R&R, SB, Wifi, and MQ
I love it how this morning I was finally able to sleep in after four very early/late days in a row, and even though I was awake until 3am, I was up and at 'em by 9. Yeesh. I think it had less to do with my own sleep problems and more to do with the fact that there are 2 churches within a block from my apartment, and, compliments of my open window, I was treated to a mellifluous chorus of multi-toned bells singing the call for morning Mass. What a way to wake up, huh?
It was really nice to take a slow day today, actually, and the even nicer part is that Austria has very strict labor laws that require all places of commerce to close on Sundays except for eateries. Thus, on a Sunday in Austria, there are 2 possibilities for entertainment (for the less inventive) - church and food. However, if you are among the more inventive, the possibilities are endless ;-D
After the morning bells, I fell back asleep until 10:15, which meant that I, once again, couldn't make the 10:30 high Mass at the Jesuitenkirche, but I wasn't really planning on going until next week anyway. I met up with Jennifer at a cafe at around noon, and we (in a very scattered fashion) set about organizing lunch plans. Through the combined use of both wifi and cellular technology, we managed to set a lunch date with Kelly and Kristina at a Thai restaurant near the Staatsoper (cravings for Pad Thai have been pervasive this past week), and once Kelly arrived at the cafe, the three of us set off for Friedrichstrasse 2. Ten minutes on the Strassenbahn got us to the street, but there was no Thai restaurant to be had. The closest we got to Thai was "le Curry bistro," closed Sundays. Meh. So we decided to wander the area looking for food before Kristina arrived, and miraculously we stumbled upon Siam Thai restaurant across the way on Boesendorferstrasse. I thank the god of old piano-makers for leading me there.
We waited for Kristina in the restaurant, and I proved my ineptitude at life by having my cell phone go off twice at the table - once was a series of obnoxiously loud beeps signalling that Kim was texting me, and the other was an obnoxiously loud electronic, mono version of Mozart's 40th, signalling that Kristina was calling about Jo. Both wanted to alert us that they were in the neighborhood and would be joining us for lunch, which was lovely :-)
Lunch was delicious, and afterwards, Kim, Jo, Kelly, and I took a ride around the Ringstrasse on the Str
assenbahn to take in the *supposedly* different architectural styles in the different city districts. We ended up talking the whole time and missing everything but the Parlament (built in the Greek style, fyi). I guess I'll have to take the ride again (oh, poor, poor me.) The photo is of Jo, Kelly, and Kim. I am not in it because I am behind the camera (duh ;-D) The picture that did include me I decided not use because the star of the picture was the underside of my nose, as usually is with do-it-yourself photos.
We split up after that, and Kim and I headed to the Museumsquartier to capitalize on the free wifi offered there (the nicest bit - there are no nasty waiters making you feel guilty for ordering glass after glass of tapwater at a cafe just to use the internet there!) The MQ is really
something else. Besides the Natural and Art History museums, it houses the Leopoldsmuseum and the Museum of Modern Art. The latter have their entrances in the courtyard of a very large building that, besides museums, has a few shops and cafes. In the courtyard are these very interesting sea-foam green blocks that are wave-shaped. They are big enough for multiple people and are very comfortable despite their wooden makeup. Kim and I hung out on one such block among thousands for the rest of the afternoon (the weather, by the way, was gorgeous - sunny and 65.) It was a blast getting frustrated over Austrian websites and laughing at the pre-teen skateboarders who invariably fell off about every 3.7 seconds. There was this one kid who kept skating the edge of a reflecting pool, and I wanted him to fall in soooo bad......but I digress.
Afterwards, we went looking for a Konditorei to buy pastries, but we couldn't find one and had to settle for Starbucks *apologies to the coffee gods of Vienna* espresso brownies. Quite the dinner! I then headed home, accompanied by Karl and Gertraut (Antonia's parents), who called to check on me and to let me know that they will be up in the city in 2 weeks (yay!!!!)
Tomorrow I leave for Hollabrunn for orientation #2. Hopefully I can learn to be a teacher in 3 days or less - yikes.
Ciao!
P.S. I added a link to a page with my Vienna photos - it currently includes random city shots and all the photos from yesterday's tour of the Wachau valley.
P.P.S. If you click on the photos in the blog, you can see a larger version ;-D
Red + White - Lard = Delicious
I once read that a person gets very few truly memorable days over the course of a lifetime, and while my life thus far has been thoroughly enjoyable, my truly memorable days are truly few and far between. However, after today, I have another to add to my list.
Today was our last official day of orientation, but it was not so much much orientation as much as it was a day-long tour of Niederoesterreich (Lower Austria,) the province surrounding Vienna. The group met this morning at the Rathaus at 8:15am...yes, early, but worthwhile. Although, I do find it important to mention that as I was waking up at 7 and st
umbling towards the shower, my roommate stumbled in the door on his way back from the disco and to his bed...puts a new spin on the phrase "dancing the night away." Right. Anyway. We left on a tour bus for the monastery of Melk, which has been on the site for about 1000 years. The building itself, however, is only around 300 years old, as it was rebuilt during in the Baroque style during the 1700s. It is gorgeous (see photo) and very cheery looking, particularly against the brilliant blue of the Austrian early autumn sky (again, see photo).The tour of Melk was really good. Our tour guide, while not as cute as my librarian friend, really knew h
er stuff. She took us through a little exhibit and gave us all sorts of interesting tidbits, such as in the Emperor's Corridor, where Napoleon once stayed (not as a guest), the stoves in the rooms were heated through little doors leading into the corridors so that the important people would not have to see the servants. Huh....who knew. We also got to see the Marble Room, which was the dining room used by visiting dignitaries, and the beautiful library, which, frankly, looks like every other baroque library I've seen in Austria (not such a bad thing, actually...) The views from the terrace were lovely, and the inside of the church was incredible. Again, baroque churches are all quite similar, but again, that is not so bad!
After visiting the monastery (where, by the way, a TA is stationed for the year....luc
ky), we had lunch in the town at a cute little hotel. Then came the 2 hour long river cruise up the Donau. Whee! The day was gorgeous - 70 and sunny - and the river was a beautiful shade of green (unlike the last river I spent significant time looking at.....). The several castles, churches, and villages nestled upon distant hills and in green valleys that drifted past only served to enhance the mood. On the boat I sat with Jo and a girl named Kim, with whom I also have a lot in common (such as the fact that next year she will be attending one of the four grad school programs for which I am applying - the Georgetown MAGES program....strange), and a girl named Kelly. For once I took pleasure in playing the tourist and taking lots and lots of goofy photos. It felt good to giggle.
We arrived in the town of Duernstein after 2 hours on the boat. Duernstein is a typical medieval 
walled town, and it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its pristine condition. The village is absolutely charming, and somehow it has resisted most of the trappings of a tourist town, despite the fact that its 400-some residents greet 1.7 million (yes, million), tourists each year. Yikes that's a lot. Anyway, we had another adorable guide here, who took us to the town Rathaus and through the church and cloister, which had some interesting sites. I think my favorite was the rather interesting contraption depicting the death of Christ. It wasn't a painting, and it wasn't a statue. Rather, it was a life-size diorama. Seriously. The scene was located in this little nook, and it had been constructed (out of wood in the 18th century) to look like it went further back than it did (ah, baroque optical illusions, how I love thee...). I can't really describe it....check out the photo.
We had about 45 minutes after the church tour before our bus departed, so a group of us headed to a cafe for some Kaffee und Kuchen. In my case, that meant a shot glass of water (literally...it's a very odd sensation, tossing back a shot of water) and half a piece of Sacher torte, split with Kim. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM and since we weren't at the actual Hotel Sacher, it was about a third as expensive (always a plus!)
We then departed th
e lovely village for a winery about 30 minutes away, where we received a tour of the wine cellar and the wine-making facilities. It was very interesting, and this tour guide was the best of the day. His enthusiasm for his job rivaled that of my favorite librarian, and it was a joyous thing to watch. :-D We saw the fermenting casks for all the various vintages, the old bottles of wine that they break out every year to see if they are still good (some are over 50 years old!!!), and learned about the wine-making process. The most interesting thing was the ginormous (6000 liter) cask of white wine that had a relief sculpture of a pope (I don't know which one) on the end of the cask!! Amazing. (Photo is Jo and me in front of the humongo casks of wine.)
After the tour, we were treated to an extensive wine tasting dinner/snack, complete with Austria's finest cheesemaker's finest cheeses. We were also treated to an Austrian delicacy: pork spread. Essentially, pork spread is lard with bacon bits in it, and it is one of the more disgusting things I have ever tried in my entire life. Ew. The wine, however, was delicious, and needless to say, a good time was had by all...luckily for us, we had a bus driver to cart us all back to Vienna!
We arrived back at the Rathaus at around 10pm, at which time Kim, Kelly, Danny, and Jennifer (two Ph.D. candidates here to study music), and I decided to head to a cafe for a final nightcap
before heading to bed (photo is Kim, Jen, and me.) I had my first run in with the Wiener waiter who refuses to come to your table, so we essentially sat there for an hour, just taking up space and wireless internet, until he finally came over and took our order (wine was the beverage of the evening.) Now, I'm back in the apartment, updating this and fiddling with all my photos from today. I got some good ones. If you are interested in seeing more than the ones up here, let me know and I'll tell you where to get them online.
Tomorrow: sleeping in!!
The Works
Over the past two days, I've really felt like I've been back at Holy Cross, because that is the only place (besides here) where I was gone from my room for literally 12+ hours at a time. Now Vienna can be added to that list.
Orientation has continued at a furious pace, but it is seriously the best orientation I've ever been to. They have done a wonderful job of keeping things moving forward, with rotating speakers, topics, tours, and so forth. Yesterday morning featured a pep talk on university life in Austria - yeesh. I have a feeling that the transition from small, friendly, relatively easily navigated liberal arts Holy Cross to huge (60,000 students...and no, I didn't add too many zeros), decentralized, disorganized, ginormously scary Universitaet Wien is not going to be painless. Everything at the uni here is organized by department. That means that each department has different rules and regulations regarding everything from class times and sizes to how to register for classes to exam schedules. Thus, taking classes from more than one department is apparently rarely done (liberal arts what?), and I can't even ask the help of my peers - only the polysci people will have any clue what is going on. The Fulbright Commission has thankfully done a lot of the grunt work for us, but it is still very intimidating.
Anyway, yesterday morning, we had another Austrian speaker, a woman who was the Foreign Affairs editor of Die Presse, a very well-read Austrian newspaper. She spoke about the Austrian "condition," which essentially was a brief history of the quirks of the Austrian folk, and she did a fantastic job - very engaging, entertaining, and informative.
The afternoon 
session consisted of 2 tours - one of the university campus, such as it is, which left me feeling even more overwhelmed (must move past this...), and one of an exhibit at the Belvedere called "Das neue Oesterreich" (the new Austria). The exhibit was amazing - 16 rooms of artwork (many Klimts!!!!!), multi-media stations, and historical artifacts cataloguing Austria since 1918. The layout was very innovative and our guide was really good. The only problem was that it was way too big to take in everything in an hour. I will probably head back at some point in the near future to complete my perusal. The photo is part of our group at Belvedere.
Following the exhibit was the best part of my day. Johannah (Jo) and I were going t
o purchase transportation tickets (we rode without them to Belvedere - I'm a criminal), and we decided to stop at this little cafe and have dinner. We ended up staying there almost three hours, talking over peach wine, baked camembert, and crepes. It was rather scary how much she and I have in common. Whether we were discussing our experiences with school and education, religion, our families and their ages, and our boyfriends, one or the other of us was continually exclaming "oh my gosh me too!!!!" It was really really REALLY nice to connect with someone here and to be able to talk about more than what is going on in my life here. Photo is, of course, of Jo and me.
This morning I headed back to the Commission for our last formal orientation day. The morning brought two more guest speakers. The first was a woman who is a career FSO in the Austrian foreign service. She has spent a lot of time in America and is one of the few Austrians I have met who really has a positive view of our country, which, I must admit, was rather refreshing. She spoke about the history and current status of Austrian-American bi-lateral relations and tri-lateral relations with the EU. It was SOOO interesting (especially since that is really related to my research topic I am working on here), and I am very glad I was able to meet her. The second speaker talked about Austrian domestic issues over the past 50 years, which was also interesting (although he wasn't as engaging as the first speaker.)
This afternoon, we went to the National Library and toured both the beautiful historic main building and the m
ore useful, but less lovely research facilities. Our tour guide is my new favorite person (see photo.) Literally. He was amazing. Picture a middle-aged man with a thick German accent. He has a bit of a pot-belly, a full beard, and Harry Potter glasses, and he has the most enthusiasm for his job of anyone I have ever met. Ever. I am not exaggerating when I write that he would turn to our group and ask, "vould you like the periodical room to see???!!! Yes??!!! Okay! We go!!!" He would then go bounding (yes, bounding) off towards the periodical room, where in a very excited whisper, he'd explain about the 2000 or so academic journals available for our perusal. I've never been more riveted by a tour guide in my life :-D I'm platonically in love. *sigh*
After the library tour, I *finally* set myself up with a Handy (Austrian slang for cell phone.) I was hoping my Blackberry would do the trick, but the clerk couldn't unlock it, so I bought an old secondhand Nokia for 30 euros and a prepaid sim card. Hurray! Now I can talk to people here and not have to pay $1.00/minute or call them from my computer! Yay technology.
Afterwards, I met up with four others at a cafe, where we sat for about 3 hours. Cafes here are amazing. They all have free wifi set up, and if you order a coffee, they let you sit for as long as you feel like it! So we stayed until we wanted dinner, when we walked to a restaurant with "the best falafel in the city." It was rather good, I must say! I finally got home around 11, and tomorrow I have to be up even earlier than usual for our tour of Melk, which should be amazing.
Hope you are all well, and I hope you aren't too bored by reading about my adventures (such as they are) :-D
Ciao.
Candy Carly No More!
I think the worst time I had in four years at Holy Cross was the few days I spent there the summer before freshman year for Gateways, which was a sort of pre-orientation orientation. We were divided into groups of about 15 and given crazy upperclassmen as group leaders, and I just remember that after we played a "game" in which everyone had to give their name along with a food that began with the same letter as their name (Candy Carly), all I could think was "I'm transferring to UGA at Christmas."
Thank God that Fulbright orientation turned out differently!! It was actually rather interesting (and intellectually stimulating!) We met at 9:30 this morning at the Austrian-American Fulbright Commission, which turned out to be a mere 4 minute walk from my apartment, and after brief introductions of everyone (which of course gave me the most amazingly huge inferiority complex - how in the heck do I compete with neuroscientists and prodigy bassoon players???), we dove right into trying to get a handle on organizing one's life in another country. There is a lot to be done - registration with the Austrian and American authorities, setting up an Austrian bank account, getting a Handy (cell phone), getting my transport cards for both the subway and the train, etc. etc. etc. And while my German is passable while analyzing one of Goethe's poems or Schiller's plays, we just never learned the vocab for "I'd like to set up a savings account for the next year, and I would also like to include a monthly direct deposit plan." Hmmm....I wonder if Google can tell me.
After the morning session, we broke for lunch, and I went to a Kneipe across the street for some Schnitzel and Pommes (mmmmmm....). The group that went to see Cinderella Man all went as well, along with some others, and it was a really good time. Everyone is definitely very intelligent, and most of them seem to be pretty fun as well. I was worried that people might be academic snobs, but there only seem to be one or two of those on board, as there are in any such group, I guess.
The afternoon session began with a talk from a man who is the equivalent of an undersecretary in charge of higher education for the ministry of education. He talked about the history of higher education in Austria (the UniWien was founded in 1365...niiiiice), and he also answered people's pragmatic questions regarding life in the universities here. The final session of the day was a brief overview of Austrian history, culture, and social ideosyncrasies (aka...a Mediterranean country stuck in the Alps.) Twas very interesting and engaging, and I look forward to what tomorrow will bring :-)
Afterward, a few of us tried to set up plans for going out for a beer tonight, but those were shot down when I arrived at the pub to see that it had closed for good (who in the world would think that an alcohol-serving establishment in Vienna of all places would ever close???) And since I haven't yet set up that pesky Handy, I had no way to contact anyone, so I just came home. On the way back, however, I did pop into a video rental store and set up an account, and I guess now I will watch Saved instead of socializing. I'm sure tomorrow will work out better :-)
So, good night for now, and send me emails, ims, skypes, comments on my blog, and love!! I miss you all, but it's okay because I have been out catching the Austrian "condition."
Markets, Movies, Mozarts, and More
Isn't it amazing how when you meet and connect with people, a strange place begins to feel a bit more like home? Today I met up with Cass, another TA who is here in Wien for the next few days. We found each other at the Staatsoper (she was right....she was the only one in the vicinity with red hair!), and we had cappucinos at a very cute coffee house with surprisingly good service (everyone has warned me that surly waitresses are part of the charm of Viennese coffee houses), and after that we walked around the city for about three hours.
Instead of heading inwards where the tourists mainly go, we headed up to the shopping district on Mariahilferstrasse, where I discovered an English bookstore (hurrayhurrayhurray!!!!!!!). We ended up stumbling across a bagel shop with delicious chocolate chip-wheat bagels, an Irish pub/hostel, and the Naschmarkt, a daily open air market with stalls selling everything from Native American dreamcatchers to Che Guevara t-shirts to stuffed olives, dried fruit, and curry powder. The vendors are extremely aggressive salesmen (and I say men, because they are all young men who try to entice women to their stalls by shouting things like "schoene frau, oliven kosten!" and other such tender, sweet nothings...the highlight, though, really occurred when one vendor stared at us and made slurping noises....how odd.) I was given tastes of dried strawberries, pineapple, an olive stuffed with cheese, and hummus...yummmmmmmmm! After that I didn't even need lunch. I ended up buying the dried strawberries for a rather exorbitant price...bargaining is something I really suck at, but that's okay, twas much fun :-)
Cass and I got along great...we have very similar interests and experiences, so we talked about everything from Bridget Jones to yesterday's German elections. Too bad she is only in Vienna until next week...her TA position is actually across the country.
We ended up across the street from the Secession, where my favorite piece of artwork in the entire world, Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, is housed, but alas, the museum is closed on Mondays...I guess I'll have to head back tomorrow :-) I can have lunch at the market again...there was some delicious looking kebabs there...wahoo!
Tonight, I am meeting up with Cass, and hopefully a few other Fulbrighters in the city to see Cinderella Man, which is playing in English down the street from my apartment...I love all movies, but I hate it when they are dubbed...I'll listen to any language, and I'll read any subtitles, but dubbed movies really just grate on my nerves, so I will avoid them while I'm here. There is supposedly a really good international "original language" theater near the Votivkirche, which plays movies from all over the world without dubbing...I'll have to check that out.
Today, I think I received the best compliment I've gotten since arriving in Europe (besides, of course, when the vendor slurped at me...yech). I walked by a man dressed as Mozart. His job is to target tourists to come to a very kitschy "classical" concert...I've actually been to one, and they are pretty terrible. Anyway, when the Mozarts see a tourist coming, they harass him or her to buy tickets as they pass. Today, I passed Mozart, and he looked at me, and then he turned away...magnificent!! I don't know if it was my purposeful walk, or if it was because I was alone, or what, but for some reason, he thought I was a native. Like I said, it was was the best compliment I've received since arriving :-D
On another note, I must say that this skype craze is amazing....in the past few days I've talked to everyone from my parents in Atlanta to Gregory at HC to Uncle Mike in Washington state to Lizard in Portland to Tones in Japan....incredible!!! If you don't have skype, get it!! And call me on it when you do :-D
If you start to take Vienna - take Vienna
After what feels like forever, I am finally here. Seriously, I've been dreaming of and planning to move to Vienna since I became obsessed with German and Austrian culture (I believe that happened when I was 7....yes I've been a nerd for that long!) But I am here, and it is fabulous :-) Honestly, there really is no place else on earth that I find to be more beautiful or charming than this city. The government buildings look stately and official, yet architecturally magnificent (unlike some of our more stolid government buildings. I believe it was Madeleine Albright who described the State Dept building as looking like the cardboard box in which another, more beautiful building was packaged.) The people are beautiful and friendly (and international...I don't know how many different languages I heard today). There is green space all over, and everywhere there are little surprises to discover (like the ornate Greek Orthodox church situated directly between a pub and a travel agency, or the Wiener Biergarten in the Rathaus Park). I feel so lucky to be here for the next nine months!!!I left Atlanta on the 16th, and I was lucky enough to take a rather indirect route (yay frequent flyer miles!). I first flew to Houston, where I had a 2 mile walk between gates. The next leg of the trip took me to Paris, which was a bit unnerving. The last time I flew through Paris was senior year of high school, when the Marist Chorale spent spring break in Italy. We were making a connection in Paris to Venice, and our plane was a bit late, which meant that we did not make our 2nd flight, and they of course didn't think to hold a plane for a group of 50 (yes FIFTY) people...anyway, as it turned out, I almost missed my plane this time around as well. I had a short layover, and I had to go through 2 security checkpoints. I made it (literally 5 minutes before takeoff!), but one of my bags didn't. Ah well, that gave me a chance to practice my German when I arrived in the Vienna airport. "Entschuldigung, bitte. Mein Koffer ist nicht da." It's good to learn such phrases, I suppose!Anyway, my roommate Lukas, and his cousin (and my friend) Clemens met me at the airport and took me to the apartment...it is in Josefstadt, which is a very nice district of Vienna, both in terms of location and in "niceness" of the apartment. It is literally a block away from the Rathaus (city hall), and a 15 minute walk from the Staatsoper (opera house). I'm probably 20-30 minutes on foot from Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral). The University of Vienna is just down the street as well, and I think I'm closer to my classroom building than Mulledy is to Stein, if you can believe it :-) The apartment is gorgeous. It is on the top floor of a nice building, and it is very open and airy. There is a roof terrace, wireless internet, 2 
bathrooms, and a washer and dryer...how lovely, huh?
Here is a photo of my bedroom:I arrived yesterday at around 12 noon, and by the time we got to the apartment, it was about 1:30. I slept until 6:30, went to dinner, came back, putzed around for a bit, and went to bed about 11pm. I woke up 12 hours later, and I went exploring. I walked around the city for 2 hours, and I was able to get my bearings a little bit. I have oriented myself to a point, and I think after a few weeks, I'll have no problems :-)I don't technically have anything to do until Wednesday, when Fulbright orientation starts, but tomorrow, I am meeting another TA for coffee, which I'm thrilled about. It will be good to get to know another person here!!!I guess that is it for now. Please leave me comments or write me emails or skype me....I'd love to hear from you :-)P.S. The title is a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte...I feel I've used it in a slightly different context than what he originally meant ;-)
assenbahn to take in the *supposedly* different architectural styles in the different city districts. We ended up talking the whole time and missing everything but the Parlament (built in the Greek style, fyi). I guess I'll have to take the ride again (oh, poor, poor me.) The photo is of Jo, Kelly, and Kim. I am not in it because I am behind the camera (duh ;-D) The picture that did include me I decided not use because the star of the picture was the underside of my nose, as usually is with do-it-yourself photos.
something else. Besides the Natural and Art History museums, it houses the Leopoldsmuseum and the Museum of Modern Art. The latter have their entrances in the courtyard of a very large building that, besides museums, has a few shops and cafes. In the courtyard are these very interesting sea-foam green blocks that are wave-shaped. They are big enough for multiple people and are very comfortable despite their wooden makeup. Kim and I hung out on one such block among thousands for the rest of the afternoon (the weather, by the way, was gorgeous - sunny and 65.) It was a blast getting frustrated over Austrian websites and laughing at the pre-teen skateboarders who invariably fell off about every 3.7 seconds. There was this one kid who kept skating the edge of a reflecting pool, and I wanted him to fall in soooo bad......but I digress.
