Venice, Trieste, Pilan, Umag, Vienna . . .

October was the big travel month for me! I went to 5 places over the course of 3 weekends... cool! First, we traveled to Venice by train (me and 7 other people). That was quite adventurous, especially when it came to places to stay. Us girls (there were 4 of us) booked a hotel room, but it turned out to be in the wrong spot (because the website that I found was dumb) but we managed to find a room for two nights when we first arrived! The boys, however, had a lot harder of a time finding a place. Lucky them... they got to stay in a SKETCHY place (even during the day) on the second night that we were there... but we still had a ton of fun! Venice was a beautiful city and I would love to go back (as long as I don't have to stay anywhere sketchy...)

The next weekend we took a lovely trip to Croatia by bus through Italy and Slovenia. On the way there, we stopped in Trieste which is where the Americans had one of their bases during world war 2. It was a beautiful chateau/palace thing right on the water. Then we drove through Slovenia and went to cross the border with Croatia (non-EU member) and ended up having to leave Ja at the border because she is Thai... :( Poor Ja had to stay in Slovenia all by herself overnight. Luckily, we weren't in Croatia for very long. We had a very late Calamari lunch (I don't really like Calamari...) and then got to our hotel at about 4:30. A bunch of us headed down to the beach and me, being the smart SWIMMER... forgot my swimsuit :/ But I still stuck my feet in (it was COLD). We got back to the hotel after the sun had set & ate a buffet dinner (it was a LOT of food!) We took a walk into town, but most places were closed because it was like 9 at night. After arriving back at the hotel, some of the cool people elected to stay in and just have drinks at the bar in the hotel. Most of the girls got Cuba Libres which was basically rum, coke, and lime (it was good- tasted a lot like a limeade). And of course, the exchange rate there is wonderful so those cost us something like 4 or 5 dollars. It was nice.

The next morning, we headed back into EU territory (Slovenia) and picked up Ja. We spent about an hour in a small costal town there... and ate some gelato. Then we headed inland for a little while and stopped at the Postojnska Jama (Jama means Cave in Slovenian). That was cool. It reminded me a lot of Carlsbad caverns only a lot bigger! And it had an underground river flowing through it. Which made it even cooler.

And of course, this last weekend, AIFS took us on a nice trip to Vienna! On Friday we took city tour and then had the rest of the day free. So a big group of us headed to the Staatsoper and saw The Marriage of Figaro for 3 euros (standing room of course). It was really well done! The next day we got to go to the Art History Museum, which was pretty incredible (especially considering how much I don't care about art). The rest of the day was once again free, so I met up with Lisa's friend Maggie who is studying there for the semester and we wandered around Naschmarkt together. That is basically a giant market with lots of food and lots of random stuff (probably geared towards tourists... though anyone can use a 5 euro scarf!) That night we wandered around Vienna and had some Wiener Schnitzel (it was huge and delicious!). Then we tried to find a club or something, but everywhere we went seemed sketchier than the place before... and I was tired. So I went back to the hotel with some other people and went to bed.

On Sunday morning, AIFS took us to Schloss Schoenbrunn, the summer residence of the Habsburgs during the Austro-Hungarian empire. It's not very far out of town, but I guess it took us like 10 min. by bus, so it would have taken them a few hours by horse-drawn carriage? That was amazing. I wouldn't mind living there. They had a HUGE backyard... that includes a large maze made from bushes... and a freaking ZOO. I want a Zoo in my backyard. That was a lot of fun. We also went to Stift Melk, a monestary in Lower Austria. That was pretty cool too. Unfortunately, we were so hungry that we probably didn't enjoy it as much as we could have... oh well. It was still a lot of fun & was really wonderful to see.

And of course, I have in fact been going to school too. I had a presentation in Austrian Culture on Monday about the Far-right parties in Austria. That has apparently become a hot topic internationally due to Jorg Haider's death a few weeks ago... That went well (at least I hope so). I also took midterms in Political Economy and Conflicts last week. I guess I did well on the Conflicts test, which was the one that I was worried about, so I guess the Pol Econ test went well too. I'll find out on Monday! I picked a paper & presentation topic for my Hitler & die Dritte Reich class, so I have to start research on that.

This weekend I'm not really going on any big trips. If we do anything it would be to bike down to Hallein and maybe go to the Salt mines and then bike back, but I don't really know what people are up to. Tomorrow morning I am attending a cooking course on how to make Goulash and Knodel! I'm really excited about that! Oh yeah. And my parents are coming to visit for Thanksgiving! :) That is going to be exciting and fun!

Bis Spater!
:)

Pictures:
1- Kate, Me, and Samantha in Venice
2- Canal in Venice (with Scottie's rose)
3- Me, Taryn, Kate, and Samantha in Trieste, Italy
4- Sunset on "beach" in Umag, Croatia
5- Sailboats in Piran, Italy
6-Kate, Taryn, and Samantha in front of the Staatsoper in Vienna
7- Kate and Samantha looking at the best piece of art in the Art History Museum
8- Mummy (in the Art History Museum)
9- AIFS group at Schloss Schonbrunn (outside of Vienna)
10- Maze at Schloss Schonbrunn
11- Stift Melk Library (Outside of Vienna in Lower Austria)
12- The Fat Cat (Blunzi?) I have no idea how she got in there... or back out for that matter.

Debate # 3- Now who do I vote for???

I am currently in the process of watching the third and final presidential debate for the 2008 season of politics... and I want to vomit in my cup of tea... or throw my computer out the window... one of the two. These two both want to change "politics as usual" but all they are doing is bickering about personal things and fundamental policy differences that exist between EVERY democrat and republican. I think that I would make a better candidate than both of the monkeys! And I have even less experience than SARAH PALIN.

I got my absentee ballot in the mail yesterday (YAY) but now I have to vote & send it back... that should be fun. I think the best part about this election is that I haven't been around to see all of the stupid political attack ads. That makes my life much more happy and not so miserable! :)

Wait. What? Iraq is united as ONE country??? What is JMc talking about??? There are three very different ethnic groups in Iraq that DO NOT get along. I don't understand what he's talking about. Does he understand what is going on in Iraq? I thought that he was supposed to be good at foreign policy? IDK. Whatever.

I really feel bad for undecided voters right now... because they are going to have a hard time deciding who to vote for. Lucky for me, I already made up my mind, mostly based on IDEAOLOGY. Which is what people should vote for anyways. I'm very glad that I can identify more with one of the candidate's ideaologies than the other. But I'm still annoyed with both of them. Maybe I'll just start voting here in Austria for the far right party... jk.

:-p

Close the Fenster [Oktoberfest]

Yesterday we went to Munich for the day & did a partial city tour with Andreas. Unfortunately, it was really cold & rainy for most of the day, so the tour was pretty miserable. We went to have lunch in this smallish cafe that was SUPER crowded because of all the people in the city for Oktoberfest! And, of course, being in Munich made Kate and I want AMERICAN food for lunch... so we got a cheeseburger & chicken fingers to split between the two of us! Hahaha. It was sooooo good though!

After that, we decided that we needed to go shopping, since that was a nice indoor activity to keep us out of the rain. So we walked down the main shopping street in Munich (which I'd say is equivalent to the 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica, only LONGER). On our way down the street in the Oktoberfest direction, we spotted some super cheap dirndl's chilling outside of one of the stores... so we stopped & Taryn and I tried them on! And they were super cute... and mine actually FIT! Sooo I got it. :)

Then we finally made our way down to the area formally known as Theresienwiese, aka OKTOBERFEST! Basically Oktoberfest is a GIANT county fair with lots of awesome rides and millions of people... and a lot of beer. There are something like 14 beer halls that take about 30-40 minutes just to get IN... and then you have to find somewhere to SIT (which we discovered is IMPOSSIBLE). So we wandered around the one beer hall for about 30 min until I decided to finally put on my new DIRNDL! After that we decided to leave the beer hall so that we could get something to drink... haha.

Some of us girls got "radlers" which is basically 1/2 beer and 1/2 sprite-ish type stuff. That was pretty good (well, better than real beer). We got some food (wurst, of course!) & then decided that we could leave... cuz there was no way that we were going to be able to get into another beer hall... let alone sit down in one... so we left & got back to the train station with quite a while to spare before the train actually left. So all the girls but me decided to use the toilets while I waited for them outside... and in the meantime get hit on by like 4 stupid guys, probably because I was wearing a dirndl. Oh well.

The trainride back was the most, well, interesting part of the whole trip... because we were sitting in a no-smoking car... and the people behind us were smoking... so we opened the window... and it was cold, so they were sad. But they were smoking, so we HAD to... ps. my stuff STILL smells like smoke :-p We were kinda worried because the one Austrian girl & one of our girls almost got into a punching match... but luckily the Austrian girl's friends held her back. But it was still kinda scary... but funny at the same time! & I have to say, it really wasn't that cold. I was in my dirndl and I wasn't cold... (so I offered one of the whiny people my coat, but he didn't like that very much). I think the best part of the whole thing was telling them that we weren't American, so they started calling us Englanders... and we corrected them by saying that we were actually Australian! Hahaha...

:)

Pictures:
1- Beautiful Rococo-style church in Munich
2- Kate, Me (in the dirndl), & Taryn
3- Inside a beer hall (it was CRAZY.)
4- Hillary, Katherine, Taryn, & Samantha with their yummy Radlers
5- Kate, Hillary, Katherine, Samantha, & Taryn in the streets of Oktoberfest (with the cool Olympic ring rollercoaster in the background!)

Darn Right!

The VPres. Debate...

It's interesting that they are just talking about what their running mate has done/what they support. I mean, yes, they should be promoting their campaigns, but they need to talk about the issues, not about the pres. candidates' records... Come ON. That's what the pres. debates are for...

Wait... Sarah Palin thinks that she's MIDDLE CLASS??? Huh... That's interesting. And also, paying HIGHER taxes is PATRIOTIC??? Really? No. Paying higher taxes sucks, but it necessary. If no one paid taxes, or if we all paid super low taxes, the government wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING, including fund this stupid war in Iraq... wow. Maybe we should lower taxes a super duper lot if McPalin gets into the White House... lol.

OH the bailout... Well, if they didn't pass the bailout bill, then we wouldn't have to be asking what programs they are going to have to cut... haha. Right. At least JB answered the question. Too bad Palin really didn't. Not being on the campaign trail is NO excuse... and McCain can't keep EVERY promise if the government is going to be an additional $700 BILLION in debt when he gets into office...

Next question. Why is Palin only talking about ENERGY??? Is that the only policy that she was briefed in depth on? I know that she knows a lot about Energy because she's from Alaska which has (apparently) a lot of oil in ANWR. But really? It's not just about Energy!

I'm impressed with the conversation about civil rights for homosexual couples... I'm actually surprised to hear Sarah Palin say that she supports their rights (okay, maybe not completely with the marriage thing, but actually giving them RIGHTS). I appreciate that she respects their rights and I also appreciate that Obama/Biden don't want a constitutional change! That's not what the CONSTITUTION is for, people! It's for running the country & making sure that the country runs properly. Letting people marry whomever they wish (or not) is NOT essential to the running of our country. How would this sound: "The duties of the Legislature are blah blah blah... The duties of the Executive are blah blah blah... The duties of the Judiciary are blah blah blah... And Marriage is to be defined only as between a man and a woman." Wait, WHAT?

Oooooh. A "WHITE FLAG OF SURRENDER." That must have been one of the key phrases that they gave her to use in the debate about Iraq. LOL.

Sarah Palin just said NucUlar. Oh dear... Too bad Barack Obama says it like that too. At least she can pronounce "Ahmadinejad" and now that's all that she can say (she must have been practicing all week). But really, there is nothing wrong with talking to the enemy. We really DO need to talk to them. Diplomacy is a VERY good way to go, usually--talking BEFORE bombing, really.

I am soooo glad that they both just LOVE Israel too. Well, actually not really. But whatever. I guess it's cool that they agree on SOMETHING. Hmmm... Looks like AIPAC is good for something...

Oh hey. Sarah Palin watched the primary debates... huh. That's intersting. You would think that she would know more about foreign policy, etc. from watching those debates... interesting.

I just came to realize that Gov. Palin would make a really good first Lady. The issues that she listed off that McCain wants her to work on would be great issues that a first lady normally would focus on. But hey... I guess that's good. I think she might actually make a good VP... but probably not a good Pres... and on that note, I don't think JMc would be either... in case that wasn't apparent. And haha about Cheney being the the most dangerous VP of the US America. LOL.

Wow. Joe Biden is very emotional, especially about his family... and I appreciate that. But really, Sarah Palin, you don't need to bring up JMc right after JB has an almost breakdown... was she not phased AT ALL by that??? "We Need Change... so vote for JMc!" Wait, WHAT? Huh.

Well, I guess the video feed that I was watching didn't care about Joe Biden's closing statement... but Sarah Palin's kinda sounded like she had just won an Academy Award or a beauty pagent "I'd like to thank the Academy... you have all been so gracious and thanks for all these TOUGH questions..." Oh okay. You're welcome. Too bad you couldn't answer those SAME tough questions during your interview with Katie Couric.

:)

Ich verstehe dich... but I can't say anything

Well, we found out at the park by Katherine & Hillary's house that I can communicate with a 4 year old in German... but that doesn't really help me get by in most of Austria. This morning I went to Yoga & hardly understood a word of what my instructor was saying... though after a while I got the general idea of everything. Einatmen= breathe in & Ausatmen= breathe out. Those are important words to know when you are taking yoga... I also had a hard time understanding the other students who were talking in the locker room after class...

Mostly, I can understand what is being said, I just can't respond to it. I either loose all of my confidence or just don't know how to say what I want to say in a way that will make sense. I think my Hausfrau probably thinks I'm really dumb because all I ever respond with is "ja" or "nein" or some other one word answer that probably doesn't make very much sense... And today in the Hitler class that will be taught all in German, I think that most of us understood pretty much everything that the professor was saying, we just didn't know how to answer his questions...

Other than that, I love it here in Salzburg. I don't think that I can say that enough. My classes all rock my socks off. International Political Economy is interesting, especially now with the whole financial crisis thing in the US America (as we say here in Austria). So far Austrian Culture has been a lot of background info... and both IPE and Culture have pretty much been talking about the same stuff-- the geography of Austria & Austrian politics (since elections were this past Sunday). It's rather interesting!

One of my favorite things about Salzburg is that there is always something to do, whether it is hiking up a HUGE mountain (or a small one...) or walking to a castle... or just visiting the fortress. It's also really easy to just wander around and laugh at all the tourists while appreciating the beauty of the buildings and of the river. Our Austrian culture class got changed to a building right along the river... and now I can sit in class and stare at the river's refection on the TV screen... all while listening to our awesome professor tell us about the history of "Austria" or, at least the area of land that is NOW considered Austria...

Today was a really awesome day, not only because I was so busy with everything, but also because we had a little impromptu worship "service" where we read some scripture in English & in German... and then sang worship songs (most of which I DIDN'T know...) I think we are going to do that every Wednesday... and hope that we have good weather so that we can do it outdoors... preferably in Mirabell Gardens! That would be amazing...

:)