Berlin

I'm determined to get caught up on my blogging, so here comes the first of 3 blogs this week. (Edit:  I wrote this part last week and produced zero blogs, so don't get your hopes up.)

Never before have I visited a city with as much recent, tumultuous history as Berlin.  We got a taste of this history on our first day in Berlin during our bike tour led by our awesome Scottish tour guide, Ryan.  We saw steps where Hitler and Goebbels once gave speeches to massive crowds, we saw where bullet holes still remain in Germany's historic museums, we saw the location of the first Nazi book burning led by college students much like us, we saw Checkpoint Charlie, we saw the longest section of the Berlin Wall still standing, and, of course, we saw the Brandenburg Gate.  Just reflecting back now, it is amazing to me how much history we experienced in Berlin in one afternoon.  I saw historical sites I have read about since I was in 5th grade, and that is truly an amazing experience.

The next morning, we caught an early train to Dresden for a guided tour of the city (you probably got psyched out by the title of this blog post thinking I would only be talking about Berlin).  Dresden was extremely pretty, but, much like Berlin, the effects of World War II are still very apparent with cranes everywhere and tasteful monuments spread throughout the city.  Of course, Dresden was almost completely destroyed by the Allies during the war in a highly controversial air-raid.  The attack on Dresden was controversial because at the time during the war when it was bombed the city held little strategic value to the Allies.  The Allies simply carried out the attack to deflate the morale of the German people by destroying arguably their most beautiful town.  I actually feel something of a connection to this piece of WWII history because we played a touching piece in high school band that commemorated this unnecessary attack and memorialized its victims.

On Wednesday morning, we visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp with our trusty Scottish tour guide Ryan.  This was really a very sobering visit for me.  To see firsthand the site where countless atrocities were committed against fellow human beings is an almost indescribable feeling.  Thinking about what those prisoners experienced-the fear, hopelessness, pain, and exhaustion-is difficult and heavy on the mind.  But I think that is exactly how visiting Sachsenhausen is supposed to feel.  It is a reminder that we as humans are capable of doing truly terrible things to each other, and humanity should never let something like that happen ever again.  Following the Sachsenhausen visit, we returned to Berlin to do whatever we wanted.  Many of us went to find the "best" currywurst in the city.  This currywurst place was under some train tracks outside of a subway station.  In haste, I picked out the closest currywurst stand under the train tracks which actually wasn't the supposed best currywurst restaurant in Berlin (oops).  Instead, I had the currywurst from the currywurst place next to the best currywurst place in Berlin, which is basically just as good.  After lunch, I went to Museum Island to explore a couple of the famous museums on my own.  First I saw the Neues Museum which had thousands of ancient Egyptian artifacts, most notably being the bust of Nefertiti ("the most beautiful woman in Berlin").  I also briefly toured the Pergamon Museum as well, seeing many of the Middle Eastern art and artifacts it had to offer.  I walked around downtown Berlin to see more of the city-city before heading back to the hotel to meet up with a few people for the "ALTERNATIVE 666 PUB CRAWL!!"  This pub crawl was super fun, and despite the name was not led by Satanists.  We went to some of the more local bars usually not frequented by tourists before ending up at a really crappy club that I could've done without.

Thursday was the Bioscience-y day, featuring a visit to the Museum for the History of Medicine, a meeting with a couple of medical students at the Charite, and finally a visit to the cool-looking Otto Bock Science Center.  The most interesting part was definitely the preserved specimens at the Museum for the History of Medicine.  One of the specimens was a 20 kg colon that came from a guy who had a disorder with his digestive system where he basically couldn't poop.  He lived for like 30 years and walked around with that thing. Amazing.  With that in mind, let me tell you about the awesome Moroccan dinner we had at Kasbah.  These large group dinners we have with the AIB have been one of my favorite parts of the trip because everything is paid for, there's lots of laughs, and we always get great food.  After dinner, some of us went to a bar close to our hotel that was probably the nicest bar I've ever been to in my limited bar-going days.  The drinks were about 8 euros each, but we got these nice couches all to ourselves, the bartender gave us free peanuts, and the bathrooms were impeccable.  10/10 would go again.

For our last day in Berlin, we went to Hohenschonhausen which was used as a prison for both the SS and the Stasi.  I suppose it was fairly interesting, but the whole museum had a very propaganda-y feel to it.  I had a hard time putting my finger on it, but I just felt slightly unnerved by the way they presented everything, especially this video they showed us at the beginning of the tour.  It played like a bad, early-2000s documentary you can find on the History Channel at 2 am between infomercials.

Regardless,  Berlin, self-described as "poor yet sexy,"  was a fantastic city that I greatly enjoyed for the week.  Through the ups and downs, I learned a lot about German history, ate some good food, and walked my ass off.  Next stop:  Prague.

3 weeks from today....

..... I will be home!! I am flippin' pancakes excited to be home. It's been difficult for me to keep my mind with my physical self lately because I constantly day-dream about my momentous arrival. I have this scene in my mind that I keep imagining: I ride the escalator down in the Austin Bergstrom Airport with Willie Nelson music softly playing in the background and at the bottom of the escalator is my whole entire family with signs and balloons that say "Welcome home Vanessa!" and then after I am enveloped by a group hug with my progenitors. In my idealized dream, we then all go to Kerbey Lane Cafe and eat queso and pancakes until I roll myself home.

Anyways, I know that won't actually happen but I am nonetheless excited to be at home for countless reasons (primarily queso). This semester has taught me to appreciate some daily conveniences that I never before thought of as more than basic facts of life. When I return home, I will have a new and deep appreciation for constant access to the internet, opportunities for complete privacy (living with 3 little kids who don't understand knocking on doors keeps me on my toes), a fridge that I can aimlessly sift through at my own leisure, and mostly the assurance that there are human beings in close proximity that really care about me.

Moving on from that little rant, I went to London last weekend! I was so enthused to hear English being spoken around me I wanted to strike up a conversation with literally everyone. One night, some young British men in suits did randomly strike up a conversation with me and the two guys I was eating dinner with and bought us drinks! I found that British people are extremely friendly and nice in general and I really appreciated that contrast from the German stoicism. Visiting the Harry Potter studio was expensive but completely worth it. It was wonderful to waddle in nostalgia from the days where I was unabashedly obsessed with Harry Potter. Out of all the cities I've visited this summer, I can imagine myself living and working in London the easiest and I think I would enjoy it very much.

I don't even want to talk about classes but I feel like I should at least mention academics since this is a STUDY abroad trip. One observation I've made is that I am happy to be in an environment full of exceptionally academically motivated students. I know that I've benefitted just from being surrounded by intelligent and hard working students this semester.

Wasser V. The Machine

It is quite a common occurrence that we get the opportunity see a battle of two great forces right in front of our very eyes. On one side we have the powerful and wise Dr. Wasser and on the other we have the crafty and insubordinate Lenovo ThinkPad with Microsoft 7 Professional operating system. The stage is set in a classroom not much different than a normal high school classroom. The sun is rising and the German wind blows across the courtyard. In steps Dr. Wasser, ready to lecture and educate us in the ways of physiology. But wait! A dark rectangular prism foe sits menacingly on a desk as if it has been waiting for his arrival. Wasser steps toward the beast, pulls out his flash drive of destiny and points it his adversary and exclaims, "Windows, we meet again!" There is no response.  He thrusts the flash drive into a weak point and tries to load his lecture slides. But it is all for not. The geometric enemy  won't load the data in the portable drive properly! In disgust, the mighty Wasser unplugs and replugs the drive in hopes that this will further weaken his foe. But the black creature begins to restart in order to update, one of the most powerful tools in its armory of dark magic. "Foul Demon!" Wasser cries out. As the percent bar slowly makes progress, Wasser lay in wait, biding his time and planning for his next attack. His patience does not come in vain, the beast is weakened when it displays the login screen. With a firm slap to the keyboard, the beast gives up and Wasser stands victoriously in front of the class with his lecture slides on the SMART Board ready to teach another day.

Panic Posting Part Three: Anesthesia and Soccer

 The week after Amsterdam, we had a visit to the museum of the history of anesthesia. Let me preface this by saying that I have had a sinus infection or allergies or something the ENTIRE time I've been here. It's fairly horrible. Today I have blown my nose through two whole rolls of toilet paper. And it's been like this the whole time. I have probably single-handedly  used half of the worlds paper supply to soak up my mucus. And yes Mom, I have been to the doctor. Anyway,my nose was particularly bad on the day of the museum tour. It was led by a very old man named Dr. Stoeckel. Although I was suffering the entire time, it was still interesting and it was cool to get to hear the history from someone who had been studying it/living it for such a long time. That weekend, we went to a soccer game. The stadium was nice, it was a pretty day, and I had a beer and a sausage to keep me happy. I really enjoyed that. I wish soccer was more of a thing in the US. Maybe it was just that we were sitting in a very chill area (the corner) and that we had shade to sit under, but it was probably the most relaxing sporting event I've been to. It might have just been the fact that we were ALLOWED to sit, instead of being forced to stand by the almighty power of peer pressure. Ahem. It did make me miss my trombone, as lame as that sounds. Every football game in high school and every basketball/volleyball game in college I've been in the band section and I've had something to do instead of cheering, and A&M football has (mandatory) yells (rituals) that I can occupy myself with. I just don't think I know how to cheer. Do I yell woo and wave my arms? It's so much easier to play a fight song or do a yell (ritualistic chant). Despite my inability to competently participate in the regular audience, I still had a great time.

The Biosciences part of Berlin

SO. Berlin. Our last few days were dedicated to Hohenschönhause Memorial, a free day in which Ryan and I explored the Neuces museum, and some fun physiology activities that included a trip to the museum of Hygiene, a Virchow exhibit, the Cherite hospital, and Otto Bock prosthetics.

We dedicated an entire day to the four "science based" locations. With the museum of Hygiene (which actually means “health” and not just how to brush your teeth) we saw statistics about food consumption around the world and a cool video about how cheese is made. There was also an “old man suit” that was actually some foggy goggles, broomstick shoes, a wooden contraption to hunch you over, and some earmuffs—but it seemed to work effectively to turn Zach into an old guy! We also learned about human reproduction and that you vasodialate when you kiss! There was a competition of who could get the lowest alpha-waves in an EEG, so basically who could think the LEAST. I beat Ryan. I’m not sure if I should be proud or not. Overall, it was a cool museum.

Our tour guide, Tom, made the Virchow pathological museum interesting. He provided two things for us that many museum tours lack: a witty commentary and CHAIRS. OH SWEET CHAIRS. Museum tours are usually a struggle because my feet get tired, but having nice little portable stools to sit on made all the difference on my attention span and overall happiness. Tom also graphically explained the advancement of anesthesiology, surgery, and child delivery through the ages, complete with vivid hand gestures (we were all actually a little grossed out when he “performed” a breach correction movement with his fingers). The Virchow exhibit was a collection of specimens collected by (guess who) Virchow. His motto was apparently “collect a specimen a day!” and he had EVERYTHING: from preserved sections of tattooed skin to multiple cases of hydrocephaly to a man that could not poop and had a massive (I mean MASSIVE) colon. It was pretty disgusting, but definitely an interesting perspective on pathological medicine.

The Ottobock Prosthetics Company tour was also a great experience because we got to see some cutting edge prosthetics! We learned about the intricacies that go into the design of a new prosthetic device. The weight of the device must be taken into account at the very least, and in more modern devices the direction of the stride, the amount of force that must be generated, and the pace of the person must all be calibrated for individual movements. Even the gender of a person plays a role into the stride length and duration! One of the most recent prosthetic legs had a special program for walking forwards at a sedate pace, walking more rapidly, walking up and down stairs, and even tripping! The tour guide explained that tripping is a huge problem in these robotically programmed devices because the program will assume that a trip is actually a step and will not plant the prosthetic foot in a way that will catch the person and help them rebalance. Additionally, the way that robotic prosthetics are being attached is really cool. The severed muscle endings in say, your arm, are pretty useless because the nerves and muscles no longer communicate in functional syncitium. To counteract this, arm prosthesis are connected to the pectoral muscle, which has been split into five unique pieces to correspond to finger movements. Basically, an amputee can learn to pick up a pencil or a credit card by flexing his pectorals! Super interesting stuff!

We also got to see the Cherite teaching hospital. There’s a program there that allows students to teach other students basic doctor skills. I learned how to use a stethoscope because I have apparently always put it in my ears backwards. We also learned how to recognize heart murmurs, ear infections, and perform postpartum checkups on newborn babies thanks to some sophisiticated teaching dummies that the hospital has provided for this tutoring program. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I’m glad that I learned a few practical skills!

Word Limit Exceeded(Almost)

The past few weeks have been super busy so this is probably going to be a long post.

We reached Berlin in the afternoon and once we dropped our stuff off at the hotel, we left to go on a bike tour of the city which is a decision I am very happy about. Eric, our guide, had a very thick Scottish accent which added to his great story telling skills. We rode around Berlin, seeing the main sights: Berlin Cathedral, the Holocaust Memorial, and Museum Island, part of the Berlin Wall, Humboldt University, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Brandenburg gate. The next day we took a trip to Dresden.

Dresden wall heavily damaged during WWII and had major rebuilding to complete but they came through to put together one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. When we got there, we had a guided walking tour of the city and ate lunch at a very German restaurant. Next we went to the Hygiene museum (which as Dr. Wasser stressed was not a museum on how to floss). This museum was a science/biology museum that was amazing. There were 6 or 7 large rooms, each with a different theme (e.g. birth/death, human anatomy, perception/memory/learning movement etc.) and very cool exhibits to play around with.

After spending some time there we went back to Berlin, only to leave the next morning for Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp. This trip was very sobering, because I saw firsthand where the atrocities committed by the Nazis occurred. We had our Eric again to guide us through the camp and he set the scene for what the Jews, gypsies and other oppressed groups endured. We went back to Berlin and had the rest of the day to ourselves so me and a group of friends decided to walk around the city and go back to some of the sights we had seen on the bike tour but passed by too fast. We also went to the East Side Gallery which is about 1 km of the Berlin Wall that the city commissioned artists to paint. After this we went to the Hofbräuhaus in Berlin and I feel like I became more German just sitting there. The next day we went to the Charite Teaching Hospital and we learned about the curriculum of some of the medical students in berlin and then got to play around with many things to learn, like a very lifelike baby doll and reflex hammers. We then went to Ottobok which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me, because I want to work with prosthetics/orthopedics in my career. We were led around their facility and got to see some of the prosthetics that they had come up with and then we got to go up to the “rehab loft” where they had other cool stuff. Our last day in Berlin, we visited a Stazi prison Hohenschönhausen which was very interesting. The people running the prison and interrogations had very odd but effective ideas on how to control and gain information from their prisoners. Following this, the group split up and some of us went to take a bus to Prague.

Prague is currently tied for first in my mental lists of favorite places I have visited on this trip (along with Lisbon and Munich) and I am so glad that I made the decision to go there. Prague was definitely the most photogenic city I have visited. Everywhere you turned, you would see amazing buildings and scenery. Also the Easter market was going on while we were there which added to the experience although the language was a lot like Hungarian (completely undiscernible).  The first day in Prague, we walked across the Charles Bridge and saw the astronomical clock which was a very complex time keeping device that even had the name that you had depending on your birthday. We then took a walking tour with a very enthusiastic very cockney guide who E-NUN-CIATED very well named Dave. Dave took us around the city, showing us famous places, like a concert hall where Mozart received a 30 minute standing ovation, the old town hall, an odd statue of an odd man (Franz Kafka), and other landmarks, namely the Jewish quarter. In world war two, Prague was spared from bombing and other damage by Hitler himself because he thought the city was so beautiful and he wanted to save it for himself, and also create the “Museum of an Extinct Race” after the war. The special treatment for the city did not translate to its Jewish inhabitants. On the tour we walked by (but didn’t go in) the Jewish cemetery. It looked rather small and the ground was elevated to about the height of the fence surrounding it. Dave told us that there were 20,000 people buried there (which I couldn’t believe) and continued to tell us that this was the only cemetery where the Jews could be buried in that time and when they ran out of land thee government refused to give them more, and gave them more soil, which they then had to pile on top of the existing graves and bury their dead in that. This trip definitely gave me more insight as to how life would have been back then for the Jews with Sachsenhausen and the Jewish quarter. After the tour we went to a gallery that had art from Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol which was pretty nice but the art was very strange. We also visited the John Lennon wall which was a cool experience. The next morning I met up with one of my friends from Abilene who is studying abroad in Leipzig and we went to the top of the old town hall and had a very nice view of the city. When I rejoined the Bonn group we walked around the city some more, seeing the dancing building, and the Prague Castle and Cathedral. These days my study abroad program has become traveling with some class sprinkled in instead of the other way around. I came back from Prague, had 4 days of class and then I was off again for Easter break.

For the break a small group of friends and I went to Munich. Munich was also very beautiful, but in a different way than Prague. The city had its amazing building of course, but also was very scenic and had a lot of ‘nature’ around. After being in places with a definite city feel (Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Barcelona, and Vienna etc.) it was nice to see trees and rivers and large open grassy areas. To get to Munich we took a night bus that arrived at about 8:30 am. After we got to the place we were staying, we showered and then we were off to see the city. We saw the Hofgarten and then went to a giant park and had lunch in the Chinese beer garden. We then roamed around the enormous and stunning Nymphenburg Palace which had some of the most magnificent gardens I had ever seen. Following that, we visited the site of the 1972 Olympics, in Munich which was very well maintained and allowed us to get a great view of Munich and the mountains outside the city. For dinner we went to the original Hofbrauhaus which was a great experience. The people singing, eating, and drinking, and the waiters walking around with 10+ liter mugs of beer made it an unforgettable experience. The next morning we were off to see one of my favorite parts of the trip: BMW World/Museum. I won’t go into too much detail but some of the highlights were seeing the BMW i8, a Rolls Royce, learning about the history of BMW and how they started as an airplane engine company, and seeing the awesome new concept car from BMW. After spending a few hours admiring the German Engineering (sorry that's the Audi motto) Ultimate Driving Machines, we walked around the city some more and stumbled upon the “Fifth Avenue” of Munich. The street was lined with very high end shops and sitting outside were very high end cars (including the BMW i8 which we had just seen in the museum). We continued to revel in the luxury when we visited the Residenz, the former palace of the Bavarian Royalty, and finished up the day with another meal at another Brauhaus. In the morning we got up early to get to Neuschwanstein Castle. This trip was definitely an adventure. We arrived at the train station to find a puny two car train trying to take the droves of tourists to the famous castles. After some running around we finally got onto a train and then got on a bus. And then another train. And then another bus. The entire time it seemed as if there was some natural disaster occurring—people running and pushing to get onto the platforms just trying to get to a mountain with a castle on it. Once we reached, however, I kind of realized why, because it was breathtaking. The snowy landscape overlooking the castles is something I hope I will never forget. Ok so I’m getting tired of writing this and I doubt anyone even got this far so I am going to wrap this up. Our last day in Munich we visited the Allianz Arena where Bayern Munich plays, walked around the city some more, saw some people surfing in a river while it was snowing and had dinner at a final Brauhaus. We got back Monday morning and went straight to class, and then I had a pretty stressful week capped by a Diffeq test on Thursday night.

The end.

They Speak English!

During Easter weekend, two other guys from my program and I met up with two of my friends who are studying abroad in Italy for a birthday celebratory weekend. It was such a great weekend to be with friends and be in a place where we could actually understand the language!

Day 1

We stayed in a hostel that was in a very nice neighborhood in London and located very close to everything. After a small stop at a café for some coffee, we headed towards the Thames where we saw Big Ben, Westminster, and the London Eye. We also headed to a great outdoor market called the Borough Market with tons of tent vendors selling meat, chocolates, cookies, cheeses, fresh made juices, etc. If you are ever in London, you have to go to this market. It was really cool! We also visited a cool section of upside down umbrellas right outside the market. One thing interesting about the London skyline is the mix of old and new architecture. There are actually a large amount of contemporary glass buildings, one being the Shard. It was one of my favorite new buildings in London. You can’t go to London and not go to Platform 9 ¾ so we headed to King Cross Station and took a picture in front of the famous platform sign from the Harry Potter movies. After a full day of sight seeing, we didn’t get back to the hostel until about 9:30 PM and we still needed to grab dinner. To our chagrin, almost all of the restaurants around us were closed or the kitchen had closed and they were only serving drinks. We deduced that they were closed due to Good Friday. The only place that was still serving food was an Indian restaurant so we decided to eat there! Very random but the food was actually very good!

Day 2

Our hostel was located right next to a large park called Hyde Park. One of my favorite aspects of London was all of the parks and beautiful gardens. They also have “Cycle Hires” all around the city where you pay £2 for a day to rent a bike. You simply ride it until the next docking station, where you can dock it until you need it again. We decided to bike to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. We were shocked to see all of the tourists and people all around the building. I was hoping the queen would make an appearance since it was Easter weekend but that did not happen. After a quick stop here, we decided to go to the British Museum where there are artifacts from around the world, including the Rosetta Stone. My favorite part was the huge section on Roman life. When I took Latin in high school, I really enjoyed learning about the Roman culture. I surprisingly remembered a lot of things I had learned in Latin class. Next, we headed to go see the Tower of London Bridge. One of my favorite stops that day was at Abbey Road, the famous crosswalk where the Beatles shot a famous album cover. It was hilarious trying to walk across and pose while simultaneously trying to prevent getting hit from oncoming traffic. Let me say, London drivers are not the friendliest of drivers. I’m not sure pedestrians get the right of way. We then headed to dinner at a great London pub, where we celebrated my birthday properly with a cake and candle! Sydney made sure there was a candle for my birthday!

Day 3

We were sad to see Syd and Will go as they headed out early Sunday morning to head back to Italy. It was very different not being with my family on Easter but luckily we got to go to the Hillsong Church in London, which was awesome! There was amazing worship (which was much needed since I haven’t had much of that while being Germany) and a very unique presentation on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Mitchell and Aaron wanted to spend some more time in the British Museum so while they went back there, I found a coffee shop and called back home to talk with my family for Easter. It was a beautiful day so we rented bikes again and rode around the city for a little bit, stopping by Buckingham Palace again, riding through some parks, and enjoying the beautiful day. The previous night, we had seen a Mexican food restaurant and had to go get some Mexican food, even though we knew it wouldn’t be as good as the Tex Mex back home. We invited our two Australian friends staying in the hostel with us who were awesome. It was hilarious to see them start sweating as they ate the “spicy” food (It actually wasn’t spicy at all haha).

Day 4

Our last day! We didn’t fly out until that night so we still had pretty much the whole day. We went to the British Science Museum right down the street from our hostel, which was really well done (and it was FREE!). I could have spent hours in there as there were all sorts of exhibitions on space, biology, the science behind taste and marketing by food companies, the history of steam engines, etc. After leaving the Science museum and grabbing lunch, we decided to go to a bookstore to get a book since there are no English books in Germany (or at least not a wide selection of English books). We stopped in one of those “typical” bookstores you see in movies; It was very quaint and smelled like old books. I got a book called Over the Ocean about a couple that immigrates to London from Austria during World War II. They are then forced to leave London and are taken separately to Australia as refugees. I read the first ten chapters on the plane home. It’s really good so far! Before heading back to the hostel to pick up our bags and head to the airport, we stopped at a coffee shop and enjoyed a cup of coffee and the beautiful weather.

Besides Spring Break, this was my favorite trip I have taken while studying abroad. The people that went were awesome and the two groups of friends (one from my Bioscience program and the other from the Italy Architecture program) got along so well. It was a very fun weekend without any problems, just fun! Not to mention, everyone spoke English so it was a breath of fresh air to be able to completely understand everyone. It’s crazy to think that was really my last trip before the end of the program, but I’ve gotten to see some really cool places. I just realized I have been to eight countries in the past three months. CRAZY!

School is incredibly busy right now from our Biochemistry lectures and tutoring sessions, to our Physiology lectures and labs. Last week, the students in Biochem (three of us) had four hours of lecture almost every day. So just in case it seems like I am only playing, I am definitely working. I just say we work hard and play hard.

There are only two weeks of regular lecture and then finals week before our program ends. It feels like yesterday I was arriving in Bonn. I am incredibly excited for my parents and two aunts to arrive at the end of the program. After coming to Bonn, we will fly into Milan and spend some time in the Tuscany area. We are all very excited! Look out for that blog post in May!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories!