Life in Vienna – Day 1

It’s been a long, but a very good transition day (although in theory, it’s been 2 with a nap in between). Here are the details for those who like such things. Photos of my new home at the end.

• walk with family along Rideau River in Ottawa
• pre-airport jitters (would they accept my heavy bag?) – yup! even if it was 1kg over
• got on an earlier flight to Toronto stand-by (2pm)
• ride was too turbulent for in-flight service, but it rocked me to sleep for 40 minutes
• got a meal voucher that I used in TO before flight to Vienna
• Air Austria flight attendant balked at the size of my “personal item” in addition to my carry-on, but let me on with it when I assured her it fit under the seat.
• finally got to see “The Great Gatsby” and grudgingly forced myself to sleep for 4 hours instead of watching 2 more movies (“My name is Dominique Hurley and I’m a movie addict)
• was sooooo grateful I hired the iHouse service to pick up my residence key at the downtown housing office before meeting me at the airport and driving me home (a taxi in those traffic jams would have been expensive too and there’s no way I would have managed the stairs and long wait at the housing office with all my luggage before hopping on another taxi to go to my apartment). Instead, my transition was stress free.
• I’m in a 4-room flat on the 6th floor and my room faces the street, so a bit loud with construction next door, but spacious and clean (weekly cleaning service inlcuded).
• I’ll have 3 international female roommates studying in various programs in Vienna, but I’ve yet to meet anyone despite the signs of co-habitation. The mystery continues.
• We have 1 toilet (with no sink) in 1 room and the shower with 2 sinks in another
• The basement laundry room has 2 washers and 2 dryers in total for a building with 100 tenants.  Hmmmmm…
• Once I emptied my suitcases and made my bed, I decided to walk to the housing agency to pay my 4 months of rent and conclude some registration tasks. It felt good to rid myself of all that cash I’d been carrying.
• had decided not to take a map there to practice my German.  I can understand much more than the few words I’ve managed to speak so far – my 5 months of audio training have been useful, but I’ll benefit from some immersion.  It took me about an hour to walk and gave me the chance to interact with a grocer, policeman, courier, bus driver on break, hairdresser, and two guys dressed as Mozart whose cell phones came in handy for the last couple of blocks.
• museums, palaces and churches everywhere! The architecture is amazing!
• Was half an hour early and glad I was first in line. When I left the office, there were about 50 people waiting, some very tired looking with suitcases, etc.  Again, so happy I hired the iHouse service.
• Interestingly, I got lost on the way back while trying to follow the Googlemap they printed out for me.  It was funner the other way when the discoveries and mystery were more important than the extra few blocks I may have walked, not knowing where I was going.  Looking forward to playing tourist tomorrow.
• I then explored my neighbourhood by walking in a grid-like fashion around my residence- found a discount store with hangers (for all that clothing 🙂 ), quite a few grocery stores (including an organic grocers at the corner and an Asian one a block away with a lunch counter that I know will be a regular – check out the vegetarian platter I got for $7), a couple of strip tease places (I’ll pass on those), lots of camera stores, and other boutiques and restaurants. An eclectic neighbourhood
• grateful the previous tenant left their Internet cable in the room so that I could be online to post this as I eat my Milka white chocolate bar (couldn’t resist the purple wrapping that sent me back to my early childhood in Germany).
• It’s 8:30pm.  I’ll go to bed and wake up in the morning – no jet lag. That’s the plan.