Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. This was our Thursday morning.
It was entirely overcast, and it was raining when we left the hotel that morning. It was fitting though. As we got off the train that took us to the concentration camp site and were walking to the camp, we walked past one of the memorials that commemorated one of the Nazi death marches. It was haunting. The town we were in was so small and unassuming; you would never guess that a death march had taken place there. It was weird walking into Sachsenhausen too, knowing that this had been a place of torture and medical experimentation during WWII. It was kind of sick. The front gate is in the middle of the biggest guard tower in the camp, which is called "Tower A." The crematorium is named "Station Z." It was the Nazi's way of saying that there was no leaving the camp until you were turned to ash. We toured the camp and saw the barracks where the prisoners had been kept. We also saw the remains of the foundation of the crematorium and its surrounding rooms. What I found weird about it all was that it was so quiet there. It sounds dumb, I know, but it was like this weird feeling that people had been silenced there. It's really hard to explain.
That afternoon, after our 17 minute lunch break (10 minutes of which was spent standing in line at Burger King), we visited the Charite Museum, which had a very impressive collection of human organ specimens and medical tools. Our tour guide's name was Tom, and he was quite the character. He literally freaked out when someone responded to his question as to whether or not we were medical students by saying, "yes sir!" He was like, "No!! Don't call me sir! Don't use sir! Just call me Tom!" Interesting little difference between Europe and Texas.
He was a great tour guide though. We learned about how bladder stones were originally removed, how amputations were originally cauterized, and got to see tons of preserved organs; some of which were pathologic and particularly nasty to look at.
Friday was sweet. We left the hotel early, said goodbye to Berlin, and hopped on the train that was bound for Duderstadt. Once there we took a bus to Gottingen, a small German town which happens to be the main headquarters for a medical device company called Otto Bock. We toured their facilities, and I was blown away. We had an excellent tour guide who showed us most of the rooms where the medical devices are actually made, and we got to see the devices being fabricated right there before our eyes. It was seriously cool. Oh and did I mention that Otto Bock provided us with a delicious lunch that included unlimited soft drinks on tap? In their super trendy employees lounge? Yeah, they did. After the tour of the facilities, we had a brief presentation about the history of the company, and then went on to see their showroom, which was awesome. They had all their products on display with tons of different mannequins, with touch screens by each one giving info about that product. Their most famous is the C-Leg. (See the C-Leg on Wikipedia Scroll about a quarter of the way down.) It was awesome to learn about such a device, seeing as I am a biomedical engineer interested in prosthetics.
After the tour, we shifted gears and began thinking about what we were going to do that weekend, seeing as it was our second free weekend of travel, and my group had decided to go to Munich. We arrived at the Munich Hauptbanhof (which means "Main Station" for all you non-German speakers) and found our hostel very easily. It turned out to be an improvement over the last hostel, as it was run more professionally and none of our reservations had been lost.
Saturday was amazing. We got up early and after a two hour train ride, we arrived in Fussen, home of the Neuschwanstein castle. The walk up to the castle was really nice, but the tour was shorter and less informative than I had hoped. The castle was still beautiful though, especially as the sky began to clear out and the sun began to light up everything. I could easily understand why the castle had been built where it is. After the ride back to Munich, we searched for the open air market, but unfortunately didn't find it until just after it had closed. We made a quick stop by the Hofbrauhaus to see if we could get a drink before dinner, but it was jammed packed. We had dinner at the Augustiner, which was some of the most amazing food (and beer) I've had on the whole trip. Sunday morning was leisurely, and we had decided to go to the Hofbrauhaus for lunch. One thing about the Hofbrauhaus (besides the fact that it is over 400 years old) is that is located in Bavaria, one of the only places in Germany where they serve beer by the liter. I really don't know if I could drink more than that. After one liter of Haufbrau dunkel, I was stuffed. And I had to use the restroom for the rest of the day.
That night, we took a train to Hannover to meet back up with the rest of the group and begin the last week of program activities. Today (Monday) was interesting. The doctor that we were supposed to meet with had to be away due to a family emergency. So the hospital we were at gave us a conference room to wait in, which we did for about an hour. Afterwards, one of the other doctors came in and lectured/discussed about the differences between the German and American medical systems and the pros and cons of each. I found it to be very interesting, as the topic has recently been very hot in America, and also because it is such a tricky and delicate issue that will most likely never be solved to everyone's satisfaction.
This afternoon, we toured the TiHo cattle clinic in Hannover and got to see the operating rooms for the cattle, the tipping tables which are used to tip a cow on its side in order to restrain it and make operating easier, and the ICU units for the baby cows. Even though I am not a veterinary student, I found it to be pretty cool.
And that brings me up to now. Got to get up early tomorrow. Check back soon!
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