sunday: We took the train from Bacharach to the town of Mozelkern. Our only purpose for visiting this town was to hike one hour out to the Burg Eltz castle. Once arriving at the castle, we took a tour, where we could see furniture and tapestries and cookware that was up to 500 years old. At one point in the tour, my mom leaned over to me and said, "I can't tell who's more bored, you or that teenage boy over there with the unamused look on his face." I wasn't too entertained by the tour, but I'm glad we were able to do something my mom wanted. After the tour we had to hike back fast enough to catch our train. We managed to cut an estimated one hour hike to 35 minutes by frantically running and fast-walking. We headed to Cologne that night so my mom could see the Dom. By doing this, we definitely saved the best for last and my mom was not disappointed. We spent the night there and my mom left early in the morning to catch her flight in Frankfurt, while I slept in and took the train to class.

Monday: Spring break is over, my mom is gone, and back to the somewhat reality of classes returning. I say somewhat reality because it's still hard to believe that I'm studying abroad here.

The Smell of Canals and Heineken

Yet again, I have failed to stay up to date on my blog posts, what a shocker. There's much that has happened since my lost post and I'm trying to decide what to write about first. Let's see, there's the trip to Amsterdam or Zurich or Spring Break or the other 4 weeks I've missed. Wow, that's a lot. You'd think chronological order would make the most sense. Yeah sure, let's do that. Although, I'm probably missing a lot of the details from my trips since it was weeks ago. 

So Amsterdam, I went there with Elaine, Reagan, Shawn, Rahil, and Gunnar. The first thing I think of from this trip is this zipline we found in a park near the city center. It seems now that everywhere we go we find some type of playground. We decided to take turns going down it with Gunnar's GoPro. It was hilarious. Especially when Elaine would go and get to the end of the line and she'd be going so fast that the line would jerk her back and her arms and legs would flail everywhere, it was great.  

Oh, another thing about this trip. It was the first, and only time so far, that we've had any difficulty. We got to the hostel and the guy at the desk(I'm not sure what his title was, so I'll just call him that) was saying that we hadn't paid yet, which we thought we already did. It was all charged to Shawn's card. The guy behind the desk said that we couldn't check in till we paid there. It was frustrating. So, we decided to go get some food at a nearby place and come back when Shawn could get ahold of his parents so he could confirm that the card was charged. 

We came back and it all worked out, but the atmosphere was a little tense. So, we go up to our room and we all agree that the shower is pretty sketch because there is nothing blocking the water from getting all over the bathroom. Most of us decided we wouldn't shower while there. Don't worry, we didn't reek of BO or anything, we were only there for 1 or 2 nights. 

Let's see, other things we did. We took a tour at the Heinekine(sp), since Amsterdam was where it was invented. Gunnar, Reagan and I went to the Van Gogh Museum and I was able to see my favorite painting, which was pretty stinkin' exciting! We weren't allowed to take pictures, unfortunately, so I wasn't able to capture this momentous moment with a picture of me cheesin' next to it. By the way, the painting is called 'Almond Blossoms.'

From there I went to church at one of my sister churches. I managed to navigate public transportation and get to the right stop to meet my friend. The intercom on the tram was in Dutch, which was really the first time I heard it spoken since in Amsterdam. The city is very internationalized, so English was what I heard most often.  While at church I met a fellow Aggie, which was very exciting! We're everywhere! 

Switzerland: Home to Beautiful Views and All Things Expensive

Here's the second post of my binge blogging session to make up for my laziness the past few weeks. This one is going to be about our trip to Zurich. This trip was actually a blind booking, meaning that we were given a selection of cities to travel to on the eurowings website and we wouldn't figure out where wee were going until after we paid. This time it turned out to be Zurich. 

Let me tell you something. Everything you hear about Switzerland being expensive is very, very accurate. We noticed this when we first got to Zurich and we were looking for a place to eat. We weren't finding anything under maybe 18 Franks( 1 US dollar = 1 Swiss Frank). By the end of this trip, we realized that 18 was not a bad price for a meal. A burger from the Burger King at the train station is 16 CHF(Swiss Franks, I don't understand the symbol for it either). 

When we arrived in Zurich it was very overcast, which was disappointing because we weren't able to see the Alps that surrounded the city. On our first day there we went on a free city walk tour. It was very informational and I definitely learned things about the history that I would not have heard if I didn't go on the tour. Compared to most other big European cities there didn't seem to be many historical monuments in Zurich. Even though there may not be much to see in Zurich, in regards to the previous statement, it's a beautiful city in the mountains with all sorts of cobblestone alleys scattered throughout. My favorite part of the city is Lindenhof, a park that has a great overlook of the city on the river. That's definitely where I got my most instagram-worthy pictures. 

That next day a few of us went to the Rhine falls, which is close to the Swiss/German border. It's said to be the largest waterfall in all of Europe. When we got there, though, we all were wondering in what regard this waterfall was the largest because it certainly couldn't be the tallest. We hypothesized that maybe it had the largest amount of water going through it or that maybe it is the widest. While here, we were able to hike all around the area to get different views of the falls. Our train ride there was very interesting, in that, there'd be parts where it was snowing and then in the next few minutes we'd be in the sun. Very strange, but very entertaining we thought.

Surgeries and Other Daily Happenings

Hello again! Even though my last blog post was only yesterday I still have lots to catch up on and tell you about. Firstly, I need to tell you about the opportunity we got to observe surgeries at the Bonn Uniklinik. I’d seen surgeries with animals before, but to see a human surgery was very surreal for me. We went into our first surgery and I see a man already sedated on the operating table and I immediately tell Shelby, “That’s not a dog on that table.” It felt out of place, almost, to see a human on the operating table, but I quickly adjusted. 

This first surgery was a hernia repair, which didn’t last too long. Shelby and I weren’t able to see too much and we didn’t really know what was going on. But we were able to see a lot during the next surgery. This next surgery, an explorative lobotomy, was unfortunate in that it was for a woman with stage 4 colon cancer. The purpose of the surgery was to see how far the cancer had spread, and depending on what they found they had a few options. We aren’t sure how the surgery ended because we had to leave, but we were there while they had to remove her ovary. 

This surgery was also more interesting because the surgeons were a lot more talkative. Before this surgery, we were only talking to the anesthesiologist, who was friendly and pointed out the best places for us to stand. Our surgeons asked where we were from and then the next statement they had, of course, was about Donald Trump. It’s been pretty surprising and disappointing to see that Germans are more informed than the average American might be. They also tried to teach us some medical related terms, but we didn’t understand much considering we haven’t taken a histology course. 

It was such a great experience, getting to go see surgeries in Germany. Another thing I wanted to talk about was just my daily routine, since it seems I’ve only made time to discuss the bigger trips we’ve had. We don’t have a set or repetitive class schedule, but my day will look something like this. 

- wake up( this could be anywhere between 7:30 to 10:30am)

- eat a piece of toast with nutella if I’m not pressed for time

- walk 5min to the bus stop

- wait and observe any passerby, especially the adorable children in their puffy coats

- get on the bus and sit in the middle right

- get out How to Kill a Mockingbird  from my backpack and read until I hear “Bonn Hauptbahnhof”

       maybe an occasional glance out the window to view the scenery 

- walk off the bus and try to cross streets without getting hit by a car

- try to walk on the sidewalk without getting hit by a car

- admire the beautiful collection of fresh flowers near H&M

- go to the “Voigt” bakery and order “zwei kasebrotchen bitte”

- hand said kasebrotchen to someone on the street if there is anyone and save the other for my breakfast

- get to the AiB building, drop off my backpack, get coffee in the lobby, and return to my seat for class and proceed to drink coffee and eat kasebrotchen 

- during breaks ask if anyone wants to go to Netto(the discount market)

- go to market and get some sour cream and onion chips and an orange fanta

- come back to class

- maybe stay after and plan any weekend trips coming up

- walk to the bus stop and wait till bus comes, ride bus home-read To Kill A Mocking Bird

       although, I just finished it today, so I’ll have to find another book

- do some homework or netflix, usually netflix comes first

- have dinner with Host mom - home-cooked meal, yay!

- wrap up dinner and go to my room and Facetime a friend

- maybe watch some more netflix and head to bed excited for the next day.

This schedule is always subject to change, in fact I’ve started running this week in order to train for the Bonn Marathon that’s coming in mid-April. Don’t be too impressed, I’m not running the marathon, but the relay, which will be an accomplishment for me.

That’s all for now! Next post is probably going to be about our trip to Amsterdam, so there’s that to look forward to.

All the girls in our scrubs

Shelby and I 

The flowers I walk by everyday

In Vienna we did this and this... Oh, and this!

Again, I’ve been lacking on the blog posts and everything that I’ve seen and done is starting to run together. So this post is going to be about my visit to Vienna. I can say that Vienna is probably one of my very favorite cities that I’ve ever visited. Despite the rainy weather we had while there, the city was still vibrant with varying styles of architecture and a rich medical history.  

This architecture could be observed from the moment we arrived near our hotel on the first day, but it’s seen best near the city center. On our first day there we got to take a tour of the crypts under St. Michael’s Church. This is where we learned that the city of Vienna has a strange proclivity for all things death-related, and what better place to learn this than surrounded by mummies and dead people. 

That night we got to experience a traditional Viennese meal at a brew house. We all ordered a variety of meals and exchanged bites so we could all get a taste of the different dishes. 

The next day we were given a medical history walk around part of the city by Dr. Schnabel, aka Dr. Wasser dressed as a medieval plague doctor.  He explained to us the different treatments for the plague and what life was like for someone suffering from the plague. Our medical history enrichment continued with visits to a lecture hall at the Austrian Academy for Science, the Josephinum and the Narrenturm. The Josephinum used to be a part of the first military medical school of Vienna, but is now home to a large collection of anatomical and obstetric wax models. We also visited another part of this old medical school, the Narrentum, which now houses the pathological collection. The Narrentum was the very first hospital for the mentally ill in Europe. 

Because of the rich medical history and the beautiful architecture, Vienna has become one of my favorite places. Another reason I love it so much is that despite being such a big city, it is fairly calm and tranquil. 

Oh, I almost forgot! We also got to have a lecture on Freud while at his apartment in Vienna. This was particularly exciting for me because my father is studying psychology.  I was eager to send him pictures, which he ended up showing to some of the fellow interns in his program. 

Oh! And we visited the Natural History Museum, the Albertina, and a classical concert. We really did a lot while we were in Vienna, it was great, and now I understand the Billy Joel song. 

In the City Center 

Lecture Hall Ceiling at the Austria Academy for Science

Dr. Schnabel 

My 3rd... 4th post?

Wow, so I’ve definitely been lacking in the blog-posting department. School has gotten quite busier since I last wrote. Just today we had a 211 exam and we have a physiology exam next week. Since my last post, a lot has happened actually. I sprained my ankle, had a birthday, and experienced Karneval. The farthest I traveled within this time span was to Dusseldorf, which isn’t too far away. 

So first, you’re probably wondering how I sprained my ankle, and I could tell you that I fought off a bear or that Karneval was more intense than you might think. But no, I am ashamed to tell you that I sprained my ankle while I was walking. I did not trip on anything nor was there an uneven stone in the sidewalk, no, I just put one foot in front of the other and boom, it happened. Because I was so close to the AIB Helen, Hilde’s daughter, was able to take me and Lauren to the hospital where I got to experience the German health care system firsthand. We just happened to finish learning about the Bismark plan today in class and I can confirm that you don’t pay anything at the doctor’s office like Dr. Wasser taught us. Don’t worry, the German government doesn’t just pay for my medical bill, it just means that the billing is completely separate from the doctor’s office itself, so I will be getting a bill. 

Let’s see, then I had my 21st birthday on the 5th. Although it’s a significant birthday in the states, that isn’t so here. I was able to celebrate by having lunch and going out with friends later that night. What was cool about my birthday weekend is that two other classmates had birthdays as well, Reagan and Shawn. It’s strange, it didn’t even feel like my birthday. A friend told me that that’s because I was far away from home and I definitely agree. But, even though I was away from family and friends, I was still able to celebrate with new friends.

Tomorrow, early early in the morning we will be going to Vienna! I’m excited for the experiences to come, the Freud museum, a concert, and the Narrenturm. I’m looking forward to reflecting on it all. 

Waffles, Tiramisu, and More

Right now I'm sitting at the AIB while some of my classmates have their differential equations lecture and the TA's, also known as minions, are grading assignments.  I apologize if this blog entry isn't as exciting as you were expecting it to be. There's so much to write about, yet my mind can't seem to remember it all the moment I sit down at the computer.

So it's been a little over two weeks since arriving in Bonn, but it feels much longer than that. I've gotten used to a routine since being here. Although, last night as I was watching Netflix(don't worry Mom and Dad, I still get school work done) I thought, "Wow, I'm in Germany right now." Even though I'm getting used used to being here, I still have those aforementioned moments.  Just today we received our visas for Germany.  I'm a citizen of Bonn... in Germany.. what.  I'm a citizen in a town outside of the US.

This past weekend, some friends and I went to Belgium. We went to Belgium! I never thought that I would be in Belgium, ever. As soon as we got off the train in Brussels, I realized that I know even less French than I do German. I didn't even know how to ask if anyone spoke English in French.

What did we do in Brussels, Belgium? Well, all of the tourist-y things, of course: we ate waffles and fries, and we saw the little peeing boy(Manneken Pis). Not sure why it's such an attraction, but we all agreed that we must see the little peeing boy. It was a great weekend and only one of the many foreign cities that I will get the chance to see.

Last night I got to practice German with my host family, eat tiramisu that my host mom's Italian friend made, and talk with my Belarusian host sister. Last night was really great, I was up till 11 doing all of these things.  I got to know more about the girl who lives just across the hallway from me and we had a great conversation that ranged from the German language to what it's like in her home country of Belarus.  It really challenged my mind to consider all the different walks of life people come from.

I've enjoyed getting to learn more about the different cultures from around the world, not just in Germany, and I'm excited to see what more there is to experience during my time in Europe.

Super!

Well, I've now been in Germany for a week and two  days, but it feels like it's been much longer than that.  In this week I've experience so much already and noticed many differences between here and the United States. Here, you can bring alcohol onto a bus and it's a completely normal thing to do, as it appears so anyway because nobody seems to care when people come on with a beer in their hands.

As a group, we've done enough in a week to make it feel as though a month has passed.  We've done so much hiking that my bones felt like they were going to disintegrate at my next step. We've also gotten to experience a little bit of snow since being here. Which has been nice; however, the freezing temperatures is probably what lead to the stuffy nose I'm currently experiencing.

Getting to know my host family has been great. I've loved getting to talk with my host mom over dinner. Last night I was able to ask her about her experience growing up after the war in Germany. She shared with me how the joining of East and West Germany was very personal for her because she had family in both East and West parts of the country.  I asked her about this because just that morning, our group toured a post-war Germany museum, led by Dr. Wasser.

I love getting to snuggle with their little, black pug, Millie, and playing with my host brother's blonde pug, Pancake.

Also, the food here is awesome. Though, I have yet to taste native German food. I've only had pasta and the Peruvian and Italian dishes my host mom has made. In addition to these, I've had the pleasure of experiencing a Dünner, which is a German take on Turkish food, which resembles a Greek gyro.

Another thing I've picked up on, the children here are so independent. Just this afternoon I saw a few kids who couldn't have been older than 8 who were navigating the bus system to get home from school. When I was their age, my parents were still ordering my food for me at restaurants.

My classes have been great so far and I look forward to the trips we'll be making as part of our history of medicine in Europe. I'm especially looking forward to learning about the history of veterinary medicine, as I'm planning on attending vet school.

Germany has been great so far, and this weekend a group of us are going to Brussels, Belgium this weekend. If my next post is about Belgium waffles and french fries, don't be surprised.

Tschüss!
Sarah

Here We Go

There are numerous experiences I’m looking forward to having while studying abroad this upcoming semester. I would say that most of the experiences I’m looking forward to are the relationships I’ll build with others while in Germany. I hope that through my relationship with my host mom I will learn firsthand about the German culture and what it’s been like for her to grow up in Germany. I would hope that this might be the best way for me to learn the German language, as well. I know it will be difficult to adjust at first, but hopefully that initial feeling of culture shock won’t be detrimental to enjoying my first moments in a new country. I was an exchange student for 3 weeks in Paraguay a few years ago, and I remember feeling like the language barrier was the most overwhelming to experience in the beginning. My hope is that I won’t let this intimidate me upon first arriving, even though I know far less German than I do Spanish. 

I’m also looking forward to the relationships I’ll build with the students on the trip with me. I’ll be with the students in biomedical engineering until I graduate, but that’s not the case for the BIMS students traveling as well. I hope that I will use this opportunity to get to know the students that are not in my major.  

I’ve wanted to go on this trip since I first heard about it my freshman year. The idea of being able to experience another culture, and still be involved in my studies, was exciting to me. I don’t think I’ll get to experience something like this once I graduate, and I wanted to take this opportunity while it’s still available. I’m hoping that through this experience I can attain a broader world view that I can carry with me the rest of my life.  In the future, I hope to be teaching veterinary medicine and conducting research. I believe this experience could give me the opportunity to relate to a wide group of people within and outside of academia. I’m hoping that my teaching and research career will not be limited to the United States but that it will involve interactions with people from many different places. 

I’m excited to go on this trip with other Texas A&M students because it gives me a sense of security knowing that others will be going through a similar experience. I look forward to growing and learning with my fellow classmates and getting to look back on this time with each other.