Berlin, Berlin, Berlin

The very last week of the trip was spent in Berlin. It went by so fast. We returned to Bonn Sunday night so we could pack up the last of our things and say good bye to our host mom. Our train left for Berlin Monday morning at 7:22. It was really sad saying good bye to our host mom, she was really wonderful. The train to Berlin was nice and we got there with no problems. It was not very fun to lug our bags all over the city in order to get to our hotel, since when we got to our tram stop we realized our tram wasn't running so we would have to take the bus which meant more walking. We made it to the hotel fine though and it was very nice. Once we put all our stuff down we ran down the street to a cute little italian place to get lunch before our bike tour. Our tour guide was really awesome and we got to see all the big sites of Berlin. You can definitly see the scars from world war 2 and the division of Germany. Some of the buildings still have visible bullet holes and you can see where the wall was. I was surprised there was so much construction. It really didn't seem like the city was very cohesive because all the construction really interrupted everything. The highlight of the bike tour for me was the Brandenburg gate. I thought it was really cool. It was very majestic and seemed slightly out of place but I liked it. I also thought it was really interesting how they just kind of covered up the spot where Hitler died. It's now a parking lot for an apartment complex and there is just a sign with a map of what the bunker's floor plan was. I guess it was to be expected that they didn't give anything special to the site, but I thought it might have deserved a little more recognition. I can understand why the German's chose to do it the way that they did though. After the bike tour we went and had some currywurst and pommes frites for dinner. It was pretty good. On Tuesday we got to visit the Reichstag building which I thought was amazing. It is such a pretty building and it was very damaged in the war but they took the time to rebuild it and modernize it. My favorite part was that they preserved the signatures from the soviet soldiers that took it over. I thought it was a nice artistic touch that helped keep the history of the building alive. The open air concept of the dome was also really innovative, I though it was a neat touch. In the afternoon we visited Sachsenhausen. Sachsenhausen is a work camp. It was a really moving experience to be in one of the camps where so many people died. I know it was not an extermination camp, but to hear about the torturous things they inflicted on people was terrible. The thing that really got me the most was the cold and calculated killing of the tens of thousands soviet prisoners of war. It was chilling to think how in human these people could have been in order to come up with such calculated ways to kill so many people. It's horrible. I just cannot imagine how anything could be a logical or rational excuse for treating people so terribly. Another thing that I found shocking was that the red cross came and inspected the work camps. How could they sit by and cover that up? I don't understand how they could turn a blind eye to that or miss what was really going on. I don't know, it's just so tragic. It was definitely a somber tour. Wednesday we got to visit the Charite learning center and had a medical student explain their medical education system to us. I find it really interesting that they don't have to have any type of science background in order to go to medical school. I mean for medical school here, you have to take certain science courses and for PA schools there's a lot more courses that you're required to take. I think it's interesting that their medical starts at the very bottom with the basic sciences and works up. I mean I think both systems have their merits but they are very different. We also got to do a geriatric simulation, which I thought was really fun. We got to put on all these weights and such to simulate the effects of aging. It was a really interesting feeling and I think it really helps give the students empathy towards their geriatric patients. The worst part for me was the vision impairments. Some of them were really bad. It was not fun to try and function with such low levels of visual acuity. Then we got to put on gloves that were attached to electrodes that would make your hands tremble, and then we tried to write our names. That was interesting. It felt really tingly. I was not a huge fan. There was also some breast lump models, which were really neat. It was fun to test my breast examination skills. I found all the lumps in each breast, so I was proud of myself. It was amusing to see the guys faces when they saw the models. We also got to listen to a model of different heart sounds. The first one we listened to was a normal heart and then we listened to aortic stenosis. I thought it was a really neat model. In the afternoon we visited the Charite museum. I really liked it and our guide was really awesome. The exhibits were really cool and I didn't faint in the fainting wing. I can understand why it was called that, but I mean that stuff doesn't really make me queasy. After the museum tour we got to have a lecture on the Nazi doctors' trial, which I found fascinating, and Rudolph Virchow. The room that we were in was a room where Virchow actually gave lectures, so that was a really powerful experience. You're sitting in a room where the guy you are learning about taught. It's such a once in a lifetime experience. I really enjoyed it. Thursday was the trip to Dresden. I thought Dresden was one of the coolest towns we got to visit on the trip. The history of what happened there is very sad, but it is really inspiring to see how they've rallied together to rebuild. The military history museum was really cool. I loved the set up and the themes of the exhibits. Our guide really helped tie everything in. I really wish we could have had more time to wander through the exhibits and look at everything. I feel like we missed so much of the museum. Next was the hygienic museum, which I feel is poorly named. It was more of the human person museum than hygiene. I wish they had more of their writing in english because I really would have liked to be able to read more of the information in each room. It was a really cool museum that was very interactive and contained a lot of information. It was definitely more graphic than any of the museums that I've been to in the US. I thought that was interesting because it was geared towards all ages. The day ended with a city tour. Our guide was phenomenal. She was so knowledgable and fun. The city is gorgeous and it's amazing to see how it's been rebuilt since the pure destruction of world war 2 and the communist rule. It will be one of the cities that I return to in Germany. I really loved it. Our last day of the trip was Friday and we finished with the Max Delbrueck Center of Molecular Medicine. We got to hear about all their research and see some very high tech machines. It was really interesting. Afterwards we got to visit the Otto Bock center. I was blown away by the advancement of prosthetics. It's just amazing the things that they are doing now. I was so inspired. I gave me so much hope. I think the work they are doing is awesome. I really enjoyed seeing all the latest and greatest prosthetics. It was really fun. To finish the day we did some last minute souvenir shopping. I bought a piece of the Berlin wall. As our final farewell we all went out to dinner at this wonderful Moroccan restaurant called Kasbah. The food was delicious and the restaurant was beautiful. I really enjoyed dinner. Some of us went out after to celebrate Mario's 21st birthday, and that wrapped up our life changing stay in Germany. I am incredibly thankful for the wonderful experience, and it truly was life changing.