Hello there! I’m back from a semester of study abroad, and of course ready to share stories and adventures. While in Vienna, one of the most beautiful cities in the world (at least in my opinion), I did a lot of people watching. While admittedly, it was not that dissimilar to America, there were always a couple things other than the obvious language difference that distinguished these two countries.
One of the first things I noticed was the way that everybody interacted while on public transit. For some reason, the Viennese really don’t like making eye contact and are silent on the u-bahn (the underground system in Vienna). In New York, there’s also an unspoken “no talking,” rule, but it was never enforced to such an extent. Thus, it was very easy to spot the weird American students.
However, once you get to know Austrians and get them off the u-bahn, they become much more talkative. When I made friends with Austrians, the first thing I noticed was that they are less friendly than Americans at first meeting. They’re wary and even a little cold. Later, though, they would warm to such a point that they stopped being so distant and got so comfortable that they became downright rude.
Now, this is only my experience, but in America, I have always edited things that seemed inappropriate or uncouth. I stop myself from saying things that may seem sexist, racist, or poke fun at anything that a person may be sensitive about. In Austria, that’s called humor. People talk freely about things that some would find offensive and inappropriate. When I explained this to my Viennese friends, they were surprised and some even began to apologize.
The way that people interact in Austria is so different, and I feel like it affects the way that people may think. Over the semester, I took many opportunities to people watch. The way that my Austrian girl friends and my American girl friends talked to me was completely different. Different topics were in play, and one that was interesting was the ever “taboo” sex.
While American girls tend to be kind of bashful and giggly when talking about sex, Austrians can be either really closed off about it or really open. It was kind of like there was no in between. However, wherever you go, you’ll always find similarities between cultures. An idea that always seems to be universal is humor. While we may react differently, we all are hardwired to find things funny and to laugh. So, if you want to get over that language barrier, hand gestures and weird faces are always good. However, in Austria, I wouldn’t recommend that until you’ve known the person for a while.
I really loved Vienna, and I do miss it. I guess what I’d really like to share with you is my experience, all of it. Coming up next, hook up culture: a comparison. Madrid, Vienna, and Amherst. Till next time, Auf Wiedersehen!