Volkhochschule

Today was my second day in Vienna and I love it.
I arrived last night at the hotel after wandering around for an hour. It was my own fault. Susi and I looked the directions up on google maps and I somehow passed by the building several times because the building number was 3A but the name was not the one the site director gave us. Turns out that Hotel Avis, the original place, was under construction. So Hotel Acadamie was were I was actually supposed to go.

I got there with 30 mins to kill and talked with my roommates for the night, Alice and Rose. Later the entire group went to an informal dinner with the faculty. I am very excited for classes on Montag. There are 11 students and 12 teachers, so each class has no more than 5 students. 

Later that night some of us went out for some Bier and got to know each other. The group of people are very nice and I think there won't be any problems, since everyone seems to get along.

Today we woke up at 8am, got ready, ate from breakfast, and met Frauke Binder, our site director, for a tour of the city. We spent some time at the place where I will be attending class, the Volkholkschule. It is almost a community college type place and offers other classes outside my program, like Yoga or dancing.

We ate lunch at this inexpensive (and delicious!) Persian restaurant. It was buffet style for 5 Euros!! After a little more instruction at school we went back to the hotel and waited for our host families to pick us up. Cyd, my roommate, had flown into Vienna a couple days earlier and so had already been staying at our hosts apartment. My host mom, Bibi, is very cool. Her apartment is really modern and quite large for a Viennese place. She has 3 Katzen named Kurti, Emmi, and Fanni. She keeps them on her side of the apartment because in the past the cats have gotten into stuff and some people don't like cats. I'm excited to give them the catnip toy I bought them tomorrow:)

Bibi took us out for a delicious dinner at a typical Viennese Inn (name to follow). Cyd and I ordered Schnitzel mit Salat, and Bibi ordered Goulash.

I'm very happy with everything so far, minus the bugs. I have yet to see a mosquito but have been bitten at least 9 times and boy, do they itch like crazy!
Right now I am finishing up a couple quizzes from summer class and might do some of the reading tonight, so that I can start my take home final. I really should work on it tonight since I think the students are going out tomorrow. We will see;)

I will upload pictures sometime this week.

Tschuss!

Leoben and Wien

It has been a little bit since I have posted because I haven't had internet. Here is what I wrote on the train:

9/9/10

16:35

I’m sitting on the train on my way to Vienna. I woke up early and repacked all of my suitcases because Susi and I were going to Leoben, where she goes to school that day. We arrived in Leoben and she showed me around, did a little shopping, and then got lunch with her boyfriend, Christoph, and his sister, Christina. I got a Groesser Radler to drink, which is combination beer and soda (like sprite). It was very tasty, so I’m writing the name down here so I can remember to order it again. Susi told me about a great beer fest in October so I hope I can come and wont be too busy with school. I’m excited to get to know my host mom but nervous about speaking to her. I can’t wait for school to start so I can improve my German. I feel more comfortable learning German in a classroom than in daily life. Go figure, I’m a scardy-cat.

Adjusting

Its been a great couple days in Waidhofen but I am excited (and scared) to go to Vienna on Thursday. Yesterday Susi and I went to Linz to a large shopping center. We shopped around for a while and I found a cute skirt at H & M for €4,95 (incidently after skyping with my friend Annie, I found out that we bought the same one!) Around noon, Christoff, Susi's boyfriend, met us there and we went to Mongolien BBQ place (kind of like the Jungs we have in Eugene). He was very nice and goes to the same university in Leoben as Susi.

Last night I hung out with Susi, her cousins, and her friend at a little bar/cafe type place. They taught me some German words and tried to teach me slang but some of the pronunciation was guttural that I could not say it. We stayed up late, which was great for fixing my sleep schedule because I was able to sleep in until 9am today, after a couple days of 4am-6am mornings.

Susi and I were going to go hiking with her cousins but the weather isn't that great right now so I think its going to be a lazy day. Later tonight, Susi and I are going to her grandmother's farm (father's mother) to milk some 200 sheep! I've never milked a sheep so it should be a fun experience:)

Waidhofen an der Ybbs

8/6/2010 6:45

I’ve been awake for a couple hours not having adjusted real well to the time change. Yesterday Susi, her brother and her little sister, picked me up from the Vienna airport and drove 1.5 hrs back to her home in Waidhofen an der Ybbs. It was great to catch up with Susi but listening to them speak German to each other made me a little more anxious about heading to Vienna on the 9^th. Anna, who is 6 years old, was the only one I could kind of understand. We had a little discussion about how cool Hello Kitty is and what Hello Kitty stuff we own. Around 20:00 we picked up some Turkish food on the way back home, what Susi calls “kebab” (pronounced like keh-bah-b) and what I would describe as similar to shwarma that you get in Israel. After a short Skype session with mom and dad, and a shower, I hit the sack.

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16:50

Susi and I just got back from a 3 hr hike up a “hill” called Wandern (sp? have to double check with her). It was beautiful and exhausting! Earlier in the day we walked into town and I picked up shampoo and conditioner (L’Oreal Paris ELVITAL), a notebook, and some stabilo pens for school.

Had a light dinner with her parents and watched some old movies of Susi when she was little. So cute!!! Its now 8:30 and I am heading to bed since the jetlag/lack of sleep is catching up to me.

Traveling

8/5/2010       13:36

            Since the wireless connection at the airport cost 14 or so pounds I’m stuck with chronicling through Microsoft Word. My flights so far have been pretty uneventful, besides the crazy turbulence heading into London. I’m now sitting in the terminal waiting for them to open my Gate and tell me exactly where to go to catch my plane. I’m so amazed at the number of women who wear high heels while traveling. I come from a relaxed, Californian/Eugenian home where travel outfits consist of tennis shoes or flip flops, comfortable pants and usually a sweater, just in case it gets cold. Here are these women in 3-5in heels trekking through airport terminals like they were on the streets of Manhattan, dressed to the T. While I love dressing up and occasionally sporting a shoe with a heel, the idea of traveling for 17 hrs straight in something that I can only wear for 4 hours on a good night, makes me feel sorry for the future of their feet.

Any who, I should be arriving in Vienna around 18:00 where Susi will meet me. I do not feel the slightest bit jetlagged, but I am assuming it will catch up to me and will be an early night for me. I’m nervous about practicing my German with her family but I’m sure they will bear with me as I stumble through basic phrases.

Less than 2 days...

    Counting down the time until I have to board my flight to Europe. I did a sushi lunch with my friend, Claire. We mused about how many pictures I will be taking of my host cats while I am there and her future trip to Italy. It is really starting to sink in that I am going to be almost 9,000 km away (yes, I figured I would bust out the kilometer since it will be the standard in Wien). I am getting VERY excited to speak German on a daily basis but fear for all of the Austrians who have to hear me speak! ;)
   
I had a great dinner with my friends, Nikki, Courtney, Kasey and Jamie, at Steelhead Brewing Co. down near 5th Street Market. I ate my last meal of Mexican food for the next 3 and 1/2 months since I will not be getting much in Vienna. ( Mom points out that nachos are not real Mexican food, but I don't care because it tasted soooo good!) We spent a couple hours wining and dining and catching up. I was sad to say farewells but I know 3 months is not really that long and almost all of them have skype :)

  I am STILL packing and finding things to add to my suitcase. I know I do not need 20 shirts but it is so hard for a serial over-packer to relinquish the idea that I cannot take everything with me :/
Oh well, time for bed. Last day of summer school is tomorrow and I am looking forward to making some progress with my packing. Wish me luck!

27 days and counting...

I finally received my Visa and International Student Identity Card (ISIC) in the mail. Phewwww, I was getting worried about my Visa showing up in time.

I'm still waiting for information about my host family. It makes me nervous not knowing anything about them, but now that I know I will know details before I get there, I think I am almost more nervous.

I've been emailing Susi and am so happy I get to see her during my stay in Austria. Susi,(my former Austrian exchange student) is nice enough to pick me up at the airport in Vienna and driving me back to her family home in Waidhofen an der Ybbs, which is about 2 hours outside of Vienna. I will be arriving in Vienna on the 5th of September, 4 days before my program starts. I'll be staying with her family and cannot wait to see them again. I think it'll be nice to be in a familiar place before I start my program, giving me a couple days to get used to the time change, finish my take home final for my INTL 240 class, and practice my German.

I'm starting to realize how much I am going to miss my family and friends, especially Cheyney. But I'm so excited to venture off into the world and explore. The biggest struggle for me, besides homesickness, will be opening up to new people. As many of you know, I'm usually shy to start out with and once I warm up, you cannot stop me from talking. Hopefully I will meet some really great people.