Completely Spontaneous
A good gauge of spiritual health is to write down the three things you most want. If they in any way differ, you are in trouble.
Rumi
Some entirely random thoughts that are coming into my head as I sit here at 4:21 PM Vienna time, sweltering in the very beautiful and historical but entirely non-ventilated Palais Corbelli, aka the IES Center:
-You really do not need to drive here. No, really. Like even less than in NY, or in London. Because not only can you not walk two blocks without bumping into a tram/bus/U-Bahn, but it's a really bike-friendly city. You'd love it here. IES people mentioned that they could help us find a used bike to buy. I'm highly considering it.
-Gelato is one of the best things in the world. Particularly strawberry (erdbeer) from the place on Schwedensplatz.
-We went on a Beethoven pilgrimage the other day. Saw his statue across from the Musikverein (I don't think I ever really thought about how he looked when he was young and healthy and not crazy), then walked to one of the many buildings in which he lived in Vienna (he tended to move every couple months), and then went to the building across the city where he actually lived for a few years, wrote a few great works (including Fidelio, which the Staatsoper is doing in October), and discovered that there was actually a museum for him there! On one hand, I'm not a fan of singing his pieces (he is not kind to sopranos), but on the other hand... this is Beethoven. Wow.
-The Staatsoper has it's opening night tomorrow. Eeeeeeeeee!
-For being in Austria, I have been speaking surprisingly little German outside the classroom. For the level of interaction I have with locals, it's just not necessary. I know how to buy things, I know how to order food... and there you have it. For the number of foreigners that populate this city, the Viennese are not really known for being social with them. They're wonderfully nice and they'd love to take your tourist dollars, but strike up a conversation with you? Not really. Highly reclusive would be the term I'm looking for here.
-Maybe that's why I'm so excited for the teaching internship, which I did get into - it'll give me the chance to actually meet some Austrians. I'm also terrified, but we're not going to talk about that.
-Intensive German ends after next week, and then we have a week break from Sep 12-20. Around a third of the program is going on a three-city tour (Prague, Budapest, and Krakow), and everyone else is making some other form of their own travel plans. I was planning on visiting Switzerland (a relative lives in Zürich) and Germany (Freiburg and Breisach, among other places, where my grandfather's family came from). I'm excited, because traveling is amazing, but I'm also kind of scared, definitely, because I'll be spending a lot of time on my own. I know I can handle the travel (I have a Europass), but I just have a feeling it's got to get rather lonely after a week by myself.
25 minutes later, I'm still hot and sweaty. Ohwell. I have to go to the first meeting for everyone in the teaching internship. It's about time we find out what we've really gotten ourselves into.
Rumi
Some entirely random thoughts that are coming into my head as I sit here at 4:21 PM Vienna time, sweltering in the very beautiful and historical but entirely non-ventilated Palais Corbelli, aka the IES Center:
-You really do not need to drive here. No, really. Like even less than in NY, or in London. Because not only can you not walk two blocks without bumping into a tram/bus/U-Bahn, but it's a really bike-friendly city. You'd love it here. IES people mentioned that they could help us find a used bike to buy. I'm highly considering it.
-Gelato is one of the best things in the world. Particularly strawberry (erdbeer) from the place on Schwedensplatz.
-We went on a Beethoven pilgrimage the other day. Saw his statue across from the Musikverein (I don't think I ever really thought about how he looked when he was young and healthy and not crazy), then walked to one of the many buildings in which he lived in Vienna (he tended to move every couple months), and then went to the building across the city where he actually lived for a few years, wrote a few great works (including Fidelio, which the Staatsoper is doing in October), and discovered that there was actually a museum for him there! On one hand, I'm not a fan of singing his pieces (he is not kind to sopranos), but on the other hand... this is Beethoven. Wow.
-The Staatsoper has it's opening night tomorrow. Eeeeeeeeee!
-For being in Austria, I have been speaking surprisingly little German outside the classroom. For the level of interaction I have with locals, it's just not necessary. I know how to buy things, I know how to order food... and there you have it. For the number of foreigners that populate this city, the Viennese are not really known for being social with them. They're wonderfully nice and they'd love to take your tourist dollars, but strike up a conversation with you? Not really. Highly reclusive would be the term I'm looking for here.
-Maybe that's why I'm so excited for the teaching internship, which I did get into - it'll give me the chance to actually meet some Austrians. I'm also terrified, but we're not going to talk about that.
-Intensive German ends after next week, and then we have a week break from Sep 12-20. Around a third of the program is going on a three-city tour (Prague, Budapest, and Krakow), and everyone else is making some other form of their own travel plans. I was planning on visiting Switzerland (a relative lives in Zürich) and Germany (Freiburg and Breisach, among other places, where my grandfather's family came from). I'm excited, because traveling is amazing, but I'm also kind of scared, definitely, because I'll be spending a lot of time on my own. I know I can handle the travel (I have a Europass), but I just have a feeling it's got to get rather lonely after a week by myself.
25 minutes later, I'm still hot and sweaty. Ohwell. I have to go to the first meeting for everyone in the teaching internship. It's about time we find out what we've really gotten ourselves into.