In Ireland, I've tried very hard not to come across as too much of a tourist: I decided early on that if I was going to be living in one community for four months, I wanted to be able to blend in and fit in as much as possible for as long as possible. Sure, I still carried my camera (RIP) to class each day in case I saw something noteworthy or out of the usual, but for the most part, in Galway at least, I did my grocery shopping and laundry and topped up my phone whenever it needed more minutes.
In Vienna, though, I am a tourist. I've gotten over my crushing shame at not speaking German, for the most part, and have been filling my days hopping back and forth through the all essential U-Bahn system to most of the highlights in the several guide books my uncle has lent me for the week. Since we do have over a week here, it's been nice to take this all in slowly rather than in a crammed weekend trip like London or Cork, but are still being mindful of the limited time block in this beautiful country. Plans to see Budapest, Prague or Salzburg have all been scrapped for budgetary reasons, but instead we've been able to see loads more of the Viennese top sights: both planned, and accidental.
One of the planned but less touristy attractions of the past several days was a jaunt to see a local improv comedy group, the English Lovers, who perhaps predictably put on their performance in English (!), so that was also a nice treat. We found out about the show through my uncle, who knows the group well and has been seeing their work for the past ten years. There's an improv troupe at my school, which is wonderfully funny and features one of my best friends, so I thought I knew what to expect when I sat down to this show. I was surprised to see a long form act take shape before my eyes, one running story based off a random book that lasted for two hours and somehow tied together perfectly in the end. It was of course funny, but also serious and though provoking and could very well have been a scripted production. If I'd come in clueless halfway through, I wouldn't have known the difference.
A major attraction of travel for me is the notion of freedom, of living out a 'choose your own adventure story' with consequences and uncountable untold paths. It's what's been nice about really living in Vienna comfortably this week, it's been so easy for us to hop on the subway with the unlimited week pass to any of the many attractions. At the oldest zoo in the world, I've seen pandas and a baby elephant, right after touring a royal palace, and I think that on Monday Alexa and I are going to take a bus halfway to a fairytale castle and then hike another half hour to get there almost on a whim.Yesterday, we wanted to get to the beautiful blue Danube River which is actually located a little ways outside the city center, so hopped on the train and kind of guessed which stop we needed. We ended up missing it twice, each time getting off and then on again in the opposite direction. That day, we also made the adult decision to splurge away from our normal bakery sandwich lunch and went to TGIFridays for our first Austrian restaurant and I ate a Caesar salad, because mostly everything here is meat and bread. When I handed the waitress my Bank of Ireland card to pay, we found out that she was from Mayo, and I had a tremendous rush of happiness and home feeling, which is strange but I'm really missing Ireland already- not a good sign for the future. My friend Katarina recently wrote a lot of good thoughts on the subject, which are fairly similar to mine, so check them out!
Despite loving Ireland, it has been nice to get to see the more European style capital city. A huge highlight of the trip so far was yesterday afternoon, while on the way back from sightseeing we ran into a Steinmark festival that we're still not really sure why it was happening, but it was full of people in lederhosen (young and old), music (traditional and really out of place- a guy with dreads and accordion players), food (schnitzel and beer and a whole roast pig) and generally just felt like the big European outdoors party I remember from Spain. This whole week has reminded me a lot of Spain, more than anything else I think.
When I was in Spain, I was sixteen, and too 'joven' to be truly independent, even though it was a critical turning point of independence in my life. Here, I'm able to make choices and change my mind, and even though I'm not going to do it, the notion that I could just pick up tomorrow morning and take a train to Venice is absurd and exciting. I think it's the choices part of all this that is the moment, cause you know, as Dumbledore says, it's the choices who make us who we are. Last night, we went to a showing of the iconic black and white film The Third Man, which is set around old Vienna and featured a lot of the landmarks we've been exploring the past week. One of the big themes of the picture was the struggles to choose between right and wrong, easy and necessary. Thankfully, I'm not grappling with one of those life or death decisions right now, but even when it's something as simple as being nice to the obnoxious cape people selling tickets to Mozart concerts or attempting to give a good name to America, those are still important little choices to make each day. The Hapsburg queens were tied by formalities and political marriages, but in a relatively new change for my age and gender, I'm free to do much about anything. We're lucky to be living in a place where this is true, even if it's not something different and exciting like I'm experiencing now.
So I improv it. I don't know what will come next chapter, but I've got a camera temporarily thanks to someone who is jumping higher in the favorite uncle contest by saving the trip with it. I'm a person who often relies very heavily on plans, and gets anxious when those go awry, but I'm trying to be more comfortable with mistakes or roadblocks and bouncing over them. And it's gotta tie together at the end, no matter what pops up, right?
"The notion that I could just pick up tomorrow morning and take a train to Venice is absurd and exciting."
ReplyDeleteI had that exact thought in a train station in Rome one day about halfway through abroad. I was on my way back to my apartment on a sunny afternoon and I had so much school work to do, and overdue Skype calls and a HUGE pile of laundry waiting for me, that I actually lost my breath for a moment when I realized I could walk away if I wanted to. I was in jeans and good walking shoes, I had my passport, my Kindle, about 50 euro and my credit cards. There was this one glittering moment when I thought, just get on a train to the airport and fly absolutely anywhere. It's easier to have those revelations when you're abroad and in that travel mindset, but I definitely brought that notion back with me. At any time, you can go anywhere. Awesome.