Thursday, March 17, 2011
when in roma..
so i'm leaving for Rome tonight! Sorry I have not kept up with these entries very well, it's been a pretty busy week. I am sooo excited to see Kris, and the city of Rome! I will add an update once I'm back :) Classes are well and basically it was just a week of classes and hanging out with friends, nothing too exciting but a pretty good week!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
One thing I learned in the past 24 hours: there's always more to people than you see on the surface. Sometimes people are struggling with things you wouldn't even expect. It's sad that people have to overcome challenges nobody else even knows about, but it also brings people together because you realize you aren't alone in your worries or challenges in life. I've just been reminded to be less judgemental of people and to remember that I don't always know the whole story of who they are.
Anway, I went to Innsbruck yesterday, and unfortunately because we took the inexpensive trains, we only had 4 hours to go around the city. That was a little disappointing, but we did as much as we could. We saw the touristy old city, with the Golden Roof which is part of the home of a past emperor of the city, and then we took a cable car partway up (not all the way to the very top of the mountain, so it was on a track, not dangling like a ski lift) so we could overlook the city and take some nice pictures of the scenery. It was a little foggy or hazy, but you could still see the mountains. Then we ate at a restaurant in Innsbruck, which was only average, but at least we tried it. Then we had a wonderful 5 hour train ride home...which was pretty bad, and we got back to the train 1 minute before it departed...we literally had to sprint through the city for our train.
Today I went on a really long run through Salzburg, long overdue, and wished I had my camera many times because it was just so idyllic and beautiful. This really is a beautiful city.
Well, I need to shower and fold laundry, and we're celebrating Erin's birthday with a pasta dinner here at the dorm tonight. Last night we were hanging out in the old city and celebrating for her birthday, and some guys from Holland sang Happy Birthday to her with me on the street! It was very cool :)
Well, best wishes to everyone for the new week and I will add more soon!
Anway, I went to Innsbruck yesterday, and unfortunately because we took the inexpensive trains, we only had 4 hours to go around the city. That was a little disappointing, but we did as much as we could. We saw the touristy old city, with the Golden Roof which is part of the home of a past emperor of the city, and then we took a cable car partway up (not all the way to the very top of the mountain, so it was on a track, not dangling like a ski lift) so we could overlook the city and take some nice pictures of the scenery. It was a little foggy or hazy, but you could still see the mountains. Then we ate at a restaurant in Innsbruck, which was only average, but at least we tried it. Then we had a wonderful 5 hour train ride home...which was pretty bad, and we got back to the train 1 minute before it departed...we literally had to sprint through the city for our train.
Today I went on a really long run through Salzburg, long overdue, and wished I had my camera many times because it was just so idyllic and beautiful. This really is a beautiful city.
Well, I need to shower and fold laundry, and we're celebrating Erin's birthday with a pasta dinner here at the dorm tonight. Last night we were hanging out in the old city and celebrating for her birthday, and some guys from Holland sang Happy Birthday to her with me on the street! It was very cool :)
Well, best wishes to everyone for the new week and I will add more soon!
Friday, March 11, 2011
austrian and american perspectives
Last night I met a few people from Austria and it was really interesting to talk to them about the stereotypes of America and everything like that. They said that there is a stereotype of Americans that we are very prudish and religious, and also that we are the "police of America" and have to be involved in everything (which I have already heard). We told them how there were a lot of huge differences even just within America about beliefs regarding religion and war, and that different parts of America were vastly different from each other.
Then they asked us what the stereotypes of Austria were. So I told them, well most Americans don't even really know much about Austria except for the Sound of Music and skiing, and that we tend to just lump it in with Germany and the stereotypes are probably: punctual, harsh, and of course the idea of "Nazi"s which still exists today. First of all, most of them had never seen the Sound of Music, and one of them saw it at age 18..and said it was nothing like Austria at all. Then, we talked about the Nazi thing, and she said it was something that younger generations still feel like they have a burden of and they feel responsible for, even though they weren't even alive when it happened, because some of them have family members that were involved during that time. I guess it's comparable to slavery and the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.
I asked them if they thought Americans were "loud" and they said no the Spanish and the Italians were stereotypically the loud ones. They also surprisingly said we have a stereotype of being friendly and polite, since it's expected in America that when you go into a store or meet someone on the street you say "hi, how are you?" when you don't necessarily ask people how they are in European countries. They said Americans are much more open, and willing to talk about their lives, but in Europe it's more closed.
The other thing they said was that they thought it was "strange" that Americans were so patriotic. They said that when you see flags flying in front of American homes, that you would never see that in Austria. They found such strong patriotism for your country very strange. I asked them why they thought the Austrian flags were flying in the city center if that was the case, and they said they thought it was more for tourism. They said that greeting soldiers on the street and thanking them for their service was also very strange to them.
We talked about how in Austria and much of Europe you HAVE to be intelligent and smart to continue in school, while in the USA, even if you are really not smart at all, if you have the money to pay for it you can still go to school. They said they got the idea that if you have the money, you can do just about everything in America..which I think is mostly true that money is power. We also said we wished we knew multiple languages, the girl we were talking to mostly had been taking English for 12 years and was basically completely fluent. We said we were almost embarassed we weren't fluent in another language. She said, "I understand why you might only know English, English is the world language, so as long as you know that you're all set."
Well, it's really interesting to get different perspectives! I do appreciate my country but I think we have many problems (as do many countries really). It's interesting to hear what other people my age think.
Then they asked us what the stereotypes of Austria were. So I told them, well most Americans don't even really know much about Austria except for the Sound of Music and skiing, and that we tend to just lump it in with Germany and the stereotypes are probably: punctual, harsh, and of course the idea of "Nazi"s which still exists today. First of all, most of them had never seen the Sound of Music, and one of them saw it at age 18..and said it was nothing like Austria at all. Then, we talked about the Nazi thing, and she said it was something that younger generations still feel like they have a burden of and they feel responsible for, even though they weren't even alive when it happened, because some of them have family members that were involved during that time. I guess it's comparable to slavery and the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.
I asked them if they thought Americans were "loud" and they said no the Spanish and the Italians were stereotypically the loud ones. They also surprisingly said we have a stereotype of being friendly and polite, since it's expected in America that when you go into a store or meet someone on the street you say "hi, how are you?" when you don't necessarily ask people how they are in European countries. They said Americans are much more open, and willing to talk about their lives, but in Europe it's more closed.
The other thing they said was that they thought it was "strange" that Americans were so patriotic. They said that when you see flags flying in front of American homes, that you would never see that in Austria. They found such strong patriotism for your country very strange. I asked them why they thought the Austrian flags were flying in the city center if that was the case, and they said they thought it was more for tourism. They said that greeting soldiers on the street and thanking them for their service was also very strange to them.
We talked about how in Austria and much of Europe you HAVE to be intelligent and smart to continue in school, while in the USA, even if you are really not smart at all, if you have the money to pay for it you can still go to school. They said they got the idea that if you have the money, you can do just about everything in America..which I think is mostly true that money is power. We also said we wished we knew multiple languages, the girl we were talking to mostly had been taking English for 12 years and was basically completely fluent. We said we were almost embarassed we weren't fluent in another language. She said, "I understand why you might only know English, English is the world language, so as long as you know that you're all set."
Well, it's really interesting to get different perspectives! I do appreciate my country but I think we have many problems (as do many countries really). It's interesting to hear what other people my age think.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
it's almost the weekend!
I only have one more class at 4:30 pm before it's the weekend. YAY!
This weekend the other 4 girls in my group and I are planning on going to Innsbruck, which is a small town about 2 hours outside of Salzburg by train. It's supposed to be a cute little town to explore and with different shopping and the largest Swarovski Crystal store in the world, but it's closed for renovations I think, which is sad :( but it will still be fun to explore a new city, and it's supposed to be beautiful there.
Other than that, I am just experiencing lots of new things. On Tuesday I was out around town for "Faschingsdienstag" which is "Mardi Gras" here, it's a lot like Halloween in America, everybody was dressed up and in costume. I saw a lot of people dressed up in Native American costumes, which I found very strange. We met a guy from Austria, and he found out we were from Maine, he asked us if we knew Stephen King! It was very funny, I was surprised he knew who Stephen King was, but he said he had read all of the books.
So my classes are: DaF, or Deutsch als Fremdsprache (German as a foreign language) which is just a German language class here in Austria. I'm also taking a Film Class and a Literature class (not history like i thought). Both are just covering Austrian film and literature, a lot of movies and books from this country are very dark, so it should be interesting...the film and literature classes are held in my resident directors apartment, so it's a pretty casual setting. I have classes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...but I have Fridays off, so 3 day weekends!!
Today was the first day it rained in Salzburg or Austria for that matter where we were, but now it's bright and sunny again :) We went to an open air market after our class this morning, I tried Käsekrainer (sausage with cheese) from a Würstelstand (sausage stand) for lunch, it was really delicious! I also got a big pretzel to take home with me, it has chocolate and apricot on it and it's very, very yummy, but I brought most of it home with me because I didn't want to eat it all at once (I could just eat all day here, the food is soooo good, but I try not to overeat even though I easily could) We walked around another market later which was fun, they sell fresh flowers, fruits, veggies, more food, and little garden trinkets and other trinkets as well as clothes and purses and everything. I think next week I might buy some fruits or vegetables. I have noticed that the clementines and oranges here are both very tart!
Also, I'm officially addicted to Nutella..luckily they sell it in America too. It's a chocolate hazelnut spread, the consistency is very comparable to peanut butter, and it's only a little bit less healthy for you than peanut butter..it's really yummy on toast for breakfast or with fruit. It's SO GOOD. I could eat it by the spoonful.
I've also been running a few times down the Salzach river which is really just very beautiful, and there are swans on the river. It's awesome! I've been told it will be even more beautiful once the trees bloom and everything is green again! I'm trying to get into a running routine here, it's different running in the city because of stoplights, and becuase you always have to predict the direction where so many people are walking around and dodge them as you run. It gets annoying, but I think I'll get used to it, and once I get to the river it's easier. And so pretty! I think I picked a great semester to come here (SPRING semester!) I want to get up hiking into the mountains and get some really awesome pictures, as well as see a few Sound of Music things like the gazebo. I want to take a picture up in the hills like the sound of music picture where she's spinning around in flowers!
This weekend, I have the plans to go to Innsbruck, figure out how to do laundry, and tonight our school is hosting a party for people to meet each other, it's on Akademiestrasse (the street where we have our classes) in one of the buildings where we have class. I think a lot of people are going so hopefully it will be fun.
So I apologize if I already blogged about any of the stuff above, but I've been telling so many people about so many different things that it's hard to tell! I will have to do another entry when I get back from Innsbruck and let you know how it was there. I hope the weather is as gorgeous in the US as it is here right now!
This weekend the other 4 girls in my group and I are planning on going to Innsbruck, which is a small town about 2 hours outside of Salzburg by train. It's supposed to be a cute little town to explore and with different shopping and the largest Swarovski Crystal store in the world, but it's closed for renovations I think, which is sad :( but it will still be fun to explore a new city, and it's supposed to be beautiful there.
Other than that, I am just experiencing lots of new things. On Tuesday I was out around town for "Faschingsdienstag" which is "Mardi Gras" here, it's a lot like Halloween in America, everybody was dressed up and in costume. I saw a lot of people dressed up in Native American costumes, which I found very strange. We met a guy from Austria, and he found out we were from Maine, he asked us if we knew Stephen King! It was very funny, I was surprised he knew who Stephen King was, but he said he had read all of the books.
So my classes are: DaF, or Deutsch als Fremdsprache (German as a foreign language) which is just a German language class here in Austria. I'm also taking a Film Class and a Literature class (not history like i thought). Both are just covering Austrian film and literature, a lot of movies and books from this country are very dark, so it should be interesting...the film and literature classes are held in my resident directors apartment, so it's a pretty casual setting. I have classes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...but I have Fridays off, so 3 day weekends!!
Today was the first day it rained in Salzburg or Austria for that matter where we were, but now it's bright and sunny again :) We went to an open air market after our class this morning, I tried Käsekrainer (sausage with cheese) from a Würstelstand (sausage stand) for lunch, it was really delicious! I also got a big pretzel to take home with me, it has chocolate and apricot on it and it's very, very yummy, but I brought most of it home with me because I didn't want to eat it all at once (I could just eat all day here, the food is soooo good, but I try not to overeat even though I easily could) We walked around another market later which was fun, they sell fresh flowers, fruits, veggies, more food, and little garden trinkets and other trinkets as well as clothes and purses and everything. I think next week I might buy some fruits or vegetables. I have noticed that the clementines and oranges here are both very tart!
Also, I'm officially addicted to Nutella..luckily they sell it in America too. It's a chocolate hazelnut spread, the consistency is very comparable to peanut butter, and it's only a little bit less healthy for you than peanut butter..it's really yummy on toast for breakfast or with fruit. It's SO GOOD. I could eat it by the spoonful.
I've also been running a few times down the Salzach river which is really just very beautiful, and there are swans on the river. It's awesome! I've been told it will be even more beautiful once the trees bloom and everything is green again! I'm trying to get into a running routine here, it's different running in the city because of stoplights, and becuase you always have to predict the direction where so many people are walking around and dodge them as you run. It gets annoying, but I think I'll get used to it, and once I get to the river it's easier. And so pretty! I think I picked a great semester to come here (SPRING semester!) I want to get up hiking into the mountains and get some really awesome pictures, as well as see a few Sound of Music things like the gazebo. I want to take a picture up in the hills like the sound of music picture where she's spinning around in flowers!
This weekend, I have the plans to go to Innsbruck, figure out how to do laundry, and tonight our school is hosting a party for people to meet each other, it's on Akademiestrasse (the street where we have our classes) in one of the buildings where we have class. I think a lot of people are going so hopefully it will be fun.
So I apologize if I already blogged about any of the stuff above, but I've been telling so many people about so many different things that it's hard to tell! I will have to do another entry when I get back from Innsbruck and let you know how it was there. I hope the weather is as gorgeous in the US as it is here right now!
Monday, March 7, 2011
a note on supermarkets...and classes
So, supermarkets here are just such a different experience. I mean, first of all they close at 6:30pm at the very latest on weekdays, 5:00pm on Saturdays...and they're closed on Sundays! So if you don't have enough food you're in trouble on Sunday unless you want to go out to eat (which of course I DO but it's too expensive to do constantly). Anyway, it's really annoying that it closes so early because I'm used to being able to just walk into the grocery store at 9pm and grab something if I needed to.
Then when you're in there, you never see people loading up their carts like in the US with every single food item you could think of. When we go to the grocery store we usually buy most everything we need for 1 week at least in my experience. But here in Austria they seem to go every few days and just get small amounts of food. The reason for this is PROBABLY because they make you bag your own groceries and they don't wait for you to be done bagging yours when they start sending the next person's food down the line, oh no. So basically, you're frantically trying to grab your stuff and pay and speak in German while these people fly through their job.
For the most part I think food is cheaper here but with the exchange rate I'm probably paying the same as the US. But today I got 2 cans of soup, a box of cookies, eggs, paper towels, yogurt, cereal, a huge bag of pasta and some bread for like 16 euros, which really isn't bad. It's not "super expensive" like I imagined it would be, if you watch for sales. I also think fruit is quite a bit cheaper here than in the US but I'm not completely sure yet.
Anyway, enough ranting about supermarkets. Today I had my first day of class! It was basically a day to fill out some information sheets and start a review of some German grammar. The teacher seems nice, she expects you to put the work in but she seems friendly. Her name is Frau Weigl. I have to buy 2 books but I think they will total about 25 euros..which is a LOT LOT cheaper than what I pay for textbooks in America by FAR, so I'm relieved. Luckily I think most of my spending on the initial things I had to buy is over. After class we went to the mall/IKEA and I got a little desk lamp, a small mirror for my room, a frying pan and a colander today as well, which were all super cheap, which is good.
Also, I'm going to Rome in 2 weekends and will be meeting up with Kris there! I'm going by train.
Well, I'm going to go clean up my room and do some dishes, but I have more classes tomorrow so I will let you know how that goes!
Miss you all, more later!
Then when you're in there, you never see people loading up their carts like in the US with every single food item you could think of. When we go to the grocery store we usually buy most everything we need for 1 week at least in my experience. But here in Austria they seem to go every few days and just get small amounts of food. The reason for this is PROBABLY because they make you bag your own groceries and they don't wait for you to be done bagging yours when they start sending the next person's food down the line, oh no. So basically, you're frantically trying to grab your stuff and pay and speak in German while these people fly through their job.
For the most part I think food is cheaper here but with the exchange rate I'm probably paying the same as the US. But today I got 2 cans of soup, a box of cookies, eggs, paper towels, yogurt, cereal, a huge bag of pasta and some bread for like 16 euros, which really isn't bad. It's not "super expensive" like I imagined it would be, if you watch for sales. I also think fruit is quite a bit cheaper here than in the US but I'm not completely sure yet.
Anyway, enough ranting about supermarkets. Today I had my first day of class! It was basically a day to fill out some information sheets and start a review of some German grammar. The teacher seems nice, she expects you to put the work in but she seems friendly. Her name is Frau Weigl. I have to buy 2 books but I think they will total about 25 euros..which is a LOT LOT cheaper than what I pay for textbooks in America by FAR, so I'm relieved. Luckily I think most of my spending on the initial things I had to buy is over. After class we went to the mall/IKEA and I got a little desk lamp, a small mirror for my room, a frying pan and a colander today as well, which were all super cheap, which is good.
Also, I'm going to Rome in 2 weekends and will be meeting up with Kris there! I'm going by train.
Well, I'm going to go clean up my room and do some dishes, but I have more classes tomorrow so I will let you know how that goes!
Miss you all, more later!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
life in salzburg
So I actually spent today as like a down day to recover from this crazy week! I caught up on some tv shows which can be frustrating because a lot of videos that are allowed in the US won't work over here in europe..it's hard to find shows! Anyway, I'm about to go shopping and try to find some more european shoes because the sneakers i have just are not cutting it..I look wayyyy too American all the time. It was nice not to have to get right up and be somewhere this morning though.
Yesterday I went for a run in the city and that was a lot of fun. I went exploring and found some paths up in the mountain areas. It was fun! but for now i'm going to clean up my room and go on a little shopping trip :) a longer update will come soon because I start class on monday!!
Yesterday I went for a run in the city and that was a lot of fun. I went exploring and found some paths up in the mountain areas. It was fun! but for now i'm going to clean up my room and go on a little shopping trip :) a longer update will come soon because I start class on monday!!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
one word...exhausted.
This week has been SOOOOO exhausting!! so much paperwork to take care of, things to buy, things to organize. I lost a folder that had some papers in it which is really frustrating and stressful. I got a cell phone today and it took forever to figure it out, especially even just switched the phone from German to English. There are so many situations here that you wouldn't expect to be hard, that are...I mean, you don't even think about it until you have to do it. Like, reading a shampoo bottle to see what kind it is..and everything is in German. Or going grocery shopping and figuring out what kind of milk you are buying (I don't think they have skim milk over here...)
Here are some random thoughts because I'm too tired to write long explanations:
Here are some random thoughts because I'm too tired to write long explanations:
People don't wear "sneakers" here. People wear converse, vans, boots, but not running sneakers. As a result I wish I brought my vans or boots. And all of these shoes are pretty expensive over here. FRUSTRATING.
Food shopping here is strange, because you have to bag groceries yourself and also you usually have to pay for bags if you don't have them with you. It's hard to pay and bag at the same time! They also go lightning fast here.
Learning the bus system...is hard! I'm not used to taking a bus places. But it is very convenient and the bus stop near my house, Kongresshaus, goes right to where I have class and the other side of the city. Just take Bus 3!
Moving into my room and trying to do all the paperwork has been sooo stressful. But, the paperwork is drawing to a close for the most part. My roommate is French, here name is Mäiiwenn or something like that. It's pronounced "My Wen." So far we haven't talked a lot but she is studying music (she plays the oboe).
Walking everywhere in the city is very different! It's actually a little bit smaller/about the size of Portland. I love having the chance to live in a (small) city to see if I like it.
Sometimes it's frustrating here because the vending machines have beer and cola and red bull..but they hardly ever have normal soda or just water! And that's usually what I want.
Hearing cars at night on the street is different..usually it's more quiet in Maine!
Also, most of the population is "white" but there is definitely a very large diversity of languages around here! It makes the US seem more isolationist than I ever thought. It's weird how you could live in the USA your whole life and never go outside the country, but here you are so close to so many countries.
Well, bed time for me because I'm doing some more paperwork tomorrow bright and early!
OH and just so everyone reading knows I took a placement test today and I got into Mittelstufe I which is the level I had to get into to receive credit for my classes at UMaine! Yay! The test was challenging so I'm proud of myself that I made it into that level :)
More later!
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