So I Decided to Travel Alone or
If I had to rank the most influential things about Oberlin I would put people I’ve met at the top of the list. Then I would get very stressed out and put classes, professors, history, and organizations all as number two and fail the ranking assignment. But it was the people I’ve met who convinced me that last summer was something I could do.
I’m not going to say that wanting to travel is a new thing for me, but only because I’m a liar and I want to pretend that I was a much cooler kid than I was. The truth is that when I was in elementary school my parents decided that we should go to Mexico and I actually convinced them we should go to Puerto Rico instead because five year old me had the misplaced paranoia of a sheltered forty year old mom. I cried when my sister got into a program to travel to Mali in middle school because, rather than any fears of the country, I was sure her plane would go down. I loosened up a little in high school and traveled to Spain and later Mexico (take that, five year old me) for dance programs.
But it still seems almost unimaginable that the kid who almost refused to go on a camping trip because she assumed she would be eaten by a bear would decide, after two years in college, that a sensible summer plan was to travel in Europe by herself.
To be clear, the majority of my summer was not alone. Just the part dramatic enough to write about. PSP turned out to be an amazing experience. Life was cappuccinos, life was sunny mornings on the Charles Bridge, life was hard work and first drafts and Czech words, and life was easy.
And then I decided that, in the five days before I planned to meet up with another Obie at her study abroad program in Copenhagen, I would buy one of those infamously cheap train tickets and hit Europe. Besides, how much could happen in five days? A lot, Molly. A lot can happen in five days. Do you not remember the getting eaten by a bear fear?
Here’s how I decided where to go:
My grandmother thought somebody in the family should see Vienna.
Train tickets to Vienna were pretty cheap.
Vienna is not on the way from Prague to Copenhagen.
But Brussels is on the way from Vienna to Copenhagen.
If I had a 28 hour layover in Brussels, then a plane ticket from Vienna to Copenhagen was pretty cheap.
Here are the things that I learned on the way from Prague to Vienna:
When you get to Vienna, there will be a big sign that says so.
You are going to the train station « Wein Meidling. » When there are signs at other train stations that say « Wein Meidling » they are indicating that this is the track going that direction.
They are not indicating that you are there.
So you do not need to leap up and ask everybody if this is Vienna every time there is a sign that says « Wein Meidling. »
They will not appreciate this.
Here are things that I learned instantly in Vienna:
There is a reason why backpackers carry backpacks.
It is because big roll y suitcases are hard to http://www.cheapjerseys11.com/ maneuver getting off of trains.
If you are caught up in a crowd of backpackers getting off the train, and you have a roll y suitcase, you might fall off the train and drop the suitcase on your foot.
It will be extremely painful.
If you leave and find a supermarket and ask for ice, they will not understand you because they speak German and you are speaking English.
They speak German in Austria.
They do not speak Austrian in Austria.
Fortunately it transpires that Vienna has very comprehensive public transportation, and not being able to walk will not necessarily ruin your trip. But it will put a damper on it.
The days in Vienna passed with some effort. Not speaking the language, I simply barely spoke, and found it oddly calming. I saw interesting markets, a huge Ferris wheel, castles, churches, gardens, and majestic cafes all from one foot.