Sunday in Vienna

Back at the beginning of December, I went to a teaching conference in Vienna. There is much to be said about that trip but for this post I am going to focus on one of the loveliest Sundays I have had in a long while.

So here it is! A recipe for a wonderful Sunday in the capital of this country I call my (current) home:

1. Go to church...but not just any church. Make sure to pick one that is almost 700 years old, that was home to weddings of, you know, just the Hapsburgs (NBD), and has musical masses on Sunday mornings for wandering tourists and locals alike. 

2. Visit one of the world's most beautiful libraries and stare at the intricately painted ceiling until your neck hurts.

3. See some famous sites like the home of Sacher Torte.

4. Spend the afternoon pondering what life would have been like as a member of the Imperial Hapsburg family at Schloss Schönbrunn.

 5. Christmas shop while drinking Glühwein and listening to carolers in front of the palace.

6. Ride cute city trolleys.

7. Find the Fulbright offices and take pictures of and with the tiny little sign in the swanky artsy Museums Quartier!

8. Get standing room seats at the Staatsoper and enjoy an evening of Viennese opera culture.

9. Enjoy Christmas lights in the city.

 (Vienna is so classy. Light up chandeliers!)

10. Finish the night with some yummy Punsch over at MQ.

**Credit to Amanda for most of the pictures here (i.e. the ones not from an old iPhone)...this was during the sad time in which I was camera-less**

An Afternoon in Milan

I have to be honest with my readers, all 4 of you. Milan was never really anywhere near the top of my list of places to visit. However, on my recent trip to the Lake Como area I decided it was just too close to pass up. Plus, a friend of mine from language school in Middlebury, VT is on a research Fulbright there. So passing up an afternoon of good company, good gelato, and good fun in Milano was out of the question. I needed to go. 


I hopped on a train mid-morning from the town of Varenna, which also happens to be adorable in its own right. See?

 Varenna is home to tons of trees that remind me of the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter. So there is that added bonus.

Anyways, I arrived in Milan in the afternoon saying goodbye to a new friendfrom the hostel, Fiona, at the train station and saying hello to my friend Steven. Now, I never call this kid Steven. He has always been Stufe Eins (German for "Level One") to me. Like I said, we met at language school. I am not going to go into all that but sufficient to say he is even in my Austrian phone as Stufe Eins...so there.

Seeing as how I was pretty hungry from the train ride (and the fact that I am on a two-hour feeding schedule like an infant), Stufe Eins and I decided to hit up this Panzerotti place. There was a serious line of locals when we arrived that only became longer as the day went on. In fact, when we went by later on the line was as long as a city block out the door. That's how yummy this place was. 

While we munched on this snack we wandered our way through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuela, where I took part in some tourist tradition of turning my heal on this mosaic of a bull on the ground for good luck. I am a sucker for lame tourist traditions like this, especially in Italy (Trevi fountain, anyone?). 

Afterwards, Stufe Eins and I hit up what is likely the best gelato place I have EVER been to. It was actually a bit overwhelming, in the most wonderful and delightful way. No, I don't think you understand. Here is their website. Just click on the Mmmmmmmm!

We ate our gelato waiting in line to pay so we could climb to the top of the Duomo and have a look around. I definitely think it was worth it. The cool thing about the Duomo in Milan is that is actually made of pink marble! Not only that, but it has tons of unique spires and gargoyles to explore and stare at from its roof. We spent a good long while wandering around seeing the different views and taking some sweet pictures. 

Evidence of previous statement:

 And no European city is complete without a nakey boobie clock, of course!

We also took a lap indoors. It was your basic super impressive European cathedral with some unique touches. I like the framed art suspended in the center part of the santuary. I had never seen that before. Stufe Eins and I also awkwardly stood in line inside a crypt to see...well, actually, we never really figured out what we were supposed to be seeing. So many people were lined up though we figured it must be important enough to have a look. Not so much. At least to us, anyhow.

Highlight of the inside is this statue. Rick Steeves had some good things to say about it but I won't bore you. Pictures are better.

None of those lovely sights compared to what came next, however.

Steven and I ventured over to another part of the city where the castle is. We had no intention of paying to go in but I still wanted to see it. At this point, I was just hanging around and just sort of seeing what there was to see before I boarded a train back to Varenna. Not for long though. My plans eventually changed and I took a much later train than anticipated.

Why?

Because of a random Celtic festival held on the grounds behind the castle!!!!! That's why!!!!

It was such a bizarre surprise. What a typical travel coincidence! We happened to keep wandering even though I could have just as easily headed to the train earlier. See what a ridiculous event I would have missed? We spent the next hour watching some sort of battle reenactment, wandering the fake celtic campsites seeing weavers and glassblowers alike, and shopping in the booths. Great fun! We also had some delicious beer and food at the festival for relatively cheap. The beer was actually along the lines of micro-brews found back home. This pleased me.

So after an afternoon of fun I hugged Stufe Eins goodbye, thanked him for his hospitality, and hopped on the train back to Varenna.

And what happened next with the people pictured below is a story for another day...

Orientation ... let's make party!

So starting on the 26^th of September, we had orientation in Saalbach-Hinterglemm.

It’s a resort town that is fairly far from where I live, relatively speaking. For those visual learners out there…here is a map.

For all of the seminars and teacher-y things, they divided us into groups that were based on our geographical regions. Since Vorarlberg is pretty small, they combined us with Tirol. Making a super group called TV. We are rockstars. TV is made up of some of the coolest people from all over the U.S. and Britain. Oh yeah, the British Council also sends TA’s here, too. So needless to say, I learned a lot of British English in a couple of days.

 view from my bedroom in the place we stayed

Orientation was basically all about teaching us how to be teachers, which I thought was kinda funny. Mainly because…I thought I already did that?!?! And it took 4.5 years not 4.5 days. Oh well, it’s still nice to get an idea of what is expected over here as opposed to back home.

Orientation was also a big intro to Austrian life. In other words, we went on a hike. Herbert, the totally awesome little grandpa-like Austrian in charge of orientation, told us it was going to be very cold on said hike. Ha! It was the exact opposite. This was a problem for me because I took Herbert seriously. Being a Georgia peach, if someone says it’s going to be cold and they are not from the South, I take that to mean I need layers and layers of warm clothing. So I dressed in long pants, warm socks, long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, a cardigan, and a scarf. Who was I kidding?

I must also tell you what they fed us before this hike.

Schnitzel and fried chicken!

Overwhelmed with excitement at the offering of fried food goodness, I enjoyed multiple servings of both…most likely grossing out the people at my lunch table. Honestly, I ate an obscene amount of schnitzel, chicken, and potatoes. 

Then immediately afterwards....hiked up a mountain. In hot weather. Dressed for frigid temperatures that never came. Let’s just say it didn’t take long for the meat sweats to kick in. Gross, I know. Thank God a fellow Vorarlberg girl named Amanda was going at my pace. I made it though and even did the optional climb to the very top (after a long rest and fresh alpine water).

Here are some pictures from that lovely hike…. notice my silly layers around my waist.

It was really beautiful!

Anyways, I made some super sweet friends that are in different places all across this beautiful country. Hopefully, that means I’ll have tour guides and free lodging in a variety of cities. 

I’ll leave you with the great words that Herbert spoke to us over the P.A. system the last morning to wake us all up after celebrating the end of orientation the night before:

Read in an elderly Austrian accent

“Good Morning! I know life is hard sometimes. Arise from your beds and come downstairs and eat something from our breakfast. It should renew your spirits.”

P.s. I may or may not have been shanghaied into teaching everyone at orientation the electric slide. 

I have started seriously looking.

At flights and train schedules that is. 


I think, at least as of right now, that I'll leave the U.S. of A. on the 14th of September. 


Then, I'll take a train to Bregenz getting me there at around 3 p.m. local time. So I'll have plenty of daylight left in my new city to explore a bit. First stop after my apartment: the shore of the lake. My mom has commented how funny it is that I am moving from one lake to another. It's true. Apparently, I am accustomed to marine environments. However, this one will also have something prettier than water; I will be surrounded by mountains. :)


I am getting both excited and nervous as I don't really know what it will be like there. Will I fall in love with Austria more than I fell in love with Germany? Will the people be friendlier? I have heard that's true but it's hard to judge such comments sometimes. I hope I enjoy teaching there as much as I do here. And in case my colleagues intimidate me, I hope that my students are at least kind and interesting. I had a thought a while back that at some point I should start putting together some lesson plans to have on hand for the beginning. I haven't done that yet but maybe this week. I have some ideas for sure.


I am excited to see what God is going to teach me this year through my experiences. Last time I learned about the importance of the church and fellowship. I have a feeling this time around will probably be more about trust and obedience. But who am I to predict the course of life? Mt lesson might simply be to enjoy life and its many blessings


...among them train rides, mountains, lakes, and the satisfaction of getting to do what I love for a little money. 


We shall see.