Dear Family, Wednesday December 10th 2008
I got up leisurely did some homework, and then was kicked out of my room by the maid. So I then went over to Cindy's, made brownies, did some homework, and did my study group for Art History. Also, Mommy got me an apartment! And I am ridiculously excited and grateful. I think most of my food will be gone by the time I go, I've been shoving food down everyone else's throat for a while now, but it looks as though I'm almost done.
At 2 I went to class, and then afterwards I cleaned up my mess in the kitchen. I came home, did homework for a few hours, and then went to my last ever Institut. It was so sad. I brought brownies to some of my friends there, using those dollar store Tupperware I had brought with me, so I won't have to throw those away. I talked to Austrians for a while, and then rushed home to do some homework, listen to “Rebecca” (I got the music today!) and I'm about to begin on my Politics paper. I know, I know, I have not yet finished it, but I have so much homework that by the time I finish that homework, it's really late and I need to go to bed. Wish me luck on my paper!
Love,
Anna
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Life with The Princess
Dear Family, Tuesday December 9th 2008
I got up, went to four hours of class, and then made lunch. I had to eat my hot, hot soup in 10 minutes because we went to a museum for our last day of Fine Arts, which was unexpected. I burnt my tongue about 15 times in those 10 minutes, and my tongue is still smarting. We went to the Carriage Museum, which actually has a lot of Sisi and other Habsburg stuff, so it was really interesting. Afterwards I went to Stephansdom and climbed the tower there. The view is not very good, it's not an open tower like most, it's just a room with a gift shop in it.
Climbing down we passed a two year-old who was 8 steps into it, there with his grandmother. There are about 350 steps to that tower. I hope they made it. I then went back to school and took care of business and some homework. I went grocery shopping, going to several stores to see the sales, and also stopped at H&M. Yep, I finally went there. I have not been there at all this semester, but I found a really cheap sweater that I'm excited about. Other than that and my soccer jersey I have not bought any articles of clothing here—only accessories like scarves. And hats. And that's about it Oh! I do have some sweet mittons/gloves. They're pretty exciting. And entertaining at the same time.
Dinner with my host family was at 7, and there was a little bit of drama because Josef's son has been staying with us for about a week, and he was supposed to be here for several more weeks. However, he apparently reconciled with his wife (if I understood the phone conversation Tante Hanna had correctly) and just took off today. I think Tante Hanna was pretty offended. We had a pleasant conversation, and then afterwards we were able to ask loads more personal questions than ever before. It turns out that Tante Hanna was born a Countess, but then married a Prince, so she is considered a princess. They divorced after having five children, and then she married the man her name comes from, Bernthaler. He died about 20 years ago, and then she married Josef.
Josef on the other hand, married an American, they divorced, he married a German, they divorced, and now he's married to Tante Hanna. I had no idea! I had just assumed that they had just had a lot of spouses die, but Tante Hanna's Prince of an ex-husband lives only a few streets away and they're still good friends. And all of the Habsburgs things stayed with her. Including the 60 pieces of heirloom jewelry that was stolen a while back when their apartment was robbed. Josef hasn't actually lived in Vienna all that long, he was born in Hungary like Tante Hanna, both fled to Vienna during the transition between the Second World War and the Communists, but then Josef went on to Germany and Italy with his first two wives, and Hanna stayed here. It's so weird to think of a life like that.
Anyway, I was interested in their opinions about recent Austrian history, so we ended up talking for an hour after dinner, without me realizing. So I am now bunkering down to do homework for a few hours. I only have two more days to study before my exams, and I still have a lot to write on my politics paper....
Love,
Anna
I got up, went to four hours of class, and then made lunch. I had to eat my hot, hot soup in 10 minutes because we went to a museum for our last day of Fine Arts, which was unexpected. I burnt my tongue about 15 times in those 10 minutes, and my tongue is still smarting. We went to the Carriage Museum, which actually has a lot of Sisi and other Habsburg stuff, so it was really interesting. Afterwards I went to Stephansdom and climbed the tower there. The view is not very good, it's not an open tower like most, it's just a room with a gift shop in it.
Climbing down we passed a two year-old who was 8 steps into it, there with his grandmother. There are about 350 steps to that tower. I hope they made it. I then went back to school and took care of business and some homework. I went grocery shopping, going to several stores to see the sales, and also stopped at H&M. Yep, I finally went there. I have not been there at all this semester, but I found a really cheap sweater that I'm excited about. Other than that and my soccer jersey I have not bought any articles of clothing here—only accessories like scarves. And hats. And that's about it Oh! I do have some sweet mittons/gloves. They're pretty exciting. And entertaining at the same time.
Dinner with my host family was at 7, and there was a little bit of drama because Josef's son has been staying with us for about a week, and he was supposed to be here for several more weeks. However, he apparently reconciled with his wife (if I understood the phone conversation Tante Hanna had correctly) and just took off today. I think Tante Hanna was pretty offended. We had a pleasant conversation, and then afterwards we were able to ask loads more personal questions than ever before. It turns out that Tante Hanna was born a Countess, but then married a Prince, so she is considered a princess. They divorced after having five children, and then she married the man her name comes from, Bernthaler. He died about 20 years ago, and then she married Josef.
Josef on the other hand, married an American, they divorced, he married a German, they divorced, and now he's married to Tante Hanna. I had no idea! I had just assumed that they had just had a lot of spouses die, but Tante Hanna's Prince of an ex-husband lives only a few streets away and they're still good friends. And all of the Habsburgs things stayed with her. Including the 60 pieces of heirloom jewelry that was stolen a while back when their apartment was robbed. Josef hasn't actually lived in Vienna all that long, he was born in Hungary like Tante Hanna, both fled to Vienna during the transition between the Second World War and the Communists, but then Josef went on to Germany and Italy with his first two wives, and Hanna stayed here. It's so weird to think of a life like that.
Anyway, I was interested in their opinions about recent Austrian history, so we ended up talking for an hour after dinner, without me realizing. So I am now bunkering down to do homework for a few hours. I only have two more days to study before my exams, and I still have a lot to write on my politics paper....
Love,
Anna
Monday, 8 December 2008
Götterdämmerung is a no-go
Dear Family, Monday, December 8th 2008
Today was a national holiday, so I had no school. It was great! I got up, talked to my flatmates for an hour or so, had breakfast, did a little bit of homework, and then went on the Christmas market circuit. Christmas markets have been very disappointing here, only that they do not have very many things that are different from the Germany ones, and the few things they don't have that Germany does, I wanted to buy more of, so I'm going to have some pretty empty suitcases (comparatively) coming home. So I just walked around Christmas markets and went to an open air old book market. I found one book I was interested in, and bought it for the hefty sum of 1€.
After the Christmas markets we came to my street and checked out the sales there, and surprisingly I found nothing. I don't know what's wrong, I'm just not having much luck shopping here, in any respect.
Around 4 Willow and I extracted ourselves from our group and went to the Staatsoper to try to get tickets to “Götterdämmerung.” I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's a 15 hour opera they do in three segments, and we tried to go to the first segment. Unfortunately they were sold out, so then we came to my apartment, did a bit of homework and went to FHE.
Not that many YSA people are there, as it's nearly Christmas, so everyone's out of town or really busy with classes at the moment. It's kind of sad—I really hope everyone comes on Wednesday and next Monday, because I need to say goodbye to everyone!
I am now at home, and bunkering down to study my brain out right now. I have loads of homework due tomorrow, and a goal to have my politics paper finished by tomorrow at 8:30. That way I can stop thinking about it and focus on studying for my other classes.
I will have internet at school tomorrow!
Love,
Anna
Today was a national holiday, so I had no school. It was great! I got up, talked to my flatmates for an hour or so, had breakfast, did a little bit of homework, and then went on the Christmas market circuit. Christmas markets have been very disappointing here, only that they do not have very many things that are different from the Germany ones, and the few things they don't have that Germany does, I wanted to buy more of, so I'm going to have some pretty empty suitcases (comparatively) coming home. So I just walked around Christmas markets and went to an open air old book market. I found one book I was interested in, and bought it for the hefty sum of 1€.
After the Christmas markets we came to my street and checked out the sales there, and surprisingly I found nothing. I don't know what's wrong, I'm just not having much luck shopping here, in any respect.
Around 4 Willow and I extracted ourselves from our group and went to the Staatsoper to try to get tickets to “Götterdämmerung.” I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's a 15 hour opera they do in three segments, and we tried to go to the first segment. Unfortunately they were sold out, so then we came to my apartment, did a bit of homework and went to FHE.
Not that many YSA people are there, as it's nearly Christmas, so everyone's out of town or really busy with classes at the moment. It's kind of sad—I really hope everyone comes on Wednesday and next Monday, because I need to say goodbye to everyone!
I am now at home, and bunkering down to study my brain out right now. I have loads of homework due tomorrow, and a goal to have my politics paper finished by tomorrow at 8:30. That way I can stop thinking about it and focus on studying for my other classes.
I will have internet at school tomorrow!
Love,
Anna
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Fast Sonntag
Dear Family, Sunday December 7th 2008
I went to my second-to-last day of church today, only to find the Bishop and his wife canceling on me again for the Interview, so for the fifth week in a row I had no one. However, the paper was due today, so I HAD to do an interview that day. I found a guy after church, and interviewed him instead. However, he was a man, and his wife was at home with the sick baby, so his answers were very short, concise, and he didn't really help out at all. It wasn't a conversation, it was definitely a “give the shortest answers possible.” So yeah, writing the paper is a teensy bit difficult at the moment. I do not have enough information to fill 7 pages. Church was good. Nearly none of the BYU students were there, they all went to the international ward today, so there were only four of us. I am pretty sure it will break my heart next week to say good bye to everyone.
There is a sister here who I met in a class last winter, and she had gone on the Vienna study abroad, so I am hoping against hope that I come here on my mission. I love Austria!
After church I ran home and just did all of my religion reading from 1 until 6, right when class started. Due to scheduling conflicts our speaker from this week had to postpone until next week, so we did our end of semester testimony meeting tonight. It was great, there were loads of stories told about how and why people came to Vienna, but if you looked beyond that the testimonies were really good. Afterwards we had dinner, which I was doing great. Fasting was really not hard at all this time round, any time I thought of eating food, as it's a perfectly natural reaction when one is hungry, I just remembered about what I was fasting, and was golden. I could have gone for another day with food or water, it was amazing.
I stayed after dinner and tried to find housing. I e-mailed about 10 girls from three ideal apartment complexes and have to wait until Tuesday to be able to check my e-mail, as that is the next time I have Internet.
Ok, I'm going to bed really early tonight so I can get up and finish my politics paper in the morning before going Christmas market hunting.
Good night!
Anna
8 more days
I went to my second-to-last day of church today, only to find the Bishop and his wife canceling on me again for the Interview, so for the fifth week in a row I had no one. However, the paper was due today, so I HAD to do an interview that day. I found a guy after church, and interviewed him instead. However, he was a man, and his wife was at home with the sick baby, so his answers were very short, concise, and he didn't really help out at all. It wasn't a conversation, it was definitely a “give the shortest answers possible.” So yeah, writing the paper is a teensy bit difficult at the moment. I do not have enough information to fill 7 pages. Church was good. Nearly none of the BYU students were there, they all went to the international ward today, so there were only four of us. I am pretty sure it will break my heart next week to say good bye to everyone.
There is a sister here who I met in a class last winter, and she had gone on the Vienna study abroad, so I am hoping against hope that I come here on my mission. I love Austria!
After church I ran home and just did all of my religion reading from 1 until 6, right when class started. Due to scheduling conflicts our speaker from this week had to postpone until next week, so we did our end of semester testimony meeting tonight. It was great, there were loads of stories told about how and why people came to Vienna, but if you looked beyond that the testimonies were really good. Afterwards we had dinner, which I was doing great. Fasting was really not hard at all this time round, any time I thought of eating food, as it's a perfectly natural reaction when one is hungry, I just remembered about what I was fasting, and was golden. I could have gone for another day with food or water, it was amazing.
I stayed after dinner and tried to find housing. I e-mailed about 10 girls from three ideal apartment complexes and have to wait until Tuesday to be able to check my e-mail, as that is the next time I have Internet.
Ok, I'm going to bed really early tonight so I can get up and finish my politics paper in the morning before going Christmas market hunting.
Good night!
Anna
8 more days
Saturday, 6 December 2008
St. Nikolaus is coming to town!
Dear Family, Saturday, December 6th 2008
Shoving things in as fast as possible! I got up and went to the Naschmarkt to see the flea market there. It was pretty dirty. I felt pretty gross afterwards, and did not enjoy all of the smoke that surrounds it. I did find a pretty cool scarf though! I don't know why I've been buying scarves elsewhere, because they're so cheap at the Naschmarkt!
I then ran off to the Kunst Historiches Museum for the umpteenth time, this time to see the newly unveiled Saliere. It is a very fancy, expensive salt and pepper shaker that was a gift from somewhere like France to the Emperor in Austria. A few years ago a guy who worked at a security company came to the museum, saw that the security wasn't that good, and came back on the Long Night of Museums and stole it. He then dug a hole and hid it in a forest. They finally caught him last year when he tried to sell it, and in return for a shorter sentence he told them where it was hidden. They've spent the last year going over it milimeter by milimeter to check and make sure everything is ok, and to restore a hand or something on the statue. They unveiled it Monday to an Imperial audience, and the museum was opened to the public on Tuesday again. We didn't have a chance to go until today, and needless to say, the piece has much better security now.
Afterwards we ran off to the Museum of Applied Arts, which is free on Saturdays. It was kind of weird, but enjoyable nonetheless. Seeing how early it still was, we hopped on the U-Bahn and went to Alte Donau to climb the Donauturm. It's just as hideous as the Fernsehturm in Berlin is, and the Restaurant is even more expensive. However, the Restaurant and Cafe were completely booked, so we left and found lunch at a street vendor.
Willow and I talked for an hour, and then I had to go to my host family's party. Josef dressed up as St. Nikolaus, and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. He handed out presents to everyone, and so my flat-mates and I got chocolate in the shape of St. Nikolaus. The bad guy, who comes along and whips bad children is called “Krampus.” He does not bring coal, just a whip. I thought it was pretty funny. I'm definitely thinking about doing St. Nikolaus instead of Santa Claus when I grow up...but I do really like stockings.
My flat-mate Kristin and I didn't really want to talk to the the others as much, as it was a family party, so we left after the presents were handed out and everyone left the sitting room. However, our family was really offended that we didn't talk to anyone else and we were told off afterwards. I thought it was respectful to let the family talk amongst themselves, but apparently not. Whoops!
I am currently taking a break from writing my paper, which I am doing great on. I've gotten really far in the past hour and have really gotten into a groove of reading, paraphrasing, writing, and such. It is going miraculously well, and hopefully I can have Cindy read over it tomorrow, and turn it in on Tuesday so I can just concentrate on studying for all of my finals, which happen to all be this Friday, the day the paper is due. It's kind of a difficult topic, but not too bad, and I really think I can do it! Aside from the paper and the finals, I still have loads of other homework, so once again, I will be doing a lot of it tomorrow. I feel so bad, but if I want to be able to finish my cultural list I have to be out and about during the day to get more done, instead of sitting at home and doing homework. Hopefully I can complete everything in time.
Can I just say how excited I am to have Internet tomorrow night? I was so used to it, and now I suddenly have to wait until I'm at school or Cindy's to use Internet, just like Berlin...it was just so abrupt. I had no time to say good-bye! However, I shall be reunited with my e-mail and my housing dilemma tomorrow afternoon, and am looking forward to it!
Love,
Anna
Shoving things in as fast as possible! I got up and went to the Naschmarkt to see the flea market there. It was pretty dirty. I felt pretty gross afterwards, and did not enjoy all of the smoke that surrounds it. I did find a pretty cool scarf though! I don't know why I've been buying scarves elsewhere, because they're so cheap at the Naschmarkt!
I then ran off to the Kunst Historiches Museum for the umpteenth time, this time to see the newly unveiled Saliere. It is a very fancy, expensive salt and pepper shaker that was a gift from somewhere like France to the Emperor in Austria. A few years ago a guy who worked at a security company came to the museum, saw that the security wasn't that good, and came back on the Long Night of Museums and stole it. He then dug a hole and hid it in a forest. They finally caught him last year when he tried to sell it, and in return for a shorter sentence he told them where it was hidden. They've spent the last year going over it milimeter by milimeter to check and make sure everything is ok, and to restore a hand or something on the statue. They unveiled it Monday to an Imperial audience, and the museum was opened to the public on Tuesday again. We didn't have a chance to go until today, and needless to say, the piece has much better security now.
Afterwards we ran off to the Museum of Applied Arts, which is free on Saturdays. It was kind of weird, but enjoyable nonetheless. Seeing how early it still was, we hopped on the U-Bahn and went to Alte Donau to climb the Donauturm. It's just as hideous as the Fernsehturm in Berlin is, and the Restaurant is even more expensive. However, the Restaurant and Cafe were completely booked, so we left and found lunch at a street vendor.
Willow and I talked for an hour, and then I had to go to my host family's party. Josef dressed up as St. Nikolaus, and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. He handed out presents to everyone, and so my flat-mates and I got chocolate in the shape of St. Nikolaus. The bad guy, who comes along and whips bad children is called “Krampus.” He does not bring coal, just a whip. I thought it was pretty funny. I'm definitely thinking about doing St. Nikolaus instead of Santa Claus when I grow up...but I do really like stockings.
My flat-mate Kristin and I didn't really want to talk to the the others as much, as it was a family party, so we left after the presents were handed out and everyone left the sitting room. However, our family was really offended that we didn't talk to anyone else and we were told off afterwards. I thought it was respectful to let the family talk amongst themselves, but apparently not. Whoops!
I am currently taking a break from writing my paper, which I am doing great on. I've gotten really far in the past hour and have really gotten into a groove of reading, paraphrasing, writing, and such. It is going miraculously well, and hopefully I can have Cindy read over it tomorrow, and turn it in on Tuesday so I can just concentrate on studying for all of my finals, which happen to all be this Friday, the day the paper is due. It's kind of a difficult topic, but not too bad, and I really think I can do it! Aside from the paper and the finals, I still have loads of other homework, so once again, I will be doing a lot of it tomorrow. I feel so bad, but if I want to be able to finish my cultural list I have to be out and about during the day to get more done, instead of sitting at home and doing homework. Hopefully I can complete everything in time.
Can I just say how excited I am to have Internet tomorrow night? I was so used to it, and now I suddenly have to wait until I'm at school or Cindy's to use Internet, just like Berlin...it was just so abrupt. I had no time to say good-bye! However, I shall be reunited with my e-mail and my housing dilemma tomorrow afternoon, and am looking forward to it!
Love,
Anna
Friday, 5 December 2008
I LOVE the Count!
Dear Family, Friday December 5th 2008
I went to a review for Art History first thing in the morning, and stayed there until I had lunch with my host family at 1.
After lunch I ran off to a Christmas Market with Willow, then to a second hand store. I found a maybe for a Dirndl. It definitely isn't traditional though...so we'll see if I can find anything better.
We sprinted off to the Opera House afterwards, and got in line for the standing room tickets. While in line we studied vocabulary and planned out the next 11 days of my life. There is way too much to shove into 11 days, so we cut the list in half, and then again, and then again, and then again. I only have three more days of school, but then I have finals, and a final paper, so I'm going to be booked with homework (get it?) until next Friday, and then I only have three days left, but really two because Sunday doesn't really count as a day. I am very stressed out about this.
We saw “The Barber of Seville” tonight. It was amazing. Definitely my favorite opera. I am so glad I finally decided to go—I was really tired, I have a lot of homework, and I have so much to do. I had been so tempted to just turn in early, but I do not regret it at all. Everyone sang amazingly, the set was mind-boggling, and I was laughing so hard throughout the entire performance. The Count was so funny and sang so well, he was ridiculously attractive. I really wish I had looked up the plot before I went, but I understood everything that was going on, so it doesn't really matter all that much I guess. Anyway, if you ever get the chance to go to “Barber of Seville” for €4, it is well worth your money. Just wait until I get home and can do impersonations of some of those characters for you! Oh, and just to get you excited about it; it involved LOADS of hand expressions.
Love,
Anna
P.S. May I also mention that I have worn holes in the bottoms of 5 socks now? It's getting slightly ridiculous. I don't feel like I walk that much at all, but could it really be my shoes? One of the socks was pretty close to new. It's so strange! I come home, and realize why the bottom of my foot was slightly uncomfortable for half of the day. Weird.
I went to a review for Art History first thing in the morning, and stayed there until I had lunch with my host family at 1.
After lunch I ran off to a Christmas Market with Willow, then to a second hand store. I found a maybe for a Dirndl. It definitely isn't traditional though...so we'll see if I can find anything better.
We sprinted off to the Opera House afterwards, and got in line for the standing room tickets. While in line we studied vocabulary and planned out the next 11 days of my life. There is way too much to shove into 11 days, so we cut the list in half, and then again, and then again, and then again. I only have three more days of school, but then I have finals, and a final paper, so I'm going to be booked with homework (get it?) until next Friday, and then I only have three days left, but really two because Sunday doesn't really count as a day. I am very stressed out about this.
We saw “The Barber of Seville” tonight. It was amazing. Definitely my favorite opera. I am so glad I finally decided to go—I was really tired, I have a lot of homework, and I have so much to do. I had been so tempted to just turn in early, but I do not regret it at all. Everyone sang amazingly, the set was mind-boggling, and I was laughing so hard throughout the entire performance. The Count was so funny and sang so well, he was ridiculously attractive. I really wish I had looked up the plot before I went, but I understood everything that was going on, so it doesn't really matter all that much I guess. Anyway, if you ever get the chance to go to “Barber of Seville” for €4, it is well worth your money. Just wait until I get home and can do impersonations of some of those characters for you! Oh, and just to get you excited about it; it involved LOADS of hand expressions.
Love,
Anna
P.S. May I also mention that I have worn holes in the bottoms of 5 socks now? It's getting slightly ridiculous. I don't feel like I walk that much at all, but could it really be my shoes? One of the socks was pretty close to new. It's so strange! I come home, and realize why the bottom of my foot was slightly uncomfortable for half of the day. Weird.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
My Grandmother could have sent that package!
Dear Family, Thursday December 4th 2008
This morning I woke up to the great drilling noises of construction workers on the floor below. I got up, did 5, count em'! 5 push ups, got ready for school, and went to breakfast. Josef's son is staying with us for quite some time apparently, so I had breakfast with him. He talked a lot about his ridiculously diverse family I knew nothing about. It turns out that he grew up in Italy, his mother was British/American, and when his parents got divorced Josef came back to Austria, and he went to Hungary. So he speaks four languages fluently, considers English his mother tongue and German his father tongue. At the very end of breakfast he suddenly remembered a box that his grandfather had that was a Mormon Care Package. He said he used some of the things in there for years afterwards, such as the razor. He said they were great quality. His grandfather had received it while living in Hungary, so I told him about the care packages we do today, and that also European Mormons sent care packages, so it could have been from Denmark. In one of our religion books we read about a church leader going to Denmark after the war. He noticed that the members of the church there were just as hateful towards Germans as other Danish, so to change that he started them on a 20-year-mission, to send as many care packages as possible to the Germans. That changed really fast, they were able to forgive Germany quite quickly after that. Grandma could have sent that package!
I ran off to two second hand stores with my friends, found nothing, went off to class, got some more reimbursement money from my cultural activities, and learned about the very fast, busy, and stressful end of the program. We will receive €15 from the Institut after we de-register with the city, to be used towards transportation to the airport, so I'll have even more money. It's great, due to the wonderful exchange rate, I got so much of the money paid over the summer back. Overall, Cindy has given us €355, which is even more considering we did not have to pay the conversion fee, or the ATM fees for that. Overall it's been an amazingly lucky experience. I am loving having plenty of money for next semester.
Still trying to find housing, but I have some friends working on it, as well as Mark, so hopefully I'll have something by next week. After class I wandered around looking for a mysterious Christmas market, didn't find it, bought some Gelato, and then went back to the Institut to study. All of the studying paid off, as I rocked the test.
After class I dropped my stuff off at home, and then went to that fresh soup and salad place, and tried the carrot orange soup. It was great, I didn't really taste any oranges though, mostly carrots. Afterwards we went and got ice cream again, and then I came back home to do homework. Life is great, stressful, everything is ending so fast which is terribly sad, but I'm excited for Christmas!
Love,
Anna
This morning I woke up to the great drilling noises of construction workers on the floor below. I got up, did 5, count em'! 5 push ups, got ready for school, and went to breakfast. Josef's son is staying with us for quite some time apparently, so I had breakfast with him. He talked a lot about his ridiculously diverse family I knew nothing about. It turns out that he grew up in Italy, his mother was British/American, and when his parents got divorced Josef came back to Austria, and he went to Hungary. So he speaks four languages fluently, considers English his mother tongue and German his father tongue. At the very end of breakfast he suddenly remembered a box that his grandfather had that was a Mormon Care Package. He said he used some of the things in there for years afterwards, such as the razor. He said they were great quality. His grandfather had received it while living in Hungary, so I told him about the care packages we do today, and that also European Mormons sent care packages, so it could have been from Denmark. In one of our religion books we read about a church leader going to Denmark after the war. He noticed that the members of the church there were just as hateful towards Germans as other Danish, so to change that he started them on a 20-year-mission, to send as many care packages as possible to the Germans. That changed really fast, they were able to forgive Germany quite quickly after that. Grandma could have sent that package!
I ran off to two second hand stores with my friends, found nothing, went off to class, got some more reimbursement money from my cultural activities, and learned about the very fast, busy, and stressful end of the program. We will receive €15 from the Institut after we de-register with the city, to be used towards transportation to the airport, so I'll have even more money. It's great, due to the wonderful exchange rate, I got so much of the money paid over the summer back. Overall, Cindy has given us €355, which is even more considering we did not have to pay the conversion fee, or the ATM fees for that. Overall it's been an amazingly lucky experience. I am loving having plenty of money for next semester.
Still trying to find housing, but I have some friends working on it, as well as Mark, so hopefully I'll have something by next week. After class I wandered around looking for a mysterious Christmas market, didn't find it, bought some Gelato, and then went back to the Institut to study. All of the studying paid off, as I rocked the test.
After class I dropped my stuff off at home, and then went to that fresh soup and salad place, and tried the carrot orange soup. It was great, I didn't really taste any oranges though, mostly carrots. Afterwards we went and got ice cream again, and then I came back home to do homework. Life is great, stressful, everything is ending so fast which is terribly sad, but I'm excited for Christmas!
Love,
Anna
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Visiting Linz
Dear Family, Wednesday, December 3rd 2008
I got up early this morning, went to the train station, and finally used the last day on the Eurail pass to go to Linz. I didn't have to spend an extra penny going, and class was canceled today, so it seemed like the perfect time. As it was the middle of the week there were not very many tourists, and I loved that. When we were in Dresden the Christmas Markets were packed, so it was so hard and time-consuming to see any of the cool booths.
After studying a bit of German on the train there, Willow and I walked around. We saw the Mariendom, which is really pretty. It looks a lot like the Dom in Cologne, the same set up, and such. When we went inside we discovered the crypts, and as no one else was down there wandered around a bunch. They had this really big, intricate Nativity set up, but it was impossible to get a picture of the entire thing all-together, because of the columns.
We then went to the Karlemiter Kirche, but there was a mass going on, so instead we walked down that street. We made it to the Donau, and went to the Neues Rathaus (a modern building, surprisingly enough. Usually the Rathaus, both old and new ones are very pretty, old-fashioned buildings. This one was not,) and on to the Poestlingbergbahn Museum. The Poestlingberg is a fortress on a hill that you can look down on Linz from, and at the museum you board the train and go there. The museum was closed, as it's only open on the weekends, and there was so much construction going on on the railroad tracks, that I'm not sure the trains were going at all. So we walked back.
We happened upon several second-hand stores and Christmas markets on the way back, and definitely took advantage of them. I still have not found the perfect Dirndl for the right price. I stupidly didn't put any extra money in my pocket this morning, so when I found the perfect Dirndl today I didn't have enough money. But it wasn't at a second hand store, it was at a real store on the clearance rack. I wonder if I can find any of those in Vienna? Everything here is so expensive though, I think I missed my golden opportunity. If only I'd had the money on me!
We took our time going through the markets, I've been trying out different treats to see which ones to take home, so I was stuffed full of sweets. We then decided to go back to Vienna, and walked to the train station. We arrived at the train station when our train was supposed to depart, but it was 10 minutes late, so it worked out perfectly. We hopped on, got back to Vienna, dropped off our purchases, and met Marinda and Lisa at another Christmas Market in Vienna. Still didn't find anything there, so we then played on a great playground until it was time to go to Institut.
Our Institut class went over a half hour, which was particularly painful, and then for dinner we had this great goulasch. There are not many Austrians here this week, lots of people are out of town or too busy with school, there isn't really a holiday right now. I don't know why they're gone.
The Internet disappeared sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning, because when my roommates tried it on Tuesday morning it didn't work. We still don't have it, and I think the business we used to steal it from has changed their Internet or something. At first I had thought that the construction workers had accidentally cut a wire or something, but if it isn't fixed by now, I don't think I'll have Internet again for the rest of the trip. It's kind of unfortunate, because I really need to figure out my housing...Wish me luck!
Anna
12 days left
P.S. My first aid kit has now served me for the first time in Europe, ever. Turns out that when you try to open up a pocket knife and it refuses to open, you should leave it alone, because next thing you know, you could be bleeding all over. This band aid is working out well, and I still have a weeks worth left in there, so I should be fine. Mommy is a genius!
I got up early this morning, went to the train station, and finally used the last day on the Eurail pass to go to Linz. I didn't have to spend an extra penny going, and class was canceled today, so it seemed like the perfect time. As it was the middle of the week there were not very many tourists, and I loved that. When we were in Dresden the Christmas Markets were packed, so it was so hard and time-consuming to see any of the cool booths.
After studying a bit of German on the train there, Willow and I walked around. We saw the Mariendom, which is really pretty. It looks a lot like the Dom in Cologne, the same set up, and such. When we went inside we discovered the crypts, and as no one else was down there wandered around a bunch. They had this really big, intricate Nativity set up, but it was impossible to get a picture of the entire thing all-together, because of the columns.
We then went to the Karlemiter Kirche, but there was a mass going on, so instead we walked down that street. We made it to the Donau, and went to the Neues Rathaus (a modern building, surprisingly enough. Usually the Rathaus, both old and new ones are very pretty, old-fashioned buildings. This one was not,) and on to the Poestlingbergbahn Museum. The Poestlingberg is a fortress on a hill that you can look down on Linz from, and at the museum you board the train and go there. The museum was closed, as it's only open on the weekends, and there was so much construction going on on the railroad tracks, that I'm not sure the trains were going at all. So we walked back.
We happened upon several second-hand stores and Christmas markets on the way back, and definitely took advantage of them. I still have not found the perfect Dirndl for the right price. I stupidly didn't put any extra money in my pocket this morning, so when I found the perfect Dirndl today I didn't have enough money. But it wasn't at a second hand store, it was at a real store on the clearance rack. I wonder if I can find any of those in Vienna? Everything here is so expensive though, I think I missed my golden opportunity. If only I'd had the money on me!
We took our time going through the markets, I've been trying out different treats to see which ones to take home, so I was stuffed full of sweets. We then decided to go back to Vienna, and walked to the train station. We arrived at the train station when our train was supposed to depart, but it was 10 minutes late, so it worked out perfectly. We hopped on, got back to Vienna, dropped off our purchases, and met Marinda and Lisa at another Christmas Market in Vienna. Still didn't find anything there, so we then played on a great playground until it was time to go to Institut.
Our Institut class went over a half hour, which was particularly painful, and then for dinner we had this great goulasch. There are not many Austrians here this week, lots of people are out of town or too busy with school, there isn't really a holiday right now. I don't know why they're gone.
The Internet disappeared sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning, because when my roommates tried it on Tuesday morning it didn't work. We still don't have it, and I think the business we used to steal it from has changed their Internet or something. At first I had thought that the construction workers had accidentally cut a wire or something, but if it isn't fixed by now, I don't think I'll have Internet again for the rest of the trip. It's kind of unfortunate, because I really need to figure out my housing...Wish me luck!
Anna
12 days left
P.S. My first aid kit has now served me for the first time in Europe, ever. Turns out that when you try to open up a pocket knife and it refuses to open, you should leave it alone, because next thing you know, you could be bleeding all over. This band aid is working out well, and I still have a weeks worth left in there, so I should be fine. Mommy is a genius!
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
The Internet Disappeared
Dear Family, Tuesday December 2nd 2008
Woke up at the crack of dawn, and went off to school. I made lunch in between classes, and basically sat around trying to find housing every free minute. I'm beginning to get a bit anxious about housing...but I'm sure it'll all work out. If worse comes to worse I could just live far away from campus where all of the openings are.
After classes I went out to a second hand store with Annalise and Willow, and we didn't find anything. We then went through three Christmas Markets in quick succession, none of them being very fruitful. Willow and I did buy matching hats and gloves though, they're pretty sweet. I'm excited to wear them at home. They have fleece lining so they're really warm.
When we finished up I went back home to have lunch with my host family, where I then sat there for 2 hours, and had a pleasant conversation the entire time. Weird, huh? The entire thing was just them asking us questions, telling us a few German hints that are pretty useful, etc. Dinner was really good, but dessert was AMAZING. Eva is a fabulous cook.
We have lost the Internet here, I think the construction workers outside must have cut off a wire or something, so I'm using this opportunity to get loads done without the Internet. At first it was a total pain, as I was planning on starting my Politics paper, which I need to do research for. But now I'm just going to catch up on other classes and go to bed early for my big day tomorrow.
I'm going to Linz with my friend Willow, it's only an hour and a half away, so we're going to be gone for only 12 hours. We'll go see the city, walk around, hopefully find some better Christmas markets than here, and then go back to Vienna and go to Institute, so I'm praying it'll all work out ok. I adore Eurail passes. I recommend them completely. Everyone going to Europe should buy them.
Love,
Anna
Woke up at the crack of dawn, and went off to school. I made lunch in between classes, and basically sat around trying to find housing every free minute. I'm beginning to get a bit anxious about housing...but I'm sure it'll all work out. If worse comes to worse I could just live far away from campus where all of the openings are.
After classes I went out to a second hand store with Annalise and Willow, and we didn't find anything. We then went through three Christmas Markets in quick succession, none of them being very fruitful. Willow and I did buy matching hats and gloves though, they're pretty sweet. I'm excited to wear them at home. They have fleece lining so they're really warm.
When we finished up I went back home to have lunch with my host family, where I then sat there for 2 hours, and had a pleasant conversation the entire time. Weird, huh? The entire thing was just them asking us questions, telling us a few German hints that are pretty useful, etc. Dinner was really good, but dessert was AMAZING. Eva is a fabulous cook.
We have lost the Internet here, I think the construction workers outside must have cut off a wire or something, so I'm using this opportunity to get loads done without the Internet. At first it was a total pain, as I was planning on starting my Politics paper, which I need to do research for. But now I'm just going to catch up on other classes and go to bed early for my big day tomorrow.
I'm going to Linz with my friend Willow, it's only an hour and a half away, so we're going to be gone for only 12 hours. We'll go see the city, walk around, hopefully find some better Christmas markets than here, and then go back to Vienna and go to Institute, so I'm praying it'll all work out ok. I adore Eurail passes. I recommend them completely. Everyone going to Europe should buy them.
Love,
Anna
Monday, 1 December 2008
Wien ist Perfekt
Dear Family, Monday December 1st 2008
My test this morning went pretty well, it wasn't the best, but I also don't feel awful about it. I made lunch, and then went on to another class. Afterwards I went with some friends around to different Christmas Markets, keeping up with my goals. With only 15 days left I am currently freaking out, and really need to get on to my goal list. Such as how much I'm going to buy and take home with me, How well I'll do on my finals, what is left to see, etc.
After my second class I went out to Christmas Markets for a bit, but in Vienna they're really boring. There isn't much, at least not at the two that we visited today. It was terribly disappointing. Also everything was so much more expensive than Germany. SO much more expensive.
I went back to class and learned all about immigrants in Austria, as well as refugees. I went to this great place to eat with some friends—I cannot believe I'm discovering all of these places now! It's the end of the program, I would have gone here all the time had I known about it. After 6:30 everything on the menu is half price, so we got a pretty big meal for €3, and it was delicious. I'm going back there and trying everything on the menu.
We then went to FHE, and most people were out of town so there wasn't really anyone to talk to, so I went home to do homework, listen to some General Conference talks, and organize myself. All in all, a good day.
Love,
Anna
My test this morning went pretty well, it wasn't the best, but I also don't feel awful about it. I made lunch, and then went on to another class. Afterwards I went with some friends around to different Christmas Markets, keeping up with my goals. With only 15 days left I am currently freaking out, and really need to get on to my goal list. Such as how much I'm going to buy and take home with me, How well I'll do on my finals, what is left to see, etc.
After my second class I went out to Christmas Markets for a bit, but in Vienna they're really boring. There isn't much, at least not at the two that we visited today. It was terribly disappointing. Also everything was so much more expensive than Germany. SO much more expensive.
I went back to class and learned all about immigrants in Austria, as well as refugees. I went to this great place to eat with some friends—I cannot believe I'm discovering all of these places now! It's the end of the program, I would have gone here all the time had I known about it. After 6:30 everything on the menu is half price, so we got a pretty big meal for €3, and it was delicious. I'm going back there and trying everything on the menu.
We then went to FHE, and most people were out of town so there wasn't really anyone to talk to, so I went home to do homework, listen to some General Conference talks, and organize myself. All in all, a good day.
Love,
Anna
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