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:)