First we had class with Dr. Wasser about the medical practices of the stone-age European man. We learned about things such as the Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens cohabiting the same area at the same time, Mesolithic trepanations, early dentistry, the hierarchy of surgeons versus "book" doctors, and early medical pioneers. One interesting fact - before anesthesia was utilized, the best surgeon was the fastest surgeon, and the record for the fastest above-the-knee leg amputation was 1 minute and 40 seconds!
After that, some of us had a quick sandwich from a bakery then headed back to the AIB to book trains for this weekend (to avoid another mishap like the one in Paris).
Next we had a cultural class with Nils in which we discussed the German political system versus the United States' system. It was interesting to compare and contrast the two and learn new things about the ways different governments are set up.
After that we took a group trip to the Haribo Outlet Store. It was fun! Basically it was a grocery store sized shopping center full of everything Haribo! All kinds of candy included.
After this we returned to school to watch the movie "Goodbye Lenin" in German with English subtitles. They also provided cokes and chips! The movie was good - funny, interesting, kind of long; but I definitely learned a lot about the attitudes between east and west Germany before and after the wall fell.
Finally we were free, and Sam and I had a little shopping trip at H&M followed by a quick dinner at a bakery. Overall it was a very laid back day that was much needed.
Tuesday we took a day trip to the small town of Bacharach in the Middle Rhine Valley! It is located on the Rhine river and has absolutely breath-taking views. We started off with a stroll through the city, enjoying the buildings and views from a lookout tower. We saw the rows and rows of grape vines growing on the sides of the valley in the vineyards used to make the famous wine from that area. It was a nice change of pace to get away from the big cities for just a day.
Next we did a cruise down the Rhine for about two hours. Everything was perfect - the weather, the scenery, and the company. It was very relaxing to just sit and enjoy the green hillsides while basking under the warm sun and sipping on a wine schorle. One of the things we saw was the famous Loreley Rock - a 194 meter rock that is famous for its legend saying that a woman's voice could be heard singing from the top, forcing sailors to listen and causing ships to collide.
After the cruise, we all had lunch together at a cute little restaurant - schnitzel and salad! Delicious.
Afterwards we walked around the town a little more, and then had ice cream. I had my favorite - stracciatella! It's basically white chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and it is the best thing I've ever had.
Next we had a very, very long and steep hike up to the Marksburg castle. There we had a tour and got to hear about the knights tales of war and torture.
The last (and best) thing of the day was an enology class. We did a tour of the Mayschosser Weinkeller (winery) and had a wine-tasting! It was my first time doing something like this and I loved it. The tour was very interesting - we got to hear about how the wine was made and the history of this particular winery. Next we were seated at a table and served five different wines (2 white, 3 red) along with a dinner of bread, meats, and cheeses. We were even taught a little about wine tasting and what makes a good wine - clarity, smell, and taste. I thought it was funny that we were supposed to slurp the wine when we drank it to allow it to react with the oxygen and bring out its real taste. My favorite was a white wine, it was very sweet!
Overall, this was probably one of my favorite days so far.
Wednesday we had a meeting in the morning about our next two weeks in Vienna and Berlin. Then we had free time, with which I used to buy a sandwich for lunch at a bakery.
Next we took the subway to the Haus der Geschichte (House of history) - the Museum of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to the present. It was really interesting though. The museum was absolutely huge and there were way too many things to look at. We covered it chronologically with a guide, then again with our professor. I did learn a lot though. It was interesting to hear about Germany and in particular Berlin after the war ended and how they dealt with splitting the city, the wall, and the falling of the wall.
After that, the program was over for the day and I headed home to do some laundry before we had to leave our host families Friday morning.
Our host dad cooked us a really tasty dinner of steak and some kind of potato dumplings with a mushroom sauce.
After that, some of us went out to a Beir Garten on the Rhine to toast goodbye to Bonn.
Thursday we started off the day rather somber with a class over the Nurnberger Doctor's Trial. The Doctors' Trial (officially United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.) was the first of 12 trials for war crimes that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II. These trials were held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice. The trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials", formally the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT). Twenty of the 23 defendants were medical doctors (Brack, Rudolf Brandt, and Sievers being Nazi officials) and were accused of having been involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder of people under the Euthanasia Program. Josef Mengele, one of the leading Nazi doctors, had evaded capture. The trials set a precedent very important to medical history - the legal limits for human experimentation. In fact, one of the (legitimate) defenses was that there was no set universal standards of research ethics. This was struck down and afterwards the Nuremberg Code was created - stating ten points defining legitimate medical research, including the definition of "informed consent". Although it actually has no legal force, laws were written using it as a basis. This is obviously very relevant to medicine today, with all the human clinical trials going on now and controversies about what is going too far. This lecture given by my professor gave me a lot to chew on regarding research, illnesses that need cures, and my future as a physician.
Next we took a train to Köln and finally had our tour of the rooftop of the Cathedral! It was so cool. First we got to go up an elevator to the bell towers and walk outside to see the city. It was perfect because it was raining and thundering, which added to the gothic feel of the building. After that we walked inside but up high by the stained class behind the pillars. It was an amazing view and very hunchback of Notre Dam - like. To go down, we had to traverse some very, very steep spiral stairs. It was a little scary!
After that we went to the Cologne Zoo. I guess this was more for the pre-vet students, but it was fun! They had a lot of animals and it was larger and set up better than the Houston Zoo, I thought. I took a lot of pictures but of course the penguins were the best ones. We also went to the Body Worlds for animals, which was a special exhibit inside the zoo. Basically it preserves animals using plastination to reveal inner anatomical structures. It was really cool to see things like bone, muscle, blood vessels, hearts, and brains in animals so different as giraffes, elephants, and gorillas.
After our train back to Bonn, James to Carrie and I and the rest of the family (including Vegas the dog) out to a pizza place - Pizza Mann - near their house. It was a great last dinner with them. After that I spent the rest of the night packing because I had an early train Friday morning!
I really enjoyed living in Bonn for three weeks and it definitely went by entirely too fast. I loved the feel of the small town with a few big city perks. The people there were very nice. It was also great to finally know my way around somewhere and feel comfortable enough to run errands and such by myself. I will miss it and I definitely want to return someday.
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