General Stuff From Austria
Saterday, October 16, 2004
AHHH!!! I'm starting to get sick! It's not very bad, but still - who wants to get sick in a foreign country. But everything else has been going very well. The classes are really easy, I have a history class, an Art history class (they overlap quite a lot, which is nice ... or maybe saying they "complement each other" would be better) and for these two, half of the classes are tours of various things in the city. Which is really cool. My other classes are Literature (comparing Eastern European writing to American writing ... and you can REALLY tell which is which), German and a Teaching Internship. German is really hard. We do so much STUFF in there. For example: German has 5 cases (don't ask me to explain ... I don't know what a "case" is, but there are 5 of them) and we have learned 4 already. One of my friends who has taken many many years of German said she didn't start learning the third case until her second year. And we have learned 4 in 2 months. So that kinda sucks.
The teaching internship is a lot of fun ... most of the time. I have 4 different classes: two 2nd grade classes, one 3rd grade, and one 4th grade. The second graders are great. We did farm animals this week and afterwards, one of the little boys gave me a picture he drew of the animals. The third grade class is going well too. I like that class because its the only one I have on Thursday. I have all the other three on Tuesday, so it's a little overwhelming. The 4th graders are not quite as good, though we had fun this week. There are so many of them in the class and they don't really like to talk much. But this week we learned "Five Little Pumpkins" which the kids got to act out. Some of them really enjoyed it, but others didn't really participate. Oh well. The teachers are all rather nice though ... and I love my teacher for the teaching internship class - MY teacher. She's great.
So yeah. Things are going well, though I'm spending too much time working at and not getting enough sleep, so now I'm sick. But I have tea, and I'm going to sleep lots and lots and if that doesn't help I'll just ignore it.
The Styria Trip
Saterday and Sunday, October 10-11, 2004
The first day was really cool. We visited this open air museum outside of Graz (the capital of Lower Austria and second largest city in Austria with around 250,000 people). The museum was built in the 1960's and what they did was go around to all the provinces of Austria and take the little houses that were built in the 17th and 18th centuries and moved them to this little place in the mountains. It was so beautiful - the weather was gorgeous and leaves had started to fall and then there were all these quaint little houses - very picturesque ...
After lunch we went on to Graz, which seemed like a very nice city, except it was raining. A lot. And we were on a walking tour of the city. But we made it through ... and got to see people having sex under a bridge for our effort ... that was kinda weird. It was fully dressed sex ... but still. Anyway ... after that we went to a little pizzeria coffee house for something warm to drink and dinner. And then we had dessert. Something called "Mehr im Hemd," which means something "in a Shirt." But it was a little chocolate bunt cake with whipped cream and chocolate drizzled on top. Very Very Very good. And then we went to our bus because the hotel was 40 minutes away. And the hotel was FANTASTIC! I'd go back just for the hotel. It was SO amazing ... everything was very clean and the bed and pillow and comforter were warm and SO soft ... and we had a balcony. It was loverly. And in the morning the breakfast was even better - they even had little pastry desserts to go with it. If you are ever near Graz, stay at the Dokl in Gleisdorf. It was TOTALLY worth the 40 minutes.
The next day the weather was a little better, but not much. We went to a Roman exhibit that was cool, but it didn't have much in the way of artifacts, but it was interesting nonetheless. On our way to the wine country, we decided to stop and watch the beginning of a classic car race. It wasn't really a "race," they spaced the cars out and then just timed them as they went around their circuit. But the cars were really neat.
And then we drove through the wine country. We were going to stop at the wineries and try stuff, but because the weather was bad, nobody was open. So we got to our restaurant really early where I bought some really good wine - now I wish I had bought two... and came back to Vienna.
Klosterneuburg
Friday, October 8, 2004
Saturday, October 2, 2004
Really, Really Post Dated ...
I took a tour of the monastery at Klosterneuberg with my history class. First we say the Babenberg family tree. So a little history lesson: the Babenbergs ruled Austria from around 996 to 1200-something (if I'm remembering this right). Shortly after they died out, the Hapsburgs took over and in the 15th century, Leopold III of Babenberg was made a Saint by the Catholic Church. But since nobody knew anything about him, the Hapsburgs had a family tree made. This is what I saw. it was really impressive. It was HUGE - more than twice as tall as me. And gorgeous, with most of the original paint - they had to restore the bottom some because it used to sit behind Leopold's tomb and so the bottom had some damage.
We also saw the Verdun Alter, which is the second largest gold and enamel alter piece in existence. It's very shiny. But we were not able to get very close to it to really look at it. But there are three rows, one from the Old Testament before Moses, one from the Old Testament after Moses and one is the New Testament. And if you read down each column the stories depicted share the same typology (i.e. a gift from god - I have examples from class, but I'm much to lazy to look them up...).
The monastery also has a place for the Emperor (a Hapsburg) to stay. It was started by Charles VI, but he died before it was completed. His daughter, Maria Teresa finished it, but she didn't really like Klosterneuberg, so they only spent one night there. But here is one of the Imperial Chambers. I forget what it was going to be used for though.
Schallaburg Castle
Post-dated ...
Saturday morning we took the 8:00 train to Melk, this small, slightly touristy town, in the Wachau area that is home to a really big monastery. We got to Melk about an hour before the first shuttle up to the castle, so we wandered around and bought this really good cookie thing from the farmer's market and tried to find our way to the monastery. We hiked up the hill, but all we found was the back on the monastery and a gravel road running along a brick wall. It was pretty, and we didn't have anything else to do, so we walked along the road for a while. After that we caught the shuttle to the castle and the fun really began.
The castle is really very cool. There is one section of the castle that dates back to the 12th century. And the rest is Renaissance - it's supposed to be one of the best examples of Renaissance architecture in Austria. (And there isn't much Renaissance because the Austrians were too busy fighting off the Turks during the Austrian Renaissance period.)
But that was not why we were there. We (or I) was there for the Egypt Exhibit! Yay! It was the "Pyramids of Egypt" and it was very cool! There was so much stuff! We went through 4 rooms before I ran out of camera space, which I thought wasn't too bad, since there were only 2 more rooms. Except then we got through those last two rooms and discovered that there were two more areas that we hadn't been through yet. But some of the stuff will be returning to the Kunsthistoriches Museen in Wien, and hopefully some of it is the stuff I didn't get pictures of. But I saw it all, and that is what matters. It was SO great. After that we had lunch and then Kathy read her German book while I went back through the Egyptian exhibit again ...
So here are some pictures ... quite of few of them ...
Lipizzaners, Michelangelo, Peter Paul Rubens
Friday, October 1, 2004
Today BA and I spent the morning with the Lipizzaners. We were going to go to the morning exercise, but we got there a bit too early so we went first to the Lipizzaner Museum. That was interesting, but I'm glad it was free (with a museum pass we got for class). It mostly had some paintings and various riding paraphernalia. After that we went to the "Morning Exercise with Music." It was rather cool - but it could be compared to a musician practicing - lots of scales and not many complete songs. There was lots of riding around, doing some fancy steps and stuff, but they didn't jump. But the horses were beautiful. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I did anyway. I got caught, but they only made me put my camera away (all the lady did was tap my shoulder and I put it away). Here are some of my illegitimate pictures:
After the Lipizzaners we went to the Albertina, which is an art gallery in the first district. It had 3 exhibits plus its permanent collection: Neo Rauch a modern German painter, "Michelangelo and His Time," and Peter Paul Rubens. The Neo Rauch was very cool - I wish I knew more about reading modern art (and his stuff, because there was a lot of interesting things going on, but I didn't necessarily understand what he was going for). The Michelangelo exhibit had drawings and sketches from Michelangelo, Raphael and a bunch of other people that I don't remember, but it was all very amazing. The exhibit traced the development of High Renaissance and Mannerism and it was very interesting to compare the different artists and see how the art developed. The Peter Paul Rubens was also amazing. Besides having a lot of his painting, there were also a lot of sketches for the paintings and other drawings - including the portrait of his son Nicolaas, which I guess is famous, but is absolutely beautiful. I really loved his "Leda and the Swan" and his self portrait. I really hated to leave the exhibit, because I didn't know when I would see them again, since it's one of the museums I have to pay for. But it was the most fantastic day!
Budapest
Thursday to Saterday, September 20-22, 2004
Post-dated. So you know.
So our passports finally got stamped. We passed through Slovakia on the way to Hungry and on the way out of Slovakia and into Hungry they stamped our passports! So now I have 3 stamps and a Visa! (Okay, ''I'' think its exciting ...) Slovakia is beautiful, there are lots of little rolling mountain-hills and its very pretty. When you pass into Hungry it flattens out almost immediately, but there were wheat fields and those long, tall windmills like the ones in the Gorge, which reminded me of home. Our first night there we wandered around near the hotel (the first really nice hotel I've been at in Europe, though the view not as great) and then went to a coffee shop and got drinks and a dessert. After that, we went back were I watched BUFFY ... in HUNGARIAN!!! It was fun for me.
Our first day there our guide took us to the Roman ruins in the city. We got to see the military amphitheater where, besides theater stuff, they also held military drills. And apparently these were built outside the city walls so they could be used as a fort in the event of an attack. I hadn't know that - but I thought it was kind of cool. We also went to the civilian town, which was very very cool. There was even a mosaic on the floor of one of the buildings that they believe was a private bungalow.
After lunch we went to one of the Spas. That was interesting ... but more than a little frustrating. They kept telling us to go back and forth and no one really stopped long enough to help us figure out what the hell was going on. Eventually we figured some of it out ... but it was not as great as it could have been. Oh well...
The transportation system here is much more complicated than in Vienna - you have to buy the tickets right before hand and the price is based on connections and areas you cross and it was just rather confusing. Fortunately, the cabs are really cheap.
The second day we went to the Fine Arts Museum. Our guide is an art history professor, so he knew all sorts of good stuff. We got to see one of the late ‘Madonna and children' painted by Raphael and a painting by Goya that I studied last year. So that was very exciting for me. But the most exciting part was ....
EGYPT!!! They had an Egyptian Exhibit! My first one EVER! It was SO exciting! There were mummified animals: one large crocodile and several small baby ones, a falcon, an ibis, a cat and a baboon! And PEOPLE MUMMIES TOO! TWO of them! And several coffins and statues and stelae and it was so exciting! I spent 40 minutes in there (and it wasn't all that big). I didn't take any pictures because they told me I needed a pass, and I didn't want to leave long enough to get one, but I bought a book about the exhibit, so I'm okay with it. After that we went up to the Castle Hill (all the cities seemed to have those ....) and walked around. It was very cool, and I really enjoyed it. The Parliament building in Budapest is also spectacular. It's built in the same style as the one in London, though I forget what style that is. But they are supposed to be the only two Parliament buildings in that particular style.
Krakow
Monday to Wednesday, September 20-22, 2004
This is another post-dated entry, since I didn't have internet access. So there might be some weird tenses. You are fore-warned.
After 10 hours on a bus with about 50 people, we arrived in Krakow. The hotel was actually a student dorm and looked like it should be an East European Insane Asylum or something. It was a little weird. And we had the creepiest courtyard outside our window. And 6 girls had to share 1 bathroom ... that was interesting. The city is a lot smaller than either Vienna or Prague, but it was kind of nice. It is also a lot darker - there is still a lot of remnants from Communism everywhere in town. There are also not as many tourists - they don't seem to be used to them, since when we went to an ATM in the center of town, we got pointed at, stared at and even laughed at by people in front of us at the ATM. The first night we went down to the center of town (and to the ATM) and wandered around looking at cafes and shops and the old Cloth Market - which was a market place in medieval times and currently houses tourists/souvenir booths. There was only one problem with Krakow. And that was their insistence on feeding us Snitzel. We had Snitzel for 4 of the 5 meals - 2 of the 3 dinners and both lunches.
On our first full day we split up into two groups to go on guided tours. This was SO much better than in Prague, because we could actually hear the guide and he took us IN to things to see them, rather than just telling us to go see them on our own. We went down into a McDonalds to see the old gothic cellar, stuck around the church to hear the trumpeter play the Unfinished Melody. (This gets played every hour towards the North, South, East and West in honor of the trumpeter who spotted the Turks approaching the city and warned the town in time to save it, but died when a Turkish bowman shot him through the throat, so the song is left unfinished.) The guide also took us into the main church in the Market Square, the Church of the Virgin Mary, to see the opening of the High Alter. It was really magnificent - I love the Polish Churches. They have every square inch of the walls and ceilings painted in these brilliant, beautiful colors and the color in the stained glass is just as strong, because (at least in this church) the windows are actually made from semi-precious stones that were melted down and formed into the window panes. So the red is actually made from rubies.
That afternoon we went to an old salt mine that had been in operation since the Middle Ages, though they stopped mining a few years back. There are lots of salt statues there, and all but one were actually carved by the miners themselves. It was amazing, and apparently they hold weddings and banquets down there in the mine - they have this enormous chapel thing and then a banquet hall. But they also have an elevator, so the bride doesn't have to walk down the 200+ stairs necessary to descend into the mine.
The next day we split up again for a tour of Wawel Castle. The church here was also amazing. Outside the church there are some prehistoric bones hanging on the wall that were believed to have been the bones of the dragon killed by one of their Kings. And inside the church there were tapestries hanging and crypts everywhere. We also went up into the bell tower, which was kind of cool, but a little bit scary too. After the Church we got to go into the Castle, which was beautiful, but unfortunately they wouldn't let me take pictures. There were tapestries everywhere and murals lining the ceiling, which was carved, painted and gilded in a sort of grid. In the throne room, in each square of the grid was originally a carved head (there are only about 30 remaining). One of these heads was a gagged woman. The story is that the King was about to sentence an innocent woman to death and the head spoke up and told him to rethink his judgment. So he had her gagged so she could never question him again.
That afternoon we went to Auschawitz. I can't say it was fun, but it was a good experience. It had started raining and sometimes during our tour of the camp there would be thunder overhead which was rather fitting. In the museum they had piles of hair that had been cut off the dead women's heads to be sent to the textile factories to make fabric out of. There were also piles of shoes, eyeglasses, and suitcases that had people's names, birthdays and sometimes even the transport number the person came in on - all so they would get their belongings when they arrived. In one of the barracks were pictures of all the registered inmates. Along with their number there was also their date of arrival and their date of death.
Praha
Friday to Sunday, September 17-19, 2004
This is another post-dated entry, since I didn't have internet access. So there might be some weird tenses. You are fore-warned.
We got to Prague around dinner time, so we pretty much went straight to dinner, which was very good. Near the end of dinner, two guys came and started doing one of those "spitting fire" shows. Which was very cool ... until the guy accidentally set the decorative grapes on fire. And then he just kept going! The waiter was not very pleased ... After that we walked around Prague a bit - Charles Bridge at night has a wonderful view.
The next day we met up with our tour guide and she walked us by a lot of things and told us about them. It was okay - except you could hardly hear her (one tour guide for 45 people is not enough) and we never went INTO things, we just stood outside of them on the street. I was not impressed. We even managed to be in front of the guards just before hand (we got in the Guards' way as they walked into the courtyard) but we couldn't even stay and watch that. It was stupid. Instead we got to stand outside yet another building as she said things nobody could hear. (I'm not bitter .... really....). So in this manner we saw the Castle and the Cathedral. But then we went to Golden Lane where the King used to house alchemists he hired to make gold. In 1916 and 1917, Number 22 housed Franz Kafka. We actually got about 20 minutes there. She said "Meet before the stairs at 11:40." So we got there at 11:35, met another girl who got there a few minutes before us, and saw NO ONE. So we went down the stairs. There, after seeing NO ONE we spotted two other people from our group. They in turn, had seen the group getting off the stairs about 5 minutes earlier (so the group must have left about 10 minutes early). So we proceeded in that direction, and after some turning around, met another girl who had been left by the group while taking pictures. So there were now 6 of us. We followed a huge mass of tourists down the hill, got to the bottom and found that we had both a number and a phone to call one of the "chaperones" and found out we needed to be at the top of the hill. But now six of us can say "Remember that time we were lost in Prague ...." God damned tour guide.
That evening we went to a small church and listened to a concert given by a string quartet, which was wonderful. They played a Mozart and a Dvirak. It made me miss my cello. After dinner we went to a "Disco" which was not really a disco at all. It served drinks, had a dance floor, but was also home to a strip show, which was shown on TVs outside the entrance to the club and in most of the rooms.
The next day there was more of the tour guide, but after she showed us the Jewish sector, we walked pasted the astronomical clock 5 minutes before it was going to strike, and decided to stop for coffee because half the group was really hung-over from the night before, my roommate and I ditched the tour and went out on our own. That was so much nicer. We actually got to SEE some things and it wasn't half as irritating as it had been trying to listen. We managed to see the Astronomical Clock that was built ... a long time ago. And is still working. There is a parade of Saints above the clock face and four figures next to the clock moved. It was cool - even if it wasn't that impressive.
That night we took a boat tour of the river. The boat had a bar (which quickly ran out of Absinth) and a dance floor with music as well as a sitting area to watch the city go by. It was a lot of fun. And the next morning at 9:00 we left for Krakow.
Finals
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Today we had our oral german final. It went okay - I got "shopping at the market," which was one of the better ones. Tomorrow we have our written final for the intensive german and then, at 1:30, we leave for Prague. After Prague comes Krakow (or Cracow, or Krakau, I've seen it many differnt ways now) and then Budapest. We only get two full days in each city, which is a little disappointing, but I think it will be lots of fun and they have a lot of guided tours followed by free time to wander (or shop). So you wont hear from me until (at best) the 26th when we return.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Wiener Staatsoper and Shoenbrunn
Saturday, September 11, 2004
This is my first current entry. Mostly. Last night BA and I went to our second Oper - Les Contes D'Hoffmann. At this point I have to admit, I was not as sold on the Oper as I could have been. The Magic Flute was good, but ... well, I don't know. I think it was the fact that I spent so much time reading the dialogue. I didn't do that this time. This time I tried really hard to not read everything, and I did a pretty good job since BA bought a program, so I could read a synopsis before it started. Maybe I missed some clever things that they might have said, but mostly I just listed to the music. And it was FANTASIC. It was SO amazing. In case you aren't familiar with it (I certainly wasn't) The Stories of Hoffmann is basically this guy recounting his three loves: Olympia, who turned out to be a doll - automaton to be exact (everyone else knew it, but Hoffmann didn't quite figure it out due to some magic glasses). Antonia was actually the girl that I liked the best, but she was ill and singing made it worse, so an evil doctor forced her to sing herself to death. And the third, Giulietta, was a courtesan who stole his image, or refection, and then left him for a diamond. The aria sung by Olympia was AMAZING. Milagros Poblador, who was the singer, did a fantastic job. I think this is one Oper I need a recording of. And the sets were the most amazing thing - Much more elaborate, with a lot more changes than I saw in the Magic Flute.
At Schoenbrunn today we walked around the palace gardens which were beautiful and then we went to the Zoo there. Schoenbrunn was the Summer Palace of the Hapsburgs (of the Austria-Hungry Empire) which was started in the 17th century and finished by Maria Teresa (big famous Empress) in the 18th century. It was amazing. I'll get pictures up once I am taught how too (sometime in the next day or two). Unfortunately, you can only go inside as a tour, so I don't have any pictures of that yet, though I'm considering going on the tour - but I bet they won't let me take as many pictures as I want to (today alone I took 188 pictures....). Anyway, the gardens were beautiful, but the main attraction was the Zoo. It's the oldest zoo in the world - founded in 1752.
Anyway, at the Zoo, I got to see several animals that I hadn't before ... and some animals doing things I had never seen before .... There were white peacocks, donkeys, and camels! (And a regular camel too!) Actually, I guess the white "camel" was actually a dromedary - it only had one hump. But that's only if you want to get technical. There were also Pandas! Butterflies, Cheetahs, Jaguars, Galapagos Tortoise (or Turtle, I don't know which), Sea Lions, Water Buffalos and Anteaters. Okay, I guess I've seen Sea Lions and Water Buffalos ... and Butterflies, but oh well. You could also get REALLY close to the animals - Between you and all the big cats (adding tigers and lions to the list) was a pain of glass. And for things like the Zebras, it was just a gate - I got to PET the ZEBRA! (They aren't as soft as horses.) But with all the exotic animals, they had Shetland Ponies, small draft horses, donkeys (even if they were white) and Nutrias. They also had an aquarium where you could walk through a tube under water, so I got to see a Ray's (like a sting ray, but not) mouth - it was weird looking.
Wow - I have written A Lot! And I haven't even touched on the Elephants yet. There was a baby elephant! He was so cute! And then there was a younger elephant too. And they WRESTLED! It was the FUNNIEST thing EVER! The little one kept trying to climb over the bigger one, and once he made it! I have the best picture ever - which will get up eventually, I promise. It was hysterical! I took so many pictures of them, I can practically do a slide show - but my roommate took a little movie of, so I don't have to. It was such a stitch!
Okay. I'm done now.
Look! Pictures!
Blue Roses!
Tuesday, September 9, 2004
This is actually a post dated entry (as is everything from this point back), so there might be a weird mix of past and present tense, depending on what I feel like writing in (and how much I have to refer to my journal). I hope it's not too confusing.
I bought a BLUE ROSE!
Maybe I should explain. I went to the Naschmarkt, this open air market in Vienna, and I saw these beautiful blue roses at one of the flower stands. They were AMAZING. And then on Monday I saw them at a stand outside the IES center and so I took some pictures. You have no idea how happy they made me - the were SO FANTASTIC! When they were there on Tuesday, I went up, took more pictures (I wasn't as happy as I could have been with the ones from Monday, though I've kept them - they arn't bad ... just not great) and then asked (IN GERMAN) how much they cost. It was 3 euro for one, which is expensive, but not so bad. So I went away, had a Wiener Eiskaffee (Vienna Iced Coffee) which instead of ice, has vanilla ice cream and is very good, and then returned to the stand to buy a rose. It made me SO HAPPY! I was grinning the whole way home (we have a 40 minute trip). And after taking pictures of MY rose, I hung it up to dry. Now I just hope I can get it home without breaking it.
Wiener Staatsoper
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Ha! We made it to the Opera! We got standing room tickets just across from the stage for 3 euro 50 and we saw Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute). The only problem with that is that you have to stand through the performance. But despite sore feet, it was very good. It was amazing - the music, the set, the costumes, everything. I just wish I had been more familiar with the story and the "script" so that I didn't have to keep looking down at the translation box to figure out what was going on. But oh well, it was still amazing.
The First Friday
Friday, September 3, 2004
This was our first Friday in Vienna. You'd think we'd have done something interesting. You'd be wrong. We were going to go to the Opera, but all sorts of things happened. First we had a class meeting that got out at 5:00 (which is when we were going to meet some people to go to the Opera, but first we had to return home to pick up our cooking utensils (because our dorm people had neglected to get those for us - stupid people. They forgot our sheets too when we first got here - we had to go ask for them). And by then it was 6:30 and the Opera starts at 7:00 (and it takes 40 minutes to reach the 1st District where the Opera is). So that was out. So we went grocery shopping and decided to try a dark beer.
I kind of liked it, but apparently I can't drink a lot of it before I stop liking it. So I like it, but only about a vierten (1/4 of a liter) at a time. So maybe I'll just order drinks other than beer while I'm here. BA definitely didn't care for it. But that's okay. Now she knows.
Just Getting Settled
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
We started the German intensive and its going okay. We went to the grocery store and got food (and only used a little English, which was good). There were lots of orientation meetings, which were sometimes good and sometimes bad - one of them was a brief tour of the Art History Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum) which has an Egyptian Exhibit, so if it wasn't assured earlier that I would go back, it is now. Fortunately the art history classes get a Museums Pass so I can go as many times as I like for FREE! We got the "famous Vienna Ice Cream" which was good, though how its different from the Italian ice cream, I'm not quite sure. But it's good, so I'm not going to complain. Not much is actually going on - just learning to move about the town without getting lost or run over. So far so good.
LUGGAGE!
Monday, August 30, 2004
Thats right! I have my luggage! I can now use SHAMPOO and CONDITIONER and clothes that I have not worn twice already! (Though I did wash them in the sink, so they wern't too scuzzy, but I still felt icky. But NOT ANYMORE!)
Return to Vienna
Sunday, August 29, 2004
We returned to Vienna and moved in to our housing. I am living in an Austrian dorm called Europahaus (which also has a hotel in the main building) with a girl from IES (my study abroad program). (Her name is BA, by the way - initials for Brett-Ashley.) The room is really nice, it has its own kitchen and bathroom for just the two of use, HUGE desks, a little eating table and LOTS and LOTS of shelf space. Too bad we don't have anything to put on the shelves.... I was supposed to have internet as well, but it took us a week to get it up and running, and BA still (as of September 10) doesn't have it - I think her wall plug thing is broken, because both are computers tell us there is no network connection. There are also two huge wall-length windows that are very nice and they look out onto a bunch of green things (large tree/bush things and a small lawn, which I rather like).
The only downside is that we are right next to the train station, but you get used to the noise and its better than a busy road.
(I know this wasn't in past tense, but that's mostly because I'm still living here, so it would be weird to write like I've left already.)
Murau
Saturday, August 28, 2004
This is where the orientation for my study abroad program was held. Murau (pronounced More-oww) is a small town in the southern province of Styria (or Steiermark). It's located in the Austrian Alps along the river Mur and it is a beautiful little town. It looks like it belongs in a Disney film. Though one of the founders of the town has a less Disney-like story. He was this famous troubadour who was in love, so he went off to fight battles in her honor. During the course of this, he broke his finger, but they were able to reset it. When his lady-love heard this, she called him a coward for keeping his finger, so he cut it off and sent it to her in a box. Can you say "eww"? (Jesse - keep your fingers.)
Apparently the town has six churches, though I only saw two of them and could only get into one. The one I went into was from the 15th century and was constructed by the local heroine Anna something. It had spectacular alters and there were lots of murals painted on the walls, both inside and out. Also, if you went around back, there was a little window where you could look down into a crypt, and along the back were the seals to the crypt with the names on them. It was very cool.
We stayed at the "Jungend und Familiengästehaus Murau," which was VERY nice. I roomed with three other girls, and we had our own bathroom. Plus, they gave you a chocolate on the first night, which was really good.
So we spent three day here just looking around and attending LOTS of meetings (which tended to be rather boring). But they fed us well - Austrians like soup and they eat sandwiches for breakfast, a custom of which I am rather fond. (I like sandwiches.) We also got to go hiking in the Alps, which was lots of fun, we got to watch some traditional dancers. They seem to like to stomp, yell, and kick eachother. We also learned to waltz.
Lost Luggage
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
This was the beginning of my great big adventure and it was not a very auspicious one. I arrived in Vienna and promptly learned the airlines had lost my luggage. This probably due to the flight cancellation I experienced in Denver - my flight through Chicago was cancelled due to bad weather, so I went through Dulles instead. Because of that I arrived a half hour later than I would have, and didn't have quite enough time to make it through the London Heathrow airport. So I had to catch a later flight to Vienna). By later, I mean like 2 hours, so not too bad.
Fortunately, I had 3 pairs of everything (except pants) and most of my toiletries, so it could have been worse.