It´s always hard to write again after such a dormant phase like i do. The reason or excuse of such a dormant was, i moved to Germany last October. Things were a bit crazy and i need some time to adapt to a new place with a new rhythm of life: full-time student life. I will write in seperate post on how the phasing in went. This time, i want to focus on the main title of the post today, the Vienna.

First time i heard about Vienna was about its music, not the Vienna Folklore Music, but more about classical music. It was one of my best friend, Eve, who always want to study music in this beautiful city. I knew her long back during university years. We studied Engineering together for four long years with long nights because of a mountain of group works. She did all of that despite the fact that she didn’t like it. Her soul is for her music and her piano. After graduation, she ditched Engineering (seriousy!!) and taught music, until this day. To me, she was my first role model who taught be about passion and courage to persue it. I wished she was in Vienna with me. I could imagine she played abandoned piano somewhere here in Vienna. And everyone would love it very much.

Be in Vienna on November meant Christmas Market! I always wanted to see how Christmas Market looks like and Vienna certainly the center of it. Upon my arrival in the hostel, the receptionist gave me a map, especially an information for Christmas Markets in Vienna. Yes, markets with S! There were lots of them in every corner of the city. Starting with commercial ones and to more traditional ones. They were in front of City Hall, Belvedere Palace, Maria-Theresien Platz, Universitätscampus, Spittelberg, and also Schönbrunn Palace. And the must have when visiting this place were glühwein or hot wine. Its a traditional Christmas beverage, not only in Austria but also Germany. When you bought this, you would also pay for the glass, but you also could get the money back later on when you finished your glühwein. It were also worth trying Christmas tradtional snacks, such as gebrannte Mandeln (candied almonds covered in browned and crunchy sugar) or simple traditionally roasted hot chestnuts. Last but not least, stop a while to enjoy Christmas Carols. It could be adult group singers, solo intrumentalist, or even cute kids caroling! Nonetheless, they were lovely and created a great vibe of Christmas.

One thing that i would recommened to do is to sit in Vienna traditional cafe, like Cafe Central (Herrengasse 14) to simply enjoy a coffee and dessert like Viennese do. Or to try a Wiener Schnitzel in Cafe Museum (Operngasse 7). Both of cafes were just magnificent with great food!  

My main reason to visit Vienna were to visit a good friend here. I met her on 2011 when she visited Indonesia for business purpose. Since then we keep in touch with our lives even though we do not work in the same company anymore. What i admire about her at the first place were her independence, open mindset, and also her spirit to try new things. She was the first foreigner i met who ate in Warung (a street stall in Indonesia) beside an open road with no hesitation. She didn’t not only eat Nasi Goreng there but also durian with her bare hands – like we local do until this day. She might have stronger stomach than i am. I asked her, “Have you ever had food poisoning? Where?” She answered, “Yes. In Switzerland” – and i just was amazed. Switzerland amongst all places??!!

What did change since then? Both of us, i think. She met a great guy and now have a beautiful daughter and i was in the middle of my solo backpacking trip in Europe. We both still love Supply Chain Management, as we believe this was a core of a business, something that saw a company in helicopter view and connected one part to another. And thats why being in Supply Chain Management sometimes frustating, because you need to become the joint of multiple bones at once. 

She was a great listener, a rare one. She noticed multiple things during our conversation, such as how i still used “we” when talked the company i used to work for – as i still in the company. Or a simple thing about my family. My closest circle knows how private i am with my personal life and they keep telling me how mysterious i am as a person. But, she could ask a right question at the right time to understand me more. It was nice to catch up with her and meet her new family. And we definitely will meet again! Soon!

Traveling with me is not complete if i don’t meet stranger on the road. This time, i met Claudia, a student of photojournalism who studying in London. She was here for taking some snaps of second round of Austrian Presidential Election between Alexander Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer. At same time week, there were also Italian Presidential Election. Actually it was interesting to travel in Europe during these period. I got to talk about European politics (including UK) a lot, especially after schocking Brexit and Trump. She shared me a few interesting stories not only about Brexit in UK (like London protest, Scotland position, the support that Universities give for international students, etc), but also her opinion on Italian Election where she originally came from. We also got talking about the far left and far right opponent in most of European election nowadays (including France). Why talking such a “heavy” topic in holiday? For me its not heavy or light, its just simply interesting. A part of life that you can’t completely ignore wherever you are. See you in next post!