the eagle has landed.....in wien!

okay, so after a very looooong day of travel, i am finally here! it feels amazing....intense, but amazing. allow me to fill you in. 

so my flight from dulles was pretty uneventful, except for the minor fact that i could. not. sleep. so i spent eight hours watching house, md on the airplane tv screen...i couldn't hear it because i broke my headphones. with my knee. don't ask...i don't know. but thankfully i didn't need the headphones because i already know every line to that season of house. i'm aware of how pathetic that sounded, yes. 

also, united airlines is under the impression that "vegetarian meal" apparently means "dry couscous and iceberg lettuce", and i'm scared of ordering food in german at this point, so i haven't eaten in a while, but that part of the story comes later. 

i had a grand adventure in the frankfurt airport, which led me to actually emigrate to germany (???) by mistake. i was all of a sudden ejected from the terminal, with a very friendly german trying to ask me why i looked so distraught. however, this led to my very first conversation in german, which went something like this:

me: "um.....can you help me??"

very friendly german guy: *blank, curious, bemused stare*

me: "i don't know the word for gate......um.....gate beh zehn?"

v.f.g.g.: "ich bin deutsch."

me: "um...ja. das weiß ich nicht.....ich suche....um...." here i point frantically to my ticket. 

v.f.g.g: "ein moment." *scurries away. brings new guy, less friendly, but better groomed*

new guy: "ja?"

me: "ah..." here i again point to my ticket "beh zehn? wo ist beh zehn? lufthansa?"

new guy gently pushes my elbow and i trot after him, hungry, having to pee, tired, and a little cranky, kinda feeling like i wanted to cry. 

fifteen minutes later, however, i managed to conquer my fear and ask the stewardess at my gate (which i FINALLY found, yay! after going through security again) where the bathroom is. and apparently i did well, because she answered me in german, right away. 

anyway, that crisis averted, i slept like a log on the hour flight from frankfurt to vienna, and found my hostel pretty easily! i mean, it was a little confusing, but i'm doing okay, i think.

the hostel is pretty much exactly what i expected. it reminds me a lot of interlochen, actually, but a lot cleaner. that makes me happy. :) so after putting my stuff in a locker, making my bed, etc, i went out for a walk, and had some espresso and sachertorte sitting on the sidewalk in VIENNA. oh. my. god. sometimes life is just too good to me. 

with the help of my mom, my aunt, fuzzbutt, and a very very sweet waitress who didn't speak much english but managed to help me so so much (and made me feel better about pantomiming my need for a bathtowel), i went on my first successful shopping trip, locating mariahilferstrasse, a department store, and bathtowels without help. i couldn't help but feel inordinately triumphant as i walked back the hostel (again, without getting lost!), a fluffy red towel stuffed in my totebag. 

so after a shower and a change of clothes, i feel like a new woman. i'm going to do a little work and then collapse into bed and hopefully wake up on time tomorrow, having defeated my jetlag (in theory, anyway). at first, i was skeptical about leaving the first day of my schedule free, but now i am so glad i did, because this is all a little overwhelming. but i'm sure with a day of me wandering around and getting my bearings, i'll feel much better! i even found a place during my adventures today that advertises vegetarian lunches, so i may even conquer my fears and eat real food tomorrow! 

ALSO....such good news, i got another email from dr. fanning, of the international gustav mahler society, and he said another scholar has volunteered to show me around the library on the 14th and the 17th, both days that i am actually in the city, and not in the middle of getting on a plane. 

so, all in all, this was an excellent day. i mean, after all, i'm in vienna.