Koprovski in Europe 2018

Today was a pretty uneventful day, but that gave me some time to contemplate on my experience thus far. I really am going to miss this place. I’m going to miss the civic pride that keeps this place so clean. I’m going to miss the convenient metro system that could take us anywhere in the city. I will miss making memories with everyone on this trip. Memories like the time we ran into a strange flute player in the middle of the woods when we were lost. Or the time that we took the longest underground slide in Europe.  I honestly will never forget this trip. I will always carry this trip with me. It will always change the way I act, I will be more kind to outsiders and those who are less fortunate than I am. It will also affect the future more directly. I now have a more direct idea on what on earth I’m going to do with my life. But regardless of what I do, I will forever be grateful for Dr. Demers and Professor Ray for what they’ve done for me on this trip. 

Today was a full day. We started the day by deregistering, and after all this time in Vienna, I still don’t understand what on earth the whole registering thing was for. But regardless of its purpose, deregistering didn’t take long at all. When we deregistered it felt like we had severed a link that was keeping his in the city. Now if feels much more like we are about to leave the city and it’s a crushing weight on me. But I can’t let it get me down.  When we were all finished we walked with the professors to the USA embassy. Natalie had set us up to talk to a foreign secretary officer to tell us about her job and the role of the embassy.  When we got there we had to pass through some pretty impressive security. But the security detail guarding the entrance gate was a local Austrian private security company, which I personally thought was incredibly weird. I expected he embassy to be guarded by American diplomatic security personnel. But we all passed through security...

Today was our last completely free day in Vienna, I can’t really believe its coming to an end. We all chose what all we wanted to finish up today last night at dinner. Anna and I met bright and early at the Aida in Stephansplatz for an early morning cappuccino. By the time we had finished our drinks, everyone else had arrived. To start, we went to the back of Stephanzdome to walk up the spire that rises above the city. As we started to ascend the spiral staircase in the spire, the bells above us started to ring out for the mass that was beginning below us. It was a special mass for the holiday of Corpus Christie. Getting to listen to the bells as we emerged at the top of the spire and look down on the city was awe inspiring. We stayed up there for a while, taking in the sights and watching the mass outside.  Going down the spire took what seemed like forever, the constant spinning make us dizzy and the lack of sunlight made us unsure how far down we had gone. But we popped out...

I swear my body is giving up. Today I slept in late yet again. The later in the day I went to bed early too.  I have an entire backpacking trip after this so I better get it together.  After getting up after sleeping in, Peyton and I went into town to get brunch together in the Neubegasse area. We ate at Figo’s and got a mix of savory and sweet breakfast foods.  After brunch, we went to meet up with the professors and everyone else to grab a bus to take us to Lichtenstein castle. Let’s just say this was no easy feat. We missed our first bus because we were at the wrong stop, and then we got on the wrong bus and had to hop off of it. Then when the right bus came, we kept getting off on the wrong stops. But it didn’t really bother me, getting lost on public transport should be expected when trying to navigate a new area of a foreign city.  We finally made it to the Lichtenstein castle, after walking quite a distance. The castle stands alone in the forestry...

Today was the day to trip to the city of Krems to see the Medical School there. We woke up early and rode to a metro stop in north of Vienna proper. Then we boarded an intercity train to go all the way to Krems. The train ride was beautiful, the Austrian countryside is always a beautiful sight to behold.  The train ride was direct to our town so it was a pretty easy ride, about an our or two. We were able to all sit together on the top floor of our carriage. We all spent the morning talking and working on our blogs as the countryside sped past us. When our train arrived in Krems we were meet by our contact at the town’s private medical school. She walked us the 20 minutes or so to the medical school on the other side of town.  Krems is a really quaint town.  Not as cute as Salzburg or Dorfgastein but it’s cute nonetheless. I would call it a large smaller sized city. With a train to Vienna close by and reasonably close, it wouldn’t be a bad place to live. The actu...

Today was another sightseeing day. We got to sleep in again, which after the previous night was well appreciated. The entire group met at Shöbrunn palace for a tour of the Austrian Royal Family’s summer home. It started off a little rocky when we all got to the Shöbrunn stop. Turns out Dr. Demers was already there but we didn’t meet up with her for almost half an hour. But we finally found her and Lisa, and we began the walk to the palace. When we got to the main gates, I was blown away by their majestic and powerful design. The royal family of Austria lived extremely lavish lives. I know that’s how it is in every monarchy but it still blows me away to see how they used to live. The front plaza of the palace had fountains and manicured small gardens, along with hundreds of tourists. We got several group pictures of us on the large front steps before heading inside to start our self guided tour. Inside, the palace was beautifully decorated and full of priceless art work. The rooms seem...