Europe Endless

It feels like only this morning I was in the lower floor of LAX, waving goodbye to my mom and sister and setting off on my first solo sojourn to a foreign country. But it's night now one day later, and I find myself typing this in the lounge of the Westend City Hostel, close to the heart of Wien.

Here's some thoughts I had while waiting for my connecting flight in London-Heathrow. I wrote them in a little notebook which I intend to carry with me throughout the month in order to document my experiences better.

"A few minutes ago I called Westend City Hostel to inform that I wouldn't be coming in until after 18:00. It took me a while to summon up the courage to call, I was nervous of speaking to an Austrian for the first time. Yet I got a 'Yes' after my tense "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" and the call went smoothly after that. The man on the other end said it was no problem, though I wish he had asked for my confirmation number so he'd know who I am. Hopefully when I arrive my bed won't have been canceled." [I ended up having no such problem, though I was mistakenly placed in a room with four middle-aged French women who had asked for their own private quarters. This was soon remedied by the competent and multilingual staff.]

Later, while passing time in Heathrow...

"It's weird to walk into a bookstore, pull a USA travel guide off the shelf, and read about California from the outside."

Had I not had a window seat on the plane to Wien, I might have written more in my notebook then. But as I am a guy who could spend hours just watching scenery go by, I was too distracted and excited to pull it out. Excited, that is, by descending towards the ground and seeing a river winding through farmland. I knew what it was, and immediately "An der schönen blauen Donau" started playing in my head. Eventually the city itself came into view and I tried to figure out where my apartment would be, based on the location of the canal from my perspective in the air. Finally, after so much studying and anticipation, I was seeing Wien for the first time with my own eyes.

(I'm sure you've noticed this, but I am using the German words for "Vienna" and "Austria" in this blog. I have no great reason for doing so other than it's part of my wish to not experience the location like a complete foreigner. This linguistic choice of mine may or may not change later.)

Navigating the airport wasn't much of a problem; English signs and simple pictures were next to the German ones, pointing the way to go. The conductor of the City-Airport-Train that took me to the city center (Wien Mitte) also spoke in both German and English as I watched traditional neighborhoods and modern industrial buildings flash by. The ticket machine for the U-bahn was accomodating to my lack of fluency in German, and finding the right U-bahn train to Westbahnhof was simple enough. I did have some trouble figuring out which street was which upon exiting the Westbahnhof station, but that was solved after I figured out where north was. After checking in at the hostel and relaxing a bit, I decided to explore a bit of the city I had just arrived in.

I set off along Mariahilferstraße, trying to formulate observations along the way. This particular street seemed like a somewhat trendy part of the city, with many colorful neon signs over the clothing stores and restaurants. I encountered two of the würstelstands that supposedly dot the city's streets the way that hot dog stands dot New York. I considered buying some sausage from one, but didn't feel competent enough to place an order in German. The vast majority of the words seen on Mariahilferstraße were unilingual, though I did hear some passerby speak in American English. Speaking of people, I noticed that most of them will wait at a streetcrossing for the signs to turn from red to green; they won't jaywalk, even when the street is a one-lane one-way road with no cars coming. I kind of like this orderliness, this refusal to flaunt a simple law. I shall see if it is prominent throughout the rest of Wien.

There is still so much more to see, and the program has yet to even begin...

Last night in the States

Well, I'm leaving tomorrow. I've been anticipating this day for months, and now it's almost unreal to think that it's actually here. I can only hope that I have everything packed and that I'm prepared for anything. This is my first time flying into a foreign country on my own, so it will be a little scary, but hopefully a good confidence-builder in the end. I fly out of Los Angeles tomorrow afternoon, transfer planes in London (Heathrow) on Saturday, and then should be in a Viennese hostel by the time Saturday is over. The program begins the following morning. If all goes according to plan, my next entry for this blog will be at the Westend City Hostel in Wien, Österreich! Auf Wiedersehen, Vereinigte Staaten!

Pre-departure Thoughts

I shall write more on this later, but at the moment there are so many thoughts going through my head about Vienna. It is so hard to believe that in less than a week I will be spending a whole month of my life there, and possibly other cities too. I am both incredibly excited and a rather nervous. I am trying to learn as much as I can about Wien before I go yet I wonder just how much knowledge I can carry with me. I really want to get to know the place in depth and wholeheartedly hope that I don't leave it with regrets. I can only guess at what my adventures at the crossroads of central Europe will be like. I shall see.