Section BKM5B

Eh sorry these blogs are kind of late I forgot about them.

The blood drive was not a new thing to me, I have donated blood three times already and everything went smoothly (as usual). One thing that was different though was that they gave me a shirt after, however; it was XL so its kind of big.

For people curious about the whole blood donation procedure, I’ll explain. First you have to fill out this form with name, address, etc. Then there are some yes and no questions such as, “Have you ever had sex with a prostitute.” So I’m guessing normally everyone would check no on that one… Then they prick your finger to check your iron level in your blood to make sure you wont have a deficiency of iron after donating blood. Then comes temperature, blood pressure, and that is about it. You walk up to the chair and start feeling kind of nervous then you sit down and see the needle. This thing is literally like a straw ( I’m exaggerating here, but you get the point, these needles are not your average blood test needles you see at your doctor’s.) Then when you least expect it they stick the needle in your arm and the draining starts. The time it takes to fill up the whole bag of blood (1 pint = 1 poland spring water bottle) takes a while, times ranging from different levels of blood pressure. It took me around 10 minutes, so I just talked with the employee there and before I knew it I was done.

The whole process of donating blood isn’t really that bad unless you’re afraid of needles. There is also an option on your sign up sheet to receive a blood donor’s card. What this is, is basically a red card, with your information on it such as name, donor number, and blood type. Another cool thing about getting a donor’s card is that you can keep track of how many points you have on their system and can exchange them for gifts. Also if you’re ever in an accident and say the paramedics sees your card, they will try to save you first!

Date: 11/05/09

Time: 5:00pm

On November 5, 2009, Baruch College celebrated 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. I attended this workshop since the Fall of the Berlin Wall meant something to me. Korea, like Germany, was divided into two parts, north and south, by outside forces and many Koreans in South Korea (I don’t know much about North Korea) thought that they could be united together as well, when the Berlin wall had fallen, which did not happen.

Anyway, we watched “Freedom Without Walls,” a documentary film by Robert E. Frye, which showed how the Berlin Wall and its fall had influenced on German people’s lives. After the movie session, panelists talked about their experiences; what it was like to live with the wall between one country; how Germans went outside and hugged each other in happiness when the the Fall of the Berlin Wall was announced. It was the most impressive when some panelist told us his own story about his childhood, when the Berlin Wall was first built and the area he was living began to be called as West Germany. It was very interesting to learn how his family went to another country secretly (since in the West Germany, it was illegal to go abroad, including East Germany) for his education.

I really liked it and would like to recommend to others because it gave us vivid images of life in Germany before and after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.