unpacked in vienna.

today is tuesday.
on tuesdays in vienna museums are closed, and lots of other places shut down early... i have no idea why though.
this is my fifth day in the castle and my first tuesday. happy tuesday! i went out for a bit after class this morning... discovered some cute markets and explored the city, went to the grocery store and bought a bag to carry groceries and my camera and my journal.
weve settled into a routine now:
745: breakfast
900: group time
930-1200: language and culture class
1215: lunch and then freedom!

after the month is over the routine will be different because well have eurorail passes and well be traveling all over europe and not just in vienna but for now life is settling down. its been raining here for the last couple days which makes it feel like a hidden corner of Seattle that i havent discovered yet. i like it.

one thing that is very different here is how often people smile at each other. back home we smile for just about anything. bump into someone on the subway? smile. grocer bags your pasta salad? smile. here a song on someone else ipod you like? smile yeah? here though, being friendly is not as typical. our culture teacher told us that its even considered rude or intrusive to inquire about someones day ((ie how are you?)). and we arent supposed to smile at men because it gives them the wrong idea...
it seems like such a small thing but its hard to change because its so engrained as part of our mindset as americans. ive never felt like a happy person especially but here i feel like im chipper mcchipperson. its kinda fun. i suppose youve just got to smile on the inside sometimes and look indifferent on the outside. it kinda makes me wonder if they would help someone being mugged on the street or would run into a burning building for a screaming women or if they would keep their cool exteriors and walk on by... im sure they would stop. people are people everywhere and if you cant believe that human beings would look out for one another than it doesnt seem worth interacting with anyone at all.


that was very off topic. apologies.