Day 19 - museum tour

Ugh. Early days do not make for an awake Erin. Though I always do love learning more about how the body works, for some reason the heart is especially interesting. We even went over a little bit of the pathology of the heart today, which is always exciting. Unfortunately I missed the last 10 min of lecture today because I had to go get my visa. That's right, it's official. I will be getting my visa in about 3 weeks and that will allow me to stay in the country for longer than the official 90 day tourist period so I can finish my studies. I'm assuming that the three weeks are for various background checks or something.

In other good news, my test was postponed until next Thursday so I'm not freaking out so much anymore. Yup, the only thing that's got my attention for that class is my homework on Thevenin's and Norton's theorems due...tomorrow. Good thing the review today helped me to understand what was going on so much better. Well, that and the essay that's due for financial aid stuff. Eh, I'll do it tomorrow during my break. They can't e that hard. After all, I write more in here every single day that I would most likely have to write in one of those essays, so I'm not worried.

After those two classes came lunch time. I was tired, so I hung out at AIB with some other people. Yes, we all fell asleep or near enough to it, but it was nice to have a relaxing lunch after the weeks of hectic food finding. Luckily we woke up in time to meet up with our group at the HBF so we could get on a bus and go to the museum of Postwar Modern Germany. It was eye opening to see the journey from the destruction and death of the Nazis to the flourishing country that Germany is today. We went through post war to the great divide and the walls that were erected by soviet forces in an attempt to stop people from leaving East Germany for West Germany to the Cold War and up to the  various movements and fights for freedom and independent rights. Apparently Germany really likes the US because we didn't abandon Berlin and stood by the people of West Germany against the Soviets in a show of solidarity. After the wall came down, there's still a lot of division between the Easterners and the Westerners, not just because of the way that they talk or act, but in the very way that they were raised and taught to act. We saw a lot of the things that Germany has made and created over the years to increase money circulation, but my favorite has to be the two cars that we were shown. One was the Volkswagen and the other was an even smaller car that only had three wheels and was so tiny! Did you know that the VW wasn't made by Hitler? It's true! Hitler went to a car designer and said "I want a car for the common people, a 'folks wagon' that's cheap and everyone can have one." The actual car didn't come out until a few years after the war and that was the last Hitler ever was a part of the process besides funding. It was pretty cool.

 Rough translation: "this took Hitler 12 years" 

In reference to his famous speech: "give me 5 years and you won't recognize Germany"

 After the war, many things were made out of available materials, hats, grenades, shells, etc.

 One of the US planes delivering supplies (Raisin Bombers)

 The early Volkswagen bug

 The small "pothole missile" because it found every pothole

 A soldier jumping over the early Berlin wall

A magazine from the Berlin wall era

After the museum tour, I went home and arrived just in time to accompany Marie and Sophie to the supermarket. It was pretty cool and now I know where to get baking supplies for later when I make cookies or something. When we came back it was time for dinner in the form of various types of bread, cheese, and meats. Just after dinner though, I had to leave to give my friend Johanna her bus pass back because if she was asked to show it on the bus and she didn't have it, she would be fined big time. The reason why I had it was because I was holding onto it for her in my purse at the museum and forgot until I arrived back home. Luckily that was sorted out within the hour and I went back home to work on my homework. I even got a decent portion done! Just two more questions to go...OK, so half isn't that bad for 2 hours. Actually, I just hope the test problems are easy and our teacher is merciful on these types of problems. The reason why there are no pictures yet is because I'm writing this on my phone just before I go to bed. I'll add the pictures tomorrow during class or break. However, I wanted to get this written and posted so I didn't forget.

Tchuss!
Erin Z

Day 18 - Scavenger hunt

Ahh, the joys of waking up late. For the first time since I got here, the BMEN kids had less classes in the day than the Bio-science students. As a result, our first class was our last class and it just so happened to be German with Fenja. We went over colors a little bit (just the eye colors because we need to know them for our visa meeting tomorrow) and then started on the parts of the body. It was awesome, and throughout the course of the class, a weird shaped body was slowly taking shape on the board. When I took a picture, Fenja didn't know what I was doing or why I would want to take a picture of her so called terrible drawing (I think it has charm.) During this class, we all discovered that Fenja has never studied English. Like at all. I'm highly impressed that she's able to follow along with what we say most of the time and answer all of our questions right now. Although I have noticed that whenever we get off topic like asking what animal body parts were for the pre-vet person, we had to rephrase our questions in simpler or more accurate terms so she could answer.

Look at that beautiful person on the board!

At the end of German we were given a packet with a lot of instructions to go around town and get information about the great monuments (of course Beethoven, Cassius and Florentious were on there) and to talk to the German people. In fact, some of the instructions explicitly stated talking to a German and getting to know them. As a result, we found Kevin, a student at Bonn University studying law and had a pleasant conversation with him. We had lunch while planning out our rout to all these places we had to go to, and I was pleasantly surprised that I could get through the German menu without once looking at the English equivalent.

 The student we interrogated for our scavenger hunt. Thank you!!

In front of the Beethoven statue.

Eventually, we got through most of the things in the packet and headed back to AIB to work on the homework and study for the test coming up. In fact, that's really what I should be doing right now, but I literally have no clue about the homework I got on Friday, so I'm taking a break to write this. Anyway, we did homework and some people went to go running at about 5:15 with a group that was created to help get us ready for the Bonn marathon in March. I was going to go, but I wanted to get as much homework done as possible because there were people that could help me and I don't do as well in the little room I sleep in with the bed right there...looking so comfortable and warm. Gah! The test is coming up and luckily we have a review session tomorrow so hopefully I can understand Thevenin's and Norton's theorems before I'm tested over them.

That's really the extent of my day, nothing fancy went on besides the scavenger hunt (which took forever!) Well, I guess not every day can be as action packed as a trip to Cologne right?

Till tomorrow!
Erin Z

Day 17 (cont) - Cologne (Köln) pictures

Alright, as promised, here are the pictures from the day. Also, you should know I've been at this blog for the last hour and a half. By the time I get off, it'll be well over 2 hours since I got on to post for the day. Just a fun fact about how much I put into this blog, but I love doing it and writing down my thoughts for the day before they fade away into oblivion.

Anyway, the promised pictures await!

 Looking above the front door

 The lift we took up

 View from the lift

 View from the platform at the bottom of the roof (120 ft up) at the smallest spire

 View from the bottom of the roof at the two iconic spires

 Look at them flying buttresses! Gorgeous!

 View from the bottom of the roof..along the edge...to the spire we will climb

 That wrench was actually used to tighten bolts. It's taller than our guide!

 The cross gleaming golden in the sun

 The town from the bottom of the roof

 Sunset from the smallest spire.

 Sunset between the tallest spires from the smallest spire

 A look at the inside of the church

Closer look at the windows behind the alter

 Windows behind us as we walked along the outer edge of the church inside

 Wide glass windows make everything better

 Have I mentioned how much I love love LOVE organs yet? yes? oh

 At the 'cross' in the middle of the church

 A look at the floor so far below us

 Stained glass windows are so pretty

 Ground floor: a depiction of major acts of Christ

Final look at the church before we leave.

Thanks as always for reading all my crazy posts! I hope y'all like it as much as I did!

Till next time,
Erin Z

Day 17 - Cologne (Köln)

Wow! There was just so much to this day that I think I'll have a hard time remembering what happened in which order. Due to the amount of stuff that happened, there will be a separate post filled with all the pictures that were taken. Trust me, the church alone warrants it especially due to the fact that I took a tour of it just as the sun was setting...and that was just the end on the day! But, I get ahead of myself. It all started...

Waiting for the train. Yes, too dramatic by far for the (mini) cliffhanger, but it was actually a really important part of the trip. Unfortunately we missed one of our members, and had to get on the train without him and hope that he caught up with us once we were in Cologne. There's something called a group ticket to Cologne that allows up to 5 people to piggyback off of it for a much cheaper price than jsut a single ticket each, and all 19 of us piled onto the train that would bring us 20-30 km to Cologne. When we got there, the first thing we saw as we stepped out of the HauptBahnHof was the enourmous church of Cologne. Now, I'm not one to normally get all weak-in-the-knees for the architecture of a church at any time (that's my mother) but when I saw this church, it literally took my breath away. I'll post a picture of what I saw, but honestly, pictures won't do it justice. The large church was the tallest structure in the world up until the Washington monument was built, and is continuously undergoing construction, but the sheer intricate detail apparent from even as far away as I was floored me. It actually took me about 5-10 minutes to stop grinning like an idiot at the scene of the church. In fact, some of my friends were worried about me for a little bit because we're planning on going to Italy at some point. If this was my reaction to one church, what would happen once I got to a place famous for their church architecture?

Soon after we arrived, our missing member found us right in front of the Köln HBF and we started on our first tour. We walked for a few blocks, and passed quite a few good looking buildings. Nothing could compare to the Köln Church, but after that stunning view I'm not sure what else can compare in this town. We even passed a golden car with winds on top of a pillar as a sort of monument. We finally arived at our destination: a museum of the El-De-Haus (L. D. house) that used to be the headquarters of the Gestapos (Nazi secret police) and held thousands of prisoners. Our guide took us to different rooms upstairs. Each room had a theme: propaganda, Slave-workers taken from their homes, the bombings, and freedom from the Nazis because of the US. Then he took us downstairs into the museum/memorial. The room felt somber and depressing as our guide took us though the small celler and  showed where the prisoners would be allowed to wash (from a sink, no towels or soap), where they could eat sometimes questionable food, where some of the prisoners were held, where the torture happened. In each room there was usually a scratching on the wall or a memorial to some prisoner of another. The scratches were caused by the prisoners and carried everything and everything that could be though of. Poems, drawings, words of confusion or anger or hope, heartbreaking stories of loss and fear, everything was scratched onto those walls for the next batch of prisoners to see or to keep the writer from slowly going insane. One story was of a mother that gave birth to her daughter only to have it taken away from her after birth. Her scratches show her continuing depression and wish she could have taken her daughter to her home country in France and the hope that her daughter was OK. Eventually they found each other again, but it was a miracle that they both survived past the Nazi regime to find each other again. Only one person was known to have escaped by going through a window that was left unbarred when the Nazi guarding him left to take a phone call, but everyone else was either left in the cells or taken out into the (public) gallows and hung, up to 100 people a day. It was rather depressing to see what these people have gone through and made me even more grateful for what I have in America and happy that Germany, although they accept that this is a dark part of their history, has mostly moved forward in an attempt at making sure this never happened again.

 Propaganda room: medal given to mothers with multiple children; bronze = 4, silver = 6, gold = 8

 They shoved 25-35 people into these small cells

 Who has not been here is sure to come, and who has been here will never forget.

Scratched on the walls of cell 6

 These cells were as wide as the 1-person door and about 5X as long

A memorial for all the prisoners

After this rather heavy tour, we went out to eat at a nice restaurant and we had a fairly nice lunch with a lot of non-alcoholic beers that were made within the city. Now, before I continue, there is something you should know. Köln and Dusseldorf are sort of rivals, especially in beer. Dusseldorf's beer is really dark while Köln's is lighter. After lunch, Kristin brought us to a bakery to try a traditional German sweet. I don't remember exactly what it was called, but it was like a jelly doughnut with sugar on top, but much better tasting. Next on our list was to take a tour of Köln, but we had about 45 min to burn before that started, so Kristin turned us loose after telling us where to meet up at 2. Kelsey and I went to a souvenir shop so that I could get a hat pin from Köln (yes mom and dad, I'm starting my own collection. You inspired me!) Unfortunately the only true hat pin they had was two flags, one of Germany, and one of the city flag of Köln on it with nothing about the name or the Köln church that is so iconic of this city. So instead I went for a safety pin like hat pin that had the city flag and the Köln church in a heart on it. Now to just get one of everywhere else I go on this journey (Austria, look out in two weeks!)

Orange and Lemon non-alcoholic beers

When 2 finally rolled around, we met up with the rest of our group and the tour guide. We all immediately fell in love with her quirky attitude and followed her eagerly as she sped around the side of the church to a museum. We couldn't go in, but we could see the mosaic of the original Roman city through the large windows. On our tour we discovered Roman Gates, walls, and aquifers. At this point our guide stopped and told us that they like to keep part of the Roman sewer above ground for the people from Dussledorf. She thought they would appreciate the thought as "most of the water that goes into making their beer flowed through these sewer systems, carrying all the dirt and stuff with it. That's why their beer is so dark of course!" Our guide showed us into an underground sewer system before bringing us to a perfume store. Actually, cologne (the perfume) was originally made in Cologne, which is why it's called what it's called. We all got a sample, and it smelled wonderful. I think I might go back and get some later as cologne made here is for both men and women, and that stuff was amazing! We passed an excavation site that was digging up old Roman artifacts and a Karnival party that was going on before ending back up at the Köln church for our next tour.

 Roman mosaic (original)

 Just too petty to not put this up

 An accurate scale model of Köln

 See the face? he sticks his tongue out once for each hour

 Our tour guide in the Cologne shop

Within the Roman sewer system

This next tour was a walk on the church, but we could only have 10 people at a time, forcing us to split up into two groups. Luckily, I went with the first one. Our guide took us up to the top of the main church (about 120 feet up) and walked us inside the church to see how the modern church came to be. It wasn't always so magnificent (back in the 1000's), it only became that way in an attempt at National Pride in the...late 19th century? Somewhere around there. Then we went outside and walked along the edge of the roof. We had someone afraid of heights in our group and she clung to the roof as we walked across the catwalk on the outside of the church. Unfortunately, it was not only cold, but windy as well and we could all see her hands turning red on the lead (yes, lead) roof from the cold. We looked out at the flying buttresses and the intricate columns that sported magnificent examples of master stonework and I was amazed. Most of this was made without the benefit of modern machines to help. Today, a lot of the stonework is really delicate and needs to be replaced, but the stone-workers still use the same stone and methods originally used in the building to keep the Gothic look about the church. We went up to one of the spires (the smallest of the three) and there was a magnificent view of the city and the Rhein as well as the sun setting between the two tallest spires. We took a lot of pictures, but none of those on my camera as it was starting to yell at me about the battery as I forgot to charge it before today. After we walked around the entire church, we went back outside to the lift and were brought to the second floor where we went inside and saw all the stained glass windows inside the church. Oh, it was absolutely beautiful, and most of the pictures can be found in my next post...I still got in a lot before my camera shut off.

Then the tour was over and we were given 2 of the tickets so we could go home whenever we wanted. Instead, the 10 of us went inside the church to take some more pictures before the dwindling sunlight completely disappeared and left the inside of the church dark. Some of the architecture there was just...amazing. I know I sound like a broken record, but I honestly can't think of the words to describe the church that I saw today and I know I or anyone else will look at these pictures and think 'meh, ok...what's so special?' but being in front of this humongous structure and feel the infinite amount of experience and time that this church has gone through and see the stunning examples of architecture and artistry everywhere I look...it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After the sun finally set, we split up into two groups and looked for something to eat before finally heading abck to Bonn. On the way back, we were asked by the attendant to show our passes, something that hasn't happened before. Luckily I had one of the passes and she let us go on our way, but it was still a new experience.

Tomorrow we only have one class...weird. But most of the time spent outside of class won't be on fun or something else that would be deemed as trivial, but on studying for the test I have on friday and doing my homework that's due in a few days. It will probably be boring, but you never know. Although I did post some pictures, a majority of the pictures I post will be on my next post, so look out for that.

Tchuss!
Erin Z

Day 16 - Waiting for tomorrow

Today was normal. There's really no other way to explain  it. I woke up at a decent time and got ready before heading for school. I had another history of medicine class, this time about how early Christians and the Arabic physicians contributed to our knowledge of medicine. It was interesting to see how medicine went from religious (in the early Greek/Roman era) to secular (late Greek/Roman eras) to religious again (early Christianity period) and what that did for medicine and the societies that went along with those eras. Also, we apparently owe the Middle Eastern society a HUGE debt when it comes to medicine because most of our knowledge on ancient medicine as well as the findings of all those people would have been lost without them. They translated all these great medical works into Arabic and when every other book was destroyed for one reason or another, these translations were translated back into Latin and therefore preserved for later physicians. Just think: without these translations, a lot of the early knowledge that allowed for modern medicine to build on top of it and become what it is today would have been lost otherwise and we as a species would have had to start over in figuring out how to fix ourselves when we became sick. I think it's pretty cool.

Anyway, after that was design class with Sarah as we delved more into what our imaginary company was going to do to get a continuous glucose monitor on the market. We looked into the schematics of the existing devices out there already (only a handful, like less than a half dozen) and the various data that's come from testing out these devices. We also finally named our company (Zucker Kontrol systems...or ZK systems) so we can hopefully begin making a name for ourselves with our awesome product...figuratively speaking of course as we don't actually have a company or a device to sell to the public. When design was done, it was time for lunch. I was going to go to the cafeteria in Bonn University because I heard it was pretty cool, but was left behind because everyone else was in a hurry to leave and I needed to do something else for a few minutes. Unfortunately I was left behind, but that's OK. I hung out with the people who stuck around and had a wonderful sandwich made of salami, ham, and cheese on bread, most of which was left behind after our German breakfast on Friday.

After lunch was another signals and systems class. I swear, we seem to have something to do with that class every day. On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, we have the actual class while the rest of the days we have to work on the homework that's assigned on each of those days. There's also a test that's coming up on this class on Friday, so I don't think that anything more than studying will be happening until that test happens. And of course we're probably going to celebrate once it's over, so I guess there's something to look forward to. Today was (mercifully) something that I knew fairly well, so hopefully the homework will come easy to me.

After class, most of us hunkered down and started on the homework for (surprise) signals. We want to get our homework done by Thursday's review so we can study and not have to worry about homework while stressing about our test. And...that's about it. I went home and had dinner with my family. I never knew that you could dress a simple piece of bread with so many different toppings and still have it be just bread and not a sandwich. Oh! and they made me Frickadella and it was absolutely delicious!!

Tomorrow we go to Cologne for a tour and to climb the church there. It used to be the tallest structure in the world until the Washington monument was built...and we're climbing all the way to the top! Yes, I will be taking lots of pictures, so be prepared for tomorrow. Unfortunately, because today was so normal, I don't have any relevant pictures, so I'm just going to look though my camera history and select some cool photos because I like how pretty they are and no post seems complete without them.

 The countryside on our way to Bonn, 1st day

 Tessa, Dr. Wasser, and Sarah Ritter (the last two are professors)

 At the Vineyard tour. The scene was too pretty not to take a picture

 What is frequently stopping me on the way to my tram stop...almost every day!

Bonn on the first hike from the top of a hill. So beautiful!!

Until tomorrow!
Erin Z