Anything Can Happen If You Go To Eastern Europe

Well, many wouldn't consider Vienna "Eastern Europe," but considering that was the farthest east we had traveled on our trip so far it was pretty east to us.

After a long train back from Interlaken, all we wanted to do was sleep. 3 hours later, we were back on the tram for another 8 hour train trip. Extremely tired, we tried to sleep but the sunlight, talking and train seats got the best of most of us and I got around 3 hours on the train. Extremely excited to see a new city, we rushed off to change clothes and took our tour with Dr. Schnable!! I never realized how much medical history small pieces of a city could have such as the back of the church with the "dentist Jesus" or the place where the first "modern" c-section happened. It was really cool to feel like a part of history even if it was with my quietvox and headphones on.

The tour ended, and the gulasch museum began. Having already tried gulasch before, I knew what I was getting myself into. A different version of pot roast and potatoes was a very homey feeling when all I've been wanting was food my mom makes.

The next day we went to the Josephinum, an old military med school turned museum and I don't think I've ever been more in awe. The wax figures (that we sadly couldn't take pictures of) blew my mind. I thought it was crazy that over 200 years ago, they knew so much about the body and in such great detail. I was even more shocked that the wax stayed preserved all this time. The crypt was also a favorite. I've always wanted to see an actual mummy!!!

Craving some good Mexican food, I scoured the web and found one about 20 minutes from the crypts, dragged some friends along and sat down for what I thought was going to be just a meal. We were all so wrong! Not only was it some of the best Mexican food I've eaten, but our waitress was a Texas girl at heart. She told us all about how she travels to Fort Worth every year to ride horses in shows, how she loves chili's, ihop, JJ Watt and (sadly) thinks the school in Austin is pretty cool too. She was so excited to meet people from Texas in her country!! We got to take a picture with her, add her on facebook and maybe we we will get to see her one day in Texas.

I think the best experience of Vienna was the classical concert. When will you be able to say you saw a strong quartet play Mozart and Beethoven in the place where they died? I've also never been to a classical concert so it was cool for my old ballet self.

The next day, we went to the Narrenturn, an old insane asylum where we again, couldn't take pictures. It was really cool to see the diseases on a real specimen and relate that to how we know how to handle things SO much better now! After the tour, a quick nap, crazy good asian food and an uber later, we were off to the National History Museum. Even though I'm not a big museum person, seeing the Venus was really cool, along with the art work in the museum that tied to the subjects in the room.
We then tried cake (fantastic) and caught some of the Germany game! Even though it was a sad loss, it was cool to watch with my new "German" friends. That night we got to hang out with our program coordinator, Henning one last time before we said goodbye!!

Blue church in Bratislava

The Sigmund Freud museum ended our trip in Vienna and then we missed our bus to Bratislava (whoops) but hey, we got to ride in a Tesla as a uber!! An hour later, we got on a bus to a city we knew nothing about, Bratislava.

Bratislava impressed us instantly. We start our walk around the city, only to find a full on fashion show in the main plaza. After realizing we probably were in the presence of some really famous people, we saw some of the sights and ate dinner. The next day was filled with sight seeing of the "Hrad" (castle) and unfortunately, getting my card stolen. It wasn't even by a person!! The ATM just decided to not give it back, YAY. A few frantic calls to my mother and some slight tears and panic kept me awake the entire 6 hour ride to Ljubljana. (also, Mamma Mia)

View in Ljubljana

Ljubljana was also fantastic. A very small town with tons of crazy charm. We found the cheapest McDonald's ever, toured the castle, dragon museum, puppet museum and soaked in the café culture of the city. We also saw a lot of street performers of random genres that were apart of the "Ljubljana Festival."

The next morning, we hopped on a bus (super delayed might I add) to Zagreb, Croatia. Going through border control took MUCH longer than anticipated but when we made it it was so worth it. After looking at some pretty cathedrals, cool markets and eating Belgian waffles, we planted ourselves in the center of the plaza to watch the World Cup. The first game, Spain vs. Russia, ended in a sad loss for my favorite Spaniards even thought the Croats were VERY happy. The next game was the main event though, Croatia vs Denmark. I was really excited to actually be in the city for the game and get to see the culture of Croatian soccer!! We stood in the plaza which quickly filled up with people chanting, screaming, throwing confetti and just going crazy. There was a concert and after hearing the song "Neopisivo" so many times, I think I know it by heart even though I know absolutely no Croatian. But after translating we found that it's basically a love song to Croatian football! After having my foot trampled when the Croats scored a goal, we had to go to the airport for our flight. We got to watch the end of the game in a small airport restaurant with around 30 other people and I've never felt more of a community than I did at that moment. It was so cool to see people get excited over sports just like we do at home and being so proud of there team winning! I'm honestly really glad to have been apart of that win, even if I had no idea what was happening.

Eastern Europe is vastly different. It seems like nothing makes sense and nothing is what you want it to be. Most of the time, you run into things and think "oh that's pretty" but have absolutely no idea what it is. It really feels like anything can happen, and from our meeting a Texas lover, fashion show, stolen card, festival, and World Cup game experience I'd say that thats true!!