I didn't really think about how difficult it would be to adjust to the language barrier. It's a little frustrating, and it takes a lot more time to get from place to place. We legitimately didn't know how to exit the train station earlier, because we couldn't read the signs.
Luckily, we're all picking up on German phrases pretty quickly and everyone has been super patient with figuring it out. I've mastered please, thank you, excuse me, I don't speak German, Do you speak English, and a few other handy ones. Looking on the bright side, we'll come back with a little bit of German in our vocabulary.
Vienna is absolutely beautiful. I'm madly in love with the city, and we haven't been here very long. The Deutchmeister is a lovely hotel and it's SO nice to have apartments. We cooked our first dinner [as an apartment] tonight, and I think we were all happy to have home cooked food. After a week of nothing but eating out in London, it was a nice change of pace.
We had our first gelatto last night, and I think half of us went and got more today. That could be a problem...haha
In the next couple of days we will start exploring what Vienna has to offer academically, worship with a local congregation, have a cook out, and experience our first free day in the city. A week from Friday will be our first free-travel weekend and my group is headed to Switzerland for a few days.
To wrap it up, God has been SO good to us. We've had safe travel, mild amounts of homesickness, and not too much culture shock. Everyone seems happy and healthy, for the most part.
When the time comes, I have no doubt that we'll all be ready to head home, but for now we're soaking in the day to day.
Please keep praying for us as we continue to explore, learn, discover, and travel. Love you all!
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