Week 13: Vienna

We had an early morning for our 8 hour train ride to Vienna, Austria for our study tour. Nate, Jules, and I made friends with the ladies next to us on the train, so they could practice their English and one of them even gave us snacks. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we jumped right into our activities. We got a tour of the crypt and saw 4 mummies which was really cool, but also overwhelming with the large amount of bones and coffins at St Micheal's church. We had a group dinner at a traditional Viennese restaurant and I enjoyed sharing food, wine, and good times with everyone. The next morning we got a tour by Dr. Schnabel (Dr. Wasser's colleague in a plague doctor costume) around landmarks relevant to the medical history of Vienna. The city center and Saint Stephan's Cathedral is beautiful. After our lunch break, we got a tour of the Drogistenmuseum which was very interesting and pertained to my pharmacology class with Dr. Fajt. During our free time, Jules, Nate, and I went to the Albertina Museum with the best impressionism art I have ever seen. The next day, Dr. Wasser gave a lecture in Freud's library, followed by a tour of Freud's house. As a psychology major, I really enjoyed learning about this and being in the place where he thought of his psychoanalytical theories. We had a delicious group lunch at a Pakistani restaurant which was a pay as you wish, all you can eat buffet. In our free time, a group of us went to the Demel and I enjoyed Melange, their Viennese coffee. Bridget, Nate, Jules, and I went to the Belvedere Museum to see The Kiss by Klimt. This famous painting was gorgeous and we really took in its beauty. We got dressed up and all went to a quartet concert in St Anne's Church that made for a nice night out. Daniel, Nate, Jules and I stumbled into a club with an older crowd. We were one of two younger aged groups dancing and we found out that every first Thursday of the month the DJ's daughter brings her friends to attract a younger crowd at the club and Bianca told us that her friend's dad was so excited to see us having fun! On our last day in Vienna, we toured the Natural History Museum and saw everything from the Venus Von Willendorf, dinosaur and turtle skeletons, to an extensive collection of crystals and gems. With our last bit of free time, Jules, Nate, and I went to the Amalienbad, a public swimming pool, and swam like local Viennese. For the weekend, we saw many beautiful churches with floor to ceiling stained glass panels. We hiked, walked through the Easter markets, and got margaritas at the best Mexican restaurant I've been to so far.