Capping Off the Week with a Cold

I honestly cannot believe it has already been a week for me in Vienna. I left Toronto at 6 p.m. on Sunday night and arrived Monday morning in Vienna at 9:00 a.m. Luggage gave me some grief as I had two suitcases, and a carry on, which I could not carry all by myself. In hindsight I may have over-packed a bit, as Vienna is very developed and a lot of things I brought from home I could have easily brought here. I was to take the Schnellbahn (Express Train) and meet my supervisor Cornelia at a subway station. Luckily, some nice Austrians helped me carry my luggage onboard the S-Bahn and off. I met Cornelia relatively successfully, but it was still a struggle for the both of us to carry 2 pieces of almost 50lb luggage up the stairs. Lesson learned for next time.

Cornelia had to jet after, and introduced me to her secretary, Jurgen, who showed me to my apartment. It is in an amazing location (less than 5 minutes off the City Centre), and I am so grateful they are offering this to me for free. The apartment is very large as well, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, 2 living rooms, and a foyer, I barely use the living rooms. (I will upload pictures later) While the location and layout is amazing, I've been having communication issues since there is no phone (landline), nor internet (also no TV). I have since solved these problems by buying a cellphone SIM card and Mobile Internet Datastick so I'm officially settled in well. However, Jurgen advised me that I'm moving out of my current apartment, to one a floor above me, on May 13... which may be another hassle with all my baggage (and now with Groceries added).

This is my first time visiting Europe, Austria, Vienna, and also living on my own. It was a little odd at first, as the apartment was perpetually quiet, and nothing was done for me. If I wanted to eat, I had to cook myself, if I wanted the pile of dishes off the counter, I had to wash them, but this learning curve is something I must go through now as I am approaching 20. Grocery shopping is very easy, there is a supermarket right next to where I work (10 min from the apartment), and though it's small (think a quarter of the size of a typical supermarket back in Canada), it has everything I need. An interesting observation is that dairy is ridiculously affordable here, while fresh produce are pricier than home.

I had two days to settle in (Mon/Tues) and officially commenced my internship on Wednesday. I started with the Institute of Music Sociology at the University of Music and Performing Arts. The workday is relatively light, and I'm working usually from 9/10 a.m. to 3 p.m. So far I have been just translating documents for the IMS, as well as the website, maybe in a few weeks the link I attached will be available in English as well :) I've also been having a few difficulties with the language barrier (my German is FAR from fluent) and though the IMS has been accommodating, I can't blame them for speaking German just naturally and very quickly as well. So far, all I can say is, that I've mastered the art of nodding and saying "Ja" (Yes) though I only picked out a couple of key words/phrases in a sentence, and it's working out okay thus far.

I've kept in touch with family and friends, mostly through email as I only have 2GBs on my Data stick (internet at home), and it's not the most appropriate to email/chat at work. Incoming calls are also free on my cellphone so I've been taking advantage of that as well. I've been sleeping really early just because there's not that much to do in the evening, but I think that's a positive lifestyle change. Since I'm limited on the internet, and have no TV, I've also started relying less on technology, which is also good for me.

Vienna is absolutely gorgeous, and my area (the Innere Stadt, or 1st District) is at the heart of everything, and was named a UNESCO heritage site. What this means is that all the buildings are ornate, preserved from long long ago, and look modern yet historical at the same time. A lot of the tourist attractions like St. Stephan's Cathedral, the Museum of Natural History, Museum of Art History, Parliament, etc. are also right in the district. On a sidenote, Vienna's transit system puts the TTC to shame, it's extremely efficient, and not expensive either, although within the 1st District, I usually just walk to everything.

To cap off this very long first post, I unfortunately caught a cold from somewhere and is almost through an entire tissue box :( I was originally intending to stay home for the weekend to prevent infecting others (inconvenient to constantly blow my nose while away from home too), but in the span of this post, the weather has changed from overcast to sunny, which is very tempting. Either way, I hope this cold goes away soon.

P.S. Some oddities from Vienna:
1) the keyboards switch the keys Y and Z, and my name becomes Beckz Yhou and it's really frustrating while working at the IMS, thank god I have my laptop at home.
2) the transit system here doesn't have any ticket collectors, which means you can essentially ride for free, as long as you don't get caught by a spot-check, to which you can be fined 75 Euros; I personally would rather not take the chance, but I have seen people running as soon as they see the checker coming (you can tell), and someone fined in my short time here already.
3) the cars that park on the side of the street here leave a couple of cms in front and behind. I have no idea how they manage to pull out of their spots unless the entire street leaves.