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.