Settled in Vienna

  Everything has been awesome in Vienna so far. My room mate, Nerea, is from Spain and is an Erasmus student-the European Union student-exchange program.  She introduced me to her other Erasmus friends from Holland, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and they've shown me around and taken me out with them wherever they've gone.  

 The first night I was here we went to the Danube river at sunset which was absolutely gorgeous.  The first two days I've passed by different parts of the Danube by train or wherever, and it is full of people at all hours of the day, just laying out, swimming, relaxing, playing volleyball and whatever else until it gets dark around 9:30 or so. The last two nights we've been watching some of the World Cup games.  Last night we went to a totally packed biergarten to watch Spain against Holland; there are several students from Spain and Holland here so it was definitely high-energy.  All the Erasmus students I've met so far speak at least three languages-their mother tongue, English and German, and perhaps another one.  So there's always back and forth with all different languages, I love it.  It’s been so much fun and I feel like I’ve known them for years, can’t believe I’ve only been here three days.  It’ll be sad when they leave after the semester ends in two weeks but I know when my German classes start in a week I’ll be meeting more people again.  Everyone’s so friendly, open and nice (the Erasmus students and other people that we meet at a restaurant or on the street or train or wherever.)  The city is absolutely gorgeous and there’s so many music festivals and events going on all the time.  In the center of the city there are tons of museums and a huge park, and two of my Erasmus friends (Martin and Anna) walked me through the city the first night, and we walked through: a gay pride festival party in front of the castle-like town hall, a techno concert in a tent in the center park, and open-air square inside the museum of natural history, where people go (especially at night) with their beer and lay on these S-shaped curved benches that are made for people to lay on and simply relax with their friends or significant other.  Everyone is outside at all hours, whether it's in the parks or cafes, all enjoying the gorgeous weather and the city at this time of year.

  Today we’re going to the Danube to have a picnic and everyone’s bringing something, so I’m making All-American peanut butter and jelly sandwiches since no one has ever had one!