Liebe Familie, September 30th, 2008
Whew. Loads to write. Last Monday and Tuesday were normal, I went to school, it was long, got a lot of homework, etc. I did make a friend at FHE on Monday night though, his English is perfect, so whenever I had a question he could answer it. Tuesday I had to go to a copy shop and photocopy my textbook for the Politik course I'm now taking. Who knew that class would be the most interesting? Seriously, I'm still trying to figure that one out. After class I went to the Mozarthaus Vienna, which is just as worthless as the Mozartgeburthaus. It turns out that there really isn't anything left of Mozart's, so when you go into these museums all you can do is read about their lives, which you can also do on-line for FREE. So I'd say it's definitely not worth the €7 I paid to go in. Afterwards I went into a book store and talked to the cashier. She went through all of the cook books with me and we found one that she said had the most traditional food. Haha, actually just desserts. We didn't look at the rest of it. But it was only €5, and it's the first real thing that I've bought that wasn't food or a post card. I'm living cheaply this time, don't you worry. I'm not repeating Berlin.
Wednesday morning I got up nice and early—so early in fact, that the maid hadn't arrived yet so we got ourselves our own breakfast. We hopped on the bus and started driving. I read a play for my Opera and Theater class that first day on the bus, and we first went to Mauthausen, a former concentration camp. Unfortunately, they had no English translations of anything, and Austrians have a completely different view of the Holocaust than Germans. They see themselves as victims, so they are not quite so sympathetic to Jews, and do not have half of the memorials and museums about the Holocaust that Germany has. I hiked down to the quarry where they had the prisoners working everyday. The average life expectancy working there was only 4-5 months.
We then got back into the bus and drove off to St. Florian, a monastery where Anton Bruckner worked. Apparently he's a really famous musician, and he took his inspiration from the organ there. We went through the whole building, including yet another fabulous library. After the monastery we drove off to Hallstatt, where I roomed with a girl I hadn't paid too much attention to before, and it turns out we get along really well and she's also in German 320, so I'll be hanging out with her in the future.
In Hallstatt we got up early and climbed up to the salt mine there. We had to put on these amazingly hideous suits to enter, and we took a tour. They have chutes to get down into the mine, so we went down several of them. On one of them they take a picture you can buy, and measure how fast you're going. Unfortunately, I didn't go very fast, only 29 kph. Our guide brought a piece of silk to ride on, and he was way faster. That salt mine is the oldest known in the entire world. A couple hundred years ago they found the body of prehistoric miner, so it's been used for thousands of years.
After the salt mine we hiked back down, and then hiked up to a church with a “Bone House.” In Europe land is really expensive, so after you've been buried for a while they dig you up and make room for more people. At this church, they take the bones of the buried up people, and paint on the skulls their name and the years of their life. Don't worry, I found every “Anna” in that room. There were quite a few actually.
I went on a hike with a bunch of people to a gorgeous waterfall, crossing many bridges to get there. On the way back it began to pour, making for a very wet and cold rest of the day. We wandered around the village and saw all of it before leaving that night.
In the evening we drove on to St. Wolfgang, another famous monastery. This one however, has one of the oldest altars, called the Pachar altar. It really was gorgeous, but to give you an idea of how valuable it is, they once lent out one of the figures, just a small, insignificant one from the very bottom out to another church, and insured it for €1,000,000. Just for the one piece. Afterwards we drove on to our hotel in Salzburg.
On Friday morning in Salzburg we met up with our tour guide, Horst. He took us all around the old city, which I have already seen and know. I got to see a bunch of new things though, like another few churches, and the oldest restaurant in the world. The restaurant has been there since 803. Crazy, I know. After the tour my friend Annalise and I took off to hike up to the Schloss. They wouldn't let us get close without paying, and I'd already seen it, so we wandered off into the woods and found an amazing little path back to the city. It was so small, and so hidden from anything, it was really amazing that we found it. I then took her to all of the famous things, like the store where everything is an ornament made out of an ordinary egg shell, but painted so delicately that they're absolutely gorgeous. Then of course there was Mirabell Gardens, some of the older buildings, and the markets.
In the afternoon we drove to Hellbrunn, the palace outside of Salzburg. I'd already been there as well, and as it was rather cold Dr. Brewer told everyone about the trick fountains beforehand. We had thought the tour guide wouldn't spray us as much because of the cold weather. We were wrong. We were all pretty wet and freezing by the end, but it was really pretty, and we found a cool playground in the park afterwards that we thoroughly enjoyed. That evening we drove to Dorfgastein.
Dorfgastein is a tiny village of 700, with most people working outside in bigger cities like Salzburg, as well as running a bed and breakfast in their homes. Everyone has big, tall houses of several stories, and they rent out the top floors to tourists. I'm pretty sure we were the first Americans to be there in many years. Most of the tourists that come are Austrian and German, so almost no one speaks English there. There was no one hotel big enough for all of us to stay, so we spread out across three different bed and breakfasts, on opposite ends of the village. I would love to come back in the winter for skiing. Our first day on Saturday we got up early and took the Lift up to the top of one of the mountains. (Oh, the Dorf is surrounded by the Alps. It's amazing.) We then hiked down to the bottom. As we were hiking through snow, I was wearing three pairs of socks and a plastic bag around each foot. I unluckily discovered in Hallstatt that my shoes get wet very easily. I wish I would have known we would be doing so much hiking, because my hiking boots are in Provo.
On that first hike in the Dorf we stopped by at an Alm, a mountain farm. The Dorf is surrounded by dairy farms, so there were cows EVERYWHERE. I did see an occasional goat though. At the Alm I had my first ever Almdudler, a special soda that they drink in the country in Austria. The man whose house I was living in, Fritz, came with us on the hike. He was amazing. He was seriously half of the charm of Dorfgastein. He speaks so clearly and so slowly so that there is no confusion, as he does not know any English. I begged him to hike all the way down with us, because there were a few of us who didn't want to take the Lift down, and wanted to keep going. We took a cow trail down from the lift, which was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life. My toes were smarting for hours afterwards, with the combination of the 3 pairs of socks, and going downhill so steeply for so long, it was painful.
After the hike, Fritz took us to a soccer game, Dorfgastein versus a neighboring village. His son is the goalkeeper for Dorfgastein, and he had been the coach for 18 years, so it was really funny seeing him get into the game.
Sunday morning we got up nice and early for mass at the one and only church in Dorfgastein. It was Austria's Thanksgiving, (“Erntedank,”) and it was amazing. For Erntedank the farmers and their wives dress in traditional clothes, everyone but us were wearing either Dirndls or Lederhosen. The wives of the farmers even wear these fancy black hats, that they only wear for very important holidays. After the mass there was a parade around the very small town, complete with a band.
After the parade we went to a Restaurant across the street, where everyone had an Austrian salad, and then Wienerschnitzel. That was by far the best Wienerschnitzel I had ever eaten. It was amazing.
Annalise and I broke off from the group and went on an impromptu hike—we were just exploring the village when we found a trail, and we went hiking in church clothes and shoes. After doing the first trail to a waterfall we went back and changed, and took off on another hike. We hiked up to another Alm, and then to Unterberg. We met some of the coolest people hiking up there. Annalise doesn't really speak German, so I had a lot of fun talking to them on my own. People there are so friendly! They were really impressed that we were learning German, and even taught me a few new vocabulary words.
Monday morning the group went on another hike, this time to an Alm where we were to have breakfast. Being the enduring person that I am, I was definitely heading up the group again, and enjoyed a delicious traditional country breakfast. I need to learn the names of what I ate, because it was amazing. After stuffing myself, I lay down for a 10 minute nap while everyone else ate, I hadn't been sleeping well sharing rooms with people for so many nights in a row. After getting back to Dorfgastein, Annalise and I went on the last hike in the town that was less than 3 hours and we hadn't already done.
I walked around the town some more, and then showered and packed. While getting ready to go to the train station we said our last good byes to Fritz. It was so sad. He had been such a big part of our lives for a few days, I wish he was in Vienna with us. He saw us all off at the train station, where we were then forced to sit for 5 hours on the train back to Vienna. I sat there doing homework for hours, and I still hadn't finished all of it for Tuesday, so I stayed up pretty late working on it.
This morning I have a terrible cold—a cold has been going around our entire group, and as it started with my roommate our first week here, I'd been doing a pretty good job staying away from it. Eve the cook made me warm milk and shoved as much bread as she could down my throat to make me feel better, it was really funny, but made me a few minutes late for class.
Austria had their elections this past Sunday, so we had a lot to talk about. I'm telling you, it's crazy learning about these complicated governments, in each country as well as the EU overall. I want to live here. After all of my classes were over I came home and did a few hours of homework. Tante Hannah and Josef fed us dinner tonight, a traditional Austrian meal with a Hungarian dessert. We started out with Carrot/Orange soup, and then had salad with a surprisingly good dressing. Afterwards we had veal and mashed potatoes. The dessert was a cold pudding, with who knows what in it, but it was delicious. We talked with them a lot about our trip, and the current elections. They are very nice people, but I wish we could just sit and talk to them more often, and not only when we are scheduled to have meals with them.
After dinner I made flashcards to study, and as I was returning the scissors Eve cornered me and I ended up talking to her for 45 minutes in the kitchen. Haha, not too much homework was done tonight. I really need to go to bed, I'm ready to collapse and I need to be up early tomorrow for an eventful day.
Love to everyone,
Anna
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Lost in the Opera House
Liebe Familie Sonntag September 21sten, 2008
Ah! I love my life! Once you subtract all of the homework, that is. So, we're traveling so much I'm not sure I'll ever really feel settled down...We're going out of town every few weeks throughout the ENTIRE trip.
Last Thursday I took a tour of the Staatsoper House, at a pleasantly discounted student rate of course. Haha, at the beginning the tour guide instructed us to stay close because it was easy to get lost in the maze of the opera. We listened to many fascinating things about it, how much it cost, that it still requires €5,000,000 annually from the government to stay in business, that the most expensive seats cost €37,000, etc. After wandering around the First District all day, I went and waited in line at the Opera house. I bought my standing room ticket for €4. Four hours later, I had seen “La Juive,” a French Opera (at the Staatsoper they perform everything in its original language, and have a little screen at each place with the option of German or English subtitles,) and my feet were in severe pain. It was a weird, weird opera, and many things are not said in the opera, you have to know them before, so it didn't make any sense at all until I wikipedia-ed it.
Friday morning at 6 I got up and got on the bus to Melk. We visited a monastery there, which was really cool. The library alone is AMAZING. It's covered in books. But yeah, the Monastery used to be a palace way back in the early Middle Ages, but then the ruling family at the time vacated it. However, they still had family graves there, so they gave it to the church under the condition that the monks would continue to care for the graves. The Monastery is still active, as well as the school they have there. How cool is that? The Church was absolutely beautiful too.
After we saw the Monastery, we all rented bikes, and started our 40 kilometer trek to Krems. It was the best three hours of my life. We leisurely rode along, stopping to take pictures VERY often. I want to bike ride across Europe. The bike trail led us through so many little towns that we never would have seen otherwise, and we got to see miles upon miles of the vineyards in-between. Many houses in the little towns had boxes of bags of grapes outside, with a can to put a Euro in, so we bought a bag and they were DELICIOUS. Granted, in Europe all grapes still have the seeds, but they were amazing. I want a vineyard now. We saw millions of window boxes, old, antique doors, beautiful churches, stone bridges, etc. We explored a cemetery, and then an hour later, we hiked up to explore the ruins of a castle. Let me tell you, the hike up to the top was so much fun, with me leading the pack, as I needed no rest. I may breath really heavily, but I am fine and dandy hiking, and don't need those little stops whenever you reach level ground. Bwahaha. I credit my endurance from childhood. So yeah, we saw the dungeon, and loads of rooms you can no longer tell what were used for anymore, etc. Oh wait, there was one bad thing about it; as everyone I'm sure already knows, when you bike for an extended period of time without having done so in many years, your rump tends to get terribly sore, and continues to protest with a lingering pain every time your bottom comes in contact with anything; namely, a chair. Sitting on the bus-ride home from Krems was mildly uncomfortable for everyone.
Saturday I went to Schönbrunn Palace with a bunch of people from our group. Unfortunately, it was yet another rainy day. I personally don't mind, but all but three of us went to a cafe instead of wander the grounds, and with only three people to meander it's not as fun. Who would have known that rainy Saturdays after Tourist Season spark loads of tourists interest in a palace? There were thousands of people there, and we waited in line for nearly a half hour to buy our ticket, and then our ticket was for 2 hours later. Finally entering the palace, it was beautiful of course, just like the Charlottenburg Schloss. Really all throughout Europe they did the same styles and elegance, so it was only mildly interesting to see the expensive things. However, this audio tour had a lot of historical information about the Hapsburgs, which was fun to learn, especially considering all I'd known before was what I'd read in those “diary” books of princesses like Marie Antoinette, and Sisi. But yeah, it was very interesting to learn all about it. Half way through the tour however, the electricity went out, and as most of the rooms contain fragile things that can not come in contact with natural light, the rooms were too dark and you could see nothing. Museum workers went about putting a few flashlights in each room, pointing at things mentioned in the Audio Tour, but you couldn't even tell what color each room was. After about 40 minutes of slowly working my way through the darkened rooms, we made it to the Gift Shop, which of course, had no lack of light. They must not be connected. However, thanks to Jillian, who took forever deciding what to buy for her friends there, we were there when the power came back on, and we went backwards and saw the illuminated rooms.
That night I attended the Burgtheater for the first time to see “Nathan der Weise.” Oh Nathan. What a silly man. He is so clever in the play, but you give a script to an infamously “modern” theater, and they mess it all up. Aside from Sittah, the Sultan's sister, all of the characters were fairly aggravating, and certain actors spoke towards the expensive first few levels, and could not be understood by those in the cheap seats at the top-where I happened to be sitting. Overall it was a good experience though. I'm just trying to figure out what to write my paper on...
This morning was our first time at our new ward. After saving an elderly couple in the U-Bahn this morning, we were running late, and therefore, quite afraid of missing Sacrament. Luckily, Relief Society is first—or should I say, “Frauenhilfsvereinigung.” Haha, I learned that word today, and am quite proud of it. Our ward is nice enough, I only talked to a couple men who are probably mission leaders or something, but next time we're there I'll definitely talk to the other YSA (or JAE) people.
After church I came home to be fed the leftovers of our Guest Parents meal by Eve, the cook. I sincerely doubt that they eat leftovers in this family, so I don't feel bad at all. It just would have been thrown away. We had the most amazing Carameltorte, as well as potatoes and a teensy, weensy piece of meat. Eve (pronounced “Ava”) went on her vacation today, she'll be gone until next Monday in Budapest, her hometown. I cannot describe to you how thrilled she is that we're visiting Budapest. I really wish you could meet her, I really have no idea what words to use about her. She's older, and her German is very limited, and so she repeats the same thing over and over and over again. All I do is say different comments about it every time so that she knows I can understand her. Anyway, I walked her to her train station this afternoon, helping her with her luggage. She had to take a break about every 15 feet. Granted it was uphill, but thank goodness I volunteered—no wonder she was so excited to hear me say that. And in case any of you were worried about me, (which I'm sure you won't), we will have a temporary cook taking her place this next week, so it's not a problem.
Tonight I had my first religion class. It focuses on the history of the Church in German-speaking countries, so we'll have a lot of guest speakers, and it's just a cool place to be. After that class every Sunday night we'll take turns cooking a big meal for everyone, so I am going to be perfectly fine for this food situation. BYU professors are supposed to feed their groups once a week, so Berlin was a lot more expensive and less satisfied due to our lack of meals anywhere.
So yeah. There's the last few days. This next week will be really busy, as I'm traveling to five different cities from Wednesday to Monday, so I won't have computer access.
Viel Spaß!
Deine Anna
On the roof of the Monastery
The library in the monastery. Looks like Beauty and the Beast to me!
I was falling down the wall during this picture, but I kept my poise. Heehee, kudos to me! It's just a little niche in the wall on the bike ride.
In a little village during the biking tour.
Cool scenery throughout the bike ride.
More cool scenery
More of it.
We climbed up to the castle from the bike path, and this is at the top of the castle ruins.
To prove that I really did make it to Krems!
Ah! I love my life! Once you subtract all of the homework, that is. So, we're traveling so much I'm not sure I'll ever really feel settled down...We're going out of town every few weeks throughout the ENTIRE trip.
Last Thursday I took a tour of the Staatsoper House, at a pleasantly discounted student rate of course. Haha, at the beginning the tour guide instructed us to stay close because it was easy to get lost in the maze of the opera. We listened to many fascinating things about it, how much it cost, that it still requires €5,000,000 annually from the government to stay in business, that the most expensive seats cost €37,000, etc. After wandering around the First District all day, I went and waited in line at the Opera house. I bought my standing room ticket for €4. Four hours later, I had seen “La Juive,” a French Opera (at the Staatsoper they perform everything in its original language, and have a little screen at each place with the option of German or English subtitles,) and my feet were in severe pain. It was a weird, weird opera, and many things are not said in the opera, you have to know them before, so it didn't make any sense at all until I wikipedia-ed it.
Friday morning at 6 I got up and got on the bus to Melk. We visited a monastery there, which was really cool. The library alone is AMAZING. It's covered in books. But yeah, the Monastery used to be a palace way back in the early Middle Ages, but then the ruling family at the time vacated it. However, they still had family graves there, so they gave it to the church under the condition that the monks would continue to care for the graves. The Monastery is still active, as well as the school they have there. How cool is that? The Church was absolutely beautiful too.
After we saw the Monastery, we all rented bikes, and started our 40 kilometer trek to Krems. It was the best three hours of my life. We leisurely rode along, stopping to take pictures VERY often. I want to bike ride across Europe. The bike trail led us through so many little towns that we never would have seen otherwise, and we got to see miles upon miles of the vineyards in-between. Many houses in the little towns had boxes of bags of grapes outside, with a can to put a Euro in, so we bought a bag and they were DELICIOUS. Granted, in Europe all grapes still have the seeds, but they were amazing. I want a vineyard now. We saw millions of window boxes, old, antique doors, beautiful churches, stone bridges, etc. We explored a cemetery, and then an hour later, we hiked up to explore the ruins of a castle. Let me tell you, the hike up to the top was so much fun, with me leading the pack, as I needed no rest. I may breath really heavily, but I am fine and dandy hiking, and don't need those little stops whenever you reach level ground. Bwahaha. I credit my endurance from childhood. So yeah, we saw the dungeon, and loads of rooms you can no longer tell what were used for anymore, etc. Oh wait, there was one bad thing about it; as everyone I'm sure already knows, when you bike for an extended period of time without having done so in many years, your rump tends to get terribly sore, and continues to protest with a lingering pain every time your bottom comes in contact with anything; namely, a chair. Sitting on the bus-ride home from Krems was mildly uncomfortable for everyone.
Saturday I went to Schönbrunn Palace with a bunch of people from our group. Unfortunately, it was yet another rainy day. I personally don't mind, but all but three of us went to a cafe instead of wander the grounds, and with only three people to meander it's not as fun. Who would have known that rainy Saturdays after Tourist Season spark loads of tourists interest in a palace? There were thousands of people there, and we waited in line for nearly a half hour to buy our ticket, and then our ticket was for 2 hours later. Finally entering the palace, it was beautiful of course, just like the Charlottenburg Schloss. Really all throughout Europe they did the same styles and elegance, so it was only mildly interesting to see the expensive things. However, this audio tour had a lot of historical information about the Hapsburgs, which was fun to learn, especially considering all I'd known before was what I'd read in those “diary” books of princesses like Marie Antoinette, and Sisi. But yeah, it was very interesting to learn all about it. Half way through the tour however, the electricity went out, and as most of the rooms contain fragile things that can not come in contact with natural light, the rooms were too dark and you could see nothing. Museum workers went about putting a few flashlights in each room, pointing at things mentioned in the Audio Tour, but you couldn't even tell what color each room was. After about 40 minutes of slowly working my way through the darkened rooms, we made it to the Gift Shop, which of course, had no lack of light. They must not be connected. However, thanks to Jillian, who took forever deciding what to buy for her friends there, we were there when the power came back on, and we went backwards and saw the illuminated rooms.
That night I attended the Burgtheater for the first time to see “Nathan der Weise.” Oh Nathan. What a silly man. He is so clever in the play, but you give a script to an infamously “modern” theater, and they mess it all up. Aside from Sittah, the Sultan's sister, all of the characters were fairly aggravating, and certain actors spoke towards the expensive first few levels, and could not be understood by those in the cheap seats at the top-where I happened to be sitting. Overall it was a good experience though. I'm just trying to figure out what to write my paper on...
This morning was our first time at our new ward. After saving an elderly couple in the U-Bahn this morning, we were running late, and therefore, quite afraid of missing Sacrament. Luckily, Relief Society is first—or should I say, “Frauenhilfsvereinigung.” Haha, I learned that word today, and am quite proud of it. Our ward is nice enough, I only talked to a couple men who are probably mission leaders or something, but next time we're there I'll definitely talk to the other YSA (or JAE) people.
After church I came home to be fed the leftovers of our Guest Parents meal by Eve, the cook. I sincerely doubt that they eat leftovers in this family, so I don't feel bad at all. It just would have been thrown away. We had the most amazing Carameltorte, as well as potatoes and a teensy, weensy piece of meat. Eve (pronounced “Ava”) went on her vacation today, she'll be gone until next Monday in Budapest, her hometown. I cannot describe to you how thrilled she is that we're visiting Budapest. I really wish you could meet her, I really have no idea what words to use about her. She's older, and her German is very limited, and so she repeats the same thing over and over and over again. All I do is say different comments about it every time so that she knows I can understand her. Anyway, I walked her to her train station this afternoon, helping her with her luggage. She had to take a break about every 15 feet. Granted it was uphill, but thank goodness I volunteered—no wonder she was so excited to hear me say that. And in case any of you were worried about me, (which I'm sure you won't), we will have a temporary cook taking her place this next week, so it's not a problem.
Tonight I had my first religion class. It focuses on the history of the Church in German-speaking countries, so we'll have a lot of guest speakers, and it's just a cool place to be. After that class every Sunday night we'll take turns cooking a big meal for everyone, so I am going to be perfectly fine for this food situation. BYU professors are supposed to feed their groups once a week, so Berlin was a lot more expensive and less satisfied due to our lack of meals anywhere.
So yeah. There's the last few days. This next week will be really busy, as I'm traveling to five different cities from Wednesday to Monday, so I won't have computer access.
Viel Spaß!
Deine Anna
On the roof of the Monastery
The library in the monastery. Looks like Beauty and the Beast to me!
I was falling down the wall during this picture, but I kept my poise. Heehee, kudos to me! It's just a little niche in the wall on the bike ride.
In a little village during the biking tour.
Cool scenery throughout the bike ride.
More cool scenery
More of it.
We climbed up to the castle from the bike path, and this is at the top of the castle ruins.
To prove that I really did make it to Krems!
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
I've been to Slovakia!
Mittwoch, September 17te 2008
Liebe Familie,
Ah! I adore my life here! It's SO much more organized than Berlin, I love it. Of course, it's a lot of work, but I am enjoying it so immensely. I wish I could stay for winter too...take all of my German classes here instead. After a very long struggle, which included calling Mommy and begging her to decide for me, I decided on taking the Fine Arts class, and the Opera Class. Even though neither will speed my graduation process in the least, there is no where else I could take these classes, so I'm taking them. I will never graduate. Ever.
The most disappointing part of the program is actually the other students. There are far more than I expected who came directly after 101, and I've heard at least 2 say that they have no desire to learn German at all, and only came for the fun experience abroad. Luckily, I'm beginning to make friends in the Institut here, so hopefully after a time I'll be spending most of my weekends with native Austrians.
Our Fine Arts class involves going to loads of museums, we walk around, and take notes as our professor lectures throughout the museum. I've learned so much about Austrian history, it's fascinating. That professor, as well as several other people I've met, whether in a store or at Institut, have complimented me on my German, which of course, makes me feel ridiculously proud of myself. The real problem is that I can speak well, I just have no technical base, I do not know grammar thanks to the lack of it taught in Berlin. I haven't learned German grammar since 102. Ridiculous, I know.
It's a lot more expensive to eat here than Berlin was, so I'm spending more money, but at the same time, the Euro has been better the last week—although it's going to go up in the next week for sure. I cannot get over how dissimilar Berlin and Vienna are from each other! I expected the two countries to be fairly similar, but I think it's more like comparing the U.S.to Mexico (difference wise, not saying that one is poorer than the other) rather than the U.S.to Canada. Of course the food is fairly similar and everything, but Hungary and Austria have had a long connected history, and it really affects Austria, just as being under Communist rule really affected Germany.
I just want to live here my entire life.
I've been pretty busy with classes and homework, so I haven't really seen that much of the city, but I'm going to try to get up early before breakfast tomorrow to go running and explore a bit. In the Fine Arts class we visited the “Wien Museum” yesterday, so I got to see it for free, and it was really interesting. We learned all about the First Turkish Siege, and the Second Turkish Siege. I really wish I was taking the Austrian history class, but the times were just weird and I couldn't really fit into it. Maybe I'll someday be able to do an independent study about Austrian History or something...it's so cool! And living with nobility and all, as well as a Hungarian cook, it'd be cool if I knew more of it.
Last night we had our first meal with our host parents. Haha, I am not sure if I could describe them very accurately. They're ex-aristocrats, who have many friends, and occupy their times throwing parties, attending them, going to the opera, and as extras in films. Because they have loads of time on their hands they are part of a big group of the old nobility here who dress up regularly to be extras in films. One of their films is playing on TV in October, and I REALLY want to see it. Granted, I am FAR more comfortable with Ava, the cook than with them, but they are really very nice people. More of their grandchildren are coming this weekend, and staying in the “Kinderzimmer,” which I didn't even know existed, but sure enough, there's a big room with several beds, and the same antique furnishings that the rest of the apartment has. Our apartment building actually doesn't have very many apartments, if any other than ours. All of the floors below us are businesses, and I've never heard a sound from above, so I'm inclined to think that one is too. But that means I can sleep at night, which I greatly appreciate.
Monday I went to Familie Heim Abend at the Institut. For 2€ we can eat a warm, home-cooked meal, and practice our church vocabulary, and meet other YSA. I adored it, and will definitely be going weekly for all of the Mondays we are in town.
I've read Nathan der Weise again, this time for my Opera/THeater class, and I'll see it on Saturday. My seat was 7€--granted it was in the very back of the theater, but still! That's less than $10.50! Who cares about standing room tickets when you can sit down for a 3-hour long play for about ten bucks?
I've been reading my scriptures in German since I got here, and it's getting much simpler. You know, once you learn to recognize the words “destroyed,” “murmur,” and “obey,” you've got First Nephi covered, which I happen to be in at the moment. Of course it takes MUCH longer to read it than it would otherwise, but I'm really enjoying it, and am determined to keep this up the entire trip. I just want to come here on my mission.
Stake Conference was on Sunday, so I still haven't seen my ward, but we're really excited to on Sunday. I kinda hope I'm asked to speak...I'd get 20 points of extra credit in my conversational class, and it'd be a really good experience. Of course it'd only be about 5 minutes or something, but since I have yet to speak at BYU, it'd be cool if I got to speak in Vienna.
Brother Brewer flew in from military service in the Middle East today, after being there for four months, so we're starting our religion classes this Sunday.
On Saturday we rented a boat on the Donau, so we went paddling around, but it was far too cold to go swimming, and I was one of the few people who didn't bring a swimsuit apparently. Weird, huh? After that we wandered around the Donauinsel, or island. We saw a Triathlon there, and I would so LOVE to do that someday! They were really intense though, they were teams from ALL OVER Europe, no one was speaking German, it was all Polish, and Russian, and French and such. In the night we went on the “Prater,” a humongous Ferris Wheel that is VERY famous, as it's in many films. It was ridiculously expensive, but the rest of the group was doing it, and now I can boast of having ridden on it. Oh well...
Last Friday we spent in Bratislava, a cool city in Slovakia, just an hour's train ride from Vienna. We got lost, so we got to see loads of it. However, I do not recommend Slovakian food to Americans at all. It is so thick, and full of fat, than all of us felt sick after only a few bites. Their “bacon” is about 10% meat, and the rest is fried fat. Their ice cream is cool though. It's really different tasting, but still good. I may perhaps have given in to some ornaments there, but they were cheaper than in Germany anyway, because the Kronen is worth so much less than the Euro. That country is not looking forward to switching to Euros in January...
Ok, I need to finish my homework and go to bed so I'll get up to go running tomorrow, have fun, think of me, and good luck with work and school everyone!
Deine Anna
Crooked picture in front of a church in Bratislava
Hanging out on the City Wall
These random metal figures were all over the city doing different things. This one was probably my favorite though...
Putting on a hat!
At the train station after a very full day, preparing to go back to Vienna.
Liebe Familie,
Ah! I adore my life here! It's SO much more organized than Berlin, I love it. Of course, it's a lot of work, but I am enjoying it so immensely. I wish I could stay for winter too...take all of my German classes here instead. After a very long struggle, which included calling Mommy and begging her to decide for me, I decided on taking the Fine Arts class, and the Opera Class. Even though neither will speed my graduation process in the least, there is no where else I could take these classes, so I'm taking them. I will never graduate. Ever.
The most disappointing part of the program is actually the other students. There are far more than I expected who came directly after 101, and I've heard at least 2 say that they have no desire to learn German at all, and only came for the fun experience abroad. Luckily, I'm beginning to make friends in the Institut here, so hopefully after a time I'll be spending most of my weekends with native Austrians.
Our Fine Arts class involves going to loads of museums, we walk around, and take notes as our professor lectures throughout the museum. I've learned so much about Austrian history, it's fascinating. That professor, as well as several other people I've met, whether in a store or at Institut, have complimented me on my German, which of course, makes me feel ridiculously proud of myself. The real problem is that I can speak well, I just have no technical base, I do not know grammar thanks to the lack of it taught in Berlin. I haven't learned German grammar since 102. Ridiculous, I know.
It's a lot more expensive to eat here than Berlin was, so I'm spending more money, but at the same time, the Euro has been better the last week—although it's going to go up in the next week for sure. I cannot get over how dissimilar Berlin and Vienna are from each other! I expected the two countries to be fairly similar, but I think it's more like comparing the U.S.to Mexico (difference wise, not saying that one is poorer than the other) rather than the U.S.to Canada. Of course the food is fairly similar and everything, but Hungary and Austria have had a long connected history, and it really affects Austria, just as being under Communist rule really affected Germany.
I just want to live here my entire life.
I've been pretty busy with classes and homework, so I haven't really seen that much of the city, but I'm going to try to get up early before breakfast tomorrow to go running and explore a bit. In the Fine Arts class we visited the “Wien Museum” yesterday, so I got to see it for free, and it was really interesting. We learned all about the First Turkish Siege, and the Second Turkish Siege. I really wish I was taking the Austrian history class, but the times were just weird and I couldn't really fit into it. Maybe I'll someday be able to do an independent study about Austrian History or something...it's so cool! And living with nobility and all, as well as a Hungarian cook, it'd be cool if I knew more of it.
Last night we had our first meal with our host parents. Haha, I am not sure if I could describe them very accurately. They're ex-aristocrats, who have many friends, and occupy their times throwing parties, attending them, going to the opera, and as extras in films. Because they have loads of time on their hands they are part of a big group of the old nobility here who dress up regularly to be extras in films. One of their films is playing on TV in October, and I REALLY want to see it. Granted, I am FAR more comfortable with Ava, the cook than with them, but they are really very nice people. More of their grandchildren are coming this weekend, and staying in the “Kinderzimmer,” which I didn't even know existed, but sure enough, there's a big room with several beds, and the same antique furnishings that the rest of the apartment has. Our apartment building actually doesn't have very many apartments, if any other than ours. All of the floors below us are businesses, and I've never heard a sound from above, so I'm inclined to think that one is too. But that means I can sleep at night, which I greatly appreciate.
Monday I went to Familie Heim Abend at the Institut. For 2€ we can eat a warm, home-cooked meal, and practice our church vocabulary, and meet other YSA. I adored it, and will definitely be going weekly for all of the Mondays we are in town.
I've read Nathan der Weise again, this time for my Opera/THeater class, and I'll see it on Saturday. My seat was 7€--granted it was in the very back of the theater, but still! That's less than $10.50! Who cares about standing room tickets when you can sit down for a 3-hour long play for about ten bucks?
I've been reading my scriptures in German since I got here, and it's getting much simpler. You know, once you learn to recognize the words “destroyed,” “murmur,” and “obey,” you've got First Nephi covered, which I happen to be in at the moment. Of course it takes MUCH longer to read it than it would otherwise, but I'm really enjoying it, and am determined to keep this up the entire trip. I just want to come here on my mission.
Stake Conference was on Sunday, so I still haven't seen my ward, but we're really excited to on Sunday. I kinda hope I'm asked to speak...I'd get 20 points of extra credit in my conversational class, and it'd be a really good experience. Of course it'd only be about 5 minutes or something, but since I have yet to speak at BYU, it'd be cool if I got to speak in Vienna.
Brother Brewer flew in from military service in the Middle East today, after being there for four months, so we're starting our religion classes this Sunday.
On Saturday we rented a boat on the Donau, so we went paddling around, but it was far too cold to go swimming, and I was one of the few people who didn't bring a swimsuit apparently. Weird, huh? After that we wandered around the Donauinsel, or island. We saw a Triathlon there, and I would so LOVE to do that someday! They were really intense though, they were teams from ALL OVER Europe, no one was speaking German, it was all Polish, and Russian, and French and such. In the night we went on the “Prater,” a humongous Ferris Wheel that is VERY famous, as it's in many films. It was ridiculously expensive, but the rest of the group was doing it, and now I can boast of having ridden on it. Oh well...
Last Friday we spent in Bratislava, a cool city in Slovakia, just an hour's train ride from Vienna. We got lost, so we got to see loads of it. However, I do not recommend Slovakian food to Americans at all. It is so thick, and full of fat, than all of us felt sick after only a few bites. Their “bacon” is about 10% meat, and the rest is fried fat. Their ice cream is cool though. It's really different tasting, but still good. I may perhaps have given in to some ornaments there, but they were cheaper than in Germany anyway, because the Kronen is worth so much less than the Euro. That country is not looking forward to switching to Euros in January...
Ok, I need to finish my homework and go to bed so I'll get up to go running tomorrow, have fun, think of me, and good luck with work and school everyone!
Deine Anna
Crooked picture in front of a church in Bratislava
Hanging out on the City Wall
These random metal figures were all over the city doing different things. This one was probably my favorite though...
Putting on a hat!
At the train station after a very full day, preparing to go back to Vienna.
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Among the Noble
Liebe Familie, Wednesday September 10th, 2008
You will never guess the things that have happened to me! I was at school all day today, tomorrow I start my first classes, and today I moved in! My Guest parents are of Austro-Hungarian noble families, and we have a chair that belonged to the Crown Prince in the hall. All of the furniture are antiques, and we have to be very careful, as I'm not sure what has been in the family for a long time and what hasn't. I'm scared to death of dropping something on a Persian rug. Anyway, we have a maid/cook who came over from Hungary to work for them, so they'll actually only be speaking to us in German, everyone else will use Hungarian amongst themselves.
But yeah. It's amazing here. The apartment could very well be as big as our house—I'm not certain because I haven't seen the apartment that our host parents live in, I've only seen the rest of it. Two baths, three bedrooms, a dining room, sitting room, kitchen, and then their apartments go along a very long hallway, so it's pretty big. Everything is so expensive looking. But our rooms are the closest to the door, so it's great! Ava, the maid will have breakfast for us at 8:30 every morning, so we'll be forced to get up earlier than we would have otherwise I'm sure. Pretty exciting! Oh, we don't have wireless or the Internet at all, but we do have someone in the area with no password, so we're using it.
Deine Anna
This is what I wake up to every morning. Each day brings a different fruit and place mat, but this is what the breakfast table looks like.
This is one side of my room, and contrary to what you might believe, neither of the maids makes my bed, that's all my doing. Every morning before I go off to school I have to spend 10 minutes tearing everything off and remaking the bed well-enough to pass Tante Hannah's inspection.
The other side of my room. Note the lack of light and the antique furniture.
This is the chair of Crown Prince Rudolf. He was the sole heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne until his tragic suicide with his 17 year old lover so he would not have to go through with the arranged marriage his parents had set up for him.
You will never guess the things that have happened to me! I was at school all day today, tomorrow I start my first classes, and today I moved in! My Guest parents are of Austro-Hungarian noble families, and we have a chair that belonged to the Crown Prince in the hall. All of the furniture are antiques, and we have to be very careful, as I'm not sure what has been in the family for a long time and what hasn't. I'm scared to death of dropping something on a Persian rug. Anyway, we have a maid/cook who came over from Hungary to work for them, so they'll actually only be speaking to us in German, everyone else will use Hungarian amongst themselves.
But yeah. It's amazing here. The apartment could very well be as big as our house—I'm not certain because I haven't seen the apartment that our host parents live in, I've only seen the rest of it. Two baths, three bedrooms, a dining room, sitting room, kitchen, and then their apartments go along a very long hallway, so it's pretty big. Everything is so expensive looking. But our rooms are the closest to the door, so it's great! Ava, the maid will have breakfast for us at 8:30 every morning, so we'll be forced to get up earlier than we would have otherwise I'm sure. Pretty exciting! Oh, we don't have wireless or the Internet at all, but we do have someone in the area with no password, so we're using it.
Deine Anna
This is what I wake up to every morning. Each day brings a different fruit and place mat, but this is what the breakfast table looks like.
This is one side of my room, and contrary to what you might believe, neither of the maids makes my bed, that's all my doing. Every morning before I go off to school I have to spend 10 minutes tearing everything off and remaking the bed well-enough to pass Tante Hannah's inspection.
The other side of my room. Note the lack of light and the antique furniture.
This is the chair of Crown Prince Rudolf. He was the sole heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne until his tragic suicide with his 17 year old lover so he would not have to go through with the arranged marriage his parents had set up for him.
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