16 March
I finally had the chance to talk with Eva Maria regarding the events of the Thursday before, which had shaken me up. I expressed to her that I truly cared about teaching the students well and that I have a desire to teach at some point in the future. I also asked whether or not the students in the younger classroom are handicapped or not, as my German teacher possibly guessed. Eva Maria responded affirmingly and helped me deeply understand the understanding level of the younger students. Many of them truly don't know about countries like England, even though we assume this is common sense. Several of the students are somewhat slower mentally and others have hardly attended any school at all, making a very difficult classroom. She appreciated my desire to teach in the future and said that I really do have a gift to care for and understand the students. I appreciated her helpfulness and understanding of the whole situation, which gave me a deepened understanding for the circumstances in these students' lives. Only a handful of them have not seen people die from war or conflict, their education is lacking...one girl even had to escape from Afghanistan on foot with her family. She also happens to be the girl who never lets a smile leave her face...I have so much to learn as a teacher and as a friend.
I went back to IES later for class and was overjoyed to find out that my internship class was cancelled for the week, which gave me extra time to get caught up on studying before the theater performance we had that night for Viennese Theater. The performance of Thomas Bernhard's "Am Ziel" rounded out a weekend full of performances. Concert on Saturday, play and poetry reading on Sunday, and a final play on Monday! Very "theatrical"!
17 March
I went to German class and Viennese Theater today as usual, then headed home later in the afternoon to keep studying for my Cultual History of Austria midterm the next day. I started studying later than I should have and felt crammed and pressured to finish reviewing all the material necessary. I took a break partway through to hang out with my friend Katie in the evening. We both had planned to be away for quite awhile over Easter break, so we made spaghetti and salad together and enjoyed a nice supper.
18 March
I woke up early to finish reviewing for my Cultural History midterm and then headed over to IES to write the exam at 9:00 am. I think it went okay, but I wouldn't say it went stellar. We will see the actual result when my grades are released later. My mind moved away from my exam grade, as we moved on to our excursion for the day with our class. We had the opportunity go to Vienna's royal treasury, where the Crown Jewels and many other beautiful treasures are kept. I was fascinated by the gorgeous handiwork I saw and the items which remained preserved after hundreds of years. For example, we saw a supposed unicorn horn and a bowl made of agate with Christ's name engraved in it. However, you can only see the name if the bowl is tilted in a certain light. Supposedly Christ drank out of this bowl during the first communion. We also saw clothing which was almost 1000 years old and was remarkably well-preserved. I could hardly believe that clothing could last so long! I also used to have this fascination with old clothing, so seeing these pieces really interested me and helped me understand royal life better in the Middle Ages. I think our visit to the royal treasury was definitely one of my favorite so far!
After leaving the treasury, I went home and tutored Laurenz which went quite well as usual. I then had the rest of the day free and used the time to get caught up on personal projects and other odds and ends.
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| "Unicorn horn" |
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| Robe from ca. 1100. My favorite piece in the treasury! |
19 March
Class at IES as usual, including a meeting to help process where we are in the study abroad experience. Met with my friend Arya to finish up a group work part of our Cultural History midterm. Enjoyed a good Bible study on John 18 before heading out and then went home to finish finalizing details on my tickets to Venice and Salzburg.
20 March
We had German class as usual on Friday morning and our teacher finished preparing us for the final. I primarily used the rest of the afternoon to finish studying for my German midterm and then went to an event for ÖSM, called Studentenfuttern. This is basically a student potluck, where we all bring dishes to contribute to a shared meal. There only ended up being four of us, but I was quite sure I had met our host and one other girl there before. Our host made some very yummy quiche and I contributed wine, while the others had brought the appetizer and dessert. Our host didn't open the wine at first and I was very confused as to whether or not I should have offered to pour wine for everyone. We eventually drank some during dessert and I still don't have a good answer as to why the wine proved to confuse either the group or myself. Overall, I really enjoyed the conversation with everyone and appreciated the way we could dive right in to talking about our daily lives and other interesting topics from politics or our pasts. We did talk about experiences abroad and experiences in the US, but I felt like it was easier to go deeper right away with this group of people than other Austrians. I was so thankful for this wonderful night!
21 March
I woke up bright and early to finish a little review for my German exam, since I had been dragging my feet quite extraordinarily during the week and not preparing for the exam nearly as well as I should have. But considering I got an A on the first exam and only studied a few hours without extreme concentration, I was slightly less than motivated to conquer studying for my midterm with extreme gusto. I ended up going to the midterm with at least most of the content reviewed of glanced over. The midterm ended up going fairly well, although I did not feel as strongly about it as my first exam.
I headed over to the Hofburg afterwards, which is the old royal residence of the Hapsburgs, since I wanted to take a tour while in Vienna. I took an audio tour through the silver and porcelain collection of the royal apartments, the museum for Kaiserin Sisi, and the family's royal apartments. The apartments reflect the everyday life and needs of the royal family, along with Princess Sisi's many travels away from her life. She grew up as a free-spirited child in Bavaria and felt constantly chained by the demands of court life, causing her to make many journeys across Europe to escape confining royal responsibilities. The royal apartments put together a beautiful picture of Sisi and her family, helping me understand them as an integrated whole.
I headed back over to IES after my tour to print my tickets and prepare a few things for my upcoming trip, then went over to the city center for a birthday party of my language buddy, Fransizka. She is part of a poetry translation class which meets together every week in an apartment in Vienna. The class is also a group called Versatorium, which composes and translates poetry with a focus on immigrants and refugees. They often have refugees perform the poetry in their native language, helping the audience understand more fully about the experience described in the poetry. Fransizka is even learning Georgian to strengthen her ability to translate and connect the poetry better.
On the way over to the party, I ran into an Afghani friend of Fransizka's who also needed to directions to the particular location. We ended up trying to ask each other for directions and realized we were going to the same place. I really enjoyed talking with the Afghani, Mir Jahangir, who told me about how he worked with an international development organization and recently took part on a documentary on refugees in Austria. Many other Afghani people came who were connected to the group and they ended up turning on Asian music, to which they led traditional Afghani dances. I joined in and couldn't help but smile as I stumbled through learning the steps of the dance. Similar to the immigrant students I teach, I saw in this dance a sort of peacemaking and a cross-cultural bridge. Everyone dancing together or watching - Austrian, American, Afghani, Georgian - had come together as friends to celebrate without enmity or anger.
I later sat outside the main party room, talking about Fulbright opportunities with a friend of Franziska's, Daniel. Our conversation paused for a moment as we peered in the window of the main party room and I'll I could say was, "This is so beautiful." Moments like these make life worth living. In these moments where humans comes together across the walls which separate them, I feel completely at home and sense the deepest call for my life's purpose.
22 March
I went to church this morning and decided to start using a vocabulary notebook to help me start adding words to my German vocabulary. I found that I understood the sermon a lot better by looking up and writing down specific words that were repeatedly used throughout. I went home after church and continued reviewing material for my Managing Behavior in Organizations midterm for the next day. As a break partway through the afternoon, Lisa and I met up for coffee at Café Aumann, which lies just down the street from our apartment building. We talked about roommate situations and more about her experience as a high school student in America. I finally got up the courage to make a Putzplan (cleaning plan) for my roommates, since we had never really sat down before to make one and ended up randomly cleaning. It seemed to work better with this laid out plan, but Lisa encouraged me to remain consistent in enforcing it. I ended my evening by going to see an opera written by Beethoven, called Fidelio, which we had to go see for a class. Fidelio was the first opera I had seen in Vienna and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The performance included some fairly impressive maneuvering of the stage itself, in which different parts actually moved and turned around. After going home, I continued to review for my midterm the next day and enjoyed a short sleep before starting an exciting week.
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| Containers for washing |
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| Table decoration used during celebrations |
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| Easter table placements given to a set of poor people, chosen to dine with the Hapsburgs |
On the way over to the party, I ran into an Afghani friend of Fransizka's who also needed to directions to the particular location. We ended up trying to ask each other for directions and realized we were going to the same place. I really enjoyed talking with the Afghani, Mir Jahangir, who told me about how he worked with an international development organization and recently took part on a documentary on refugees in Austria. Many other Afghani people came who were connected to the group and they ended up turning on Asian music, to which they led traditional Afghani dances. I joined in and couldn't help but smile as I stumbled through learning the steps of the dance. Similar to the immigrant students I teach, I saw in this dance a sort of peacemaking and a cross-cultural bridge. Everyone dancing together or watching - Austrian, American, Afghani, Georgian - had come together as friends to celebrate without enmity or anger.
I later sat outside the main party room, talking about Fulbright opportunities with a friend of Franziska's, Daniel. Our conversation paused for a moment as we peered in the window of the main party room and I'll I could say was, "This is so beautiful." Moments like these make life worth living. In these moments where humans comes together across the walls which separate them, I feel completely at home and sense the deepest call for my life's purpose.
22 March
I went to church this morning and decided to start using a vocabulary notebook to help me start adding words to my German vocabulary. I found that I understood the sermon a lot better by looking up and writing down specific words that were repeatedly used throughout. I went home after church and continued reviewing material for my Managing Behavior in Organizations midterm for the next day. As a break partway through the afternoon, Lisa and I met up for coffee at Café Aumann, which lies just down the street from our apartment building. We talked about roommate situations and more about her experience as a high school student in America. I finally got up the courage to make a Putzplan (cleaning plan) for my roommates, since we had never really sat down before to make one and ended up randomly cleaning. It seemed to work better with this laid out plan, but Lisa encouraged me to remain consistent in enforcing it. I ended my evening by going to see an opera written by Beethoven, called Fidelio, which we had to go see for a class. Fidelio was the first opera I had seen in Vienna and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The performance included some fairly impressive maneuvering of the stage itself, in which different parts actually moved and turned around. After going home, I continued to review for my midterm the next day and enjoyed a short sleep before starting an exciting week.
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