This past week and a half has been quite the adventure. We had only a few days of class before taking a weekend getaway to Berlin which was awesome. Mattie, Shawn, Gunnar and I left early Friday and were able to stay in Berlin until Sunday night which meant that we got to see a lot. Some of the more notable things we saw were the Berlin Wall, Topography of Terror, art markets, Pergamon, and Checkpoint Charlie. We were fortunate to take a walking tour during our time there as well, so we really got to see a lot of the city and learn about its history.
The Topography of Terror was one of the more impactful sites that we went to in Berlin. It sits on top of old Nazi Police Headquarters and the museum goes through the brutal history of WW2. Some of the things I read and the quotes from old Nazi officials really made you sick to your stomach and even more so when you realized that all of this persecution and murder took place only a few decades ago.
My favorite part of our trip to Berlin was getting to go to the art market. Even though it was cold outside, I loved getting to see all of the local artist's work, and probably spent way too much money there...but what can I say, I love art. I really wish I could find more markets like these in other cities.
Unfortunately, one of our teachers put a test on Monday, so we had to spend some of our time in Berlin studying. Life of an engineer, am I right? We took a night bus back, which was bittersweet because it meant we had to go straight to school from getting back from Berlin, but it also meant we got to spend more time in the city. The 36 hours or so from leaving Berlin to getting on a plane to Vienna were crazy. We got off the bus, went to school, took a test, went home, packed, woke up at 3 am, and headed to the airport. Quite the schedule.
Apparently I don't have very good luck with planes this trip, because our flight to Vienna was delayed 3 hours, the second time this has happened on this trip. When we finally got to Vienna we got to do and see some pretty cool things. The first day we got to go into the Catacombs which was an eery but interesting experience. We got to see 3 mummified bodies and some ridiculously large femurs. It was only the beginning of a week of medical adventures.
We also got to visit the Jospehinum and Narrentum which house wax anatomic models as well as wet and dry preserved human specimens. Some of the more interesting things we got to see were an entire preserved thorax of a sidus inversus patient, a brain with an aneurysm, a human head with masses of benign tumors, and even a stuffed specimen with ichthyosis. It was extremely fascinating to see all of the medical pathologies and historical anatomic models, although after awhile it got mildly creepy when you realized you were surrounded by a bunch of deceased people in jars.
Some of the more cultural things we got to do in Vienna included going to the natural history museum, the art museum, and the spanish horse riding school. My personal favorite "cultural" excursion was getting to eat lots of apfelstudel, chocolate, and macaroons. If you're ever in Vienna go to Aida to get macaroons because they are delicious.
Now all of the traveling and fun is over and crunch time is upon us. Next week we have A LOT of tests and projects due. By a lot I mean more than we usually even ever have at home. A device design project presentation, physiology test, signals test due, a lengthy design class homework, and some of us even have a differential equations exam. Needless to say, we all had to cancel our original plans to go to Budapest this weekend and stay in Bonn to study. I think we are all pretty stressed about next week and how we are going to get everything done, especially since studying on a study abroad program is much different and harder without all the amenities of home.
With that said...I think its time for me to go study.
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