My second week in Vienna has been a crash course in living like an actual adult, and not some numb-skull frat guy. I currently live alone in a small apartment in Vienna. It provides most of the amenities one needs to live like a human being. It has a functional bathroom, a small kitchen, and even a weekly maid service (either that or someone broke in here to clean the bathroom). I’m cooking and cleaning for myself without my mother or a pledge to help me out. In these two weeks, I am barely qualified to live on my own.

I thought grocery shopping would be my easiest task, but it’s proving to be more of a challenge than I thought. I’ve enjoyed shopping for groceries with my mom since I was little. With a grocery store down the street and my years of training, I thought it would be an easy task. I expected to get in and out without any sort of complications, but a few things have thrown off the grocery rhythm I had in the U.S.

The first complication is a cultural difference. Austrians, and most of Europe as I understand it, do not buy a week’s supply of groceries at once. Instead, they pop into the store every few days to get what they need for dinner. I’ve been trying to abide by this, partly because I do not have enough foresight to plan meals that far in advance; however, I find myself buying more than a few things I need each trip.

I have the food part of shopping more or less down, but I need my mother’s rational hand to steer me away from the candy and beer aisles, both of which are better and cheaper in Austria, and remind me to get things I actually need. It took me over two weeks to realize I needed paper towels. I wiped up more spills with toilet paper (which was thankfully provided with the apartment) than I care to admit before the thought so much as crossed my mind. I’ve gone at least four days washing my hands with dish soap because I kept forgetting to buy soap for the bathroom.

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned thus far is that being an adult is harder than I expected. I realize I would have had to learn eventually, but I seem to have slipped and fallen into the deep end here in Vienna. It’s easy to overlook the little things when someone else usually takes care of them for you. I realize most people have more important things on their minds than dish soap and paper towels, but it should not be an excuse when it comes to the little things that help us live like civilized people. This adult thing seems to be harder in execution than it was in theory, but I’m figuring it out. I don’t really have another choice.