Ich bin ein Wiener

So I do not have enough time to touch on everything but here is a quick summary of what we have been doing for the last week:

Well last time I posted I was 40 minutes from leaving Egypt. Now I have been in Vienna for almost a week and the living is easy! The taxi ride to the airport was a nice summary: black cab, nothing working, engine struggling with the weight of our bags, 100 degrees, dripping sweat and having our driver blow smoke back into our faces. In the end though, I am very happy with our trip and do not regret it at all. Many of the people we have met so far are amazed that we did the trip so it has been a good conversation topic. We spent one night at Pension Dr. Geissler which was actually very nice and rather than having culture shock we had culture reversion. We had pizza and beer in the street. You can see some pictures of where we stayed below.

Pension Dr. Geissler

Pretty nice, but no wi-fi...

In front of the Basilica

The next day at one we met up with IES at the station Hütteldorf. From there, we left to Mariazell. It is a couple hours away in the Alps and you can learn about the history of the town here. It was fun meeting everyone but was basically orientation freshmen year all over again. At least I had Jack though. And our last names are close enough that we ended up in the same room in the hostel. This was a good thing because I would not have wanted to share a queen with a stranger for 3 nights. One day we went to the Erlaufsee and went on a peddle boat and hung out on some grass for a couple hours. The next day we went into town to see the Basilica. The highlight of the weekend had to be the “Classic Austrian Celebration” that we had. It was a bunch of men in Lederhosen dancing around and chopping wood. We even learned how to dance a step or two and after they were done they served us some homemade honey schnapps.

With David and Jean. David is actually one of my suitemates

The town

Inside, very much different from Egypt. Jack and I never really said "Wow" in a mosque like we did when we stepped into this church.

The view from the Hostel. And what is that in the background?? Could it be a mountain with trees? You have no idea how nice the drive was from Vienna to Mariazell after being in a desert for two weeks.

Our place in Vienna is very nice. I have taken a couple pictures to give you a sense of the place. I have 6 suitemates and share a double with Jack. So there are two doubles, a triple, a kitchen, one bathroom and a living room. It is by far the best apartment IES offers so we really lucked out. It is also nearby the Naschmarkt, the largest open air market in Vienna (think of Pike Place Market). It is probably where I will buy all my fruits and vegetables and cheese and bread. We also just bought some knock off jerseys there today for Rapid Wien. I also saw a Muller jersey but they did not have my size! Maybe they will get it in the next four months. That would be awesome.

Right when you walk in

Kitchen, connected to the bathroom on the left and through the bathroom is our room.

The bathroom, the toilet is in a different room off the entrance

The triple

Our living room

Our room

For the next three weeks we have intensive German. I am in Intermediate II so the professor only speaks German and that is all we are allowed to speak as well. It is a little difficult but should be very helpful in learning German. It is also the smallest class for some reason. We had 15 the first day, but 4 dropped down and 2 went up and then today after our first test 2 more want to drop it.

Okay, I am heading off to be social and continue to make friends and do things the city has to offer while it is so nice out. Next Monday there is a free outside showing of Don Giovanni by the Norwegian National Orchestra and Opera. I am definitely going to that, especially since I studied it last year in Humanities.