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I also had the best glimpse of humanity yet again, as all of my blog posts seem to revolve around the idea that though we are separated across the globe, we are all the same. After taking pictures on the top of a museum after our string quartet concert, I was walking back to meet the group where they were eating dinner. Along the way, me and Danie and Rika, and a student worker from AIB saw a restaurant server bringing a single slice of cake with a candle to an outdoor table slowly singing happy birthday. Since it was 10pm, there was no one to join and it looked a little sad. So I looked at Dani and we jumped in clapping and yelling happy birthday the American way. Rika and the student worker soon joined! The table of adults in their 50s all thought it was hilarious. They were biking across Europe and were from CA and CO and wanted to hear all about our study abroad. Then the waiter gave us all free wine and lollipops. When we declined more wine he explained that after COVID it is hard to grasp humanity connecting. That nobody wants anything to do with each other with religion and gender and what not. He said us singing happy birthday was the first time in 4 years he felt a human connection at work between strangers, and that that feeling was worth all the wine in the world! My favorite part of the night had to be our last night. We went trying to find the best place to dance. The German disco bar looked promising, but alas we did not know any of the songs in English. What was SO much fun, was when a group of maybe 10 of us found a Latin bar. Immediately Danielle, Alyssa, and I started teaching everyone how to salsa and step to the music. Before long they started a choreography dance floor, and we were all dancing along with the experts. It was a wholesome moment to again experience some of our culture in a different country, and have our friends there for it too!
I knew the Eiffel tower was beautiful, but I never would have imagined the feeling of sitting on the grass in front of the tower at midnight, counting down to see it sparkle, and then hearing the hoots, whoops, and hollers of everyone cheering when the sparkling began. Paris feels like a dream. The first-class Thalys tickets with plush red seats gave us a sense of lavish comfort we were not used to from the rest of our travels. We were lucky first-class tickets were cheaper. Waking up and doing a river cruise of the Seine river was beautiful. Going to the Palace of Versailles was breathtaking, although Danie and I almost passed out in the Palace Gardens. Heat I am used to. Heat with hardly any buildings, trains, busses, bakeries, and more having AC is brutal. But we made it! Fondue dinner and walking to the Eiffel Tower at night were breathtaking, and I will remember the weekend forever. The Louvre on Sunday was breathtaking. Seeing sculptures and paintings I had seen as a kid in textbooks and in culture was an experience I will never forget and I am so glad that Danie and I had the opportunity to go!
Picture this, you hop on a bike on the island of Norderney to bike to the ferry, and you hope on the ferry and get the chance to feel sea salt spritz your face. Then you hop on a train to a random station on the western border of Germany. You get off the bus and eat a nice saurkraut and ham sandwich at the train station and walk out to a connecting bus. The stop is under construction so you ask a random bus driver where to go. The nice old lady who speaks hardly any English helps you get to the right stop. Then at the right stop, a random man comforts us that we are at the right stop. When the bust doesn't come for about 20 minutes, a young Romanian man then comes up and explains that we are still at the right stop. Then when you get on the bus a ride that should take 55 minutes ends up taking 2 hours and you miss your connecting train in the Netherlands. The nice Romanina man now jokes that if he was approved as an Uber-like driver, he would take us to the airport himself. Then you miss your backup train by the time you run to the train station. So, a young dutch couple stops and talks to you in English to help you find the next best train. When you get to the airport you're late. The gate should close in 20 minutes. So you go to the 4-hour security line and ask everyone in front of you one by one and chunk by chunk if you can cut in front to make your flight. Every gender, religion, ethnicity, and language tells you yes and encourages you with a "go go go". Then you run to your terminal just to find out you are not 20 minutes from missing your flight, your flight is delayed. Then it becomes delayed for almost 5 hours. As time goes by elderly men come up to you from different countries and just ask if you are okay and if you need help calling the airlines to barter for a free hospital if the flight gets canceled. Then you finally board the plane and the Scottish flight attendants explain that the flight had been canceled and it was a Scottish crew on their day off that came to the Netherlands to fly their people home. Then you arrive in Edinburgh to find a long customs line, but yet as soon as you break through an additional hour later, your cousin who was waiting the whole time to pick you up, takes you home and shows you to Edinburgh the next day. When you get off the train in Edinburgh the next day you walk around and see a random parade. The old couple next to you hears your accent and asks where you are from and explain all about the parade. Then you go to a cafe for lunch and your waiter suggests trying Scottish Soda Irn Bru because it tastes different for everyone. She then comes back later and asks what it tastes like. You respond with orange cough syrup, cream soda, and ginger ale. Then a table next to you finds out its your first time in Scotland and asks you what it tastes like too. Then after a tourist day you make your way to a cafe and talk to a young girl from Turkey behind the counter. After explaining her questions about the US, she explains that she is about to close her shop for the day and gives you and your friends free cannolis and free tea. Then you get back to find a family member you have yet to meet cook you a homemade American dinner to feel welcome. Then you have the best day ever with your family while they take you to cool hiking spots out of the kindness of wanting to show you their country and take time to get to know you.
Getting to Scotland may have been stressful, but God used it to show me kindness in the smallest and largest of places in a magnificent way throughout the trip. And I'm thankful for my friends and family that made it the best trip ever too!
From a medical standpoint, I didn't know that saunas or running into the North Sea as Thalasso therapy could be considered medical treatment, but after hearing a lecture from the world's expert on the physiological effects of sauna therapy, I can understand the treatment. I also felt firsthand the benefit of the island's air. With air blowing directly from the North Sea, there are hardly any to no pollutants. My asthma never flared once on the island through the hike and bikes and all. I totally understand why families with pediatric asthmatics move to the island for breathing therapy.
I'm not sure why I expected life in Germany to he so different. Yet after a week, I'm realizing that we are all tied through history and culture more than I realized. Fashion really isn't that different here. German Flammkuchen taste just like pizza. Waiters here can be funny and friendly too. Daughters are just as picky at dinner time while mother's try to cook anything they will eat. And strangers and friends can be so kind all over the world. Yet here I can walk through town squares older than my family's history in America and I can walk through the house where Beethoven was born after growing up playing his music! So cool!
From a medical standpoint, the first difference I can see is in the pharmacies. Here, almost everything besides supplements and vitamins and sunscreen are kept behind the counter. If you want to buy anything for an ailment, even aspirin, you have to talk to a pharmacist. You can't buy drugs anywhere besides a pharmacy either. There isn't a two in one food and pharmacy option like our CVS and Walmart. This trip is nerve-wracking. I am both excited and nervous. Do I know any German? No. Do I know how to get around Bonn yet? No. However, I decided to come on this trip to experience the world.
I have never come to Europe, and given this opportunity, I thought I should experience navigating a new culture. I am excited to get to know my host family, make new friends, broaden my horizon of medicine, and have fun along the way. Even while in the airport my fears are diminishing. From a German man sitting next to me on my first flight, explaining to me how he hasn't been able to fly home in 3 years due to the pandemic and he is so excited to go see his family. To the man from Italy sitting next to me on the second flight who rated the airplane food with me and nicely showed me to push the bathroom door when I was trying to pull it. To lastly all of the A&M students I am already calling my friends after one day at the airport. I am already blown away by kindness and excited for these next few weeks! |
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