Chou, cheri! Dis-moi oui

Thursday night started at Eugenie’s house-warming party and ended up in Prater Dome. On entrance to the club (free for students on Thursdays) you are given a card on which to buy drinks; the card records everything you order and at the end of the night you pay off the balance – you can’t leave the club without handing in your card and there is a heavy fee if you lose it. If you arrive before midnight however, the card is pre-loaded with €10 (enough to buy two whisky-cokes) and Enrico likes to joke that it’s like a job where we get paid in drink – pretty good way to look at it I think!

 Sign in the Prater Dome cloak room

On Friday Serge, a Congolese student, invited us for pre-drinks at his dormitory. He originally intended to hold the party in his room, but there were so many people we were like sardines in a crushed tin box. We took the drinks downstairs to the party room – a large space with a home bar, leather sofas, and a pool table, overlooked by a gallery. The whole dormitory was like a rich kid’s version of the Molkereistraße – the hallways were furnished with paintings and display cases containing antique uniforms and historical items – a bizarre clash between residence and museum! Serge played an excellent host, walking around chatting to everyone with a bottle of whiskey in one hand, piña colada in the other.

Angelika and I played against two guys at pool, but again I encountered some odd variations to the rules – does nobody play just normal pool? Afterward, we all went to the ESN Welcome Party at the Palais Eschenbach. If I had thought Serge’s dormitories were strange, this place was something else. In a place specifically hired for an event where nearly everyone is drunk, it was very odd to see antique furniture and majestic oil paintings on the walls. The party was brilliant and it seemed that everywhere I walked I would be greeted by a familiar face – it’s crazy just how many people you meet in just a month. I did intend to leave fairly early in order to wake up in time for the train to Salzburg the next morning, but I was guilted into staying far later and drinking a fair amount more than planned!

No, i do not know why i'm pulling this face

Before I came to Vienna, Witek said to me “just take as many opportunities as you can, and you won’t regret it” – a little like the movie ‘Yes Man’ – so far this has been my approach to life here, and so when  Loïc asked me if I wanted to go to Salzburg, my answer without hesitation was a resounding yes. We woke up extremely early on Saturday to get the train to Salzburg for the weekend. As part of a special offer, one of the railway companies in Austria has reduced tickets during March, so our 3 hour journey cost us only €9 each way. We checked-in at the Yoho hostel and set off to explore the town. We went to many churches and Mozart related places, and later decided to play a few drinking games back at the hostel.

Xavier,  Loïc and Michel with Statue of Mozart in Salzburg

The next day we visited the Hohensalzburg Castle which is situated on a small mountain looking over the town. Xavier convinced the man at the entrance booth that we were all under the age of 18 so we only paid €4 each. Once back down in the town, we decided to grab some food and continue exploring the tourist attractions. With eleven of us we could not decide on where to all eat so we decided to split up. Unfortunately Jaana and I went into a shop and came out to find everyone had disappeared. We found Xavier and Michel in McDonalds and ate with them but they soon left to take an early train home. Jaana and I contemplated trying to find the others but after such a long day (with a bit of a hangover), we decided to call it a day and take the next train back to Vienna.

At Hohensalzburg Castle

On Monday I had my first lecture at the Technical University – an introduction to design courses (starting at 9am!). The lecture was all in German, but I was initially quite confident; I was able to understand the majority of what was said by piecing together words I understood and filling in the gaps. By the start of the second introduction however, my mind shut down and for the most part I did not attempt to listen. At around 15:00 I decided to leave the lecture and meet with the others to visit the Upper Belvedere Museum. On our last visit to the Belvedere we had bought tickets for both Upper and Lower Museum (€12.50 for a student) but decided to come back and see the Upper Belvedere another day (the tickets are valid for a year). 

Scale model of the Upper Belvedere Palace

 View from the Upper Belvedere Palace

That night we arrived at Ride club just after 7 to knock back as many 50 cent drinks as we could (fairly easy when the Belgium guys are challenging you to down them!) and thereafter we went to a flat party at Sechshauser Halls. Later some of us split off from the main group (who were going back to ride club) and went to Travel Shack to play pool – only this time I insisted we play in the normal fashion!