Class Visit to a Tamil Temple, Vienna, and Prague: Week 15

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I took a class visit to a Tamil Temple as part of my Intercultural Communication class to learn more about their culture and religion.




They also gave us this dish, which consists of rice, milk, raisins, cinnamon, and ginger.


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On Friday, Aubrielle and I flew down to Vienna, Austria to spend a day exploring the city!



Vienna was decorated for Christmas and it was so pretty!





This is the Vienna City Hall building, which was completed in 1883.


The main reason I wanted to go was to see Vienna's beautiful winter markets. The Christmas Market at Rathausplatz is the first winter market we went to and is actually located outside of the Vienna City Hall building.



It was so magical.




I had a sausage and some great hot apple punch.




The Schönbrunn Palace Christmas is the second winter market we went to in Vienna. 



It is held in the courtyard of the Schönbrunn Palace, which was super cool.




Aubrielle and I had beef-filled dumplings at the market. They were amazing.


We also went to this really neat restaurant that had a book store inside of it. 


I got goulash and dumplings, which were amazing, but not as good as my grandparents' goulash.


There was someone playing the piano in the restaurant. It was such a nice atmosphere.


We also explored the Sigmund Freud Museum, which is where he lived and worked before he had to flee the Nazis in 1938. As a psychology major, this was very interesting to me, and one of the highlights of my trip.


This is the cloakroom for his patients.


This is a replica of his waiting room for his patients; while it is in the same space that the waiting room was in, the pieces of furniture are not original.


This is the "first of eight editions of Freud's first comprehensive overview of his teachings," otherwise known as psychoanalysis. 


This is the "first text on the history of psychoanalysis" and was written by Freud.



These are "first editions of the exchange of letters between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud."


This is Freud's "fountain pen," along with "original pages of his stationary."


They are some of Freud's eyeglasses.



This is his doctor bag.


Vienna was such a cool experience!


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After exploring Vienna, Aubrielle and I took a 4 hour train to Prague, Czechia and met Zoe, one of our friend's, there. Prague is my favorite non-beach city in Europe, so I was so excited to see it again, and even more excited to see it during the winter time!


I'm so glad we all got to do another trip together and that I was able to show them parts of my culture.




I love Charles Bridge. I walked up and down it so many times the first time I was in Prague because I find it so cool and it makes me feel like I'm in a fairy tale.








While we were on Charles Bridge, we watched the lamp-lighter light the lights. It was so cool!



The Astronomical Clock is also something worth seeing again (and again)!


We climbed the clock up to the top.



 Once we finished the climb, had a great view of Týn Church and the Old Town Square Christmas Market.


We also had a great view of the entire city and could see the Prague Castle in the distance!



So grateful for the friendships I've made while abroad, too!


Throughout the day, we had amazing Czechia food, starting with are some kolaches, which are some of my favorite!



Then, we had some gingerbread men at this cute little bakery.


I, of course, had to get goulash and dumplings again. I can't wait to have some goulash made by my grandparents when they come to the states.


We also went to 2 winter markets in Prague! Seeing the winter markets in Prague was another reason I wanted to go to Prague again. This winter market, the Na Kampě Christmas Market, is super cool because you can see Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle in the distance.


The Old Town Square Christmas Market in front of Týn Church, in my opinion, was even cooler.



Everything was so beautiful, and I wished my mom and aunt, who were born in Czechia, could have been there with me, too.


I had some dumplings with cheese filling (left) and raspberry filling (right), along with some hot apple juice at the Na Kampě Christmas Market.


We had a super early flight at 6 AM, but, thankfully, we were able to find a place to camp out comfortably.


This is a picture of the sunrise on my flight back to Italy. It was a super long travel day, and when I got back to my apartment I was exhausted, but I am so blessed to have travel days that make me exhausted. I would have long travel days over and over again if it meant I could see more and more of the world. I am SO grateful that I got to see Prague again. I don't know whether it's because it feels like a fairy tale or if it's because I can eat some of the food my grandparents made growing up, but Prague, so far, is my favorite non-beach European city.

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