A place inspired by the great Walt Disney - what's not to love!

Wednesday I met some friends for a trip into Tivoli.  Inspired but the great Walt Disney, and Walt Disney World, you can definitely see interesting connections between the two-  it's not just a park like Dorney or Six Flags where the rides are lined up right after the other, but is instead organized by various themed sections of the park, with stories behind the rides!  Tivoli has captured everything I love about Disney World so well: not only are the actual rides amazing, but the stories within the rides are entertaining and make the wait even more worth it (although the wait for rides at Tivoli maxes out around 15 minutes).

The beautiful Tivoli

The entrance to "The Flying Trunk"  a ride inspired by H. C. Andersen himself

Pretty much the coolest candy store ever (follow the instructions below)

The scariest ride in Tivoli - called Vertigo. Scary as anything but a fun time!

Today was a very long day, but altogether successful.  I met with my group for my Partners & Rivals class and we finally have a concrete outline for our research paper (unfortunately the first two outlines weren't up to par by any of our standards so all that work is down the drain).  And then in my Medical Practice and Policy class, at the hospital we got to done some awesome hands on learning: cardiac ultrasounds, taking blood pressures, and inserting IV's.  Yeah, pretty awesome, I know.  It's absolutely AMAZING seeing your own heart beating in your chest, with each chamber perfectly outlined and the valves opening and closing with each beat.  Then we got to take blood pressures - not so exciting but always a good thing to practice.  And finally, we put IV lines into each other.  Pretty much the same scariness as going on the scariest ride in Tivoli and multiplying it by ten.  It is absolutely terrifying entrusting your vein to a fellow student who has never before performed this procedure in her life.  Luckily, I got stuck first, and the person who put in my line did a pretty good job (meaning she got the line and successfully inserted the plastic section of the IV).  I was so fortunate that Annie did mine instead of the other people, because some other brave volunteers ended up with edemas and other painful poking and proddings.  I was able to get my IV line into Annie successfully also, but hope that eventually it will be quick and efficient instead of a longer more cautious process.

Then tonight, I had my European Wine Tasting Club again, where we explored six wines from all over France, and I actually am beginning to understand the lingo and the characteristics you use to classify the different wines.  It's amazing how complex the process is, and we even explored the chemistry of the different smells!  I wouldn't exactly call me a wine connoisseur, but give me a few more classes, and I might be able to distinguish a Bordeaux from a Chardonnay!