Back to Reality

So, it being the first week back following Spring Break has not made this the most enjoyable week by comparison, but there was definitely still some fun to be had. The most noteworthy event of the week, on Thursday, was being able to get a tour of the Anesthesia Museum with a massive display of equipment and associated apparatus throughout the past decades following the effective development of anesthesia. The great part is, our tour guide was perhaps even more impressive than his collection. If given enough time, Horst Stoeckel--who founded the museum and donated his private collection to its care--would have been able to provide background information and details on each of the thousands of pieces in the collection. I especially enjoyed learning about the various plants and their chemical derivatives that have anesthesia-similar effects. To be honest, there were some parts of the tour that I found really hard to pay attention to, but considering the overall experience, it was an incredible opportunity.

The next day, however, started off on a more depressing note. I realize that at this point, it has been thoroughly established that the workload of some of the group is picking up. I don't want to belabor the point, but let it be said that the biomechanics test on friday did not go as well as I hoped...by any stretch of the imagination. Luckily, I had something to pull me out of my moping in the form of the Hunger Games movie that was playing in English in Bad Godesburg. It sounds kind of silly, but I was a little bummed when I realized I would miss the screen adaptation of one of my favorite books, and learning that I could see it here was just one of those little pleasures that goes a long way in balancing out some of the frustrations of living in a foreign country. I really had a lot of fun trekking out with some of the others and making an event out of it.

So yeah, from world-renowned icons of anesthesiology to little doses of American pop culture, this week has had it all. Tchüss--