What Have I Learned?

In the three months I have been in Austria, Italy, and the Czech Republic, I have learned a lot of things, and the great majority of them are not what my professor wanted me to learn. We were invited to keep a learning log, but I had a difficult time getting it started. I would sit down to write something, but nothing would come. I had learning log writer's block. I think only now it's beginning to lift. So here, even though they may not necessarily be scholastically based, are the things that I have learned in Vienna (... and Venice, Rome, and Prague...).

1.) Everyone smokes. I thought that most of the older generation would smoke, and I was right. I wasn't expecting all of the younger generation to smoke as well. It is not at all uncommon to see kids who look to be around eleven years old smoking. The anti-smoking craze that took place in the States has yet to take place here. Most cafes and restaurants still allow smoking. Cafe Griensteidl on Michaelerplatz was the first to become a fully non-smoking cafe. There was a huge backlash. People were outraged by such a move. I was curious what the incidence of lung cancer was, but couldn't find any recent data. I think it must be somewhat high.

2.) Bread and butter in the morning can be satisfying, but only for so long. The problem is that there seem to be only two types of bread here. There is white bread and there is dark bread. Almost every roll is white, and I think dark bread is secretly just white bread that is dark. I'm sure that none of it is even remotely good for you. On that note, I'm guessing that I have not fulfilled my nutritional requirements a single day the whole time I've been here. Not having a kitchen or unlimited funds really makes eating well rounded meals a challenge.

3.) When you look a European man in the eyes and smile, it IS flirtation, and not just a friendly greeting. Don't be surprised if a French man has his Swiss friend translate his desires to go for a walk with you the next morning, tells you he won't be able to sleep that night if you're not with him, and asks for your phone number in the States in case he's ever there.

4.) Baroque architecture is Baroque architecture is Baroque architecture. If I see any more, I may shoot myself. Ceramic stoves are lit from behind so as to keep the room from becoming covered in a layer of soot. The Mezzanine is the floor with the least ornate windows. It's not actually worthy of being called a floor. The pendants on the ceiling above chandeliers were originally there to keep the ceiling from being blackened by the candle smoke. As far as decoration, if a little was good, a lot was good. There shouldn't be empty space on the walls, so they should be covered with frescos or tapestries.

5.) The theory is that if something is important, it should look important. Thus, excess was a necessity. A king had to live in a palace large enough for hundreds of people. Buildings like the main railway station were made to look important by using classic architectural styles. Building a palatial set of museums dedicated to art and nature was a statement that these buildings were important.

6.) German television commercials late at night are downright pornographic, and they last forever. When you think it's safe to flip back to the channel, it's not.

7.) Burg Kreuzenstein has the coolest tour guide. He's an old guy who says things like, "I'm really not supposed to do this..." as he picks up a large double handed sword. This was also my favorite castle tour. It was short, but awesome. The kitchen had a ridiculously huge table weighing a ton (an actual ton). It was once a bridge, but the castle owner decided to use it as a table, so he moved it to his property and built the kitchen around it.

8.) You will hear both that people in medieval times were smaller and that they weren't. The beds were shorter because they slept in a seated position, apparently. The canopy above beds was to prevent bugs from coming onto the bed after falling through thatched roofs and down from the ceilings.

9.) Any castle will tell you that a full suit of armor was not actually worn into battle. It was far too heavy and limited movement. Instead they wore chain mail and helmets. You either carried a shield or you carried a sword, but carrying both would weigh you down too much.

10.) The most important guests are met at the bottom of the staircase or before. The least important guests are not met at all, but must wait to be called.

11.) IKEA has hot dogs for €0,50. They're really good too!

12.) Haselnuss Eis is divine. So are Hühner Kebabs, Kürbiscremesuppe, Kartoffeln Gulasch, Schnitzelsemmel Sandwiches, and anything Sister Holmes cooks.

13.) Otto Wagner rocks my architectural world. Pretty much anything in Prague does as well. Prague is one of the few places where cubism affected architecture in a big way. The cubist architecture I'm fairly neutral towards, but the art nouveau influences were wonderful. Oh, how I love it.

14.) Honking is not as common here as it is in the states, but when it takes place, it's a really extended sound. There is no simple beep, but rather a laying on of the horn. Also, if you're walking in the bicycle area, be prepared to hear the bells, and no, those cyclists will not stop for you.

15.) Hanging paintings of your ancestors is just as common as chandeliers in every room, which is common.

16.) Long distance dating sucks, but only because you want to be with the person. If you didn't want to be with them, you wouldn't be in a long distance relationship. During every good moment, you'll wish they were there. During every bad moment, you'll wish they were there. Despite an eight hour time difference, you'll want to tell them all about your day, what you did, what you learned, what you felt about what you did and learned, and then you'll want to hear all about their day. You'll not get enough sleep, you'll constantly be tired, and you'll consider it worth it because you can't stand the time away.

17.) I need structure in my life. If I don't have much structure, I at least need stability. If I have neither, I become the type of person that shirks responsibility and bums around Europe eating in cafes when they should be doing homework.

18.) I am not who I thought I was. I thought I was the type of person who would gladly hitchhike across the nation, live it up, gain new experiences, backpack across Europe, see new things, meet new people, so on, so forth. It turns out, I am only some of those things. I'm all for meeting new people, but I am not the type to run off with a group of people I don't know to experience something crazy. I like to have a place that is mine. I hate Hostels. I hate wearing a backpack. I feel unsafe unless I'm in a group of people that I know. After all my life lusting after experiences just like these, when I actually was in the midst of them, I came to the conclusion that the life I have been leading all along is the one I really want.

19.) A Mosaic can look just like a painting.

20.) I hate frescos.

21.) Real marble is cold to the touch. Stucco marble is warm. You can usually tell just by the look of it based on the color and the pattern which one it is, but sometimes it's really well done. Stucco marble started because it was cheaper, but eventually was considered stylish even though it was actually more expensive.

22.) When you have toured enough churches and castles, they all blend together. If it is gothic, the arches are pointed. If it's romanesque, the arches are round. If it's baroque, it's disgustingly ornate. Most Stifts have elaborate libraries and a marble hall. Monks wrote books, made wine, farmed and gardened, prayed, and were fairly self-sufficient.

23.) Communism sucks. I have had opportunities here to talk to people who grew up in communism, and it's awful. To not be able to speak your mind, even to family members or to friends, would be awful. One woman, who was young during the communist era, said that her family kept talking about going to the beach. They bought her a little pail and a shovel and told her they were taking a trip. Then one day they said that they weren't going anymore, and she was very upset. She found out later that they had been planning to escape, but another family member reported them and they were interrogated. They were told that they could take their trip to the beach, but the youngest girl would have to stay behind with other family. So they called it off and stayed. The same girl told us that at the end of communism, it was a lot of little changes that caught her off guard. These are things that we take for granted every day, such as having more than one brand of mayonnaise to choose from in the store. One day during art class my professor sort of casually threw out that he "hate[s] the damn commies." I thought it was completely valid, as he wasn't arbitrarily stating that he hated communism based just on ideals, but he had actually been affected by it directly in his life.

24.) When a joke is told with a straight face during lecture, and stated as a fact, I will not know it's a joke. I will thus be terribly confused for a minute until another classmate laughs or says something.

25.) In Austria, a meal consists of about a million more dishes than in the States. There is a different plate or bowl for everything, and a plate for the bowls.

I'm not a good history student. I have gotten a general overview of Austrian history, which is in and of itself terribly confusing if you haven't had European history. The history of Austria is so intricately tied to so many other histories that it's almost impossible to understand without a deeper background. I have learned a ton since I arrived, and I'll continue learning all the time I'm here. When I get back to the States, what I have learned will affect what I continue to learn. There are a lot of things I wish I could do over this semester, but there's no hope on that front. So for now, I'll just chalk one up for experience and continue working for the finals. In the end, though, it is the time I spent playing Ligretto with the locals, or the time spent walking through the Naschmarkt, or a million other non-scholastic experiences that I will remember. And that is what I learned in Vienna.