To Germany and Beyond – Summer 2022

I went on the Global Healthcare study abroad trip to Leipzig, Germany in summer 2022. As a biochemistry student, I knew a summer trip would be pretty much my only opportunity to go abroad, so my goal was to experience as much as possible in the seven weeks I had there. After all, who knows who I would be or what I would be doing the next time I got to go to Europe?

We were based out of Leipzig, but we also traveled to multiple other cities and countries with the whole group. Leipzig was a charming city that had a lot of places to explore, including coffee shops, museums, and shops. Taking public transportation around the city and gradually recognizing how to get to my favorite places was a new and fun experience. Since I went without phone service, the ability to navigate by memory and not a map was definitely useful. I loved the park close to the villa where we could go to relax, the city square where they had different festivals, and a schnitzel restaurant that had daily lunch specials.

Our group traveled to Berlin and Weimar to learn more about German history, where walking the streets made everything from textbooks seem so much more real. We also traveled to Wittenberg, the home of Martin Luther, and saw the church where he nailed the 95 Theses and set the stage for hundreds of years of changes in the global church. At the end of our trip, we spent several days in Prague, and I probably walked across the historic Charles Bridge about twenty times. I took two classes, Global Healthcare and Christianity in Culture, that taught me a lot about cultural awareness as an upcoming professional and as a Christian, lessons that were only amplified by these locations I visited with my professors and fellow students.

Some of my friends and I took short trips to Spain and Italy where we hit a city a day in an attempt to see as much as possible. It was interesting to see how each city had its own unique culture despite having a national identity in common. In Spain I visited Madrid and Barcelona, where I spent hours in iconic cultural landmarks like The Prado (art museum) and La Sagrada Familia (cathedral), hit the beach, and ate tapas and paella. In Italy I visited Venice, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast. I saw a lot of cathedrals, visited street markets, and did a hike along the mountainous coast called The Path of the Gods. Realizing that the day in Florence was actually a city holiday complete with parades and fireworks was possibly my favorite part of the whole study abroad experience.

In addition to all the cultural lessons, study abroad taught me a lot about travel planning, organizing groups, budgeting, and adapting when things go wrong or you feel confused. By traveling with a group I knew I could count on, I felt comfortable going to new places and trying new things. Even if I don’t go back for years, I know these memories and skills will stay fresh in my mind for a long time.

Hiking the Italian coast (before we got sweaty)