Vienna: Week 2

When I woke up this morning there was good news and bad news... bad news, my computer is having technical difficulties, and by that I mean it broke (most likely permanently). Good news is, IT SNOWED!
This morning was my first actual snow in Vienna. We didn't get a lot, but it is still beautiful. It's always cold here, mostly because of the wind, but having snow makes the freezing walk home much more pleasant. Luckily, I love cold weather and weirdly that was a big reason why I wanted to study in Vienna. There are a lot of fun things to do in Austria while it's cold...skiing is very popular here as you can imagine. Right now in Kitzbuehel there is a big race going on called, the Hahnenkammrennen. We've been watching it on TV here and it is very easy to get sucked into the races. Since it such a big race its been sold out for weeks, but it is still fun to watch. Arnold Schwarzenegger was supposed to be coming to Austria to see the races, but his father in-law died so he had to cancel his trip...incase you were wondering, Austrians love Arnold. A student asked my teacher if it was true that Austrians did not like him anymore since he signed off on someone being executed while he was the governor of California, and to quote my Professor she said, "oh no VE LOVEEE HIM! All is forgotten now." They are very proud of Arnold here.
Anyways, back to things to do when it's cold in Austria....since we obviously cannot ski in the city, a lot of people would probably think it's pointlessly cold, but it is not at all. Just a couple of days ago the an ice skating rink of sorts opened and will stay open until March. Instead of the standard circular rink we have in America, the Austrian one is in front of city hall. It's normally a park, but during the winter months they turn the sidewalk paths into ice skating paths. It is absolutely gorgeous, especially at night with the lights. I pass it every morning and afternoon coming to and from school; it's one of my favorite places currently.
Since my computer is on the fritz I will have to post my photos a little later, but until then..here are some pictures of our ice skating rink: the Wiener Eistraum http://www.wienereistraum.com/