Wow, Berlin is truly an amazing city. I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but honestly thought it would just be a big industrial city. In reality it is a very unique place and I really enjoyed our visit there. It has such a unique history and it’s really interesting to see how they have developed. I found it very touching how they have made monuments to the past and embraced their ‘duty’ to remember. By preserving pieces of their history and sharing it with the world, they are ensuring that it never happens again. I personally feel that every person that goes to this city should go on a city tour to learn about this interesting place and how far it has come. But, it is also a very progressive city. They have beautiful and large museums that you could spend days in and never get through, beautiful parks, and many places to eat and shop.
I really can’t put into words just how unique Berlin is and the feelings I got when in certain locations. We also had a tour of Sachsenhausen, the former concentration camp. I really think that visiting a former concentration camp is something that everyone who travels to this area needs to do. You can read about them, watch documentaries, etc., but nothing compares to actually being there. Though it was a beautiful and sunny day, you can truly feel the sadness and darkness of this place. Our guide was very good at explaining what took place in the different areas, and told us stories of the people who lived there and how some of them came back for the big reunion only a month before. It is very difficult to express how I felt when I was there; this place of such a horrific past, of devastation and hopeless days. And to see it now, only a shell of what it once was. It’s a place you only need to see once, but will never forget.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Arbeit Macht Frei
Work Makes You Free.
These are the words inscribed on the gate entering the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. However, as the 30,000 prisoners who died of exhaustion, malnutrition, and disease in the camp realized, the only path to that freedom was "through the chimney."
Our visit to the memorial site of the former concentration camp was both moving and educational. We saw the barracks in which too many people crammed in to sleep, the death strip where if a prisoner stepped inside any guard could freely shoot him, the track on which prisoners were forced to run through sand, gravel, and mud for 25-40 kilometers per day in order to test the durability of Nazi boots, the infirmary where brutal experiments and dissections were conducted on prisoners, including children, the execution trench where prisoners were shot or hung, and the crematorium where thousands of human remains were burned.
The movie The Counterfeiters is based on the true story of the counterfeiting operation that took place inside of Sachsenhausen. Artisan prisoners were forced to replicate both the British pound and the American dollar knowing that when they finished their job they would be executed. The Nazis planned to use this fake currency to collapse the British and American economies.
Today, the camp has been turned into a memorial so that the people who were tortured and killed there may be remembered. And although children too young to understand its history may now laugh and play there, Sachsenhausen maintains an aura of sadness, respect, and regret. Only now are its victims truly free.
These are the words inscribed on the gate entering the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. However, as the 30,000 prisoners who died of exhaustion, malnutrition, and disease in the camp realized, the only path to that freedom was "through the chimney."
Our visit to the memorial site of the former concentration camp was both moving and educational. We saw the barracks in which too many people crammed in to sleep, the death strip where if a prisoner stepped inside any guard could freely shoot him, the track on which prisoners were forced to run through sand, gravel, and mud for 25-40 kilometers per day in order to test the durability of Nazi boots, the infirmary where brutal experiments and dissections were conducted on prisoners, including children, the execution trench where prisoners were shot or hung, and the crematorium where thousands of human remains were burned.
The movie The Counterfeiters is based on the true story of the counterfeiting operation that took place inside of Sachsenhausen. Artisan prisoners were forced to replicate both the British pound and the American dollar knowing that when they finished their job they would be executed. The Nazis planned to use this fake currency to collapse the British and American economies.
Today, the camp has been turned into a memorial so that the people who were tortured and killed there may be remembered. And although children too young to understand its history may now laugh and play there, Sachsenhausen maintains an aura of sadness, respect, and regret. Only now are its victims truly free.
Final words and goodbyes....
Berlin was unlike any other place I have been so far. I don't really know what I was expecting to run into, but I was definitely not expecting to be so intrigued as I was. It is a city full of so much history, some good and a lot bad, but it was definitely a learning experience.
I really enjoyed the bike tour through Berlin and it was my first successful ride where I managed not to crash into anyone....thank goodness.... The history that we encountered was amazing to see that all these horrible things happened and it really was fairly recent. The concentration camp gave me a lot of mixed and inexplainable feelings but it was definitely an experience that I will cherish and remember and I hope that everyone who visits one of these aweful pieces of history can see how human power can get out of control when given to one man.
Thursday was definitely an emotion day between the concentration camp and learning the history of the Berlin Wall and even just getting to see parts of the actual wall. To see where the Wall once was and be able to cross over just a pair of pebble stones onto the other side, gives you an appreciation for free movement because there was a time when it wasn't as simple as just crossing over, there were consequences.
Our last day in Germany proved to be a great one! The Zoo was great, especially the hippos and it was nice to end the evening in the Zabah Moroccan restaurant that had some pretty amazing food! When it came down to saying goodbye, I tried not to get emotional, while it will be nice to move on to Italy, I still feel
like I was not quite ready to part. I hope that everyone had as great of an experience as I did and it was great to have my eyes opened to a whole other world in which I fully intend on coming back to very soon! TCHUSS!!!
I really enjoyed the bike tour through Berlin and it was my first successful ride where I managed not to crash into anyone....thank goodness.... The history that we encountered was amazing to see that all these horrible things happened and it really was fairly recent. The concentration camp gave me a lot of mixed and inexplainable feelings but it was definitely an experience that I will cherish and remember and I hope that everyone who visits one of these aweful pieces of history can see how human power can get out of control when given to one man.
Thursday was definitely an emotion day between the concentration camp and learning the history of the Berlin Wall and even just getting to see parts of the actual wall. To see where the Wall once was and be able to cross over just a pair of pebble stones onto the other side, gives you an appreciation for free movement because there was a time when it wasn't as simple as just crossing over, there were consequences.
Our last day in Germany proved to be a great one! The Zoo was great, especially the hippos and it was nice to end the evening in the Zabah Moroccan restaurant that had some pretty amazing food! When it came down to saying goodbye, I tried not to get emotional, while it will be nice to move on to Italy, I still feel
like I was not quite ready to part. I hope that everyone had as great of an experience as I did and it was great to have my eyes opened to a whole other world in which I fully intend on coming back to very soon! TCHUSS!!!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The final hours
Berlin has been a very interesting city, more steeped in recent history than any other place we've seen so far on this trip. The two days we've spent here have have sharply contrasted with one another in mood and tone.
Yesterday we spent the morning at the veterinary school in Berlin. Vet school in Germany is different, since they start right out of high school and go for 5.5 to 6 years. We split up according to our interests, which of course meant that I ended up in the small animal clinic. They gave us a tour, which I actually found a bit strange. The clinic was a bizarre mixture of very old and very modern technology... it was a very ugly hospital green color for most of the clinic, with old time radiators and everything still for heat. They also still don't have digital radiograph machines, which I found incredible considering that they are supposed to be a really great clinic. Even a lot of private clinics now have digital x-ray, so I just couldn't fathom that they still used films. I was even more confused when I found out that they have a CT scanner for imaging and a linear accelerator for cancer treatments and such. I was also a bit shocked that their main treatment rooms are actually all in one room, so multiple patients being seen by different doctors are all in the same room at the same time! They say it's easier to ask for help, and easier for students to go from patient to patient and learn, but as a client I would have issues with other people listening in on my private conversation with the vet. I was baffled by the setup of the clinic in general. After the tour, though, we got to pick a place to hang out for a few hours. Kat and I chose to watch surgery, which turned out to be the perfect decision! We watched three procedures, all of which were different and very cool. The first was an anal gland removal and castration, because they suspected anal gland tumors in this dog. I had never seen that surgery performed, as it isn't all that common in the States (the gland part, not the castration). Apparently it is fairly common here though, and the surgeon said it was fairly easy and routine. The second surgery was probably the most awesome. They were removing the spleen from a 9 year old Lab because it was cancerous. When they cut the poor thing open, ALL you could see was spleen! Very much abnormal, in case you don't know a whole lot about abdominal topography. When they finally got it out, the spleen was football sized with only a tiny bit of semi-normal looking tissue on either side and a HUGE mass of tumor in the middle. Hands down the coolest bit of surgery I've ever seen. I just wanted to weigh it and see how much lighter the poor dog would be after waking up! The surgeon for that procedure was very young, which was also interesting. The final surgery we didn't see in it's entirety, since we had to go get lunch. They were repairing a laryngeal paralysis, which is basically when the dog can't open it's vocal cords while breathing so they don't get as much air (and it makes a really cool sound that is sometimes called "roars"). The surgeon for that procedure found out we were Americans and explained the whole thing to us in English, which I thought was extremely considerate of her. What they do is stitch the laryngeal cartilages together and tack them to the side of the trachea (sort of, but I won't bore you with the details) on one side so that more air can get through. They only do one side, though, because otherwise the dog will get aspiration pneumonia. That was a close second for the coolest surgery I've ever seen, so it was a really good morning!
After lunch at the university cafeteria, we went on a Berlin by Bike tour with George. He was a fantastic guide, although the weather was a bit chilly for my liking and the wind was stiff. We saw a huge amount of the city, and between George, Dr. Wasser and Olaf we got a vast amount of information that normal tourists miss out on. I was especially moved by the site of the Berlin book burning. I thought it was really cool how they had a glass floor tile with an empty library below to commemorate the loss of knowledge and erasure of the people who had written the banned literature. We also saw the opera house, memorial for German soldiers, memorial for the Jews killed in WWII, Brandenburg Gate, Reightstag (Parliament building), and the line on the ground where the Berlin wall used to be. I've never been much of a history buff, but I still found it very interesting that there was so much sadness and oppression in the not-so-distant past. I guess I've always thought of WWII and the Cold War era as happening a really long time ago, but it wasn't at all. Realizing that I was actually born before the wall came down was fascinating to me. We finished up the day by eating Turkish fast food (very good if you've never had it). Kat and I shared a bottle of wine and went to bed.
Today was a sadder day than yesterday, but no less interesting. In the morning we visited Sachsenhaussen, which was a concentration camp on the outskirts of Berlin. Although it wasn't considered an "extermination camp", there were plenty of terrible things going on there. It was a model camp, which meant that SS soldiers trained there on how to run other concentration camps, and visiting dignitaries were allowed to tour the facilities as if it were just another place to see and hear about. It was very disturbing to me that anyone would WANT to see something like that, let alone learn from it and take that information back to use in other places. Ironically, the police in Berlin today still train in the building that the SS soldiers trained in and are required to do work patrolling the site while visitors are walking through. The entrance gate said something like, "Work will set you free", which was just one example of how the Nazis twisted language so badly. After all, work would set them free in a manner of speaking, since the prisoners were worked to their death. Our guide talked a lot about the different commandos that the prisoners were assigned to, and each was more miserable than the last. Some were forced to test new Nazi boot designs by running 20+ miles a day in poorly fitting boots. Others were forced to dissect the bodies of the prisoners who died, and there were many other equally horrible tasks. We walked through the infirmary, where a variety of experiments were carried out on prisoners. They even experimented on children, which was the most disturbing of all to me. We ended by visiting the extermination building, where there was a small gas chamber and crematoria. That's where I finally lost it; I wasn't the only one with tears running down by the time we finished.
After that we took the train back to the center of Berlin to finish our tour of the city. We got to go into one of the guard towers that stood in the death strip of the Berlin wall. The building was preserved thanks to one man, who's brother was one of the first to be shot and killed attempting to escape from East Berlin when the wall was erected. That guy himself gave us the tour, which I thought was incredible. He is an old man now, and speaks German, but thanks to George, Dr. Wasser and Olaf we were able to listen to him and get an adequate translation of everything he said. I am constantly amazed at the efforts of people to save pieces of the past so we can learn from them. It was the same way with the Anne Frank house being preserved by her father. These people must realize just how important it is and how much of a larger purpose they are serving, because otherwise how could you live with the constant reminder of lost loved ones? I thought it was very generous of him to agree to show us around.
We ended by walking to the remains of the Berlin wall. I wasn't really very impressed by it until we walked around to the back, Eastern side where a section with the death strip was preserved. The wall wasn't high, but the space between the two walls was also riddled with danger. I had never really understood the significance of the Berlin wall, or how long all of that went on, until I saw the memorials and all of that today. I also didn't realize how truly close together WWII and the communist separation of East and West were chronologically. Germany, or at least large parts of it, spent a lot of the 1900s suffering under one tyrant or another.
After visiting the wall we decided to spend a little time at the Pergamon museum, which is an ancient cultures museum. Admission is free on Thursday nights, which was even better! They have the Pergamon altar, as well as the Istar gate on display. Everything was just so huge, and I have always been fascinated with ancient cultures, more so than recent history. All I could think to myself the entire time we were wandering through the museum was, "Why don't we build really gorgeous amazing things anymore?". Seriously though, I feel like modern buildings lack the sense of grandeur and character so common in ancient works. Everything now is focused on mass production and making cookie cutter images of everything from houses to goods, and I just crave the uniqueness and small imperfections that made ancient structures so amazing. People truly thought about what looked fantastic back then, and also used their buildings and statues to honor important elements of their beliefs and daily life. I wish we had retained something of that ideology. Probably my favorite exhibit that we saw was the Ishtar gate and ceremonial pathway to approach it. I could just see myself walking along that road at the height of it's time, staring at the beautiful, brightly colored stones and marveling at how everything had been created.
Tomorrow is our last day of the trip, and we are going to the Wildlife Research center, as well as the zoo. I hope it will be an upbeat end to the trip. Berlin has been amazing, and very educational, but also the saddest city we've seen. I have never felt so deeply moved or close to history as I did here. It is definitely something I won't forget, even if most of the time I felt that it would be inappropriate to take pictures. Somehow I think the images will come with me in my head regardless.
Yesterday we spent the morning at the veterinary school in Berlin. Vet school in Germany is different, since they start right out of high school and go for 5.5 to 6 years. We split up according to our interests, which of course meant that I ended up in the small animal clinic. They gave us a tour, which I actually found a bit strange. The clinic was a bizarre mixture of very old and very modern technology... it was a very ugly hospital green color for most of the clinic, with old time radiators and everything still for heat. They also still don't have digital radiograph machines, which I found incredible considering that they are supposed to be a really great clinic. Even a lot of private clinics now have digital x-ray, so I just couldn't fathom that they still used films. I was even more confused when I found out that they have a CT scanner for imaging and a linear accelerator for cancer treatments and such. I was also a bit shocked that their main treatment rooms are actually all in one room, so multiple patients being seen by different doctors are all in the same room at the same time! They say it's easier to ask for help, and easier for students to go from patient to patient and learn, but as a client I would have issues with other people listening in on my private conversation with the vet. I was baffled by the setup of the clinic in general. After the tour, though, we got to pick a place to hang out for a few hours. Kat and I chose to watch surgery, which turned out to be the perfect decision! We watched three procedures, all of which were different and very cool. The first was an anal gland removal and castration, because they suspected anal gland tumors in this dog. I had never seen that surgery performed, as it isn't all that common in the States (the gland part, not the castration). Apparently it is fairly common here though, and the surgeon said it was fairly easy and routine. The second surgery was probably the most awesome. They were removing the spleen from a 9 year old Lab because it was cancerous. When they cut the poor thing open, ALL you could see was spleen! Very much abnormal, in case you don't know a whole lot about abdominal topography. When they finally got it out, the spleen was football sized with only a tiny bit of semi-normal looking tissue on either side and a HUGE mass of tumor in the middle. Hands down the coolest bit of surgery I've ever seen. I just wanted to weigh it and see how much lighter the poor dog would be after waking up! The surgeon for that procedure was very young, which was also interesting. The final surgery we didn't see in it's entirety, since we had to go get lunch. They were repairing a laryngeal paralysis, which is basically when the dog can't open it's vocal cords while breathing so they don't get as much air (and it makes a really cool sound that is sometimes called "roars"). The surgeon for that procedure found out we were Americans and explained the whole thing to us in English, which I thought was extremely considerate of her. What they do is stitch the laryngeal cartilages together and tack them to the side of the trachea (sort of, but I won't bore you with the details) on one side so that more air can get through. They only do one side, though, because otherwise the dog will get aspiration pneumonia. That was a close second for the coolest surgery I've ever seen, so it was a really good morning!
After lunch at the university cafeteria, we went on a Berlin by Bike tour with George. He was a fantastic guide, although the weather was a bit chilly for my liking and the wind was stiff. We saw a huge amount of the city, and between George, Dr. Wasser and Olaf we got a vast amount of information that normal tourists miss out on. I was especially moved by the site of the Berlin book burning. I thought it was really cool how they had a glass floor tile with an empty library below to commemorate the loss of knowledge and erasure of the people who had written the banned literature. We also saw the opera house, memorial for German soldiers, memorial for the Jews killed in WWII, Brandenburg Gate, Reightstag (Parliament building), and the line on the ground where the Berlin wall used to be. I've never been much of a history buff, but I still found it very interesting that there was so much sadness and oppression in the not-so-distant past. I guess I've always thought of WWII and the Cold War era as happening a really long time ago, but it wasn't at all. Realizing that I was actually born before the wall came down was fascinating to me. We finished up the day by eating Turkish fast food (very good if you've never had it). Kat and I shared a bottle of wine and went to bed.
Today was a sadder day than yesterday, but no less interesting. In the morning we visited Sachsenhaussen, which was a concentration camp on the outskirts of Berlin. Although it wasn't considered an "extermination camp", there were plenty of terrible things going on there. It was a model camp, which meant that SS soldiers trained there on how to run other concentration camps, and visiting dignitaries were allowed to tour the facilities as if it were just another place to see and hear about. It was very disturbing to me that anyone would WANT to see something like that, let alone learn from it and take that information back to use in other places. Ironically, the police in Berlin today still train in the building that the SS soldiers trained in and are required to do work patrolling the site while visitors are walking through. The entrance gate said something like, "Work will set you free", which was just one example of how the Nazis twisted language so badly. After all, work would set them free in a manner of speaking, since the prisoners were worked to their death. Our guide talked a lot about the different commandos that the prisoners were assigned to, and each was more miserable than the last. Some were forced to test new Nazi boot designs by running 20+ miles a day in poorly fitting boots. Others were forced to dissect the bodies of the prisoners who died, and there were many other equally horrible tasks. We walked through the infirmary, where a variety of experiments were carried out on prisoners. They even experimented on children, which was the most disturbing of all to me. We ended by visiting the extermination building, where there was a small gas chamber and crematoria. That's where I finally lost it; I wasn't the only one with tears running down by the time we finished.
After that we took the train back to the center of Berlin to finish our tour of the city. We got to go into one of the guard towers that stood in the death strip of the Berlin wall. The building was preserved thanks to one man, who's brother was one of the first to be shot and killed attempting to escape from East Berlin when the wall was erected. That guy himself gave us the tour, which I thought was incredible. He is an old man now, and speaks German, but thanks to George, Dr. Wasser and Olaf we were able to listen to him and get an adequate translation of everything he said. I am constantly amazed at the efforts of people to save pieces of the past so we can learn from them. It was the same way with the Anne Frank house being preserved by her father. These people must realize just how important it is and how much of a larger purpose they are serving, because otherwise how could you live with the constant reminder of lost loved ones? I thought it was very generous of him to agree to show us around.
We ended by walking to the remains of the Berlin wall. I wasn't really very impressed by it until we walked around to the back, Eastern side where a section with the death strip was preserved. The wall wasn't high, but the space between the two walls was also riddled with danger. I had never really understood the significance of the Berlin wall, or how long all of that went on, until I saw the memorials and all of that today. I also didn't realize how truly close together WWII and the communist separation of East and West were chronologically. Germany, or at least large parts of it, spent a lot of the 1900s suffering under one tyrant or another.
After visiting the wall we decided to spend a little time at the Pergamon museum, which is an ancient cultures museum. Admission is free on Thursday nights, which was even better! They have the Pergamon altar, as well as the Istar gate on display. Everything was just so huge, and I have always been fascinated with ancient cultures, more so than recent history. All I could think to myself the entire time we were wandering through the museum was, "Why don't we build really gorgeous amazing things anymore?". Seriously though, I feel like modern buildings lack the sense of grandeur and character so common in ancient works. Everything now is focused on mass production and making cookie cutter images of everything from houses to goods, and I just crave the uniqueness and small imperfections that made ancient structures so amazing. People truly thought about what looked fantastic back then, and also used their buildings and statues to honor important elements of their beliefs and daily life. I wish we had retained something of that ideology. Probably my favorite exhibit that we saw was the Ishtar gate and ceremonial pathway to approach it. I could just see myself walking along that road at the height of it's time, staring at the beautiful, brightly colored stones and marveling at how everything had been created.
Tomorrow is our last day of the trip, and we are going to the Wildlife Research center, as well as the zoo. I hope it will be an upbeat end to the trip. Berlin has been amazing, and very educational, but also the saddest city we've seen. I have never felt so deeply moved or close to history as I did here. It is definitely something I won't forget, even if most of the time I felt that it would be inappropriate to take pictures. Somehow I think the images will come with me in my head regardless.
Concentration Camps
June 3, 2010
Today we visited the former concentration camp in Berlin. Despite having been to Dachau many times – these camps never cease to move me. Thoughts of how I would react if put in such a situation flood me. I really believe I would choose death—perform some act that I know would lead to my execution so I would not have to endure the torture anymore. BUT if there was family present or friends- I would try to endure, not for my own sake but for theirs… I am sure the same thoughts ran through so many put in these AWFUL places and stripped of their humanity… I am sure they lost hope. I shake my head thinking about how such atrocities could have possibly occurred; how so much hate could consume someone. Then I think about HOW IMPORTANT it is to protect yourself from becoming a person filled with such hate and HOW IMPORTANT it is to teach our children (one day) how to love people: That all men were created in the image of God.
Today I also placed myself on the other side of the wall- what if I was that little girl who played in the backyard, protected and safe, friends with SS officers, while a few hundred feet away was a camp full of starving, tortured individuals- what if her family was my family? Certainly, fear would keep my family quiet as it did hers. I would rather like to think that there would be some grand plan to help those in the camp, to fight against the SS, to recover the town from Hitler’s control --- but these are naïve thoughts.
My ancestors where here in Germany through all this- although they are dead now, I wonder who they were during this time… Would I be proud or I would be ashamed?
Just some thoughts...
Today we visited the former concentration camp in Berlin. Despite having been to Dachau many times – these camps never cease to move me. Thoughts of how I would react if put in such a situation flood me. I really believe I would choose death—perform some act that I know would lead to my execution so I would not have to endure the torture anymore. BUT if there was family present or friends- I would try to endure, not for my own sake but for theirs… I am sure the same thoughts ran through so many put in these AWFUL places and stripped of their humanity… I am sure they lost hope. I shake my head thinking about how such atrocities could have possibly occurred; how so much hate could consume someone. Then I think about HOW IMPORTANT it is to protect yourself from becoming a person filled with such hate and HOW IMPORTANT it is to teach our children (one day) how to love people: That all men were created in the image of God.
Today I also placed myself on the other side of the wall- what if I was that little girl who played in the backyard, protected and safe, friends with SS officers, while a few hundred feet away was a camp full of starving, tortured individuals- what if her family was my family? Certainly, fear would keep my family quiet as it did hers. I would rather like to think that there would be some grand plan to help those in the camp, to fight against the SS, to recover the town from Hitler’s control --- but these are naïve thoughts.
My ancestors where here in Germany through all this- although they are dead now, I wonder who they were during this time… Would I be proud or I would be ashamed?
Just some thoughts...
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Short and sweet
Okay, I won't go on and on for this one. The second day in Hannover was really good!!! Yeah for vet stuff!! We started out by going to surgery rounds. Thankfully, they were kind enough to present most of the cases in English, so that we could understand what was going on. Then, Dr. Hahn took us through the horse clinic. Quite impressive, once again. The amount of room they have and new machinery they use was really great to see.
Then, we got to go palpate for some ovaries. I am horrible at palpating, and even with help and guidance, I could not find them. Kind of frustrating, but maybe one day I'll be able to find them. We also saw how they do "ovum pickup". Melissa and Greg gave their best attempts to pickup some ova. It did not look easy, that's for sure.
And, lastly (told you it would be short), we went to a stud farm. Absolutely gorgeous stallions! The facility did a lot more than I was expecting. Of course, they collect semen, but they also train them for competition in events, such as dressage. I was glad we had done the male repro lab in physiology, otherwise when we collected and evaluated the semen, I would have had no clue what they were talking about. That's all for now.
Then, we got to go palpate for some ovaries. I am horrible at palpating, and even with help and guidance, I could not find them. Kind of frustrating, but maybe one day I'll be able to find them. We also saw how they do "ovum pickup". Melissa and Greg gave their best attempts to pickup some ova. It did not look easy, that's for sure.
And, lastly (told you it would be short), we went to a stud farm. Absolutely gorgeous stallions! The facility did a lot more than I was expecting. Of course, they collect semen, but they also train them for competition in events, such as dressage. I was glad we had done the male repro lab in physiology, otherwise when we collected and evaluated the semen, I would have had no clue what they were talking about. That's all for now.
Basel
I arrived in Basel Switzerland at 3:00pm on Sunday afternoon. Because our group wasn’t scheduled to meet up until 6:00pm, I located a city map, found the hotel on the map, figured out which tram to take, bought the appropriate ticket, and found my way to the hotel.
Novartis put us up in the Ramada Plaza in Basel. We each had our own excessively fancy room with blinds that raised and lowered automatically, bathroom floors that lit up, and free wi-fi. After relaxing for a bit, I went with Olaf to pick up the others from the train station.
Once everyone had checked in and settled, several of us decided to head out for dinner. We found a fantastic Italian restaurant near the hotel. After dinner, we finished off the evening in the bar on the 31st floor of the hotel. From there we could see the entire city while enjoying our drinks.
On Monday, we toured the Novartis headquarters in Basel, and then visited their research farm outside of the city. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the research; on the one hand, I understand that testing of products on animals is necessary in order to develop medications for pets. On the other hand, animal welfare is extremely important to me, and I found myself interested in their treatment of the animals.
Overall, the quality of life for the research animals is somewhat higher than I would have expected. The research dogs are all healthy happy beagles who participate in drug studies every few weeks. When we asked our tour guide how long the dogs stay in the lab, he told us, “too long;” he explained that all of the researchers get attached to the individual dogs, and many of the dogs have life long bonds with the researchers. When I asked how much human interaction the dogs get, he told us “not enough,” and he said that the dogs seem happiest when participating in a study because that is when they get the most attention. Sadly, they spend much of the rest of their time in kennels. Worse still are the cattle participating in the tick studies. The calves seemed well-fed but had very little room to move around.
However, the lab has found ways to reduce the number of animals needed for studies. A new device referred to as the "Artificial Cat" has replaced the need for animals in flea studies. The fleas are kept inside a metal container and are fed through a cellophane membrane that is similar to animal’s skin. Although I still do not believe I could ever work in animal research, I feel slightly better having seen the passion for animals in the Novartis employees.
After our visit with Novartis, we returned to the hotel for our first genuine free evening. I opted to stay in the hotel, have some dinner and drinks, and relax for a bit.
Tuesday morning, we took a tour of Basel which ended in the market square. We actually had a bit of free time, so I went to a few of the shops and then headed to the ancient art museum. The museum had three floors of Greek and Roman statuary, vases, weaponry, and armor. Additionally, the basement of the museum housed a fantastic collection of Egyptian relics, including the remains of mummified human on full display.
After the museum, I set out to find food. The food was wonderful, but my lunch was interrupted when a vagrant man entered the restaurant and began yelling at the waitress and customers. At one point, he actually chased the waitress through the restaurant yelling at her in German, “You will pay! You will pay!” He tried to yell at me as well, but I told him I did not understand, and he left me alone. The wait staff was about to call the police when the man ran out of the restaurant with a flask of wine not to be seen again.
After my scary but delicious lunch, I met back up with the group and we headed to the airport to travel to Berlin!
Novartis put us up in the Ramada Plaza in Basel. We each had our own excessively fancy room with blinds that raised and lowered automatically, bathroom floors that lit up, and free wi-fi. After relaxing for a bit, I went with Olaf to pick up the others from the train station.
Once everyone had checked in and settled, several of us decided to head out for dinner. We found a fantastic Italian restaurant near the hotel. After dinner, we finished off the evening in the bar on the 31st floor of the hotel. From there we could see the entire city while enjoying our drinks.
On Monday, we toured the Novartis headquarters in Basel, and then visited their research farm outside of the city. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the research; on the one hand, I understand that testing of products on animals is necessary in order to develop medications for pets. On the other hand, animal welfare is extremely important to me, and I found myself interested in their treatment of the animals.
Overall, the quality of life for the research animals is somewhat higher than I would have expected. The research dogs are all healthy happy beagles who participate in drug studies every few weeks. When we asked our tour guide how long the dogs stay in the lab, he told us, “too long;” he explained that all of the researchers get attached to the individual dogs, and many of the dogs have life long bonds with the researchers. When I asked how much human interaction the dogs get, he told us “not enough,” and he said that the dogs seem happiest when participating in a study because that is when they get the most attention. Sadly, they spend much of the rest of their time in kennels. Worse still are the cattle participating in the tick studies. The calves seemed well-fed but had very little room to move around.
However, the lab has found ways to reduce the number of animals needed for studies. A new device referred to as the "Artificial Cat" has replaced the need for animals in flea studies. The fleas are kept inside a metal container and are fed through a cellophane membrane that is similar to animal’s skin. Although I still do not believe I could ever work in animal research, I feel slightly better having seen the passion for animals in the Novartis employees.
After our visit with Novartis, we returned to the hotel for our first genuine free evening. I opted to stay in the hotel, have some dinner and drinks, and relax for a bit.
Tuesday morning, we took a tour of Basel which ended in the market square. We actually had a bit of free time, so I went to a few of the shops and then headed to the ancient art museum. The museum had three floors of Greek and Roman statuary, vases, weaponry, and armor. Additionally, the basement of the museum housed a fantastic collection of Egyptian relics, including the remains of mummified human on full display.
After the museum, I set out to find food. The food was wonderful, but my lunch was interrupted when a vagrant man entered the restaurant and began yelling at the waitress and customers. At one point, he actually chased the waitress through the restaurant yelling at her in German, “You will pay! You will pay!” He tried to yell at me as well, but I told him I did not understand, and he left me alone. The wait staff was about to call the police when the man ran out of the restaurant with a flask of wine not to be seen again.
After my scary but delicious lunch, I met back up with the group and we headed to the airport to travel to Berlin!
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