In the past month that I've been here, there are a

 few things that I've noticed about Austrians... Like the fact that they eat Hobbits! (maybe that's just Styrians!)

• The German is soft and the people are friendly
• All of the WC's (Water Closets) are duel flush
• When you walk around downtown, you can actually hear your own footsteps. For a city of nearly 300,000 people, it is absurdly quiet!
• Biking to work in your suit is the norm, just hang your briefcase off one of the handlebars.
• Café/Konditorei
• A shot of regular espresso is a klein Schwartz, always served on a saucer and platter with a spoon, sugar, biscuit, and a small glass of still water. 
• Order a pastry or roll- I guarantee that either will be delicious!
• Don't plan on rushing it. Sit back, sip, chat with the other people at your table. 
• No one to eat with? Sitting down with someone else is perfectly acceptable!
• Drive through? What's that?
• Student card = discount!
• Castles, Deutsch, Parks (which will soon be green), cultures, fun people, Beautiful city! 

Of course, it isn't always heaven. Another 7 things... 

• For the first week I wasn't sure that people were actually speaking German. Steirisch is crazy!
• No WiFi (pronounced VeeFee) at home
• I speak virtually no German at home. Without immersion it is so difficult to achieve a saturation level learning rate!
• No Pandora :(
• Figuring out the Austrian university system- and coordinating courses between two Austrian universities... I'm dreading what it will look like when I try to convert everything back to WSU credit!
• Exchange rate. Yuk. 
• You aren't here! 

In other news, the welcome breakfast on Monday was wonderful, I'm going climbing tomorrow with some other exchange students, and since Monday my chest cold has taken up residence in my sinuses, complete with headache. I'm trying to sleep it off before Venice on Saturday!