Jan6-Jan13

Blog 4

            I spent my free weekend in Munich, where despite the weather reports leading up to our trip it did not snow.  In Munich we got to see the world famous beer halls such as the augistina where we as a group drank an absurd amount of beer.  We also took a tour of the concentration camp in Dachau, which was interesting but upon walking through the big iron gates it became a very humbling environment. 

            The last week of the program started in Hannover where we were fortunate enough to have two physicians spend time talking to us about their respective fields.  As well as give us insight to the Germany healthcare system from the perspective of a physician who is working in the system.  Being able to see the kidney dialysis and heart assist machines and how they worked was also interesting and both are great examples of medical engineering as a crucial field.  However my favorite trip in Hannover may have been the zoo.  Even though most of the animals were in their winter enclosures and not out there was still plenty of other good exhibits including the timber wolves and the polar bear neither of which I can recall ever seeing in a Texas zoo.  The trip to the zoo was capped off by a talk with the zoo’s full time vet, which was interesting to hear from her about the different techniques used to dart different kinds of animals.  And I also found it interesting the way she described the way vets from other zoo’s will collaborate with one another when faced with a illness they have never seen before since there is a much shorter history of zoo animal vet medicine to reference.    

            After two days in Hannover our group was off to Vienna, Austria on what became an interesting flight when we had to have two attempts at landing due to the snowy conditions.  Finally in Vienna we got the snow that we desired to see! Vienna was my favorite city that the program went to, the walking tour that Dr. Wasser gave us highlighted all of the important historical events that took place in Vienna.  After our walking tour we took a tour of Vienna we then went on a tour of St. Stephens cathedral, which had a very traditional gothic architecture.  The most memorable part of the church was all of the people who were buried in the basement of the church including several spots where the bones of the people were clearly visible.  The following day, there was a presentation set up by the drug company Pfizer.  There they taught us about the process of how a drug becomes available to the public and how there are several testing levels and government associations that must approve a drug before it can be sold to the general public.  There was also a second presentation that explained the Austrian healthcare system as well as gave some interesting points from the perspective of the drug company about their healthcare system.  Later that day we got to visit Sigmund Freud’s house in Vienna where Dr. Wasser gave a lecture about his contributions to psychology mainly psychoanalysts.  After the lecture we went through the house and observed the exhibits that were on display and took some pictures on a metal couch that was made to simulate the famous couch, which is still in London.  On Friday we started the day off with a lecture at Vienna medical school where we learned about the Austrian medical school and the differences between their schools and our own.  One of the interesting points was that there was only a few private medical schools and they were deemed to be less prestigious than the others according to Prof. Marz.  After the lecture we went to Josephinum collection of wax models.  This museum had an impressive collection of wax models that were used as teaching aids in medical schools in the past.  Even with their impressive age the wax models were very realistic. Our last day in Europe started with us seeing the Spanish horses at Spanische Hofreitschule go through their morning practice.  Lastly we went to the Vienna natural history museum, which was very impressive with all of its space exhibits including many pieces of meteorites.  That night was our farewell dinner which was a blast like every other meal that we had together as a group.  After wards Susanne even went to the funky monkey for a little bit!