A Long but Great Sunday!

Here's a quick update, because I need to go back to German homework!

Yesterday was quite epic.  All of my roommates got up to go to mass at the famous St. Augustine in the Hofburg Palace.  Not all of them (and obviously myself) are Catholic, but we all were excited, as this church is known for having service with mass (as in the music) by well-known composers.  Yesterday, it was Haydn!  It was absolutely beautiful inside and quite crowded.  The music was great as well.  As for the service, for 2 hours I had absolutely no idea what was going on...a service I'm not used to, procedures I wasn't used to (when do you kneel on the bench anyways!) plus the whole thing was in German!  Regardless, my roomies and I are discussing church hopping every week.  There are so many wonderful churches that this seems like a great way to explore them.

After that we headed over to the wonderful Schonbrunn Palace.  My gosh is that thing huge and absolutely gorgeous.  My roommate Emily and I spent at least 3 hours walking around and there was still some things I'm sure we didn't see.  Afterwords, we headed over to the Rathaus to see a broadcasted performance of CARMEN!  Unfortunately I was so tired after a long day that I left after Act 2 (I tried so hard to stay for the whole thing!)  But after viewing that I cannot wait for the Oper to open!

Well back to homework.  Hopefully many more exciting things ahead!

Heute ist Samstag!

It's Saturday and boy do I have a lot to update on!

On Wednesday I attempted to go to the art museum for a tour led by one of the center's art history professors.  Unfortunately, I got quite lost and didn't make it.  But I did see many more important buildings and exciting streets, although I had no idea what they were.

I've already completed one and a half chapters of German in one week!  It can get quite intense sometimes but it is so interesting how practical it is.  Every day we walk out of class and I immediately hear or see what we learned.

Thursday I finally had my first outing into the city!  I went with a few friends to the Danube Island (smack dab in the middle of the Danube River).  Once we figured out which side was the Island, we started walking over to find a good swimming spot (on the side with a calmer current).  We got some delicious gelato in the area that somewhat resembled a board walk.  I can't say I've ever swam in natural water besides the ocean, so this was a new experience for me.  The water at first was quite cold.  But in 96 degrees in a city, we got used to it quite quickly and swam towards the center of the river.  After spending about an hour in the water we dried off and headed to my friends' Susan and Titi's house for dinner.  It was DELICIOUS!  But I had to run out quickly to see....MAHLER!

During the summer Vienna hosts an Outdoor Film Festival at the Rathaus (city center), where they broadcast several pre-recorded concerts, ballets, and operas so the public has something to see while the theaters and orchestras are off-season.  It is projected on a massive screen with tons of chairs set up.  It was almost full.  So awesome to see how many members of the community appreciate good music, and the wonderful food nearby.  Nutella crepes were DELICIOUS!  So Thursday I saw Mahler 8 and last night I saw Cinderella (Prokoviev).  Both were breathtaking.

Today I went to a lecture about the history of Vienna and then took a bus tour where I saw the Belvedere, Hundertwasser's apartment community, a beautiful overlook on foot, and drove past a ton of places that I can't wait to see.  After that I had a hearing for my piano lessons, and headed home to cook myself a dinner with MEAT!  I haven't had that as much lately for whatever reason.

And tomorrow....the roomies and I are venturing to St. Augustine's Chapel to hear a Haydn mass, head over to the Schönbrunn Palace and ZOO, and end the evening at the Rathaus with Carmen!

Last time I updated to say stay safe in the earthquake...Now stay safe in the hurricane!

Ich bin recht gut.

Hallo!  Things are going well here.  Conquered my commute to the school, visit to the bakery, drug store and supermarket.  It's busy and quite honestly a bit stressful but I'm getting through it.

Sunday we left Mariazell to head to Vienna.  When we got there I got to retrieve my lost luggage and move into my apartment.  It is on the 5th floor (American 6th floor) in the 5th district.  It's a pretty cute area and considering we have 8 people in my apartment there is a good amount of room.  There is a toilet room(which is arranged with the hole in the front), shower room, cute little kitchen, and 4 bedrooms.  We also have an RA in our room who is nothing like an American RA.  She's basically given housing to be our friend and help us get around.  Did I mention her mom brought us homemade apple strudel today?

German intensive started yesterday...and boy is it intense.  I know about a marking period's worth of German from yesterday and even more today.  It will certainly be amazing to see how much I learn.

After a little event this evening I went to practice and eventually got frustrated so I walked around the city for about 45 minutes (before it was dark of course).  I found a concert of Mozart and Strauss but it was too much money.  But it was still nice to see that I could find music so easily.

Tomorrow I am getting a brief tour of an art museum and back to German.  I'm hoping to start seeing some of the sites once I get into a routine.

Hope everyone's doing well after the earthquake!

So far so good!

Gruβ Gott!  I've been having an amazing time at orientation so far!  The town is absolutely gorgeous and I am actually pretty excited for my time here.  The fact that I am here for four months is still a bit scary but I am definitely ready for the first couple of weeks.  I'm sure once I get to Vienna I'll be totally pumped!  And good news!  My lost luggage was recovered and is waiting for me in Vienna :-)

Yesterday we had our share of meetings in the morning.  The academics here seem pretty awesome.  There's a lot of exploration into the city, which is really unique.  They also seem to plan a lot of great activities for us while we're in Vienna, so that will be really exciting.  I also had my first German Survival Session.  I now can say hello, goodbye, I don't know, the alphabet and count up to 99!

After lunch I went into the town of Mariazell with a large group. It was absolutely gorgeous.  I have plenty of pictures that I can't wait to upload once I'm in Vienna.  I first went to the folklore museum, which was quite interesting.  The building was built about 500 years ago and had many neat artifacts inside.  We then went into the Basilika, which is one of the most popular pilgramage points.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I had never been so moved by one building.  The bone storage in the building near by....not so much.  But I really can't wait to show these pictures, it is so difficult to describe such beauty in words.

At night we had some more meetings and then....a traditional Austrian evening!  Complete with traditional dancers in lederhosen.  We got to learn two of the dances!  The older accordion player's wife also made us delicious biscuits...and one of the dancers brought honey schnapps which he served to everyone, except me because of the whole honey thing.  haha.

This morning it was time for some business.  I had a teaching interview for a teaching internship here.  It went quite well if I do say so myself!  It looks like I'll either be doing middle school or elementary school which will be awesome.  I also had a housing interview, which was more like an informational session.  My roommates all seem great (all 6, plus an RA), and our apartment is apparently really big. (I guess it has to be in order to house 8 people) Only one bathroom (with two sinks) but a TERRACE!  Nice.

Later I'll have lunch and be headed over to the lake for some hiking, swimming, and relaxing.  So far so good, and tomorrow I'll be ready to move into my apartment...and start German!

Miss you all!

Day 1...ish

So here I am!  Not Vienna actually, but in Mariazell for our orientation session.  The flight went well, my transfer was a bit rushed but I made it.  One of my checked bags didn’t make it to Vienna though.  But if that’s the only complication it’s not too bad.  I didn’t sleep the entire flight to Berlin, but I probably fell asleep for about an hour 4 times or so.  I was pretty awake for the ride to Vienna, which was awesome because I got to see the beautiful change in the landscape.  There were plenty of fields and all of the sudden mountains started to appear in the horizon.  It was beautiful!

Once we were all gathered we loaded ourselves onto a bus to Mariazell.  Apparently the scenery was gorgeous but I couldn’t even keep my eyes open.  We did stop at a rest stop where I had my first experience with Euros and plenty of German food that I didn’t recognize.  But whatever I ended up eating was quite good!  After about a 3 hour ride, of which 30 minutes was up a winding hill, we got to this beautiful little town.  I plan to explore tomorrow and take lots of pictures.

We also had dinner in the cafeteria that was also good.  I had my first helping of wiener schnitzel as well as some cappuccino mousse.  Tonight we have a welcome meeting and then I will finally get to sleep in a bed.

3 days and Counting!

Well, here is my test entry for the blog! I got home from finishing the Wedding Singer at Villagers about an hour ago and tomorrow begins the packing extravaganza! I pretty much have everything I need purchased, just need to dry clean my pea coat, get new batteries for my watches and do little things. Otherwise, it'll be an experiment to see how many things I can fit into a suitcase and to see if it can be under 50 pounds. We shall see!

My flight leaves JFK at 5:25PM on Wednesday, and then we go straight to an orientation until Sunday. Hopefully I can do a first official update then to let everyone know what's been going on already!

Keep watching for my next update!