It’s already been three weeks of
program material now. It’s currently Friday, our last day in Vienna and we are
traveling on the train. The week in Vienna has been wonderful. This week was
full of great music and museums. Now we are off to our weekend destinations, in
my case to Innsbruck, to do a little scenic sightseeing and hiking.
The first day in Vienna started out
miserable. First thing that went wrong was the lack of sleep we all got the
night before we had to catch a train. Then, once on the train I picked, on
accident, one of the seats that face backwards. It wouldn’t have been as bad if
it weren’t for the fact that I get motion sickness. Luckily we didn’t have to
make any connections along the way and I was able to sleep, off and on, through
most of the ride. Except the bad
events don’t stop there, once off the train Kurt and I went on a hunt for food
the completely wrong way. The hotel in Vienna gave terrible directions, even
when I was trying to find the post office they didn’t explain things well
enough for me to find them. Finally, to add to the bad first day in Vienna, it
was extremely hot and I didn’t have any water to drink at the time. So I was
running on fumes, no food and no water. Other than that it was a good day. My
favorite thing Monday was the Catacomb tour. It was amazing to see how they
used to discard the remains of people and walk through the maze under the
church. Had it not been for that tour I never would have know something that
extensive existed under the church.
Tuesday might have been the best
day just because we got to see Dr. Wasser dress up. I knew something was fishy
when he didn’t come with us on the subway, but I wasn’t expecting to see him in
the full plague doctor gear. It was hilarious watching and hearing him talk the
first time in it because he was trying to hide his true identity. He was able
to fool a few people, however, those of us (myself included) that had him for
physiology back home could tell it was him from his voice. In addition to the
costume it was still a very interesting and fun lecture. The funeral museum also was very
unique. I found it strange how death and burial can cause fear in people
differently here then back home. The bell system was an ingenious way to settle
the mind of people because it gave them the comfort that if buried by accident
they could signal for help. A not so fun way to ensure death was by stabbing
the person in the heart. To me, that sounds like a terrible way to settle
someone down. For example, if the person wasn’t dead before, they would be
then. It’s essential murdering someone or stabbing a corpse, either way it’s
creepy and wrong. At least creepy and wrong to me because I was taught
different traditions about death growing up.
Wednesday was a different
story. It was spotted with
interesting things at times. Sometimes I would be at full attention and other
times I would be trying to stay awake. Unfortunately the lecture with Dr. Marz
was one of those times. I was interested in what he had to talk about, except
his voice made it difficult to pay attention. I didn’t fall asleep or anything,
I could just tell I was zoning out at times. The most interesting thing I
learned from his lecture was how in Vienna they go directly to medical school
out of high school, unlike us. Also, how instead of interviews and formal applications
they take a single test and take the top 750 people. In some ways it seems like
a good system to cut down application time, but it doesn’t account for those
bad test takers who could actually be great doctors. Fools tower was not what I
was expecting. I was thinking it was going to be a museum of what it used to
look like and how rooms looked like prison cells or something. Instead, it
turned out to be a large collection of formaldehyde specimens and wax models of
diseases and deformities. Regardless, however, it turned out to be a good
museum and great tour. Also on Wednesday was the concert inside St. Anna’s
church. I didn’t realize how small the venue was going to be, but it was quaint
and turned out very nice. My favorite song of the night was Ava Maria, even
though it did make me a little sad because of the background it has with my
family.
Thursday was another lecture by Dr.
Wasser. However, this time it was a little less enjoyable due to a hot room and
uncomfortable seats. I feel as though we should’ve done the lecture in the
conference room in the hotel and then walk to the Freud museum. In reality it
wouldn’t have made a difference because the lecture was in a random room not
directly inside the Freud house. Too late now though, it’s already been done.
The lecture tied in really well to the tour and, just like Dr. Wasser said, it
was cool how we could go from lecture to the real thing. Josephinum was also
done this day and, just like the others, was interesting in its own way. The
200-year-old wax models were beautiful in the way that they were so detailed
for the time. It was amazing to see how the models of the day used to look and
how helpful the 3D nature of them was. Now all we get in classes are 2D
pictures of the anatomical structure of humans. I am a person who learns by
seeing and I feel like 3D models like that could be very useful.
Friday, the last day in Vienna, was
only a half-day. Today we went to the natural history museum and body works
exhibit. The natural history museum felt massive and a little rush though. We
had to skip a bunch of exhibits just to finish in time. The same happened for
the body works exhibit sadly. I feel like we could spend an entire day in some
of these museums because they are so large.
That’s the week in a glance from
Vienna, now we are off again. Next destination is Innsbruck, so until then…
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