If you start to take Vienna - take Vienna
After what feels like forever, I am finally here. Seriously, I've been dreaming of and planning to move to Vienna since I became obsessed with German and Austrian culture (I believe that happened when I was 7....yes I've been a nerd for that long!) But I am here, and it is fabulous :-) Honestly, there really is no place else on earth that I find to be more beautiful or charming than this city. The government buildings look stately and official, yet architecturally magnificent (unlike some of our more stolid government buildings. I believe it was Madeleine Albright who described the State Dept building as looking like the cardboard box in which another, more beautiful building was packaged.) The people are beautiful and friendly (and international...I don't know how many different languages I heard today). There is green space all over, and everywhere there are little surprises to discover (like the ornate Greek Orthodox church situated directly between a pub and a travel agency, or the Wiener Biergarten in the Rathaus Park). I feel so lucky to be here for the next nine months!!!I left Atlanta on the 16th, and I was lucky enough to take a rather indirect route (yay frequent flyer miles!). I first flew to Houston, where I had a 2 mile walk between gates. The next leg of the trip took me to Paris, which was a bit unnerving. The last time I flew through Paris was senior year of high school, when the Marist Chorale spent spring break in Italy. We were making a connection in Paris to Venice, and our plane was a bit late, which meant that we did not make our 2nd flight, and they of course didn't think to hold a plane for a group of 50 (yes FIFTY) people...anyway, as it turned out, I almost missed my plane this time around as well. I had a short layover, and I had to go through 2 security checkpoints. I made it (literally 5 minutes before takeoff!), but one of my bags didn't. Ah well, that gave me a chance to practice my German when I arrived in the Vienna airport. "Entschuldigung, bitte. Mein Koffer ist nicht da." It's good to learn such phrases, I suppose!
Anyway, my roommate Lukas, and his cousin (and my friend) Clemens met me at the airport and took me to the apartment...it is in Josefstadt, which is a very nice district of Vienna, both in terms of location and in "niceness" of the apartment. It is literally a block away from the Rathaus (city hall), and a 15 minute walk from the Staatsoper (opera house). I'm probably 20-30 minutes on foot from Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral). The University of Vienna is just down the street as well, and I think I'm closer to my classroom building than Mulledy is to Stein, if you can believe it :-) The apartment is gorgeous. It is on the top floor of a nice building, and it is very open and airy. There is a roof terrace, wireless internet, 2
bathrooms, and a washer and dryer...how lovely, huh?Here is a photo of my bedroom:
I arrived yesterday at around 12 noon, and by the time we got to the apartment, it was about 1:30. I slept until 6:30, went to dinner, came back, putzed around for a bit, and went to bed about 11pm. I woke up 12 hours later, and I went exploring. I walked around the city for 2 hours, and I was able to get my bearings a little bit. I have oriented myself to a point, and I think after a few weeks, I'll have no problems :-)
I don't technically have anything to do until Wednesday, when Fulbright orientation starts, but tomorrow, I am meeting another TA for coffee, which I'm thrilled about. It will be good to get to know another person here!!!
I guess that is it for now. Please leave me comments or write me emails or skype me....I'd love to hear from you :-)
P.S. The title is a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte...I feel I've used it in a slightly different context than what he originally meant ;-)
posted by Carly Fowler @ 3:33 PM
1 Comments:
Carly it sounds absolutely wonderful! I can't wait to be there with you! I feel as though Napoleon himself might have appreciated the context in which you have empolyed his words. I hope that you have a wonderful time!! Talk to you soon (my next goal of the day is to learn how to "skype."
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