Amsterdam and the Uniklinik

Time flies by so quickly here. We've been doing so many things and the Carnival season is almost over...but I'll talk about that later.

About a week ago we visited the Uniklinik here in Bonn. It's something like a University Hospital where students go to learn. And we got to be medical students for a day!! I knew that it was going to be a great opportunity when Dr. Wasser talked about it but I had no idea we were going to be so close to the doctors operating. We arrived at 730 in the morning ( I had to wake up at 530...ugh) and once we talked to the person organizing the viewings we dressed out in scrubs and they sent us off to surgery! I was the first person to walk into an operating room and I really had no expectations. I stepped into the room to find an average sized indian man on the operating table and several anesthesiologists prepping for surgery. One of the anesthesiologists actually was from America and did his post doc at OSU so of course we talked football for a little bit before he began to explain what the surgery was. Turns out this man is very unhealthy and his carotid artery was blocked. Once they finished prepping him and the doctor walked in and we chatted for a while and he explained he was going to get rid of the skin on the neck and then snip the artery and clear it out. As they put the sheets over him I tried to mentally prep myself. They directed me to right behind the patients head so I could see everything.... I started to smell burning flesh as the doctor zapped away the skin and I started to get a little hot and light headed. I decided to stay and wait it out. I started to watch the floor but when I looked up again the doctor was holding the carotid artery away from the neck and the nurse snipped it. All of a sudden my face started sweating and I told the anesthesiologist that I would be back in a little. I ended up not coming back to that specific surgery but I did give myself time to recover by drinking two cups of coffee in the doctors lounge area. After I felt better I walked around and found everyone else who was either taking a break or who was done with their surgery. Turns out I wasn't the only one who felt light headed. Two guys fainted in their operating rooms. I decided to give it another go after some encouragement from Dr. Wasser and boy am I glad I did. I went with one of my classmates to the cardiac wing and we entered in on a surgery that had been going on for a while. We walked in to the room and stepped on to the stepping stool behind the patients head and peered over the curtains. There in front of us was a beating heart and it was one of the most awesome sights I've ever experienced. They were in the process of bypassing the heart through the aorta and the right atrium so they could put the patient on a continuous flow. We were able to stay there for an hour to watch and I'm proud to say that I didn't feel faint at all! Don't know if I could become a surgeon though...
After watching the operations we got a wonderful tour of the ICU and the ER. Overall it was a wonderful day and a great way to start the weekend!!
Right after our visit to the Hospital I rushed home so I could pack for Amsterdam and still catch the train on time. The trip there was so exciting!! I couldn't wait to get to a new city and explore. Once we got there we had a little trouble finding our hostel but once we found it we checked and talked to the person at the front desk about things to do. The location of the hostel was right at the beginning of the Red Light District which was convenient for the beginning of the night, apparently the RLD gets quiet around midnight so he also suggested going out to Leidseplein where all the clubs and bars stay open until the wee hours of the night. We dropped off our packs in bags in our 18 bed dorm style room and met our French and Chicagoan roommates. Through out the weekend we were able to hang out with them for a little and exchange stories, the hostel was a great place to meet people! The next day we were blessed with sun so we took a canal tour which was a great way to learn the history of Amsterdam. It really is a beautiful place, I'd love to go back in the spring sometime. After the canal tour we made our way to the Heineken brewery/museum which turned out to be a great way to start the evening. After the tour we had dinner at an italian place called Vapiano and made our way back to the hostel to prepare for the night! Amsterdam was much less intimidating then I had ever expected. Everyone was friendly and were very helpful with directions. The next day we woke up and had a wonderful English style breakfast with toast, sautéed mushrooms, sausage, and potatoes. Then we bought tickets to the Van Gogh museum (one of the places I really wanted to go to!) but we accidentally bought tickets to a special Van Gogh exhibit that involved a digital artist redoing all of Van Gogh pieces. It was actually kind of neat because the artist was able to make some of his most famous pieces into 3D. We would walk into a little theatre and watch the art move back and forth. So I guess I'll have to go back to see all of the originals. Learned my lesson! After we headed to the Anne Frank House which was amazing. One of those experiences that really move you but you can't explain how. Then we made our way to a sandwich shop to grab lunch before we had to head back to the train station and school!! Wonderful weekend :)