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.