Vienna Week One

Vienna is exactly what I have always pictured Europe to look like. Every street is lined by at least five story buildings that are beautifully decorated. Mixed in are beautiful Cathedrals and churches that are hundreds of years old. Every morning I wake up and can’t believe I am really here.

 Vienna is divided into districts. District 1 being in the center and the higher the number the farther out you are. School is in district 1 and Zac and I live in district 17. So we live pretty far out. We live next to the Vienna Woods. It is just as beautiful as the main city.

Zac and I are becoming quite the pros at public transportation. We take a bus, a tram and the subway (or as they call it over here the U-bahn) to get to school. It takes around 45 minutes.

The first thing we did as a group was go to the Opera. We saw The Magic Flute. When Mozart first wrote this opera, it premiered in Vienna. How cool is that?! We got to see a Mozart opera preformed in the city is premiered.

Next we went to the Schonbrunn Palace. It is massive with some of the most beautiful grounds I have ever seen. We hiked up a hill and the view was amazing, the palace in front with the city sprawling behind it. The other day we went to four different churches. One really neat thing about Vienna is that most of the really old cathedrals and churches are open to the public most days of the week. We first went to St. Stephan’s Cathedral. This one is the most famous. When it was first built it was the tallest building in all of Europe. We then went to a Jesuit church, Dominican church, and last the Votive Cathedral. Each was unique and completely breathe taking. Pictures will never do them justice.

This week we also went to the Gulasch museum. It was actually a restaurant. Gulacsh is usually a meat with a spicy sauce on top with a side of potatoes or dumplings. It is a very traditional Viennese food. It was delicious! I also had a dessert Gulasch. It was pieces of cake with a chocolate sauce. Yes, I am in heaven here.

On Sundays we will probably go to the international ward. We could go the ward we live in but I think I would like to understand the talks. J This past Sunday we actually went to the Institute building. It was Institute graduation so they had a special sacrament meeting. On Monday nights the institute has a very cheap dinner then FHE. Zac and I went and it was really fun to have FHE with a group of people instead of just us.

German is coming very, very slowly. I can count, say my colors and what I am wearing in German. I can even spell in German! It is really fun to learn another language while living in that country. I have only been brave enough to order ice cream in German this far.

I don’t know what I am going to do when I get back to the states. They have the most delicious ice cream and bread over here. I probably ate bread with either Nutella or cheese for almost every dinner and lunch this week.

Being here is amazing and I’m so glad Zac and I decided to do this. It has been a great experience so far. I love learning about another culture. At a glance you don’t think that there is really any difference, but when you look closer there are a lot of differences. It is really good for me to get out of my bubble. I think the biggest adjustment I have had to make is getting used to the fact that most people here don’t use deodorant. Haha! On public transportation it can get pretty smelly especially on a hot afternoon with no air conditioning. I love all the other people in the group. They make it so much fun. I do miss all my family and friends a lot. I’m so glad Zac is with me or else I would be really home sick. J The German word of the week is “Fünf” that is the number five. It is just really fun to say.

P.S. All my pictures are on Facebook. It is really difficult to load pictures on here and Facebook when I have limited access to the internet.