I’m proud to announce that yesterday I successfully took the U-Bahn (subway) from the center of Vienna back to my apartment, BY MYSELF. Independence, here I come – and it’s about time. After my German class, I had about an hour to kill before my first Comparative Austrian and European Youth Cultures class – the teacher won’t be here the first week of class, so we had a make-up one today – and I took the opportunity to walk around a bit. My main purpose for this excursion was to find a café I could go to between classes. Unfortunately, I didn’t find one. I believe two problems hindered this search: First, I only walked about a block past the IES center because I didn’t have much time and because I was FREEZING; Secondly, the area I chose to explore is very touristy and has more expensive restaurants than hole-in-the-wall cafés. Oh well, hopefully I’ll have better luck in a couple of weeks.
On Monday night, my friends and I decided to try out the local Mexican restaurant. It was…well…it wasn’t very Mexican. Aside from the Margaritas, the food seemed a bit lacking in the Mexican aspect. Then I remembered how far away we are from Mexico, and it made a bit more sense. I still haven’t really had any Austrian or German food. I’m not avoiding it, but I’m not seeking it out either. For dinner every night, I have either frozen pizza (73 cents each) or pasta (63 cents a package). I’m both cheap, and not adventurous. When I return from the trip, I’m going to try some of the frozen Austrian meals they have at the grocery store. They may be a bit more expensive, ha, but I suppose a meal with actual vegetables and meat might be a better choice than my pizzas.
Tomorrow afternoon – after the German final – I’m jetting off (or bussing off, but that sounds much less exciting and glamorous) for Prague, Krakow, and Budapest. I’m really excited; it’s going to be a busy 9 days! The only drawback is that each city has it’s own set of currency, so I’m betting I’ll return to Vienna with a whole bunch of coins the currency exchange won’t take from me. Nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to this trip and seeing more of Eastern Europe. I’ve been checking Weather.com avidly, and it seems like the weather is going to be the same as it is here. Which means cold. (Or cold for September, that is.)
I’m procrastinating studying for my German final right now, even though I have to take it in 11 hours. I just can’t seem to get a good grasp on the pronunciation, the spelling, the grammar…you name it. Every time I feel like I understand what’s going on, the teacher opens her mouth and says something to me. And then I fall straight back into my black hole of blankness. I’ve got a couple hundred flash cards sitting in front of me right now, so I guess I better start going through them.
Auf Wiedersehen!
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