Today we are on the train to Amsterdam. We got off a stop too soon so it's been a little bit of an adventure so far. I love traveling with everyone but we've definitely all become very travel weary. Everyone is exhausted so sometimes that presents some challenges. But for the most part I think we're all very sad that our time in Europe is quickly coming to an end. I knew a month wasn't a long time but I never expected the time to go this quickly.
We spent this past week in Hannover and then Norderney. I loved both places. It was a nice change of pace from the busy-ness and tourism of Vienna and Prague. Hannover was a quiet town that we got to spend a day in. We went to their medical school hospital which specializes in cardiac/thoracic transplants and learned all about LVADs (left ventricular assist devices) that serve as a sort of mechanical assist to help weak hearts pump oxygen rich blood to the body. The hospital is a major world transplant center and I found the topic super interesting because I spent this past spring semester shadowing a cardiologist.
After the hospital we went to a research center and got to learn about spider silk and regeneration studies. We got to see the axolotls that they keep there and the room full of the spiders that spin the spider silk. It was super fascinating and the researchers who presented to us were so incredibly nice and answered our many questions.
That night in Hannover we found a really cute beer garden with super delicious food in a big park. The next day we set off for the island of Norderney. We had to cross in a ferry so seasickness wasn't super fun but the North Sea is absolutely beautiful and the Frisian Islands are definitely a place that I want to go back to. We went to the spa in Norderney that has waters that are all salt water from the sea. It was really relaxing and fun to try out. Europe is really into spas. We got to ride bikes all around Norderney and we watched beach sunsets, found a lighthouse, ate delicious seafood, and gave presentations from our research on alternative medicines. I learned a lot that I had not even heard about and really enjoyed the island life of Norderney.
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