From Virchow to Alternative Medicine

This blog is to describe the interesting lecture series that we have had from Dr. Wasser. He has a very special way of conveying the message about the history of medicine in Europe. Our next lecture, as in lecture 3, came after an interesting visit to the Charité Pathology Institute (Pathologisches Institut) founded by none other than Rudolph Virchow, father of modern cell pathology.

Our day began with the tour of the museum. The facility wsa divided into three floors, each one with different themes. So our first stop was the Anatomical theater and museum. These came to be in order to do dissections and expose the damaged tissues that made up the human body. Curiously, Virchow opened the museum part for the public ONLY on Sundays from 11AM to 1PM with the idea that it was to be "a temple for science", or in other words, sort of compete with regular church. Virchow was among the first people to begin collecting human skulls, including syphilitic, trepponated and normal, in order to have a means of comparison. Of his collection of almost 200 skulls only a few remain at the Institute. We observed wax models of disease, the "pictures of their time," and realized that perhaps being a patient was not fun during the early times. The second floor included the beginnnings of the laboratory. New electrophysiologic machines such as the chimograph (kymograph in German) were being used to test the electrical activity of muscles and opening the door to understanding the complexity of our own bodies. Instruments like the first ophthalmoscope, the first laryngoscope, the first otoscope found their way into the museum collection. In adition an X-ray machine, invented by Karl Röntgen, was also in the museum along with pictures of doctors taking an X-ray without protection. Our guide later explained that many were dying rapidly... Probably due to X-ray radiation. The expo not only showed the instruments, but also how they were used, which shed light into the beginnings of instrumentation and modern medical diagnosis-based practice. Then we went into the Specimen room. This room contained specimens organized by body system and further organized into normal anatomy, patho-anatomy and a specific disease, e.g.: cancer, or coronary artery disease. The specimens all come from real people and are a vast collection of the complexity and variety of issues medicine has to deal with. Nevertheless, it was super interesting and it served as a stimulus to continue learning. The last floor contained the "evolution of the hospital" from birthing chairs up to modern ICU hospital beds. It had a display of an iron lung used for Polio (Kinderlähmung).

Our lecture took place in an old classroom where Virchow himself lectured! We basically reviewed Virchow's life and his three pillars for modern medicine:
1.) Clinical observations
2.) Animal experimentation to test etiology of diease
3.) Pathoanatomy (Anatomical Pathology) for identification of disease.
He was the one that coined the term "omnis cellula e cellula," "each cell is derived from another" Later, he published a book on Cell Pathology, revised the sewage system for Berlin and was appointed by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV to the head of the University of Berlin Medical School. His political activism earned him Bismark's contempt, so he left Berlin. It is surprising he had any time to sleep!!!

We had a guest lecture by Dr. Claudia Witt. This lecture focused on Alternative medicine. Components of alternative medicine include naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, among others. It was an interesting lecture and it expanded on each topic.
Naturopathy has several branches that use the elements of nature for healing:
- Phytomedicine uses plants as remedies e.g.: St. John's Wart for mild depression, Eccinacea for a beginning cold, etc.
- Hydrotherapy uses hot and cold water to relax the body and strengthen it
- Excercise works against depression and keeps us healthy overall
- Dietetics means watching what we eat and drink and what we should eat when we are unhealthy.
- Lifestyle advice is how to live, the so called "Mind body medicine." It involves relaxation, changing lifestyle and stress management along with sleeping style changes.
Homeopathy we have heard about, Hahnemann's idea of inducing a disease to cure it using plants and other natural extracts. The dilution principle, as Dr. Witt stated is not very accepted amongst the scientific community. That was the only real difference from our previous talks.
Acupuncture, most commonly needle accupuncture has its Chinese and Japanese branches. The former uses longer needles that penetrate deeper into the skin and the latter, the opposite. Both seem to be making a comeback in Europe and the US.
Personnel that are trained in alternative medicine have special titles in Europe and are respected. They are known as Heilpraktiker in German. Overall the lecture was interesting, I will write about subsequent lectures and visits soon!!!

Czech us out!!! Adventures in Prague

Praha, city of Bohemian crystal and beautiful architecture.

We arrived in Prague (Praha) at night on Saturday and we had no trouble finding the hostel. Sir Toby's, the hostel, was very cozy and relatively new. We all shared a big bunk bed room and I think we enjoyed having fluffy pillows to sleep on!!! In the morning we were welcomed by a fairly good amount of snow and a delicious Kc 500 breakfast (around $5).

So our "day trip" to the heart of Prague began with a tram that took us to Wenceslas Square, the main street in central Prague. We decided to walk away from the gorgeous building that houses the National Museum and head in the direction where the major shopping area was. By following almost a straight path we bumped into the first famous Prague landmark: The astrological clock. This clock, about 3-4m tall tells not only time, but also the position of the moon in relation to the sun and the astrological sign we are currently in. Continuing on we ran into the Rudolphine concert house and off in the distance we could see our main objective: the Prague Castle and its imponent St. John's Cathedral (I believe that is the name, but I apologize if it is not). This Cathedral is now a kind of museum.

The trek uphill, yes it was a trek indeed, was very cool since atop the hill we coud see all of Prague. The cathedral has a high Gothic style and it is very majestic. After walking aroung it we came to the main palace gates where we saw the changing of the guard at 1PM. It was not as exciting as we thought, but it was very rhythmical. We then crossed the Charles bridge into the mainland and waited in the shopping district until the afternoon. I went to a DaVinci exposition and saw many of his inventions as models. I think it was worth the admission price of Kc 280 for students (~$11).

We had the rare opportunity to pay Kc 500 (~$25) to go see the Prague philharmonic string ensemble play at the Rudophinum Hall. It was amazing to hear Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik (A Little Night Music)," Schubert's "Ave Maria," Offenbach's "Can Can," and Strauss' "The Blue Danube Waltz," among others. The ensemble performed flawlessly and the show they presented was very entertaining and enjoyable.

The next day the snow fell nonstop, which made us take refuge in Cafe Heaven until it was time to go back to Berlin. I did buy a special gift for my special someone!

So in conclusion, Praha, the city of crystal, granate, and amber welcomed us and allowed us to spend a wonderful time. The experience we had at the Rudolphinum is unmatched and I think we did a very good job of Czech-ing Prague out!!!

Continuing on!

I have been continuing to learn the most interesting things and living the most extraordinary experiences in this study abroad program... On January 3rd, while in Dresden, we visited the Deutches Hygiene Museum, where there was a room dedicated to the body, the mind, sexuality, and so on. It was very interesting, especially motion room! There was a balancing (on a beam) game where it was pretty much impossible to walk across the whole thing, but it was fun to watch people try. At the museum I also gave a short presentation about the 'Invisible Man.' At the museum however, the man was a woman.

A couple days later, coming back from Prague (whoop!) to Berlin, we had a guided tour at the Charite Museum by Tom Werner. The most interesting part by far was the specimen room, containing live samples of bones, brains, lungs, kidneys, digitals, and deformed babies. The last part was quite disturbing, seeing 'cyclops babies,' babies born with their brain outside their head, babies with severe deformities, and otherwise. Intriguing yet disgusting at the same time! Later in the day we recieved two lectures... The first being from Dr. Wasser about Rudolf Virchow, a doctor, antropologist and politician who is considered to be the father of pathology, and later in the day from Prof. Dr. Claudia M. Witt about complimentary medicine. Complimentary medicine consists of three main parts; naturopathy, homeopathy (which we learned about earlier in the semester), and acupuncture. What baffled me was that sham acupuncture was vastly more effective than standard treatment, at least when it comes to certain diseases or injuries in the body. From now on I will consider getting acupunture if I ever get migranes for sure!

The next day, in Hannover, we were split up into vet students and med students, and I went with the medical students to the Hannover Hospital Department of Nephrology. We received a lecture about the medical care in Germany, which I thought was very interesting... Everyone in Germany is required to have medical insurance (whether or not you have a job) and medical students in Germany pay slim to none to go to school, which is very different from America, where we have many uninsured and medical students leave with a more or less $200,000 debt. Amyways, we had a guided tour of the department, and we got to visit a few patients to learn about the machines they were on and the medicines they were perscribed. We then received another lecture about kidney diseases which was fun and interesting to learn.

After that, we went to the Hannover Zoo! We got to see hippos, rhinos, and gorillas close up which was so amazing. Makes me want to consider being a vet instead! The gorrillas were pretty cranky, and kept yelling and running around, which for us was actually a pretty good show. As for the rhinos, I got to feed one of the a banana! It was so cool. And there was a rhino in the cage next to the rhino that was getting fed bananas and it was getting pretty cranky as well! When we saw the hippos, it was so awesome because they thought that we were going to feed them, so they came really close to us and opened their mouths! They are so huge; both their bodies and their mouths. It was amazing to see.

I am so glad I decided to go to Germany! Never will I experience this anywhere else!

Halfway Over...

I can't believe that our trip is halfway over! It seems like we have been here awhile since we have done so many things, but at the same time it has gone by really fast. I have absolutely loved the trip though. It's hard for me to pick my favorite thing that we've seen or done because there have been so many, but if I did have to choose I would probably say the Deutsches Hygiene Museum in Dresden. I thought the entire museum was incredibly fascinating. I really like how Steffi and Dr. Wasser organized our trip for this museum too. I feel like I got much more out of the museum by each of us being assigned to a specific room and giving a tour of the rooms rather than us just exploring everything on our own in the amount of time that we had. I really wish we had more time to spend in the museum though. I thought that the wax models of the faces with various diseases, the display in the room that I explained, were really graphic but really cool. I thought it was really interesting that they were made from actual people so they depicted individualized symptoms. I would love to come back to this museum someday and spend time looking at each of the exhibits. It would not be a problem at all for me to spend a full day there.

I really have enjoyed the Blood and Guts novel that we were assigned to read. I have not finished all of the book yet, but the things that I have heard in some of the lectures are more familiar to me because I had read the book. All of the lectures that we have heard so far on this trip have been really interesting to me. I found that the lecture on complementary medicine was easier for me to listen to than the lecture on homeopathy and I think I learned more from this lecture also. The concepts in this lecture weren't as foreign to me as the ideas in the lecture that we heard in Bonn by the homeopath. The Charite Museum that we visited in Berlin was also very interesting. I really enjoyed looking at all of the organ specimens that they had displayed, especially the hearts and the fetuses, even though these were really difficult to look at since they were all very deformed and it was very sad, they were still very interesting to me. I just wish that the captions under the specimens were in English so that I would've known more about what exactly I was looking at.

I had never really understood exactly what a socialized health care system looked like until Dr. J. Keilstein explained Germany's healthcare today when we visited MHH. I like the system much more than I thought I would based on the American idea of "socialism" that I have always heard. I feel like their system actually is much more effective than the one America has, despite the fact that doctors make much less money here. I have very mixed feelings about the health insurance issues beacuse I know firsthand what it is like to not have health insurance. My stepdad desperately needs knee surgery and my mom has a herniated disc and also needs surgery so they are both living in constant pain and have been for awhile. However, they cannot affort to get the procedures done because they are unable to afford the healthcare that their employers offer. I'm not sure that they would be able to afford insurance under a socialized healthcare sytem either since such a large percentage (15.6%) of people's incomes are taken out, but there are many other things to take into account that we wouldn't have to pay for if we had a socialized medical system. Also, if it were mandatory to have health insurance for a flat rate, my parents and the other 47 million uninsured Americans would be able to get the high-cost procedures done that they would otherwise be unable to afford. I realize that my salary as a physician would be much less under this kind of healthcare plan, but that is not the reason that I want to be a doctor. I'm not sure what the solution to the healthcare problem in the US would be, and I realize there is not a perfect solution to accomodate everyone, but it is interesting to hear other countries' policies and it will be very interesting to see how Obama's planned policies will change healthcare back home.

I am very excited about the next week and a half. I really look forward to visiting the heart clinic next week and then going to Vienna soon after that. I know that I will definitely be ready to be back in Texas weather by the end of the trip because I do not tolerate cold weather very well. I used to think it was really really cold at home when it was right at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but I now know that I was very wrong about that! I am also looking forward to American food. I have enjoyed alot of the food I have had here, but some of it just makes me not feel good so I never know what to order. Yay for laundry tomorrow! It will be amazing to have clean clothes! Guten nacht!

Lectures in Berlin at the Charite and in Hannover

The public hospital in Berlin is the Charite. They have an exhibit on the history of modern medicine. The exhibit had a lot of interesting specimens from individuals who suffered various diseases. One of the great contributors to the development of anatomy, Virchow, was a professor at the Charite. He performed about 800 dissections a year and was among the earliest physicians to champion the dissection of victims of disease as a key to finding the cure.
While we were at the Charite we also heard from the current head of Complimentary Medicine, Dr. Witt. I was mostly interested in her explanation of how insurance companies determine if certain forms of complimentary medicine should be covered. The data that they examine to make this decision is not necessarily designed to remove the placebo effect. They focus on the difference in recovery between patients who receive, for example, acupuncture and patients who don't. If the improved level of recovery justifies the cost of the procedure, the insurance companies are often inclined to support it.
The following day in Hannover was spent talking to Dr. Kriestein, a nephrologist. It was especially interesting hearing him talk about the health care system in Germany. Though many Americans assume that all our problems will disappear as soon as we have universal health insurance, there are still in truth many challenges a health system has to face, some of which are indirectly caused by state sponsored health care. In Germany, for example, doctors had no concerns about the cost of a procedure and would blow away large amounts of money on patients with very trivial problems. German health care has recently gone through some reforms, as this has threatened to slowly consume the entire country's wealth. While patients still rarely see bills in Germany, doctors making a better effort now at being economical in their practice. One reform I found interesting is the addition of a small copayment for drugs in Germany. Dr. Kriestein was a proponent of this, because he found that a very large difference between Americans and Germans was that Americans actually knew about the drugs they were taking, what they did, and would generally take them as instructed. Germans, however, seemed to devalue their medicine, having little knowledge of them, how they worked, and were irregular in taking them. In his opinion, the copayment has alleviated this problem as well as some of the issues health care has had in balancing its check book.
The next day was also in Hannover, and we spent the morning in lecture with Dr. Wasser talking about the Doctor Trials at Nuremburg. He explained that after the chief war criminals were tried, there were 12 additional trials held only by Americans in order to try various other Nazis for war crimes. The doctor trials prosecuted 22 men and one woman, mostly doctors, for crimes against humanity, using as evidence records of their experiments and testimonies from survivors of the experiments. The defense claimed that, yes, you can prove that we did these things, but you can not demonstrate that these are crimes against humanity. Scientists have experimented on animals to the benefit of humanity, and we were doing just the same.
The prosecution then set out to prove that among physicians and scientists there was an understood standard for how humans could and could not be treated in experiments. Interestingly, some of the prosecution's expert witnesses were outspoken proponents of animal experimentation. The case laid down in common law what is now sometimes known as the Nuremburg Code, a guideline for the humane treatment of subjects in an experiment. The most well known of these points is the necessity of informed consent.

badge off, laid off

Today went sledding, fed a rhino, and went ice skating. All of these things were fun but still my favorite part of the day was learning more about dialysis. The doctor started the lecture by telling us about general German health insurance. They are utilizing the DRG system which is personally my favorite system. I think it leaves just enough incentive for the doctor while still giving excellent health care for the individual. The concept that you should strive to come under budget is greatly more efficient than their old system of letting anyone stay for an extended amount of time. There was one point of interest that really took me for a loop though. For private health care users the doctors are frivolously using money because there is no third party watch dog. I am not completely sure that I grasp the concept even after asking a question during the lecture. Other than that the health care plan seems like a great plan that lends itself to both the rich and the poor.
The dialysis machine information was defiantly my favorite academic portion of the trip thus far. I have had neither biochemistry nor anatomy but I still found much interest in this. The concept of using science to perform the biological function of cleaning the blood using the same basic tools is incredible. Getting to go inside the room and having a cool patient who let us touch the stent between the vein and the artery was certainly a treat. The little things in medicine such as a routine dialysis machine just blows my mind. They were routine with a procedure that is so innovative in my opinion.
The way that the German researchers are searching for advances in kidney medicine is stunning. The amount of information that the kidney researcher could just spout was incredible. He was so passionate about the kidney and learning about ways to manipulate its deficiencies. At the end of his speech he mentioned that they are always looking for students from America to get degrees. Knowing that I wouldn’t have to do it in German I would really like to do that.
Overall this day has been the weirdest day because the first half was so academic to the max and the second half was a mixture of biology and ice sports. It really is going well here and I am more than dreading getting back to a monotonous life of not world traveling. Another nerd nugget, we are all plant parasites

Jus' Jon 5

On January 1, 2009, after about 12 hours of sleep from Sunday, I awoke to a beautiful sunshinny blue skz. I felt like it was going to be a good beautiful day. It turned out to be an exciting day. Me and the guys went to Zoo Berlin to see manz animals. We were here for at least 3 hours. In this time period, we seen many unique animals like the India Rhino, Anacondas, Ducks, a roaring Lion, and more. For me, my favorite animal to see was Knut the adorable Polar Bear. I have known for some time that Knut was popular world wide. I first herd of the bear on World News. In fact, our professor gave us some info on Knut. He said that the Polar Bear is not a baby anymore, but a 200 kg Polar Bear. He said that his trainer died at, I think he said, 40 of a heart attack about a year ago. Getting back to the zoo, I got to see Knut in person. The Polar Bera was impressive as it perched on the rocks of its domain. It was so picturesque. After the zoo, we got a little to eat at the local Dunken Donut and off to the church for a tour we went. When we got to the church, the inside was just breathe taking. The art, the gold, the architecture, and the biblical stories on teh walls of the ceilings was just stunning. The Protestant Church even has a crypt with Fredrick the Great's casket there. AFter this, we went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. The museum is definentallz bigger on teh inside than the outside. We seen artwork, stories of people escaping from East Berlin to West Berlin during the Cold War times and teh times of the Berlin Wall. The museum even had an exibitof old cars from back in the day. They were interesting cars. From here, we took about 15 minutes to go to an American Sports Bar called Play-Off. We went here for thier special of all zou can eat ribs just for 5 Euros. 5 Euros for an all zou can eat is good because this is something zou hardlz ever see in teh states. I've never seen such a deal like this in the states ever. We all ate about 3 plates of ribs. I ate 64 ribs. This was the first time that I had had ribs. Therz were good. After this, we were all leaning because we had ate so much food, but we enjoyed it so much. After this, we all came back to our rooms to chill. I managed to get a souvenir water bottle that cost 2,63 Euros. This was more than the beer at the sports bar, which was onlz 2,49 Euros.
So far, my time in Berlin has been well spent and I have liked it all. I have enjoyed everz minute of it, and I look forward to more great times in Europe

Like a Rolling Stone...

...not really, but I've felt like that lately. The day after my last post the group took a day trip to Dresden. A really nice-sized city with a lot to see, about a two hour train ride from Berlin. I was was probably my favorite spot up to that point. Then came Prague... after our day in Dresden, 10 of us took another 2-hour train ride over to Prague while the other 5 students, along with Dr. Wasser and Stefi, went back to Berlin. Our group spent two nights in Prague at this great hostel called Sir Toby's. We met a ton of people staying at the hostel and I got to call home for the first time in a while.

But we could all definitely tell we were in a different country. Prague itself was full of more English speakers than Berlin and seemed to attract more tourists. It's also a bit darker and more ominous than Berlin and the rest of Germany, with a more Transylvania feel to it, if that makes any sense. For these reasons and the fact that we had a great hostel experience, Prague has been my favorite city so far. It's a very walkable city with most of its worthy sites within a mile of each other.

After our first night at Sir Toby's, we spent the next day seeing as much of the city as we possibly could. First, we went to the Old Town Square for some shopping and picture taking. We made our way across the river and hiked up about 5 thousand stairs to the Prague Castle. From there we could literally see the whole city, it was beautiful. We got a bit to eat and slowly headed down this road to Charles Bridge, the famous bridge that I think was in the first scene of Mission Impossible... Anyway, the bridge is amazing and after we crossed it we met a guy on the street advertising a concert at the Prague Philharmonic, which was located about a block away. So we all went over to check it out and got a cheap student price for a concert with a small chamber ensemble with 8 players - 4 violins, a viola, fiddle, cello, and standup bass - who played some of the best music I'd heard in a long time. The concert lasted about an hour, and included recognizable pieces like Blue Danube and Ave Maria.

We spent our last night in Prague in the hostel pub with a few Aussies that we met: Tom, Aimee, and Mike. We played this game Pass the Ace that a few of us knew and we had a great time. We did some more shopping yesterday before we got back to Berlin. On our way to the bahnhof we saw this girl walking her dog and potbelly pig... that's right... her pig, on a leash. Lauren took a picture of it and the lady looked at us like "what are you doing...". So that was the weird experience of that city. Anyway, we got back safe last night, and today we spent our time in the Charite Medical Center in Berlin. First we took a tour of their pathology museum, then had a lecture on Rudolf Virchow, the founder of the pathology institute and museum. The museum had a lot of interesting specimens and was pretty cool altogether given how tired I was. This morning I woke up at 6:30 to go for a run, only to find that it was about 5 degrees F outside. Needless to say I didn't last too long, but still got in a good run around Charlottenburg.

Anyway, we had lunch at a cafe in the med center, and walked to another area for a guest lecture by Dr. Claude Witt, a doctor of complimentary and alternative medicine. It was a very fair, professional lecture, and built on what we learned in our first guest lecture on homeopathy. It actually turns out that homeopathy isn't as effective as it seemed, but is still worthy of study for sure. After that we hopped on the train to Hannover, took the subway to our hotel, and here we are. We got dinner at a local Tex-Mex place, which actually had great chili. We all had a good time now that we are all back together, and are looking forward to our time in Hannover, Goettingen, and eventually Amsterdam and Vienna. We've a very busy couple of days ahead, with hopefully enough time for some much needed laundry...

I love and miss everyone at home and hope everyone's doing well!

PEACE

Asher

P.S. It's supposed to be 3 degrees F here tomorrow... I can't wait...

traveling band

The past couple of days have been the days I have been worried about the most during my preparation for the trip. I am a very introverted person when I am not around people I do not know too well. My expectations going into the free weekends was to do what I usually do; enjoy my solitude and try to find some beauty in the world. I was very pleased to see how much fun would emerge because I was open to it. We went museum hopping, culture absorbing and enjoyed the subtle differences in the small things. Checkpoint Charlie museum was perhaps the best museum I have ever been because of the fact that the exhibit was so life-like and touching, I felt I was there. The stories of the people trying to reunite their families told next to the tools with which they did it were overwhelming at times. I have always been aware of the Berlin wall because of history classes but never until yesterday did it become so real to me.
On the more pertinent part of the trip, I have been really enjoying the history of the people who shaped the state of medicine today. Because of everyone’s hesitance in the common perception of the validity of the science performed by men such as Fleming, Virchow, Koch, and Pasteur, I am constantly trying to make sure I am not part of the stifling of rising medical research such as homeopathy and CAM. After going to the history museum this morning I noticed that I looked more openly to what the CAM lecturer had to say. Although I think her techniques to try to garner more respect for her new field were without merit and lacked any notable proof. But also one has to realize how much more efficient their health system is in comparison to the United States. I know this is kinda cheesy but I took Plan 370 and one of the main things I took away from Dr. Sweeney’s class was that health is a spectrum and the term health means being all you can be. Before that class my idea of health was just staying out of the hospital and not being 500 lbs. Although I want to say that I would look into acupuncture, homeopathy, and hydrotherapy as personal options for my future career path, I cannot. As I eluded to in another post, my mind is to entrenched in the scientific theory and way of thinking to start a career in something I have absolutely no shot of comprehending is impossible.
Looking ahead to the coming days it is hard to believe we are in the last half of the trip already. I really wish that we had more time together as well as in Germany. It has really been fun getting to know all of the people and learning the little things that make them laugh or cry. Ah history is great, but people are where it is at.

Just Jon 4

Today is January 4, 2009. Today is mz first day back in Berlin. It's me, Will, Jared, Brian, and Chystyna. Today, I hungout with the fellas. First, we went to Mass at St. Hedwig's. The Mass was in Latin so I didn't understand much, but it was still cool and good though. From here, we went to see The Blue Man Group. Tickets to see The Blue Man Group were 70 Euros, but with a student I.D., it was only 29.90 Euros. I got luckz cause I didn't have a student I.D. and the guy let me get in anyway on a student ticket. I was very relieved. So, we ended up with 3 hours to spare. So, Will left and would meet him later. Me, and the other guys went to look for food. I got that Bratwurst that I had wanted for so long, and I got chocolate too. The Brownies and cookies were not as good as American cookies and brownies, but they were okay. From here, we went to an American Sports Bar and found a deal. We got all you can eat ribs for tomorrow for only 5 Euros. This I look forward 2. From here we went to see The Blue Man Group which was just awesome. The people in Prague reallz missed out. Anyways, after this, we all went out for Durnurs and came back to the hotel to chill.
So far, I have been living it up every single daz. I love all of the trip so far and I just feel that the best is yet to come.

Reading up on Medicine's History

Blood and Guts has been very interesting so far. The first chapter is a brief history of disease in humanity, the second chapter a history of healers (doctors). I thought the history of doctors was especially interesting, because the devotion to expertise and professionalism in the Hippocratic oath is so familiar to our idea of doctors now. Even the inaccuracies of classic physiology (the four humors, etc.) reflect the need to have an expert put complex concepts into terms that a layperson can understand, which is part of what the very word doctor means. To me, this makes the field of medicine feel at once both old and new in a very special and exciting way.
The third chapter covers advances in anatomy. What was most interesting about this chapter was that discovering a body part seemed much easier than figuring out what it did. That is, even organs whose form one might think would strongly suggest function were not seen for what they were.
The fourth chapter, on the laboratory, felt more like the medical history I was expecting to read. It went through the development of the laboratory and the physicians gradual entry into the lab. Of special interest to me was Koch's Postulate on how to determine if an organism was responsible for a disease.
More on Blood and Guts later!

Post 4

So our free weekend in Berlin is coming to a close and all I can say is it was a complete success. Sunday was spent first thing in the morning with a mass at St. Hedwigs in Berlin in Latin. I had never experienced a Latin mass before but I'm glad I went. I was able to make out what was going on based on years of church, but other than that I had no idea what was being said. It was an experienced I enjoyed none the less. We went from there to try and see the crypts under Berliner-Dom but a service was in progress and we instead left for Postdamer Platz to walk around until the Blue Man Group show started. The Blue Man Group show was nothing short of AMAZING!!! I feel sorry for anyone who missed the opportunity to see it, especially since we got the tickets at a rediculously lowered rate for being students. I didn't expect there was going to be so much audience interation with the show but it made it that much better. The energy could be seen surging through the crowds throughout the show. Words cannot do justice to how spectacular the show was, only that if given the chance, you should go see the Blue Man Group!!! After the show we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the night, the first early turn in this whole trip, but well needed.

Monday was nothing short of productive. We spent a lot of ime at the zoo and aquarium. It was great and there was plenty to see. It was unique seeing so many animals in a fresh layer of snow on the ground. The main event of course was the panda bear and polar bear, neither of which I have ever had the chance to see. There was a lot of great photo opts too. Once we had expended all the things to see at the zoo we quickly headed over to the crypts of Berliner-Dom. Not the crypts of old you would expect, these were nicely lit and had tile floor upon which sarcophagi of important people of the past sat. Some were detailed in everyway possible while others were simple polished wood, but no less spectacular. The Cathedral itself was astonishing as well inside. Finished there, we decided to quickly run over the Check Point Charlie before dinner. The museum was much more interesting than I expected. There was so many great stories and exhibits, you couldn't help but be enthralled by the information presented. It was one of my favorite museums we have seen so far (which is a lot). Once we saw all there was to see we headed back to Postdamer Platz to enjoy an amazing dinner special we found the previous day. FIVE EURO ALL YOU CAN EAT RIBS!!! There is nothing to say about it, except unbelievable! We spent a whole hour enjoying our fill. With our stomachs filled to the brim we headed back to the hotel to conclude yet another great day.

Post 3

So during my last post I didn't mention much to the sites we had seen, but there have been many. Of those seen the cathedrals definitely stand out as the most impressive. The first one we saw was the cathedral in Cologne that towered over the city with its Gothic presence. It was the most amazing human built structure I had ever seen. The outside alone would have left me speechless. Ever detail of the church was unlike anything I had ever seen. I could have spent all day admiring the buildings exterior, but there was still more to see on the inside. The inside, too, was breathtaking. I could have walked inside all day admiring the many stainglass windows and details of the sarcophagi. The rest of the cathedrals we have seen left me just as amazed as the one before it. Several we have seen, and a few of us were even lucky enough to enjoy a mass on sunday morning in one of these.

We have really had the chance to enjoy the culture during the trip so far and I can honestly say I love it. The majority of the people are friendly and quick to help if we ask. Even though I speak almost no German I have been hampered very little. It seems as if everyone here is fluent in both German and English. Even when they say they speak very little the astonish me when I would have mistaken them as natural born english speaking. The atmospheres of the cities always seems alive and spirited, and you can't help but be inspired to enjoy your stay that much more. There is so much to see in this country and I cant wait to see what else I experience.

Just Jon 3

The trip to Dresden was off the chain. When in Dresden, we seen a video on The Church of our Lady and then we went to visit the church itself. The church was breathe taking. It was composed of all of the stones from which it was originally made from when it was destroyed in WWII. The church has beautiful artwork, and a stunningly rich architecture to it. The church also has many entraces so people can enter the church from all aides of the church. From the church, we went to see the home of the former royal family. After this and other site seeing, we went to go eat at a local restaurant. The place was beautiful, teh food was excellent, and I had my first glass of mineral water. In my opinion, it tasted very good. It tasted like dissolved Alkaseltzer. I loved it. After this, we took a trip to visit the Hygiene Museum in Dresden. This museum was very very cool. It had in depth, interactive, and very informative information about the human body, how the different systems of the human body work, and how humans interact with each other and the world. After this, we went back to the main train station in Dresden. In the train station, two train groups were formed. One group, which is composed of 10 people got on the train to Prague, and the other group of 5 got on the train to Berlin. I went with the group to Berlin. I don't know what may happen in Berlin, but I know that only fun awaits me.

While traveling on the EC to the city of Dresden, I’m reflecting on the past three days in Berlin. They have been action packed and there is no way that one person could even hit just the highlights in an entire month.
So far we have hit the natural history museum of Berlin which was definitely my favorite of the museums. It was at such a high level of learning that it was very interesting even to a group of pre-med students. I think there is an ideological difference in the American and German view of natural history as well. I went to a private high school and never learned anything about evolution and it was nice to see such a public museum utilize all of the scientific information and put forward the best model for the history of our world. We were booted out of the museum before we could really get into which saddened me.
We also visited the German parliament building which was interesting because of the architecture. It was a central room with tons of seats and all the way up this, tourists and citizens can view from the top. It shows that they believe that the government is something that should be visible to all Germans. I enjoyed that exhibit despite the temperatures of standing in line.
Overall the entire city exudes history and you cannot walk more than a block without finding something terribly historic or famous. I am extremely relieved that I am going back to Berlin after Dresden (instead of Prague) because there are still museums, exhibits, galleries, pubs, and restaurants that I must see before I leave.

The Sites of Bonn, Cologne, Berlin, and Dresden

Outside of the curriculum, we have seen a great deal of Germany and learned much about its history. We began in Bonn, where Dr. Reiner gave us a personal tour and explained to us Bonn's role as the capital of West Germany. He showed us the city's cathedral as well as a wonderful view of the Rhine. As we came near the AIB offices at the end of the tour, Dr. Reiner pointed out a nearby building. It was closed to the public, he explained, because it was a seminary. In fact, it was the seminary that Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, attended.
The next day we saw a museum on the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was a very informative demonstration of the events that have shaped the development of Germany and Germans over the past 40 years.
We spent the afternoon in Cologne, where we were given a brief tour of the inner city and the cathedral by Andre. He showed us Roman ruins, the old Rathaus, gave us a history of Cologne both in antiquity and over the course of the cathedral's construction, and then took us out to a local bierhaus.
Berlin is overwhelming. We arrived about three hours before the new year. In one hour we were walking out of our hotel toward the New Year Festival. In another hour we were at the far end of the festival. After almost another hour of pushing and shoving, we were in front of the Brandenburg Gate just in time for 2009.
The next day we had our bus tour. Berlin is the worldwide Cold War packed into city size. Checkpoint Charlie had a rebuilt booth (the real one was torn down) and around it were pictures of loaded American and Russian tanks pointed directly at each other, about a football field apart. It gives this member of a younger generation a better appreciation for how dire those times had felt. There were many other memorials, monuments, and musuems that were very nice to see, but I was most of all amazed by how much Berlin was defined by the time it spent divided.
Today we visited Dresden, which still has ruins in the old part of the city. So far we have mainly seen the Zwinger (a sort of festival square) and the Frauenkirche. The Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church that is unique in two ways: the church is named after Mary and the inside is filled with statues and images Jesus and some other important biblical figures (though not a single image of Mary can be found).
We have more to see in Dresden and I still have much more to see in Berlin tomorrow and Monday before we move on to Hannover.

Off To A Great Start

I could not imagine enjoying myself more. With only five days in Germany behind me, it is still easy to say that this is one of the best experiences of my life. My introduction to Germany began in the Munich airport; I had a four hour layover, so I decided to do a little exploring. Immediately I was impressed by all of the chic cafes and the posh people, and I kept thinking "this is only the airport!" I then ventured outside for a little fresh air, and found an ice skating rink, many booths and kiosks, trinkets and food that smelled wonderful. It was a very surreal experience because I was all alone, in a very unfamiliar place, and could only smile when people started rattling off in German to me, but I loved it.
During our stay in Bonn/Köln, I found the Cathedral to be most impressive. It is absolutely gorgeous, but I found its dark color at archetypal Gothic style to be somewhat imposing and mysterious. However, despite the incredible stature of the cathedral, I found that it is the small things that I have enjoyed the most; little things that I could not predict or imagine until I was walking on cobblestone streets, that are hundreds of years old with thousands of years of history layered beneath them. I love the smell of fresh bread that fills the walkways of Bonn, and the endless assortment of baked good and hot drinks. I was so happy to see half a dozen flower shops set up on New Years Eve to celebrate the coming of the New Year. All the bright colors of the fresh flowers created a unique sight in the dead of winter with temperatures hovering around freezing. And, most special to me was watching the sunrise while running along the Rhine, not something I generally see on a typical morning jog.
I had been anticipating New Years Eve in Berlin since the second I found out about this program, I was extremely excited but also completely unsure of what to expect. The minor glitch of unexpectedly having to take a train instead of a plane to Berlin only added to the adventure of trip and the train ride was rather relaxing and a good time to rest up for the evening that was soon to follow...Never in my life have I seen so many people until I joined the mob pushing their way toward the Brandenburg Gate for the fireworks, music and chaotic of celebration! It was definitely a New Years that I will never forget! And, there is no way that I could enjoy a New Years day as much as I enjoyed the the first day of 2009! I had the pleasure of visiting Chalottenburg palace and gardens. Inside the detail of architecture and interior design was magnificent. I loved nothing more than the spacious rooms, many mirrors, large open windows and ceiling paintings. I have decided that I was born in the wrong time period and that it was definitely good to be queen of Prussia.
This morning I returned to the gardens for a run and it was as if I stepped into a magical story book. I made the first footprints in the freshly fallen snow as I ran through the maze of trees and bridges over frozen ponds. Academically, I found the homeopathy lecture to be extremely interesting. It is an area of medicine that I knew almost nothing about, and while I found some of the ideas difficult to fully comprehend/ belief, I thought the foundation of the subject to be very encouraging, especially these two fundamental beliefs: "the highest ideal of therapy is to restore health happily, rapidly and permanently" and "the force of gentleness is great."
I am looking forward to some adventures and explorations today in Berlin!
-Amanda

The first week

My first week in Germany has been very eventful, starting with the plane rides over to Germany. The first flight I was on unfortunatly got cancelled, but the flight in Dallas to Frankfurt was delayed so I was able to make it on that flight. Luckily another student was on the same flight with me, it made the wait much easier in the airport. Once I arrived in Frankfurt and made it through customs, My aunt met us and helped us to make it on the train to Bonn. We met Olaf at the AIB and he took us to the dorms that we were to use while in Bonn. Olaf was very nice and made great eggs for breakfast. On the first official day of the program we had our first lecture by Jürgen Weiland over the history and evolution of homeopathic method. I learned quite a bit about homeopathic medicine. My previous view had been of quacks who discouraged the use of modern medicine because it was modern. Also that day we were givin a city tour by Rainer Zäck. Olaf took us out to experience the night life of Bonn later that night. We visited a traditional German pub to try the local beer then headed to a cuban bar. Here we where able to get more flavorful drinks. I enjoyed going out with the others and getting to know them better.
The next day we visited the House of German History, this focused on the history of Germany from post war times to the present. I saw and learned many things that i had not known about the German people. The slow progression of the entire country after the war was a real eye opener. Also the differences between the East and West was astounding. A trip to Cologne was next on the list. We travelled by train to the city. the most amazing sight in the city was to be found just outside the train station. The Cologne Cathedral was a beautiful masterpiece of architecture. I was in awe of the sheer size of the cathedral and its two spires. The walking tour of the city was givin by Andre Fischer, a native Cologner. He was a fountain of knowledge for the history of Cologne, or Köln as the germans call it. After the tour we visited a local beer house with Andre and got a round of the local beer. I left the beer house with Lauren and we travelled back toward the cathedral for some shopping and to get some food. In our wandering we found a very nice little cafe called Eic & Cafe. They had delicious crepes and coffee. Our last day in Bonn was on New years eve and sadly we had to leave Olaf at the dorms. To celebrate new years eve Olaf brought Berliners from the local bakery. The first lecture by Dr. Wasser was givin at the AIB before we left for the Airport to fly to Berlin. This is where the trip got interesting, it turns out that our seats were not reserved on the plane to Berlin. So we were unable to fly that day. It was arranged that we would take a train to Cologne then catch an ICE to the Berlin train station. Fortunatly we were able to make it to the New Years celebration at the Brandenburg gate in time for the coundown. Through sheer will a few other students and I were able to make it right up to the gate for the countdown. It was an amazing sight and made all the trouble getting there completely worth it. I think that was the best possible way to experience berlin for the first time.
New years day was a considerable amount less hectic. The entire day was free to do whatever I wanted. I decided to visit the Schloss Charlottenburg with Dr. Wasser, Amanda and Asher. The palace and grounds were considerably destroyed during the second world war, but thanks to pictures and furniture form other Prussian palaces, the original way of the palace in Sophia Charlottes' time was able to be recreated. I also enjoyed walking among the garden and being able to walk on the pond, which was frozen over from the cold weather. I took advantage of the rest of the day to relax and read.
Today was my first chance to see most of Berlin, a tour bus picked us up at the hotel. It took us past the Charlottenburg palace, the main shopping street in west Berlin, and then stopped at the T-4 victims memorial on Tiergartenstrasse. It is very humbling to realize the nazis persecuted not only the jews but even Arian people bacause they were not normal and worthy of life. We also visited the memorial to the burning of the books in Berlin and Humbolt University. Something that I found interesting was that the red marble inside the main hall of the University was recycled from Hitlers chancellory. Overall the trip so far has been amazing and I am very happy that I am able to see and learn the history of this country.

First post in Germany!

So Germany is absolutely amazing and has surpassed all of my expectations. I am learning so much in such a short time, and I am enjoying every bit of it. A doctor named Jürgen Weiland gave us a presentation about homeopathy and its history, which I thought was very informative adn interesting. Dr. Wasser also gave us a lecture about the 'Unworthy lives' that the Nazi party used as test subjects to prepare for Hitler's Final Solution. It was eye-opening just how poorly these patients (mentally retarded, disabled, etc.), who were still human beings, were treated, and its a significant event in history that barely anyone knows about... Very depressing and scary.

I have learned a lot outside of the lectures as well. I have visited the Haus von Beethoven and got to know my favorite composer a tad bit better! There has also been the Haus der Geschichte, the best history museum in Germany for post-WWII, which was very, very cool. My favorite part was the tiny car, that appears to only fit two people comfortably, but in reality was used to fit around SIX people in. Wow! Also, one of my favorite sites has definitely been the Cologne Cathedral. It is so magnificent! To think that people actually built that with their own hands so long ago... Its unreal. Breathtaking every time you see it. The architecture of not only the cathedral, but of all the other bulidings here in Germany is really old-fasioned. It is really about history here in Germany and I like that.

Yesterday I went to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp over in North Berlin. It was very eerie. It was a cold, cloudy day, and it was completely quiet. Which, to be honest, I was glad for because it added that much to the experience. Seeing the prisons in which the victims were held in, seeing various ways in which the Jews and others were tortured, and seeing the gas chamber most of all was very eye-opening. I think that all young students should eventually visit a concentration camp. It would make you change the way you think about things.

I am looking forward to the rest of things I will get to experience, and all the things I will get to learn and cherish forever!

The First Set of Lectures

Our first lecture was in Bonn at the AIB offices. It was given to us by Jürgen Weiland, a homeopathologist who works in Bonn. His focus was on the history of homeopathy, but he also gave us a brief explanation of what homeopathy was.
The whole practice hinges on two ideas. The first is that a substance that produces a set of symptoms in a well person will cure the disease of an ill person that shows the same set of symptoms. The second is that the theraputic effect of a substance can be separated from the toxic effect through a special series of dilutions.
As far as the history goes, a German by the name of Samuel Hahnmann was the founder of homeopathy. He began as a physician, but was shocked by the harm that medicine would often cause his patients. He set out to find a form of medicine that would meet his ideal: one that would cure the patient at minimal discomfort. While I believe that what he settled on was a fantastic demonstration of the placebo effect, I still found this lecture to be very helpful in the sense that it forced me to think about what dreams and ideals ought to be chased after in medicine today.

The second lecture so far was given by Dr. Wasser, and was about the 'racial hygiene' practiced by the Nazis just before and during World War II. The official name of the program was Aktion T4 and was a systematic murdering (under the name of euthanasia) of any kind of invalid, but especially the mentally and physically retarded. Under this program, doctors were no longer expected to consider the health of the individual so much as they were to consider the health of the race. The unworthy had to be cut from the gene pool like a tumor from the body.
It was interesting to learn that many of the individuals involved in this program used their acquired experience for death camps a few years later. Some have even described Aktion T4 as a 'test run' for the Holocaust. Dr. Wasser also spent the first part of the lecture describing some of the intellectuals and their writings that led up to Aktion T4 in Nazi Germany. I was amazed to hear that some of these men were great intellectuals of their day who had very scientific and rational explanations for their views. One of the few hospital directors that refused to permit euthanisation remarked, as best as I can remember, that God would not permit him to do so.

I'm Loving It!!

I was nervous about the trip for various reasons, but I have absolutely loved my time here in Germany so far. It seems like we have packed so much in the last 6 days already! I feel like we have already seen and learned so much about the city even though we have been here less than a week. Everywhere we go there are cool things to see and there seems to be so much interesting history behind so many of the buildings. This is all very unusual for me since I have lived in America and never really travelled outside of the country but I love seeing everything. The buildings are all fascinating to me, especially the Köln Cathedral, but I love all of the architecture. It was so funny to see everyone's mouth drop, mine included, as soon as we walked out of the train station in Köln and looked up to see the massive cathedral. It was incredible. Each of the tours that we have been on have been incredibly interesting also. Our tour guides are wonderful, as are all of the AIB people and Dr. Wasser, so the trip has been an amazing experience so far and I am very much looking forward to the rest of it.

As I suspected, I've found that the things I was nervous about, such as not being able to talk to my family much, have not bothered me much at all. I have enjoyed talking to people back home when I've gotten the chance to, and I've probably talked to them more than other people on the trip, but I'm really doing fine on my own. I feel like we have a great group of people here and I've loved hanging out with them and getting to know everyone better.

The homeopathy lecture was very interesting. I had never known much about any alternative forms of medicine so I enjoyed listening to other perspectives, even though I agree much more with the conventional form of medicine. I feel like it's always good to hear more about other people's ideas and practices. I also greatly enjoyed Dr. Wasser's lecture on the Nazi Euthanasia Programs. Again, this was something that I had heard a little about, probably earlier in the year from Dr. Wasser, but I learned much more than I had known before. I find anything about medicine fascinating. Though this was a terribly horrible thing that happened, I enjoy learning about the history of medicine and the bad comes along with the good. Everything has much more meaning when you first learn the history behind it. I was glad that we had heard about T-4 prior to our Berlin tour earlier today for this reason. I look forward to the other guest lectures that we will hear and definitely the lectures that Dr. Wasser will give. This has been an incredible experience so far and I can't wait to learn more and visit all of the places we're going!

Just Jon 2

Well, I made it to Europe. I managed to survive sitting in a lobby at the IAH for 6 hours. I flew over to Frankfort on Lufthansa for 11 hours. I loved the flight. The flight attendents were nice, they served all the passengers snacks, breakfast, lunch, and even wine. The wine was new. It was my first plane ride and I wasn't for sure how it would go, but it went well. When I got to the airport in Frankfurt, I spent time wandering around looking for my luggage. After spending about 20 minutes looking for it, I couldn't find it. So, I had about 30 minutes to go look all over the airport for the trains. It took 29 minutes for me to find the train. Once on the train, I immediately noticed the scenery of the towns. The towns weren't like in America with tall buildings downtown and suburbs on the outskirts. All of the buildings were like the same size. From the train station, I got off at the Köln train station and met the crew there. From her, I caught the train and went to Bonn. From here, we met Olof who showed us to these nice dorm rooms which is where we stayed for the rest of the time in Bonn.

While in Bonn, we seen the downtown area, the shops, pubs, bars, and even candy shops. We also had a lecture on Homeopathy. This lecture really interested me because Homeopathy, which is made up of minerals, plants, and animals was a combination of all of the things that I actually want to make a carrier out of. Homeopathy looks to see both sides of everything in nature. For instance, Homeopathy will look at the negatives and positives of animals like the Bushmaster, the Rhino, and etc. This is really what I would like to do. I think I may have found my major. I also liked the Botany aspect of Homeopathy because I want to major in Botany as well. We also had a lecture on the history of Germany and we went to the history museum in Bonn, Germany.

From here, we went to Köln and saw the cathedral. I thought that it was just amazing. It was just overflowing with architecture, history, and people. I enjoyed the cathedral. We also ate at the train station in Köln too. For a train station, they had very good food. From here, we went to Berlin. We had to depart with Olof, which was sad because he was nice, helpful, made the best breakfast that I had ever had in my entire life, and he just kinda grew on me. He even gave us Berliners which were so good. I got really attached to him and still miss him. I wish he could have came on the rest of the tour of Germany with us.

Righ now, we are in Berlin. We all went to the New Years party downtown and man was it the stuff. I enjoyed myself a lot. I and the group that I was in got really close to the stage where the music was being played, we seen the fireworks finaly, we seen drunk people, got hit on by drunk people, I was dancing and singing both the German songs and a Rihanna song that people had going. It was the stuff. The only thing I didn't get was a half a meter of bratwurz. I reallz wanted a half a meter of bratwurz, but I had to let that idea go because getting the bratwury, even though it was only 3 Euros would have meant getting through a crowd of drunk people. I didn't want to do that. So after the party on the square, we all crammed into a crammed subway and came back to the hotel.

So far, we have been touring Berlin, getting souvoneirs, sight seeing, and going to some tricked out museums. The museums in Europe are way more cooler. So far this trip has passed my expectations. Also, we even got to try Döners here in Germany. I would like to say that the Döner I had yesterday was sooooooo good. It was like a food orgy in my mouth. I like it her in Germany. I can see myself spending a semester here.

JJ2out

To the end of the subway and back

Yesterday we took the subway until it ended and then walked a short distance to get to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. The cold and dreary weather matched the mood of the camp when we arrived. I can't really find the words to describe the emotions that I felt when I walked through the gates of Sachsenhausen and came face to face with the phase ''Arbeit Macht Frei'' entwined in the wrought iron. For many years in school I've learned about the Holocaust, so when I was walking through the grounds of the camp, all of my knowledge of the suffering of innocent people came together and it really hit home with me. I enjoyed reading the timeline of what happened in the camp because it helped piece everything together. I was shocked to learn that over 200,000 people who were considered political outcasts, biologically inferior, or racially inferior went through this camp. Walking the grounds gave me a greater understanding of what took place there along with immmeasurable respect for those who survived and those who lost their lives.

After our hike out to Sachsenhausen, we rode the subway back into town and shopped around for souvenirs. We ate döners at a local bistro across from the trainstation, which were super!!! We polished that tasty meal off with some good ol' starbucks and then continued to hop on and off the subway trains in an attempt to find more shops. Finally, we got back to the hotel and it felt really good to just hang out and chill.

So as I sit in this internet cafe trying to think of what to write...I don't even know where to begin. We've only been here a few days, but already so much has happened. Luckily, I had an easy flight here. Jared, Tarah and I were one of the first ones here so we were able to go out in Bonn and do a lot of exploring on our own. We went to Beethoven's house, which I was really looking forward to. The house was tiny, but somehow they managed to fit 12 rooms inside of it. Walking around cities on your own with just a map in your hand is my favorite thing to do when traveling. That way you get to explore things for yourself.

I was really interested in the first lecture on homeopathy. Mr. Jürgen Weiland was very knowledgable on his profession, obviously. But it definitely opened up my eyes to alternative medicine. It is not advertised much in the US and I was surprised when he mentioned the oldest school for homoepathy is in the US. When I get home I want to read some case studies on patients to see if the 'like cures like' theory can pretty much cover any ailment.

The second lecture on euthenasia was also really interesting. I think it is interesting how through every history class I ever took, it was never once mentioned that the Nazi party looked towards the US as an example. I was also unaware of the forced sterilization programs that were taking place in the US. I should probably brush up on my history.

Everyone on the trip is really chill and easy going. Of course that makes any trip more enjoyable, but im glad were all getting to know each other after meeting every week for a semester when no one would say a word...

First Adventures in Germany!

Ever since I have arrived in Germany it has already been an adventure. Both flights here were great, and I got lucky, because two of the other students in the program happened to have the same flight itinerary as I did, so that eased a little bit of my initial traveling anxieties, while also giving me the chance to get to know a couple of my peers right off the bat!

The first couple of days, we stayed in dorms in Bonn. It was nice having our own building and also having Olaf there, who cooked great breakfasts for us each morning we were there. Dr. Rainer gave us a tour of the city of Bonn, and a man named Andre gave us a guided tour of Cologne and the cathedral there the next day. The golden coffin which holds the remains of the three wisemen is in that cathedral which I found very interesting, and somewhat surreal. We also heard a proffessor speak about Homeopathy, which is an alternative medicine that utilizes plants, minerals, and animials for healing. It was quite interesting to me, personally, because I had never been formally taught about anything like that before. Wasser also gave a lecture on the history and evolution of Euthanasia, which was not only very interesting and enlightening, but a little horrifying to hear about all the different ''reasons'' they would kill people that were considered to have no reason to live. (i.e. the mentally and physically disabled, people that werent within the ''preferred'' race, etc.)

We then made our way to Berlin, but not in the way we had originally planned! We arrived at the airport only to find out that our tickets had never been formally confirmed and the plane was full. Thankfully, Wasser was able to get us all tickets on the high speed train and we made it in time for the New Years Festival in Berlin. That was so much fun, but also very crowded and crazy!

The next day was a free day in Berlin, and 11 of us students took the subway to northern Berlin to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp there. It was a very moving experience that I think everyone should have a chance to do. The weather was strangly appropriate for the occasion also, I think, because it was a overcast and foggy day, with a constant light snow for most of the day.

Today we took a bus tour of Berlin, seeing the Holocaust Memorial, the remains of the Berlin wall, and the Embassies of various countries, among MANY other things. So far, I have found the German people to be very friendly, and it seems that all of them are fluent, or at least know much of the english lanuage, and are willing to help out a lost American tourist such as myself. :)
The first free weekend is already almost here, so Prauge, here I come!

Thus far...

I am almost at lost for words, maybe because I have always had problems at putting them into writing but I shall definitely try....if I don't drive myself cray with the switch of y and z and the absence of the left shift!

Day 1/2 went smoothly without any plane or luggage difficulties. I acutally found the train station which was my greatest fear that day and made it to Cologne. There Dr. Wasser and I waited for Asher in the Starbucks where we experienced my first of many friendly Germans. However, this man studies neurology and is a professor here in Germany, which was a fun conversation to listen to as he and Dr. Wasser exchanged experiences and business cards. Who knows, maybe one day this program will be visiting him for a lecture in neurology!

Academically speaking, the first lecture on homeopathy was very interesting but I must admit that I am still skeptical. Most likely because I need more information about why certain things work than "like means like", granted it was a very broad topic for the given time slot, but none-the-less still interesting. I also enjoyed Dr. Wasser's lecture on eugenics. It is ironic to me to listen how Hitler and his followers, specifically the T-4 doctors, took such things a genetics and social Darwinism to the point of killing those deemed inferior or useless after reading an article on the plane ride over about how Charles Dawin, unlike Einstein,among other scientists, isn't as celebrated. Then to hear how his theory along with other written works were used to try and create a "superior race" was a unique parallel that I couldn't have completely gained full perspective of without this experience of being in Germany and seeing the T-4 memorial and Sachsenhausen.

I have more the write but for some reason I feel like I'm moving, maybe all the train travel is causing motion sickness. If my thoughts above seem scattered, I apologize! Oh.....and New Years at Brandenburg Gate was amazing, even though I didn't make it to the gate and the fact we found our way back after being in the city for onlz a few hours was sheer luck!! :)

Hello, my friends, hello

I want to start by saying hello to everyone back home, I miss you guys and want you to know that I'm having a blast! This place is amazing, much older than I realized and very beautiful. I had a little trouble getting here, I had to be rerouted and ended up without my luggage for one day which wasn't a big deal. We're in Berlin now, we've been here a little over a day. Bonn and Cologne were awesome, especially the Dom Cologne, a high Gothic cathedral located about 100 yards outside of the train station in Cologne. The view as you walk out of the main lobby is the most awesome sight I've ever seen. So much so that I took a video on my camera, which I'm also using to take way more pictures than necessary. I think I hit the 300 mark today...

Anyway, we've been doing a lot of touring, exploring, and learning. The culture here is different but very interesting, and everyone is very nice. On New Year's we were at the huge party in the middle of Berlin. I've never been in a crowd close to that size, so it was definitely an experience. We learned the hard way that Germans aren't too good with lines and are quite liberal with the amount of force they use to push past you in a crowd, which is probably why my gloves and coat smelled like gluwein the next day. But this place is great, so much to see and learn. It's hard to believe that I stood in the ruins of a Roman General's living quarters that dates back to about 50 AD. Early this morning I jogged through the snow around Charlottenbourg, a 15th century palace in West Berlin, and had a moment of awe as we ran through the gardens during sunrise.

But even though Germans live amongst these reminders of their past, they are quite progressive. Just recently they elected their first woman chancellor and are obviously thrilled at the election of our new president. Most speak at least a little English, and my German is slowly getting better. Tomorrow we go to Dresden for a day trip and tomorrow night 10 of us are heading to Prague by train. Dr. Wasser and our program coordinator Stefi have been amazing so far, and are making this trip very enjoyable and worthwhile.

One last thing, we had a lecture on homeopathy a few days ago which was quite interesting. It was a little backwards to me given the training I've had so far, but had some very interesting concepts. Just as a brief overview, the idea is that certain herbs and other natural substances that cause certain symptoms in a healthy person can be used to help cure a person that is experiencing those same symptoms. I encourage you to read up on it, it's still relatively unknown and unpopular, but may hold the answers to some questions that modern Western medicine hasn't been able to answer. But I hope everyone had a great New Year's and is doing well. If you want to reach me I can check my email pretty easily so that would be the best way.

Until next time,

Asher

We have been in Germany for almost a week now and it has been amazing! Not one minute has been a dissapointment. The days take a little getting used to with sunset at 4 in the afternoon, but you get over it quick enough. We are in Berlin right now and have been here since New Years Eve. The celebration in the heart of Berlin was a once in a lifetime experience. Topping it will be near impossible. A few of us went to a local Jazz club last night that was great, and we will probably bring the rest with us tonight. The people are friendly and the culture is unlike anything we could have experienced in the states.

We've already had 2 lectures and a few tours, but there is still so much to do. The homeopathy lecture was interesting since it is something I knew very little about, and the Prof. Wasser first lecture over the T4 events was definitely something that caught my interest, especially with its connection to events in the US that we usually ignore. I'm looking forward to what he still has to teach us as there is plenty more to come.

Until next time.

Bonn, Cologne, Berlin... The best Neue Jahr ist in Deutschland!!!!

What can I say? Almost one week in this program. It has been an amazing time! I have enjoyed every single minute of this trip. From the very first day landing in Frankfurt I knew that I had come to the right place and that the little "sacrifices" that I made would be worth it.

The first day in Bonn we learned the history of the city, walked around and learned a lot about traditions in our welcome dinner at a local restaurant. Then came our very first foreign lecture on the evolution of homeopathy. Personally, this lecture was very interesting since I had a tiny little background with the subject thanks to my mom and her all natural remedies, as well as with homeopathic remedies. I think that perhaps, I will try to incorporate some of this knowledge into my practice. The information and history of homeopathy were very, how shall I put it, informative and it shed light on areas of the subject that I did not know. In addition to homeopathy, the visit and audiotour of the Haus der Geshischte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland walked us through modern German history (post WWII). Our tour taught me some things I did no know, it was a totally different learning experience, a living history class. The museum was very big, but the expositions were all real and the tourguide very informative.

Köln, Cologne, whatever you want to call it, I will stick with AMAZING. The sheer sight of the Kölner Dom (The cathedral) left me so amazed that Cologne is definitely on my list of cities to revisit with more time. The tour of the city taught me a lot about this wonderful city and yes I did have my very first beer (German beer, second one in my life) in the little restaurant we ate at. Cologne's colonialism reminded me a little of San Luis Potosí, the city I grew up in, because the architecture resembles it in a way. Of course, architecture in San Luis is prominently more Spanish, but they all date back to Roman times right? Our visit to the cathedral was also very cool since we got to see the relicary where the remains of the Three Wisemen are supposed to be. It is a little, well not so little, golden box on the back of the altar before the chapels and it is heavily protected. It is only opened on January the 6th, King's Day and people walk by and can see the relics. In summary, I think Köln was definitely worth the visit and I will come back and visit the museums and glass galleries again!

Now moving on to Nazi Euthanasia Porgrams. This is perhaps the solemn part of this blog. Dr. Wasser's lecture really opened my eyes to the atrocities that took place at the time. It was sheer dehumaniyation of groups of people, people that could not otherwise defend themselves for being handicapped, blind, deaf, or old. I had never heard about these "forgotten victims" of Aktion T4, butlearning about them here was bone chilling. Just knopwing that the 'instigators' were people with high education and even some in health professions made me think that perhaps there is a lot that we will never understand, but at least we are glad those times have come to pass.

Neue Jahr! December 31st! Our arrival to Berlin was delayed a bit, but neverhteless we got there! We celebrated New Year's at the Festmeille and a group of us actually made it all the way to the Brandemburg Gate! We were there to count down and welcome 2009! (A Whoop!!!) I hope that this new year 2009 brings us all what we need and especially health to continue with experiences like this one. So far our days in Berlin have been productive. We visited Sachsenhausen, a model concentration camp and prison, and we got to know the Berlin Metros and Subways pretty well. Today's tour was absolutely awesome and I have many pictures of Berlin's most notorious landmarks. In short, Berlin is beautiful, cold (SNOW!!!) and super interesting. Tomorrow we are off to Dresden and then we move to Prague.
Bis dann!!!!

These boots were made for walkin!

I thought I was going to have to wait until I landed in Germany for this trip to really start but as I was sitting in the DFW airport Saturday night, Michelle and Brian popped out of no where and it turned out that we were all on the same flight. We ended up talking to this ridiculously chatty guy from the UK and lucky for us our flight was delayed for two hours so we pretty much heard all of his life story.... He followed us all the way to the terminal of our connecting flight in the Heathrow airport.

I really enjoyed our tour of Bonn and the awesome view of the Rhine river. It was alot of fun to wander around the shopping center and attempt to order food in my limited german. The german pizza I ate is still my favorite lunch so far.

When we went to Cologne and went inside the Catherdral I was at a loss for words. The detail in the stained glass windows was incredible, I just couldn't stop taking pictures.

The Homeopath lecture was very interesting and introduced me to a new perspective of medicine. I never realized how much botany was involved and how detailed the dilutions were for each remedy. I'm glad i was introduced to an up and coming style of medicine such as Homeopathy, especially since its more popular in Europe than the US.

Yay for the tour of Berlin tomorrow!
Lauren

Wow

This trip is just flying by, I can't believe that we're already coming up on our first free weekend to Prague! It's going to be time to go home before we know it. For my blogs I've decided to post the "Reader's Digest" version of my journal entries.
The travel day getting here was way too complicated for my tastes, and I have never had any kind of mishaps while travelling before.The only good thing that happened was the free pizza we got in Abilene because we were stranded there for 2 or 3 hours. And the fact that my bag didn't make it until a day after I did was not helpful at all. It has taken me a very long time to get over the jet lag, but I think I'm finally on a better sleep schedule. During our stay in Bonn, I loved all the people that we spent time with! Olaf was an amazing guy that made the *best* breakfast for us every morning, and hanging out with him on Tuesday evening was great! Stefanie was so cute and helpful and didn't mind helping me with my luggage situation. Dr. Zack was cool too, I definitely enjoyed his tour of the city and his saying about the difference between Americans and Germans. I was a little sad when we had to leave as I was finally getting acquainted with the city and being able to (kind of) make my way around. All the buildings and architecture that I've seen has been so amazing, it's going to be hard going back to College Station with its plain-Jane buildings.
The discussion on homeopathy by Dr. Weiland was interesting, I had no idea that alternative medicine was that big in Germany. I've never been to or known a homeopath, so most of what he was talking about was new to me. I am going to want to check out his website with all the plants and what they are used for in this field of medicine. The Cologne excursion was fantastic! I could tell that Andre really loved his hometown and the things he showed were great. I loved the cathedral and the history behind it; I especially remember the competition with France and the three wise men. Dr. Wasser's first lecture was very intriguing. I had heard only a little bit about euthanasia in Germany before the war, and learning all the details about what kinds of people were chosen for this procedure was horrifying. And the transfer of doctors from euthanasia centers to concentration camps makes sense, but is still a terrible fact. After class someone told me that in American in the 1920s or 30s (maybe? correct me if I'm wrong), there was also a similar kind of happening. I had never heard about that at all, so that's another thing I want to read more about when I get the chance. It's hard to imagine the US going through a time like that, but like Dr. Wasser said, we're all the exact same except for the way we think. These events could happen anywhere.
That's it for now, this is getting a little long and people need the computer. Auf wiedersehen (sp?)!

Thoughts on Homeopathy

During the lecture by the homeopathic doctor (whose name was to intimidating for me to even attempt to write down), I was thinking about why there is such a difference in views on homeopathic medicine in the United States and Western European countries. My experiences of homeopathic medicine are very limited and my knowledge of it is even smaller. In my opinion it feels that the homeopaths here take their profession more seriously and scientific than the homeopaths back in the states. It must be very hard for everyone in our group to understand the rationale for the dilutions and the entire concept in general. We have all taken 2-4 years of very definite, provable sciences and this seems to be much lower in those departments.

This does not mean that I believe his entire profession is a crock, I just know for sure that is not the direction I want to take my education. The scientific laws and physical principles are things that I take comfort in for the ability to be discovered. This area needs much more research and science in my opinion. I am very glad he came though, he was very professional and a great speaker