The importance of meeting your people

This past weekend in Vienna, we were non-stop social. On Friday night, we met up with a couple a family friend set us up with. Kind of a two on two blind date. Except they brought another couple, so it was a four on two blind date. As it turns out, both the women have PhD's in science and are amazing and hilarious. One is from Iran and the other from the UK, and both have found jobs after about six months of looking. It was refreshing and intimidating to realize how there are all these great people, with PhD's, applying for the same jobs as I am! Yikes. The next day, we went to the Vienna wine walk in the hills with our good friends Kira, Chad, and Kellie. We walked up into the vineyards and had crisp glasses of local Gruner Veltliner and Riesling...until it started pouring rain. Then we walked down and caught a tram home before meeting some other friends for Bolivian food later (can you believe how many people we saw? so unusual).

Kellie, me, Chad, and Kira

I want to tell you about Sunday, but first I have a story. Last Wednesday, I went on a bike ride by myself around 4:30 in the afternoon. We have a good loop in the hills that takes 1.5 hours, so I was going to do it and be home in time to make dinner. This ride requires that at the one little cobble stone town, you go left and not right. Well, I decided to go to the right. Thinking it would connect back up to the main road, I just kept going, and going, and going and then I came across a dirt road. I thought, perfect! This must take me to that other dirt road so I'll just keep going. Well. Two hours later, I am descending a mountain bike trail on my carbon fiber road bike and trying to search for a cell phone signal to call Nils and tell him I'm not dead (yet). As I dismount and climb over roots and rocks, I finally get through and he tries to download a cell phone tracking app to find me and come get me on his bike. To make a long story short, I finally get to a road and tell Nils he can stand down on the search and rescue. This road takes me to another fork, and I have no idea which way to go until two nice cyclists with bright lights come and offer to escort me home because it is too dark to ride (damsel in distress!).

They were the nicest people, Robert and Martin, two super awesome cyclists from Innsbruck, and we were sort of laughing about the whole thing by the time I got to my street. We exchanged information and they offered to take us mountain biking Sunday. We met up with a whole group and had a great time in the trails above Vienna until Nils' rim separated and we had to split off and go home. All in all, it was a great weekend. Meeting new friends is hard as an adult, but somehow we just keep meeting all these great people, which makes Vienna feel a little more normal for us. Not quite home, but normal, which is an improvement from alien. To friends! Cheers.