When we first arrived in Vienna, we spent the first two months in
complete social isolation, relying on each other for all of our social
stimulation. Nils is a pretty interesting guy, but when he is writing his dissertation, working full time and dealing with all of our moving logistics, things get a little ... well...serious. The third month we started to see a few people here and
there, but in the last two weeks we have made some new friends, hung out with
old friends, and it has felt like a relief. I don't know what I was so anxious about, but I suppose it had something to do with living in complete isolation for the next 2+ years. The science shows that solid
social networks can overcome (or
induce)
a lot of risk factors for disease and even early death, and like most
things, social networks have a spectrum of intensity, or dose.
I
would also like to add that the quality dimension to those friendships
is critical. Nils and I were at the summer night concert at the
Schönbrunn
last week, talking to some friends about introverts and extroverts when
I noticed we were with a discordant couple (he an extro, her an intro).
I realized that Nils and I are both introverts, but we really need
*quality* time with other people. Your run of the mill happy hour jabber
won't cut it. We need intense, personal discussions of depth. We need
to feel like we know what is going on with the person we are spending
time with, and we are miffed when we are given a superficial
explanation.
My social pet peeve is when people deflect
conversations about the constant sin curve of a normal emotional life
and tell me, regardless, that everything is "fine!". I find these people
to be robotic alien life forms of another dimension, who will shoulder
any burden alone, and with grace because everything is "fine!". I, on
the other hand, have no poker face and will be the first to tell you
what crazy thing is happening in my life because, like most people, I
assume you are like me until proven otherwise. Is that a safe
assumption? Or do I need to administer a
test?
In
other news, we traveled to Munich last weekend and had a great time
with our old friend, the guy who married us and is always quick with a
pirate joke, Pete. He, an extrovert, goes a mile a minute, and is always
incredibly optimistic and up beat. I find this uplifting, especially
because he has a habit of plying me with beer and amazing food, which
are known mood enhancers. I'm not sure if he appreciates my prying need
for personal conversations, but he puts up with me anyway. Here are some pics of Munich, which felt a bit like a post-college adventure in large beers and sausages, but one that I'm very happy I didn't miss. Oh! And in case it doesn't make sense that we saw a ton of cars- Pete and Markus work for BMW so they took us to BMW Welt (World) and the museum, which was actually awesome.
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| Surfers in the Englischer garden. |
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| Hot honey wine |
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| Lederhosen! |
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| Weisswurst |
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| This room showed you where your jacket was losing heat. Dont' ask. |
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| Roasted fish on a stick. Nom. |
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| Large beers! |
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| So many pretty gardens in Munich. |
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| Pete found a kegpack. |
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| More large beers and a soccer game. |
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| A normal German breakfast. |
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| My Vargas girl pose needs some work. |
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| Nils found a keeper. |
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| I like the older BMW's to be honest. |
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| BMW 2002, cutest car ever. |
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| This is a space ship car. |
