Impressions

I don't know if living here for nearly a month makes me an expert on anything....but I'll assume I am. Austrians are very interesting people. Here are several things that I've noticed since arriving...

1) Internal Clocks
People in Austria get up early and go to bed early. Zum Beispiel (for example) every store here opens generally at or before 9am. Those that are more privately owned (the "mom and pop" stores) usually close around 12. Some of the more adventerous stores open back up at 2, using the break between 12-2 as a lunch, and then go until 5, at the latest. This is not how my body works. I get up late and go to bed late, but the Austrians are completely different than that. I feel like a normal waking hour for them is near 6-7am....oy!

2) Work to live
I think that the Austrians are allergic to work. I don't mean any of this in a bad way, it is just that they seem like they would rather be outside, riding a bike, or drinking coffee than being couped up at this job of theres. Of course they are helpful and friendly, but they would much rather not work and get paid for doing so.

3) Coffee and Cigarettes
These two things are everywhere. Billions upon millions of coffeeshops line the streets in the center of the city, as well as near the uni. People usually have a coffee in the morning, then a coffee near 3-4pm, and then maybe a coffee at 10pm, if they are going out at night. Usually a cigarette goes with each of them. Zum Beispiel: I was getting breakfast this morning during the break of my German intensive course, and Clemens, an Austrian living in Uniheim, came in. We were talking and he asked me about my breakfast (jogurt, meat, cheese, and a semmel). After I showed him, I asked him what he was eating and he responded that his breakfast was "coffee and a cigarette."

4) Lost in Translation
This one is only for venting. Sometimes people ask me something in German, and I don't here them so I say "Bitte?" (like what?) and then they say the question again, only this time in English. This is annoying for me, because I'm trying to learn German here, and I guess these people assume I don't know German. It just gets annoying because when I hear what they say in English, I could just have easily understood it in German.

5) The Outdoors
People taking being outside very seriously around here. When you see people around here walking, they usually have these walking sticks. They look like ski poles. Well, that is what I thought when I first saw them. There are sidewalks everywhere, dirt paths, biking paths, etc. I can understand why people would want to be outside too. Everywhere you look it is gorgeous. The alps lay in the background, behind a gray blue mist. There are corn fields and plots of land that go on for miles. Everything is pretty, so it makes since why everyone would want to be outside.

6) Beer für Alles!
Everyone drinks beer. They aren't ashamed of it, either. It isn't something that is hidden in the background and people look upon it disdainfully. There are, again, millions of pubs in town and near the uni, many of which are connected directly with the uni. It isn't like at UNCG where they wouldn't even think of sponsoring a pub or something like that. Zum Beispiel, when we, the erasmus students, went to Ljubljana this past weekend, we had to pay 75 Euros. Part of this price was to pay for alcohol, and the informational email sent around said so. Whoa.

So those are some things I've seen.