Things I have learned about Vienna in the past 6 weeks:
Little old ladies are usually not that nice. Sometimes they are scary and mean.
People here never work, unless you count those three hours four days a week as “work.”
Banks don’t really want to help you. That’s why they’re closed during lunch hours, after 3 pm, and all weekend. It’s also why the bankers are grumpy.
Customer service is usually not important.
Someone talking loud on the subway is either a teenager or a foreigner.
Teenagers must dye their hair black or platinum blonde and wear as much black as possible. Accessories must then be used to make teenagers look as emo/scene/punk/hard-core/goth as possible.
Anti-Semitism is rampant. Anti anti-Semitism is also rampant.
Turkish people are the European equivalent of Mexicans, and they are taking over.
Americans aren’t the only lazy people around. Yes, I’m talking to you, Mister I-Got-On-The-Subway-Just-To-Get-Off-One-Stop-Later.
Starbucks hot chocolate is just as bad in Vienna as it is in America. Good to know they all follow the same recipe, right? Also, Viennese Starbucks do not serve caramel apple cider because Austrians don’t even know what cider is.
While a 1 Euro coin is about the same size as a quarter, it is not even close to being worth the same.
Americans are expected to know all music that comes from a musician born in the States, as if we have the same taste in music (puhhh-lease). Americans should also know music from continental Europe (ha!).
It’s hard for Europeans to understand that most cities in America don’t have subways and trams, and even harder to understand that we don’t use trains to travel between cities.
As much as they care about walking and eating healthily, a lot of people don’t apply the same healthy-living reasoning to smoking.
At any given time, at least 50% of the people around you will be wearing black. Starting in October, at least 50% of the people around you will be wearing black wool coats.
People here are serious about their trash sorting. Your cleaning lady will yell at you if you don’t sort correctly.
You don’t need to be afraid to wear a scarf and/or coat in September if you’re cold. Others will be wearing them too.
When talking about the weather, you don’t need to say that it’s windy. It’s like saying that it’s hot in Texas in July. It’s assumed.
To make a statement into a question, you can just add “or?” to the end.
If someone says they’re going to go party, don’t think they’re going to an actual party. They’re most likely just going to a bar or club.
The rest of the world really does use the metric system, just like your teachers always told you. Nobody will understand if you talk in miles, cups, pounds, or Fahrenheit. Just remember: 1 mile ≈ 1.5 kilometers, 1 cup ≈ ¼ liter, 1 pound ≈ ½ kilogram, and 80° F = 25° C, 32° F = 0° Celsius.
Europeans are too busy watching soccer and rugby to care about American football, baseball, or basketball (their loss).
While Austrians speak German, do NOT call them Germans. They hate it as much as Canadians hate being called Americans… even though they only didn’t become part of Germany after WWII because the Allies wouldn’t let them. Don’t mention that.
If you make a mistake speaking German, or even speak with an American accent, people will immediately start speaking to you in English. But if you actually ask them to speak English, they get huffy.
Groceries don’t have much besides groceries and bathroom necessities (shampoo, soap, diapers). Don’t think you can buy medicine, batteries, magazines, make-up, cleaning supplies, school supplies, toys, or greeting cards. God may know where you actually can buy batteries, cleaning/school supplies, or toys, but I surely don’t.
Some people get offended if you don’t know where their country is. Come on, like I actually need to know where Romania is!
Cashiers always seem a bit annoyed if you pay with a credit card.
If it says it costs 4,50 €, then that’s exactly what it costs - tax is already included! Waiters are therefore perfectly happy to split bills. Tipping is also not necessary.
Smiling at a stranger makes you stick out as an American. Or, if you’re a guy, it might make you look like a sexual predator.
Being asked for directions can be considered a compliment. If they ask in English, it’s especially fun to note their surprise when you reply in a fully American accent.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Baby It's Cold Outside
I've fallen into some bad habits in regards to my sleep schedule. For much of the past week I have slept until noon. At least. On Thursday, I woke up at 1:25 PM... five minutes before I had to meet downstairs to go to business german! I just pulled on my clothes, threw my stuff into my bag, grabbed a slice of Tina's pizza from the night before, and ran out the door. Since then I've set my alarm for noon every day, but today I woke up earlier.
First I woke up at 8:30 by accident. I blame it on Tina's boyfriend (henceforth "The Boyfriend"). He was snoring like a freight train. Of course he didn't stop for a while, and by that time I was awake. I put on my headphones and listened to the (entire) soundtrack to LOTR: Return of the King (best. soundtrack. ever.). I finally fell back asleep, then woke up at 10:30. My intent there was to go down to the office before they went on lunch break. Ha, nice try Katie. The posted office hours here seem to be more of a loose guideline rather than times they will be open for sure. They're supposed to be there 9-12 in the morning, and I came at 11. Seriously, what's up with that?
Friday afternoon was pretty fun because Angélique, Raphaëlle, and I went to Lugner City to shop. I got a skirt at H&M to wear with my Halloween costume. We also went grocery shopping at the Penny Markt, which is the cheap grocery store. Not exactly the highest quality, but alright. I got this box of pizza baguettes for under €2, which was good for 3 meals.
Saturday, I worked long and hard on my paper for Export Marketing Management and busted the thing out, only taking a break to come downstairs to go potty (I was upstairs in the study room). It was supposed to be 1000-1200 words, but I did like 1350. He said he wouldn't count, though. That might be the first time since high school that I've written more than what I was told.
As a side note, I'd like to mention that I've been following the baseball playoffs as best I can. Meaning, I check who won the game every morning. I'm pulling for a Red Sox win in the world series (duh). I just wish I could figure out a way to watch the games... even if they start at 2 am my time.
Yesterday I did basically nothing. The thing is, there's nothing to do on Sundays anyway. You can't even go shopping. Plus it's cold outside (far colder than those lying weathermen say), so I don't want to go outside just to walk around. And until this morning I didn't know of a church that I could go to. I talked to my parents for an hour and mentioned to my mom that I didn't know of a church, so she looked one up on the internet. It's a non-denominational service in English, and doesn't start until noon! How great is that? Answer: pretty great.
I finally went to the post office today. I didn't go before because, even though I had bought a bunch of postcards, I hadn't actually written more than like two. I wrote a bunch last night, and they were all dated, so I really couldn't procrastinate much more. I was able to look up the location online, and there's one a few blocks away. The fool that I am, I walked. When I say it's cold, I mean, like, think of the coldest winter days in Austin, and that's what it's like here... in Autumn. Ok, it really wasn't all that cold, but it was windy. But it was close - I'm just a wimp. Anyway, being the stubborn mule that I am, I refused to even try speaking to the guy in German. Whatever, I'm just making it easier for both of us.
The post office is really close to the big shopping street Mariahilferstrasse, where I knew a large bookstore was (I looked it up online!), so I moseyed on down. Yay bookstores!!! I found the English section (quite large), which had a table of classic books for €3,95. I bought Gulliver's Travels and Emma, which are both on my list of books to read. I guess I'll go check to see if the office is open now...
First I woke up at 8:30 by accident. I blame it on Tina's boyfriend (henceforth "The Boyfriend"). He was snoring like a freight train. Of course he didn't stop for a while, and by that time I was awake. I put on my headphones and listened to the (entire) soundtrack to LOTR: Return of the King (best. soundtrack. ever.). I finally fell back asleep, then woke up at 10:30. My intent there was to go down to the office before they went on lunch break. Ha, nice try Katie. The posted office hours here seem to be more of a loose guideline rather than times they will be open for sure. They're supposed to be there 9-12 in the morning, and I came at 11. Seriously, what's up with that?
Friday afternoon was pretty fun because Angélique, Raphaëlle, and I went to Lugner City to shop. I got a skirt at H&M to wear with my Halloween costume. We also went grocery shopping at the Penny Markt, which is the cheap grocery store. Not exactly the highest quality, but alright. I got this box of pizza baguettes for under €2, which was good for 3 meals.
Saturday, I worked long and hard on my paper for Export Marketing Management and busted the thing out, only taking a break to come downstairs to go potty (I was upstairs in the study room). It was supposed to be 1000-1200 words, but I did like 1350. He said he wouldn't count, though. That might be the first time since high school that I've written more than what I was told.
As a side note, I'd like to mention that I've been following the baseball playoffs as best I can. Meaning, I check who won the game every morning. I'm pulling for a Red Sox win in the world series (duh). I just wish I could figure out a way to watch the games... even if they start at 2 am my time.
Yesterday I did basically nothing. The thing is, there's nothing to do on Sundays anyway. You can't even go shopping. Plus it's cold outside (far colder than those lying weathermen say), so I don't want to go outside just to walk around. And until this morning I didn't know of a church that I could go to. I talked to my parents for an hour and mentioned to my mom that I didn't know of a church, so she looked one up on the internet. It's a non-denominational service in English, and doesn't start until noon! How great is that? Answer: pretty great.
I finally went to the post office today. I didn't go before because, even though I had bought a bunch of postcards, I hadn't actually written more than like two. I wrote a bunch last night, and they were all dated, so I really couldn't procrastinate much more. I was able to look up the location online, and there's one a few blocks away. The fool that I am, I walked. When I say it's cold, I mean, like, think of the coldest winter days in Austin, and that's what it's like here... in Autumn. Ok, it really wasn't all that cold, but it was windy. But it was close - I'm just a wimp. Anyway, being the stubborn mule that I am, I refused to even try speaking to the guy in German. Whatever, I'm just making it easier for both of us.
The post office is really close to the big shopping street Mariahilferstrasse, where I knew a large bookstore was (I looked it up online!), so I moseyed on down. Yay bookstores!!! I found the English section (quite large), which had a table of classic books for €3,95. I bought Gulliver's Travels and Emma, which are both on my list of books to read. I guess I'll go check to see if the office is open now...
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
All These Things That I've Done
Since I last wrote...
I had my first international financial markets (IFM) class. Before the class started, there was basically no information about the class on the WU website. Just that it was a course in english, and the time and place. Not much help, right? So *after* I'm already registered for the class and at my first session, I find out that I'm supposed to have already taken finance. Oops. Annnd I am supposed to actually remember something from statistics. Double oops. But others in the class have the same problem, so at least there's that.
But before I even got to the class...
The classroom is in the building UZA 4. UZA 1 & 2 are the two closest buildings to the subway stop. To get to UZA 4 you go down this longggg walkway. Not a big deal, right? Like UT, right? No, wrong. It gets dark super early here... like 6 something. My class is at 7:30. The campus area is not well-lit at night. They keep like as few lights on as possible. Like all the lights in the buildings are off. So I'm walking down this long, dark walkway, by myself, in a foreign city, in the district that just so happened to have an attempted bombing a few weeks ago... And then in the actual building, of course it's all dim because these crazy Europeans with their trying to save energy turn off unnecessary lights. See where I'm going here? I was scared. As my sister said:
"i dont know why you're so worried katie. its not like there was a bomb threat at the embassy or some guy who was arrested for cannibalism after he ate his roommate in some hostel in vienna. it *seems* pretty safe right?? i mean if someone comes up to you while you're walking, they probably just want to be your friend."
Thursday was business german and the exchange student welcome party on a boat. I am such a hopeless The Office addict that every moment I was on that boat, I was thinking about the episode "Booze Cruise." Cause if our boat had been cruising on the water, that's exactly what it would have been. "It's a booze cruise!" "Alright!"
Friday and Saturday I did...
Um, nothing. It's becoming a bit of a trend for me. I just really enjoy doing nothing all day. Is that a sin? Well, actually, does that go under "sloth" of the seven deadly sins? Oh dear. Anyway, I have a dandy old time watching tv shows and movies on my computer. Plus, I've been reading a lot here. Like I just finished rereading A Tale of Two Cities, which has the amazing ability to both terrify me and make me cry. Oh, and make me terrified of French people. I think that was the main point of the story - Dickens wanted to make sure we all knew how scary French people are.
On Sunday I wrote my pre-course assignment for the block course Export Marketing Management that I had this week. I tried going to campus to print it, since I had an infomation paper about the computer labs stating that they were open "24 hours." Right. For future reference to anyone going to Austria, if something says "open 24 hours," it really means "open 24 hours... except Sunday." Or maybe it means open 24 hours during the whole week. Geez! Having a computer lab closed on a weekend day is unheard of back home. I also read some of the materials for the class, including a case study on the soccer club Real Madrid. Let me tell you, reading about the business behind a soccer club is even more boring than watching soccer.
Monday I had Export Marketing Management (EMM) from 9 until 5. Seriously. Ok, we actually had a 30 minute break in the morning, then 1.5 hours for lunch, and then another 30 minute break in the afternoon, so all in all, it was only 5.5 hours of class. Still long, though! That night I was so tired that I went to bed at 10... giving me plenty of sleep before going back to EMM 9-5 on Tuesday. In the afternoon we separated into groups to discuss a case study on the company Dandy and prepare a presentation. Do you see the fault here? Every group had to do a presentation on this case study... all 6 groups. Six presentations on the same thing. That's what we had to endure this morning for 3 hours. My group went first, though (luckily!), so I pretty much zoned out the rest of the morning.
Tuesday, though, after all day of class, I was feeling pretty tired. When I got home, my internet line wasn't working. It actually still isn't, but I'm using Tina's. After dinner, Alison and I went to look for the hausmeister (housemaster) to see if he could do anything about it, but, alas, Mr. Drunken Hausmeister (he's a notorious alcoholic) was nowhere to be found. THEN, a screw fell out of my glasses. I thought I was about to flip out and raise hell for all the things going wrong. Luckily, though, Alison suggested I join her and some friends to go to an ice cream shop downtown. I knew three of the girls already, so it was ok. I had a nice time being *not here*, and I didn't have to think about my internet or semi-blind or Tina's boyfriend, who is still living with us, even after I talked to her.
Whew, that was a good summary. I've got to go make dinner & go to IFM... in the cold darkness.
I had my first international financial markets (IFM) class. Before the class started, there was basically no information about the class on the WU website. Just that it was a course in english, and the time and place. Not much help, right? So *after* I'm already registered for the class and at my first session, I find out that I'm supposed to have already taken finance. Oops. Annnd I am supposed to actually remember something from statistics. Double oops. But others in the class have the same problem, so at least there's that.
But before I even got to the class...
The classroom is in the building UZA 4. UZA 1 & 2 are the two closest buildings to the subway stop. To get to UZA 4 you go down this longggg walkway. Not a big deal, right? Like UT, right? No, wrong. It gets dark super early here... like 6 something. My class is at 7:30. The campus area is not well-lit at night. They keep like as few lights on as possible. Like all the lights in the buildings are off. So I'm walking down this long, dark walkway, by myself, in a foreign city, in the district that just so happened to have an attempted bombing a few weeks ago... And then in the actual building, of course it's all dim because these crazy Europeans with their trying to save energy turn off unnecessary lights. See where I'm going here? I was scared. As my sister said:
"i dont know why you're so worried katie. its not like there was a bomb threat at the embassy or some guy who was arrested for cannibalism after he ate his roommate in some hostel in vienna. it *seems* pretty safe right?? i mean if someone comes up to you while you're walking, they probably just want to be your friend."
Thursday was business german and the exchange student welcome party on a boat. I am such a hopeless The Office addict that every moment I was on that boat, I was thinking about the episode "Booze Cruise." Cause if our boat had been cruising on the water, that's exactly what it would have been. "It's a booze cruise!" "Alright!"
Friday and Saturday I did...
Um, nothing. It's becoming a bit of a trend for me. I just really enjoy doing nothing all day. Is that a sin? Well, actually, does that go under "sloth" of the seven deadly sins? Oh dear. Anyway, I have a dandy old time watching tv shows and movies on my computer. Plus, I've been reading a lot here. Like I just finished rereading A Tale of Two Cities, which has the amazing ability to both terrify me and make me cry. Oh, and make me terrified of French people. I think that was the main point of the story - Dickens wanted to make sure we all knew how scary French people are.
On Sunday I wrote my pre-course assignment for the block course Export Marketing Management that I had this week. I tried going to campus to print it, since I had an infomation paper about the computer labs stating that they were open "24 hours." Right. For future reference to anyone going to Austria, if something says "open 24 hours," it really means "open 24 hours... except Sunday." Or maybe it means open 24 hours during the whole week. Geez! Having a computer lab closed on a weekend day is unheard of back home. I also read some of the materials for the class, including a case study on the soccer club Real Madrid. Let me tell you, reading about the business behind a soccer club is even more boring than watching soccer.
Monday I had Export Marketing Management (EMM) from 9 until 5. Seriously. Ok, we actually had a 30 minute break in the morning, then 1.5 hours for lunch, and then another 30 minute break in the afternoon, so all in all, it was only 5.5 hours of class. Still long, though! That night I was so tired that I went to bed at 10... giving me plenty of sleep before going back to EMM 9-5 on Tuesday. In the afternoon we separated into groups to discuss a case study on the company Dandy and prepare a presentation. Do you see the fault here? Every group had to do a presentation on this case study... all 6 groups. Six presentations on the same thing. That's what we had to endure this morning for 3 hours. My group went first, though (luckily!), so I pretty much zoned out the rest of the morning.
Tuesday, though, after all day of class, I was feeling pretty tired. When I got home, my internet line wasn't working. It actually still isn't, but I'm using Tina's. After dinner, Alison and I went to look for the hausmeister (housemaster) to see if he could do anything about it, but, alas, Mr. Drunken Hausmeister (he's a notorious alcoholic) was nowhere to be found. THEN, a screw fell out of my glasses. I thought I was about to flip out and raise hell for all the things going wrong. Luckily, though, Alison suggested I join her and some friends to go to an ice cream shop downtown. I knew three of the girls already, so it was ok. I had a nice time being *not here*, and I didn't have to think about my internet or semi-blind or Tina's boyfriend, who is still living with us, even after I talked to her.
Whew, that was a good summary. I've got to go make dinner & go to IFM... in the cold darkness.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The long night of burnt schnitzel
Ok so I made it through my first school week here. And let me tell you, it was exhausting. That one class that I had to go to... whew! Haaaaaaa... I'm funny. No, really, it's been pretty good not having to go to class or work or orientation all the time. I mean, I don't know what to do with all my free time, but it's ok.
On Thursday I had my first class - Wirtschaftsdeutsch Level 4(b), aka business german. It's my only class that's in german, but that's ok because it's a foreign language course. Yay for taking a foreign language course in the country that the foreign language is spoken in! *Once again* I am the only American in the class of around 30. I really don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Angelique and Eva from the orientation business course and Diogo from my floor at Erasmus (we often cook at the same time) are all in my class. It was a three hour class, with no breaks, so that seemed like eternity. But it also seemed alright. I'll be ok.
Friday, I finally took the leap and bought a microphone headset for my computer so I can use skype. I talked to Amy and my mom during their lunches, and on Saturday I talked to my Dad for an hour during the OU game (insert sad face here), and I called Jason too. Sunday I got to talk to Odile and Hannah. I love being able to talk to people! It helps me to not feel like I'm half a world from everything and everyone I know.
Saturday was the big event Die Lange Nacht der Museen, or The Long Night of Museums. You just had to buy one ticket to a museum in the city, and then there were like 50 other museums you could go to for free using that one ticket. I went with Angelique and we met with some of her french friends. They all just spoke french in front of me, which made me think I should be trying to learn french here instead of german. The museums themselves weren't that great, and Angelique and I separated from her friends and went off trying to find a good museum. Too bad we ended up getting lost and it took us like 30 minutes to get back to where we had started. I mean, we had ended up at the Foltermuseum (Torture museum!) - AS IF! No way. After a while we gave up on museums, and ended up taking goofy pictures at the Stephansdom and Rathaus (which looked AWESOME at night).
The most interesting thing that happened to me today was when Alison (from across the hall) and I almost burned down the dorm. Alison had decided she wanted to make wienerschnitzel and potato salad, and asked if I wanted to help and split it. We started off pretty well, with the help of Will, and made two lovely schnitzel. Then, between the second and the third, the pot caught on fire. One second nothing. The next second WHOOSH - a huge fire. Of course Alison and I freaked out, not having a clue what to do. Will wasn't there with us, but this other guy was there, and he poured water in, despite our protests about mixing burning oil and water. Luckily for us, the fire went out. However, the formerly red pot was now black, both inside and out, and thoroughly destroyed. The smoke was so thick we had to stand in the hall or at the window for like 10 minutes and could barely see through the room. Somehow, though, the fire alarm didn't go off. All of the tables and the floor had a thin layer of ash. It was like a mini volcano! Alison and I laughed about it the whole rest of the time we were cooking. The funniest part was that the pot wasn't ours, but Will went to buy a new one and just replaced it. I hope the guy whose pot it is notices something weird, and is really confused.
But the food was good! Totally worth almost burnin' down the Haus.
Die Lange Nacht pictures here.
On Thursday I had my first class - Wirtschaftsdeutsch Level 4(b), aka business german. It's my only class that's in german, but that's ok because it's a foreign language course. Yay for taking a foreign language course in the country that the foreign language is spoken in! *Once again* I am the only American in the class of around 30. I really don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Angelique and Eva from the orientation business course and Diogo from my floor at Erasmus (we often cook at the same time) are all in my class. It was a three hour class, with no breaks, so that seemed like eternity. But it also seemed alright. I'll be ok.
Friday, I finally took the leap and bought a microphone headset for my computer so I can use skype. I talked to Amy and my mom during their lunches, and on Saturday I talked to my Dad for an hour during the OU game (insert sad face here), and I called Jason too. Sunday I got to talk to Odile and Hannah. I love being able to talk to people! It helps me to not feel like I'm half a world from everything and everyone I know.
Saturday was the big event Die Lange Nacht der Museen, or The Long Night of Museums. You just had to buy one ticket to a museum in the city, and then there were like 50 other museums you could go to for free using that one ticket. I went with Angelique and we met with some of her french friends. They all just spoke french in front of me, which made me think I should be trying to learn french here instead of german. The museums themselves weren't that great, and Angelique and I separated from her friends and went off trying to find a good museum. Too bad we ended up getting lost and it took us like 30 minutes to get back to where we had started. I mean, we had ended up at the Foltermuseum (Torture museum!) - AS IF! No way. After a while we gave up on museums, and ended up taking goofy pictures at the Stephansdom and Rathaus (which looked AWESOME at night).
The most interesting thing that happened to me today was when Alison (from across the hall) and I almost burned down the dorm. Alison had decided she wanted to make wienerschnitzel and potato salad, and asked if I wanted to help and split it. We started off pretty well, with the help of Will, and made two lovely schnitzel. Then, between the second and the third, the pot caught on fire. One second nothing. The next second WHOOSH - a huge fire. Of course Alison and I freaked out, not having a clue what to do. Will wasn't there with us, but this other guy was there, and he poured water in, despite our protests about mixing burning oil and water. Luckily for us, the fire went out. However, the formerly red pot was now black, both inside and out, and thoroughly destroyed. The smoke was so thick we had to stand in the hall or at the window for like 10 minutes and could barely see through the room. Somehow, though, the fire alarm didn't go off. All of the tables and the floor had a thin layer of ash. It was like a mini volcano! Alison and I laughed about it the whole rest of the time we were cooking. The funniest part was that the pot wasn't ours, but Will went to buy a new one and just replaced it. I hope the guy whose pot it is notices something weird, and is really confused.
But the food was good! Totally worth almost burnin' down the Haus.
Die Lange Nacht pictures here.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Rewind
Ok it's going to be a little difficult trying to fill in this whole past week, but I shall try my hardest!
Sunday our orientation group took a trip to Graz. The city is small, but nice, and like a trip to the past. It also reminds me of Salzburg, especially with the fort on top of the hill looking over the city.
Monday we went to the Ottakringer Brewery. It smelled awful, and the tour was long and boring, and I didn't enjoy the free beer because I don't like beer. Later that night we had a potluck dinner for Canada Anna's birthday. Obviously her real name isn't Canada Anna, but her roommate's name is Anne (pronounced Anna) and she's from Belgium, so there you go. It was amazing all the food that people brought and made. Tina (and I) made beef stroganoff, which turned out really well. There was pasta, pizza, apfelstrudel (yes, that's apple studel), chicken, and sooo much more. All delicious! It was the best meal I've had here.
Tuesday was the trip to the Austrian television station ORF. Most of the tour was rather boring, but we also got to mess around in a blue room. I wish we had just stayed in there the whole time!
Wednesday we went to the beautiful Schloss Schönbrunn. It was an imperial palace (which I seem to keep hearing all throughout Vienna). We got to have an audiotour instead of a guide (thank God!). Guided tours aren't good because the whole group can never hear the guide and then you can't go faster or slower than other people. One of the rooms we went through was the room that Mozart performed for the Empress in when he was a small boy. Yes, EVERYTHING revolves around Mozart - in the entire country. You'd think it was where he'd been born or died... oh wait, yeah, it is. After the audiotour, however, we got the chance to go out to the gardens/park. Oh my goodness! It was so beautiful. It was also enormous, and even had a zoo and a labyrinth. I didn't go to either of those, but I intend to.
Thursday was our exam in german class. It was stupid to even take a test in a class that really means nothing to me. It doesn't make a difference whether I pass or fail or even attend at all. Afterwards I skipped the trip to the Museums Quartier because I had not exactly heard rave reviews about the museum.
Friday was our trip to the Vienna State Opera. The building is lovely, and the hall is fantastic. We saw them setting up for the premiere of the Nutcracker, which I really want to go to! Standing room tickets to the opera only cost 2 € or 3,50 €, depending on where you are. That sounds alright to me! Oh yeah, if you didn't catch that, when they are using numbers, they replace commas with periods and vice versa. One thousand is 1.000, while one and a half is 1,50. Weird, huh? I think so, at least.
Saturday our group went to the town of Melk to take a tour of the abbey there. When you're sitting in the park, you can hear music playing. Guess who it's by? Duh. Mozart, of course. The abbey was really beautiful, with all the painted ceilings and such. And of course, the church had a marvelous organ. Maybe I can try to make it my goal to see as many organs as I can while I'm here. After that, we had lunch at a nice restaurant inside of a Best Western. Yes, that was not lost on me. It was really good, and more apfelstrudel! At least that's one local thing that I've eaten. No schnitzel yet, however. From there we went to a winery called the Loiseum. The tour was through the cellars, except they had set up all this really weird, random, and sometimes creepy things. It kinda freaked me out that we were underground the whole time. On the bus ride home, we did kareoke by country. Each nationality had to come up and sing a song by a performer from their country. The Belgians really got into it, but they made the Americans sing like three times because each one "didn't count." Actually, the last one was with the Canadian, and we sang Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."
Yesterday (Sunday), I woke up to find Tina and her boyfriend... who is apparently staying with us for a while. How long? I don't know. Did I know he was coming? Not now. Am I a bit annoyed? You bet. I'm especially annoyed because I don't have orientation anymore or class yet, so I'm just sitting here with them. It's awkward! At least today I have to go take a(nother) german placement exam.
I haven't fully updated them yet, but pictures of Graz are here and Vienna here. I will edit this with a link to Melk also, when I get the chance.
Sunday our orientation group took a trip to Graz. The city is small, but nice, and like a trip to the past. It also reminds me of Salzburg, especially with the fort on top of the hill looking over the city.
Monday we went to the Ottakringer Brewery. It smelled awful, and the tour was long and boring, and I didn't enjoy the free beer because I don't like beer. Later that night we had a potluck dinner for Canada Anna's birthday. Obviously her real name isn't Canada Anna, but her roommate's name is Anne (pronounced Anna) and she's from Belgium, so there you go. It was amazing all the food that people brought and made. Tina (and I) made beef stroganoff, which turned out really well. There was pasta, pizza, apfelstrudel (yes, that's apple studel), chicken, and sooo much more. All delicious! It was the best meal I've had here.
Tuesday was the trip to the Austrian television station ORF. Most of the tour was rather boring, but we also got to mess around in a blue room. I wish we had just stayed in there the whole time!
Wednesday we went to the beautiful Schloss Schönbrunn. It was an imperial palace (which I seem to keep hearing all throughout Vienna). We got to have an audiotour instead of a guide (thank God!). Guided tours aren't good because the whole group can never hear the guide and then you can't go faster or slower than other people. One of the rooms we went through was the room that Mozart performed for the Empress in when he was a small boy. Yes, EVERYTHING revolves around Mozart - in the entire country. You'd think it was where he'd been born or died... oh wait, yeah, it is. After the audiotour, however, we got the chance to go out to the gardens/park. Oh my goodness! It was so beautiful. It was also enormous, and even had a zoo and a labyrinth. I didn't go to either of those, but I intend to.
Thursday was our exam in german class. It was stupid to even take a test in a class that really means nothing to me. It doesn't make a difference whether I pass or fail or even attend at all. Afterwards I skipped the trip to the Museums Quartier because I had not exactly heard rave reviews about the museum.
Friday was our trip to the Vienna State Opera. The building is lovely, and the hall is fantastic. We saw them setting up for the premiere of the Nutcracker, which I really want to go to! Standing room tickets to the opera only cost 2 € or 3,50 €, depending on where you are. That sounds alright to me! Oh yeah, if you didn't catch that, when they are using numbers, they replace commas with periods and vice versa. One thousand is 1.000, while one and a half is 1,50. Weird, huh? I think so, at least.
Saturday our group went to the town of Melk to take a tour of the abbey there. When you're sitting in the park, you can hear music playing. Guess who it's by? Duh. Mozart, of course. The abbey was really beautiful, with all the painted ceilings and such. And of course, the church had a marvelous organ. Maybe I can try to make it my goal to see as many organs as I can while I'm here. After that, we had lunch at a nice restaurant inside of a Best Western. Yes, that was not lost on me. It was really good, and more apfelstrudel! At least that's one local thing that I've eaten. No schnitzel yet, however. From there we went to a winery called the Loiseum. The tour was through the cellars, except they had set up all this really weird, random, and sometimes creepy things. It kinda freaked me out that we were underground the whole time. On the bus ride home, we did kareoke by country. Each nationality had to come up and sing a song by a performer from their country. The Belgians really got into it, but they made the Americans sing like three times because each one "didn't count." Actually, the last one was with the Canadian, and we sang Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."
Yesterday (Sunday), I woke up to find Tina and her boyfriend... who is apparently staying with us for a while. How long? I don't know. Did I know he was coming? Not now. Am I a bit annoyed? You bet. I'm especially annoyed because I don't have orientation anymore or class yet, so I'm just sitting here with them. It's awkward! At least today I have to go take a(nother) german placement exam.
I haven't fully updated them yet, but pictures of Graz are here and Vienna here. I will edit this with a link to Melk also, when I get the chance.
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