Until Next Time

After Berlin, I met up with a friend, and we stayed another week in Europe. Back to Amsterdam we went, then we spent a few days in London. That’s part of the reason why I am just writing this blog. Berlin trumped all the other cities in terms of history. Especially modern history. One can learn so much about WWII and the Cold War just by walking through the city. There are monuments everywhere. The last night we spent together in Berlin was bitter sweet. It was bitter because we had to say goodbye, and it was sweet because we danced with a belly dancer.

              Ryan, our tour guide for the first few days, was in my top 3 tour guides of the trip. He was always engaging, and he knows how to ride a bike in Berlin. His accent always forced me to listen harder, so in a way it kept me more focused. The bike tour was a bit more stressful than riding bikes in Norderney. Surprising, isn’t it? Our shepherd Ryan kept us all in check throughout the tour, though. Of all the stops we made during the bike tour, the most interesting was the Holocaust Monument. I did not even know it existed before the trip, and I am surprised that I didn’t. It was truly amazing. A grid-like maze constructed of prisms of varying heights on varying elevations is how I would describe it. But everything was gray, and it gave a feeling of severe bleakness. The artist achieved what he tried to portray in the monument because I felt it. Almost ineffable was the feeling, but I felt it.              

              The last night in Berlin was the most fun I have had on the entire trip. I did not know I was going to have so much fun because the belly dancers were a surprise. The Lebanese restaurant Dr. Wasser decided to take us to was great. The buffet style increased the efficiency immensely because no one waiter had to walk around a table of 17 people and individually take orders. The food and the wine were essentially bottomless which definitely helped everybody to dance with the belly dancer. With a couple of glasses of wine, the chances I am going to attempt to belly dance in a room full of people increases from 0% to around 20%. And those are generous odds. Anyways, I ended up dancing, and so did everyone else from what I could tell. Including Dr. Wasser. I do not want to write too much about the entire experience because I want to save a little bit of it just for me. I was sorry to see all of my classmates go our different ways, but I know I will see them again in this life or the next. But I will probably see them in this life because we have a scheduled get-together on Facebook.

              That’s all for my experiences in Europe. I will miss the continent, but I will miss the people I shared it with more. 

Better late than never. The Final Blog.

OSo since I have gotten back I have moved into my new place in college station, gotten asked to be a bridesmaid, set up internet and cable, got new glasses (finally) and also slept more than I ever have before. It has been eventful. However, I did write something on our way to Bonn and it went like this. . .

"It just hit me that we are going home soon, right now, 11:25 am on July 31st, while reading The Fault in Our Stars. Lately I had been feeling excited to go home but suddenly i'm overwhelmed with sadness at the thought that it might be a very long time until I see Germany again. At these moments, however, I like to recall how much I have seen and how lucky I am to be seeing it. But i'm still sitting here thinking that this is the last train that we will ride to the last destination. This depressive thought process isn't helped by reading The Fault in Our Stars"

Btw I finished that book on the plane ride home, and I hate everyone who recommended it to me. It was gloriously sad and i'm pretty sure the guy who sat next to me on the way home thought I was insane, because I cried like a baby. 

Anyway!, after the nostalgic train ride to Berlin we checked into our hotel and went on a bike tour. Which was not a screaming horror fest that I had come to know with bike tours. It was actually really nice and calm and not frightening like biking in NYC. The bikes also had names on them and like the utter nerd that I am I got a bike named after a show called "Doctor Who". Its name was River Song. The day just got better after that. Some of my favorite sites were the gigantic Lutheran Church and also the site where the book burning took place. The entire town was blanketed in history everywhere we biked. However, when we saw the Brandenburg Gate I wrote this down for my blog. . .

"So we finally got to the gate and it was incredible. I finally got that 'oh wow' feeling, and was all like 'oh wow i'm in Germany', which I am embarrassed to say it took awhile to feel. This trip has been amazing. No picture can give it justice and words can't capture how wonderful it is. I am coming back. That is a promise"

It truly was incredible. The next day we visited the Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen (some context- it was a concentration camp near Berlin) and it was chilling. I had no words to speak while I was walking around there because it was just so horrifying. I did take photos but I only have been posting the main building, the gate and the Soviet statue because I just didn't feel comfortable sharing them. It was a very heart wrenching experience, especially when we saw the foundations of the building where they killed prisoners. However, even though it was very sad I am glad to be able to experience it. It is something that I will remember forever. 

After that we went to the East Side Gallery for some not-super-depressing entertainment. It was beautiful. I have been a fan of artistic graffiti since middle school and, while the towns we visited had nice ones, this was the cream of the crop! It was awesome seeing the different messages and styles that were all together on this wall. Even though it was super crowded, we still were able to get some awesome photos! Here are some of my favorites! 

The next day we visited the Charité learning center and museum. The learning center was awesome because the medical students get such hands on experience thanks to all the practice scenarios that they can set up. Also I found a medical tool that had one of my family's names on it. Schulte! and I don't know how to change the orientation, sorry.  

Then that afternoon we went to the museum which had one of the largest collection of anatomical specimens and I loved our tour guide (I can't remember if his name was tiny tim or tom?). What made him great was that he was uninhibited in his explanation of the horrors of early medical practices. Good thing we were all pre-medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary students or we would have had some fainters. My favorite specimens were the different bodily stones that were there. All sorts! Gall bladder, kidney and bladder stones of all shapes, sizes and colors. Then came our last lecture with Dr. Wasser which was very bittersweet. It was about Rudol Virschow who had the quote "Omnis cellula e cellula" (all cells come from cells). SideNote: this quote was also in The Fault in Our Stars, just so ya know. The actual lecture took place in an old gigantic lecture hall which had been partially destroyed and is now used for different groups to use. 

Something I left out, the entire time we were in Berlin there was a festival going on near where we were and it was awesome! There were hundreds of food and beer stands and also different variety shows that were going on. Some were really, really terrible and others were actually entertaining. Anyway, we spent alot of time there and saw and drank awesome things. Two things I saw were really cool. 1) a chalk drawing of ET and 2) A mechanical dragon. 

Okay, back to business, the day after the Charité we got to visit the Reichstag! The entire building was a historical landmark and it was awesome! The walls had signatures of USSR soldiers who had written down where they were from and how long they were there. The actual Bundestag met was set up much like the US Senate but it was more modern. Natural light filtered through the sky via the clear dome above the room and the multitude of mirrors that reflected the sky down onto the room. Also the eagle was incredible but I really loved that the architect put his own design of the eagle on the back of the original. And then it was there. . . Angela Merkel's office. Ever since I saw a parody of her on SNL I have been a fan of her, much like Leslie Knope. So when I saw her office I was super duper excited! 

When our tour ended we were able to look around the top of the Reichstag and WOW! what a view. It was beautiful. We then went inside the clear dome and that was incredible too! No words can describe, so here are some photos. 

Our last site was the Otto Bock institute which had some really cool prosthetics. There were a ton of interactive things to use and my favorite was the pendulums. From the ceiling there were 3 giant pendulums that each had 3 screens on them that would change color and also show hands that would push and pull the bars. You could also make it so that your hands appeared on the screens, which I did. 

Then came our final dinner together as a group. We went to an awesome Turkish restaurant and our supervisors had 2 surprises in store for us. The food was amazing and my favorites were a beef stuffed eggplant and a cheese tube (which sounds gross but was really good). Our first surprise was a pianist who played some incredible music while we ate. Our second surprise was a bellydancer! And she was really great at getting everyone up and moving, and we saw that Dr. Wasser got moves. Our third unexpected surprise was an anise dessert drink that was terrible. But overall it was a great ending to an amazing trip. 

I will never forget this experience or the people I met. Peace out Germany, hope to see you again.    

My Last Days in Bonn

The last couple of days in Bonn were very bittersweet. The day after we got home from Amsterdam we had our History of Medicine classes, and then we went to the Cologne Zoo. The zoo was nice to visit. We were able to go behind the scenes of the elephant exhibit and see where they feed and train the animals. The Cologne Zoo also had an entire exhibit for the raccoon, which I didn't really understand but that's okay. The next day we visited the teaching hospital and were able to shadow the surgeons. This was honestly my favorite part of the trip. I watched two general surgeries, which is my personal favorite, and they let me put in an IV. This was super exciting, especially because I had never put in one before. I was so happy. After watching a couple of surgeries we visited the Museum of Anesthesia where we saw the different forms of anesthesia and how it developed throughout history. The man giving the tour had founded the museum and already had many of the artifacts before starting the museum, which was pretty cool. On Wednesday, we toured the Hildegard Museum and wandered around the garden. We then took a cruise on the Rhine River. It was soo pretty. I may have slept for a little bit though. Dr. Wasser for sure took a nap on the boat so I found it to be somewhat acceptable if I did as well. After getting off the boat we began the treacherous journey of hiking up a gigantic mountain. The journey was rough, and a few of us fell behind. At one point we were forced to make a weighing decision on whether we should take the easier, but longer and steeper, route or to take the shorter, but deadlier route. The group decided to take the shorter, but deadlier route. It was dangerous, but we eventually made it to the top of the mountain alive.  Just kidding. We actually got off the boat and had to walk up a very steep path to a castle that is on a very tall hill. At one point we did have to hike up a path where several of us opted to crawling up it so that we wouldn't slip and fall down. Once we were there though the castle was very interesting. You couldn't go in it because it was a ruin, but we did go through the caves/mines that were underground. It was very dark so we had to use candles to see, which was pretty cool. For our last day in Bonn, we had our last couple of history of medicine classes, did some last minute souvenir shopping, and then went to an art gallery. It was bittersweet. Then I had to pack all of my things for our last excursion in Berlin. I miss Bonn already.

As we go on we'll remember all the times we had together

Concentration camp-

The concentration camp was really a somber experience. Most of the buildings that were still standing were replica’s of what they used to be because the originals all got destroyed. We were shown the medical buildings at the camp and told that for a concentration camp Sachsenhausen actually had a very modern medical facility for its time. There was some experimentation done there and some people were refused treatment, but for the most part it was a good medical facility and it was the one they would show the Red Cross when they came to visit. Sachsenhausen was not known as an extermination camp but more of as a work camp. For punishment some people were forced to wear boots and walk 24 miles a day. They showed us a model of one of the houses that held the people and told us how many people were supposed to sleep in the area. It was way more people than I thought would fit in that area. It is still unimaginable to me that people could do something like this to other people.

Charlite Learning Center and Museum-

The Learning center was really cool because students, who wanted to get more hands on practice with everyday tasks they would do as doctors, created it. Our tour guide told us that they would get through their first couple of years of medical school and then would be working with doctors and would get asked to go put a catheter in patient, when they had never done it before. This facility has a lot of dummies that you can practice on hearing different heart problems or breathing problems on. After the Learning center we went to the Charite museum and we had the best tour-guide of the trip pretty much. He was so interesting as he showed us around the Museum and had really good historical stories to keep us entertained.

Reichstag-

We were late, oops. We were rushed through security and then someone had to lead us into the building. When you go in you have to go into an air lock room before you can even enter the actual building. Then we got handed to another worker who lead us to the tour group. We were about 15 minutes late to the tour and they had already seen some stuff. They showed us around the rest of the building and we got to take pictures outside of the chancellor’s office. We got to go into the parliamentary room and then up to the ceiling where the coupole is. The coupole was so awesome and the city looked so pretty from all the way up there.

Farewell Dinner-

Dr. Wasser said it was the end of the program. Jacob probably shed one single tear into his beer before he finished it and Alyssa is crying because she loves us so much. Dinner was amazing though. Everything they had out for us to eat was “lecker”. We had a couple surprises through out dinner that included some pianist, as well as dancers, and an interesting Turkish custom that many of us couldn’t finish.

The first group just left to the airport. I’m sitting in the hotel room waiting until my group’s taxi comes at 7am. It’s eerily quiet. Not just because It’s 4:30 in the morning but because I know that our trip is over. They asked us last night at dinner what our favorite part of the trip was overall, and I would have to say my favorite part was the people I met. Every single person out of this group has influenced me in some way and I know life back home will feel a little empty not being able to see them everyday. I thought I was ready to go home but as my mind races back through all the memories we’ve had together I don’t think I am. It was quite a bit of time, but it felt so short. I had adapted to the constant companionship and home just won’t feel the same. Even though this is not where we come from, we came, we conquered, and these are my people. We navigated through so many different cities and different cultures together and I’ve created bonds with some of the group that I know will last a long time. I wouldn’t change anything about the experience I have had.

Squad out.

The Last Blog

 Literally everything is legal. which is scary. The red light district was disturbing/frightening/jawdropping/weird/catastromical/ and uneraseable. I only stayed in Amsterdam for one day then went to Belgium. Which is probably a good thang. We went and saw a transparent church in Belgium. It is made of iron and it was built by Gijis Van Vaerenbergh. I attached a pic so take a peek. your eyes will thank you. After that we visited the Texas to Bastogne museum that Texas A&M built. The museum tells the story about Earl Rudder and other Aggies in the Battle of of the Bulge. It was pretty cool. They are tearing it down and moving it to College Station pretty soon so it's nice that we saw it in Belgium. and yes we had a Belgium waffle and chocolate. I had the chance to mix the two but the circumstances weren't in my favor. Oh I lost my credit card in Belgium. It was fun getting to meet up with my friend Jonathan that lives in Belgium. My taste buds got to experience the strongest Belgian beer. 12%. He was a foreign exchange student back at my hometown and so he let us stay the weekend with him and his family. 'twas fun.
Next we went back to Bonn for 4 days. We got to scrub in on some surgeries which was cool. I got to see 4 Vertebroplasty procedures. they hammer 4 rods in their back like a lumberjack and filled the fractured vertebra. This was my favorite thing of the week. The doctor I was assigned to was a young attractive woman that spoke pretty good english. This was my second favorite thing of the week. She started medical school when she was 19.
After 4 days in Bonn we hopped over to Berlin. We toured the Parliament building, had a bike tour of Berlin, which was scary, saw the Berlin Wall, The Holocaust Memorial, and visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Visiting the camp definitely gave me a different point of view on things. I attached a picture that shows how real the bromance was.

Story time
1. Our last night in Bonn the Drei Amigo (Buford, Jacob, and Collin) ate at a restaurant called Pendel. Buford ordered a beer and the waitress asked to see his ID. note: the drinking age in Germany for beer is 16. I really thought I would have been the first to get carded out of the group cause I'm the only one that doesn't have facial hair. its smooth as a baby's bottom. I shaved my face for the first time when I was 18.5 years old. Fun fact I graduated my freshman year of college I weighed 130 and nowI weigh 170. I've gained 40 pounds since my freshman year of college. I made fun of Buffered but then in Berlin when I ordered wine a lady didn't believe me that I was 18.

2.On the fairy to Norderney, Germany this cute little kid was eating a burger. He was probably about 7 or 8. He was literally like 2 bites in to the burger and this seagull just swoops down and steals it Jameis Winston style. that savage. If that seagull can't fly with a whole burger in his mouth he derives it. I felt bad for the kid because he was balling his eyes out but literally everybody on the fairy was laughing.

3. Some people know the story about my roommate but here is a quick overview. I was doing laundry, my roommate tried to open the door while my stuff was in the washer and broke the handle, blamed it on me, and my host mom got mad at me. So after that my host mom wouldn't let me do my own laundry. She wasn't home one night so i secretly did a few loads. So the day before we left for Berlin I gave her my white socks. Im pretty sure to get revenge she kidnapped a smurf and threw him in the washer too cause literally all my socks came out blue. 8 pairs of nike white socks. My heart was shattered.

4. Last story. I'm not sure what the name of the restaurant was but the guys were eating at a place in Bonn. It was pretty chilly outside so we sat inside. At the end of the meal we were waiting on the rechnung (the bill), and we started to smell something burning. We turn around and this guys' newspaper is on fire. literally fire. There was a candle on the table so I'm guessing the flame and the newspaper connected. just a guess though. Like 1/4 of the newspaper was burned before he put it out but he just continued reading it like nothing happen.

I actually lost weight on this trip.
My GoPro is shipped off to get fixed and my selfie stick is somewhere in London I think.
I never found a lederhosen but one day a lederhosen will find me.
Lost my luggage but I ain't got no worries
Went to Rosas my first day back in Texas and my tummy was satisfied.
Chüs

Good ol’ Bonn

Though not as relaxing as I would've hoped, the last four days in Bonn included some of my favorite excursions of the trip. It was an action packed 3 days, so I'll go through each one.

Day 1: After class, we went to the Cologne Zoo. Hate to be that guy, but was not impressed (I'm not much into zoos anyway so). I think it was mainly because of the tour guide; she was not the friendliest of sorts. She showed us a raccoon exhibit #exotic, and said some little snide comment about how American's are lazy/fat and don't like walking up hills. She wasn't exactly #modelstatus, so I heavily resented that comment. The elephant behind the scenes tour was really interesting. We didn't interact with the elephants directly (slightly dangerous as they are rather large), but we learned all that goes in to taking care of them. Cool stuff. By far, the highlight of the trip was the goat exhibit. They had teeny tiny pygmy goats that you could go pet and play with and they were just so cute omg <3.

SO FREAKIN CUTE.

Day 2 (aka best day ever): Day 2 was Uniclinic day. We had to wake up crazy early, and I was stupid and went to bed crazy late, so the struggle was hella real. It wasn't my first time to watch a surgery, so I was excited, but not like OMG SURGERIES!!!! excited. When we go to the hospital, we all scrubbed up, then were assigned departments. Annie and I were shuttled off the cardiology. I walk into my operation room, and the anesthesiologist (the real mvp), who spoke perfect english, was super nice, and answered all my questions, tells me I will be watching open heart surgery. My excitement got real real then. The poor bloke who required surgery had two "leaky" valves, the aortic and the mitral valve. The mitral was repaired, and the aortic was completely replaced. It was one of the best experiences of the entire trip. I got to watch a septum get sawed in half. I got to see a heart that was not beating slowly come back to life. It was unbelievable. 

Later that day, we went to the History of Anesthesia museum. It was about this time that my excitement wore off and exhaustion kicked in, so I don't really remember the first half of the tour, but the second half was very interesting! The collection was extensive and impressive. 

Day 3: This day, we visited the Hildegard of Bingen museum, which was cool, and took a Rhine cruise, which was amazing. The Rhine is truly spectacular. Every little valley has a small German village with a castle. We lost count at like 15 castles, I think. We got off the cruise at St. Goar's and walked up the Rhinefels Castle. The castle was so cool. The best part was when everyone sang Happy Birthday to me in the old, massive wine cellar and I blew out the candles we had used in an underground tunnel. Y'all rock. 

Castle + River = <3

Next and final stop was Berlin.

All the feels

The last four days of the trip were perfect. Berlin is a real neat place. When we first arrived, we had a bike tour of the highlights of the city. Though biking through the very busy city was mildly terrifying, biking was a great way to see and get to know the city quickly. That night we hit up a street fair near Alexanderplatz, which was fun other than some German dude asking why we weren’t fat since we’re Americans. Rude. Oh, and Collin had to beat up a guy who stole his backpack (not really). 

The next day, we visited the concentration camp, Sachsenhausen. To stand in a place where some of the most atrocious crimes against humanity ever committed took place left me sad and angry. It was an awful place to be, but I am so thankful to have gone. Talk about perspective. Afterwards, a group of us went to the East Side Gallery to see the Berlin wall, which was another humbling and moving experience. 

We also visited the medical school in Berlin, which was neat, the Reichstag, the German equivalent of the Capitol, and the Ottobock Institute. The Reichstag had a glass dome you could climb up; the view of Berlin was incredible. The Ottobock Institute was hella fun. They had all sorts of interactive games that demonstrated how their prosthetics worked. The work they do is unbelievable and extremely interesting. Visiting the Ottobock Institute was one of my favorite tours of the entire trip. 

Reichstag Dome

We ended with a bang. The goodbye dinner was one of the most fun and memorable parts of the entire trip. The food was amazing, the alcohol was free flowing, and everyone was having a great time. Dr. Wasser and Helen surprised us with a mini piano concert and (brace yourselves) a belly dancer. At first, the belly dancer freaked me out a bit, but then we all started dancing in the restaurant, and it was seriously so fun.

Helen and belly dancer 

Before the dinner, I was mostly happy about going back to the States; I missed my bed, my AC, my family, and (most of all) sleeping. Post-dinner me is mostly sad. After spending every day with the same 14 people, you’d think I’d be sick of them. I’m not. Y’all made me laugh, pushed me to try new things, explored Europe with me. Though we’re all not bff’s, I can’t wait to reunite in CStat and party German style. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is thanks. Y’all rock.  

Squad is on the move

The first day back in Bonn, we hit the ground running. We hopped on a train in the afternoon back to Cologne to go see the zoo. Who doesn’t love zoos right? And with the promise of a behind the scenes tour of the elephant exhibit I was pretty dang excited. I have to admit though I definitely let out an audible laugh when our guide first took us to a pen with a pig in it. And then there was the goat pen, followed by the cow pen. As we walked, all I could think was “Wow they sure do things different here considering we don’t keep cows in our zoos, can we just see the giraffes already”? It was a rushed tour through the other parts of the zoo because it does cover a vast area and we had lots to see. Our tour guide managed to make several of us angry as she called out Americans many times. #rude. Starting with explaining how she didn’t understand why we only keep our monkeys inside even though that’s not true and then finishing with “Americans are so lazy, you can’t expect them to walk up a hill”. However, we were keeping up with her step for step up the inclined path and all. #rantover. The elephant exhibit was really cool though. We were able to walk through their enclosure since all the elephants were inside for the time being. After that we toured the whole inside of the elephant house and got a tour from one of the keepers. He had so much to tell us and I learned a lot from that day. I even got to thinking how cool it would be to shadow a zoo vet or maybe even work as one.

Day 2 back in Bonn was an EARLY one. As in 5:30 EARLY! We had to make sure we made it to the station in time to catch the bus to the Uniclinics because surgeons and their surgeries sure love early mornings. Once there we changed into scrubs and crocs (lol..we looked real cute) and put on the masks and head covers. Each of us were placed into different “surgery theatres” as they call them, and left to spend the rest of our morning observing. Luckily I got an awesome anesthesiologist who did her best to translate everything she could, and the rest I could just infer (thanks Grey’s Anatomy). My first thought walking into the surgery suite was “Oh my what is going on here as our patients legs were up in the air in stirrups”? Come to find out once things were explained to me, it was a simple wound vac replacement and it shouldn’t take too long. Once my anesthesiologist finished explaining all she wanted to, she guided me around all the sterile equipment and trays so I had a great vantage point to watch from. After that, our next patient came in from isolation. I was instructed to gown up and then after surgery we would be changing our scrubs and shoes. She taught me how they intubate the patients and everything that she is responsible for and then even let me extubate him once surgery was over. Our last surgery that I got to be part of went a little different than planned. Our patient was awake at first for the scheduled procedure, but when the plans changed all the moving parts started going. My anesthesiologist started yelling at me to grab this, this, this, and that. However, I think the real confused look on my face tipped her off that I don’t speak German, didn’t have a clue what she was saying, and that I needed the English translation. She realized what had happened and then repeated herself in a language I could understand. It was neat to be able to help out some while I was there as well as getting the behind the scenes look at what surgery is really like.

On Wednesday, we went to Bingen to take a Rhine Cruise, see the Hildegard von Bingen museum, and visit the Rheinfels castle. The castle tour was incredibly cool. We learned the history behind it and also got to walk through the mine tunnel. While some members of the group had to duck their heads, being short came in handy, as I was able to walk upright the whole time.

Thursday we found out all we needed to know for Berlin and then took a quick trip to an art exhibition.

Friday morning started of a tad too early for my liking, especially after staying out a little later than we should’ve Thursday night. Although my uncanny knack for being able to basically sleep anywhere once again came in clutch as I basically slept through the entire train ride to Berlin. On this trip I have also learned that I can sleep while standing up proving that when tired enough, one can sleep anywhere. After the much needed sleep, we rallied, ate, checked in to the hotel, and then started our bike tour. Norderney bike ride: Not scary at all. Berlin bike ride: Hella scary. Big city + 17 people on bikes doesn’t sound so safe now does it? Luckily our guide would stop periodically so we could actually see the city because I was far too concerned with not getting run over to pay attention while riding. They also have this wonderful festival going on in Alexanderplatz all day and most of the night. To the random British guy who approached our table saying, “Why aren’t you all fat? Because all Americans are fat” is not the way to a girl’s heart, especially not a table full of them. Got it bud? There were tons of food shacks, souvenir stands, and of course plenty of beer to choose from. I’ve loved the festival and think it made Berlin even better. I definitely wasn’t expecting to like Berlin, but it has in fact stolen my heart.

Saturday started off solemn with a visit to Sachsenhausen. I had previously been to Dachau last summer while in Munich and they were similar in ways, but also vastly different. I felt like each had their own feel to them, which was neat to be able to compare the two. Both were nevertheless quite ominous, although very important in my opinion to go see. In the afternoon we walked along the largest standing stretch of the Berlin Wall that remains. It is now called the East Side Gallery and is spray-painted to depict many different scenes from that time in history. After the wall, Lindsay and I found a hockey store! I found out Berlin has a team called the Ice Bears, and since my brother has played hockey from a young, I figured there was no better souvenir.

Sunday was back to medical things as we took a visit to the Charité. There we were able to talk with a med student and experience some hands on things they use for practice. Students originally designed the learning center so they would have a place to practice their skills before needing them in a critical situation. After the learning center, Tiny Tom gave us what might have been the most entertaining tour of the Charité Museum. He has the running record of all the guides for making 5 people faint during his tours; I found this to be quite funny.

Once Monday arrived, the feels came with it. Knowing this was our last day in Berlin, but more importantly our last day in Europe, I tried to soak up every last bit of it as I could. The Reichstag made for a cool visit that was out of the ordinary for us. This is the German Parliament building and its also very eye catching from the exterior. After the guided tour of the inside, we made our way into the dome on the outside and wound our way to the top to catch a bird’s eye view of the city. Note to tourists: DON’T pull out a flag from TAMU on it and try to take a picture. It will not work in your favor as there will soon be a security officer questioning you (in German) and you trying to explain this is a university flag and even going as far as almost pulling out student IDs. Cue Helen to the rescue. Crisis averted and picture taken. All est gut! After the Reichstag the Otto Bock Institute was calling out names. Super cool building full of prosthesis technology. We learned about different prosthetics and the science behind them and the technology that goes into it, and were even able to play with many of them. Its incredible to see what science can do for people in terms of giving them their independence and mobility back.

The last supper was at a Kurdish restaurant right next to our hotel and we were told to expect a few surprises. With Helen and Dr. Wasser telling us to expect a surprise, we had no idea what to expect. Our first surprise was a really sweet old man who played a few songs on the piano for us. Our next surprise visit ramped things up a bit. All the sudden lights went off and music began and out comes a belly dancer sashaying across the restaurant. Needless to say, the entire group ended up on their feet dancing and clapping and having a good ole time. Well played guys, well played for the last supper. Our whole last day was full of mixed feelings for me as I was equal parts upset to be leaving Deutschland and happy to be returning to Merica. Ready or not to be leaving though, Tuesday morning came early with 4:15am taxi rides to the airport. As I sit here finishing this blog, I’m on the long haul flight home with 6 hours left to go and a raging case of plane butt. Thoughts on reverse culture shock coming to print in the next 5 weeks.

The Last Week

Last Thursday was our last day in Bonn. We had a couple of interesting lectures from Dr. Wasser and played lots of Ping-Pong which is always fun. That afternoon we went to an art exhibit that turned out to be a history lecture from a University of Bonn professor. The people he lectured about did have portraits in the room, which were a little weird because the people were painted orange or blue or other crazy unnatural colors. Maybe one day I’ll understand art. That evening we had our last night at Rhinelust; I’m going to miss that place and its Dunkle Schneider Weisse.  Most of all, I’m going to miss all the good times we had there. I won’t really miss the tacos though.

            On Friday we got up bright and early to train to Berlin. That day we took a bike tour around the city, I was pretty exhausted but it was still really cool. We got to see a lot of cool sites like where the book burnings took place, the Berlin wall, the memorial for the Jews who died in the Holocaust, and the Brandenburg Gate. Unfortunately, the gate was blocked by an oriental music concert. We also saw the place where Hitler committed suicide. Today it is just a parking lot, easily overlooked. On Saturday we went to Sachsenhausen, which was a concentration camp near Berlin. We got to see the barracks, the medical facilities, the prison within the concentration camp, and station Z, where the executions took place. It was a great experience to see it because we’ve learned so much about concentration camps in school. It was very sad and hard to believe that people could do those horrible things to other people. It was very surprising that they thought they were doing the right thing. I couldn’t believe that most doctors were eager to participate as well. The next day we went to the medical school learning center. It was a place for the medical students to study or practice some of their basic skills using simulators. We got to try a couple of the simulators, like listening to the heartbeat and breathing of a mannequin. Then we went to the medical school’s museum. It was a really cool museum, and our tour guide gave us extremely vivid descriptions of medical operations. One operation he described was how they would remove a man’s kidney stone from the bladder; it was painful to listen to. Apparently our tour guide holds the record for making the most people faint in one day (5 people), he was very proud. After the tour, Dr. Wasser gave us a lecture on Rudolf Virschow in Virschow’s lecture hall at the Charité. On Monday (our last day) we got a tour inside the Reichstag, which is the parliament building. It was a really cool building that had a mixture of modern and old architecture. I liked how they left some graffiti and bullet holes from when the Prussians occupied the building. The tour ended in the dome on top of the Reichstag. That afternoon we visited the Otto Bock Institute, which is a company that makes prosthetics. I really enjoyed the tour, they had a lot of cool interactive stuff we could do. That night we had our last group dinner. It was very bitter sweet, I had a great time, but I was also very sad that the program was over. It had to end sometime, and I’m glad it ended with us all belly dancing in the middle of a restaurant.

            Today was departure day. It’s been such a sad day, most of us left early this morning, but I’m traveling around Europe for another ten days. I already miss everyone. This program definitely exceeded my expectations, and I’m so blessed to have had this opportunity. I’m so thankful I had such an awesome group of Ags to experience it with.