I love meeting new people

When I spent a weekend in Prague, I stayed at one of the coolest hostels ever: The Art Hole Hostel. It was a really homey environment and I met some awesome people there. One of them ended up spending the entire day on Sunday with me and Rachael as we explore more of Prague, including the Prague Castle and the John Lennon Wall (Yes, I realize I still have not written my complete adventure in Prague OR Venice...sorry, I'm sucking at doing all those long posts right meow). At the end of the day, we had to catch our bus back to Vienna and say bye to our new friend. However, we exchanged information and added each other on facebook.
This week, that friend was in Vienna! She was only here for two days, so we didn't have much time together. But we were able to hang out today in between my classes and I really enjoyed being able to show someone around Vienna - even though it was only for such a short time!
I think it's amazing how we can keep in contact with so many people via the internet, it really is an amazing thing. I love meeting fellow travelers and hearing their experiences and stories and how they ended up where they currently are. Talking to all of these people is helping me to form my own plan for my post-college travels. It's also really cool to think that I can have someone to hang out with when going to random cities throughout the world.
My next trip is to Krakow in December and I am determined to meet more people and make friends. This is what I've wanted to do while traveling: meet people from all over the world. I've had conversations with plenty of people, but I should actually exchange information with more of them!

Anyway, end random post here.
Bye!

Study Abroad Classes

I don't know if I ever told you all what classes I'm taking with my study abroad program, but I guess I should now that I'm about to write a post about what I've been doing in these classes over the past 3 months - particularly this past week...even though it's only Wednesday.

So, the semester started with a 3-week period of "Intensive German" classes and, let me tell you, they were definitely intense. Three hours of German, five days a week, for three weeks...yea. Intense. But, apparently that was like learning an entire semester of German in three weeks. It paid off pretty well. I mean, I went into this program knowing probably 5 words of German and now I can understand a decent amount!

After Intensive, we had a 10-day break during which I went to Greece. Then, we started the regular semester. My class schedule consists of the following:
Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Management
International Organizations: Case Studies
Music Survey: Classical to the 20th Century
Transition to a Market Economy
Elementary German

Now, studying abroad has allowed me to experience a different classroom setting. Not only are the classes themselves pretty different from the ones I take at Puget Sound, but our professors also give us opportunities to participate in excursions to different places throughout Vienna. Not to mention the fact that the Institute pays for all of these excursions.
During intensive, my German class spent one day at the Palmenhaus Café. Here, we had to order our food and drink in German and interact with the Herr Ober only speaking in German. It was fun and the food was delicious!
Our next German assignment was to go to the Naschmarkt and order food for our class picnic (my partner and I had to get falafels) in German!
Since then, we haven't done anymore German class excursions (oh, well there was one to the Naturhistorisches Museum that I missed to go to Budapest) BUT we are planning a visit to my professor's house to eat foooodd! I'm so excited.

My other classes have finally started to have excursions, too. Actually, one of them had one a few weeks ago...or maybe a month ago? Well, it was my Arts Management class and it was about coffee culture in Vienna. We started out at the McCafé right by the Institute. Now, I know you may be thinking "Really? McDonald's? That's where you started an excursion?" Well, first let me tell you why this was cool: I got a free cappuccino...Okay, but really, I kind of understand why my professor decided to start here. Vienna has such a strong coffee culture and it's something that they're proud of. Going into any café in Vienna is a pretty different experience from going into a café in the United States and it's interesting to see how McDonald's was able to successfully enter the coffee market in a competitive way. Also, the McDonald's here are a million times nicer than the ones in the United States. Leather seats? Okay, maybe it's fake leather, but still! It is so much cleaner and everything just seems to be of a higher standard. Anyway, back to the excursion...after McCafé, we headed to the Nespresso store in the first district and met with the manager and talked about their success in the Austrian market. It was pretty interesting and I got to taste some coffee FOR FREE. Yes, this was a very happy day for me. Two free coffees in one day? Yes puhhhlease.
This same class has also been on two other excursions within the past 3 days. Monday morning, we met at the Dorotheum. Two representatives gave us a quick tour and an overview of what the Dorotheum is and how they operate. It was pretty cool to be able to see their amazing collections or art, design, jewelry, etc. and now I know that the auctions are public! I might try to go to one next week, which is there auction week. They have a painting that's estimated to sell at anywhere from €600,000 to €800,000. Yea, insane.

Today, we met at the Albertina and were given a private tour before the museum opened! We learned a lot about the logistics behind running the museum and it's general operations. Who would have known that anyone can hold a private event in one of those beautiful rooms? Birthdays? Weddings? Parties? Yes. It'll just cost you about €2,000 (depending on the size) and then a few more Euro for the catering...no big deal. Then, we were all given the option to go through the entire museum for free! Unfortunately, I had another class excursion to attend, so I couldn't take advantage of that perk. However, I have been to the Albertina before on the Lange Nacht der Museen, so I'm not too upset about not seeing more of it today.

What was this other excursion, you ask? It was with my International Organizations class to the United Nations Regional Headquarters! Vienna is one of four cities in the world that is home to UN Regional Headquarters. The other three are New York, Geneva, and Nairobi. Here, we got a free tour of the UN, including seeing a conference room in which a conference was actually taking place at the time, and learned a lot of interesting information about the UN (most of it had already been covered in my class, but it was still cool!). I think the UN is amazing. I'm so glad I'm in this class, because I feel like I'm learning so much about all these IGOs and NGOs that I literally knew nothing about beforehand. I'm starting to realize how interconnected and complicated everything is in this world and it blows my mind. The history of the UN is so interesting and learning about all these other international organizations (IAEA, UNESCO, WHO, ECOSOC, etc.) is very cool. This class makes me want to know more about what's going on in our world. It makes me want to stay up to date on as many things I possibly can and it has made me truly realize how everchanging the world really is. I mean, of course it is, right? I just never stay up to date on all of it. I feel like it's really easy to get stuck in a bubble when I'm at Puget Sound. It's a tiny little university in the suburbs of Tacoma, WA and I run around like a crazy person so much that I rarely take the time to update myself on international events, let alone domestic ones...Bottom line: the UN is awesome and I'd love to learn more about it. I even looked into volunteering abroad with them recently. Too bad you have to be 25 and a college graduate! UGH. Why can't I just do it now? Or right after I graduate? Why do I have to wait until I'm 25? Lamesauce. Oh well, I guess if I don't have my life figured out by 25 (which I most likely will not), I will definitely apply to be a UN Volunteer.

Today, I finished my day with my normal 3-hour long class - Transition to Market Economies - and it was the first time I stepped foot inside the Institute all day, despite having spent my entire morning in "class." Oh, and after class, a few of us went to a Christkindlmarkt in the first district! It was my first one and it was a pretty small one. This weekend, the Schönbrunn one opens and I am SO EXCITED. Next week, my music class is going to the Haydnhaus and I have a few more excurions coming up with my Arts Management class. Yea, I think I'm diggin this whole study abroad experience.

Also, this is what the streets in the first district currently look like:

 Be jealous.

Bitte, nein. Ich möchte nicht krank sein, danke.

I woke up this morning with a bit of a scratchy throat and it hasn’t been getting any better. Damn it, and here I thought I was about to get through an entire semester without getting a cold. Nope, my body has once again decided to be stupid and my immune system has failed me. Considering the Austrians are so strict about what kind of medicines you can buy at the stores (you even need a prescription for ibuprofen), I don’t know what I’ll end up taking…although, a friend of mine did tell me about a homemade concoction that her mom used to make for her when she was little and sick:
Hot white wine with sugar
I wonder if that actually works…I guess I’ll have to go buy some wine tomorrow and find out! Send me good vibes, please. Getting sick is that last thing I need right meow.
Also, sorry I've been so horrible at updating this thing with my past few trips...Venice and Prague updates should be coming soon! Maybe that's what I'll do if I end up getting sick and spending my days in bed...

Oh, and tomorrow I am going to my very first CHRISTMAS MARKET! Get excited for some pictures.

I just have one more thing to say

I'm going to Prague tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED.
I have friends who studied abroad there two years ago and they've told me about a million things to do and see. This weekend will be exhaustingly epic.

Food blogs will save my life

Learning to live on your own can be a rocky process. When we move away for college, we're still ridiculously spoiled by our schools: we don't need to clean bathrooms, we don't need to cook due to the dining halls(s), we don't need to make our own coffee (unless you work at the school's café *ahem*), and we're conveniently located within a 5-10 minute walk to any and all of our classes, meetings, shifts at work, etc. Now that I'm living in Vienna, most of these amenities are no longer available...actually, none of them are. Yea, I lived in my own house this summer, but I still worked on campus and ate at least one, if not two, meal on campus (although, I did have to make my own coffee...but I love doing that, so it's okay) everyday. So, I was still a little spoiled. One of the biggest challenges of living on my own has been food. What the hell am I supposed to eat? Especially when I am on a very very tight budget. I fell into a meal routine very early on in the semester, which included the following:

Breakfast: Yogurt with Müsli, fruit (a banana or apple), and honey and a cup of coffee.

Lunch: a sandwich with salami, spinach, tomato, cheese, mustard, cucumber, and sometimes onion and/or mushrooms. Usually I also had some sort of small snack with lunch - pretzel sticks, chips, a piece of fruit, a fruit bar, or Manner.

Dinner: Pasta, sometimes with chicken, and a salad.

Yea, it's not that exciting. I mean, the breakfast is fine. I'm not a huge breakfast person to begin with and I actually really like having that everyday. The lunch is whatever, I'm definitely getting bored with it, but I just don't know what else to make that's easy enough to pack up with me and take to school. But now, dinner. Dinner got old pretty fast. Pasta. Everyday. Pasta. Sure, I made roasted chicken breast with potatoes once, and then I made some chicken broth with those leftovers, which then led to a soup. I guess the one good thing about the pasta was that I always made my own sauces, so it tasted a little different each time and I've definitely saved money that way. But uhh I'm still bored with the staples of pasta, chicken, and salad. So, it has finally come to the point where I'm seriously ready to change it up.
This is where the food blogs come in. I've followed a few of these blogs for a while, but always just made bookmarks of the recipes I liked and never really made them...except for a couple this summer. But now I want to change that. For example, tonight I just made this little number.

Granted, I didn't have all of the ingredients, but I just made substitutions and altered it a little bit and it came out tasting completely DELICIOUS. It's a nice change from the same old pasta, that's for sure. Also, last night I made fajitas! That recipe wasn't from a food blog, but was one that my father had sent me. They turned out great and now i have dinner for 2 more nights! This idea emerged from the fact that I had found that Mexican market in Vienna last week. I went back yesterday afternoon to buy tortillas and salsa and then came home, made the fajitas, and went to bed with a very happy and full stomach :]. Up next, I'm ready to make a quesadilla for lunch tomorrow! I'm ready to try some of these other delicious-looking recipes that keep popping up on my blog homepage very soon. Yea, I'm finally (albeit, slowly) climbing out of this boring food routine.




YAY FOOD!

Music, Music, and Music

Coming to Vienna, I knew I was entering a city completely enveloped in a passion for music. Everyone, everyone told me that seeing an opera is an absolute must. So, I came here and had one mission: see operas. Now, almost 3 months into my program (eek!), I have seen 5 operas. What I realized from all of this: I really did not know that much about opera at all. Like...nothing. I knew a few of the big ones, but didn't exactly know all of the storylines. I felt especially foolish when I went to an opera and realized that I had sung an aria from it...once the performer was a few lines in. My reaction: "Wait, what? That song was from this opera?! Now I feel dumb for not even knowing the context behind it...I probably could have performed it better had I known this opera."
So what operas have I seen?
Don Giovanni - the sets were too simplistic for my taste, but who couldn't enjoy Don Giovanni?
Alcina - absolutely amazing, I loved everything about it. The staging was beautiful and the costumes were fantastic. (This is also the opera from which said aria is)
Madame Butterfly - meh. I really wanted to like it, but the performance was horrible. Although the staging and costuming were very very engaging.
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute; I always want to say it in German for some reason) - Holy crap, I LOVED this. Absolutely amazing in every way it could possibly be. The costumes were gorgeous and elaborate, the performers had strong voices and perfect execution, the set was breathtaking. I just don't have anything else to say other than how righteous it was.
Carmen - My first opera at die Volksoper (everything else was at die Staatsoper). It was a different experience in a very good way. I loved the sets; the costumes (especially for Carmen, herself) were beautiful. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to see an opera here.

But don't worry, if opera isn't really your cup of tea (because it definitely isn't everyone's favorite thing to listen to), there is more to the Viennese music scene than opera and orchestras. Since I've been here, I have been able to see three other musical performances. The first, an open-mic night at a small club in the first district. A student on my program signed up for the open-mic and a bunch of us showed up to support. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a cool way to experience a different genre of music in Vienna. Then, another small club that hosted IES for a "party" at which a student band performed. To say the least, they were great. They are all extremely talented and I loved being able to see my peers perform at a club in Vienna. And the third one, a soul/funk/jazz show at the same small club. All the performers were originally from the United States and have been living in Vienna for who knows how long, playing gigs whenever they can. This was a great night. We met the musicians, talked to them about studying and living in Vienna, living in the United States, and plans for the future. They played some very danceable music and we all had an amazing time. I got to meet some other really cool people and talk to them about their traveling experiences. This is the kind of scene that I really love. Yes, I love the opera and going to symphonies. But what I truly love are these small venues/clubs that cater to the locals, the common people, the people who love all kinds of music. I love being in social environments that allow me to meet new people and experience new things and talk to people about their crazy experiences.
My next goal: go to a few jazz performances. There's a jazz and blues festival-type thing going on this month in Wien and I definitely want to hit up some of the (free!) shows.
This is what I miss when I'm at school - the events that large cities offer. There is actually something cool going on all the time here and I feel like I'm missing out on so many of them! Oh well, I'll be happy as long as I make it to at least a few along the way.

In other news, Gustavo Dudamel is coming to the Musikverein to conduct the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic) and I AM going. I love him. I need to figure out this ticket situation pronto.

Now, I'm off to do that unwanted homework...goodnight!

Día de los Muertos pictures

Pan dulce conchas!

Their WALL of tequila

Papel Picado and piñatas

Salsa verde y pollo tamal

Tequila glasses