An American in Vienna

I've been here exactly two weeks - of course, of course, it feels like I've been here for months and months.

For those who don't know, Vienna's a pretty touristy city. I'm not sure if it's because I've lived in New York City my whole life, but the tourism here doesn't bother me much. As Kent, the Student Services Coordinator of IES, told us...we are not tourists - we are residents of Vienna.

The past two weeks have been somewhat hectic - nothing too crazy, though. One day, some students and I went on a nice little bike tour of the Danube. The day before, some friends and I played soccer with a group of creepy Turkish men, then about 30 little kids, then a group of college-age Macedonians. I'll never forget this little 5 or 6-year old boy telling me something like "This is some motherfucking shit." Those kids had heart, tons of energy, and awful English potty-mouths.

Ah, two nights ago history was made here in Vienna. Not like Vienna has enough history to pride itself on, the city's subway system (the U-Bahn) began running all night long. I was under the impression that the trains always stop running at around 1 in the morning during the summers - I was dead wrong. As of two nights ago, the U-Bahn will always be running. That night actually was historic in another way. I spent a few hours with around fifteen or so Viennese 16-year olds. Nice kids. When the maturity level plummeted, I was forced to "pull a Daniel" and got the hell away from them.

Today, I can honestly say I accomplished only one thing. One big thing, though. At around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, I got on the Standing-Room Only Ticket line for the Vienna State Opera. After a few hours of waiting and slowly getting some German homework done, I got my 4 Euro ticket. My first true, full-length opera experience was a 4-hour affair, I suppose each hour cost me a Euro. It was Wagner's Tannhauser. Prettttaaay prettaay prettay pretty good. To think that he wrote that in the 1840s....crazy. There were lots of interesting harmonic and orchestral nuances that I've only heard in Berlioz, from that era at least. During the breaks, I wandered around the beautiful opera house checking out every possible view and marveling at the trombones and rotary valved trumpets in the orchestra pit.


I'm thinkin' about getting one of those I HEART Vienna shirts. Hehe. No, no I would never. I do, however, heart Vienna.