Well now I'm home?

Well I'm home now! Weird.....

Strange culture things that I have noticed since coming home:

- The big gaps between stalls in bathrooms! Haha the first weird thing I noticed

- People bag groceries here! I went to the end of the line with a cart to get the groceries and then someone else grabbed them...

- It weirded me out that I could talk to strangers in english and they would understand me!

- The first time ordering in english in a restaurant

- Portion sizes in drinks

- Big highways and cars

So a few random things!

And now its summer! I am so stoked for this summer for a number of reasons! Mostly because I am doing the BEST internship EVER!! Seriously, the program is Breakthrough Atlanta, the local program from Breakthrough Collaborative! This program is AMAZING! It stands for everything in education that I stand for and I could not be more blessed to be working for such a fabulous organization this summer! In addition to the wonderful organization, I am also working with some wonderful people! The interns all also believe in the same mission, which makes the whole atmosphere so positive!! I am teaching science to 7th graders...and if you know me, you are probably laughing right now. I was never one of those kids in school was an english/history or math/science person, I was just ok at both of them. Haha this led me to major in psychology. So when I told my friends and family that I was teaching science, they first laughed. That aside, I am STOKED to be teaching this summer! I also get to teach German, which is AWESOME!! I am just so excited about this summer!! Nervous...but excited!

I also really want to get products out this summer, summer goal!

Visits!!!!

Well, I have been SUPER duper lucky and I have had two wonderful visits this week!!!

FIRST: My friend Kayla from camp!!!!!!! I have not seen Kayla in about 5 years, since our good ol' times at Gwynn Valley summer camp! Well, Kayla is backpacking around the world basically right now and she stopped through here!!!!!! It is super fun to see familiar people in Wien because it feels like you are at home, but your in a completely different country! It really is insane! We galavanted (did I spell that wrong?) around Wien yesterday and did super touristy things! Which is always awesome and I love doing with not only visitors but with myself! We ate sachertorte, and went to Schonbrunn and walked around, and even ate some yummy Austrian food!! Can you say NOM?! Kayla got sausage, with cheese in it...all wrapped in bacon, need I say more?

TODAY: My Grandparents came!!!!!!!!! I picked them up super early from the airport this morning and completely looked like a crazy person when I extended my arm all it could go and waved at them when they came through the gate. We got them checked in and walked around Wien! They were super tired so we did some sunbathing at cafes mostly...which is not considered lazy or anything by the people here, just a way of life! We also went to the Imperial Treasury! Which was super cool and I had not been in yet! Everything in there was amazing and beautiful and so pretty! I can't imagine how it could have been on people! And we ended the night at my favorite Italian restaurant in Wien. NOM! I'm so excited for them to be here!!! :)

Now for something completely different...

Well, this has nothing to do with Austria, but last night I saw the list of room draw numbers for the senior class of 2012 and I nearly vomited! It was the first time that I had seen seniors class of 2012 written out like that on something! Ugh! I am soooo not ready for that.....

Today I realized that I am slowly starting to like coffee...which is not really a good thing! Everyone always says that they started drinking coffee in college! Well, I am in my junior year and that has not happened yet! However, Wien is the coffee capital of the world! And coffee here is not a caffeine source like it is in the U.S., it is a culture and way of life! People sit in coffee houses, un-bothered, and drink their coffee and eat their cakes and other delicious foods! It is just so lovely! So, I am not too bothered by the fact that I am trying this way of life! Indulging in coffee culture...? I think yes

Dear Wien, I still love you

Perhaps time for a SUPER DUPER LONG UPDATE???

I think yes J

Getting back from the Alps just kept my week on a super high! The next evening I went to a REAL MASQUERADE BALL!!! It was quite possibly one of the coolest things that I have ever seen! This ball had more people my age, probably because it was put on by one of the organizations at the University. People were dressed to the nines once again, but this time with masks! It was like a strange scene right out of a movie! We got to see opening ceremonies this time, which was so awesome! The room was filled with debutants once again! Each of them carried a balloon that they had to dance with! And then they had ballerinas from the opera house come and dance! Which was really super cool! After the opening ceremonies we walked around the Palace…haha yes, it was in the palace again! The rooms were the same for the most part again, jazz, swing, current music, and then there was what I called the “frat party room” because I felt like I was in a frat party only filled with people in dresses and tuxes! My friends and I danced away and had a blast! One of the coolest things was they did this HUGE line dance type thing in the main ballroom at midnight, when the women took their masks off! The room was sooo full! It reminded me of contra or line dancing! There was a woman on the mic calling out steps to do with the music, and every once and a while, people would sing along because they all somehow knew the chant? It was like a pre-choreographed dance scene from a movie! People here sure do know how to dance! The ball was a huge success and it was especially fun because it was the last big ball of the season! The ball season ends on fat Tuesday night at midnight, so that everything stops on ash Wednesday!

Side note: Fat Tuesday is called Fashings here! I think that is how to spell it, but I’m not exactly sure…anyways, it is the equivalent of fat Tuesday! They sell Kraphens!!! NOM!!! Kraphens are apricot filled doughnuts! They love apricots here! Normally, I am not a fan of mixing any sort of fruit with dessert, but I have to say, these are super delicious! They also have them in chocolate and vanilla flavors! YUMMY!!! Have I said how much I love the food here? Because I seriously do! Mostly the dessert, but isn’t that the only food that matters? According to the fine way that I was raised the answer is yes!

GIANT Ice skating rink!!!!!!!!

In the winter, they set up a HUGE ice skating rink in front of the Rathaus, which is the city hall. I mean, this thing is seriously gigantic!! It has paths going along the side and everything and then 3 big rinks in the front! And not only are people here serious dancers, but you better not get in their way when they are skating either! They WILL take you out! The skating was so much fun! They played fun music and my friends and I all skated around and had a blast!! Afterwards we got nutella crepes NOM and I tried a Viennese dessert, dough noodle shaped things with poppy seeds! Strange it sounds, and stranger it looks! It kinda looks like chocolate, but also kinda like a weird bug that Darwin forgot to write about. Poppy seeds, like fruits, randomly show up in desserts and especially bread based pastries here! So you have to be careful! This was a strange dessert, but now I know what noodly covered poppy seeds taste like! Open eyes!

In that same week, MY PARENTS CAME!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo amazingly wonderful to see them!!! I was just so soo SOOO excited!!!! I brought them Kraphens when they got here, since they came on fat Tuesday! I met them in their hotel and it was just so great! We hung out there for a while and sat, and then left to walk around and go get dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant! It was so weird seeing them in my current “hometown!” The next day they walked around Vienna some while I was in class! We did so many great touristy things while they were here and ate some super great food!! We walked allll around Vienna! And even went to Shonbrunn at sunset, which was beautiful!!! Shonbrunn is this beautiful palace home with HUGE gardens!! It is so crazy how right now it is in the middle of the city, when before when it was built it was completely open area since it was away from the main city ring! It was soo great to see them! I know that I keep saying that, but it was really so much fun! My parents left on Friday morning and then I went to BUDAPEST!!!!

I went to Budapest with my two friends Kristen and Kaitlin! We went via train on Friday and got all checked in and everything and went to bed early so that we could really hit the sightseeing hard the next day! The next day we covered EVERYTHING! We went to the Buda side, or the older side, and saw everything over there! We saw the castle, the parks, and even went in an underground maze old wine cellar! It was all super fun! It was soooo freaking beautiful! Just so stunning! And we could not have wished for better weather either! It just added to the wonderfulness of it all!! We also went to the House of Terror on Saturday, which gave me a new perspective on war and post war life in Hungry. If it is one thing that I have realized while being in Europe, is that the way things were after the war here were so different. I mean, I know I should have realized that in my head before because obviously the American soldiers came home. But for the people here, they went home to more destruction, political feuds, dictators, protests, more war. It was just a completely different environment here that we never realize or learn about since we were on the other side of things. So that was something that challenged me while I was in Budapest. All in all, the weekend was perfect and wonderful in every way! We had a great time, ate some great food, and saw some amazing sights! Success I would say!!!

Other happens:

IT’S GELATO SEASON!!!!!! Ok, so maybe I’m not in Italy, but the gelato here is seriously AMAZING!!! I had had some in the winter from a popular place, but boy when this new place opened up for season (they are closed in the winter) it was HAPPY HAPPY DAYS!!!! I went on opening day, of course, do you know me? And it seriously changed my perception of frozen treats! Even my friends who have been to Italy say that it is seriously amazing and comparable to the Italian gelato they had! NOM NOM NOMMM!!!

It is also WARMING UP HERE!!!! Sort of…I mean, nothing really comparable to the southern spring like I am used to right about now, but it’s getting there! I’ve started to wear my chacos outside J J happy day! Even though it is still kinda in the 40s, but hey, it’s sunny! If the sun is out, I am going to wear chacos!

Last Monday I went to Shonbrunn and walked all the way up to the pavilion on top of the hill and had a picnic with myself and admired the beautiful view while basking in the sun! I even fell asleep for a little bit! I can’t wait to go back when everything has bloomed! That is also the place where they host the Easter markets!! Which are going to be wonderful I know!

Last Wednesday was a fun night! I was going to go to a jazz club with some friends, but we ended up riding the citybikes, which are bikes you can check out for an hour for free! Awesome!!, around the Prater amusement park! The Prater, which is also host the most intense club place I have been to in Vienna thus far, also houses the oldest fairest wheel in Europe!! The amusement park was everything that I expected a strange park to be! There were oddly themed rides, fun houses, and creepy statues of circus people! Fun times indeed! J I had not ridden a bike in so long that it was just so much fun to ride one!!

Well, I could go on and write more, but I think it might bed time! Today has been a super long day! I had 2 midterms! YUCK! Other happenings to write on:

-soccer game

-Aida

-St. Patrick’s Day

-Previously listed things I didn’t talk about…opps…

In other news: I GET TO SEE PEOPLE THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! My friend Kayla from camp is coming ON WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have not seen her in 5 years!!! Should be awesome!! And my GRANDPARENTS are coming ON THURSDAY!!!! So much fun times!!! J

In other other news: I am so completely obsessed with Wien and living here and everything!! I just love love LOVE being here!! Still!!!

High on life from the ALPS!!!

HOKAY!

So, I realize that I need to post about lots more things! Mini list:

-Prague

-The best ballet EVER

-Seeing my Grandparents

-Berlin trip highlights (I know, super late!)

-my frustrations with public transportation

-Did I mention all the chocolate I'm eating?

-My education internship

-Other small tidbits here and there!

Well, for starters, I just got back from the ALPS! Yes, the Austrian alps! It was just as amazing as anything, actually, more amazing than anything that I could have ever compiled into my head! I have been really lucky and I have gotten to ski in some really amazing places in the U.S., but this was just absolutely phenomenal!!!

We got to the hostel at night on Friday and went straight to dinner! I had some delicious schnitzel, potatoes, and krapfen!!! Krapfen is a seasonal doughnut which is filled with, traditionally, apricot jam! Sounds gross, but super duper delicious!!! I roomed with my friends who went on the trip and we all got into out bunks in our 8 person room and were so excited for the next day!!! I have to be honest, when I saw the mountain lift the first time, it seemed small, and it was not what I was expecting. However, this was quickly fixed the next day!! We hung out in the gym at the hostel that night just playing around! There is another girl here who plays volleyball so we both got to play some, which was sooo amazing! I have missed playing so much and it was making me so happy to play! Even if we were playing with an indoor soccer ball!

Saturday we got up early and ate a super big breakfast to prepare us! We got on the mountain and I was super eager to start going!! We went down a couple of runs to get our ski legs back in order and then we wanted to head over to the other mountain where there were more intermediate runs and stuff!

We head over to the mountain, after getting lost on the bus route, and it was SO AMAZING!!!! Pictures or words could not describe the beauty that I was surrounded with. We literally were all stopped on the top of the mountain just looking around! It was by far one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen! We were blessed with gorgeous weather! Blue skies and not one single cloud! :) It was perfect! The whole rest of the afternoon was spent skiing down everything! I even did a black!!! (Which was the highest level!) And then a funny thing happened...so we had to catch a bus back to get back to the hostel. So we go down to get the bus and realize that there is no connecting bus to get us back to the hostel because that bus has already run its last run. And even though we could take the bus to the other mountain and ski over to our hostel, the lift would be closed....well, oh no! Long story short, we were dropped off at a post office in the town that our hostel was in. A 45 minute walk later, while wearing boots and carrying skis, we returned home! Despite the bad situation, I was in the best mood! That day put me on the most amazing natural high I have not experienced in a while! Granted, being in Austria is like a natural high, especially when I exit the subway station and the beautiful state opera house is there! But this was different! I'll explain more later. Dinner was great that night! More traditional Austrian food! Then I went in the sauna with some friends and sat in the pool and rested. Bed time came super early that night because we were zonked!

Today we got up super early again, packed, and ate and hoped on the bus to go straight over to the larger mountain (with the sick views!). We stayed there the rest of the day skiing and taking a glorious lunch break! We also took a break just to lay in the sun on the side of a run gazing at the view! Today the weather was so perfect!!! I was so sad to leave!! :(

This weekend was so great for so many reasons!! It was by far the craziest skiing experience I have ever had! Normally, I am a pretty timid skier, but for some reason this weekend, I was much more daring! I was daring to go fast, which is rarely the case, daring to ski down moguls, which is really rarely the case, and I had this thirst that I have never had before skiing! The whole weekend made me miss my dad so much! Who I luckily get to see, along with my mom, who I also miss very much, in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) I associate skiing with my dad. It is something that the two of us can go and do and enjoy! It is something that I love doing with him, even if he leads me into a black covered in moguls on "accident." I wish that he could have been there with me because I know how much he would have enjoyed it! I also wish he could have seen this crazy daringness that was happening! I was on such a natural high this whole weekend! Even sitting here typing this, I a so happy, so content!!! This weekend was amazing! I cannot even stress it enough! I had the best time with everything! It was all so wonderful!!! The weather, the snow, the slopes, the VIEW, friends, laughing, and general good times! Everything about it was so great! So many times this semester have I thought to myself, "How is this real? How is this my life right now??" This weekend was one of those times! Tomorrow my unrealness will continue with a real masquerade ball!!!!!

I am so in love with life right now! And I will be so much more in love if it warms up soon!! :)

School Begins!

Well, I have started to take classes again like a normal college student! However, it is not normal what so ever, because I am in WIEN!!! I remember I had the same feeling...and to be honest still do...when I started at Sewanee. Sewanee seems like an amazing summer camp for learning! And Wien seems like a giant adventure with learning thrown in! However, I realize that I am here to learn, and I cannot wait to make the most of my experience learning about culture here while mixing it with my academic passions!

I am taking two psychology classes-my major- and one education internship! I am also taking modern architecture and german, natürlich! I am super stoked about all of my classes, especially because I get to integrate Austrian culture into them! I am so excited to learn more about the schools here!! I get to help out in English classes, which students here start at a young age! Learning a language here is just a completely different concept! At first when I was learning German here I could not get used to it! I could not believe that we were already learning sentences when I did not even know the alphabet or numbers! Things that I expected we would learn first because they were simple, I mean, don't you learn those things first? Well, answer: in America yes! However, the perspective of language here is so different! They learn sentences, words, read articles, listen, speak, and they do not learn things like grammar straight off the bat! They do not spend time in class learning nitpicky things like we do in the English language, or in foreign language classes! Here English is much more prevalent than German in the US. I often hear English songs being played everywhere! About 80% of the music I hear is English! They believe language should focus more on conversation, while in the US, they believe in the written word much more. It was an interesting way of learning to get used to, but I have to say, I feel like I have learned a lot of German in only four weeks! Much more Spanish than I learned the first month at school!

So, anyways, I am super stoked about classes!

Other happening this week!

Grace, Courtney, and I along with Carolyn and Erica had a lovely Valentine's Day cheese and wine dinner on Monday night! I have to say, a lovely way to spend Valentine's Day with some wonderful ladies! We seriously killed some cheese! NOM NOM NOM!! Again, my new found love of cheese! Super duper tasty!

I have had some bad luck with the public transportation this week! Once the sbahn kicked everyone off, they do this sometimes, and another time there was an accident blocking the tracks! They have also been checking the tickets like crazy this week! As I mentioned before, Wien is on an honor system. Today when I came upstairs from my ubahn there was a blockade of people checking cards! That has not happened yet since I have been here! It was quite a strange sight coming upstairs to see it!

In other news......BOOKED TRIP TO PRAGUE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEEAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to Prague with my friend on the program Kristen!! Woop Woop!!!

Super duper excited!!!!!

Also, if you have not looked to the upper right of the blog page, I have updated the picasa picture album page with more pictures from my trip last week!! There are lots of pictures! And one album just with people because I realize not everyone wants to look at hundreds of pictures of buildings and many of them duplicated into black and white!

The weather here has been gross the last week :( I hope that it gets warm soon!!!!!

Long post revisited?

OK! Time to re-visit the long post as well as make another post about my last week!!!

For the last ten days I was traveling with other IES students through Germany! The break was after our three weeks of German intensive...which as I said before was VERY intense! I will speak more on it later!

But now I'm going to address the things that I said I would address last time and never did...whoops!

Learning German:

German...ohh man. Well, I was pretty excited to learn German, and my enthusiasm has not left me yet...but it successfully terrified me! We spent the first three weeks in Vienna learning German, which is GREAT! I am super grateful that I got to spend so much time learning a foreign language! I really love using German in public! It is also super wonderful when people talk to me in German because then secretly in my head I'm saying, "Yes, I'm blending in!"

If anyone knows me, or my mom for that matter (sorry mom, but you know its true) I am horrible at foreign languages!! Somehow Carter got all those genes because she is a Latin beast! Spanish was super successful at always giving me a deer in the headlights look, staring blankly into my teachers eyes wondering in my head what on earth was going on! German did that the first week...and part of the second...and hey, even the third! The first week of German was me with deer in the headlights. It was so strange to be learning a new language completely again! I have not learned a new language since 6th grade when I started to learn Spanish and Latin. I feel so strange that I am on a child's book level! After the first week of German kicked my butt, I had to reorganize! The second week I focused and started to tell myself in my head during class that I knew what was going on. Instead of looking at my Professor with blank stares I looked at her like I understood and knew what was going on. I literally had to tell myself in my head "Blair you know this!"...oh gheeze...I'm sounding like a crazy person! Haha, well, I am one so this is ok! By the third week of German I had gained the German confidence, at least more of it! WOOHOO! With something like a foreign language, you cannot be afraid to use it in public, no matter how much of an idiot you might look like. This was a little weird to get used to. I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten corrected by a person when I was trying my German. And one of the most frustrating things is when I am trying to talk to a person in German and they respond in English or tell me just to speak English. I love it when they respond in German, even if I don't understand everything that they say (or even any of it for that matter) because that means that I pronounced it right and did not sound like a foreigner! That is something that is truly an accomplishment! I love being able to go into the grocery store and get deli meat from the counter, or ask directions from a taxi driver, and especially reading a German menu, even if I am guessing what some of the ingredients are! It is super refreshing and I love it!! So so very much!!!

Vienna Night Life:

Now, this is something that has also taken some getting used to! I come from a small school with a frat scene. I had never been to a real club until this trip, in fact, I had barely been to a bar before this trip! So that was something completely new for me! Night life here means that you stay out until 5 or 6 in the morning....now THAT is something new for me too! At school parties shut down at 1, and by that point I am normally already heading back home!

The one awesome thing about the night life here though is that everyone dances! Now, I love dancing, and friends should know that I am a crazy dancer and look like a lunatic sometimes when I'm dancing! Well, people dance like me here!!!!! Its awesome!!!!!! I have yet to have a late late night yet, the latest that I have stayed out is probably 3, but at some point this semester I would like to have at least one good "typical" Vienna night! I forget how many young people are in Vienna because there are so many older people here! It is a city that a lot of people retire in and I normally see much more adults walking around then people my age. The night life here confirms that there is a young crowd of students!

Appreciation for food:

I love eating. I wrote earlier...at least I think that I did...about how I was trying new foods. Well, I have tried lots of wonderful things and gained a new appreciation for food in general! Especially eating slowly. I would never say that I am a fast eater, but eating is a different culture here. It is completely acceptable to sit in a coffee house for hours here, or sit at a restaurant for half an hour after you have already finished your food. People here have an appreciation for eating. So, I have tried to adapt this! The first time that I did it was when I went to a cafe (they are super popular here) and nursed a piece of chocolate cake, called Sachertorte, for over 2 hours! Now, those who know me know that this is quite an accomplishment! It is super easy for me to eat desserts, and they are my favorite food group! I really have no self control sometimes! I would study some German, then take a bite, and continue and repeat! It was absolutely a great feeling too! I did the same the other week with an eclaire! First of all, I ate it with a fork! Which is super strange, but they eat everything with a fork here! I nursed that sucker for about 25 minutes! Again, so refreshing to do something like that! I really have enjoyed eating many things with a fork and taking longer to eat them! For instance, pizza! I love that there are no slices and that I can just cut my way through! I am quite a fan of taking my time eating and enjoying good company and conversation!!

I have also developed a new love for cheese! My roommates and I all love eating cheese, and they have opened my eyes to a wonderful world! Cheese is very popular here! My favorite cheese place is Käseland, which is cheese land! It is found in the open air market and it is a small store filled with lots and lots of cheese! When you walk in, you almost have to leave! The smell of all of the cheese is slightly overwhelming! My roommates and I are in love with this one cheese they have (which I bought the rest of the wheel today) which has figs on the top of it! I have never really been a cheese person but now I find it completely tasty and wonderful!!!

I am still falling in love with being here. Here is a quote that I wrote down this past week while traveling:

"I am in love with life right now! I am in love with the independence, something different than myself. Something new and exciting. I am falling in love with a young love. A new, undiscovered love. An exciting love that opens your eyes. This new love of showing me this life. A totally different, exhilarating life. My new life!"