Tuesday May 29, 2007
9:45 p.m. Apartment
Austria = no kangaroos

Guten Tag!

The “Austria, no kangaroos” is something they sell on shirts/bags that really cracks me up here. Before I leave I’m definitely going to have to get something with that, especially since everyone on this trip has had at least one person either tell them something like “go to New Zealand while you’re there” or “Have a good time on the gondolas.”

So, Vlad (he’s a biochemistry major originally from Romania) came over to our apartment yesterday and spent like 3 hours fixing our internet connection by completely reconfiguring it, and last night it worked and it was wonderful sweet heavenly bliss. Then this morning it went back out again, so I gave up hope. Of course this means the landlady sent her awkward son Peter and some other guy who fixed it, so we have wireless now. A little bit ironic, don’t you think?

So the pictures below, I hope that link works, even though the picture is cut off because of the format. Just click on the picture and it should take you to a sampling of the others. I have many more, but I posted only the highlights due to the internet restrictions since none of us want it to go out, AGAIN.

I love Vienna sooo much. Anytime I even have a faint fluttering of feeling homesick something happens that totally excites me and that little feeling goes away. Doesn’t mean I don’t miss everyone, just I’m happy here. I am so jealous of the Viennese taking their dogs everywhere with them. The dogs usually have an old fashioned muzzle hanging around their neck because it’s Austrian law that when they go on public transport they need to be muzzled. Anyway, I saw about 4 Cocker Spaniels today, which completely made me miss Phoebe really bad. Three of the spaniels were English Cocker Spaniels, which has been all I’ve seen so far, and one was scooting it’s head like a shovel (Mom knows what I’m talking about, it’s a cocker thing) and running around outside the Kunsthistoricisches Museum we went to today. I had to refrain from running over, scooping it up, and giving it a thousand kisses. Even worse, I was walking around later and passed what had to have been some mix of a buff American Cocker Spaniel. Wow. I’ve seen a Maltese, but no Schnauzers. Go figure. I think they were too loud and got kicked off the sidewalks. Oh, and one of the spaniels started a deep woofing to warn some walkers…. : ( Ok I’ll stop.

Yesterday (Monday) we had our first German class, which isn’t for a grade, so whoo hoo, except we still take quizzes, but whatever to that, we’re learning because we want to. My German teacher is an older women who married a man from Minnesota (she’s Viennese) but she has the exact same enthusiasm as Mrs. Sasarides (my high school French teacher) had, and sometimes I swear gets the same expression on her face even though they look nothing alike. It amuses me.
After German we met Professor Waldman in front of the Stephansdom. My professor is a really fascinating person. He’s in his mid-late 30’s and he teachers art history, so that means he is an equal expert on both art AND history, let alone his European specialty. Before I even took the class I knew he was brilliant from former students and even from some of my professors. He got his PhD after working in Florence, Italy, and is going back there after our Maymester ends for a fellowship with Harvard to do more research work and taking time off from UT. Anyway, he is really go with the flow and doesn’t restrict our class to traditional confines. He uses the city as our classroom, and is all about talking about how we feel/our perceptions studying abroad, and has us interviewing locals as mini projects to talk about what they think of America and keeping detailed journals (this blog is part of mine!) Prof. Waldman definitely fits into “groove” of Austin. He runs, he’s vegan, likes to be outdoors, and just has a passion for many things. You can tell when he talks not only that a) he knows what he’s talking about front to back but b) he is just someone you could carry on a conversation with for hours. It’s awesome.

So yesterday, during our class we talked a lot about Medieval Vienna and the architecture of some of the main churches (like the Stephansdom, which is St. Stephan’s Chuch, the center of the city). We walked around a few other places, including the Minorite Church, a Franciscan Order, which is now the Italian Catholic church of the city. Inside there was a life size reproduction of the da Vinci’s Last Supper, which was commissioned by Napolean since he tried and failed to move the orginal, but after his defeat the Habsburgs bought it to show their final triumph over Napoleon, who stormed the city and ended up marrying one of the sisters or daughters of the Emperor to show a sign of alliance after he took away all his power.

Well inside the church I realized something. I had already been thinking about it, but May 28 is the two year anniversary of my severe rollover car accident. To myself I was secretly celebrating the fact that compared to last year, this is the first anniversary I am completely free from the accident’s affects, and can look back with almost a sense of triumph. Triumph of the fact that two years ago yesterday I was at the absolute lowest and worst things could almost get, and this year I’m a sophomore neurobiology major at UT spending the summer traveling Europe. I think it is one of the most empowering feelings one could have. Well, St. Francis is my patron saint, and it came over and hit me because it meant a lot to be standing in a church founded hundreds of years ago by some of his most immediate followers, and the closest physically on Earth to any of his works. There I was, standing in front of an ancient fresco of St. Francis on the anniversary of my most trying hour. I can’t describe it, but it was the type of moment where you feel like you are exactly where you need to be at that exact moment in time.

So we finished our walking tour. A few of us have adapted the philosophy of whenever we hear of something we want to do in Vienna we try to do it as soon as possible, that way things don’t build up and we run out of time. One of my roommates went to the Belvedere Botanical Gardens, and yesterday it was gorgeous here in Vienna, so after class we headed over and looked around. It was basically a really nice sampling of many different plants (University of Vienna’s botany department uses this location) so it was just nice to walk around outside awhile. After that we went to a Brewery in town, and got local cuisine. I wasn’t in the mood for beer, so just had water “with gas.” I hated it way back in Ireland, but I guess I’ve aquired the taste because I like it now. I ordered a salad, but to confirm what Mom already know, Europeans don’t understand what a true salad is. It was basically a bunch of vegetables and like a leaf of lettuce. Oh well, it was still good.

Last night it got really cold, which meant I slept the best I’ve slept since I’ve gotten here since for once I wasn’t sweating at night. I actually wore a sweater today, which was fun and for once everyone, I wasn’t walking around with perpetual goosebumps! After German our class went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which I believe is only the Imperial collection (although it is quite large) of art and sculpture. I cannot even begin to describe everything, because I’ve fallen in love with this place. We are going back tomorrow for class to do even more, but not only was Professor Waldman incredibly interesting, but the museum itself is beautiful, not to mention all the art it contains. Inside are a few of Klimt’s commissioned designs, a Rembrandt I really loved, the portrait of a girl that hangs inside my dorm, and sooo much more.

Prof. Waldman is a riot too. He had us act out one of the paintings we were looking at in the museum to illustrate how they were moving in violence in ballet like movement, and I played one of the Roman soldiers about to kill one of the martyrs, one of whom was Prof. Waldman! It was so interesting, and we were all divided up in the gallery to observe and talk about different paintings. It just so happened, I accidentally picked the one from far away of a women getting fondled (most Renaissance paintings find any excuse to make it moral to stair at sexual paintings of women) so that was interesting and fun to talk to the class about. I just talked about how two of the minstrels were a little “off task” along with other features of painting. I can’t wait to go back.

After that I had to go finish turning in my Austrian registration form. I really know my way around the city by now, and am learning all the little features. Like walking down Kärtnerstraße they always have street performers for the tourists, so it means the street is always serenaded by at least one string quartet playing Mozart of Beethoven.

On the way back to the apartment I grabbed a sandwich from one of the bakeries which is always delicious.

Ok, I’m completely out. I need to look over some German verb conjugations since we have a “quiz” tomorrow. I think this is the perfect activity to help me learn to control myself so that I can study without any stress.

Ich heiße Elaine. Wie heißt du? Ich habe eine frage.

*Elaine