Today we left Bilbao for Gernika, where we will be staying for the rest of our trip due to the soccer game tomorrow. Dressed in business casual and rolling around our heavy suitcases, we boarded the bus to head to our visit at Tekniker, a manufacturing company located in the mountains a little past Gernika. The view on the ride was gorgeous, and once we got there, we were given a presentation about what Tekniker is all about. They are really a complex mechatronics solutions company that bridges the gap between universities and industry. They do the research, development, and innovation of products, including making many prototypes, and then help companies with their ideas. They do not actually sell products on the market, but are a huge help in aiding hospitals and universities, and even some companies, get their ideas off the ground. Their research areas include advanced manufacturing, surface engineering, and ICT for production, culminating in the development of different products for a wide variety of sectors, including the health sector, which our visit was centered around. Tekniker works on different medical devices, rehabilitation robotics, monitoring devices, digital health, identification of biomarkers, bioprinting, biomedical consumables, lab equipment, biofunctional surfaces, and more. We then got to hear from two students from the University of Cincinnati who are currently on co-op rotation in Bilbao with Tekniker. Their two projects were focused on medical devices and their application at the Gorliz Hospital we visited a few days ago. The first was called ADAP-WALK, which works to improve and adapt the existing walkers at the hospital to meet patient mobility needs. By adding swivel wheels in the front, more wheels in the back, arm rests with better grips, and overall adjustable accessories to best aid patients with mobility struggles. The other project was EASY-LIFT, which works to develop a superior accessory to help patients move into an upright position when seated. The current products on the market are either not very movable or too much of a hassle to use due to issues with having to be plugged in or launching patients from their chairs. The current design utilizes an inflatable technology to lift the patient to a 45-degree angle, slowly, as they rise from their seat. It is small and portable, and easily used by caretakers to help patients sit up from their seated positions. It was really interesting to see two students’ projects because in just a few short years, that will hopefully be me!

After that, we toured the labs of Tekniker, and it was very interesting; however, everything was essentially TOP SECRET, so we weren’t allowed to take any pictures, nor am I allowed to really talk about anything they were working on. It was still pretty cool to see. The view they had from atop the mountain was maybe the best part of the entire lab.

Following the half-hour bus ride back to Gernika, we had some free time to get lunch and relax (I had some delicious croquetas) before seeing Picasso’s famous artwork of the bombing of the city and touring the Assembly House of the city. The city of Gernika was bombed in 1937 as part of the Spanish Civil War, and it was the first of its kind—the first to use such dramatic explosives against civilians. And afterwards, nothing really came of it, and Gernika was left in ruins, trying to rebuild to its former glory. Picasso’s artwork is a haunting reminder of the scale of the tragedy and how something like that can never be forgotten.

At the Assembly House, we saw the Assembly Room, where officials of the Bizkaia region meet. The room was filled with paintings of old kings and other important people, and demonstrated the Spanish appreciation for preserving their cultural identity while still tying back to the present. The one famous set of king and queen that we were all able to recognize was Ferdinand and Isabella, who were the ones who sent Christopher Columbus to explore the Americas. We also saw the stained glass room, which had this magnificent overhead stained glass mosaic that represented the different towns in the Bizkaia region, along with a tree that connects them all together. The Tree of Gernika was where the original meetings of the General Assembly were held, and now it is a reminder of the past of Gernika. The current tree was planted just in 2015, and the old remnants of the original Old Tree are surrounded by a stone structure to preserve the memories of the past. Gernika is the perfect model of blending the past and the present, and I will say Bilbao and some of the other places we have visited also are indicative of this kind of preservation-style thinking.

My friends and I went on a short hike through some trails down past Gernika (accidentally traveling to another town in the process!) and saw lots of ducks and gorgeous mountain views. I may have stumbled into the river at one point, but it was still a really great time. It wasn’t too hot, and the vibes of walking through the rural area with the greenness around us and the blue sky were really, really great. Later this evening, we had some more free time to relax and get food, and I watched some TV and struggled with the WiFi (writing this blog post and getting all the images in was torture) in our cozy bed and breakfast hotel. It’s definitely quite different from our hotel in Bilbao, and Gernika is as well, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s totally a different experience.

Tomorrow will be a long day of cultural experiences and outdoorsy activities, and I’m very excited to continue our adventures!