Awake and blogging

Phew. Now that I've moved into Albert Schweitzer Haus, I should have consistent internet access. This is good, because I have a lot of catching up to do, with subjects ranging from the hellish (Austrian visa applications and IAESTE incompetance) to the satisfactory (my new residence) to the pretty sweet (my job) to the OMG MY HEAD EXPLODED (the Euro final). It will be best to devote one entry to each of these, I think, so I'll do as much as I can tonight, and in the meantime we'll all have to hope that nothing interesting happens to me for a couple of days.

Firstly, some observations about Austria, and Vienna in particular:

- contrary to what I read before arriving, people do jaywalk here; it's just that they do it with extreme hesitation, bordering on furtiveness. On my first day in Vienna, I witnessed a woman look both ways about four times, then dart into the middle of the road with her groceries, eyes half shut and fearing death all the way across a totally abandoned one way street. Young people, albeit, are a little more courageous than this lady, who was at least 65. I no longer fear arrest, and I've learned to deal with the funny looks.

- speaking of traffic...can you tell what this sign means? You probably can, but if not, consider that 'ein' means 'one', and 'autobahn' means 'highway', and the sign is patterned very closely after its North American counterpart. If you guessed that it means 'one way', you're not only correct, but you've managed to outdo the combined brainpower of I and Edalvas, my new Lithuanian mechanical engineering buddy (he of the borrowed laptop), since we could not figure this out over the course of an entire afternoon. Europe is making me dumb.



- fortunately, the traffic here isn't that important for me, because the public transportation system is amazing. There are five subway lines, curiously labelled U1-U6, with no U5 - I don't know why this is, yet - as well as multitudinous bus and tram lines and two separate, transfer-free trains to and from the airport. Every stop - subways, buses, you name it - has brightly lit signs announcing when the next ride is coming, and I've so far never known them to be incorrect. My hostel is closest to the U2 line (Achtung, baby!), which doesn't connect directly to the airport train I take to work, yet I can still do the 25km airport train, two subway connections, and short walk in about half an hour.

- finally, I don't have an Austrian bank account, but when I get one I hope it's at this place. And now, on with the show...