Friends are fabulous…

For perhaps our third time since we’ve been here, Shannon and I ate at the dinner table last night for dinner!  Even better, we were accompanied by some of our great new friends!  Shannon made some of her great home-made mac-n-cheese, which always lures our guy friends over to pay a visit.  Eric (who went with us to Krems, remember?) and Reyes both helped us dig into the huge casserole dish; dinner was followed by listening to the Backstreet Boys and a game of Ligretto and later Spades.  The guys had to go to work afterwards, but it wasn’t too long before Seth got out of work and helped us finish the mac-n-cheese off, and him coming over gave Shannon a chance to show off her new Ligretto skills.  Simple company is so lovely.

Good food and good progress

Let’s see… how about I start off with this weekend?  Well, the weather was great on Saturday, so first thing in the morning I put on my jogging stuff and went for a little run around the large park down the street.  Even though the sun was still working its way on peeking through the trees, the temperatures were absolutely fabulous so even after I was all tired out, I just sat on a park bench and watched the ducks fooling around in the pond.  Got back to the apartment and Shannon was still asleep, so I made a batch of Austrian-knock-off chocolate-chip muffins and they were a good treat.  Once Shannon was up and ready, we headed down to Mariahilferstrasse where I all the best shopping stores are at.  She settled on a dress, and I found a headband that’ll match my blue dress perfectly—so excited!  Then we went to Coffee Day because it was like 3:30 and we hadn’t had any lunch so we both got CD’s amazing veggie burgers+fries… I swear, the two of us are in the mood for that meal every day. 

In fact, Shannon came to intern in my office today and for lunch, we tried the Coffee Day closer to where I work but they didn’t have hot meals and we were sad.  :-(  So we went to Anker afterwards and I convinced her to get my favorite Shokovanille pastry but I tried this huge apple-cake stuff and it was delicious, too.  Plus, the company was lovely—the two of us fit in some really good (and necessary) roommate bonding/talking time.  Still trying to decide if I should go to Graz this weekend just to get away from the little bit of drama that’s going on over here—every time I think about it, the thought of going makes me happier—but I’m going in 2 weeks anyway.  We’ll see. 

Anyways… to finish off the weekend, Sunday was a totally cold, wet, and lazy day, but that’s what I needed so that I could work up on my Arabic homework and write a letter or two home.  Arabic class went totally great today, by the way.  I know it’s going to take lots and lots of work to conquer the language, but my professor says that I can do it and at every class I learn something new and I get excited about it, not more intimidated, so that’s good I guess.  And I was able to tell him all about how great my day was, which made my day even better!  A big part of it: my big personal project is finally rolling along—someone got back to me and I’ve got a meeting with him next weekend!  So stoked!

What a super day—and it’s not even over yet!  :-D

Lots of Work, and Lots of Fun!

I know it has been almost two weeks since I last posted, and I’ve been meaning to, but I’ve just been having too much fun.  So let me break it down now:

 

Tuesday, Austrian National Day:  Shannon and I started the morning by taking a tour of the Austrian Parliament building, followed by a tour of the Chancellor’s building (I shook his hand! :D) and even though I didn’t get my huge Krapfen, I did get my applesauce-topped waffle and Glühwein.  Our new Marine friend Seth met up with us and it was a good holiday to stand around and sip some hot wine and talk to new people.  We ended the afternoon with a hike up to the tippy-top of St. Stephensdom and the view was remarkable.

Wednesday:  All I can say is that I saw how awesome of a role I am playing here even as an intern.  Pretty cool feeling, let me tell you.

Thursday:  I got an opportunity to dog-sit,  which I took of course because I was in need of a good dog-petting and some extra cash to pay off the Marine Ball ticket. 

Friday:  Unfortunately, my Arabic teacher was sick… so, no Arabic class that day.  On the plus side, this gave me more time for hangin’ out fun!  Our new Marine friend came over and the three of us made some of Shannon’s home-made mac’n’cheese; getting the word out about free food got 2 more boys to join us—it was a good time, eating some pasta and watching Ratatouille with some new buddies.  The night ended with some Fussball matches and a few games of pool.

Saturday:  The morning was beautiful bright and sunny so Shannon and I walked along the Danube canal towards the Hundertwasser house.  I felt like I had stepped into a Dr. Suess book, it was so cool.  Then we had enough daylight left to check out the Prater Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel).  As fate would have it, on the tram we ran into the one other intern Shannon  and I hadn’t met yet, and later we came across a young Kentucky guy.  Boy, is it a small world.  Later, as Shannon and I hadn’t eaten out in a while, we decided to go for a few tapas at the Hilton for dinner that night, and Seth joined us.  Afterwards, we met up with a few more people and watched “Knight and Day” (adorable) and “Despicable Me” (even more adorable).  Friends are fabulous.

Sunday, Halloween:  As suited the holiday, Shannon and I went to  Zentralfriedhof and walked among the graves of Austria’s past presidents and musical prodigies.  The October day was perfect and gave an eerie but calm feeling as we passed tombstones that had been bombed in WWII, some of which had been piled up following the war. We got back just in time for trick-or-treating, so I dressed up and handed out candy and advertised that we'd be watching Hocus Pocus but I ended up watching it alone... there were 2 kids who were so funny, they kept coming and going and then they never came back, and Shannon was talking to her boyfriend the whole time on Skype... I'm so good at planning out super fun-filled events in my head only for them to come crashing down on me, and this disappointment was a good reminder at how much i need to stop fantasizing about everything in life... haha.

Monday:  Monday was a lazy day for me.  It was a holiday here, and unusually warm, so I picked up my book (currently reading: Reading Lolitah in Tehran) and went to the park.  My mind was all over the place though, so I gave up on reading and just watched the ducks in the lake.  When it got dark, I did a bit of Skyping with the family, then my roommate and I ended the night with a showing of “The Hangover” (love it!) at the boys’ place.

Tuesday:  My second official Arabic class went pretty well, but the work part of the day is what I’d really been looking forward to for a while now; I was finally interning in Shannon’s office.  However, not even halfway through the day, I knew for certain that I had made the right decision when I had a choice between the internship I am currently doing, and the position my roommate has, which I was also offered.  Love my office.  Love my staff.  Love my job.  Love my life.

Wednesday:  Wednesday was back in the office as normal, which I was just fine with.  Arabic class followed, and while some stuff was review, I actually learned a lot of very new, interesting things about the grammar of the language; it was very cool.  I was pleased to hear that my pronunciation is actually pretty accurate 80% of the time.

Thursday:  Got a look at the Russian Embassy.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  The day itself was even even more gorgeous; the weather was so warm, I had to go get a little shake from McDonald’s to cool off, which I’d been craving for about 3 weeks now anyway.

Friday:  Today was another beautiful day— I went out to lunch today with a coworker, who I’d been dying to talk to.  We ate outside and even in my skirt and blouse it was a warm (yet unbelievably windy!) afternoon.  For once my evening is free; a perfect opportunity to catch up on my blogging!

Happy National Day, Austria!

I’m looking very much forward to spending my day off work celebrating with your people in the heart of your nation—I spied a bakery stand right outside of Parliament yesterday morning with a Krapfen as big as my head, and it has my name on it! 

(As does a bottle of Glühwein and a vanilla sauce-covered waffle…oh boy, it’s a good thing I walk around so much here…)

Be Careful What You Wish For

So the saying goes and, as I wished for stuff to do all last week, this Monday morning I sure got a load to do—so much, I kissed my lunch break goodbye.  I thought about it though, and between sorting through snail mail/email or trying to juggle 3 tasks at once, I’ll go with the juggling any day.  I felt so productive it was fabulous and I got to cover for other people in my office doing their sort of projects that I otherwise would not have gotten a chance to do.  Of course, this meant that I had absolutely no time to attend to my own personal project, but that’ll make my project extend that much farther out into my internship, I suppose.

didn’t think I’d make it home in time to run out to the grocery store before it closed but Shannon and I managed to make it to Spar in time to stock up for the national holiday tomorrow—oh, if only it weren’t for that unpaid overtime keeping me in the office 'til 5:30… :P

Keeping Up With the World

Cases like the following seem unfathomable in this day and age—

Iran restricts social sciences seen as 'Western'

Another Successful Weekend

  

Geez, the days are just flying by.  Was it really last Wednesday when I wrote my previous entry?  Thursday consisted of the conference the whole day—it was about migration which is important and everything but I have found that typically conferences like these consist of reiterating the issue at hand for hours on end, while usually the last half hour of the program addresses the solutions or outcomes everyone is hoping to achieve.  So, at the end of the day, it doesn’t seem that productive, but it sure beat sitting in front of the computer all day in the office.  During the coffee break, I talked to two young women from an NGO based in Vienna and their experiences working for an NGO gave me something to chew on for the rest of the morning.  During the actual presentation parts, I took notes and I tried to follow along but even though I didn’t catch all of the German discussion (it was half in English, half in German), I nevertheless got the underlying points of EU migration that were stated repeatedly throughout the conference and practiced my German vocabulary, if nothing else.

Friday afternoon took forever to arrive, it seemed, but at last I was headed off to the Language school for my first official Arabic lesson!  The class was mainly review, but important review, and I was really pleased with how much I have learned in the past year, how much I remember, and how much my new instructor covered that I was already familiar with—I think he was pretty pleased, too, especially when it came to reviewing numbers and past tense.  I got my first homework, a little story, which I just finished reading through but I really ought to read through once or twice more, at least.  I’m so excited to see what kind of progress I’m going to make over the next month and a half.

After class, I made it home just in time for Shannon and I to get dressed into our pathetic excuses of 80s clothes before grabbing the last of the burgers at the party.  It was super fun and Shannon and I definitely decided, who needs boy intern friends when you can become friends with a houseful of marines???

  While Shannon and I took our time getting out of the house the next morning, we still totally got a day’s work of walking in because we spent over 4 hours strolling just through the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace and by the time we decided we’d seen enough of the gardens, the Palace itself was closed to tours that day… so we’re going to save Sisi’s summer house for a colder, winter day.  The flowers were all pulled out by this time of year, but the colorful trees depicted a perfect October afternoon instead. 

Sunday consisted of actually making it out of the house by 9, where we met up with one of our new buddies and headed off to the village of Krems, which is about an hour train-ride away from Vienna.  It was overcast all day and it turns out there actually wasn’t that much to see or do there (the village 5 minutes away that we wanted to take a bus to, of which there were of course no buses running that day, was a temporary dungeon-home to the Crusades’ Richard the Lionheart!) but we went in a beautiful church, had a lovely little lunch, and were just pretty awed to be strolling through the streets of a village that is—no joke—over 1,000 years old.  Speaking of old, I was on my lunch break one day last week and there was a truck at a stop light that read “The Black Camel—in Vienna since 1618” or something and all I could think was, dang, that company is older than my country is.

EEEEEEK!!! x 4

1.)  The BIG project I’ve been waiting for has finally revealed itself to me at the weekly staff meeting—and this project’s all mine!

2.)  I finished a paper today that will actually be read by some pretty high people, and I’m working on another one.  My geeky excitement is pretty much equal to as if the President himself were to read the paper I drafted.  NERD.  I know.  But how many of you are writing papers that will pass through the hands of people in high places?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

3.)  Tomorrow is a conference that goes all day—I love events, especially when free food is included, plus I get to sleep in.

3.)  After work on Friday, I have my first legit Arabic class!  Oh, how I’ve missed Arabic and classes—and I mean, really, how I’ve missed them—what I thought was a sore throat yesterday (the day after my trial lesson) I now think is actually my throat getting reacquainted with the muscles that make those sounds we English-speakers don’t use, which I haven’t used since class last semester.

4.)  After Arabic class, Shannon and I are going to a part-ay!  With real American burgers!  Downside: it’s 80’s-themed and my closet here is business casual, not crazy casual… I’ve got to come up with something fast…

A Stranger from Home Just Feels Like an Old Friend

So my friend from GV gave me info of a friend from Michigan who is also here in Vienna.  We’d been playing email-tag for the past month but I finally got to meet her today and it was lovely!  We sat down in an adorable cafe that sold more than just cafe food (I got a veggie burger that came with delicious fries) and I spent my lunch break talking with another young, musical Michigander, which is a nice change after being around coworkers every day with kids of their own who are my same age.  (Don’t get me wrong—I have been blessed with the nicest coworkers one could ever ask for—but I’m still a college kid and I need my share of college conversation.)  And coming from Michigan, we knew exactly what the other was talking about when our discussion led to the “Outside Museum,” a little old-style village just outside the city of Graz, and was compared to an Austrian version of Greenfield Village!

My lunch break was over way too quickly, so I’m looking forward to meeting up with this new friend of mine in the future—my original plan was to take her to Zentralfriedhof, the central cemetery of Vienna where all the most famous musicians are buried!  Perhaps that shall be our next get-together if we have a not-so-rainy day.

In class again—just more dressed-up

So last week I was sitting at the back of the room of the conference that I had helped prepare for the entire previous week and as the clock was winding down to the last few minutes of the second day of the conference, I couldn’t help but intently people-watch with my fabulous view of the entire room.

I felt like I was back in one of my classes at GV—everyone was fidgeting at 10 to 5; at 5 to 5, you could hear the shuffle of half the people shoving their papers in their briefcases; and at 1 minute to 5, some people were getting up before the official closing statement of dismissal, the only difference was that they were leaving early to make it to their plane on time rather than to their next class that is way on the other side of campus.  Even before the closing speaker stepped down from the podium, you could tell people were mentally going over their agenda for the rest of the day.

Of course they were all glad to be there—numerous people even said aloud how pleased they were to be a part of the conference—but it was funny to find that, just as my colleagues and I go to class because we find it worthwhile and yet we have the habit of processing the rest of the day in our heads before the class is even over, so, too, does everyone else.

I guess college has been preparing me for the real-world in more ways than I thought.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

Shannon and I made… MUFFINS!!  :D

S-P-O-N-T-A-N-E-I-T-Y

I don’t hear nor use that word often, yet this perfectly explains Shannon’s and my lifestyle this weekend.  Instead of driving up to Salzburg with Adam on Friday night, who was passing through there anyway to pick up his girlfriend in Germany, Shannon and I waited until Saturday morning to start our adventure so that we were assured reservations at a youth hostel in the area. 

SATURDAY—DAY 1

We took our time getting out of bed Saturday morning (or, rather, Shannon did), but finally by 10:45 we were on a train and headed to the city where the hills are alive with the sound of music (and, no, we did not do the Sound of Music Tour).  We got there in the afternoon and walked through the old city, stopping to pose for eachother’s pictures among the Mirabell gardens and get the best chocolate icecream I’ve ever had at the famous Demel’s Delikatessen even before getting settled in at the hostel.  We finally made our way over to the building, though, and were fortunate to find that we were getting a room upgrade at no extra cost to us because the one we reserved was no longer available.  As I’m a stickler when it comes to money, I was very pleased to say the least and the room did turn out to be just lovely.

There were a few hours left in the day, though, so Shannon and I left most of our stuff back at the hostel and made our way to the Bahn that takes us up to the castle (as a security guard told us earlier that morning, you can walk all the way up, but “that is just stupid”).   The weather was beautiful so  we snapped lots of pictures and because I was in a hiking mood, we took the long walk down that landed us right in the center of the old city where the Bio Fest was going on.  I followed my nose to a delectable-smelling stand where they were making potato chips and they were absolutely delicious with the red Sturm I ordered as well.  After Shannon and I were finished mingling with the Salzburgers (aka after Shannon was finished with her beer), we searched out a good place for dinner and came across a delightful little restaurant tucked away in a courtyard.  I splurged and ordered a schnitzel, as I’ve been here almost a month and hadn’t eaten this favorite Austrian dish of mine yet!  And it did not disappoint; my dish came with the cranberry sauce and perfectly crisp potatoes on the side that are a personal necessity in completing this lovely meal.

After my roommate and I were stuffed and happy, we wandered the rest of old city streets that we had not yet explored but we ended up back at an Irish pub that we had passed on our way to the hostel earlier that afternoon.  Shannon wanted to try some different beer, so I tried some white Sturm this time, as we watched some Europeans trying to pull off a professional American football game on TV.

SUNDAY—DAY 2

The next morning, we had  our weird complimentary Austrian-style breakfast before checking out and heading back to the Bio Fest to grab some more potato chips, and then to Demel’s where Shannon originally wanted to try one of the cakes but the place was too busy to sit down the day before.  We had plenty of seats to choose from this time, at 11 in the morning, so she got a coffee and we split a lovely slice of walnut cream cake as we decided our next move.  We decided most of Salzburg had already been discovered by us, except for Mozart’s house, which we planned on passing by on our way back to the train station, so we thought we’d make a little side-trip to the village of Werfen, home of the world’s largest ice caves. 

With our awesome Vorteilskarte, in which Shannon and I (and everyone else under 26 who registers for one) get ÖBB train tickets half off, the trip was dirt cheap and just before we rounded the corner to the Werfen platform, I eyed the Werfen castle high above us out of the train window— it beats every other castle I’ve seen from the outside.  My roommate and I were on a mission, though, and we already knew we weren’t going to make it back to the city in time for the last castle tour.  Our mission to the ice caves included taking the bus that zigzagged all the way up the mountain opposite the castle before buying our tickets for the caves and the 3-minute cable car (versus the 90-minute uphill hike, no thank you).  Reaching the cable car took a 20-minute hike in and of itself, however, and Shannon and I were exhausted by the time we reached the loading platform, but not exhausted enough that we didn’t freak out with the insaneness of the cable car ride.  We expected that once the cable car dropped us off, we’d be there but, no, we had another 20+ minute hike to go.  Phew, I’d been begging for Shannon to go on a hike with me, but this is not what I’d had in mind.

At long last, we arrived at the entrance and the freezing temperatures in the caves were a warm welcome (pardon the pun) to the two of us.  The ice formations were pretty cool (oh my goodness, I swear I’m not doing this on purpose! haha) but all of the stairs were almost more than Shannon and I could bear.  After a good hour and a half, we finally headed out the way we came and my roommate and I took our sweet time going down the mountain, taking pictures along the entire way.  The castle on the opposing mountain was soooooo tiny now!  Back on the train to Salzburg, we decided to fit one more stop into our weekend: the village of Bad Ischl.

By the time we got to Bad Ischl it was dark, but not too late.  As fortune had been going our way all weekend, I discovered a sign for the village youth hostel but of course our luck couldn’t last forever and the reception was closed so we had to search for a hotel instead.  We came across a cute simple one and were just glad to have a place to rest our heads (and our feet) for the night.  I was starving though so, as Shannon loves Chinese food as much as I do, we went to the Chinese restaurant (pretty much the only restaurant open) we had passed earlier when we were scouting out the village.  It was delicious and we went to bed with happy tummies.

MONDAY—DAY 3

Monday morning we ate our complimentary breakfast (I must admit, not only am I getting used to the salami sandwiches in the morning, but I think I’m really beginning to like them—I made myself some for breakfast a few days after coming back from my class reunion) but we were still wiped out from all of the walking we had done the two days before, so  instead of visiting one of my favorite Austrian towns St. Wolfgang, which was just a 1/2 hour bus ride away, we headed back towards the train station.  Shannon had read about 2 villas in Bad Ischl that her tour book highlighted (how we heard out about the village in the first place) so we tried to find the one that was on the way to the train station but we totally walked in a circle and then after we’d given up, we passed right by the entrance, of course.  It cost money, though, so we just marveled at the outside before getting on the train for the 3 and 1/2 hour ride home to Vienna. 

And that is the story of our first 3-day weekend; my roommate and I had some good bonding time, we asked ourselves ‘who needs the boys?’ (referring to the only 3 other interns we know, all boys, who for some reason insist on not hanging out with us), and we fit in 3 Austrian towns in 3 beautiful, perfect-weather, days. 

And we lived every day spontaneously.

 

(Even more pictures to come—check out my pictures page)

First 3-Day Weekend Means…

Salzburg, here I come!

The Day in One Word:

Blah.  Even for the exceptionally beautiful weather we had today, the day was kind of blah.  I don’t feel like I had a very accomplished workday, but maybe the little things I did here and there will turn out to be the last pieces necessary to turn out the end results of some very big projects next week…who knows?  Still, I’d like to feel as accomplished every day as I did most every day last week.

My roommate was in the area (she works on the other side of town) so we went out to lunch—or rather stayed in and ate in the little restaurant in the basement, and to be honest I was a bit bummed because it was such a beautiful day outside—I wore a skirt today and everything.

So I was in the office the entire day, and at about 4:00 this afternoon, I decided that I would make up my lack of soaking up the sunshine with an icecream from the park near my house, because I haven’t tried the icecream yet.  My roommate had different plans, however (I don’t blame her), and we took a detour to find her some medicine because she is sick.  Only I realized too late that whatever she had in mind we couldn’t just find at Merkur or Bipa, we needed to go to an Apotheke and by that time, they were closed.  Where’s a 24 hour Walgreens or CVS when you need one?  So we went home stuffy-nosed and icecream-hungry.  I was bummed again that day, to say the least.

On a brighter note, when I got home from work, one of my best buddies from home was on Skype which is always a pleasure.  Oh, and I made a call to my hometown and got my absentee ballot thing all straightened out (hopefully…we shall see…).  Also, at least on our walk back up the hill, Shannon agreed to sit out on a park bench with me overlooking part of the city and even though the stars weren’t really out yet, the huge chateau off in the distance and the remains of a castle (Leopoldsburg, I’m thinking)were lit up, which was a pretty sweet sight you don’t see every night in the US.

I hope the weather this weekend will be just as lovely, and that the fabulousness of the day will be 10 times more amazing.

Oh, what a life! Part 2

My out-of-office learning has just continued to grow as, this morning, I took a ride on a true Viennese riverboat to finish up Day 2 of the conference with a tour of the Vienna Danube Canal.  It was extremely interesting (much more so than yesterday) and the lunch was much appreciated. 

I love taking part in events; not just for the free food and trinkets that come with most of them (although those are a super plus), but because of the well organized, informative presentations and the fact that the other people in the audience are there because they, too, are genuinely interested in the topics as I am.  Even at Grand Valley, I attended as many on-campus events as I could typically fit into my schedule, but as I was sitting in the WKO (Wirtschaftskammer Oesterreich) building, surrounded by men in suits on their Blackberries, and women with briefcases and tight hair buns, it occurred to me how significant this particular event was, and how the events I will be attending in the next few months will be different from those at Grand Valley; I am in Vienna, one of the biggest social hubs in Europe, one of the most culture- and history-rich cities in the world, and I am a 20-year old intern from No-Name, Michigan who is attending a conference hosted by the European Commission on a project that could quite possibly make an enormous change to the world for the better, and I’m sitting side-by-side with ubersuccessful inventors, innovators, and businessmen, or people who could become such one day, thanks to this conference. 

Upon realizing all of this, I pretty much had 5 straight minutes of thinking to myself “Oh, my gosh.  This is too cool.”

Oh, what a life!

On Tuesday afternoon, I was trying to decide what to do for dinner.  My roommate had told me earlier that day that she would be attending a dinner hosted by the Ambassador of UNVIE that night, and, seeing as I had an invitation in my pocket in which “The Mayor and Governor of Vienna requests the pleasure of your company” at a cocktail reception (dinner, too!) at City Hall, I myself had plans for the evening.  So I took the Mayor and Governor of Vienna up on his offer and i went.

I had checked on how to get there beforehand but I wasn’t anticipating the 5 K Vienna Run that night, in which 100s or maybe even 1000s of people were running around the Ringstrasse, and of all places they congregated in front of the Rathaus.  So, the trams weren’t running so I had to walk a ways, and I had to make my way through huge crowds of people before asking some policemen who helped me find the right entrance.

The night was full of talking to people (or listening to them talk, as most everything discussed was beyond that of little, young, 20-year-old Aubrey).  But, as is my reason for this internship, I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know that morning, while in the same day, I got 2 free meals, had a mental debate on whether or not I should have business cards made up for myself, and realized that one thing I really need to work on is how to mingle—which I personally find really hard when I am about half the age of most everyone who is attending these business-y events, but something I must overcome nonetheless.

It Doesn’t Take Much to Make Me Happy (and it doesn’t take much to tick me off)

The only hesitation I really had about taking up this internship was that there was the great possibility that I would have to put off my second study of the Arabic language for an entire year.  So imagine the amount of reassurance I felt when I discovered through google maps a language school 15 minutes from my apartment, and right along the bus route to boot!  It was indeed destiny.

After getting the first week of my internship under my belt, I found the school after work sometime the second week and waited until 15 minutes after the school claimed to close, although there was not one sign of activity going on in or around the place.  So I came back a second time that week, only to be told by another student that I should come back 2 hours after the posted closing time!  Well, by then I was pretty peeved, as I was hoping to begin my classes right at the end of that week.  But I called to make an appointment anyway, and unless there was some form of miscommunication or if memory failed me, considering that I spoke over the phone entirely in German, I was supposed to meet the woman in charge of the school today at 6 after work.  So I got to the school 15 minutes before planned (because to an Austrian, if you’re on time, you’re late!) and I waited 10 minutes after planned, and I called multiple times on both numbers I had, and yet I never did get to talk to anyone today. 

So, needless to say, I walked back to the bus stop pretty peeved, but when I was finally sitting in the bus and was off my aching, high-heel-shoed-feet, I pulled out one of the 3 Milka bars (it was buy 3, 30% off!) I had bought at the Spar next door (to pass the time between work and my 1-person meeting), and I opened it up and I ate it and it’s miraculous how chocolate works.  By the time I got home, I felt all better. 

I think I’m going to carry a bar around with me everywhere now.

“The Day of Exploring”

That’s how my roommate referred to yesterday.  Even though we took our time getting out of the apartment Saturday morning, we were  in full-gear by the afternoon—hitting up THE shopping district in Vienna, we had a lot of stores to step into and side-streets to walk down.  Our mission?  Finding Shannon a trench coat to keep the rain off of her, rain that is only too likely to come in the next month.  And while we were at it, we made a few detours because I came across the most adorable store which had music notes and/or piano keys on everything it sold (plates and bowls with the piano keys around the rim?  Yes, please!).  I didn’t go crazy in there, even though I wanted to; no, I was on a little mission myself, and that was to find some stationery.  After nearly 3 days of searching for “Briefpapier,” and not plain old “Briefpapier" but some with “Blumen” (flowers) or anything at all, and with no luck whatsoever (even in the Post Office!), I finally found some stationery, and it’s got my favorite kind of background, which is also the most suitable theme for one living in the birthplace of music.  Now, all I need is the time to start writing these letters…

 

Shortly after lunch, which consisted of sweet and sour chicken with some veggies in noodles, provided by a cute little Chinese restaurant that we hade the fortune of discovering in one of the side-streets of Herrengasse and of which I ate way too much, Shannon and I again turned our attention to her coat.  Once she settled for one that we found at one of the THREE Zaras located on the same block, we headed back home.  Exhausted, we popped in an episode of Heroes (I admit it, I am addicted), and even though both of us ached from the waist down, I knew that if we didn’t take part in the “Long Night of the Museums” we would regret it later.  So we went through the entire booklet that I had picked up earlier that day, when we had walked outside of the shopping district only to stumble upon the Spanish Horse Riding School, and Shannon and I picked out 5 museums that we most considered, one of which was right where our bus dropped us off.

 

Ready for another few hours of walking, the two of us searched out the museum I most wanted to go to, besides the Belvedere; this museum is called “Dialogue in the Dark” and I was told that when this exhibit came to Graz, it was really something.  Engulfed in complete darkness, everyone’s senses apparently become stronger and I was eager to experience this feeling—only when we got there, they were already sold out and there were still 4 hours left of the Night of the Museums.  So, we headed towards Belvedere but the bus was absolutely packed of people.  Which was when we decided we would just wander and enjoy the buildings from the outside instead.  Our own private tour of Vienna’s buildings was just fine, too.  :-)

First Friday in Vienna

 

 

Friday night, after work, my friend Raphi, whom I met in Year 4 in Graz, came to visit and we went to an old Viennese cellar (where apparently Mozart and Haydn feasted a few times).  A coworker suggested it, and I had no idea what to expect, only that there was a museum that accompanied the restaurant and it was a worthwhile dining experience.  Well, once Raphi and I finally found the place, we were seated and finally got to catch up on things that have happened in the past 2 years since we last saw each other.  The place was obviously touristy but it was beautiful nonetheless, filled with pictures of Franz Joseph and complete with a musician strumming on an instrument that I am actually not familiar with.  Helena joined us after we had finished our soup (I got the pheasant cream soup and was extremely satisfied), and we talked a bit while she ate her soup before leaving the restaurant to go visit her new place.  By this time, it was 10:30 and I was absolutely exhausted, as work has been doing to me, but it was great to stay up and get out with other young people (especially old friends), as Shannon and I have noticed the boy interns want nothing to do with us.  I don’t know the next time I’ll see Raphi, but it is lovely to know that Helena is just around the corner and that we can grab a hot chocolate or something during my lunch break for the next few months I am here.

The Little Things

There are so many little things that I forgot about this country.  Like the Öko recycling boxes.  And the candy-cane color poles leaning against the buildings so people don’t walk right where snow and rain falls off the roofs.  And the Brötchens (how could I forget about Brötchens???).  It's like a new adventure all over again. It's exciting.

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Allmählich lerne ich mehr und mehr Deutsch; es ist voll cool, ich kann nicht warten bis ich es super verstehen kann.  Zu leben in ein Ort wo die Leute ein anders Sprache sprechen, ist wie in einer anderen Welt zu leben.  Ich will ein Teil von so einer neuen Welt sein—ich muss Österreichisches Deutsch lernern!  (Zum Glück kenne ich schön der Steiermarkischesdialekt—danke, Freundinnen!)

1st Weekend Filled with Old Friends

It turned out to be absolute fate that my class would have its first year reunion the first whole weekend I’m here.  And how nice it was to see them all again!  Everyone’s gone on to do such amazing things but they all seem the same as when I left a few years ago.  It’s such a wonderful feeling having 25+ friends in a whole different country.  And what friends they are!

 

Klemens, Magdalena, and Martina were there waiting for me at the train station just as Caro had arranged for me.  Klemens drove up the narrow streets that criss-crossed up the mountains and I got so excited just thinking about how beautiful it would all look the next morning!  We got to our hut in the mountains at about 10:30 that night after asking for directions like 3 times, and over 20 of us were able to make it for the Klassentreffen.  The hut was adorable and just perfect for all of us; I felt right asleep that night, all snug as a bug and knowing where I was and who I was with.  :-)  I was excited for the next morning, too, but I woke up to this:

Fortunately, the second morning I woke up to THIS!

Now that’s the Austria I know and love!  :-)  Except for the hour or so when I took this shot, it rained most the rest of the time I was there, but that was alright as we kept the stove fueled nonstop and there were a lot of us cramped in the little dining room. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, what a lovely time it was, and what a great chance to brush up on my German and Styrian dialect! :-)  After helping to clean up a bit, I was dropped back off at the train station but decided that since the weather was holding up and I was in the mood, I would walk around my lovely second hometown of Graz!  Climbing up to the Uhrturm was all the energy I had for this visit, and I refueled once I got back down with some fruity icecream.  Because it was mostly overcast, I didn’t bother taking that many pictures because I’ve taken them all before, but the flowers are still in bloom in the garden, which made this shot exceptionally beautiful:

 

And so, that was my first weekend, and I already have plans for the next few to come!

Dear Vienna,

You are too big.  You are pretty and full of incredible history, but you are too big.  Instead of taking the bus home, I picked a random tram and rode it all the way to the end.  It took me to the Underground so I rode that, too.  I rode that to the ÖBB train station  but fortunately I didn’t ride one of your trains just yet.  Instead, I rode back the way I came on the Underground and picked another tram to ride.  That one didn’t seem to go anywhere so I got off and took another tram until it took me to St. Stephensdom. I would love to have walked around the church, but it was getting dark at this point, which does not make very fun exploring. So instead I picked another tram because I recognized the name of its destination.  Turned out the street I know that goes by the destination name is also the name of a town, because that's where the tram took me. At about that time, I realized I was lost. I also realized that I must be someone who looks quite approachable, because I have been asked for directions by a dozen people so far and it has only been my 5th day here. See, even your own people think you are too big.

A Rough Start…

So as I was flying over the ocean, I kept thinking to myself, “What is the first entry I’m going to put in my blog?” because I had thought through everything else way too much already.  (And I don’t even know why I let myself get carried away like that when everything is never as I thought it would be).

First I thought maybe I'd write about how everytime I fly over the ocean, the 8 hours keep seem to be getting shorter and shorter (mostly thanks to Lufthansa and the much in-flight entertainment it offers: for me, it was Iron Man 2, Letters to Juliet, and Glee), and then when a baby started wailing, I thought that maybe I'd write about how I miss the luxuries of riding in Business Class where you can stretch out all you want without having to wonder what that funky smell is only to turn your head to the side and find the bare foot of the person sitting behind you right in your face.

No!--I was going to talk about how packing those new black (and incredibly comfortable, I found out) slippers I bought before I left and decided to put in my carry-on was one of the best packing decisions I have made in my entire life.

And yet, once I had gotten on the Austrian Airlines plane, I thought I might digress on the complexities and complications of public transportation as, shortly before the departure of my flight to Vienna, I really noticed that there were extremely few people at the terminal only to find out and inform 2 other of my fellow flyers that the terminal had been changed at the last minute--thanks "Fraport" (as the Frankfurt Airport calls itself).

Or maybe I could talk about how I flagged down a (you'll be proud of me, Grandma) trustworthy Taxi and was pleased to find that I could, if a bit clumsily, exchange an in-depth conversation with the driver that extended past requesting applejuice over red wine as my gratis drink, as I did with the flight attendants earlier that day.

But, no, instead I decided to unpack and sleep.

This was, of course, after I (finally) found my apartment in the complex (thanks again for your help, cute anonymous American boy from a window of the next complex over), plunked my 70+ lb. bags down, rubbed the feeling back into my aching, blistered fingers, pulled out my computer to try to get that wireless going (Oh, how do I love wireless!), was interrupted in the process by the entrance of my new roommate, Shannon, and another intern (Adam), and the exploration of my and Shannon's new home for the next 3 months.

So, had I not been so exhausted from my personal +24 hour day, I would have gotten my blog up and running with one of those above topics. Instead, I pushed the blogging off for a day (or two, considering that I was too busy the next day because Shannon and I didn't wake up until the afternoon on Saturday and we were frantic to get something we could call breakfast before the grocery store closed).

And now you know how this 3-month adventure began...

Aubrey's First Adventures

So, if it's possible for an adventure to be a partial success, well then, that is what my adventure was this afternoon.  I found the train station where I was supposed to meet my friend and missed her by, oh, a minute?  Figures... it's incredible how difficult it is to function in modern society these days without posessing the full array of technology.  If only I could have found a payphone that actually worked to let her know I was there!!  Ah, well, I will see her soon enough next weekend if I have any more luck getting myself to my class reunion.

On the otherhand, because I had plenty of freetime with noone to meet anymore, I took my good sweet time exploring this huge, GIGANTIC city and I've discovered that my apartment is in an absolutely perfect location.  I am about 15 minutes away from work and only need to take one bus to get there, and if I take another bus going in the opposite direction from my house, I'm only about 15 minutes from... hold your breath... Schönbrunn Palace!!!  Ah-mazing!  And there are only about two dozen parks between both of these personally-popular destinations so I hope it stays nice for a few weeks longer so I can enjoy them to their fullest (the closest one includes a doggy-park!).  And the best thing that I've discovered on my adventure today is that the language school I found on Google Maps where I can take some Arabic classes is just 2 bus stops and a block away from work on my way home!  So immediately after work, I am stopping there on my way home. 

Everything seems to be falling into place perfectly--tomorrow will be my first day at work and I will learn what's in store for me for the next 3 months--I can't wait to find out!

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(Entschuldigung wenn es 1.000 Fehler gibt aber ich glaube, dass es sehr gut Übung ist, wenn ich manchmal auch auf Deutsch schriebe.)

Also, heute fühle ich mich viels besser als gestern; ich habe den ganzen Nacht geschlafen (nicht um 2 Uhr gewacht wie meinem ersten Tag hier) und heute hab ich so viel von Wien gesehen!  Ich habe alle die alte Lebensmittelgeschäfte und andere Gebäude, der ich von meinem Lieblingsstadt des Graz, erkenne und ich habe jetzt nur MediaMarkt und Saturn zu finden!  Sehr beruhigend... 

Und dann später heute hat die Caro mich angerufen zu über unser Klassentreffen reden.  Ich hoffe, dass alles klappt wird... wir werden sehen, ich nehme an...

Mehr Morgen!  Bis dann!

:-)

Back in Austria at Last!

I always knew I would be back here someday--I just didn't realize that it would be so soon!  Although Vienna does not even compare to my lovely second-hometown of Graz, I recognize the same stores, the same customs, and (thank goodness) the same language.  Even in the first minutes of ascending out of the underground airport tram and onto the twisty streets of Vienna, I knew that learning my way around Austria's capital city would not be a piece of cake.  Still, I have three months yet to learn my way around and I know I'll start becoming familiar with tram lines and landmarks real soon.

Speaking of, I am going to explore one of the three bus routes that stop by my apartment, in the hope that it will take me to the train station where I planned to meet my old friend Hannah, who is coming in from Graz.  I'm only going to see her off to the airport, but it's going to be a nice little reunion and I hope that I don't have any trouble finding my way to where we said we were going to meet up.  After that, well I don't know what, because most all the stores are closed seeing that it's Sunday but it's a beautiful clear, sunny day so maybe I'll just take a walk around Schönbrunn Palace and the other parks or become familiar with more of the tram lines.  I'll let you know how my first few adventures go when I get back!

Tchüss!

~Aubrey