This weekend Rachel and I went with some friends to see Bodies: The Exhibition in D.C. It turned out to be quite the adventure as we got lost part of the of way there and had to call them for directions. They allowed visitors in until 11 PM, however, which I thought was a brilliant idea, not to mention it took a lot of the rush/stress out of getting there.
We had free tickets to the exhibit from Jess and Golden Key—they had to buy a bunch of tickets to get a group rate and Friday was the last night they were valid. The exhibit itself would have been worth the $26 though. They have whole bodies that have been excellently dissected and had all of the water in them replaced with silicone in a process known as polymer preservation. So every body looks pretty much exactly the way it did when they first cut it open, with the added benefit that there is no decay.
Probably my favorite parts were the whole bodies in various states of dissection that had been posed—it gave me a real feel for what is going on beneath the surface in everyday activities. Some bodies had everything but the blood vessels removed showing just how much circulatory network is present throughout your anatomy.
The whole presentation was incredible and it really made me even more excited about my decision to pursue medicine than I was before. There is just so much going on at any given moment just to keep you alive, it’s absolutely mind-boggling. It really piques my desire to learn more about what makes us behave the way we do—how all of these biological systems contribute to individual behaviors, personalities, and decision-making. Rachel purchased an excellent coffee table book with images of all the bodies, including some that weren’t on display at our particular exhibit. A great piece for a medical household, I think.
To top the whole adventure off, we got free parking. Nobody was manning the payment booth and the gate was open, so we waited around for a while and then just drove out. Whoops?
Thanks again to Jess for giving us this amazing opportunity, and thanks to Rachel and company for being crazy enough to take the trip.