I didn’t get an article finished last week due to the craziness that is Vienna, so I’ll be combining the last two weeks in this article. I’ve been spending a lot of time absorbing the culture here. In the last two weeks, I have vested almost five museums and attended a church service. I have also done some historical sightseeing, both intentionally with my history class and accidentally while searching for Pokémon. My language courses run from nine to noon, so my afternoons are wide open. It’s hard to believe that my first month has gone by so quickly.

On Friday, I wrapped up my first course with the Internationale Deutsckurse Institute, more commonly known as IKI. While the course was not nearly as grueling as my last few German courses at Wabash, it has been quite helpful. My course helped me to fine tune some aspects of German grammar that have always given me trouble, like adjective endings and mixed prepositions. The true challenge of the course was communicating with the various people in my class.

I had class with people from all over the world, so expressing more complicated ideas was not always possible, especially if one’s native language was not as closely related to German as English is. The speaking portions of class were centered around various aspects of home life, such as family, cooking, and gender equality. It was interesting to see how my daily life contrasted with that of someone from Turkey, Slovakia, or Thailand. I’ve learned just as much about other cultures as I have the German language in the last month. Sadly, most of my classmates were already familiar with quite a few aspects of average American life, and I feel almost guilty about not being able to pass on more knowledge to them.

In addition to the intellectual goals I have set for myself, I’m also trying to find a special spot here in Vienna. The coffeehouse culture in Austria is very important. Unlike the typical Starbucks experience in the U.S., most coffeehouses in Vienna encourage patrons to linger and chat for hours at a time. My history professors explained that a coffeehouse is like a second living room to many Austrians. My fellow BCA students and I meet with our resident director once a week at a different coffee house to explore this idea. Given that I do not particularly care for coffee, I’ve taken this idea a little further and have been trying to find a nice park in which I can read, smoke my pipe, or hunt Pokémon.

While there is a decent park by my apartment building, it is crawling with children who scream for no good reason. As I type this at 8 o’clock on a Sunday, I can still hear them shouting from a block away. I have given up on this park as my safe haven for that reason. I appreciate that Vienna has so many playgrounds, but it does not offer the tranquility I need. There are two parks within walking distance of my school that I frequent more. The larger of the two is excellent for hunting Pokémon, but that tends to become the sole purpose of my visits. When I feel the need to unwind or get some writing done, I head to the smaller of the two parks. It’s a little secluded, shady, and located next to the Schiller monument. As a writer, it sort of resonates with me.

I have also been frequenting museums, as I mentioned earlier. My favorite exhibits were found at Art History Museum and the Albertina Museum. The Art History Museum was founded by Emperor Franz Josef II, and focuses on art from antiquity into the baroque and renaissance era. Most of the exhibits leaned heavily towards sculpture which served as a functional medium in the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman eras in much the same way photography functions today. The Albertina museum featured a fascinating exhibit on modern art from Monet to Picasso. I was able to see one of Monet’s Water Lilies in person. I did not grasp the significance of that initially, but stopped and really looked at the painting when I realized it. This is just a brief summary of what I have been doing, at least in terms of art. I plan on writing a more in-depth article on the collections I saw in the future.

My second language course starts this Monday. I still have not fully comprehended the fact that I’ve been in Vienna for almost a month. There has yet to be any significant culture shock, and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I was nervous about being in a foreign country and left to my own devices in the few weeks before I left, but the transition was quite fluid. Perhaps I’ve gotten used to such transitions, or Perhaps Vienna just suits me. I like to think it’s a little of both.