Becoming a Lab Maus
September 28th to October 4th
I might die here. Just thought I’d let y’all know.
This week has been horrifically freezing. I’m talking inhumane levels of cold. And it’s only the first week of October! Soon I’ll be a tote Maus!
Substantially less frolicking this week. Shit has gotten real! I am doing administrative tasks and starting research!
Highlights of the Week
Wine Hiking
I have a new love: Himbeersturm, aka raspberry Sturm.
For the uninitiated, Sturm is essentially young wine. It’s carbonated and tastes like juice, which is exactly my taste in alcohol. Sturm is an Austrian (and German) classic that comes around every autumn. Man am I a believer in Sturmzeit. America, this is your sign to get on board the Sturmbahn!
This is also the time of year for the wine hikes through the vineyards on the outskirts of Vienna.
Starting in the Lab
The smell of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) makes me nostalgic. Wow, I really spent way too much time in the lab during undergrad.
I have graduated from killing fruit flies to dissolving microscopic worms.
I really like my lab mates. They are super nice and willing to help me with not only lab work but also navigating life in Vienna. I am the youngest there by far, but I hope I hold my own
Oh yeah, I have a lab coat now.
Leopold Museum Free Night
On the first Thursday of every month, the Leopold Museum is free. You best believe my friends and I made use of that.
The museum is mostly modernism, particularly Austrian modernists. I’ve decided I like Egon Schiele’s work, particularly the crazy painting of the nun and the cardinal making out. Who doesn’t love a little sacrilege?
National Boyfriend Day
National Boyfriend Day is Christmas morning for nosy people. As a self-identified nosy person, I was elated to see that the boyfriend posts had descended upon Instagram. I like to have information, even if it is completely and totally trivial. I prefer my friendships akin to a hivemind of gossip.
I have never posted for National Boyfriend Day, no matter my relationship status. Partially because I feel as if these fake social media holidays are solely created to brag about dating someone, but also because a wise(?) woman (my friend Leah) once said, “Posting him (one’s man) today is the equivalent of putting him on the porch with a sign that says, ‘take my man,’ or ‘be in my business.’”
I don’t think that’s necessarily the case, but Leah does have a way with words.
Lange Nacht der Museen
“The Long Night of the Museums,” is a night where most of the museums in Vienna are open until 12 am. You can purchase one ticket and get into all of the museums on the list.
We only made it to two museums (not because we stopped for a drink or something), the Josephinum Medical History Museum and Foto Arsenal Wien.
I enjoyed the Josephinum, though I was a bit disappointed that it was all wax medical models (and a piece of Beethoven’s skull).
I had hoped for some more horrifying tidbits about how medicine was practiced in the past.
However, I was very happy to find a free (I think?) booklet detailing a past exhibition about the artificial heart. I started reading it on the U-Bahn home and it is very interesting so far. I also snagged a really cool poster from that same exhibition. The girl at the register gave it to me for just two euro.
Then we took a pitstop at a bar.
I’m not much a photographer myself—photos are typically just memory keepers for me—but I did enjoy the Foto Arsenal exhibition. The exhibit was titled “Science / Fiction: A Non-History of Plants.” Perhaps because of the one drink I’d had, I was absolutely mesmerized by the surrealist plant exhibit.
Listening to… “Heavy Balloon” by Fiona Apple
I like Fiona Apple because she is a messy sort of songwriter. I like when women are more than simply “good.” Being good is far too exhausting.
Reading… The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer and a booklet from the Josephinum called Artificial Hearts: The Bridge to Survival
I’m not very far into The Female Persuasion, but I am very much enjoying it so far.
The Josephinum booklet is also very interesting as medical technology is a part of science that I tend to come up short in my knowledge of.
Pondering…what I’m going to do when I go home
I don’t think I want to live in Europe forever. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize that I want to come home someday. But the American political climate is terrifying night now.
I plan on going to graduate school in the US, but the future of science in America seems less and less certain every day.
But I want to go home someday.
German Word/Phrase of the Week
Mausi – a cutefied version of Maus, meaning “mouse”
According to my lab mates, this is a common term of endearment in the German-speaking world. And it’s also been incorporated into slang in ways I don’t really understand. For example, one of my lab mates said, “we’d all be lab mice.” I guess I’ll take his word for it.
I think I won some Österreich points for saying that one of our coworkers was a “Haus Maus” for going home early.
Groupchat Text of the Week
“Meat seasoning. The name of a midwestern punk band.” –Abia
Quotes of the Week
“Foobar,” –far too many people
For context, while I was at the lab, my Fulbright friends were sitting at a café putting everyone in our program into a Hunger Games simulator. For some reason, when they put our friend Emily’s name in, the pronouns provided were “foo/bar/foobar/baz.” Love and light to any foo/bar users out there, but we did have a good laugh.
“Surgery is the new sex,” –Beto
“Oh brisket! I only know about it from Young Sheldon!” –my labmate trying to convince me to make American food
Auf Wiedersehen, Mäuse!