Basel, Leipzig - Week 1

What an amazing week this has been!  If this is any indication of the rest of our time in Europe, it is going to be a blast.  On Sunday, we met with the rest of the group at Hotel Alfa in Basel, Switzerland at 5 o’clock in the afternoon.  Most of the participants are in my class, but I am just getting to meet the 2 Auburn girls for the first time.  After our initial meeting we head to a local restaurant for food and conversation.  It is apparent that the group gets along well by the volume and length of the conversation.  The waitress and fellow diners quickly realized we were Americans and enjoyed getting a glance in.  The next day we headed to Novartis.  After taking two semesters with Dr. Fajt, it was great to be able to see pharmacology in action.  My favorite part came when we were able to go and talk with the employees and see what they do every day.  I have opened hundreds of blister packages but never known how they are made.  It was also really cool to see how a pill is made.  An extremely simple concept:  smash powder between two levers.  It was disappointing to hear that they were selling their animal production line of the company, but nonetheless the team was excited to have us there and could not be more willing to answer our questions.  We continued the day with a city tour of Basel.  I loved the tour and the guide was extremely knowledgeable and fun.  I was able to take plenty of pictures.  I just hope I remember what they are of!  We ended our stay with a tour of a pharmacy museum.  It was neat to see how medicine has evolved over the years.

We then traveled to Leipzig, Germany, and it was my first experience on a train.  Nils reserved our seats, which allowed us to get to know each other better during the 6 hour ride.  Once we arrived, we met with our hosts.  My host, Katharina, was amazing!  She really went out of her way to make me feel comfortable in her home.  I had to ride a bike to get around and I have not ridden since I was a child.  This could be scary!  That night we attended the opening night of “Bergfest.”  I only crashed my bike once on our way there.  I am sure Katharina was laughing at the sight.   Bergfest was a huge party where the entire school comes together to celebrate the class who has reached their halfway point in school.  This year’s mascot was the deer.  Lots of food, drinks, and dancing was to be had that night.  The next day we joined a class for an anatomy lesson.  It was fun to see the differences in how they teach the subject.  They are able to study each body system on the different species at the same time, versus learning a complete species at a time and then comparing.  The lesson definitely made me realize I have forgotten quite a bit since first year.  We then went to the marmoset research facility, which allowed me to see veterinary medicine in a species I am not familiar with.  The next day we visited a veterinary collection and got to see tools from the past and present.  The guides really enjoyed showing us around.  The Leipzig zoo was my first zoo experience in my life so I could not wait to see what they had.  It was great getting to see the different kinds of animals, many of which I didn’t even know existed.  In the rainforest part, we were able to ride a boat that explained how the Earth began and how the animals got to where they are today.  I had a great time at the zoo, but at the end of the tour I was worn out.  My body is not used to standing and walking for so long.  My favorite tour of Leipzig was the internal medicine department.  They talked us through each case in the hospital:  why they came in and how they were treating them.  I hope that we are able to do this at the other schools we visit.  It is so interesting to compare how they handle cases and how we are taught, although they are quite similar.  Before we caught our train to Prague we watched the Bergfest games, where faculty dress up and compete in games for the ultimate victory.  My week in Leipzig has been great!  I loved it here and could not have asked for a better host.  I lived in her attic:  it was interesting getting my suitcase up the tiny ladder to my room.  I am just glad it is the first week and it is not too heavy with souvenirs yet.  Katharina has told me she wants to visit TAMU sometime, and I hope she does. 

During our weekend trip to Prgaue, Jeannette, Brenna and I toured the concentration camp Terezin.  We were able to see the housing conditions and the paintings the children created, which is unique to this camp.  It was a transit camp and was used as a model camp for the Red Cross to convince them that the conditions were acceptable.  It makes me sad for the people who came through this camp and angry at the people who did that to them.  If you have to cover up what really goes on, then you clearly know what you are doing is wrong.  We also toured the city of Prague, and our guide was really enthusiastic.  She enjoyed her job and wanted everybody to get the best experience while in Prague.  Now we are headed to Berlin to fly to Copenhagen in the morning.