Oh air conditioning, where art thou

Week five, one more to go

Monday: Nothing really remarkable, went to class, learned then went home.

Tuesday: Got up at 3:30 am and flew to Vienna. Upon arrival was given tour by Dr Schnabal of the history of Vienna in relationship to medicine. Next we toured the catacombs beneath one of Vienna's lovely churches before finishing the day with a group dinner at a restaurant that serves Goulash. I had a pork goulash with wine and it smacked, best dinner I've had in a while.


Wednesday: We visited a museum about the history of druggists, which was very informative and the nice German man who guided the tour had all the answers to my questions. I certainly did not expect to learn that people used to believe ground up bits of mummy had a medical value! Afterwards we were given the afternoon off so we decided to head to a grand bazaar area for lunch where I ate some falafel and blackberries. We found a cool hat shop and talked to the lady who ran it who happened to be from LA. It was very cool and she gave me some very good advice on how to fix my Stetson once I get back home. I also bought a dope ass Austrian national team scarf since my family hails from Austria or is at least from that general area. That night we went to a local bar and spent several hours hanging out before retiring for the night.

Thursday: Very busy day as we visited a former mental hospital and went in a tour of the place led by a medical student. We got to see all kinds of amazing specimens including conjoined twins and people born without a brain. After this we had lunch at a Pakistani buffet place before heading off to the Sigmund Freud museum and receiving a lecture about Freud from Wasser. It was rather interesting, but I must admit my poor experience with Psyc 107 made glaze over a bit. Afterwards we  went back to the hotel to change to the concert. Here I should note that I left my dress pants, dress shoes, button down shirt and tie in Bonn because I’m stupid and it was too early for my brain to work. Fortunately, I was loaned a polo by Logan and all was well. The concert consisted of music by Mozart and Hayden and was performed at St. Anna’s in the heart of Vienna. After the concert we ate pizza then went to a bar before returning home at about 2am. Fun day

Friday: Started the day off with a tour of the House of Music where we mostly learned about Mozart which was sad as I had actually liked Hayden’s music better in the concert the day before. Tour was a bit short due to time constraints, but after eating some great Schnitzel we headed over to the best natural history museum I’ve ever been to. This place was dope af and I could’ve spent a whole day there just wandering around. Funniest part was learning that Elephant Seals are actually the size of you know... elephants. After the museum the Prague group jumped on the train and we rolled into Prague at about 1am and got to the hostel by 2.
 
Saturday: Got up, ate waffles and exploded Prague. Got to see Charles Bridge and the fort and the cathedral and walked along the river and go on the island in the middle of the river that runs through Prague and just wow. Prague is beautiful and clean and awesome and is simply everything I hoped it would be. That night we went on a a pub crawl and all I’ll say is that it was fun.


Sunday: Found and ate some fruit and meat kolaches then walked back across Charles bridge because why not to go see the John Lennon Wall. After that we kinda just explored until our bus. Walk to the bus depot was very nice and made me miss our hotel in Vienna. Global Warming is real people, get some damned air conditioning for Pete’s sake. Now I’m on an 8 hour FlixBus back to Bonn where we are for just 2 more days. It’s been an amazing ride and I can only hope it ends on a high in Berlin.

Pictures are me on Charles bridge, me outside Vienna's Natural history museum and the group in one of Vienna's historic medical schools (about 300 years old)
 

Goodbye Europe, Hello Vienna!

              My time in Vienna began with an extremely early cab ride. A cab was sent to pick me up at 4 AM, and I spent the majority of the night before struggling to fall asleep because I was afraid I'd oversleep and miss my cab. Luckily, I woke up with plenty of time. A short cab ride took me to the Old AIB where we then took buses to the airport. The flight went smoothly, and next thing we knew we had landed in Vienna. We spent the first day doing a walking tour, where we got to meet a real plague doctor (of course), and we took various remedies believed to ward off the plague. After the tour, we had free time for lunch. I decided to get a wiener filled with cheese, and it was soo good. At the conclusion of lunch, we went in to see St. Michael's crypts. The crypts were really interesting but also really unnerving. I was scared of bumping into a coffin or accidentally brushing up against bones. After the crypt, we went to the Goulashmuseum and gorged ourselves on beef goulash and wine. 10/10 recommend eating goulash; it's delicious. I was so exhausted by the end of the day that I went to sleep around 10 so that I would be refreshed for the next day.

From the walking tour

              Our second day in Vienna gave us a lot of free time. After an interesting visit to a pharmaceutical museum, we had the day to ourselves. My friends and I decided to visit Vienna's Nachstmarkt. We ate lunch there and strolled around the little stands before going back to the hotel for a quick break. After relaxing for an hour in the AC, we went to get schnitzel for dinner. We didn't anticipate how much schnitzel we were actually ordering. I couldn't finish my plate, but the schnitzel was so good. After eating some schnitzel, we made our way to Prater, an amusement park. We had to endure some trial and error on the transportation, but we eventually made it. There were so many rides and games at the park. I elected to not ride any roller coasters, but to hold everyone's bags. I did end up riding a big swing ride, but I honestly freaked out when the ride started because I kept envisioning my swing snapping and dropping me to the ground. Austrian amusement parks do not have the same safety requirements as American ones; they didn't even check to see if we were strapped in properly. Nonetheless, I still had an awesome time. After riding some rides, we went to a bar and had a drink before heading back to the hotel for bed.

Schnitzel is so good

                 The next morning, we took a trip to a museum that used to be an insane asylum. This museum was filled with anatomical models of various diseases. Everything inside the museum was super interesting, but I can't say I didn't get a little nauseous looking at the models. Just knowing that they were formed off of humans suffering from the diseases made my stomach churn. After this museum tour, we had a group lunch at a buffet. The food was really good and they had a little bit of AC running, which was so nice. Following lunch, we went back to the hotel where we heard a lecture from Dr. Wasser over Sigmund Freud. I knew a little bit about Freud before the lecture, but the lecture was still really interesting. After the lecture concluded, we went to the Freud museum and got to see how his waiting room was set up, and we got to see some of his personal items. Following the museum, we had some free time before our concert. My roommates and I took this time to get ready for the night. After doing so, we met up with the group and headed to the concert. The concert took place in a small Catholic church, and the inside was so pretty. The concert was awesome; it was really cool getting to hear Mozart and Haydn in such an acoustically friendly space. Following the concert, a group of us went to a bar for a few drinks before heading to an underground club. The night was so fun, but we learned the hard way that the underground system closed super early.

Before the concert..

And after when we realized the trains weren't running anymore

              Friday was our last day in Vienna. After packing up our stuff and eating breakfast, we headed to the House of Musik. Our group was split into two smaller ones, so before going into the museum I went to the park with Dr. Wasser where we did tai chi. We got to do it in the shade so it was enjoyable, and the children who laughed at us and attempted to mimic the tai chi moves made it even more enjoyable. Following tai chi, we entered the museum. It was an interactive museum and it was an interesting experience getting to 'compose' melodies while learning about composers. After the House of Musik, we had a quick lunch break before meeting at the Natural History Museum. The museum was massive and had a lot of interesting specimens. After our time at the museum, we were free to go off to our separate weekend destinations. I was headed to Munich.
             We got to Munich around 11 pm so we decided to go straight to sleep when we got to the hotel. The next morning, we headed to the Munich royal residence. It was so pretty but so huge. We got a little lost inside, and had to get help from an employee to find an exit. Once we finally made it out of the residence, we went to get lunch before the tour we had scheduled from 1 pm. We ate a huge lunch and then met up with our tour guide before heading to Dachau. We had debated if we wanted to visit Dachau, but we decided we needed to because we were so close by. I am really glad we did. It was an emotional tour, but an important one. It's always so tragic seeing what the people persecuted during WWII went through. After the tour at Dachau, we went to the Hofbraugarten, which was a traditional biergarten. We ate pretzels, wurst, and drank a liter of beer. After finishing up there, we shopped for a little bit before heading back to the hotel for apple strudel and wine.
          This morning, we had some stressful encounters with the public transport but eventually made it to get brunch. I got a smoothie bowl that was so refreshing and reminded me a little bit of home (I make smoothie bowls alllll the time). After eating, we went to the main train station where we finally caught our train. I'm hopeful that this train ride goes better than last weekends, but I still have about three hours left on this train, so anything can happen.
         As we're headed back for our last days in Bonn, I'm honestly getting a little emotional thinking about leaving on Saturday. Even though I am so excited to go home and get to see my cat, eat queso, and experience AC again, I will definitely miss Germany. I'm planning to cherish my last week here.

*just to clarify for whoever is reading this (MOM), I do know Vienna is in Europe

Venturing in Vienna

     Vienna was the perfect city for our program to visit because of its rich medical history. Dr. Schnabel gave us a ~warm~ welcome and a walking tour of the important health-related landmarks. The university’s lecture hall was beautiful, as was the Austrian National Library we visited in our free time. It looked straight out of Beauty and the Beast! Seeing the crypt/catacombs was unlike anything I’ve ever done- slightly eerie but amazing to see how people are memorialized. My favorite museum was by far the Narrenturm. The authentic wax figurines and preserved tissues were so intriguing! I especially liked the tuberculosis-affected lungs and skeletons of Siamese twins. I could’ve spent hours looking at everything on display there! I’ve always wanted to go to a classical music concert, so this trip gave the perfect opportunity for it. I enjoyed it even more than I was expecting to, and the view inside the church made it that much better. Viennese foods: Käsekrainer (thanks for the recommendation Alexa), goulash omg, sachertorte, schnitzel falafel wrap and baklava from the Naschmarkt, and my first time trying Pakistani-Indian food. It was all delicious! 

     It’s hard (and very sad) to think this was our last free travel weekend. :,( It was well spent in Prague, though! I had no preconceived ideas of the city, which I think made for the best experience. I was blown away by the architecture, landscapes, and overall feel of the place. We saw Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, St. George’s Basilica, and the Astronomical Clock. Hiking to the castle gave us an unbeatable view of the entire city- absolutely amazing! We tried the famous Trdelník (chimney cake), and it was one of the yummiest desserts I’ve tried in Europe. We couldn’t have picked a better destination than Prague for our last independent travel weekend. This trip has continued to amaze me, and while I’m excited to visit Berlin, I know it marks the end of our journey. Yet, I can truly say I’m content with the memories I’ve made and the sights I’ve seen. 

Wein(er)

Weekend: Things were wild. Our group had spent Friday night over at a Shane’s house in Bad Godesberg (a place I had never been prior). The house was about a 25 minute from the nearest train stop. When I woke up Saturday morning, I walked a friend from the house to the train station with the intention of returning. Shortly after walking out, I noticed I did not have my phone. I didn’t want to go back and grab it, as I didn’t want this friend to think I’m the kind of idiot that forgets things, so we walked on to the station. Backfired. After she left, I began my walk back. Quickly I realized I did not know my way back. I made my way back to the train stop, as I knew my friends would need to go there at some point. I waited about an hour and a half, and concluded that they were waiting for me at the house, so I started running in an attempt to find the house. After an unfruitful half marathon, I stopped into a candle shop, and asked to use their phone. Luckily, I had my AIB card, and was able to find Connor’s number this way. When I called and asked where they were, they replied with “we are on our way to Amsterdam and we have all your stuff.” Great. We worked out a deal, and Shane waited for me in Dusseldorf. A couple of hours later, I met up with him and we went on to Amsterdam. We did some crazy sight seeing, walked a lot, and had so much fun. Overall, a fantastic weekend! 

Monday: Lectures on this day were very engaging. Neuroscience and the Nuremberg Trials were two things that I am very interested in. We then had our Vienna pre-departure meeting, collected some cash, then had the afternoon. A large group of us ventured out the the Birkenstock outlet and had a fun time. I then got to spend some quality time with the host fam, and have a nice long run by the Rhine.

Tuesday: The alarm was set early. Connor and I were in a taxi by 04:00, and our venture to Vienna had begun. I didn’t get frisked in airport, but that’s ok. Once we arrived, we were met by Dr. Schnobel, the beaked out Plague doctor. To back track, Shane and I knew this was going to happen, as there are pictures on the AIB’s website. Alexa made a deal with us: if we didn’t spoil the surprise for anyone, she would buy us each a beer. We didn’t tell. She has yet to come through, but I trust her as a woman of her word. After our tour of the city, we went to dinner as a full program. I ate horse. Her name was “Black Beauty”, and she slapped. We then went to sleep early.

Wednesday: We woke up early, and walked through the Pharmacology museum. Super cool. My favorite portion of this was their collection of vintage cameras. We then found a street food market, had some lunch, and then took a much needed nap. At night, we went out to the amusement park, which was apparently the oldest in the world. I rode some rides, and got a very tasteful butterfly tatted on my neck.

Thursday: Waking up early, we toured the Narrenturm. Despite the crazy high temps, I had a good time. We then toured the Sigmund Freud museum. This was super interesting to me, as I learned fairly extensively of his life in my psychology courses. We then ate Pakistani food which was great, and prepared to go out to a classical concert. In Freudian spirit, the boys dressed up and smoked some cigars prior to leaving. The concert was incredible, as I love string instruments and the setting was beautiful. A large group then went out on the town, and had a great time.

Friday: We began by touring the House of Music. Classical music is engrained in everything Vienna, and this tour was fantastic. In fact, I was so intrigued that I am listening to Mozart as I am writing this post. We then had a massive Wiener schnitzel for lunch, and met at the Natural History Museum. This was my favorite yet. The variety of exhibits was incredible and so fantastic to be able to observe. We then boarded our train bound for Prague, and that’s where I am now!

Totally didn’t write this then forget to publish it

Week 4, y’all know the drill

Tuesday: Class then a tour of an organ factory. Fun day, but tiring day as we left early and returned late.

Wednesday: Got to observe surgeries at the hospital in Bonn. I watched a surgery in which part of the stomach is detached and used to replace an esophagus which got removed due to cancerous growth on it. Due to the amount of effort required to perform the surgery I ended up near the anesthesiologist which was nice as despite being interested in veterinary medicine, I still find anesthesiology to be very interesting. I left at about 1, ate Mexican food with some people from the trip and returned home.

Thursday: Classday followed by trip to anesthesiology museum. Dr Wasser have the tour and it was pretty interesting to see how anesthesia has evolved since its conception in the mid 19th century.

Jon Snow is...the Doctor in the North?

Friday: Went to a museum in honor of Hildegard von Bingen where Dr Wasser again lectured, this time in robes complete with an amazing solo of music that was actually written by Hildegard. My curiosity in the Middle Ages was further fulfilled by a trip down the Rhine and a tour of Marksburg Castle. Pretty awesome stuff

Saturday/Sunday: After losing Blake, we made it to Amsterdam where we essentially wandered around the city all day taking in the sights and sounds, this was repeated Sunday. The highlight sight was the canals followed by the excellent Dutch Maritime museum

Another Whirlwind Week...

     Alright let me start off with this whole train situation coming back from Switzerland. We were supposed to have a direct shot from Interlaken to Bonn. Our train announces it has reached its termination early and it wasn't going to Germany anymore. So we had to get off at Basel Hbf and got rerouted onto another train that was 100% booked. So it was so fun sitting on the floor of a crowded train for 2 hours. We got off at our next stop in Mannheim and got on the next train to Bonn...only to have the train reach its termination again in Frankfurt and we have to get off and get rerouted again. We got onto another train and dashed to the restaurant car to have comfortable room to sit on the floor. We then arrived and got on our final tram to Bonn. That was hands down the most stressful transportation experience I have had yet. We had a short lecture day on Monday with one neurophysiology class and two history of medicine classes. We got to finish up the auditory circuit and in medicine we learned more about the Nuremberg trials and code. We had our pre-departure meeting for Vienna and we were free for the rest of the day. My group went out and shopped for a little and had more delicious chicken enchiladas from Tacos Bonn. I headed home and packed for the next extremely early morning trip to Vienna.

I had to get up at 3:30 am to be at the bus stop at 4:30 am. We got to the airport and everything seemed to go off without a hitch. We arrived in Vienna and took the CAT to the main part of the city. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and immediately began our history of medicine walking tour around the city. Our tour was given by Dr. Schnabel, a Black Plague doctor that was a mysterious "colleague" of Dr. Wasser. We got to drink "little boy pee" as an antidote to protect from the plague. We got to see the big St. Stephen's Cathedral. We walked all around the shopping city center before breaking for an individual lunch. We had cheesy wieners and then I had a Viennese chocolate cake for dessert. We then had a tour of one of the catacombs in Vienna. It was so freaking cool. We got to see mummies that were so cleanly preserved and they preserved that way on their own due to the environmental conditions in the crypt. All the coffins were wooden with gorgeous paintings on it. There were some with broken candles with the light burned out and some were flowers. We then rounded off the night with a group dinner at the Gulaschmuseum. We tried some delicious wines and I had a heaping plate of fresh beef goulash with potatoes. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we were all ready for bed, so we showered and went straight to sleep.

In the morning, we had a tour of the pharmacy and drug museum. I was hesitant about this as first, but I really loved it once we got there. We got to see some pressed flowers that they used to make herbal medicine. I then learned that people used to ingest mummified remains and crushed up bones as a way to cure ailments and protect themselves. I also got to see what contraception looked like in the olden days. It looked like a large puff ball that went up and was supposed to prevent sperm from getting around and into the uterus. The rest of the day was free time for us. My crew went and had lunch at the Naschmarkt. We wandered up and down the little market and it had tons of souvenir stores, dessert places, and markets. It was so adorable it made me forget for a split second that I wasn't melting like a popsicle out in the heat. We then went shopping in the main shopping square before heading back to the hotel to relax for a bit. We then went back out for authentic wiener schnitzel for dinner before heading to the Prater. I thought it was just going to be a big Ferris wheel and maybe another couple of rides...boy was I wrong. This ended up being a whole amusement park and we didn't have nearly enough time to walk through it all. I went back to the hotel to get a restful night's sleep.

Thursday morning, we had a tour of the Narrenturm. This was an old insane asylum and it had a huge exhibit of preserved lungs and skeletons. They also had a large collection of wax figures of different ailments and diseases on people. The wax figures weren't real, but they took casts from real people and diseases and then painted the figures to model the real disease state. We had a group lunch at the Wiener Deewan where had an Indo-Pakistani lunch buffet and it was so delicious and different. I definitely ate way too much. We then had a great lecture from Dr. Wasser on Sigmund Freud and his life. We then went over to the Moving Freud Museum since his apartment is currently under construction. We then went back to the hotel and got ready for the string concert in the St. Anna Church. We arrived much earlier than we thought so everyone went over to the Burger King next door and got dinner. It was the most elegant, largest, and ornate Burger King I have ever seen. The concert was really good, I just had so much trouble sitting still and just listening to music. I am so used to always moving or doing something while listening to music so this was difficult for me. We then were free for the rest of the evening and my group went out for some drinks at this cute little bar by the hotel. The weirdest thing there was that children were "working" there! All they were doing was picking up empty glasses and stuff but that just completely shocked me. I had a fruity strawberry drink and then I was ready to head back to the hotel and go to sleep.

We had an early Friday morning packing and locking our luggage up before heading out for the last day. We went to the Haus Der Musik where we got a tour of the music museum. We got to learn about the Philharmonic symphony and about the three most prominent composers Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. We even got to compose our own Waltz using an interactive dice game. Dr. Wasser then took us to the Stadtpark where we got to see a few statues, and then unwind with a bit of Tai Chi in the park. We got to learn some new moves like the tiger. We then broke for individual lunch where we had more Wiener schnitzel and got some boba tea. The group them met back up at the Museum of Natural History. Half of us went with Dr. Wasser on a tour of the birds, mammals, and human evolution portion of the museum. One of my favorites was the elephant seal. It is freaking massive! Then we switched groups and got a highlights tour of the rest of the museum from Peter, a worker at the museum. We got to see precious gemstones, minerals, dinosaurs, and sea creatures. This was one of my favorite tours so far because I love animals and we had our quietvox on so I could wander and look at everything in the room, and still hear Peter or Dr. Wasser highlighting some of the more important features of the museum. This was our last stop and we headed back to the hotel before getting released for the weekend. Jackson and I flew back to Bonn with the professors, Brian, Alexa, Nick, and Annabelle. This was actually so much fun getting to talk and cut up with the professors and superiors. We gossiped and joked about everything, we got so delirious once we landed in Bonn at 11 pm. I even snake/chicken walked back over to my bag after going to my vending machine for no reason and that provided great entertainment. It was past midnight by the time I actually got home. I immediately went to sleep. I slept in Saturday and got my neurophysiology paper finished and turned in. I just chilled at my host house and battled a pounding headache the entire time. It is now Sunday, I am working on laundry and writing this blog post. I ordered gourmet Dominos pizza to be delivered and I plan on continuing to relax and continue rehydrating to try to get rid of this headache. I have had this headache for over 24 hours now nonstop with medicine not working at all. So, let's see how these last 2 days before Berlin go. I can't believe there's only 5 days left of this trip. This is my second to last blog post about my weekly adventures.

Better Late Than Never?

Despite that title sounding like a potential synopsis of my life so far (and a possible front-runner for my autobiography's title), it's actually a reference to the fact that I haven't written anything about the week preceding Vienna. Sorry about the delay, but maybe this post will have aged like fine wine thanks to it's extra marinating time.

Working in backwards order for no particular reason and not because I don't really remember what has happened because it's been such a blur, I spent the corresponding weekend in Amsterdam. Sunday was a great time, even the train ride home. In the park before leaving, Maddie Willer read some of Anne Frank's diary out loud near her hiding place. It was a unique way to experience such a powerful and important part of history. The middle of the day featured a physical and Virtual Reality of a VOC (Dutch East India Company) pirate ship, the Amsterdam. Breakfast was a stack of delicious pancakes that came recommended by the students who had visited the city prior to our small group. Saturday made me remember why I prefer to spend my time where I can see the sky between trees and not buildings. With four dead phones, no map, and just recovering from losing Blake on the way to the Netherlands, our small group took a wrong turn on the way to the Royal Palace. The day became a catastrophe very quickly, and after 9 miles of walking the wrong way down alleys, we finally found it. We called it a night by 10 so we could make the most of the next day, and it turned out to be a good decision.

The matters of the week were equally compelling. Starting the week with shadowing German surgeons throughout the day was interesting. It also led to the revelation that I might just be a cannibal. As the lymph nodes of one patient were removed to prevent the spread of cancer, I found  the removed tissue mass reminiscent of a burger, and became quite hungry. The same was true of watching a procedure performed on a gentleman's small intestine. When the pangs of hunger for a nice bratwurst began, I found myself wondering if Hannibal Lecter was really that crazy.

The lectures and excursions given by Dr. Wasser from this week were interesting as well. The topic of health care from around the world was fascinating, and learning about the peculiarities of the US was especially effective after seeing how superior systems were run. The anesthesia museum was also very interesting, from its special place in history to its degree of uniqueness in the world. The organ museum Dr. Waltz took us to was cool as well. Seeing how these various "kings of instruments" were assembled, repaired, and distributed was interesting, particularly due to the amazing facilities that the craftsmen had at their disposal.

Climate Change Is Real and I'm Ready To Fight The Sun

Day 25 we visited a museum of anesthesiology, it was run by the sweetest old man, I wish he will never have to shut it down but that day might come soon. It was easily one of the most interesting walks through medical history, showing us the progression of herbs used to subdue people and eventually the anesthesia machines themselves. The tour ended with an iron lung, a surreal experience as these are outdated legends from the polio endemics. 

Dr. Wasser is full of surprises. 

Day 26 brought us to the town of Bingen, named after Hildegard von Bingen who was a famous nun that had God sent visions and got away with sassing popes. We toured through her museum, seeing models of where she lived and how she commanded such a presence. In her mock medical garden (The Hildegarden), we were tasked with finding medicinal plants from her time, it was a very green hide and go seek. The afternoon had us hopping on a 3 hour Rhine cruise, the loudspeaker occasionally spouting off facts about the passing castles and towns. It was somehow too hot in the sun and too cold in the shade, Germany is giving Texas a run for its money on weird weather. We then went to the Marksburg Castle, the best castle in Germany as it has never been conquered or overtaken. It offered sweeping views of the valley and a very small bed that was

somehow meant to allow a man and wife to lay together. I guess they were shorter centuries ago. Although the hike up was more tolerable than Drakenfels, I think I choose the wrong day to wear a dress.

Day 27 was wonderfully restful, I made cookies with my host mom and went shopping in Bonn. The difference in ingredients here made the cookies very flat, although that might be because my host mom gave me baking powder and not baking soda. I also officially have enough souvenirs to take back home, mostly candy. 

Day 28 was very quiet, which was perfect because soon we would be going to Vienna, where Alexa kept warning us it would be nonstop, walking hell. Micheal, Melissa and I picnicked in the park and had way too much ice cream at the little restaurant there. I’m going to miss these quiet nights. 

Day 29 we finished up talking about the Nuremberg Code and how it came to be. The trials of Nuremberg included the prosecution of 1 woman and 22 men, all of whom committed terrible atrocities “in the name of Science” with most of their results being more torture based than based in curing. The Code is not technically a law but most countries (to our knowledge) follow it. It mainly states that all human participation must be voluntarily consenting and that the results must bear useful information. There cannot be an experiment just for the heck of it. 

Day 30 began at 3am and didn’t end until 11pm, I’m pretty sure I hallucinated half the day. A very early flight had us going to Vienna where we met Dr. Schabel, a Black Plague doctor who led us around the city while feeding us questionable cures and preventions of the plague. My favorite was the chocolate Mozart balls. He led us to historical sites of where some of Viennas’ first medical schools were and a massive Gothic cathedral. I’m pretty sure we all slowly roasted alive and wondered how Dr. Schabel didn’t faint underneath all his black robes. After lunch, we were led down into the catacombs where we saw a mummy that was so well preserved, I thought it was going to start talking to us. Our guide told us that the catacombs started to smell so horribly, that the church goers above couldn’t even pray during service. Dinner was at the Goulash Museum, where I went against my moral code and tried horse for the first time. I hated how tender and flavorful it was. Back at the hotel, I had the best sleep since I got here, I will never take AC for granted ever again. 

Day 31 was one of the funnest days of my life. It started perfectly waking up to a cold, air conditioned room after 10 hours of sleep. We had a tour through the pharmacology museum, seeing remains of mummies that people used to consume  (yikes). After we were free to roam as we wished. A bunch of us went to a cat cafe to enjoy the company of some very furry friends, they had some of the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever eaten. And I’ve eaten a lot of chocolate ice cream. Next was the Austrian National Library that had beautifully painted, arched ceilings and thousands of old manuscripts. Then to the Albertina Art Museum for some Monet and Picasso where we met an ambassador for the US who’s based in Luxembourg. He gave us his card and then invited us to a party there on July 3rd where we could meet Buzz Aldrin, maybe it’s time to break out the puppy dog eyes on Dr. Wasser. After was Naschmarkt where we had authentic Weiner Schnitzel made from veal, it was as good as the horse. Then it was to Prater Park where the plan was to ride the giant ferris wheel. That didn’t happen. Instead we rode a low level swing, a small rollercoaster that had you lay down like you were flying, a very high swing that gave gorgeous views over the whole park, played the claw games that, on the very last try of the night, I grabbed not one, but TWO rainbow lamas, then on an open air ferris wheel that gave more amazing views and finally, 2 rides on a spine whipping machine called Break Down. My dopamine levels are off the charts.

Ferris Wheel! 

Albertina Art Museum (where we met the Luxembourg Ambassador) 

Vienna is cool

Another week has gone by and somehow this trip is almost over.  I can’t believe it’s been five weeks already, it feels like I just got here.  We once again had a very busy week, on Friday the whole group went to Bingen on a single day excursion.  We woke up early and arrived to Bingen around 10 and went to the museum dedicated to Hildegard of Bingen.  We had previously had a lecture about her life and healing practices, so it was interesting to see in person what we had learned.  We then ate lunch (I had pasta and salmon) and after finishing got on a river boat tour down the Rhine.  We stayed on for about three hours and saw multiple castles and amazing scenery along the way.  When we got off we took a tour of one of the castles on the Rhine, the only one that had never been besieged and therefore never destroyed.  I liked seeing how rulers would have lived back in the medieval years.  It was seated up on top of this hill so the view of the Rhine valley was amazing.  Saturday morning a group of us made our way to Amsterdam for the weekend.  We ate lunch when we arrived and ended up walking around for the rest of the day.  On Sunday we went to the maritime museum where they had a pirate ship for us to explore which I really enjoyed.  We walked to a park and hung out with everyone for the rest of the day until leaving at seven.  Tuesday morning we had to wake up very early to go to Vienna.  We arrived at around nine and went strong the whole rest of the day, I was exhausted.  We ate a very good dinner that included a wide variety of goulash and famous Vienna wine.  Wednesday we went to a pharmacology museum in the morning and later to an open air market with a bunch of people selling the same fake Ray Bans and a lot of good food.  I bought a falafel sandwich which was very good and very cheap, and cheap food is my favorite food.  Later a few of us went to the river to swim and hang out for a few hours, there were a lot of swans that would not leave us alone, but other than that it was a lot of fun.  At night we went to an amusement park which I really liked because instead of paying at the entrance you pay for each individual ride, which kept it cheap.  Thursday in the morning we took a tour of the Narranturm which use to be a hospital for the unusual and deformed.  There they had a lot of wax figures of some very gross diseases and a lot of other stuff too.  We ate lunch as a group at this Pakistani buffet which was easily some of the best food I’ve had so far this trip.  In the afternoon we took of tour of Sigmund Freud’s house and at night went to a string quartet concert in a old church in the city.  Friday morning we took a tour of the house of music and did some Thai chi then ate lunch at this traditional Austrian restaurant where I had the best schnitzel I’ve eaten.  After lunch we took of tour of the museum of natural history which was probably my favorite museum so far on this trip.  This weekend a group of us are headed to Prague and then next week we head to Berlin.  Vienna has definitely been one of my favorite places we’ve visited so far and I’m kind of sad this trip is almost over.  I definitely miss things from Texas but I know I’ll miss this too.  That’s all I have for this post, until next week.

Logan

Ich liebe Bonn

Week 4 is now complete. This means only 2 more weeks left studying abroad. I don't think I want to leave. This truly has been the experience of a lifetime. 

Day 23 (June 18): This day started with our last German lesson. We learned how to talk about “mein familie” or my family. I am kind of sad that we won’t be learning more, but I am glad that we were able to get to learn enough to get around. Maybe I will do Rosetta Stone lessons when I get home and further my German. After this Dr. Wasser gave us a lecture on different health care systems of the world, focusing on the US, Germany, and Britain. I found this lecture to be very informative and interesting. From the get go we were told about the free health care offered here in Germany, but I always wondered what that entailed. It was nice to get a break down of each system and learn how they are similar and how they differ. It is crazy to me that in a developed nation like the US that if you are poor and do not have a job with health care you basically have the same health care system as a developing nation such as  Cambodia which is essentially no health care policy at all and pay out of pocket. For lunch, in between the lecture, we found a nice restaurant and I had a naan pizza type of thing. It was pretty good but strange to see how they used naan.

Lunch.

 After lecture, we went and got gelato from solo qui and it was delicious. Then we headed to the Klais organ house. Here we got a tour around their organ workshop. We got to see the mechanics of how an organ (the instrument) works and got to see what wood they use and all that goes into making the instrument. The coolest part was seeing just how massive they can be and how intricately they can be designed. They make their own pipes in the workshop from blocks of tin and lead and that was also very cool to see. Lastly, we asked him how much the most expensive organ they had made cost and he said around 3 million euros. That is insane. After the tour, we went home and spent some time with Carmen and Wolfram. 

Day 24 (June 19): On this day, we woke up super early and took a tram to the bus station. From there we took a bus to the Universitätsklinikum of Bonn. The Universitätsklinikum is a teaching hospital and has medical students and residents who train and learn there. For the day, we got the awesome opportunity to shadow surgeons in the hospital. The first thing we did was get split into groups and I was assigned to general surgery. Then we got to change into some scrubs and I felt super official. The first surgery I saw was one to fix a radial fracture. The anesthesiologist I was shadowing did not speak English, only German and Spanish so to communicate with him I had to dig up all the Spanish I learned in middle school which wasn’t a lot. It was okay though because I asked the nurse in the room all my questions and she was able to explain what was going on. They put a plate on her radial head and it was crazy because I could see the crack (fracture) going down the middle of the head of the radius. After that surgery, I saw surgery on a hand that had been run over by a bus. For this one, I couldn’t really understand what they were doing, but it seemed like they were isolating nerves up the arm to see where the damage extended. Lastly, as I was about to leave Maddie told me she was staying to watch cardio surgery and I had never seen that before, so I stayed to shadow the cardio surgeon. We saw an aortic valve replacement and it was such an incredible thing to see. The surgeon who was performing the replacement was very nice and very interested in explaining what he was doing/ teaching us about the surgery which was awesome. I was able to ask all my questions, get answers and actually understand what he was doing. He also genuinely seemed interested in us, so we were able to have a good conversation with him. We only meant to stay until around 1 pm, but we ended up leaving around 6pm because it was such a cool experience. I am very grateful to the Universitätsklinikum for letting us come in and see that and also to the last doctor who I learned a lot from.

Squad- felt really official.

Day 25 (June 20): In the morning, we had a few lectures from Professor Waltz on the neural networks and auditory signaling pathways. After that we had a lecture from Dr. Wasser on the History of Anesthesiology. This was a super cool lecture to hear since my mom did her residency in Anesthesiology. Then we went to the Anesthesiology museum and got to see how anesthesia has changed over the years. The man who created the museum, Dr. Stoeckel, was a very interesting person and it was cool to see all the different items he collected over the years and it was also cool to meet him. One thing in his museum that was very interesting to see was the iron lung machine used for polio patients. Also, he had an exhibit that was an actual old surgery room and it was very neat to see how it was set up and how he preserved it. 

Very cool preserved surgery room.

Day 26 (June 21): On this day, we had our excursion to Bingen. In a previous lecture, Dr. Wasser had taught us about Hildegard von Bingen and now we went to visit the city she was from. We arrived and it was beautiful. The Rhine flowed through and there were vineyards that stretched up the hills on the other side of the river. We received a lecture from Brother Jeremius (Dr. Wasser in a monk outfit) in the Hildegard von Bingen museum and learned more about all the things she did (visions, medicine, composer). She was a force to be reckoned with and it was cool to learn about a women figure who made advancements in medicine. Dr. Wasser sang for us also and it was super cool. Then we went to the Hildegarten and saw different kinds of plants used for medicinal purposes.

Bingen.

 After that we ate lunch and gelato and then headed on the Rhine cruise down the river. It was very pretty and relaxing. A bunch of green hills with vineyards surrounded us and ruins of castles were around every corner. 

View from Rhine Cruise.

We took the boat to Braubach and hiked up to the Marksburg Castle. The Marksburg Castle is the only castle not conquered in Germany so it was very well preserved. We got to have a tour through it and it was super cool. We got to see the old kitchen, rooms, lavatory, and outside area. The view was beautiful from the top of the castle and it was very interesting to see how the castle wasn’t as lavish as I expected it to be. 

View from Marksburg Castle.

I really enjoyed the tour and getting to see all the different knight armor over time was cool. After the castle we headed back to Bonn. It was a nice evening when we arrived so we went to the bier garten and relaxed there before heading home.

Another view from castle.

Day 27 (June 22): This weekend we decided to stay in Bonn and explore. First we headed to the Birkenstock outlet in Bad Honnef with Carmen. We had heard that birkenstocks are way cheaper there since they are produced in Germany and it is an outlet store. It was super busy since it was a weekend, but it didn’t disappoint. I was able to find a pair for my sister, mom, and me and Maddie and Carmen bought some too. We were all super happy when we left there. Then we went on a hike with Wolfram and Carmen up to Drachenfels. Drachenfels is a bunch of castle ruins and on the way up there is Drachenburg or Dragon castle. It was a very pretty hike through the valley up to the top. On the way up, Wolfram told us a little bit about the area and gave us a small history lesson on what we saw. At the top we got to see a beautiful view of the Rhineland. 

View from Drachenfels.

We ate lunch at the top and then hiked down. They decide to also take us to St. Petersburg hotel area where dignitaries stay when they visit Bonn. We drove up there and got to see another very pretty view. 

 Carmen and Wolfram are the best host parents.

From there we hiked down to our village, Oberdollendorf, and walked to our house.

Hiking.

After the hike, we were tired so we relaxed a bit and then went to hang out with some friends. We met them at a wine festival in Bad Godesberg and relaxed for a bit. Then Maddie and I went and experienced Bonn’s night life. The night started at Old Jacob’s bar which had some fancy cocktails and a very cool vibe. Then we went to the Blow Up and Die Unterground after. We met some interesting people at both places and got to dance which was fun. Our tram came every hour to take us back to Oberdollendorf and we lost track of time. By the time we made it home it was after 4 am. The birds were chirping and the sun was starting to rise. I’d call that the signs of a good night. 

Day 28 (June 23): Since we stayed out pretty late the night before we didn’t wake up and get ready until 11 am. This was my first day staying in that late and it felt great. It was a very hot day, so Maddie and I decided to go to one of the many public pools Bonn has. Carmen gave us a picnic blanket and beach towels. We grabbed some fruit and headed over to Bad Honnef. There were so many other people heading there too. When we got there, we found a place in the shade and laid out. There were so many other people of all ages there enjoying the pool. While laying out, we ended up taking a nap and it was so refreshing. After our nap, we went to the pool. There was a water slide so that is naturally where we started. Then we jumped off the high diving board and just relaxed in the cool water. It felt so nice in the burning heat. After the pool, we went back and laid out, listening to music and reading our books. It was such a nice summer day. After a few hours, we headed back home and ate dinner and spent time relaxing and talking to Carmen. 

It was so nice spending a weekend in Bonn and getting to hang out with my host family. Next week we are going to Vienna and I am super excited for that excursion. Dr. Wasser has a lot of cool activities and lectures planned for us and I think it will be very interesting. Here's to week 4 being complete!

This Air Conditioned Hotel Room is the Bomb.com

View of the Rhine from the castle

Before I even get to talking about Vienna, let’s go over the few days before the trip. On Friday, we visited the Hildegard von Bingen museum in Bingen. Women are rarely mentioned in history and much less so in medical history, but Hildegard was such an outstanding woman. Writer, composer, Abbess, philosopher, and prophetess, this girl did it all. My favorite fact about her is that whenever she doesn’t get her way, she “falls ill” until the others agree to her demands. After the museum, we took a cruise along the Rhine and saw the beautiful castles and vineyards that line the river’s banks.

The Labyrinth

This past weekend I had a staycation and enjoyed relaxing in Bonn. On Saturday, I had brunch and went shopping with some friends. Afterwards, Martha and I had a photoshoot in Rheinaue, a large park in Bonn. We also did the labyrinth in the park. I was overconfident when entering the maze since I had done a few large mazes before, but I was soon humbled. The yellow tarps and sharply angled turns made the labyrinth visually confusing. There were no landmarks to help me memorize where I had been. Eventually, I just started walking really fast and somehow made it to the exit. I rewarded myself with a slushie.

"Dr. Schnabel"

On Sunday, I just relaxed at home and did some homework. I knew the next few days were going to be rough since we had to get up at 3:45 AM on Tuesday. After our SUPER early flight to Vienna, we were given a walking tour of the city by “Dr. Schnabel”, who mysteriously looks like Dr. Wasser. Now, I’m not saying that Dr. Wasser and Dr. Schnabel are the same person, but I’ve never seen them in the same place at the same time.  

A painting I liked in the Albertina

We did other fun things in the afternoon like a crypt tour and dinner at the goulash museum, but the memory that will stick with me is the horses. This isn’t the closest death encounter I’ve had with horses, but it still hurt. For some reason, my immune system kicks into maximum overdrive whenever horses are nearby, so my airways get inflamed. At least some justice was served since Madeline ate horse goulash for dinner.

Another painting I liked

After a full night's rest, our group went to the Drogistenmuseum, a drug and pharmacology museum. I found it really interesting that mummies were consumed by people and believed to have medicinal properties. The rest of the day was free time, so a few of us went to a cat cafe. We drank coffee while playing with the cats and almost witnessed a fight between the cats and a passing dog. Next, we went to the Austrian National Library and the Albertina. The library was enormous and a lot nicer than the libraries on Texas A&M’s campus. The Albertina had an exhibit with works organized chronologically from Monet to Picasso.

I also liked this painting

We finished the night by going to Prater. Our plan was to ride the Ferris wheel, then head back to the hotel and get some rest; however, we soon realized that this was not an option. Prater was more than a public park, it was an amusement park. Of course, we rode a few rides ranging from mild to extreme. Along the way, we played a few crane machines and won some prizes. Our last ride was the Ferris wheel that gave us an amazing view of Vienna at night.

The next morning, we took a tour of the Narrenturm and saw pathological and anatomical abnormalities from real patients from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the afternoon, we had a lecture about Sigmund Freud and visited the Freud museum. Our last activity of the night was a string quartet concert at St. Anne’s church. We still have one last day in Vienna, then I’m heading to Budapest. Vienna was lots of fun and I think we all made great memories, even if they were a little sweaty.

Auf Wiedersehen!