Today marks exactly two weeks in Germany. It amazes me how it's possible to fit so many new and impactful experiences into such a short time. Between today and my last post, I've seen three beautiful German cities. On Friday, we went to Aachen. The Aachen Cathedral was beautiful and its rich history really blew me away. On Saturday, a small group of us took a spontaneous day trip to Koblenz, a small German town 45 minutes south of Bonn. Koblenz was a charming place- we took a cable car over the Rhine River up to a fortress. The views were breathtaking, and we enjoyed exploring Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. On Tuesday, we took a program excursion to Cologne. When we stepped out of the train station, we were immediately astonished by the sheer size of the Cologne Cathedral. Words or pictures can't do it justice. We took a walking tour of the city, and our guide was really knowledgeable. He told us a ton of historical information about Cologne that I wouldn't have known otherwise. I was saddened by the tour of the National Socialism Documentation Center and reminded of the importance of having a fair justice system and government. My favorite experience so far was the roof tour of the Cologne Cathedral. I can't believe they allowed us to go up there. The views were great and it was so cool to be up so close to the architecture of the cathedral. The most surreal moment was walking inside the church from the roof and seeing a man playing the organ way up high above the cathedral floor. It was really an unforgettable experience.
Today before class, Dr. Wasser took us on a tour of the House of History in Bonn. It was very saddening to learn about the utter devastation caused by only 12 years under Adolf Hitler, and the struggle of Germany and the rest of Europe to recover from these terrible times.
Anyway, I'm getting more into the routine of getting around Bonn and living with a host family. Now that it's no longer syllabus week, school is picking up too. I'm really enjoying my pharmacology class, which is discussion based. Having 5 students in that class is so different from my usual 200+ class size experience. Tschuss!!
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