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Gruss Got!!!
Hello friends and family. I am writing to you all now from the nation of Austria. I am in the ancient city of Vienna. This place has thousands of years of history and is a cornucopia of culture in Europe. The language spoken here is a dialect of German and is actually quite different, to the point that a person from Northern Germany would not be able to communicate with a person from southern Austria. Kind of like how we can't understand rednecks from Alabama. There are so many types of people here it is amazing. There are Indian, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Croatian, Serbian, Turkish, Russian, Dutch the list goes on! But most people speak english if you ask them, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?"
Vienna is a very beautiful city. It is very old, and quite big. But it is still very modern. It has a highly effective and efficient subway system called the U-Bahn, as well as taxis (which are usually a BMW or Mercedes, nice car for a taxi aye?) buses, and a street tram system called the Strassenbahn, (Strasse means street, bahn means car, so literally streetcar). The U-Bahn is what my fellow students and I use to get around the city, as it makes any place in the city accessible in at maximum 20 minutes. The streets are actually not cloged with traffic which is because so many people use the public transportation. But still there are a lot of cars. There are BMW's, Mercedes', Ferrari's, Peugeot's, Fords, Nissan's, Smart's, Audi's and more!
The first day we got to Vienna I had been up for almost 30 hours. I was exhausted, but didnt feel that i could just retire to my room without seeing some of vienna. So my fellow students a professors did a small tour of some sites in the city. This is where we were first introduced to the Strassenbahn, and the U-Bahn. We visited the Hofburg palace grounds which is really quite spectacular, it has a vast garden of roses which are all quite beautiful. We stopped at a favorite bar of one of our professors for a cold drink. Of course i took advantage of this opportunity to consume my first Austrian beir.
It is called Gosser, and it is delicious. Full of flavor and not too heavy, its golden color would remind you of a Bud Light, but its taste blows BL out of the water. I took my first smell of the bier, which had a fluffy head of foam spilling over the side of my stien, it smelled like a fresh loaf of bread right out of the oven. I took my first sip and was taken aback. The cold refreshing beer flowed down into my gullet and i was left with a tiny bit of iron taste at the end, which i liked, it made it taste like a real bier! It was really quite good.
After the bar we headed back to the hotel where i took the opportunity to take a shower since i had not done so in a very long time, and i was starting to smell quite rotten! I get into the bathroom in our room and i am greeted by a strange European toilet and a shower about 1/5 the size of a normal US shower. First to describe the toilet, and im sorry if you are disgusted by this next part but i have to share my experience. The hole for flushing is located at the front of the toilet, instead of the rear like we are used too. So there is not satisfying splash when you are making #2, instead the matter just plops down on what i will describe as a "
Poop Shelf" until you flush. I think it is rediculous because the smell is all that more amplified and it just isnt as effiecient at removing...ahem...skid marks as a regular US toilet. So anyways, i strip down and get into the shower. the warm water flows down upon me and i am immediately refreshed, except it is rather hard to move around since the shower is so small, but not that big of a deal. After showering i lay down on my bed and immediately followed came a snapping noise. Well yea...my bed broke. its just a mattress on top of some wood planks that are subtantially weak. I dont think i was main culprit for the planks to break since i can seek marks on the frame where it was repair several times before....but i dont care, i am exhausted and i pass out at about 8:30pm local time.
I awake later in the night at 2:00am wide awake. ridiculous. i take some tylenol sleep which takes about 30 minutes to kick in, and finish out the rest of the night. I wake up at 6:50 and walk down to the breakfast area. There are rolls, fruit, juice, coffee, cereal, yogurt and cold cut lunch meat. Not a bad spread. The food here in Austria is very good. Of course the ever so famous Wienershnizel is always a good choice. but also there are good dumplings and potatos, and vegetables. with most meals they will automatically bring you sparkling water unless you tell them otherwise. I usually opt for regular tap water, which is very good as it comes from the Alps.
Yesterday was Friday, the most popular night in Austrian night life. And it just so happens that we met our Viennese Student counterparts earlier in the night, so they were able to tell us some good places to go. My group has two Austrian fellows, named Michael and Leo. Leo is from a "suburb" of Vienna to the south. Michael is from a small town called Luxembourg about an hour from Vienna. Very nice guys, they suggested a good bar for music that happens to be very near our hotel. I have not gone to this bar yet, but i will attempt to go there before i leave. another austrian student, that is in another group from my class suggested a techno bar in the popular night life district called "The Bermuda Triangle." It happens to be the former Jewish District of Vienna, but was converted to the Triangle after almost all Jews had been evicted from Vienna in WWII. we get to the club and the Austrian student, her name is Nina, knows the doorman and we get right in. i can hear the bass of techno pounding nearby, and my heart starts to pound as i am nervous and excited. we hit the head (bathroom) before descending into the dance area. So we start walking down the stairs and we go down what i would say about 3 flights, and i can see a sea of people dancing to some raging techno music. This bar is in an old WWII bomb shelter. the walls are very old brick and the cielings are rounded, its so cool! Since i am not a very frequent dancer i decide to have a drink before i jump into the sea of people and shake my booty. Well it turns out that i need several drinks. I exchange a few tequila shots with a classmate and i am feeling fine, and ready to dance. Most of the songs played were American songs remixed to a techno beat. we dance for about 2 hours. My quads were burning and i was drenched in sweat when it was over. while dancing i spotted an older man who must have been at least 65 years old who was rocking out to the techno and looked like he was having a blast. Easily one of the most fun nights of my entire life. my ears are still ringing from the music being so loud.
Well folks, that is all i have for now. I will try to add a new entry every few days or so.
I miss you all and look forward to seeing you soon!
Auf Wiedersehen!
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deanna
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I like your stories of Vienna! I am moving there for school ( kinda) for 4 months before I move to Berlin for a year. Your experiences are helpful for what to expect. I only spent a day there before. Ill definitely remember the Bermuda Triangle!