This past weekend, my fellow Pitt students and I were able to travel to Vienna, Austria because it was a long weekend and we had the day off on Monday. Some of us left Friday evening and took an overnight train, while others booked a train for early Saturday morning. Those of us that were traveling on Saturday had quite a few obstacles on our way to Vienna. When we got to Berlin Central Station, we saw that our direct train was canceled. After doing some research, we found that we could still use our EU rail pass for other trains, but we would not be able to book a seat and we would have to transfer trains. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes at the station for a train to Nuremberg, and from there we boarded a train to Vienna. Although our journey to Nuremberg was relatively seamless, our train from Nuremberg to Vienna was quite eventful. Because it was a last minute decision to take this train due to unforeseen circumstances, we did not have seats booked, and this train was completely full. We ended up standing at a table in the dining car for a few hours, eventually sitting and sleeping on the floor, before we were able to find a seat after a few people had exited the train at their respective stops. When we finally got seated, there was only an hour left in the journey. As a result, when we arrived in Vienna, we were absolutely exhausted from being up so early for our original train and having to navigate our way through various situations in order to arrive at our destination. 

Once we arrived in Vienna and freshened up at our Airbnb however, we were ready to explore. We walked around the city, visiting various landmarks such as the opera house, some beautiful churches, and flea markets. We then met up with the rest of our group that took the overnight train, and ate wienerschnitzel for dinner, which Vienna is famous for. In the evening, a few of us continued to explore the nightlife, but called it an early night so we could get rest and be energetic for our activities the next day. On our last day in Vienna, we started by having breakfast at a homey restaurant that was themed like a “grandmother’s house”, and were able to try apple strudel which is a renowned sweet there. After breakfast, we saw a few more gorgeous churches and eventually made our way over to a Kaffeehaus. The one that we went to was quite famous because well-known figures such as Mozart and Freud used to frequent this Kaffeehaus. After enjoying a Wiener melange and some pastries, we made our way over to the Art History Museum, where we saw many famous works. After this we grabbed dinner and caught a show of a string quartet performing famous pieces by many of the artists that used to perform in and died in Vienna, such as Mozart, Vivaldi, and Bach. This marked the end of our night and also our trip, as we were on a 10am train back the next day. Overall, I was impressed by the architectural beauty of the city and hope to visit again someday. 

In terms of adjusting to some cultural differences both in general and in the workplace, I have found that oftentimes the people here are a lot more blunt and direct. Unlike Americans who tend to sugarcoat everything, Germans tend to speak their mind without any filter because they value being upfront and honest. Although I know that nothing said to me by my colleagues is meant to be rude or hurtful, I have had to remind myself that this method of communication is a cultural difference and simply something to get used to. Another thing that has been difficult to adjust to is the precise rule following behavior. One example that comes to mind is that people here do not jay-walk at all, and the consequences for doing so are high fines. Back in Pittsburgh, it is very common to jay-walk (after looking both ways and making sure there are no vehicles coming, of course), but that is not at all common here and has been a difficult habit to break. Overall, however, I think that Germans are very welcoming and in Berlin specifically, there is so much diversity and most people are fluent in English, so adjusting to the city has not been as difficult as I had originally thought.