Football, a real ball and Mozart balls? Oh and classes too

I have had several weeks to adjust to daily life in Vienna, so I figure its time for an update!
Since I am a student, I am taking classes on a weekly basis, although how much time I actually spend on homework is debatable. I have classes during the week days and the week ends I have had free to either explore Vienna or go on an adventure! The first three weeks of classes I stayed in Vienna and was a good student. I have German class three days a week (Ich lerne jetzt viele Deutsch! I don't know if that is correct grammar though...good thing the semester isn't over yet!) which helps in everyday life as I am now asked on an almost daily basis where this or that museum is. Its my goal that by the end of the program I will be able to a) understand the question fully and b) give correct directions in German!

I am taking another class entitled Austrian Art and Architecture, which is just about the sweetest class I have ever taken. I say that seriously as the professor, Dr. O is a very sweet older woman who lectures for one day a week and the other day she takes us out to various museums/churchs or Roman ruins and tells us all that we need to know. This is great because I get a lovely museum pass and a tour guide for everything I could want to see in the museums. It is really something to be able to talk about late gothic architecture trends in Austria one day and the next go see examples of them a couple of blocks away! Europe will never cease to amaze me with the amount of history that is all around.

My next class of the week is a class on the composer Arnold Schoenberg, this is by far my favorite class. The professor is so knowledgeable on the subject that it is hard for me to not be engaged. I know I am in the minority as most people are not falling out of their chairs in excitement for a class that is lecture based and has large amounts of dense reading and analytical questions on fin-de-siècle art trends, but I love it anyways. We also go on excursions to museums where we compare Arnold Schoenberg to other artists in Vienna of his day. Even though all of my professors connections don't seem clear to me right away, he always manages to make me think in class.

I'm off to my private cello lessons next! My professor is a wonderful older gentleman who has a very hard time with English. He knows exactly what I need to work on and is so supportive, it is so nice to leave the IES palace for lessons, although on windy days it is a challenege to walk the 15 minute walk with a cello on my arm.

The final class is the music performance workshop, which comprises of several ensembles that I am in as well as class time where we listen to others perform their pieces and critique them. We have our first concert coming up, should be fun!

Well that is how my week goes, but what do I do in my free time? Well on our first weekend a bunch of us went to a Wien Rapide Football game! The game was just like any other soccer game (for those Americans reading this) but it was fun to be in such a charged environment for a local time like that.

Then, in the spirit of Fasching (which is the European version of Mardi Gras, where kids all dress up in costumes) some of us went to a masquarade ball! Unlike the last ball, all the girls wore masks and were the ones that were supposed to ask the men to dance. Well, for us it went both ways and we danced the night away, although the masks did come off around midnight (Masks are very sweaty it turns out). 

Surprise! Where am I?

My new study place

So Vienna

The next weekend my friend from UPS who is studying in Munich came over for the weekend. We had fun exploring Vienna and started off in true Viennese fashion by going to the Opera! We saw the opera Carmen, which was absolutely a dream come true, the sets, the voices the orchestra, so amazing!
 The next day we attended the morning routine at the Spanish Riding school.

I had no idea that these horses were only trained this way in Vienna, I know absolutely nothing about horses but I could see how unique these horses were. Then we did a tour of the stables and learned more about the horses and the trainers, this is a tradition that has been going on in Vienna since the Hapsburg's ruled there!
We finished off the day with a nice walk around the Naschmarkt, which is a fun local outdoor market where you can find anything from rare spices to fur coats (and you can bargain too!).

Her tour ended with a morning mass at the church of the Hapsburgs, St. Augestine! It was so nice to have someone visit and she went home with a good memory of Vienna...Mozart balls! These delicious chocolates are hand-made in Vienna for one purpose...tourism! They are delicious and convinently available in all supermarkets for whenever I need a little extra chocolate.






Recently the sun has been coming out which means I have discovered my new favorite past-time, bicycling! There is really nothing quite like spending an afternoon biking along the Danube on practically free city bikes. Vienna truly comes alive in the spring. Now I am finishing up my last mid-term and I am off to Italy for a whirlwind, 5 city/11 day trip, topped off with Easter in Vatican City! Ciao! 

Bikes, picnic and the boys

Lissa and I

Treat of American food

At the tip of the Danube, finally!

Just a Jaunt...to London!

So now my big trips begin. If you know me, you know that I can't resist trying new things. I decided to visit my friend Maddie who is living in London! by the time I post this however, she will be back in the US and starting school again, its amazing how time flies!

I arrived in London on a Friday early afternoon and was ready to hit the ground running! It was so shocking to be in a country where English is the first language, however I quickly got over that because I still couldn't understand people. Maddie and I had a wonderful first day of wandering around the city, checking out Camden shopping area, getting a snack of mini pancakes and doing some wonderful bargaining.

Despite what I have heard about British food I decided, what the heck, I should go for it!
So for the opening dinner I had, what else but fish and chips! Yes, English food is very heavy, but oddly comforting. We scoped out the local pub that she and her friends usually frequent and hit the sack early to prepare for a big day of touristing!

Rise and shine! Started off the day with scrambled eggs on toast and then we hit the sights! After walking over 7 miles we checked these and more sights off of our list:

The London Eye

 

Big Ben

The Mall, British style

Westminster Abby

Millenium Bridge with St. Paul's in the background

National Gallery, Olympic countdown

Tower Bridge

What a great day for ice cream

What is this??

Gates at Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Monument to the great fire of London

Wow! We did all of that and then decided to get some tea.

What a nice break

This tea was called "clotted cream" which sounds horrid, but really its just tea and a scone, much nicer!






















Then we realized that we had extra time, so we decided to go to the Bourogh market and sample all of the locally made and fresh cheeses, chocolates, olive oil etc. This was a fun outdoor market, London style!
I had a hard time understanding that everyone could speak English so whenever I wanted to ask something I always asked Maddie first because I thought that I needed someone to translate for me, whoops! I guess coming back to the US will be much harder then I thought!
After a long and fruitfull day, we went out to get Indian food, a must for going to London. Delicious!

Indian food in London, can't go wrong

On Sunday I ate another hearty English breakfast consisting of eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, potatoes...so much food!
This came in handy as my goal for the day was to tackle the British Museum! This didn't go quite as I had planned, as I hadn't figured in exactly how massive the museum actually is.

Don't let the entrance fool you

Once I arrived there and took one look at the inside map, I realized that this museum was really just a monster that had swallowed several museums. So I ran through taking as many pictures as I could, checking out the Exhibits I knew I didn't want to miss (Egyptian and the Rosetta Stone, who am I kidding) and then just wandering around from there.
Several times I got very lost and finding the exit took me to a dead end in the Greek section where I stood stupidly at an ancient fresco wondering why I didn't see an exit sign.

What a lovely trip

Then it was goodbye oasis of English and Hallo Vienna! I arrived safely back later that night, exhausted but exhilarated by my first independent trip to London! Special thanks goes to Maddie for hosting me and showing me a wonderful time in London!

Skiing in the Alps Anyone?

Crisp clear morning in the Alps

When the weather outside is frightful...go skiing!!!! There was no way that I was going to go to Austria and not take advantage of the wonderful Austrian Alps!

All set to hit the slopes

Up we go!

We had an extended weekend in February where we took a bus up to Radstadt, rented our gear and holed up to ski! I don't know which was better, the perfect weather, my wonderful ski buddies, or the fact that I have improved enough to ski on some pretty challenging slopes!

What a view

Our group skied up and over the small mountain that our hostel was next to and took a bus over to the big mountain where the world cup races were most recently held.

Let's conquer the mountain

 On the big mountain we got to explore the mountain more extensively on fun and beautiful runs.

On the slopes

Lunch break, yum!

Day two team, going strong

Victory

In the evening we relaxed by swimming in the pool or sweating it out in the sauna. Getting away from it all never felt so exhausting yet exhilerating! The day after we returned to the city I was so sore I could hardly move, I guess that's the price I pay for such a fantastic weekend! Just another wonderful weekend abroad, what will the next one bring?

So much happiness on the mountain