Day 2: August 2, 2012
German word of the day = kämmen
In a sentence = (this is a stretch, but…) Ich kämmen gern –
I comb well???
So day 1 was effectively a check in day, so not really sure
what there is to write about there. But I arrived in Vienna on Sunday, July 29th
at 0500 on an overnight train from Munich (I left Amsterdam at 0700 to get to
Munich on Saturday). I spent the day walking through the city and ultimately
ending up at a hostel, which brings me to July 30th, when I
couchsurfed with a 22 year-old born and raised Viennese university student for
the night. His name was Markus and he showed me a good deal of the city in a
short period of time. He spoke English very well and was able to give me an
insight into what life is like in Vienna. The people may be perceived as hard
to approach, or unwelcoming, or in a general negative light, however, Markus
and his friends were far from that. He told me that the Viennese are very
relaxed people, but there are a few bad apples that bring the negativity. I was
under the impression that American’s might be looked at as imperialist, snobby,
fat, pushy, annoying, selfish, but he said that they love American’s. And as a
waiter, he gets to speak English and also gets bigger tips, so it was refreshing
to hear that they like us more than I expected!
Since I have been here for 20 something days, I am adjusted
to the time, weather, people, (and crazy people driving), food and drinks. It’s been great so far and Vienna is
beautiful. For the next month, the most challenging aspect will be keeping up
with Professor Stuart when she leads us around. Day 2 and I’m already
struggling.
Today, we met up at 1000 and learned how to get to our
classroom and the Austro-American Institute in Europe. It is located right
across the Opera House, in a prime location. It’s within a few minutes walk
from the Naschmarkt, which is an open air shopping/food eating place (I bought
some sausage there today!).
This is the Opera House that is right next to the classroom (I think)
First impressions of Vienna’s public transportation are that
it is awesome, you can get anywhere without too much hassle. Today, one of the
subway lines wasn’t coming for some reason so we just took the tram instead; it
was no trouble at all.
The Lion Chariot
View from my apartment
