Day 47 - Women's Karneval Day

Alaaf!! Wow, a lot was done today. It all started even before I got to AIB to meet with everyone before the parade, when I brought my boots to Kelsey so she could finish up her outfit. There was a miscommunication and we thought that we were meeting in two different places, but thankfully it was easily rectified and now my cowboy boots are the finishing touch for her sheriff's costume. We made our way to AIB to receive the valentines day cards that two of our classmates have been working on for a long time, but it turns out that they didn't arrive until about a half hour after they said they would be at the meeting spot. On the train and all the way to our "school," it was interesting to see all the different costumes everyone had on and pretty cool that no one even looked twice at the full-body tiger costume I was sporting. We spent most of the next hour or so socializing, taking a TON of pictures, and chowing down on the Berliners that were available as snacks for us. Just before we left, we all gathered outside for a huge group picture in the shared courtyard.

 Captain Wasser and Egyptian Kristin, our professor and program coordinator.

 Just hanging out with Coach Ritter in our marvelous costumes

 All the girls (and David) swooning over the gnome "guy"

 Border control photo! Do you see it?

 The other group picture (not my program)

One of the coolest costumes I've seen so far

After the group picture, we made our way across the Rhein to where the parade was going to be held. Once we reached the parade area, it was a huge compilation of costumes and decorations along both sides of the street from one end to the other. When the parade started, the air was filled with cries of "alaaf!" (A greeting) and "karmella!" (Give me candy!) and we were rewarded for our enthusiasm with all sorts of candies. There were quite a few bands that made their way down the street, and every time they came down we started dancing to the music, just happy to have this experience. This was really a once in a lifetime opportunity that could only happen in Bonn. Before we left AIB, our professor bought all the guys ties and all the girls scissors so we could take part in all the traditions of women's karneval day. The parade was a ton of fun and after it was done, we made our way back to AIB to eat candy and regroup before going out again.

 Poor guy, his tie was cut

 At the Parade

 There were acrobatics

 I took this shot at the exact moment he turned. Pretty cool

 Look at all the little soldiers! So cute!

 Just guys and gals with their ties and costumes

I got this cute cookie that says "Mausi" (little mouse) I think it's irony at it's finest

The next place we went to was the döner place for some lunch before heading back to AIB, stopping at a kiosk for some drinks on the way of course as it was Karneval. Then we mostly relaxed for a while before heading back out onto the streets to celebrate some more. I get to meet one of the host brothers of my classmate's who decided to hang out with us, and was able to hang out with one of the student workers while she showed us all the cool places to dance and celebrate.

 Our classroom was decorated for Karneval

 Some friends we met up with after the parade

You can't see it, but the bakery was open. 

Didn't stop the workers from dressing up like a baker and a clown though :)

The group I hung out with

The bar we ended up dancing in. It was so crowded, you couldn't even get to the bar!

Unfortunately, I am an introvert at heart (though there are people who would disagree with me on this trip) and so by the time 6 came around, I was more than ready to leave for home. To be fair, that means I had spent about 9 hours straight with a LOT of people pressing in on me from all sides in various stages of intoxication, and my friend (also introverted) ditched the group a few hours before. I made my way home and drank some water before heading up to my room to rest for a bit. My host family was still out celebrating, so I had a quiet night to myself. I don't know how the rest of the weekend is going to go, but if it's anything like today (and I know Monday in Köln will be worse,) I don't know how I'll have the strength to get through the weekend. At least class on Tuesday was cancelled, so I can have a day to recover.

Hopefully more tomorrow!
Erin Z.


Edit: Oh no!! I accidentally deleted 15 pictures or so when trying to rotate them! Now I don't have the sea creature's with Captain Wasser or a bunch of other people's costumes!!

Day 46 - Testing

A lot of stuff got done today, which is always a great thing. It started with getting together with my small group to talk about our trans-tibial prosthetic design for Otto Bock. After a few minutes, it turned into a German study session for our language test later on in the day. We kept studying until the first class of the day: physiology. This time, it was all about the renal system and how it fits into our body maintaining homeostasis. Right after that class was our dreaded German test. As far as tests go, it actually wasn't bad if you bothered to study the vocab and participate in class.

Thankfully, after that class was a break for lunch, which came from the local REWE before sitting around and just chatting with the rest of the students before our next class. The next class happened to be physiology lab where we had a chance to get together with our design groups and hash out various design ideas before our teacher would wander over to see how far along we were in both our ideas and the 5 slide presentation that we'll have to do next Wednesday. I'm actually pretty proud of my group as we came up with a fairly good idea (no, I'm not telling) and had most of the outline for our slides done. When our teacher came over to see our ideas, he clarified some of the parameters of our project and told us where we still needed to focus our efforts on, but he seemed largely happy with our idea.

I should take a moment to really put this project into perspective. We were given a task from Otto Bock to create a better trans-tibial (below the knee) prosthetic. As of right now, they only have one model for this type of prosthetic compared to their bigger focus on trans-femoral (above the knee) prosthesis. They don't have the idea in their back pocket and seeing how close to the mark we get, this is an actual problem that they are asking us to solve. If we come up with a good idea, Otto Bock could take our idea and tweak it before making it and selling it to their clients. That means that this is not only a lesson into design or physiology, like our teachers were originally thinking, but a glimpse into actual work that we will do as engineers in the work force. And if we do well, we can say that one of the leading prosthetic company's in the world used our class project as a starting point for one of their prosthetic limbs. How cool is that!? I'm very excited and know that we'll do the best that we can for this company.

Anyway, after our small meetings with our professor, the entire atmosphere slowly relaxed as first one, then three, then more and more people wrapped up their group discussions. I was able to help out a friend fix her Karneval costume by sewing on some buttons to her costume. When I saw the outfit, I just had to let out a laugh. It was a sort of dress with an opening from the waist up that would be closed from buttons that traveled all the way up to her collar. The only problems were the buttons. They were fine on the skirt portion, and the top two buttons, but the large majority on the the torso were missing. luckily she had an extra button and I snagged the topmost button that wouldn't be used anyway and sewed those onto the correct positions and fixed the costume. I even got to teach my friend the basics on sewing on a button. Just after I started threading the needle to fix the costume, Kelsey came up and asked if I could fix her jacket as it was ripping at the seam of her arm. I really like to sew, so of course I said yes. Once everything was fixed and returned to their proper owners, we just stuck around and talked for a while. Oh! And we marveled over the giant gummy bear we were making. The other day, someone put a gummy bear at the bottom of a water filled glass and throughout the day, we saw the bear grow before our eyes as it absorbed more and more water. I wonder how big it'll eventually get and if it will conform to the sides of the glass once it reaches that far.

Yes, that is the gummy bear in a glass of water

Tomorrow is the start of Karneval with Women's Karneval Day. Basically it means that the women rule the day and are allowed to kiss anyone they want on the cheek or cut off any tie they see on a guy (it's a symbolic thing). Also, fun fact: the first ever Karneval was held in Koeln in 1823. That means I'm basically where Karneval started while the so called "Crazy Days" are happening. Pretty cool huh? Anyway, look forward to lots of pictures of the costumes I'll see and the parade we'll see.

Till then, Tschuss!
Erin Z

Day 45 - Costumes

So today was actually a fairly good day, despite the fact that we had a test. It all started with German class. Today was the last day that we have class before our final tomorrow, so most of today was just review over the things that we'll need to know for tomorrow. I'm not that worried about it considering about 40% had become ingrained in my mind due to interacting with people in Deutschland and listening to both my host family and the TV shows that they always watch. After that short class was our design test. As far as tests go, it wasn't that bad, and though there were some questions that I utilized my brain for an educated guess, most of it was rather straightforward. The other thing that made the test a good test was the fact that our teacher brought Haribo gummy bears for us to munch on during the test. She always did say that caffeine and sugar were essential to come up with good ideas, especially during a brainstorming session.

She definitely wins teacher of the year

After the test, my design group decided to meet tomorrow with some ideas for our Ottobock device before class starts so that when lab starts, we can have a good starting point to launch ourselves from. We ate lunch and just kind of hung around for a bit because classes were over for the day. It wasn't until about 2 that something interesting (besides studying for the test tomorrow) happened. A bunch of us decided to go out for gelato and to look for Karneval costumes at the Karneval tent that appeared over the weekend with all the costumes from the nearby department store inside. After a quick stop by the bank and the Eis store, we walked inside the tent. Unfortunately, a lot of the good costumes were already gone due to the first come-first served attitude for the costumes. I did find a good costume of a Renaissance lady/knight hybrid that was super cute and on sale for 27 euros. I eventually bought it because I can use it for Halloween or Ren Fest once I get back in the states. Plus it was super cute! Anyway, the others tried out a bunch of costumes as well, but only one other person bought something at the store, and left soon after.

Gelato is the best

It makes everyone happy!

 Brandon as a Mexican (confirmed)

 Melissa and Tessa as a police-lady and a gypsy (both denied)

Because most of the people still needing a costume didn't find one, they decided to go to the Karneval store (Deiter's) to try their luck. I went with them, but because now I have 2 costumes that I plan to use (plus all the other ones my family has kept,) I was just browsing their accessory portions. I say portion'S' because Deiter's is HUGE!! 4 stories of all things Karneval under one roof! Despite that, I wasn't that impressed with the selection and most of it was largely overpriced. Instead, I left after only a few minutes and headed over to my favorite accessory store: Claire's. Apparently they have a huge following here in Europe because I've seen quite a few stores and a whole lot of spin-offs of the store scattered around the continent (I almost said country...but I forgot I'm not working on American sizes anymore.) Anyway, I went inside and they were having a sale on earrings and cuffs, which was convenient as that was what I went in for. I left the happy owner of some adorable new earrings. Now I don't have to feel odd about not having earrings anymore!!

My new costume for Karneval, Ren-Fest, and Halloween

I went back to AIB to pick up my school stuff and modeled off my new costume before heading home. When I arrived, no one was home yet, but that was OK as it was still early and it allowed me to relax for a bit. A while later, I went downstairs to have some tea because I was cold and Sophie walked in in her dance costume. We ate abendbrot (lit. evening bread) together as the rest of her family came in with their friend Victoria and her small toddler Timmy. We watched him play with the broom and dustpan, and it was during that point that I realized I was truly suited for the Engineering field. How you may ask? Well, Timmy was first playing with the broom propped against the wall, but we eventually moved the broom so it was flat against the floor so the handle wouldn't fall on his head and hurt him. He would still bring the handle to above his head, but it wasn't such a big deal because the handle wouldn't hurt him as much from so small a distance. That was in layman's terms. What actually went through my head at that point was something along the lines of working out different equations of why the lower height wouldn't hurt as much. The higher height would allow the broom to fall for a long period of time and let the acceleration increase the velocity to be much more than at a lower height. Then it went on to how much damage each velocity would create and I started wondering how much the bones in his head had fused together to cover the hole in our skulls we all have at birth that eventually goes away as that would allow for more protection to his head if the handle did fall. See what I mean about knowing I was an engineer in that moment?

Anyway, I spent some time researching prosthetic legs for my group meeting tomorrow with Sophie, but after a while she had to leave to sort through her old clothes and get rid of the ones that she no longer wears. I followed and Marie eventually ended up in the room with us. It was a pretty fun experience to see some sister bonding hard at work and to go through the different clothes debating which ones looked good. A lot of the unwanted clothes went to Marie, but I ended up with two shirts and a pair of pants because they wanted to see if her clothes would fit me and when they did, insisted I take them. So now I have some real life European clothes to bring home, yay! The rest of the night is devoted to studying German and researching prosthetic legs, but tomorrow is the last day of class before the fun that is Karneval. It'll be quite the experience.

Bis morgen! (until tomorrow!)
Erin Z

Day 44 - Review for tests

Hmm, not really much to report today, just the rising tension that tests are once again bringing to the classroom. The day started out with our History of Medicine class, continuing with medicine in the west (mostly via Christianity) and the various views and things that people thought back then. It was quite interesting, but I was in the back of the classroom for the first time ever because Kelsey and I were not late, but still later than almost everyone else in our class. It's probably a direct result of our tables being moved around over the weekend, because I got the feeling like we were missing a table or two we usually have.

After that class was a free period for me as the BIMS people had their physiology class. I used that time to make flashcards of German words and phrases for the test we'll be having on Wednesday. When my portion of the words were done (we split up the work online) I worked a little bit on the homework due after Karneval so that I don't try and do it all the last day when the homework and our 5 slide presentation is due. Once their class was done, it was time for a quick lunch at the noodle place before coming back and talking with some of the people still around.

The next class of the day was our signals/circuits class, which has become increasingly more and more complicated as more material is piled on top of each other without fully understanding the underlying theories. Luckily, our teacher went over the last bit of material from the chapter (2 pages or something) before starting on a review of everything since the first test. This was an absolute godsend because it allowed us to ask questions to clarify concepts that would come into play later on. At the very end of that class, we decided to have a review for our design test (tomorrow) outside to enjoy the 60 degree (F) weather. I'm pretty sure that we took Texas with us when we came and left Germany back in it's place back home. How else would you explain the incredibly nice days we've had here and the cold that held Texas for a while? Anyway, our teacher went through a brief review on what will be covered on the test, and gave us an idea of the types of question's she'll be asking (not specific FDA forms thank goodness) before sending us on our way. We actually learned quite a lot in that class, I just never realized it because we had such a long interval between classes.

After that, Kelsey and I made our ways back to the HBF to catch our trams. On the way, we passed a bakery that was decorated for Karneval, and were even selling these cute pastries that were "dressed" similarly to costumes. They had adorable little faces and clown and top hats. I first saw them yesterday, but never found a reason to get them. I made myself get one today because they were just too cute to pass by and I get the feeling like they're an annual thing that will go away after the festivities this weekend. They were actually very delicious with a cake-like texture and taste covered by chocolate and the sugar decorations for eyes and a nose. The hats were "glued" onto the sweets by chocolate around the area where the hats connected. All in all, I was glad that I tried it out. After that little adventure, I went home and spent some time with my family before going up to my room to study some more for the test tomorrow.

Wish me luck!
Erin Z


P.S.: Sorry, no pictures today.

Day 43 - Flea market

So the reason why there was no post yesterday and I'm not talking about it on the post today is because I literally spent the day sleeping and doing a little bit of homework (mostly reading for physiology). Because of this, I feel no need to go through the day because literally nothing happened. Well, except deciding to go to the flea market today, which is where I'll start.

So anyway, I woke up early enough to go to the flea market before mass, because I figured that this way I could spend a few hours at the market, go to the German mass, and then eat a quick lunch before meeting my group at 2. So I went to the flea market and it was pretty cool. I got a cute black and white patterned scarf and spent some time looking at just all the stuff that was around with my friend Johanna. Unfortunately, about 30 min after we met up, she had to leave so she could get to her protestant church with some other people (in English!!). I didn't really have anyone else there to pal around with, and it was too late to go to the English catholic mass and just come back later, so I looked around for only a little bit more before heading into Bonn central. Throughout the day, I kept my eyes out for a pin, because I collect them and I know Bonn was important until not too long ago due to being the place where all international offices and stuff were held. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything, so I'll just have to get one at another time.

I walked around for a while before the Muenster mass, and I saw the cutest thing in all the bakeries. They were all getting ready for Karneval with decorations hanging from the openings and streaming inside. One even put out some kind of pastry with faces and hats. It's awesome to see so many different people getting so excited, but I guess when your next-door neighbor (Cologne) is one of the biggest Karneval spots, and is actually mentioned in a lot of the songs, it's an appropriate reaction to have. Not only that, but there were people dressed up in colonial and clown costumes, as well as any other kind of costume possible. If this is Bonn before Karneval starts, I'm super excited to see Bonn and Cologne when it starts on Thursday.

 These decorations continued inside

Everyone's getting ready for Karneval

I went to mass, and I was actually able to understand a lot of the songs and readings that were being read. Granted, this was because reading them allows me to intake and process the words at my own pace rather than the fast pace of someone talking to me, but I'm proud that I now know the response "and with your spirit" (it's und mit dein geist...or somewhere close to that). After mass, it was still a while until I had to meet my group, so I did my favorite Sunday pastime; walking. I finally was able to go to the giant church that was really close to AIB (remember that glowing gold and purple church from my first few posts?) and in the process found this super cute garden area and a bunch of food places that look both cheaper and more intriguing than the ones in the plaza I've been mostly eating from. I continued to walk around and saw a window that had the aliens from Galaga made out of paper. It was pretty cool.

 Not a church, just a random building I walk past every day to school

 This was that church in full view from the front

 Same church, but from the view of the "garden" I found. The statue's cool too

Where's my joystick!? These Galagan aliens must be vanquished!

By the time I looped back around and went back to AIB, there were two other people waiting outside the door. When we got inside, the three of us started on karaoke because none of us were part of a single group together and were waiting for others to come. We hooked up my computer to the monitor because it was the only one with a port that the wire could connect to and just jammed out to all sorts of different music for the next hour or two. Finally my group came (we actually decided to meet an hour later than I originally thought) and we sort of got down to business. At least we hammered out what kind of device we wanted to make and made up a layout for the 5 slide presentation we'll be giving on the 5th to our professor on our ideas for the prosthetic. After that, my computer was till being used for music, so I couldn't be much help in researching stuff. Instead, I decided to help out David with his Karneval costume of a female Viking by winding up a bunch of yarn that he would later cut and braid for two pigtails. He even has two pretty pieces of ribbon tying off the ends of the "hair."

After that little pause, I realized my computer was no longer being used and started to help my team with looking up different kinds of trans-tibial (below the knee) prosthetics and what would be the best design to spring our ideas off of. We got a little bit more work done before it was time for me to head home. Before leaving though, I went with two friends to get some gelato and talked with them about their plans for Karneval weekend (they both plan on going to Munich while I am staying here to experience the full experience.) I got home, ate dinner and just hung out before heading up to my room to study some more.

Tomorrow is a nice easy day, but I can tell that it'll be the calm before the storm with two tests the next two days...and one I don't even know what to study for! It'll definitely be interesting to see what will happen. Oh! Apparently I did well on my test (I don't even know how with how I was feeling that day) and was one of the highest scorers in the class. Also, I feel much more myself after my relaxation day yesterday. It might have been just a case of sensory overload and I needed time to "reset" in the peace and quiet. I'm surprised at how long I lasted this time, over a month of almost constant interaction with people! I'm quite proud of myself. Anyway, everything is mostly back to normal and Karneval is gearing up. Over the next few days, don't be surprised to see a lot of pictures of the increasing decorations, and expect an explosion of costumes on Thursday.

Till next time,
Erin Z

Days 40 & 41 - giant grapefruit & test

So I was right in my assumption that nothing very interesting would happen yesterday. Really the only thing that happened was the giant grapefruit that Nicole brought in and the revelation that I may be sick. Oh, and studying for my test the next day. It all started out early in the morning with physiology class where we finished up the last of the respiratory system before our test. It was really interesting and I always love finding out why things work, but for some reason I've been super tired lately and had a hard time staying focused. I was so tired that I actually slept through the alarm I set that morning and it was only the sun streaming through the windows that woke me up. After the respiratory system, we had a free period that most I us spent doing homework or studying before our next class of signals/systems. I always dread going to that class because its gotten to the point where you need to have had a previous class in Diff EQ to get what's going on, and about half of us have not had that class yet, so we're working blind.

Anyway, we got through that class and had a brief break for lunch, where Kelsey and I went to the local döner place (shaved meat) and got a small lunch, ordering in German. We almost got away with it too, and if they hadn't forgotten to give us meat with our fries, we would have walked out with no one the wiser. After lunch we went back to have our history of medicine class over Christian methods of medicine in the Middle Ages. We finished early and used that time to...you guessed it, study. If you haven't figured it out yet, we engineering students are really into getting our grades and making sure that we understand the material. Anyway, it was at this time that I decided to take a nap, and when I woke up a bit later, Nicole had already gotten out her huge grapefruit-like snack and cut it up, making a sort of hat out of the skin. It was actually really funny and the fruit didn't taste that bad either. We went back to studying, but before long, I got tired again and took yet another nap. When I woke up, I went home for dinner and finished up my homework due that night before going to sleep. At 10. 10! I never go to sleep that early, especially not the day before a test and with homework the next day not quite done. This is the main reason why I think I'm fighting something. I even turned down a trip to Brussels (with transport taken care of) with some friends this weekend so I could simply rest.

This thing was HUGE!

Of course, today was much more exciting, with a super awesome surprise somewhere in the middle. I woke up (on time this time), and in my packing, I forgot my spiral. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal and I'd take notes on whatever paper I had available, but today was not a normal day. No, my spiral had my signals homework in it which was due in my first class of the day, so that was bad. Luckily I had some paper to take notes on the material so I didn't fall completely into confusion, and I later sent a picture of my homework to my teacher, but during the next period the full consequences of my forgetfulness came to me. Originally this period was supposed to be German (also had that homework in it), but our teacher was sick and had to cancel, giving us another hour and a half to study for our imminent test. Which is where the consequences come in. See, my method is to write my notes in my spiral and when I fill up the page, I rip it out and place it in the correct portion of my folder so my spiral isn't a mish-mash of notes of completely different classes. Of course, I had almost all my notes on respiration as well as the not one, but TWO different reviews (both my own, and the TA's) still in the spiral. This meant that I understood cardiopulmonary pretty well, but was at a complete loss on respiratory. It didn't help that I simply could not focus. Ugh, I don't even know what's making me feel so weird, but it needs to stop and get over itself soon.

Then the test came and that was OK. I have a feeling I would have done better if I had my notes to study, but I'm not feeling too bad about how I did. After the test we had a sort of meeting about our design for Ottobock and how we should be ready to present our preliminary ideas by the time Karneval is done. It was even complete with with ice cream from our teachers. OK, let me just say that going abroad was the best decision I ever made because I would never be able to have such a close relationship with all my teachers, and at no point would they ever bring ice cream for our after-test blues back at A&M. In the middle of our mini meeting, I noticed that I was slowly sliding down below the level of the table, and that something was insistently pushing against my foot. I moved my foot, and all of a sudden my seat tilted slowly enough that it was comical and that all who were looking thought I was just doing something weird, but fast enough that it stunned me. It wasn't until I was on the floor and my chair was on it's side that people realized something was wrong. Turns out my chair had broken on one side right where the legs connected with the seat and that insistent push against my foot was the legs trying to fold under the seat. I looked around and everyone was laughing because the inevitable slowness of what had just happened made it ridiculous to watch, and I'm sure my bewildered expression just made it that much more funny. I gave the broken chair to my teacher and sat in the one next to it. Hopefully it won't break this time.

After that meeting was over, I went out with Kelsey where she introduced me to Dim-Sum, a type of Chinese/Cantonese food that generally contains sticky rice covering some kind of meat or vegetable. It was delicious, and without her craving it, I never would have gone in the restaurant. Once lunch was done, we made our way to the HBF for our train ride home. On the way home, we saw it was raining, but that there was a rainbow in the sky. Not just a faint rainbow, but a full-on ground to ground complete rainbow. Then we did a double take. It was a double rainbow! I even took pictures! There was a fainter rainbow above the more vibrant one, and Kelsey and I were mocking the double rainbow "what does it mean?!" video. Then we took a closer look. Beneath the vibrant lower rainbow were the dim last few colors (YGBV) of a third rainbow. it wasn't complete, but we were looking at a triple rainbow! By this point, Kelsey and I were really freaking out until we couldn't see it any more. You can't really see it in the picture because the colors were dim, and my camera isn't the best in the world, but it was there, and it was beautiful.

 If you can see, there's a fainter line above the lower rainbow. 

And a bit of color below the lower one (right below, almost covered)

The dichotomy on either side of the rainbow is pretty cool

I got home and after a little bit of time, I made cookies for my host family because I promised them I would. They were really excited because they love "American cookies" because Germany doesn't have anything like them. It's so strange to me that they can have such wonderful things like chocolate croissants and so many different types of bread and sausage, but not have any cookies anywhere. I decided to make sugar cookies, but I had to convert everything from American measurements into German measurements (cups to grams) and they didn't have liquid vanilla or differentiate between baking soda and baking powder. However, I did my best and even though the cookies came out a bit too buttery and not as sweet as I'm used to, my host family absolutely loved them. On the second batch going in the oven, we even put in shredded chocolate (no chocolate chips) and of course I sprinkled sugar on the top to compensate for the sweetness of the vanilla. We had a lot of fun making the cookies, and my host family kept saying how much they enjoyed them, so I may be making some more in the near future.

After our baking fun, we sat down and just watched TV for a few hours, but by the time The Emperor's New Groove ended, I was tired and ready for bed. I plan to get reacquainted with my bed this weekend, and maybe go to some museums or the flea market this Sunday if I get up in time. I'm taking this weekend to recuperate from my crazy life, so not a lot will be happening otherwise.

So 'till next time,
Erin Z

Day 39 - Karnival warm up party

Wow, today was awesome. First of all, I got to sleep in a little bit (always a good thing) before getting ready for school. The first class of the day was physiology, where we finished up another chapter of respiration (focusing on the mechanics of inhalation/exhalation) before starting on another respiratory chapter that focused on oxygen in the blood. After that class was German where we mostly went over verbs some more and did a game with a ball where we had to translate the English words our teacher said into the German words they would be. It was surprisingly hard for such a simple concept, but we all mostly got through it. Then was a quick lunch break before heading back to school for more physiology. It feels like this past week has been chock full of physiology class, but I guess that's what happens when there's a test on Friday and you decide to go back over every recording of the class so far in less than a week's time.

After that class was done (and a lot of tea for the caffeine) I was going to just stay at AIB until our Karnival warm up party that night, but there were no more computer outlets and my computer was almost out of battery. So I went home, watched some more lectures, and worked on the BMEN homework for an hour or two before gathering up my Karnival costume (tiger) and walking to the train station to go back to AIB. When my friend Kelsey and I arrived (she was a sheriff), the party was just getting started. There were so many different costumes; fish, animals, Charlies angels, clowns, anything that you could think of was there. It was just like Halloween but in February. In fact, that's a very good comparison for Karnival from what I've gathered. People dress up in costumes and party, drink beer, sing songs, and get candy. I think last year there were 150 tons or more in candy given out...just in the Bonn-Cologne area. Yeah, that's a lot. And it's a nonstop party from Thursday to Monday so that when Lent comes on Wednesday, you've gotten everything out of your system.

 Everyone had fun dressing up...even those who didn't!

Like these guys. They still got decorated.

 Even our Professors dressed up

Charlies Angels

At the party, there was some drinks, Berlinners (jelly donuts), and Frikadella (meat patties) as well as face paint for those that didn't dress up. We were given a brief into to Karnival and even got to sing one of the more popular songs called Viva Colonia...which is now stuck in my head by the way. It was a lot of fun, and after the presentation (with a lot of confetti and candy being thrown at us) we ate and drank some more while socializing. At one point, a song came on and I don't know who started it, but a conga line started that eventually pulled everyone in. By the time that we were all a part of it, the line snaked around the entire room. It was a lot of fun, but I left soon after that so I could study and sleep. I don't know why, but I'm really tired a lot of the time. I think this fast and furious lifestyle, though tons of sun, is very draining on me. However, like my Nana has said before, "I didn't go to relax, but to do everything and experience everything I can. I'll rest when it's done." Tomorrow is a rather normal day (besides more studying,) so I may not post tomorrow and just combine it with Friday's after this test and all my homework is done.

 Having tons of fun at this presentation/warm up

 Look at this conga line! It's even longer than seen

Just having a lot of fun

So until then, tschuss!
Erin Z

Day 38 - History of Anesthesia Museum

Ugh, another early day, though thankfully not as early as yesterday, so that's a relief. My day started off with German, which is getting more and more easy now that I have a handle on some of the basics of conversation. For example, when we sat down Fenja asked us how our week in Vienna was, and it only took a single second to understand and respond to the question. Pretty soon, I'll be able to have a stunted conversation in German instead of a stunted conversation in English. Quite the milestone. After that class, I got together with the three other people that are going on the Mediterranean cruise so that we could book our tickets. Unfortunately, all the regular inside cabins were already filled, so we had to get the premium inside cabins. So instead, each of us are paying $25 more. And we get a reservation and personal waiter at the restaurant of our choice on the ship. I'm perfectly OK with this. Anyway, two of our group had to go to class, so the last person and I figured out plain tickets to Milan and a hotel for the one night we're staying there before we get picked up for the cruise.

Alright, this may have gotten a bit confusing, so I'll lay out a basic itinerary (also, I'm super excited for this spring break trip, so I'll take any chance to dwell on the topic.) First, we fly into Milan, Italy on Saturday morning and check into our hotel before spending the day in Milan. We spend the night, then get up for breakfast before heading back to the airport where we'll be picked up by the cruise transport to Savona, Italy and board the ship. The next week goes as follows: Monday = Naples, Italy. Tuesday = Palermo, Sicily. Wednesday = Tunis, Tunisia. Thursday = at sea. Friday = Barcelona, Spain. Saturday = Marseille, France. Sunday = return to Savona. This is going to be so awesome!! We've already started coming up with things that we want to try/see for the 6-9 hours we'll have in each city and we'll all be able to see the cool places that we probably will never have a chance to see again, and definitely never be able to see again during our schooling years.

In other news, homework is starting to pile up again, especially since I have a physiology test on Friday in addition to this homework, and of course all the tests that need to be done before Karnival starts next Thursday. After design, we had a bit of time to eat and do stuff before we left for the anesthesia museum. The museum was really cool, and one of the founders was still alive and actually gave us a tour of the anesthesia. He told us about a lot of the devices through the ages, and even showed us his monitor that he used as an anesthetist. He also showed us the continuous closed circuit monitor that he was instrumental in creating, the underlying process of which is still being used in hospitals today. He was, in one of our teacher's words, a 'God of Anesthesiology.' He was also super sweet and when we were presenting over the various methods of anesthesia, he dropped a one cent coin and it spun forever. He stopped it with his pointer, and when one of the students picked it up and gave it back to him, he turned to the student and refused to take it, putting it in the student's pocket and saying it'll give him good luck. Naturally, all the girls let out the obligatory "awwwww" that comes when anything exceedingly young or old does something sweet or cute.

The Museum

 Dr. Stoeckel's old monitor

 A sample of the monitor he helped to make

 A recreation of an old fashioned anesthetist's office

Dr. Stoeckel himself

After the museum, I went home to spend time with my family, and am now going to work on reviewing the previous lectures for my test on Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to get through a lot of stuff today, because tomorrow is completely full with classes and activities. Including a Karnival warm-up for next week. That'll definitely be fun.

Till tomorrow!
Erin Z

Day 37 - Surgery

Wow. Today was quite the experience. It all started at about 5:00 this morning when I jumped out if bed thinking that I had over slept or automatically turned off my alarm (I've done it before) only to realize I had another 45 min at least to sleep. When I finally got up, I took a shower and got ready for the day before walking out the door...all before the rest of the house was up. I met everyone at the bus station and we went over to the universitätklinik where we would be observing our surgeries. We change into scrubs complete with crocks and a hairnet before we made our way from the "dirty" side to the "clean" side where the surgeries take place. Almost immediately, they took 3 people away to go to a cardiovascular surgery and they left the rest of us behind.

The next stop only asked for one person, which turned out to be me due to the fact that I was at the front of the group. They have me a lead apron and a lead neck cover to protect my body and especially my thyroid from the radiation of the x-ray they were using inside. So not only was I alone, but I was under about 20 pounds of weight at all times. My person was an older man (late 80's) that had fawn down and broken his neck. The doctors had gone in ventrally four days before, but it didn't work and now they were trying it from the back instead. The anesthesiologist came over and described all that was happening and what kind of anesthesia he was using. He would even show me what happened if say, the tubes were disconnected or the flow was too low/high by actually demonstrating the scenario (meaning he disconnected some tubes and made the flow too low/high) and having me observe what happened to the patient. It was super cool, and at one point he gave the patient curare, a substance that paralyses the skeletal muscles for a few hours and can cause suffocation, so that the patient wouldn't fight the artificial breather. Since the opposition was set to last for about 8-10 hours and the paralyzer wears off in 6, this was actually a good thing.

Unfortunately, my last two experiences with surgery held true and about an hour and a half through the surgery, the smell and sound of the surgeons cutting into his neck hit me and I either had to leave or pass out. It's not the blood, or the gore, but try to cut someone open in front of me and I get dizzy after a while. It was real disappointment because I was really looking forward to it, and I actually got a good surgery (fixing a broken neck? Heck yeah!), but I had to leave and the fact that this has been a consistent reaction has cemented my decision to not be a surgeon or any related surgical occupation.

 Some of the people who watched surgeries

After we changed back into clothes, no pictures allowed on the operating floor

After that unfortunate incident, we were supposed to go to the History of Anesthesia Museum, but our tour guide and good friend of Dr. Wasser was stuck in Switzerland, so we had to basically switch the days that we were touring the museum and having class. Luckily I had no class either way, so I went to get something to eat, and then went home to go back over notes and maybe do some BMEN homework. I got through 2 of the 9 reruns of the lectures and 3 of 10 questions of the signals before I went downstairs to hang out with my host family. That actually has some good news in that I could understand about 50% of the conversation going on around me, and even spoke a bit of Deutsch to my littlest host sister Marie.

 View coming back from the hospital

 It was a nice day to boot

 On my way home, I saw these clouds and thought it would be pretty

Soon it was time for the kids to go to bed, and even though it was a bit early, I decided to head up as well to get homework done. Yeah...that didn't happen. Instead I (finally) gave into the temptation I've had for about 3 weeks to watch the musical Jekyll and Hyde. It was amazingly good, giving a more morally ambiguous reason for Jekyll to repeatedly become Hyde rather than the "I felt like it" the book gave. Anyway, now I can work on homework for a bit without that constant thought going through my head that I need to watch this musical.

Tomorrow is when we go to the History of Anesthesia Museum and give our 5 min presentations on previous techniques used as anesthetics (I got Chloroform) and more studying for my test on Friday. At least tomorrow is rather easy.

Bis Bald,
Erin Zebrowski