By Bethany Thompson and Kate Taylor
From 2nd to 5th February, as part of our A Level Psychology course, we were given the opportunity to visit Vienna in order to tour the Freud Museum. This allowed us to learn more about leading psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who’s theories we study as part of our A-Level course, in the place he and his family lived for years before moving to England upon Nazi occupation of Austria.
Over the course of the three days we partook in a range of activities, the trip was a great balance of thought-provoking educational trips and fun activities with so much packed into a short space of time.
One of the most moving visits was to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, where hundreds of thousands of people were imprisoned and killed during WWII. Here we saw the ‘Room of Names’ displaying the names of over 80 000 people who were killed at Mauthausen or surrounding camps, as well as the bunkers and gas chambers; it was difficult to comprehend the fact that we were walking around the place where these people had been imprisoned for years.
In contrast, other activities included ice skating, visiting the Schönbrunn Zoo, touring the underground crypts and visiting the Narrenturm. On the last day some of us went to the Rapid Vienna v Austria Vienna football match whilst others visited Prater Park to go on the Ferris wheel. Overall the trip was a great experience, one that we’d definitely recommend to other students with the chance to go.
Outside the Hofburg Palace
Mauthausen Concentration Camp
Schonbrunn Zoo
Rapid Vienna vs Austria Vienna
In front of the Rathaus (Town Hall)
Wiener Eistraum (Vienna Ice Dream)
