Mass at the Pantheon anyone? -Week 5

The fact that week 5 is already over is so insane. I cannot believe that we are already going into week 6, our final week of the program. Week 5 consisted of quite a bit of traveling with going to Vienna, Austria and then to Rome, Italy.

Going into this week I wasn’t sure what to expect (pretty much like every other week). Although one thing I didn’t expect was to get sick. While that wasn’t fantastic, I had help and managed to make it through the week and enjoyed everything that we did. When we first got there, we took a tour of the city. The city of Vienna was absolutely beautiful. It was a very clean town. What did surprise me was how much younger the buildings of Vienna looked compared to German buildings and other cities that I have been to. That night we went to the Goulash Museum for dinner. The food was absolutely amazing and quite different from things I have had before. I didn’t have the horse dish (I was too much of a wimp), but I did try a bite and was pleasantly surprised with the taste. The next day we went to the Josephinum. This museum had anatomical wax figures and it was honestly the coolest museum I’d been to. It was so neat to see how advanced their knowledge of the body was during the late 1700’s. The museum in the old insane asylum had similar wax figures except these were with diseases of the body. Both of these museums were so interesting and really impressive. We also visited St. Michaels Crypt. Now I had never seen anything like this (although I feel like I have been saying this a lot on this study abroad). It was so cool to see the mummified bodies, the old caskets, and even all the bones that had been piled up. I thought it was so interesting and the guide did an amazing job of pointing out things I would never have noticed. We also went to a classical music concert which was very cool (no matter how uncomfortable the pews were).

After Vienna, I went to Rome. I had been to Rome when I was ten years old, but going back and experiencing the city again was an amazing opportunity. We did things that I hadn’t done when I was there before and it was so cool. I think my favorite part of that weekend was going to the Wedding Cake Building, or the Vittoriano. We ended up getting to go to the roof of that building and we had the most amazing view of Rome. From there we could see some of the Roman ruins, the Colosseum, and so much more. It was an incredible experience. We went and saw St. Peters Basilica which is draw dropping. In Rome there are so many neat architectural pieces you could probably spend days trying to see them all.  Another thing that happened was that we were able to go to mass in the Pantheon. I’m not sure how many people can say they have actually been to mass in the Pantheon. It was completely an accident, but it was definitely one of the best masses I have ever been to. I left the Pantheon feeling completely rejuvenated and ready for the rest of my day.

I loved every part of this week. I was exposed to many different cultures and it’s truly incredible to see the differences. I can’t wait to see what Berlin will hold.

Savana