Rain or shine we go to the Rhein

The weather has been beautiful here the past couple of weeks except for one day last week. That one cold, rainy day was the day we went on the rhinecruise. Forgetting our bad luck with the weather, that day was a fun one! We started off heading south to Bingen for our first stop at the Hildegart von Bingen museum. We had just learned about Hildegart in class the day before so it was nice getting to explore the museum and to see things first-hand that we had discussed in class. After the museum and lunch we headed towards the Rhine to meet up with our boat for the cruise. We all did our best to fight through the cold and stay on the deck for as long as possible because the view was beautiful! The river was lined with castles and I enjoyed looking at the landscape. Plus we all tried to forget about the cold and make the best of the situation by singing random songs on the deck together which I’m sure the other tourists enjoyed…maybe. We then docked and headed to Marksburg Castle for a tour. The castle was on top of a tall hill so we had a gorgeous view of the river and surrounding area from one of the towers. This castle also had a cute little chapel and a torture room (which obviously isn’t cute but it was interesting to learn about some of the torture methods that were created in Germany). Altogether it was a great day with everyone on the Rhine!

A few of us in the dress up room in the Hildegart von Bingen museum

Prague

AIB

The following week after Berlin was a relaxing week. We didn't have many classes and just one quiz on Friday. In design we are finishing up with our Data History File and in Systems and Signals we are finishing chapters 6 and 7. In physiology we are finishing up with GI.

Personal

The weekend of April 12-14 I went to Prague. I arrived on Friday night and had a good nights rest so I could see the whole city on Saturday. On Saturday I walked around the whole city. I saw the Old Town Square, Tyn Church, Powder Gate, Prague Castle, St. Nick's Church, John Lennon wall, Charles Bridge, Petrin Tower, and many parks. The weather was perfect so even though it took 7 hours to walk around the whole city it seemed like I was only walking for a few hours. During that night our hostel took us to a bar/club which I met some Irish guys and English girls who I talked to most of the night. On Sunday I visited the Museum of Communism and walked around Old Town.

Berlin,Otto Bock, Charity Weekend

AIB

The first thing we did in Berlin was a bike tour. I did a similar bike tour in Barcelona which I really enjoyed so I was looking forward to this one in Berlin. We saw Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, Reichstag, and the memorial to the murdered Jews in Europe. After Berlin we had our Otto Bock presentations in Duderstadt. I was really nervous about presenting our group's idea to the Otto Bock engineers because if they didn't think it was good then it would make our whole University look bad. However, the all the presentations went really well and they liked all of our ideas. The tour of the Otto Bock facilities was really cool too. Otto Bock also just opened an office in Austin so hopefully I can get an internship there next summer. After our class excursion the first international Big Event was on that following Saturday. I helped the American Protestant Church with gardening in which I pulled weeds, and clipped hedges.

Personal

During my free time in Berlin I went to the Gardens of the World. The gardens were beautiful and each one had a different theme such as the Renaissance garden, Chinese garden, Japanese garden, and the Christian garden. I also participated in the Bonn marathon relay. I have never done anything like a marathon before so I knew it was going to be difficult. I was able to run at a good pace for a good amount of my relay however towards the end I started to slow down a lot. After running my legs were sore for the next week.

I'm on a Boat!

This week, we went on a Rhein Cruise which was rather enjoyable. It was a nice bonding time when we were singing on the boat. I really loved seeing the castles along the Rhein River and the half-timbered homes. Also this week, I liked making the Hildegard "oils". My hands happened to be extra dry that day, and so making my special hand balm helped my crusting hands. Academically, this week, I liked learning about Hildegard and her upbringing.

This weekend, David and I will be heading to Zürich, Switzerland. We'll be going up to the Swiss Alps, the big waterfall in Northern Zürich, and we'll, of course, go stock up on some Swiss chocolate and Swiss knives. Overall, it'll be an enjoyable weekend. Until later, tschüß!

Learning About Myself in Switzerland

Luckily this weekend, I didn't actually have to do any learning, just had to have some good times and spend some large quantities of mula. The first night we were there, we went to the house that we stayed at to check in with Rachel, our foux host-mom. She showed us our rooms, and we dropped off our stuff then headed to the aldstadt in Zurich. We walked around and saw some things and some places and it was all very pretty. We tried to find somewhere to eat for cheap but quickly learned that it was impossible to find much of anything for under 10 swiss franks. We ended up splitting 20 McNuggets which cost us 15.90 Franks if I remember correctly. We walked around the aldstadt some more then headed back home to get some sleeps so that we could have a blast on Saturday.

On Saturday we woke up early and ate breakfast at the house, then headed to one of the highest points in Zurich so that we could scout out a fun place to go in the afternoon. The past statement was a lie, we just went for the view. We had a half hour train ride then another 20 minute hike or so to the top, and then after that, a 10 minute stair climb (training for the Eiffel Tower) to the top of the observation tower. From there we could see the entire world... of Zurich. After we had our fair share of the view, we headed back down, ate some expensive bratwurst and fries, then headed to our next destination, the Rhinefalls. As the name implies, this is the largest waterfall in Europe. It was a one hour tram ride of good fun, and when we were almost there, the train went right past the falls, which were indeed the largest falls in Europe. We had to walk a good twenty minutes from the train station to get back to the falls, but it was an excellent walk none-the-less. We observed the falls from many different angles and then headed across on a ferry to get to the Otherside. After disembarking, we hiked up to an ADVENTURE PARK. This was indeed as much fun as it sounds when said in all caps. It was 40 franks for 3 hours of awesome zipline-ropescourse-don't-fall-to-your-doom excitement. We enjoyed our 40 franks worth and then a few more, and then went home after our 3 hours were up/ it started pouring rain. When we got back home, which was super late, we tried to find a somewhat fancy place to eat and get some Swiss food, but were unsuccessful, because it was so late. We ended up going to a Doner place and getting some more expensive fewd. We then fell asleep back at our place to restore our energy levels for Sunday.

On Sunday, we woke up, morning routined, and then headed back into the city for our last few hours of funzies. We walked down the street with all the ultra-expensive stores, such as Rolex and Omega, and bought each other 40,000 frank watches. At the end of the street, a giant lake, lake Zurich, awaited our arrival. I bought a Swiss Swiss Army knife at a tourist shop near the shore, and then we sat and had a tasse of coffee in order to maximize relaxation prior to heading back to Bonn. We then headed back to Bonn via 4 different trains, one of which was delayed by an hour due to sneaky trespassers doing sneaky things that caused our train to be delayed by an hour. Twas an awesome weekend and I'd certainly recommend that any of my fellow comrades who are looking for a good time to go to Zurich. And pack lots of food so you won't have to buy it there.

AIB Charitay Weekend

AIB charity weekend started bright and early on Saturday morning. We all met at new AIB and got our charity weekend shirts and some food and whatnot. After taking a group picture, I found at that my big event group wasn't meeting until 1:30 to go to our project, so I could either sit around all day at AIB or I could hop on another team's project until 1:00 or so. I chose to join another group and headed off to a mentaly handicapped community to help clean up and restore their outdoor area. First, we carried out a whole bunch of old junk to make room for some prettiness. After that, we raked up all of the dead leaves in the area we had just de-junked, and then moved them to a trailer, but not in the trailer (why nots?). When that was all good and done, we began picking up bunches of rotting apples an throwing them in a bucket, which was fun and gross. When we were about halfway done with that task, I had to head off to my other project. We went to a community garden where we were to paint some concrete pipes, fix a tool shed roof, and eat some weeds. I chose to fix the roof cause that sounded right up my alley. After a few hours of working with minimal amounts of materials and tools, the shed had a new roof on it that will hopefully last a good long time.

On Sunday, I participated in my first marathon. Even though I ran the shortest leg of the relay, and took my sweet time doing it, I was still super sore the next day, and the day after that, and maybe even a little bit the day after that. I have no running experience, get shin splints, and didn't train at all, so the fact that I even finished was a really cool feeling, and I helped raise money for a good cause! Over all the weekend was a great time, even though it wore me out.

Fun on Altstadt

We didn’t have any AIB activities this week, so the week was mostly filled with classes and catching up with work from Berlin. Friday a group of us watched Frozen after class before heading home for dinner, which was great because we all love that movie! I went to Shannon’s host family’s house to hang out for the evening and then we went back to Bonn to hang out with the others who had stayed in town for the weekend. However some of our plans fell through so I just went home to catch up on some sleep from the previous week. After having a yummy brunch with my host mom on Saturday, I met up with some of the bioscience kids to go to the flea market at Altstadt. Everything is starting to bloom here since the weather has been unusually warm, so Altstadt is now lined with beautiful cheery blossoms! At the flea market we ran into one of the AIB student workers who took us to a Biergarten along with Rhine after we had walked around the flea market. I really enjoyed just sitting outside, enjoying everyone’s company and the view for the rest of the afternoon! Afterwards Frederike invited us over to her apartment to hang out for the evening and then we all headed to one of our favorite bars on Altstadt. This weekend was a good way to end the very busy school week that we had!

I got this picture from Google but I thought a picture of the cherry blossoms on Altstadt was necessary

Charity Weekend

Charity weekend was a success! This fun weekend started on Saturday with The Big Event. It was the first time AIB had participated in The Big Event and I think it might have been Big Event’s first time to go international, so being able to take part in this inaugural event was super exciting! Plus partnering up with the other universities here and spreading the Aggie idea of selfless service was great. For my project I was partnered up with another Aggie from the visualization program and two Aggie alumni who are stationed in Germany to do some yard work for the Beethoven guest house. We quickly started talking about school and our experiences in Germany and back in A&M; we connected easily and I enjoyed talking to them. Also the area surrounding the guest house was absolutely stunning! Overall this Big Event was a great one, and I was happy I got to take part in it and give back to community here in Germany! Sunday was the Bonn Marathon! I knew I wanted to run in the marathon when I first got to Bonn and was determined to train for it so that I could at least run the half marathon…yeah, that didn’t happen. Since I didn’t train and knew how incredibly out of shape I was, I decided to run in the relay with three other bioscience kids. In my defense, I volunteered to run the longest of the four legs of the relay which was 7.5 miles long (and the longest distance I’ve ever ran). So when Sunday came along I was excited to run but afraid of how hard running 7.5 miles would be. I think most of my friends were on the same boat because no one had trained and everyone was expecting to walk most of their portion of the marathon. However, we all did a lot better than we expected; most of my classmates and I managed to run our entire leg in a somewhat reasonable time! Besides the fact that we all surprised ourselves with our running ability, the marathon was super fun! The entire city was blocked off, music was blasting at different points along the marathon route, and there were tons of people there that were running and cheering others on. I especially appreciated the beautiful scenery and people cheering me on during my leg of the marathon because both definitely helped distract me were very encouraging. This whole weekend was yet another highlight of this study abroad!

Some of us before the marathon

Robert, Coach, and Tessa after the marathon

Berlin and Otto Bock!

                We started off our excursion bright and early Monday morning with a six hour bus ride to Berlin. Being typical college students who have learned to fall asleep basically anywhere, we all passed out for the majority of the ride. However I’m really glad I got that sleep because once we arrived out our hotel and dropped off our stuff we went on a bike tour of Berlin. I loved the tour (although I was convinced we were going to cause the biggest traffic jam Berlin has ever seen)!  We got to see a lot of the main attractions like Checkpoint Charlie, parts of the Berlin Wall, and Alex. Plus getting to ride on a bike around Berlin was pretty awesome!

Painted parts of the Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie

Remaining section of the Berlin Wall

Alex (Berlin TV Tower)

                Tuesday was filled with lots of medical things at the Charité! Dr. Wasser first gave a lecture over Virchow and then we went to the History of Medicine Museum. Both of these things were great and informative but my favorite thing from this day was the skills training center. Two German medical students first explained the different curriculum formats used in German medical schools and then brought us to their interactive skills center. There we got to partake in several simulations, such as listening for a patient’s heartbeat and diagnosing the correct heart condition. Basically we all got to play around with different medical devices and simulations which was obviously a ton of fun (for medical students)! But on a more serious note, I’m glad we got to visit the skills center because one of my goals for this study abroad was to have a better idea of what I want to do once I graduate. I’m still on the fence of whether I want to go on a more engineering or medical route, but based off how much I enjoyed the skills center I’m strongly considering a more medical route.

                The next day we went to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp to get a tour of the memorial site. I thought I kind of knew what the concentration camp was going to be like based off the multiple times we have learned about the Holocaust in school, but I was wrong. The concentration camp itself looked similar to what I have seen in textbooks but the feeling and atmosphere that came with it was stronger than I expected. Hearing the stories and details of what it was like to be at this concentration camp during World War II while seeing it with my own eyes was a unique experience that took me back and made me really understand the gravity of the events that occurred there. I think that students have become somewhat desensitized to the Holocaust from hearing the same facts about it over and over again in school, so this was eye-opening experience that I will never forget. After this tour we had the afternoon free before we needed to work on our Otto Bock project, so a group of us went to the Gardens of the World. This place was filled with flowers and scenes from different parts of the world (hence the name) and was super beautiful. It was a great way to end our last full day in Berlin!

                Thursday we got to go see the Jewish Museum and then a large group of us went to see the Holocaust Memorial during our last bit of free time in Berlin. I’m glad we had the time to see the Holocaust Memorial and it was definitely an interesting site to see and walk through. All of us then hopped back on our bus to head for Göttingen. We were supposed to spend the evening practicing for our presentation in front of Otto Bock the next day and having more free time but our hotel didn’t have rooms for us so we ended up having to drive a half hour away to another hotel. Even though that situation was obviously less than ideal, our new hotel ended up being even better than the original and we still had time to practice so everything worked out.

Holocaust Memorial

                Our final day of the excursion was spent at Otto Bock in Duderstadt. After arriving we got a tour of their showroom which showcased all their prosthetic. Even though I had done research on their transtibial prosthetic for the past three months for our project, I was still impressed with their prosthetic and all their technology in general. It was super cool to see it all and finally have a physical example of their work. Next up was the big presentation! All of us had been working on this project since January so this presentation was important to us. Plus we were giving our presentation in front of two Otto Bock engineers which made it an even bigger deal (and more nerve-wracking). All our hard work paid off though and the presentation went well! Everyone seemed pleased with the presentation and the engineers seemed interested in our ideas which was really exciting! This Otto Bock project was a great experience for us engineers and I’m glad we got to end our last group excursion on a high note!