When they say time flies they are so right! I will be home in 32 days and I do not know where the past two months have gone. And you guys have NO idea what I have been doing for a month! Sorry about being so slow on the up keep, it has just been a crazy whirlwind over here.
I have noticed that the past posts have just been a recap of what I have done and the like but not really on how I feel about the trip, so before I update the trip info I feel the need to just sort of fill you guys in on how I actually feel. Ok? (Well good because it is happening right now). :)
Before coming on this trip we were given a lecture over culture shock and the different stages of adjustment that we were going to go through because of it and I don't know weather I should be happy or sad about the fact that I have not experienced any of them. . . I do know that some in our group have experienced most of these phases and I part of me has wondered if I am just still in shock (the first stage). But then I visited Adam and I was actually sort of disappointed in London. NOT to say at all, AT ALL, that I did not have a wonderful time or got to experience things that will stay with me forever, but I felt as though I was in an older New York City. If I was still in the shocked phase I am pretty sure that I would not have felt that way. So, now I am just sort of confused with myself.
I have always been described and I describe myself as someone who does not like change and can't handle it well. Yet here I am, in what could maybe be called a change, just maybe, and I feel as though I am in my element. Not afraid, not lost, not yearning for America (just the people there), not feeling as though I am swimming in a vast sea just keeping my head above water, nothin. Please, do not think that I would like to feel that way, by no means do I mean that, it is just so weird to feel more comfortable in another county than your own.
Part of this comfort might be the fact that I have a set schedule yet I am given control to make my own choices on a daily basis. I know what I have to get done, how much money I have, where I want to go, and how to budget my money so I can get there. That and the fact that Vienna is one of the safest places in the world, all I have had to worry about are pick pockets and looking a man in the eye while smiling. (Apparently, here that means that I am up for a good time in the sheets. . . how we jumped to that conclusion I will never understand, but still have to be careful to look grumpy or no eye contact.) I feel completely comfortable walking back to the house by myself at night, obviously still on the main roads in the light (I am not that stupid) but comfortable none-the-less. Also, Vienna's freaking underground and transportation system is awesome and easy to understand. I feel comfortable traveling on the bus, street car, or underground and feel as though I can get myself anywhere safely.
Driving here on the other hand is a completely different story. I would use public transportation if I lived here for the sole reason that this place is NUTS! The streets are no bigger than a bed, the cars the size of three wheelers, and pedestrians walk when they feel like it basically. I will have to say though that the drivers here are SO much better at actually recognizing that a pedestrian is there and parallel parking. Their parallel parking skills are do to the fact that there is no other way of parking in the city, but amazing none the less. One day we saw a smart car parallel park itself into a space that looked big enough for a stroller. I repeat amazing parking skills. The lights here also flash yellow before they turn red, just like ours, but they also flash yellow just before they turn green. Nice little warning I would say. However, the fact that there is basically only parallel parking spaces would make driving here even more difficult for me. :/
I have noticed that the past posts have just been a recap of what I have done and the like but not really on how I feel about the trip, so before I update the trip info I feel the need to just sort of fill you guys in on how I actually feel. Ok? (Well good because it is happening right now). :)
Before coming on this trip we were given a lecture over culture shock and the different stages of adjustment that we were going to go through because of it and I don't know weather I should be happy or sad about the fact that I have not experienced any of them. . . I do know that some in our group have experienced most of these phases and I part of me has wondered if I am just still in shock (the first stage). But then I visited Adam and I was actually sort of disappointed in London. NOT to say at all, AT ALL, that I did not have a wonderful time or got to experience things that will stay with me forever, but I felt as though I was in an older New York City. If I was still in the shocked phase I am pretty sure that I would not have felt that way. So, now I am just sort of confused with myself.
I have always been described and I describe myself as someone who does not like change and can't handle it well. Yet here I am, in what could maybe be called a change, just maybe, and I feel as though I am in my element. Not afraid, not lost, not yearning for America (just the people there), not feeling as though I am swimming in a vast sea just keeping my head above water, nothin. Please, do not think that I would like to feel that way, by no means do I mean that, it is just so weird to feel more comfortable in another county than your own.
Part of this comfort might be the fact that I have a set schedule yet I am given control to make my own choices on a daily basis. I know what I have to get done, how much money I have, where I want to go, and how to budget my money so I can get there. That and the fact that Vienna is one of the safest places in the world, all I have had to worry about are pick pockets and looking a man in the eye while smiling. (Apparently, here that means that I am up for a good time in the sheets. . . how we jumped to that conclusion I will never understand, but still have to be careful to look grumpy or no eye contact.) I feel completely comfortable walking back to the house by myself at night, obviously still on the main roads in the light (I am not that stupid) but comfortable none-the-less. Also, Vienna's freaking underground and transportation system is awesome and easy to understand. I feel comfortable traveling on the bus, street car, or underground and feel as though I can get myself anywhere safely.
Driving here on the other hand is a completely different story. I would use public transportation if I lived here for the sole reason that this place is NUTS! The streets are no bigger than a bed, the cars the size of three wheelers, and pedestrians walk when they feel like it basically. I will have to say though that the drivers here are SO much better at actually recognizing that a pedestrian is there and parallel parking. Their parallel parking skills are do to the fact that there is no other way of parking in the city, but amazing none the less. One day we saw a smart car parallel park itself into a space that looked big enough for a stroller. I repeat amazing parking skills. The lights here also flash yellow before they turn red, just like ours, but they also flash yellow just before they turn green. Nice little warning I would say. However, the fact that there is basically only parallel parking spaces would make driving here even more difficult for me. :/