4 PM: Meet in the Charlotte airport
6:55 PM: Lufthansa flight departs from Charlotte; connection in Munich on
Lufthansa flight to Vienna
Wednesday, May 14
12:20 PM: arrive in Vienna
Taxi to Hotel Geblergasse; get settled in hotel
3:00-5:00: Orientation to Vienna
"The Journey There"
Well, starting with the drive to the airport, mom and I left the house at 2:05pm for the Charlotte Airport. About a one and a half hour drive. Smooth drive there until we got to the airport...the daily parking lot was closed, sooooo mom and I drove around the airport 2 and half times looking for parking, into a long term lot, (where diagonal parking rows only have one entrance, no exit), and finally she just had to drop me off. Unfortunate part was that we both had to use the restroom, and just decided that we would wait until we got to the airport...not the best decision...
So I got inside the airport and most of the group had already arrived, except for the teachers.
Once the teachers arrived, we got in line to check our bags (many of the girls worried about their bags being too heavy).
After everyone had checked their bags, we walked as a group (21 students, 3 professors) toward security. They randomly told people to go into different lines, and I got to go in the "fast" lane. Didn't have to take any metal out of my pockets or computers out of bags, just send it all through and done in less than 5 minutes.
Some people from our group had to go through the full on body search security, so it took them a super long time.
I was super hungry, and wasn't planning on eating the dinner they served on the plane. So Alan and I walked around the airport in search of some food.
I got a Papa John's personal pizza, bread sticks, and Dr. Pepper, (not my usual meal, but I was hungry and "storing up" for the long flight/ 8hr hibernation). I also bought some additional snacks for the plane, and lots of water to stay hydrated. I was not going to let the jet lag catch me this time!
After sitting around and waiting some, we boarded the plane. (According to an article I read online, Americans board airplanes the most inefficiently of any country ever, not surprising to me...)
I got to sit in an aisle seat in the middle section on the left (37D). Riley was sitting next to me, so we talked about random things that occurred during the flight, and laughed about the crazy old lady that was sitting across the aisle from me, complaining to all the flight attendants about the man in front of her leaning back too far, so far that she could not get out of her seat (but his seat was broken, so when he sat down and just gently leaned back, the seat reclined on its own).
So anyways, I ate a little bit of the dinner that was provided, but it wasn't good at all. I got out my neck pillow and an extra t-shirt to cover up my head, and went right to sleep. I slept for 5-6 hours of the entire flight (8-ish hours or something close to that), everyone was envious of me.Then we flew from Munich to Vienna, which took less than an hour, and we had landed in Vienna by 12:30pm or so, Vienna time (6 hours ahead of home time). I read some class material during that flight. We got our bags at the luggage return, and got situated, and ready to go, then we get outside and the taxi service was not quite lined up and ready to go. So we waited around for 30 minutes or so, then the drive to the hotel seemed like about 30 minutes, and it was very chaotic and an interesting "intro" to Vienna. I was definitely nervous the entire ride there, wondering every minute how much longer we had to go. Driver's here seem reckless and hectic, yet surprisingly safe. I guess it's just something they get used to.
So we got to the hotel eventually, and it seemed nice. Once we got there and got our rooms, we had about 30-45 minutes to relax, I spent mine unpacking, instead of laying down and taking a nap like I should have. I was in a room with 5 other girls, and I only knew Katie. I picked the bed farthest to the wall in the corner. Why sleep in between 2 people, when I could just have to sleep beside 1?
The rooms were interestingly laid out. Simple. Minimal. The beds were weirdly short and close to the floor, but I kinda liked it that way. And my mattress was really uncomfortable and I could feel the springs, but everyone else's was comfortable (apparently).
So we met up with the whole group again, and walked around in the area that we were staying in. It's not the nicest part of the city and much less busy, but hey it is another country and we are here to experience it. So following that Alan, Katie, Jacob, Dr. Hellenbrand, Dr. Mansure, and I rode the U-Bahn to the Westbahnhof and we went to the bookstore in there, Press & More, where I bought postcards and German puzzle magazines. We walked around in there for a few minutes, and rode the U-Bahn back to our stop, Alser Strasse. We ate at Pizza Casa Piccola, which was just down the street, and I got tortellini, which was pretty tasty!
After dinner, we got back to the hotel, and I sat around in the lobby trying to use the wifi (which was really terrible), and tried to stay up until a normal bed time (10pm or so), and then went up to shower and go to bed to rest up for the days to come.
