Last stop Vienna!

Is it Dr. Wasser or is it a Pestarzt, a seventeenth century plague doctor? These were my thoughts as I saw a shadowy black figure approach me from the underground train station? I’m pretty sure it was Dr. Wasser, but the onlookers as we walked through the streets of Vienna were not quite sure.  The bubonic plague is an epidemic I cannot even fathom its total severity. A time where people were dying by the thousands and the pathogenic agent was unknown to even the most knowledgeable of people. Herbs and spices were the only methods to protect one’s self. These are methods that did not work too well; therefore running away was the next feasible option. It is safe to say that medicine has drastically changed since the seventeenth century. 

Pfizer was my biggest eye-opening excursion of the whole trip.  I had shadowed doctors and nurses before in a healthcare setting, but I never knew the opportunities for doctors outside of a hospital/clinic. Pfizer is a great company and are very patient centered.  At some point in everyone’s life we need to take medications and we do not think of all the steps our pills take before they reach the pharmacy.  This is a very important field that often goes unnoticed.  Also one may travel when working with such an internationally recognized company like Pfizer. Sounds like a win-win, and my dream career!

In basic pre-medical studies Sigmund Freud often receives less credit than he deserves. I did not even know that he, the father of psychoanalysis, was Jewish.  Even with his respected status, at this time in history he was persecuted because of race. Luckily, he escaped and we have the knowledge of his clinical method. Viewing his house gave us a glimpse into his life, and helped us better understand him. I thoroughly believe that you cannot have a healthy man without a healthy mind, and at this time Freud was the solution.  He had rather extreme views that made many people uncomfortable at this time.  Yet, he often voiced people’s thoughts that they were too afraid to say themselves.

Human wax models can be very realistic even down the very pore.  The Josephinum Collection of Anatomical and Obstetric Wax Models gave me a life size view of what I cannot see in textbooks.  The human body is so complex and intricate, that it must of taken months to construct such a model.  The obstetric wax models were the very unsettling models, as we never see the difficulties of childbirth.  It was beautiful, but the difficult pregnancies were hard to view as these complications often happen to many mothers and children still to this day.  

It is bittersweet to leave Europe; this was by far the greatest trip abroad I have ever taken. I will miss the AIB and Texas A&M students who welcomed me with open arms and made this trip an adventure I will never forget. Its not a goodbye Europe, but a be back soon!