I guess I should start with Wednesday, November 17. Our roommate E had two friends who were in town, so they spent the night on our futon, and Tad’s sister Taryn also came into town. Tad was so kind as to let her sleep in his bed while he slept either on a couch or on a set of cushions he acquired from somewhere. At any rate, before any Davidson people had even showed up we already had three visitors. On Thursday, the 18th Patrick’s girlfriend Katie Lovett (who is studying in Edinburgh) joined us. It was great to see yet another Davidson face that I hadn’t seen in a long time (though I do often interrupt their online conversations, so I supposed I talk to her then). Thursday evening was pretty relaxing and uneventful, so far as I remember, but it was also 3 weeks ago. Also, earlier in the week I attended a concert of IES students on my program. They are absolutely unbelievable, and it was so cool to see them perform.
Friday (the 19th) Laney Schenk arrived in Vienna. Laney was one of the first people I met and became friends with at Davidson. She is studying in Florence for the semester. She arrived reasonably late in the evening, so I met her at the airport. We went home and dropped her stuff off and decided just to go ahead and meet up with some friends and go out. Our friend who lives upstairs, Carli Smith, also had guest in town, so the four Davidson people in our apartment (Pat, Katie, Laney, and myself) plus David, Evan, Tad, and his sister joined Carli and her friends and attempted to show all of our guests the Vienna nightlife.
The next day was mostly spent touring around Vienna. Pat and Katie had a reasonably set itinerary (Laney and I did not) but we met up with the every once in a while. Laney and I went to café Sperl and had brunch, and then proceeded to walk around and tour the city for a while. We made a stop around dinner time at Schonnbrun for dinner at the Christmas market, and after spending a little bit of time there we reboarded the Ubahn and headed out to the football stadium where we saw a Rapid game. I’m not fully sure how much Laney wanted to go to a game or how much she enjoyed it, but Rapid won 5-0, so it was really fun for me!
After the game we went home and rested for a bit. Eventually Laney, David, Tad, Taryn, and myself all left to meet up with our friend Abbey who was celebrating her birthday with her parents. Pat and Katie were going to make more food and then join up with us, but I think a long day had worn them out, so they never made it out of the apartment. We pretty much hung out with a bunch of people until we finally headed home. It has been super, super nice to have the Ubahn running 24 hours on the weekend. We never have to worry about how far away from our apartment we’re going because we can always get back no matter what. Anyway, we had another good night out with a bunch of recent and not so recent friends.
Sunday was another slower day of touring, which meant heading to the Belvedere for the second week in a row on a Sunday. We went to the Upper part this time so she could sleep the Klimts, etc. I had a little bit of work to do as well, so we had a pretty relaxing day. Monday we had sachertorte (a kind of chocolate cake with a thin fruity layer in the middle) at the Hotel Sacher, and then I dropped Laney off at the airport. I believe Katie actually left on Sunday.
One interesting thing I became aware of while having visitors late in the semester is that I’ve really attempted to become Viennese. I get kind of embarrassed when I walk around and someone is talking very loud. I don’t like it when people stand on the wrong side of the escalator. And perhaps most interesting, when my guest is frustrated with some aspect of the culture, I stick up for Vienna and feel mildly offended. For example, Quinn (who had visited the weekend before) was upset when a few people in line butted ahead of him and took his spot. Admittedly, this frustrated me at first as well, until I figured out that the culture here mandates that you advocate yourself. Whether it is standing in line for icecream or hailing a cab, you have to be proactive. When a server looks up and says, “may I help you,” it pretty much just means, “Who is going to order first?” At any rate, it was interesting to realize that I felt a little defensive when Quinn was talking about how he didn’t like it and it seemed remarkably disorderly.
At any rate, it was great to see both Laney and Katie. Each visit only makes me more excited to be back at home and at Davidson. I’m sure both are going to be amazing and I can’t wait to see everyone at home!
Pictures:
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| Schonnbrun Palace lit up at night |
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| We went to a Rapid game. They won 5-0! |
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| Laney and I. We usually take good pictures together. |
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| The gardens at the Belvedere Palace |
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| Laney in front of the gardens. |
I'm sorry I was loud AND stood on the wrong side of the escalator! :)
ReplyDeletesee you soon. love you. xoxo -mom