Goodbye Vienna!!

A long time ago I was in Vienna for my first time. I visited all the typical monuments, museums and I tried Sacher Torte and Apfel Strudel. I saw lots of tourist walking around in Karlsplatz while I was sitting down and I promised myself that I would come back to this city.

Today, two years and a half later, I am in Vienna for my second time and I am leaving in a few hours after three months living here. This time I did not seat in Karlsplatz because it was too cold, but I have been visiting the Christmas markets and I tried the punch and the langos. This weeks the weather did not help a lot to go out, that is true but it doesn´t matter because I have discovered that one of the most beautiful places ever is here, just in the exit of the Hofburg palace to the museums, and the image of this scene during the night will be always on my mind. I met lots of Austrian people and I visited also other places in the country and in other countries. At the moment I am still wondering why there is no darkness during the night in Bratislava and how can an Austrian woman drive you for free from Mathausen to Linz trusting that I was not going to still her car. But I cannot lie, there are some things that I would never do, for example having lunch at 11:30 and knock on the table instead of applausing.

Besides, after long working days I have become in a virtous on tripsinizing cells, have learned how not to get asleep during lab meetings and get to work as short as possible on tuesday mornings. I felt proud of myself when I understood important information in german and even more proud when I could say some words and people understand me (see Register in Floridsdorf). Finally I can understand the symbols in the transport stops and I just got lost once in three months. At the moment I can pronounce the names of more than 50 stops in Vienna in perfect german, hehe.

During all of this time, I have lived in the neighborhood with the beautiful name “Floridsdorf”, the place where you can find 2 kebab imbiss per habitant and important places like sozial medizinische zentrum floridsdorf and where I have met interesting people that have become friends. Some of them live 300 kms away from me but some of them live thousands kms away. This doesn´t matter because they are not afraid to fly and they don´t get dizzy on travelling. Plus, thanks to internet they are reading this right now. I am talking about crazy Spanish guys with masters in tortillas and in some teleco field, Spanish friends living in Linz who finally visited Albertina, Spanish girls working in the lab who are always there to find fibroblasts or to connect shear stress plates, german girls that prefer white tables to yellow and raw paprika to cooked paprika, Slovak boys who cook for their girlfriends, Slovak tall boy who is going to win a photo contest, Linzer boys who can not speak fluently after one year in Canada, Austrian boys that do not like travelling but are always 30 minutes early, interesting Austrian boys who like tortilla and black bread (white bread matches better) and that has 10 brothers. What else could someone ask for? Studentenzentrum Donaufeld forever! I am sorry but Stiege 3 is the best one.

I have realized that things can change easily and that the worst morning can finish is the best evening when you don´t get results in your labwork but you laugh for hours during a goodbye party. It was not easy to start from scratch but it has been possible.

I don´t know why but I have the feeling that I will come back to Austria. So, Auf wiedersehen Hossplatz!!!