VIENNA, AUSTRIA--This past week, America watched as a new president was sworn into office. Americans abroad were also watching. I had the unique oppurtunity to celebrate with other Americans in Vienna. Danniella, our Housing Coordinator, sent me the link to an Obama innauguration party on a boat in the Danube. Until later in the night, it was strictly for Americans. I gathered most of our small AHA Study Abroad group (17 students) together to celebrate. When we arrived, we wedged ourselves into the large, but absolutely packed boat. They had 3 or 4 projector screens showing the live innaugaration. Hopefully you can imagine the energy of a crowd of a few hundred Americans watching Obama deliver his speech. Clapping, hooting and hollering only seemed appropriate. Probably the coolest part was that even people in our AHA group who voted for McCain wanted to attend.
Austrians are very hopeful about the new administration. It is not uncommon for a conversation with an Austrian to start with them asking where you're from in the US, and then next for them to congradulate you on Obama's presidency. This weekend in Salzburg (which I will write about next), I had a short, yet unexpected conversation about Obama/Bush/US politics with a man who I had simply asked to take our picture. It seems the rest of the world is relieved with the change and optimistically waiting to see if Obama's promises will be delivered.
It has been a good experience trying to intergrate into the Viennese culture. The easy things to adjust to: fresh markets, bakeries on every corner and in every subway station, the fast and easy public transportation. Interesting things to adjust to: strange toilets (our Freud teacher calls it an "inspection shelf," don't worry if you don't understand, you may not want to); seperate rooms for shower and toilet; strictly paying with cash; not leaving much of a tip (if any) at restaurants; no clothes dryers. Difficult things to adjust to: UNFRIENDLY SERVICE PEOPLE (this is a huge change for Americans); fast-paced supermarket check-out lines; not buying in bulk. I should have written about this earlier, because I think I have already adjusted to some things too much already for me to remember them.
Also this week our group took a tour of the United Nations headquarters in Vienna. It is one of the four main UN headquarters in the world (New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi). We had a guided tour, followed by two speakers who talked to us about different functions of the UN. One of the speakers was a woman from the states who worked for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). She walked us through the control of atomic energy and weapons from it's conception to now. We were able to discuss the situation with WMD's in Iraq, the problems with North Korea and the recent bizzar happenings between Syria and Isreal. Isreal had bombed a nuclear facility in Syria, but for a while neither Syria nor Isreal were talking about it. Syria wanted to keep their unautorized nuclear facilities "hush-hush."
After getting past the home-sickness stage, it has been really rewarding to observe Austrian culture. One of my favorite things is to speak German to strangers and not have difficulty communicating. This doesn't always work, but when it does it is a great feeling. Next will be to get Flavia and Philipp (my hosts/roommates) to speak more German with me. If I'm able to have flowing conversations with locals in their "Muttersprache" (first language), then I will be able to learn even more.
--->I will write about my trip to Salzburg, Austria very soon; it was probably the most beautiful place I have visited in Europe!
