Orientation in Mariazell + Move to Vienna

Grüß Gott from Vienna! I spent the last few days in a magical place called Mariazell for Orientation. Mariazell is southwest of Vienna in the province of Styria. It's situated right in the Alps & it is a dream.

On Wednesday, I met up with all of the other students from IES at the airport & they loaded us onto a bus & took us right out of the city. I was a little nervous about meeting people, but basically everyone was in the "I-don't-really-know-anyone-here-and-what-if-they-don't-like-me-how-do-I-friendship" boat, so making conversation was pretty easy as everyone was probably overcompensating for that & being a little more outgoing than normal. I met some people right away & had some good bus-mates to talk to on the 2 1/2 hour drive to Mariazell.

It started to sprinkle, then flurry, & then snow storm as we were making our way up through the mountains. It truly looked like a winter wonderland. I was living in a Christmas card. The snow didn't seem to phase the bus drivers - they took a quick stop to put on snow chains & then chugged right on up the mountain like it was just an average day (which it probably was). I swear, the turning radius on European buses is way better than any car I've ever driven. How they make it up narrow mountain roads with sharp turns & tiny bridges, I will never know.

We stayed at a lovely hostel (hostels really get a bad name, this place was WAY nicer than many hotels I've been at!) from Wednesday night - Saturday afternoon & I got a lot of information & a lot of exploring in during those few days. Study abroad orientation was just like freshman orientation for college - there's a LOT of socializing (which can get exhausting, but is a lot of fun), a lot of necessary (but not overly exciting) information, tours & planned activities, & free time that you don't know what to do with since you don't really have friends yet & you're so tired that you just want to nap but if you do you're worried you won't make any friends. It was exciting & exhausting!

One of my favorite parts of Mariazell was hiking through the mountains. The views were breathtaking, & although it snowed basically the whole time we were there, we got one perfect blue sky day.

Mariazell = magical. I would totally move here.

Hiking through the woods around Mariazell.

Up the mountain a little from the hostel, there was a beautiful old chapel that I went up to explore a few times with some friends. The doors were locked, but we could see through a hole in the door & it looks like it's kept pretty well. I wonder if people still hike up the mountain to go to Mass!

The chapel on the top of the mountain.

A view of Mariazell through a hole in the wall around the chapel (we thought perhaps the chapel used to be fortified & this was originally for a cannon?).

The inside of the chapel as seen through the hole in the door.

In addition to hiking up to the chapel, we went down the mountain towards a village called Gußwerk. We stumbled upon an odd little shed thing that had a wood covering, & we decided to take it off (we weren't really sure if we were trespassing - it looked like we were supposed to open it!) & found a small sculpture version of the Pieta (Mary holding the dying Jesus) inside. It had a little inscription that said it was made in 2005.

Mariazell is the largest pilgrimmage site in Eastern/Central Europe because of a monk, Magnus, who came to convert the people of the area in the 12th century. He was saved from robbers & murderers by his small statue of Mary & Mary herself appearing to him in times of peril (that was a very cursory summary - read more on Mariazell here). We figured that this may be part of one of the trails that leads to the basilica in town, & is a place for people to pray along their journey.

The little hut we found on the hiking trail.

The Pieta sculpture inside the hut - very beautiful but also reminds me a bit of Edvard Munch's "The Scream".

Look! I made friends!

In addition to hiking, I also visited the beautiful basilica in Mariazell and was given a tour by one of the IES professors. This church is the main point of the pilgrimmage as it contains the original little statue of Mary that Magnus carried with him on his journey. The church has been around since the 12th century, and it started as just a simple wooden cage around the statue & has grown to a massive worship space.

Many people, everyone from peasants to kings, have visited the church in hope that it will cure their sicknesses or grant their prayers. If their prayers were granted, they would give money to expand the church. Because of this, it has elements of many different architectural styles such as Gothic or Baroque that have been popular throughout the centuries. Even some of the Hapsburgs were married in this basilica!

In the bottom center is the original statue of Mary that Magnus carried on his journey. It is surrounded by gold and other treasures given by people who experienced blessings and miracles from visiting the site, and you can see the smaller square chapel that used to be the size of the entire church until other parts were built around it over the years.

Apparently Austrians have a thing for chandeliers in their churches.

After touring the basilica, we walked around Mariazell, sampled some of the delicious gingerbread (which was originally created here as it lasted so long that pilgrimmagers could take it with them on their journeys), and got some coffee.

The town of Mariazell - so cute it almost doesn't even seem real! The basilica is the white/black/pinky peach building in the top right.

The rest of Orientation consisted of a lot of socializing & information about the upcoming semester, & on Saturday afternoon we boarded the buses to head back to Vienna and move into our housing.

The typical view from the bus.

My essential bus-riding snacks.

The four buses carrying IES students (there are about 180 of us) parked in the parking lot of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, & we scrambled to find our luggage & roommates & then got into vans to go to our separate housing. Students are living in apartments, home stays, & residence halls all over the city. It was (surprisingly quite organized) chaos. Luckily, my roommates & I were on one of the first vans out of there!

My roommate Nadine with all of the bus-to-van craziness.

Everyone waiting for a van.

I'm living in what is technically the residence hall option, but it's basically an apartment. I'm in the first district of Vienna & right across the street from the IES Center, where my classes will be. It's the PERFECT location. I'm within walking distance to basically everything, & it's amazing. I'm all unpacked but I'm still waiting for my bedsheets to get here & I haven't decorated yet, so my apartment (which is incredibly nice & wonderful) looks kind of empty & sad right now. I'll add more photos of that later!

Today (Sunday), I ventured out into Vienna for a bit to explore the surrounding area. Alex, one of my roommates, was here last semester - so she knows a lot of really great places around the city.

We were looking for a cafe to hang out in for a few hours in the afternoon (which is not a hard quest - coffeeshops are just about every other storefront here). First, we tried to find a table at a very cool coffeeshop/bookstore/record store called Phil, but were unable to find a place to sit. I still snapped a picture of all the awesome ambiance.

Part of "Phil". I can't wait to come back here to study!

We ended up grabbing some coffee at Cafe Sperl, right across the street. I feel like people have been hanging out at this place for hundreds of years. It was homey, beautiful, & served fabulous coffee. The Viennese literally live for coffeeshops. They hang out in them for hours, & the servers don't pester you to leave or to buy anything because (unlike in the US) they get a fair wage plus benefits for their jobs. So you can just hang out & chat for hours without being disturbed. It's a wonderful life.

The exterior of Cafe Sperl.

My first cup of coffee in Vienna! A "Tall Mocha" ... which I'm pretty sure was just 2 shots of espresso. I don't quite understand the name, but it was delicious!

I then rode the U-Bahn for the first time, which is the Viennese public transport subway system. It's remarkably clean, & kind of on the honors system on whether or not you purchase a ticket. They do random checks & the price if you're caught without a ticket is about a 100 Euro, but theoretically you can walk right onto the train as you don't have to punch in or anything.

Riding the U-Bahn!

Finally, we ended up at home. We actually only rode the U-Bahn for one stop, but it let us avoid a 15 minute walk in the bitter cold. I absolutely love the street that I live on - it's steps away from the busy city center, but there is hardly any foot or car traffic as it's basically just a side street.

The outside of my living space. It's actually an old convent!

The door to my apartment. I could do a tour just of Europe's doors - they're so dang beautiful!

Now, I'm just laying in my bed & mentally preparing for the week ahead. We start intensive German tomorrow - 3 weeks of nothing but German for 2 1/2 hours a day. I already have one semester of German under my belt so hopefully the foundation well help me out as I was placed in the German 201 class, but I've heard that it's a pretty overwhelming few weeks. Regardless, I'm excited to learn! And attitude is half the battle, right?

When we're not in German, there are optional activities like tours of the city and its museums, ice skating in front of one of the palaces, & dinners in classic Viennese restaurants. I AM SO EXCITED!

FYI, just in case anyone wants to send me something, my address is:

Megan Lynch

c/o IES Abroad

Johannesgasse 7

A-1010 Wien

Austria

Europe

You have to write it EXACTLY like that, & only mail shipped through USPS (the United States Postal Service) will be accepted. I really really really adore letters, so I would not object to some handwritten love from home (:

I apologize for such a long post, but it's been a wonderful few days. Sending love back home! Tschüss!