The final four days in Bonn were packed full of classes and
excursions in the city, but it was a good way to end my time there. After
classes on Monday, we took a group trip to the Cologne Zoo and got a behind the
scenes tour of the elephant house. One of the keepers led us around the
operations of the facility. The elephants were preoccupied with eating so they
didn’t want to come very close to us. It was still really cool to learn about
how the elephants are kept and handled. One odd thing about the zoo was the
raccoon exhibit. Apparently they keep raccoons to educate the German visitors
because they are a rare species here.
Tuesday was by far my favorite day of the entire program and
probably deserves a blog post all to itself. We went to the Uniclinics very
early in the morning and observed various surgeries. (Warning: may be some
gruesome details). I saw the reconstruction of a clavicle fracture of a man
that used to be in the Olympics some years ago. They cut down to where the
fracture was and then inserted a metal plate. After screwing the plate down to
the bone, the surgeon meticulously stitched up the incision. I only got to observe part of the second
operation because we had to leave, but I wish I could have stayed longer. The
second case was a young girl who had fallen off the back of a truck when the
vehicle got in an accident. Aside from the obvious road burns that were all
over her body, the girl had a fractured hip. They aggressively tried to align
the bone back in place, but the surgeons had to go in to repair the damage. I
only got to see them opening her hip and getting to the fracture, but I
couldn’t stay long enough to see the actual repair. Plus, from the position
that they had to lay her to work on her hip, it was really hard to see around
the surgeons, but I caught glimpses and managed to find a way to see what was
happening. The anesthesiologist that I was paired with was really nice and
liked explaining his medical knowledge to me. In the afternoon that same day,
we went to an anesthesia museum with a guide that was part of the museum
himself. At 85 years old, the owner of the museum gave us a tour of the pieces
that he had collected over the years. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to have
him as a guide since he won’t be giving them much longer himself.
Thursday consisted of the Hildegard museum, a boat tour
along the Rhine, and a tour of the Rheinfels Castle. The exhibit with the
display of the oldest set of medical instruments found was incredible to see.
The tools are very similar to the ones that are used today, just a much older
version. Sitting on the top deck of the boat was very windy and cold, but the
view from there was absolutely worth it. We passed castle after castle in the
hour and a half that we were on the boat; there were so many that I lost count.
After hiking up a really steep hill to get to the castle, we had a tour that
took us through a mine tunnel with our candles lighting the path.
On Friday morning, Cassie and I loaded our bags in the taxi
and left our host family to go to Berlin. Most of the morning was spent
travelling and our first activity was a bike tour. Through the city… Biking on
Norderney was one thing since there was essentially no traffic to worry about.
Berlin was a completely different story. I had a hard time looking at
everything that we were riding by because I was so afraid that I would crash my
bike or get run over by a giant tour bus (which almost happened on several
occasions). Everywhere we stopped though was beautiful and packed with tons of
history. Tuesday morning is getting closer and I’m just not ready to leave yet.
I love Europe way too much to say goodbye already. The last five weeks flew by
way too quickly.
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