one week in

A brief summary of the past week.

Arrival. I was slightly concerned that I would have problems arriving in Europe on a one-way ticket, caused in part by a friend's recent detention by immigration at Heathrow when she dared to land with a one-way ticket. Austria apparently has no such qualms. I had my passport stamped and handed back to me with a cheery "Alles gut!" No questions, no landing card. I waltzed out of VIE faster than I've ever walked out of SFO.

Next. Alles was nicht gut. I ate something, touched something, or three weeks of manic activity caught up to me, and I got sick. I spent the next 36 hours asleep, except for brief respites when I was throwing up, and a short wobble down the street to the grocery store for liquids. I'm going to look on the bright side, and say that I got it out of my system before this adventure gets going.

After that. Puttered and wandered about. As I have no income, I'm trying to become a connoisseur of the free and cheap (more than I was before). The Wiener Staatsoper helped me out by undercutting their normally dirt-cheap standing room tickets with a free telecast. Nothing like enjoying high culture with the sound and fumes of traffic plowing up Kärtnerstraße ten feet behind you. I also finally made it to Theater an der Wien for the first time, but just barely. The ticket office was a madhouse, and I unfortunately chose the Abendkassa & Vorverkaufen line which consisted entirely of well-dressed elderly ladies who all seemed to be purchasing huge stacks of tickets totalling hundreds of euros. That'll remind me to always mind my surroundings, even when in line at the opera. I made it up to the balcony in time to snag a spot with a very steep view of the stage, and a really terrific view of a rail full of lighting equipment.

And next. It's back to school. More on that later.