Vienna Vacation

This week, our program went to Vienna. The week was full of interesting and incredible experiences. The Vienna excursion started off with a Tuesday trip to the catacombs. It was so interesting to see the burial sites of European who lived centuries before me. It was eerie to see the bones of other humans, especially the mummified coffins. However, there were many disturbing things about the catacombs. The pile of bones that were stacked up made me feel like we were desecrating the bones of those before us. However, as I thought about it, I realized that this was a learning experience. We were not disturbing graves; rather, we were learning about the history of humanity. 

On Wednesday, I went to the old Austrian asylum to learn about curious diseases  it was incredibly interesting to see some of the different diseases that have plagued human-kind. Spending time at the asylum made me really appreciate how delicate the entire human body is. Later, I spent my time emulating an Austrian citizen. I wandered the streets of Vienna, acting as a citizen. I wandered around, just taking the city in as I walked. Eventually, I ended up going to the park and acted like an Austrian child. It was my first time on a playground in a long time and it was as fun as I ever remember. 

On Thursday, I was able to see the wax representations of the human body. These were done to help the medical students visualize body parts. The wax figures were essentially art pieces, posing while also being educational. Each was so intricate and I couldn't help but think of the months the artists spent to make one wax figure. After this, we went to the Fraud museum. Professor Wasser began to explain who Freud was and how he impacted medicine. I have never actually learned about Freud and found the entire topic to be very interesting. Once we were at his apartment, I realized that I was walking in the same area as one of the most impactful individuals the world has ever seen. He completely shaped medicine and I was literally walking in his footsteps. 

Finally, on Friday, I went to the Spanish Riding School. While this was interesting for a little while, I soon got bored by watching the horses move. However, it was interesting to see how the would transition from one gait to another. Later, we went to the natural science museum in Vienna. Here I looked at many different fossils and exhibits detailing the history of the world. It was all very interesting and gave me many opportunities for unique selfies. At the end of the trip, I bid farewell to hotel deutschmeister in Vienna and prepared for my weekend journey to Budapest.