Venice, Italy

This past weekend, I took a trip with some friends out to Venice! Last week we had midterms, so everyone was finished with classes and tests on Wednesday, giving us a long weekend!  On Wednesday night, 5 of us took a overnight train from Vienna to Venice.   The train was about 12 hours long and was quite interesting.  The night before, a few of our friends had their phones stolen while they were sleeping in the same situation, so we were all a bit paranoid about our belongings.

{Sleeping arrangements on the train}

Everything worked out just fine, and we arrived in Venice on Thursday morning.  It was a beautiful day, and we spent most of the morning wandering around, crossing bridges, and taking in the beautiful city.

Around lunchtime, we met up with friends who had been traveling in Bologna, and we continued to explore the city.  On Friday, the weather took a turn for the worse and was not quite as nice.  My friend Grace and I spent a good portion of the morning ducking into shops and admiring the Italian leather goods! We were forced to split off from the boys after our numerous stops to look in windows. . .

After shopping, we all met up again in the San Marco Piazza and did a bit of sight-seeing.  We looked at some interesting modern art, and walked through Saint Mark's Basilica.  It only continued to rain harder throughout the day, so we took cover at a small restaurant before dinner to have traditional Italian Spritz drinks.  For dinner, we had a recommendation to go to a restaurant off of the beaten path that was absolutely delicious! 

The next morning, much to our surprise, most of Venice had flooded! We couldn't even walk out of our hotel without being knee deep in water.  

{Looking out from our Hotel}

Since we forgot to bring our wading boots, most of us ended up walking barefoot to the train station to store our luggage until our train left.  Quite the experience, needless to say. . .

Because or train wasn't until later that night, we had the day to explore more of Venice.  We took a boat out to San Murano where the glass blowing factories are.  We saw some amazing pieces and got a glimpse of the glass being blown!  That night we took yet another overnight train back to Vienna, arriving on Sunday morning.  I think it's safe to say we all had our fair share of gelato, pizza, pasta, and LOTS of walking-- overall, it was a wonderful weekend trip to Venice!

Classes, Salzburg, & Munich

Since my last post, I have managed to keep quite busy! After returning from my 10 day trip, I immediately started up with my semester classes.  In total I have 5 courses: German, Music in Performance, Central European Literature, Nations and Religions, and a Teaching Internship.  So far I am really enjoying all of the classes and my professors are all very knowledgable about the subjects they teach.

For my teaching internship, I have been assigned to a fourth grade classroom at a school that takes me about a half hour to get to.  I have been twice so far and have loved it! The kids don't speak as much English as I had expected, so communicating is at times a bit difficult.  The first day I showed pictures of my family and friends, while teaching them English words for people -- Grandma, cousin, etc.  This past Monday I taught the kids about California, showing them the state flower, bird, places I like to go, etc.  As I teach them the English words, they help me with my pronunciation of the German words! . . . as they try not to laugh. . .

Salzburg--
About two weeks ago my friend Chris Clark arrived in Vienna from his Summer program in Ireland.  Chris stayed with me for a few days, and then a group of us took the train to Salzburg for the weekend. We had made arrangements to take a tour of the salt mines and to take the Sound of Music Tour.

We stayed in a hostel (which was more like a hotel) and kept busy all weekend exploring and taking tours.  When we arrived on Friday we immediately went for hike in the mountains behind our hostel.  On our way down, we crossed passed with an older couple who were also out for a hike.  We had so many questions for them that they invited us to their outside patio (overlooking all of Salzburg) for a drink and cookie!

{With our new friends Isabelle & Franz}

{Before heading into the Salt Mine}

{Top of a mountain with Chris!}

Oktoberfest--

This past weekend a group of us took the train to Munich to celebrate Oktoberfest with the Germans! We left on Friday after our German class and spent the weekend in the tents in Munich.  We stayed mostly in the Hoffbrau tent which is well known for Americans.  I was able to meet up with many of my friends from Santa Clara who were also visiting!  It was all around a really fun trip and definitely an interesting experience!

{Bri (friend from SCU), Me, and Meg}

10 Day Trip to Spain

Well, I am finally back in Vienna after my 10 day break and travels to Spain!  A group of four of us left last Friday afternoon on a flight to Barcelona.  We spent the first weekend in Barcelona, the weekdays in Madrid, and the second weekend in Barcelona again.  We learned through trial and error that it wasn't the best idea to book round trip tickets to Barcelona. . . but it all ended up working out!

When we first arrived in Barcelona, we traveled to our hostel to find that it was not exactly up to par (or even sanitary for that matter).  We stayed the night there because we had already made our reservations, but switched to a new hostel (which was MUCH cleaner!!!) first thing in the morning.  There are about 30 people from Santa Clara studying in Barcelona, so we were able to meet up with them to hang out the first night.

While we were in Barcelona, my friend Meg (studying in Vienna with me) and my friend Alex (friend from SCU) all took the bus tour around the city.  It was very touristy, but a great way to be able to see the city because you can get off at each stop and get back on whenever/wherever you choose.  We were able to see great views of the city, and my favorite stop was the Olympic stadium.

{Overlooking Barcelona-- w/Alex Habbas} 

{Barcelona Olympic Stadium}

Our first day in Madrid, we stumbled upon a small lake inside a park where people had rented boats and were enjoying themselves on the water.  It was around dusk and was completely picturesque! Meg and I spent an hour or so just sitting on the steps, enjoying the nice weather watching the boats row by.

{Lago de El Retiro-- Madrid}

While in Madrid, we also visited the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Reina Sofia (Modern Art Museum).  It was really fun to see artwork that I have studied in various classes -- some even from Spanish class in high school! My friend Meg is an Art History major, so she was able to give us the inside scoop on some of the famous artwork.  

We spent the rest of our time in Madrid exploring the city, trying out Tapas, and getting to know the different parks, palaces, and museums.  

{Me, Tonya, and Meg outside the Royal Palace of Madrid}

Our last weekend was a very relaxing one, spent in Barcelona.  We spent the entire day on Saturday sitting on the beach.  I came back very sunburned (no surprise to my dad, I'm sure), but relaxed and ready for school nonetheless.  

Overall it was a great vacation! I am starting semester classes today and need to get back into German mode from Spanish mode!

Adios for now! . . . I mean Auf Wiedersehen!!

German Classes, Travel Plans, and a New Internship!

Well I've been in Austria for 2 weeks today. . . I can't even believe it myself!  The days seem to fly by as I start with a 3 hour German class and then spend the rest of the day exploring the city, catching some up on sleep, and maybe doing a little bit of homework. . . ;)

Last Saturday we spent the day wandering around Vienna. . . we went to the Nach Market where there is a flea market on Saturdays.  Every other day (besides Sunday when almost everything in Vienna is closed) it is a outdoor marketplace with fresh fruit, veggies, and sweet snacks.  After the Nach Market, we made the trek over to the Belvedere Palace where there is a beautiful garden and orangery.

{Nach Market} 

{Belvedere Palace}

After our 3 weeks of intensive German classes, we have a 10 day break before our Semester classes begin.  I will continue to take German classes, but will also add a cultures class, a music for nonmajors class, a religion course, and a teaching internship.  I heard about the internship during our orientation and decided to apply for it because it seems like a great way to get to see the Viennese lifestyle and meet local people.  Once the semester begins I will be assigned to a school (probably a kindergarden class), where I will help out for about 5 hours every week.  We have a seminar class that accompanies the field work, and we have a paper due at the end of the term.  Granted, I am neither an education major, nor am I fluent in German; however, I am really very excited to get to work with the Austrian kids! 

For the 10 day break, I am planning to travel to Barcelona and Portugal with two of my friends, Meg and Tonya.  We are still working on our travel plans and figuring out the logistics, but it will be a fun trip and I will get to meet up with friends studying in Barcelona! 

I have a really great group of friends here already . . . we even had a small dinner party at our apartment last week!

{Friends over for dinner!}

Needless to say, I absolutely love Vienna and couldn't be happier to be here!  

Mariazell to Vienna

Guten Tag!

I hope everyone is doing well... I decided to start a blog so that you can all see what I'm up to while I'm abroad!  We just spend 3 days in Mariazell, a town in the alps (the provence of Styria), for our orientation.  We were able to meet all of the other students in the IES program while learning about Vienna and the logistics of the program.  

During the first day, a group of us went for a long and windy hike up into the mountains.  It took us about an hour and a half to make the trek, but there was a restaurant at the top where we were able to get some cold refreshments and enjoy the view!

{Top of the mountain overlooking Mariazell}

The second day we took a bus to a small lake in Mariazell where we did a short hike and dipped our feet in the cold water.  They had boats available for rental, but most people just enjoyed the sun on the beach.  We watched authentic Austrian dancers perform later that night at our hostel and had wiener schnitzel for dinner!

{Lake in Mariazell}

After the 3 hour bus ride into Vienna from Mariazell, we arrived at our new apartment! We met with our landlady, Frau Sadar, who showed us around our new home.  We have a pretty large apartment with an outside balcony!  There are five of us in total, and we all get along really well!

{Roommates + Meg out on the balcony}

I'll keep you updated on what comes next!

Auf Wiedersehen!