Kil Tanneer

Palma de Mallorca, Spain has the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen in my entire life. We arrived at the airport and had the smoothest airport experience of my entire life. We arrived at the hotel and the view from out hotel balcony was perfect. You could clearly see the white sandy beach and the crystal clear blue water. I have never seen water that clear and blue in my entire life. All we did Friday evening was enjoy a nice meal and went straight to bed to be prepared for a long beach day on Saturday. We woke up early, ate breakfast, and spent the morning at the beach. We sunbathed till our heart’s content and then headed for our boat excursion. We spent an hour riding out to a private little cove where we docked out in the middle of the water. We got to jump off the boat and snorkel in the clear waters. I got to actually see little fish swimming and I enjoyed swimming around like the little mermaid which is like my favorite Disney movie. The boat crew prepared a bbq dinner with chicken and sausage and it was so delicious. They then brought us back and we got to see the Palma de Mallorca Cathedral and it was beautiful. We went back to the hotel to sleep for another full day at the beach on Sunday. We spent literally all day Sunday at the beach. We would sunbathe for a little and then we’d go cool off in the super cold Mediterranean Sea. It was a beautiful weekend of relaxation and enjoying the beautiful beaches after the stressful Paris straight to Norderney trip.       

Tuesday was one of the best days in Bonn. We got to go visit the teaching hospital and shadow a bunch of surgeries. The first surgery I went into was an aortic valve replacement and coronary bypass. They removed the saphenous vein from the leg and cut all up his leg and then I had to leave during the valve replacement cause it was too much for me. I don’t think cardiology is the right department for me. The smell of the cauterizer was too much and I felt a little queasy. I stepped out and went with some others to view an orthopedic surgery. It was a hip surgery. The person had hip surgery prior and was still having pain so they removed a bunch of scar tissue and fascia to make it less painful. They used sutures inside that dissolve after 90 days. That was really cool and I felt great during that surgery. It reinforces that I want to pursue orthopedics. The last surgery I witnessed was an endoscopy procedure. It was a child who had an esophageal aphasia, a circular ring that makes it easier for food to get caught in. So the kid didn’t chew schnitzel all the way and got a bunch stuck. So they put him under and showed us how to intubate him, and I got to put the heart monitor patches on. Then they did the procedure and went in with a scope and they pulled the schnitzel out. Afterwards, we got to watch them wake up the boy, I got to put my hand on his stomach and tap my middle finger in certain places to cause a percussive sound on his distended stomach. The doctor also showed us how to use that technique on our chest. He walked us through the process of waking someone up out of anesthesia and what to do as soon as they are awake. Then we took the little boy to recovery and that was it for the day. I ate McDonald’s for lunch and then went home and went to bed. 

Wednesday we had a really long lecture day starting with a double dose of German class. It was sad to see Hilda go but I enjoyed learning all the German I got to. That Wednesday evening we got to visit the organ builders shop. We learned how they restore and create these massive, ornate organs and how they transport and rebuild them in the location where the organ will stay. Thursday we had a long lecture day of neurophysiology of music, and then followed up with a visit to the anesthesia museum. We got the privilege of meeting the owner who is an adorable old man and it was so cool getting to see all his pieces in the museum. My favorite pieces were the iron lung and the replica operating room. A bunch of us went out for drinks and snacks at the taco bar in Bonn after and it was amazing to unwind and chat with some people I didn’t know quite well yet on the trip.

Friday we had an all day excursion to Bingen in Germany. We got to visit the Hildegard museum and learned more about how great of a healer Hildegard was and how versatile she was with music, the church, and healing. We then had a spaghetti lunch before going on a 3 hour boat cruise down the Rhine. We spent most of the time on the top deck and then went down under and had some snacks at the boat restaurant. We got off the boat in Braubach and visited the Marksburg castle. It is the only castle in Germany that wasn’t conquered. We had a massive and steep hike up which I was super nervous about with my heart condition, but I faired well and made it to the top with virtually no issues. We got a private guided tour of the castle. We saw everything from the gardens, to the dining room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the room with all the torture equipment and more. The hike was well worth it and we rode the bus back to Bonn. I packed for Switzerland and immediately went to sleep.

We woke up at 4 am, bright ass early in the morning, to meet at the bus stop to go to the airport. We passed a crime scene at the Bonn Hbf underground. There were cops everywhere and blood on the floor but we have no idea what happened and I’m not sure I want to know. Our flight to Zurich was delayed a bit due to weather but we finally landed in no time. We took a train from Zurich to Interlaken. As soon as we stepped off the train we were met with the most breathtaking view of the mountains. We got to walk through the city area to get to our hostel. We got to watch paragliders land in the field across from our hostel and we took a tram up to the top of Harder Kulm. It was over 4,000 feet up and the view from the top was fantastic. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the top that had a lookout view of the whole city and the other mountains. We spent a long time enjoying the view and I even got to try cheese fondue for the first time. I splurged on a sirloin steak and it was the best steak I have ever had. I also got to have broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots for the first time since leaving the United States and I really missed vegetables. We rode the tram down to the bottom again and walked to a little wildlife park area. There were cute mountain goats that we started feeding grass to and that was so much fun. They were just taking the grass from us and enjoying being fed. We spent a short time down there and then found a cute little bar to sit down and relax at. I tried a strawberry lime cider and it was actually really good which I was surprised because I usually don’t drink. We spent hours there talking, laughing, and sharing multiple stories. We then went to a little restaurant and hookah bar. I didn’t try the hookah, but I definitely enjoyed the food. The pizza was actually delicious. We spent more hours there talking and sharing more stories. We went back to the hostel and went to bed for the night since we’d almost been up for 24 hours at that point. We woke up Sunday morning, and walked around the town some more. We got souvenirs and I even got my first authentic Swiss Army knife. We then visited a Swiss chocolate shop and I got some nutty chocolates for my mom and I. We then wandered around the town for a bit, and grabbed subway before heading to get on the train. The train is where I currently am now, we have a 6 hour train ride ahead of us, but it’s supposed to be extremely beautiful. Hopefully I’ll get to post this when I get back to home in Bonn.