poznan og berlin.

now that i'm back from two weeks of traveling in spain and italy, it's time to finally get around to sharing the details of my trip to poznan, poland and berlin, germany. i've spent the day editing photos so i could make this post. get excited.

the first week in march every DIS program went on their long study tour. essentially this is an extended version of the trip i took to western denmark earlier in the semester however we travel quite a bit farther. for example, some groups went to turkey and italy. we stuck to northern europe.

our trip started in poznan, poland. most of the tour group had a pretty blase attitude about going to poland when we left denmark but by the time we headed to berlin, everyone was pretty impressed. the first point to poland was our hotel. ridiculously luxurious. and fabulous breakfast. no sugar added french jam in tiny jars. i may or may not have slipped four or five into my bag before leaving.

since we took a bus from copenhagen to poznan (12 hour ride. blech.), we arrived around dinner time. we all went out for the first of many fabulous meals. here i took the first of a series of pictures i've titled "the desserts that weren't". since i gave up desserts and sweets for lent, i satisfied myself by photographing the heck out of my food.
the next morning we had our first academic visit: shadowing in a gynecological hospital. a couple doctors took us on a tour of the wards in the poznan university gynecological hospital and even took us into patient rooms to explain the birthing process in poland. we were a little surprised that they just took a group of four of us into a patient's room without asking permission. their response to our concern was that since this was a university hospital, the patients were used to it. i'm taking that to mean choosing to be treated there involves consenting to be used as an educational tool. still weird coming from such a regulated American system.
interesting things i learned about giving birth in poland:
1. since the country has universal healthcare but no money, most women just have nitrous oxide to kill pain during childbirth.
2. while you may see the same doctor throughout your pregnancy, you're not guaranteed that they'll be their when you actually give birth. you're stuck with whoever's on duty and it's illegal to pay your doctor extra to come when you're in labor.
3. about 30% of deliveries in poland are c-sections. as of 2010, 32% of US births were c-sections. the ideal percentage for the health of mothers and babies is 5-10%.

part of our tour included peeking into an operating room in which a c-section was being performed. we got to stay and watch. way cool.
after our academic visits, we had a group activity called the "urban awareness exercise". fancy name for sight-seeing scavenger hunt. we spent a couple hours traipsing all over europe seeing things like city hall, the parish church, the franciscan church, a palace, and a handful of other sights. fun way to see the city and a great opportunity to take a bunch of pictures. my favorite part might have been when our group took a bit of a break to explore an open air flea market just outside the city center. found a giant container of my favorite instant coffee for half as one a third the size would cost in denmark. i love markets.

after the market, we gave up on the tour (in our defense, it was pretty chilly.) and got a cup of coffee. generally this wouldn't be worth mentioning. except i had my first european cappuccino (now that i think about it, it was actually just my first ever cappuccino. but still.). it was delicious. here is a photo with which i hope to pay it tribute.
the next day we had another academic visit to the university pediatric hospital. here they had a ward for virtually every pediatric specialty imaginable except orthopedics, dermatology, and ophthalmology. we spent our time on the gastrointestinal ward and got to watch an edoscopy for the placement of a feeding tube in the duodenum of a patient with krohn's disease. i was asked to hold his arms down during the procedure since patients have a tendency to try to pull the scope out when it triggers their gag reflex. the poor kid was 11 but, due to the malnutrition caused by his illness, he wasn't any bigger than a six year old. when he came in for the procedure, tears were rolling down his cheeks silently. he was a trooper but i was definitely shaken by the experience.
after the hospital visit and some time on our own in the city, we got back on the bus and drove to berlin. before i move on to talking about berlin, i have two more things to share about polish healthcare.
1. the government is trying hard to emulate the danish system of universal coverage gated by general practitioners but it's failing miserably, mainly due to a lack of funding. i've been surprised to learn that doctors aren't among the highest paid professionals internationally. in poland they receive very little money. each GP gets an allotment of money for each patient at the beginning of the year that he or she is expected to use to cover all treatment costs and the upkeep of their practice. the remainder is their salary. in order to take home more money, many GPs will refer patients to the hospital without running tests because they know the hospital will have to cover the tests if they don't. the problem is that hospitals also get an allotment of money every year and when it runs out, they can't get any more. last year most hospitals ran out in october and could only treat emergent cases for the rest of the year. needless to say hospital employees harbor a good bit of hostility towards GPs.
2. for some reason i assumed that all of europe was highly developed and home to all kinds of state of the art facilities. i was surprised to enter polish hospitals with wooden doors and bad lighting and really old machinery. even in denmark hospitals seem pretty old. even the doctors' dress is a little antiquated. going to the hospital in the US is a really unique experience. i had no idea how unique until i came to europe.

alright, on to berlin. this portion of the trip was fantastic. it was all incredible but i really liked berlin. the sheer number of things to do there was pretty overwhelming. i didn't even do a third of them. i'd love to go back someday.
since we essentially had three full days and packed a whole lot into them, i've opted for a list format so i can organize my thoughts more effectively. also, because i love lists.

1. visit to the german heart institute. this was our first academic visit. the heart institute is a private foundation that does research, clinical treatment, and offers international aid. one of their main research areas is cardiac surgery. this is where most new procedures for heart surgery are developed. people come from all over the world for surgery here. they also do quite a bit of r&d on VADs. in terms of international aid they fund the treatment and travel of patients from third-world countries. there's also a ronald mcdonald house affiliated with the hospital. the institute is in it's 26th year of operation. i only know this because i was given a copy of their 25th anniversary commemorative book. this thing is the size of a textbook. the jury's still out on whether or not i want to forfeit suitcase space to bring it home.

2. the ritter sport chocolate world. a large group of us ventured over to chocolate world during a block of free time. the big draw initially was the make-your-own chocolate option. pick milk or dark chocolate and three mix-ins. like the coldstone of the chocolate world. i ended up not making my own chocolate because i was already a little overwhelmed with the incredible variety they offered in the store. they have 29 kinds in the "permanent" collection in addition to five or six organic flavors and seasonal varieties they cycle through. brittany had introduced me to ritter sport earlier in the semester and i fell in love with the relatively cheap, high quality chocolate. it's about $2.50 a bar in copenhagen. it's 85 euro cents from the source. AWESOME. needless to say i purchased an obscene amount of chocolate which i'm proud to say has remained untouched. saving it for an international chocolate party with the fam. get excited, mom.

3. berlin symphony concert. just as classy as it sounds. went out for a delicious dinner (tomato, mushroom, goat cheese, pine nut, and spinach pizza) followed by an evening of fantastic music. even the venue was phenomenal. they just don't make buildings as fancy as they used to.
4. academic visit to the center for anatomy. apparently this is where human dissection for scientific purposes began. we were given a brief lecture on the history of dissection and then led upstairs to the cadaver room. they gave us a short tour of the room and then set us loose. we spent about an hour playing with hearts and lungs and brains and kidneys and stomachs and intestines. you name it, i've probably touched it. it. was. so. cool. and no one passed out. apparently we're all on the right career track. sadly, no pictures for this one. i know you're disappointed.

5. bike tour of berlin. this was my first bike tour and i'm hooked. understandably so since it combines two of my loves: exercise and learning. i did one in amsterdam and planned to do one in madrid that ended up not happening (spoiler alert.). it's hands down the most fun way to see a city and actually learn about what you're seeing. in amsterdam we found it to be a really strategic way to start the trip. helped us orient ourselves and gave us a greater appreciation for what we were seeing when we walked on our own afterwards.

the berlin tour was led by an adorable english girl and took us to the sight of the largest nazi book burning, checkpoint charlie, hitler's bunker, the memorial for the murdered european jews, the reichstag, and much more. along the way we stopped to take pictures while our guide gave us concise and interesting information about each of our stops. at our checkpoint charlie stop she pulled out some sidewalk chalk and drew us a diagram of what happened in germany after ww ii. made me want to take a class on the history of germany after ww ii. so interesting. before we left on the tour, it was freezing and rainy. most of us weren't going to go but then when we saw the bikes with animal-shaped squeaky toys on the handlebars, most of us changed our minds. we were rewarded with sunshine 45 minutes later. so glad we went.
6. dark dinner. i have to admit that i was initially very apprehensive since my only other exposure to dark dining was when in rome. for those of you who have not seen the film, please pause to watch the following video.

immediately after this, "hilarity" ensues in the form of many dropped dishes and bruised shins. i was understandably concerned. however, this was probably one of the coolest things i've done in my life. the waiters and waitresses are all visually impaired persons, not socially awkward people wearing night vision goggles. they guide you through the restaurant using their own strategies for navigating the world. you're not told what you're eating because you and your table mates are supposed to discuss and come to your own conclusions. they give you funny poety as a clue before hand but it's not very specific (e.g. the poem said "sign of aztec masculinity". i jumped to the logical conclusion: animal testicles. it was avocado.). afterwards they give you the menu and you check your answers. it was a surprisingly comfortable experience. every so often a door would open and accidentally let in a little light and i honestly felt like they were invading my dark time. it was so interesting to see (not literally) how your other senses were affected by your lack of vision. we all kept talking over each other because we didn't realize how much of conversation is visually. we take a lot of cues from when it looks like someone's going to say something that i hadn't really noticed before. i'd love to do it again. way awesome.

7. the reichstag. made a visit to the german parliament building. not much to say about it except that it looks awesome. on the top is this crazy dome with a ramp spiraling up around the outside leading up and a pillar made of mirror panels in the middle. it's kind of a trip.

8. the east side gallery. this was the last stop on my trip before boarding the bus back to copenhagen. awesome art. such a great way to redeem the space. as i walking beside it i had one of those "i can't believe i'm here" moments. what a privilege. i also signed it twice. i'm obviously one of the cool kids now.

and that, if you've stuck with me this far, concludes my account of my trip to poznan and berlin. probably the longest entry in the history of the world. i had planned to edit all the pictures from the trip AND blog about it before 1pm. it's 4:30pm. so it goes.

next time: my weekend trip to amsterdam with elise and taylor. until then, here's a teaser.

kærlig hilsen,
kati