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!