The Joys of Orientation

May 13, 2011 – sunny and warm

We are on our way to Vienna! I am on the bus as we speak. The countryside is beautiful and I’m sort of listening to the radio which is spitting out rapid German but conducts its music in english. We had a very similar morning to yesterday with the exception that we had to pack everything back up which was kind of a task. I am really excited to meet our house frau and finally be in Vienna. Anna and I (and maybe Amanda) are thinking of hitting up the hofbrow for dinner if Mrs. Hendricks doesn’t suggest we all go out together.

I am now sitting in our apartment, in my twin size bed sandwiched between the wardrobe (at the foot of the bed), wall on the whole right ride and wall behind the headboard. The room is a good size but there is a lot of furniture in it – wardrobe, two twin beds, large dresser, small desk, three cushioned chairs, a table between two of the chairs and a small tv stand, there are also three large lamps and a chandelier hanging from the vaulted ceilings. There are pictures lined up frame to frame eye level across the room so with everything together the room is quite full and busy. Walking into the apartment there are two locks to undo on the wood door and then you walk straight into a small kitchen, almost tripping over the small two person table. After closing the door and immediately to your right there is the bathroom. I borrowed a couple on Anna’s hair ties to keep the shower head attached to its hanger so that we don’t have to hold it above our heads each time like we did at the hotel in Morbish.

On a side note, I must remind you about the very odd toilets, toilet paper, and shower that has been noticed here In Austria. The toilets have a shallow basin and a hole in the front; when you flush, the water races forward and takes all discards with it down the hole. The toilet paper is all odd colors – off white in Morbish, yellow floral at Mrs. Hendricks flat and now light pink floral here in the apartment… Now for the shower, which probably should not have been a surprise, the shower head is detachable so you can wash yourself however, it is not actually tachable (a word I just made up meaning that it was not able to be attached); which is why we made a contraption to keep it attached. Another funny story having to do with the shower, which just happened, is exactly what the Institution leader had used as a reference in how we would need help with something easy-to-do in their culture. Anna went to take a shower before bed and the water was like ice. I asked if she did what we had been instructed to do and she answered yes; she had turned the hot water on all the way (warm then straight to hot) and then began adding cold water to find a comfortable temperature. This however had failed to work. Mrs. Hendricks had informed us that the hot water had not been working and that she had called for maintenance who will be here tomorrow afternoon thank goodness.

Back to today’s events, when we got in to Vienna we went straight into the institute where we put all our suitcases down. Anna, Amanda and I went for a short walk just around the block gaping at statues and the beautiful architecture. We headed back a little before 3 because our host(ess)s were supposed to pick us up from 3-5. We met her and I knew right away she was a talker but also seemed very nice. She helped bring stuff to her tiny red Volvo and gave us a drive around Vienna pointing out every interesting building we’d want to go visit and almost killing us and a few pedestrians in the process. We stopped at the flea/farmers market which was packed with people and vendors where I had my first experience of being whistled at… very interesting – started out with hi from him, a smile and hi back from me then a whistle and “baybe” from him as I continued walking with Anna and Mrs. Hendricks. After the market we went back to her place where we had juice mixed with campaign and little pretzels and skinny Italian breadsticks that come in a box along with the garlic olives she had just bought at the farmers market. This was a two for one first for me. I had my first “alcoholic” drink (I put quotes around alcohol because it was mostly juice and campaign does not have a high alcoholic content by itself) and also ate my first ever full olive (horrible).

We were then showed our apartment and then the subway, which is just a few steps the left of the apartment. When she had gone, Anna and I raced to dinner by taking the subway into the heart of Vienna to make sure we could get to class and to enjoy the Viennese Friday night nightlife. We ended up stopping at Cafeterria, which was quite good and not bad on price. I got a spaghetti dish and Anna got chicken (both with actual names but they go unremembered already) and we both got a coca-cola (mine was a coca-cola light, which means diet coke) but both tasted differently and came in glass bottles. We rode the subway back to our exit, feeling very proud of ourselves for not getting lost, and used our calling cards to phone home. Now I believe it is time for bed since our task tomorrow morning will be to arrive at the institute on time, which no longer feels intimidating.

May 12, 2011 – sunny and warm

Today was our first full day in Austria! It was absolutely beautiful with the sun shining and the weather warm. We woke up in our hotel (Drescher Hotel) and headed down for breakfast at 8:30. (We originally woke up at 6:30 but had no way to tell what time it was so we had to check it on my computer.) After breakfast we had a meeting where we met another professor and the person running the program in Austria. We then had lunch and headed off to our first class – in my case, religion and ethics. The class went for about two and a half hours! It appears that the class is going to be a ton of work, both with reading and writing. Hopefully it will help my GPA but with the workload I am slightly concerned.

After class I ran over to the payphone down the street and tried calling home again. I was able to talk to mom for a couple minutes before running back up to the hotel to catch our ride to dinner. Our ride turned out to be a short tourist looking blue train which we rode through town to the dock where we loaded onto a boat where out dinner was to be served. For dinner we pretty much received a plateful of meat, which is never frowned upon by me. It was a large steak which was quite good and well seasoned but had some fatty areas and also a huge bratwurst. We also had two slices of bread and a small portion of cold slaw (which I didn’t eat). To drink the only beverage that was free was carbonated water so many people got wine/beer and it was funny to watch them slowly get drunk and their volumes steadily increase. The view was lovely but by the end we were chilled and ready to be back.

When we got back it was close to 9 pm and Anna, Amanda and I ran down to Café Sommer where we had heard there was free wi-fi. No sooner had we plopped down outside and connected to the internet that it started to sprinkle. We all ran inside and sat with Allie, Ally and Hailey. Of course when we got inside there was no internet to be found so we ordered our gelato and talked. The gelato was delicious (I had chocolate)! We ran out after paying and thanking the waiter and headed to the church to sit and use the internet which Allie had used earlier. When we got there and went inside the internet was not able to be connected to, it was pitch black (we were not able to find a light switch) and we heard music without seeing one inside so we booked it out and headed to the bank steps across the street where Caleb and Kevin were already connected. I was able to send a couple e-mails before we headed back to the hotel, where I am now writing this journal. Before bed I need to pack up to be ready to head out to Vienna and breakfast, class, and lunch tomorrow where I will finally get to meet our house frau! Goodnight.

May 11, 2011 – sunny and hot

We have officially landed in Europe! I was able to see a sunset, a beautiful sky of stars and a sunrise all in one flight! As we made our decent into Amsterdam it was extremely foggy, so foggy that when our wheels hit the run way it appeared we were still in the clouds. I was semi worried that the pilot would miss the runway; we were not even able to see the large airport building. We felt right at home in the airport with all the Holland signs all over. The only differences were the cute accents and the announcer repeating everything in multiple languages. Also worth noting (since any Hollander will think it’s funny) both our flight attendants on the flight out of Amsterdam were tall and blonde. Haha.

We took off an hour later from Amsterdam toward our final destination, which is where I am writing my journal entry now (in the sky). It is just about 2 am back in GR but it’s just about 8 am here. I am exhausted. I of course couldn’t sleep on the flight because my body wasn’t ready for sleep and with the smooth flight overseas it wouldn’t have made me feel better to sleep. This last leg of the journey is nice – there are hardly any people on the plane other than fellow Hope students. I have officially finished my religion homework (just in time right? Thank goodness for the last minute or nothing would ever get accomplished). 

I am so excited to see Vienna and to get out of the airport of course. The other group that left from GR was not far behind us but they have a longer layover in Amsterdam than we did so they will not be arriving until about 1:30. We should arrive around 8:30 am. There are a couple students who flew out of Chicago that are flying in-between our two flights. The weather looks beautiful and the pilot just announced that the temperature in Vienna is 40°C.

We have arrived at Vienna airport and took a travel bus to Morbish, which is where our orientation will be for three days and two nights. We walked around downtown and took tons of pictures and then took a little longer walk to Hungary where it resembled the U.P. of Michigan with lots of woods. I did get to take a picture with a foot on the Austrian side and the other on the Hungary side which was very cool. I also found out that during travel my body wash got opened and spilled onto a bunch of clothes so I rinsed them all out. Anna and I are still trying to buy an international calling card and cell phone to call home because there is no internet here at the hotel. The hotel is beautiful but the doors are very hard to get closed. I think I might have adjusted to this time zone and am just feeling like it’s vacation right now as I sit on our porch and write.

May 10, 2011

At this exact moment I am mid-flight over the Atlantic Ocean. It is 8:30 pm at home and 2:30 in Amsterdam.  The personal TV located in front of me lets me know that we have traveled 7355 mi and our estimated time of arrival is 5:35 am Amsterdam time. Also something worth noting, or maybe just something that I found interesting, the outside air temperature is -66°C! All this information is provided to me in at least four different languages; what I am guessing to be English, French, German and Dutch. We have been traveling at an altitude of 37,000 feet and the flight so far has been very smooth (thank goodness). This is the largest plane I have ever been on with three separate columns in each row. 

Before I got on the plane I texted a couple people and it was really weird to say goodbye knowing that when I land I won’t be able to just send them a quick text letting them know I have landed safely. I brought my phone to use as an alarm clock and plan on buying a cheap phone over in Vienna that you can load minutes.

I just cleared my memory card and am ready to start snapping pictures of Europe! PS to everyone reading this, I have made it and am safely on the ground waiting to immerse myself in European (more specifically Viennese) culture! Love you all