A Good Creative Outlet: Vienna -- Months 10-12 (February

This last quarter year just finished for us, and I'm finally just about caught up to present day on my documenting of our experiences moving and living here in Vienna. I think this quarter can be split into two parts: "the long, long tail of Winter", and "when Spring finally poked its head out."

The Long, Long Tail of Winter

Like I mentioned in the last quarterly post, January started off in a bit of a post-holiday/first true Winter slump. I was used to the Viennese Christmas cheer being all around to sort of alleviate the darkness and grayness of December but come January those things were all dismantled and the city was left in this dead, gray haze for most of the days from January until about the middle-end of March.

During these months, not only are the trees in hibernation, but it seemed like Vienna was too. The city which usually had so many festivals, events, and holidays suddenly went through a period in which it seemed like not much was happening. The Viennese population also seemed to experience this hibernation -- they were more grumpy and subdued and lackluster comparatively. This made these months even more sad and depressing.

I definitely think that emotionally this was the hardest few months for me, and yet maybe it wasn't. It's hard to explain but I felt the most emotionally dragged down during these months for no obvious reason. The previous months, I definitely felt emotional, especially those first 3-4 months but I feel like there was a good and valid reason for it then. For me, I knew by about February that I was adjusting and "getting there" but for some reason I was still in this low-energy, low-motivation zone with my emotions. I felt like during these months I had less of a valid reason for feeling so low, but yet I did, and I struggled with this a lot.

The only way to really lift me out of this was either a Snow Day (which as I mentioned in my previous post always seemed to hold a little bit of magic), or just forcing ourselves to go out into the City to do something -- anything -- despite the cold and the gray and the darkness. The first happened less than 5 times this winter, and the latter was often so hard to force myself to do, but once out there I usually enjoyed myself a lot.

Chris and I tried to go out on little outings at least once a week (usually Saturday) even if it was just to go to the Ströck to buy bread or into the city center to see Stephansdom. Chris quickly realized that once out and about, my mood could be lifted but I had trouble getting myself out there unprompted. I think this was largely because of how I felt about what Winter had done to the city. I wasn't used to living in a city, much less one that had suddenly been painted various shades of dull gray.

While going through these months, I did not have the outsider's view to see that this is how I was feeling. I think that now that I see how my mindset was and what actions could fix it, I will be more mindful of it the next go-around with Winter. Hopefully, I won't let Winter have such a strong hold over me in the future.

I think that as time went on I also felt better because the days were stretching longer and the weather was starting to let up a bit and I could finally see Spring was trying to make an appearance. Another thing I'll try and keep in mind in future Winters is that Spring will always come eventually.

When Spring Finally Poked Its Head Out

I feel like many people experience this each year, but I haven't experienced it for a long, long time because I lived in San Diego for almost 10 years before moving to Vienna. San Diego has eternal Spring/Summer weather and it is glorious, however, I say that with hindsight because I lived there for so long, I started to get bored (?!) of it... Now I wish for that weather a lot of the time.

Coming in short spurts, Spring started to show up in early March but only for a day here and a day there interspersed with a week of winter weather. It gave glimpses of partially sunny and lighter days, but then was abruptly pulled away with the return of heavy gray skies and sometimes rain. But by the end of March, Spring had definitely started to win against Winter and my mood lifted with it. Since it has been a long time since I experienced a Winter to Spring transition (and this one is probably more severe than any I've ever experienced before) I was so surprised by this fact. I thought that I was just in an emotional rut and hadn't really correlates it with the weather, but it definitely made a difference.

First sign of Spring! This tree is in the Sigmund Freud Park near Votivkirsche.

As soon as the weather started to warm up, the trees started to grow leaves and flowers started to bloom around the city. Something about seeing plants blooming was so mood-lifting. In addition, the festivals and events started happening again. We went to the Botanical Garden where they were having a sale on plants (Raritätenbörse), there was a Little Styria festival in the city center, and we just started doing things outside again. We purchased bike helmets and started making use of the Citybikes -- taking rides up the Donau Canal and through the Prater park.

We were so excited about getting these helmets and being able to go cycling any time. :)

With the warmer weather and the increase in events and festivals, it seemed like the vibe of the city started to pick up again too! People were more cheerful and out-and-about. There was just more activity and a sense of happening all around the city. It seems like we weren't the only ones that went through the Winter slump and Spring shook a good portion of the population back into doing things again.

A big milestone that we hit at the end of April was our One Year Vienna-versary! This felt like such a hard-earned victory, even bigger than our first wedding anniversary back in January. Somehow, that seemed like a given, but making it one year in Vienna was a hard-fought battle. But we made it! Honestly, I feel like we're still "getting there" but we're so much closer. I don't feel so terribly homesick all the time and that feeling of everyone staring at me all the time is subsiding. I feel more comfortable being here and I think that is a great accomplishment.

Another thing that we started doing in March is taking an A1 level German course offered through our work. I think that while I haven't learned a massive amount, this has made a big difference in my feeling more comfortable. I now can understand basic replies and requests whereas before it as all just German. Now that I know what they say back, it makes me feel a bit more in control of the social situations that I am in and its a great feeling to start to get back that capability to complete basic social interactions without problems.

Anyway, the overarching feelings on the year, I'll describe in my Year 1 Review, but as for these last three months, I think it was a learning experience. I'm also happy that I'm writing this post on the tail end of those three months, because I feel so much happier and more settled at the end of these three months. I still find it shocking how much a little change in weather, light, and warmth can make in my mood and also in the mood of those around me. It's a bit crazy but also something to take note of because, in Vienna, as with most places in the world (not so much California, or San Diego), this Winter to Spring transition is an annual thing and likely my feelings will be perpetuated each cycle. Knowing how I react to these seasons and ways to alleviate the worst of it will be good for me in future years to make this transition not so abrupt and the Winter slump not so terrible.

All I can say is, "Welcome, Spring. I'm sorry that I ever got bored of you while living in the paradisal place that is San Diego." While I'm still not ready to call Vienna home, I no longer have such bad homesickness and I'd call that "getting there." :)

And finally, I'll show you a tour of the beautiful blooms around Vienna during the last couple of months! I think I've nearly squealed (or actually squealed) each time I've seen a patch of flowers around the city. I love love love flowers but I can't stand to have cut flowers in my house because they're essentially dead. I love that Vienna's city planners plant all of these little patches of living flowers around the city so that Spring really comes into its own in blooming, beautiful, bright colors!