5 Euro Pizza

I am finally able to order a pizza in German, after 5 months of living in Austria. I still struggle sometimes, it really just seems to depend on the day for me. If I am in a good mood, I can usually stand to hold up the conversation. (In fact, it is usually easier to communicate with the cab driver and pizza guy because they are not Austrian. German is not their native language like it is definitely not mine.) Anyways... last week, Rakel and I decided to order one before watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother. While I would love to eat extremely healthily, it just simply is not realistic as a busy student. I ordered the pizza in German, but Rakel answered the door in English. When I greeted the pizza delivery guy in German, he knew automatically that I was not a native speaker. "Where are you from?" he asked. After I told him, he seemed quite surprised. It was as if he did not understand why I-or anyone for that matter- would consciously choose to live in Wiener Neustadt instead of America. "Why are you studying here? Aren't the schools better in America?" The comment somewhat took me aback. I would like to think that the quality of education in Austria is not completely inferior to that in America. I proceeded to explain that I was an International Business major, doing a year abroad. It seems that there is this double standard about perceptions of the United States. People resent it, but at the same time secretly desire to go. If I keep going on this tangent I will never get back to my short and sweet (or salty) story about the pizza. While nearly everything is more expensive in Austria, the pizza is actually quite cheap. For example, a medium pizza in the US would cost between $10 and $15, while the pizza delivered to the FH dorms costs a whopping....wait for it, wait for it....$5 Euros. And this includes a 33 ML can of pop. However, this pizza is not made by Austrians but by immigrants from Turkey and other south eastern European countries. There are numerous possible topping combos, unlike anything you would see in the US. Toppings range from mushrooms and ham to salami and artichokes to sardines, corn, tuna, eggs (even fried eggs) and seafood. My personal favorite is the Fantasia, with mushrooms, ham, and corn. Not only are the pizzas cheap, but there is no delivery charge.
Somehow I managed to get my hands on a copy of seasons 1 and 2 of The Office in the FH school library. How an American DVD series made its way into the FH library, who knows. What I do know is that what started out as a quest for a DVD series with German subtitles led to an Office marathon party. And when TV and movies are present, usually pizza follows. Bernie ordered the pizzas this time, and it was great to hear the genuine Austrian accent in action. After the pizzas arrived, I realized that we needed knifes. Bernie and I both rushed to our rooms and returned with some knives. Jody proceeded to ask Bernie "Why is the pizza not already cut? It would already be cut in America?" He just shrugged and laughed. I thought to myself, why should they cut it when we can do it ourselves? It is genius if you think about it, cutting out a lot of unnecessary hours of labor. But I kept quiet, and enjoyed my pizza.
Welcome to Austria, and the land of 5 Euro Pizza.