Things are beginning to settle into a routine and Vienna has started to feel a lot like home. It might help that a s a result of building height restrictions, the city feels a lot like a classier Pittsburghian South Side.
This past week marked the beginning of the cultural program through WU. So far, we’ve had a lot of authentic Austrian food and went to the city of Graz, the Zotter chocolate factory in the remote Austrian mountainside, Schonbrunn Schloss, hiked the mountain outside of Vienna, and had a tour of Vienna. If you know me at all you know which was my favorite. The one really sad thing was that our trip to Graz was delayed an hour because of a really bad accident that resulted in an intense traffic jam.
Saturday, me and the squad spent the day down by the Donau where they have a kind of man made beach. For being only 20 degrees, it’s been quite warm and enjoyable, though you can feel autumn beginning to set in. Sunday, I went 17 kilometers south of the city to a town called Laxenburg where the Franzenburg castle is located It was an amazingly peaceful and relaxing kind of day after an unexpectedly chaotic week. There was also the Ritterfest going on which is a celebration of medieval knights which was weird because of all the people walking a round wearing knightly attire and swords but the live renaissance music and food were an amazing unexpected treat.
It’s weird to think that I’ve only been here two weeks considering how close I’ve gotten to many of the people here. Exchange life is oddly freeing and gives the opportunity to develop very deep friendships and do crazy things I wouldn’t be comfortable with in the US. For example, hopping through the subway station like a kangaroo or participating in pushup contests on the sidewalk at 3am waiting for the light rail. One of the Dutch guys I spend a lot of time with loves randomly breaking out into song as well so impromptu street karaoke has become quite a common element of our nights out.
In terms of food, nothing I’ve previously experienced compares. I’ve begun to live off Kasekrainers, a Vienna specialty sausage stuffed with cheese, coated in ketchup and mustard (if you want, which I do) enclosed by bread. Three scoop ice cream cones go for 2 , 60 euros which is insane. Schnitzel has also been making the rounds, but they always forget to give me the lemon garnish and that always turns into a whole thing.
It’s sad and hard to understand for me why most people only want to hang out with people from their country. As for me, I’ve put in a lot of effort into being very social and routinely hang out with people from over 15 different countries. I like it that way because I get to hear all about different experiences people have.
While I am not looking forward to classes starting in a week, I already regret not signing up for a full year instead of just a semester.
AP 