CouchSurfing

Okay, so I discovered Couchsurfing.com today. Well not discovered, I guess, since I've heard of it before, but really looked into it today. And it has actually been a great thing because its alleviating a lot of my stress about meeting people and having friends in Vienna.

At the cocktail party last night I realized the snobbiest girl, the one who intimidates me the most for some reason, this girl Annie, who is in all my classes, is going to Vienna. She is traveling every weekend with the one girl I already knew who is going that I thought was okay. I thought maybe she was someone who I could travel on the weekends with, or visit museums with... but if she is going to be with Annie, well then that's off.

I realize it's silly for me to get so worked up about this girl, simply because she is going to be in the same European city as me, or for me to be relying on one person to "be my friend." But I can't shake my annoyance and stress over it. I guess my biggest fear is just that I won't have anyone to travel or sightsee with.

So, anyway, back to Couchsurfing.com which is the solution to this problem. (I felt Annie had stolen the one potential friend I already knew). And my plan B, if i hated the other Americans was to make Austrian friends. Though, recently, I've been warned they are not very friendly. As in, when you speak to them randomly at a pub, or on the street they are weirded out since its not in their culture to talk to random people. So, I wasn't sure how to meet any local people. But this website is perfect. It's basically for a community of free-spirited, global-thinking type people who love meeting fellow travelers, hosting people from other countries, or staying with people they have never met. I was skeptical about actually doing couch-surfing before I looked into the site, but now I think I would actually do it. But, in Vienna, I'm just going to use it as a way to meet some local people. I've already messaged a few people my age on the site living in Vienna... so I really hope to hear back from them.

I also joined the site to advertise myself as someone willing to show around travelers to St. Louis. I think it could be a really fun way to meet new people.

Anyway, I'm so glad I found this site. I hope it's as great of a community of people as it seems to be, and I really hope I can make some Austrian friends.
Meeting the "locals" in Ireland and getting to know their culture from their perspective was what made that experience such an amazing one for me, and it'd be great to have a similar experience in Vienna.