The Best Field Trip Ever

  I've recently returned (and am still recovering) from my weeklong field trip to Poznan, Poland and Berlin, Germany with my Medical Practice and Policy class. I think it's safe to say we spent way too much time together and know waaaay too much about each other now. Which is probably a good thing because apparently we're doing full physical exams on each other next week....
  Anyways, more about my field trip. We started our study tour on Sunday morning, with a lovely 10 hour bus ride. Luckily, it was just my class on the bus, so everybody got their own seat and promptly fell asleep. We arrived in Poznan just in time for dinner, which happened to be at the imperial castle across the street from our truly luxurious (and sauna-containing!) hotel. no big deal. after dinner, we came back to the hotel and had a supremely classy night with juice boxes of wine and the sauna.

the Imperial Castle, home of our dinner restaurant

  Our first (and only) full day in Poznan started with an academic visit to the Perinatology/Gynecology ward of the local hospital- one of the biggest in Poland. Sadly, it brought home how lucky we are in the States to have access to good (and fast!) medical care. The hospital was depressing at best, and some women were there for six weeks already (with quite a few to go). One thing I talked about with my host family was privacy- in Denmark, the idea of having a roommate at University is extremely strange. But in Poland, there were five women in a hospital room, with no curtains. We saw the same thing in Germany, and my host mom tells me that it's similar in Denmark, although they normally have two-three people per room. For a country who doesnt like the idea of a roommate, they seem to be okay with one in their hospitals...
  After our somewhat depressing morning, DIS decided to lighten the mood with a tour of Lech Brewery, one of the three largest providers of beer in Poland, or something like that. It was very cool though, and they even gave us a free pint (and complementary pint glasses!) afterwards! We ate dinner at a very nice restaurant in the middle of Old Market Square, followed by an evening of bowling! Bowling in Poland is surprisingly fun, which might have had something to do with the very cheap bar located right next to our lanes...

Some of our class at Lech Brewery with our complementary pints

Me at Old Market Square in Poznan

  The next day we had another academic visit, this time to the hospital's Pediatric Gastroenterology ward. Again, depressing. We met a 14 year old who waited 6 months just for an endoscopy, after a year of chronic stomach pain. And also heard about Poland's current "brain drain" where the bright, motivated students (and even the not so bright) leave Poland because of the overworked, underpaid position that physicians in this country have. Thus, the resources are even less. We had four hours to think about this as we drove to Berlin, which was a whole new ball game. Upon arrival (granted our hotel wasn't quite as nice as in Poznan, but I guess really nice hotels are only cheap in economically depressed countries...) we had dinner at a restaurant in the Sony Center, a skyscraper-surrounded plaza with a very cool cover. I dont know what the point is, but I liked it. The food, not so much- we were given what amounts to an entire pig's leg, with sauerkraut on the side. Sauerkraut, good. Pig's leg on which my friend claimed to be able to see hair, not so good. It was all forgotten, however, upon reaching our next DIS-arranged activity: the acrobat/dance show YMA, centered around a transvestite of the same name. Needless to say, it was not your average show. And quite possibly the most sexual thing I have ever seen in my life. But it was full of incredible athletes and definitely a unique experience!

the entire pig leg they gave us for dinner.

YMA's curtain call

  The next day we went to the Jewish Museum, followed by a bike tour of Berlin. As my biking skills have dramatically increased, I thoroughly enjoyed it. We got to see the Reichstag (home of German parliament), Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, the site of Hitler's Bunker (now home to communist apartments, a chinese restaurant, and a gay sauna), the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Museum Island, and Bebelplatz (the square of the book burnings of 1933). We then went as a group to the top of Berlin's tv tower, where there is a bar 203 meters above ground, with a 360 degree view of the city. DIS pulled through as usual and paid for a round of drinks. A bunch of my friends and I got Berliner Weiss, a type of beer with raspberry or herb flavoring that is apparently only found in Berlin and quite delicious. After our time in the tv tower, my friend Monica and I decided to explore a street recommended by our bike tour guide as having good bars. And we lucked out, meeting Jack, a New Zealander who let us tag along with him on a student pub crawl around that area of East Berlin. He was very nice and we learned a lot about New Zealand from him- apparently there are 14 sheep for every person there!

Brandenburg Gate on our bike tour!

Reichstag!

Berlin Cathedral

Berlin from the top of the TV tower

Monica and I with New Zealander Jack

  The next day we had two academic visits, to the Berlin Medical History Museum and the Center for Anatomy at Berlin's Charite medical school. The Center for Anatomy was a truly incredible experience- we got to see (and touch) a cadaver, which is definitely not what we were expecting. It was very interesting though. After that we had the afternoon free to ourselves, so Monica, Steve, Sam and I went exploring together. We went to the Topography of Terror museum, located on the spot of the former SS and Gestapo headquarters, which was quite disturbing. We also visited Checkpoint Charlie, one of the only ways to get through the Berlin Wall, and Fassenbender & Rausch, an amazing chocolate store with replicas of famous Berlin sights.

Chocolate Reichstag at Fassenbender & Rausch

Me "climbing" the Berlin Wall! (just for you mom)

Berlin is also famous for its love of bears, and decorated statues of them all around the city

Checkpoint Charlie!

  After our fun afternoon of exploring the capital, our class had a DIS-arranged dinner at Unsicht Bar, a blind restaurant. Yes, a blind restaurant. As in, it was pitch black and I was feeling up my food on the table (which turned out to be tofu). Kind of frightening, kind of cool. After we all survived the blind restaurant, our entire class (including our awesome tour leaders Astrid and Bryn) went to a bar together, before some of us headed out to Matrix, a supremely cool Berlin nightclub full of university students and dancing. We had a great night until we passed out for three whole hours of sleep before our last academic visit, to Helios Klinikum, a private hospital just outside of Berlin. And it was ridiculously nice. And apparently cost 1400 euros for our class to visit. But at least we got doctor shaped stress balls!
  After our visit to Helios, we got back on the bus for a lovely 8 hour drive back home. All in all it was a great trip but definitely exhausting. dziękuję Polska and danke Deutschland for a great time!

Medical Practice and Policy C!!