Feeling more and more like a medical student

So this past week we had our program's first excursion to Vienna Austria! And what a beautiful city it was. With Dr. Wasser and Teresa, it was an amazing and fascinating trip. We did so much that was revolved around medicine it was awesome!

Dr. Wasser toured us through the city of Vienna wearing a medieval doctor's suit, giving us "medicine" to protect us from the bubonic plague. We learned about the old medical schools that trained prominent doctors and brilliant people. We visited the Josephenium, a museum in an old medieval hospital with life-sized anatomical wax models of humans, and these collections were fascinating and accurate, almost like looking into a real person. This experience was amazing because surely not a lot of medical students from the States really get to experience this. Moreover, we also visited the Narrenturm, an old mental illness institution, and is now a museum of pathology also with wax models as well as real diseased human organs and skeletons. On top of all this medicinal activities, we ate delicious schnitzel, dressed up and went to a lovely concert, and had a great time exploring around Vienna.

Then today during the week, we visited UniKlinik Bonn, the hospital/medical school, and shadowed and observed surgeons in the OR!! Which is so cool!! We got to see surgeries from in the OR, and the doctors and nurses were so welcoming to us and so helpful to us understanding what was going on. My surgeon I shadowed was the Chief ENT and he performed a couple ear surgeries, one of which he removed the smallest bone in the body, the stapes, and then replaced it with a prosthetic stapes. This is a fascinating procedure, he said the most difficult of the surgeries, and yet he was teaching me and talking to me the whole time with a steady hand and focused intent. I asked why was it so difficult and he said "Well you should try!" This was so awesome to me! An experience I have never experienced before, nor thought I ever would.

All along I have been strictly engineering, and before A&M I told myself I would never do Bioengineering and yet, here I am. However after these past medical experiences I am starting to really consider if I want to go to the engineering practice or more medical practice, all of which I really enjoy. This trip is such an amazing trip!