Rizal traveled alone to Europe in 1882, continuing his studies in medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid. He earned his degree of Licentiate in Medicine in 1884 and degree of Philosophy and Letters in 1885. He later studied at the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. While in Europe for 10 years, Rizal excelled in many fields and began writing his novels, including finishing his first book Noli Me Tangere.

1. Education in Europe
 Traveled alone to Europe
 Madrid in May 1882
 Continued his studies in
Medicine at the Universidad
Central de Madrid
 Degree of Licentiate in
Medicine in 1884
 Degree of Philosophy and
Letters in 1885
Jose Rizal

2. Spain as a realization
• It was a venue for realizing Rizal’s dreams.
• He finished his studies in Madrid and this to him was the
realization of the bigger part of his ambition.
• His vision broadened to the point of awakening in him an
understanding of human nature, sparking in him the
realization that his people needed him.
• It must have been this sentiment that prompted him to
pursue, during the re-organizational meeting of the Circulo-
Hispano-Filipino, to be one of its activities, the publication of
a book to which all the members would contribute papers on
the various aspects and conditions of Philippines life.
Jose Rizal

3. Spain as a realization
• The proposal for the book was unanimously
approved.
• But afterwards, difficulties and objections were
raised, and a number of gentlemen stood up and
refused to discuss the matter any further in 1884.
• Rizal decided not to press the issue any longer.
• Although the book was never written, the next
year, Pedro Paterno published his Ninay, a novel
sub-titled Costumbres filipinas (Philippines
Customs), thus partly fulfilling the original
purpose of Rizal’s plan. Jose Rizal

4. Noli Me Tangere
 The idea of writing a novel
grew on him, and later he
decided to write and worked
hard for Noli Me Tangere
 He never told anyone about it
until it was finished, though
some of his companions knew
what he was doing
 He wrote half of the novel in
Madrid, a quarter of it in
Paris and the rest in Germany
Jose Rizal

5. Education in Europe
 University of Paris (France)
 University of Heidelberg
(Germany)
 Earned a second doctorate
 Inducted as a member of the
Berlin Ethnological Society
and the Berlin
Anthropological Society
under the patronage of the
famous pathologist Rudolf
Virchow
Jose Rizal

6. University of Heidelberg
 25-year-old Rizal completed
in 1887 his eye
specialization under the
renowned Prof. Otto Becker
in Heidelberg
 Left Heidelberg a poem, “A
las flores del Heidelberg”;
both an evocation and a
prayer for the welfare of his
native land and the
unification of common
values between East and
West

7. A las flores del Heidelberg
Go to my country, go foreign flowers,
Planted by the traveler on his way,
And there beneath that sky of blue
That over my beloved towers,
Speak for this traveler to say
What faith in his homeland he
breathes to you.
Go and say.... Say that when the dawn
First brew your calyx open there
Beside the River Necker chill,
You saw him standing by you, very
still,
Reflecting on the primrose flush you
wear.
Say that when the morning light
Her toll of perfume from you wrung,
While playfully she whispered, "How I
love you!“
He too murmured here above you
Tender love songs in his native
tongue.
That when the rising sun the height
Of Koenigsthul in early morn first spies,
And with its tepid light
Is pouring life in valley, wood, and
grove,
He greets the sun as it begins to rise,
Which in his native land is blazing
straight above.
And tell them of that day he staid
And plucked you from the border of the
path,
Amid the ruins of the feudal castle,
By the River Neckar, and in the sylvan
shade.
Tell them what he told you
As tenderly he took
Your pliant leaves and pressed them in
a book,
Where now its well-worn pages close
enfold you.
Carry, carry, flowers of Rhine,
Love to every love of mine,
Peace to my country and her fertile loam,
Virtue to her women, courage to her men,
Salute those darling ones again,
Who formed the sacred circle of our home.
And when you reach that shore,
Each kiss I press upon you now,
Deposit on the pinions of the wind,
And those I love and honor and adore
Will feel my kisses carried to their brow.
Ah, flowers, you may fare through,
Conserving still, perhaps, your native hue;
Yet, far from Fatherland, heroic loam
To which you owe your life,
The perfume will be gone from you;
For aroma is your soul; it cannot roam
Beyond the skies which saw it born, nor
e'er forget.
Jose Rizal

8. Rizal’s Life in Europe
• Jose Rizal lived in Europe for 10 years.
• He could converse in more than 10 different tongues.
• Excelled at martial arts, fencing, sculpture, painting,
teaching, anthropology, and journalism, among other
things.
• During his European sojourn, he also began to write
novels. Rizal finished his first book, Noli Me Tangere,
while living in Wilhemsfeld with the Reverend Karl
Ullmer.
Jose Rizal