Week 3 General Updates

Post 4- Week of 28/1/2019

This week, we prepared with our pilot groups for our first ECMO presentation. We were tasked with coming up with 10 problems in current-day ECMO. Ana and Dung were great partners. I think we split up our work very well and it was really great collaborating with them. I personally enjoy team projects. However, this project was not without its challenges. I felt very, very restrained by my knowledge of ECMO. I do know quite a bit and have even seen them in hospitals, however my knowledge of the underlying medical physiology limited my creativity. For example, one of my topics was “surgical implantation” for which I said the problem was the surgery itself. It obviously sounds absurd. But what if an ECMO physician said the same thing? Would the idea suddenly become plausible? Of course I have studied and learned cardioanatomy and cardiophysiology, but just to the extent that an Anatomy/Physiology course covers.  Fortunately, I do not fear being wrong and so will continue to ask questions and speak my mind in this way. I hope to continue learning about ECMO and cardiorespiratory medical complications to contribute to this project. And I really do wish to make some meaningful contribution.

Additionally, we continue moving along in physiology. We completed cell biology and membrane functions and are now in the neurophysiology chapter. As a neuroscientist and neuroscience minor, I am enjoying this chapter. Even with all my background in the field, I am still learning new things which is really great. Soon we will go to Vienna and I am beyond excited to learn more in that culture and country.

On the other side of the coin, life is really great here in Germany. I traveled with a group of 4, Vivian, Dung, Young, and Joshua, and we went to Berlin. Honestly, it is one of the coolest cities I have been to. It's on my list of top 3 cities along with Medellin and New York City. Parts of what made Berlin so appealing to me is the sheer size. Berlin also has some of the best food I've ever had. Only Florence beats the food I had in Berlin. We ate Korean food, currywurst, brotwurst, Vietnamese food, and some streetfood and it was all amazing. My goodness- it was phenomenal.

I went to an Odesza conert and met some really cool people. Some Austrians gave me some great "local" recommendations for food and coffee in Vienna so I am excited to try those out. Really looking forward to the remainder of this week!!!