eins zwei drei

The rest of orientation week went by really fast. Amidst the piles of paper work, often in German, we had a few really interesting speakers and discussions. We learned about the Austrian university system and it's many problems, the Viennese press, Austrian-American relations throughout history, and did a tour of the University of Vienna and the National Library.

On Friday, the last day of orientation, we went on an excursion to Melk to see a beautiful monastery, and then on a boat trip to Durnstein. Friday morning I woke up with a bit of a tickle in my throat, which usually means I'm going to get sick. So being the conscientious kid that I am, I checked the weather in Vienna on my mac dashboard. The high would be 85! Sweet. I put on a thin long sleeved shirt and my new leather jacket. Walking to our meeting point, I got a free pack of Manner Schnitl, Vienna's most delicious wafer hazelnut cookies, from the SPÖ, Austria's socialist party. Elections were being held that Sunday, so apparently this group was resorting to high school SGA election tactics in order to win votes. I took the cookies gladly and enjoyed my crispy and sweet pieces of socialism later on that day. About midway through the 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Melk, I began to get really cold. The sky was medium shade of gray (as usual) and did not look like it would be clearing up any time soon. How would this day ever reach 85 degrees? Not until I was standing in the courtyard at the entrance of the Melk Abbey did I come to the realization that I had been looking at the weather forecast for Vienna, Virginia. My friends on the trip laughed at me... a lot... but one then admitted it had happened to her before.

Melk


Durnstein




So as the day went on it started raining and by the time we reached Durstein at the end of the boat ride I was freezing. While the others hiked up to see the ruins of an ancient church, I did a quick walking tour of the less than 1,000 population town and then ducked into a winery to try the local riesling. My friend Patrick (who doesn't like to walk a lot and often complains that his "dogs are barkin'") joined me. I surprisingly had a really great conversation with him. Surprising because he is a republican who was John McCain's body man for a couple of months, and has a picture of himself protesting Hillary Clinton on his facebook page. I won't go into all the details, but I learned that Republicans from Seattle, Washington and Republicans from the deep south are a different breed all together. Back in Vienna I got some Italian food with my friend Kyle, a dude from UNC, Brian, and this woman named Anna, who is from the US but has been living in Italy and has travelled all over the world. Super interesting lady and she talks alllottt. Back at the DA the first “bar night” had started (we have a bar in the building) and so we went and met some of the other students and drank some Sturm (seasonal early wine- tastes like fizzy juice and I like that). Off to bed after that because I had an early start and long day ahead of me.