Last Days in Bonn

Our last days in Bonn are now coming to a close. It is very sad that it has all gone by so fast. I have really enjoyed getting to know my host mom and learning my way around Bonn. Bonn has become a home away from home so it will be very sad to leave tomorrow morning.

Monday we had class with Dr. Wasser. As always, he made it very interesting. Then we went to the Cologne Zoo. It was interesting to see that they had a raccoons in their zoo. I never thought I would see an enclosure for raccoons in a zoo! I really liked getting to see all the behind the scenes things for the elephants. I never realized how much work went into taking care of them.

Tuesday was really cool. I enjoyed watching the surgeries. I watched a laryngeal arthroscopy and 2 surgeries for some type of sinus problem. They were interesting. I really liked watching the arthroscopic surgery. I liked being able to see what the doctor was doing on the screen. The sinus surgeries were interesting. At one point during one of those surgeries, the doctor had a probe/scraper type tool in the patient's nose and the nurse next to him was tapping the other end with a mallet. It was very interesting to see all the different aspects of the surgery from the anesthesiologist at the beginning and end to the doctor performing the actual procedure. After the surgeries, we went to the Anesthesia Museum. I found this museum very interesting. I never realized there were that many different types of instruments that had been used 1846 to now. Thank goodness we have today's technique and not the same one from 1846! Dr. Stockel was a very interesting man. It was really cool that he could tell us so much information and a story about each piece in his museum.

The Hildgard von Bingen Museum was very interesting to see especially since women were not equal to men during her lifetime. She was a very independent and determined woman. Once she made up her mind, it seemed like there was no stopping her. I really enjoyed learning that aspect about her. Then we went on a Rhine Cruise. The Rhine River is absolutely beautiful. Seeing the castles along each side and the farmland on the mountainsides was great! I really enjoyed getting to do that with this program. Then we went to Rhinfels Castle. It was really cool. The "land mines" were incredible. I had no idea they had something like that in the 13th century.

Thursday we had our last lectures at the AIB. It was very interesting to me. I really enjoy learning about WWII. I did not realize human euthanasia was already such a hot topic before the Nazis ever came to power.

Now it's off to Berlin!