I have class on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Being here makes me realize how much I love the whole Thanksgiving experience. I miss coming home from school and cooking, watching football, seeing my high school friends, seeing my high school friends while watching football, and going over to Anne's house to eat turkey and play games with her family! But alas, I have classes today. However, IES planned a Thanksiving dinner for everybody tonight. It will be fun, but who eats Thanksgiving dinner at 7:30 at night? At least the Macy's Day Parade is on at a decent hour (3pm instead of 9am). I plan on watching it online, haha. And perhaps after dinner I'll go to an American bar and watch the Cowboys play!

So my program ends in exactly a month, and I'm having mixed feelings leaving. I will be really excited to go back home, but I don't want to leave! I love life in Vienna, and I feel like I still have so much to see and do before I go. I've made some really great friends here and I don't want to say goodbye to them! However, I miss Thanksgiving, dishwashers, and real psychology classes a whole lot. For now, I'll try to 'live in the moment,' as they say, and try not to think about the future too much.

Tchüss for now. And happy eating, everyone!

So umm yeah

A few people have informed me (*cough* Anne Lettieri *cough*) that I should update my blog more. I can't say I disagree, seeing how it has been a whole month since I've written anything... oops. I guess time has gotten away from me. It's strange, I only have a few weeks left! A lot has happened in the last month, but I don't have time to write it all down now because I have to go to the train station to pick up Amy!! I'm so happy she's visiting me for my birthday :-). She and I, along with another friend of mine from Vienna, went to Dublin last weekend and had a ghetto-fabulous time, complete with drunk Irishmen and lots of Guinness! More on that later. But for now, I hope you (*cough* Mom *cough*) are satisfied with some more pictures from my Facebook albums.

hopefully this works:

A Weekend in the Country: Wauchau, Klosterneuburg, and WINE TASTING!

Greg's visit and Halloween

I wore close-toed flats to the opera...

...I think I'm finally learning! Europe has finally forced me to wear real shoes. I now feel I have the right to be snotty to the rude/stupid Americans who don't know the rules to standing-room at the Staatsoper. Interestingly enough, this was at the production of Madama Butterfly, in which an American soldier abandons a Japanese girl and leaves her penniless with his child.

PARTY PICS! HOT PARTY PICS!

So Facebook now lets you share photos with anyone, sooooo... here are the links to my photo albums of Vienna! Cool, huh? Ohhh silly Facebook.

Orientation and the first week or so

The Tiergarten, Opera, dinner party, Danube, Prater

Prague, Krakow, and Budapest

Mmm, food!

So this is what I ate on the last night in Budapest... nutritious and delicious! In fact, this was pretty much what I ate the entire week I was away (except replace the sausage with a hunk of meat, usually pork).

10 Days, 3 Cities, 200 Photos

So I just got back (okay, I got back on Sunday) from my week long trip to former communist countries! Central Europe is the best!! On Friday we went to Prague, then Monday we traveled to Krakow, Thursday to Budapest, then Sunday back to Wien. The vacation was incredible. We saw soooo many sights, ate many slabs of meat, and drank many liters of beer. I made some good friends, and bonded even more with my roommates. Wunderbar! However, by Sunday I was definitely ready to take a break from touring and come home. So because I can't possibly describe everything I did, I'll share some highlights.

Prague. On Saturday, we toured the Prague castle and saw the window where the Defenestration of Prague took place! However, it made me really wish I had brought my European history textbook so I could actually remember who was defenestrated... Then we saw the changing of the castle guard, in which the Czech soldiers were trying their best not to laugh during the ceremony and some Italian woman was rubbing up against me. Awkward! That night, we went to an opera, Rusalka, and then went to a club with 80's and 90's pop music!!!! Pretty much my dream come true. The next day we saw the oldest synagogue in Europe, the birthplace of Kafka, and took a nap in a park. We looked ridiculous sprawled out on the grass- like a cult that committed mass suicide or something. But it was totally worth it, because it prepared us for another dance party, only this time on a boat!

Krakow. Poland was great because it was so CHEAP!!! Our hostel looked like a mental ward, but that's okay. In the center of Krakow there was a wonderful marketplace where I bought many Christmas presents. I didn't really go out that much at night because I got a cold (I know, pretty lame). We toured a salt mine one afternoon, that was really interesting. I also had one of the most memorable experiences of my life: a tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau. It was a really hard thing to see, but I'm glad I went.

Budapest. Budapest was also a beautiful city. We toured many monuments and memorials, but by this time I was so "toured out" that not a lot sunk in. Oh well, I still have a lot of beautiful pictures. On the afternoon of the first day, my roommates and I (along with some other IES people) went to Turkish-style baths!!! It was quite an experience- there were a lot of naked ladies swimming and having massages. So my roommates and I decided to join the nude fun! It was great. Later, we met up with some friends, and then randomly ran into some more friends, and went to a communist-themed pizzaria! It was hilarious, the booths were separated by barbed wire. The power was out so we had to wait an hour to get our pizza. My favorite pizza name was "Pussy Pussy Monica and Bill," which really has nothing to do with communism but is amazing nonetheless. Continuing with the theme, we visited a communist statue park the next morning where Hungary banished all of the monuments erected during the communist era... needless to say I got some sweet souveniers.

So that's my week off in a nutshell! This week we started our real classes. So far I like them, although they are much different than in the US. Anyway, off to sleep.

(By the way, the picture at the top is me with my roommates on top of the cathedral in Prague.)

Writing coherently at 1:25am is hard... good thing this isn't a paper

Between German tests and the beautiful weather, it's been hard to find time to write. I think this whole "blog" thing will be better once I have real homework to procrastinate...

I have my intensive German final exam tomorrow morning, and then I'm off to Prague, Budapest and Krakow with IES for a week! I'm so excited!! However, I still have to survive my test tomorrow. As it turns out, Herbert (my ever-skillful German professor) did not teach us most of what will be on it. Sweet, that's gonna be a fun morning!

So last Friday my roommates and I had a dinner party!! It was very classy- it had placecards and everything. Lindsay made a casserole, Emily made chicken, and I bought the alcohol (of course). Let me just say that a bottle of beer here is rather large, or perhaps just stronger than in the US. After about 1 beer each, consumed while preparing the meal, the three of us were VERY excited to welcome our guests when they came!

The next day we woke up bright and early at 12pm. We ate some brunch, then went to the Danube and rented bikes. We rode up and down the Donauinsel (Danube Island) and admired the view all afternoon! Even though my butt hurt for the next two days from the uncomfortable seat, it was definitely worth it. We then ate a mediocre dinner at the waterfront, and got to the Prater right before sunset. The Prater is kind of like the Coney Island or Navy Pier of Vienna, only more European (surprise, surprise). Just as the sun was going down, we rode on the HUGE Ferris wheel and got an amazing view of the city!!

On Sunday, I went to my first Catholic mass. We went to St. Augustine's, right downtown, because we heard that there is amazing music every week. They have a full orchestra and professional soloists (we think the alto was the lead in The Barber of Seville). I'll say this about the service: the music definitely lived up to its reputation. However, Mom, I don't think you have to worry about me converting to Catholicism.

Afterwards, we were walking towards the U-Bahn when we randomly came across a country fair/festival, right in the same place that we saw the rollerblade road race the weekend before!! Hero's Square is apparently a very happening place. This fair reminded me of craft fairs on Whidbey Island, except that in place of crafts was food. Mmm, strudel and cheese!!! Which reminds me, I think I'm going to sign up for a Pilates class at the University. Either that or Tae-Bo, depending on what fits into my schedule. However, I don't think Tae-Bo is quite as appealing without the instruction of Billy Blanks.

Well, off to pack and sleep before my week off! Haha, I'm getting a vacation three weeks into school. I love studying abroad.