On the train coming home from babysitting today, I got out my Planner to make a “To-Do” list for tomorrow since I don’t have any work. I looked at the date, and it really hit me, “Wow, today is April 4th, and I’m leaving Vienna on May 19th.” I counted it up and have a total of 45 (or 44 depending on if you start by counting today or tomorrow) days left in Vienna with Ben. Over the past few weeks I’ve been so excited about going home to see my family, my friends, Murray and start settling back down to life in the States, I completely overlooked the fact that this city of Wien has been my home for almost 8 months and I’ve gotten in to my own little routine here. I’m really truly going to miss this city and this amazing adventure in my (our) life is almost over. Ben and I spent so long preparing for this trip here, but now that the end is coming near I feel like I’m not really prepared for it. There’s still so much to do and like I said, I’m really going to miss this time in our lives.
Don’t get me wrong, Ben and I have been able to do so many things while here, but there is still a lot that we want to do. Example, we need to do our trip to Prague! We are planning on doing it the first weekend in May, taking a train on May 4th in to Prague then spending the night there, then doing all the sight seeing and shopping on May 5th, taking a late train back to Vienna (Fellow Fulbrighters: if you are interested in joining us for this weekend trip let us know via FB!).
There’s also the things that I don’t think we’ve taken ENOUGH advantage of while here! The cafes, the Heurigens, the down town adventure, and more. So for the next few weeks, I plan on trying to do all these things more and more, even if it means just me going down town to the Hofburg by myself to sit in the park with a Käsekrainer.
For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about what type of things I will be excited for when I get back to the States (mainly food items) and thinking about all the things I will miss, so while they are in my head, here are just a few of the things I’m looking forward to vs. things I’m going to miss:
Can’t wait to have in the States:
- · In’ N’ Out Burger Cheeseburger
- · A Chocolate Milk Shake
- · Buffalo Wings
- · Starbucks-Ok, now I know that it won’t be the same as the “real” coffee here, but I do miss my sweet little treats from there like the White Chocolate Mochas. I now put Starbuucks more in a category for being like a “Milk Shake” or “Dessert” place than a “coffee place”.
- · Availability to a car- I’ve loved the public transit here, don’t get me wrong. But it will be nice to have the freedom of a car again, where I can leave when I want, arrive when I want, park right next to where I need to be, etc.
- · My friends and family
- · Vanilla and Peanut Butter – Aww, The simple pleasures in life! I’ve done some baking while here, and they don’t sell Vanilla extract here the way that we have it in the States. In the States it’s a liquid. Here it’s in sugar form, which obviously is harder to bake with. I miss regular Vanilla for my baking. Also, we have not had peanut butter once since being here. It’s not big here. Although, I have become a huge fan of Nutella, I still can’t wait to get home and have a classic PB & J sandwich.
Austrian things that will be missed:
- · Coffee – I’m going to miss having a Melange with the delicious Julius Mienl coffee
- · Pastries – All of them. The Sacher Torte, Apple Strudel, Chocolate croissants, and more.
- · "Grüß Got" – I LOVE this greeting! Translated it means “God’s Greeting”, which I’ve always found so welcoming. It’s really just used as a “Hello” here, so it’s just a nice way to acknowledge someone’s presence, but still. I love this greeting, and might try to take it back with me to the States.
- · The kids I babysit – I’ve had ups and downs with all of them, but they will all be missed in one way or another.
- · Schnitzel, Berner Wurstel, Käsekrainer and other assorted Viennese food
- · The freedom/Routine – Ben and I have had a lot of flexibility and time to be able to just spend time with each other. We’ve gotten in to a routine where we have our morning coffee together, maybe with some pastries or cereal and play cards, listening to the radio and talking. It’s been nice to have the ability to sit and talk with out feeling a real time constraint. I’ve also loved my little routine when going to work. Walking to the train station, picking up a “Heute” and looking through the articles (Is there anything that I might be able to translate? Anything that looks interesting) Then getting on the train, flipping to the “Spiel” page and doing the Sudoku while traveling to my destination.
- · The opportunities- Yes, we’ve been living in Europe for 8 months, and no we haven’t really been outside of Austria much. It’s been nice just being close to say, Italy, Switzerland or France. We haven’t been able to go unfortunately, but because we’re so close, the opportunity was always there!
- · The walking/Public Transit
- · The Fulbrighters – We’ve been so blessed to have such an amazing group of Fulbrighters here with us and willing to socialize with us! I’m glad we’ve made our little clique, and Ben and I look forward to coming to visit all of you in the States once we get back (Yes, I just invited ourselves to visit you all! Haha).
I’m sure there’s a ton that I’m missing on both lists, but this is what I could think of for now. Well, I’m off the enjoy the beautiful weather, in this beautiful city that I’ve grown so fond of.
