Culture Shift

There are a lot of cultural differences between America and Austria. Most of them are pretty small, however they still catch me by surprise. For instance, no one smiles at each other on the street. Here it's considered more of an invitation to talk, so you have to be careful who you "accidentally" sneak a smile at!

That doesn't mean that Vienna's not a friendly place though. Here, greetings are extremely important. Everyone greets everyone. No really. EVERYONE. You walk into a store and you are expected to greet the people you see. Usually someone enters a shop and just says "Grüß Gott" (God's Greeting) to the store in general. You'll get a whole jumble of responses from around the store! It's a lot of fun.

The subways I am used to being on are usually loud and overwhelming. Here, you usually walk into a tram of complete silence. If you have to talk, it's in whispers. It's the easiest tell of a foreigner for them to walk into a bus or tram car talking loudly or laughing. You'll get lots of stares.

And that brings me to another point. Staring in the US is considered rude. We tell our children "Don't stare, it's not polite!". Here however, curiosity is encouraged and staring is just fine. Try it! Just casually stare at someone on the bus... it's super uncomfortable for most Americans (me included).

Also, their doors open inward (you'd be surprised how much that will mess you up...)