National Service Program

Before I went, I got an email asking me if I would like to join something called National Service Program.
It will be held in Freiburg itself.
Includes hiking trip in Black forest and one of the things that we need to bring is ~ bathing suit (possibility to swim in a lake)
Also barbecue.
It sounds too good to be true and of course I say yes.
Plus since I am in Freiburg itself, I am spared from travelling to the National Service Program.

You can say that the program is a blast though the weather wasn't on our side (and it was always raining only on weekends the first 2 weeks of July, whch is not normal at all for Freiburg) and I didn't go to say goodbye on Sunday because of abdominal cramps.


On Friday, we went to a stadium (or something like that) that right smack next to the black forest. Met the other exchange students coming in from places like Tubingen and Heidelberg and Munster.
And we got a bag of goodies each and it sure has a lot of things inside.
Among others
thick notebook
pens
nescafe 3-in-1
stick note
gummy bear
expired condom



 Had meet and greet session before we moved to the main agenda, city tour, with none other than Chris. Chris is someone who loves to share what he knows so he really made a good guide.
Among what I got are
One of the apostle is showing his butt in the direction of the house of some one who did something that irk the townspeople?don't remember anymore
The red and gold signifies Austria.
In the medieval time, in the marketplace,as to make measurement for the things they sell, among others, they drew circle to size bread and a line.
Thing is that being visitors we were moving really slowly and taking pictures.
And German being German, is irked by the pace.

It was raining when we make our way up to Schlossberg.
After realising that we are going up the hill, I told them "you said hiking is tomorow?"
Apparently climbing up to Schlossberg and then up the tower stairs isn't hiking!
And to add spice to thing, for God sake, I am wearing my white hospital pants. add rain and muddy earth on top of that.

Photo from Jaime. Look Emina is even wearing cute flats.

Photo from Mohamed. On the tower.

Thanks Lord the view makes up for it.
And the people. except for the ones who shake the tower. grrr!

We make our way to "student summer festival" for dinner afterwards.
Was stuck because we were being a lil bit busybody near the Fischerau that has the crocodile (a stone one) in it. There is some anti-Nazi demonstration going on.
Quite a sight.

Not only that, we even have to make a detour once because they found a bomb from World War 2 during construction. Apparently, such thing is not uncommon in German land. I learnt a lot about German and Germany in a span of 2 weeks compared to what I learned about Czech and Czech Republic in a span of 4 years.

And finally, we are at the student summer festival. once again, culture shock.
This people is what student summer festival means in Germany

My glass was only filled with pepsi okay.hehehe

One thing deserve mentioning is the grilled feta. so delish. tried to make it twice in October. FAILED.

Travel Cost

Freiburg is an excellent location.
Paris is 3 hours away by TGV.
Colmar is an hour train ride. But u can always stop by Breisach am Rhein to see the majestic Rhein river.
Basel, is also an hour away, while Luzern is 2 hours away.
Except if you want to travel east, like Iva said, the Black Forest is always in the way.
I went to Konstanz and never regret taking the train that crosses the Black Forest. It's so scenic.

Our farewell trip. I had blast travelling with them. Photo from Nicky.

Anyway, travel is rather expensive in Germany.
And the train network is so sophisticated that the bus is forgotten.
I only travel on weekends so my best choice is Baden-Wurttenberg ticket.
If you are travelling alone, the ticket costs 21 euro. add 4 euro for additional person. you can add up to 4 more person.
Best for day trip and group travel.

When I went to Luzern, the girls were already away, so I travel alone.
Had to rush to get my ticket printed out at the counter and pay extra for that.
If you can afford it, get a smartphone or tab ~ that is one precious thing to traveller.

The thing u do when u trael alone. Self camera or ask any stanger who is willing to click the camera for you.

When we travelled, we brought our own food because food is on the expensive side especially in tourist spot.
Most of my travelling were done during Ramadhan and eventhough I have the option to replace it, I opted out of it.
Except when I decided to hike the foot of Pilatus, I went to Migros and paid for ice tea and croissant. ~ 5 euro that saves me after a tedious hike (crazy thing I did. I know.)

All in all, try to not travel alone. It's more expensive. and bring your own food and fruits and drink.

Food

On my second day, Iva's made me spatzle sauce. I really like the sauce.
I got 50 euro every week.
I ate rice oce a week. Bought the ones in the sack. You see I never master cooking the rice sans rice cooker.

For breakfast, I ate bread and drank milk or juice.
I go German with my lunch. sometimes I take it but since Xavier left I didn't do lunch anymore. Plus my last week, it was Ramdhan.
Lunch normally is with schoki (really nice Schwarzwald/Blackforest choc milk) and bretzel. I really love bretzel smeared with cream cheese spinkled with chives and salad and tomato.
Had hot meal once at the casino. Don't know how to say enough in German so I ended up finishing quarter of my cheese gnocci after so much effort.
And my friends in opthalmology do lunch everyday. oh the joy of having a partner in crime with you.

Dinner is a lil bit complicated because I have to come out with what to cook.
I love it epecially when I sit down with Iva and Chris for dinner.
I would nicked their food and they mine.
Once I made curry and was so concerned the smell may be too overhelming for my housemates but they said it smells good.
I found my new love for tomato salad. They made really delish tomato salad.
Most of the time, I made aglio olio spaghetti with birds eye chilli. Iva's surprised to see the amount I threw in. Well, that's typical Penangites for you babe =)
I took away food from markthalle twice. The last one smell strongly of tumeric.
Iva's allergic to ANY NUTS and I have offered nuts twice to her unintentionally. First the rice cooked with nuts and then the stir fried vege with tofu. Thanks to her, I hope I am more alert about allergy issue.

iftar 2nd day of Ramadhan

I have a range of supermarket to choose from. I like Aldi and I went to Ariana Orient House a couple of times to get the meat and some dose of Asian ingredients. Theoretically, I only spent 100 euro on groceries. Admittedly, it's cheaper if you cooked because a plate of mixed potatoes costs 10 euro.

First Day of Ramadhan

It was a Friday and the next week shall be my last week.
I had bihun sup for sahur.

If I remember it well, the day is not like any other day I was in the department.
When I was doing venepuncture on this man that speaks English, the sound of helicopter taking off muffled our conversation.
"This is the third time today. and it's just 9 am"
I remember seeing this new man looking all unwell but I went on with the venepuncture.

I scrubbed in for an operation that I don't remember anymore and returned to Zenker.
Dr Weiskopf and a cardiologist was there and the situation didn't seem good.
"Remember this. It's myocardial infarction" she showed me the ECG.
Turned out it's of that man that was looking very fragile this morning.

It's a rather busy Friday.
And I have another operation scheduled at ~6 pm.
I asked Dr Reinisch for an hour or two break.
I went to Ariana Orient House to get some dates and drinks and whats not (where the fresh fruits and veges section almost empty), dumped everything at home and return to the empty Zenker.
I scrubbed in and went to see the operation schedule.
The digital one was down and they only have papers stuck on the board, obviously all written in German.
I got one of the scrub nurse to tell me whats going on and returned to Zenker to clarify with anyone there.
Turned out Dr Matthias was there.
I had the option to go home but since "help is highly appreciated", and the fact that I was already prepared for surgery, I opted to stay.
Turned out it's a really interesting surgery with amusing team.
And the patient is........ the man who had MI earlier that day.

We started at half past 7. I have always feel some distance from Dr Sudkamp. He is after all the obarztin, which means he's one of the high rankings. That he is always wearing the same face expression doesn't help either but surprise!surprise! he's really nice. Further explanation will ensue.
We started up very nicely. I had been in a surgery where Imi was also the scrub nurse. I had always wanted to ask where she comes from since she did the same to me. So I asked on that operation. She's from Philliphines. and the question where you are from jumped from one to another. I am Malaysian, studying in Czech Republic and interning here *insert further explanation*

When the heart is exposed, I noticed that it's bigger than the other hearts I've seen during the weeks that had passed. And yes, it's not normal.
The second surgeon harvested the leg vein and I was opposite the head surgeon who's harvesting RIMA.
I had been in quite a number of bypass operation but this one is where I learned the most.
You had to take off the clip and replace it with suture. and there's more than 12 clips on the venous graft alone. Flush the saline into the graft to see if there's any leakage. You have to repair it.
Then time by time as the graft is joined to the coronary vessel, you have to flush again to see if the anastomoses are leaked.

There's a number of other procedures done and when the second procedure was completed, the iftar time has long passed. It was not until 12 midnight that the chest is temporarily closed.
The head surgeon offered for anyone to take a break.
I stayed in my gown for quite sometime but after the explanation about the reperfusion time, which will take no less than 20 minutes, I got out of my gown and headed for the break room.
Man, everybody had finished and the break room was empty and urm, eerie but nah, the devils are supposed to be in hell.
I reached for the empty pocket. I really wanted to get something from the vending machine but my coins are all in the locker room in Zenker. Which means I have to change out of my scrub, fetched the coin and get into new scrub if I want to get them. So yeah, I broke my fast with the water from the sink.
Amazingly, I didn't feel fatigue. Ironically I was really pumped out.

I gowned in again for whatever left to be done. And whatever left to be done was really tense and the atmosphere during the second session was really tight *inside stories*. The surgery didn't show any sign that it's going to end soon. With heavy heart, I asked to go home when the clock showed 240 am. I had the permission to go anytime I want but I really want to stay until the end. I reached home just in time to perform jamak taakhir and munched something for sahur before the break of dawn.

I was up at 8 the next morning and spent the whole Saturday sleepy, and walking in the cold and rainy Stuttgart. It was really cold I just had to buy a jumper from H&M. Thanks Allah for summer sale! Oh yeah, they wrapped off the operation sometime past 4 am and the patient was sent to ICU for postop care.

The Weekday

I would wake up at half past 6, shower, breakfast and walk to the department.
My housemates rose later so I rarely get to see them before I leave.
Anyway, I like my morning walk to the department.
The department being at the other end of the ground is compensated by big trees lining the pathway.

I would change in the nurse locker room and make my way to the meeting room.
To be honest the time between 730am to the end of the meeting is the time where I am nervous.
Being alone never scare me except during these time.
I would stand at the corner and look straight ahead because I understand no German and the meeting is conducted fully in German.
I hate not knowing so I guess it's the fact that everybody in the room knows the substance of discussion except me that trigger the out of place dilemma.
Plus, I have never been to any department meeting in my life as a medical student.
And then, I am here in my first meeting, conducted in a language alien to me.
I calculated over the trivia thing like, should I sit at the chair or when I am sitting in one, I felt guilty.
Whatever, I'm glad it has long past.

After the meeting I'd darted to the basement to swap my uniform with a new fresh one or I'll just go around Zenker as a small vampire.
I had the option to be in the ward meeting but I opted out of it because it's also in German.
Actually, the exchange is wonderful but because I know no German, it's quite significant let down.

Blood taking is the very thing that they expect you to do.
On the day I went to Europa Park with the girls, I went to the department solely to do the blood taking before I head for the train station.
No complaints there because I like it when I have something to do.
Since I am in surgery department, I made countless visit to the operation room.

On my first week, I just go into any operation room that I fancy and stay at the anesthesiologist side.
The thing that I love about doing internship in Germany is that you get to do many practical things, and I am offered to scrub in.
The surgeons are generally willing to teach me and answer my questions, saved for one or two. =p
Starting from second week, my name is assigned for surgeries, which means I can ditch the ward works and scrub in to assist.
Problem is I was not given the password to access the system (I asked for it and the man rejected my request) and the OS is in German so I made a lot of hopeful guess.
I had to bother others to help me and it ain't comfortable for both parties. I got scolded once just because I kindly ask for a doctor with a please to put in the password so that I can check at what time is the surgery (sometimes they move the time so you have to check). She was writing discharge letter and I had disturb her concentration.

I learned to scrub in by Dr Siepe and Minchen because they do it differently in Germany.
"Put your head as far away from the pipe when washing your hands"
"too high, too low"
"put your hands together and away from your chest"
Oh, I discover my glove size to be 6.
And after gowning, go latch youself to the side o the patient and put your hands on your epigastric or rest them on the patient.
I shall make a post solely about assisting.

If I am not in the operation room, I'll find things to do in the ward.
Mostly, they are written on the board in the doctor's room.
ECG
Vigo
Full blood taking for new admission
and that's all. Not much.
So I resorted to practise suturing in my second week and trying to translate the patient files.
Translating documented German papers is quite ok since German has many similar words to English.

Usually if there's no operation, or anything else to do, and Dr Reinisch is there it's "go away and enjoy the sun"
and I'll gladly pack up and walk out into the sun.
I usually go to Old town and discover new things or go home and surf the net.
That's the minus thing about beng the only exchange student in the department.
I'd love to go and play in Seepark and doing group things.

So that pretty sums up my weekday.