May 15: Our First Exploration

Today was our first day out into the city proper, and it was amazing. We met at the institute and on our first day we got told to be quiet by the staff at the Austro-American Institute, so we’re really settling into our roll as American tourists lol. We went to register at some office and tbh I still don’t understand why we had to do that, even though I had it explained to me at least five times. But regardless, the walk to the registration facility was a great experience. We got to see the church in Stephansplatz square during our walk, and it was as dazzling as Dr. Demers said it would be. The entire walk was beautiful though, I couldn’t stop looking up the entire walk.

When we finally got to the place to register, the boys didn’t have our papers. We didn’t realize our host families had them. Since we didn’t have our papers, us four boys got to roam the nearby streets. This is honestly how I think major cities should be explored, I just like to pick a direction and start walking. On our little excursion we found all kinds of interesting locations, we found another church, found a bustling metro station, and we found a area I’d call embassy row. I’m kind of a political nerd so this really interested me. We saw the embassies of Qatar and Japan, to name a few. Sadly, we were on a schedule, and we soon had to meet back with the group. But I shouldn’t complain because our trip had several more interesting tourist spots and helpful stores. Our little tour girl from the institute (whose name eludes me right now :/ ) was very sweet and helpful.

At the end of our tour we ended up at the Naschmarket, a small market area with food and souvenirs. This place brought me back to Rwanda, where shop keeps would be constantly asking you to go to to their stores. Since I had experience, I was much more able to say ‘No, Danke’ and keep walking. But the others were too nice to do this lol. The market was really fun, and we got very good kebabs with lamb for lunch.

After this we got more aquainted with the train system by heading all the way out to the end of the red line and finding some local landmarks nearby. Dr. Demers arranged this so we could learn how to navigate the underground metro system. It was right before this trip that Peyton was kicked by the probably mentally ill woman in the subway, and I feel bad that I wasn’t there to do anything about it (although I doubt I could have done anything at the time.) But the trip on the train was pleasant and we got to go by the Vienna International Centre, which is a beautiful economic and political center on the western bank of the Danube River. I loved the train system in this city, it makes navigating the city so much easier and it is surprisingly clean. A functional and useful metro system is vital to me when deciding on a city to settle down in after I complete my education.