Vienna: Home Sweet Home?

Week 13 - Home Sweet Home?

After I got back from a wonderful weekend in Steiermark, I celebrated Easter at the International Baptist Church of Vienna. It was an absolutely fantastic and very joyful time - Bright had a main character in the drama that they produced - and afterwards we went together to the enormous Easter Market at Schoenbrunn Palace. This place was absolutely amazing! The Easter Market last from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday, with several types of products on display. Glass and marble eggs, traditonal Austrian foods, hand-carved wood pieces, and thousands of hand-painted eggshells. I was absolutely obsessed with just about everything and spent a good amount on souvenoirs. It was all definitely worth it in the long run.

This week passed by relatively quickly, partly because the semster started to wind down and also because I was preparing for a friend of mine, Lauren, to visit! She is spending 8 weeks at Webster Univerity's campus in Geneva, Switzerland and had to stop by Vienna! So on Friday night I went to pick her up at Westbahnhof, welcomed her with open arms, and immediately the philosophical conversations began. We roomed together last semester, and would always stay up the wee hours talking about history, philosophy, and (of course, my favorite topic) changing the world, and this time was no exception.

The next two days we forced our eyes open and bounded out to see what awaited us anew in this city. We walked, and walked, and rode the Straßen- and U-Bahn, and umm did I mention walking? We met up with another friend of ours and bummed around the city together - checking out some fantastic museums, a few churches, ate icecream, and just simply enjoyed the gorgeous weather God provided for us during that weekend. I was quizzed on German knowledge and Austrian politics, while I drilled them on music history and totalist societies.
Several times I said, "Welcome to my little city!" It's amazing, how the challenges of adjusting to this new city as a foreigner still remain yet because of living here it feels like home. The exhilarating feeling of returning home from a trip to the dorm is unbelievable strong; "Finally I'm home" I say after a long day. And yet, I feel detached from and attached to the city.

As the time to return home slowly approached, I realize a few things. Normally "time flies when you're havin' fun." I've noticed that this semester has passed at the appropriate time - not too fast, not too slow. I remember distinctly what happened each month that I've been here. I've also realized what a privilege it is to be from the US, especially now with the Obama administration. A few weeks ago I was intent on staying for the summer here in Europe, but am now feeling the strings tugging me towards home. Not out of homesickness, but out of fatigue. It's been quite a long time since I've acted my age and felt 19. Every moment almost since the beginning of high school has been used in an attempt to forge the future, seize this job opportunity or apply for this scholarship, settle on this career choice and gain that important professional experience. The struggle to become an agent of change is a physically and mentally exhausting process that requires endurance in motivation, development, and character. As I've set eyes on the jewels of freedom here in Europe, I'm understanding more and more this simple fact: I miss doing the things that folks my age should be doing. I miss writing music and practicing a Beethoven piece for four hours. I miss reading books, a renewed passion from my extra freetime in Europe. I miss giggling with friends about this and that cute boy at school. I want to memorize more books of the Bible and present them at church as I did a few summers ago; I want to give some of my time to helping the community around me by volunteering. By no means do I want to be unproductive or retreat back to trivial things. But right now, the weight of the world is too much to bear, especially because I am not yet in the position to change it on a large scale. So what now then? Change my life to be more free, so that that freedom can help change someone else's life.

[Photos: 1. only a small part of the hand-painted eggshells at the Ostermarkt; 2. lauren and Maddy enjoying a typical Viennese cafe; 3. an elaborate fence near Hofburg]