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.