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.

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!