Austria Bound!

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

Some of you already know via Facebook that I will be leaving the States soon at the end of the month. Last fall my doctoral adviser accepted a job at the University of Vienna and she offered me a research assistant position, and I will also be transferring from my program to there. This position will be up to four years. It has been one of helluva of a stressful bureaucratic nightmare. (Thanks, Obama, for having the US Passport Agency lose my most recent passport for my passport renewal application.) The last hurdle was having to fly down to Los Angeles to meet with the Austrian Consulate General in person to submit my paperwork, which I did last Thursday-Friday. Needless to say with the Syrian situation, this is an odd time to be an American traveling to Austria. 

 

Advice/suggestions for life in Vienna and Austria appreciated, especially in regards to apartment hunting or locating good Mexican food and American sports bars. Austrian BWB! I am coming to join you! 

 

[Jo498]

Can't help with housing specifics (although I feat the situation is rather tight in Vienna) but if you want Mexican food in Vienna you should better adjust your preferences. ;)

Excepting France, Austria is probably the best country for "old world food" and Mexican is certainly not your best option.

Vienna is extraordinarily beautiful and depending on what part of the university you are in, some of the university is also housed in old beautiful buildings.

[DireWolfSpirit]

http://youtu.be/z_4wtGoS6-s

[Xray the Enforcer]

locating good Mexican food

Learn how to make it yourself. It is the only way

[Arataniello]

Learn how to make it yourself. It is the only way

 

 

Not nuking it from orbit?

Anyhoo, best wishes in central Yarp.

[Xray the Enforcer]

 

 

Not nuking it from orbit?

 

That's only after abject failure. ;)

 

Good luck in Yurp, MFC!

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

MFC,

Enjoy some wonderful Austrian cusine!

[IheartIheartTesla]

Congratulations!

 

I dont have any idea about Vienna, but I would definitely watch a No Reservations: Vienna episode by Anthony Bourdain. I know he doesnt do the touristy spots, so probably no luck on the Mewxican food or sports bars.

 

I hear they have good pastry though :o

[S John]

What a cool opportunity, congrats MFC!

 

I think a good general rule of thumb is that if you aren't in certain parts of the US or in Mexico itself, you're probably shit outta luck on Mexican food.  As for sports, times that I've been abroad for extended periods caused me to drop all of my sports interests except for one (couldn't give up Mountaineers football) because it was such a pain in the ass to find and watching live requires being up at weird times.  Might want to get your illegal streaming game on point.  I guess if you are into the other variety of football you'll be in good shape there. 

[Sophelia]

Interesting move - Vienna is a very majestic place, keep us posted as it will be interesting to hear your impressions.  I don't know Austria well at all but I couldn't resist looking on tripadvisor to see if there was a Mexican restaurant there and there is something approximating one:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190454-d7296485-Reviews-Patiya-Vienna.html

 

Always on the search for Mexican restaurants in unexpected places.  But yes, in Europe you definitely have to keep an open mind on exactly what 'Mexican' is (but have fun trying the variations - me and Mentat still reminisce longingly about the Czech-Mex we found in Prague).  This one in Vienna from one of  the comments at least seems to be run by a Mexican (but with only two reviews it's hard to assess its quality).

 

Good luck!

Sophie

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

I appreciate all of your congratulations and support. I suspected the possibility that having a Swiss-German adviser would lead to post-doc or study abroad opportunities, but I did not necessarily expect her to get a job during my program, much less being her only student to receive the invitation. 

 

Learn how to make it yourself. It is the only way

What a cool opportunity, congrats MFC!

 

I think a good general rule of thumb is that if you aren't in certain parts of the US or in Mexico itself, you're probably shit outta luck on Mexican food.  As for sports, times that I've been abroad for extended periods caused me to drop all of my sports interests except for one (couldn't give up Mountaineers football) because it was such a pain in the ass to find and watching live requires being up at weird times.  Might want to get your illegal streaming game on point.  I guess if you are into the other variety of football you'll be in good shape there. 

That's what I'm afraid of. All sorts of comfort food I am (mostly) not worried about in Europe. Mexican and Central American food? That's the trick. 

 

I appreciate the sports hints too. It may just have to be UNC college basketball and then other American sports during play-off and finals time. 

 

Interesting move - Vienna is a very majestic place, keep us posted as it will be interesting to hear your impressions.  I don't know Austria well at all but I couldn't resist looking on tripadvisor to see if there was a Mexican restaurant there and there is something approximating one:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190454-d7296485-Reviews-Patiya-Vienna.html

 

Always on the search for Mexican restaurants in unexpected places.  But yes, in Europe you definitely have to keep an open mind on exactly what 'Mexican' is (but have fun trying the variations - me and Mentat still reminisce longingly about the Czech-Mex we found in Prague).  This one in Vienna from one of  the comments at least seems to be run by a Mexican (but with only two reviews it's hard to assess its quality).

 

Good luck!

Sophie

Thanks for the link. I wonder if you went to the same Czech-Mex my younger sister told me about in Prague. 

[S John]

You might also want to look into this:

 

http://www.slingbox.com/

 

If your parents or a friend has cable that carries the games you want you can buy a slingbox and set it up at their house and stream to your computer.  They need to keep it turned on for you.  I left one at my parent's house a couple years ago, before I went to Scotland for a year, and I don't know if my internet was too slow or something, but I was not that impressed by the feed.  I did not end up using very much.  It did work, though, and maybe the technology has improved in the past few years.  Also, four years straight is a lot longer than I've ever been away, so it might be worth it in your case.

[lady narcissa]

Hope you have a fantastic time in Vienna. I spent 3 months in Austria when I was a graduate student but that was a long time ago...there was no internet then...so no practical advice. But there are a number of expat forums for people based in Vienna so you should check out a few of those and just from my preliminary look at a few it appears your quest for sports viewing and Mexican food are not unique so you should be able to find some ideas for those.

Lots of yummy cakes and pastries to be found everywhere if you like that sort of thing. Also wonderful elaborate ice cream concoctions in the warmer months. And Christmas markets once the season starts.

[Aemon Stark]

How long are you there for? I spent a month in Innsbruck a few years back on an elective rotation. I did spend a few days in Vienna and travelled to Salzburg and other places in Tyrol. Austrians like to smoke, so that's something to keep in mind. Mainly it's a great place to do outdoors-y things, and you're close to a lot of other interesting places for travel. I do highly recommend exploring the country, though it certainly sounds like you'll have plenty of time to do so. 

 

Vienna can be fairly hot in the summer. 

 

MFC,

Enjoy some wonderful Austrian cusine!

 

The bread and take-away sandwiches available are wonderful. And Sachertorte. And Männer wafers/biscuits/cookies. Everything else, though? I hope you like potatoes, vinegar salads, liver dumpling soup, and sweet pickles. 

 

Beware any "ethnic" food in Austria. Though I recall something vaguely Mexican (or, really, North American) in Innsbruck. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Haha looky here,
Google maps is showing a handful of Mex choices for Vienna. Surely at least one of them will be passable hopefully.

https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&fb=1&gl=us&sll=48.2317557,16.3805866&sspn=0.0878223,0.175795&q=mexican+restaurant+in+vienna+austria&gmm=CjoSNgiCl638s5Ss5oABCMzTwse6jKjRNAjUpJexr8vfgSQSFTEwNjYyMTEwNzY2NDkxODM1ODY1MiAB

[baxus]

If you're into a meat-heavy diet, I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot of Balkan restaurants in Vienna, with so many people from former Yugoslavia living there.

Of course, if you're a vegetarian those restaurants will be about as useful to you as nipples on a breastplate. ;)

[The guy from the Vale]

Yeah, Mexican food isn't as much of a thing in Central Europe as in the USA. The equivalent would probably be Turkish food, or at least in Austria, Hungarian or Balkan restaurants. Try those before despairing about the lack of Tex-Mex cuisine ;)

[Buckwheat]

Congratulations!
 

The University of Vienna is beautiful, mostly the main building. My advice about being there is take a good looks at the signs on the halls not to get lost in that labyrinth. ;) The campus is really really nice too, located in the old hospital around a few very green inner yards. Vienna is all around a beautiful city with lots of things to see.

 

Cannot help you with sports bars, but you might want to up your interest in skiing in skijumping while in Austria. :P

[Lyanna Stark]

Advice/suggestions for life in Vienna and Austria appreciated, especially in regards to apartment hunting or locating good Mexican food and American sports bars. Austrian BWB! I am coming to join you! 

 

 

Sachertorte! Mozart and actually, just lots of coffee and baked goods.

 

Oh, and if you are still there come spring, join the Eurocommie BWB annual Eurovision chat. One year too late to be live in Vienna, but still the best thing ever.

 

Perhaps you should do a Happy Ent and write the reverse of his "Euro journey to the US" and do an "American journey to Austria" in the same format with stuff about the Hunt for Mexican Food and such.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

It almost seems that some people are taking my Mexican food concern more seriously than I am. It's mostly me kvetching food that I know will be non-existent in Vienna. (If I really want to cough-up a storm of lament, I would request Southern "soul" food. It's just that Mexican food is almost the cornerstone "comfort" food of the US. I already anticipate that I will become intimately familiar with the Austrian Turkish ghetto, wherever that is. 

I look forward to being part of the Eurocommie BWB chapter.