Hug that Manatee

Wake up! Run! Learn! Run! Train! Hotel... Today was a crazy day. Waking up early in the morning in a rush to pack my bags was not the best way to start my day. I have to say the breakfast, today, was the best I have had in any hotel yet! Scrambled eggs and tons of cheese! It was delicious. After that a few of us decided instead of walking to Ars Electronica we would take the train.

So we took our time getting to the station, goofed around and still beat the rest of the class to the museum. Ars Electronica was incredible! I was really looking forward to seeing the museum and I really wish we had more time to explore.

The sound lab was my favorite part. Nikki, Megan, Hannah and I found this disk that when we held it played music every time we touched each others' hands. It was really cool how the energy from connecting our hands dictated the sound being made. Believe it or not we stood there for about 30 minutes messing with it. I even got to see Tony hug a mechanical manatee. It was the happiest I have ever seen anyone! The manatee was a fully programed animal that is used for therapy and learning.

After exploring we went up to meet our tour, and we got a private tour of the whole museum along with the Deep Space exhibit. The most fascinating thing I learned was how they are starting to use DNA to store data. A single drop of DNA can hold more data than any hard drive created to date. After making it down all the floors we went into the deep space exhibit. I have to say I was a little let down by the presentation. It was short and really did not go into to much detail.

It was cool, but I was expecting way more after reading all of the hype about it. I wish the show was a little longer and had some sort of interactive experience tied into to it.

After Ars Electronica, a group of us went to a Chinese buffet and it was amazing! The food was so juicy and delicious!! I have not had Chinese food before that was this good. I wish we had more time to sit and eat but we had to rush to meet our train. Now running from the restaurant we hoped on the train to Vienna. The ride was extremely short.

We have now checked into the hotel and made our way to the local laundromat. Let's just say you don't want to smell my socks... It was nice to do laundry but I wish I had gone to the music festival. Oh well next time. Until then at least I have clean underwear!