Study Tour: Vienna - Day Four, Five, and Six

We spent a bit longer in Vienna, so we were given a lot more time to explore on our own. Our first morning in Vienna was spent on an amazing bike tour. Of course, being the genius I am, I had grabbed my camera and forgot that my memory card was still stuck in my computer. So after the great bike tour (where I almost got hit by a car twice due to the fact that I can't really ride a bike...or comprehend traffic signals), I ran back to the hotel room, grabbed my memory card, and did the entire tour again...on foot. By the end of the day, compounded with the three solid hours of walking I did in Budapest the day before, my feet were ready to fall off. Here are the pictures I just had to get. If there's no caption...it's because I forgot what the tour guide said when we rode past it. :X

St. Stephan's Cathedral

Inside St. Stephan's Cathedral

Nacht Market

They sold a lot of dried fruits, nougats, seafood,
traditional Viennese food, scarves, etc.

The best part of being given time on your own is figuring out how to get around the city. Sometimes, we would leave the clinic together, disagree about the best course to get back to the hotel, and race our separate ways to see who could get there the fastest.

How many pre-meds, iPhones, and maps does it take to
 navigate around Vienna?

We won.


So I'm going to be honest and admit that I started getting lazy when it came to taking pictures during our clinic visits. Let me just give a few quick blurbs about where we went, and continue with my picture tour of Vienna.

First Love Ambulance -- Basically the Austrian version of Planned Parenthood. It was a government-funded organization that seeks to educate young girls about reproductive health and behaviors. Services are completely free and open to girls of all nationalities. We learned that Austria is a very conservative, Catholic country so issues like sex, sexuality, teen pregnancy, and abortion are completely taboo. As a result, young people are often uneducated in these areas, as sexual education is not evenly distributed across the population. This, compounded with the fact that the legal age of consent in Austria is 14, makes the services (counseling, contraception, etc.) offered by the First Love Ambulance especially important.

Orthopaedic Hospital -- This visit was so cool! I must admit that I was a little disappointed with a lot of the visits because they weren't exactly what I was expecting out of this program. I was hoping to learn more about what each type of specialist was doing specifically, rather than having  tours of their clinics and general Q&A sessions. At the Orthopaedic Hospital, we got to watch a minor surgery (bunion removal) through a glass window. The hospital was leading a movement to have patients be able to leave the day-of after minor surgeries. It used to be that hospitals were paid (by the government) only if patients were hospitalized for  certain number of days. Now, hospitals are paid per procedure, making day-of release a very practical way to optimize the use of the capacity and resources that each hospital has to offer. It was also interesting that this hospital was Christian-affiliated, yet its facilities supported all religions.

Department of Laboratory Medicine, Serology, and Infectious Diseases -- This talk took place in one of the oldest hospitals in Austria. The buildings and hospital grounds were old and grand in a way that made the hospital look more like a museum. Dr. Koller gave us a talk about the history of the hospital itself and a brief introduction to Medical Ethics.


OK, back to the picture tour. On our last night in Vienna, we had a nice dinner before attending a symphony at the Vienna Royal Orchestra:

Can you imagine casually driving past this on your way
to work every morning?

Gorgeous!

Fish with garlic butter and parsley potatoes

Fresh fruit topped with a tangy lemon sorbet 

We were sitting pretty far in the back so it was hard to get a
good picture but the performance was AMAZING. The musicians
seemed to be having a blast. They were so cute and funny
 and really brought the good times.

We ended our study tour with a guided tour of the Schönbrunn Palace. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the gardens around the palace were beautiful!

Had to climb up a rather large hill for this picture.
Thank God for the chocolate waiting for us at the top.

Spent my last afternoon in Vienna eating:

Don't leave Vienna without trying the
sacher torte (chocolate cake) and hot chocolate!
 If chocolate isn't your thing, try some apfelstrudel! 

Of course, you must try some weinerschnitzel.
It comes in pork, chicken, turkey, or veal. 

I had a great time touring Europe on this long study tour. My new favorite European city is definitely Budapest right now...but after Berlin, Barcelona, and Palma de Mallorca in April, who knows? Even though I had the time of my life, I must admit, it is SO nice to be back in Denmark at the IPC. Spent this past weekend in bed, with my feet up, doing nothing. Life is good! :D

Long Study Tour: Budapest/Vienna - Day 3

Our third day in Budapest, we visited another private clinic, the National Center for Spinal Disorders. Much like the Maternity Clinic, it was clear which sections of the hospital were devoted to public and private care. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to do more than glance/walk through the public areas, but I think that was mostly because they were a lot more busy. A group of 20 people standing around in a crowded waiting room would probably get in the way of everyday business. Dr. Jakob Gabor gave us a tour of the ambulance (outpatient) clinic as well as the "selfness" clinic. "Selfness" includes massages, acupuncture, and other forms of holistic medicine. After the tour, another doctor gave us a presentation on research and development. The clinic receives money from international funds which is supplemented by its own income from private care for research in areas such as biogenetics, preventative medicine, biomechanics, spinal tumors, etc. A picture tour of the clinic:

A typical private patient room. Very well decorated and clean.

The physical therapists introduced us to the hot
oil massage table

The table surface is made of wood so the oil can drain down
 into a bucket awaiting below. Where do I sign up?

A steam room. Patients sit in the chair and are zipped
into a relaxing steam bath.

We were also able to visit the private and public gyms that were available to recovering/current patients. While private gyms offered one-on-one classes, public gym activities were conducted in groups. I know what I feel like when I do Insanity/P90X so I thought it would be best if I refrained from photographing the sweaty ladies in the class. Afterwards, we were also given a presentation by several psychologists. At the spinal center, they paid special attention to patient's mental well-being both before and after procedures. Studies show that patients with depression show more negative outcomes and lower success rates after surgery. Talking through fears and concerns, amongst other issues, with a psychologist before the procedure has been shown to lead to more positive outcomes. I am interested to learn more about whether these practices are done in the United States.

That evening, we took a train from Budapest to Vienna, Austria. The train ride was about three hours, and when we arrived, we were starving. Luckily, DIS had arranged for us appease our raging stomachs at Stadt Park Brau:

Looks like hygge is not just a Danish tradition

"Sliced pancake in clear beef broth". At first we were skeptical, but this
soup was the business! So good. I'm not terribly classy
 and my first thought was, "Tastes like fancy chicken ramen." Mmm.

Turkey breast and mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce

Beer and other beverages were on us. I heard the red beer was delicious.

Kaiserschmarrnauf Zwetschkenröster -- otherwise known as
 fried goodness with plum sauce.

Crepes with nutella and chocolate

We splurged a bit and got a few desserts to split, but as you can see, it was well worth it. A good first night in Vienna! :)