It's All Greek to Me

Week Two of Spring Break 2009: Greece! Does it need any more of an introduction? I think not.

Starting with April 13
Monday: After a shower and a chocolate croissant I hop on the Schnellbahn to the airport. Short-term scare that two of my friends are going to miss the flight because they took the wrong Schnellbahn, but they are able to flag down a taxi and get there in time. In the Athens airport our group of four meets up with one more friend, who flew directly from her travels in Italy, and we make our way to the port to take an overnight ferry to the island of Santorini. The ferry is like a big, sketchy cruise ship, complete with a kid walking around asking for money. At some point in the night we stake a claim in a random corner of the ferry and somehow get a little (although extremely shiverry and uncomfortable) sleep. Arrive at Santorini at 1am, and our awesome hostel-owner, Stavros, picks us up and drives us through the crazy cliffs to our sweet apartment-style hostel. More on the greatness of Stavros later.
Tuesday: Wake up and have the best tea of my life and some coffee-cookies courtesy of Stavros, spend the day exploring Fira (Thira) and the picturesque Oia (search Santorini in Google images and Oia is what you'll see). The island is home to an unending supply of cute dogs, one of which became our guardian for a little while in Oia. As we, a group of five girls, walked around, this dog calmly walked with us, but barked any time a man came close! The sites were absolutely gorgeous, the only downside being that the wind made it hard to take pictures without our hair blowing all over the place. On the walk home, we were pleasantly surprised by the white van of Stavros, who stopped and told us to hop in so he could drive us the rest of the way back!
Wednesday: Another cup of great tea before heading off to a Stavros-recommended Santorini tour. We took a boat to the volcano Neo Kameni, swam in the hot springs (and the cold water that comes before the hot springs), and layed out in the sun on Thirassia. We returned to the main island, did a little more walking around downtown Fira, and chilled out in "Murphy's Music Bar" with an interesting female bartender before Stavros drove us back to the port for an overnight ferry to Athens. This time we staked out our airplane-style seats right away, and to ward off the chills I pulled out the Santorini beach towel I bought on the tour for an extra layer.
Thursday: Get into Athens at 5am and somehow find the way to our hostel. The "24-hour reception" turns out to be a Guamanian guy sleeping on a cot, and when we walk in he was completely confused and wasn't able to read the names off our passports. The beds are dirty cots, but we sleep for a couple hours before getting ready and meeting up with our friends Mitch and Mike (aka Slana), who had been in Athens since Monday. We then proceed to get the Mitch and Slana Grand Tour, including the remains of Hadrian's library, the Acropolis (complete with Parthenon), a temple for Zues, and the National Archaelogical Museum (all free as an EU student). We end the day with a short hike up some hill, yet again accompanied by a dog, and end up with an amazing view of nighttime Athens. Totally worth it.
Friday: There is only time to do a little downtown souvenier shopping and grab a quick bite to eat before heading to the airport. In hopes of avoiding another loss-of-keys situation, I decide to buy a Greek keychain to fatten up my keys. Probably not enough, but I like the keychain so it works. I return to Vienna safe, sound, and completely sunburnt.

Posaunezahl: 10 yet again. The Greeks aren't big trombone people apparently. Or I just wasn't looking.

I know I'm in Europe because:
1) I partially regretted not joining a sorority; Paige's knowledge of the Greek alphabet was very helpful to us and I would've loved to know the letters, too.
2) for 5 days I had to put the used toilet paper in a trash bin rather than the toilet itself. This isn't necessarily a european thing, but it's definitely a Greek thing.
3) I saw in person the Acropolis and the "Greek vessels" that were discussed in Andrea's archaeology class.
4) I experienced the male-dominated society of Greece. When our group was walking through a street of restaurants, the guys were continually approached, but nothing was said to the girls. A prime example of how men are assumed to be the decision-makers in patriachical systems.
5) I ordered Tzatziki, a Greek cucumber-yogurt dip, for lunch/dinner one day.

Je ne parle pas français

Bonjour! Time to share all about my time in France, a country ruled by pigeons and crepes. Although my travel expenses ended up being more than I had hoped for (lesson learned: don't wait to book flights or trains), I was ecstatic to be spending the week with fellow-MI trombone (Bone Babe) and friend, the one and only Andrea. Getting to hang out with her was like a little taste of home, albeit while sightseeing and such in the middle of Europe!

Beginning April 7
Tuesday: Twenty-two hours into my 24-hour transport to Aix-en-Provence, I reached a point of stir-craziness that resulted in me getting up and dancing to my Ipod music in the middle of the train compartment for a solid fifteen minutes, followed by an additional ten minutes of simply pacing back and forth. Despite a delayed train in Lyon and a cancelled train in Marseilles St. Charles, I made it to Aix in one piece at 10:50pm. Fortunately Andrea was right there to take me back to her host-family's house, where I could finally lay down and sleep.
Wednesday: Andrea and I took a bus to the town of Toulon, where I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. We did a lot of wandering around and also found a neat little "Old Toulon" museum. Sadly I couldn't find a Toulon-specific patch in any of the shops. Since Andrea's host mom doesn't serve dinner until 9pm or later, we were able to spend a good amount of time in Toulon, take the bus back, and have a quick Skype call with our friend Tim before eating some sort of egg-meat concoction plus baguette bread, goat cheese, and jelly (very good, very French).
Thursday: While Andrea had her classes, I siezed the opportunity wander around Aix-en-Provence. Even with Andrea's map of the city I got myself a little lost, but after ending up back around her host family's apartment I found my way back to the university. I also searched earnestly (both in southern France and in Paris) for the rosemary soap my Professor requested I find for him, but to no avail. Andrea also showed me the town cathedral and made sure I enjoyed a crepe (nutella crepe...so good). I sat in on her last class of the day, in which they were talking about Ancient Greece, making me very eager for week two of my spring break. The day ended with an episode of Law and Order: CI...love Goren and Eames.
Friday: I got to sleep in a bit while Andrea went to her morning class, and then we hopped on a train to Paris! The evening was marked by gyros and the beauty of the lit-up Eiffel Tower. At night on the hour the Eiffel Tower sparkles! While Andrea and I were waiting around to get pictures with the sparkling Eiffel Tower two Tunesian guys, Item and Akarem, came up to us and we ended up talking with them for a while. Although they spoke English, they were impressed that Andrea was speaking some French to them (I was impressed by her newly-gained French knowledge the whole week). The French metro was absolutely packed, and to get in and out you have to insert your ticket and go through a turnstile/gate. This experience was pretty intense compared to the hop-on hop-off easy-going transportation in Vienna, but I was so elated by the sparkly Eiffel Tower that I didn't mind.
Saturday: The day began with a very nice continental breakfast and was filled with walking all over to hit the main sights in Paris. Sacre Coeur/Montmatre, walking around the Louvre (not inside), Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, and Moulin Rouge (after dark, but before the crazies came out). We also ate dinner in a nice little French cafe-restaurant, and Andrea was able to help me with the necessities like ordering water to drink. I also fell a little bit in love with the night-receptionist at our hotel, so if I ever decide I want to marry a Frenchman I'll go back there and find him (All Seasons).
Sunday: Another nice breakfast followed by Arc de Triomphe, more gardens, and a picnic by the Eiffel Tower (Andrea needed daytime pictures). Much too soon it was time to depart, and I found my way out to the Paris Orly airport. Since I had not yet purchased the cliche baguette, I bought one in the airport! Upon my eventual return to Vienna (via Bratislava...what a cute little landing-pad of an airport) I had to unpack, repack, and, of course, put up my French pictures before forgetting what all I saw.

Posaunezahl: Sadly still 10. No French trombones.

I know I'm in Europe because:
1) I experienced French rudeness first-hand on multiple occasions, both in the north and the south. Not all of them are this way, of course, but in some cases it's as if your mere presence offends them.
2) knowing no more than five or six words of French, I felt the helplessness of not being able to understand or communicate in one's surroundings. I didn't know that one of my trains was canceled until it didn't show up, because I couldn't read the information board or understand announcements. Fortunately I had a ticket that transferred to a later train.
3) I could have bought an authentic Parisian dress for next year's formal. Didn't, but the opportunity was there.
4) I ate French french fries.
5) there were protests abound. The French university teachers haven't been teaching all year and we had to walk through Tamil red-flag protests multiple times.

Prahahaha

It's SPRING BREAK and as I wait for my laundry to finish (it takes forever here...) I finally have a chance to sit down and catch everybody up on the last few weeks. Hopefully I've remembered all of the days correctly, and hopefully you enjoy the pictures from Prague (Praha in Czech)!

Starting back at March 14
Saturday: Reading, homework, wait in line for hours for 3 Euro standing-room Opera tickets, McDonald's. The seats we ended up in were on the very side of the Staatsoper theater, so you couldn't see most of the stage (plus I didn't realize I had a subtitle screen, so although the music was enjoyable I understood nothing). We had gone without dinner to stand in the line, and since we were dying of hunger we left at intermission. I'd gladly go back as long as I made sure to eat something beforehand.
Sunday: Watch Manchester City vs. Chelsea game at the Chelsea Pub, pasta/pizza dinner at Strozzi. The Chelsea is only two stops/10 minutes walking away from my dorm at Strozzigasse, so that was convenient.
Monday: Go to new Italian restaurant and walk around Vienna with Isabella (language partner), who also helps me find a voice recorder on Mariahilferstrasse (a main shopping street). I've been recording my University of Vienna lectures and plan to go back and listen to them later to try to get more notes.
Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day): Wear green, class, more class, amazing Radio Symphony Orchestra concert with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Even though I'd been sick for a few days at this point, the orchestra music made me feel better! The violinist was amusing as well; she performed without shoes and got really into moving with the music.
Wednesday: Class, Mr. Lee's (Chinese) for lunch, class, homework. Some of us Americans in my Uni Wien history class have started the tradition of eating at Mr. Lee's every Wednesday between lecture and our meeting with Professor Murray.
Thursday: More school. Man City game at the Chelsea. I was happy because they discussed differentiation in my math class! Gotta love calculus.
Friday: This was the start of a homework weekend.
Saturday: Reading, probably and episode or two of House online.
Sunday: More homework, Roman Museum, Clock Museum, Gelato, have a heck of a time trying to get a live feed of the Man City game on my computer, see last 10-15 minutes. On Sundays a lot of the smaller museums around Vienna are free, so a small group of us took advantage of this and I got a new Facebook profile picture out of the day!
Monday: Meet up with Isabella for billiards, lots of reading, "choose homework over the love of my life." If you want further explanation on that last part, just ask me.
Tuesday: Class, dinner at Flanagans. At dinner I meet Jess's boyfriend, who is during U of I's spring break, and Mitch's friend, who is also spending his spring in Europe.
Wednesday: Class, Mr. Lee's, buy train tickets to Prague!
Thursday: Spend 9 hours in the university computer lab writing my literature paper, miss Maureen's birthday dinner, but meet up with her a few others for a short while at Charlie P's afterward. The "tutor" at the computer lab was very nice and read through my paper and helped me edit it. The lab closed before we were done, and she was so nice as to finish editing it at home and e-mailed it back to me within an hour! (When I got my graded paper it wasn't error free, but she still helped out a ton!)
Friday: Rush home from class, 20 minute shower/packing frenzy, get to train station in time to go to PRAGUE!, five-hour train (mostly spent reading and sleeping), find fabulous apartment-style hostel, wander around, find restaurant and enjoy tasty dinner with a very helpful waiter, chill in hostel, meet up with Kim's friend, Peterz, who is living in Prague, spin 'right round in Blind Eye Bar and watch an old drunk man dance his heard out, short stints in Acropolis Club and Sky Bar (which was directly under our hostel). The music in the Czech club was was impossible to dance to (unless you wanted to follow the Czechs' lead and look like you're having a seizure) and I came home smelling like pot. Even so, the night was very amusing and I would consider it a success.
Saturday: Enjoy live music courtesy of the marathon down the street, excellent brunch at Kava Kava Kava (a cafe recommended on our Prag brochures), see the sights in Prag (the castle, Golden Street with Kafka's house, Charles Bridge,...) with Peterz as our tour guide, dinner at at U Fleku, a restaurant with a Bavaria-esque Umpa band and a beer that is not available anywhere else, some new Czech bar with creepy paintings on all of the walls, sketchy but very cool-looking Cross Club, fried cheese sandwich on the way home. At cross club a Czech girl started talking to me and Mitch's friend (in broken but undertandable English), and I think it was pretty cool to to have had a random five-minute conversation with a native.
Sunday: Tony makes omlettes for breakfast (mmm), walk up mountain by the Hunger Wall, unsuccessfully search for the advertised Maze, find cafe that Tony's Czech friends had recommended, five-hour train home.
Monday: Homework, settle back into "normal life" after Prag (lol), buy train tickets to France. To save money I combined a fast train to Straßburg with slower regional trains once in France, so the trip is going to last basically 24 hours.
Tuesday: Class, watch "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" at an American movie theater. We'd actually intended to see Watchmen, but we had trouble finding the theater and were too late.
Wednesday: Class, Mr. Lee's, book Greece hostels and ferries.
Thursday: Class, read for literature.
Friday: Shopping on Mariahilferstrasse in absolutely gorgeous weather, Flanagan's.
Saturday: Go make some exchanges on Mariahilferstrasse, Man City at Sheebeen (literally across the street from my dorm), drop my key down elevator shaft, freak out and get yelled at in German by Hausmeister (head of the dorm), fortunately my roommate is around to let me in my room and gives me her key to use while she is on vacation, dinner and movie night at Strozzi, go back to Shebeen (Mitch knows someone who was supposed to be working).
Sunday: Jess makes me scrambled eggs for breakfast (since I lost my key I can't open up my fridge or food locker), work on finalizing which classes I want to register for, meet Isabella at Schönbrunn and walk around Ostermarkt (Easter Market), order pizza and watch "Transsiberian" at Haus Panorama.
Monday: Go down to the office and get a temporary key while they try to find mine/figure out how much to charge me, open up mailbox with new key and magically find old key sitting there!, quick Bipa (like Ulta/Walgreens) run, laundry, blog posting. Later I will register for classes, pack, and finally board a train for France!!

Posaunezahl: 10! I saw three more at both the Opera and the Orchestra concert. I also saw a really cute trombone-playing figurine in Prague, but that doesn't really count.

I know I'm in Europe because:
1) I learned some Czech. Tam means push/away and Sem means pull/towards.
2) bringing your own bag grocery shopping or having to pay for plastic bags is the norm.
3) I had to exchange currency to travel.
4) there is a candy called Hubba Bubba.
5) you can buy Absinthe. The "real" stuff.
6) losing your key is a huge deal. The hotel in Salzburg apparently didn't have extras, and in my dorm it was also a "very difficult situation" --they were going to call in a company to search the elevators and would've had to pay that bill. In Pano I saw that losing a key carries a 400 Euro fine.
7) Most stores don't give cash refunds; normally you can only exchange or get store credit (even with receipt).

8) of the unique, colorful buildings. (I know I've said it before, but it's one of my favorite things about Europe and is worth repeating).

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.

When in Wien

Week two has come and gone, and I'm ready to tell the tale. This was another week of orientation, but also a week of adventure and truly getting to know the city. I still have a hard time fathoming that for the next four and a half months I can walk around downtown Vienna whenever I want and cities like Munich and Prague are at my fingertips. Even though I am sure to do guided tours and sightseeing in the coming months, it is a great feeling to be "more" than a tourist.
Sunday: Lazy day, deep discussion at Diskothek Panorama, late night skype. Diskothek Panorama is the name that has been given to the community kitchens in one of the other dorms where students from the Illinois Exchange can easily meet up and hang out. One of the lights flickers, so I guess you could call that our strobe light.
Monday: Orientation (adjective endings and a cold trek around the city to see different university buildings), pick up more groceries (tasty plums), book a flight to ATHENS for the second week of spring break. Also discover where my roommate has been all this time: across the hall at her boyfriend's! Anyway, the university libraries we went into were eerily quiet. They are probably too quiet for me to study in, but I definitely want to spend some time there. I love books!
Tuesday: Orientation (relative prounouns), buy 2 Euro pan at XXXLutz, see a few minutes of MTV's Parental Control with German subtitles (the way to really learn colloquialisms, lol), attend Buddy Network "Heuriger," adventure home. The Buddy Network advertised the evening's event as a traditional Heuriger, which implies a sort of wine-tasting party with the new wine from local vineyards. After finally finding the place in the middle of nowhere Vienna, my friends and I discovered that the Heuriger was not much more than a small restaurant that had been opened up for us. The wine selection consisted of white and red. Disappointed, three of my program friends and I left relatively early. We got back to the bus which would take us by the dorm, but we neglected to press the stop button near our stop and the bus drove right by the dorm. Thinking the bus would soon turn around and drive by the other side of the dorm building, we didn't get off. Well, the bus did no such think and ignorance and indecision kept us on the bus all the way to the other side of the city (Krieau!). We finally exited at a subway station and were able to take a sequence of U-Bahns (subways) home. Gotta love the U-Bahns and their color-coded maps...much easier than bus routes.
Wednesday: Get awesome free bag from university student group, orientation, register for a German literature class. Unfortunately the statistics class that Illinois approved before I left conflicts with German courses I need to take, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do on the math front this semester.
Thursday: Orientation in the morning, get cheap flats at H&M in preparation for evening festivities, nap, Ladies' Night (free entrance) at Prater Dom. The club was HUGE and one of the rooms had crazy laser lights shooting around. There is a slight damper on my memory of the night because I accidently gave the taxi driver an extra 10 Euro for the ride home (I had had two tens folded together in my pocket and handed them to him thinking it was only one).
Friday: Sleep in, afternoon orientation (last day!), Strozzigasse girls make pasta for dinner and have their first visitors, apartment party hosted by a girl in the program and the cousin she is staying with for the semester. The "Wienerisch" dialect of real Viennese was very difficult to understand and some of the cousin's friends seemed a little sketchy, but we Americans watch out for each other and it ended up being fun.
Saturday: Walk around Naschmarkt (food and flea market), Professor Murray buys us XXL-sized Krapfen, shopping in and around Stephansplatz, get awesome spray-painted street art, McDonald's, early night.
Sunday: "Europa in Diskurs: Twenty Years After 1989" panel discussion at the Burgtheater, watch Liverpool and Manchester City match at Flanagan's Irish Pub (1-1 tie, which thrilled my Man City-fan friend, but disappointed all the Liverpool supporters), enjoy Anchorman in the dorm. The morning's discussion was interesting, although I wish I had more background knowledge about the break-up of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in general. The panel recognized the past twenty years as a successful time in Europe, but said Europe needs to wake up and act to combat the economic crisis and meet the new realities of the 21st century. Will the uniting power of the European Union be expanded in the next decade or will countries revert to protectionist policies?

Posaunezahl: So far I have seen 2 trombone players carrying their trombones around.

I know I'm in Europe because...
1) people take their dogs with them everywhere! Public transportation, grocery store, you name it. I miss Chester.
2) the Naschmarkt has tons of stands which sell soccer scarves, soccer jerseys, soccer everything. And all the televisions in Flanagan's had soccer matches on.
3) there are usually as many or more containers devoted to recycling as to regular trash in pulic areas (at the school and dorm expecially). Go, Europe!
4) kebap and duener stands are on every corner.
5) a guy at the train stop found out my friend and I were from Chicago, said "Barack Obama" with his broken English, and did the sign of the cross to show his approval of our new president.

Vienna Calling

Well, after almost a week in Vienna I figure it's time to update the world (or rather, the handful of people who may read this) on what I've been up to! Here's a quick recap:
Monday: Evening group flight out of O'Hare airport. Since I got to the airport so early, there was plenty of time to kill, and I ran into Heej (who I knew from German class) and hung out with her and her parents before going through security. I didn't know this at the time, but Heej's dad is an olympic medalist!
Tuesday: Layover in Zurich (made longer by weather-related delay), land in Vienna, find dorm and drop off luggage with Professor Murray, group dinner at Centimeter II, get slightly lost on the way home, meet roommate, Maria, for two minutes, crash. Centimeter II is one of seven "Centimeter" restaurants in Vienna. The menu looks like a ruler, and certain items on the menu can be ordered by length.
Wednesday: First day of orientation (aka intense German review), get student ID, buy phone, semmeln (basically large rolls), and grapes, chill at Haus Panorama, access the internet! It's sad to admit, but going almost two days without internet felt like torture. And even though I bought some food, the spoon and knife I had packed somehow got lost en route from the US, so all I ate for dinner was some grapes. Breakfast and lunch had been decent, though; Professor Murray provided fruit and Krapfen (think bready, filled donut holes) in the morning and we were introduced to the university mensa (cafeteria) for lunch.
Thursday: Navigate to university with other Strozzigasse girls, have grapes and chocolate croissant for breakfast (mmm), more orientation, buy bananas, lunchmeat, cheese, and a glass at the Zielpunkt a block from the dorm, watch Wall-E! Unfortuntately, a fork was still my only utensil, but I could now have sandwiches with my semmeln.
Friday: Orientation, ice skate at the "Wiener Eistraum (Viennese Ice Dream)" in front of the Rathaus, eat tasty italian pizza, Maria sighting (she popped in to change after work). The Eistraum was amazing! There were two rinks and connecting paths, and a zamboni came around to clean the ice! Also, as it was only my second time ice skating, I was proud of myself for not falling down and not being dependent on railings (except to stop...since I don't know how to do that on my own). After all that skating, the onion pizza I ordered at the restaurant afterwards really hit the spot.
Saturday: Find XXXLutz as recommended by Bee (finally get utensils!!), Prof. Murray's inner-city walking tour, go out for Valentine's Dinner at Cafe Stein followed by Charlie P's bar. Jen, Jess, and I were a little late to the walking tour because we took a tram going the wrong direction, but that was bound to happen sometime. The tour hit a lot of places that I'd already seen with Herr Ladenburger and Herr Z's trips, but there are definitely places I will want to go back and take pictures of when the weather is warmer and plants are in bloom. There is a legend about a half frog-half chicken basilick that lived in a fountain in the center of Vienna, and the way to scare it a way was to have it see it's reflection in a mirror (Harry Potter, anyone?).

And here is the first installment of something I'd like to call
I know I'm in Europe because...
1) a lady in the Zurich airport went completely topless in the middle of the bathroom in order to wash off and apply deodorant.
2) there is no sign of peanut butter anywhere. I'm very glad to have brought my own (Thanks, Mom!)

3) I saw a 25,000 Euro bottle of Cognac in a grocery store. (Louis XIII Black Pearl Cognac)

4) all the stores close really early (usually 4-6pm) and nothing is open on Sunday.
5) the ground floor isn't considered the first floor. You have to go upstairs to hit the "first" floor.

6) I ordered myself a glass of Riesling wine at dinner last night and bought a Radler (lemonade + beer) at Charlie P's. They aren't my new favorite drinks by any means, but they actually tasted fine.