School + Vacation = Pure Happiness - Week 3

The Week in Review
January 30th - February 5th

Holy moly! This week there was a lot of traveling, a lot of sight seeing, a lot of tour partaking, a lot of cultural emersion, and a lot of fun! I've learned so much in a medical aspect, a cultural aspect, and in a self discovery aspect. I never thought I would miss my bed in Bonn so much. By the time the adventure was over, I was so happy to be home again Monday morning at 12:30 am. The trip was an experience I won't forget but there was also a surplus amount of information being shoved into my brain causing it to overflow. By the time I got to Prague, I realized I couldn't partake in another tour. The tours in Vienna were memorable and I'm glad I had the chance to experience them but with the information overload I could no longer shove any more history in my brain without it exploding.

I learned that with traveling with 13 people, it becomes very difficult to coordinate events so that everyone is happy. I also learned that under stressful situations, groups tend to spaz and lots of leaders try to take charge causing chaos. Note to future self, it would be better to travel in smaller groups or if we are a big group, it'll be for the sleeping arrangements only.

None the less, I enjoyed this weekend and this week and was glad I got to spend time with everyone, getting to know them better.

Vienna, Austria
January 31^st

Dr. Schnabel

I started the Vienna adventure at 4:30 in morning when a taxi came to pick me up to take me to a bus which would then take me to the airport. Four thirty in the morning is way too early for me to travel. Once in Vienna we checked into our hotel where I shared a room with two of my group mates and then ate breakfast before we set out on a tour of the city. The tour was led by Dr. Schnabel, aka Dr. Wasser in disguise, who took us around Vienna and showed us iconic buildings, statues, and most importantly taught us how to protect ourselves from the plague. This was done by drinking little boy's pee and vinegar, separately, and sucking on cloves. The pee was some sweet apple drink and the vinegar was vinegar. I don't recommend drinking vinegar plain, ever. The main theme of the tour was to discover the medical artifacts around Vienna which I found to be incredibly interesting. The only downside was the weather took a turn for the worst and a bitter cold wind whipped around us the whole time causing fingers and toes to freeze. The plus side is, it actually snowed!

Once the tour ended, I went to a bakery known for their delectable chocolate where I had one of the best hot chocolates I have ever tasted. I also learned that mixing cardamom with your hot chocolate is a great combination.

Free time ended when we got to tour a crypt underneath St. Michael's Cathedral. There were tons of beautifully painted caskets all lined up in rows. I actually saw piles and piles of human bones and four separate mummies. Even though I was looking at them, it didn't quite register that I was actually looking at human remains. I felt as though I was starring at a scene from one of my video games.

The tour ended with all of us heading to a Goulash Museum where I had one of the best goulash's I've ever eaten. Sorry Richie (my step-dad). I can say that after the museum I felt fat, happy, and extremely tired. It was a very long day packed with excitement  and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Left: Plague tower depicting the morbidity of the time of the plague. Middle: the first snow fall during my whole time abroad. Right: the best hot chocolate ever!!!

Vienna, Austria
February 1^st

One of my favorite things from Vienna was being able to tour the Fool's Tour which was erected by King Joseph II. It is a circular tower that was one of the first insane asylums ever built in the world. There are now labs and persevered organs, bones, faces, all of kinds grotesque and wonderful things. I saw syphilis, Siamese twins, small pox, tuberculous lungs, birth defects, genetic abnormalities, an ovarian cyst the size of a watermelon, and much much more; all of which were carefully preserved.

Summer of 2013

Winter of 2017

The palace grounds covered in snow.

After the Fool's tower I had the rest of the day to do what my little heart desired. So I decided to go shopping in a gigantic mall and then see the Schönbrunn Palace, one of my absolute favorite places in Vienna. I had previously been there in the summer of 2013 when all of the flowers were in bloom and the grass was green and the trees were full. This time, snow covered every inch of the place, the trees were bare, and the acres of forest around the palace gave off an eerie feeling. It was beautiful. I'd have to say, seeing the palace in the winter was better than in the summer. All I wanted to do was build snowmen, sled down a giant hill, and sit on one of the benches and read my book. I also learned that within the palace grounds there is a zoo which I some how missed the last time I was there. No idea how that's possible seeing as how there is a big sign, but who knows. My keen power of observation fails me at times.

Vienna, Austria

February 2^nd

The next day we got to see the Josephinum which housed atomically correct wax models of the human body. There were models for the circulatory system, the nerves, the heart, the brain, full body models depicting the placement of organs within the body, the muscle structure, the skeletal structure. Anything you could think of, it was modeled. The wax creations were made by anatomists and artists so each complete body model was positioned in a way that was almost god like instead of laying flat on a table. The positions looked like the positions the statues in Italy are in. This is because the wax models were created in Italy and King Joseph II wanted to have a copy of the whole set for his own personal collection after he saw the original exhibition in Florence.

For our group lunch we went to a restaurant where I got to eat Weiner schnitzel again. I have come to the conclusion that it is still by far my favorite German/Wien dish. After lunch we went to Freud's house where Dr. Wasser lectured to us about Freud and his life and his many accomplishments and how they helped shape psychoanalysis today. I previously learned about Freud in high school Psychology but I didn't remember a whole lot. When the lecture was over, it felt as though I hadn't known who Freud was at all. His apartment unfortunately was quiet underwhelming. The walls had quotes on them along with other writings while the floors and the majority of the rooms were bare. Pictures, furniture, and artifacts were scarce other than the a select few items Anna, Freud's daughter, donated to the museum. These included his waiting area pieces and some ancient Knick-knacks he liked to collect. I will say I enjoyed being able to walk in the house of the famous Freud and see what his waiting area once looked like but at the same time I was incredibly disappointed and it was hard to appreciate the beauty that was within the walls of his apartment.

Vienna, Austria
February 3^rd

Our last day started with going to the Spanish Riding School where Lipizzaner stallions are trained and kept. The horses were beautiful but the training I watched was unfortunately extremely boring. The horse trainers literally walked and rode their horses around the arena in circles. I was expecting jumps and synchronized performances and instead I watched them go around and around and around. At one point some of the horses would walk diagonally where their feet would cross over each other but other than that, I remember thinking to myself, being able to ride them would be cool, watching them walk, not so much. But hey, I get to say that I've done it and I will never do it again. Now if they put on a performance, that is something I would see, just not the training.

Natural History Museum

The end of the day closed with going to the Natural History Museum which reminded me a lot of the Natural Science Museum in Houston. I felt like I was young again being able to see dinosaurs, precise gems, meteorites, and much more; all of the things I loved seeing at the Natural Science Museum. My favorite thing there was a giant fossil of a turtle that lived in the time of the dinosaurs. It was as big as my host mom's smart car.

Once the tour was over, a group of us got on a bus and drove four hours to Prague. I didn't realize just how convent these buses and public transportation in general actually is. The bus only cost 15 Euros and was a great way to travel.

Prague, Czech Republic
February 4^th

Turtleneck!

Astronomical Clock

We ended up arriving in Prague after midnight and stayed in a hostel where five of us were in one room and eight of us were in another. I realized that with this many people, it's very hard to coordinate a trip where everyone is happy. None the less we all had a great time. Some of us went around Prague and say some of the major landmarks. We had decided we didn't want to go on a tour and would instead like to find these landmarks ourselves because quite frantically, we were tired of being on tours and we felt as though our brains would explode if even more information was inserted. In a way I liked this better because it allowed us the chance to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. For example I was able to get a typical Turkish pastry known as a turtleneck and we all went to a restaurant for lunch known for their meat. Both were incredibly delicious!

Prague, Czech Republic
February 5^th

For our last day in Prague, we traveled around seeing more landmarks on our own. My favorite was the Petrin Tower where we got to overlook all of Prague from the sky. The views were absolutely breathtaking and I could have stayed up there all day if given the chance. On our way home we had to figure out public transportation to the airport where we then took a plane to Düsseldorf and train home to Bonn from Düsseldorf. I love public transportation and how it easy it is to get from  one place to another. The convince of it is unreal and the fact that it's all relatively cheap as well is an added bonus. Overall this was a great week and I'm for sure traveled out at the moment. I think it's time to chill here in Bonn and take it easy for a while. Maybe I'll focus on my studies... what a good idea that is!