First Days in Germany

So I made it safely here, thank goodness. I thoroughly enjoy traveling, but I can never help but to get a little nervous. Jet lag is now a thing of the past so I am thankful for that as well.

First of all, I love Bonn. I feel like Bonn is the perfect size town to get around in while experiencing a little German lifestyle. I hate that we can't stay here longer, but I am excited to see other places in Germany. We started off day one, Wednesday, nice and early, by heading out to the university clinics. I was fortunate to see a laparoscopic procedure - a rectal tumor removal. Having see these kinds of procedures working as a surgery tech in our large animal clinic, I was amazed by how similar everything was - from surgery prep to cautery to instruments. Of course, I'm aware that veterinary medicine looks to human medicine as a basis for developing procedures, but I have had little experience in human medicine, and I feel that the similarities between the two really speak for how far veterinary medicine has come.

Later in the day, we had a brief walking tour of the city and were able to learn bit more about its background and history. My favorite part, of course was the chapel. I love the chapels, and churches and cathedrals of other parts of the world. I always find the architecture amazing especially when you take into consideration the sometimes limited materials people had to work with at the time. Always impressive.

Thursday we visited an awesome anaesthesia museum, created by Dr. Stoeckel who gave us a tour. Anaesthesia is an interesting subject in and of itself, but the fact that he was able to research and compile all of his information and pieces is remarkable. I liked the fact that his exhibit was organized by country to show the differences between equipment developed in the different areas during the beginning of anaesthesia.

We wrapped up the day with the House of German History Museum. This was by far one of the coolest museums I have been in. You move with the layout and the use of the wall dividing items of East and West Germany aid in partially understanding a piece of history the is completely unthinkable for me. Even more difficult for me to understand is how hard Germans have had to work and are still working to come to terms with this piece of their country's past.

I am so excited for what's still to come! Be back soon!