Vienna

I am so happy to be here.  After the long spring break and over a month spent in Vienna with weekend travel, I have realized how lucky I am to have chosen such a perfect city to study abroad.  I could have stayed completely in my comfort zone and studied in Germany, and traveled to the cities I have many memories in, but I am glad that I decided to come to Vienna.  It's fun exploring a new city.  The historic buildings are breathtaking and the new adventures around each street corner make me anxious to explore.  I am so happy to still be able to practice my German.  Vienna is clean, safe and the weather the past two weeks has been amazing!

I am  also truly blessed to have met some amazing people studying abroad, and I am fairly certain they will be lifelong friends.  I think it takes a certain personality type to be willing to explore a new city and spend a semester abroad.  You have to be open to differences, personable and willing to try new things.  The fellow exchange students have the same passion for travel  and exploring new cultures that I do.  We have made some fun memories together and I hope that the next month here will be the same.  I want to look back on study abroad and realize that I lived the life I wanted to live.  I may not have traveled every possible opportunity, but I have really learned how to live in Vienna, and I feel there is something to be said for that.

I have become so independent here. Living alone outside of your comfort zone, you really learn a lot about yourself.  I enjoy my life in Vienna.  My classes are challenging and demanding from time to time, but they are not as rigorous as a full semester of classes back in South Carolina.  The lighter course load and the fact that classes only go back as credits (not affecting GPA) I feel that I have a good balance between classes, travel, and socializing.  When I left Columbia in December last year and then spent 3 months at home in Chicago, I had this "vision" of what Study Abroad would be like.  I can happily say, I was completely wrong.  I didn't realize the independence of study abroad, nor did I realize how much I would learn about myself.  I have come to appreciate certain luxuries at home, as well as realize what I need to prioritize.  Relationships with friends and family have proven to be most important to me.  Its amazing how new experiences can really change a person.  Although I am loving my life in Vienna, I know come a month from now, when my family is arriving for a Viennese vacation, I will be ready to relax with them and show them my new home.  But, I will also be ready, come the following week, to board the plane with them back home.