The Hot Quad in Europe (ohhh boy...)
So it's been a rather exciting few weeks since I got back from Tunisia. Actually, I can't believe that we returned four weeks ago! Jeepers time here is really starting to fly, but I've been doing a lot too.Grad school letters are starting to trickle in, and I've had some good news on that front (2 acceptances thus far), but I am still waiting to hear from my first choice institution. Ugh, waiting is really killing me!!! Every time I check my email, I hold my breath hoping for some news. Oh well, in another few weeks, I should know everything for sure. And then it's decision time. I just can't wait to get my plans for next year pinned down, but I must say, it is somewhat comforting to know that I won't have to scrounge for a job when I get home in July!!
Other than that, what have I been doing...let's see, well, I joined a gym, which has been moderately successful. I was all set to get back into going every day, but 3 days after I joined, I got pretty sick with a nasty chest cold/bronchitis thing which kept me from breathing, so I ended up taking a week off right at the get go. And since then, I've been a streaky attender. I may just give it up in favor of outdoor exercise since the weather here is starting to turn nice.
Teaching has been going well. Nothing thrilling to report. Yesterday I got to watch the 4th formers (like 8th graders) perform a play in English, which was really cute. They are probably my favorite group to work with, and it was nice to see them speaking English and having fun at the same time. Recently I've had a lot of classes cancelled, since two of the forms have been gone on a ski trip, which meant that the week before they left was spent preparing for the trip and the next week they were just gone. I wish we could have done stuff like that at MY high school!! haha :-) I've really enjoyed my teaching for the most part, and it has made me think that teaching high school (history of course!) is something I might be interested in doing later on in life. It's definitely an option I never really considered before, but I really enjoy it, and I think I would like it even better if I actually saw kids on a regular basis rather than every three weeks or so.
In other news, the second semester of university has started, and I decided to take course called "Irish History from Ancient Times to the Present," taught by Finbarr McLoughlin, an adorable old Irishman with a very nice accent. I liked his first lecture, and I am looking forward to the class. The only problem was a very typical Austrian problem. The class had a limit of 130 students, but probably 200 showed up to the first lecture. There is no system of accountability for this, since classes are so large, and it makes for a rather bad classroom atmosphere, since we are in a room that seats around 130 students. Also, there is a unit of time here known as the Austrian Academic Hour, which means that for every hour of time a class is scheduled, the actual class will only last 45 minutes. So, when a class is scheduled from 4-6pm, it will actually go from 4:15-5:45. Strange. Anyway, THIS class is actually scheduled from 5-6:30pm, which means that it will actually begin and end at those times, and the course info made a point of saying that punctuality is a must. Ha. Try telling that to Austrian uni students. The door kept opening and closing during the first half hour of class as more and more late students poured in, which made it rather hard to hear. I honestly don't think I could stand to teach a class like that, because lateness to me seems so disrespectful, but here no one even gives it a second thought. I guess I'm just a rigid American :-P Anyway, the class itself was fascinating, and I really look forward to the rest of the semester.
In other aspects of life....I got to meet the American ambassador to Austria a few weeks ago. Every year, the ambassador hosts the American Fulbright students in Austria and the Austrian Fulbrights returning from the States at his/her home (which is really a 5-building complex surrounded by guards and barbed wire!) Usually the event is held in November, but this ambassador, Susan McCaw, was just named in November, so they post-poned it until now. Anyway, there was a receiving line, and each of us got to talk to her for a few mi
nutes, which felt very official. As for the rest of the party, we got to mingle with Austrian Fulbrighters and American embassy staffers while munching on delicious hors d'euvres (oh the spelling was just butchered I think, but I'm a German scholar, not a French scholar) and sipping on free champagne. Alexis pointed out a man to me who we both recognized from the Votivkirche, where we attend an English-language Mass every Sunday, and I went up and introduced myself. Turns out this man, Greg Phillips, is not only the Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs at the embassy (aka somewhat of a bigwig), but he's also in charge of lectors at the church, so I am now a lector at the Votivkirche. Yay for involvement and mingling :-) (By the way, I learned that in Austria, Ash Wednesday ashes are green! Whoa who knew?) The photo is of our Fulbright group with the ambassador, who is the pretty blonde lady in the back row, third from the right.Other than that, the big event of recent days was when some of my favorite people from home came to visit :-) Mary Geehern, Jen Hannigan, Toni Mahowald, and Katie Levesque (aka the "hot quad" :-D) came for their spring break and spent a few days with me in Vienna (as well as a day in Salzburg and 2 days in Munich.) They have the distinction of being my first visitors this year, and I have to say, it was so wonderful to have people from home here with me! Besides getting to play tourist, it was just lovely to spend time with them in general. They flew in Saturday afternoon, and I met them at the airport and escorted them to dinner and helped them locate their hostel, where they promptly fell asleep.
On Sunday,
we went to fancy Mass at the Jesuitenkirche, where we heard beautiful a capella 16th century church music, and we spent the afternoon roaming around the Kunsthistorisches Museum (art history museum), which is Vienna's premier art museum. For the first hour or two we were well be
haved (through all the Italian art, really), but then we got a bit silly with the Dutch painters. I mean, how can you not giggle when you come across a portrait of the ugliest man you have ever seen (a Spanish prince from the 1500s) and realize that the painting is probably flattering to his looks?? (See painting on the left) We also lost it when we saw another Dutch painting. This time, the artist depicted some sort of Greek debauchery (notice the couple getting it on.) Now, this in itself is not too spectacular, but when you notice the evil-looking Cupid in the upper left-hand corner making the "rock on" symbol with his hand, well, that's license to lose your cool right there! :-P In any case, we had a good time exploring the collection there before meeting Kelly, Kim, and Alexis for a delicious Thai dinner followed by gelato mmmmmm.Monday morning, I had 2 classes to teach, but I was done at 10, which was perfect timing to meet the girls for a tour through the Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg. Essentially, we saw where the Austro-Hungarian Emperor and Empress lived while in State in Vienna
. Fancy digs, let me tell you! We also got to see the extensive collection of china and silver that were used at parties. I think there were more rooms needed to house all the plates, utensils, candlesticks, and sundry household items than there actually were in the Imperial Apartments! After our tour, we grabbed a delicious, nutritious, and wallet-friendly lunch at the local Billa (a grocery store that has really cheap sandwiches for sale) before exploring the Stephansdom (St. Stephan's Cathedral), which sits smack in the middle of the city. After oohing and ahing over 13th century architecture, the ladies decided they wanted to enjoy some true Viennese culture - shopping on Mariahilferstrasse mwahahaha! We spent a few hours browsing before heading back to my apartment for dinner, a movie, some wine, and a relatively early bed time. Photo is of us in front of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Notice the snow. Definitely not spring yet. Ugh.Tuesday morning, I met the girls to take in the morning practice session for the Lippizaner horses of the Spanish riding school, which was really cool. The riders all wear this very traditional uniform, complete with old-school bicorn hat, and the horses are so beautiful and well-trained. After taking in the Lippizaner Museum and grabbing some more Billa sandwiches, I escorted the group to Westbahnhof, where they hopped a train to Salzburg and I went home to catch up on some work (so blah after my few touristy days!)
Friday afternoon, they arr
ived back in Vienna, and we spent a few hours at my favorite museum, the Belvedere. This particular museum is housed in a palace overlooking the city, and it houses many Klimt paintings, as well as many Schiele's and Kokoschka's, who are the two other most prominent Austrian painters. Every time I go back, I'm reminded why Gustav Klimt is my favorite painter (and was BEFORE he became a fad, I might say!! :-D) After the museum, we had a meat-free Italian dinner before going out for margaritas at the Mexican restaurant near my apartment. We had a blast and were home by 11:30 so the girls could get some sleep before their 4am airport pickup (their first 3 nights in Vienna were spent in a hostel, but for the last night, they just bunked with me.) Here is a lovely photo of us at the bar on their last night in town :-)Anyway, that about sums up my last few weeks. I have three weeks until Meghan Conboy and her boyfriend arrive, and from that point, I will either have visitors or be traveling practically every single week until I leave! Whoa I can't believe how fast these next few months will probably go! I'm really excited for all my visitors, though, and I can't wait to do some traveling too. I'm going back to Holy Cross at the end of April for Gregory's senior recital (can't wait!!), and in May, I'll be a College Choir groupie for a few days when they are in Italy. In June, a group of us from here want to travel to the beaches of Croatia for a few days. And in between, Meghan Conboy will visit, my parents will visit, my sister Meghan will visit, Emily Conger will visit, and Patrick Murphy and Justin Reidy and fam will both be in Vienna for a few days. Soooo yeah, lots to look forward to :-)
Finally, here's a happy birthday shout out to my darling papa :-) And a congrats to my darling boyfriend on a (hopefully) successful audition :-) And another birthday shout out to Katie Levesque, who turns 21 on the day she flies home from Europe. It's been a good week :-)
posted by Carly Fowler @ 5:41 PM
1 Comments:
Another interesting few weeks--thanks for posting, honey!
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