When I read through my past few blog posts, I was struck by how basically perfect the trip had been so far. So many new experiences with so few mishaps! Being a wizened and experienced 20 year old, I knew this couldn't last, but I couldn't have imagined what was ahead. Anyway, I was very excited to go on our first independent trip to Amsterdam over the weekend. We had a big, beautiful penthouse rented out through Air bnb that 12 of the BIMS students would be staying in. I couldn't think of anything more fun! To make a long story short, the "penthouse" was a scam and we had nowhere to stay in Amsterdam. We sat in a McDonald's for a while and desperately searched for available places that we could afford. It was a surreal feeling to realize that we might be sleeping in that McDonald's that night. But we did figure it out. We grew closer, and after that I felt that I could handle anything. We ended up having a ton of fun in Amsterdam. My favorite part was visiting the Anne Frank house, which was particularly compelling due to the refugee crisis going on right now. On the way back to Bonn, one of our trains was cancelled. We ended up having to completely change our itinerary and had to run through 4 tight connections with all of our things, I was exhausted when we returned at 1:30 am!
We had one day of class and then left for Vienna at the crack of dawn on Tuesday. I got very little sleep and felt extremely sick during our first day in freezing cold Vienna. I bounced back for the following days and thought Vienna was beautiful. My favorite part of the trip was a big snowball fight we had between BMEN and BIMS. We also went ice skating at probably the most beautiful ice skating rink in the world on Wednesday night. Then, tragedy struck- Alexa fell and broke her ankle. I was so disappointed for her but also so impressed with her positivity through all of it. I knew I'd learn a lot about new cultures and travel on this trip, but I've learned a ton about character and resilience from her.
As far as academics go, this week was focused on our History of Medicine in Europe class. It was incredible to be receiving a lecture on Sigmund Freud in the Freud House in Vienna. I also enjoyed learning about the different ways people tried to fight the black plague, and was very impressed by the displays in the Josephinum and Narrenturm. Despite the setbacks we've had, I've learned and experienced so much in the past week and am excited to continue this wonderful journey abroad.
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