A Boy Named Sue

It's almost over, what a trip. Probably the longest and most physically taxing of my life, but most definitely the most eye-opening and educational. Our time in Vienna has been fantastic, I love the city, as does everyone else, and have had some of the best times of the trip here. I realized I didn't fill you in on our first day here so I'll start there. We took a tour of the Vienna Museum and St. Stephen's Cathedral including the catacombs underneath. Vienna is actually an extremely important city historically, moreso for religion, as the two Ottoman seiges against the city in the 16th and 17th centuries which failed and prevented a possible global Muslim present. St. Stephen's is a beautiful gothic cathedral in the middle of the city, which is an interesting location since the middle of the city contains the major shopping district of Vienna. But it was great, not quite as breath-taking as the Dom Cologne but close. The catacombs were the coolest part though. The huge mass graves with bones stacked like firewood and the multiple tombs of the Hapsburgs and modern-day Bishops were awesome.

The next day, after a lot of sleep, we took a walking tour of the medical history of Vienna led by Dr. Wasser and saw a few very interesting sites. After lunch, we headed to the Freud Museum where we had our last lecture from Dr. Wasser on the man, myth, and legend himself. Freud is an extremely interesting character, mainly because his theories on psychoanalysis can agruably be traced back to his own childhood. This is still being debated according to Dr. Wasser, but some believe that only Freud and a few others, because of their situations in their childhood and early adulthood, could have formulated the ideas and theories that eventually became the first descriptions of the human psyche. After the lecture, we toured his old apartment where he lived and practiced. Although a lot of it was originally furnished, the famous couch resides in London, where he died. Freud, with his wife and daughter Anna, had fled Austria one year before his death as the Nazis began their campaign on Eastern Europe.

That night, we were treated to an operetta at a nearby theater. The title was Die Fledermaus (I think that's right) which means "The Bat". It was a pretty interesting, comedic story that we were all able to understand due to the synopsis we read beforehand and the subtitles given during the performance. Along with the story, the music and singing were impeccable. I can't remember the last time I heard someone sing in perfect pitch like that for 2 hours. Yesterday was an easier day, we went to the medical history museum that housed rooms and rooms of wax models showing different anatomical structures. Having just recently finished anatomy, I was eager to compare humans and dogs anatomically. I'll just say they are surprisingly similar, with a few exceptions.

We had free time for the rest of the day, which I used mainly to sleep some more and ponder my medical school choices. The deadline for the Texas Medical School match was on the horizon and to be honest I'm still weighing my options, but will most likely accept my offer at UTMB. Anyway, last night was maybe the most fun night of the trip. Right across the street from our hotel was a karaoke bar, which combined with college students equals attemps at singing to great songs for hours on end. At this point in the trip, everyone is getting pretty close, so for our last night we enjoyed each other's company, sang some great songs, and celebrated Krystyna's birthday. Today we had the morning off, which we all used to sleep in. Jared and I saw Brian off early as he's taking a train to Bonn where his flight leaves from tomorrow. We just took a tour of the Spanish Riding School, the oldest riding school in the world I believe, and are about to head to the final banquet.

All in all, this trip has been a much needed leave of absence from the United States. I think all of us have become at least a little more knowledgeable, a little more grateful, and much more independent. It's impossible not to do so over here. I feel that I've come to understand the German culture pretty well with the help of Dr. Wasser and AIB, who have been fantastic. Hopefully, now I'll be able to navigate my way around Europe on my own someday, preferably sooner than later. But this trip has shown me, if anything, the importance of going through difficult and uncomfortable experiences, and the importance of being on your own and discovering a different culture that questions your own beliefs and feelings. I feel I've accomplished that to some extent here. I've wrestled with a few things here, but feel I have come to a more personal understanding and acceptance of the relationship between myself and the rest of the world that I believe is more mature, well-rounded, and confident.

So for that, I thank everyone: AIB and Dr. Wasser for this incredible experience, the rest of the students on the trip for growing with me during these last 3 weeks (y'all are awesome), and my family and friends for supporting me heavily during this trip. I miss and love everyone back home, and I'll see you all very soon.

PEACE

Asher