Some Weekend Snapshots

This is the Graben, one of Vienna's main shopping streets. I took a lot of pictures on Friday as I walked all around the 1st District.
Austrian National Holiday!
This is the zipline I went on! Stepping off the platform at the top was terrifying, but amazing.
We met a bunch of tourists on the Strassenbahn Saturday night. I absolutely love this picture. Five of them were from Lancaster County, PA! We talked about the Mennonites.
The Verdun Altar at Klosterneuberg. It's one of the most significant works of Medieval art in Europe.
This is what the palace at Klosterneuberg would have looked like if it was finished. The gray part is the only part that was completed. Then the emperor died, and his daughter didn't think the palace should be finished. She wanted to live at Schoenbrunn.
Here's what was was completed of the palace.
There were some awesome breakdancers downtown. I watched them for about 20 minutes.

Ich liebe Wien!

I love Vienna!

Today was perhaps the most perfect day I have had in Vienna so far. I woke up around 9:00 and realized it was actually 8:00 because of Daylight Savings. So I got an extra hour of sleep! I met up with Emily and Karly at the festival going on by the Hofburg in celebration of Austrian Nuetrality/Independence day or something like that. We got tickets for the massive zipline erected in the park, then we went to the Prater (Vienna's amusement park, home of the famous ferris wheel) and walked around. We randomly ran into Mark and Erin, two other IES students, in the grass outside the Prater and sat there for over an hour, enjoying the incredible weather.

At 3:50, we went back to the zipline, and signed a form that was all in German (I assume it was for liability reasons, agreeing to not press charges if the zipline malfunctions, etc.). We were dressed up in our ziplining gear, taken up the tower in an elevator, and stood on a small metal ramp until it was our turn. On the elevator to the top, I started shaking, and exclaimed, "What am I doing? I'm afraid of heights!" It was very scary stepping off the edge of the ramp at the top, but ended up being an amazing rush.

After braving the zipline, we went to the opera house and got in line for "Le Nozze di Figaro" ("The Marriage of Figaro"). It was great, and especially fun because I'll be playing the role of the Count at DePauw in March, so seeing a professional production was very exciting.

It's late now, and I have yet to study for my midterms, two of which are tomorrow. But I'm not worried, because I had an amazing day, and a test is just a test.

Here are my week's highlights:

Tuesday, October 20th: After choir, I went to Mark and Dil's for "Wine and Whine." It was a very relaxing evening.

Wednesday, October 21st: After Music Performance Workshop, I went to a heurigen in Grinzing. I ate some chicken, potatoes, and drank some Sturm (this year's wine - it goes out of season very soon). For dessert, I had my first full piece of Sachertorte, the dessert that was invented in Vienna - it's a chocolaty cake.

Thursday, October 22nd: We had our first Music Performance Workshop concert. I sang a duet with my roommate Mark - "Sound the Trumpet" by Purcell. It went very well, and I enjoyed seeing all of my peers perform.

Friday, October 23rd: I walked around the city for a while, doing homework for my Art & Architecture class. I went to the Roman Museum and saw some Roman ruins from the 1st Century, then went to Vienna's oldest church. For dinner, I met up with Karly and we went to the festival. I had a gigantic plate of Indian food.

Saturday, October 24th: My history class went on a field trip to Klosterneuberg, a monastery/church/palace on the outskirts of Vienna. The palace was only a fourth of the way completed, and was intended to be the grandest palace in all of Europe. When Emperor Charles died, though, work was ceased because his daughter, Maria Theresia, decided she would rather live at Schoenbrunn Palace (which is also incredible).

Sunday, October 25th: See above.

Midterms this week, then a friend from DePauw is visiting all weekend. I'm so excited to show her around the city!

I love you all.

Pictures from Poland

Krakow's Main Square
Inside Auschwitz
Buildings at Birkenau - the largest part of Auschwitz.
Victims slept on the wooden slats, 6 to a bed, with only a blanket as covering - no pillows or sheets.
The train tracks leading to the "Death Gate," where all of the trains entered Birkenau.
St. Mary's Cathedral in Krakow's Main Square
The Wawel Cathedral (left) and Castle (right).
The Dragon's Den! Legend has it that there was a horrible dragon wreaking havoc on the city of Krakow. King Krak offered his daughter's hand in marriage to any man in the kingdom who could outwit the dragon. A carpenter came up with the idea of stuffing a sheep's hide with sulfur. The dragon ate the sulfurous sheep and had an awful bellyache - so awful that it went to the river, and kept drinking water until it exploded.
A memorial to the dragon.
I had some Polish "Golabki" for dinner - meat wrapped in cabbage, served with mashed potatoes. It was delicious!

Midway Point

Today marks the halfway point of my semester in Europe. Pretty crazy. I do feel like I've been here a while, but 2 months still seems like a long time - I enjoy my time here more every week, so in some ways 2 months also seems very short.

I just got back from a weekend in Poland. I decided to go there by myself - I'm a fairly independent person, so I thought it would be fun to travel alone. I got into Krakow around 5:00 on Friday after spending 8 hours on a train. I found my hostel, then walked around the city for a while. Most things closed early, so I sat in the Main Square, had some dinner, and did some more walking. There were some really cool people at my hostel, and I hit the town with them after dinner. They were all from either London, Australia, or South Africa.

On Saturday morning I took a tour of Auschwitz, the largest of all the concentration camps of the Holocaust. This was the main reason I chose to go to Poland - I wanted to see the concentration/extermination camp. I would definitely not describe the morning as being fun, but it was an important thing to see. I've learned a lot about the Holocaust in school, but to actually step foot on the same ground as the victims opened up an entirely new dimension for me, and put my own life and difficulties into a different perspective.

I did some more sight-seeing in Krakow in the afternoon, had Golabki (meat wrapped in cabbage), and made some more friends in the hostel.

Here are some highlights from the week:

Tuesday, October 13th: I had my first choir rehearsal. It was scary because I really couldn't understand anything the director was saying the entire rehearsal - it was all run in German. I would just watch him and smile, and occasionally glance at the other Americans in the room to see how they were understanding him - not much better than me. Fortunately, music is read the same way all over the world!

Wednesday, October 14th: My "Austrian Art and Architecture" class took a tour of St. Stephen's, Vienna's famous cathedral, at the very center of the city. I had been inside it already, and found it incredibly tacky. However, after learning more about how it was constructed, and how it actually looked when built, with colors and without signs for tourists, I began to appreciate it a bit more. We go on a tour every Wednesday. I also have Thursday tours with my history class, so it's a great way to see the city.

Thursday, October 15th: IES hosted a halfway party for the whole program, and it was a lot of fun. It's a large program (110 kids), and I still have not met everybody.

Friday, October 16th-Saturday, October 17th: Krakow and Auschwitz (see above).

This is the final week of classes before midterm week, so it might be a bit busier than usual as I make sure I'm all caught up in everything! Wish me luck.

I love you all.

Thinking about the future

Living in Vienna and traveling around Europe has definitely allowed me to realize how big this world is, and how many different paths there are for me to take. This week, I've been thinking a lot about the future. Before I left for Vienna, my only plans for after DePauw were: 1) Apply to Teach for America, or 2) Continue going to school. I have started to consider other options now though, like applying for a program in Europe, or taking a year off to work and travel some more. There is just so much more to the world than I had previously experienced. I've also realized while being here how much I like to write and create. So, as new doors seem to be opening, it's exciting but also scary, because that means there's just another door that I will have to close eventually.

Highlights from the week:

Monday, October 5th: "Eugen Onegin" at the Staatsoper.

Tuesday, October 6th: I auditioned for a choir at the University of Vienna. The auditions were a bit frightening, because they are run entirely in German, so I could not understand most of what the director was saying. I sight-read 6 bars of a jazz version of "White Christmas." The director is convinced I'm a tenor, not a baritone, and also criticized my program in Vienna for only being 4 months - he claims that it's not enough time to really learn a language (which I agree with, but that's not the main reason I'm here). Long story short, I'm a member of the University's Symphonic Choir! We rehearse on Tuesdays evenings.

Thursday, October 8th: "La Boheme" at the Staatsoper. Puccini is a winner.

Friday, October 9th: I went to a heurigen in Grinzing for dinner. I had a vegetarian dish, with bowtie pasta, potatoes, peppers, onions, zucchini, other vegetables, and lots of olive oil (yes, Mom and Dad, I eat peppers and onions now - still no olives or mushrooms, though). Also, I had my first Sturm (wine made with this year's grapes - it goes out of season soon). It was the best meal I've had in Europe. After, we went to a University party at the Rathaus, one of the large government buildings downtown. There was a lot of dancing, and it was a great start to the weekend.

Saturday, October 10th: Two guys in the program had birthdays this weekend, and I went to both of their parties. We ate some really good Viennese cake.


I would say that while I do miss DePauw, I'm definitely glad I'm here. This weekend DU, my fraternity, had its informal. They picked pumpkins and went through a corn maze. It would have been a lot of fun, so I'm sad to have missed it. Also, today is DePauwCappella's first concert! So obviously I wish I could be there, too. I just have to keep in mind the great and unique opportunities I'm having here, because all of that stuff will still be waiting when I get back.


I love you all.

Pictures from Week 6

Saturday afternoon, I went to the Friedhof, a huge cemetery in the suburbs of Vienna. There's a musicians' area with the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss, Wolf, and others.
Jewish graves from the early 1900s.
For "Lange Nacht der Museen" (see my highlight for Saturday for an explanation), we started out at the Leopold Museum.
There were a bunch of posters laid out underneath the glass floor for the upcoming Edvard Munch exhibit.
The second museum we went to was the MUMOK (Modern Art Museum).
3rd Stop: The Heindl Chocolate Museum!
Eating my free sample in front of the big fountain.
My brother Matt has one of these bugs in his collection! I used to call it the "Peanut Bug." Still do, actually :) He and my dad got it when they were in Brazil on a church trip. This was at the Natural History Museum, where we ended the "Long Night of Museums" (around 1:00am).
"On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool..." (for old times' sake).

Fall weather is FINALLY here!

It has taken a while, but it's finally jacket and sweatshirt weather. On our packing list from IES, we were told not to bring shorts, because it would get cold in the first few weeks, and we would regret using suitcase space for shorts. I am so glad I ignored that advice, because the weather has been incredibly warm, and I would have been miserable wearing long pants the whole time. Now, though, I think I can finally put the shorts away.

As I was walking home from class one day this week, for some reason I felt like I should be going to a football game soon. That's what fall reminds me of, I guess. I had the urge to get in my truck and drive to the high school...sadly, I have no truck here. Also, even if I was in Goshen, I probably wouldn't feel comfortable in the student section anymore (or even be allowed to stand there, for that matter). It's just interesting to realize what we associate with different seasons.

I am glad that Fall has arrived, and look forward to seeing and experiencing what Autumn in Vienna has to offer!

Here are the week's highlights:

Tuesday, September 29th: I saw "Pique Dame" at the Staatsoper. I was eagerly anticipating hearing the overture, because it was the song that the GHS orchestra opened with at State Finals my senior year. Unfortunately, they cut the overture from the performance. I suppose I should have known that would happen. The opera was already long, so they had to cut something. It was still a great show.

Thursday, October 1st: Thursday was "Der Tag des Kaffees" in Vienna. Many coffee shops in Vienna gave away free coffee (but expected donations for charity). It's an annual event. At Stephansdom, Vienna's most famous church, they served coffee at the top of the South Tower. After German class, I climbed the 343 steps to get some coffee and Sachertorte (a traditional Viennese dessert).

Friday, October 2nd: I danced the night away.

Saturday, October 3rd: I participated in a large nation-wide event, "Lange Nacht der Museen." You buy a pass for 11 Euro, and it will get you into any museum in Austria (there are about 90 in Vienna alone). They all stay open from 6pm to 1am, and there are bus routes that go all over the city to the different museums. I went with Emily and Jorie, and we saw five museums in 6 hours: the Leopold Museum (which houses the world's largest collection of art by Egon Schiele), the MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art), Heindl Schokowelt (Chocolate Museum), Alt-Wiener Schnapsmuseum (Schnapps Museum), and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History). The chocolate and schnapps museums gave free samples, and it ended up being a lot of fun.

Sundays are turning into homework days, and this one is no different. Classes here are really very easy, but I still have to do a few readings for tomorrow, and write a short composition for my Literature class.

I love you all.