Squad Out :'( (aka we miss Bonn already)

August 2, 2015

I don't think I've ever been this exhausted in my whole life. Minus finals maybe. But still... Europe is taking a toll on this group of Aggies and we're all coughing and sniffling and barely hanging in there. But I think we're determined to make the best out of our last couple days in Germany.

This past week we were insanely busy. Like tooooo much. We were in Bonn but there was no time for relaxing in our home city. We went to the Cologne Zoo and got to go into the elephant exhibit. It was really cool. The animals were all super cute and there were lots of baby animals and the zoo is set up so you can get pretty close to the animals. Our tour lady was kind of rude though... She insulted Americans by saying that they can't be expected to walk up hills and I told her that I was American and was fine with walking up hills. Don't insult my country to my face. 'Merica.

The next day we had to get up real real early and go to the Uniclinic to watch surgeries. I really like watching surgeries so I was pretty excited to scrub up and go see what a German operating room was like. The anesthesiologist and doctor in the OR I was in were both really nice and spoke good English so they talked to me a lot and answered all my questions and asked me about where I was from and what Texas is like. The first surgery I watched took about 3 1/2 hours. The patient had fallen on her hand/wrist area when she had tried to catch herself and some of the carpal bones had fractured and spread apart, straining the ligaments in between. So the surgeons had to put long rods into her bones to hold the bones together so that her hand could heal. It was extremely complex because of all of the bones and ligaments and nerves in the hands and how tiny of an area it is. The surgeon explained everything to me which I thought was extremely nice of him too because sometimes doctors treat shadowing students as if they're just a nuisance but he was incredibly kind.

We also went to the Anesthesiology Museum which was really interesting. There was a model of what an operating room from the 1930s looked like and old defibrillators and pacemakers that I found really interesting after watching some procedures this past semester that involved replacing pacemakers. There also was an iron lung in the museum from when patients with polio in the 1940-1950s would use it to help keep them alive. The collection was really impressive.

The next day we went on a Rhine Cruise and it was cold but really pretty. Before that we went to the Hildegard of Bingen Museum and looked around the Hildegarden at all the old medicinal plants of medieval times and what people back then would use them for. During the Rhine Cruise we saw lots of castles and old ruins and vineyards. It was like straight out of a movie. We stopped in St. Goar and explored the Rhinefels Castle. We got to go into secret tunnels with candles to light our way. It was super fun but I'm very thankful that I did not live in a medieval castle because I like sewage systems and waste treatment centers.

We have been in Berlin the past couple of days now and I absolutely love this city. I definitely already want to come back and visit. The history of the city is just astounding and I'm super excited because we get to go into the Reichstag tomorrow! But we'll save the Berlin adventures for the next blog.

Ciao!