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Jason in Austria
August 30, 2006 (Tuesday)
This is my first journal entry since I have left the U.S.! Where to start...
I survived my flight with all of the connections and the 10 hour layover in London! I first flew from Wichita to Chicago O'Hare. The next flight was to London Heathrow. This was the long one. It took approximately 7 hours and 40 minutes. I took a Boeing 777 with 9 rows of seats. Every seat had a T.V. with many options for radio, movies, flight map (with extensive information about where you where over the Atlantic, how fast the plane was flying, how many miles to London, time in London, current time zone, current time back in Chicago, and numerous views of our flight path). Those reading that have been on a long flight like this may not be as excited, but it is my first time and I have never been able to do so many things while traveling!
>>>Brief Interlude: Martin's sister just left the house. She arrived with her almost two year old little girl about an hour an a half ago and was surprised to find me in the house! Martin (I will explain him later) is at school until 5pm so I have the house to myself. Once I introduced myself she felt much better. This was my first real German test. She doesn't speak the best English so I had to be very clear. Finally, I switched over to German. There was the same amount of understanding between us, but it gave the other one a break from trying to either listen very closely, or attempting to turn thoughts into the other's language. This went well for the most part. I told her that I read some of the little kid books yesterday and they were great practice! She laughed at this as her toddler picked one up and began reading it. So my first actual conversation in German went as expected, but also very exciting! Ever since I arrived to Austria (two days ago) I have been listening very closely when people talk to each other in a very quick and casual German style and I am getting better at catching the jist of what they are saying. It is just so fast! I noticed that when they switch to English when speaking to me, it is about half the speed than when they are speaking German. Anyway, when Martin's sister was speaking to her two-year old, I understood everything! They were simple things like, "Do you want to read this book?", "Here, drink your juice.", "Do you need to go to the Bathroom?", and of course, "No! Don't do that! Come over here and stay by me!". I need to hang around little kids more often. Hmmm, that sounds a little weird.
Ok. Back to the traveling process. So on my way to London I sat by an old British man who was quite skinny and of course liked hot tea. He spoke passionately about how he hates coffee , and tea is the only thing he will drink. I wanted to say "What a shocker!" but I decided that would be rude and I bought into his extreme Britishness. Most people on the plane were British now that I think about it. When I landed in London I felt like I was in a movie. Not because it was London, not that kind of happy romantic comedy. But more like a scary spoof of a romantic comedy. Everyone was speaking in an English accent! It was like 3000 Hugh Grants! Most of these people seemed nice. I didn't try to talk to any of them, but they were nice to each other. It was now morning time (around 11am) and I had been traveling for hours and hours. I left the States at about 6pm and it was now 5am Wichita time. After making some phone calls I went through customs and security, or maybe customs was first? I don't exactly remember. Security was very tight at Heathrow because of the very recent terrorist attempts. I was not allowed to have any liquids obviously in my carry-on. After security I found a bench and took a nap. The nap lasted about two hours until I woke up to screaming Japanese children and the mother scolding them from a distance. I am not sure if they were screaming because of me, or what the deal was. So I decided to get up and do some shopping. I obtained some more British pounds out of the ATM and bought a few double espresso Macchiatos from AMT Coffee (Coffee shop exclusive to United Kingdom). I then bought a t-shirt that had London written in a pinwheel shape on a black background with the red and blue UK flag colors. I love it! After some more walking I found a Starbucks. I was very hungry and they sold sandwiches so I bought an egg sandwich. I also bought a London Starbucks Mug. That makes six! Would have been seven but my Puerto Rico mug was stolen last year. I believe they are from Vancouver, Zurich, Madrid (thanks Amy), Washington D.C., Saint Louis, and now London.
I found out my flight to Vienna was a little delayed because the Pilots where late coming back from Germany. So I left London at about 8:20pm (2:20pm Wichita) and Flew to Vienna. I sat by an Austrian couple that spoke German to each other the entire way. Most of the people on the plane where Austrian by this point, but there was quite a bit of English being spoken. And of course Hugh Grant, who was flying the plane. I felt like someone should do something crazy in the name of love and stop the plane to state their true feelings that they waited until the last minute to talk about. Maybe Renee Julia Roberts would climb up into they cockpit and tell the pilot she really does love him (but after tripping over the controls and the plane accidentally takes off, oh dear!).
Landing in Vienna was spectacular. It was 10:05pm so the entire city was lit up and looking beautiful. We took a trolley to the baggage claim where I had to wait for all four of my bags. By this time none of my bags met the size requirements to be carried on British airways so all had to be checked. I was happy to find out that they all made it through! I met Martin in the Airport and he helped me with my bags to his car. Martin was an exchange student last year to Wichita State University and I met him then. He is a very nice guy and we get along very well. I am staying at his house until Friday because I cannot move into the dorms just yet. I start classes and orientation on Monday at the Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt. When I do move into the dorms I will have my own room and share a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room with Zach (the other exchange student from Wichita State University).
Martin took me shopping in his Mini Cooper yesterday and it was very exciting! We went to the grocery store, the mall, and a few electronic stores to find an outlet adaptor. European electrical outlets are different from American outlets so none of my cords will fit into their outlets. We failed at finding any converters because really, no one needs those in Austria. I should have bought a few in the U.S. When we got back to his house he cooked dinner. It was Wiener Snitzel, rice, and bread. I know mom, not properly combined by any mean, but worth it! It was a true Austrian/German dish. Very good as well. After dinner we ended up reworking the electrical cord to my surge strip and put an old European outlet head on the cord. After training ourselves what each color of wire meant what and making a few snips, we assembled a temporary European style surge strip! It works great too. I can finally charge my laptop! Today I will take more pictures and hopefully update this site a some more. Until next time...
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