Wien Part II!

On Friday, we began the day with a bit of a setback. The professor who was supposed to be lecturing us on radiology technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Wiener Neustadt was not able to make it. Instead, we listened to a lecture by the head of the biosciences program. I enjoyed this lecture nonetheless! I especially enjoyed seeing the different technologies that the students were able to use. For example, they have a human “phantom” or model that the students use to practice patient care and radiology with. Next, we listened to a lecture by Dr. Schreiner on ion beam therapy for cancer patients. This lecture was also very interesting! We ended the day with a delicious dinner at another Viennese restaurant. I am sure everyone else will comment about how awesome our waiter was in his or her own blogs, but I thought I should also pay tribute to him here. For such a large group, he handled everything so well! My favorite part of dinner was the dessert platter; we were given three large sampler plates of various Viennese desserts.

On Saturday, we started the day with Sigmund Freud’s house. Here, we listened to a lecture by Dr. Wasser on Freud. It was amazing to be able to do this lecture in Freud’s house. It made the experience all the more memorable! After that, we went on a tour of the house. It was very interesting to be able to see where he worked after having learned more about his history and accomplishments. After Freud’s house, we visited the Museum of Natural History of Vienna.

Despite the fact that we had an impromptu tour guide, this was my favorite experience of the day. I love visiting natural history and natural science museums so this tour catered right to my interests. We mainly focused on the animal exhibits where we learned some very interesting facts. For example, sloths are the only mammals with nine cervical vertebrae, allowing them to turn their heads 270 degrees! After the museum, we made our way back to the hotel, where we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport.

I really enjoyed visiting Vienna, especially doing it as a group. I think that if we had planned our own trip, we would not have had as much fun or learned as much. I am so grateful that Kristin and Dr. Wasser planned this for us! I had such a great time and I look forward to group trips like this one in the future!

Since we're now back to the real world, I'm off to study!

Tschuss!