The Week in a Nutshell

Alright so although this posting to the blog may have been posted a little bit later than acceptable, that doesn't discount the fact that we have had such an incredible week. We left Tuesday and headed to Bad Oeynhausen where we went to the Heart and Diabetes center. This was so neat becausee we were able to see some of the procedures that were being performed in the operating rooms. Next, we shipped it out to a fun-filled week in Hannover.

This part of the week was mostly centered around the veterinary medicine aspect of the trip, despite the fact that we did visit the medical school in Hannover (MHH) and take a tour of the nephrology department as well as some dialysis patients. I enjoyed this because of the devices and mechanical aspects that are needed to perform the necessary aspects of the patient care in the hospital. Now back to the vet med part, we toured a farm where we witnessed the Robo-milker at work, which was phenomenal haha. We also toured a center that housed three types of birds: chicken, turkey, and duck. Then we went to the TIHO and saw the medicinal aspects that we have covered previously in the human medicine portion applied to the animals, which was interesting. We saw a surgery to re-attach one of a cow's stomachs because it had been displaced, we saw x-rays of a cow with a torn ACL, we went through the reproduction department, and we literally palpated a cow. That was pretty out of control, and I was actually not going to participate until I saw that I would be one of the only people left out from this eye-opening experience. I thought that the TIHO was interesting because it brought my definition of medicine into a new light.

Finally, Friday was a very moving experience. We checked out of our hotel(which was a blast because we got to in close contact with the rest of the people in the program) and headed toward the former concentration camp named Bergen-Belsen. There was definitely a somber atomsphere at the camp because it brought to reality the horrible events that have taken place on the very ground on which we were walking. When we were walking by the mass graves and memorials I was wrapped with a chilling feeling as to what actually happened. It was hard for me to fathom how many victims there were in these types of atrocities. There were some videos in the exhibition hall that showed the prisoners of the concentration camp, and the way in which they were treated upset me.

After we finished the emotional walk through Bergen-Belsen, we headed back to the bus to start out second weekend trip which was to Prague. So far the weekend has been wonderful, and this is probably my favorite city thus far (apart from my newly found home in Bonn). But the weekend post is gonna be later.

P.S. I am writing my post next to Coral, and upon the much desired completion of her post there was some deletion of paragraphs...I am sorry for her in this traumatizing time.

Until next time,

Matt