week 3

Our weekend in Vienna was fabulous! We got there late friday evening so we just checked into our hotel and then got some dinner. The next day we went on a tour of Vienna and a cruise of the Danube river. That was quite nice. It was interesting to hear about all of the things the guide had to say.We learned about the ester trees upon which a man was hung because he was a radical thinker. When he was hung, his body did not decompose and the tree came back to life since the tree that he was hung on was dead.The next day we had to check out of the hotel at noon, and our train didnt leave til midnight, so we spent our day wandering around in the city centre of Vienna and just relaxing and enjoying life. We came back to Berlin on Monday, and got a tour of Berlin.This was my favorite tour so far of the cities we have been to.The tour guide was quite witty, and the city itself was very interesting to learn about since it has such a unique history. The next day we went to the Leibniz institute for zoo and wildlife research, and heard a lecture about what they do. It was neat to hear about how they fund and carry out the various projects they have for animal conservation.After that, we got to see a CT scanner in action! That was very neat, and it made me realize that Europe is right along side the US terms of technological advancement. Later that afternoon we went and saw Sachsenhausen. that was a great experience that always helps me to put my life in perspective. It kind of makes me depressed for the day, but it definitely helps me to not take my life for Granted. I cannot imagine what all those prisoners had to go through.That evening, we got to visit the "Reichstagskuppel" which was neat as well. I liked the whole concept of the glass so that the people could see in on parliament. Maybe the US could take a hint from Germany as well about that. ;)
The next day we went to Hamburg to visit the seal center.This was a very nice visit and the tour guide was quite helpful in telling us all about the seals and their habitat. I learned that they could not breed any seals in the center because they were not allowed to release them into the wild.They way the prevented breeding was by adding hormones to the male's diets, which was different because in the US there seems to be more of the contraception is on the female part. Once that was done, we got a tour of the Multimar Wattforum, which was really neat. I feel like it was a prep of the mudflat walk that we were going to do in a few days. I

especially enjoyed the room of the sperm whale replica, it was really neat to see the skeleton on one side and then the musculature and remainder of it on the other side.We got to learn all about the ecosystem in this tour, and I think that's very important, because we could not live the way we do today without the ecosystem, and I think more people need to appreciate and respect the ecosystem. After that, we arrived at the quaint little Hotel Siegfried, which was very friendly and hospitable to us students.The owners were an adorable couple who were very kind to us.The next day we got to visit the Aquatic Wildlife Center, where we got to do some dissections! First we were given an introductory lecture about the center by Dr. Siebert, which was very neat to learn about what they did. She explained that the seal hunters were a volunteer job, and that they called whenever the center needed to come pick up some seals from them.While she was giving the lecture, they had the most delicious cookies I have ever eaten, and some quite wonderful tea. I thoroughly enjoyed that.When she was finished, we made our way out the the "lab" area, and got all dressed up to do the dissection.We got to choose if we wanted to help with either a seal dissection, or a porpoise dissection. I started out with the seal dissection.The biologist who was performing the dissection explained the whole procedure. He stated that they first measured the seal to see how big it was, and to look all over the exterior of the seal to make sure there was nothing to note.Then he told us that the seal hunter report stated that the seal was shot (by the seal hunter) because she was apathetic, was coughing up blood, and had diarrhea.We felt the skull of the seal, and it was soft and shattered because of the bullet wound. On her left side, there was a small hole, and that was where we found the bullet. So the bullet had exited her skull and came out by her left arm.Then the biologist started the dissection. First he made an incision to measure her blubber content, in order to evaluate her nutrition status.Then he started by removing the majority of her internal organs. He started by taking out the cecum and large intestine, and letting a PhD student take that so she could study the parasite load project that she was working on.Then he removed the small intestine, kidney, uterus, ovaries, stomach, liver, spleen, and adrenal glands. He had one of us open the small intestine and take out any parasites that we saw so that they could identify them and see if that had any bearing on her death.We also opened the stomach, and saw some parasites in there as well.When the abdominal cavity had been emptied, he started on the thoracic cavity. He removed the heart, lungs, esophagus, trachea, larynx, and tongue. He examined all the organs, and was quite surprised to learn that there was no lungworms in the lungs. He thought since the seal hunter had seen the seal coughing up blood, that lungworms would be a good diagonosis, but this was not the case. Dr. Seibert came over and concluded

that she thinks it was death due to succumbing to a bacterial infection.The biologist then wanted to take a look into the joints, and I got to dissect one out, and it was healthy he said. I did not get to hear much about the porpoise as I was involved with the seal, but I think they said the cause of death was getting caught in a net or choking on a fish.When this was all done, we had some free time before we ate a seafood buffet! I had no idea that the chef was the seal hunter! So not only did we enjoy a very delicious prepared meal, where I learned that I love smoked salmon, but then we got to hear the chef himself talk about his other job as a seal hunter! I had no idea that life could be so interesting for someone. He told us about his experience, and how he got his license. It was very neat to look at his licence because it was valid for birds and fish and sea mammals. It was a very difficult course to take to get the license, yet they don't have to "retest" to stay licensed.They have to do something every few years to make sure that they can stay licensed.The next day we got to do the Mudflat tour! Aside from being ridiculously cold, it was really fun.We got to see alot of the ecosystem and creatures that we learned about with the Multimar Wattforum.We walked about all over the mudflats, and got to see the tidal flats. The only thing I didn't like about the mudflats were the jellyfish. I am terrified of them, and there were dead ones all over the place. I successfully navigated around them, so that was a plus.When we were finally done with the mudflat, a friend and I decided to go back to the beach and just relax.The sheep decided to come visit us too, and I got some very good pictures of them.The next day we left Busum to take the train to Frankfurt.When we got to Frankfurt, it was so hot! It took almost all day to get to Frankfurt, so when we got to our hotel, we asked where the best place was for food.The man at the hotel was very nice and gave us two good recommendations.That night I tried what appeared to be pork steak slow cooked in an onion-gravy broth, with apples. It came with some potatoes, and I tried the apple wine that they recommended.That was quite a different taste! The first sip I took tasted like olives, but as I drank more, it tasted better. I did not really taste like apples to me though. But, I got to say I tried a different culture's food and drink! The next day we went on a tour of the Heidelburg Castle. I was surprised how much if it was destroyed, and it was interesting to learn that they do not renovate or repair it, just enough to make it safe.The tour guide explained that each new royalty that lived there would not want to live where a previous one lived, and so that they built a new part to it. So that's how it got to be so big and why the other buildings would just go into ruin.We got to see the world's largest wine barrel, which held 227,000 liters of wine I believe. When that tour was over, we spent sometime in the city of Frankfurt itself,and then tried out our appetite at the mediterran restaurant that the hotel also

offered. I got some pork cutlets with ham and feta cheese in the middle and it came with fried potatoes and a salad.That was a delicious meal too.The next day we are now on our train ride to Bonn.