Reorienting in Vienna

In an effort to retain my viewership levels, continue appeasing my immediate family, and because I finished my homework a couple hours before planned, I’m putting up my second post of the week.

A couple of these are a little blurry, sorry.  But this is
our double.

Vienna is a wonderful place.  For starters, the public transportation all runs on time, and it is clean.  But that’s just the beginning.  I’m living on a street named Dürergasse - which happens to be about a 90 second walk to the closest U-bahn (metro) station.  This was kind of luck of the draw, but Dürergasse also has plenty of other benefits.  It is the closest student housing to the IES Abroad center in Vienna where I will be taking all of my classes.  There is also an open-air market, the Nashmarkt, right down the street (actually between my apartment and IES).  It has everything from organic foods to pastries to sturm to football (soccer) jerseys to huge watermelons.  It’s great, but also bad because it could just be a drain for my money.

Monday started our German intensive class.  For the next three weeks I have class from 12:30 – 3:30 (with a short break).  So far it hasn’t been that bad.  We have about three pages of homework a night, and most of it is just drilling to try and get some patterns established.  I, having never taken German before, am in the Elementary I level, but Patrick is in the Intermediate II and a couple of my friends here are in the Advanced levels, so if I ever don’t get something help isn’t far away.  As of now though, it’s all coming fairly easily.  3 hours is just a long time to try and sit and comprehend a language you don’t know at all (though it helps to do it in a country where that is all you hear anyway – definitely shows how helpful integration into a society where you have to deal with the language really is.

The main hall.  Straight is the common room and slightly left is the door
to the triple.

Yesterday Pat and I walked through the Naschmarkt on our way home from class and ended up buying two knock-off jerseys of the football team here – Rapid Wien.  At 50 Euros cheaper than the real ones, they’re certainly worth it.  Also, tonight Rapid Wien plays Aston Villa (an English Premier League team) and if they win they advance to the European Cup.  They’re big underdogs, but it was good timing for us to buy something that we can wear tonight when we go watch the game.

Our kitchen: complete with table, chairs, oven, stove, toaster, microwave,
coffee pot, two refrigerators, a freezer, and plenty of utensils.

 Most of the pictures that are up are of my apartment.  I think I gave a description last time, but to summarize: I live with 6 suitemates.  Pat and I share a double on the far right wing of our apartment.  It is connected to the bathroom that has a shower and a washing machine (but no toilet), which is in turn connected to the kitchen (which is kind of nice because ours is the only bedroom connected to anything.  As soon as you walk in the door you may turn right into the kitchen, proceed straight into the common room, veer slightly left into the triple, or take a left into the other double.  The common room has three couches, a tv, and cable.  The triple has three pretty awkwardly placed beds and a table and desk, and to be honest I haven’t set foot in the other double.

Great face, Grumpy.

 It’s a great place to live.  And I’m probably going to be really upset when I have to move back into a dorm room at Davidson.  The last picture is of Roger and Allison.  This was about the 5^th try at the picture, and Roger messed it up again.  So I put it up because I’m mad he wouldn’t actually take a real picture.  And now it’s up for the world to see. So there.

Saturday we have a bus tour of Vienna, and next Thursday we’re going on a biking tour.  Not sure how often I’ll be updating, but hopefully if I get some more pics it will make me more inclined and I’ll have more of a reason to do it?  I guess we’ll see.