Week 3

Each Friday afternoon, we attend Landeskultur, German culture class, which is offered in German or English. As a culture field trip, we visited the Haus der Geschicte (Museum of German history) where we learned about how Germany today evolved from the ruins after World War II. Our tour guide was knowledgeable, and filled us in on how the average German lived through the changes of the twentieth century.

We have several weekends off to explore Germany and Europe on our own. Twelve out of the fourteen of us headed off to Brussels, Belgium for the weekend. The nice part about Germany is the multitude of ways you can get to places. You can take either the tram/light rail or the Deutsch Bahn to Koln where you can hop on another train to Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, etc.

Belgium highlights

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Week 2

I began my German class this week. The program has three language offerings based on fluency: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. With no background in German, I placed into the introductory language course. For my project, I am working with cytohesin eGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) plasmid gene insertions, which will fluoresce everywhere signal transduction occurs, so hopefully I'll get some pretty pictures by the end of July. Restriction/ligation Cloning has been fun. My mentor Dr. Novak and my fellow lab mates have been very kind to me in English.

Geoff pouting for Romania in the match against Italy. We watched this match of the European Football Championship in our dorm's common room.

I'm cheering for Germany in my sleep.

My mentor Dr. Nina Novak.

Week 1-Arrival to Bonn and Introduction

Howdy,

This summer, I'll be picture blogging my two month stay in Bonn, Germany. My stay in Bonn is sponsored by Harvard's Summer in Bonn program, a collaboration between Harvard, UW Madison, and University of Bonn.

Bonn is a medium sized, cozy university town that served as the former capital of West Germany. Bonn is near Cologne, and borders the Rhine. The weather is pleasantly warm all year long, and many Germans will tell you that the "Rheinland" is one of their favorite places to live.

While Americans enjoy milk, Germans are quite fond of their regional beer varieties. The local beer specialty in Bonn is Kölsch. The Alkoholfrei Pils I had below is more bitter, and says "0% Alkohol...100% Geschmack" (taste).

This is my room. The University of Bonn residence and apartment vary just like the US. I ended up living in Pariser Straße, which is in the northern part of Bonn known as Auerberg. I had a single fitted with a personal fridge, kitchen, and bathroom.

The buses, trams (trax for Utahans), and trains are very efficient. Here, we are walking through a crossing.

Dr. Holger Impekoven and Ms. Katharina Schmitt, from the International Office, smile for the camera.

This Saturday, we went rafting down the Sieg River. The water was cold and the rafting was rife of paddling and splashing contests.

Alkoholfrei Weissbier

Running Dinner is a three course meal, which is popular in university towns as an welcoming for students. Each course is at a different location. My student buddy and I prepared the main course-lemon flavored chicken with zucchini and feta cheese. In the picture below, Mitch and his buddy Sebastian slice the pizza appetizer they had cooked. University of Bonn Press Release (in German)

Alex savors German hot chocolate.

Here is the Rhine. The water runs at the same speed as an Olympic swimmer, so each year, a few Germans, exceedingly drunk and daring, swim and drown in the Rhine.

The student (on the right) from the University of Bonn showed us around the places Beethoven came across as a child.

This yellow house is where Beethoven once lived.

Today, Germany defeated Poland in the European Soccer Championship playoffs. We came across lots of honking cars, flag waving, and cheering along the otherwise quiet streets.

This is the Bonn Beethoven Orchestra. We listened to a repertoire of Dvorák, Mahler, and Beethoven.

The concert hall was beautiful.

In this picture, I am longboarding in front of the first statue dedicated to Beethoven. The yellow building behind is the post office.

This is Münster, the main church, in the center of Bonn.

Here is a closer look at Beethoven, who is holding a pencil and a baton.