First Two Days - Jet Lag?

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My plane took off - rather later than I expected, around 9:30pm - rougly 45minutes after it was supposed to take off. And go figure, sitting right down the middle of the plane and with a infant sitting next to me. However, before you begin your sympathy cries, it was the best possible infant to have next to you. Maybe it was the late night flight, but this little girl was out in about an hour and a half, and barely woke up until we were standing to get off the plane. It was wonderful. I must take this time to thank the parents, who tried to the avoid the

crying baby

situation by taking her to the back of the plane and letting her sleep on their shoulder. So Thank You! 😊

When I landed I had my wonderful friend Allison pick me up at the airport. This being the same girl who indirectly got me the job. What a great friend 😊 ! I had my first wiener (Viennese) coffee right there at the airport. Coffee is pretty much a signature drink here in Vienna, and they are quite particular about that. And rightly so! It was a fantastic coffee! The last one I had before it was the double-double from Tim Hortons - so there wasn't much to compete with anyways.

We hoped a train after coffee and made it back to Allison's apartment - this is where I will be staying for a few days before I move into my own place. Allison and Florian (her boyfriend) are so far the best mid-20s house hosts ever. For people so young, I thought I would be crashing on a couch, but nope! They went out and bought a bed, and completely redid a small bedroom in their apartment. It's a small room, but they really succeeded in making it something!

Although at this point I was exhausted (never slept on the plane, and had woken up at 7am) I felt like crashing but it was only noon-time in Vienna and I wanted to fight the dreadful jet lag, so I decided to

man-up

and stay up longer. Allison showed me around her block, and around the markt (not a spelling mistake!). The fresh foods looked perfect, the cooked foods were overindulging my nose glands, and the wine (sturm) was the delightfully sweet and appetizing.

That evening, while Florian was still working (he works long days), we went off to meet Allison's friends. A great couple, the two were fun to hang out with. We went to a restaurant (my first for a meal), and I ate breaded chicken with a traditional

potato salad

. Here of course, this is lettuce on top of delicious potato rondelles and drizzled with a fantastic dressing. With dinner, I had a fresh Viennese beer - the taste of which was a perfect compliment to the breaded chicken. After dinner, we headed home, and I went to bed - 32hours after I had woken up originally!

Now, I feel I have spoken too much, so here goes Day 2 which will be kept a bit shorter.

I woke up and went to my new work to meet with my supervisors. They were all awesome guys and they debriefed me on what I would be working on. I couldn't say enough about how nice they were - It will be a great place to work for sure. I met another one of the interns on my way out, and I will see her once more (plus one other) on September 1st, my first day of work.

I went around the city a bit afterwards and saw a few of the amazing churches which are covered in gold. A real brilliant sight to view. I will talk more about these sights (with pictures) once I return to see them with Eliza and have a camera). I walked around the Spanish Horse riding school, but didn't enter. Saw the gigantic library and city hall - both of which is like a palace!

I ended my tour with a bratwurst

hot-dog

. You must say hot-dog if you want it in a bun, otherwise it goes right on a plate. And the bums are just hollowed out buns, not a split down the middle, like those in North-America. It was truly delightful that first wurst. So much flavour packed in.

Took the tram back home and did a little bit of light reading (since its raining now) and am about to cook dinner for Allison and Florian. Picked it up at the grocery store already: chicken breasts, pears, brie and an Austrian mushroom (Eierschwammerl) which they love here. Super cheap, and I think it'll be just delicious. Plus a salad.

That's all for tonight, I will write again soon!

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Comments

[Laurent]

I'm jealous that you're in Austria man. I'd love to be there, practicing my German (which isn't great, but would be 100% stale if it weren't for all the Rammstein I listen to) and chilling with you. Is this internship paid?