The Hills are Alive

Guten Tag wieder (Hello, again)! You should be excited for this blog post because it includes pictures from last weekend's trip to Salzburg, which is, as Matt Gilbert and many others put it, the home of the Sound of Music and Mozart. Strangely enough, Roger and Hammerstein's Sound of Music is largely unknown in Vienna. Austrians who have seen parts of the film (including my Language Buddy, Isabella) consider it too "kitschy." Oh well, more Sound of Music for me (and Lisa, for whom the tour in Salzburg was the best day of her life).
Wednesday: Second day of classes (Politics and Culture of the EU), figure out copy-card situation for printing, go buy books for literature history class, homework (thanks, Professor). I really miss having a printer in my room, or at least in my dorm.
Thursday: More class (EU, Business German), buy train tickets to Salzburg. I'm a big fan of my Business German class; the professor is awesome and we're reviewing a lot of grammar as well as more business-related topics. The train tickets to Salzburg worked out very nicely because for 28 Euro a group of up to five people can go on any of the regional trains in Austria for 24 hours. We had a group of 10, so we bought two "Einfach Raus" tickets for Saturday and two to get us home on Sunday (4*28/10 per person if you want to do the math). The regional trains are slower than what we could have otherwise taken, but the cost savings was worth it and we had plenty of time to chill on the train.
Friday: Literature course, lunch with language buddy, go shopping with Jess and buy a 1-Euro pullover-thingy and a green-striped sweater from New Yorker (finally, I got one!), work on application for fall Global Studies Internship, chill at Duke's Pub, pack for Salzburg, get very very little sleep. The Global Studies Intership gets you a position as a pseudo-TA running a 1-credit freshman class about global awareness/issues. The position sounds right up my alley and after this trip I will be wanting some new moneys. We didn't stay at Duke's too long because most of us who were there had to get up for a 5:00am train to Salzburg, but I still got hardly any sleep.
Saturday: Early train, arrive in Salzburg, find Hotel Turnerwirt (which I am 99 percent sure I had stayed in before, crazily enough), realize we don't have time to ski, go downtown and meander through streets, churches, and up into the largest standing fortress in modern Europe (Hohensalzburg), lovely dinner at an Austrian/Italian/Indian restaurant (where I discover I am in love with raspberry water), cards and such at the hotel with the German version of American Idol followed by funky music videos in the background. Did you know that a nickname for people from Salzburg is "cow washers?" Way back when an foreign enemy was attacking and after some time in the fortress Salzburgers were down to their last cow. However, to make the attackers believe that the Salzburgers had plenty of food left and would not soon give up, they let the cow trot around outside for the enemy to see. The next day they painted her and sent her outside again. The next day they washed the cow and painted her a new color. The attackers, now believing that Salzburg had plenty of meat and other resources left, retreated. Yay, Salzburg!
Sunday: Austrian continental breakfast (which turned out to be 7 Euro...so I wish I'd snuck out some nutella or something), four hour SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!, debacle at hotel trying to figure out what we have left to pay, revisit downtown Salzburg and walk around, train home (where I get literature reading done with Heej and a occasional translational help from her Berlin-friend Nina), sleep. The SoMT included not only places from the movie (the gazebo, the Van Trapp houses,...) but also historical Mozart family-related stops and general Salzburg beauty. I think Erhard, our fabulous guide, enjoyed our enthusiasm for the movie. There was singing involved.
Monday: Sleep in, get groceries, finish and send in internship application, do some homework. This day did not end up being as productive as I'd hoped, but what can you do.
Tuesday: Class again, first "Termine" with Prof. Murray to supplement Literature History course at the University of Vienna (Uni Wien). Meet a couple cool people in my kitchen, but I still don't know their names.
Wednesday: School, first day of Austrian History class and supplemental meeting with Prof. Murray, read for EU class, mini-Strozzigasse party to welcome in the new semester. I am now able to list off all the countries of the EU in alphabetical order, but I think I need to memorize them in chronological order (when they joined). Unfortunately the Strozzi party was just a smoked-filled room and I had a horrible headache so I did not stay long, instead choosing to sleep.
Thursday: EU class, lunch, go buy books for history and more for literature class, Business German (still love it), sit in on a math class, Duke's. There is a math lecture at the Business University that I am not registering for (I wouldn't get any useful credit out of it anyway), but I'm going to sit in on Thursday evenings to learn math-talk in German and maybe refresh some math skills. This week they were discussing basic financial mathematics (interest/growth/exponentials), but from the course description I think they will get to some calculus eventually! Yeah, I'm a nerd.
Friday: Lit class, go return a book because I'd accidentally bought it twice, laundry, see "Der Vorleser" film (The Reader with Kate Winslet) in German, short nap, U4 club, night bus home. I was proud of myself for speaking in German to return the book (sadly I could only get store credit back and not cash) and also understanding almost all of the dialog in the movie. Granted, I've read the book so I knew what was going on. And I really like U4; it's smaller than Praterdom and drinks are pricey, but girls got in free before 11pm and one of the two rooms was playing 80s music all night. Also, I ordered a Radler at the bar, but the guy heard "water," so all I had all night was a glass bottle of sparkling water!

Posaunezahl: 4! I saw a itsy-bitsy soprano trombone in a store window in Salzburg. I was highly amused.

I know I'm in Europe because...
1) I saw this car/go-kart/something parked on the street. And you see smart cars here.
2) they don't sell dryer sheets. Liquid fabric softener, yes, but not dryer sheets. (Fortunately I brought some from home, but I have friends that are in laundry-limbo without them.)
3) Chapman's coming to Italy in May and I'm going to hopefully be able to visit here there!
4) I have no idea how the Cubs have been doing in pre-season play. I could look it up with the wondrous internet, but if I was at home I would just know.
5) before movies, rather than just playing advertisements for other movies, they show intense public announcements like a grafic "More Humanity for Animals" spot.
6) there are so many colorful buildings!

Can anyone tell me what this is? It was in a jewelry display in Salzburg and looks furry. Please post any ideas as a comment.

We'll get there...eventually

I already know that this post is going to take me awhile to write because 1) I have 9 days to document and 2) I haven't been writing things down everyday like I was before, so remembering the last week might be a little difficult. So please bear with me and we'll get there...eventually (the de facto motto of the trip).
Monday: Wake up to register for Austrian History course, go back to sleep, walk up and down my street to figure out what's in the neighborhood, work out in dorm's gym. This was a very lazy day, and I was just happy to have gotten into the history class with some of my friends.
Tuesday: Meeting with Prof. Murray about classes, random Opera-Duet "concert" put on by the Vienna library, a new pub for more soccer, walk ten minutes in a completely wrong direction before turning around and actually figuring out how to get back to the dorm. Jessica and I were the only two students who went with Prof. Murray to the concert, and the small living room-with-chairs set-up was definitely not the venue we'd expected. Nevertheless, the pair of singers were very talented and it was a cultural experience. The pub afterwards was also pretty fun; the bar tender, who one of the Matts had befriended, bought our group a round of strawberry shots after he'd won a ton of money off of his bets. Crazy Austrians.
Wednesday: Meet Tandem Language Parter Isabella, finally get Qwikkarte and do laundry, find out the "History of English" class I found won't count as the "History of English" course I need at U of I. Isabella is very nice, we spoke in German for about and hour, during which I learned that she worked as an au pair in Greece, so I may be asking her for advice about what spots to hit over spring break. Talking with her and having clean laundry made me very happy, but I am definitely upset with U of I and their unwillingness to accept foreign classes.
Thursday: Study for Wirtschaftsdeutsch (Business German) Placement test, take test, Tandem Language Welcome Evening, get fancy (not) language diary, meet Tony's Language Partner, Alex, unsuccessfully run around city in search of a pub showing the Man City game, settle in Centimeter V for a late dinner. The placement test was a little stressful because the class will only fit in my schedule if I make level 4 (out of 5). It was sad that we never found the soccer game, but Centimeter V was fun. Unfortuntately there was much discussion of youtube videos and other cultural references that I am fairly certain went right over Alex's head (even though his English is amazing). Isabella (my language partner) hadn't been able to make it to the Welcome Night because of work, but she's done the program before so she know's what's up.
Friday: Tour Stephansdom, the catacombs, and climb 343 steps up one of the towers, eat awesome pizza and nuttela gelati around Stephansplatz, Diskothek Panorama, barely miss the subway that goes all the way home, follow the masses and manage to get on the night buses that goes home. It was cool to be so far above and below the city in one day, and the catacombs were very cool! We got to see actual bones from a room where bodies were piles during the Black Plague and our tour guide was a very lively man with a rumbling voice who switches spontaneously between English and German. Also, Jessica was able to swindle to the tower guy into giving us a student/group rate so that climbing those 343 steps cost only 2 Euro (as opposed to the regular 3,40 Euro or the 4,50 Euro elevator).
Saturday: Spend an hour trying to find the Kulturcafe for a live radio show that the public can watch, finally arrive, chill in back room, get a Kepab sandwich (my first!) and awesome colorful scarf at Naschmarkt, short nap, Bruce Murray's party. I may go back to the radio show again this semester now that I could get there on time and possibly get a spot in the main room; during the little bit I was able to see I kept thinking of "Eric and Kathy in the Morning" and missing my Chicago radio stations. Prof. Murray has a very nice apartment, a very cool son, and a very lovable dog. During the entertainment portion of the evening, songs were sung, poems were read (including one dedicated to Bruce Murray himself), and "Viva la Vida" was performed.
Sunday: Walk around Schloss Belvedere, eat fine schnitzel from Figlmueller, set up web cam, Eurotrip movie night at Strozzi Kino 028. I was slightly confused by the woman-lion-bird statues at Schloss Belvedere, but the grounds are pretty and will be even more so once spring has sprung.
Monday: 20th BIRTHDAY! Go search for classrooms and books at Uni Wien, skype, facebook thank-yous, tasty, very reasonably priced dinner at Pizzeria Valentino, prepare for beginning of classes, watch an episode of House online. Sadly I woke up a little too late to treat myself to a baked good for breakfast and it was a little too cold for ice cream, but I was happy to friends join me for dinner.
Tuesday: First day of classes (German Literature with Prof. Murray and a Literature History lecture at Uni Wien), go print out handouts for Lit History class (which I probably should have done beforehand), blog, Means Girls Movie Night. Only one other program kid is in the Lit History class with me, but we're hopefully going to be able to help each other out. I understood maybe 10-15% of what the professor said, so I'm going to need to spend tons of time reading and going over anything he posts online. The students who have been here since last semester say things start clicking in a couple weeks, so I'll cling to that hope and keep pressing on.

Posaunezahl: 3! I saw a guy riding around on his bike with a trombone case while I was searching for the Radio Show.

I know I'm Europe because...
1) "touristy" things include walking through churches and seeing evidence of the Black Plague (bring out your dead...)
2) people stare. Perfect strangers focus their gaze on you for a long time and it's not awkward?
3) I might be going skiing in Salzburg this weekend and the planning for this little excursion is happening less than a week beforehand.
4) apparently coming into a lecture up to fifteen minutes late is perfectly acceptable (not that I plan to take advantage of this).
5) I saw a kid (10 years old, maximum) walking around the subway station smoking a cigarette. Perfectly acceptable? On a similar note, one of my friends saw a vending machine with both cigarettes and children's toys.
6) I see stripes everywhere. In particular I notice striped green sweaters, and I want one.