Herbstferien & Kärnten & Schularbeit

Well it's been a while, but I was away and then school started on Monday and all the craziness that comes with that ensued. It turns out we didn't leave to Kärnten until Thursday. It's not the first time I've mixed Dienstag and Donnerstag up. Oh well.
One thing I can't get clear is the Austrian perception of time. I was told they were very prompt people, and like things to always be on time. However, whenever my host mother tells me to do something like a chore, it's expected to be done immediatley. That's in order. But when she suggests I do something like take a walk and I go to put my jacket on, she'll look at me surprised like, "What? Now?" The reason why I bring this up is that I was all ready to go to Kärnten on Thursday morning bright and early after church. It was a Catholic holy day of obligation apparently (I guess that's whats why we always celebrated All Saint's day at BSS. Way to be on top of things, Julie) and we went to a really famous 600 year old church called St. Augustin. We heard Mozart's music for a High Mass, though its name escapes me right now. I'd never been to a high mass before. They are really, really long.
But no one else in my family was ready. And they weren't ready until 4. If there was nothing for me to help with, I would sit down and write a little, (I know I don't have time to write my November Novel, I know I'm in Austria, but I want to. It's like a habit), and my family would look at me and say "You should finish getting ready". But I was already finished. I think it is good that I make an effort to never hold them up because I know that would be just plain... I don't know.
My friend Clara is here reading this as I write, and she says that with my family it is especially different. They always take the time to talk and everything, and there's so many of them in the first place that it doesn't always coordinate. So anyway.
The drive to Kärnten from Vienna was 4 hours long. We drove through Niederösterreich and Steiermark to get there. Here is a map. See if you can find it. I think if you click it, it will be big enough to see. Our house was right near Villach. I know there is another student from AFS USA who lives in Villach, but I never got any of her contact information. It was a really beautiful drive through the Alpen forelands. It was the first time, I realized, I was seeing acutal mountains. The kind with peaks and snow and stuff at the top. I found them absolutely stunning, I can't even explain what it was like. And we weren't even in the real alps yet, it was just the beginnings of them. Around seven or so, we stopped in this town that was built in the Middle Ages and we climbed to the top of the hill to look at a castle and church ruin. It was really amazing, there are so many stars once you are out of the city. You could see all the constellations, but what was more you could see all the stars that are kind of stuck between and inside them. It was a lot more than I had ever seen. And the sky was really, really, black. I can't really think of how to explain much more. I found the castle and church kind of spooky. My host sister was going in and out of them, and I was so freaked out that it was so old and so dark. Oh ghosts.

So the house in Kärnten was actually a house. This was a surprise to me for some reason. I guess I was expecting something like a cabin. But it was so much bigger than the apartment in Vienna and it was a fairly normal house, as houses go. The walls were white and the floors were wood, sort of like my house in Walpole, and honestly, probably about the same size. The only difference was that it was really cold because the heat was off. We went to sleep once we got in, because it ended up being about 10. We stayed in Ye Olde town quite late eating and and looking around.

So the next day we met Kerstin's sister and kids and we all took a walk around some part of Kärnten. We've done that a few times since I've been here, get in the car and drive somewhere to take a walk. I find that funny. Kerstin's sister was hosting a 13 year old girl from Paris while we were there. After we went to go eat strudel at their house, which was also really, really, old and probably the biggest house I've been in here. We were only going to stay there a little while, and by that they meant 3 and a half hours. See what I mean about perception of time? We played a game all in English, because Paris didn't understand German and we don't know French. My host sister got the oppurtunity to speak to me for the first time in English, and now she has been asking her parents if she can talk to me in English to which we both answer no.

That night I met Kerstin’s parents for the first time. They were very nice and we ate a lot and until very late in the night. They were just back from France. They divide their time between a place in France, a place in Salzburg, a place in Kärnten and a place in Vienna. The grandfather insisted I drink wine with them, which was the first time it happened here. I think teenagers drinking at the table is something oldfashioned, because women and children, basically, aren't even offered something at most dinner parties I've been to. He also made me eat this weird liver stuff on bread. Can I name my dislike here for liver? They really like liver. After dinner they read out loud the letter from their daughter in Argentina

The next morning I took a walk out by myself to the small town Ossiach. The weather was fairly good, bitterly cold , but enough sun to warm you up when you start moving. There is a really beautiful church in the center of town, and it was nice to go down to the shore to see the lake up close. We met Kerstin's sister and her parents again this day at the really big old house. Again there was more eating and playing games with Paris and going home really late. Then they read outloud the letter from their daughter again.

The next morning when we were getting ready to leave is when I began to enter my down period. Kerstin called me out for not joining in on conversation at the table, and then as we were getting ready to leave I did some things the wrong way, etc etc. I guess there are periods when it bothers me more than others when I mess up, and I think its the same for them. There are periods when they're probably thinking "Why can't she just get it right the first time?"

This mostly lasted until yesterday when I talked to my friend Clara at school about it. Things are slowing down here. Its the beginning of the third month, and nothing is really going on anymore except for school, where I do very little in the first place, and the weather is too cold to be outside all the time. Ah well, everything is good during December, we came to the conclusion. There is a LOT going on Vienna during the season, and I'm eager.

Today I had my first test. They take tests four times a year here, and my first one was actually English. We had to write two essays and it said at the bottom "Minimum 600, maximum 800" So I thought, okay, 600 per essay. No. Wrong. So now I have 1200 words and I didn't really finish the second. The second was about black civil rights, and I went into detail starting after the Civil War. That made me miss US History AP, and I am pretty excited to go back to that class in February. AP Weenies!

That's about it. I'll post something with links to photos. (I upload them five at a time. Painful!)

Baba, alles gute, write me. xo 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.

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????

Culture Shock

Second day is the hardest, was what my host mother said. It also happened to fall on my first day of school. I think this is an unfavorable condition, personally...
I went to school at 8 and the people are really very friendly. Except they have all known each other their entire lives (you stay in one class all day) and are not quick to let you in. This is what I was told by one girl in my class who came two years ago. She is Austrian born but raised in the United States. This is good for me, because I sort of have an ally, but horrible because people may think I can't speak german if she is the only one I talk to.
The first thing that went wrong is clearly the language barrier. My homeroom teacher was telling us very important things and I knew nothing. It was just too fast and perhaps a bit of Viennese dialect. Then there was this list showing which classes you were registered for, and I wasn't in anything! My homeroom teacher said vaguely she would work on this with me later.
I didn't realize when a teacher came in later that we were having a lesson. For one thing, all the students spoke among themselves, and she just kind of joked around sitting on a desktop. I was told this is how all the classes are. Kind of contradictory to what I was taught, big surprise, definitely. Anyway I discovered this was a psychology class and I then understood many of the themes she was discussing, that was very good.
School was then over and I chilled until about 5 when everyone came home. My hostmother began asking me important questions about what my homeroom teacher had told me, and I just couldn't give her the answer because I did not know. I could feel my face turning extremely red from embarrasement and then I also neeeded to cry urgently. The thing that most people know about german is that it always sounds very harsh, and even when they speak english it is also harsh sounding.
My host mother was trying to tell me that the next day I had to go to the AFS german class. However, I did not sign up for this because I was told it was very basic, and she was told it was levelled. And then she asked why are you crying, and I later realized she became gentler here and told me that I was having culture shock and that we would slow down. We took a walk as a family and they showed me the way to the Strassenbahn (streetcar) that I would take to my class, which I could sign up for there.

And today? It was very lovely. Much, much, better. I understood many things in school and had a history class, then a period where my homeroom teacher and I picked classes, and then art class. My german class was fun, and travelling Vienna independently on the strassenbahn was VERY fun. It helped dramatically, I spoke fluently to my host mother later.

This is all for now, but my classes are the following:
Math, English, History, Psychology, English, History, Sport, Physics, German, Chemistry, Geography, Religion, Art
AND I must take one elective
AND I have two extra german classes with 10 year old. SWEET!

love, julia