The Little Differences

Here are a few of the little differences which, good or bad, make Austria different from Canada:
- If there is a door, it's normally shut. This includes res rooms, stairwell doors, and offices, including the secretary's office. This may seem like a small thing, but I find it makes buildings feel cold and unwelcoming.
- A lot of things are locked. There is a lock on the fridge, freezer, closet, and cupboards and they're always used. Seems very un-trusting (probably because their doors are shut and they haven't met people)
- Office paper is longer by about 2cm, and binders only have 2 rings near the center, with none at the top or bottom.
- There are no window screens, and most windows swing into the room like a cupboard door AND also tilt open from the top, pivoting at the bottom (but not at the same time).
- There aren't any asphalt shingles, all buildings have different metal tile roofs.
- There are still some trains with six person compartments.
- Everyone eats a lot for lunch, and looks at me like I'm anorexic when I 'only' have a sandwich and an apple.
- English is used whenever something is supposed to be cool, especially in adds or magazines where words like 'Hot', 'Cool', 'Quick', and 'Sexy' are thrown into otherwise German sentences.
- You have to weigh your own produce at the grocery store and print out a sticker to put on the bag so the cashier can just scan it.
- Every grocery store, no matter how small has an very large chocolate section.
- Grocery stores really only sell food, they don't normally sell things like saran wrap, or pots and pans, which you buy at a department store.
- Movie tickets are assigned seating with different prices depending on how close you are to the screen (it's cheaper at the front and way at the back, and more expensive in the few prime rows half-way back).

Some things that are surprisingly the same:
- Students download English TV shows and movies, even though they're available in German. People say the dubbing normally wrecks it.
- Magazines talk about Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
- Popular radio stations play weird mixes of all English music, for example: the Black Eyed Peas followed by Celine Dion, kinda like BOB FM.

That's it for now, I guess I should get back to filling out (and translating) my Visa paperwork.