The first time that I traveled to Austria was in 2014 when I was on my high school French and German Club Europe trip. We did a day trip to Salzburg where we had a tour of the city and then went to a Salt Mine. I was most interested in the movie scenes from the Sound of Music. It was amazing to stand in the same places where these actors and actresses filmed this wonderful movie. Salzburg is also very famous for Mozart. There is even a candy named after him that is called the Mozart Ball. It is a small chocolate ball with a nougat and marzipan filling. Personally, I did not like the taste of the Mozart Ball, however they are sold in almost every shop and many people love them. Salzburg is a beautiful city but I feel as though they have used the popularity of the Sound of Music and Mozart to turn the city into a huge tourist destination. The salt mine that we went to was extremely fun and interesting. We got to wear these white jumpsuits, slide down a salt chute, and even taste some of the salt. 

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My second Austrian adventure was in 2018, when I lived abroad in Vienna for four and a half months and studied at the University of Vienna. Every day, I was immersed in Austrian culture and the German language. Many have said that Austrian German is more difficult to understand and especially the Viennese dialect. Surprisingly, I communicated very well and did not have any problems. Living in Vienna greatly improved my German because I used and heard the language every day. 

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I will start with the positive aspects about Vienna: In my opinion, Vienna has the best public transportation system in Europe. There are street cars, subways, and buses. I never had issues with the public transportation. It was easy to navigate, clean, and always on time. Vienna is also great because of its position in Europe. Vienna is very centrally located in Europe. Therefore, it is super easy to travel to other cities and countries from Vienna. For example, one can get to Bratislava, Slovaka in just one hour for as little as 5 Euros. I frequently used Flixbus to travel to other cities and countries. Flixbus is extremely cheap but is often late. I would still highly recommend Flixbus. During my semester in Vienna, I was able to travel to 13 additional countries. Lastly, Vienna has amazing Wiener Schnitzel! I am a huge fan of Schnitzel and ate Schnitzel at least once a week during my time in Vienna. 

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Now with every city, there are some negative aspects. As an American, there were several cultural differences that really bothered me while living in Vienna. The first one would have to be smoking. So many people smoked. I could not fathom why this was. Growing up, I was always told how bad smoking was so I never smoked and I did not understand why so many people were smoking in Vienna. Even young kids were smoking. I really think it is a problem but I do not think anything will change. Remember, this is just my opinion and I am not trying to bash Austrian culture. Another aspect of Austrian life that I found to be different was that people were not so friendly. I am used to smiling and waving at people, saying "Hello," "How are you?" "Good Morning" etc. This did not happen in Vienna. There could be 300 people crammed into the subway car and no one would even look at or talk to one another. I just could not understand this. After talking to some people who are from Austria, they explained that Austrians typically talk to people the know. Additionally, they see no reason to acknowledge strangers since so many people are living in this city. This is definitely a valid point. They also mentioned that Americans are superficial when we say "How are you?" because we do not actually care how they are doing. This can also be true but this is our way of greeting people and is simply a nice thing to do. 

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While studying in Vienna, I was able to travel to other parts of Austria. I traveled to Salzburg twice. Once I went with two friends I met in Vienna. We went to Untersberg to explore the mountain scenery. The second time, I went with my parents when they came to visit me for Easter break. We did a Sound of Music tour through Salzburg and it was absolutely wonderful. My parents and I also went to Graz. I really enjoyed Graz, I thought that Graz was a very cute and fun town. My favorite place that I visited in Austria was Hallstatt. Hallstatt is a tiny but extremely beautiful town. This was the most picturesque place that I ever visited. Hallstatt attracts a lot of tourists, especially Asian tourists. While touring Hallstatt, I learned that China loved Hallstatt so much that they made a whole replication of the town in their country. 

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Austria is a beautiful country. I love being able to use my German there and I am always down to indulge in some Wiener Schnitzel. I have made some friends in Austria and will probably be back soon to visit them. 

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During my semester abroad in Scotland (Spring 2019), I was able to go and visit two friends from my home university who were studying in Vienna. It was wonderful being back in Wien. I could understand everything (the language) and I ate everything I missed (Schnitzel, IKEA lunches, IKEA cookies, ice cream, and Hofer Pretzels). I was able to show my friend Alyssa around the city and I loved being a tour guide. My friend Lauren was nice enough to let us stay with her.