Week 2

Now in our second week, I was adjusting to Germany more and more. I felt more comfortable walking around without understanding the language. Bonn is pretty safe to begin with, but not knowing the language is still pretty weird. We had a 9:30 class followed by a German language class. We covered basic German such as how to order a meal. I realized I really stink at learning foreign languages. German is no different. I just can’t seem to remember the words. Luckily I live in the USA where I only need to understand English. There are no countries that are close to the USA that I would go to. Canada is English, and I am not about to go to Mexico. After the German workshop, we headed over to the Museum of Anesthesiology. The Horst-Stockel Museum of the History of Anaethesis had over 150 years of medical history. It seemed to have every anesthesia machine ever made. The tour guide and owner of the museum was a super smart old guy. He had so many PhD’s that they stopped putting them after his name. He was very old, probably around 85 or so. His English was okay but the fact that he was 85 probably was the reason why I couldn’t understand him very well. After the museum, I went home and had dinner with my host family.

The next morning, we had to get up pretty early to get on a train to Cologne. We went on a guided city tour of Cologne. We walked around the church and near the roman ruins. There was bridge full of locks that were left by couples after their marriage. The tradition goes that they put a lock on the fence and toss the key into the water to symbolize a marriage forever. We had lunch at a business casual restaurant. After lunch, we went to the Elde Haus. This museum was where Gestapo police had their headquarters in Koln. The Gestapo police took political prisoners here and basically put them in jail. The house had several rooms. In the basement, there were prisoner cells and torture rooms. In the torture rooms, inscriptions were made on the wall by the prisoners. One person actually escaped because one of the Gestapo slipped up in his job by not guarding one of the entrances. The Gestapo put fear in everyone around the city especially the Jews. People were more than willing to rat people out and turn them in. Their job was easier than one might think. Just by hearing rumors, the police could find opposing party members and non-Aryan Germans. There was room only for 15 prisoners, but sometimes they would put 60 people in the cells. The spot where they hung people was outside the house. Many times, the prisoners never knew why they were inside the prisoners. Even though the prisoners went through trials, they were mostly kangaroo trials. The frustration of the prisoners was evident when they would write on the walls.

After the Elde Haus, we went on back to Bonn because our rooftop tour of the Cologne Cathedral had been cancelled. We went back to Billa Bonn bar with Nils. He actually bought us a few drinks and introduced us to a Spanish Cup. One would take the glass and lift is up until one’s arm was completely straight and had beer flowing into one’s mouth. Sometimes it spilled on you, but I was able to successfully do it. I went home after this.

The next morning, we went to the Universities Clinics in Bonn. This was a hospital where we had an opportunity to observe several surgeries. The first surgery was a on a male who had fallen off his motorcycle and broke several bones in his body. His clavicle was being operated on this day. It took them 30 minutes to prepare for surgery. They had to make sure all the tools were in place and the X-Ray was ready. The doctor didn’t even come in until about five minutes before the surgery. He explained to Andrew, Elizabeth, Katilyn and me about the details of the surgery. The clavicle was separated and they were going to put a metal plate in to attach the clavicle back together. The metal piece was about three inches long with holes in it to put screws in. He asked me what some of the bones were called, but I didn’t know them. I have not taken anatomy yet. I felt kind of embarrassed, but realized that is part of the learning process. He first took an X-Ray (I was wearing a lead coat just like the nurses and the doctors where). I could definitely see the break in the X-Ray. Next, he used a scalpel to cut open his skin. It was actually fairly easy to open his skin. He then had to open up the skin even more to see the bone. I was able to move around the room so I could see it from a better perspective. Next, he tried to fit the metal piece into place. He was actually kind of rough. Surgery as it turns out actually isn’t as gentle as one might think. The doctor also had a sense of humor while performing the operation. It is a serious task, but I realize you cannot have personal feelings to the patient. After he fit in the metal piece, he took it out. This is where is got a little bit lost. He drilled a few screws into his bone and then he put a new metal piece in. I wasn’t sure if he made a mistake, but he seemed to have it right by the end. In the X-Ray, the metal plate was now there along with all the screws. The surgery took only about thirty minutes with the doctor. He actually left and his assistant did the stitching.

Next, I went to a hip replacement surgery. There were a few of my classmates in their already. The doctor actually asked me to lift up the patient’s leg so they could sterilize her hip. Unfortunately, they found a stronger nurse to pick her leg up. I believe there were two surgeons in the room, and each had a funny sense of humor. The doctor cut into the patient’s leg quite easily. He had to make a large cut since she was fat. In the X-Ray, I could see her deteriorated hip replacement. The titanium had broken off and was loose. When they cut into her leg, they nearly had to dig. They used hammers to hit these barriers to hold back her leg fat and muscles. Since she was so fat, I could see the white tissue all in her leg. The doctor actually joked with us about what we were seeing. Those were German Berliners (jelly donuts) in her leg. Once the doctors finally reached her hip replacement, they had to screw it out and take it apart. Part of the bone was rotted out. Fortunately, the doctor let us look over the patient and look into her leg. He was about to put the hip replacement in, but we had to go. My experience in the surgery room will definitely help me solidify my desire to become a doctor. Yes, the surgeries were quite gruesome, but I can handle it. I realize that a surgeon can’t treat his patient like a family member or loved one, but almost like a subject. This is how it is possible to do so many surgeries per week with such accuracy. I found this experience to be very interesting. After the surgeries, I undressed out of my scrubs and had free time in the afternoon. I had lunch at the burger place which was excellent. It had grilled onions, cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. Even though it was incredibly greasy, it was excellent. After eating, we had a free afternoon to prepare for the World Cup game in the evening.

The United States versus France was a true trill. To watch the USA play in Germany in the semifinals is truly a unique experience. Before the game however, we had plans to make it even more awesome for us. The bus was leaving at six in the evening, so we got to AIB an hour before we had to go. A few of us had talked about painting ourselves before the game, but I was still kind of skeptical. When Andrew and I finally found the old AIB, I went into the men’s restroom and found Aubrey, Sam, Bailey, and Kristen all painted up. They had stars and stripes all over their body with sports bras on. Obviously they had spent a long time painting themselves. I waited until Drew came, and we decided to paint ourselves. Josh and Matt also decided to paint themselves as well. I was the ‘A’, Drew the ‘U’, Matt the ‘S’ and Josh the ‘!’. I painted one arm white and the other red. Now I was ready to go. We all went outside in the cold. My goose bumps were up but I was excited. We all walked together like proud Americans with every single person on the street staring at us. I was an American without a shirt in the cold and rain with my chest painted. It was pretty hilarious. The Germans along the side of the road gave us some looks, but with laughs as well. The bus ride was two hours, but luckily it was only AIB’s programs on the bus. Everyone was going to the game rooting for the United States. We got there about 15 minutes before the game started. We hopped on out, and we actually ran to the front of the stadium. There were quite a lot of people staring at us. With our tickets in hand, we went into the stadium. Some French guys saw the girls and asked them to take a picture with them. Drew, Josh, Matt, and I hopped in the picture. After this we went up to find our seats. But along the way, it seemed like everyone wanted our picture. We stood in the aisle and got a picture taken probably a thousand times. I felt like a celebrity then. People would just walk by us and ask to take our pictures. Even though we didn’t get on ESPN, our host family said we appeared on German TV about four times. I guess we were a sight to see. At the beginning of the game, we stood up and were whooping and hollering. After a minutes however, it became apparent this wasn’t a game at Kyle Field, so we had to sit down. The USA scored in the first half and we went ecstatic. High fiving and screaming was within our group. Since we had two rows of only AIB students, we had a nice size group. One thing I noticed was the lack of people in the stadium. It was half full. The upper deck was nearly empty. In fact two or three sections didn’t have anyone sitting in them. I was pretty surprised, but I also realized it was a smaller city and Germany was not playing. We sat in one of the corners about thirty rows up from the field. When the USA scored, it appeared like a pro US crowd. When France scored in the half to tie it up, the French did get loud as well. But I believe most people were for the USA. Now for commenting on the stadium. When we drove up, It had the classic soccer stadium feel, but was not anything close to an NFL stadium. I probably held around 40,000 people, but only 25,000 were there. The stadium had a limited number of press boxes and only two small jumbo screens. The concessions only offered limited choices and definitely no gourmet foods. I had a beer and it was four Euro. The merchandise selection was not as good as I had liked. They only had a trailer with T-Shirts and jerseys in it. There were not many choices for males. In the United States, it is truly incredible the amount of luxury stadiums there are. Nearly every major professional sport stadium in the USA was nicer than it. During halftime, we took more pictures with people. The USA scored two more times in the second half and went on to win three to one. Each time they scored, we jumped up and down with excitement. After the game with our blood flowing, we decided to run around the stadium chanting USA. Yes we probably looked like obnoxious Americans, but we had to get warm one way or another. It was still raining a little bit, but we really didn’t care too much as we ran outside. Everybody was looking at us still but it was good to rub it into the Frenchies. We rode back pretty excited, and we decided to go to Painless. I covered up my paint, but some of the girls hadn’t washed their faces yet. So they were in the bar with stars and stripes on them. I stayed for a little bit but then I went on home.

The next morning we had class on the Nurnberger Trials for doctors. The Der Nurnberger Arzteprozess was held in the Reichsparteitag on November 9, 1935. The Nazi doctors had 23 defendants including Karl Brandt who was a personal physician to Hitler. The doctors used research to benefit military. Sometimes it was hard to convict doctors because they didn’t do anything illegal. Dr. Andrew Conway Ivy of the American Medical Association helped convict the doctors. The defense argument of the defendants included

1. Extreme circumstances require extreme action

2. Universally accepted practice

3. Prisoners already were condemned to death

4. Experimental subjects were not selected by doctors

5. All members of society must contribute to war effort

6. German physicians following German Law

7. No universal standards of research ethics

My impression on the lecture has a powerful one. This is the reason why every doctor has to swear by the code of ethics. If doctors don’t do this, there is a possibility that they may view people as less than human beings. Purposefully exposing someone to disease or extremes in order to do research is not right. I understand that there has to be human experimentation, but it needs to be done in a humane way that has consent. Even though some people don’t want to hear this, animals must be performed on first. Yes, one might expose the animal to extremes, but humans are above animals. The defense arguments listed almost seem reasonable, but they are wrong. One’s conscious has to be stronger. It is just sick to think someone could have an idea to do this.

After lunch, we went to the botanical gardens to see a homeopathic doctor explain homeopathy. He basically uses certain plants and extracts the good energies from them and takes away the poisonous effects away. This might sound a little voodoo, but he said it works. He first takes a plant and extracts the juice. He then combines the solution with alcohol. Next, he dilutes the solution thirty times. Basically, there is no plant left except for its energy. Yes, I think it sounds weird, but it has worked some of the time. However, I did think this doctor was so calm and soft spoken that it made me believe he might do other “mind freeing” drugs. Most people in my group thought he was a little bit weird.

The next day we had an excursion to the European Space Agency. This was interesting, but wasn’t as good as NASA. There was one guy in our tour that was very annoying. He kept saying inappropriate comments especially one about Muslims. Particularly is Germany, racism is not tolerated. This man should have curbed his comments. After the DLR, we went to a palace in Bruel named Schloss.

July 15 at Schloss Castle

Walking up to the castle was simply amazing. The palace of Augustus and Falkenlust was simply perfect. With elaborate designs and greenery, this was fit for a king. We first had to walk inside the gift shop to meet up with our tour guide. Walking into the first room was simply amazing. The wallpaper was a delicate red design. The painting of each of the family members that lived in the house spanned nearly the entire wall. Entering the next room was incredible as well. After walking through two rooms we entered the drive way. This driveway was not an ordinary drive way however. It was used as a place where visitors would drop off their wagon and enter the house. In order to impress the guests, sculptures were made in the most elaborate fashion. When I walked up the stairs, our tour guide told us to look up. This was the moment I knew this house was over the top. A picture on top of the ceiling had been painted to make it look like a dome. This painting had gods and goddesses on it. There were sculptures along the stairs as well. After walking up the stairs, we entered a large living room. This is where the guests would be welcomed by the servants. The next room was the dining room. In addition, there was a balcony along the top of the room so peasants could sit and watch the royals and his guests eat. The regular people were always delighted and honored to watch the king eat. It seems people have always wanted to know what the celebrities are up to. The next room we entered was where the king spent most of his time. If guests were allowed to enter this room, he was a very important person. We entered several more rooms and I was amazed by each and every one of them. The servants even had a nice room with paintings. There weren’t sculptures, but there was a personal bathroom for them. They also had secret passage ways throughout the house so they wouldn’t be seen by guests. They had all the amenities to live so they wouldn’t need to use the king’s kitchen or restroom. The palace had nearly 128 rooms that were all elaborate. This house was incredible which took forty years to build mainly because of changing architects. Immediately after the tour ended however, we had to run out to the train station in order to catch the train to Berlin. It was pretty fun running out of a palace.