Signs that time is passing...

It's officially spring here in Vienna, down to the freshly blooming flower beds (okay, so I watched the guys plant them on my way to school, but they are still pretty right?). I have just tossed out my second bottle of allergy medicine and I am staring at my single pair of contacts thinking--by the time I need you, I will be back in States. My roommates and I have also developed a schedule. We all know who gets up when and which pan to use for the eggs in the morning. I have my favorite foods to buy at the grocery store (cherry tomatoes still on the vine) and the Kebap guy and I wave whenever we see each other although I suppose I should learn his name someday.

I know I have been bad about posting in my blog recently but I have found it difficult to find both the time and motivation. It's easy to write about the crazy ski trip I just went on or adventures I had with my sisters--but writing about life? That's a little harder. Here's the fact of the matter: somewhere along the line, during this crazy fun semester, I created a life for myself in this city. I look around me and I talk to my friends who have lived in or near here all their lives and I hate to think that I will be gone in a month. I barely know these wonderful fabulous people--I barely know this wonderful fabulous city. I knew coming into this semester that I wanted to LIVE in Vienna, not just vacation here for five months. The result of that effort and I am sitting here shaking my head--where do I go from here?

The whole venture is somewhat ironic. All of high school I knew I would be leaving--don't worry about it, it'll just happen. In college I have had a blast but I know we will all disappear to the corners of the world after graduation. All the friendship group and small communities have felt wonderful but the knowledge of their temporary nature lurks in the back of my mind. And then, I come to a city where I know I will be staying only five months and life feels, well, more permanent. More like I could stay here and do this for a few years longer and be happy to stay in one place. Let my wandering feet breathe for a while (well, at least during the work week) in place with good coffee and the beginnings of good friends.

I was talking to my roommate Eloise earlier and the conversation went like this:

"You know, I just want to stay in Vienna long enough to get sick of it."
"I don't think that's ever gonna happen."
"Yes, but it would be nice to find out."

Am I crazy to fall in love with a place that is SO difficult to move to and live in? I swear there is more paperwork per square inch of this place than people in this crazy city, but it still has its shiney. For some reason, this beautiful, quiet, reserved, history-filled, dancing, eating, noise-filled city has captured my heart. Honeymoon period? For certain. But will it change with more time? I really, really want to find out...

Happy Dreaming!

Ich bin gern in die Alpen schifahren.

I went skiing in the Alps!!!! Only my second time skiing (minus that time when I was little and I don't remember) and only my 3rd and 4th day ever on the slopes and it was in the ALPS! How spoiled am I? Pretty darn spoiled. We drove out on Friday to a ski resort near Salzburg called Raadstadt/Altensee. Our passes though got us onto about six different mountains which was pretty sweet.

The first day was a little rough--I had to get my snow legs back. Madeleine and I paired up for the weekend and she stuck with me as I conquered first the beginner Blue runs and slowly but surely moved up on the intermediate Reds. By the end of the day I was starting to head down the intermediate runs with only minor bumps along the way.

After a full day of skiing we headed back to the hostel. Adrienne, Madeleine and I thought we would head into town to grab drinks and see the local town. Well, we eventually made it to town but first we had to cross a dark cow pasture, find a couple of bridges over some streams, and wind our way through the dark outer neighborhoods. It was a gorgeous night with the stars peaking out between the clouds!

The next day the three of us headed off bright and early to Zauchensee/Flachauwinkl and took on the fresh powder. At this point I was starting to hit my stride. I was still pretty scared out of my mind but by the end of the day I was leaping down those Red runs with furry and vigor! Not bad for my fourth day on the slopes! The sun was also out making it a beautiful day to look out at the scenery. It was nice to just have one or two people to ski with--we got in a ton of runs and had a lot of fun. The best was when we were headed up to the top of Zauchensee and we all had a simultaneous "DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!" moment. It was pretty darn awesome.

The rest is best left up to pictures, so here they are:

Madeleine (left) and Adrienne looking happy to be heading up to the top. You can see the other mountains behind them (we skied over there too!).

Yea, I might have skied down that. :D

And I might have been a little happy about it.

Look how pretty it is!!! I am not even lying, it was glittering. We got up top and we thought we had walked into a craft store.

Ready to take our last run down the slopes. But what a fabulous weekend it was!

Happy Schilaufen!

Bad Aussee (No, it's not a dirty word!)

In case you are wondering, the cure for all that ails you is a weekend in the Alps.

This past weekend Margaret and I spent a magical weekend in the rural alps along the Steiermark/Oberösterreich border.

The House:
As you can see, we arrived in Bad Aussee to the most picturesque house you can imagine. It was so warm and homey--just exactly what two girls tired of the city needed. Monika came to pick us up from the train station and we immediately went home to make delicious curry for dinner. The house smelled exactly like Grandma Wallig's house with that warm wood scent. We loved the ceramic stove keeping the whole place warm and everything was just the perfect size of not too big but not too cramped.

Our Hosts:

Monika taught Margaret and I our first words of German during our three week intensive German course. Michael is a retired Vicar in the Evangelisch (Lutheran) church. He is originally from Northern Germany. He and Monika met after she had left her first husband and was raising four kids all on her own! They fell in love and made quite a stir! Of course, Monika takes this in stride now--she's such a mischief maker she probably took it in stride then too!

Me outside in the backyard on Saturday morning:
On Saturday us girls drove around the mountains into Upper Austria to where the Hapsburg emperors used to vacation. Our first stop was Hallstatt the site of many artifacts from an acient civilization made rich on salt. The whole area is called the Salzkammergut and everywhere are markers of the old salt trade. Now the town is small and meant as a quiet vacation spot complete with newly renovated hotel. The churches were the most fascinating part of the trip. We climbed up a number of steps to the Catholic church and looked around.

The beginning of the long ascent:

Graves at the top of the climb:

As you can see, ground these days is fairly scarce. The town is squeezed between a fairly sheer mountain and a lake so the graves are very small. Monika hauled us all the way up here to show us the one thing we will never see anywhere else: a skull crypt. Since there is so little room, many people opt to be placed in a small crypt. The bodies are buried for ten years and then exhumed. The skulls are then blessed and painted intricately with symbols from the person's life and their name. I have a hard time taking pictures of burial places (as you can see by the poor nature of this photo, I could only bring myself to take one) so I don't have a photo of my own. However there is a website with some photos and more information here.

A mountain stream rerouted throughout the whole little town:

The nice thing about being so high up is we had a beautiful view of the rest of the city, lake, and protestant church:We spent the rest of the day exploring the area and enjoying the scenery. We even had time to run back home and walk Kyara, the dog around the Toplitzsee. The Toplitzsee is famous for being a very deep lake where the first 60 m is sweet water and the last 125 m is salt! The Nazi's supposedly buried treasure here and sure enough, in the 80's they found gold and false English bank notes! In '87 they also dug up a whole box of bottle caps a men's club had buried as a prank! The authorities weren't too happy but they apparently thought it was funny enough to hang the box in the restaurant by the lake.

Margart by the Toplitzsee:
Also around this lake is where the Archduke Johann met and fell in love with the Postmaster's daughter Anna Polchl whom he was unable to marry until his Hapsburg brother finally conceded 15 years later.

After a quiet evening making Potato Goulash and watching Keeping Up Appearances we woke up the next morning for Sunday Mass. It was so much fun to see Monika interact with all her local friends. She's so funny and obviously the life of any conversation. I want to be her when I grow up! We had a weekend full of her stories. She lived in England for a couple years, has traveled all over the world, and now spends part of her time giving Cambridge Exams and travelling with her church ladies. I hope I have half of her energy when I'm that age and just as many stories to tell!

After a lovely morning at the coffee shop with Michael we headed to grab lunch. On our way home, we had a surprise. Michael is the Chancellor for his chapter of a men's club started in Prague a couple hundred years ago. Everything is discussed with whit and humor except Politics, Family, and Religion. As Monika put it, it's a place for older men to go play like boys. It sounded like a great time to me! After hearing about this club all weekend, Michael took us in and showed us around! It was so funny and wonderful! It really felt like being part of the family being able to experience something so few people from the rest of the world have seen!

Michael in his official hat and Monika being goofy in a borrow apprentice cap:
Unfortunately, after our adventures into the club it was time to head back to Vienna. We said farewell to Monika and Michael, petted the cats and dog, and headed off on the train. Our perfect weekend in the countryside was over.

However, before all seems lost, Monika will be coming over for dinner tonight since she had errands in town to run! Margaret is cooking up delicious food and I'm bring dessert so we can have another lovely evening of talk, food, and fun! I am really looking forward to a chance to hear even more funny stories.

Happy Alps-ing!

Ball Photos

Madeleine and I in our masks!

Rudolfina Redoute aka Ball 2.0

Since we had so much fun at the last ball, Madeleine and I decided that the next student ball, the Rudolfina Redoute was a requirement.

The Rudolfina Redoute gets its name from K.Ö.St.V. Rudolfina, the Austrian fraternity that hosts the ball. A redoute is a masked ball where women are obliged to wear masks from opening to midnight. During this time, any woman in a mask may ask any man to dance and cannot be refused. After the unmasking quadrille, either gender may ask until the ball ends at 5am. (More history here.) Pretty cool, right? Madeleine and I were pretty excited both about our masks and the free reign we had in asking people to dance!

Since we were unable to secure good spots for the opening of the TU Ball, we arrived early to assure ourselves good viewing room of the events. I was really glad we did! After the Debutantes were escorted out onto the floor and the opening dance performed, we were treated to a short performance of Carmen excerpts by two singers followed by a beautiful ballet interpretation. It was really spectacular. We ended up with standing spots right next to where everyone entered so we would be watching the performance and then all of the sudden there would be an opera singer or a ballet dancer right next to us. It was a great opening to see!

The rest of the night just seemed to fly by. Justine and I ended up dancing for a while with two Austrian friends--they seemed pretty cool but after about an hour we realized they seemed to completely lack personality. It appears the stereotypical frat boy exists here in Austria as well. (Notice that I said the stereotype not every frat boy!) After we ditched those losers, we had some more fun dancing around with each other and asking a few people to dance. I met a very nice guy name Gerald who teaches American Political systems at the University and worked at one point for Schwarzenegger (>.<). He was very polite but a little strange. Lovely dancer though.

The real highlight of the evening is when Madeleine and I saw a pleasant looking fellow from across the room. At her insistence I navigated across two rooms of revelers to ask him to dance. Turned out to be a great idea! My new friend Lukas and I realized that neither of us could dance very well, so we sat down and had a lovely conversation. It turns out he spent some time in Texas during high school, loves to travel, and is all around a nice really nice (and shy!) guy. After about an hour we hunted down his roommate, an outrageously funny guy from Germany named Norbert, and decided it was high time we got some breakfast at the early hour of 4:30am! To the sounds of Norbert's loud laugh and Madeleine's limping, I've-worn-my-heels-too-long gate, the four of us, plus one of Lukas's friends, headed over to the Rudolfina fraternity flat for early morning breakfast.

As a recap, let me just set the scene: It is 5:00am in the morning, we have been dancing since about 9:30pm and here Madeleine and I are standing in a room full of Austrian fraternity men (and friends) having Krapfen and beer for breakfast. I don't know how to even describe how awesome and surreal it still seems. After much more laughing and joking, especially at our choice of breakfast (BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS!!!), Norbert and Lukas escorted us to the U-bahn to catch the first train of the morning home.

It definitely was a great night but the best part has been that I now have Austrian friends! Lukas and Norbert have been horribly nice about inviting Madeleine and I to join them and their friends. I met a few of their friends last Wednesday over a quick drink and we'll be seeing them again this Thursday at a small party they are throwing for a friend. I am so excited--I have Austrian friends! :D

More stories to come at another time.

Happy Friending!

Barcelona take two

Continuing from the adventures at the Sagrada Familia, Adrienne and I decided, on a whim that we would see if we could get opera tickets at Liceu. We knew that Wagner's Tristan and Isolde was showing with Debra Voigt as Isolde but we didn't realize that as students we could get partial view tickets for 4.50. Best 4.50 of the entire trip. The work was absolutely stunning and neither of us could believe that four hours had passed. Where we were sitting you had to crane your neck underneath a railing to see the stage and we could only see straight down on top of the singers. It turned out to be the best view for final scene. As dream Tristan wrapped his arms around Isolde it was like looking down on an angel.

That night we finally had a chance to hang out with our super cool Argentinian roommates and decided to schedule a night out for the following evening.

The next day we hit up the Picasso museum complete with a special exhibit on Erotic Japanese Art. While it was an interesting exhibit, I'm not sure it's one I'd be horribly interested in experiencing again--it was just a wee bit awkward after a while. Since we were already in the Gothic Corridor, we decided to wander around a bit. We found ourselves hungry and quickly ducked into a little family run restaurant with a daily menu for 10 euro.

This was quite the experience. While observing what must have been the Spanish version of Jerry Springer on the television, we were also experiencing it in the restaurant itself. The place was absolutely adorable but it was quite obvious that the younger girl serving as waitress was new or very overwhelmed and the older woman was ready to let her have it if she didn't hurry up. The food was good and the setting was really nice with lots of crazy European plates and dolls up along the walls. Despite the initial fighting, it was cool to listen to the daily gossip between the owner and some of her regulars--even if we didn't understand a word.

The next stop was the famous Catedral. If I were to describe this stunning work of architecture using only one word it would be "space." Somehow the long elegant arches stretching up and peeling out into more arches made the whole place seem impossibly larger on the inside that it had been on the outside. I am finding the more time I spend looking at golden altars and intricate embellishment, the more I am simply awed by raw, unadorned space. Sitting down in a pew looking up at the ceiling seemingly miles ahead of me, I felt simultaneously smaller and somehow closer to God. It is a feeling I am becoming familiar with but I don't think I will ever quite get used to it.

That evening we took sometime to go out with our roommates Vicky and Denise. It was interesting to hear about Argentinian lifestyle--nights staying out until 5 to 6 am but a working day that lasts much later. Dinner doesn't start until 9pm and the daily siesta helps pass the hotter parts of the day. Apparently with more modern companies, neither Denise or Vicky had siesta and they said they miss it. When Adrienne and I explained that we rarely went out passed 2 am Vicky commented that our lives must be pretty boring! And here I was thinking I've been living it up as a college student!

Unfortunately, Vicky and Denise needed to leave pretty early the next morning to catch their flight to Italy so we had to call it an early night. Adrienne and I also got up early and decided to take a train out of the city and hike up to the Montserrat Monastery (information here). It was pretty surreal when we hopped off the train and found ourselves in a little Spanish town with only a vague idea of where to find our trail head and no one else wandering from the train station but us. It was a beautiful but steep hike up to the monastery and one of those surreal days where you keep looking around trying to find the camera crew. The monastery itself was incredibly touristy since most normal people take the local train to the top. None the less, the sanctuary was another religious experience by itself. The hike was also a much needed cure for my need to see greenery.

On our last morning we decided to watch the sunrise over the Mediterranean to say our goodbyes to the beautiful city of Barcelona. We were pretty sad to be leaving but we also knew it would be good to be home. By the time we made the nine hour trek home, we were ready for a nice calm night in our own little apartment.

To see the full album of the trip click here.

Happy hiking!

Barcelona

[20.2.2010 Photo links are fixed for those without Facebook!]

Oh my Barcelona. My friend Ugur warned us that Barcelona would be our favorite city. He was so right. There is a magic about Barcelona that is simply indescribable until you see it. Since it was such a fun trip I will start at the very beginning.

In order to travel cheaply to Barcelona, we had to fly out of Bratislava. Vienna and Bratislava are the two closest national capitals in the world at only 30km apart. In order to get to the airport on time and because we had never done the trip, we left pretty early to on the U-bahn to catch first a train to Bratislava then a bus from the train station to the airport. First leg down and we had four hours to burn before our flight would depart. Well, we thought.

The other thing to know about this trip is that we were flying RyanAir--notorious for their horrible delays. Unfortunately we fell prey to one of these oh so delightful delays. The killer is that both of us forgot--in our infinite wisdom to bring a book, or chrocheting, or even an iPod. This was dull. Probably the dullest four hours of my life. One of my favorite things about myself, however, is that when I get really, really bored--I get resourceful. At this point, a couple of Slovakian guys had been talking in English in the row behind us. I finally got bored and just turned around and jumped in the conversation. Being especially bold, after running to the bathroom, I plopped my butt onto the seat next to these guys and started a conversation. One of the guys had a book called "Vulgerisms in any language" and thus we began to learn bad words/sayings in Slovakian. Unfortunately, I have forgotten all of them but it was a nice way to pass the time. The other fun part was meeting Ugur from Turkey--he was the reason the Slovakian guys had been speaking English. Ugur and I started discussing traveling, the delay, music, etc. He was a really cool guy. When we were all getting tired, he got out his mp3 player and I got out my notebook. At his goading I wrote a really, really bad poem about how much Ryanair sucks for abandoning us for six hours in the airport. I then gave it to him as a present and in exchange he gave me 5 Turkish Liras--I made a joke about it being my first and only payed poem ever. It was pretty fun.

We finally boarded and took off at around 1 am--which meant Adrienne and I had spent 12 hours in the Bratislava airport. On the plane we ended up sitting next to a really boisterous/friendly Austrian girl (they do exist!) named Anna. She was fun to talk to and gave me a few recommendations for places to go/see. I didn't get her information which was a shame but it was like 4am when we got in and I had no social skills left to me.

The problem with arriving in a foreign country where you don't speak the language at 4am in the morning, is that no buses are running and you have no notion of how to call a cab. Rather than deal with it, we just reneged on our Girona reservation and took the bus straight to Barcelona. We finally dragged our travel worn bodies into our hostel in Barcelona at 5 am. The guy at the front desk just looked at us and said "we'll do payment in the morning--just go sleep." It sucked that it cost us some extra money but not having to navigate the street of Girona at 5 am was worth the extra 20 Euro. Still--that was one of those growing up moments where you realize that you have to decide what is safest for you and your travel mate in an unforeseen situation. It was especially sobering since my travel mate is completely useless when she is sleepy/hungry/has to pee. I discovered this over the course of the trip but that night I was fine just taking control--I wanted sleep!

Our hostel was totally cute. It was the main floor of two back to back buildings with a courtyard in the middle perfect for soaking up the afternoon sun. We had rooms across the courtyard, directly outside. Everything was painted that deep orangey/yellow color and teal. It was so charming. I completely forgot to take pictures of it but there are pictures at their website here.
After dragging our tired bodies out of bed on Sunday, we decided the sunny weather meant nothing but beach. And that's exactly what we did.

Our hotel was right off of La Rambla, the main drag down to the beach. We came out onto harbor and there was Christopher Columbus, just chilling on his pedestal. The air was warm and the beaches were beautiful. I stuck my toes into the Mediterranean!!!! A bit chilly but a lot of fun! The best part is that everyone in the city was out that day. The weather hadn't been very warm for a while so everyone was out with their dogs, riding bikes, building sand castles, strolling along the beach, and doing my absolute favorite thing: busking!!! We sat down and watched this one band for a good hour. They were super quirky with a string bass, accordion, flute, alto and bari sax, tuba, and vocals. It was the perfect way to spend a day relaxing.

Unfortunately, the next two days were rainy. :( Still tired, and rather culture shocked from our quick and late night transition from German to Spanish, we took it easy the next day. We got up around 11 and headed over to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished cathedral. It was really spectacular with a lot of really amazing detail. The way the decorations are molded and the shape of the towers makes it look like a sand castle that is being rained on. The statues were really intricate and wonderful too look at. I was a big fan of the manger scene especially with the pigeon sitting on the Shepherd's head. The outside was interesting but over all, I found the whole thing just too overwhelming. The architecture on it's own is so fabulous, the excessive detail seems to take away from the structure rather than add to it. The inside, despite being a complete construction zone was still pretty magnificent. (For more information about the sight, the tourist website in English is here.)

I'm going to have to finish Day 3-5 tomorrow. I desperately need sleep. I went to another ball last night I didn't get home until 6am. That's a whole other story to tell... :D

Happy Adventuring!

A more serious post...

I don't think I can put this into words again so instead I will excerpt the story from an email I sent a friend of mine. This occurred yesterday morning on the way to my first voice lesson and has been stuck in my head since. It especially resonates with me after the Fear post from a while ago:

I had a strange experience this morning--one I am not even sure I can describe. Have you ever had one of those moments where you really truly surprise yourself and not in a good way? I disappointed myself this morning to an almost unparalleled degree and I really don't know what to say. It is altering my whole perception of who I am and what kind of person I am and I hate that I could have done this.

I was rushing off to a voice lesson this morning and I ran to the ATM to get money to pay for said lesson. As I was waiting at the crossing to get back to my train station, a man who was obviously lost and furiously talking to his mother, asked me if I had a piece of paper and a pen. There I was standing with my backpack on, definitely stocked with pen and paper, and I brushed him off. Without even a split second of thought, I simply lied and said I didn't have any. Perhaps I was in a rush or distracted or something but I stood there and flatly lied while I was standing and waiting for the light to change.

Who does that? When did I let myself become so without compassionate? When did I become a person who says that? When did I become someone who won't stop and help a guy who just needs a piece of paper? It doesn't even register to me that I could have lied like that in such a split second without even thinking. I am so utterly disappointed in myself, I don't even have words.

Alright, I bow to your insistance...

I am sitting here in bed at 5:25 in the evening munching on an orange and last Thursday seems so far removed that I cannot believe it was me dancing those halls. Perhaps it's the mucus running down my throat or how painful it is to swallow but I am not feeling shiny today. Probably doesn't help that Vienna is a soggy, raining mess. Blegh.

Anyway, the happy times:

Last Thursday was simply one of those days when I conquered the world. I woke up, still a little sick from earlier in the week but mostly better despite a persistently clogged ear. The sun was shining so beautifully on my way to German class that as soon as I finished, I decided to hop a train to the Donau Insle or Danube Island. The island was man-made from one of the many harbor dredging and now spans the width of Vienna with swimming barges, beaches, bike paths, skate parks, walking paths, running paths, and ice skating in the winter! It was nice to step away and breath in some quiet after being in the city for so long. I miss the water and the clouds stayed just clear enough that I could see the hills--a nice reminder that there are mountains out there.

Unfortunately the sun wasn't shining for long so after about an hour I hopped the U-bahn home and proceeded to struggle through my German homework. Of course, then the getting ready had to happen--I did a fine job on Adrienne's (roommate) hair. She looked really pretty in her white, strapless gown. I felt pretty fine myself in my green, curve hugging, well-boned little gown. I was looking forward to riding that U-bahn in my ballgown. I think I feel most like myself when I am doing some inappropriately mundane or dirty in dress clothing--it's so indicative of my personality. However, Adrienne's dress being both white, and floor length was not going to survive the trip so we hopped a cheap cab and we were on our way to a ball!!!

The Hofburg was beautiful. We were unfortunately in the newer part--the part that has been much more updated for events such as these but the main ballroom was spectacular. On the walls were dramatically lit Austrian and EU flags with flowers and flower bouquets along all the tables placed for people to rest or eat. Everything, and everyone looked beautiful. But of course, as will all things in Vienna, you have not seen a room until you remember to look up. The ceiling--oh my word, the ceiling. The ceiling had beautiful cornices and on either end, in the center, and along the edges were full scale paintings of philosophers and kings under Grecian columns. The chandeliers were pure crystal and sparkled bright gold giving everything a warm, evening feel to it. From this point there are a thousand and one stories I could tell but I will simply summarize a bit and tell a few of my favorite.

To say that I danced would be an understatement: I danced a LOT and with numerous young men. It took me a while to get the hang of it--my friend Madeleine finally explained it this way: "You have to stare them down and not be picky. Young, old, cute, awkward. Just stare them down until they cannot look away and then they have to ask you." Turns out, Austrian men are just as awkward as a American men when it comes to having the guts to ask girls to dance. Who would have guessed? Here's the best part though: Austrian boys actually CAN dance...or at least fake it well enough to be worth it. Needless to say, after I got the hang of things (aka pulled out Becca #1--the bold as brass version) it was a magical night.

My favorite moments:

I was having a hard time since no one was asking me to dance so I wondered a little bit with my friend Alicia. When we ended up in the "traditional dance room" I was enjoying watching what sounded like polka. Everyone was going in a circle men one direction, women the other direction and then when the music hit a certain point, everyone would grab the partner nearest them and dance. When a male ended up without someone to dance with--I just dove in. It was pretty fun. On the next round everyone ended up slightly off so people weren't paired correctly on my side of the circle. The woman behind me and I decided to try our luck--we were pretty bad but we had a lot of fun! (Note the picture in the previous post.) I stayed for the rest of the dance with a number of awkward encounters and then headed back to explore the other rooms.

That was one of the nice things about the ball--there was the large traditional room which played a lot of old-timey music mixed with classic waltzes by the orchestra (which was phenomenal by the way) and everyone was dancing standard ballroom dances. There was also a room playing jazz, the second largest hall had more old time hits but the dancing was less formal, downstairs was a Latin room with a really amazing band, and then there was the folk room.

After that adventure, I got a little more bold--I had a few dances with some IES friends of mine, and had a few nice older gentlemen dance with me. That was pretty fun. One of my favorite characters of the night was a guy named Don. He and his friend were trying to play a group of four of us--man he was a cocky character. I of course, had a blast messing with him. We were fighting and insulting each other the whole evening including while we danced three times in a row and two more times later. It was hilarious. He certainly wasn't a keeper but he's someone worth going out for a fun night with! Of course, that is if we ever stop making fun of each other enough to actually go do something.

After leaving Don and his friend, I decided to try my luck in the Latin room. There I ended up meeting a nice middle aged man name Michael (mI-çaI-el) who was a fabulous dancer. We danced something like six or seven dances in a row. Later, when I finally begged for a rest, we had a nice conversation over some mineral water and he explained that he wants to open up a dance school/club where people can dance a variety of different dances rather than going to one place for Latin and another place for formal and another place for swing. Sounded like a pretty great idea to me. He was really nice man but after a while I started craving the company of people my own age--I am a little sorry that I allowed the age thing to unnerve me but it was a night of magic and I wanted to keep exploring. I did get his number--I might call him (on a strictly non-romantic basis!) to go dancing sometime. I think it would be fun.

The rest of the evening was less eventful but still wrapped in the magic only a palace can provide. I hung out with a number of different people and danced with a few more of my friends. At 4 am Denise, Linkhai and I ended up sitting a resting our feet in the main ballroom while listening to the last hour of waltzes. Here I danced with a few nice Austrian men one of whom swung me around the ballroom for a solid five minutes. Man was I dizzy. The best part of it all, and as I have said a few times, the only thing that can possibly even hint at the magic of it all: I danced the Viennese waltz in Vienna at 4 in the morning to a live orchestra in the imperial palace. Is there anything more magical than that?

The one practical lesson in all this? I will never wear heels to a dance ever again. I was on my feet dancing for seven solid hours and my feet never even started to hurt. Besides, when you are 5'9" and looking fabulous, no one notices that you are wearing black flats. And, if the guy is tall (and let's admit it, I like my men tall) then he can't see the scuff marks from his altitude anyway! The other fun lesson: you have as much fun as you make. A lot of the shyer IES girls didn't have a very good time. Those of us that were bold--we had a blast. I refuse to waste time playing wallflower ever again!

When we finally ended the evening at 5:30am, Noelle had made a nice Austrian friend and we invited him back to Noelle and Denise's for breakfast. After another hour of chatting I walked myself and my ballgown home for a few hours of sleep before German. Best night ever. And we are all going to another one on the 15th. Carnival, here we come!

Happy Magic Making!

The Ball: Here are pictures. I know you all want to hear about it but I have been pretty busy. The pace of life has just picked up and I am still under the weather. Not from the ball but from before so I have to go to the doctor today. I promise a wonderfully full description this evening!

The traditional dancing room. This was so much fun--lots of polka and weird dances that not only could a not understand but definitely didn't know.
Alicia snapped this when I decided to "squeeze the juice" and dived into a ring dance. The men and women's circles jept getting off so I ended up dancing with this wonderful lady. Glad to know there are practical Viennese woman like me!
The opening of the ball with the debutantes in white. This room was the later scene of the traditional waltz and the Quadrille.
L->R: Linkhai from NYC, Denise from Missouri/just got back from Japan, Lauren (roommate of Noelle and Denise), Me!, and Noelle. I am on the stairs of the opening. Woot!

Alright. I have to go to German class now.

Happy Twirling!

There are not yet words. There are simply no words to describe last night. I got home at 6:40 am, slept for 5 hours and went to class. I will attempt tomorrow when I have enough of a brain to encompass the surrealness of last night.

Happy Dancing!

The requested apartment pictures...

This is our living room. It is actually huge. It extends to the left with a whole other couch so we have lots of space for hosting friends and family. Our landlady is so sweet she told us we don't have to pay to have guest stay over. Off to the left next to the window is the door to the balcony. I have already posted views from there.
This my room. I am on the left (your left) side with the strange animal blankets. When we arrived all of our beds had these slightly hideous large blankets. I like being warm--I will put up with mine. Behind the door are shelves where we store our folded clothes and to the left we have a nice little wardrobe for hanging things.
Through here is our storage/where we put our laundry to dry. The door to the right leads into Marissa and Eloise's room.
Our lovely shower/laundry room.
Austrian toilets are a little strange but it's nice that the toilet is separate from the shower in the morning.
And last but not least is our itty-bitty kitchen. It's not too bad except for when all four of us get the cooking bug at once. We had this problem last night--it's kind of fun though. Things are loud and tight but we reach around each other and share what we can and it ends up being very fun.

My roommates and I are horrible about taking pictures so we still don't have very many of each other. I will try to remedy that soon!

Happy living!

Becca goes to her first Sunday mass...

I would like to first clarify that I did NOT burst into flames. Instead, I froze. Quite literally.

Last night after a wonderful (but tiring) night at the Opera, I thought I would once again "squeeze the juice" (as Kent likes to say) and head to Augustinekirche for my first mass ever--in German. Why would I bother to drag my tired, sore-throated body out of bed any earlier than absolutely necessary on a Sunday? Because every week at 11am, Augustinekirche performs a fully composed mass. Today's was Hadyn's Große Orgelsolomesse or "Large Organ Solo Mass." You can guess why I went!

Figuring that I was in Europe, and in a Catholic country no less, I figure being well dressed would be a necessity. Well, here's the thing I didn't know: Sunday morning mass is NOT heated--even in 10 degree weather. Everyone was wearing the warmest clothing they owned and no one even took off their coats. I cannot imagine that type of cold is very good for the poor instruments that play every Sunday.

Despite the cold, the music was glorious. All of that stone was incredibly live allowing all of the sounds to mix and mingle beautifully. It was entirely surreal. The soloists were also wonderful. I especially liked the bass soloist and the tenor soloist. The gospel Processional was perhaps the most heartbreakingly beautiful thing I have ever heard on a Sunday and we had a lovely Alleluia refrain to sing back. For the first hour, I LOVED the music and got totally lost in it.

Of course, during all this the cold was slowly creeping into my hands and feet. And, speaking no German, and having never been to a mass in my life, I was completely lost during most of it. By the time the first hour was over, I had lost all attention to the service except my aching feet. Of course, being mass, I had another forty minutes to go. About the only thing I remember of the service from that point was when I started a conversation with the man sitting next to me. He spoke no English, and I speak horrible German but I did tell him I am a student and I learned that he does live in Vienna. I tried to ask if Augustinkirche was his home parish but I didn't understand his answer. I love how friendly people are once you approach them here. It's amazing to see the change from stand-offish to friendly, especially if you tell that you are a student and not just a tourist.

After that quick conversation, I only have memory of cold as I scurried through the wind back to the U-bahn and then scurried from the U-bahn to my apartment. My toes are still aching this evening from the cold. It took me thirty minutes of hot water to get them un-thawed. I then proceeded to take a two and a half hour doze since I ached everywhere. My throat hurts and I have a painful/stiff neck but it has finally started to feel better after a day spent in the house. Hopefully, with some good sleep I will be better by tomorrow. I certainly hope so since I have another German quiz.

In good news, Alpine Club Vienna finally put up a time for their meeting next week. I am really excited to go. Also, two weeks from now we have German finals and then a week long break. Adrienne and I have decided to go to Barcelona where it is a balmy 50 degrees compared to our frigidness here. After we get back from break, the students should be back at the University which means language buddies will be starting up soon! Wunderbar!

Oh so many exciting things in such a short time. I cannot wait!

Happy experiencing!

Hello Saturday...

It's been a busy couple of days...

Yesterday I had my first German test. I am pretty sure I rocked it. I was very excited until today when I woke up and had my most epic fail day of German ever. Mind you, I was hanging out with Americans all day which meant I was thinking in English all day but still. What's a girl to do?

We had our first meeting with our main coaches for the Performance Workshop. Our professor, Dr. Fieldman seems totally awesome. She sent us our voice teacher assignments as well which makes me SUPER happy. I am desperate for some new repertoire and to start taking lessons again. It wasn't too surprising that Noelle and I ended up with the same teacher recommendation. This will be exciting! I am also really excited for the workshop--we'll be doing some opera scenes, a few duets, and some things with instruments. I am super stoked to be doing chamber music--singing alone gets so boring so quickly!

Today I woke up early and went to look around the Fleamarket in the Naschmarkt that happens every Saturday. I met Denise and we proceeded to freeze our buns off. It is SO cold here. At least I am super European cute in my brand new Second-hand jacket. It's red and black plaid--it's a good thing it has cute structure or I would look like a lumberjack. Best find ever. I got it at the Humana which is kind of like Goodwill but money goes to other countries. It is pretty darn sweet.

After the failure of the freezing cold fleamarket, Denise and I picked up Noelle (they live together) and went dress shopping. I officially have a dress for the ball and I am pretty much in love with it. It will travel well AND I look amazing in it. I am so excited for this Thursday! The best part of dress shopping was that the sun (SUN!) finally came out. What a lovely day.

To cap this beautiful day, I had my first introduction to standing room at the Wiener Staatsoper! Adrienne and I (as well as quite a few other IES students) stood for all four hours of The Marriage of Figaro. It was AMAZING! For four Euros and two hours of early arrival time, I just saw a whole professional opera. Can life get any better?

Down side to all the fun I've been having is that I am wee bit sick now. >.< Wish me luck in recovering!

Happy Opera-ing!

Pictures and things

Here are some pictures of the sixth district. More to follow later, when I am not in German class.
This is the view during the day from my apartment down Linkewienzweile.

The nighttime view (with snow!).

Water, Zwickl, and other delicious things...

A quick blog about three of my favorite things here:

Act 1: Water

Das Wasser in Wien ist gut! I have no idea if that is a grammatically correct sentence or not but I will repeat it again and again. The water in Vienna is good. Very good. For those of you fact nerds out there, here's one for your next party: Vienna has the best big city water in the world. It comes directly down from the mountains along various pipelines some of which were built back in the 19th century. That's right folks: I wash my dishes and flush my toilet in fresh, mountain spring water. How cool is that?

One of the coolest (yet slightly inconvenient) things that stems from this is the absence of water fountains. There are no water fountains anywhere. Why bother? You can just drink directly from the tap of any WC (bathroom) and since there are no chemicals in the water, there is nothing to corrode the pipes. As a singer, and water drinker extraordinaire, I must admit, I am getting S-P-O-I-L-E-D. Compared to the chlorinated mess that is Tacoma water and arsenic mess in Urbana, this aspect of life is pretty sweet.

Act II: Zwickl

"Ich möchte klein Zwickl," was the first phrase I successfully used auf Deutsch. Zwickl is an unfiltered beer which means there is still some of the grain and yeast left. Most Austrian brewers will have both a filtered and an unfiltered version. Best. Thing. Ever. It tastes like beer should taste--rich and the beer flavors suddenly make sense. I did not really like beer before coming to Austria. My second night here we went out to a place near our orientation spot and grabbed a beer with some of the Student Services staff. I was sitting there drinking my first glass and thinking "Hey, this is a lot better than American beer but it's not that great." Then Kyle let me try his zwickl and it was love at first taste. The bitter flavors that are usually too sharp suddenly had depth to them and the acidic watery taste was completely gone. Plus, it's healthier--right?

Needless to say, if you are going to come out to the real beer-making lands. Get a zwickl. It's SO worth it.

Act III: Cafe Culture

There is no such thing as bad food here. Okay, yes, almost everything that can be fried, is fried but other foods are amazing. This evening my roommates and I went out to grab desserts at a coffee house. We wandered down Linke Wienzweile for a while and ended up going to the Naschmarkt and sitting at one of the little cafe's there. We ordered the best desserts ever.

Anyway, the point of the entry: cafe culture. I love how much time the Viennese take with things. If you want your check you have to literally hunt down a waiter, not because they want you to buy more but because it is expected that you will sit and talk for hours and hours. Here, bringing the check right away would be rude. It would imply trying to hurry someone out which is not at all the culture. I love that. It can be tad inconvenient when you are in a rush but still so nice and wonderful. Noelle and I experiences this a little bit our first morning in Vienna when we sat down in a cafe to waste the morning away before it was time to meet our orientation. I intend to go it alone tomorrow morning and do my German homework at a Cafe. I am so excited! Hopefully one of the free WiFi cafes will be open and serving breakfast.

Finale:

Time for bed. My bed is very strange. It has what feels a bit like box springs on the bottom but on top is very dense foam. It is a bit hard but I actually rather like it. What I don't like are how flat our pillows are. They don't offer much support. I might have to remedy that if my back keeps acting up. Oh well. The one thing I really like is a the shared disdain for top sheets. As a restless sleeper, I appreciate the lack of limb rending, bunching, twisting, top sheets. So much easier to sleep with and SO much less to make in the morning.

How beds relate to food/liquids--I don't know. But either way, speaking of my bed is making me crave it.

Happy Kaffee-ing!

That fear thing...

Fear of judgment:
I just realized my biggest weakness: I am afraid of making a fool of myself around Austrians. Like a real fool. Like enough of a fool to actually meet some Austrians and become their quirky American friend. I need to get over this and go make friends with whatever horrible language skills I have. This is my goal: I will make an Austrian acquaintance within the next two weeks. I will.

Fear #2: meeting new people
February 1st in the next meeting of the Alpine Club Vienna--a group that operates in English. Hopefully, this will be a successful venture and I will meet some new people. My fellow IES student, Matt has said he is interested in coming with me to that meeting. Hopefully he will hold good to that.

Pretty Dress and Euro:
There is a ball in a week. I am trying to decide if I can afford to find a used dress and pay the 20 Euro entrance fee--it would be an incredible night but potentially like prom all over again especially if Fear #1 & 2 hold true. Plus, it will be pricey. So many decisions, so little time. Another fear: money. Always in my head. *Sigh*

The Illusion of Fear:
I went to find the practice rooms near my apartment this evening. Creepiest adventure ever. I was never in any danger but I did accidentally trespass on the wrong building. I found the street I needed--LOOONG walk and I had to keep reminding myself that this was not Chicago or Tacoma--but they gave us the wrong building number and the building I first went to was unlocked. I wandered up a staircase trying to find the practice rooms. The lights turned out on me half way up the stairs (they do this to save power) but when I tried to find the button to press for the light and accidentally hit someone's door bell. I felt so guilty. I apologized profusely but I got the impression I annoyed the crap out of them. I then wandered up the other stairs, and crossed the courtyard to wander up the other two staircases with no success. This building was old! And there were all these creepy unlocked doors (one which led to a brick wall). At the bottom of one of the staircases, it looked like the lock had been broken and their was this ancient set of steps down to what appeared to be a very spiderwebbed basement. I had to fight back the sound of ostinatto strings in my ears. CREEPY! This apartment building was straight out of the old haunted house movies. And here I was trespassing and wandering around.

When I finally got outside again--rather angry and pissed since I wanted to practice--I looked over a couple doorways and discovered a key pad on the building next door. I was so relieved when my code finally worked. Luckily these stairs were quite well lit however they were just as twisty. When I did finally reach the top, I discovered the coveted keypad again meaning that I had FINALLY found the practice rooms about an hour after setting out. Let's just say the rooms are not particularly nice and Martha would certainly not approve (especially w/ all the mismatching doors, broken lights, and water stains from obvious roof leaks) but they were quiet. And the best part, they are on the roof which means a really pretty view of the building next door.

I have auditions tomorrow for the Performance Workshop. Not supposed to be too big of a deal but I want to do well. Therefore it is sleep time.

Happy fear-busting!

Catching up and such...

Here is one of those potentially long posts that simply describes all the interesting things up to this point so that I will stop being behind.

On Saturday night my roommate Marissa and our friend Alicia and I decided to go out dancing. This was going to be a fabulous idea--we were meeting up with a few of the IES students who live a few blocks off and one of their full-year roommates. When we got to the train station we learned one thing: you can have liquor anywhere. Even on the train. Even just chilling in your pocket--as long as you are not belligerent, feel free to carry your beer around. The three of us met the guys at the U-bahn station only to discover that they were first going to IES apartments of 15 some girls in one building before going out and that we should be packing alcohol. Um... not so much! We ditched them and hung out over at Düregasse (the other apartments near by). At midnight we went to the Discothek.

Well, we learned a few things. For one thing, dance clubs have cover. >.< For another, Saturday at the U4 is American 90's night. Whoops. Not going to lie, it was exactly what I expected from a European Dance Club--dark, large, loud, and no one could really dance. Oh well. The lights were fabulous and the smoke machine was fun but the tobacco smoke was really eye drying.

Being hit on by Austrian is rather strange. Staring here is not something rude--it's how you flirt, I think. The idea is that you lock eyes with someone and then smile or nod to indicate interest aka come say hello. Yea--being hit on by old guys not so much fun. That and I am just really bad at the whole locking eyes thing. It feels against my nature here. However, the dancing was fun--really fun actually. And when we finally left at 3:30 we had out first night bus experience. There are buses running all night after the U-bahn (underground) shuts down. The S-bahn (streetcar), U-bahn, Autobus, and the Nachtbus are all on the same payment system so that if you get a weekly pass, you can ride all four all week. It's awesome.

Needless to say I was not so happy the next day when we had meeting starting at 9:30 (four hours of sleep--I will NEVER do this again). We had meetings about the center and meetings about the Music program and all sorts of crazy meetings before we took a walking tour of the city.

Now, I am used to cold. I can handle cold but this was COLD! The temperature said 32 but the windchill was 16. Since it had been warmer earlier in the day, I was walking and standing outside for two hours in just jeans, a sweater, and a fleece. BURRRRRRR!!!! I had even forgotten my hat. However, everything in the inner city is just so beautiful. We toured around the Hofburg (the winter residence of the Hapsburgs). This place is crazy. All the old architecture stemming from the middle ages onward through the Neo-Baroque.

We also went inside the Augustine Kirche and Stephansdom--Wow. There is no other word for it than Wow. The Augustine Kirche had these beautiful dark wood baroque benches and an organ to die for. The choir section was ugly as all get out--made of concrete and moderness but the alter was this monsterously tall neo-Gothic set of statues and gold. It was beautiful. The unfortunate thing about all this is that it was a) a quick tour just designed to familiarize us with how close things are and b) was too cold to allow us much time for wanting to stand still. I cannot wait until I have the chance to sit and look more closely at everything. Better descriptions will follow, I am sure.

This morning we had to get up again to go register. Every citizen in Vienna must register their residence and when they move. So the my three roommates (Marissa, Eloise, Adrienne) and I wandered through the sixth district up to the seventh district to find our local registration office. We proceeded to have the wrong address, then get pointed towards the police station, and then told which office to go to where we promptly misread the signs, walked up four flights of stairs, and then learned we were supposed to be on the first floor. Back down we went. I was first told that the computer system was down so they could not register us but then it kicked back in (thank goodness!). After that we hit one of the main (cheaper) shopping districts to pick up school supplies, adapters, and other necessities. Now I am sitting here and writing. Time to go start my first German class!!!

Happy walking!

On Orientations and Things

This past few days has been orientation. Yay orientation. Our lovely directors keep telling us we should go "squeeze the juice" and get out into the city and explore. They then proceed to shove us into housing on a Friday night, tell us we need to be at Mandatory meetings at 9 am Saturday and schedule us within an inch of our lives for the next two days. Oh yea. And we are supposed to go grocery shopping so we don't starve Sunday. All I wanted was a nice day just ONE day to maybe move in and settle down in my new apartment. Perhaps get some good sleep. Go to a disco. Ya know--BREATHE a little. But instead the insanity continues through our first weekend so we have basically nine days straight of things to do. Masochists--every single one of them!

Alright, enough with the whining. Now that I have gotten that out let's focus on the happy things. This city just rocks. There is no better way to say it than that. I am in love. I am in love with this city unlike any man I will ever meet. There is a thriving cafe life, a subsidized art scene, and a hopping night life. The U-bahn is clean and safe. The people are quiet unless they are out partying. Somehow the Viennese make the German language sound pretty. I am simply addicted. We start German classes tomorrow and I cannot wait. I want to be able to talk to people--even simple sentences--so I can stop explaining at every conversation that I don't speak German (even though when I say this my accent is good enough people stare at me funny). I cannot wait until my schedule is such that I am not walking around with a big group of Americans all the time--I like the quietness of Vienna and the people and I want to experience that in a big big way.

There are so many other things I could talk about but I went to the Discothek last night and only got four hours of sleep. More on that trip another time.

Happy living!

Where to start...

Traveling was, well, an adventure to say the least. I arrived at O'Hare Terminal 5 at 4:30 on Tuesday for my 8:35 flight just in time to take 15 minutes checking in and 20 minutes going through security. For those of you who have not been to Terminal 5, past security exists a whole lot of nothing. So I sat and enjoyed four hours of reading and phoning friends--my last chance to do so for a very long time.

At 8:35 I hopped on my plane and watched the Skybridge slowly detach. This process was followed by a not so happy clunking sound--not exactly the first thing you want to hear before take off. A few minutes later we learned that the air system had misfired when the auxiliary power was turned off causing a pressure back-up. Oh goody. But the engineers sent us on our merry, ocean-hopping way.

I shared a lovely row with an ex-pat heading back to Bordeaux and a nice guy going to visit his family in India. They were pleasant companions especially the woman. She had such an easy going nature which was nice. We hit some amusing turbulence in the middle of dinner. It was interesting to see everyone waving their elbows around as they attempted to eat with little plastic knives and forks. I was waiting for the grumpy, whining Brits behind me to stab an eye out. I suppose karma is not quite that instantly gratifying.

Things eventually calmed down. After my food I was completely exhausted. I had taken a Tylenol PM to knock me out right at the start of the flight and that coupled with the wine was taking it's toll about an hour in. Five beautiful hours of sleep later and we were only an hour away--so we thought.

Anyone familiar with Seattle knows that when it snows, people go crazy. It turns out, when it snows in London, Heathrow goes beserk. First of all, at least from the airport it did not appear to be that much snow. I know I am from Illinois and all so we fly unless it is ACTUALLY still snowing and white-out conditions, but this was ridiculous. First, we had to make a loop about an hundred miles out to give them time to clear off a runway for us to land. It was amusing to watch the flight path on the little television screen--it was this nice long arc with a little plane making a circle at the end before covering up London. This delayed us about an hour which was fine. Why worry when you have pleasant company and a team of pleasant flight attendants to bring you drinks? When we were finally allowed to land we were forced to sit and taxi for another 45 minutes before finally making it to a gate.

Remember that happy little noise at the beginning of the trip? Well, it turned out we blew our entire auxiliary power (makes you feel safe, neh?). So, after flying around in a circle for an hour and then taxiing for another hour, we were forced to wait another thirty minutes while we plugged our plane in. (This seems like a strange idea to me--hehe "I am sorry, hold on just a minute. I need to go plug in my airplane!")

So, after a somewhat eventful flight (for all I know more could have happened in the four hours that I slept but I was so dead to the world I never would have known) I finally arrived at Terminal 5, said farewell to my seatmates and caught a bus to Terminal 3. The next three hours were spent in line, talking to a number of people heading to Barcelona. Why? Well, if we remember the craziness about snow--every BA flight until 6:15pm was canceled.

Everything from there was kind of a blur. I met a nice man named Joe also stranded by the same canceled flight. We had a nice discussion about Vancouver where he was returning from and his job as a international game reviewer. That was a bit of fun. The stressful part of all of this was I had no idea where Noelle was. We were supposed to get in within a few hours of each other but with the canceled flights and all the chaos, I ended up being transferred airlines and we never found each other. When I finally made it to Vienna, five hours after I was supposed to have arrived, I was never so happy as when Noelle called my name at the baggage claim.

Some lost luggage paperwork later and we finally had a bus to take us to our hostel. We dropped our bags and ordered our first Austrian beer before crashing for the worst night of sleep of my life. How I can stay up for so many hours and then not sleep is beyond me. Completely beyond me. But I managed it.

I promise a more exciting update in the next few days. All I can say is this: I have a balcony view onto one of the main streets of Vienna. Life is so beautiful!

Happy layovers!

My bags are packed. I'm ready to go...

I am not quite so certain about the second statement in the title. My bags are indeed packed but the ready to go is another can of worms. Ready to be gone: yes. Ready to leave: no. Big difference those two things. Times of transition make me antsy and a bit grumpy. I always feel caught between what I would still like to do before I leave and what I feasibly have time to accomplish. I also have to remind myself to sit and smell the Central Illinois air once in a while. It's been so cold here that everything smells crisp--pretty darn good for calming down my rather busy brain.

Random things I have deemed necessary to take with me on this trip:
-Climbing gear (who ever would have guessed?)
-Edna St. Vicent Millay Sonnets and a small collection of T.S. Eliot (these come with me everywhere even though I only read them occasionally)
-Chaco's (there is nothing better for running around on warm-ish spring days)
-Fleece sleeping bag liner (I am making a guess that this will be the most useful thing I decided to pack)
-Bunny Bear (I decided to leave behind the baby blanket but the bear I have slept with since birth had to come along)

Luggage count: 3
-One external frame backpack
-One 22in. carry-on rolling suitcase
-One small carry-on duffle that connects to rolling suitcase

Hello world. Bring it on.

I will be flying to Heathrow where I will meet up with my friend Noelle. We then have the same flight to Vienna followed by a public transit adventure to find our hostel. I had a anal moment yesterday and typed up all the travel directions for the next 48 hours until we hit orientation and someone who knows what they are doing can take over for a while. Orientation will hopefully be fun--there will likely be another post later on why I hate orientations so much. However, for now I will work on keeping an open mind.

Next time I write I will be 6-9 hours ahead depending on your location.

Happy traveling!

Insomnia

I get really bad insomnia leading up to large trips or when I have a lot of things to do in a limited amount of time. It is especially bad when I do not have the structure of a schedule to help organize things. Hence the post at 2:10 am.

Happy Snoozing!

Summer Planning

I finally decided to act on my declaration that I will never spend another summer in CU by applying to internships in Seattle and Washington DC. This has added a level of stress as I am trying to complete this while maintaining four different addresses and five phone numbers. I finally understand why email is so valuable--when I am thousands of miles away and paying an arm and a leg for phone service it seems silly to give out contact information that is location dependent. But back to the subject at hand: three applications almost done and ready to ship. I feel accomplished today. Now about that packing thing...

Happy applying!

On Skiing in January

To start off a new year and a new decade, I learned how to ski. That's right. The daughter of a Wyoming native was never taught how to ski. Too late to learn at 21? I think not! To begin my epic quest towards black diamond domination, I, along with my mother, future step-father and brothers, sister, and sister's boyfriend headed to the mystical climes of Barboo, WI to take on the mighty Cascade Mountain.

Notice that I said Cascade singular not to be confused with the plural Cascades where I normally reside. And don't let the "Mountain" confuse you. For those that view the Midwest as flyover states, don't worry, you haven't read your maps wrong--this "mountain" is a baby foothill. Nothing more. Still, I cannot complain too much--I got to learn how to ski on the "hill" and it was sweet.

Rule number one about skiing in January in Wisconsin: IT IS COLD! It was 5 degrees. That's right 5! What were we thinking? Toe warmers are the most amazing thing ever invented. I also had to thank Santa profusely for the very warm long underwear that kept me from shivering right out of my bindings. Still. Skiing in January in Wisconsin? Not cool, COLD!!!! Thank goodness I had my excitement and shear blind panic to keep me warm.

I started out my epic adventure with a group lesson, starting small and taking on the bunny hill. I did not fall once on that bunny hill or getting out of the lift. Booyah! After that lesson, my mom took me up to do my first green run...here comes the first fall. I got off the lift just fine but I forgot that whole stopping thing. I proceed to shoot down the exit hill and into the out of bounds area. Whoever had the genius idea of putting a nice dip there to catch us crazy beginners, thank you. That dip proceeded to send me flying out of my skis to land happily on one of the few sections of snow that wasn't almost purely ice. (I meant to mention that Midwestern snow is not powder--it's packed hard and icy which meant immediate lessons in how useful steel edges can be.) From there I proceeded to get back onto the correct ski runs and take my first green run.

Have I mentioned I have a fear of falling? And that fear includes hurling myself down hills at high speeds? Needless to say, as with all things that involve facing my two main fears (falling and drowning) I had an absolute blast. From there I took the green runs three more times and called it a day. The next day after an hour long private lesson, I got to practice my turns (no more snow plowing for me, thank you!) on my very first blue run. It was AWESOME! The first one I took, I wanted to pass out every time I had to turn my skis downhill into my next turn. When I took it the second time I had a lot more fun. Well, then my lovely family decided to take me on another blue run which to me looked like a vertical drop. Erm... no please? I did manage to stay upright and I never really lost control but it was so icy my edges failed to catch a couple of times. I panicked after my down hill ski slipped a couple of times and had to all out stop but I made it down in one piece (and more to the point, I did not cause anyone else to get maimed either). The grand total for my first two days of skiing: 4 bunny hill runs, 7 green runs, 3 blue runs, and 1 half run dodging people in the play park trying to get to the warming lodge where lunch was being served after my future step siblings sent us up the wrong lift. Total fall count: 3 (maybe 4, it's all a bit hazy). Total Ibuprofen count: 20 over three days. Overall conclusion about skiing: AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Alright, so most of you are thinking "What does this have to do with leaving for Vienna?" The honest answer: absolutely nothing. I just thought I would share how I was not preparing for my trip over the past three days. Count down until departure: 9 days. Oh man.

Happy sloping!