..Winter?

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 know better. The snow and furious winds are an extreme start to Fall here, but the leaves are still on the trees and I can't see my breath when walking outside, so we still have some time to enjoy this beautiful Fall. Plus, the snow may be falling from the sky, but once it hits the ground, it has already formed a puddle. I'll call it Winter when I am walking through a 3" accumulation on the ground.

The week after next is Midterm week, so everyone is starting to get nervous in anticipation. The stereotype about study abroad is that it is more like "party" abroad, because everyone travels and parties so much. In all realities though, most students here care about how they do in their classes and are prepared to do the work needed to get the grade they want. Over and over I hear, "I can't go out tonight because I have a German test tomorrow," or "I have to read this before class so I can't go to lunch, sorry." Yeah, all the students here have fun when we want to, and travel on most weekends, but the majority of the students here also care about the classes we're taking and enjoy the professors who teach them. A common misconception about study abroad is that it is a cop-out of "real" university classes and just a way to go to bars and drink all the time. Over the last two months, I have learned a great amount about myself, the cultures around me, and the subjects I am learning in school, not only from sitting in class listening to professors, but living in new situations and pushing my limits and expanding my borders. What I learn in my five months in Vienna will be some of the values and lessons that I will remember and live by for the rest of my life.

In my teaching internship class, we are discussing "borders." On Saturday, we are taking a day trip to lower Austria to visit a few towns where we will witness what it was like when there were actual physical and political borders in everyday life, under socialism and communism. It is interesting to learn about the changes that have been made in Europe, versus what still exists even to this day. My economics professor is from Budapest, Hungary (he commutes 3 hours by train every week to teach our class) and he grew up during the time of regime changes, food shortages, and "border-ed" life. When sitting in his class, the material seems much more 'real' because he is not only speaking from an educated background, but from his own experiences.

After waking up at 7am to shower and go to class, like I do everyday except Mondays, I returned home to make myself lunch. I stayed at the institute for about two hours after class to finish reading for my class at 4:30pm this evening, because we have to check out the handouts from the library, but I only usually stay to read on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Tuesday I return after my teaching internship, which I do for two hours in the morning after class). I am pleased with how my schedule is working out so far - the amount of free-time and study-time balance out well. I have also decided that I am going to start cooking more, not only because I have the time to on most days, but it is also significantly cheaper and healthier. This morning I made scrambled eggs with green peppers and sausage, and for lunch I made meatballs with goulasch sauce and green beans leftover from last night. Last night, I ate leftover turkey that I had cooked the night before to go with salad, and ate that with the green beans. If I am careful of what I buy, eating at home can be very inexpensive. I went to the grocery store at the beginning of the week, and spent 30 Euros on this amount of food that should last me through the end of next week.

Now, I am going to write postcards, clean the dishes that used for cooking, and start my German homework. Grace (my roommate) and I may go to a "Best-Buy"-like store later to buy her a digital camera. Then, I have class from 4:30 to 6pm tonight. After that, IES is having a party for us at a bar/restaurant to celebrate our completion of half of the semester! It is a 'cocktail' party, so hopefully the weather does not get too intense because we will all be dressed up. I will probably be wearing high heels also, because my sneakers are the only shoes I own that keep my feet warm and dry. Tomorrow, I am going shopping for some warm boots, so hopefully I survive through tonight. I will be okay as long as the ground is not covered in 3" of snow tomorrow!

Tschus!
Rebecca

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