Last week in Bonn :'(

The Monday we got back from Amsteram, we started off the week with a day at the Cologne zoo! The tour started off a little slow but it ended up being one of the best trips I’ve had to the zoo. Our guides let us do everything behind the scenes. We went and fed bananas to the giraffes back behind the exhibit. Then, we headed off to the feed supply center where all of the food is stored and then distributed to all of the animals at the zoo. Finally, and probably the best part was when we were given the tour through the elephant maintenance area. They had different chambers where the elephants are kept while they go through training and maintenance that looked like they were from Jurassic Park. We then scurried over to the monkey area where our guide had fed Bonnie and Clyde from the bottle and they both came up to us and recognized his voice. Clyde was acting defensive and even ran full speed and nailed the glass! In the afternoon, we went to a burrito place that was owned by a Texan and it was spectacular.

Tuesday was a very early day, but it was totally worth it. We shadowed surgeries at the Bonn University Clinic from about 730 until about 1300. I was split off to work with a resident anesthesiologist that was putting in a catheter into a man’s left arm to prepare him for a shunt in his left forearm. The patient is too unhealthy to be put under, so a local anesthetic was the only option at the time. This was a cool procedure because the surgeon had to look for the main vein and artery in the forearm and then surgically connect the vein to the artery to complete the shunt. Next, I went to see an inverse shoulder replacement for an elderly patient who had had a dislocated shoulder for over three months. This was an interesting operation firstly because it was an inverse replacement meaning they put the socket for the joint on the tip of the humerus and put the ball for the socket in the shoulder bone area. This was a rather long procedure because she also had some metal in her arm from a previous surgery that they had to get out as well. It was a great experience overall, and I realized that all doctors all across the world are very similar in how they conduct themselves in the OR. We then had a couple of classes in the afternoon! Then, my host sister planned a concert with her band Steal a Taxi at a local club in Bonn and it was amazing.

Wednesday was our Rhine Cruise day where we went on the Rhine and saw many different castles and also many vineyards. Before the cruise we went and visited the Hildegard von Bingen museum and saw a garden that would have had all of the plants and herbs she would have used to give her patients to treat their illnesses. The cruise was interesting and showed us parts of the Rhineland that we had not seen before. We got off of the cruise and hiked up a hill to get to the Rheinfels castle. This was probably one of our best tours because of some of the places in the castle we went to. We were allowed to go into a tunnel under the castle that was only 1 meter high and I only hit my head twice!

Thursday was the day we could leave for our long weekend. We had a couple of classes in the morning and then went to our predepature meeting. After this, I went back home and said good bye to my host family and went to the train station to leave for Rome!