It took me a while to understand what Billy Joel meant when he wrote this song in 1977, when he wrote “Vienna Waits For You” under the album “The Stranger.” I just recently thought about the meaning behind it when my sister surprised me by playing this song with the aux cord on our day trip for Thanksgiving. For a while, I thought Billy Joel thought of Vienna as his home, where he hangs his hat at the end of the day. However, it was not only that idea behind it.
For me, during those three minutes of just listening, I understood it. For about two years now, I have been struggling a lot when I came back to America, there is not a day that passes by that I don’t think about Italy, or how I am going to get back, or what I need to do in order to be there and to be happy again. However, I believe the root is that I miss the connections I had with my good friends over there, since I don’t get it here. And I am still thankful for my two good friends that we still talk to each other everyday. Without them I would lose the one part of me that keeps me going, and wanting to get back there. For both, I will see you soon in our next move. However, this place did get better for me when I met my first friend, we both came from similar backgrounds and we were very much in waiting points in our lives. We didn’t belong at our new high school, and we couldn’t go back to where we were before. In a way, in that point in time we kept rushing to finish school, and to get away, but we didn’t really understand to slow down, and that all will come in time and that special places and people in our hearts is the Vienna that waits for you.
For my friend, their Vienna is Hawaii, the love of animation and really supportive friends. For my friends in Naples, Italy, their Vienna was the support site, NHS, their passions in college and beyond, and those special people that loved them. For me I would say Naples, Italy is the love of my life and every step I take in America is one to get home, my passion for opera, and the amazing friends and family I am lucky to be a part of their lives for. At the end of the day one of these will be waiting for you, so do not rush in your waiting points or the stops along the way.
The thing is, when we are young, everyone wants to go, go, go and get to their 20s or 30s, but we all need to slow down in life and think about the things in our lives that truly made us individuals. It could be people, places or things. But to understand that either a country waits for you, or a family member that is always there, is a blessing in a mirage.