Well here it is...

I cannot believe that in 3 hours I'll be getting in a Taxi to head to the airport.  My luggage is packed and I've said the majority of my goodbyes.  The past 10 days since I've been updated at first were filled with two 10 page papers and getting ready for exams.  But luckily the past week I've seen plenty of museums, churches and performances.  My body is actually pretty exhausted from it all.

My hardest goodbyes?  Call me a dork but...

The churches: I love walking around in the first district and just popping into any church in site.  They all have such a unique beauty that I really enjoy.  Today I said my goodbye to my favorite church Michaelerkirche.

The Opera:  I've calculated that I've spent at least 48 hours just watching operas in the Saatsoper alone while I've been here.  That doesn't even include the time I've waited in line to see something.  My last opera here was Der Rosenkavalier, which was wonderful.  As the curtain closed and the orchestra played their last few notes I was quite overwhelmed with emotion.  Call me a dork, but I love that building and what goes on inside.  Not having it around will be a bit of an adjustment.

Now it just comes to the people.  I've met some amazing friends and teachers here.  At least with the Americans we can still communicate easily back home.  But its the others that make the goodbyes even harder.

I will never forget my semester in Vienna.  Not only have I seen and learned about many things, but I know I have grown as a person and cannot wait to share these growths back home.  I know I'll come back here, for what reason I don't know yet.  But for now, I cannot wait to go home to see my family all together and everyone at Ithaca that I love and miss.

Bis später Wien.  Ich liebe dich.

Happy Birthday Grandma! (Update)

So for my Grandmother's birthday I promised her a new update!  So here we go!

After my sisters left I knew it was time to go full force into exploration mode.  One of my first extra excursions was to Eisenstadt, a town about an hour south of Austria.  Why Eisenstadt?  This was where Haydn lived and worked!  It was so cool to see the palace I've only read and heard about as well as the church that he worked in.  I also happened to run into a beautiful Christmas market where I got some great Austrian food. Another great purchase was an Austrian Cookbook!  So have no fear, I will make Austrian food when I come home...once I translate the German :-/

I actually haven't seen many concerts lately.  The funny thing about going so often is that sometimes they replay everything you've already seen.  However, I did go see Peter Pan in the Burgtheater auf Deutsch!  Of course I couldn't understand everything but it was still enjoyable.  I also got to go to the Albertina.  It is a breathtaking art museum that I have been dying to go to.  It had a lot of modern artists but I really enjoyed it.  The next day I ventured over to Heiligenstadt to visit the house where Beethoven wrote a very famous document called the Heiligenstadt Testament.  It was actually quite a beautiful area!

Also random...I went to a Pakistani Buffet with Rosa today.  It was delectable...AND ONLY 5 EUROS!

For the next day or two I'm trying to focus on getting all my papers and work out of the way.  I'm really hoping to enjoy the last 10 days or so just exploring and soaking up my last bit of time here.  I really can't believe how quickly it's gone.

Oh My Goodness, time flies!

I cannot believe I have just 3 weeks left in Vienna...this is nuts!  I have done so many amazing things lately.  I'm worried I won't be able to get to everything in this city alone!

The Staatsoper has had some amazing operas lately.  I've seen two parts of the Ring Cycle by Wagner, Salome by Strauss, Barber of Seville, and Tännhauser to name a few.  I feel like the opera is probably the place I go the most here.  I love it!  I've also been able to see 2 Vienna Philharmonic concerts and 2 Vienna Boys Choir Masses.  I am living it up here, and loving it!  Did I also mention I saw Sister Act the musical in German?

It is quite cold here, but the Christmas decorations make it all that better.  There are so many Christmas Markets, and punsch stands everywhere you turn.  But the little shops are so cute and the food is to die for.  I have to restrain myself from only eating pastries!

I also had the amazing opportunity to have my sisters here this past weekend for Thanksgiving.  It was so awesome to have our first international exploration together!  We got to see a ton of sights, enjoy some great food (including a Thanksgiving dinner), go to Christmas markets and just spend quality time together.  It was hard to see them go today, but luckily I'll be seeing them and everyone else in a bit.

Tomorrow's a new day with more exploring!  Here we go!

Quick Update!

Gosh, I've been a terrible blogger lately!  I can't believe I have almost a month left in Vienna.  This has gone by WAY too quickly, and I have to admit, I've really fallen in love with this city.  I originally thought I'd enjoy myself, but be ready to return when the time came.  I'm starting to realize now that it's not going to be that easy.  I absolutely love this city, and I've made some amazing friends and have learned lifelong lessons....but I don't need to think about this for another month!  So here goes :-)

Two weekends ago I went to Paris!  It's landmarks and monuments are absolutely gorgeous!  I got to see the Eiffel Tower on the first night, as well as the Louvre, Sacre Coeur, L'arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, and Notre Dame!  I really enjoyed visiting with LAUREN WAY, and love the people we got to hang out with.

After Paris, I'm pretty much residing in Vienna until I leave.  I may take a few day trips and MAYBE a one nighter, but I'm ready to soak up the rest of what this city has to offer.  The past two weeks have been full of operas, which I absolutely love!  My classes have started to get a bit boring, but I'm sure that happens when all you want to do is go out into your beautiful city.  I hope to update after this weekend because tomorrow starts my huge tourism attempt: try to get to at least one new thing a day...let's go!

More exciting things!

Gosh I need to become more consistent at updating this...

Well here I am!  Past the halfway point already.  I can't believe how fast the time has flown by and I know it will only go quicker.

The next exciting thing that happened was....my birthday!  I can't believe I'm 22!  It was a pretty good day!  I first had to go to class and a piano lesson (but not before my RA gave me a cake. We had some for breakfast :-) ).  For lunch I went with my friends Morgan and Kendra at a Musli Bar!  It's essentially like Fruity Yogurt style...but you pick different toppings for your granola!  It was quite good.  We then walked over to the Haus des Meeres, an aquarium...with some random monkeys and birds.  It's a very interesting building, as it was used during World War II as a flak tower.  After that I took a LONG nap.  Then a bunch of my friends went out to eat in the Naschmarkt at a Sushi place.  It was absolutely delectable!  And to top off the evening, my roommate Sara MADE me an ICE CREAM CAKE!  It was absolutely epic and perfect!

That weekend, on Saturday morning, I headed over to Salzburg with 5 friends.  I have to say, it is definitely my favorite trip so far and potentially my favorite European city.  Absolutely gorgeous.  We went there by train and had a pretty nice cheap hostel.  We got to see plenty of Sound of Music sights (for free!) as well as Mozart's Birth House, the Orff Institut, and an awesome fortress.  One of our best meals was at the Augustiner Brewery.  There were beer steins that they filled up straight from the barrel!  The food was also amazing.  But the best thing was definitely the environment.  There were tons of people just having a great time, including a bunch of men drinking lots of beer in lederhosen singing drinking songs.

This week has been full of preparation for midterms...but not without seeing some great concerts!  I saw my students perform in a concert Tuesday, The Magic Flute on Wednesday, DANIEL BARENBOIM (a very very famous pianist and conductor) on Thursday, and Salome last night.  I'm actually headed out to see the opera again as soon as I finish this entry!

Also, one of the great things of this week was a traditional Palatschincken Dinner at my RA's house.  It was so nice to be in a beautiful home with a family again.  Plus, these Austrians knew how to cook.  I was quite satisfied when I left.

So what's coming up this week?  Two finals on Monday, but then I don't have class for a week!  So I'm going to be a tourist in Vienna Tuesday and Wednesday and early Thursday morning I am flying to Paris to meet up with a friend from college!  I am so pumped!

More Vienna!

So here is my attempt to summarize everything up to this point!  Hopefully I'll have something exciting to say for my birthday tomorrow and I won't want to catch up then!

Classes began the day after we got back from our trip. Here's an overview of what I'm taking:

Arts and Cultural Management:  My first entry into a business course!  The professor has been working for Cirque du Soleil for quite some time, so he has some awesome experience to share.  Although the work has been very interesting, it helped me learn that I never really want to do this unless I was only doing educational outreach :-/

Cross-Cultural Psychology: This was my unexpected class of the semester.  I was planning to take The Classical Symphony instead, but something about this course really grabbed my attention.  Not only will it be helpful for my teaching in the future, but it is really interesting to study the interactions I experience every day.

German:  Ja voll!  It's crazy to think how much I've learned in 2 months but how much I still have yet to learn.  It looks like I'll have about the same level as most High Schoolers get by the time I'm done though.  Das macht mir glucklich.

Teaching Internship:  I teach 15-17 year olds English!  Surprise right!  It's really interesting to notice the differences between Austrian and American school systems and teaching English is actually a lot of fun!  I also tutor two 9 year-old girls in English once a week.  Their English is much more limited but they seem to enjoy our time together.

Piano Lessons:  Pretty much same ol', same ol'.  But she's great and definitely helping my playing

Museums and Operas!
I've now been to: Madama Butterfly, Don Giovanni (at the Staatsoper), a ballet at the Staatsoper, and Die Fledermaus at the Volksoper.  Many more to come!

I've also seen the Imperial Crypt of the Habsburgs, and began to Explore the Kunsthistoriches Museum (Art History).

Wachau:

Last weekend I went to the Wachau for the day!  I saw the Melk Monastery (with a beautiful garden) went hiking to castle ruins for lunch, visited a cute town known for Apricots, explored the town of Krems and ended the evening at a Heurigen (wine seller...essentially) for a nice dinner and wine tasting.

Styria:
This past weekend we had an overnight, and I have to say this was one of my favorite places so far.  We first began with an open-air museum (it was COLD) displaying buildings and equipment from farmers all over Austria.  For dinner I had the official Weiner Schnitzel.  It was huge but somehow I managed to finish it.  YUM.  After this we toured the city of Graz, which is pretty cute.  We just barely missed Arnold, apparently he was there the day before for the opening of his museum...?  Dinner was slightly uneventful at the hostel but we ended up finding an Austrian Bachelor Party at an Irish pub later...so that was interesting!

The next day was all about Wine!  Ja voll!  We stopped by our first Heurigen which had a huge vineyard and roasted chestnuts!  I had my first taste and they were quite good.  We then went to a wine festival where I had AMAZING food (fried chicken and potato salad) and the best drink I have ever consumed...Mulled white wine.  AMAZING!!!!  I also had never seen so many people in lederhosen and dirndls!  PS Austrian parades are cute...especially when they march with Wagner tubas.

Well...hopefully this abbreviated blog is satisfactory!  More updates coming soon for the birthday celebration!

Tchuss!

This is waaaay overdue!

Whoops!  I've been so busy I've barely updated this thing.  But that's a good thing I guess!  I'll try to make this as thorough but brief as possible, I've got a lot of ground to cover and so much more coming up!

Krakow (like mid-September)
We arrived in the late afternoon and checked into the hostel.  We had a BEAUTIFUL view of the very center of the city.  That night I went with a few friends and got a NICE meal.  I'm talking salmon and a nice bottle of wine to share.  Definitely more than I would usually spend (I am a bargainer) but I think I can do that once and a while!  That night we took it easy and got ready for a big day coming up.

The next morning we toured the Jewish Quarter as well as other parts of town.  There was a lot to see in Krakow but it was never too crowded or touristy.  The history was also pretty cool.  After a nice traditional meal of perogies (!) we made the one hour drive to Auschwitz.

I really can't describe my experience there in words.  Everything I had read, all the pictures I had seen, and there it was right in front of my eyes.  We first toured Auschwitz I, and I couldn't believe the buildings, layout, the exhibits.  And then they took us over to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  The sheer size of it was what really got me.  It was an experience I will never forget.

Of course we were all pretty emotional and quiet on the bus back.  Luckily the bus driver made a mistake and went around a circle like 3 times which was enough to make us giggle a bit and begin to feel better.  That evening was dinner at a Jewish restaurant with a Klezmer group playing!  Quite fun.

The next day was a free day.  My friends and I decided to go to an Underground Salt Mine (in a 2 hour tour we only saw 1% of it).  It was pretty awesome but quite tiring as well.  Later in the afternoon we explored the Market area and rest of the town.  Dinner was pretty epic.  We had a massive platter of meat...I'm talking about as long as two laptops put together and stacked up high.  It had everything!  Duck, chicken, sausage, pork, pork knuckle, beef, blood pudding, perogies, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.  One of the chaperones thought it would be funny to force me to eat a ton of meat.  I have never been so full in my life.  That evening we went out on the town, which was quite fun!

The next day it was time for Budapest!
Now I have to say, Budapest wasn't my favorite.  It was fun and cool, but I think we were starting to get pretty exhausted at this point.  The evening we arrived we had this AMAZING buffet.  Did I mention it had unlimited beer, wine, and champagne?  This was another night where I was sooooo full.

The next day began with a tour in the morning of the center of town and the art museum.  My friends and I struggled with finding lunch (ended up eating in a place that microwaved our food) but I went to the Liszt museum!  it was so awesome to see his old apartment and some old belongings, including 4 pianos, a conducting stick, a traditional Liszt outfit AND A PORCELAIN MOLD OF HIS LEFT HAND!!!!  After that joy was over we headed to one of the best Spas in all of Budapest.  It was so relaxing!  We went in about 4 or 5 different pools (of different temperatures) as well as Saunas and a wave pool.  It was a great way to relax.

The next day consisted of more tours.  We had a great lunch on a boat, but unfortunately at this point my stomach was pretty overwhelmed by the sheer amount of meat and heavy food I had been eating.  By Saturday night I barely ate and had a fever.  Did I mention it took my stomach about 10 days to recover?  Awkward.

But all in all it was an amazing trip to see things I probably wouldn't have thought of right away.  I have many awesome pictures to show as well!

To look forward in my next post:  Life goes on in Vienna!  Hope you all are doing well!