Rebex
Rebecca Joined: March 15th 2007
Logged in: January 25th 2010
Logged in: January 25th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
The weekend after traveling to Madrid, Raya (who I visited in Tubingen) visited me in Vienna! She got here using a carpool system called "Mitfahrgelegenheit," where people traveling to different places post their trips and allow passengers to ride for set prices. Although she was uncertain about the legitimacy and safety of the system at first, it ended up working for her very well and saving her a lot of money. When I went to Tubingen by train, the round-trip ticket cost me about 160+ Euros. Her one-way trips were both around 35 Euros, more than half of what I paid. When Raya was here for just two days, we actually managed to fit in a lot of things. After going out with some IES students Friday night, we went to the Naschmarkt and Flohmarkt (outdoor ... read more
It has been almost a month since I last blogged, so I will try to sum it all up somewhat briefly. The weekend after visiting Tübingen, I met three friends in Madrid for three days. All three friends are students whom I know from DU, but are studying in Europe this semester. One is in Madrid, one in Malaga (south Spain), and the other in Athens, Greece. We all agreed to meet in Madrid because it was a place that my friend in Greece and I had never been to, and the other two were already living there. In Madrid we stayed in a youth hostel because my friend, Clara, who is studying there, lives in a small apartment with an older roommate. The youth hostel we stayed in was a privately-owned, small establishment close to ... read more
This weekend, I went to Tubingen, Germany. Two friends from DU are studying there, one for the semester and one for the entire year. Tubingen University has 23,000 students, 3,000 of which are international, so one third of the town is college-aged. My friend who I stayed with lives in a student dorm in the 'Altstadt' in Tubingen, where the castle, city hall, and other attractions are. She is taking most of her classes in German, and lives with other international students. Tubingen was a picture-perfect German town. The river Neckar runs through it, and the castle Hohentubingen sits on a hill overlooking the city. While I was there, the weather was beautiful - clear skies and warm temperatures. I spent most of my time walking around the city with my friend, seeing where she goes ... read more
In two months exactly, I leave Vienna. It feels slightly unreal that I have lived here for more than two months already, and looking back on it, I have enjoyed every day. I have traveled to other cities, attended concerts and performances, gone rollerblading on the Donau Insel, had Sturm and roast pork legs at local Heuriger, and of course attended class during the week at the institute. Last Sunday morning, I attended a concert of the Wiener Philharmoniker, one of the most famous and respected orchestras in the world. The concert was held in the Vienna Musikverein, which is known as the 'center of Viennese musical culture.' The concert was one of the best I have ever been to. I was fortunate enough to get the ticket for free from a student who was traveling ... read more
I woke up to loud wind this morning, like I have the last four mornings, except today I looked out of the window and saw snow! It has been sleeting/snowing all day today, and does not appear to be letting up at all. The last few days unfortunately have been overcast and windy, not my ideal Fall weather by any means. When the temperatures began to drop at the end of last week, I was very excited for the cold weather to arrive. We were very fortunate to have such warm weather our first two months here, but I think everyone was ready for the Fall. Interestingly, a lot of people in our program are convinced that Winter has arrived already. However, those of us who don't live on the West coast or in the South ... read more
Cloudy skies, windy mornings, and daily rain showers - fall has finally arrived. As eager as I am to start wearing long sleeve shirts and cooking pumpkin soup on cold evenings, the beginning of fall also means the end of outdoor runs, lunches at the park, and gelato on hot afternoons. I cannot complain though, because the last two months I have been here (and traveling) has been accompanied with some of the best weather I could have asked for. On our 9-day trip to Eastern Europe, we had two rainy days the entire time - both when we were traveling between cities on the bus. Last week, on the evening of the night run, the temperature dropped just the right amount to keep 15,000 runners cool, without the need for pants or jackets. The forecast ... read more
As I am sitting here with my roommates in the kitchen of our small, traditional Austrian apartment, enjoying the fresh evening air coming through the window, I realize that it is the perfect opportunity to write about the past week. I am amazed that I can be busy for five days straight, without a moment to wash the dishes or talk to my parents, but can also have an evening like tonight where I have hours to sit with a friend at a coffee shop or to be with my roommates, listening to relaxing music and reminiscing about the weekend. My two roommates, Tori and Grace, and I traveled to Zurich, Switzerland this weekend. It was Tori's 21st birthday on Saturday, so we decided to take a trip to celebrate. We left on Friday afternoon after ... read more
Five weeks and five days after arriving in Europe, I am finally sitting down to write about my experiences in Vienna so far. I am here in Vienna for 4 months, studying with a program called IES. IES is a study abroad institute that has programs in many cities across the world, from Buenos Aires to Sydney and Quito to Delhi. The program in Vienna this fall has 108 students, most of whom are from the United States (although there are a few students from Vietnam and Ecuador). Vienna, known for its musical appeal, attracts many Music Majors, which is why our program has two parts; a music program and a European society and culture program. Seeing that I have little musical talent, I am in the area studies program. I am taking 3 courses in ... read more
