My Fulbright "class" was the fortunate group to accompany Dr. Porhansl back to Austria on the QEII in Fall 1971, after his appeal to Congress for continued support of the program. Our daily Orientation meetings were held on board ship and we learned about Austrian geography, politics, history and culture, as well as how to enroll at the University. After a short stopover in Paris, we continued via the old Orient Express right into the West Bahnhof. The trunks with our winter clothes didn't catch up with us until the temperatures had started dropping.

The National Bibliothek was my home away from home, while I wrote my dissertation on Emperor Maximilian I and his Autobiography. After a magical time in Vienna, I returned to the real world to finish my degree in Ann Arbor and get a teaching job. I was lucky and am still teaching the German language, literature and history in California in my first job after graduate school.

I am ever so grateful to the Fulbright program and to the people who make it possible for my love of Austria, their literature, their history, their music and culture. It's always a pleasure to return to Vienna to familiar places and wonderful friends.

Marjorie D. Wade is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in German and history. She studied at the University of Vienna as a US Fulbright Student in 1971–72 and returned as a US Teaching Assistant in 1979–80. Photo courtesy of Marjorie D. Wade.