Day 25

On Friday morning, I met Anneke, Janaya (another girl in the program), and Andy in the lobby and we walked together to the U6 subway at the Westbahnhof. There I bought a 3-day pass for the transit system and we headed on our way to Alserstrasse, where we hopped in a bus that took us to the Central University office. Once we got there we waited. We were supposed to arrive at 9:30, but wanted badly to be early because there was a whole bunch of free things that we wanted to get.

Ruth, the program director, arrived at around 9:10 and let us in. She showed us a table just flowing with things that past students had left behind. We scoured the mess and took whatever we felt that we might need. I walked away with utensils, a plate, a bowl, a frying pan, laundry detergent, a towel, and a mug! Ruth offered us all coffee, tea, and cake which we accepted graciously. 

Everyone else arrived and we all had our breakfast together. Afterwards we headed into the other room and Ruth led us through the orientation. It took about 2 hours total. Afterwards Michaela arrived and we walked together to the University of Vienna campus so that we could go have lunch in the cafeteria there. We ate to the view of the sun shining on the Votive-church across the street. It was so cool!

Afterwards we toured the University where some of us would be taking classes. The University is the second oldest German university in the world beaten only by the University in Prague. Once our tour was done we headed back to the office and had free time. Stephen, Jesse, and I decided that we’d head back to their dorm to get the things we needed to register for the city of Vienna. Our shot plan ended up taking us a lot longer of a time, because of our lack of knowledge of the public transit system. Eventually we got back to the University right before our city tour was supposed to begin.

Our tour guide showed us around the first district of Vienna, which is HUGE considering that it took us two hours to do the tour. Once of the coolest things that I learned on the tour was about the Hapsburgs who ruled over Vienna for 600 years: the sun never set on their empire, because at the time they controlled what today is Spain, Arizona, and Texas so at anytime if the day, the sun was always shining on their land.

After the tour we headed back to the campus where Ruth helped Stephen, Anneke, and myself register for semester cards for the transit system. This allowed us to pay €75 for an entire semester’s worth of free rides throughout the city whether it be with the U-bahn, the Strassenbahn, or the local trains! Ruth and Michaela led us to the Unibräu (no, not unibrow… this one means University breweries) for dinner. There we met our professor of literature and our theater professor.

I sat in between Charlotte and Paithan. Charlotte and I agreed that we’d both order something different and and switch plates half way through. I ordered lam goulash with polenta. I was really good. Charlotte ordered some sort of surf and turf minus the surf which was also really good. For dessert I had fried apple slices dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Once dinner was done we grouped back at the office to get our stuff ready to go home. Janaya and I headed back together and I was back in my room within 20 minutes. I had just put away my clothes from the day when I heard Paithan’s voice coming from the street. Stephen, Andy, Jesse, and Paithan were coming down the street. I called to them and they said that they were coming to my room. I put on a shirt and then answered the door. They were planning to go out and wanted me to come with them, because they had heard about a cool bar not too far from Haus Salzburg, the dorm that Jesse, Paithan, and Stephen were in.

While I got ready, Jesse went to Janaya’s room to invite her. Once we were all ready we walked over to Haus Salzburg and then started wandering from there. We were pretty lost, but eventually we somehow met up with Daniel, Charlotte, and her boyfriend Max. The guys couldn’t find the specific bar that we had been searching for so we went into random bars looking for free tables. Once bar we went into looked like it was full of 16 year old, which was just unnerving. Then we passed a bar full of partying 30+ year olds. It felt like an adult version of Goldielocks and the Three Bears.

Since we couldn’t find anything Janaya said that she was going home. I went with her. I got back into my room and immediately took my shower and got ready for bed. My poor feet were so sore. I gladly slipped under the covers and went to sleep.