So everyone, thanks for sticking with us. This is our final wrap up blog and it has been a joy sharing our experiences with you. This is our last week in Velbert and we have been as busy as ever. On Monday we had our last lecture at the University of Essen discussing new changes that have been occuring in the German and American healthcare systems. We received good news from Joch and Nic that two of the students want to complete their Masters Thesis in Minnesota. We must have been so captivating that they think everyone in Minnesota is as charming, right? I don't know if I had mentioned the heat wave we have had in any of our last blogs, but it has been like an oven for the past two weeks. The heat and the humidity finally broke that afternoon in one big thunderstorm. We were planning to go to the Geriatric clinic in Neviges, but trees were knocked down on the train tracks and the power went out for a few of the lines. As we have often learned in Germany, sometimes circumstances are out of our control, and we had to make alternate plans for the day.

On to Tuesday. We met with the local state pharmacy board in Dusseldorf and discussed pharmacy practice differences between our countries. Afterwards we met with the chairwoman of the Continuing Education program in Germany. Surprisingly, Continuing Education is not mandatory here. This has actually been a controversial issue in many of our discussions with German pharmacists. We also toured the chairwoman's pharmacy that emphasizes family and pediatric health. It was interesting to see a completely different selection of OTC products focusing on a specific population.

The highlight of the week though was definitely Wednesday, when the local senior citizens organization came to the Burgerstube. We completely filled the room. There were 55 people there from the association just to meet us. It was a lot of fun because this meeting was not about pharmacy, policy, or professional advocacy, it was just us telling them about Minnesota and some childhood stories. The group was very welcoming and excited to hear from us, even though they spoke no English and we spoke no German. Once again, we were grateful for our bilingual preceptors!

We have loved our time here in Germany. We're lucky that we had the opportunity for this unique rotation. We have met a lot of wonderful people and have learned quite a bit about the healthcare system in Germany and while doing so we have developed insight into our own.

Thanks to everyone at the U who helped organize the program, and a special thanks to all of our German hosts. We will miss joshing around with our preceptors, working in the pharmacy, and eating spaetzle at Frau Biester's every day.

Thank you for reading. We're looking forward to seeing you back home in Minnesota!

Auf Wedersehen,

Adam, Lisa, Anna, Tammy, Jamie, Anne, Trina, Michelle, Angela, Stephanie, and Amy

Tschuss!