Flight + Vienna Week 1, Day 1

Hi Mom, Dad, Tara & Matt,

I made it!! I have not yet been mugged or taken or anything! So yay me! 

So just as a prelude to this 1st post, I wrote the first part while on the airplane this at 10:03pm your time and 4:03am Vienna time. I was somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The second part I wrote while waiting to go to my host family's house. I'm writing that now and it's about 12:50pm here in Vienna.

Part 1:

I’m writing this from the plane. And as of right now I am not having fun. It’s 10:03 pm in Baltimore and 4:03 am in Vienna and I’m somewhere in between. So far the trip has been ehh.

Mom and Anderson dropped me off at Dulles around 2:30pm, and I stepped out of the car and immediately saw 2 girls from my group! Jena and Cidney. They both just graduated and they’re very friendly so I was glad to be with people I knew from the beginning. We checked in and unfortunately the guy said my carry-on rolly suitcase wouldn’t fit on the plane so I had to check it… ughh. Luckily he didn’t charge me for it. I’ll probably get charged though when I come back if I have to check that bag. Oh well, too late to fix it now. We got through check in and security smoothly, and we were at the gate by 3. I got Starbucks and some decorator magazines and the 3 of us sat to wait at the gate. Gradually more of us showed up, turns out there are 7 of us from our group on my plane. One of the guys, Jacob, got there around 3:15 I guess and he was the one who told me about fixing my phone for Austria. He has an iPhone too and he said that he had to suspend his service with Verizon so that he didn’t get charged for roaming. So I decided to do that too, I just called Verizon and did it over the phone. I’m still going to be billed as usual, but I won’t be able to make calls or text from Vienna (obvi). And at the same time, my phone won’t be searching for service so the bill won’t get jacked up.

We really didn’t have to wait long because they started boarding us at 4:45ish. We got on smoothly and everything and took off fine. The served us dinner which I have never had on a plane and it was really gross looking, but didn’t taste that bad. I tried to fall asleep after dinner, but I somehow managed to end up on the flight filled with toddlers and babies. I can’t fall asleep and I know it will be killing me when I get there tomorrow. I decided to just start this post so that when we get there in a few hours I can just add to it and then upload.

Part 2:

So here's what happened after Part 1, after I put away my laptop and tried to sleep. I attempted to sleep and I think I got about an hour of actual sleep before it started to get light outside. In short the plane ride was miserable. I did not sleep, I was uncomfortable, my back hurt, I was hungry, I had to pee and it was wayyyyyy too long. However, I did learn some things about the girl sitting next to me while we were making our descent into Vienna. Listen to this: she works for the state department, she was deployed to Cosovo for 2 YEARS! she was on her way there and she would not be returning to see her family, boyfriend or friends for 2 YEARS! That's why she was crying most of the time (when she wasn't asleep). Wow... so crazyyy

Anyways, when we landed and got off the plane, we made our way through customs and got our bags (none of mine were lost :) yayy) then we met up with our professor, and the guy leading the trip, Tate. I changed my clothes in the bathroom and got some food (the one hour I was asleep was when they brought around breakfast so I missed it womppp), and we all piled in 2 vans and drove to the American Institute, thats the school where we will be half of the time while we're in Vienna. Since only 7 of us were here, Tate left us and went back to wait for the others flights to come in. Some of the people in our group had their host show up so they went home with them... but I am supposed to wait for the other girls who I'm staying with to get off their plane and we will all take a taxi to our house. So there ended up being 3 of us who had to wait for our rides back to our houses. It was me, this reallly super energetic girl also named Julie and this super awkward, quiet goth girl named Natalie. So we were a sight to see! So the 3 of us decided to kinda meander around the couple blocks around the Institute while we waited. BAD IDEA. Some beggar lady tried to get me to give her my euros and wouldn't leave me alone and I couldn't understand her and that's how i got roped in! Then we were just kind of walking around and i dont know, I felt weird. Like I felt like I needed to have a specific destination instead of jut wandering. I was sketched out! Plus awkward Natalie was weirding me out and it turns out that she is an EXTREMELY picky eater. And she was starving and wanted to find pizza. Really? We're in Austria and you want pizza?? and she said that she doesn't like SAUSAGE. We are going to have problems with her, I know it. 

Anyways, long story short, she and Other Julie's ride came so they left. Now it's just me hanging out by myself and waiting... Apparently the other girls in my house were all on the same flight and it got majorly delayed! So I won't have to wait for them anymore. Now I am supposed to take my own taxi to my house at 2. Which is in an hour and a half. Gahhh! But once I get there, I can unpack and sleeeeep! Thank god! We have no obligations until tomorrow morning. We will meet Tate at 10am and do a random assortment of activities for the day. I'm not sure what. 

I really miss everyone a lot. I’m sad that I won’t be there to move out and say goodbye to our house with the family. I’ve spent most of the trip so far being sad and homesick. But I’m trying to be more optimistic! Since I've gotten here it's been a lot better yet still a little strange. Definitely some culture shock. Brand new white mercedes are their taxis. No lie. It looks just like a normal city except the buildings are all old and gothic and beautiful and the people speak an array of different languages. Anyways, I’ll try to post when I can, all of us are praying we have wifi in our houses, which would be wonderful!

See pictures below! I don't know what building this is but it was pretty!

xoxo Julie