A post with a whole lot of things

It's been a while since I wrote, but things had sort of been at a standstill I didn't really know what to do with myself for the past couple of weeks. Then today suddenly, I just started feeling like myself again. It's probably because I got to be with my friends and just sort of spilled everything and heard that I'm actually not alone in being stuck 4000 miles away from home and looking for a way to make oneself in a completely different place.



It's snowing here right now, and I think it will for the rest of the weekend. It's real lovely, considering how it was such a winter last year where we got NO snow whatsoever. This is also the second time it snowed, and the first time, I took photos from my bedroom window, Schau. I got real excited about this small dusting, even though it was gone by noon. And as a note, my apartment buidling is the middle one between two others. So we have no direct street access, and a view to a courtyard on both sides. Not bad I think, because it's very quiet at night and I don't have to listen to traffic when I try to sleep. Today I finally convinced myself that I do actually need all the winter things I needed to buy that I had been putting off. For instance, boots. I never actually used them in the states, but it's really slippery here when it snows, and I hate going everywhere with my jeans all wet. So I got the hat and scarves and gloves and boots I need, at deadly expensive prices, but the best I could find for Vienna.

So in a couple of weeks I'll be going to my first ball. I'm horribly nervous. I got the dress, borrowed from my host brothers girlfriend. It's white, and I told them I would get my own dress, and wear it for prom next year. However, the ball I will be going to is super formal, and you have to wear white. Now this is one reason why I'm nervous. The second is that I am very amateur at dancing. These balls are real dancing, and I have hardly learned the Wiener Waltz yet, and I know only the real basic and very slow steps that are just the beginning to all other ballroom dances. The third and biggest reason is that I do not know who my date will be. The family has gone crazy calling all male relativess who can dance. And finding someone will not be a problem. It is just certain I will be going with a stranger. I was horribly nervous to go to prom last year with someone I knew very well, and where I didn't actually have to dance for real. Americans don't dance. Speaking of which, last year Paris Hilton went to a really famous ball here for New Years, and it was a huge deal and they aired it on TV, where the Austrians found her horribly bored and she left early because she disliked it so much. I had a good laugh at this.

My host mothers birthday was last week, and we celebrated it four times. The first was the acutal birthday at her house with the family. I drew her a really nice card, spent two hours in art class drawing it that day. Then on Saturday we reorganized the house and made a huge meal and about 20 people came for an open house that day. The maid (Bla... i hate having a maid, not joking) came and ran the kitchen. I ended up going out with my friends, because with so many people, I really don't know what's going on, and no one really wants to explain everything to me. Sunday we went out to her sister's apartment for lunch, and then we had a dinner at home in the evening for her. It was Martinitag on Sunday, feast day of saint Martin. This means all Austrians eat goose. It was the first time I ate goose, and I don't reckon it's something I'll be having again. It's really greasy. They dared to compare it to Thanksgiving, but I have to say no. No one understands Thanksgiving! It's just special.

I've been working on getting closer to my host family the past couple of weeks. I stayed in a lot to spend time with them instead, which may have been the reason I was feeling off. Even though I was feeling happy and liked by them, there's something else that you need friends for. I'm not sure I really ever properly wrote about them. My host mom is pretty strict about running her house, but that's understable. She's an english and history teacher at a technical school, which is not the best subjects of all the students. She also makes an effort to explain things to me when we're at the table, and once you get her to laugh she can be pretty easy going. My host dad engineers cranes. I don't actually know what he does, but he makes us really good food, he's an awesome cook. He's very affectionate and loving, and I can tell he's one of those people who has to be loved by everyone. For instance, I know he hates cats, but when someone has a pet cat, he wants it to pay attention to him and pets it the entire time we're visiting. He is very sarcastic and loves to play on words and make puns. He speaks very heavy Vienesse, but I consider it an accomplishment of mine to have such good understanding with him. My host brother Dominik is not really home a lot, and spends him time with university where he studies applied physics and with his girlfriend Eli. He's a pretty typical older brother, and strictest with his younger sister Iris, (hi Eric!) and really enjoys teasing. My host family is always calling him Trottel (idiot) or saying he's blöd... I guess that means dumb, but it can also mean like, bull, or I have no idea. I've heard it used a lot of ways. He went to Australia with AFS. Jakob is the second and teases a lot as well, and especially me. He makes fun of the way I phrase things, and asks me dumb questions. Nonetheless I've gotten to know him better lately. I was the most shy towards him because I didn't like being picked on, and because he's fairly hard to understand. But I tried just telling him random things and he ended up being really understanding. He went to Panama with AFS. Iris is the youngest, and turns 14 this weekend. She's a musical fanatic, and also loves reading and not eating a lot and other things 14 year old girls are interested in. She can be a pretty typical youngest sibling and gets her way so often and that is such a weird age to live. She's very affectionate and loving and is only just beginning to open up to me. She misses her sister Clarissa in Argentina dearly, and Iris considers her her best friend.

I went to see Fidelio this weekend with Florentina and my host sister. It is my favorite opera so far, but maybe because it was in German. It was real cool to understand some things they were singing. I saw Americans here, and let me tell you, I really don't feel like them anymore. I used to want to always talk to tourists and ask where they're from and so on, but now, not at all. I see them and I think there is so much they don't know, and I can't even describe it. I don't feel better than them or anything, I just feel like I have an entirely different perspective on the world than they would.

I am getting fairly closer with Clara, and have met with her a few times in the past couple of weeks. Her grandfather got very sick, and I think he is now recovering. I told her she could always call on me when she needed something, which she took dearly. Her mother is also really fond of me which is nice, because she is one of those people who gets very excited in the company of people she likes. I went to church a few times with Clara, she's really involved with the youth group and altar serving (my church has over 80 altar servers..). I met some people at a youth group there, they're a bit younger but that's all right

I had a big math test monday, there were six problems and I got two right. My math teacher went crazy praising me for taking the test in the first place and even translated it for me. The english was spotless, and I later found out her husband writes international math text books. She is so cute. She has a heavy Wiener dialect as well. For instance instead of saying "Was?" (what?) with a long a, she says it with an o. and instead of pronouncing "wunderbar" as vun-der-bar, she'll say voon-der-bar. I don't know if you can hear the difference but there is. I got an A on my English test too. Surprise! I actually did make some mistakes though, so that was cool.

I know I've been a bit short lately and not really keeping in touch, but I think I just got through a rough period. Things are looking up from here defintely with the holidays around the corner. I feel optimistic, and thats a good thing.

Half time for me is in two weeks. I can't believe it.

All sorts of things...

Well my week was not particularly Austrian, so I didn’t feel the need to write about it last week. I actually hung out every day of the week with an AFS person in some way. It was all the same people except one day I went out with a girl from Thailand called Anchalin. She’s crazy cool and really loves to shop.
Friday I had dance school again, though for the first time alone. Deirdre from USA quit the Friday class, because she wanted to be social on Fridays. However, I found this was actually a lot better for me and talked to a lot of my dance partners who were really cool, and I started talking to this random girl who was sitting alone. She sort of attached herself to me for the night and next class we’re meeting earlier. She doesn’t have any friends at the dance school because she comes from another district and she started a year late. And I’m the random American. I always surprise random people when they ask “Where are you from?” “Boston, USA” “Bwah! I didn’t expect it to be that far!”
As a note, they saw something like bwah instead of wow. I’ve caught myself saying it a few times. Oh dear.
I went to a locale called Bricks with everyone on Saturday night for Livia from Brazil’s birthday. Before, some of us went to Cory’s apartment and his host mother made some good tasting meat thing and really good mashed potatoes. The few times I’ve eaten at other Austrian’s houses, the food is so rich and delicious. I guess it’s a good thing I’m with a really healthy family because I am not gaining the extra weight that would have ordinarily happened. Brick’s was a lot of fun, though I left fairly early because I had a half hour of public transport back, and being alone on the public transport isn’t dangerous, since Vienna has a fairly low crime rate, however, I still don’t like to be alone. I’m glad I live in the exact center and get to take the really good subway lines. Think about the Orange Line in Boston. You wouldn’t be caught on that in the daylight either. Some of my friends have to take the Vienna equivalent late at night back to their houses, so I am very grateful for another reason for my location.
Sunday I was forced into participation in a Talent Show with AFS. For the past week, Cory and I were practicing doing a horrible job at Hey There Delilah from Plain White T's, cause it seemed exchange studenty and its about the US too haha. However when we got there, we found out talent was required, and everyone knew the song and asked if they could join us, so there were about six of us performing. Funny.
Umm, oh yes. I know Dad will love this because I know how much he loves heights. In Sport class the other day, we went rock climbing and I ended up really loving it. There was a 16 meter wall (4 or 5 stories, I remember counting the windows as I went up) though my partner on the ground got too nervous and only let me go about eight meters. Now my host family is all excited because they think there is finally something athletic I like and are asking me if I want to take a rock climbing course, and wouldn’t it be so great etc.
I made an apple strudel yesterday!!! It was delicious.
In English class right now, for the past month we have been studying black people. It’s so bizarre, it started out as the civil rights movement, and now we are plain studying black people. Such as living conditions, and why they are poorer, in prison more, have more teenage pregnancies than whites in America. The thing that strikes me about it is that we wouldn’t so blatantly study black people in America. It’d be considered so politically incorrect. Accompanying this study we are watching the film Boyz in da Hood.
Tonight I am going to a music school to see my friend Clara from school play flute in a concert.
Tomorrow is the last day of school before vacation. Cory and Jordyn are coming over, and then we are going to Bricks. Friday is the National Holiday and the Austrian Parlament is open for the day for free. Saturday I am going to La Traviata, and Tuesday I am leaving for Kärnten

Alles gute,
Julia

Niederösterreich -- Second Arrival Camp

This weekend AFS had Second Arrival Camp in Neu-Nagelberg, Niederösterreich. It was about two hours away by train, and our youth hostel was right next to the border to the Czech Republic. Good...
It was really nice to get away from my host family for a weekend. Does that sound weird? I mean it to say, it was refreshing and re-encouraging. In a sense. There were a lot of parts this weekend, especially when the AFS-veterans were speaking to us, I was thinking "Oh my God, I am not doing a good job at being Austrian or an exchange student." But I think they were trying to make us feel this way, because they want us to work harder. Or something..

So we all met at the train station in Vienna at 16.30 on Friday. We got to the youth hostel pretty late, and we went outside in the dark and played random circle games. The entire camp was run by no one older than 20. It was mostly Austrians who had done a year in South America, and since mostly South Americans live in Vienna, you can imagine it was mostly spanish. Mostly a group of English mother speakers and those who speak neither German or Spanish huddled together, but then we would get disbanded because of speaking English. And then the leaders would go back and speak Spanish, and we would slowly start speaking English once more.
Anyway, we learned some childrens games in German in the dark, and then we went inside and drank some really bad soup. Then, as we were getting ready to go to sleep, it turns out one of the South Americans brought a bunch of music, so we all crammed into this absolutely tiny hostel bedroom and danced until 1 am. It was so much fun! The south americans told me I could dance really well, which was cool. Maybe it is because everyone else was too self concious to go ahead and do it, but I did! A boy called Felipe who doesn't speak English well taught me this Argentinian swing dance. The only thing we say to each other is "Felipe, Bitte!" or "Julia, bitte!" and then we do that fake Euro kiss on both cheek goodbye thing...
Speaking of which, I am totally pro at that now. I can pretend to kiss people's cheeks hello and goodbye like nobody's business.

The bad thing about this party was that we had to wake up really early to play more games on Saturday. After breakfast and games, we broke off into groups by language. I volunteered myself for the German group. There were only four others. Of the 30 kids who live in Vienna, only four know enough German to participate in a conversation. The leaders of the camp were really shocked by this. Whenever they yelled at us for speaking English they would say, "In America, the German and Austrian kids would speak English together even though they had the same mother language! You are here to speak German, so speak it!"
Unfortunately my group had a degree of unpleasantness to it, because one would just talk and talk the entire time and no one really wanted to listen. We were supposed to talk about my problems, and somehow I had a lot. For instance, being graded in math, having a mother in the house, continuing a relationship during my exchange, and the biggest: being a replacement daugther/sister/classmate. I guess I never really thought of how hard it is to be here, but I think that's a good thing. Because I am always enjoying myself, and if you are constantly thinking of the difficulty involved, it leaves no room to believe: "hey, I am having a lot of fun right now"
My dad wrote me a very wise email that said "I am constantly surprised by how people here tend to think of your trip so glamourously. There is so much work involved in living in a new culture." He's right, but I'm not trying to preach about how noblely self sacrificing I'm being. But what this really is, is creating a new home for yourself somewhere. I was sitting on the U-Bahn today and I was like, wow, this is normal. I know how to connect to the next line and I know how to get home, and I recognize exactly where I am. There is nothing foreign about it. And really, that is the whole purpose of this experience.
And only after six weeks!

We went walking in the woods and I talked more with Jordyn about our problems. (This is beginning to sound more like a support group for some kind of severe condition...) I ended up feeling really down for most of the afternoon. This was my first time in the Austrian country side and forests, and oh my goodness, they are really beautiful. There is green moss all over the ground where we walked and it was really squishy to walk in. The trees were a lot of evergreens and there were many wild flowers. I even saw a Butte plant, which is this weird fruit that they take the seeds from in fall a brew a tea out of it. This tea is one of the things initially I REALLY disliked about my diet, but now I just take it when I have to and don't even taste it anymore. Another fine example of this is salad, which they cover in like 1 part oil and 3 parts vinegar. Ick...

ANYWAY, that night, I don't really remember what but we were all sitting in Cory's room, and I ate all of his haribo, so today I had to buy him some more. Jordyn was trying to teach us how to speak with a New Zealand accent and say "I drove in my car to Auckland." Auckland is really hard to say. Don't even try, because you'll be wrong. Cory can say "Get in the chopper now" in a really amazing Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. (PS-- Austrians don't really have an accent like this). There was another party in the South American room, but we didn't feel like going. I ended up crashing pretty early. I got to know kind of a girl from Thailand who I really liked though, so that was good.

Sunday we mostly wrapped up wirth more games and group discussions. I got home at around 6 or 7 all by myself, which I find amazing. I can take a train two hours away into the city and then the subway to my house and my host family doesn't even have to do anything. I just come when I want! I don't know why this strikes me so much, probably because Kevin or my dad drive me everywhere I need to go back home.

Monday night the AFS people met in a cafe at night in this slightly shady part of Vienna. There were about 35 people there, since many veterans came. It was fun, but I can't think of anything to write about it. It was just a party, I suppose!
Tuesday was a tour for us of the Rathaus (town hall) and then we went out to ice cream after, because it was Livia's birthday. A boy from Japan, Kosei, who is kind of our pet, got lost and had to call me, but didn't know enough English or German that he could understand that he should stay where he is, and that I would come find him. That was frustrating. I ended up leaving early anyway, because my host brother and his girlfriend Eli took me to the English theatre. We saw this really sarcastic two man musical about a woman who thinks she has the most beautiful voice in the world, but everyone actually hates it and comes to laugh at her. It was called Souvenir, and I ended up crying a lot at the end. I'm crazy.

Other points of interest is I finally learned how to weigh myself in kilograms. I am not becoming another fat student (ha, AFS) but I have in fact lost five pounds. Probably because I don't remember the last time my family ate meat.

School vacation for a week comes after next week, and then I am going to Kärnten in the mountains by a lake in my family's vacation house!! I am so excited.

That's all, keep in touch. Baba.

//fake euro kiss.

Another week in Austria (Surprised?)

It's been an interesting week so far.
Monday was sort of a turning point for me too, because I went out with my friend Clara from school. There's a really big pub, I suppose you could call it, nearby called Tunnel. In the basement (Keller) there's jazz music I've heard, and then the first floor is noisy pub style, and then we had a small party on the second floor which is just like a restaurant cause its quieter.
It was Clara's cousins 24th birthday, so she had her friends and invited her younger cousin for some reason. Clara thought it would be a good experience for me to meet a bunch of people I didn't know and to speak with them in German.
Since it was Monday, I only stayed out till 11, but that was a lot longer than I expected to stay. I was really dreading going, but I actually enjoyed myself. Clara and I had Apfelsaftgespritzer, which is just like the sparkling apple juice we drink at Thanksgiving and stuff, except without sugar and 100% juice.
The best part was meeting these people who thought I was just another Austrian, and then them finding out I was still learning German. One of the guys there guessed I was from Ireland because he said I had a very interesting accent he couldn't quite place his finger on. But he had spent some time in Ireland and said I looked like them. When he found out I was from Boston, he said, oh that explains it, because there are so many Irish there. In Boston you must have a sort of Irish dialect, right?
I didn't really know how to explain it but I explained how most of the country has the impression we don't say the letter R.
So that was Monday. So much fun =)

Tuesday I went shopping with Jordyn and Heida on Mariahilferstrasse. This is exactly as it sounds. It is a giant street with many, many shops. There are 4 H&Ms on the street, I disovered, when the girls told me to meet them there. It took a long time to find them.
Well, not really shopping, although I let myself get something I really liked at H&M. I figured that made up for a month of only spending money on registrations and post and a few other necessary things.

Wednesday I started assigning myself writing in German. Because I was sort of bored, and I am writing a lot in English. I went to Libro and got a notebook (in A4 size, because I think the bigger paper is so funny. I wrote a 160 word composition about fall.
Later that night Kerstin said I had to go with her to Turnverein which is an exercise club which meets up at different places every day. I had to! I couldn't believe I was being made to. And of course I really really really didn't like it.
But I got the idea that maybe she thinks I am lazy? She is shocked when she heard I didn't play any sports. I mean, I walk everywhere here and I am stronger than I have been in my entire life. But athletics are simply not fun, which is so different in her opinion and I think most Austrians. They don't care that you aren't that good, they just think that it's fun.
Blah. I hope I don't have to go again. It's not awesome watching really old ladies with the biggest biceps on someone their age I have ever seen running around with 1kg weights...

Today I am going to go to the park after this. Kerstin isn't around for three days or so, but this weekend I am going to AFS camp in Niederösterreich. I don't really know what this involves, but we are staying in a youth hostel.

That's about it really. See you around.

A Bad Day, Dance School, and a really big family...

I noticed here bad days can get really blown out of proportion and can happen over nothing. The thing is, once you start not feeling so good, it automatically makes you assume it's because you're in Austria and that it would never happen in the United States. And all you want to do is go home and suddenly, even though it isn't that long of a stay here, it seems like forever until coming home.
The truth is, bad things happen no matter where you are, and I believe that's part of the reverse culture shock of coming back home to USA. You see once again all these things you were looking forward to, and then you realize you have romanticized these things when you were homesick. We will have to see!

Last week in math she was teaching (and still is...) this really advanced geometry that I couldn't find an english explanation anywhere I looked. So my homework was completely wrong and she makes a big todo about it in front of the entire class, about how I am supposed to ask for help when I needed it and so on. The rest of the class also has no idea whats going on, and they look at me helplessly and say, I can't clarify in german or english. sorry.
By the end of the hour, I put my head down on the desk and sighed. My friend Clara started to soothe me, which of course made me cry. Of course!
Surprisingly, no one in the class made fun of me. In fact, everyone sort of came to me then and was like "Hey Julia, it's not so bad. We know its really hard for you and its so unfair that she expects you to do better than us. Don't worry about it"

Hopefully my host brothers will be able to clarify, because they are math and physics majors. Naturually, being over 20, they are almost never home.

---

SO! On Friday I began dance school, which is a beginners course for ballroom dancing. There are about 50 girls and 50 boys, which is really incredible. You have to get all dressed up before you go, and wear high heels and nylons and a skirt. My host sister, Iris, 13, was bitterly jealous of me and kept fussing with my hair and jewelery before I left. Only three more years until she can begin. =)
After, the other American girl, Deirdre and I went out to a cafe in Stephansplatz with some of her Austrian friends. Cory met us too. I found the night overall pretty unimpressive and went home pretty early.
The next night, a lot of AFS kids came to my apartment and then we went to the night at the museums, where they were all open. Saw modern art, natural history, etc etc. Of course we were mostly there for the humor of being together.

Then on Sunday was a big day for me. I met the entire father's side of the family at a party for the Grandfather's birthday. In Austria, there is a child deficit, but this family, the grandparents had 7 kids, and now there are 35 grandchildren. This was very overwhelming but an hour in, I realized that I understood EVERYTHING that was happening. And someone commented also my accent, saying its very well adjusted to Vienna. Excellent.

I think my host brother needs the computer. I am going to a party tonight (Even though it is monday...) with Clara. I will only be there an hour I think. I get exhausted really easily here still.

Next weekend is AFS second arrival camp in Niederösterreich. And that's about it! I think I will also go sometime this week to see La Traviata at Volksoper...

Happy Columbus Day, even though its just a normal monday for me.

And I heard the Red Sox are doing well????

Happenings (Life becomes normal)

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!

Friend Meetings, Weekend Explorations

This weekend was awesome for a number of reasons. I had something to do every day which I did not expect, though often times I would be on my way there, and still have no idea where I was going.

Friday there was an AFS Wien-Chapter meeting, at the Prater. This is an extremely expensive and famous amusement park in Vienna known especially for the giant Ferris wheel. I hate to admit that I freaked out on it, but I did. However it was well worth the scare as the view was awesome, and simply because I can now say I have been on the Prater Riesenrad! I am planning to steal photos from others. I also met my AFS liason during this trip who is a 21 year old college student named Sonja. This is cool, because normally it's an older person, but she can tell me real things and happenings about Vienna. (Not just history and facts)
Unfortunately I could not stay longer with my AFS friends. I had to leave about an hour after my arrival as we were having a dinner party. It was cool to see my family get their apartment all decked out, especially the dining room and stuff. However, after a day of concentrating in German, and also an entire week of Austrian school, I am exhausted. Around nine thirty when we sat to eat at the table, I was already zoning out extremely. At 11 my host mother told me it was not a cultural faux-pas or whatever this word is, to excuse yourself from the table. Honestly I had no idea what was going on and German begins to sound just like the water in a brook perhaps.

Saturday morning was the open house day at the Raimund Theater. Musicals are very popular here and there is a particular musical star called Uwe Kröeger who my host sister adores. I went to a little dance workshop in the afternoon. That morning, my host mother pretty much insisted, which was very cool of her, don't get me wrong, that I have my own AFS meeting because people would be happy that they were invited somewhere and probably wanted to do something similiar but didn't want to initiate it. I invited Cory and Deirdre from USA, Heida from Iceland and Jordyn from New Zealand to come over and we would do something. We met at seven and my host mother was very hospitatable and gave us all drinks and these pretzel things that were more like rolls. (Soft pretzels of course). We left the house around 9 and explored Vienna at night, which is gorgeous. This is how I finally fell in love with the city. It is all lit up and there is so much going on, it does not feel dangerous at all.
This night I felt sort of like I was a part of the city, that I almost had a home here. It was familiar to me, and it was sort of belonged to me as well. This is a very positive aspect of switiching cultures. On the other hand, the past week I was in a few situations where it felt horrible to be an American. When you meet new people and they ask you where you're from once they hear your beginners-German, you sort of lose credibility for being an American. You can win this back easily by honestly giving an effort. However the humiliation you can feel from this is enough to make you want to give up. I am in a transition stage from Beginners to Intermediate German and I can pick things up very easily.

Today in school I talked to more people, just had conversations about anything. To them it doesn't matter how good you speak, or what you're talking about. It pleased them to see you make an effort. As I have said, Austrians are very friendly, but it is hard for them to let you in fully. You must truely push your way in for acceptance.

Today also Cory showed up and wanted to take a walk. I learned sort of how to use the U-Bahn (subway). We went to a famous baroque church called Karlskirche, which is gorgeous. You can take these shady rickety stairs all the way up the dome and up this tower. The whole time you can see how high up you are which is so frightening! I needed to stop for a moment because I felt like I might panic (my breathing was acting this way). However I did it, and the view at the top of the dome is spectacular. What is also truely amazing is how painters managed to do those ceiling paintings on church dome roofs. I needed to get down ASAP but they had perhaps years of work up there to make the paintings.

Another week beginning, but I feel really okay about it.

Keep in touch!

--Julie

Orientation and Week One

Wednesday -- the most awkward of all the days since no one knew each other and couldn't figure out who was going to which country. The food at doubletree was really bad and I got a little sick. At the end of the night we formed groups by country, instead of random groups where they taught us safety procedures and rules rules rules. This was nice seeing people for the first time, although I didn't really like them at first glance. my roommate was from minnesota, also a semester student in austria. she thought I was cold, but I guess this is the new england in me. =P

Thursday -- was much better than wedsnesday and lots of waiting around to get to the airport. all of us couldn't wait to get out of new york city. there are about 20 us students going to austria and we all got along REALLY well. the exception to this was a boy from a cow farm on oregon who had two very pretty girls from southern california hanging off both of his arms. in austria they behaved very inappropriately and finally the rest of the group had the guts to tell them off and PLEASE refrain from the PDA because it was seriously offending the austrians, and ESPECIALLY since oregoncowboy had a girlfriend back home.
And so the flight. It was very long and most of it I fell asleep on the fold out table. I got a lot of reading done for history class. Oh yes, this was an unchaperoned flight, and so we had to figure out the way past passport control and to our next gate in frankfurt by ourselves.
Friday -- was when we arrived I suppose, it was afternoon. they had a room with food and chairs prepared for us at the world trade center where we waited for our bus that came at 8:30. there were lots of jokes we told that weren't funny but seemed that way because we were so tired. finally we got to orientation site at around 10, where there were about 130 kids from around the world and we really just wanted to go to sleep.
Saturday -- we broke off into country groups that prepared ourselves for austria according to our culture. it was a lot of fun and mostly I was just glad to be hanging out with them, bsecause all the americans got pretty close. there was a party this night and we taught everyone the cha cha slide. I went to bed pretty early because I wanted to take a shower. (with my deliciously smelling austrian toiletries)
Sunday -- my family arrived to get me at 9:15 in the morning. so far I have been to church, which is of course in a gothic cathedral. I met all sorts of girls who are friends with the stracke's daughter clarissa. they are going to help me around tomorrow at school. school is attatched sort of to the cathedral and it is 300 years old. we had a really good lunch of wild boar (?!?!?!! they have a hunter friend) and this squash soup that was absolutely delicious. I am eating much better here than in germany, I find their food is still rich but somehow more manageable, and therefore my table manners perhaps?!) we are going for a walk later and then I heard we may go to Rathausplatz which is a big center where there will an opera performance on a big screen tv there.I really have not had a chance to see Wien yet but I suppose I am ever closer because I live right here. It is very beautiful where I live and very close to this enormous theatre.

Friday -- was when we arrived I suppose, it was afternoon. they had a room with food and chairs prepared for us at the world trade center where we waited for our bus that came at 8:30. there were lots of jokes we told that weren't funny but seemed that way because we were so tired. finally we got to orientation site at around 10, where there were about 130 kids from around the world and we really just wanted to go to sleep.

Saturday -- we broke off into country groups that prepared ourselves for austria according to our culture. it was a lot of fun and mostly I was just glad to be hanging out with them, bsecause all the americans got pretty close. there was a party this night and we taught everyone the cha cha slide. I went to bed pretty early because I wanted to take a shower. (with my deliciously smelling austrian toiletries)

Sunday -- my family arrived to get me at 9:15 in the morning. so far I have been to church, which is of course in a gothic cathedral. I met all sorts of girls who are friends with the stracke's daughter clarissa. they are going to help me around tomorrow at school. school is attatched sort of to the cathedral and it is 300 years old. we had a really good lunch of wild boar (?!?!?!! they have a hunter friend) and this squash soup that was absolutely delicious. I am eating much better here than in germany, I find their food is still rich but somehow more manageable, and therefore my table manners perhaps?!). we later went to this giant recreation area a little out side of the city with a big forest and fruit trees and everything. for dinner was some potato with a little egg in it dish, and then we went to Rathausplatz to see a filmed performance of Figaro, which was so beautiful.


Which brings me to today, my first day in school. It was short, beginning with church which I went to with a girl called Clara who was the best friend of the girl I'm replacing here. The classroom stuff was really disorganized and no one really listened. A list went around showing which classes people would be taking with their other classes and there was none listed next to my name? The principal is on sick leave so when she comes back I'll find out apparently...
I guess the good news is that I won't have to pay for school books.
There was a student in my class born of Viennese parents, but grew up in Amercia and she helped me a little.
The homeroom teacher spoke to me in English, and I'm afraid they will think that I can't speak any german.
I think after we had Psychology class, but I don't know. At first I thought she was just doing another orientation thing, because everyone was talking and she just sat a desk in front of the class and kind of joked around. But then I understood her talking about the difference between the left and right side of the brain, and men and women and children, and something about dreams, and somethign about children and teddy bears. The girl who lived in America told me that classes are just like this, and that yes, it shocked her at first too.
I'm surprised mostly because what I understood from orientations was how important school is and how in order everything is and how strict.
School was over at 10.45 (half day)
I don't know what else happens today and HOPEFULLY I'll get classes??? That'd be helpful. I know they have to take the langauge they have been studying, and since I know no others, I may be able to get into a German class for younger students. (ha, like the ten year olds)

See you.