Settling in...

The GR group right after we landed in Germany!

Welcome to the Vienna Opera House!

Me at the Vienna Opera House

Platzkonzert - one of the two ballets we saw this evening

Greetings from Wien!

I slept like a rock last night after finally getting here, but I was still pretty tired throughout the day today - Ingrid (my house frau aka Vienna mom) says it takes one day for every hour, so I have six days before I will be adjusted to the new time zone. Today was the first day of class, and Art & Architecture is going to be interesting and easy - two words I love to hear about a class. Rachel (my roommate) and I take the "U3" subway to class in the mornings - we did it in 25 this morning, but we made it in 18 this evening because we were able to catch right as it arrived. Most Viennese people actually get their lunch from one of the two popular grocery stores in Austria - Billa or Spar - so I had Spar for lunch today and Billa for dinner! Billa is actually in the ground floor of a shopping mall sort of at the bottom of a courtyard - so all the shoppers can see you down there buying your groceries and dinner - it was weird. I had class this morning, hung around the institute in the afternoon for orientation and then our luggage finally came!! I was sooo excited for a change of clothes and my glasses and umbrella (it was raining this morning). Rachel and I got a taxi ride back to our flat, quickly showered and changed, then headed back to the institute to meet up with some friends and go to a ballet at the Vienna Opera House! It was awesome, and standing row was only 2 euro (about 3 dollars)! Now I just need to get packing because we leave shortly after class tomorrow for a weekend trip to HUNGARY!! I am beyond excited about that, and I will have my eyes peeled for Geresy, Hungary and wooden spoons :)

Some random things I've experienced:

• I forgot to mention this before, but as we were waiting in the GR airport, a guy brought his girlfriend to the exact spot they had their first kiss two years before and proposed to her - my mom took a picture of them afterwards
• Gelato = heaven in a cone
• Their is an orangutan at the Vienna Zoo named Mouma, and she paints
• You are allowed to take pictures during the performance at the Vienna Opera House!
• The U3 is the best of the U's in Vienna, my friend rides the U1 and has already seen two people foaming blue at the mouth from meth popsicles; Ingrid says the U1 is full of drunks and drug addicts - I am so glad we don't have to take it.
• clean clothes are amazing, even if they are wrinkled.
• Yogurt parfaits here taste like they are mixed with cream cheese then whipped - it's weird at first, but then tastes really good.

Okay, that's all for now - stay tuned for news from Budapest!

Andi