Well it seems like so so much happens in just the span of a few days but it really is true. Yesterday we went on a Rhein cruise and then ate lunch at a restaurant along the Rhein, went to the Marksburg Castle, and finally did a wine tasting before coming back to dusseldorf on the train. So yesterday was really great and relaxing and different than everything else we've been doing so far. And that's what I like about our program, that its so varied and we get to see such a wide variety of things....Monday we went to the animal research farm and then tuesday was the Heart and Diabetes Center which was really interesting. I saw the very end of a valve replacement and it was really cool to get to see the actual valve they took out! I also enjoyed seeing how surgery and medicine is approached in another country....it's interesting because if you ask a doctor in America a question about something and then ask a doctor in another country like Germany a question you can get a completely different answer...I heard alot about the different approaches to treating stenosis at hermann hospital in houston this summer and then i heard about it again here at the Heart and Diabetes Center and so i thought that was a great opportunity to even get a chance to compare how medicine is practiced and approached in two different countries.
As we've been in Dusseldorf almost two weeks, I really feel like I'm adapting to it so much more. Public transportation is so normal now, whereas back home I only drive my car. I thought I'd always be so confused with train times and tram times and finding the right one to get on and that i'd be so lost but it's really getting easier and easier. Also, Ive gotten alot more used to my host family. At first it was more awkward, and not because of them or anything, but we'd never met them and then we were all the sudden staying in their home...but its turned out to be really great and we are still getting used to how they do things which can be different than how we do them at home, but its a good cultural experience!