Berlin and Otto Bock!

                We started off our excursion bright and early Monday morning with a six hour bus ride to Berlin. Being typical college students who have learned to fall asleep basically anywhere, we all passed out for the majority of the ride. However I’m really glad I got that sleep because once we arrived out our hotel and dropped off our stuff we went on a bike tour of Berlin. I loved the tour (although I was convinced we were going to cause the biggest traffic jam Berlin has ever seen)!  We got to see a lot of the main attractions like Checkpoint Charlie, parts of the Berlin Wall, and Alex. Plus getting to ride on a bike around Berlin was pretty awesome!

Painted parts of the Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie

Remaining section of the Berlin Wall

Alex (Berlin TV Tower)

                Tuesday was filled with lots of medical things at the Charité! Dr. Wasser first gave a lecture over Virchow and then we went to the History of Medicine Museum. Both of these things were great and informative but my favorite thing from this day was the skills training center. Two German medical students first explained the different curriculum formats used in German medical schools and then brought us to their interactive skills center. There we got to partake in several simulations, such as listening for a patient’s heartbeat and diagnosing the correct heart condition. Basically we all got to play around with different medical devices and simulations which was obviously a ton of fun (for medical students)! But on a more serious note, I’m glad we got to visit the skills center because one of my goals for this study abroad was to have a better idea of what I want to do once I graduate. I’m still on the fence of whether I want to go on a more engineering or medical route, but based off how much I enjoyed the skills center I’m strongly considering a more medical route.

                The next day we went to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp to get a tour of the memorial site. I thought I kind of knew what the concentration camp was going to be like based off the multiple times we have learned about the Holocaust in school, but I was wrong. The concentration camp itself looked similar to what I have seen in textbooks but the feeling and atmosphere that came with it was stronger than I expected. Hearing the stories and details of what it was like to be at this concentration camp during World War II while seeing it with my own eyes was a unique experience that took me back and made me really understand the gravity of the events that occurred there. I think that students have become somewhat desensitized to the Holocaust from hearing the same facts about it over and over again in school, so this was eye-opening experience that I will never forget. After this tour we had the afternoon free before we needed to work on our Otto Bock project, so a group of us went to the Gardens of the World. This place was filled with flowers and scenes from different parts of the world (hence the name) and was super beautiful. It was a great way to end our last full day in Berlin!

                Thursday we got to go see the Jewish Museum and then a large group of us went to see the Holocaust Memorial during our last bit of free time in Berlin. I’m glad we had the time to see the Holocaust Memorial and it was definitely an interesting site to see and walk through. All of us then hopped back on our bus to head for Göttingen. We were supposed to spend the evening practicing for our presentation in front of Otto Bock the next day and having more free time but our hotel didn’t have rooms for us so we ended up having to drive a half hour away to another hotel. Even though that situation was obviously less than ideal, our new hotel ended up being even better than the original and we still had time to practice so everything worked out.

Holocaust Memorial

                Our final day of the excursion was spent at Otto Bock in Duderstadt. After arriving we got a tour of their showroom which showcased all their prosthetic. Even though I had done research on their transtibial prosthetic for the past three months for our project, I was still impressed with their prosthetic and all their technology in general. It was super cool to see it all and finally have a physical example of their work. Next up was the big presentation! All of us had been working on this project since January so this presentation was important to us. Plus we were giving our presentation in front of two Otto Bock engineers which made it an even bigger deal (and more nerve-wracking). All our hard work paid off though and the presentation went well! Everyone seemed pleased with the presentation and the engineers seemed interested in our ideas which was really exciting! This Otto Bock project was a great experience for us engineers and I’m glad we got to end our last group excursion on a high note!