19 January
In intensive German, we continued our review of adjective endings and I find myself paying attention to my use of them much more. I find the German adjective endings quite difficult to get consistently right as an English speaker, even after years of practice. The review and training helps to place everything straight in my mind once again, while living in Austria gives me the chance to practice the review for several hours every day. After German class, I continued to work on my Consulting Workshop paper and then headed over to Nate and his wife Bethany's house for dinner in the evening. We talked about their work in Austria and I enjoyed talking with them about our experiences learning German, especially since Americans packing up their belongings and moving to a German-speaking country does not happen that often. I finally wrapped up my paper after returning from their house and thought I turned it in late, because my computer loaded the paper slowly online at the last minute...then I realized that Austria is 6 hours ahead of the time when the paper was due back in the States. Yay for time differences!
20 January
Tuesday ended up becoming a day of all-around catching up and hanging out with people. After a short German test (which I found later that I aced!), I went home to work on an application for a student organization back at school for which I recently received a nomination. In the middle of the afternoon, I returned home to go grocery shopping. This time I went shopping at the grocery store, Penny Markt, instead of Billa, where I originally went. My sister Catherine and I later skyped and she helped me with my long list of cultural woes, making me incredibly thankful yet again for the way her international experiences influence and help me. In the evening, I cooked pasta primavera for my roommate Georg, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's sister. I am so excited to get to complete daily activities like cooking in German, because I learn new words every time...and they stick in my brain! They don't just run away like when you learn them in a book!
21 January
We took our first outing as a German class today to the Rathaus and the Parlament in Vienna! As we learned in class, Austria's government runs with a two-chamber Parliament. The two chambers are the Nationalrat, the lower house and the Bundesrat, the upper house. The rooms and art stretching within the Rathaus and Parlament astounded me, especially the room where the Bundesrat meets. This room contains a chandelier inside which 16 people can fit! Art surrounds the top of the walls, depicting Austria's history from past to present, along with classical figures of justice and other values. We also rode the Pater Noster afterwards, an antique, constantly moving elevator which cycles between floors at the Rathaus. Due to safety precautions, Vienna will not repair the Pater Noster if it breaks, so I'm glad I got the chance to take part in this piece of history while it still exists! In the afternoon, I worked more on my application and then headed back home to meet my roommates and landlord at a local pub. The landlord was too busy to come, so I hung out with Georg and Kevin for awhile and talked about life in Austria and the U.S. I tried asking for a drink menu by asking for a "Trinkmenü", but received a very confused look from the owner of the pub. My roommates quickly corrected me and I learned that the word for drink menu is actually "Trinkkarte." Moments like these make the words cement in my mind more and more.
22 January
I realized that the second week of intensive German would soon end and could hardly believe I already lived in Austria for 2 whole weeks. After German class, I went to a small café and worked on my application essays while enjoying a chocolate "Teuferl." I went over to my friend Henry's house in the late afternoon and cooked Asian food with another friend, Stephen, and him. Afterwards, I went to my first meeting with ÖSM. I followed our discussion topics fairly closely, but still found it difficult to make relevant comments at times.
23 January
I went to buy tickets for the ball at the Technische Universität Wien next week! I find myself getting lost less and less each time I try to find a new place, but I still need plenty of improvement for navigating the streets of Vienna. I returned back to the IES Center, where I continued work on my application and then spent time catching up with my friend, Allie, before the meeting for our English teaching internship. I planned to go home and finish my application after the meeting, but ended up exploring Vienna with my friend, Ben. We wanted to go somewhere to eat, but ended up wandering into the Tirolerhof Cafe. I tried Sachertorte and Viennese hot chocolate for the first time. Sachertorte surprised me, because I realized it contains a layer of marmalade. Viennese hot chocolate made with real chocolate is infinitely better than powdered hot chocolate in American cafes! We wandered over to a Kebab stand, where Ben got a Döner Kebab and I got Bötek (basically Turkish pidé).
As we walked through the city, the tension I daily experience between American and Austrian culture rose to the forefront of my mind. The city of Vienna contains a plethora of new, exciting experiences which American study abroad students want to explore. With other Americans, I find it easy to experience the magic of the physical city. With my Austrian friends and roommates, I find myself experiencing the heart of the people. I wondered if I could compare an Austrian living in Vienna to an American living in Washington D.C. to further describe the tension. Both cities contain historical monuments of their respective countries, but citizens living beside them may not see the city with the same eyes as outsiders. For instance, a person living in Washington D.C. once told me they rarely visited the monuments there. A Viennese recently told me that he finds it normal to walk past 500-year old buildings. Thus, it seems that people living in historic areas may grow accustomed to their monumental surroundings. This leads me to wonder, what connects the history of Vienna to its modern-day inhabitants? As an outsider, how do I experience and learn to see them as a united whole?
24 January
I visited a local market with a classmate for an assignment and discovered that I live two short Strassenbahn stops away from a lovely market, called Kutschkermarkt, full of fantastically delicious bread, cheese, vegetables, and fruits! Later in the day, I planned to go to the Haus des Meeres (literally, House of the Sea...an aquarium) with my program. The opportunity ended up not working out, so Allie, Stephen, and a couple other friends and I went to explore other local museums, including the Haydn Haus. Josef Haydn, one of Austria's famous composers, lived in the house for the last 12 years of his life. Although simple, the peace inside the house and garden overwhelmed me. Moments like these, in which one truly feels rest, stimulate my desire to travel and see the world. The world stops for a time and you sense the beauty around you, drinking in the full experience of the history, natural beauty, or physical beauty before you.
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