Home Sweet Home

A final hello to everyone!

This will be my final blog post, but I just really wanted to have one to wrap it all up! Though it may not be a long post, I think it is an important one to write.

I just want everyone to know how much this entire trip truly impacted me. Without this trip to India offered by Appalachian State University and the Honors College and without the financial assistance from the Ronald & Marilyn Mitsch International Education Scholarship, The Jerri Heltzer International Education Scholarship, and the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, I would have never had this amazing experience. Because of each of this organizations, I was able to spend one month in India experiencing things I would never have experienced otherwise. Working with Dr. Ravi, Dr. Rohini, and Dr. Victoria taught me so much every day. In the U.S., students are very limited in what they are able to see. We have many laws that prevent undergraduate students from shadowing at acute care facilities, observing surgeries, etc. India does not have such laws and thus, I was able to learn so much that I would never have seen in my home country. I think it is important, as an intended future physician, to see all that medicine has to offer, including the things I just mentioned above. After going to India and seeing these things first-hand, I now know that while I do not want to become a gynecologist or obstetrician, I do want to become a pediatrician. I want to work in the medical field. Most importantly, I want to work with children to help them and their families to live the best and healthiest lives possible. 

Many people have asked me: "how was India?" And I find this a very hard question to answer. In many ways, I could answer it very simply by saying, "It was hot and crowded, but everyone was very nice and I learned so much." But in other ways, there is no way to answer this. I've come to realize the best answer is that India is a place that you must experience yourself. It is so much more than what you see in movies, what you hear in the news, and the food with which you associate it. India is only complete when you combine all of these things with the people you meet, the streets you walk down, and the experiences you personally have. India is a place you must visit yourself to truly understand how amazing it is. 

The travel after Morgan and I initially decided to do because the flight was actually cheaper to go through Europe than to just go back home (even though the actual trip to Europe was very expensive). After finding this out, I had to talk to my parents. I am very lucky to have parents that are very supportive of my adventures, explorations, and dreams. My dad's response was, "Spend a month in Europe if you need to! Have the adventure while you can!" or something along those lines. So with the support of both mine and Morgan's families, we were able to continue our journey from India throughout three countries in Europe (Denmark, Germany, and France). In each country we were able to visit so many places and learn so many things (you can read more about that in my previous blogs). I don't know when I will be able to go back to Europe, but after this trip, I know there are so many more places I want to visit and so many more things to learn.

With that being said, I know many of you had trouble commenting on my blog throughout this experience. Apparently you have to have a google plus account in order to leave comments. If you still have any questions, comments, concerns, anything, I would love to hear them. And in your message to me, please suggest whether or not you believe I should post my responses on a final blog. Otherwise, I will just personally respond to the specific inquiries! 

My email is marissastock@live.com if you do have any questions, comments, concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

If I do just respond on a person-by-person basis, I would like to thank you all for reading my blog over these past two months. I have had about 2000 views from many countries across the world. It is amazing to me that so many people would be interested in reading about the adventures of a young pre-med student, but I am so glad I was able to share this journey.

Maybe I'll write more when I have more journeys, but for now I will leave it be.

Sincerely and finally,
Marissa ("Rissa")

Paris, France: The City of Beautiful Sights and Delicious Crepes

Hello again everyone! I'm apologize once again for taking so long to post my blog for Paris. I am finally settled back in in the States and getting used to the big time change! This will be my last "destination" post and I will have one final blog spot following this one (most likely I will post it in a few days).

Anyways, Morgan and I arrived in Paris on Sunday morning and were very anxious to get to our home for the next couple days. We were staying in a small apartment close to the town of Bastille. When we were walking over, we discovered a cute little jardin (French for garden) and then we went into our new home! Sunday was spent on another free tour, but unfortunately it was very, very, very rainy and very few pictures were taken! But it was a good introduction to the city. We also went to a very delicious dinner, as recommended by our host. We got a Salmon filet burger and fries...delicious! Once again, I think it will be easiest to walk you through my adventures in Paris via photos and captions. So here it goes!

Selfie in the Jardin

Meet Gato (Spanish for Cat, so the cat's name was Cat). He came with the apartment and was
 the cutest little cuddly guy ever. He also lost his right eye to cancer, so he's a one-eyed kitty!

This the face he makes when he thinks food is near

On Monday we ventured over to Montemartre, a city famous for this beautiful church
and its infamous Red Light District - home to the Moulin Rouge. It's not every day that
your breakfast gets to look like this. It was absolutely gorgeous. We sat in awe as we ate.

Americano and Nutella Banana Crepe! The best crepe I have ever had...
I would love to have another one now!

A little Disney tribute from the Sacre Coeur Basilica!

We originally had a little bit of trouble finding the church,
but we found it!

View of the city from the church

Of course we had to take a selfie

Sacre Coeur Basilica - Sacred Heart Basilica

The Montmartre Cemetery 

This one was really old. The first of the family was born in 1832!

The cemetery also has kitties that live there

The famous Moulin Rouge! It is a real place and is exactly how it is in the movie.
The elephant building that Nicole Kidman lives in, however, is not.

The weird Metro signs that are all around Paris

After we got back from Montemartre, we wanted to explore the remainder of the city and take some pictures that we were unable to take in the downpour the day before.

Gargoyles on the Notre Dame Cathedral

This is the "lock bridge" we all know so much about. Couples come here, put their
initials on a padlock, lock in, and throw the key into the Siene River. The problem is
too many people are locking their love on the bridge and eventually they have to be
cut off! So hopefully their love lasts through the cut. My sister and her boyfriend put
a lock on the bridge last summer, but I knew it would be almost impossible to find it!

The Louvre and the famous glass pyramid. Unfortunately we weren't able to go into
the Louvre because it's closed on Tuesdays... the day we decided to go.

The glass pyramid was actually designed by an Asian American man who won
a contest for the king. He won because he promised an invisible pyramid. I'm
not sure what the appeal about an invisible pyramid is... but here it is, and I think
it is a very beautiful thing to see.

There is a garden outside of the Louvre and it has its own resident goats! Felt like India!

View from the edge of the garden. Then we walked
to climb it!

We only went up to the second level because we took the stairs and it only went up
there (669 steps still, the most we've climbed out of the entire trip). We would have
had to take a lift to the top, but this was the view from level 2! You can also see the
Sacre Coeur Basilica very small over on the left hand side in the horizon.

Also, fun fact: Morgan and I climbed a tall structure in every country that we visited!
So we were able to see the landscapes from above in each of: India (Sri Ranga Temple),
Denmark (Church of our Savior), Germany (St. Peter's Church), and France (Eiffel Tower)!

And... here's what we didn't climb!

We stuck around until 10:00 and got to see the
nightly 5-minute lights show! It was very cool
to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle!

From across the Siene!

For our last day, we took a day trip to Versailles, the palace built by King Louis the XIV when he decided to move away from Paris. The palace, the gardens, and everything are very extravagant, just as King Louis the XIV was. In fact, he even called himself the Sun King. Louis was also a very big fan of the arts and was responsible for allowing literature, art, and dance flourish during his 72 year reign over France!

View of the Palace from the "Musical gardens"

This was part of the King's Garden (a specific portion of the Musical Gardens)

Look, she's holding off the storm!

My favorite part of the garden

I'm not sure what it was supposed to be, but it looked a lot like an amphitheater,
though the way it is designed would not allow it to function like one

It incorporated a lot of different materials into the stone structure, including teeth!

Statue of Louis XIV in front of the Palace

This picture isn't the greatest because their were people everywhere and it was
pouring rain... but you can still tell that the Palace of Versailles is beautiful!

While we were at Versailles, the Solar Decatholon
was going on... and ASU was participating! AND
THEY WERE IN 4TH!

The house was completely self-sustained and was built and designed
entirely by App State students, in conjunction with their partner school
in France. This was the kitchen of the house!

Our delicious last meal in Paris. We saved up so we could splurge on a fancy French dinner as
our last meal. Morgan had Salmon Penne Pasta and I had a buckwheat pancake (more like a
crepe) with smoked salmon and cream cheese. And we each had a glass of expensive, delicious
Semillon white wine!

And on our way home from dinner we met about 30+ of these fat rats in the
jardin. I immediately thought of Ratatouille and realized that a trip to Paris
wouldn't be complete without a few rats!

The next morning, we headed over to the airport and after a long wait
in lines, customs, security, etc., we finally boarded our plane and set our
sights towards America. This was my last good bye to Europe for this trip,
but I am sure I will see her again soon!

And though it is much darker, Hello Chicago!!! 

I have one final post for you all, and that will be coming up soon!

Until then, au revoir!

Marissa

Munich, Germany: "Arbeit Macht Frei - Work Will Set You Free"

Hi everyone, sorry it has been taking me so long to get each of these posted. With each new city I am experiencing so much and it's hard to take the time to just sit down and write a blog about my most recent adventure-the last of which was Munich, Germany!

Munich was an absolutely beautiful place and I really enjoyed spending my time there. However, beer really is the answer to everything there. Beer helped the country pay off debts, stopped fires (or attempted to stop fires) in Munich, etc. And they do not kid around with it! It's so crazy to just see people walking around the streets at 11 am, beer in hand. Especially since the World Cup is going on right now and Germany is in the top four. They are serious about their "fussball" (soccer) and their beer!

Anyways, for the most part, this post is going to just be pictures. So here ya go!

Munich is the land of Frenchies - this little guy was just riding around in the basket of a bicycle!

This is St. Peters Church - it's absolutely gorgeous!

St. Peters Selfie!

We also climbed the tower at St. Peters, for another 300 steps added to our high climbs!

A perfect view of Marienplatz from the tower! Speaking of, during the World Wars, 82.5% of Munich was destroyed, but Marienplatz was part of the 17.5% not destroyed

This is Our Lady's Church - which also was not destroyed during the war since it was tall enough to be used as an orientation symbol for bombing purposes

The church also has a story about how Satan was destroying all of the new prisons, since Munich had too many. However, when he came into Our Lady's Church through the front door, he saw no windows and thought a place as dark as that could be used to worship him. When he later entered after the church was finished, he saw the walls lined with windows he was unable to see before because the pillars line up exactly to block out the light from the stained-glass windows. When he saw this, he stomped his foot so hard it left this spot on the ground and he stormed out.

See, no windows. And there used to be an altar, not at window at the end. 

These are the weird soldier angel babies that guard Mary in the middle of Marienplatz. Each baby is fighting off a symbol of evil (war, pestilence, hunger, and heresy)

There's Mary

Old Town Hall. Marienplatz is New Town Hall

This is Juliet. Women leave her flowers and Men rub her breast, both hoping for true love and marriage. Obviously, the men have been a little overzealous over the years...

Awkward selfie with Juliet

St. Peter's Church from the outside. And the vendor on the street makes all his own jewelry. It was awesome! The church also has 8 clocks, two on each side as shown in this photo

This little Frenchie pup was in Starbucks! So cute!

The Royal Residence

This is a golden trail to commemorate silent protesters against the Nazi movement. These people would take this side road to avoid giving the SS officers the Hitler salute at the statue on the next street.The trail stops halfway down the street because eventually an SS officer was places there. If a silent non-supporter were to walk down that street and did not have a legitimate reason, they were fined/beaten/killed/sent to Dachau.

Speaking of Dachau... here it is. Dachau was the 1st working camp created and served as the ideal model.
It was originally intended for Nazi resistors and communists.

The first motto prisoners saw: "Work will set you free"

The open square where Appel (roll call) took place twice per day

This was resurrected following the camps liberation to remind us all what happened. It says: "May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peach and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."

One of the many memorial statues. Look closely and just feel... this sculpture is very powerful.

Another memorial sculpture. Each prisoner was given a label such as the ones shown here.

This is the entrance shower where everyone was deloused, given clothes, and tattooed. In order to scare prisoners, they often had other prisoners hanging by their arms backwards on the pole that once existed in the squares shown. 

The small cells for special prisoners

When the Allies came to Dachau, they discovered ashes still within one of the crematorium furnaces. They took these ashes and made this monument. The "Ashes of the Unknown Prisoner" lie here and represent all of the unknown prisoners that were lost. And the phrase "Never Again" in repeated in five languages. This was one of the most powerful sculptures for me.

Most of the barrack were following down, so they only have two prototypes now.
But this is where they were all lined up.

Over the years of the war, the barrack slowly got worse. This is the first level
of barracks. Here the prisoners had to make a perfectly square mattress with perfectly
square corners, but they all had their own space.

The second level of barracks. Shared beds.

The last level. These were so crowded the prisoners had to roll
over as a single unit.

The remainder of these photos are extremely morbid until the English Gardens... but I think they are important to share especially if you have not experienced it yourself. So feel free to stop reading at this point, but I (again) think it's important to share.

The original crematorium. It quickly became too small and they had to build a larger one.

The original crematorium

The second crematorium, complete with a waiting room, "shower"/gas chamber, incinerator room,
and a room for the bodies

The label going into the gas chamber. Brausebad means "Shower" in German

"Shower head" where gas entered the chamber

This is the actual chamber. The windows in the walls allowed the SS Officers to place the gas
cartons in without actually being in the room.

The incinerator room. The pole in the middle with the medal hooks and circles was also used for hangings. In fact, most hangings occurred right here in front of the furnaces. So they were hanged directly in front of the burning bodies of their fellow prisoners...

Another Ash Grave

This was the part of the concentration camp that hit me the hardest. Upon reading the names of the victims of Dachau, the become less of a story and become people that could have been my family, friend, or neighbor. It was really hard to read the names and where they were from. So many of the people in the holocaust go unremembered. I've decided to remember three of the names I read: Petit Paul, Rose Albert, and Stern Emil. I will remember them and at least know that someone in the world is thinking of them.

This was resurrected to remind those who come to see Dachau to keep looking forward.
This man represents the prisoners after the war, but with their own clothes and a future
ahead of them.

Okay... I know those were really hard to look at... The Holocaust is something that I have always been very interested in and seeing a concentration camp was really impacting. I was finally able to see what I've read about for so long and I was able to put real names to the faces in the pictures that I've seen. It was very powerful to visit Dachau... Though Dachau was terrible, as any concentration camp was, it was not an extermination camp. It was a working camp that did prefer to keep its prisoners alive so they could work for the Nazi effort. That was one of things I was not expecting out of a concentration camp. I learned so much with my visit to Dachau.

The evening after our visit to Dachau, we needed something to make us feel more cheery... So we went to visit the wonderful English Gardens!

And our final selfie of Munich! And off we went to Paris!!!