Berlin

05/06/2010
The plane flight to Berlin began with a bad start. I was required to pay 22 euros for an extra bag, because the maximum size restrictions for a carry-on bag are smaller than in the United States. Things quickly became much better that evening when we arrived at a very nice yet simple hotel.
The next day we met Jule, a veterinarian who recently graduated from Berlin and had visited Texas A&M on a previous exchange trip. We split into two groups and I elected to go on the equine option. We had some time to speak with the students that were in the clinics while their professors were in a meeting. Some German veterinary students start veterinary school in Budapest, Hungary for their first few years. Morning rounds were conducted in German, but I really enjoyed looking at the radiographs. After rounds we were taken to some cases by the surgery resident who spoke to us and the German students in English. He then invited us to observe a bilateral neurectomy. I learned through conversation that some residencies are accepted in both the United States and Europe, but that a European residency in surgery for example is not recognized in the United States. I hope this changes with time. We need to work together to maximize progress. Berlin has much culture and diversity and I would love to study here! I was told that I must learn to speak German first. I ate lunch with several of the veterinary students. That evening we took a pleasant bicycle tour of the city.
The next day we toured a museum that is a former concentration camp. I was flooded with emotions during the visit. We reunited with our tour guide from the previous evening to visit a few more sites. The concept of the Berlin Wall is almost hard to believe. We then headed to “Museum Island” where admission was free for the last few hours. I was very impressed by the architecture I witnessed inside. We had hopes of visiting the Reichstage before it closed for the evening, but the waiting line was very long when we arrived and in short we were informed that there would not be enough time for us to enter.
The Zoo & Wildlife Research Institute we visited the following day was very exciting. The researchers work hard to help study and preserve endangered species. I would love to work there someday. We all had one turn to shoot a blowgun dart, which was awesome. I’m a huge fan of tranquilizer guns. After a quick lunch we headed to the Berlin Zoo. It was great to have the zoo veterinarian show us all around! We also met Knut the polar bear, from a distance of course. The scheduled trip ended with a delicious dinner at a Moroccan restaurant, compliments of Dr. Wasser. I could hardly believe how quickly the last three weeks had passed. I went out that night with a fellow student, Jule, her sister and cousin. It’s great to hang out with friends from another country.
While the trip was now officially over, I still had some more time before I was ready to leave. My friend Sarah and I had booked our return flight so that we would have some more time in Europe. Wanting to see Italy, we scheduled an inexpensive flight from Hannover to Rome. We decided to first visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the Berlin Aquarium before boarding a train back to Hannover. At the Checkpoint Charlie Museum it was interesting to sell all of the different ways that people had escaped from East Berlin. The risks that escapees took emphasize how extreme the situation had been. The Berlin Aquarium was quite a different site. A different collection of organisms was housed on each of three different levels including insects, amphibians and reptiles, and fish and marine-life.

-Knut
(a blog by Greg Hoyt)