Week 1: Getting Lost and the Flatness of Culture Shock

12 January

On Monday, we began our intensive German classes at noon.  I unpacked the night before, after having dinner with the family from whom I rent.  The morning felt somewhat slow and quiet, and I freaked out that I would never build friendships with my roommates.  With great fear and trepidation, I left later in the morning to navigate my way through Austrian public transportation to the IES Center.  While I did get lost, I made it on time for class, orientation, and a meeting about sports opportunities in Vienna.  I got terrifically lost on the way home, but my landlord came and rescued me with a car ride home.  My earlier fears about not making friends with my roommates quickly dispersed, as we hung out and ended up playing a game based on an Austrian comedy show where you need to complete different dares.

13 January

We continued intensive German class today and I ventured out into the city later to begin buying the things I need for daily living.  This included getting credit for my cell phone, buying school supplies, and grocery shopping.  While I complete these things quite normally back home, each store proved a new cultural experience in itself in Austria.  I learned about how NOT to deal with U.S. credit cards when buying cell phone credit first, and then accidentally asked for a 1 kilo of salami at the deli (thinking that 1 pound = 2.2 kilos, instead of 1 kilo = 2.2 pounds!).  The nice deli lady convinced me to buy a more reasonable amount of 100 grams of salami.  My night finished with learning about the differences between Austrian and U.S. school supplies at the bookstore, then coming home to finish homework.

14 January

I started to face frustration in my intensive German class which contains several levels of speakers, even though we are considered the most advanced class.  I did not feel challenged by the content we studied, but soon began to realize that basic information about Austria (provinces, capitals, small cultural things) and reviewing grammar would prove incredibly useful as I now use it in my everyday life.  The results of our test and recent homework also made me realize the amount of mistakes which still litter my conversational German, and I am thankful for a teacher who points out my mistakes to polish my German speaking and writing.  On Wednesday (14 January), I spent time at the apartment of Lisa, my roommate Georg's sister.  We talked through several different cultural issues like typical things to cook in Austria and typical activities with Austrian friends.  Lisa studied in the USA during high school and is so helpful with her perspective!

15 January

On Thursday, I went to talk with one of the IES staff about my experience in Austria so far.  I originally thought that living in Austria would thrill and excite me, but I actually felt very flat during the first week.  After talking with her, I realized that shifting cultures can provide such stimulation that it causes a person to shut down.  I wondered if this experience reflected the stress of being an RA during sophomore year, when I felt so many pressures from school and involvement that I often felt shut down to typical stress triggers.  In the afternoon, I registered with the authorities and completed homework.  I headed over to a local church in the evening for a prayer time, in order to connect with students from Austrian Student Ministry (ÖSM).  I met a missionary, Nate, and another student, Johannes, who help run the church.

During the evening, I noted that the church for the prayer meeting belonged to the Mennonite denomination.  My Mom's German-speaking ancestors who emigrated to Canada also were Mennonite and fled religious persecution in Europe.  Growing up, I heard story after story of the Mennonite persecution, immigration, and will to survive. I thought it interesting that my first spiritual experience in a German-speaking country occurred in a church of the same denomination...as if I completed a circle started by my ancestors, from fleeing to returning.

16-18 January

Last day of the first week of intensive German!  Three hours of German a day does not bother me, but three hours of primarily German grammar quickly becomes taxing.  I started to look forward to the next week which would contain more activities throughout the city.  Outside of German homework, I completed a paper for the Consulting Workshop during the weekend.  The paper summarized research and reflections on companies I visited during the Chicago trip before coming to Austria, whilst consuming an unpleasant amount of time.

Despite my paper, I still managed to get to know more Austrian students over the weekend and take part in several activities.  I went out spontaneously late on Friday night with Lisa, her boyfriend, and Lisa’s best friend.  We spent time at a local café and then went to a local bar, where I experienced paying for the area where you can hang up your coat at Austrian bars!  I enjoyed speaking German for several hours with everyone hanging out and could start to feel myself becoming more comfortable expressing myself in German.

After hacking away on my paper during Saturday, I went out to a jazz restaurant with my friends on Saturday night.  My friend Allie found the place and encouraged all of us to check it out with her.  We arrived a little late, but entered the restaurant with a 1 euro student discount for each person in our group.  The lady collecting the cover fees laughed at us a little bit when we asked for a student discount.  Upon walking inside, we realized that we were the youngest people there by nearly 40 years.  We chose to remain unashamed of our youth and sat in the basement of the jazz bar, enjoying a few drinks and Austrian jazz music.  Allie told us that online information said the original structure of the jazz bar was built in the 900s!  Needless to say, we greatly enjoyed hanging out in this 1000-year old building amongst the peace of jazz music wafting through the air.

The next morning I walked over to a local Austrian church and experienced my first entire church service in German.  I followed almost everything, especially since the pastor is not a native German-speaker.  I often heard that non-native speakers of a language understand each other more easily than native speakers. I left afterwards and went over to Lisa's, where we cooked Marillenknödel (apricot dumplings) together.