Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Day 3 in Vienna....

Well we are sitting in the airport getting ready to fly back to London. We are here really early because we didn't really have a lot else to do in Vienna and we are tired from all the walking and what not. It's been a busy few days.

So this morning we woke up and checked out of the hostel. We went into central Vienna and walked around for a little bit. We walked to Judenplatz which is where a temple used to be before it was destroyed. In it's place, there is a memorial for all of the Austrian Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. The memorial is a white stone rectangle. Around the sides, it is designed to look like library bookshelves. The books are supposed to represent the lives whose stories can never be re-opened. It was pretty moving to see.

After that we headed back to the underground and went to the Naschmarkt area. On our way, we passed by the Secession Building. The building was made to house art by a group of artists who seceded from the artists union in Vienna. This is where Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Freeze is located. It was something that Steve really wanted to see, and Tom and I did as well since we had seen so much of his work the previous day. Yay museums.

So the Naschmarkt. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a giant market filled with food vendors (and some other vendors as well). We found a good place to sit down and have lunch there which was pretty cool. After that, we headed to a wifi area so we could all register for our Spring Semester classes. Unfortunately, something didn't go through from one of my advisors so I haven't been able to register yet....I'm not very happy about that...but hopefully if I have any problems, he will help me get the classes I need and want since it wasn't my fault. We'll see.

Then we headed to the airport. It was about a 30 minute train ride, and now I'm just sitting in the terminal looking out at the tarmac as planes come and go. As I've been traveling in europe, I always get these moments where it hits me that I'm actually in the place I am. With Paris, Prague and Vienna...there's just that moment where you stand there, look out and say "Wow, I can't believe I'm actually here right now...". Especially by myself. Well not totally by myself, because I'm here with friends. But still, the fact that I'm navigating around foreign cities where I don't speak the language...I'm pretty proud of that. Though I wish we had spent a little more time in Prague, this trip has been an interesting one and one that I'm not sorry I did. Sure there are things that I wish I could have done better, but I still learned a lot and got to see a lot.

All that being said, I'm very ready to go back to London. I'm ready to go back to a more comfortable bed after sleeping in Hostels. Plus I have a bunch of things to look forward to. My friend Gabi is coming to visit since she is studying in Barcelona. My friend Myll might come to visit for a few days and then Damon, the technical director at Muhlenberg, is coming during Thanksgiving. Lots going on.

38 more days to go....wow, I remember when that countdown was for me leaving for London....

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