Home (!?)

(originally written May 2010)
I have been home for a week. The last month literally flew by. Lots of final papers, exams, goodbyes, and battles with the crazy landlady. And suddenly I was gone. I didn't believe it until I saw Austria disappearing below me. I managed to arrive with no unforeseen delays, despite strikes and ash clouds. And, I got 250 Euros for taking a later flight. Everybody wins!

I was so happy to see New England again. The train I took from Newark Airport to New London goes right along the beach near Branford, and you can see the Thimble Islands. I was so excited I had my nose pressed against window.

Vienna has got to be the most beautiful city in the world, but New England has got be the most beautiful area in the world. I missed the ocean, and it is more beautiful than I remember it. So far, I have not had any re-immersion shock. I was suprised at how big our refrigerator and dish washer are at home. My bed is also way more comfortable than I remember it.

I have not yet processed any deep meaningful thoughts about my time in Vienna, I am far too busy breathing in the salty air and enjoying the quiet.

Venezia/Venedig/Venice

This past weekend I experienced the wonder that is the night train. No facetiousness here, really.

I went to Venice to meet my friend Heather, who is studying in Perugia, for the weekend. We figured Venice is at about the half-way point. Venice is only about 7 hours drive from Vienna, but the night train goes west to Salzburg to pick up more passengers, then goes south to Venice. The whole journey was about 12 hours. But I was happily sleeping for 9 of those hours.

For the first 4 hours on the way to Salzburg, I had the whole compartment to myself. The other 2 passengers were getting on at Salzburg. This meant I got the bed that was not 10 feet up in the air. The beds were stacked 3 high. In my 4 hours of solitude I got to pick out my free breakfast for the next morning and plan my future world travels with my "1000 Things to see before you die" book. You know, for when I am super rich and can afford a $5000 14 day camel trek in Tunisia.

I was awoken at half past midnight by every traveler's worst nightmare: The ugly American. Except this was 3 ugly Americans. Three loud, middle aged gal pals, who made no effort to be quiet at all. And loudly complain that this arrangement was "not what they ordered." Apparently one of the three was assigned to a different place in the train. The situation was immediately and dramatically deemed a "crisis," "nightmare," and a "we're-never-doing-this-again" kind of experience. And they likened it to being in a prison. And to think I had been marveling at the ability to be horizontal, with a pillow, duvet, sheets, and breakfast in the morning. I am personally a huge fan of this mode of transport, if I could take the night train everywhere, I totally would.

Finally the loudest lady proclaimed she was going to do some shots of Schapps and take some Tylenol PM. Thank God.

The next morning, I did not worry about being too loud. They were overjoyed that I spoke English and peppered me with questions about my life and such.

And then the best part: I walked out of the train station and I was in Venice. And Heather was there, and it was sunny and gorgeous. We mostly roamed the streets and got lost, which is an activity in it's self.


Venice was like a fairytale city. There were no cars, only boats. We would wander through the alleyways and come across dozens of serene canals, with gondolas bobbing up and down and laundry hanging out the window. We went to Lido Island to go see the beach, and the Adriatic Sea of course. It wasn't the prettiest beach, but I have missed my large bodies of water being land-locked for so long.

We went into the Basilica and toured the opera houses, Teatro La Fenice, which was beautiful. But mostly we wandered, and ate.

Familiar faces in Foreign places

I am coming off my third round of visitors, in row. Round 1, my friend Meaghan, who was studying in the Netherlands. Round 2, my parents, whose round was extended to nearly 2 weeks due to the volcanic ash business. Round 3, my grandparents.

Its quite mind boggling to see people I am used to seeing in a certain place (i.e home or school) and meet them in an entire different corner of the world. Though a lot has changed, really, nothing as changed. The same things make you laugh and that is really all that matters.

It is also just so fun to do the tourist-y things that I haven't done yet. I can't think of a specific reason why I hadn't done the quintessential things in Vienna, like go to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Albertina, the Belvedere, the Donau Insel, the Hofburg, on and on and on. But I guess living here, I don't think about it. Plus, if I had seen everything, seeing it with my visitors would have been stale strudel for me. And stale studel it not good. It doesn't even count as strudel.

Spring time has got to be the most heavenly time in Wien. Meaghan was visitng for Easter weekend, the last weekend of my spring break. Though the city was clogged with tourists, (thanks to Easter, here in a Catholic country) more so than usual, the weather was perfect for sitting outside and drinking kaffee, wandering the gardens of the various palaces, and drinking wine at the beautiful wine gardens, heurigers, on the outskirts of the city.


My parents arrived about three days later. For their first weekend we went to Salzburg, where my mother studied for a year. It was the first time she had returned in thirty years. We rented a car and saw her old house, her school, the places she would ride her bike in nearby Germany. And of course some Sound of Music related sights. I may have started singing.
But interesting fact: most Austrians have never seen the Sound of Music. It an American thing. Rogers and Hammerstien were not Austrian.


The rest of the week, though I had classes, was filled with all the museums I hadn't seen yet. Perfect since it rained all week! The volcanic ash delayed their departure by three days, but I didn't mind. I wasn't ready for them to leave, and the sun finally came out! Then my grandparents arrived three days after that. More museum seeing, beautiful weather, good food. All good times.

Now I am going to be visitorless. But I only have less than 4 weeks left, which is hard to believe. So next up, I am meeting my friend Heather in Venice for the weekend. My first overnight train should be an adventure. Plus I heard that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are there shooting a movie, plus their 68 kids. Maybe I will see them!

English Speaking Holidays

After experiencing my first Austrian midterm week, which ranged from " write a half page about France" to 5 pages of confusing charts about Lieder, it was spring break. Woohoo! Spring has sprung in Vienna, there rows of tulips lining the sidewalks and people consummating in the park (true story). But for my spring break I broke out the wool socks and headed north. First stop, Aberdeen, Scotland for the weekend to visit my cousin Chris who is a professor at the University. Second stop, Dublin, Ireland for two days of solo traveling in uncharted territory, because why not? In continuing the trend of doing things that terrify me, it just made sense.

Flights were all miraculously on time, even though I flew British Airways to Aberdeen the day before the second cabin crew strike. They didn't seem too disgruntled and politely offered me a sweet or savory snack. As always.

My first day in Aberdeen was delightful, and suprisingly the weather was not so different from Vienna. It was clear and sunny and not too cold. We enjoyed a brunch by the beach and took in views of the North Sea from the beach. Then we dropped the kids, Quinn, 3, and Clare, 1, off at the babysitters and went to Dunnottar Castle, which was located on cliff that dropped straight down into the sea. It was mostly well-preserved ruins, and you could walk right into all of them look around.



Then we headed to a nearby pub for an afternoon scotch. It was a small pub in a cute seaside town, with plenty of local color. A little too much local color, we discovered. As we were enjoying our scotch, the man who had been at the next table having animated, albeit drunken, conversation threw up some local color all over the floor. He just missed me as he was making a bee line for the bathroom. Obviously he didn't make it. Curiously enough, no one in the pub missed a beat and conversation continued. Chris and Cammy, however, were completely shocked. They swore in their several years of living in Scotland, that this had never happened. Ironic that that should happen on my first day in Scotland!

Later that night we enjoyed a fancy Scottish dinner free of drunken mishaps. I tried Haggis and black pudding, although it was more fancified then one would normally have it. Still delicious! After a day of hearty Scottish food, I was practically waddling.

The next day was a little wetter and colder, but we still got to see one more Crathes Castle, which was very interesting.

Next I was off to Dublin! I was only mildly terrified as I packed up and left. But I discovered that travelling by yourself is special in its own way. I love traveling with people. Especially my parents. There is nothing like it. On my trip to Spain, even though I was traveling with my roommate, I spent half the time thinking about how much my parents would love the things I was seeing and experiencing and wishing they were with me. I wouldn't say it detracted from my trip at all, but during my trip to Dublin I was in a noticably different mind set. I had fully realized I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted (within reason). Not one person knew me, I wasn't self-conscious about be alone at all. It was liberating.

As a result, I did a lot of stuff! The first day was cold,windy, and rainy, and then it was cold and snowy. So I was wearing two pairs of wool socks that were soaked through by noon. I sought refuge in Christ Church Cathedral, the crypt was really interesting with a teasury collection. Then I accidently ended up in the National Museum of Decorative Arts and History, which like the other National Museums of Ireland, was free. Then, after nearly getting beheaded by my umbrella and mislead by my map, I visited the Irish Museum of Modern Art. I ended the day with a performance of Macbeth at the Abbey Theatre.


The next day was beautiful and sunny, so walking around was actually enjoyable. I hung around Trinity College and some of the parks nearby. Then I went to the National Gallery of Art, saw some Irish artists, along with Carravaggio, Monet, and Valesquez. and the National Museum of Archeology, which was my favorite! they had 3 bog bodies on display. After a thousand years sitting in a bog, it was amazing and creepy to see their skin and hair intact. Yikes! After a visit to St. Patricks Cathedral, I was ready to head back to Vienna.

Das Essen

I love food. It is my goal in life to eat my way through the world. Okay I have more goals than that, but it is a pretty formidable task.

I think I have been doing a pretty good job of eating Austria. Austrians love their coffee, their various sausages (Käsekräner, Bratwurst), Schnitzel, beer, wine, bread, and various pastries, of which there are too many to mention. That said, there is still a McDonalds two blocks away. And Starbucks across the street from the Staatsoper. This is the capital city, and you could find food from every corner of the world if you looked hard enough. Last week I enjoyed some amazing pay as you want Pakistani buffet, the week before, I (somewhat) satisfied my Mexican food craving.

My favorites so far have been Käsekräner, wine, and Topfenstrudel. Käsekräner is basically sausage with cheese chunks in it. They sell them on the street in a hollowed out baguette. Looks dirty but they are very popular. Or you can buy them in the store, sometimes wrapped in bacon.

I have developed a taste for wine, by mere virtue of living in a land where wine is cheaper than Coke. Actually, I magically liked it when British Airways gave it to me for free on my flight over here. I don't know what good wine is yet. I just pick the one with the prettiest label. I did try Gruner Vetlander and I liked it. I have also learned a few Austrian drinking songs. We listened to them and sang along in our German class. They are along the lines of, " My nose is so red, because I am drunk. I am drinking the good wine." Yes, this is what I learn in school here.

I could probably subsist on strudel for my whole life. I could sit in a smoky Kaffeehaus with a waiter in a tux and think deep important thoughts just like Mozart did, I'm sure. Apfelstrudel at Cafe Sperl, a traditional cafe in my district, is fabulous. Topfenstrudel anywhere is amazing. its filled with a crumbly warm cheesecake type substance. I have tried Sachertorte of course, but talk to any Viennese and they will make an off the cuff remark about how Sachertorte isn't how it used to be, the original recipe, Hotel Sacher isn't good and over priced...and on and on. I don't particularly care for it. However half the fun of eating is ordering something you have never heard of. I can't remember most of the names of the pastry delights I have eaten.

Of course living in my own apartment with a lovely kitchen, I cook and eat in most of the time. The Naschmarkt, an outdoor market hundreds of years old, is a five minute walk away. I have my favorite dried fruit person, my favorite veggie person, my favorite nut guy, hummus guy. Not that I call them that or anything, but the stands all sell the same thing and are competitively priced. I find that the salespeople are very humble and very friendly because they really want you to buy their products. I also speak exclusively in German to them. Shopping at the supermarket is a different story. Its a little less enjoyable. You have to pay for plastic bags, and then remember to bring them and reuse them so you don't have to pay for more. Which, I suppose is a great way to get people to recycle. The checkout line is fast and furious. There is no one to bag your groceries and you better have your money out and ready, while you throw all of your food back into your cart as it is being scanned. Of course, the ATM usually gives me hundred Euro bills, which seems to annoy the cashiers, and then they ask for 2 or 22 cents, I can never tell which, because they talk so fast. After I have had them repeat "zweiundzwanzig" a few times, I have held up the 20 people behind me.

The good news is after I have been yelled at by some disgruntled cashiers or accused of shop lifting (true story) I can come home and cook. I am a fan of making a huge pot of chili or soup or risotto and eating it for a good week or two. Eventually though, I decided I missed baking so much I had to figure out the metric system. And convert Farenheit to Celsius once and for all. I was able to procure some wheat free flour, which seemed like a miracle in a land where hearty wheat bread is sold on every corner. But it is pretty easy to find wheat free food here. Our apartment has a beautiful bundt pan so I set out to make a lemon cake, with no recipe and no measuring instruments of any kind. ( I still can't figure out what they use here to measure flour and such. A scale?) Luckily, since I spent last summer baking upwards of 14 hours everyday, I trusted by baking intuition and it paid off. The cake didn't last for more than a couple days though.

In other news, I am in the midst of studying for midterms, though I have no desire to at all. Then, this coming Friday, I will be off to Scotland and Ireland for 6 days, then back to Vienna for Easter weekend, when my friend is visiting me. Time is certainly flying!

Study Abroad: Easier said than done... but totally worth it

I am fairly sure that would be my slogan, even though I am only about half way through my experience (!)

Studying abroad is hard, much harder than I anticipated. This was not something I thought about when I was in the application process last semester.However, I never thought about the fact that you are living. in. a. completely. different. culture. Living being the operative word. Living is different than visiting or vacationing. Everything is different. Obviously, language and culture, but everything down to grocery shopping, food, toilets, laundry, professors, its all different. At first, this is both new and exciting and incredibly unsettling. At first, I was half overjoyed that I was finally here, and half wondering what the hell I was thinking. There are a few moments where I thought I couldn't handle living and studying here. I would look at a plane in the sky and wish I was on it. As a result, I felt like I wasn't totally here. I was half here, and half somewhere else.

But standing in the clouds at the top of a mountain in the Alps made me feel like I was fully here, and the world was mine.


So.. last weekend I went skiing in the Alps! It was an IES organized trip, and all of my roommates went too. We went to Radstadt, which is in Salzburg, and about 4 or 5 hours away by bus. It was nice because everything, including 2 meals a day, rentals, lift tickets, and accomadations were taken care of. So all we had to do was ski!

Radstadt was not a big huge ski resort like you would find in the US. It was obviously a huge mountain, and our lift ticket covered several mountains close by, reachable by bus. But there were no huge crowds, few crazy snowboarders, and no huge cafeterias serving questionable food. The slopes were also a lot less crowded most of the time. And the snow was amazing. Because it came from the sky.

There is also nothing in between the bunny slope and the easiest runs. The easiest here is blue, and I would say its equivilant to a blue in the US. There is no such thing as green here. That made it a little daunting for beginning skiers. But I thought it was awesome. I haven't skied in maybe 2 years, but it came back to me. On Sunday we basically kicked the ass of 2 mountains. We went to the top of another mountain Zuchensee, at least twice. I did a couple of blacks, which are equilivant to US black diamonds, and it was amazing. It was like skiing in butter. But we accidentally went down some moguls in the afternoon, and since the sun was on the other side of the mountain, it was like skiing blindfolded.

We went back to Radstadt in the afternoon before we had to get on the bus and go home. We went to the top a couple more times before our bodies gave up. Overall, 6 hours of skiing on Sunday. And I didn't fall down once. I don't know how it happened. But at lunch, when people were recounting how many times they ate it and there skis flew off, I realized I hadn't fallen. So the rest of the day, I was on a mission, and I succeeded! It was exhausting though. Skiing in ungroomed powder, you have to plan your route about 20 feet ahead of time. But there were no major injuries to anyone on the trip! Apparently that is a first.

My body was pretty angry with me for the next few days...but it was totally worth it.

I actually have classes....?

So the last few weeks since my intensive break have been more "normal." Classes finally started, and after my first day of class, I went to another ball. This one was also at the Hofburg, and was put on by some fraternity organization that wore funny hats. A nice Austrian university student tried to explain it to me, and that was how I understood it. This ball experience was much more enjoyable. I wore flats, hemmed my dress, and I was ready to dance the night away...with a very nice Japanese student.
We did the Austrian line dances, which are interspersed with the normal waltzing, which was very interesting, considering that they are called out in German. So we had a good time getting pushed this way and that way by people how did know what they were doing. And the dances get faster and faster everytime you do them. The only part I actaully did right was the footstomp and the "Hey!" at the end. Then the caller calls out "Hop! Hop! Hop!" and the partners gallup around the floor together, then change directions, then go faster. Yeah, I am glad I wore flats. I would have broken my ankles otherwise. So the night was a success, I left at about 3:30 because I had class and a voice lesson the next day. And of course, surviving the rest of the week was a challenge.
The beginning of any semester is always a crazy time, but having all Austrian professors, I didn't know what to expect. I still don't know what to expect. They are much more unstructured. There are syllabi and a general plan, but they mostly hand you some music, or go on a rant about Malta (true story). I am taking "The Lied" which is a seminar on the German Art song. This is probably my most American-like structured course, probably because my professor, who is also the head of the music program is originally from Norway, but studied and lived in the US for most of his life. Its really interesting so far, its a 400 level course, so it will probably be my most challenging. I am also taking a 20th century analysis course, and I pretty much don't know what I am doing. My professor is Austrian, and he just handed us a score (20th century atonal Korngold, no less) and put on a recording and asked us to analyze the peice in sonata form. I have taken no atonal theory yet, and neither have most people in the class. But he doesn't seem to be concerned. Then I am taking The Political Geography of New Europe. Enter rants about Malta. My professor is also Austrian and we all rant together about the European Union. Then I am continuing German, my professor is Austrian, of course, and will not speak in English, however we did teach her how to say and use the expression, "Duh."
And then I am taking voice lesson for three credits, culminating in a solo recital in May. Yikes. The recital is 40 minutes long, and I am preparing all new music. 15 hours of instruction and at least 75 of practicing. I am singing a lot of Lieder, or course, and loving it. I actaully have to go practice in about 10 minutes, because tonight I am going to the opera, for the second night in a row. Last night we saw Cav/Pag, and tonight is a new opera premiere "Medea."
And then this Friday, I am going on an IES trip to Radstadt to go skiing! I am very excited, but I will have a lot of homeworking and practicing to do before then. And I will also need to buy ski pants. So much to do and time is flying by.