Early Musings

It's a little less than a month until my trip to Europe begins. This trip is something unlike anything I've ever done, especially because I'll be traveling alone for some of it. I'm flying into France to meet up with a close friend of mine in Paris, and then I'll be taking the train through Germany to Vienna to start the study abroad program. Then, after the program, I'm schlepping up to Amsterdam, where I fly out early September. I don't speak any foreign languages (which is something I greatly regret), so I'm just going to have to use whatever innate street skills I have to navigate Europe.

I've been studying German for the past month, though, picking up some phrases and random words here and there. My practice is pretty inconsistent (summer break will do that, I suppose), so I highly doubt I'll be able to say anything more than "where's the bathroom?" or "what time is it?" But that's a start.

I also just started Vienna, A Cultural History. By start, I mean I read the foreword. But I thought it was appropriate, as James Shedel (the author of the foreword) touches upon his first trip to Vienna as a grad student and how that compared to another trip he made years later as a professor. He remarks on the great modern urban strides that the city made and how Vienna is a city characterized by a marriage of continuity (its classic identity and history that makes it so unique and appealing) and change. I'm really interested to delve into this book, and of course, the history of Vienna itself.