I've Arrived! And First Observations...

I arrived in Sankt Pölten this past Wednesday after 24 hours of traveling. Luckily, the journey to St. Pölten, while long, was pretty smooth. I had to fly from Minnesota, to Chicago, to Düsseldorf and then finally Munich. And then take a train from Munich to St. Pölten. I was worried I was going to miss the flight to Munich, as the flight out of Chicago was delayed. Fortunately, I (and my luggage) had plenty of time to make the flight.

My landlord and landlady greeted me at the train station and drove me to my new apartment. I was able to visit the apartment last Spring, but had forgotten what the room I had chosen looked like. It's actually very cute! In my room were a Milka chocolate bar, a little American flag and also even a Minnesota flag!

Some pictures that I took before flinging my stuff everywhere:

Bedside table and pictures.

My bed before I messed it up.

TV and part of the wardrobe.

Couch/pull out bed.

And finally my desk! Oh, with a little American flag and a Minnesota one!

Some observations I've had over the past few days:

• St. Pölten is huge! I mean, in comparison to where I lived last year. I actually feel a little overwhelmed, which I never thought I would say. People here seem friendly, but not quite as patient with my bad German as they were in Bischofshofen.
• Shops/restaurants I've noticed in the past few days: McDonald's, Subway, an Indian restaurant, (and it smelled really good!) bubble tea shop, Mango outlet store, a cupcake shop and an all vegetarian restaurant. I'm sure I will discover more as I continue exploring.
• St. Pölten seems hipper than Salzburg does to me. Salzburg is a bigger city, but I feel that it's stuck in the past. For example, the cafes feel old, with the women serving cake while wearing maid's uniforms and the men serving the drinks in black tie. I don't get that feeling at all here. It feels modern, but at the same time, it's not Vienna, so it's also not trying too hard. I like it so far!
• I got lazy over the summer and I forgot how much walking I did in Austria!
• I visited my main school and it's huge! Much bigger than my schools in Bischofshofen! 
• Jet lag is terrible. It's even worse than I remember last year. Speaking of jet lag, it's a bad idea to try to run any errands the day after you arrive.
• And finally, apparently I look either look like I speak English or like I know what's going on, because I've had a lot of people come up to me in Munich and ask me for help/directions. Luckily for these people, both statements are true!

And a couple more pictures:

St. Hippolyta, the town is named after him.

Yeah, I took a picture of a slug. It's been raining a lot, so I see a ton of them around. It's been a while since I've seen them!

Luggage and Other Stories

After a whirlwind few days of packing, I left for Austria on Saturday. In an attempt to save money, I booked a flight on Icelandair to Frankfurt and then would take the train to Bischofshofen. Icelandair luckily allowed two checked bags, which of course I took advantage of, but would come to regret later.

The adventure started at the airport when I was informed that one of my checked bags was too big. After a little shuffling around, everything was good, though I probably reached the limit of my carry on luggage, with my duffel bag, backpack and purse. I did tear up a little at security, as this will be the longest I’ve been away from home, but after I made it through security, I was fine.

I have a hard time sleeping on planes, but was so exhausted that I hoped I would fall asleep. Unfortunately, as I was about to fall asleep, the plane hit some turbulence. I don’t really like to fly, and I know this is ridiculous, because flying is safer than driving a car, but turbulence really makes me nervous and of course I could not sleep after that.

Icelandair always routes through Reykjavik. Despite what a man said on the plane, I’m pretty sure the Reykjavik airport is not the world’s smallest airport. We arrived in Reykjavik around 6:30 a.m. Reykjavik time. I barely spent any time in the airport and was on another flight to Frankfurt. Most of the people also on this flight were speaking German. At this point, it really hit me that I’m leaving for 9 months.

When I got off in Frankfurt, I had to fetch my bags, which were both massive and weighed a lot and find the train station. While retrieving my bags, a German man helped me and laughed at how many bags I had. I was sweating from all the effort of trying to wrangle my bags. I was also nervous about catching my train. Frankfurt is one of the few European cities with a train station at the airport. This made it easy to catch the train from the airport and not have to go into the city. I first had to take a bus to the train station. Waiting at the bus stop was a massive horde of people also hoping to catch the bus. I wheedled my way onto the bus with my five bags and held on precariously. There was a woman with a baby in a stroller behind me and every time the bus lurched, I was worried I would fall on the baby.  

Once I was in the Frankfurt train station, finding the right track was pretty self explanatory, but getting on the train was not! I want to thank all the random people that I met on Sunday that helped me with my bags, because it was not an easy task! I almost fell off the train while trying to get on with my luggage. Trying to maneuver down the aisle was difficult as well, and I had to cram my luggage in and hope for the best. I found my seat and was sweating like crazy, which seemed to be the theme of the day. I've been to Europe several times and have noticed that Europeans don't seem to sweat. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this? I feel like I'm sweating like crazy and Europeans just look like so cool and collected.

The train ride to Munich became notorious in my mind. Shortly after I got on the train, I heard a man yelling in English and generally being obnoxious, even though others were telling him to calm down. Another rider finally got up and started talking to him and the (possibly drunk) man told the “mediator” to hit him and argued. They made him get off at the next station, but not before he could tell a woman sitting near him that she was a “ladyboy.”

I made my connection in Munich, which was very crowded, but a little easier to go from one platform to the next. On my second try of getting my luggage on and off the train, I was more successful and it was easier because of my earlier practice. I also didn’t have to maneuver down the aisle this time, because I had planned on it a little better. I was so exhausted by this point, that I could barely stay awake on the train and kept dozing off. At one point, I could see the Alps in the distance, which excited me, but darkness came quickly and it was hard to see anything.

I was nervous about getting off at the correct stop, so I got up too soon and waited near the door with all my luggage. The granddaughter of my landlady was waiting for me at the train station and helped me with my luggage and she drove me to my new apartment. I had seen pictures, which I posted here, but it’s even nicer in person. Plus there were sheets on the bed and towels in the bathroom and everything was provided for me! I was pleasantly surprised by the generosity of the family and how nice my apartment was.

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of my apartment or Bischofshofen yet. I’m still unpacking and I’ve been too exhausted to take any pictures. More updates to come later!

Preparation Part 2: Housing

I recently learned that my Austrian Residency Permit was approved and now all I need to do is go to Austria, register with the authorities and pick up my permit. This all sounds very easy, but based on stories I've heard, it could turn into a nightmare. I'll see when I get there!

In the meantime, I had to find housing in Austria. I plan on living in the small village where my schools are located, but unfortunately, this makes it difficult to find housing on my own. I contacted my teachers and asked them for help. The teacher at my main school told me that he knew of an apartment where a former TA lived, but would not know until September if it was free. One of the other schools is a tourism school, and have students coming from all over the country, even adults, so they have a list of housing in the area. I was happy to get the list, but then I saw that only phone numbers were provided. I can speak German, but it's not great, and the prospect of having to call a stranger and speak to them in Germany AND understand them was terrifying.

My way of coping when having to present in German is to write down everything I want to say and refer to it. I tried this before calling potential landlords/ladies, but because speech is so unpredictable, it was harder to use my "script" as I found out. I had my script ready, a phone card and had worked myself up to call. The first lady I called told me that the apartment was already taken. Or I think that's what she said. I had trouble understanding her. The second one I called more promising. I could sort of understand her and the apartment seemed to be free. Unfortunately, I ran out of script and couldn't think of anything to say. Finally, she asked where I was from and when I told her the USA, she said she had someone there that could speak English. She put her granddaughter on the phone and her granddaughter gave me her email address. I asked all my questions to the granddaughter and called the landlady one more time to confirm about having a contract when I get there. Luckily, she seems very nice and repeated herself several times and made sure I understood. I was also told by the secretary of the school that she is a "very nice old lady" and so far it seems that way.

I finally saw pictures of the apartment recently:

The sink.

The shower.



The very European toilet.



The "sitting/living" room.



The bed and wardrobe.



The kitchen. Including a microwave, which is not very European.



The view from my window.




One more view from the window.


It's a studio apartment and looks very cute and I think it will be very nice. I think I really lucked out! I'm still a little nervous, and probably will be until I get there and meet the landlady and granddaughter in person and see the place. Also, apparently I can see the Alps from my window?! And the granddaughter told me she would teach me how to ski.

The village, Bischofshofen, looks beautiful and very Austrian. I'm a little nervous about living in a small village, but I think I will be OK. I'm glad I decided not to live in Salzburg, which is about an hour by train, as apparently it's very hard to find housing there, plus I think I will experience Austrian culture a little more in B'hofen. 

Now all I have to do is pack, save money, panic and panic some more. I can not believe I will be gone for 9 months or longer. It still doesn't feel real!