Midterms...half way done

Between midterms and my parents visiting, I have been a bit forgetful with my blogg; so prepare for a blog overload the next few days....

Back to my midterm week. After I got home from Budapest, midterms got started. I was a bit overwhelmed by midterms simply because it means I am halfway through with my semester abroad, and this is unbelievable. At times I feel like I have been here forever, but then it also feels like I have been here no more than 2 weeks. It's a weird paradox.

My classes though are wonderful. They are incredibly interesting. One of my favorites is Austrian Womens Literature. Pretty much all of my classes are focused on Vienna, or its surronding countries (My other lit class is Eastern European Literature). I really like this...I think just having lived most of my life in America, the things I learn are mostly American or British related. It makes sense, and I love the things I learn, but it has been neat to focus on authors, and other subjects from a part of Europe I never have looked into indepthly.

I am quickly becoming a fan of Austrian literature, and especially their music. In my music class we study the classical music of Vienna. I love it, and I have become a big fan of the Opera. Mozart is by far my favorite composer, and my favorite Opera singer, of today, is Anna Netrebko. She starred in one of my favorite operas a little while ago, Le Nozze di Figaro, and it was brilliant. I love to rewatch scenes from it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEH9D5eQPF4&feature=related

Just before midterms, my roommate and I got tickets to a preview for Anna Netrebko's upcoming Vienna Opera, Anna Bolena. I tired to get tickets to the actual opera (which premiered April 2nd) two months ago, and every single show for the month of April was sold out. Anna Netrebko is understandably a huge deal in the opera world, and since she doesn't stay in one city long, its a big deal when ever she does a show--especially in Vienna.

The preview we went wasn't the entire opera, but they told about the history of the opera, and interviewed cast memebers, the conductor and the director... Anna Netrebko's understudy preformed a song. The preview just made me even more sad I din't have tickets to the actual opera... but a little bit is better than nothing! We had the most amzing seats also. We sat in a box, in the first column on stage right--the second row up. In these pictures you can see behind me the mirror image of our box from the outside.

The opera is going to certainly be one of the things I will miss most about Vienna when I leave, but I am glad I have found a new art form to enjoy when I am home.

Belguim

After we finished our time in Amsterdam, we took a train to Brussels. Since coming to Europe I have offically taken every type of transportation possible and I have to say, I am quite fond of trains... I think it may be the Harry Potter trains that make me like the idea of them so much, but they are very convienent and fast.

The train ride was a shirt one, and after an hour or 2 we were in Brussels. We got in around dinner time, so we just got dinner and went to bed, but the next day I was up early to sight see. It was pretty rainy, and it stayed that way for most of the time I was in Brussels, but that did not diminish the beautiful buildings at all. Despite being wet an freezing for much of the time, Brussels was amazing.

We saw tons of gorgeous buildings, and sadly I just deleted some of the pictures I had uploaded on here, and my computer is being funy and won't let me upload anymore. So, I have lost evidence of how lovely Brussels was, but you should really just take my word for it...

We only went to two official museums while in Brussels, the first one was chosen by one of my friends, and the other I had heard about before I came...First we went to the Cocoa Museum... I was a little disappointed because it was not a museum at all, but a house with approximately 3 rooms of "exhibits" -- but we got to eat some chocolate, and listen to a Chocolatier explain how she works with chocolate..so it certainly wasn't a lost, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

After the Cocoa Museum we played around and sight saw. Then the next day, I got up and went (with the only 1 person I could convince to go with me) to the COMIC STRIP MUSEUM. IT was ahhh-mazing. I saw original comics from the 1920's all and some from today. The museum was only of Europe comics, and comic authors/artists and it was so interesting... I felt like I had been to a history, art, and culture museum all in once neat little package.

Also, I had a Belgian Waffle everyday I was there... I had photos, but unfortunately they won't load -- which is lucky for you, because you would be jealous -- so I will have to just tell you about them. Belgian Waffles are not over-hyped. If anything they are under-hyped. I had one with chocolate, strawberries, and whip cream..it was looked like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... I also had one with whip cream and nutella (nutella makes anything delicious). I would recommend going to Belguim solely for the waffles...

I went to Brussels with 2 goals: 1. See the Comic Museum 2. Eat a Belgian Waffle.... mission accomplised, and I had a lovely time doing it.

Freiheit für Ägypten!!

I have been traveling more around Vienna this past week. Everyday I feel more and more like I actually live here, instead of just visiting.

This weekend my roommate, Kathleen, and I woke up early Saturday to go sightsee around town. We first went to the Jewish History Museum of Vienna, there are 2 seerate buildings that comprise the museum. The main museum is being remodeled and is closed until July, which was a bit of a bummer, but the other part of the museum was. It is smaller than the main museum, but it was still really neat. The museum in Judenplatz showed the remains of what was the biggest synagogue in Europe until it was destroyed during WWII. There was no indication a synagogue ever existed in the square, but once we went into the museum we could see parts of the the foundation that had been excavated and still remained. It was a fascinating museum, and I loved getting to learn about the history of the city and it's Jewish community through the exhibit. It was a lovely museum and I am very glad I was able to see it.

After we left the Museum we walked around the neighboring streets, and looked at all of the beautiful buildings. We then stopped by Mozart's house. He lived on a street in Vienna called Milchstraße, which translated to English would mean Milk Street. It was not as glamorous of a building as I would have expected, and there was nothing to signal it was his house or draw attention to it. There was no one even looking at it, or near it...all there was to know it was his house was a little sign that said "Mozart's House". I'm pretty sure it is used as office buildings today, instead of being turned into a museum. It was a pretty building, but it was not very ornate and did not stand out from the other buildings, which is surprising given it's former resident.

Next we went to Stefansdom where we participated in a protest for Egypt. I had seen the protest the day before, but I was unaware that it would be happenning again on Saturday, so we actually just stumbled upon it, but decided to hang around none the less. It was really interesting, and neat to be apart of. Along with the original protestors we stood in a large group shouting things like "ous, ous mit Mubarak" (out, out with Mubarak) while people held up signs and Egypt's flag, and passed around fliers to the crowd. It was being filmed, but we don't have cable in our apartment so sadly we will not know if we made it to the Austrian news while we protested.

I love that even though we are all seperated by borders, what happens in one nation matters to people in the others as well. So I am very glad to have been in Stefansdom Saturday.

*This explains the tribute sculpture for the Vienesse
Holocaust Victims in Judenplatz.

*Mozart's house in Vienna

*The protest for democracy in Egypt and the President
to step down... the protest took place in Stefanplatz, in
front of Stefansdom.

*Here I am freezing cold, protesting for Egypt

*This is my little bed...we like to call it "Anne Frank's Nook"
this is because as you can see it is in the corner of the room, without
windows, and when the door to the left is opened I feel like I am living
in a closet. It's in the corner, so it really is in a nook. I also ALWAYS
read here, and I read with my nook which you can see lovingly
propped on my pillow there...so my bed area is Anne Frank's Nook.

*Our little kitchen

Vienna: Week 2 Photos

*Prater


*Prater


*Prater Ferriswheel

*Hofburg

*Museum Quarter

*Stephansdom

*Parlament

*Parlament

*Wiener Eistraum at the Rathaus

*Bikes are everywhere, and I really want one for when it gets a tad warmer.

*Our apartment building!

Vienna: Week 2

Okay, so first of all I am about to explode because I am so full right now. Today I went to the nachtmart with 2 of my roommates and got a dürüm kebab. Kebabs are the main type of "street food" in Vienna, ther are kebab stands everywhere...even though they are Turkish its a popular and common food to eat here. My kebab was so good, but I am way too full.
I have had a pretty busy week, and seen many of the sights for the first time. Yesterday I went to a kaffeehaus with my German class and had coffee and plum cake, or Zwetschgenkuchen. It is my favorite pastry/cake I have had in Europe, and definitely in my top ten desserts list right behind Krispy Kreme donuts and The Baltimore Bomb at Dangerously Delicious Pies. Apart from learning the standard hello, goodbye, and thank you - kuchen (cake) and kaffee (coffee) were a couple of the first German words I learned...I felt they were neccessities for obvious reasons.
One of my friends who is from Berlin, but a student at Universitat Wien, showed me around yesterday after I got out of class. We went to literally every major tourist sight in the city and I had a blast. We went to the Museum Quarter, the Hofburg Stefansplatz, Prater, and many more places. I pass most of these places on the way to school but I did not realize how much more there was to it all. Prater is basically a big fair, kind of like Conney Island, but it was mostly closed right now. There is a huge ferris-wheel there that tourist love, because you can see so much of Vienna from the top.
Everywhere I went Friday I kept seeing tons of Police, a much larger presence than normal, and a lot of them were wearing extra protective gear and carrying clear sheilds. When my German friend and I got to Stefanplatz we figured out why. All through out Vienna, and many other parts of Europe, people were protesting the situation in Egypt. When we came uo to the Cathedral, we heard chanting and quickly saw a group of protestors. This is about the time that I took the picture on the left of a homelessman. Literally 60 feet behind him were the protestors. It was sort of sad to me that all these people were outraged about the situation in Egypt yet no one noticed one of their own people in need of help right behind them. I have realized I like taking pictures of people (even if I feel a bit creepy doing it). I feel like they are what really tell the story of a place rather than any national monument. Buildings are beautiful, but people matter.
Anyways, after our day of sightseeing my friend and I went to the nachtmart at night and to a nice little kaffeehaus, where we had coffee together before calling it a night. It was cold yesterday and it is extra cold today. I still have a cough and runny nose, undoubtedly thanks to the weather but I absolutely love this city. Vienna is perfect and I could not be happier.

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/

Vienna: Week 1, Photos

*Walking to the car, with the small suitcases.

*Deutchlandsberg, Austria

*At the Schilcher Castle in Deutchlandsberg

*View from the top of Schilcher

Vienna: Week 1

I have been in Austria for 5 days now, but this is the first time I have been able to get to my computer. I have been so busy ever since I left for the airport last Wednesday. Back in Georgia we actually had snow (*see photo) which later turned into ice: lots and lots of ice. At our mountain house in northeast Georgia we had about 10 inches of snow and it hadn’t melted at all the morning I left. From past experiences we knew that the snow-plowman doesn’t plow all the way down to our house, so we moved our car about half a mile down the gravel road to be sure we could get out. We figured it wouldn’t be too bad to walk up there, especially since we do it frequently…we were wrong. We rarely walk up there in snow, never in 10 inches of snow, and never with 50+ pounds of luggage. Using our problem solving skills my mom, dad, and I grabbed some sleds to put the luggage on and drag to the top of the hill. I am confident this made it much easier than simply carrying my bags, but it was still shockingly difficult. About halfway up the hill I realized I should probably start going to the gym more often.
After we finally got in the car and left the mountains we drove down to Atlanta where the highway was covered in ice. Some out of state people have recently said Georgians were “wimps” when it comes to snow, and we may be on occasion, but this particular instance was not one of those occasions. Half of the highway was covered with at least 5 inches of ice. We progressed down a major highway at about 8 miles an hour before we decided to hop on Marta. We made it safely to the airport and I boarded my plane. I had a layover in France, which I was really excited about until I saw the airport. Charles de Gaulle is huge and confusing. As I was trying to navigate my way to my next gate I met another IES student from Atlanta. We found our plane together and got to know each other as we waited to board. We had mutual friends and got along great.
Our first day in Vienna consisted of sightseeing in the airport. We waited for all the other IES students to arrive, and instead of going to our apartments/housing in Vienna we loaded buses and drove 4 hours to the Austrian mountains: to Deutchlandsberg specifically.
We stayed there for four days and got to know the other students and visited a castle near our hotel. It was fun, but long and I could not have been more ready to get to Vienna.
Sunday night we finally made it to Wien!! I was so excited. One of my roommates and I caught a cab and started to head to our apartment. Our cab was a new Mercedes and our cab driver was adorable. He gave us little tidbits about the city, and was as excited as us when we told him where we were living. We live in the 9th district of Vienna and our apartment is wonderful. The building is a light yellow and made in the Baroque style. The inside has beautiful tiling and great old curvy stairs. It was a bit of a hike to our flat with the luggage, but we made it with a little help from our landlady.
I wanted to see the city, but my roommates and I were all so tired we just ordered pizza and went straight to bed. We had to be up early on Monday to go to the police station and register with our address as a resident in Vienna. After that we went to school for our first class.
For the next 3 weeks we will only be taking German. “Intensive German”… after one day I can tell you, intense is an understatement. We will meet for three hours a day, Monday thru Friday. Today we only met for an hour and a half but I already feel like the material I have to learn by tomorrow is what would normally be learned in months. By tomorrow we are to have studied and learned a list of vocabulary, all the primary question words (who, what, when, etc), common Austrian idioms, how to conjugation a regular verb in the present tense(1st person singular & plural, 2nd person singular & plural, and 3rd person singular & plural), and numbers 1 through 100. My brain feels like gupe just imagine all of this information… that being said, I am off to study…
Ein, zwei, drei….goodnight all.