Yet another awesome week has passed here and I cannot
believe how fast time is flying. I was expecting this week to be a chance to
relax and take it easy since we were back in Bonn, but I was wrong! I don’t mind
though. I absolutely love everything that we have been doing and am very
thankful for the things I got to experience this week.
First of all, I really enjoyed the History of Medicine
lectures on the T4 Program and the Nuremburg Doctors Trial because those were
both things I have heard of, but have never learned about in much detail. I
find it all interesting, terrible, but very interesting. I guess it is just
hard for me to imagine that happening today but I do realize that it can, and
it has. I think it is important for people across the world to learn about the
past, whether it’s pretty or not.
The Thursday cruise on the Rhine was awesome! Being able to
see the castles and little towns along the Rhine was really neat. I could not
get over the fact that the castles we saw looked just like the images in my
head that I gathered from books and movies. Luckily, the weather was in our
favor that day and made everything that much better. Our castle tour was pretty
incredible as well. I learned quite a bit about what life was like living in a
castle like that. It was different than I expected and I wish we had more time
to explore there.
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| Top of Rheinfels Castle! |
Probably my favorite part of the whole week was the time
spent at the Unikliniks. Watching a cancerous tumor being removed from a kidney
was an AWESOME experience. I’d say this was one of the most educational
experiences I have had since coming to Texas A&M (besides Dr. Wasser’s
physiology class of course…) and really got me thinking about exactly what I
want to do with my life. I had never considered becoming an anesthesiologist
before and honestly thought the job was much different than it actually was. I
found the position of the anesthesiologist to be incredibly interesting. The
use of problem solving skills, mathematics, equation balancing, and attention
to detail are things that I have learned to do and come to love through my
engineering courses. This may seem a bit odd, but I liked the fact that the
anesthesiologist has to constantly think ahead and be ready for any situation.
He or she must have a superb knowledge of anatomy and physiology to be able to
anticipate cuts or stresses that may cause more pain than others based on the
location of the nerves. I always thought I would do something with radiation or
oncology but now I think I may need to consider other things as well. Of
course, I found the surgery itself to be remarkable as well. Both the
anesthesiologist and surgeon were very informative and were able to talk me
through parts of the surgery to explain them. Since I just studied the urinary
system last semester, I thought it was super cool to be able to apply what I
learned to an actual patient. Seeing pictures in a textbook or even wax models
cannot replace the experience of seeing a functioning kidney inside a live
human. Nothing can replace the experience of watching a surgery and that is why
I am so thankful I got encounter that. I now realize how important and life-changing
experiences like this can be and I now think I will accept a job/shadowing
offer that I was previously unsure about for the upcoming fall semester.
Of course I can’t forget about the Cologne zoo! I am truly
fascinated by animals and have become very passionate about them in the past
few years so of course I loved the zoo. Feeding the elephants was remarkable
encounter that I know I will probably never have the chance to experience again.
I am glad we got to do that – it was unforgettable!
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| Feeding the Elephants! |
I am currently trying to make every minute count. I realize my
time here is dwindling to a close and I must admit that it is a bit
bittersweet but I know I will miss Germany and all the people who have made my time here so special.
See yall in Berlin,
Emily Thompson
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