One month later...

I've been here in Vienna over a month, and today the thought of maybe, uh, blogging about it like I told myself I would occurred to me. Sorry self, I tend to forget all about the internet while I'm cranked up in explorer mode. Not that I'm fully out of it now, but I think for the time being my need to constantly be out of my room has subsided, at least long enough to record some of my observations about life in Vienna.

What it looks like:

It's beautiful, all of it. In most cities there's a stark divide between slums and pretty places, but I'm almost sure there are no places that can't be called pretty here. And it's a city of more than 2 million. The streets are full of happy little red and white trolley cars zipping along past bakeries as numerous as fast food restaurants would be in America. The buildings on either side stretch unbroken from block to block, with businesses on the ground level and living quarters above them for four or five more stories, all with far more architectural decoration than you'd think necessary for a random city block. The non-random city blocks (i.e., touristy places) are nice too, seeing as a lot of them have the word "imperial" in their description. But those you can see on your own if you just go to a Vienna tour site, like this one. I've been here long enough that some of those places now have stories attached, so I might get around to telling those later.

Sprechen-ing the Deutsch:

I think I can safely claim that my German no longer sucks. It's a flipping miracle really. The day I arrived I was secure in my ability to speak this language, having had only my B+ average classroom instruction and the occasional afternoon coffee with my German classmates. Heh. What a fail that was. When most people spoke to me, I could only stare blankly and repeat "Wie, bitte?" ("Huh?") until we both regressed to sign language or they pulled out their rusty grade school English with corresponding disgusted look. I can now communicate, though genders and appropriate syntax may or may not be correct in every sentence...or most sentences. But no matter, I can speak German with German speakers and they don't (always) immediately switch to English! Yesss.

Here's The Awful German Language, ala Mark Twain, for anybody who hasn't read it. One of my favorite parts:

"See how it looks in print--I translate this from a conversation in one of the best of the German Sunday-school books:

'Gretchen. Wilhelm, where is the turnip?

'Wilhelm. She has gone to the kitchen.

'Gretchen. Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden?

'Wilhelm. It has gone to the opera.'"

Yup. Das (neuter) Mädchen (young girl). I'm one of those, and I'm not sure I like my pronoun. But! I do like that they use the word "the" in front of almost everything, making me "Die (the, fem.) Cynthia." Hehe.

I think I've been indoors too long.; time for some Viennese sunshine. Maybe I'll do this again tomorrow. For now, tschuess.