Week 14: Berlin

Week 14: Germany (Berlin!)

April 23rd, 2018

Hallo once again! J

This past week in Germany has gone by so fast... actually, TOO fast! I only had like one to two classes each day and then the weekend was spent wondering around my favorite country’s capital and now it’s the last full week. I need the time to stop right now. !

A lot of classes finished up this past week. I was sad after the last physiology and history of medicine lectures, because they were a lot of fun and Dr. Wasser always kept his classes interesting. It seemed fitting that the last HoM class was a double lecture about saunas and it’s inspiring me to go to one so I can decrease my chances of heart disease and increase my chances of relaxation. Dr. Wasser even has a sauna hat and I was not surprised by this news, he really loves his sauna!

Even though I really liked those classes, I was happy after we took the last pharmacology quiz because that meant that class was over. It was a decent class but it brought me a lot of stress before the quizzes because I was always uncertain of what would be on them. The only class I really need to worry about now is genetics and it might be the death of me.

Friday came really quickly and me, Kate, Katie, Artavia, and Austin went to Berlin together! We took a 5 hour train ride to get there and I made a friend on the train named Peter who studied at MIT and now lives in Germany. I told him how I want to move back here because I love it so much and he was a living example of doing just that!

We arrived in Berlin around 7 that night and our first order of business was to get dinner. We went to a cool, hipster pizza place with weird artwork on the walls, and I accidentally ordered this disgusting vegan pizza with dates on it (the fruit, not the act of meeting someone and having a nice or bad time together). Probably one of the worst meals I’ve had in a while, but I survived it. After that, we all went to a cool club that used to be an underground railroad station. We danced the night away together and it was really nice bonding time with some of my favorite people out on the dance floor.

The next morning began early, as we wanted to make the most of our only full day in Berlin. We went to Starbucks to recuperate from the night before, then headed to check-point Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag building, and the Victory column. All of those places were beautiful and historic and it was so lovely to see them. After that, we went to a tattoo parlor for Kate, Katie and Artavia and I held their hands while they got inked up. After that, we got popsicles made of real fruits which were delicious then headed over to the Berlin Wall for an intense photo shoot. We took pictures for maybe an hour and got some good ones for Instagram.

After the photoshoot, we went to the German Espionage Museum where we learned about the history of spies and the cool hidden weapons they had disguised as mundane things like umbrellas and lipstick tubes. At the end of the museum, there was a fake laser mission that you had to get through to press a button to detonate a fake bomb, and the only person who was successful was Artavia (I blame it on the long legs). After that, we had dinner at an Asian place. We had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor which was different and the food was alright but the tea was the real delight!

Later on, we decided to walk around the city for a little bit and then we went back to the hostel. It was a very long day out in the sun and so I went to bed pretty early.

Then next morning, Austin, Katie, and I went to the Tiergarten to go walk around in the beautiful nature and go boating, while Kate and Artavia went to the zoo. The boating unfortunately did not start until 11 and we had to leave by 11:30, so enjoy the photo of us climbing on the boat just for a picture because we did not actually row them.

After,we grabbed a quick lunch and made our way to the bus station where we took a NINE hour bus ride back to Bonn. As soon as I got back home, I went to sleep because traveling is very exhausting but also very exciting and eye opening. If I could compare to Berlin to one place that I've been to, it would be Austin, Texas. There is so much to do and see and the people are young and very liberal seeming. It's a great city and the company that I went with made it all the more fun.

This next week is the last full week of the program and I am not looking forward to how fast it'll go by. I do not want to leave my nice little loft in Ramersdorf, my amazing host family, or my favorite country.  

Anyways, thank you for reading and I will see you next week!

Bis Spater!