Blogs from Styria, Austria, Europe - page 9

Hello all! Today I have officially become an employee of the European Union. I got an email the other day about teaching English, and I met with the woman today , and we chatted about it. The requirements were you had to be a native speaker of English and you had to speak German. Check. I now am employed as "ein Englischsprachtrainer," an English language instructor. I start next week! Typically I'd be teaching people in and around Graz, and I might get some private instructions , but for now I have to go about a half an hour north of here by Brück on der Mur. There's a big company there that is looking for about 30 people to come in and teach the businessmen and women English. I'll have a group of 3-5 people ... read more

Hello all, I realize it's been kind of a while since we last spoke, and have heard that there are some complaints over on that side of the ocean. Who knew my audience was so captivated by my every word? Maybe I should pursue a writing career... Since we last spoke, a lot of has happened, which is why I haven't had time to update on here. As you know from my last post, I am officially accepted to l'Università degli Studi di Pavia, in Italy, about 20 minutes outside of Milan. This sort of threw me for a loop, 'cause even though I had decided to stay in Österreich, nothing had been set in stone yet. We all know, as well, that I'm the king of decision-making , and so Tuesday night was not a ... read more

Since we last spoke, many things have happened. Yesterday, I had the first class of my Geschichte der lateinische Schrift, History of the Latin Alphabet. It was pretty interesting, I could understand a fair amount of what he said , but I was pretty proud of myself. The girl sitting next to me kept trying to look at my notebook when she'd miss a date or something, and I wanted to say to her, "Sweetie, give it up. You ain't gonna find it here!" Anyways, the professor also encouraged all of us to consider a semester or a year abroad in Germany, as it would be a great opportunity to broaden our persepctives on the world. He didn't ask if there were any foreigners, and I decided not to tell. After that, I had my Italian ... read more

I would like to first thank wholehearted my parents for giving potentially the most American/Anglo-Saxon name possible. Kudos, parents, kudos. :-) Today was a very good day. I woke up at about 9 to check my email, as I knew the ÖAD office would be opening at about that time. Of course, I had really been awake since 7 o'clock, when the city workers decided to start jackhammering the street right outside my window...However, I heard from ÖAD and got some pretty good news. Apprently the deal with the German girl leaving my friends' place is that she had to find somebody to take her spot, and she already has, so I can't move there this semester. HOWEVER, I can move there without a problem second semester, should I decide to stay... After having an internal ... read more

I'm pretty wiped out right now, but I'm still going to write this and put up pictures so that everyone knows what's shakin' in Österreich. Yesterday was an awesome day! I had every intention of waking up semi-early and going on the search for a bike, but then my alarm went off and that idea quickly got vetoed. I decided it'd be best just to wait until tomorrow and go to the place Libor knows with really cheap bikes. Thus, I finally slept in and caught up on some much needed sleep. I finally dragged myself out of bed, though, and headed to the train station, since one of my UVM friends was coming for the day! Sophomore year first semester, I took the class, "The Spanish Civil War Through Literature and Film," and there I ... read more