21.10.2009
I have almost survived another week of classes. I gave a presentation on Roland Barthes’ “S/Z” and “The Death of the Author” today. I have decided that grad school is in fact more difficult than undergraduate. I was assuming that it would be, but now my suspicions have been confirmed. In the end I survived and am incredibly happy to be finished with that portion of my class. I am not a believer in the Post-Structuralist philosophy on literary analysis.
My friend Steffi from Germany came to visit me this past weekend, and we had a wonderful weekend despite the three straight days of rain that descended on Salzburg while she was here. There is some sort of weather phenomenon that causes crazy weather changes and precipitation here. Although we have had both snow and rain, it is supposed to reach almost 70 degrees this weekend, so I am looking forward to putting away my winter jacket for a few days.
While Steffi was here we made the best of the bad weather by spending a day in Hallein in a salt mine. Hallein is on the border between Germany and Austria, so we actually crossed the border between the two countries underground. Thank goodness for the EU (I wonder if they used to do passport control under ground?) The salt mines were very interesting and are the reason that Salzburg grew to be a rich city. We also got to go down slides in the mine, which were surprisingly fast!
We spent the evening in good German tradition warming up with some Glühwein before going out. We found a nice cafe in Mozarts Wohnhaus Sunday morning and she left me with just enough time to catch up on homework before classes started up on Monday.
This weekend should be incredibly nice. We are traveling as a group to Vienna. We will leave Friday morning and come back Sunday afternoon. On the agenda are two trips to the theater, a castle tour, a city tour, and of course a trip to a traditional Viennese cafe! I will be sure to update you all on how the trip goes.
I am having a difficult time making Austrian friends. All of the girls in our dorm are very clique-ish, as most have lived in the building for at least a few years. Some have lived there as long as 6 years. I guess that one of the benefits of tuition for one semester costing 19,90 Euro is that students tend to stay in school much longer than the traditional 4 years that American students spend on their undergraduate degrees. I am hoping that some of them warm up to me soon. We try to be nice and smile at them, but they are fairly judgmental. I do not think they approve of the leggings/hoodie look that I like to wear in the evenings. At least I have made friends with people in my program.
We also planned a trip to Hungary the second week of November and are planning a trip to the Czech Republic for the first week in December. But mostly I am looking forward to a very special trip back home to Chicago for Christmas! I will be home December 18th through January 9th and will hopefully get to see a lot of you then.
Love from the Alps, me
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
11.10.2009
So I am entering week two of classes. After doing catch-up homework on Friday night and Saturday, it has really sunk in that I am officially in school now. I am taking two classes through Bowling Green's program: the history of German literature, and a literary analysis class. I am also taking a German as foreign language class to help improve my vocabulary and grammatical knowledge of German. I am also auditing a linguistics class through the university. I am the only non-native speaker in that class, so we will see how it goes.
This weekend was very busy. We took a trip to an open-air museum to look at old Austrian farmhouses. They were so beautiful, and I have since decided to live in a pretty house just like those when I have a house (except I would like to have electricity and running water in my house!) They all decorated their houses with flower boxes, and the houses were just so quaint.
We also took a trip to the Gaisberg (one of the mountains in Salzburg). We took a bus about halfway up the mountain and then climbed to the top. The climb up proved tricky at a few points due to the wet leaves on the ground, but everyone made it to the top. It rained all day in the city, but on the mountain we were above the first layer of clouds and enjoyed a day full of sunshine. Looking down at the city through the clouds was truly amazing. I felt at the same time incredibly insignificant and incredibly blesses to have such an experience. My pictures can truly not show how incredible it was, but I tried. We hiked all the way down the mountain and walked from the foot of the mountain to our dorm. I can't believe that I live within walking distance (albeit far walking distance) from the peak of a mountain. My legs are still sore from the walk down!
This week we really get into our courses. I am learning how to balance my coursework (the one skill that Cornell did not prepare me for). I am not used to having four courses at once and still feel like I should do all of my homework the day I am assigned it, which I guess is not such a bad thing.
The weather has taken a turn for the worse in Salzburg. We have a chance of snow Wednesday and Friday, and today we have had our share of rain/sleet/hail. Hopefully the sun is shining down on you in the States!
Love, me
So I am entering week two of classes. After doing catch-up homework on Friday night and Saturday, it has really sunk in that I am officially in school now. I am taking two classes through Bowling Green's program: the history of German literature, and a literary analysis class. I am also taking a German as foreign language class to help improve my vocabulary and grammatical knowledge of German. I am also auditing a linguistics class through the university. I am the only non-native speaker in that class, so we will see how it goes.
This weekend was very busy. We took a trip to an open-air museum to look at old Austrian farmhouses. They were so beautiful, and I have since decided to live in a pretty house just like those when I have a house (except I would like to have electricity and running water in my house!) They all decorated their houses with flower boxes, and the houses were just so quaint.
We also took a trip to the Gaisberg (one of the mountains in Salzburg). We took a bus about halfway up the mountain and then climbed to the top. The climb up proved tricky at a few points due to the wet leaves on the ground, but everyone made it to the top. It rained all day in the city, but on the mountain we were above the first layer of clouds and enjoyed a day full of sunshine. Looking down at the city through the clouds was truly amazing. I felt at the same time incredibly insignificant and incredibly blesses to have such an experience. My pictures can truly not show how incredible it was, but I tried. We hiked all the way down the mountain and walked from the foot of the mountain to our dorm. I can't believe that I live within walking distance (albeit far walking distance) from the peak of a mountain. My legs are still sore from the walk down!
This week we really get into our courses. I am learning how to balance my coursework (the one skill that Cornell did not prepare me for). I am not used to having four courses at once and still feel like I should do all of my homework the day I am assigned it, which I guess is not such a bad thing.
The weather has taken a turn for the worse in Salzburg. We have a chance of snow Wednesday and Friday, and today we have had our share of rain/sleet/hail. Hopefully the sun is shining down on you in the States!
Love, me
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Salzburg and Oktoberfest
04.10.2009
So I am officially all settled in for my academic year in Salzburg. I moved into my dorm on Thursday without any problems or issues. The room situation may take me some time to get used to. I am sharing a room with one of the other graduate students, Brittany. We have a small entryway with closets and the tiniest bathroom I have ever seen in my life. Then in the main room we have our beds, a pathway between our beds, and a big desk. That is all. I feel like a freshman in college again, but I guess that in some ways I am a freshman again, so I will just have to get used to it.
I spent the day on Thursday wandering abound Salzburg. I went grocery shopping, found an ethernet cord, and spent some time at the internet cafe, as the internet in our dorms was not working yet. Overall my day on Thursday was fairly productive but not an incredible amount of fun.
On Friday I was able to meet the rest of the members of the program. There are 13 graduate students who will all stay in Salzburg for the academic year and 9 undergraduates who will be in Salzburg for a semester. We had a nice Austrian breakfast together (bread, marmalade, cheese, meat, and poached eggs) and then took a tour around the city. Some people seemed to get a sense for the layout of the city on our short walking tour, but due to my horrible sense of direction (thanks, Mom!), it will probably take me about a month to really know where I am going around the city. I’ll let you know in November if I am still getting lost or not.
After our tour, we had an orientation lecture. We discussed class scheduling, the dorm placements, registration at the university and well as with the city of Salzburg etc. More exciting than the discussions was that I had my first Mozartkugel during the lecture. A Mozartkugel is a type of truffle with marzipan inside of it. I am not exactly sure what else is in it to make it so delicious, but, being the home of Mozart, Mozartkugeln are Salzburg’s chocolate specialty.
After suffering from information overload at the lecture, a few of us set off to wander the city and find cell phones (which we did!). If you ever need to get a hold of me via telephone, my number is +43 650 3705979. It may cost you a lot to call me, but I receive free incoming calls :)
The main reason for getting cell phones as soon as possible was not for safety reasons, but so that we could plan a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest to take place on Saturday. We were able to get some quick planning done and head off to Munich yesterday morning. Munich is about a two hour train ride from Salzburg, so we felt that it would irresponsible to not take advantage of the last weekend of Oktoberfest when we were practically already there. The train ride to Oktoberfest was absolutely insane. About half of the people on the train were wearing dirndl or lederhosen (I had serious dirndl envy and regretted my decision to leave all of my dirndls at home). Most groups on the train also had cases of beer with them and were feeling very good by the time we got to Munich!
We made it over to the Wies’n (the festival grounds) around noon. We tried unsuccessfully to make our way into one of the tents to drink a Maß and listen to some music, but every tent was full to capacity with incredibly long lines of people waiting to enter. Instead we found a beer garden, ate some Zwetschkeknödeln, and drank a Radler. Katie and I milked our Radlers for almost 2 hours, but in our defense, 1 L is a lot of liquid!
We made our way over to Marienplatz at about 3:00 to see the Altes Rathaus, Frauenkirche, and the Glockenspiel. By the time we had seen these Munich landmarks as well as (of course) the Hofbräuhaus we headed back to the Hauptbahnhof to catch a train back home to Salzburg and rest our tired feet. On the train ride home we entered into a hilarious discussion with an incredibly drunk Bavarian on the pros and cons of America and Germany. He was incredibly surprised when I interrupted his monologue on the evils of America by informing him that we were Americans who actually happened to speak fairly fluent German. After discussing the political indifference of many Americans, the war in Iraq, and the superiority of German beer, we were invited to get off at their stop (a small Bavarian town about 30 minutes outside of Salzburg) for a beer. We declined, and headed back to Salzburg.
Today I am looking forward to getting organized for classes this week as well as taking an architecture tour of the city at 2 and having dinner at the home of Dr. Guenther, our program director from BGSU this evening. It hasn’t truly sunk in yet that I will be living here until June, but I have survived my first full week in Europe. I miss you all and wish I could be in two places at once!
So I am officially all settled in for my academic year in Salzburg. I moved into my dorm on Thursday without any problems or issues. The room situation may take me some time to get used to. I am sharing a room with one of the other graduate students, Brittany. We have a small entryway with closets and the tiniest bathroom I have ever seen in my life. Then in the main room we have our beds, a pathway between our beds, and a big desk. That is all. I feel like a freshman in college again, but I guess that in some ways I am a freshman again, so I will just have to get used to it.
I spent the day on Thursday wandering abound Salzburg. I went grocery shopping, found an ethernet cord, and spent some time at the internet cafe, as the internet in our dorms was not working yet. Overall my day on Thursday was fairly productive but not an incredible amount of fun.
On Friday I was able to meet the rest of the members of the program. There are 13 graduate students who will all stay in Salzburg for the academic year and 9 undergraduates who will be in Salzburg for a semester. We had a nice Austrian breakfast together (bread, marmalade, cheese, meat, and poached eggs) and then took a tour around the city. Some people seemed to get a sense for the layout of the city on our short walking tour, but due to my horrible sense of direction (thanks, Mom!), it will probably take me about a month to really know where I am going around the city. I’ll let you know in November if I am still getting lost or not.
After our tour, we had an orientation lecture. We discussed class scheduling, the dorm placements, registration at the university and well as with the city of Salzburg etc. More exciting than the discussions was that I had my first Mozartkugel during the lecture. A Mozartkugel is a type of truffle with marzipan inside of it. I am not exactly sure what else is in it to make it so delicious, but, being the home of Mozart, Mozartkugeln are Salzburg’s chocolate specialty.
After suffering from information overload at the lecture, a few of us set off to wander the city and find cell phones (which we did!). If you ever need to get a hold of me via telephone, my number is +43 650 3705979. It may cost you a lot to call me, but I receive free incoming calls :)
The main reason for getting cell phones as soon as possible was not for safety reasons, but so that we could plan a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest to take place on Saturday. We were able to get some quick planning done and head off to Munich yesterday morning. Munich is about a two hour train ride from Salzburg, so we felt that it would irresponsible to not take advantage of the last weekend of Oktoberfest when we were practically already there. The train ride to Oktoberfest was absolutely insane. About half of the people on the train were wearing dirndl or lederhosen (I had serious dirndl envy and regretted my decision to leave all of my dirndls at home). Most groups on the train also had cases of beer with them and were feeling very good by the time we got to Munich!
We made it over to the Wies’n (the festival grounds) around noon. We tried unsuccessfully to make our way into one of the tents to drink a Maß and listen to some music, but every tent was full to capacity with incredibly long lines of people waiting to enter. Instead we found a beer garden, ate some Zwetschkeknödeln, and drank a Radler. Katie and I milked our Radlers for almost 2 hours, but in our defense, 1 L is a lot of liquid!
We made our way over to Marienplatz at about 3:00 to see the Altes Rathaus, Frauenkirche, and the Glockenspiel. By the time we had seen these Munich landmarks as well as (of course) the Hofbräuhaus we headed back to the Hauptbahnhof to catch a train back home to Salzburg and rest our tired feet. On the train ride home we entered into a hilarious discussion with an incredibly drunk Bavarian on the pros and cons of America and Germany. He was incredibly surprised when I interrupted his monologue on the evils of America by informing him that we were Americans who actually happened to speak fairly fluent German. After discussing the political indifference of many Americans, the war in Iraq, and the superiority of German beer, we were invited to get off at their stop (a small Bavarian town about 30 minutes outside of Salzburg) for a beer. We declined, and headed back to Salzburg.
Today I am looking forward to getting organized for classes this week as well as taking an architecture tour of the city at 2 and having dinner at the home of Dr. Guenther, our program director from BGSU this evening. It hasn’t truly sunk in yet that I will be living here until June, but I have survived my first full week in Europe. I miss you all and wish I could be in two places at once!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Time with Verwandte
01.10.2009
Today marks the beginning of the main event in my European travels. Yesterday marked not only the end of September but the end of my time in Germany. As I type, I am zipping across Germany on a train (just past through Göppingen in case you were wondering...) on my way to Austria- Salzburg to be exact.
I spent the past few days in the Stuttgart area (Neckar-Gröningen) with my Onkel Karl and Tante Liesl. My Onkel Karl is actually my mom’s uncle. We spent most of our time eating. I am fairly certain that they were trying to fatten me up before I left. I started every day with a Brötchen with marmalade and some tea. Then we either went for a walk or bicycle ride alond the Neckar and relaxed until lunch. Maultaschen, eggs and spinach, and strudel were my lunches. After lunch there was time to relax until around 3:00 when we had Kaffee and Kuchen! Overall my time in Stuttgart was incredibly relaxing, which helped me get over my jet lag and hopefully will give me some extra energy for the coming day(s).
Yesterday Joachim (my mom’s cousin’s husband) took me to the Kornstanner Volksfest in Stuttgart. It is the biggest Volksfest in the southwest according to the advertisements. To imagine the Volksfest simply picture Oktoberfest in Munich with more rides but fewer beer tents and people. While there we rode on the largest moveable ferris wheel, ate Reibekuchen with apple sauce, Langos (a Hungarian fried dough dish) with garlic, as well as gebrannte Mandeln. We looked in the beer tents, but the party hadn’t yet started as we were there in the afternoon. We also saw a motorcycle show. In the motorcycle show, you are standing above an arena that is shaped like a cylinder. The motorcycles drive not on the bottom of the cylinder but on the sides all the way up to the top. I truly can not explain how cool the show was, so I will post the video that I took during the show... You should watch it, because it is amazing!!
Today the excitement of Volksfest is over and I am trying to mentally prepare myself for Salzburg. I am looking forward to unpacking and no longer living out of suitcases. It has gotten a bit chilly here but I am at the moment without my sweaters and hoodies because they are in vacuum-sealed bags in my suitcases. I will be happy when I once again have access to all of my clothes! I will meet the other BG students studying in Austria tomorrow morning. Today I just need to make a god impression on my roommate.
I promise to let you know how my move-in and orientation go very soon... Dragging my three suitcases through the train to a taxi will probably be my most difficult undertaking of the day :)
Today marks the beginning of the main event in my European travels. Yesterday marked not only the end of September but the end of my time in Germany. As I type, I am zipping across Germany on a train (just past through Göppingen in case you were wondering...) on my way to Austria- Salzburg to be exact.
I spent the past few days in the Stuttgart area (Neckar-Gröningen) with my Onkel Karl and Tante Liesl. My Onkel Karl is actually my mom’s uncle. We spent most of our time eating. I am fairly certain that they were trying to fatten me up before I left. I started every day with a Brötchen with marmalade and some tea. Then we either went for a walk or bicycle ride alond the Neckar and relaxed until lunch. Maultaschen, eggs and spinach, and strudel were my lunches. After lunch there was time to relax until around 3:00 when we had Kaffee and Kuchen! Overall my time in Stuttgart was incredibly relaxing, which helped me get over my jet lag and hopefully will give me some extra energy for the coming day(s).
Yesterday Joachim (my mom’s cousin’s husband) took me to the Kornstanner Volksfest in Stuttgart. It is the biggest Volksfest in the southwest according to the advertisements. To imagine the Volksfest simply picture Oktoberfest in Munich with more rides but fewer beer tents and people. While there we rode on the largest moveable ferris wheel, ate Reibekuchen with apple sauce, Langos (a Hungarian fried dough dish) with garlic, as well as gebrannte Mandeln. We looked in the beer tents, but the party hadn’t yet started as we were there in the afternoon. We also saw a motorcycle show. In the motorcycle show, you are standing above an arena that is shaped like a cylinder. The motorcycles drive not on the bottom of the cylinder but on the sides all the way up to the top. I truly can not explain how cool the show was, so I will post the video that I took during the show... You should watch it, because it is amazing!!
Today the excitement of Volksfest is over and I am trying to mentally prepare myself for Salzburg. I am looking forward to unpacking and no longer living out of suitcases. It has gotten a bit chilly here but I am at the moment without my sweaters and hoodies because they are in vacuum-sealed bags in my suitcases. I will be happy when I once again have access to all of my clothes! I will meet the other BG students studying in Austria tomorrow morning. Today I just need to make a god impression on my roommate.
I promise to let you know how my move-in and orientation go very soon... Dragging my three suitcases through the train to a taxi will probably be my most difficult undertaking of the day :)
Saturday, September 19, 2009
T-One Week!
I leave for Germany one week from today. I am not sure when exactly my flight is, but I will leave next Saturday for Germany. I will then spend a few days with my Onkel Karl and his family in Stuttgart before leaving on the train for Salzburg the morning of October 1st... Once in Salzburg, I begin some orientation activities, meet my roommate, and well just see what happens from there.
I am creating this blog to help me keep in touch with everyone that I love while I am away so that I do not get too bogged down with e-mail. I am getting nervous and excited about leaving and can't wait to let you all know what exciting things I will be up to in Austria very soon!!
Love,
Jessie
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