Red Cards (This has nothing to do with soccer)

So I could get up to more blog worthy activity, but don't forget that as I am eighteen and don't have a red card anymore I can be arrested. But "what is a red card?" most will ask. It's a diplomatic immunity card, that diplomats and their immediate family members (spouses and dependents) can use like a get-out-of-jail-free card in Austria. Riding public transport without a ticket and the Schwarzkappler* catch you? Whip out your red card. Caught urinating on someone's car on a drunken evening in a small Austrian town? Red card. Get caught setting off fireworks in the middle of a crowd on New Year's Eve? You guessed it, red card. (The previous examples have been taken from real life). For most kids my age the worst that can happen is your parents and embassy being told. Serious offences of course may incur the offender and their family being recalled and possibly then prosecuted by their own country. Also in Austria you have to do alot worse stuff to get arrested, as compared to the US where just this last acedemic year some an alumnus (who is over 18) was arrested for drinking. The smoking age in Austria 14 and drinking is 16, and in most cases it is illegal for the police to breathalize adolescents anyway. But there are so many situations where red cards come in handy, and I'd feel safer walking the streets knowing I had one. Because now I don't have it anymore, I realized there's nothing like knowing you're safe from the police, who after skin heads are probably the scariest thing around. And as the police can be pretty friendly, this tells you alot about crime in Vienna.


*Riding without a ticket costs € 60 in Vienna. The ticket inspectors are called "Schwarzkappler" in Vienna and make regular checks.