First three days in Berlin!

This post will eventually become three separate posts (with pictures) but for now....

Monday
Our 20 person groups arrived at the Berlin airport after leaving Copenhagen around 9 am.  A beautiful Mercedes-Benz bus greeted us (with reclining seats and wooden floors) to take us off to our hotel, Hotel Alex.  After dropping off our bags in our rooms, we were rushed off to Brauhaus Mitte for a traditional German meal which consisted of something similar to pot roast....not exactly sure on that one but either way it was delicious!
We visited our first destination afterwards, Familienplanungszentrum Berlin - BALANCE, a family planning clinic on the east side of Berlin.  The clinic offered an explanation of the sex education classes that they conduct with school children and insight into the procedures performed there.  We were able to tour an "operating room" where abortions were conducted, which provided an eery yet informative view to the controversial topic.  Afterwards, we learned more about how the clinic approaches sex education through a positive light and attempts to help teenagers and young adults answer questions about growing up and sexuality.  Overall, the visit allowed us to learn about how health educators in Berlin approach careful subjects such as sexuality, puberty, abortion, and pregnancy options in a different light.
Once the visit was over, we had the rest of the night to explore Berlin.  A group of us headed towards the shopping district, located on Kurfürstendamm.  Two rushed hours later, we found a potato restaurant named Kartoffelkeller where I tried my first schnitzel with pesto, mozzarella, and sun-dried tomato toppings.  Needless to say, after tons of potatoes and schnitzel, everyone was exhausted and we headed home to sleep.

Tuesday
On Tuesday we started off our morning with a visit to the Center of Anatomy in order to receive some hands-on experience Berlin-style.  In other words, at 9 am in the morning we quickly learned that we would be examining cadavers within minutes and had no time to mentally prepare.  Despite this, the visit was fascinating.  Two cadavers had been prepared and two tables of organs or limbs were also present.  More explanation will follow in a later post, but I fully enjoyed the experience which was quite a surprise.
Afterwards, a group of us sprinted to the Pergamon during our three hour lunch break in order to tour the reconstructions of the Pergamon tower and other historical landmarks.  Again..pictures will follow later in the week.
Finally, we started our four hour bike tour which included fountains, Marx and Engel statues, the Berliner Dom, location where the Prussian palace stood, Humbolt University, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the location where Hitler committed suicide in his bunker, the Memorial for the Murdered Jews, a currywurst restaurant (not so historical, whoops), the Berlin Victory Column, the Soviet War Memorial (on the west side, weird eh?), the Reichstag, or parliment, and the Brandenburg Gate.
Oh and we also visited Burgermeister.  Aka.. I ate a burger out of a toiliet.

Wednesday
Headed to the German Heart Institute where we visited the ICU and patients who had just received assist devices.  Another clinic, the DRK Kliniken Berlin – Kopenick, was also visited in order to learn about gastrointestinal surgeries such as gastric bypass.  Videos were graphic yet fascinating thanks to the amazing tools that have been designed to conduct the surgery laparoscopically.
That night we had dinner at the Chameleon Theater and enjoyed a presentation of Loft, a Cirque-de-Soleil-esque show.


Other happenings: there is a Dunkin Donuts in Berlin.  Win.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Another rainy Sunday in Copenhagen...another day scrambling to find anywhere or anything that is open in order to occupy myself.  Like most cities in europe, everything is closed on Sundays in an attempt to force yourself to relax and enjoy the day off.  Well, study abroad students take that as a challenge..
So today we headed to Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.  The moment I saw Edgar Degas and an Egyptian art wing listed, I immediately began draining my camera's battery.  But seriously, the battery ran out.  It was depressing.

Here are some of my favorites from the day.  I tried hard to nail down some good ones, but over 100 pictures is quite a bit to look through.

 Edgar Degas's bronze collection

 Thor

 The Thinker

 I just liked him because he looked like he was doing the Single Ladies dance.

 Ophelia

 Perseus beheading Medusa.

 Beethoven 

 Beginning of the egyptian unit!

 My favorite, the happy hippo.

 King Amenophis II

 King Amenemhat III

 Sarcophagus of a cat

 Fallen noses

 A little bit much to take in all at once..

 Imaginary Homer

 Mummies!

 Pete made me pose like one.

 So cool.

Not part of the art museum, but random spray painted pigeons?

And with that, officially off to Berlin tomorrow!

Statens Museum for Kunst, class, Hamlet's Castle, and Sankt Hans day

With the first week of second semester is officially finished, study tours officially begin tomorrow!  DIS's second semester classes allow students to take part in a study tour in a country that is relevant to the coursework.  For my class, Human Health and Disease, we will be traveling to Berlin, Germany in order to tour various hospitals and health institutes.  I'll attempt to update every other day while I'm there since our itinerary is so full.

The past week has been incredibly busy with my new class since it offers long, hands-on workshops at various hospitals around Copenhagen, but I was able to visit Statens Museum for Kunst last Sunday and Hamlet's (or Kronborg's) Castle yesterday.  I also included some gruesome pictures of sutures and IVs yay!

 Outside of Statens Museum for Kunst.

 One part of the modern art wing.

 Adorable modern art museum chocolate truffle and cafe latte, all served on Royal Copenhagen.

 Practicing IVs on our dummy, Mads Madsen.

Yay sutures!

 Spotting Hamlet's Castle from Hesingor.

 More top-bun rockin'.

 Expansion over time of the plot.

Last night the Danes celebrated Sankt Hans day with songs and bonfires throughout the city.  A group of us headed over to Christiania to take part in the local atmosphere, which included plenty of electronica and fire.  Fire-breathers were in attendance.

Today our floor may head over to Tivoli (finally) if the weather permits, but if not hopefully I can finally see the Danish Design Centre and Architecture Centre.  It's sad to think that we only have one more week left in Copenhagen once we get back from our study tours, so sight-seeing will be intense for those short seven days.  Oh well, I can sleep when I'm back in the US.

Carlsberg and Malmo

This past week was filled with exams and papers for most of DIS's students so sight-seeing was at an all time low.  But once Thursday came around (our last day of first semester!) a group of us headed to Carlsberg Brewery for a small tour.  Yeah, the horses, carriages, and biggest bottle exhibition were exciting, but our worn-out selves were probably more excited at the time for the two free beers waiting for us at the end of the tour. 

Friday was spent relaxing and shopping around for more gifts.  Here's a picture from lunch in Orstedsparken.

Saturday some friends and I headed out to Malmo, Sweden.  We'd been warned that it wasn't the best city to get a taste of Sweden, but the short train ride to another country was too tempting.  Unforunately, we didn't really think of a plan before we went there on places we wanted to go, but according to Malmo's wikipedia page we may or may not have seen them all anyways!

Beautiful 7-Eleven lunch.

Basically a mixture of San Antonio canals and Chicago weather.

Turning Torso in the background.

Probably the best find.  Favorite purchases from our group: beef jerky, jalepeno chips, and Dr. Pepper.

This week starts the second half of classes and the sad reality that we only have three more weeks and two more weekends left abroad.  On top of that, In just a week I'll be leaving for Berlin for five days!