Auf Wiedersehen Vienna

After my wonderful trip to Italy, I have spent the last week and a half enjoying my time in Vienna and finishing up school here. I had a final last Tuesday for my International Marketing class which seemed to go well and then the next day I began an intensive class called Cross-Cultural Communications, another marketing class. It was 5 hours Wednesday night, 7 hours Thursday during the day, 8 hours Friday, and then 4 hours Saturday, so VERY intensive! It was an interesting class, but I would have enjoyed it more in a more spread out time format. But now I'm so glad to be done with classes!

Elizabeth, Me, and Emily at the
Maria-Teresia-Platz market

I've been going to all of the Christmas markets I can to get christmas presents and to drink as much glühwein as possible! I went to the Maria-Teresia-Platz one near MuseumsQuartier with Emily and Elizabeth one night and then we met John for dinner at Vapiano's, a great Italian restaurant chain that has tons of locations in europe and even some in the US! I'm going to have to check it out in Union Square in the city. I also went to the Rathaus Christmas Market with Elizabeth and Cori last night, we had some roasted almonds, glühwein, and looked at the beautiful lights and all of the stands. Then Elizabeth and I went to Il Sestante, the Italian restaurant we used to go to often, and got pizzas and wine, it was wonderful. I went to the little one on Mariahilferstrasse and found one of the candle pyramids I had been looking for in Berlin, I was so happy! And my mom even had me pick up extra candles for the ones we have at home. I also went to the Christmas market at my favorite place in Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace, with Emily and Elizabeth one night. We bought ornaments, drank Sissi Punch, and ate crepes. It was a nice night. Three of Emily's friend from Bentley met us there too. After, we went to John's room for a birthday party for his roommate. Then we went to the Palais club, which was a very cool building and was like you were inside Schönbrunn or Hofburg Palace, and danced away at the Snoflake ESN Party with our exchange friends.

Schönbrunn Christmas Market at night

Emily, Me, Pete, and Elizabeth at the Snowflake Party

Cori, Emily, Nate, Tom, Me, Elizabeth, Evan, and John
at Stadtpark Ice Skating!

This Thursday, we went to Yamm! a vegetarian restaurant to meet Stevie's boyfriend and then Elizabeth and I went to Haus Panorama, one of the other Exchange students dorms, for a Goodbye Party. It was great to see everyone again and to say goodbye to some friends from this wonderful semester. The other night, Cori, Emily, Elizabeth and I went to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant, got a pitcher of strawberry margaritas and Elizabeth and i got fajitas to share, they were delicious, I've missed my mexican food. Then we wandered around the Christmas market near the restaurant and near Volkstheater. Today, I went to the Kunsthalle Museum and went to the No Fashion, Please! and Vanity exhibits about fashion and photography, the exhibits were really interesting and I really enjoyed them. Then I walked around and finished getting a few christmas gifts before I ran into Emily and her sister in front of the Opera. We then went to the Karlsplatz Christmas market to check it out, and there were llamas being paraded around! The market was really hoppin, with christmas concerts and lots of people eating and drinking and enjoying the atmosphere. Then we went to Stadtpark (where we may have ran across a gang meeting or a large drug deal or something) to meet up with John, Elizabeth, Cori, Nate, and Tom to go ice skating. After we rented skates, we glided onto the ice and had a great time skating. There was a band in the middle of the outdoor rink playing christmas music and there was a bar off to the side were we took a glühwein break after a few laps. It felt weird being back on skates after who knows how many years but I soon got back into it and was skating pretty fast and comfortably. It was such a perfect way to spend my last night in Vienna! Then we went to dinner (minus Tom and Nate) at Augustiner Keller. With a glass of cabernet, some frittatensuppe (the think pancakes in a beef broth soup) and some Schnitzel with my favorite german potato salad, I had the perfect austrian dinner for my last meal in Vienna. After dinner, I said goodbye, and strolled through Stephansplatz once more before I headed home.

Me & Louise popping gammas!

Cori & i in Stephasplatz with a Christmas tree smaller than us!

Rathaus Christmas market beautifully lit up

This semester was so incredible. I met friends from all over the world, took interesting classes with interesting people, travelled to so many different countries and experienced so many different cultures and cuisines. I was so blessed to have such a great group of friends to spend my semester in Vienna with and I was lucky to live in one of (if not the number one) my favorite cities I visited this semester. Vienna was amazing with the culture, the sights, the food, and the Christmas markets and lights especially. I cannot believe it has been 3 and a half months since I left New Jersey. I am sad to leave Vienna but I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends from home and to get back to Richmond. I know I will be back in Vienna one day, the city is just too amazing to not visit again. It became my home these past few months, and I will always cherish my time here.