When in Wein!

My goodness what a jam-packed, whirlwind week that was! I swear we were busy from the second we stepped off the plane that afternoon!

I'm not going to lie, we started the trip pretty skeptically considering it was already almost dark by the time we got to town, and did I mention it was FREEZING?! [Plus, I think Vienna definitely wins for most number of "interesting" smells...like seriously the scents (or stenches) that were in subways... whew, I almost needed a gas mask! hahaha]  I was in the group that got to go into the cathedral/catacombs first, which was super cool, especially since I'm Catholic and can really appreciate all of the rich history that was presented there. It was really eerie knowing that the bones and skeletons were actually REAL people at one point... and knowing there 11,000 people buried down there.. It's just crazy! The whole time I just kept praying I wouldn't get left down there alone (since you know, I'm always the last one taking pics haha) But thankfully I survived, and no one caught the plague! Then we got to up to the top of the cathedral tower which had some amazing views! And the city looked so beautiful at night! After the tower tour, we had to go on the city tour. Unfortunately it was so dark, and our tour guide has a very soft voice, and it was SOOO COLD, that I didn't really get to hear much of what was said about the city, but I still got some good pictures! I just remember our "no shame, cuddle shesh" for warmth! I really think I might've died without that! hahaha By the time the tour ended I was throroughly frozen and STARVING, thankfully AIB was treating us to dinner at an amazing restaurant, so it all worked out perfectly. Dinner was DELICIOUS and the schniztel was out of this world good! Plus everyone was getting a little tispy, which made everything even more fun! I think everyone can agree that that was the perfect way to end the night!

The next day we woke up bright and early to go on the medical history walk. Dr. Wasser dressed up as a plague doctor tour guide; it was hilarious! We got to visit some really neat sites and take lots of good pictures! (But even with all of my layers, I was still freezing. I've decided Vienna is definitely colder than Bonn!) Then after lunch we visited the Josefinum which was really neat too! The wax figures were so cool and life-like! We had a free afternoon that day, which I spent (without any regrets) attempting to take a nap. (Apparently the hotel decided that would be prime time to start a demolition derby in the room below me -_-)  and I got to study a little bit. Then Nicole, Cliff, Jake and I found a really good and cheap restaurant to eat dinner at, I had a grilled chicken salad, and GOD it was GOOD! (I miss grilled chicken sooo much!) Then we decided to have a movie night at the hotel and watched Wreck It Ralph, which was super cute!

Wednesday morning I was up and at 'em to go see the Lipinzzaners at the famous Vienna Spanish Riding School!! That was definitely my favorite part of the whole trip! That arena was out of this world, and soo gorgeous! I only wish I could've gone down there and actually learned more about the riding techniques, but it was still awesome to watch from afar! Group lunch at Unibraü was delicious! But unfortunately I was sooo stuffed after lunch, that I went into a food coma during Dr. Frass' lecture on homeopathy. The parts that I did manage to hear though were quite interesting...it is definitely something that scientifically simply does not make sense...but apparently seems to work fairly well. Like he said "I know when I hit send, my e-mail will end up in Brazil, but I don't actually know how." When put like that, homeopathy doesn't seem like quite a stretch. Unfortunately the Natural History Museum got moved to right after the lecture before the concert, so I didn't get to spend nearly as much time as I would've liked there since I still had to go all the way back to the hotel, shower, get ready, and eat dinner before 7! (but I managed!) That museum was super cool though, and I'd love to bring my kids back one day. The concert we saw in Bonn cannot even be put in the same category as the one we saw in Vienna. Vienna concert, was AMAZING, it had great music, great lighting, and great dancers and singers. I didn't close my eyes for a second, and actually thouroughly enjoyed the experience!
That night all of the students (half TAMU and half LMU) met up to go out. We ended up going to a karaoke bar, which was such a BLAST!!! Especially since we were the only ones there, so we got to sing the entire time! :)

Thursday we got to sleep in a little bit actually and then went to tour the first psychiatric building ever invented. (As psyc minor, and hopefully future psychiatrist, I was super excited for this tour!) The Narrentum was so neat, but it was also mind blowing that all of the specimen came from real life humans! I learned so much that day, and it felt like first hand experience getting to see all of the different displays! It definitely left a mark in my memory! Unfortunately again we had a big lunch before meeting up to go to the lecture by Prof. Kremser, and I was once again overtaken with a food coma... which I was thouroughly disappointed in myself for, because I was actually really interested in hearing what he had to say about the differences in our medical schools/systems... But then we went to the Red Cross Headquarters which was pretty neat as well, except I felt like a lot of us have given blood before. (I have three times, once just straight up one unit of everything, the second time was for myself so they had to filter out the red blood cells, so they could take two units of RBCs only, and the third time I donated two units of plasma, since AB- is the universal plasma donor.) so a lot of the info about this initial process was little repetitive, but the second part about how they actually process the blood after it's taken was neat. I had no idea my blood went through all of that! Then we had dinner at the goulasch museum, which was FABULOUS, and oh my gosh those desserts! YUM! Totally worth the calories after a long, busy day. :)

Friday morning went to the long awaited Freud house. (I was STOKED to go!) The house was so neat, and very different from what I had initially pictured in my head. But it was really awesome to get to see the real couches that were in the waiting room, and knowing how many important fathers of psychology had sat on them was unreal! I definitely enjoyed hearing more of the history about Freud and his techniques, he was truly a genius of his time! Sadly after that tour it was time to eat lunch and then leave to head back to Germany.

I would definitely our time in Vienna got better and better everyday, and I wouldn't trade those experiences for the world!