4th Grader dreams come true.

My friends at home have voiced some concerns that I am just on a bunch of extreme field trips with some sprinkling of class. To address these valid qualms, yes. We must remember, however, that our majors are no cake walks, the smattering of class is more like a fiery meteor shower than cupcake decorations. Like I’ve said before, it’s difficult. This week was mostly field and less class. We were whisked away to Vienna, Austria for a 4-day adventure. I was excited to get to travel with everyone in the program, which seems overwhelming, but I have an absolute blast with these people.

Our excursions are heavily geared towards Biosciences, and we certainly have sights and experiences that the average tourist misses. There was a personal tour with a plague doctor who guided us through the deep roots that medicine has in Vienna. We visited Dr. Sigmund Freud’s home/office, which was interesting, but my personal favorite was the Josephinum. It was a bit similar to the “Human Body” exhibit that I saw at a Dallas museum in middle school, but this museum exceeded its modern counterpart in the beauty and significance of its pieces for the time the models were created.

Outside of medicine, we found a bit of science in the Vienna Museum of Natural History. Okay, this might’ve been my actual favorite part. We could have wandered for hours in this magnificent place. I think it was the massive scale and feeling of timelessness that drew out the nerdy kid in me (not that it’s difficult to find that part of me). There were huge halls full of rocks and dinosaurs, so I was spoken for. We also got a bit courageous and ventured down into the catacombs under a church. I was a bit too tall and my hair swept up some ancient cobwebs down there, but otherwise, we strongly braved the dark and dead with our slightly-too-comical guide. I was a bit impressed with the amount of information historians can gather from our friends buried there through mostly primitive tactics, because there are specific regulations between the Church, science, and the deceased.

We did manage a few non-nerd activities, starting with dropping in on practice at the Vienna Riding School. Although the riding proved to be nothing I hadn’t seen before, it looked like a dressage warm-up set to classical music, it was the level of riding that fascinated me. Much of it seemed so smooth and effortless, especially with the seasoned pairs. We got a peek at a few green horses, too, and I got a kick out of seeing that their Lipizzaner babies can be punks just like some of our cuties at home. We also quickly learned who amongst the group was unfortunately allergic to horses, so that was a bonus. Our group primped a bit, and  we continued our classy tour with a string quartet concert set in a small cathedral/church/chapel(?), which rocked the house. It was an absolutely elegantly, ornate setting for some beautiful music, obviously Mozart. I had a hard time absorbing it all as I sat in the pew with my group. It’s a bizarre thing to be surrounded by such gifts and simultaneously worry about your physiology test next week. I’m working on being thankful for the present, these extraordinary moments that I’ve been given, trusting that I’ve been given the tools to handle the upcoming tasks as they come, and taking advantage of the other moments that allow me to be proactive.