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Culture, international connections make Vienna a hard city to leave

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By Melissa Coulter | Friday, October 10, 2008 |

My time in Vienna is over. Adjusting to a foreign language and city in August was jarring, but nothing compared to the culture shock of returning to the States. The season has changed, my world view has shifted, and I will be over the jet lag long before I reassimilate to fast food and big box stores.

I touched down in Chicago Tuesday afternoon as my U.S.-Austria Journalism Exchange Fellowship came to a bittersweet end. Suddenly surrounded by bulkier bodies in baggy, untucked shirts, I was keenly aware of being back in the Midwest. I’ve gone from cobblestones to concrete slabs, from Kaffeehaus culture to coffee-to-go, from taking the 38A bus down to the Ring to driving up 38th Street hill in Rock Island.

And for Pete’s sake, why is the air conditioning still on?

There is no doubt I will miss the European lifestyle, with its relaxed pace and aesthetic sense. But it’s not just cultural withdrawal I am experiencing. Vienna is home to several international organizations that I had the opportunity to cover while I was there. Just opening up the Austrian Press Agency’s list of daily press conferences each morning was like Christmas to a journalist interested in international affairs.

I attended the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 52nd general conference. I shook hands with Austria’s new chancellor-elect Werner Faymann. I met with U.S. Ambassador to Austria David F. Girard-diCarlo and Austrian Ambassador to the United States Eva Nowotny.

My challenge now that I have returned to Iowa is to keep broadening the global perspective I gained during my six weeks on the foreign desk at Der Standard. I have a greater appreciation for how America’s decisions affect countries like Austria. I understand better the dynamics of the European Union and the global impact of Wall Street’s financial crisis. The distance allowed me to analyze more clearly my own country and the forces that drive it.

But Vienna’s cultural charms are hardest to part with. No more walking to work through the public rose gardens. No more pumpkin strudel. No more sturm, the new wine from Austria’s grape harvest.

Of course, there are trade-offs. Our Mississippi riverfront far exceeds the Danube canal in beauty and accessibility. I’m home just in time for pumpkin ice cream at Whitey’s. And I can now satisfy my craving for Mexican food and Q-C brews.

Many thanks to my readers who connected me with friends and relatives living in Vienna. Those personal connections deepened my experience and understanding of the Austrian people. I’ve been honored to share those experiences through these pages.

Now if I can just get Lagomarcino’s to make a Midwest version of Mozartkugeln. Bix Balls, anyone?

Melissa Coulter is back in Iowa after reporting from Austria, where she participated in a journalism fellowship. Contact her at (563) 383-2243 or at mcoulter@qctimes.com.