The last weekend

At this point, we only have two weeks left in Europe and only one weekend. This week was full of mixed emotions. On one side we are super excited because we had a four days trip to Vienna, Austria, but at the same time, we are starting to realize that we will be heading home soon. 

We arrived from Amsterdam late at night. That Monday, we had a couple of class sessions and the Vienna pre-departure meeting. In the morning we had a class period of Neurophysiology of Music, this class keeps getting more appealing every time. It has been great to understand how we hear things, and we keep fusing physics with physiology, which is excellent. Afterward, we had two class periods of History of Medicine, which is also great every time.

On Tuesday we headed out to Vienna. We had an early day. We had a taxi pick us up at 4:10 am, and we headed to the airport. We arrived at the hotel around 10:00 am. We dropped off our bags and headed out to a city tour. The tour was extraordinary in many different ways. One of the highlights of the tour is that we had Dr. Schnabel, a doctor of the plague, travel back in time and show us around. During the duration of the tour, we visited some essential landmarks in Vienna, many of them related to the history of medicine there. We also received “special medication” to prevent us from getting the plague. One of my favorite medication was the “healthy young boy urine,” and to be honest, I think he might have had diabetes. 

The rest of our time in Vienna was fantastic. As part of the excursion, we visited the catacombs under Michaelskirche (St. Michael’s Church). There we got to see some mummies and also enjoyed a little AC. Also, in our time in Vienna as a group, we got to visit the Drogustenmuseum, which was also a great experience. There we got some insights on the beginnings of pharmacy as a profession. We visited the Narrentrum (Fools Tower) on Thursday. The Fools Tower was one psychiatric asylum, and nowadays hosts one of the most interesting museums I have ever visited. We also got to go to a classical music concert at St Anna Church. On our last day, we also visited the House of Music, which is an interactive museum (the piano stairs are the coolest thing ever!). And later we went to the Natural History Museum which was also super cool (bonus! The Venus Von Willrndorf is in this Museum!!!!!!!)

I tried to do the best of my free time in Vienna. There are so many great things to do and not enough time. Some of the things I got to do in my free time included eating dessert at Demel (one of the best desserts I have ever had). Also, we visited the Albertina Museum. We visited as well the Weiner Prater, which is an amusement park, and what can I say, our inner children had the time of their lives there. The Break Dance ride left me with severe back and neck pain for multiple days, but it was WORTH IT!!!

For our last weekend in Europe, I and some friends went to Budapest, Hungary. Honestly, I was not excited about going to Budapest, but going is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Budapest is a great city with a fantastic vibe! I loved it there since the moment I arrived. There are so many great things to see. The people are the best, and the food was terrific as well (little side note: the drinks were also incredible). We got to visit some beautiful places. We hiked up to a castle, and up there was a little independent city with the most beautiful view. Wandering around, we came across a small island, which was lovely. They had a musical fountain where the water “dances” to the music played, this only happens four times a day, and we were lucky enough to be there when it happened. We went to some ruin bars, and it was the best bar I have ever visited. If I ever go back to Budapest, I’m going back there. 

For our final day in Budapest we went to Szechenyi Spa Baths, which to be honest, doesn’t compare to the Badahause, but was perfectly convenient for that hot weather. Later in the day we had lunch-dinner at a Hungarian restaurant (For Sale) and had the best goulash ever! In the night we just flew back to Bonn, for our last two days in Bonn and then our very last excursion to Berlin.