Catch-up on crazyness
Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter.
William Ralph Inge
It's the end of the semester, so of course things have been going at an insane pace. Which would be completely normal if I was at school, but somehow it seems sacreligious here in Vienna. But I just finished two out of four papers, so I guess I'm sort of on top of things, or maybe running alongside things. That at least how I choose to look at it, anyway.
Thanksgiving week was difficult. It was the week where I realized how many papers I had and how soon they were due. It was the week where I was having a hard time with social issues and living things here. And if that wasn't bad enough, it was Thanksgiving. The holiday of going home and being with family and eating the certain same foods every year. And I was 4,000 miles away, where people do not understand what an apple pie is. To be fair, IES did take us to a heurigen in Baden where they had instructed Austrians on how to cook a pretty much typical American Thanksgiving. It certainly wasn't the best one I've ever had, but it went a long way towards making me feel better.
The savior of the week was the IES ski trip. I was a bit apprehensive for it, because the only time I had been downhill skiing before was once or twice when I was twelve on small hills in Lake Geneva. And I wasn't too good then, either. This was the alps. On a glacier, called Kitzsteinhorn. With Austrians, who learn to ski before they can walk. I was pretty certain I would be falling down the mountain on my face. But surprisingly, I wasn't. I started out with the beginners, but was a lot better than I thought I would. Things came back very fast, and even things which I'm sure I couldn't do seven years ago, like turning, weren't that hard. The second day, I was off the bunny slopes, onto proper blue runs, and even did two red runs, though I fell on them more times than I can count and it took quite a long time to get down. I was able to find a guy who was pretty much at the same ability as me to ski with, which worked out great. And it was just a thrilling experience, one that I'd really like to repeat when I get home. I can understand why people love it so much.
Last weekend, Trang and I went to Graz, Austria's second-biggest city, about 2.5 hours southwest of Vienna, in the province of Styria. We didn't do a whole lot of formal sightseeing in the two days that we were there, but it was really nice to get away - away from the work hanging over my head, and away from the formality and conservatism and fanciness of Vienna. Because as my roommates said when they told me I had to visit Graz, it's a city that I could imagine living in. Just as most of Europe, it's got a long history of its own, but it doesn't overwhelm you. With a large student population, a lack of palaces, and some super-modern buildings near the river, it just feels so much friendlier, more vibrant, and welcoming city than Vienna does. (Not that I don't love Vienna, but after awhile, it's ceremony and historicity get a little, well, old.)
So we spent a lot of time just walking around, enjoying the city. Of course, there were good Christmas markets, and since it was the night before St. Nicholas Day, there was some Saint Nikolauses (who, by the way, looks a lot more like a priest than Santa). But more exciting, there were also many Krampus running around, the shaggy, black, masked devil-figure that carries children away if they're not good. They go around beating people with branches, all in good fun, of course. We visited the Kunsthaus, or modern art museum, which apart from having an excellent Andy Warhol exhibit, was fantastic in itself. It's known as The Friendly Alien.
This week has been pretty much constant paper-writing and studying, and will continue to be so. Classes are home. But German has been good for a bit more than grammar, I think. At least, I got sung to by an ex-Army guy dressed as St. Nikolaus and beaten by a former Austrian model dressed as Krampus. Yes, that would be our awesome student services staff. And I got to sing German christmas carols today.
And tomorrow I have my first final. Whooopeee.
William Ralph Inge
It's the end of the semester, so of course things have been going at an insane pace. Which would be completely normal if I was at school, but somehow it seems sacreligious here in Vienna. But I just finished two out of four papers, so I guess I'm sort of on top of things, or maybe running alongside things. That at least how I choose to look at it, anyway.
Thanksgiving week was difficult. It was the week where I realized how many papers I had and how soon they were due. It was the week where I was having a hard time with social issues and living things here. And if that wasn't bad enough, it was Thanksgiving. The holiday of going home and being with family and eating the certain same foods every year. And I was 4,000 miles away, where people do not understand what an apple pie is. To be fair, IES did take us to a heurigen in Baden where they had instructed Austrians on how to cook a pretty much typical American Thanksgiving. It certainly wasn't the best one I've ever had, but it went a long way towards making me feel better.
The savior of the week was the IES ski trip. I was a bit apprehensive for it, because the only time I had been downhill skiing before was once or twice when I was twelve on small hills in Lake Geneva. And I wasn't too good then, either. This was the alps. On a glacier, called Kitzsteinhorn. With Austrians, who learn to ski before they can walk. I was pretty certain I would be falling down the mountain on my face. But surprisingly, I wasn't. I started out with the beginners, but was a lot better than I thought I would. Things came back very fast, and even things which I'm sure I couldn't do seven years ago, like turning, weren't that hard. The second day, I was off the bunny slopes, onto proper blue runs, and even did two red runs, though I fell on them more times than I can count and it took quite a long time to get down. I was able to find a guy who was pretty much at the same ability as me to ski with, which worked out great. And it was just a thrilling experience, one that I'd really like to repeat when I get home. I can understand why people love it so much.
Last weekend, Trang and I went to Graz, Austria's second-biggest city, about 2.5 hours southwest of Vienna, in the province of Styria. We didn't do a whole lot of formal sightseeing in the two days that we were there, but it was really nice to get away - away from the work hanging over my head, and away from the formality and conservatism and fanciness of Vienna. Because as my roommates said when they told me I had to visit Graz, it's a city that I could imagine living in. Just as most of Europe, it's got a long history of its own, but it doesn't overwhelm you. With a large student population, a lack of palaces, and some super-modern buildings near the river, it just feels so much friendlier, more vibrant, and welcoming city than Vienna does. (Not that I don't love Vienna, but after awhile, it's ceremony and historicity get a little, well, old.)
So we spent a lot of time just walking around, enjoying the city. Of course, there were good Christmas markets, and since it was the night before St. Nicholas Day, there was some Saint Nikolauses (who, by the way, looks a lot more like a priest than Santa). But more exciting, there were also many Krampus running around, the shaggy, black, masked devil-figure that carries children away if they're not good. They go around beating people with branches, all in good fun, of course. We visited the Kunsthaus, or modern art museum, which apart from having an excellent Andy Warhol exhibit, was fantastic in itself. It's known as The Friendly Alien.
This week has been pretty much constant paper-writing and studying, and will continue to be so. Classes are home. But German has been good for a bit more than grammar, I think. At least, I got sung to by an ex-Army guy dressed as St. Nikolaus and beaten by a former Austrian model dressed as Krampus. Yes, that would be our awesome student services staff. And I got to sing German christmas carols today.
And tomorrow I have my first final. Whooopeee.