Talking Politics

Last night, when I was trying to finish my paper, my host brother Florian and his friend decided to talk politics.  It was a heated conversation in some parts, but I found that the issues that I feel are important, they also felt that they were important.  It changed the way I felt about Germans and politics.  Before talking to them last night, I felt that Germans wanted to only talk about American politics with me.  Also, when I try to talk with them about their opinions on American politics, they sound like they are reading the headlines from CNN, and that beyond knowing that something happened, they have no real opinion of what happened beyond what the news tells them.  For example, most Germans I talk to want to talk about the upcoming presidential election with me, and most say they support Obama.  But when I ask what about Obama's policies do they support, I usually would get the typical "He represents change" or "He is a nice guy" which, to me, sound like phrases that can be read from any newspaper article title.  I just felt that they wanted to be confrontational about it, just to sound like they keep up with what happens in America, and that was very frustrating to me.  Last night, however, was the first time I felt that I was able to learn what some Germans actually believe politicians should be doing.  I didn't agree with everything, but most of what they were saying I agreed with.  I was happy, because it has been nearly 4 weeks since I arrived in Germany and I had yet to learn what Germans actually believed, rather than what they heard on the news! 

Good times, good times!!

By far one of the coolest things on this trip was our trip to the heart and diabetes center at Bad Oeynhausen. The staff was super nice and the surgery was amazing to witness. I have never seen a surgery on a human so this was a first time experience for me, not to mention that it was open heart surgery. I mean, I actually say them drain the blood from his heart and then make it stop pumping, yet he was still alive. I was shocked. All I could think about was the fact that his chest was open and his heart was not beating. It was crazy! Luckily, Amanda and I were in the surgery room with the head doctor so he was so nice and explained every step of the procedure and then made sure that we could see what he was doing. If we couldn't see he would move his instruments and wait until we could see. Then he let us stay longer so that we could see more of the surgery. It was so awesome. At the end of the day, I got to see and learn about so many cool things. Then I went to Hamburg. By the way, the train station in Bad Oeynhausen was a little shady. Since it is a small town, there were only three platforms and the bathrooms were in a bar behind the station and it was full of old drinking men. Then the train we got on had no air conditioning so it was the longest half hour ride ever. It was okay though because once we got to Hamburg, we were so glad that we went. My host mom has a son that lives in Hamburg with his girlfriend so we actually met up with her for dinner. Phillip, her son, was in Berlin so we didn't get to meet him. Dinner was nice. Katherine actually works in a lab at the university hospital. She started out working with pediatrics and now she is in the genetics lab so it was cool to talk to her about that. We then went down to the river at night to see all of the ships illuminated because we just happened to show up on the weekend that the Cruise Days were going on so a whole bunch of big ships were all there in Hamburg. The whole next day we just spent down by the river enjoying the view of the ships and all the people. We acutally took a harbor tour but the first half was all about the shipping areas so Jamie actually fell asleep. It was really funny. The rest of the tour was good though and I'm still glad we went on it. So I think that if you are just going to Hamburg to experience the city, you can do it in one day, but not if you are planning on seeing certain sites. I can definitely see myself coming back and spending several days there to see the rest of the city. Once again, the weekend was very relaxing and I'm glad I was able to have some down time. All of us are getting tired and I think we all needed a down weekend so that we can make it through our last week in Berlin.

Ready to take on Berlin

Well after this long, relaxing weekend I am ready to go out in style in Berlin. I had a couple friends last year travel and/or study abroad in Berlin, and they all said that it was a fantastic city, and gave a few recommendations on clubs to go to. I am sure that the last night here I will not sleep, and go straight to the airport and get on the plane back home. Thankfully Madeline is on the same flight, so I'm too worried about getting lost or missing my flight. I will definitely miss Dusseldorf and my host family, and their awesome dinners and free beer at the beer garden every night. I switched from the winter program to the summer program due to the fact that we would be staying with a host family, and my decision proved to be the correct one. Here I come Berlin!

Visit with Family in Munich

In the afternoon in Munich, I visited my father's foreign exchange student whose family lives there. Regina, her daughter and I discussed health insurance in Germany as most Germans seem to love discussing such exciting topics. It's quite a different viewpoint hearing about the system from a doctor versus a German citizen. Their whole family has private insurance which from my understanding should allow them the best facilities hands down. Come to find out, you will get nicer facilities if they will actually profit well off of you. For example, Regina was in the hospital for a surgery, bedridden for days, so was provided a beautiful facility. Her daughter who gave birth to a little girl 3 months ago, a less profitable stay, was placed in a small, very old room in the bad end of the hospital I suppose no health insurance system is to predictable or consistent. I joined the rest of the group that night at the bars and enjoyed watching Peter and Drew skip down the street with linked arms in their Leiderhosen.

To catch up....

The last time I wrote a post was when we were still in Munich so I have alot to catch up on. First of all, the weekend after our week in Southern Germany was amazing. I spent the entire weekend in Salzburg, half of the time by myself. It was so relaxing and exactly what I needed after the physically and emotionally exhausting week we just had. The city itself is extremely beautiful since it is completely surrounded by the mountains. The hostel we stayed at had the most amazing view of the old town. We found this small place that is really more of a restaurant but they had some rooms upstairs for cheap and with free breakfast. It was up on one of the mountains so we had to take an elevator ride just to get up to it. It was just amazing to be there. Walking around the city was so cool because they have so many churches and old buildings and cool looking things that I just spent the two days I was there walking around. There was some great shopping though so the city of Salzburg definitely got some of my money. What was really awesome at night though was that the Salzburg music festival was still going on so I could hang out in my room with the window open or sit out at one of the tables outside and drink a beer while listening to some of the music that was going on. Like I said, the whole weekend was really relaxing. I got to meet some fun people too. The second night I was there, I shared my room with a group of girls who were all interns in Bonn but spending the weekend in Austria. One of the girls was alot of fun to talk to though because she was a foreign exchange student in Texas for a year. She is originally from Ukraine but she just kept telling me how much she missed Texas, which I found really interesting. Anyway, so I got back to Dusseldorf after a ridiculously long train ride but was still relaxed from my time in the mountains. That next day was our trip to Bonn and the federal ministry. I'm pretty sure that none of us really could say we enjoyed our time there. I felt like some of the information that was presented was interesting. I'm actually going to hang on to a couple of the brochures we were given with the statistics of land use and agriculture in Germany, but once we started discussing legislation and other bureaucratic issues I could not follow anymore. This is probably because I don't have any idea how our legislation is passed between federal ministries and other authorities in the United States, so trying to figure it out with the German government was just too much. The museum on anaesthesiology was a good way to end the day though. I thought our tour guide was so cute because he was just so excited to talk about his museum and his collection. I felt bad that we were trying to rush him but unfortunately thats the way it went. He really did have some cool stuff in there, more than I would have ever thought about. I'm glad we got to see it, I guess we just need to plan it for a different time or something next time.
The rhine tour was pretty nice as well. I love the water so I stayed up top and felt the wind blowing and enjoyed the whole thing. We also got some cool shots of a bunch of the small towns along the river which were fun to see. The castle was really cool. The fact that they keep it so well preserved and even make people where the slippers to help with the preservation was really neat. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable so I'm glad we had her. She was also very proud of what she was presenting so it helped make the experience more enjoyable.

Dachau

With a respectful silence that wiped over the group when we first saw the entrance gate, we looked at one another for courage and stepped slowly into Dachau Concentration Camp. Though it is impossible to comprehend the magnitude of terror and saddness experienced during the Nazi period, I felt closer to understanding than any text book or lecture could ever bring me. "Work will set you free" claimed the entrance gate. It's beyond me to gain understanding of how parts of an entire country could have ideas like those so engraved in their minds that over time they began to make perfect sense. The part of the morning that was most appalling was walking into the crematorium. My chest froze and I lost breath when we entered the waiting room. I pictured the crowds of men and women whispering their eagerness to finally have the opportunity to take a decent shower. With toiled feet and dirt and blood stains like patchwork over their clothing, they anticipated their shower. Each subsequent room seemed darker and more gray. Then we entered the last room with several ovens lined along the center. My heart sank and I was so deeply touched that the cold, empty walls almost seemed to whisper as I imagined the thousands of undeserving bodies across Germany in the different concentration camps inhumanely piled on the now rusted metal slabs that slid into the ovens. It seemed that we had just witnessed the world's cruelest crime when we left the camp. The whole experience stirred thoughts about human and animal experimentation and what results of the medical experimentation are appropriate to be released if any, though nothing about the whole period could be in the slightest bit appropriate.

Recharged for Berlin

After a long relaxing weekend, I am ready for Berlin. Berlin is the place I most wanted to visit since the beginning of the trip. I have heard that there is so much to do and see and I cannot wait. I am feeling a tad bit tired at the end stretch of the trip, but I will use my reserves and be active in Berlin. I would not forgive myself if I let this oppurtunity pass me. I am most excited to see the Berlin Wall. For four decades this wall separated the East and West. I cannot even imagine how this must of been for a growing Germany. To be a top notch nation and still have a dividing wall in the middle of its biggest city. It must of been like the elephant in the room for a long time. Everybody knew it was there, but did not and could not do anything about it. Well now it is down for about 20 years so I get to see the results of this major event in German history. I also get to ride a bike in Berlin. That will be totally gnarly. I will get to be 10 again and bust out some bunny hops. I am fully rested for Berlin and fully excited.

Bad Oeynhausen

Last Friday was my favorite excursion thus far of the trip! We went to the Heart and Diabetes Center for the whole day. We started with an orientation/video of the core focuses of the center. I thought the tele-medicine program was very neat. I wonder if there are programs like those in the US? They probably would not be covered my insurance of course. Then came the best part of the day: open heart surgery! Madeline and I got to see the beginning of a mitral valve replacement and bypass. The surgical tech led us into the room and told us where to sit. It was fascinating watching them set up the operating room for the surgery. The tech and the nurses had a system for setting everything up while keeping the room sterile. It was such second nature for them. I had never realized how much equipment was used for surgery, or how many plastic and paper packages were thrown out. The equipment for the lung machine and the heart machine was incredible, so intricate and complicated I was somewhat afraid to go near it. Most of our observation was of the set up of the room and the patient. We could somewhat see the chest being opened up. I was too nervous to ask if we could move to see more since we had been told were to stand in a certain spot. But later the anaesthesiologist waved us over. We got to stand on the platform to see straight down to the surgery. It was amazing. You could see the lungs breathing and the hear beating. There was not very much fat, which was nice. The doctor opened up the atrium and placed a tube inside. Then something interesting happened. Madeline turned to me and said she needed to sit down. As soon as she said that she started leaning on me. I thought she needed help off the platform, but then she went dead weight and fell away from me. She fell, hitting her back and her head. It scared the crap out of me. I was really nervous she had hit her head bad. The nurses helped me pull her back up on the platform, elevating her feet and checking her pulse and pupils. I was so glad they were there. We left and went to the doctors lounge to sit for a little and have some water. I was so glad she was okay. I had not even thought to expect something like that to happen. It was so lucky she wasn't badly hurt. We met up with the group for another cafeteria lunch that was pretty good. We had a tour of the ICU and met three transplant patients. It tore my heart up to hear about the 30 year old who, even though he had a healthy life style, was bedridden for a year. It was incredible how much his health had improved only two days after his transplant. It was sad to see the next patient, who was still bedridden waiting for a transplant. He looked exhausted. The third patient was up and walking about with his new internal heart pump. It was nice that he was able to live his life again for the most part until he could get a transfer. My grandfather had a triple bypass when I was six. I had never thought about the surgery until the tour. It was such a miracle everything went well in the surgery and that his heart is still healthy. He can do everything a normal person can do. The heart is such an amazing organ. Then we went to the MRI department and learned the basics of the MRI. He took us to see the machine and showed us how powerful the magnet was. He placed a metal sheet inside the tube and had us try to move it. It shocked me the resistance I had to overcome to pull the sheet out, and when I got near the machine, my ears started turning up because of my earrings. It was really funny. Then he attached a hanger to a string and let it get sucked through the machine. It was so neat to actually see the magnetic power instead of just a picture of the machine. It was an amazing day! I'm so glad I got to see another surgery! I really love surgery, but I don't think I could do it as a profession because of the lifestyle. Man what a day!

July 17th and 18th

Watching a tiny lung gradually develop and bring life into another by positive pressure filling every tiny sac in the lung is one of the most miraculous medical events I have ever witnessed. It was truly a reminder of why I am in this field. The discussion of German medical practice enlightened the group on what is really working, what has worked, and what is being changed. My conclusions were that absolutely no system can please society as a whole, but learning the differences between what works for who and adopting those successful ideals is the key to bringing nations as close as possible to developing an effective system. That day altogether was an experience I undoubtedly will not forget but will be able to apply to my own future in research, medicine, and politics as the lines between them continue to diminish.
The day at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne was also quite interesting, allowing us to see medicine from a different angle. Their focus seemed to be allowing for longer flight duration made possible someday by human centrifugation to develop microgravity and so forth, which was the coolest part of the day. If they can sustain human conditions from physical health to the human psyche as close to normal as possible, they will be one step closer to sending a group to Mars. It was outstanding how they had a multitude of different specialists right there in their facility, which reflected the efficiency and precision in every step of their research. Their innovative new techniques inspired me and I realized how many different things you can do in medicine. I have entered into a field of neverending possibilities and one in which you never stop learning. That excites me more than anything.

Rhine Excursion

So I have gotten a little behing in blogging with all of the adventures going on, so time to catch up. Last week we went on a Rhine Excursion! It was an amazing day! I was a little bummed out it rained during our boat ride, but it was nice to just sit and relax. And it was still beautiful outside. I love the countryside here. Then we toured Stolsenfels Castle. It was on the small scale for castles, but it was still really neat! I loved the room with all the suits of armor and weapons. I had not seen anything yet from the medieval times. It was also very intersting to learn of the contributions the owners had made to the construction of the Cologne Cathedral, having already toured it. The sugar model was an incredible replica. After we went to Ahrweiler Winzerverein for winetasting. That was by far my favorite part of the day! I had never been to a winetasting, and I loved it! Going down into the cellar where all the wine was kept was really neat, and getting to learn more about wine (especially since I pretty much know nothing about it) was a lot of fun. I actually really liked the medium red wine, which is a first for me. I generally only like the whites. I bought some more wine to take home. I'm really hoping all the bottles make it back okay. The food at the winetasting was really good too! The lady was very helpful in teaching us about winetasting in general. It was nice to learn something a little different than medicine or history. Overall, it was a wonderful day!

Heart Surgery and Hamburger... not to be confused with the American favorite and Ritterfest

Bad Oeynhausen was awesome! My face was less than two feet away from a man's heart!  It definitely up there on my list of coolest things I've seen since I've been here.  I liked being able to see them prep our patient for surgery as well.  I saw an open heart surgery my junior year in high school for my AP biology course in Houston, but we didn't get to see how everything was prepared.  Our anesthesiologist at Bad Oeynhausen was very helpful as she explained all the machines that she was monitoring and it was awesome to apply what I've learned in physiology!  That Wiggers diagram!    The entire aortic valve replacement surgery was a complete experience, we got to be right there as they cut him open and you could smell everything.  Me and Drew could see absolutely everything from hooking up our patients heart to the heart machine, stopping his heart, and seeing the surgeon cut out his aortic valve.  And the entire time my tummy was rumbling cause I was sooo hungry.   I guess that's a good sign I may be in the right field if I can think about food while there is heart surgery going on right in front of me?  We also got the opportunity to visit transplant patients and it was a great feeling to see them doing so well.  It was very touching to hear them say they were given the gift of life again. :)

After our tour of the heart and diabetes center, Susan and I caught a bus to the Hauptbahnhof... very different.  Bad Oeynhausen is definitely a small city.  There were two platforms.. and that was it.  Our train ride to Hannover, our connection was gosh awful.  All the wagons didn't have air... I was sweating bullets.  The train ride was only one hour but it was one miserable one at that.  When we caught our train in Hannover to Hamburg, we jumped on any wagon, and guess what? no air, bleh!  So Susan and I kept moving down multiple wagons until we found one that was quite empty and amazingly cooler than any other wagon- jack pot!  When we arrived in Hamburg we met up with Susan's host brother's girlfriend, Catherine.  We got off the subway at Jungfernstieg and when we walked up the city took my breath away.  This was by far the prettiest place I've been to in Germany.  We were surrounded by water and white bridges and an incredible amount of swans in this little lake.  While Susan was trying to find Catherine, I sat on the steps near this lake and watched a man near me feed these beautiful swans while I took many pictures.  The city was illuminated- beautiful!  We finally found Catherine, or I should say they found me taking pictures of everything... and we went to dinner at a restaurant on the river.  After wards we went to the harbor and got to see huge cruise ships.  Susan and I got lucky because this weekend was cruise days 2008 and all the cruise ships were in the harbor.  I loved how they all lit up, so once again I was taking a ton of pictures.  The next morning we woke up at a very decent hour and headed to the harbor for breakfast and a harbor tour.  Then it was time for lunch!  We had really good fish and chips with homeade tartar sauce, strawberries with champagne, and delicious crepes.  Then headed back home later that afternoon.  All in all it was a very good day.  

Saturday our host family took us to Ritterfest in a town about 20mins from here.  We got to see another castle, eat delicious food again, and see a lot of medieval things.  My favorite was getting to buy my crepe for 2.50 with exactly 2.50 euros in change.  It was definitely meant to be.

I've really enjoyed this trip.  I feel that I would not have gotten the same experience if I was not living with a host family.  I'm not one to leave my comfort zone like I've said in a past post, and I think putting me with a host family made this trip much more memorable and helped me come out of my comfort zone.  I am really going to miss them.  I am flying Lufthansa and since they were on strike last week my host family keeps telling me that maybe it will happen again so that I can stay with them a little longer...  I would love to but I miss home.

Catching up...Paris

An eventful but hectic weekend in Paris turned sour on the train ride home. I was riding alone since I had no eurail pass and I was interrogated for the first time in my life, probably one of the two most terrifying moments in my life...both being on this trip. Dressed in suit of no real uniformity, they came all at once, all three stern faces glaring down at both of us shining their badges from thin black leather cases. "You travel together?...Why you here?" they forcefully asked. The men demanded it was in my best interest to hurry and pull out my ticket and passport. Before I could ask why, they snatched it from me and already were pulling the girl next to be by the arm to take her in the back to search her. Now empty handed, my heart pounded...was I next? One man stayed by my seat to make sure i didn't do anything of suspicion and snapped quesions at me right and left, trying to intimidate me. He asked where I was heading, why, for how long, who I was with on each of these days and so forth before the other men returned. They pulled me up by the arm to search me the same as they did her but told me to leave my things, which seemed a little odd. All they asked in regards to them was if they contained anything of interest like cigarettes, alcohol, or an amount over ten thousand euros...but they didn't ask for weapons?? They brought me back and tossed my passport on the seat next to the German lady and walked away to the next cabin as everyone in the train eyed them, whispering back and forth. I realized all of the sudden how terrifying it really is to not know your rights in another country...to not know what personal boundaries they can cross without resistance and who has the authority to do that. I felt more vulnerable than I ever have...if anything opens your eyes yet makes me appreciate the rights I have in America, it's traveling. We must never take for granted the advantage of those rights, safety, and opportunity given to us every day in America. Even the ability to trust that we can recognize out law enforcement and utilize our rights if they are imposed upon. I have always formed my political views based on what I thought to be right or wrong but traveling is broadening my perspective of the "why" I think those views are right or wrong.

Bad Oeynhausen

Bad Oeynhausen on Friday was by FAR the coolest thing we've done so far.  I loved going to the vet school the second week, but the Heart and Diabetes center totally trumped it because now I can say I've seen open-heart surgery.  SOOO awesome!  Dr. Mirow, the surgeon in our room, was really great about explaining everything that he was doing to our patient who he lovingly referred to as the "Walrus".  I guess I never really thought about replacing a coronary vessel with a saphenous vein, so I was really intrigued by the whole procedure.  It was interesting to see the differences between human and animal surgery, like how they sterilize the ENTIRE body for human surgery and have a table the size of Rhode Island full of instruments.  Susan and I got to stand basically right above the patient's open chest and had a view almost as good as the surgeon's...I can't imagine that visitors would get to be that close in the states.  The hardest part of the surgery for me to watch was when they were using a metal crank to spread his ribs.  It kind of made my chest cavity sore.

After lunch we toured their ICU and MRI facilities, which I also really enjoyed.  I liked being able to see and talk to the patients who had received or were awaiting transplants.  I totally didn't expect heart transplant patients to bounce back as quickly as the one patient we saw.  I wonder what its like for other types of organ recipients.  All of our guides that day were awesome--they explained everything in detail, showed us everything they could, and spoke amazing English to boot!  Playing with the MRI machine was fun.  Whenever we walked close to the magnetic field it pulled any form of cheap jewelry toward it--Christine and my ears pulled forward because of our earrings.  It was probably the weirdest my ears have ever felt.

This part of the program was the best so far, and I totally think it should happen every single time students come!

Passing out...

So I fainted for the first time in my life while we were observing surgeries last week...that was interesting. I think it was my ponytail that saved my head. Right after all this blood came out that I wasn't expecting, I got this really weird feeling of all the blood draining from my upper body. I turned to Christine and said that I was going to go sit down. That was the last thing I remembered. Apparently, right after I said that, I fell backwards, hit my back on the edge of the platform, and then hit my head on the ground. Thankfully, I guess I didn't hit it too hard, but I definitely felt light-headed the rest of the day. I have observed surgeries before, so I don't know what my problem was...hopefully this won't be a reoccurring thing!

So this weekend was really relaxing! I staying in Dusseldorf and got to write my paper without being in a rush, take a long run, eat whenever I wanted and then Friday night we went to the Beer Fest that was in Benrath. It was really fun! We got to try a lot of beers and then we headed out to Altstadt. And of course I went home "too early" because Germans are crazy and stay out until 6am! I can't do that! Not if I want to be mildly functioning the next day! So on Saturday, Susan and I just went to Altstadt and bought some souvenirs and just took it easy. Relaxing here is a little different from relaxing at home. At home, would either lay on my couch or bed and watch TV or read a book. Well...there is no couch at my host house, and I don't have a book to read...sooo relaxing composed of sleeping this weekend. Oh well! I think I'm caught up for now!

On Sunday I went to Koln for mass at the Cathedral. It was like the mass at Notre Dame. Both of those masses did everything that we do at home, so that makes me think we're doing something right! I really have enjoyed experiencing all the different masses like I said before, and I am proud that I have made it to mass every Sunday. I told myself I really wanted to, but I didn't know if it was going to work with my schedule! And it did! Whoop! I kind of wish I had gone somewhere more exciting this weekend, but I know that I will be back to Europe in the future, so I'll just have to keep a list of places I want to go! We just started our last week! I am sad that the trip is coming to an end but I am excited about going home! There are just some things that I miss about home that will be nice to have again (like ice...)! So tonight is our last night in our host family's house. I think we are doing something bigger for dinner...we shall see! Then off to Berlin! Whoop!

Final Days in D-stadt

I began to pack last night, but couldn't finish because I was just making myself feel sad. I've still got a week in Germany but it feels like just a matter of hours before I'm taken back home. I say taken because if I had the money and time to spare, I would stay. I think just about everybody loves visiting Europe, but I feel compelled to stay. The U.S. is great, but there's something about the history you can find around EVERY corner here that keeps me forever interested.

I also feel like a better world citizen over here. I don't think it's necessarily America's fault for being so detached. We're only really bordering two other countries, and the cultures that most resemble ours are an ocean away; I guess most places in general are. I've been watching a little of the German news which I hardly understand. It's remarkably identical in style and format to ours back home. The difference is that when things are happening in other countries, many of them are just a train ride away. I've been away from news outlets over here just because I'm busy, but I still feel more connected, and I like it.

The Last Weekend

Before I begin let me say, Jon and I are not boring people. We like to go out every now and then and have a little fun. However for this our long and final weekend of the trip, we choose to play is cool and have a chilled weekend in Dusseldorf. So much traveling around the country on buses and trains will make a person dread going anywhere and when program fees aren’t paying for hotel rooms, they get rather expensive. Plus we had heard of some fun things happening in Dusseldorf during this weekend.
So because of the long weekend, we had Friday free and we decided to hit up the beer fest in town. This place was awesome; maybe a little bit too awesome. Beer stand after beer stand from across the country lined the street and people were flocking to the scene by the train load. After closing down the beer fest, we hit up Aldstadt. Finally we all got tired and decided to head home. Now it was late and many trains had stopped running. So I took the advice of a local guy and got on what I thought was the right train. Several stops later and almost out of Dusseldorf I was advised by another local guy to get off the train and take another one back to the main station. After some deep late night thought, I made the decision to walk home from where I got off the train. 1 and a half hours later and 4:30 in the morning I made it home. My lesson: do not take trains you do not know where they go, and do not decide to walk home if you do not know where you are. That’s all I have to say about that.
After sleeping in on Saturday morning, Jon and I hit up the local wine festival in town. Jon informed the wine was good, however my stomach and liver choose not to partake. The rest of the weekend was spent pretty chill walking around Dusseldorf and eating like kings at our host family’s house. You know, that’s how we roll.
Jordan “Juice”

"I think something just broke"

This one was a pretty good week. It's hard to justify any one week being "the best", but I'd say this one was on par with the others. The Food and Drug Ministry was interesting, as far as seeing how Germany controls and runs the different regulations and policies. I'm not going to lie though, I was excited when lunch came around since we had found a place that had 1.50 döners last time we were in Bonn. It was great. The Rhine tour was also great, I was a little disappointed with the boat though. It seems that up to this point we hadn't really done touristy things in the traditional sense, and while it was a very nice boat and I had a great time, the number of tourists on the boat bothered me just a little. And yes, Ashley was being "emo" by standing out in the rain on the boat. The Castle was also great, Europe seems to be all about ornate-ness as far as buildings and especially churches go, and this places was no exception. It wouldve been amazing to live there back in the day. The wine tasting, of course, was a delight, even though I prefer white wine. Thursday was a day to remember, I had never seen a surgery before, let alone an open heart surgery. I was amazed at how rough it seems the surgeons were with the patient's body, maybe its just from their experience but I would've been a little more delicate with a 78 year old woman's body that had already gone though a valve replacement.

This weekend was great as well, Pete, Sharon, Ashley and I just took the weekend off and picked a tiny town along the Mosel river to just chill all weekend. We had nothing planned except for the B&B we stayed at, which was a nice old couple's house on the edge of the main drag with a great view off the terrace of the surrounding hills with vineyards and the river. Friday night we had a great dinner, a bunch of wine, and walked 4 kilometers to the next town to a wine festival where we saw a german oompah band and some fireworks above the vineyards. Ashley and Sharon were scared walking back to our town in the dark along the river, but by this time I had had enough wine to feel for the most part invincible, so me and Pete werent worried at all.

Saturday we schlepped around until we found a random spot along the river where there was no one around, and just layed around all afternoon. I am amazed at how many good skipping rocks Germany has, one rock I swear got at least 20 skips. That night we found a really good Italian place, picked up Pete's phone that he left at the restaurant the night before, a couple wine bars (literally a bar in the town square where they only serve wine from the major winery in town, Schwarze Katz), and headed back to terrace at the B&B to chill. Thus far we had been the only people to stay here, so we made ourselves at home with our bottles of wine and a game of scrabble we found. It was getting pretty windy, and all of a sudden we heard a door slam and the crash of glass. We were about to go back to our game when the landlady (Frau Gertrude) came up and told us to come down. Since we figured it was something we probably did, we sent Sharon and Ashley since (and this is a known fact) girls get better treatment in foreign countries. It turns out we were getting sort of blamed for the breakfast room door slamming because of the open windows and breaking the glass within it. They said it was the most terrifying experience of their lives being yelled at in German by an old German lady. It might've also been the fact that it was almost midnight and four American exchange students were on their terrace drinking wine and being a little loud. Either way it all turned out and we didn't have to pay for it, but it was still an experience nonetheless. The ride home was uneventful, and I am really looking forward to Berlin. This is also a huge post, sorry.

Heart Surgery to Scrabble on a Zell Terrace

Right off the bat, the heart surgery we saw last week was the best learning experience I have had this entire trip. To actually see a chest being split open and a beating human heart was quite the DELIGHT. I had never seen a surgery of that scale and it was extremely enlightening into the world of a surgeon. First off, they appear as gods to me. Their long flowing scrubs and completely covered faces make them untouchable. There was always a nurse or assistant to dress them, hand them their tools, put on their gloves, or give them a high five being so awesome. The surgeons were definitely the rockstar of the operating room. They did not even flinch while sawing through the sternum and blood splattering onto their glasses. It must be their war paint. I love how they have the most intense job, but seem to think nothing of it and were able to chat and answer questions from us. I am looking forward to watching future surgeries now and corrupting my mind with the medical gore. I could get used to being a surgeon.

This weekend was absolutely relaxing. To start, Sharon and I got tricked into going to Zell, but it turned out to be quite all right. We all had a jolly time. So we had a small group of 4 with us which was less hectic and more chill. Zell seems to be a haven for creepy old people who love to eat and drink wine and go to bed by 8. We kind of disrupted their lifestyle. The hotel/house we stayed at was ran by a peeping tom old man and crazy laughing woman. They were hilarious. The old man would sit on the terrace with his binoculars and watch us swim in the Mosel river while the old lady would refuse to make the girls coffee and laugh hysterically instead. The first night we saw fireworks at a wine festival in a neighboring town. I fulfilled my dream of seeing a traditional German band. I also mistakenly walked into the girl's restroom. That was quite awkward to say the least.

Saturday we laid by the river all day and had lunch and listened to music. It was very relaxing because we all wanted to forget about our papers for a while. That night we sat on the terrace with the local wine. We ended up playing "special" scrabble. Sharon turned out to be the best and we all learned a lot from the master. During our thrilling scrabble run, a mighty gust swept through our house and a loud crash ensued. This was followed by loud German yelling and the old lady and taking Sharon and Ashley downstairs. It turned out the wind had slammed shut a glass door and broken it. The lady blamed it on the Americans of course and the girls got yelled at in German. There is always a first for everything I suppose. The physics were totally off and it was in no way our fault. After that ruckus, we continued to play scrabble and have pleasant conversations. The next morning the old lady had a epiphany and figured out it was impossible that we were the cause of the shattered door. It was a hoot.

Favorite Week Yet

So this week started off kinda slowly. The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection wasn't very interesting to me. That could have just been me, but I had a hard time getting into the conversation. Talking about policies and rules for the food industry just didn't do it for me I guess.

But then Tuesday it picked up quite a bit! That was our Rhine Tour on the boat and then wine tasting. And let me tell you, that was a great day. It was raining, but not that badly really, so I just stood out on the deck (being emo according to Allen....) and watched the little towns go by. There was lightning going on just over the hill so every once in a while I would get to see lightning over the hills with vineyards covering them, and the river... it was gorgeous. Then we went to our wine tasting, which was awesome as always. It was a really nice place we went to. And the wine was really good. So that was a good day.

Wednesday was class and working on our paper all day, so nothing to really write home about. It was an interesting conversation during the class though dealing with ethics. It's interesting to hear different people's take on different situations and how different some people are from my own opinions.

Thursday we went to Bad Oeynehausen to the Heart and Diabetes Center which was amazing. Sharon and I were in a mitral valve replacement, and got to see pretty much all of it. We walked in while they were still getting the woman preped. So we got to see them crack the chest, which was amazing. I've never seen that before, so it was awesome. (That sounds sick when I write that... I guess I know I'm in the right field. Also because both Sharon and I were starving during the surgery and could have easily eaten something while watching...) But it was awesome to see them crack the chest, and then they got to the heart. They put her on bipass and replaced the valve. We had to leave as they had just finished putting the valve in and were getting ready to sew up the heart and take the woman off bipass. It really was awesome. It will be something I will remember for the rest of my life. Seeing an open heart surgery in Germany... how many people get to have that experience?

This weekend we (Sharon, Peter, Allen and I) went to a tiny town on the Mosel river in the wine country. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing, which is exactly what we wanted. There is a funny story, but I feel that Allen and Peter can do it so much more justice than I can, so I will let them tell it. But we got to see fireworks over the vineyards after a wine festival in the next town and we swam in the river... and napped... a lot. it was perfect.

I can't believe it's almost over though! Tomorrow starts our last week of the class! It's crazy to think I have only about 8-9 days left here and I started with more than 40!!! I have no idea where the time went, all I know is it's been a blast. I have a bitter sweet feeling about going home. I miss my family and friends, but I have had such an amazing time here and I'm not sure if I really want that to be over. It will be interesting to go back home, back into that culture.

It's my Prague-ative

This weekend we took a night train to Prague. It was undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my life. I felt almost like camping, only there were strangers in my tent. I wasn't really affected by the horror stories, and I had friends in my car, so I could focus on the trip and not worry so much about the shady middle-aged man above me. In a previous time I would have been very uncomfortable in such confined spaces with so many people, but this trip has helped me tremendously in that regard. Now I relish the opportunity to meet new and interesting people.

This weekend we made a new friend from Canada and spent the weekend sightseeing with her. She's been backpacking across Europe for a few months now and had arrived in prague before us so she showed us around. She's actually going to Berlin next week just when we are so we made plans to meet up again. I haven't been making any long term friends on my trip this far, so I'm excited to see her again. Her confidence that allows her to spend 3 months alone in foreign countries was inspiring. I hope to do something similar in my lifetime. I should have a year of free time between undergraduate and whatever else I do, so we'll see what happens.