Tag Archives: Vienna

Weekend Travels: Copenhagen and Vienna

The best part of Europe to an American is that it’s so small! Compared to my home state of Pennsylvania, the distance between one city to another is nothing. My central location in Maastricht is convenient for weekend trips, and I’m definitely taking advantage of our university’s scheduled three day weekend!
Last weekend I went to Copenhagen. I had never been to Denmark or any Scandinavian country, but I found a train that let me fall asleep in Cologne and wake up in Copenhagen, so I said “why not?” It was such a fun city — museums displaying full sized Viking boats, an amusement park in the middle of town, an autonomous hippy state, and the best bread I’ve ever tasted in my life. Seriously, they don’t process their wheat before they made bread, so it’s chewy and filling and full of fiber. 
I took a bike tour to see as much of the city as possible, and I ended up really enjoying the hippy paradise of Christiana. In the 70’s, a group of squatters took over an abandoned military baraks. The police decided to look the other way, and soon the tiny area had turned into a full fledged autonomous state. They’ve built their own houses and buildings in addition to the ones they took over, and it has a booming economy independent of Danish rule. They have hair salons, restaurants, doctors offices, basically every need is met. The town is ruled by direct democracy and all decisions are made by consensus. The coolest part to me is that they have strict policy on development, and are therefore the most biodiverse area of Copenhagen.
I also took a day trip to Sweden, but on my way I visited the castle of a town called Helsingoer. In English, that would be pronounced “Elsinore.” Any literary nerds understand why the castle was so exciting yet? It’s the castle that Shakespeare set “Hamlet” in! I’m a huge fan of Shakespeare and I was an assistant director for that play a couple summers ago, so I geeked out trying to figure out which rooms each scene might have taken place in. I was disappointed to find out that Hamlet was not a real person; rather, he was based on Danish legend. Therefore no Hamlet, Polonius, or Gertrude ever actually occupied the castle. It was still the highlight of my trip though!
This weekend I’m staying in Vienna! I have a good friend from the city and so I’ve heard stories about how beautiful it is. I can now confirm the truth of that statement, and also add that Vienna is one of the best cities to visit in terms of food, art, and culture. I’ve eaten the famous “Sacher torte” which is chocolate cake with apricot jam topped with chocolate ganache, and drunk their cappuccino-esque “melange” at one of the famous Viennese cafes. The town is easy to walk through and the architectural opulence of the Habsburg empire dominates the city. Every building is grand and ornate, even outside of the tourist areas.
I realize I’ve been blogging mostly about my trips rather than the classes I’ve been taking, so my next update will talk more about Maastricht itself and my “Politics of the European Integration” course. I’m going to go continue to enjoy Vienna for now though!

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

It has begun!

     Here I am, in Vienna! It is hard to believe that it has already been two full weeks. So much has happened and yet somehow, it seems like I have done so little. It is quite a strange sensation. I just know that I have a LOT more to do and see and experience here.
     Okay, so what have I been up to these last two weeks? Well, firstly, I spent my initial weekend in Vienna in a tiny little town nestled up in the mountains, known as Mariazelle. There we (the IES group) received our several orientations, met with most of the head individuals in the program here in Vienna, became introduced to each other and managed to simultaneously extract a little sampling of Austrian culture from the town. It snowed the entire duration of our stay, adding a certain eerie or gothic feeling to the scene. The main attraction of this city, the founding of which has been traced back to approximately 1150 AD, is the Basilica in the town center. Nearly a million pilgrims per year are recorded visiting the site, making this one of the most visited holy sites in all of Europe.
     Aside from the Basilica, the town was very low key, locals going to the town ski spot a few minutes out, but otherwise, it was a very sleepy sort of town. I have not experiences quite this atmosphere before.
     After our weekend excursion and break in, we drove into Vienna and dispersed, by way of taxi, to our assigned housing. If you are ever in Vienna and can avoid it, do not use taxi. They are quite expensive (as I suspect is the case in most of the world, but have you ever paid in Euro?) This is a fact that I constantly overlook when buying anything here. The simple fact that the Euro –> US dollar is not equal. The items with low price tags are not necessarily good deals. The matter becomes further complicated by the measuring method here. Have you ever bought meat in grams? Or dekagrams? Or drinks in terms of Euro per liter?
     I digress. My first week consisted mainly of trying to figure out the public transportation system, which is heavily relied upon. It takes me 35 minutes (on a good day) to get to school. I walk 5 minutes to hop onto the Stra�enbahn 43. Ride that about 15 minutes then hop onto the U2 which is about a 5 minute walk to and another 5 minute ride. Then I walk another 5 minutes or so to get to the school in the first district (or ‘Bezirk’ as it is called here). The transportation system is quite extensive, as you can imagine, I have gotten lost several times. Many of those times resulting in very extended (originally short) trips across Vienna. 🙂 Good times.
     The most interesting event so far has been the Austrian ball (TU Ball) that I attended just this past Thursday night. It was unlike anything I have yet experienced. I will write more about this and post some videos (if I can figure out how) on here soon!

Closing thought: I have only been here two weeks, but already I feel that I am being stretched as an individual. I have begun broadening horizons in ways I had not imagined. I am excited, but also nervous anticipating how I may continue to grow personally and in what ways I may come to better understand of myself and the world I live in. (and yes, I realize how cliche this sounds, but it is the real McCoy. Ask me sometime where this saying came from if interested)


Location: Vienna, Austria