Bussing to Berlin

Another week of hotels, traveling, and trams in the books. We’re approaching the end of the semester and the finish line is within sight. Some of the count downs students have going on here are a little over the top. But none the less only three weeks to go! It has been a very busy week in Berlin with 27 others. In my opinion it was a lot better than the week we spent in Vienna with the same group. I found the tours and lectures better in Berlin than Vienna. I thought the eight hour bus ride to Berlin was going to be bad but it turned out good. It went by faster than expected and I was able to get some studying and sleep done. On the way home it was more of a party bus. Almost everyone, including the teachers, were singing and dancing to old rock and disco songs. One of the best parts of Berlin was having the opportunity to visit a medical school and interact with medical students. They let us experiment with a few of their clinical training sets. I got to intrabate a dummy, listen to irregular heartbeats, pretend to be an old person, and even experience Parkinson’s disease.  We also toured a concentration camp and visited the Berlin zoo. Thursday evening we left Berlin and headed to Dunderstadt. Dunderstadt is a small town about four hours from Berlin that is home to Otto Bock headquarters. We spent most the day Friday talking with them and learning all about them. They are one of the leading prosthetic companies and it was really interesting. We all learned a lot about their company and what they are trying to achieve and had a great time. After a test review last night till 11:30 p.m. the last thing I wanted to do this morning was wake up early and go play soccer but I’m glad I did. We had a little soccer tournament with all the students from the different schools. I was the only one from A&M engineering or sciences except for one of my professors and his son. We had a lot of fun and it was a good warm up for the Dusseldorf verse Werder soccer game. It was my first ever big soccer game and it was a lot of fun.