We finally came back to Bonn and got to enjoy a nice four day stay in what has now become our home. Sleeping in my bed was the best feeling that I had been missing for over a week. The first day back in Bonn, regardless of the lack of sleep led to us to the hospital where we got to shadow a few doctors performing surgery. I was lucky in the fact I ended up with one of the most interesting surgeries which consisted of open heart surgery. The doctor began with opening up the chest of the patient and while he began to open up his thoracic cavity another doctor began to remove the saphenous vein from the man’s leg. The doctor then began to dissect part of the heart and removed an internal thoracic artery and basically burned the artery to prevent it from sending blood. They then shocked the heart and it began to spasm. They soon stopped the heart completely and attached it to a machine that manually pumped the blood out of the body, oxygenated it and pumped it back into the body. The doctor worked very efficiently and within a few moments, they had started working on the heart arteries. After three hours we left and checked out other surgeries. We got to see things from a gall bladder removal to an infected foot. Once it was about 2 pm, the last of us decided to finally head home where I then napped and then headed to another host families house for dinner. There we ended up staying up super late just talking and sharing stories. The next day we had German class and then neuroscience where we learned about how the ear anatomy receives sound. We then headed to an organ shop where we got to learn how organ makers start with raw materials to make huge multimillion dollar instruments. The craftsmanship that goes into every single step of making the organ was absolutely amazing, it was kinda similar to heart surgery in the fact that every step is very precise. The next day we had a class over the history of medicine where we got to learn more about the history of anesthesia. As a whole class, we then went to the museum of anesthesia where we got to meet the nicest old man who managed the museum and had personally collected all the artifacts in the building. We then were given a personal tour by Professor Wasser and got to see how the use of anesthesia has changed over time. The next day we woke up very early and headed to the bus station where we spent the next two hours passed out on our way to visit the Bingen. There we got to go to the Hildegarde Museum where we finally got to see in person everything that Hildegarde did in her time as a nun. We further went to the garden afterward and went on a scavenger hunt for various plants she used as medication. We then got lunch and got on a boat tour of the Rhine. It was such nice weather out and the amazing castles along the Rhine were amazing. We then stopped at one point and hiked up to the top of the castle where we preceded to take a tour. The tour was so interesting and I felt that I was in a Game of Thrones episode the whole time. We got to see the armory room, torture room, and master bedroom in the castle and then ended up back on the bus where we all once again passed out.
Afterward I headed back home and packed my bag for my trip to Switzerland. Fast forwards to 4 am, I woke up and ran to the train station and made it smoothly onto the plane from Cologne to Zurich. I have no recollection of taking off or landing because the second I sat down I fell asleep. We then boarded our train and once again I passed out. Finally, we got on our final train and the scenery was incredible. By 11 o clock, we were in Interlake and pictures do not do it justice. The water was crystal blue and the mountains are breathtaking. We checked into our hostel and then headed to a lift up to a lookout that had an incline of what seemed like 90 degrees. We then got up to the top and had traditional beer and food from Switzerland and spent a few hours overlooking the gorgeous lakes and mountains. It was supposed to thunderstorm the whole time but it only rained a few times. Later we headed to a bar where we ended up just talking for hours and then headed to a dinner place where we also spent most of our time just talking. We eventually went to bed but I was woken up to people trying to get into our room so I immediately thought we were being robbed and grabbed my Aggie ring. After a restless night, we all woke up checked out of the hostel and headed to go souvenir shopping. We all ended up getting chocolate and a lot of people got swiss knives. A few of us then headed to the lake edge to see the lake in its entirety and wow it was amazing. Now we are finally headed back but to our luck almost, every train has been delayed or dismembered or something due to the technical difficulties. Thank goodness we left early but once again the transportation system here either hates me or it just isn’t good at all.
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