another week gone by

Monday, May 20, 2013

While it stinks to be sick abroad, I couldn’t have timed it more perfectly. 

When I woke up in the morning I felt fine, albeit a dim headache - but it became clear when I stood up & almost passed out that I was everything but fine. My roommate Rachel had to help me back to bed when I overshot the stairs and stumbled. If today had not been a holiday & I still had class like the others that day, I would have fought it. Since it was a holiday and my class had in fact been cancelled, I was more than happy to get some extra sleep. 

When I woke up a bit later, my house frau was there to the rescue. She had off from work and was willing to spend her morning taking care of me, her sick American student whom she has only known a week. What. a. doll. I got breakfast, lots & lots & lots of tea, plus her family’s “get well” soup. I found out later that when she was talking with another one of my housemates, she said that when she has girlies, they are like her children - and she wants healthy, active girlies. I absolutely love her.

By 1 o’clock I was feeling TONS better, so I went back into the city to the institute so that I could get a little online work done for the day. When I walked up the stairs & towards one of the main classrooms, I could hear a lot of chatting behind the door. Then I remembered that the music class was sponsoring haircuts & bringing in a professional hair dresser. When I opened the door...the hair dresser was the professor himself. Oh Wolfgang, I should have known. Some girls chopped their hair. We’re talking 11-12 inches. Meredith went from waist length to chin length. Happy birthday! My favorite line from this adventure...“Don’t look now, but you’re getting your hair chopped by an Austrian professor!” 

Eeeeek! Brave, brave souls. 

chop chop

For the afternoon, a group of us went to the park between the museums & of course ended up napping. We’ve napped in 3 parks now. I like this trend. Later we attempted to find the “beach” & the Danub, but later found out that what we did find was neither of those. Oh well -- was still a cool place to visit! It was a walkway along a water canal & we saw a lot of artwork (graffiti, sculptures, mosaics, etc.) and the “beach” was basically a sandbox outside of a bar. Cool spot to hangout, but not what we were looking for. 

It was Meredith’s birthday, so we went out to dinner at a fabulous Italian place & wandered a cute market set up outside of St. Stephen’s. Later we met the rest of the girls at a café bar to celebrate & then had to get the gelato that was taunting us from across the street! :)

Uh, everything they do here is cute

We love street performers.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

I am 100% better. That is rockin’. Just in time for my tour of parliament, too! My class had a guided tour scheduled & it was truly very interesting. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not into politics all that much. They’ll say I should go back to the 60s because I sound like a hippie when I say that the world would be a better place if it was filled with love, peace, and smiles. This is why I don’t even get into debates.

In our tour, we got to see the marble hall, the chambers, the meeting room of the representatives from around the country, etc. In one of the meeting chambers, we even got to sit at the front desk - where the leaders of the meeting sit. Not a bad feeling :) 

This day was also full of surprises. When we thought we were going to have a working lunch to make up for our missed class yesterday, our prof ended up dropping us off at a restaurant & turning around to head back to school. Uhh...okay? So our class had lunch together at the only mexican restaurant in the city & then went back to the institute for more class time. Then after that our prof sprung another surprise on us & told us that we were going to a movie. Okay...its not like I had plans (sarcasm).

But I’m really glad that we got to go (even if I didn’t appreciate the context under which I had to go). We went and saw “The Third Man”. Really very good! My friends had wanted to see it too, so when they found out when I had to go, they decided to come along, too! That was fun. It was great to relax for a bit in the theatre with candies. Next time, maybe Gatsby? It’s killing me that I wasn’t home for the premiere of my favorite book! Totally called them casting Leo. 

Okay...end tangent.

The Third Man - Dad, you'd like it, too.

For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by the music prof to his students. It was located in a 400 year old wine cellar & served probably the best pork roast I’ve had in a long time. When we climbed out to head home (or to get gelato - whatever suited our fancy), it was POURING rain. We scanned our maps for the nearest U and ran. No gelato tonight.

This nicely sums up our feelings about the rain.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Well I’m smart. I threw all of my pants in the wash last night & had to wear a dress for the day. Dresses are always a good thing, but not when the forecast calls for more rain. It’ll have to do I guess.

I went to my morning meeting where we got the needed information for our upcoming trip to Salzburg. This week is flying. My class session today was again cut in two to still make up for Monday. In the afternoon I was due to give another presentation, only, I didn’t have internet the night before & had to cram in last minute research while at the institute. I felt incredibly unprepared & stressed...but fortunately, it went very well. Afterwards it felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

I reloaded my phone, treated myself to tea & a muffin from Starbucks, and happily took on the rest of the day. The Staatoper across the street from the institute sets up a large screen & chairs outside of the building & allows the public to watch the show that is happening inside the building fo free. Five of us girls took advantage of that, grabbed ourselves some Subway (I know, I’m horrible. But living in an expensive city, you can’t beat 2.49 euros for a sub), and made ourselves comfy in the sunshine (it turned out to be the most beautiful day!) to watch an opera. 

A few of us left the show early & got some shopping done. Allison & I went to a café for good drinks and conversation. My day ended with a lovely study session with my housemates (and a challenge to name all 50 states) along with clean laundry. 

And it was good.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Today we got to school in record time, but not because of our own thoughtful planning, but rather that our bus driver was hauling. Probably the craziest bus ride I have been on yet here.

In the afternoon I had another excursion with my history class (it has been a very bonding week). We met our prof and then our tour guide, Bridgette. I thought we were just going to high tail it around the city for a bit, but we still had a surprise in store for us. Or maybe I was the only one unaware of this, but moving on...

We were taking a tour of post WWII Vienna, but we were going to do it through the eyes of The Third Man. Our guide has actually written a book on it, so there was no one better to take the tour with. The movie was shot in 1949, so a lot of what is seen in the movie is what Vienna actually looked like. A few parts of the movie involve the sewer system (Harry Lime’s first escape & later, trap) so where do we go first? The sewer! They really do have legit tours for this place. This movie is bigger than I originally thought! While it was cool to see where some of the film was shot and to stand where Orson Wells did, it was smelly (obviously) & echo-y, making it hard to hear the presentations. When we got up to fresh air again, people were talking about the spiders on the walls the size of their fist. SO GLAD no one told me before or during -- that would have been the end of the tour for me! 

Our class about to head down into the sewers! 

Yes...we actually went.

Afterwards we really did go on a walking tour to see the other sights & learn more facts about the movie. It was very entertaining! I love learning about WWII, so I was eating it up. 

I met some friends later to (finally!) go to the Imperial Library/State Hall. How. absolutely. beautiful. It houses 200,000+ books from the 1400s through the 1870s. Incredible. This is actually the library that inspired the library in the Beast’s castle from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I’ll be honest...this is what drew me to the library in the first place. Love love me some Disney. 

Outside 

Inside 

My artistic shot of the day

I can't get over how amazing this place is! 

My friends were recommended to see a beautiful church at the end of the green line, so we headed that way when we were done at the library. It may have taken us a bit to get there, but it was worth it. The church was gorgeous and overlooked the tree-covered hills & vineyards. So glad that they are in the art class & where willing to explain to me the art & styles displayed everywhere. I have gained a new and huge appreciation for architects. Bravo. B-e-a-utiful!

Gorgeous.