Austria @ MindSay 
It is September 11th today so for all those involved, please have my sympathy. It was a great tragedy and for someone who has lived with terrorism forever, it is truly awful. I hope that maybe one day all forms of terrorism is destroyed, not just terrorism that affects the West (specifically America.) because there are so many incarnations of it throughout the world that are not being addressed. I’m happy that the idea of stopping terrorism is so prevalent from the big powers since I’ve lived with terrorism living directly in one of the “hot spots” of Belfast and it, of course, is a big deal to me. Maybe now something will happen to stop it, not just America intervening in Iraq to stop it, but something actually worthwhile for the entire world.
And maybe I’m just a dreamer?
I actually had a really good day today, and it feels wrong, which is always nice especially after the hectic, hellish week that dared to happen last week. I feel content, almost euphoric and I’m glad that I’m finally chilling into my routine.
You see, coming back after two months and knowing it is my last, albeit most trying, year made it incredibly difficult to pull up the metaphorically socks and get stuck into A2s. I was very frustrated last week due to the fact I couldn’t get back into my rhythm which led to many arguments and rash decisions.
I think I’m finally adjusting which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is a mighty fine thing :-)
Good day today. Politics was great, I love Politics. I love having a teacher who just tells you what to do an expects you to do it and better. And You Do It because you don’t want to disappoint him. It is very odd but it works. And I love the subject. So yes, good start to the day.
Teacher wasn’t in for History. May not have mentioned my “Only girl in the class” status (Although, I still love history) but it means I’m very much a loner. I did homeworks, read text book and eventually coloured in my file-block in a nice, black-pen doodle.
Spanish was good, we’re going to the cinema on Thursday to see the new Pedro Almodóvar film which should be good. I’m not a massive fan of Spanish film, simply because there are very few chances to see it, but anything that gets me away from school rocks. And we’re doing “Back to basics” grammar which is fantastic as my Spanish grammar is, frankly, atrocious.
Lyndsey forgot to flip her seat down in the lecture theatre and landed on her rear to the delight of everyone. It was fantastic!
Planning holiday to Austria with my friends which is making me all excited and ready to jitter my own way there. I’m really looking forward to that. I finished reading Chocolat by Joanne Harris last night and it has just given me the desire to move. I want to feel the pull of the wind telling you which direction to take. I want to just go anywhere, everywhere.
No school tomorrow. I’m taking the day off to visit a local university and sample the local area. Almost half of the year is going so I’m pretty sure the teachers will have a bit of a panic attacking coming into class and finding like 2 people there. I’m not too keen on going to Coleraine, given the fact I fell in complete and utter love with Queens, but I think I’ll go to see.
I think I’ll bank in on my good mood and get a lovely, luxurious bubble bath, maybe even have a cup of something hot and steamy, before getting an early night.
I’m glad things are starting to get on track again. I get so frustrated when things get out of my control or, even worse, my own weakness stops me from acting to full capacity. I’m very happy now to work at a high level from now on. It took longer than I expected but now I’m perfectly happy and content with the world.
Tra la, la, la, la
Argento.
Oh, how I love being in Salzburg. It's such a nice city. :D
So, I've seen three movies as yet, and they've been fantastic.
Today we're gonna see 'Metropolis'. *dances around* That's such a great movie, and I can't wait to see it on the big screen for the first time.
Okay, now it's time for lunch and my friends are waiting.
Mmh...I think I'm gonna have some of the very delicious Austrian food. Hehe, and Sachertorte for dessert, of course. :D *oh boy, I'm sooo hungry*
Many greetings, from the Mozart city! *see ya!*
Well, Julia a.k.a goodnightstory has shown us, that it could be really dangerous if you mess with the Mafia. And that it could be more dangerous for our little soft toy animal friends, too. It seems like the Mafia's not only dangerous in Italy anymore. *aaaawww...* I found this headless fellow on my way to work yesterday morning.
Poor teddy, eh? Shows us how bad those Mafia guys are.
Vienna, Austria? Okay, let’s go to Vienna.
That is basically my life here abroad. Want to do something? Okay.
Want to go to Vienna or Spain or just to the pub? Okay.
It’s not like I don’t have anything to do here, it is just that what I am supposed to do here is say ‘okay’ and do it. Without that, I’m not experiencing anything at all. Truly, I believe that. I’m truly sorry if you are reading this from work or school or even worse, the library, but studying abroad is essentially just living abroad. It is in these experiences, ask anyone, that you truly study abroad. The new experiences in the classroom and with professors and my workload is memorable and important (I enjoy the four courses I am taking here way more than the four I studied at Emory last semester, content and professors included for nearly all of them). However, what I do at night, where I go on the weekends, and the walks I take during the day and lunches I have with friends make studying abroad complete and for me, are the best moments.
So this weekend, I left Friday for Vienna, Austria. It was a trip organized by my school here, so it was about 40 of us in a hostel together. The four hour bus brought us to Vienna at 8 p.m. and we headed out for some dinner and drinks and some great exploration. While you can find a place to eat in Prague at any moment and on every corner, every corner, Vienna is a little different. It took us a while to find anywhere to eat, as it was 10 p.m. by the time we left the hostel and were all ready, so we settled for some Italian food. Now trust me, I am the last person who wants to eat Italian while visiting another country that isn’t Italy, but sometimes, especially when traveling, you just have to go with the flow, and I am so happy we did. This little Italian restaurant had definitely never served 10 American college guys hungry from a four hour bus ride. We had a blast with the owner, the chef, and the mysterious dog named Rambo who blindly (I think quite literally) strolled through the restaurant looking for scraps.
This was the first I time I had been on the euro, and it is quite simply, not a pleasant experience, especially for one studying in the Czech Republic. I definitely should note that the reason I include something about prices and the cost of food and travel in almost every entry is because that is hands down always a topic of conversation while traveling. How much does dinner cost? How much are flights? What is a cheap hotel or hostel? And as we all know, this doesn’t apply only to studying abroad, but all travel. However, when you are traveling with your family for a week in the summer or on winter break, it is a lot different than making your money stretch a little further when you are living, truly living, in another country for almost five months. So, I hope not to bore you or brag about the dollar store than can be the Czech Republic, but I always get emails about the cost of traveling and know that besides getting time off, money is the number one travel deterrent. Anyway…the euro is a little more expensive than the dollar and Vienna is about the cost of any smaller major metropolitan city in the U.S.
So Friday night we went to the Bermuda Triangle, which is essentially a triangle of streets lined with bars (all no cover and all welcoming everyone and anyone inside). We stayed in the area for a while before heading to Flex, an Indy-Rock club, techno, weird underground drug scene, dance place rolled into one odd, unforgettable venue. The place was a half mile from the Triangle and littered with great graffiti and located below ground, right on the Danube River. To the right was a cafeteria looking bar with hundreds of punk-rock Austrian students sprawled out on long wooden benches. We were told to wait around until 3 a.m. and “go in there.” “In there” ended up being through this little walkway leading to the largest club I had ever seen, lined wall to wall with drugged out teenagers and twentysomethings raving to a DJ that put on a performance as if he were part of a huge ten piece band. For me, it was straight out of a movie, but we jumped right in (excluding the crazy drug use and over the top head banging). The night continued like this until it could no longer be considered night, but full on morning…
We had a 9 a.m. wake up Saturday, on which we took a tour of the city. I didn’t know what to expect from Vienna besides Freud, Mozart, and Arnold the California Governor, but the city was incredible. It is a very wealthy city with beautiful museums and palaces on every corner. The Hapsburgs ruled this area of Europe for 700 years, a little more than 100 years ago or so, and their palaces are everywhere. There is a winter palace just down the road from a summer palace (each with about 2000 rooms) and gardens like Versailles in Paris. The winter palace (and these all have a name I swear) is in the heart of the city near Parliament and its backyard is beautiful courtyards that weave right into the middle of the main street full of shopping and restaurants. We toured the summer palace in the afternoon and then a few of us sat down at one of the famous Austrian cafes. Famous for encouraging, yes encouraging, you to stay and relax and not worry about how long you take or how little coffee you order, we sat and relaxed and watched the people and the streets for two hours late in the afternoon.
It was time for an authentic Austrian dinner, so we went to Centimeters, a place known for great Austrian food pilled high on the plate. Our waitress suggested the dinner for 6 and we agreed. Well, what we didn’t know was that the dinner was served on a sword thrown across the table and we were just told to dig in to Weiner schnitzel, pork, and other Austrian greats. We ate and ate and finally were able to stand and head back to the hostel to get ready to head out into the Austrian nightlife.
Yadda, yadda, yadda, the second night was just as fun as the first, just at different bars in the same general area, and yes, a stop at Flex around 4 a.m.
Sunday started with a trip to the Freud Museum, which is not impressive, don’t go. Fortunately, it was incredible outside, so we strolled through the parks and churches of Vienna, stopping at the Parliament for pictures, and at the Opera, museums, and into the Albertina (a modern art museum). The exhibits were fair at best, but the building itself was very impressive. Located right in the middle of the museum and palace district, the Albertina is an all marble palace sitting a full story and a half above the city, so hanging out on the balconies and watching the people stroll by on the main boulevard is a must.
The rest of the day was spent exploring and heading around the city, and we headed back around 5 p.m., back into Prague at 10 p.m. and in school again on Monday.
Right now, I am trying to put together a trip for this weekend, hopefully Krakow, Poland, and Auschwitz, as well as planning spring break without trying to break the bank.
I think I’ve worn out my welcome at this café tonight, so I’ll see you later. Have fun everyone, enjoy.
Well, I gotta change things a bit. It's lot's of work to type the entire medal schedule. That's why I am now putting the top ten and the Netherlands and the UK. Why the UK? Well, nine of ten comes out of the UK that read my blog, so...Anyways here is the updated medal table:
1. Germany (7 golden, 7 silver, 4 bronze)
2. Austria (7 golden, 5 silver, 3 bronze)
3. USA (7 golden, 4 silver, 3 bronze)
4. Russian Federation (6 golden, 2 silver, 5 bronze)
5. Korea (3 golden, 3 silver, 1 bronze)
6. France (3 golden, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
7. Italy (3 golden, 4 bronze)
8. Estonia (3 golden)
9. Norway (2 golden, 7 silver, 8 bronze)
10. Canada (2 golden, 6 silver, 5 bronze)
12. The Netherlands (2 golden, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
Nothing much changed, we still have 3 country's to be on...wait a minute...Austria has seven golden medals??? They won 3 golden medals since yesterday? Yes, it has been a great day for Austria today. First things first. Benjamin Raich won the Giant Slalom and well Hermann Maier won bronze there. Micheala Dorfmeier won the Super G for women. Oh, and on that same discipline Alexandra Meissnitzer won also a bronze medal for Austria. Beside that the Austria team won a golden medal on the LH Team Competition. So suddenly Austria is also a country that could 'win' the medal ammount table. And now I am serious. Germany, Austria, USA and Russia are the only ones who could win it. Unless a miracle happens, I don't see any other country 'overtrake' them....I hope it. Else I could throw away my carreer as predictor...I guess I should choose another carreer then
