So... Vienna Fuckin Rocks

To those of you who actually read this: you might have noticed that I changed the title of the blog! The new one is shamelessly plagiarized from a postcard I saw on the street... which I may have bought two copies of. Anyway, I think it's very fitting given the number of blank stares I got when I told people I was going to Austria (or even Vienna).

But even though there are no kangaroos here, Austria turns out to be a pretty cool place. I've been in Vienna for about a week now, and it seems like there are about a billion things to do here! In fact, I feel like I've done about a million of them already, that's how tired I am. No matter how much sleep I get, it doesn't matter- I'm still ready to take another nap. It's probably because my senses are overwhelmed with the new atmosphere (wow, was that the dorkiest phrase ever? I think so).

ANYWAY, to give y'all an introduction to what I've been up to, I'll tell you about my first Viennese weekend. Friday was our first German test, followed by a field trip to a Viennese Café! I finally found out what all those weird foody things on the menu were... as it turns out, they're almost all made of some combination of cream, sugar, and flour, with the occasional chocolate filling (or apples or cream cheese) thrown in for good measure. Which reminds me, I need to join a gym... But anyway, after class I walked around the Ringstrasse, which is the boulevard that goes around the downtown area. All of the really impressive buildings are on it, and I have to say they really impressed me. It's really wild living in such a gorgeous city (wow, I live here!). So Friday night my roommates and I decided to try and find a Latin dance club I read about in a guidebook. However, we couldn't find it, so ended up walking around the downtown area for a while admiring the statues and palaces and stuff. You know, the usual. But when we walked to the Hofburg (the Hapsburg palace), there was a road race going on! It was about 10pm, and there were about a hundred people with rollerblades or bikes following this truck blasting German pop music. It was awesome. Anyway, we then met up with some friends and went to the Bermuda Triangle. Apparently, this is a square in the old downtown area with a whole bunch of bars and clubs. It is named (as the art history professor explained today) because when people go there at around sunset, they get "lost" until dawn. Sweet. The roommates and I, however, stayed for about 45 minutes or so before we got bored/the U-Bahn closed (the U-Bahn is the subway system of Vienna).

So Saturday we got up early (like 10:45!) and went on a bus tour around Vienna! It was great to drive around the city and get to know it better, because I felt as though I'd just been wandering around aimlessly. We hit the big touristy hot spots, and I of course took about 100 photos. Highlights were the Belvedere Palace and the Hundertwasserhaus (a crazy modern art-type house with trees growing out of it). We also drove through some vineyards (within the city limits) on the way to a great viewpoint in the Vienna Woods. After THAT, my roommates and I went to the Naschmarkt (a farmer's market type thing) and bought some Sturm, which is basically unfermented wine with bunches of sugar. Yum! Did I mention I need to join a gym? So after eating some more Austrian food, we went home. And then we went out again to a jazz club to watch an Austrian pop singer. She was amazing, but the guys who opened for her were AWFUL!!! So bad that it was actually pretty hilarious. The singer was from the Georgia and the guitarrist was from the UK, and unfortunately they heard us speak English so came up to us after their set to ask us what we thought. Umm... awkward... Emily, my roommate, was like, "You did fine." I told them that they had a good message, as most of their stuff was (badly written) antiwar songs. Apparently, that's an invitation to join a revolution, and to "see what Annie's up to" on some website. WTF, I have no idea. So after that we left, and were nearly molested by hispanic men on the street. After that, I decided I need more guy friends to walk around with at night. So then we met up with some friends and played Spoons in our apartment... the best game EVER!

Haha this post is so long, no wonder I'm so tired. But oh my goodness, THERE IS STILL SUNDAY TO SHARE! We wanted to get up early and go to church, as one of my roommates (Lindsay) is a Christian Scientist and Emily and I were curious. Unfortunately we couldn't find the church, as it's in the process of relocating. Oh well, we'll go in a couple of weeks. But then we went to the zoo! We saw pandas (apparently they're in love, that's what all the signs said), penguins, and ANTEATERS! They're pretty weird looking, I'd never seen them before. But penguins, bunches of penguins! They're my favorite!! Anne, you know what I'm saying. It wasn't quite as impressive as the New England Aquarium, but still pretty freakin sweet. So then we went home, and I had the best nap of my life. Later, we went to the Rathaus, which is German for city hall. In the summer, they show movies of operas and classical performances every night on a huge screen with amazing speakers, with the enormous gothic Rathaus as a backdrop! Sunday was the last night, so we thought we'd say a special goodbye by having dinner there. There are vendors there that have every type of food you could imagine- Japanese, Indian, American, Italian, and everything in between... including sangria!! Yummmm. The whole Rathaus experience really takes your breath away. The music mixed with the food and atmosphere is really very stunning, and distinctly Viennese. Nowhere else in the world do they love opera this much, and this kind of event would certainly never take place in the US. So the one good thing about the Rathaus movies closing down for the winter is that the real season begins!! Hopefully I'll go to a performance this week... hopefully La Boheme, my favorite!! (Also the only opera I really know.) I have a feeling that I'm going to get quite an education in classical music while I'm here. Did I mention both my roommates are opera singers? Yup.

So that's a little taste of life in Vienna! After a great weekend, I have to go do German homework now... It's only the second week of the semester and I'm already procrastinating. Go on Facebook and look at some of my pictures! They're pretty sweet, just like strudel.