Blogging
From Abroad

It gives me great pleasure to be writing from my new home in Vienna. After a long, albeit luxurious, sleepless night, I managed to get on fast train, transfer to a subway and walk the 4 or 5 blocks to my residence hall. Much to my suprise, the roomate was not around! From what I have seen, he appears to an engineer, Austrian and pretty tidy about his things, all good apsects. I do have a nice view from my room though!

After dropping off my things, I trekked up to campus, and a trek it was! I would say campus is about 2 kilometers away, and a 15-20 minute walk. It is a bit farther than if I were to walk from downtown to Evansdale campuses. After viewing the big, old buildings of campus, I crashed out at noon. I awoke to a phone call from my friend Hannes, a student of BOKU who is going to WVU next fall. We agreed to meet later that night. I met Hannes’s roomate, a nice fella named Thomas and we had a lot to chat about, the differences between Vienna and America.

They both took me on a mellow tour through the University of Vienna campus, then we entered the “Ring”. The Ring is a street that goes around the first district here, or the old town, it is common to take public transportation to the Ring and walk inside to the old sector of town. I gotta say, I am so throughly impressed with the architecture here in Vienna, no where have I found it all so overwhelmingly beautiful. Some of it reminds me of Washington DC, yet it is a very Baroque city. The mighty Stephansdom cathedral was most impressive of all.

Having arrived still 2 days ago, culture shock has shaken me in a way that is difficult to describe with words. I am experiencing a new kind of culture shock. A kind that exceeds my own expectations and tries to draw upon similar, previous situations, but there are none, everything is fresh for me, and I love it.

They say first impressions are everything, mine of Vienna has been so special in so many ways. From the food to the hospitality to the friendliness of the residents. I am trying to take it all in, but am having difficulty not getting caught up in reflection of it all. My first few days here are shaping the beginning of a a once in a lifetime experience that will never be forgotten.