Vienna

I was fascinated by how small the city feels when it’s actually pretty big.  The first reason why I thought the city felt so small is because it is so clean.  You don’t really see garbage cluttering the sidewalks and streets, there isn’t graffiti all over the place like there has been in the other large cities, and we really didn’t see any drunks or homeless people and it’s so surprising given how large of a city Vienna really is.  Another reason why I felt like Vienna feels smaller than it really is is because some of the downtown areas we visited still have the small cobblestone streets.  Some of them are even for pedestrians only, which just isn’t something I am used to seeing in big cities.  One other part of the geography around Vienna was the Wachau Valley.  I’ve never seen such a gorgeous countryside.  It was kind of sad once we crossed the river and got to the side that was affected badly by the flooding.

Wachau Valley

I would say that my favorite academic experience in Vienna would be the Ringstrasse tour.  We got to see some of the most important buildings in the city (such as the Vienna City Hall building and the Parliament building).  Near the City Hall building they had a lot of activities going on for the bike festival, and one of the things we got to see a little bit of was a bike polo match, which was something I hadn’t ever experienced before so it was really interesting.  Even though it wasn’t planned, it was one of my favorite parts of the day just because we got to see a different part of the culture in Vienna than we had seen otherwise.  We also walked through the inner city during our walking tour and it’s always exciting to see the inner parts of the cities we’re visiting and see how they are similar and different from each other. 

City Hall Building

Bike Polo

Hands down, the Wachau Valley wine tour was my favorite extracurricular activity not only in Vienna, but throughout the entire trip so far.  The weather was perfect, and it was such a change of pace that it was very refreshing.  Biking through the Valley was so peaceful… even thought I was with the whole group I felt like I finally had some alone time to think and take time to appreciate this whole trip – all of the people I’ve met and the experiences I’ve had. I’ve always loved wine, but I never have had the chance to do a tasting like this, and so it was exciting and so much fun.  Everyone was in such a good mood.  The little town we stopped in for lunch was adorable, and the food was great too.  After lunch we got to sample handmade chocolates and liqueurs which was also a new and fun experience.  The second winery we went to we all got to sit outside in the shade at picnic tables for the tasting.  It was nice to be around everyone in a more relaxed setting than we were normally in.  on the way back we crossed the Danube in a ferry and then stopped at a small beach for a little bit.  I couldn’t get over how gorgeous the views were in the Valley.  Seeing all of the rows of grape vines and the river and biking through the adorable little villages was so much fun, and so not what I’m used to seeing in the countryside back home. 

I would recommend the gelato stand near the Wiener Staatsoper building to future students.  We ended up in that part of the city pretty often during our stay, and so they will have a lot of access to it.  They give you a generous amount and there was a wide selection of flavors!