Retz: Lower Austria

Our site director and another teacher took us on a day trip to Retz. It is a cute town in wine country almost on the border of the Czech Republic. 

We arrived in Retz around noon and walked to the center of the town. Our teacher, Markus, explained the history of the town and the architecture and we climbed up to the top of the tower. I was a little nervous at the top but the view was so incredible that I forgot about how high up we were.

After the tower we hiked in the vineyards towards a windmill, but somehow we ended up no where near it. Armed with ammo from the brush, we had a few berry wars, throwing them at each other and having to stock up whenever another bush was nearby.

It was very windy but absolutely breathtaking. It made me want to go hiking more in Eugene when I get back home.

walking through the vineyard

Once we were back into the town center, we went on a tour of the wine cellars of Retz. They gave us these silly phone like devices that had english translations of what our tour guide was saying. Afterward we each got a free glass of wine. I got a glass of white wine and it was very crisp and light. Very refreshing after a long day of walking around!

After walking towards the Heuriger where we had dinner plans, it became evident that we were taking the long way. Once we were back on the main road, the owner of the wine tavern saw us walking and offered to give us a ride there. So we gladly took him up on his offer.

I had a great time eating little platters of ham, blood sausage, liver pate, bacon, cheese slices, some aspic (which is meat encased in gelatin), and some pepper cheese spread, all with delicious rolls. My mother would be proud, I tried a little aspic AND the blood sausage. After having some Wein Gespritzter (red or white wine diluted with mineral water) and Weiß Wein (white wine) we taught each other hand games and chatted until it was time to leave for the train station. Overall a really amazing day in Austria!

the Heuringer

Amsterdam

 I had a really great time in Amsterdam. My only regrets are that I was not able to meet up with my friend, Alison, as well as my hostel being way out in the boonies. I stayed at StayOkay-Zeeburg hostel, which I booked through STA Travel. While overpriced in my opinion, it was clean and provided breakfast. I just wish I had my own room instead of sharing it with 4 other guys:/

Small car, even by European standards!

Outside of Centraal Metro Station

Rembrandtplein

Cyd, Ian, Andrew and I went to the Rijks Museum of Art and History and walked all around the city. The public transportation system, minus the buses always being late, was actually quite easy to use. We all bought little metro passes that you have to swipe to get down to the subway, but could also be used for the buses and trams in the city.

The city was really beautiful with all the canals and little bridges, but I was happy to be home in Vienna after a couple days in Amsterdam.

l.Alice, Annie and I at a Paddy O'Brien's Pub

My friend Annie visited me this week in Vienna. She is studying abroad at St. Petersburg, Russia and had a week off from school. It is so interesting to hear about her program. She goes to school at St. Petersburg University and her program has around 70 people. Mine only has 11 people. While I am happy with how my program has turned out, I think her study abroad experience involved a lot more immersion with locals and has allowed her to increase her understanding of the language and culture.

We went to a concert with my school group on Tuesday. It worked out that one student was not going so Annie got his ticket and did not have to pay! It was the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. I have not been to any concert recently but this was amazing. We had a balcony view overlooking the stage and we were able to see the orchestra clearly. We had to climb a million stairs or so to get to our seats but it was well worth it:)

 Annie left today to head to Slovakia to meet up with some relatives from her father's side of the family, but will be back on Saturday to catch her flight out of Vienna, so I will probably grab dinner with her then:)

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Only one month and eight days until I am back home. I cannot believe my time here has gone so fast! My program ends the 2nd of December and I leave for Israel to visit my relatives on the 6th. I head back to Vienna on the 16th and fly home on the 18th. Hopefully these next couple weeks will force me to update more frequently, seeing as it has been a while since my last post:)

Ljubljana and the Wien Tiergarten

Last weekend (10/15-10/17) we went on our class trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia (pronounced "looo-bleee-yaaawn-nah"). While I did not enjoy waking up at 6:30am to head to the train station, it was a fun weekend.

group photo

The Funicular!

We arrived in Ljubljana after a 6 hour train ride. After getting our room assignments (girls in a 4 bed room and the boys split between another 2 rooms) we made our way to the Ljubljana Castle. We took the funicular up, which is like a little tram, and walked around the grounds. Our guide pointed out the different parts of the city from the top tower of the castle, and showed us the oldest grape vine in the world. It was freezing cold at the tower so I ended up buying a scarf. There are dragon statues all around the town and the castle.                                                       

romantic

 Ljubljana derives its "dragon history" from Jason and the Argonauts. I found out that the story of Robin Hood was actually based in Slovenia in that Castle. We also stumbled into a Slovenian wedding party. How amazing and romantic would it be to get married at a castle?

After a couple hours at the castle, we walked towards a restaurant. It turned out to be an Olympic themed restaurant, showcasing the year that the Olympics came to Slovenia (I think 1987?). After some Bosnian beer, we had some Cevapcici and bread (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%86evap%C4%8Di%C4%87i). After walking back to our room, we stayed up until 10:30pm, watching movies on my laptop. Such a wild night! ;)

The next morning our art history teacher, Markus, gave us a small tour of the Slovenian architecture and then we were free to roam for a couple hours. Ian, Cyd, Andrew and I got some delicious and inexpensive food and then wandered around for a bit. Later on we regrouped with Alice and Rose and went shopping at the booths that were set up along the river. 

For dinner, we went to a great pizza place and then listened to some live music before sitting at a bar and drinking beers.

at Cacao Cafe

Lots of grafitti in Ljubljana, lots of it was this cute pony:)

Sunday morning we walked around some more but it was raining so I was less enthusiastic and was ready to head home to Vienna. Cyd and I got home at 11pm, but we saw snow on the train ride home so it brightened my night.

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London 2008

I had my 4 year anniversary with Cheyney this Thursday! It doesn't feel like its been that long, it just feels natural. Seeing his smile on skype makes me happy, so it must be love ;) He is enjoying his program and I think is really settling into the Santa Cruz life, though he misses Duck games and Eugene. It is hard being away from him and I miss him like crazy, but I am having so much fun over here and every week goes by so fast, I know I will see him before I know it:)

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I wish my summer residence looked like this?!

Today I went to the Tiergarten, or Zoo, with Cyd and Ian. It is based at Schönbrunn Palace, which is only a couple U-Bahn transfers away from our neighborhood. My camera died near the end, so I don't have many pictures of the Palace from atop the hill, but it was breathtaking.

Elephants!

sleepy Orangutan

Giraffes (made me think of Cheyney's mom, Ellen:) I heard they are her favorite animal

The Zoo was so much fun. Cyd and I loved seeing all of the baby animals and I think Ian was just amused at our baby voices that we talked to the animals with. We started out by seeing a Rhino and made our way through Polar Bears, Ringtailed Lemurs, Cheetahs, Penguins, Water Buffalos, Elephants, and Giraffes.

We got lunch at the Kaiser Pavilion and I had Schnitzel and Pommes (fries). Well when we got to the bear pit, I realized I still had my leftover fries in a little package. I went to grab them out and as I did, I flung the packet of ketchup into the bear pit we were overlooking. The bear promptly got out of its little bear swing (if my camera hadn't died, I would have taken lots of pictures of this. Such a cute bear swing). It took him a couple minutes, but he found the packet and devoured the ketchup. Ooops!

lemur

sea lion

Overall it has been a great week. I have my history midterm and my international organizations class midterm on Monday, which stinks. So I will probably spend tonight studying. I also have my German midterm on Thursday, but after that Cyd, Ian, Andrew and I head off to Amsterdam for the long weekend. I'm excited to meet up with my friend Alison there. She is studying in Germany for the year so this will be one of my only chances to see her for a long time. We plan on checking out the Rembrandt museum, as well as the giant AMSTERDAM word structure, and maybe I can convince Ian and Cyd to rent bikes with me and check out some of the country side:)

 

rhino eating leaves

Peccary (mom and baby)

And the weather changes as time goes on...

It has been getting colder and colder in Vienna and it reminds me of Halloween time in Eugene. While I loved it being in the high 60's when I first got here, I am settling in to the cold temperatures that I am used to. Almost makes me feel more at home:)

The beer fest in Leoben was a lot of fun but I have to remember how potent Austrian beer is. It'll be a little bit before I drink any more beer ;)

We didn't end up going to the Hundertwasser Haus last weekend. I'm hoping next week we can go. This week was pretty busy and we leave for Ljubljana, Slovenia tomorrow at 7:39am.

I am pretty excited to go to Slovenia with the group for the weekend and will make sure to take lots of pictures and upload them!

Today, my International Organization class went to OSCE, which is the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. It was really interesting to see how 56 countries can come together through the OSCE and come to peaceful resolutions. They stated that none of the agreements are legally binding, which I think is unusual for many organizations want to be able to legally hold the country responsible if they violate an agreement. But I guess the OSCE is all about discourse and having an open line of communication so that countries' diplomats can yell and scream in person rather than having disagreements escalate to military clashes between countries.

Cyd has been doing a lot of work on the mural in our room. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but our hostmom, Bibi, as soon as she found out Cyd likes to do art, said that she could paint one of our bedroom walls. We are keeping it a surprise from Bibi until Cyd is finished but I will upload pictures of the progress because I think it looks cool!

Gösser Kirtag

Tomorrow is my Friday and I'm off to see Susi in Leoben. She invited me to the annual Gösser Kirtag, which is a beerfest put on my Gösser, a popular brand of beer in Austria. I'm looking forward to a fun night with Susi and her friends. 

On Saturday, I'm planning on going with Cyd and Ian to see the Hundertwasser-Krawinahaus. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dandayamana_dhanurasana/3770893161/in/photostream/ It was designed and built in the 1980's and has over 250 trees going through the building.  

"An uneven floor is a divine melody to the feet"

I will post pictures this weekend:)

differences..

As usual, I am loving my time in Vienna. But lately, now that the rush and excitement of the unknown have faded, I am starting to miss things about America, about home. I miss ice cubes. I miss getting water as a main drink, not in addition to kaffee. I miss freedom and understanding everything. But that is what you pay for with study abroad, that feeling of "oh-my-god-I-am-a-scared-shitless-and-do-not-have-a-clue-what-is-going-on".

I've always been of the mind that living permanently anywhere outside of America would be great. That Europe would blow my mind and I would never want to leave. Truthfully, I really do enjoy Vienna, the thrill of living in a big city and forging through the streets like an angry New Yorker, trying foreign food, and drinking at cafes. But I also miss the simplicity of Oregon, the delicious water, the fresh air, and the friendly people. I probably sound like a typical American when I say I love the US, but there is something to be said about enjoying where you come from. I am positive the Viennese feel the same way, since they are a proud people who will boast their Viennese heritage, even if it only goes back a generation or two.

I guess I'm at a point where I've left the honeymoon phases and feel the need to nitpick and compare.

Vienna is truly an exciting and beautiful city and I am so grateful to be here studying, but its not quiet home yet...

Bratislava and Birthday:)

9/17/10

This first week of school was great. I enjoy all of my classes, especially my German class. Last night, Alice, Andrew, and I went to Mariahilfestrasse and walked around. After a couple beers from the kebab stand (“kebap” auf Deutsch) we ended up walking to Stylez, a bar close to my place. A drink was 7,50 Euros, which was way more than I would ever spend normally, but it was fun to sit in an Viennese bar and chat.

Today while Cyd and Ian were on a hike, Bibi took me out for lunch and coffee. We went to Der Mann Trunkel and I ordered chicken schnitzel and mashed potatoes. I was told this was the equivalent of eating spaghetti with rice. Bibi has been really helping with showing us cheap places to get a hot meal. She said this place usually serves hot food for fewer than 5 Euros. After we finished our food and did a little grocery shopping, we went to Aida, which is a Konditerei. We had some coffee and a little desert and talked. While sitting at Aida with Bibi, I saw a Great Dane and a hairless Chinese crested walking side by side. Such a funny contrast.

9/22/10

I only had one class today, History, and it was interesting and depressing. Of course we talked about the past wars and the Holocaust, but it is kind of scary to see old slides of Nazi Vienna and be able to recognize places I have walked by in person, having had Nazi propaganda or symbols on them.

Bibi and I had a nice talk today for an hour or two just about my classes and her cats. One cat, Emmi, has a cold. So Bibi took her to the vet this morning. I asked to see if there were any Animal Humane Societies in Vienna that Cyd and I could volunteer at but Bibi told us they are very far away, outside the city limits.

A group of us are going to Bratislava, Slovakia, on Friday. I am very excited to go but whenever someone mentions Bratislava, I always think about the movie Eurotrip and their representation of it.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbcH_qYkeTc

I hope being there in person can erase this movie scene from my head;) Cyd, Ian, and I bought our tickets to Amsterdam, Netherlands, this past week. We are going during the Halloween weekend and I know I cannot wait to dress up. I also bought my ticket to Israel for December, when my program ends. So I will be in Israel December 6^th through the 16^th!  I cannot wait!

9/25/10

Lazy Saturday in Vienna. We went to Bratislava on Friday and had a lot of fun. Cyd, Ian and I had a late night before so we caught the later train (the group set 9am departure time, we left at 10:30am). After finally arriving, we realized that our cell phones did not work when we tried to call others who had come earlier. So after wandering around on foot for a couple hours, we stumbled upon the 10^th annual market (not sure of the name). Each booth had a pamphlet and with broken English and our mediocre German, we were informed that it was an annual charity market. People with disabilities made goods and sold them at this market. My roommate bought a sand painting and some cute picture frames. After that we moved on towards the Bratislava Castle. Alice and Rose, from our program, stumbled upon us shopping around. They showed us the castle since they had just come from it and later on we got an amazing, inexpensive dinner. I had salmon and rice and lots of beer:) We all made our way back the train station and found the rest of the students on our train ride home. Long day but very fun.

9/27/10

Today is my 22nd birthday! Thanks for all the wishes via email, skype, cards and facebook:) I'm sad I cannot be in Eugene to celebrate with family and friends but I still had a great time here.  Bibi bought me a little cake and gave it to me on Sunday since its was in the fridge and she did not want to surprise ruined by me finding it while making breakfast. I will upload a photo later. On my actual birthday I went to class as usual, and Alice and Rose bought me a slice of cake from Aida, the Konditorei. When I got home after class, Cyd had left me some little cute birthday presents and some apfel strudel:) I had people over for wine and cheese around 6. I made mom's famous brie bread bomb and while it was not sourdough bread like she does, it was still a hit. I think it was demolished in under 5 minutes! Overall it was a really great birthday and I'm lucky to have so many good friends and family members in my life:)