Hi y’all! My name is Janhavi Kulkarni, and I am a rising senior at the University of Pittsburgh. I am majoring in Psychology, minoring in Neuroscience, and attaining a certificate in Bioethics. I am a Colorado native and moved to Pittsburgh for school. I am also in the Accelerated Masters of Public Health program at the University of Pittsburgh! At Pitt, I am involved with many on-campus positions, for starters I am a 2nd year RA, and am entering my third year of RA’ing! I work as a Research Assistant for the PEAR (Parenting Early Attachment and Relationships) Lab through UPMC Children’s. I am also in the social sorority, Chi Omega and am the VP of Risk and Mental Health. This year, I plan on starting my MPH classes this fall and continuing to enjoy my time at Pittsburgh to the fullest! After graduation, I plan on entering the medical research world as an Epidemiologist. This summer, I spent a month in Austria and Slovenia, comparing the healthcare systems between the US and Central Europe. I hope you all enjoy reading about my experiences, as much I love living through it!
Week One:
My official journey to Graz, Styria, Austria started at 2PM on Saturday, May 10th, 2025. I left for the Denver airport to make my overnight, 9.5 hour flight to Munich. The flight was great, it was one of the first solo international travels I’ve done, and it went so smoothly! I reached the Munich airport, Sunday, May 11th around noon. There I had an hour and a half layover before my short 55 minute flight took off to my final destination, Graz! At the Munich airport, I ran into two other students from my program, shoutout Julia and Sam! Our flight to Graz was so smooth, and very fast. We landed in beautiful Graz, and 2were nearly immediately greeted by Orin and Maria (a helper throughout our stay in Graz.) That night we had a welcoming dinner where we met the entirety of our program again and went over the schedule for the next four weeks.
The next morning we grabbed a delicious, simple breakfast at the hotel before being greeted by our walking city tour guide. She was so fantastic and engaging. We started our tour on our side of town and made our way through Schlossberg, multiple plazas, armeries, and finally the medical campus for the Graz. We then grabbed lunch, and I ate my first Schnitzel! Then had the rest of our afternoon to explore Graz, some of us walked around the plaza and had a blast.
Tuesday, we started our day similarly to Monday with a simple breakfast and we took the bus to tour a geriatric health facility that includes geriatric/palliative care, long-term dementia and Alzhemier’s care, and independent assisted living. This facility was truly amazing and the technology was adapted to fit every patients’ needs. It was truly incredible to work through the workshops and tools they had there for us to use and practice with.
Wednesday, the program is going so much faster and better than expected! Today was a class-filled day. We went over Austrian history (so interesting) and some basic healthcare terms and talked about the healthcare systems that are around us. Then me, my roommate and our friends went to go get a quick dinner because tonight was opera night!! Such a fun time getting dressed up and taking pictures with all of your friends, and we watched “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” it was such a good show.
Thursday (another jam-packed day!) We had class in the morning where we reviewed Austrian history and talked more about insurance and healthcare policies. We then enjoyed a group lunch, and then made our way to the FH University of Applied Sciences. We got a tour and even got tested on our own senses. We then made our way to the Graz Museum, it was such a fun end to the day. The museum had its own replica of an old-age pharmacy and what it looked like. They had machines and everything, it was a tad crazy hearing how many people believed that snake poison could heal you from an illness. The presentation given was incredible, and really made me think about what it could be like walking into a pharmacy like that and receiving medication.
I can’t wait to see what the rest of this experience looks like for me. Follow along!