On the Tuesday of June 18th, 2019 group B had our last German language class. It was sad to know that we wouldn’t be around Hilde and her wonderful personality anymore and that I had not yet become fluent in German. Later that day was group B’s visit to Orgelbau Klais, one of 23 pipe organ manufacturers in Germany. The organs made by Orgelbau Klais do have electronic components but are still mostly made of wood and metal alloy to produce more organic sounds. Our tour guide, an employee of the company, showed us their wood storage area, metal pipe storage room, metal alloy-construction room, and the main organ assembly room. I was surprised but please to know that companies who repair and construct organs are still in existence today. I had feared that the art was quickly dying, but it is still a thriving field or work. On Wednesday group B visited Bonn’s Uniklinik to shadow several surgeries. My group, which had a total of two people including me, shadowed a surgeon as he performed throat surgery on an older man who had developed a malignant HPV tumor near his uvula. The preparation period took longer than I expected, and the rather small room was full of medical assistants/personnel. The surgeon first went through the patient’s mouth to extract the tumor that had begun to grow near the patient’s uvula; the tumor was as malignant looking as it gets. While the throat surgeon was working, another surgeon and her assistant were working to remove a rather large vein from the patient’s left arm along with a small rectangular portion of his skin. The throat surgeon then began to continue the surgery on the right side of the patient’s neck to ensure that he wouldn’t injure the patient’s spine and nearby major artery. Whilst he was doing so, the surgeon found a smaller piece of malignant tumor. At first, two of the three medical students who were shadowing helped to explain what was transpiring during the surgery, since things were a little confusing. The surgeon spoke English and explained what he was doing and why as best and as quick as he could. My shadowing partner and I left at around 1 pm and soon met up with eight other students. On Thursday we were all given a tour of Bonn University’s Anesthesiology Museum by Dr. Wasser. The founder and curator of the museum, a very lovely old man, only supervised due to his old age and dwindling endurance. Once again, Dr. Wasser blew us all away with his knowledge of basically everything under the medical sun. Sadly, the museum will be dissolved soon to make room for the university’s expansion efforts. Where the vast collection of anesthesiology history will go, who knows? Hopefully, it all won’t remain in storage for the rest of time. On Friday the group visited Bingen, a small city in east-central Germany, to explore the Hildegard von Bingen Museum. The museum helped to remind us of what we learned about the signifiant figure of medical history. We were able to see her art, hear and see her musical compositions, view a model of the convent she resided at, and also examine Roman era medical tools. We received a short but very educational lecture about the medical practices of Rome, especially during times of war.
Countryside and Coffee Shops
Ok, so, I definitely have to make it a point to return to the lovely city of Amsterdam. Pretty last minute my friend Maria and I decided to visit Amsterdam, Netherlands for our 4th free weekend. We arrived at around 12:30 pm on Saturday without any solid plans. Soon after, we made it to our AirBnB in the little village of Zuiderwoude. On the map, Zuiderwoude and Amsterdam seem close, but in reality they couldn’t have been farther from each other without making things impossible. To get to the B&B, Maria and I had to take a bus to Broek in Waterland and then a van to Zuiderwoude. The surrounding area was flat countryside with scattered farms and motes. It wasn’t the most conveniently located B&B, but the area was beautiful, and it gave us a view of the Netherlands that we wouldn’t have seen if we had stayed within the city. Saturday evening we visited the Van Gogh Museum. I had never known so much about one artist before visiting the museum. It is incredible how out of so much misery and volatility, so much beauty and color could arise. The audio guide that I rented was very much worth the five euros; it helped me build a better profile of the man who completed 2,100 works of art-860 oil paintings-within his 37 years of life. During his last 70 days, Van Gogh completed more than 70 (75 if I am correct) oil paintings. According to the audio guide, Van Gogh’s Tree Roots painting was his very last and unfinished work. Maria and I spent three hours in the museums, taking about one hour to view each floor. We left when the museum closed at 9 pm. Having no plans, we decided to tour another museum, the Sexmuseum Venustemple near the central station, which was recommended to me by my host mom and her boyfriend. Let’s just say that the museum was dedicated to the history of porn; it included replicas of erotic depictions from Greek and Roman mythology and all other major civilizations. For me, it was two hours of saying, “oh my god.” For Maria, it was two hours of cringing. On Sunday morning we were treated to the best breakfast I have ever had in all my 21 (nearly 22) years of living. Almost everything was homemade. The croissants were the best that I have ever tasted. The pesto spread and rhubarb yoghurt topping were hand made. The mozzarella cheese was in a perfectly round little ball inside its cheese water. Everything was extremely delicious and satisfying. Erigone, our host, had her husband drive us to Broek in Waterland to catch a bus to central station, which we were VERY thankful for. Once getting to Amsterdam’s central station we departed for the Heineken Experience tour of the first Heineken brewing factory. I can’t remember the first time I tried Heineken, but all I remember is that I did not enjoy it. The tour completely changed my mind. We were given three-day old beer that was crisp, light, and cold-so refreshing on a hot summer’s day. From the tour, I gained appreciation for the Heineken family, the beer’s history, the beer-making process, and for beer in general. At the end of the tour, we were led to an underground bar where everyone was given a maximum of two free beers. That was enough to have me walking around the gift shop trying my best not to break anything in the moving room. After the Heineken Experience we finally caught a canal cruise. Once my body realized it had stopped moving, I fell asleep-not the most eventful or enjoyable canal cruise. When I was awake the voice recording wasn’t aligned with what we were seeing on the cruise. After the cruise we visited a local, well-rated coffee shop. That’s all I’m going to say about that. Amsterdam is definitely a place I will have to visit again in the future. The people are friendly and the whole feeling of the city is just pleasant. Basically, I could spend my whole life traveling Europe.
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