Our week in Vienna (Blog for last week)

So, I’m not sure why I keep putting these off until the end of the week…I guess we get pretty busy and then we’re pretty exhausted when the day is over. However, now I’m on a train and I have no excuse...

This past week was spent in Vienna, Austria. Vienna was definitely a pleasant surprise. Like many of the other cities I have been to, it was absolutely beautiful. A huge thing I noticed was that it was very clean. Something I definitely wasn’t expecting was such incredible architecture. I know, I know…I say this every week, but it just keeps getting better! Vienna also lovesss statues. If you did anything worth anything in Vienna, you have a statue. We had a lovely open air bus tour and got to see all the well-known areas.

Later that day we visited the Sigmund Freud museum. Mr. Freud was quite an interesting man. It was very cool to hear some of his theories, but I’m not sure I would’ve taken the advice of such a strange guy. The night ended at a karaoke bar. Highlight of the trip without a doubt. Almost everyone got up on stage and sang. A group of us even stayed later to make sure we had our 3 minutes of fame.

Wednesday was a very relaxing day. We went to the Vienna museum in the morning and learned all about the extensive history of Vienna. I didn’t realize so many countries were once a part of Austria. Later we went to the catacombs of the Vienna cathedral. These were a little creepy for me. Something about over a hundred year old bones stacked in patterns just didn’t settle right. We then had a long break until our Mozart concert that night. Everyone dressed up and it was an awesome way to end the day.

Thursday morning we visited the Vienna cemetery to see the gravestones of people related to medicine. Unfortunately, the cemetery is huge and we were unsuccessful in finding the gravestones. It was also quite hot. Apparently we were in Vienna during the hottest time of the year. Still no Texas weather, but because Europeans aren’t fans of AC, it feels pretty darn close. In the afternoon, we visited the Josephenium. We got to see some very impressive wax models of the human body. Not one single detail was left out. The day ended with a very nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant. I ate some traditional Austrian food along with an Austrian favorite- the erdbeere boula (sp?)! On our way back to the hotel, it started raining…then hailing! Then it was over…in 20 minutes…so weird.

Today was one of my favorite parts of the week. We got a tour of the University of Vienna. Anna, our tour guide, was our age and going through medical school so it was very cool to hear her perspective. Towards the end of the tour, we visited their lab facilities. Here we practiced taking blood, stitches, chest examinations, etc. It was so cool.

Vienna was definitely better than I expected. Now I’m off to my next weekend destination, Venice, Italy. It’s supposed to be beautiful this weekend so I’m very excited! Until next time!

Cheers!
Coral