Hallo!

so after many months,some very tearful goodbyes, and surviving Terminal 5 I'm finally here! I have to first of all say that Vienna is amazing! I really couldn't have picked a better city to study in. The main university building where I'll be having my classes is incredibly impressive and I can actually see the Votivkirche from my halls window.

Today, with my mum in tow, we started to tackle the extensive admin which has to be done. Starting at 9 am, we still hadn't finished by 4 pm! Collecting my key at halls was actually the easiest part, the woman was extremely friendly, helpful and more than a little motherly. She showed me my room, apologising for its size, and the bathroom which I will be sharing with a Polish girl, whom I am yet to meet, and the shared kitchen. My room is really nice, although it's pretty tiny, it has plenty of storage space (too much for the 2 suitcases I brought.) It was all very efficient and thorough until I came to the Erasmus office where after bombarding me with far more information than I could possibly take in, they informed me that I was enrolled for 'Anglistik und Amerikanistik' - which is a MAJOR problem since those courses, being entirely in English and about English things, won't be recognised as part of my single honours German degree back in Edinburgh! Luckily my very friendly DOS type figure, who even though she is a professor with the English department will be sticking with me throughout my time in Vienna, reassured me that she would sort it all out and email me to tell me exactly what I need to do. Awesome! I do love these Austrians!

With all of this admin, we haven't had time to do anything else! Tomorrow morning I still need to hand in my receipt for my registration fee in order to receive my pin without which I can't sign on to the univie system (uni wien's myed) and therefore can't register for any classes. I also have to register with the police, something we didn't have time to do today. However, there will be time for our prebooked Danube cruise which I'm really looking forward to!

Despite how amazing the city seems to be, my first day here has been stressful and emotional. Even with the Austrian efficiency, admin took all day and what's more worrying for me is that the only girl I have met in halls so far was stuck up and rude. I know I can cope with the language and the classes but I worry that I'm not going to make any friends here and this is my biggest fear. I have such amazing friends at home whom I already really miss and I'm so settled in my life in Edinburgh that it seems almost stupid to miss out on it all for the erasmus experience. I've already had to ring my best friend in tears and despite knowing that I've only been here a day and so can't possibly expect to be settled yet, the thought of just giving up and going home with my mum on thursday is unbelievably tempting! I know that I'd always regret never giving it a proper shot though and that's what's making me stay.

Anyway I will update soon, hopefully things will be more settled then!
Bis bald!