Week 17: The End Approaches

Life had begun to settle down a little bit during the past couple weeks and I found myself getting into a regular routine again after traveling for a significant portion of the time between approximately March 20 and April 20.  This week changed that routine as the intensity of my schoolwork began to increase towards the end of the semester, in addition to the events and time spent related to saying good-bye to friends. 

4 May

The church lunch on Sunday ended up lasting significantly longer than I originally expected and I spent time working on finances and other personal responsibilities later on Sunday.  This meant that I needed to use my Monday morning to finish up writing my Seminararbeit (semester paper) for my teaching internship.  I really appreciate the challenge of writing German papers, which is why I plan to write a German honors thesis during my senior year.  Nevertheless, I often face difficulty finding my concentration and end up feeling like writing German papers makes me want to pull out my teeth.  I discovered that the time of day during which I write significantly changes the quality of my work and my ability to concentrate, so first thing in the morning is truly the best time for me to work on my German papers.

I fortunately finished the draft of my 9-page Seminararbeit before heading off to my last Managing Behavior in Organizations class.  I made sure to pay careful attention to the teacher's oral review for the class, since he refused to send out a list of review topics via e-mail before the midterm.  What a joy to approach the end of this class!  Afterwards, we headed over to Heidi's classroom to fill out an evaluation of our teaching internship and say good-bye to her.  I'm so thankful for the instruction she gave us this semester and the way she arranged our internship.  It has truly been a life-changing experience!  

5 May

Today in Viennese Theater class we talked all about Sommernachtstraum (A Midsummer Night's Dream).  Dr. Haika surprised us by telling us that the actor who plays Puck in this performance is actually an 80-year old woman!  We were completely shocked at this fact!  Puck had a rather high voice in the play, but I certainly did not guess this about the actress.

After class, I ran down to Spar (a European grocery chain) to grab a bag of snack mix which cost 69 Euro cent in order to satiate my hunger.  I then headed back to IES to force myself to study for my final in Cultural History of Austria the next day.  Fortunately I ran into a group of students who planned to study for it.  We all divided up the themes which our teacher gave us to study and then taught them to each other after reviewing our individual themes.  That definitely helped a lot for reviewing for the final!  I went home later and reviewed some more, in order to make sure I solidified all the material in my brain.

6 May

I headed over to IES to write my final for Cultural History of Austria and found that I had prepared sufficiently for the exam.  A few things ran out of my head, but I think I gathered enough information to write substantial answers to the essay questions which I chose on the exam.  The window of our classroom was open to the courtyard and we could very clearly hear the music students practicing on the other side of the building.  I found this quite distracting and appreciated that Frau Schachermeier let me take my exam in a different classroom, so I could fully concentrate. I took way longer on the first essay question of the exam than I should have due to my distractions, but I ended up finishing the answers to all the required questions in time.  Thank goodness Schachermeier gave us a little extra time at the end.  I turned in my exam and headed out to buy a few things, before heading back home.  I then zipped home and worked like crazy on making blueberry muffins as a goodbye treat for Laurenz, along with ordering my tickets for my trip to Ulm the next week.

I went to pick up Laurenz from school for the last time and we walked back to my apartment, where I finished up reading a section of a book with him on knights and castles.  I really enjoyed reading this book with him at the end, since he had begun to develop strong reading comprehension and could understand the slightly more complicated storyline.  I said good-bye to Laurenz and talked to Amina for a bit, when she dropped by to tell me news about our heat bill.  We had an issue with the heat at the end of my stay, since the bill went up majorly due to the presence of a third person in the house.  After clarifying the situation, Laurenz left with her and I relished in the wonderful free time I had for the rest of the day!

7 May

Thursday ended up being crazy busy with classes and meetings.  I needed to complete many responsibilities and thought about not going to an IES presentation between my classes to discuss reverse culture shock.  I decided to go anyways, since I had begun to think and feel a lot of things towards my departure.  I felt stress about wanting to return home to deal with the mess which my senior year had become, but I also did not want to leave Austria so quickly.  I am definitely glad I went, because the meeting helped equip me for the situation I would face upon arriving home.  Meral, the IES Health Coordinator, talked to us about how we will go through a process upon coming home.  We might at first really want to arrive home and feel euphoric, but then memories of Austria will slowly come back to us.  We might feel strange in many of our friendships and suddenly see great gulfs between formerly close friends and ourselves.  And perhaps the most valuable piece of advice: only a few people will truly care about your time abroad, the rest will only want to hear a canned answer or lose interest quickly.  Stay connected to friends made while studying abroad or in your host country.  Stay connected to this foreign country and culture back in your home country as much as possible.  Regardless of what happens, you will have forever changed...so true.

In our Viennese Theater class, we finished practicing our theater piece for the last time.  I was sad to see the class end, but I also looked forward to the end of my classes and freedom to immerse myself fully in absorbing the experiences with friends in my last days there.  Our performance went well and I stuck around to hear the music and opera pieces from a few IES students.  While waiting there, I realized deeply the rift between the other IES students and myself.  I did not feel sorry for the rift, but the recognition rippled through me that my experience in Austria turned out completely different than theirs.  Many of them hardly knew any Austrians and spent a significant amount of time in the IES Center.  They likely traveled more, went to bars more, and saw more museums than I did.  I am happy for the balance which I chose - seeking to immerse myself more fully in the community through living with Austrians and being involved in an internship, church, and a student organization.  But I would not trade my travels for the world either.

I slipped out partway through the conference in order to go to Bible study and cherished my last time there with the group of people from church who I got to know well through this opportunity.  Thankful for good parting reflections on the book of John with them.

Bible Study at Nate & Bethany's (they're on the left)

 8 May

I woke up bright and early for my final Gebetsfrühstück (prayer breakfast) with students from ÖSM, which I enjoyed as usual.  We prayed for the upcoming events happening for ÖSM and different personal challenges for each of us - upcoming tests, employment, upcoming trips, etc.  For breakfast we had one of the BEST conversations with Europeans I ever experienced!  We somehow managed to wander to the topic of cheese, which puts an American in a rather bad position when she is surrounded by Swiss and Austrians.  The Austrians argued over the horribleness of blue cheese and their personal preferences for or against it.  Meanwhile the Swiss student, Robin, told us all about how the Swiss forget to patent "Swiss cheese", meaning that all manner of it exists around the world without the actual quality of true cheese from Switzerland.  Ellie told us that her mom or grandma used to identify the quality of a cheese by its smell.  And I horrified them all with my tales of spray cheese and Velveeta from America.  We died laughing and had such a wonderful morning!

Students from ÖSM (excuse the low picture quality)

I eventually needed to head off and went to go review my Seminararbeit, on which a friend of mine from church graciously made corrections for the final draft.  The corrections fortunately went more quickly than I expected, giving me time to work on a couple personal things before heading over to meet up with my language buddy, Franziska, for the final time.  Franziska gave me a wonderfully thorough tour of the literature museum at which works, which actually happens to lie directly across the street from the IES Center in Vienna. She showed me all about the beginnings of Viennese literature in the 1700s and the prose which emerged during the 1800s, highly characterized by strong satire.  Viennese coffee house literature emerged later in the 1800s and lasted through the beginning of World War II, but then began to die out.  Newer Viennese authors focus on bending shape and sound to create new impressions.  I found it fascinating to see these all put together in one museum and also finally to see the result of Franziska's work over the past few months.  She was primarily responsible for putting together many of the individual exhibits in the museum.

After our tour, we went out for Wiener Schnitzel!  I realized at Bible Study on Thursday that I had completely forgotten to try Wiener Schnitzel in my entire time in Vienna!  It was as delicious as expected, especially with the traditional potato salad and cranberries alongside.  Franziska and I talked more about her work with refugees and I told her how much I appreciated getting exposed to her care, concern, and work with them through her poetry translation group.  In the museum she pointed out to me that the identity of one of the men I met at her party had been one of the leaders of a protest in the Votivkirche, which had peacefully expressed the needs of the refugees waiting for official asylum in Austria.  She explained the condition of many waiting here and also the story behind the Schutzebefohlenen, a play by Elfrida Jelinek which I saw in the Burgtheater.  Her group works to present the play with actual refugees, rather than only using European actors like the Burgtheater.  Although I did not spend many times with Franziska, I am incredibly grateful for her friendship.  She has truly impacted my life by helping me understand more deeply the Middle Easterners seeking asylum in Vienna and teaching me about the literature culture here.

Traditional Wiener Schnitzel!!

I wrapped up the evening by attending a housewarming party at the apartment of Julia, Georg's girlfriend, and her sister Lisa.  I had a fun time getting to know their friends from Burgenland, which helped me understand their life there better.

Julia and I at the party

9-10 May

I rushed over to IES on Saturday morning after waking up late due to the party the night before.  I proofed and printed my paper for my teaching internship and turned it in on time, after making a makeshift cover page which I had totally forgotten beforehand.  Thank goodness other students were there to remind me of that requirement!  I then ran a couple errands before heading home and working on a few personal projects and schoolwork for the afternoon.  I went to a concert in the evening put on by my church and a couple other spiritual institutions in town.  The orchestra who played came from All Souls' Church in London, Katie's church.  The concert sounded beautiful in the concert hall where the Vienna Boys' Choir actually performs!  It was a mixture of classical, contemporary, and Christian music with explanations before many songs which helped me understand the music more deeply.

I went to church for the last time in Austria on Sunday and appreciated the message, which left me understanding again my identity in Christ which never fails and the question in my mind: do I see myself the same way in which God sees me?  I said good-bye to many people, thanking them for their friendship and involvement in my life during the past few months.  I greatly appreciated my time at this church and will definitely miss it, as it has often reminded me of my need to turn continually to my identity in Christ.  Katie and I went with a couple international students after church to get street food and to eat lunch on the lawns of Schönbrunn Palace - a truly beautiful close to Sunday and a good start to my final week in Austria.  I worked on studying (rather distractedly) for my Managing Behavior in Organizations final the next day and preparing the lesson for my final teaching internship session.