On Monday, I had Frau Wassmansdorff knock loudly on my door to make sure I got up around 7 to make it to the airport on time. I had to fly to Cologne for orientation. Waking up that early was rough, especially after sleeping in until about 11:00 for the last 3 months...
Luckily I had everything packed the night before, so I was able to leave by 7:20. I made my way to the airport, remembering the route from my practice run last week. I made it there plenty early, checked in, and flew out of Berlin at 11:00. The flight to Köln (Cologne) was only an hour long. I took the S-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), and made it there in plenty of time. Ate some Subway, and then checked out the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral). It is so beautiful!
On the way down the cathedral steps back to the train station, I noticed a normal-looking, 30-something guy in a little ways in front of me had fallen down and was spasming a little. I assumed he was having a seizure or something, but I wasn't sure. He wasn't moving anymore, and was entirely blue with his eyes glazed over and gazing in different directions. He had a guy with him who was trying to help him, and finally two police women rushed over to resuscitate him. They did CPR and artificial breathing until the ambulance rushed to the scene and the EMCs took over. They gave him an IV and were working on him for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I had nothing better to do that watch them as much as possible.
Of course, crowds started forming. The police woman told people, "Gehen Sie bitte weiter, danke schön" (Keep moving please, thank you) and "Hier gibt's nichts zu sehen!" (There's nothing to see here!). I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, and managed to avoid being chased away by blending in to other areas and avoiding eye contact. My plan was to say I was supposed to meet someone there on the steps if they approached me. Anyway, finally they gave up...the guy was dead. They closed his eyes and covered him with a white sheet. The guy was completely stiff...a total goner.
Eventually one of the policemen noticed that I was suspiciously still hanging around, or loitering, if you will. The policelady was still yelling at people to go away, and the policeman came up to me and said, "Sie auch" (you too). I immediately said ok, not wanting to get in trouble with the law on the first day of my grant.
I've never seen someone die before my very eyes before. It was surreal, especially because he was so young. I'm guessing he had an aneurism or something. It just really makes you think...that could happen to anyone. We are all so fragile!
