I have spent most of my life on a 100-acre farm. My nearest neighbors were about half a mile away. My family travelled around the property on ATVs, caring for horses, chickens, and cattle. My town was one of those with a single flashing red light, a gas station, a pizza shop, a barber, and not much else. There were no sidewalks except for about a quarter of a block surrounding the blinking light. My school was a 12-minute drive away. People drove fast, and they drove everywhere. For my whole life, there was no such thing as walking to a friend’s house, taking public transportation to school (yellow busses only), or grabbing an afternoon snack in the subway station. Everywhere I went required a ride from one of my parents. The classic “My dad can drive us there, if your mom can pick us up.”
When I was a freshman in high school, that changed. My mom went on sabbatical to Vienna, Austria, and my whole family went with her. Vienna stands out from any other city that I have been to, and it is the city that I know the best. The layout of the city is easy to comprehend. The old city, which used to be surrounded by a wall centuries ago is the old city. St. Stephen’s Cathedral stands tall, proud, and magnificent at the very center. From the old city, the many districts radiate, with the industrial area on one side of the Danube and the residential, retail, and service industries on the other. I lived in Döbling, the 19th district north of the center.
All at once, I had all the freedom that I could have dreamed of as a 14-year-old. Vienna is very safe, very clean, and easy to navigate. The public transportation system consists of several trains and many busses. Using an app, I was easily able to navigate the entire city myself by public transportation. I went shopping, I met up with my friends, I went to restaurants. For the first time, I realized the opportunities that cities offer. They bring people together, give people communities, make it easier to travel. As a kid, it was so exciting to be able to explore one of the most beautiful cities in the world and take advantage of all the freedoms that public resources have to offer.
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