Leaving Bonn, Gallbladder Surgery, Prague and New Years

Bonn was pretty amazing. It has a familiar feel for me, almost like Austin, not too big or small. I even found myself a little reluctant to leave for Berlin. Yea Berlin is a must see part of Germany, but Bonn carries such great experiences for me that it just makes it hard to leave. Bonn was a good warm up city to start in. I was able to get accustom to the trains and subways without having to struggle through any of the crowds and confusion of the bigger cities.

Seeing surgery was a definitely an awesome way to see just how reliable modern medicine really is. The surgery was an open cholecystectomy, where the surgeon removes the gallbladder through an incision in the abdomen, rather then laparscopically. The reason for the open cholecystectomy rather than the laparscopic one was that the doctors weren’t exactly what was causing the patient’s belly to swell. I must say it was a bizarre sight seeing a person’s stomach and intestines being moved around like they were nothing. At one point the patients stomach resting on her lower chest while the surgeon dug around in the cavity searching for puss. Seeing the hands of the doctor poke out from the inside of the belly, kinda like when you push your tongue against your check and it makes a bump, was something out of a horror movie. Another creepy aspect was the smell the cauterizing knife made as it burned its way through the tissue. Besides its normal gross smell, it has a much more repulsive element to it. It just so happened that Wasser had just spoke in his lecture about the smell of burning bodies coming from death camps, and how there is nothing like the smell of burning human flesh. But even though it may seem like I didn’t enjoy the surgery I did. Very much actually. Even though my dad was probably hoping that seeing a few surgeries would sway me closer to wanting to become a doctor, it still didn’t change much for me. It did however open my eyes up more to the just how important medical devices are. The design and application of the devices in medicine has always been where I wanted to go and seeing all the machines that keep the patients alive has only giving me more drive to head into that industry. I don’t mean to put down the doctors, but it seems that they are the ones that have the easier job when compared to the work and precision that some to the devices are doing.

This weekend was very unique. I didn’t know that to expect of Prague because I didn’t do much research on things to go see, I just planed on going with the flow and following the group around. It turns out that Prague is not only gorgeous but it also has a very attractive feel to it. It’s the quintessential old European city, but its web like narrow streets with their dark brick give it a really cool village atmosphere. That same atmosphere is magnified when your hanging around the old square. The clock tower and its magnificent clock face along with surrounding church and shops bring you back to a much older world. It’s a good thing I was with people who knew what to look for because if I had gone to Prague and missed the castle that overlook all of the city then I would have pretty much missed out on the entire trip. Just getting to it was amazing in itself. Climbing the steep hill through the beautiful history filled streets and just looking at what was around me is something that ill carry with me forever, or at least until I go back. At the top view was incredible. You can see all of Prague and just behind you is the baroque castle. While I walked through the castle I just kept thinking about how truly lucky some people are that they can have so much wealth and beauty in their lives. Whats funny is just after we had left the castle, as we were walking down the hill I found 50 euro. I was struck with a bit of my own luck. That last day there was about as perfect as I could have asked for. I was also lucky enough to go to mass, something I was hoping to do but afraid I wouldn’t get the chance for. It was called the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, and it was an absolutely beautiful baroque style church. I had never seen a black and gold color scheme inside before but it was really stunning. I also had never seen my breath during mass before, its something I never even fathomed coming from Texas and only going to churches that were built in the last 100 years. But all of it just added to the whole experience and makes it that much more memorable. Prague is most definitely something the next groups should take the time to go see.

New Years in Berlin was such a fun way to celebrate. The Brandenburg Gate with all the light shinning into the sky was such a great back drop, and the million-something people there made an awesome party atmosphere. But what was the real highlight of the whole night was David Hasselhoff. I was very surprised when he showed up on the stage and I think so were a lot of the people there. It was pretty funny to see all the Germans flip out when The Hoff came on, and I will admit I was a little excited too. There was one crappy part of the night though. I lost the babes I was talking to the whole night. Well I not lost, but ditched. I was a very difficult decision to make but it had to be done. I told them I would wait for them to go to the restroom, but while I was waiting I realized that my only way back to the hotel (the rest of the group) was not going to wait for me so I had to make a quick decision: wait for the girls and have an even more memorable night in Berlin but probably not ever make it home, or leave the ladies on the curb and not be lost in a foreign country. I guess I made the best choice, but I’ll never be totally sure.