~Vienna~
Vienna. When I hear the city to brings back so many amazing memories that scroll through my mind. I completely believe that Vienna is one of the hidden gems of Europe. Yu hear of London and Paris and Madrid or Amsterdam as this major European cites you have to see at one point in your life, but you never hear Vienna up there. Vienna is one of those cities just rich in history and culture right near the base of the Swiss alps that has its own unique culture that I came to appreciate.
For the record this 2-week trip was not my first trip to Europe nor will it be my last, but it was one of the first times I had a chance to really appreciate the culture of a city before. Originally I went to Vienna to study and learn more about their health care system, but as the days went by I learned so much more then just their healthcare, but their way of life.
Hear of some of some weird facts or quirks that the Viennese practice that I learned.
For the record this 2-week trip was not my first trip to Europe nor will it be my last, but it was one of the first times I had a chance to really appreciate the culture of a city before. Originally I went to Vienna to study and learn more about their health care system, but as the days went by I learned so much more then just their healthcare, but their way of life.
Hear of some of some weird facts or quirks that the Viennese practice that I learned.
- The people of Vienna are obsessed with coffee shops. Those cute little whole on the wall stores that sell amazing coffee that you find by chance in the United States are literally EVERYWHERE in Vienna. Fun fact you could go to a different coffee shop every breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day of the year and still not hit every coffee shop in the city of Vienna. Like WOW. For someone like me who doesn’t like coffee, I learned to really appreciate it and had the chance to try some of the most amazing pastries I’ve every had.
- The people of Vienna have cultivated a society that values family and spending time with family. For example all the malls and shopping centers and stores close at 6 on weeknights and grocery stores close at 8 so they people can go home and spend time with their families. There are no 24 hour businesses. It’s extremely rare to see restaurants open after 9 or 10 at the latest. People also have about an hour lunch break in Vienna so you will at times see adults sitting in cafes or walking in the parks and enjoying the weather in the middle of the day. A lot of their policies like their maternity leave policy makes Vienna a very family friendly environment. They care more about people and their life outside of work then they do the bottom dollar. A lot of Vienna has found a solid work life balance.
- The people of Vienna speak literally right above a whisper. Like they do not speak loudly what-so-ever. If you want to anger a Viennese talk loudly or even your normal voice level because over there its super loud. The worst part or coolest part- depends on who you are- is that when you go to these retail areas where there are a ton of different store and what not it’s really quiet for the amount of people there. If you talked loudly or yelled something it would carry so far and everyone would hear. You knew they weren’t from there by how they talked so quickly it was unbelievable. The funny thing is that I started to get irritated at people who did talk what the united states would call a normal talking level because they were obnoxiously loud and it started to bother me. I can’t imagine what the locals thought of people like that.
- Everyone and I mean everyone in Vienna dressed business casual. Like no one and I mean no one wore shorts or leggings or tennis shoes or sweats or athletic clothing or anything of the sort or what the United States would call comfy clothing. You were nice jeans or khakis or nice pants and a nice blouse or button up shirts for guys. Most ladies would also wear a scarf as well- it’s by far their favorite accessory. By golly if you looked anything less then business casual you stuck out like a sore thumb.
- This fact I think took a lot to get used to. The people of Vienna keep to themselves. There is no small talking. For them if its not important or meaningful and they don’t know you they don’t butt in to your life. When you are in line waiting to check out or riding on the subway people politely keep to themselves. In the United States we are the queens of small talk. You ask people “how are you doing?” And of course our reply is always “good.” They don’t do that at all. They find it unnecessary. To be honest reflecting on it, it is a bit unnecessary because if we don’t know the person we are not honest with them and we don’t really deviate from the standers responses of “okay” and “good”. I think as a whole we need to be more honest with each other if we are going to be asking people about there day and butting a bit into others lives.