these past few days

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Whew!

After getting close to 12 hours of sleep last night (woo hoo!) and eating breakfast, we started our day together with a quick lesson in German 101. SO WONDERFUL. Now I can at least understand some of what people here are saying to me & how I should respond. It is a different feeling not being to understand anything someone is saying to you. Yesterday we had a distressed little old lady ask of for help (we think... we really don't know what she was asking us) and we felt so helpless. Luckily someone else came around who understood her, but we still felt so bad! 

It was truly an orientation day, because what followed that session was the process of filling out formal governmental forms, learning housing information, transportation, weekend trips, issued cellphones (or "handys" as they are called here), etc, etc. 

This afternoon we started class. I'm in Modern Austrian History with four other people, compared to the Art & Architecture class that has about half of our group. During prof introductions, my prof stepped up and started to speak with a thick German accent. I thought, "oh boy, I'm going to have to pay really close attention now," but then he completely turned the tables and started to speak in perfect English. He totally had me and some other girls going - shocked the entire group! Should've seen it coming when I saw all the other profs giggling during his act. This should be an interesting class! 

Once class ended, we had a big half hour to get ready for dinner. Tonight was a special treat, a trolly ride to the water for a BBQ on a ferry. Fantastic. Felt like being home... but not really because we rode into Hungary again. No big deal. One of the captains serenaded us all night with the accordion. Also, it was a first experience with carbonated lemonade. Different... but not bad! We also had the chance to try the local wine. 

Riding in style! 

The yodeling lemonade...

He's great.

Dessert after every meal is something I can definitely get used to here, and I think is something we already have gotten used to. The dessert course sadly did not come with our meal, so it was only obvious that we all go out on the town for gelato once we got back to the hotel. 

Gelato is always a good idea :) 

It still doesn’t feel real that we are here. Even the classes don’t feel like class - it feels like we are learning for the sake of learning. Looooove that. Maybe it will hit me until tomorrow when we finally do go into Vienna & are actually seeing the landmarks we’ve only heard so much about. Until then, guten abent! 

Friday, May 10, 2013

They keep us busy here. Real busy.

We had an early check out time from our hotel and brought down our luggage to place in the hotel lobby before class. It’s only been 2 days and my luggage already looked like it exploded. Whoops! When I semi-repacked (i.e. tossed everything back in so it could at least close) I could only think about how GREAT it would feel when I really could unpack at my host home. Promptly at 9:30a we went to our respective classes that ran right up to lunch. After a quick bite to eat, we were back on a bus that would take us to the heart of Vienna! So exciting. 

The trip took us about an hour & we got a brief glances of some of the monuments and landmarks that dot the inner city. The Art & Architecture prof was on my bus and kept pointing them out to us. Now, I’m not saying that I would want to drop my history course to take her class, but I almost wish I was here for another month so that I could take her class. Let’s be real, I wish I could take all the classes that they offer! The profs know everything.

Nearly dead center of Vienna is our institute, and across the street is the opera house. I can’t even get over how beautiful it is. Oh gosh.

Soon after our arrival, our host families arrived. My house mother was the first, and she whisked us four girls away minutes later. It has been quite the adventure since! She is ADORABLE, already calling us her “sweet four leaf clover.” We took two taxi’s to her house which is about 40 minutes driving distance from the school. She showed us around her place, and brought out a bakery sweet, fruit, and champagne to toast our arrival. She gave us time to unpack while she cooked us a traditional Austrian dinner, where we had a chance to get to know each other. If I keep eating like I have, my group is going to have to roll me onto the plane - the food is just too good! 

Thankfully, Lilo was willing to show us how to get to our institute & to the flea market despite the rain. A bus ride, tram ride, and subway ride later, we were back downtown. We decided to walk into the Opera house and wander to find the Music Hall a few blocks over before heading home again. All are incredibly gorgeous. 

See, beautiful. 

It was GREAT to have Lilo with us for our first public transportation experience, as it would have been so confusing to try and figure it out on our own at 7a tomorrow morning for the flea market. We can now read the schedules, which is a good thing, and Lilo flew up some flights of stairs to hold the last bus headed to our stop. She is a riot, these next few weeks with her are going to be so much fun! I love being one of her “girlies” :) 

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Rain rain, go away! The warm weather Austria greeted us with in Mörbisch is no more. It is chilly and rainy. But we didn't let that stop us from visiting the flea market that Lilo showed us last night. We woke up early-early and tried our hand solo with public transportation. We made it in one piece, so I'd call that a success! I don't know what we were expecting from the flea market, but it was very different from what I at least was expecting. I would compare it to an outdoor Goodwill. But they had lots and lots of scarves...and I bought a bunch. So my collection begins...

We met at the Institute for a walking tour of Vienna with our prof, Dr. O. We saw the Opera House, the Albertina, monuments, Cathedrals, the Imperial Palace, the Spanish Riding School, the Imperial Library, Roman/Medieval ruins,  etc. All of these wonderful places are within 10 minutes of school. I have no idea what to check out first! We split for lunch - my group went to the Rosenburger where I was able to get a giant piece of Tiramisu. YUM.

The Imperial Palace

Yes, I was that person who took a picture of her food. So deliciously unhealthy. 

The afternoon was probably my favorite. We finally went to Schönbrunn Palace, which was incredibly beautiful. It is just as wonderful on the inside as it is on the outside. I sadly wasn't able to take pictures, but believe me. Absolutely gorgeous. One of my favorite rooms was the ballroom where Mozart played for the Empress at 7 years old. SO NEAT. The history nerd inside of me was very, very happy :) We'll be sure to hit the gardens on a sunshiny day :) 

Twinning. 

After the Palace, we went back to our host home to get ready for the Opera. Tonight we went and saw "Carmen" at the Volksoper. Even though I couldn't understand a single word that they were saying, er, singing, I really appreciated the music. The conductor got the loudest applause at the end -- it was well deserved.

We found our way back home & only made 1 mistake. Celebrations were in order.

Kelsey (my housemate) had our first great adventure of the trip...we weren't paying attention on our bus ride home tonight and got off about 5 stops too late...but it was probably closer to 7 or 8 stops. So thankful that we live in a super safe part of the city & we were able to jog it back to Lilo's!



Sunday, May 12, 2013

I'll say it again. Happy Mother's Day Mum! I'm changing it up this year. Usually I've been away for Father's day! If I could have sent you flowers from the market here, I would have...they are really lovely here!

They're all for you! 

This morning we BOOKED it to hear the Vienna Choir Boys. The result was standing just on the outside of the entrance to the sanctuary. While we couldn't see them, they sounded absolutely incredible. Oh my. We got to meet a few of them after the service, too! They're so nice... Can I take them home with me?

Casey -- 2 of your 7 singing Austrian children :) 

We also made it in time to attend the mass at St. Augustine. Just like at Carmen, even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, I really enjoyed the music.

This afternoon we had our official Vienna welcoming dinner...we've been oriented and are ready to go for the next few weeks. We went a bit outside of the city to the Vienna Woods for a quant wine-pub-restaurant place. Just up the hill was Kahlenberg, the highest point of Vienna, and from there, you could see the whole city. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Vienna from Kahlenberg!

We made a trip back downtown to wander & do a little people-watching, then called it quits early this evening. We decided to go home and take our Sunday naps :)