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Personal:

Last weekend we got to visit and explore Amsterdam. We really lucked out on finding our hostel. It turned out to be much cleaner and nicer than expected. The people working there were equally as nice. Every night they would put on a different little event in their tv/hang out room area, which turned out to be a great excuse to meet people and get recommendations from the locals working there on things to do and cool places to eat. We also got to talk for a bit with other foreigners from Brazil, France and Australia. I didnt get to do everything I wanted to do there since it was pretty rainy out most of the weekend but I really enjoyed it while I was there. The Rijks museum was one of the more touristy things we did there but a must see as the amount of priceless art inside was really overwhelming. The tour of the old Heineken brewery was also interesting as they went into a lot of specifics about their brewing process which I had never heard about or seen before. I would definitely like to go back some day and explore the city more. Its a small city but very condensed so there's a lot that's easy to miss. Biking would have definitely been the best way to get around as everywhere we walked there were several bike lanes/ paths and lots of scenery between the awesome architecture and cool looking canals.

AIB:

As our BMEN class gets closer and closer to finishing school and beginning careers as engineers, the topic of bioethics is something each of us will soon need to start thinking about more. Last week we had a lecture from Dr. Lanzerath on the subject. It was interesting to discuss Germany's views on controversial topics such as embryonic stem cell research and compare them to America's. Its good to talk about these ideas now and get us all forming our own opinions, especially now while taking in perspectives from other cultures.