It’s been a while, though I’m not really sure what’s new. I guess life here is sort of normal for me now and not worthy of writing down but then at times like these in Psychology class, when I realize that I don’t actually have to do anything in this class, I remember how different things actually are.
The big thing to write about happened last week. My host mother introduced me to two girls, Florentina and Julia. Florentina is in the year above me and Julia began University today. They were immediately friendly and a lot more down to earth than the other people I’ve met my age. Last Monday, they came over and my host mother made apple strudel. First real pastry that I’ve had here, and they eat it with this really good hot vanilla sauce. While we ate, they invited me to go with them to the opera on Saturday to see Tosca. It costs €2 to stand in the Gallery, which is not bad at all, even though it’s packed shoulder to shoulder with tourists. Considering, the most expensive seats in the opera cost over €200. There are these screens there that translate the Italian music into German/English so you can follow it even easier. The music is so beautiful and I absolutely loved it. Any tragic love story is great, but there was something so glorious about the voices and the costume and the really beautiful scenes of the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper)that makes it an absolutely amazing experience. As my grandmother hoped, I think I will come home addicted. We waited afterwards for autographs and apparently the orchestra director (notably the most polite of all the people we met in the Opera…) is extremely famous. After, we went to Starbucks which is open late on opera nights. We stayed really late and talked and it was a lot of fun, but it was so late that the public transport stopped running. We had to walk home (me in high heels… boo…) and I got home at 12.30. I worried this was a problem and that I would be in trouble, but my host parents thought it was wonderful that I had such a nice time I had to stay out later. I think that when I come home to America some rearranging of my curfew is in order… I suspect I will have a hard time cutting it back to 11. Even this summer that was a problem.
Speaking of the theatre, I actually went to the Staatsoper for the first time two weeks ago. With my host father and sister, we went to see Romeo and Juliet as a ballet. I loved that as well. I am so glad I live in the city where going to the theatre on weekends can be a legitimate hobby and be extremely inexpensive (compared to going out to eat or going to a club).
On Friday night, I registered for dance school. One of the AFS American girls, Deirdre, is taking this class with me. That’s something to do, but it comes at a rather high price. I am currently very poor, as almost all of my money is gone. It’s a shame how little value the USD carries here! However, I am looking forward very much to this class. It’s a beginner course in all the ballroom dances – waltz, tango, foxtrot etc.
There was an AFS meeting last week. Being with these kids remains some of the funniest and most enjoyable times I’ve had in Austria. We all seem to be pretty close but we all understand each other so well. We just know. It should be easier to seem them now on weekends as my host family gave me a really old cell from (a Nokia from around 2002… still has a black and white screen). However I am only receiving calls, because I haven’t bought any minutes for it yet. That should be relatively inexpensive for my needs as cell phone service here is much, much, cheaper than landlines and also America.
The weather has been beautiful so my family often goes together to parks to enjoy the sun. Sometimes this means sitting around and reading which I like to do. However, they always strongly object to my lack of scarf. It is so European of them. They even insist that I wear a scarf to bed. Most of the time going out means taking very vigorous walks. We climbed a mountain yesterday, except not really. It was just a really, really, steep hill which led to this nice little village at the top where we stopped to read. I hadn’t expected this though, and was extremely exhausted by the walk. So steep!
And speaking of reading, I visited the city library’s main branch. It is a three story modern-art building with panoramic views of Vienna. And the resources are huge. There’s say, a section for art, but in this section there are sub-sections for art history, Austrian art, etc etc. There are many other language books too, and a good amount in every European language, and even Arabic and some Asian languages. Not just a few books either, but a few shelves. If I want to read in English, which there are the most of in foreign language, then I will have no problem. When we were here I found one of my favourite books translated into German. I understand it pretty well. Natively written German books, I am still at the second or third grade level.
That’s all for now, I have a few posts coming up on a few specific subjects so watch out for that (I’ve written them already, I just don’t like taking the time to type…)
Take care!
PS-- my first month here officially passed on Saturday. Time flies!
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