My first week

Hello Everyone!

My first week in the UNOV and Austria is over. So far, I did only a "quick-run-through-sightseeings-you don't know" tour in Vienna, and was not still able to get the real life of Vienna. One thing I noticed here at once when I was on the bus and U-bahn, is that they have signs saying to give a seat to elder people, women with children and so on. They even say this on the bus on a microphone next to announcing next stop. So, people immediately stand up, when an elder person gets on the bus. I loved it, as it reminded me of being back home.
That I don't go to the touristic spot in Vienna was also partially due to the fact that I had to start with my internship tasks. Moreover, I will have to work today in order to get it done and show to my supervisor. She is from Russia, and very nice, always gives me hints on everything, that is work and life in Vienna, and provides me with some enlightening information on the work of the UN, which I like a lot. I am given a desk, a computer, a UN e-mail address, and a phone. I sit in a big room for volunteers, together with other intern, Rosa Alba, coming from Italy. Was a surprise that she also does European studies, and not surprisingly, she is not happy with it.
The whole UN is multicultural and international, which is also exciting about it. Though, I have noticed that in cafeteria, people tend to gather or sit at tables according to national and lingual factors, that is, Spanish speaking in one corner, Indians at the other and etc. It is quite understandable, though.
A week in the UN, but I still do not get the structure of the buildings. Actually, it seems very easy, at first, you have a central building in a circular shape, and then you have three more buildings of a bad triangular shape attached to it. And these are indeed huge buildings, with at least 15 floors and some good 200 meters length each.
But what I don't get is that, when you are inside of the buildings, and walking through the corridor there are usually elevators, toilets and these kind of things in the middle. And if you want to go around it, you have to be careful. Both sides lead you in different directions, and it is like that every 20 meters or so. That is you just want to go around an elevator from the left side and your colleague the right side, you will find out, as soon as elevator wall ends that you lost your colleague, and you are in a different part of the building. My supervisor told me that she needed 6 months to learn it all. I once already confusingly got in the room of the Head of the UN office át Vienna! Well, good that I was stopped by his secretary. The number of the room and the floor - all correct, but different part of the building.
What a confusal. But seeing other interns who have been here for the last 3-4 months, I think they had things even worse. There are a lot of students specialized in International Relations and International Economics doing internship. The ones I know are from LSE and Syracouse. And among them at least one representative of ICEUS from Fulda:-).
By the way yesterday, I finally had some wine with other interns living in the building where I do, and finally got to know all my neighbours, except for a girl next door, who makes strange sounds in her room but never comes out. So it was quite a good evening yesterday.
And now, if you excuse me, I am going to take a fine bath. After I came to Germany, for objective reasons, I could have only a shower. So it's been a whole year! Unbelievable!
Peace!

Firdavs