Staircases and W’s

The one thing my friends and I noticed right away in Vienna is the excessive amount of stairs. They’re everywhere. I don’t know if it’s because the buildings are older or if the Viennese are in much better cardiac shape, but every day involves numerous staircases. I feel like no matter how much beer I drink, or how much strudel I eat, I’m going to come home with much better thighs than with which I arrived. Not a problem though, I’m not complaining about the staircases. Well, maybe a little. I mean, what’s wrong with an elevator now and then?
The other overly excessive thing we’ve noticed in Vienna is the amount of W’s in the German language. And the worst part is, you don’t pronounce the W’s! You pronounce them as V’s! So why can’t we just use a V instead of all these W’s? Someone please tell me.

The weather here is beautiful. It rained on Tuesday, but only in the morning while we had more information sessions and German class, so we still got to enjoy the warm weather after. On Monday, after we registered in the city, took our first German class (HARD), went on a walking tour of Vienna, and went grocery shopping, we went down to a bar in the city center known as 1516. We took the subway with some of the other people in our apartment building. It was just like an American bar, except that the beer was better, and I wasn’t denied alcohol. I think we need to make our way to a beer garden or wine cellar soon to soak up some genuine Viennese culture. Tuesday night my friends and I went out for Chinese food. (Because that makes all the sense in the world…) We used the subway (the U-Bahn) to get to the first district, which is the center of the city, and proceeded to get lost on the – according to MapQuest – “3 minute walk” from the station to the restaurant. We got to explore some tiny side streets though, so the time wasn’t wasted. The Chinese food is better in Chicago and New Orleans, but it wasn’t bad. They’re just a little stingy with the sauces, plus pretty slow with the check. I guess they aren’t in a hurry because people only tip about 5% here. Today (Wednesday) we had our third German class. It’s making a bit more sense. Then we walked around the shopping part of the city and took a long trip to the Swarovski store. The store itself is beautiful, as well as everything in it. I couldn’t help but pick up a few tiny gifts for myself...

Tomorrow we have class at 12:30, so I get to sleep in. Right now, I’m in my friends’ apartment cooking a pizza and studying German. I’ve got a test on Friday and I don’t want to fail it! Hope everyone is doing well. Talk soon!