A Collection of Stories
Ok, so this post is going to be all over the place. My first two posts occurred in real-time during the first two weeks of my time here, and it’s been over a month since I arrived. So a lot to catch up on! I’ll break this post up into a series of different topics- so maybe it’ll be a little easier to follow, but we’ll see if that works! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the utter mayhem of my last few weeks!
Willhaben-
The beginning of February was particularly hectic for me. Getting everything I needed for my dorm took a while to complete. There were a few objects that took particularly long to obtain. One was a fan. For context, my room doesn’t have AC or any type of ventilation and can get stuffy at times. Opening the window helps, but I’m afraid to open it up all the way because of the colony of pigeons that lives on my windowsill (there’s no window screen if you’re wondering). I naturally thought that buying a fan to help ventilate the room might solve my issue without having to worry about a rude awakening from a pigeon taking a dump on me. Not so easy. I think I spent at least 20 minutes inside the local hardware store searching for a fan. I found plenty of heaters but absolutely no fans. What hardware store doesn’t have a few fans? Eventually, I asked one of the workers where I could find a fan. They looked at me like I was insane. “It’s winter, why would you need a fan? You’ll have to wait until May to buy one when they’re in season.” That wasn’t exactly the answer I wanted to hear! But, as with most things here, there is always a creative way to find something. Austria has its own Craigslist, called Willhaben (literately translated as “I want to have”). It’s been a lifesaver. I bought both my bikes and my fan from Willhaben.
I bought my racing bike from the owner of a restaurant a few miles away. He seemed pretty successful (judging by the BMW parked in the employee lot). My commuter bike (the one I take to class) couldn’t have been a different experience. I arrived at the meeting point outside the seller's apartment a few minutes late. I’m still getting used to Austrian punctuality, but I’m getting a bit better. Either way, I was running late and texted the seller that I would arrive soon. No response. I waited and waited. Probably 20 more minutes and a few more texts. Finally a response. She said she was busy taking care of her kids and had forgotten about it, but that I could come up to the apartment to meet with her. I entered the apartment building, which was public housing and was greeted with probably the darkest and least well-kempt building I had seen yet in Wien. Paint peeling from the walls, lights out, etc. I knocked on the apartment door and out peaks this woman (the seller). She was carrying a baby in her arms, and I could see at least two more little kids in the back. One of them was crying. She was an immigrant, although based on her German she had lived in Wien for some years. She directed me to the courtyard in the middle of the building where the bike was. It’s a super old bike, but it worked, which is all I need to get to class. It was also only 70 euros, so even better. I brought 100 euros to pay her and expected her to have 30 euros to give back. Nope, I thought wrong. This issue resulted in us walking together to the nearby market and asking the vendors to exchange the 100 for smaller bills. Long story short, I got the bike (and my 30 euros back), and she got 70 in small bills. A pretty crazy experience for me, but eye-opening to a different Viennese lifestyle.
German Course-
As part of my program, I can take two German advanced-level courses. However, the courses started at the beginning of March, which meant I had nothing to do during February. It’s not like me to do nothing, so I registered for a three-week German Course through my university (University of Vienna). The registration email said I should expect a follow-up email with my placement test date sometime during the next week before the course started. Every day I checked my email, waiting for the placement test date. By Friday (only three days before the course started), I eventually gave up and called the language center. The person on the phone practically had a heart attack- “You haven’t taken your placement test yet?”
“No, I haven’t yet” I responded.
“Can you come in 30 minutes to the language center to take it? Or else you can’t take the course.”
I practically ran out of my room and to the subway station. The language center was almost exactly 30 minutes away by subway, and I arrived right on time. Let’s say I was nervous as heck. I had no time at all to prepare and had to take an hour-long test immediately. I did alright, not as good as I wanted because I was nervous but good enough. Once time was up, the person proctoring the exam grabbed my test and a marker. I expected her to say they would send my results to me in an email or maybe that I should wait until she had finished grading. The last thing I expected was for her to pull out a marker and start grading it in front of me. I watched horrified, as the red marker flew across my paper- crossing out everything I had gotten wrong. When she came to the writing portion, she practically tore it apart. Let’s just say my German writing isn’t nearly as good as my comprehension or speaking (or reading for that matter). I still did well enough to put me in the class I wanted to be in, but she told me that there was a chance I might fail based on my writing.
Fortunately, I didn’t end up failing the class. In fact, I was one of the better students in the end! My teacher was fantastic, and I got to meet some interesting classmates. One of them, a guy named German, was a Russian citizen (ironic, right?) escaping Putin’s recent conscription laws. He was terrified of being drafted into the Russian military and fighting to kill Ukrainians, many of whom were his friends. As conscription seemed more likely, he crossed the border into Belarus, Poland, Czechia, and then Austria. He had studied in Wien before Covid, so he re-instated his student visa (not entirely sure how this works for him, but it must somehow). He’s not alone in that. Wien is full of refugees from the war, both Russian and Ukrainian. Fights are common since many Russians here fully support the war but don’t want to die in it (or are from the upper classes and can pay their way out). The Ukrainians here naturally don’t like that. German himself was terrified of getting beat up by Ukrainians once they found out about his nationality.
As an aside, the first time I met Ukrainians here was actually on our ski trip. A Ukrainian couple from Kyiv was enjoying the slopes with us. I was with some friends who spoke Russian at the time, and they talked about where they were from and how long they had been in Austria. At the end, they exchanged the now famous nationalist greeting, “Glory to Ukraine,” “Glory to the Heroes.” Since Austria is so far east and the wealthiest easternmost country in the EU, it’s a significant collecting point for refugees and immigrants across Europe and the Middle East. The war in Ukraine is no exception.
Opfer-
OK, bear with me here. I’m going to dive briefly into political territory here again. As I mentioned before, Austria is a very far-right country. There is a huge emphasis on history here, especially the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. I can’t tell you the number of times people here have mentioned that Austria once controlled all of its surrounding countries and much further. There’s a clear pride in the former Empire and the now-lost glory of Austria. Austrians love to talk about this period of history, but rarely mention the period from 1938-45. The Anschluss (or the annexation of Austria by the Nazis) is a complex historical period. In summary, after WW1 the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved into a series of states. The Austrian government at the time wanted to annex itself to Germany (then the Weimar Republik). The victorious allies explicitly forbid this annexation as part of the Treaty of Versailles. Instead, Austria became a politically fraught republic, with the left and right clashing over power.
Throughout the 20s, Austria prospered, even though political instability continued. The leftwing (Socialists and Communists) were the main parties in Wien. In the countryside, the Catholic right-wing parties held power. The Catholic Church at this time still had immense political power, a leftover from their connection to the Habsburg Monarchy (the former Imperial rulers of Austria). In 1934 the far-right parties, helped by the military, invaded Wien and shelled the public housing projects where the left-wing government and its supporters had fled to. The military and right-wing parties dissolved parliament and created the one-party Austro-Fascist state. Sound familiar? Not so different from Mussolini, Franco, or Hitler. Austro-fascism was based on a strict binding of church and state, hatred of other religions (especially Jewish people), and a strong belief in a unique Austrian identity.
Hitler, who was born in Austria and lived in Wien for many years (and also spoke with an Austrian accent), did not like the Austrian fascists. To him, Austria and Germany should be one connected state. He continually threatened the Austro-fascists with annexation, but they refused to back down. To legitimize their rule, the Austro-fascists proposed a vote to confirm that most Austrians wanted to stay independent. In reality, the fascists rigged the vote so that the only answer was yes. The question the Austro-fascists asked roughly translates as “Do you agree with a free, German, independent, Christian, Austrian state.” Notice how German and Austrian are both mentioned in the question? Not exactly impartial. Scared of a potentially “legitimized” Austrian state, Hitler forced the Austrian government to collapse and quickly invaded right before the vote. Huge crowds of supporters came out to greet him. He kept the Anschluss vote but pushed it back a few weeks to April. The question changed to ask whether the Austrians supported annexation. Somewhere around 99% supposedly agreed. In reality, there probably wasn’t that much active support for annexation. The Nazi Party of Austria never got more than 20-30% of the electorate before the Austro-fascist state. At the same time, both the Church and labor unions supported annexation. Nobody knows, but it’s likely that even if the Anschluss vote had been impartial, Hitler still would have won.
If you're interested in learning more about the Anschluss or Wien in general, the city of Wien has an awesome Wiki site (no, not Wikipedia) with tons of information. https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Anschluss (German version)
https://www-geschichtewiki-wien-gv-at.translate.goog/Anschluss?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp (Google translate to English version)
Why did I just go through that entire short (kinda) summary of the 1930s? Many Austrians believe they were victims of the Nazi regime, not an integral part of its war machine. This, of course, is entirely false. There are memorials all over Wien to the liberation of Austria from the Nazis. Even one of the main Holocaust memorials mentions that only some Austrians participated in the Nazi regime. It’s a complete retelling of history that the far-right parties here love to eat up.
Akademikerball
Sorry about that history lesson. Fortunately, it leads directly into my next section. The Wienerakademikerball. Ball culture is a huge part of Wien, and every union, Church, and social group has a ball at least once a year. The Wienerakademikerball (Vienna Ball for Academics), is a ball sponsored by the far-right FPÖ party. The FPÖ invites many of Europe’s far-right parties to the ball. In response, there is usually a massive counterprotest against the ball. The ball takes place in the former Imperial Palace (how about that for optics) and thousands of left-wing protestors come out to protest against it. Every year it closes off a large part of the city center as thousands of police officers (literally thousands) corral the left-wing protestors and keep them away from the palace. This year the ball took place on the first anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Supposedly not intentional, but who knows? With the city closed off, and most transport closed, I took the opportunity in the last week of February to travel for the first time outside of Austria.
Munich and Regensburg-
So some context here. Why Munich and Regensburg for my first solo trip? A friend from the Illini Cycling club lives in Munich and wants to live in Europe long term. I promised I’d visit her once I was in Europe. The same goes for my German friends in Regensburg. I met them during Spring Break last year in Quebec City and told them I planned to study abroad in Europe. They came to see me and a few friends of mine over the summer in Chicago, and I promised I'd visit them in Regensburg when I came to Europe. The trip was an absolute blast (and whirlwind). I boarded a FlixBus (the super cheap travel option here) to Munich on the 24th of February. The bus was packed. I had the misfortune of sitting next to an extremely annoying Austrian traveling to a party somewhere in Germany. She must’ve called at least ten people during the trip. She just had to describe everything she bought for the party over a call and not over text. Oh, and her roommate couldn’t find her room key too, which was another 20-minute conversation. It was a rather long but uneventful journey.
My first impressions of Munich were not positive. The public transportation was dirty (think L levels of dirty) and ran every 10-12 minutes (better than the L but much, much worse than Wien). The city itself was also dirty and practically overflowing with tourists. After staying in a hostel one night, I completed a whirlwind tour around the city in a day. All of my pictures from that day are below. Enjoy!
In the end, I didn’t mind Munich, but I certainly don’t think it deserves the hype it gets internationally. It was OK. The old city is beautiful and spectacularly reconstructed after the war. Munich did a much better job at preservation than Wiens old city. But the rest of the city was eh at best. Cool, but not my thing, especially for the price of eating out and goods. I can’t for the life of me understand why there are so, so many tourists there. It’s insane (and this was in the off-season too!). Wien’s old town feels touristy (one of the reasons why it’s one of my least favorite parts of the city) but not nearly to the same extent as Munich. I met with my friend at the end of the day, and we went out together with her friends to Hofbrauhaus, the most touristy beerhouse in Munich and world famous for its large beer jugs. It was certainly a different experience than the one in Rosemont! Hofbrauhaus was mobbed with people (there were practically no tables open). The crowd was mostly tourists, but the food and beer were still good, and I’m glad to say I went to the real one. The next morning we woke up early, went to get coffee and pretzels, and walk to the subway station for the train. Let’s just say that my friend hasn't adjusted for punctuality yet. I kept asking her if we had enough time to get to the train station, to which she responded “yeah we’ll be fine.” Eventually, she looked at her watch and said, “Yeah, we might have to run through the station but you should be good.” Emphasis on the should here. I made it to my train to Regensburg with a minute to spare. We had to run through the entire Munich Hauptbahnhof, an absolute maze of corridors and platforms (it’s currently under construction too).
Fortunately, I caught my train to Regensburg and arrived an hour and a half later. The train was late (as is normal with Deutsche Bahn). Deutsche Bahn, the German national train operator, has struggled with timetables and hiring enough drivers ever since Covid. It’s not just a US thing! I didn’t realize it was as bad as it is until a friend who was visiting Regensburg as well had her train delayed 1.5 hours! That’s Amtrak levels of bad!
Regensburg was the complete opposite of Munich. Essentially no tourists at all. At times I felt out of place taking photos of things, especially with my German friends nearby. They found it hilarious that I was taking photos of their old town, which they walk through every day. Regensburg is spectacular, and I’d encourage anyone who travels to that part of Bayern to visit it. As a University town, it has lots of energy, is super fun, and has a fantastic history. It’s an old Roman city, and some ancient ruins can still be seen. It has an unbelievably pretty Cathedral with all original stained glass windows (a rarity in major cities in Germany and Austria, where most cathedrals were bombed during the war). It’s old town is also even larger than Munich's (might not be, but felt like that to me). It’s full of quaint side streets with bars, antique shops, ice cream parlors, etc, without a tourist in sight (except for me!). I was overwhelmed by the hospitality of my German friends, who were generous enough to let me sleep in their apartment for two nights.
It was a weird experience for me, as I had only heard them speak English before in Quebec (since my friends who I went with couldn’t speak German). It was wild to be a part of their large friend group for multiple days. I was overwhelmed with everything being in German. Most of their friends couldn’t speak English too (one of them had even failed English class). It was probably the hardest German comprehension test I’ve had to date! I found the hardest part was understanding the distinct cultural differences between us. For instance, we went to the grocery store to buy food for Pizzabrötchen (Pizza Bread Rolls). I thought it would be pizza materials (marinara sauce, pepperoni, cheese, etc.) on bread. A bit like those awful pizza boats they’d serve for school lunches (if you know, you know). I was very wrong. Pizzabrötchen are rolls or slices of bread covered in this bizarre mixture of German cream cheese (almost a mix between American cream cheese and Greek yogurt) with corn, peppers, more cheese, and mushrooms. Bizarre, and not exactly my thing, but perfect for large groups (we were seven people). The other thing I struggled with was card games. Normally this wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but Bavarians have their own type of playing cards. Throw out everything you think you know about playing cards because the Bavarians decided to mix everything up and create cards that make no freaking sense whatsoever. I think they all thought I was an idiot because no matter what I did, I kept making mistakes!
We also visited the University of Regensburg, where my friends study. It’s hideous. It's a collection of brutalist buildings, which definitely aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. I actually kinda liked it, because it really was a fantastic example of 1960s/70s brutalist architecture, despite how ugly it is. After walking through the University, we watched one of my friend’s handball practices. They warmed up by playing basketball (don’t ask me why). Good God were they awful. I’m not great at basketball by any means, but I think I could’ve crossed up most of her teammates in two seconds. Nobody seemed to know the rules too. They’d pick up the ball for a few steps without dribbling, double dribbling, etc. Thank God they’re a handball team!
Overall the experience was fantastic, and I am so glad I met them last year in Quebec. One of my friends who lives in Frankfurt invited me over too! She says I’ll like it because it’ll remind me of Chicago with all its tall buildings.
The return journey was more eventful than the one to Munich. Even though the trip from Regensburg to Wien is supposed to be shorter, the bus trip took a lot longer. Around 45 minutes outside Regensburg, the cops pulled our bus over. I didn’t know this, but buses that originate from Amsterdam (which ours was) are normally searched by the German police for drugs. And I mean searched. We waited for one hour as they strip-searched about five different passengers and tore apart their bags. They also took about 20 IDs from different passengers until they completed their search. The cops didn’t seem to have much interest in me. I think this is one time where my German last name and being able to speak German definitely come in handy. They spent significantly more time with non-German speakers than the German ones. They didn’t even take my ID. We finally got on our way, but an hour late.
Sorry for the extremely long post, but I think I’ve caught up on practically everything that’s happened over the past few weeks. Classes start this week, so I’ll be a bit more busy coming up, but I’ll try to post a bit more often to avoid long reads like this!
