Upon arrival to Austria, I was graciously met by my EWS-colleague Nathalie and we headed straight to the vaccination. As a matter of fact, I already have a Russian vaccine, but since it’s not acknowledged by the EU I had to make another one.
The vaccination experience turned out to be surprisingly exciting, performed at the very heart of Vienna in Stephen’s Cathedral during the Holy Mass. A nice introduction to the Austrian Culture. Unfortunately, after that, I headed straight into the quarantine for the incoming 5 days. For that, I got a cosy little apartment in a nice neighbourhood. Getting acquainted with the EWS remotely I also spent some of my free time watching TV and playing the game of how many words in German can I understand. The highlight of the day was an approximately 30 minutes long walk to the coronavirus test site. Not much, but still an insight into Austrian life. Multiple stickers around the city helped get into the current agenda.
Finally, on Saturday I got a chance to dive deeper into the streets of Vienna. Dropping off my backpack at one welcoming edge of the city I walked my way into the centre. After 5 days of isolation, there have been too many people around suddenly. It’s also sort of ironic to get out of quarantine and head straight into the anti-vaccination demonstration. I preferred hanging out with trees though. My major Vienna’s discovery happened to be Platanus. We don’t have this tree in the area I’m from, so it made quite an impression.
Only on my night drive to Tamsweg did I manage to grasp the whole extent of the change I went through. Zigzagging among the mountains I finally realized how far this journey had already taken me. Well, quoting Maurice Sendak and paraphrasing EWS’s slogan: “Let the wild rumpus start!”
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