I still can't speak German

I can't believe another week has gone by this quickly! We really never stop go, go, going (in both regards - the program and the fun)! This week was busy, even though TAMU was closed on Monday, AIB was not. But I'm ok with it because it meant the week was packed full of lots of classes and lots of planning. Let's start with program stuff first...

We have finally had every single class at least once, so it really feels like school again. I think I have done more homework this week than one week in regular semester (excluding last semester with 19 hours). Every other German class is 2.5 hours long, broken apart into two 1.25 hr increments. Let me tell you, that makes for a long day... but its supposedly better to learn the language that way. I can't really agree quite yet because as you know from the title, I can hardly speak it still - so maybe that is saying something? Although, I can pick up words on the bus and use a few I know in stores/pharmacies. I even ordered a crepe entirely in German the other day. *Squirrel: nothing compares to French street crepes on the Seine. Although the Rhine is quite a sight... on early mornings I can watch the sunrise over the Rhine on my commute. Back on topic now.* We had our first intercultural workshop to experience what being a foreigner is like from a new perspective. It was a really cool game that wrapped up by teaching us the extent of our similarities and differences with our German brothers and sisters. I'd recommend checking it out; it was very interesting and in some cases surprising! Here's the link if you'd like to learn a bit from my program too. 😉 

This week's excursion was to Cologne (Köln) for a city tour and a chance to scale the world's second largest cathedral. Rumor has it the Three Wise Men are buried here. It was breathtakingly beautiful! I loved the way the architecture and history of the cathedral was so intricately intertwined and telling of the city and its people. Cologne has its own way of doing things, and its own sense of pride from its citizens. The way of the people reminded me a lot of Texans, and it made me feel at home and welcomed. Be on the look out for pictures... 

We also toured the ELDE house, an old Gestapo (Secret Police during the Third Reich) Headquarters building where the basement was used as a prison and wartime bunker (that prisoners didn't get to use), while the top floors for were used as administrative offices. The stories that were carved in the walls defied the intimidation methods and live on as testament to what went on in this world, not even 100 years ago. Something that I learned from just the few museums we have been to so far is that the German people do care to take responsibility for these tragic parts of their history. Before coming here, I thought it might be something that people want to ignore or sweep under the rug. Which, at first was the way things were. But today, Germans realize the importance of remembering history for what it was, without sugarcoating. I think this is one page Americans should really take out of the Germans' book. We don't want to take responsibility for a lot of our own tragic history, but instead glorify our relatively young country without considering repercussions of our past and current actions. I worry that Americans are losing the value of a history lesson.

One other facet of the program that I have become gradually more excited for is the History of Medicine course. Already, the similarities and differences in "the art" of medicine has me intrigued. Dr. Wasser is starting each lecture with a sort of meditation class. So far, I'm enjoying it and appreciate the new perspective it gives me when considering the many components of health. We will also have a class about the Alexander Technique, and I am SO excited for that!

This post is of course extremely long already, and I haven't even talked about the non-program stuff yet! As you can tell, I'm already learning so much. About health, about medicine, about genetics, about the world, and about myself. The best part is, it's only week two. Stay tuned (tomorrow) for another post about daily life and fun...!