Week 4 began with us traveling to Hannover on Monday. Due to the train debacle I had getting back from Brussels and the fact that we were all meeting at 6:20AM this morning, I got pretty much no sleep. I have come to realize that sleep will have to wait until I am back in the states. Once in Hannover we had a pretty packed schedule due to the fact that we would only be there for one day. After dropping our bags at the hotel and snagging a quick lunch we headed to the Axolotl Research Center.
I would be lying if I said the North Sea is not cold, but once I was in there it did not feel that bad. On the contrary, it felt pretty good. After a quick shower I fell asleep hard. It feels so much more rewarding going to sleep after a really active day. The next day was badehaus day! We mounted up pretty early and headed to the badehaus. Once there we received a lecture from Dr. Raschke on the medical benefits of the treatments available at the badehaus. This was all really interesting but I could not wait to go and experience the badehaus for myself. Once we were released we had free range of the facility and it was so awesome. There were beautiful pools and saunas everywhere. After going through a few of the pools it was time for the guys to go do the mud treatment. We were all a little apprehensive about this I think but it ended up being really cool. Once you wash all the mud off you end up feeling pretty awesome. Another really cool thing was when I went into one of the saunas when the saunameister was in there. The saunameister then used water infused with grapefruit to create a very special sauna experience. We left the badehaus feeling extremely relaxed and then had a nice lunch at the restaurant near by. After lunch we spent the rest of our afternoon playing beach volleyball. This was another really fun way to spend our afternoon on Norderney. After a quick dinner we headed back to the hostel before going to our Wattwanderung, which is a mudflat hiking tour. I was a little worried that this was going to consist of us all getting stuck a lot and falling all over the place but it turned out to be really cool. The mud was cool and felt really good on my feet. Every time we stopped to talk about something I would dig my feet into the mud. We learned about the ecosystem present on the mudflats of Norderney and why it is a world heritage site. As we walked out to the mudflats the abundance of life was amazing. There are birds and rabbits everywhere. As I mentioned earlier they all look happy and healthy.
Being out on the mudflats as the sun sets is really beautiful. It is very clear to me why Norderney is a world heritage site. It is truly a beautiful island with an amazing abundance of life. After the mudflats a group of us headed to the beach. This was another beautiful experience. We watched as the sun set and a fishing boat crossed by.
I really enjoyed going and learning about the research being done involving these cute little dudes. Axolotl's have the ability to regenerate entire limbs so the research being done with them could allow us to do some very exciting things in the future. It is also pretty cute to note that they really only thrive when they have a buddy present. As I walked by the tanks it was funny to note how they would actually move around and come look at me. I am sure this only had to do with the fact that they were hungry, but I also like to think they are just social animals. I had been prepping myself from the beginning of this trip for the "spider room" at the Axolotl Research Center. Dr. Wasser had told us that he does not like spiders but he still always goes into the room. After hearing this I knew I had to get over it and go in. In the end though we just learned about the axolotl's and then the second group rotated in. I was surprised at the fact that I was actually a little bummed about not getting to see the spider room. Even though I really hate spiders I always look forward to experiencing things like this. I would never want to miss out on the opportunity to learn more about a field that I do not have a lot of knowledge in. So I was a little sad about not seeing the spiders, which is a weird statement for me. Moving on though, after the axolotl's we headed to the Hanover Medical School. Once there we had a guy (who if I remember correctly was currently in his residency) talk to us about how valve replacement surgery has changed over the years. The craziest part was seeing the old pumps that they used to use. They were massive! The thought of having to carry around one of the old pumps baffles me. After talking about the different pumps we talked about differing aspects of heart surgery and lung surgery. Getting to hear from someone who is obviously extremely knowledgeable in their field was an awesome experience. In listening to him talk it was very apparent just how passionate he is about what he does, which is really cool to see. After our mini lecture we got to hear from a patient who actually has a pump. We did not get to see where the pump exited his body but we did get to observe the external portion of the pumpx. After the medical school we headed back to the hotel for a bit before dinner. After dinner a group of us hung out for a bit and worked on blog posts before going to bed. Our next day started nice and early again but it is ok because we were headed to Norderney! I had been excited for Norderney ever since I got to Europe so I was pumped to finally be heading to the island. After a couple of train rides and a ferry ride we had made it to Norderndey. Riding the ferry to the island was actually really cool. I love being on the water so any opportunity to be out is always exciting for me. After the ferry we mounted up our bikes and headed to the hotel. As one might imagine though 25 people all riding bikes together can be a disaster... After taking a wrong turn I ended up in the street for a period and needed to get back on the sidewalk. My approach to mounting the curb was less than graceful though. It had been a while since I rode a bike so I did not approach the curb correctly at all and went down. I thought I was all good until I randomly looked down and saw this...
Which looks a lot worse than it was. I mean it was a pretty good scrape but nothing that I was going to let ruin my time on Norderney. After getting settled in the hostel and getting some lunch I mounted my bike a little apprehensively for our tour of the island. This is when I remembered just how much I love riding bikes though. They can be a little sketchy at times, but overall they are so much fun. On the bike tour Dr. Wasser showed us a lot of the island and it is all beautiful.
The island is bursting with life everywhere and is an amazing sight to see. Everything on the island seems to be flourishing. Ecosystems themselves cannot have emotions but I could not help but feel like this one was happy. All the animals seemed healthy and numerous. At no point did I see a single animal that looked malnourished or unhealthy. After our bike ride we played basketball and soccer. I could not play basketball because of my hand but it was pretty funny to watch. The court was grass and filled with holes so it made playing very difficult. I did get to play soccer though and it felt so good to run again. We walk a massive amount on this trip and yet I still was feeling like I had a lot of energy stored up. Finally being able to run and compete felt awesome. It was at this point that a lot of us realized that Norderney was our favorite place thus far. The island was beautiful and being active was so much fun. Just being outside at such an amazing place is what made Norderney awesome. After our sports time we had our BBQ. Grillmeister Henning cooked us all sausages and we had coleslaw and potato salad as well. Hanging out and eating by the fire with everyone was really fun and something I have always enjoyed. We all hung out for a long time after dinner before we decided it was time to go jump in the North Sea. At this point in the day I had gotten pretty tired and it was steadily getting colder so I was not as for it as I had been earlier in the day. We had a group of us going to do it though so we all sucked it up and made our way to the beach. Once there we hung out on the beach for a second before we all sprinted in. Running in made all the difference.
We stayed on the beach for a long time and what was amazing was how it never really got dark. The sun set and as soon as it did it seemed like the sun was already beginning to rise off in the distance. This created an amazing orange color on the very horizon that remained the entire time we were on the beach. Finally we decided it was time to go to bed. We had another day of waking up early and traveling so we needed to get a little bit of sleep. The next day we woke up and then headed to the Bademuseum. Here we learned about the history of the badehaus and of Norderney as a whole. After the museum we headed to the ferry. Once we were across we were on our own. Next stop, Paris!
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