Vienna

One more week down, and this one was in Vienna! Even though I nre Vienna would be interesting, I admit it offered me more than what I expected. The journey started Monday morning. The night before I had skyped with a couple of friends, so I did not go to bed until around 5am. This caused me to snooze my alarm for an hour and waking up almost at 10am. It was a good sleep but the problem was we were meeting at 10:45am to catch the bus taking us to the airport. I took a military shower, grabbed a piece of bread from the kitchen, and ran to the bus stop to meet with the others. For a moment I thought they where all leaving without me, but fortunately, not everyone was there yet.
Once we arrived, we checked in at our hotel, left our luggages, and went on to our first adventure. It was a tour of the city of Vienna and St. Stephens Cathedral, were we learned about how the city got impacted by the black death, a pandemic that affected Europe and was caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis and the role of Vienna during the World Wars. They showed us catacombs where cadavers of people who died from the black death were located. I am a strong man when it comes to things like death bodies or bones, but seeing all those bones and containers with the organs of people after they were mummified did give me the chills. I cannot imagine how bad the catacombs in the cathedral would have smelled back then. No wonder people did stop going to church. After the tour, we had one of the best dinners I have had since my 12th birthday dinner: some delicious mushroom cream soup, potato salad and a humongous wiener schnitzel that was easily for four people. I was so hungry that I ate everything I ordered plus everything else my colleagues did not eat. The dessert was also delicious, except for the apple strudel. Yes, I know apple strudels are big in Vienna, but I prefered the rum cake, the crepes, and the pancakes with chocolate syrup they had. That night, I had a hard time sleeping due to the stomach ache all that food caused me.
The next day was also interesting. Our next journey started with a medical history walk around Vienna led by Dr. Schnob, an old doctor who still dressed with his plague suit even though more than 600 years had passed since the black death. I have to admit Dr. Schnob looked pretty familiar! We learned more about the black death and how doctors used to respond to this pandemic. After the black death, we took of to lunch: a tasty rice with beef plate from a chinese place around the cathedral. After lunch, we visited the Josefinum. In here, they have old wax models that medical students used to use in order to study the structure of the body. I was surprised how perfect these models looked even though they were old. It seemed as if they had not aged. I found this part of the journey interesting since one of my goals is to become an anatomy professor. The day ended with a free afternoon. I was so tired, I decided to back to the hotel to take a nap while my friends decided to go out to museums. When they came back, we went to the supermarket where I found dinner for only 2 euros!
Wednesday was the bussiest day of the week. It started with an optional visit to the Spanish Riding School, which of course I went to since I love horses. Yes I love those animals, but the school was actually pretty boring, so I decided to take off and explore Vienna with my friends. The problem is they wanted to go clothes shopping and I did not, so I decided to leave by myself and explore what Vienna had to offer me. I found a flag for my collection, but did not buy it at the end because it was quite expensive, 18 euros. After walking around for a good while, I headed back to the hotel in order to meet for lunch. I had deer for the first time! It was alright, but beef is still better. Then, we went to the general hospital in order to hear a lecture on homeopathy. This was another part of the journey I enjoyed because I am interested in learning about homeopathy. I believe that if I learn about it, I might find a way to use it for my benefit over in Texas. After the homeopathy lecture, we decided to go to the Museum of Natural History where we saw rocks from mars, animal fossils, and dinosaur models among other things. To end the day, we went to a concert at the Schonbrunn Castle. I am not a big fan of Mozart or Strauss or any classical music, so I found it hard to stay awake. Regardless of that, I had fun with my friends.
Thursday was a semi busy day. Our first tour was of the Narrentum, Europe's oldest building for mental patients. After it was coled in 1866, the building was used as rooming house for nurses, residence for doctors, depository of universe clinics and workshops. Now, the Narrentum is home to the Federal Pathologic Anatomical Museum. Many interesting cadavers with anatomical problems were located here. The ones I found the most interesting where the lungs with wax inside them. The purpose of the wax back then was to cover up holes caused by tuberculosis and therefore stop the expansion of the bacteria in the lungs. I can only imagine how painful this procedure was for the poor patients. Imagine someone injecting hot wax into your lungs with no anasthesia! After the Narrentum, we had another lecture, this time on Austrian Medicine Schools. I really like the curriculum system they offer in Austria, where they divide the clases into specific blocks and introduce active learning into their teachings. The veterinary school over at UC Davis has a similar program, one I would love to go to if I do not get accepted at Texas A&M Veterinary School. After that lecture, we had another lecture on the Austrian Red Cross and about donating blood. After listening to the lecture, we went to dinner at the Goulasch Museum. I tried horse for the first time! I admit it was pretty good even though I felt a little bad since I love horses. The day ended with a delicious chocolate goulasch.
And the end of a busy, but fun, week finally arrived. Friday was dedicated just for Sigmund Freud, someone who's ideas I find crazy but yet interesting. Dr. Wasser gave us a lecture on the life of Sigmund Freud before we entered the Sigmund Freud House, a Freud museum which was actually where Freud lived for more than 40 years before leaving the country to escape from the Nazis. After the Sigmund Freud House, we left to the airport in order to fly back to Bonn.
As stated before, this whole week was pretty interesting. There was a lot of information to learn, from which I probably forgot about half, and it enforced my motivation on persuing a health care career.