Greetings from Vienna!
This is the second leg of our journey through Central Europe and we can already see differences from our previous site, Budapest, and here. Vienna seems much more urbanized than Budapest and this is seen in everything from clothing to restaurants to transportation. Budapest still has various traces of Communism, which only ended there in 1989 while Vienna was relatively untouched by that era. There is a distinct "hustle and bustle" in Vienna, one we find similar to that of a native New Yorker. In addition we found that in Budapest there was an obvious central location for socialization among young people, while in Vienna we found that the social "hot spots" were more split up. Some of us visited the "Bermuda Triangle" a place our tour guide told us was the it place to go, but it did not live up to it's hype unless you want to be running around with fifteen year old boys.
Many of the central themes discussed in Hungary mirrored those in Vienna. For example, the three maternity leave common for working women also caused barriers in advancement of their prospective careers. Another major difference we found was that in Budapest several turned to entrepreneurship to balance the home and work life while in Vienna this is much less popular.
A major difference between Austria and the United States is the upper education system. The University System is free for anyone who desires to go to a public school, which is usually funded by the ministry. The students at University of Vienna were incredibly surprised that we attend a women's college and that we have such a complex college application process. If you go to WU try to start a conversation with a student, it is an enriching experience.
Look forward to Vienna if you are in the 2010 travel group to CE!
Laura and AnnaMarie
Note: The coffee is astronomically better than in the US!
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