Tuesday, May 15- Day 2:

Today was our first full day in Vienna and it was definitely very interesting. We got started off to a bad start.. Rebecca and I were supposed to meet everyone at the Institute at 9.45 to head to the place to register as a guest in Austria, but that didn't happen. You see, apparently you need a passport for that and unfortunately Rebecca misplaced hers. WE DID FIND IT, and we were only 30 minutes late!

After registering we headed out on a walking tour to the famous Naschmarkt, an open air market full of shops and food. This place was most definitely not what I was expecting. Every vendor wanted you to try their fruit, their baklava (which was amazing), or their falafel (not so good). I got called Shakira by 5 different men. I finally found someone that spoke English enough to explain why and guess what! I have a nice bum apparently, got it from my momma. The atmosphere reminded me a lot of the vendors in New York. They are willing to negotiate and definitely try to rip you off.
The lunch at the Naschmarkt was amazing. I am all about the food and trust me, its goooood. I had a chicken gyro thing (wasn't called a gyro, but it was basically the same) and a beer. It was very different to see people just walking around drinking liquor like its a soda. Not just the drunk crazy lady that kicked Payton in the crotch for looking at her wrong and bit another man, but many people walked around leisurely drinking alcohol... Maybe they need a public intoxication rule.
This far Vienna is pretty darn cool. My least favorite part is the lack of respect for personal space. It is not that they are being rude, but Austrians seem to not have a problem pushing their way to get somewhere, it is what everyone does. I am not used to this.. One man hit me in the head 4 times with an umbrella and nearly knocked me over, I shoved him back and he apologized.

Apparently this is normal? Ehhh, I don't like.

Lastly, the train system. Today we spent a lot of time practicing navigating the underground train system. Once we understood how it worked we decided that it isn't so difficult. We explored our way to a delicious Italian food restaurant called Vapiano. I am getting into the habit of ordering a "surprise me" meal. I let the cook choose my dinner and I 100 percent did not regret it. I had a mushroom cheese pasta and a glass of a nice sweet white wine. When we were checking out I asked the nice lady where a good spot to "chill", drink cheaply, and hang out would be and she pointed us in the direction of Chelsea.

So every large city has their sketchy areas and this place was at the end of it. We passed numerous strip clubs and I'm pretty sure a brothel in order to arrive at our destination. All 14 of us ended up going to a bar with live music next door called "Sky". Sky was a cute little bar that got very busy as we were leaving. The music was in English so we felt right at home. So far Vienna gets a 10 out of 10.