A Weekend in Vienna

I had a great past few days in Vienna!

On Friday, I took a train just after noon to spend a weekend in Vienna. I met Crash halfway through, and we talked a lot, especially about our upcoming Eurotour in May! We shared notes about our research too! We arrived in at the Wien Meidling train station, and Johnny and Jessie met us shortly thereafter. We began walking around and seeing the city. I hadn’t been there since October, and it was good to see it again at a different time of year! Unfortunately, it started sprinkling and raining a bit later into the afternoon, so Johnny went home, and Jessie took Crash and me to her apartment to meet her host family. She arranged for us to sleep there too for a couple nights. That evening I got to know her host parents better, and we all had a nice conversation throughout the evening. 

The next day I woke up early because I had to take the ACT first thing in the morning. That was actually the main reason I made plans to go to the city. My counselor at Central told me I need to take it at least once this year to get a feel for this test. Jessie and Johnny helped me get to the testing site, the International Christian School of Vienna. As I found out later, this school is with mostly students who have Austrian and American parents and attend this school which uses the American school system. Pretty interesting. Anyway, the exam went pretty well. It was long, but at least now I know what to expect next time I take it. I was done at noon, and then I met Johnny at the subway station to meet up with our other friends. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant and by this time the weather had gotten really nice, so we went to a small park and chilled out for an hour or so. Crash initially wanted to run in the half marathon on Sunday, but it was sold out, so he ran the 4.2km children’s run. It was a fun atmosphere in the late afternoon with the streets blocked off and everything. Once Crash got done, we made a little game plan. Jessie and Crash were going to attend Jessie’s school ball, and I later went home with Johnny because I was very tired from the exam and getting around the big city on crutches. I met Johnny’s twin host sisters (6 years old), and we played a few games together.  The rest of the evening, Johnny and I listen to music, played some computer games, and relaxed. I had a fantastic day!

Park we were at after lunch

The view from Johnny's apartment at sunset

Saturday portion of the marathon

 Sunday was probably the best though! I had the ACT behind me (big relief), so Sunday morning, Crash, Jessie, and I watched the first runners in the marathon and enjoyed the weather in the Stadtpark. At 12, we all went to Johnny’s host family for lunch. He really has a fantastic family! The parents are enthusiastic and the twin sisters make things energetic. After the meal, Crash met up with an exchange student he knew from Washington, so Jessie and I went back to her apartment to gather my things and thank her host family for allowing me to stay for the weekend. We eventually picked up Crash and his friend a while later and visited the Schönbrunn Palace. I was getting ready to leave a bit later, so when we did depart, the 3 said goodbye to me at the train station. When I was on the train, it gave me a chance to reflect a bit and I realized for the first time on my entire exchange, I really don’t want to go home. This experience has been so eye opening so far, I can’t just look forward to it being over. I have to appreciate these final 3 months and make the absolute most of them! I hope I can end this year with some fantastic memories!

Vienna Stadpark

Schloß Schönbrunn