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Published: September 7th 2008
Guten Tag!
Hopefully today will be my last day having to go to an internet place. Tomorrow after school I'm going to book it down to Jakominiplatz where the housing office is, so hopefully by tomorrow night (afternoon for all of you, except Natalie, of course), I'll be able to put up my pictures so you can finally see what I'm talking about!
I forgot to mention yesterday one of the most fun parts of the day. When we all met in the Hauptplatz to climb to the top of the Schloßberg (by the way, ß in German is ss, so it's pronounced Schlossberg), we all had our assignments, and we all brought a little something to have a picnic at the top overlooking the city. We found a place about 3/4 of the way up the mountain right under the belltower to stop on some benches under a veranda (I don't think that's the right word, but it's stuff like in Kim's yard where it's all open with vines growing over it, like in Italy), and we all had our little picnic overlooking the city. Quite a nice time, not too shabby a place to live.
Another cool little thing is that Elizabeth's (the Australian) parents are going on a trip to America next month, and one of the places they'll be staying is Newport. She asked me if I'd ever heard of it 'cause she thought it might be in Rhode Island, and I started laughing and was like uhhh...yea, I've been there once or twice before...
Otherwise, though, things are pretty quite here. It's Sonntag, which means of course that everything is closed, much to my dismay. I had returned the adapter I bought in the US because it had said specifically DO NOT USE WITH NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS, and plus I hate RadioShack, so I've been trying to find one here and am so far fruitless. Of course since everything is closed today, it makes it that much harder.
My teacher, Eva, also gave us the assignment of going out into the city and talking with the locals to find out things. Luckily, a bunch of the questions Miriam also answered for me just in general conversation before I even know about the assignment. For instance, we have to find out about the consequences of "schwarzfahren," which in English means "to blackride." It means to take the bus without paying for a ticket and hope you don't go through a checkpoint to make sure everyone has paid. It'll be interesting, though, 'cause I have to buy something called a Semmel, which I'm not sure what it is, but I know it's some type of food. Wish me glück!
Oh, and one more thing. I've heard some protests about Austria not being Eastern Europe, but rather Central. While this is true that Austria is predominantly a Central European country, the region I'm in identifies itself with Southeastern Europe instead. I live about 30 minutes from the Slovene border, and about an hour away from Hungary. In fact, my university is Europe's leader in Southeastern European Studies, which it is most proud of. It's cool, too, 'cause so many things here are written in German and then have a Slovene translation. Sometimes there's Italian, too, but mostly it's just Slovene and German. It's still hard to believe I'm really this deep into Europe when I walk down the street and see cars from Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, etc.
Alright, well, that's about it for now. OH WAIT, ONE LAST THING! Sorry for not responding individually to everyone, right now I'm running on a time limit since I have to pay once I leave here, so I'm trying to be as quick as possible while still giving you all updates, but I PROMISE that as soon as I get the internet in my room (cross your fingers for tomorrow--or, as they do in Austria, bury your thumb!), I'll respond to all of you!
Ade!
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Christine
non-member comment
The elusive adapter...sorry about that. I can't wait for the pics!!