Spring Break Part 1: Coppet/Geneva

I would like to start off by saying that I love trains. I've said it before and I will say it a million more times. Trains are the greatest. They're quiet, smooth, and they don't prompt me to ponder the possibility of a plane-related demise. For spring break, I originally planned to go skiing in Switzerland and stay in a lodge 50m from the main lift. For someone with no significant income, I have expensive tastes. Luckily, Amy's aunt lives in a little town called Coppet about 20 minutes north of Geneva. So, we decided that if we stayed with her for a few days, it was likely that I would be able to get myself on a mountain at some point or another. We took a train from Bonn and it was probably one of my favorite days of this entire semester. I sat and read a book about the theory of relativity that was very pleasantly written. I even understood some of it. We even got off a stop too early at one point but the guy at the counter printed us new tickets and we were only set back by 20 minutes. The view out of the window was beautiful the whole day, and as we passed out of a tunnel onto a hill overlooking Lake Geneva with the mountains surrounding everything, I felt quite happy (it would take too many words to describe exactly how beautiful it was and how happy I felt so I'll just leave it at that). Amy's aunt (Suzanne) picked us up from the train station and took us home for dinner. Staying there was a weirdly awesome experience. It was weird in the sense that I don't think anybody has ever said the phrase "I stayed at my girlfriend's aunts house over spring break and it was really amazing". Suzanne (and her husband, Hannu, who was sick but still made some appearances) are very interesting to talk to, we ate very healthy food that actually tasted good, and had great conversations throughout every day. She took us cross country skiing which was fun in a painful way, and took us to lunch with one of the CERN engineers and some other very smart people. I got to see Geneva, which was beautiful (and expensive). The only thing that I didn't do was go downhill skiing, because the day we would've gone, the buses weren't running up the mountain (but we didn't know until we got halfway there). After we finally returned from that hilariously disappointing venture, we just spent our afternoon walking around Coppet. It was exactly like what you would imagine a tiny Swiss lakeside town to be. I drank some really great tea and spent more money than I should have in a chocolate shop. Overall, even though I spent my spring break doing absolutely nothing that I originally intended, I think I had a better time than if my original plans worked out. And that's saying a lot, because I love skiing even more than I love trains.

Please Mind The Gap

My weekend in London was extremely enjoyable. I checked a few things off of my bucket list, including seeing all of the tourist highlights like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Kensington Gardens, among others. I also walked through Portobello Market and ate lunch at Borough Market. I took my Beatles picture on Abbey Road and wrote my name on the wall of Abbey Road Studios. One of my personal highlights was going to see the flat where they film BBC’s Sherlock. Another big one for me was Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, which is now a replica of the one that burned down, but it was built as close to the original as possible, including the lack of screws or other hardware.

I think London was one of my top most enjoyable cities I’ve been to on this trip. The people were all extremely friendly and helpful. The Underground was the most lively public transport system I’ve experienced thus far in Europe. Everyone was talking with their friends, and enjoying themselves. This was quite a contrast to the quiet and reserved atmosphere I’ve experienced on most public transportation. London seemed full of life and full of history. It also was most like to America in national pride. Most of the European countries I’ve been to don’t display a lot of national pride, but England does. They are proud of their Queen and Country! And you will recognize it.

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” – Dr. Samuel Johnson

International Big Event

It was very bittersweet seeing the video of Big Event back at A&M on Saturday. It really made me miss home. I was glad though that we got to participate in Big Event over 5,000 miles away.

I was in a group with two Viz kids and an LMU science guy. We worked at a community garden on the outskirts of Bonn. I mowed and "weed eated" the lawn all day. Anthony, a guy from Viz, helped transport and unload wood. The two others helped rake up the area and paint tar on some of the wood to protect it from weathering. It was a really cool concept. The garden is run and kept up by the community. Anyone can use it and plant what they would like. Many people plant vegetables in order to use them in their cooking.

We then visited the cooperative housing, Villa Emma, right next door. This was also a neat concept in which everyone owned the whole house and had a "share" in it. Everyone has their own flat but share common spaces. There is a wood shop and an art studio in the basement for use by the residents. It was a very progressive way of living but really cool nonetheless.

International Big Event

It was very bittersweet seeing the video of Big Event back at A&M on Saturday. It really made me miss home. I was glad though that we got to participate in Big Event over 5,000 miles away.

I was in a group with two Viz kids and an LMU science guy. We worked at a community garden on the outskirts of Bonn. I mowed and "weed eated" the lawn all day. Anthony, a guy from Viz, helped transport and unload wood. The two others helped rake up the area and paint tar on some of the wood to protect it from weathering. It was a really cool concept. The garden is run and kept up by the community. Anyone can use it and plant what they would like. Many people plant vegetables in order to use them in their cooking.

We then visited the cooperative housing, Villa Emma, right next door. This was also a neat concept in which everyone owned the whole house and had a "share" in it. Everyone has their own flat but share common spaces. There is a wood shop and an art studio in the basement for use by the residents. It was a very progressive way of living but really cool nonetheless.

Barcelona Inspires

It was amazing to be in the presence of Gaudi’s magnificent work, and witness how his work still influences the city of Barcelona after life. Although I was familiar with his work, the pictures on textbooks do not do him justice! Entering the beautiful cathedral of La Sagrada Familia was such a life changing experience. You could feel the presence and power of faith. His usage of mosaics and vibrant colors created a joyful atmosphere. The abundance of colors was compensated with the cool
toned stone that surrounded the entire structure.

Gaudi did a great job incorporating old architectural techniques with his artistic flare. Gaudi has a distinct architectural design style.  When in the presence of his work you immediately know it is his. While exploring the city of Barcelona I had the chance to see more of his work such as Parc Guell, Casa Batllo, and La Pedrera.

Another artist whose influence still resonates until this day is the work of Pablo Picasso. The museum dedicated to his craft was well organized and took you through the journey of his artistic evolution. You began the tour with his early work, which was greatly influenced by his academic studies. As you move on and travel through his life timeline you begin to understand his perspective on art. He was greatly influenced by other artists who broke boundaries and created his unique style of cubism. To many people it seems like an abstract way of putting different shapes together to make an image. Those who have studied his work know and understand that his method is meant to view one image from multiple angles. To understand how his method works, imagine taking a picture and tearing it into pieces and then putting those pieces back together in a random order. That may not be exactly how his method works but it allows you to view the same image from various angles/perspectives.

I probably could go on and on about art and my experience in Spain, but this is a blog and not a novel.  Aside from the art and beautiful scenery I was so happy to be able to speak Spanish to the locals (I tried to speak Spanish as much as possible!). I loved the delicious food and most of all I enjoyed experiencing it all with a great group of friends!

Don't Waste Your Time Reading This

It's crazy to think that we leave in a few weeks. The marathon and Big Event are both this weekend, then we have our presentations in Aachen next week. This semester really flew by... The past week since Paris was pretty uneventful, except for our tests and the project, which has most of us flipping tables to get it finished and perfect. I've been calling people back home and it's making me pretty excited to go back and see them! But I'm still very sad that I have to leave this beautiful place. Although, I did go grocery shopping today and left with absolutely no chocolate cereal. Who doesn't have chocolate cereals of any kind?! Not a proper store, that's for sure. This is the downfall of German grocery stores. And in other news... I have no more news. Uneventful week is uneventful. Yay for filler blog posts that you write because they're obligatory.

Uniklinik

To continue my trend of blogging about events from months ago, here's a blog about an event that happened back in the beginning of March. We took a trip to the Uniklinik to shadow surgeries. We were split up between the different categories of surgery. I got assigned to general surgery, so obviously I was a little bit nervous that I was about to see something relatively boring and wouldn't have an interesting story to tell. This was not the case, because I watched a guy's foot get amputated. The wheeled him in and part of it was already gone (just to the base of the toes). The anesthesiologist, who was incredibly nice, explained that he had some sort of cardiovascular disease that made blood flow insufficient to his lower extremities and it was resulting in necrotic tissue. The surgeon told me they were taking the 'sausage approach' of cutting it off in segments every few weeks until the tissue was no longer dying. It lasted about an hour, and they cut off the main body of his foot (up to the ankle), pulled the foot bones out, cauterized the small vessels with what looked like a soldering iron, then used the skin from the bottom of his foot to cap the wound. The whole time I didn't know whether to vomit or think that it was really cool. From an engineering/medical standpoint, it was very very cool and interesting to watch. But from the standpoint of a human being who has feet of his own, I wanted to curl up in a little ball.

 The next surgery was a routine colonoscopy so I decided that it was time for a break. I wandered around a little bit, talked to some of the other students, and ate some of the soup in the break room. When I returned to my room, I opened the door to the little entry room before the surgery room to find an old woman on the table with wheels and two doctors standing over her, one of which waved very dramatically to get out. So I did, and then I didn't know what to do so I just stood in the hallway for about ten minutes. The doctor then came out and told me I could come back in. Apparently the woman was actually one of the hospital workers who had been there for a very long time and was very well liked. She had some sort of cancer and needed a device implanted to administer medication more easily. The doctor said they were letting her succumb to the anesthesia without having any students staring at her. When I finally got into the room, the anesthesiologist further explained what was going on. It was very emotional in the room, because the surgeons/doctor/anthologist had all been friends with the woman for a long time. It was a significantly different atmosphere than the surgery from that morning. The incision was made and the device was inserted and attached to the vein without any issue. I didn't see the end because it was time to leave. 

 The whole day left me with a very strange feeling. The things we're learning about actually apply to real people, not hypothetical test question people. It seems like such an obvious thought, but I don't think I appreciated it until that day.