Yeah, I also tended to mostly hang out either at VIS or at home, but I remember being really impressed by our Austrian neighbors.
I don't really know how to describe it, but they just seemed to have a much greater appreciation for life, particularly nature, and handmade things. They took a lot of joy in cooking for themselves and buying things from the local market, like you were saying.
And unlike in the US where most of our vacations involve lots of shopping or something very consumerist like that, their ideal vacation was camping or cross-country skiing, or going to a ropes course (which I did last time I was there, it was so cool.) And of course, they were big on recycling in both neighborhoods I lived in. Whereas Savannah doesn't have a single recycling bin... it's quite a huge cultural difference.
Also, I just remember seeing and participating in many protests and parades when I was there. They had their huge gay parade, and people protesting about that Mexican King's headdress or whatever, and the Turks protesting about racism, and all that good stuff. Then again, I'm comparing a big busy city like Vienna to the much more rural Bible-belt town I live now, so that's not really an even comparison.
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I don't really know how to describe it, but they just seemed to have a much greater appreciation for life, particularly nature, and handmade things. They took a lot of joy in cooking for themselves and buying things from the local market, like you were saying.
And unlike in the US where most of our vacations involve lots of shopping or something very consumerist like that, their ideal vacation was camping or cross-country skiing, or going to a ropes course (which I did last time I was there, it was so cool.) And of course, they were big on recycling in both neighborhoods I lived in. Whereas Savannah doesn't have a single recycling bin... it's quite a huge cultural difference.
Also, I just remember seeing and participating in many protests and parades when I was there. They had their huge gay parade, and people protesting about that Mexican King's headdress or whatever, and the Turks protesting about racism, and all that good stuff. Then again, I'm comparing a big busy city like Vienna to the much more rural Bible-belt town I live now, so that's not really an even comparison.