MIIS Mafia

On Friday, CNS and the Austrian Foreign Ministry announced the official opening of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. I happily attended the opening ceremony to see the festivities and speeches by the IAEA Director General and the CTBTO Executive Secretary (pictures on facebook), which all took place at the Austrian Foreign Ministry, in a room that was appropriately ornate and dignified. It was fun to see so many MIIS professors again (it feels like I never left!), and I was particularly happy to see that all of the hard work toward this event has paid off and that CNS will have such an important presence and role to play in Vienna.

The evening, Val, Karim, and I tried to find the weekly happy hour in the UN bar, but we came up with nothin'. I considered for a moment hopping up on a table and yelling, 'Hey, where my interns at?!' but thought that'd be unprofessional, even if it was a Friday. Saturday, Val and I went shopping at Naschmarkt, where I scored some mozzarella tortellini (mediocre) and proscuitto tortellini (SO buying more). We also found a Billa, and I am in love with its wide selection of cheap food. Afterward, we each had to-die-for hot chocolates at the cafe across the street from my apartment, and we've determined that we will be returning at least 11 more times so that we can try all 12 hot chocolate flavors (pictures on facebook tomorrow).

There was an alumni reception at the Radisson hotel that evening, and I got to meet a "prospective prospective" student who has an undergrad degree in physics, has been making a career as a baritone in operas for the past 10 years or so, is getting his master's in nuclear engineering, and is interested in a career in nonproliferation. I don't know quite what I was expecting from the evening, but meeting him definitely was not anywhere in my imagination. Besides that, it was great to talk with professors and other MIIS folk more in-depth, and it was great to see everyone so happy and relaxed. I'd say there were about 50 alumni at this event, and I really appreciated the chance to hear about other folks' nonproliferation careers and even speak some Japanese! There may have been a comment about a former MIIS professor still being "considered" a MIIS professor, thereby further solidifying the mafia tendencies of MIIS: you can never truly get out.

Afterward, a bunch of us went in search of a cafe/bar to hang out. At Stephensplatz, there was some sort of PETA-esque group set up with a projection screen of pigs being mistreated by slaughterhouses, and they were screaming and screaming over loudspeakers. Pig screams reverberated up and down the streets of the square - it was horrible. We managed to stumble away from the screams to a place I affectionately call the Bat Disco, but we were asked to return in 10 minutes. Well, we are the generation of instant gratification, and 10 minutes just wouldn't do. Sorry Bat Disco - you snooze, you lose. Instead, we found Cafe Hawelka, which is super charming.

I had my first beer in Vienna, and I was astonished that I really enjoyed it. I thought I hated beer, but it turns out I just hate the horrid stuff they call beer in America. Anyway, as much as I liked this beer, it was HUGE and very strong. And it sat like a stone in my stomach. I'm hoping repeated exposure will mitigate this issue.

Today, Val, Karim, and I went on the StadtWanderweg 2 hike. It was quite beautiful 10 km hike that went through woods and a small suburb. As usual, there were many well-behaved dogs - either from relief at their freedom from the compulsory muzzles of the city center or they've been drugged - on this trail. I've never seen so many dogs in metropolitan area as I do in Vienna.