This is beyond late, but for those of you who don't know I'm home safe and sound! I arrived last Thursday evening. After a long, but luckily uneventful day of travel I arrived home, dumped my things in the living room, gave my family a few gifts and then after not too long went to bed and had a nearly 12 hour night of sleep finally in my own comfy bed. My jetlag is pretty much gone and I'm getting back into the routine of being home. It's good to be with family and friends again, although my time in Austria was phenomenal all good things come to an end and I'm happy to be home! Thankyou all for your thoughts and prayers and also for reading my long rambles of my adventures!
-Tess
7:58 PM
7:49 PM
Better late than never...
I spent my last weekend in Austria hiking in the Rax Alps. We took about a 5 hour hike up to our hotel, which was more like a lodge located in the middle of nowhere. It was absolutely gorgeous. When we arrived at the hotel late Saturday afternoon we were in the clouds, literally. The fog was so thick that we couldn't see off of the cliff that the lodge was situated at the top of. The weather that day had been less than gorgeous. It was about 45 or 50 degrees and POURING. I of course was dressed completely inappropriately. I did have a rain coat, and also thought to pack my clothes in plastic bags before placing them in my backpack, but the intelligence ended there. I had on mesh gym shoes, jeans and only a t-shirt and light fleece on under my rain coat, brr! The only thing that remained dry was a bit of my jeans just below my knees, hilarious really! We eventually made it to our final destination and I happily changed my clothes, took a nap on a bench that under any other circumastances would have been horribly uncomfortable, and then after waking up had a bowl of delicious soup that warmed my insides after spending the day freezing. Despite the weather I had a great day filled with gorgeous views and great company. Due to weather and unsafe conditions we all took the cable car down the next day and hopped back on our bus to spend our last few days in Vienna.
1:59 AM
My blog entries are always so long, so I’m going to try to stick this one to a shorter story length as opposed to the typical novel! This week has been pretty average by Vienna Summer School standards… you know if you can call living in Europe for part of the summer average. I won’t go into a day-to-day synopsis, because that usually entails me describing all of the food I eat. However to that effect I must note that I am a nutella convert—I love the stuff! It’s a hazelnut, chocolate, cream spread that has a similar texture to peanut butter. It’s great. Luckily, it can be found in the states unlike many other foods, which I have grown attached to. Also, don’t fret I am still eating plenty of gelato! This week I had a paper to work on that is due Friday morning, which is in only about 10 hours away as I am typing this at my flat to post in the morning when I have internet. It’s a pretty long paper discussing observations about Viennese space bubbles. I won’t bore you with the details, but it is really interesting. You can ask me for more information if you so desire! :) Monday afternoon we had two speakers come into to talk with our class. One was Canadian, the other American. They both married Austrian men and now reside in Vienna. They are both teachers so I greatly enjoyed hearing about the Austrian public system, fascinating stuff! Today was a definite highlight of my trip; I got to visit the United Nations! We had a guided tour of the building in which I learned a TON. It quickly became apparent that I had absolutely no idea the scale of what the UN is doing as well as what it is trying to do. It’s amazing stuff, really. After our tour our teacher took us out to one of her favorite ice cream places and treated us each to our own sundae. I said I wasn’t going to talk about food in this blog entry but old habits die hard. I had a banana split that I cannot begin to explain. It was simply amazing. Our teacher is a lovely woman, and our class consisting of only 5 other girls beside myself made for a great afternoon. I think that catches you up to speed with this past week, now all that’s left is the coming weekend preview! I am headed to the Austrian Alps to go hiking! Our group will leave early Saturday morning to drive partway up the mountain where we will be let off to hike up to our hotel that consists of only 3 showers for our group of 30, and for the girl students like myself large rooms sleeping between 6-7, as Doc our leader joked it’ll be a pajama party! I’m excited, should be a funny evening! The hike to the hotel-ish location takes between 3-7 hours. I’m guessing I’ll probably clock in around five hours. I’d rather not kill myself running up the mountain when I could be enjoying myself and taking everything in! That’s about it for now, only one last aside to say that next Thursday evening I will be arriving in Chicago to enjoy some much needed time at home, I can hardly wait to see all of you! Another update will come after my hiking adventures but until then blessings and peace!
Love, Tess
P.S. I posted another new post below this one, too. It's about my weekend!
1:58 AM
This past weekend (better late than never to write about it, huh?) we had free. This was the largest amount of free time I have been graced with since my arrival in Vienna. Every other Friday we have hopped onto a bus and sped off to another city to spend the weekend, but not this one! Many people elected to travel to other (somewhat) nearby cities; the destinations included Venice, Salzburg, and Munich. Although seeing another city sound fantastic I elected without much tribulation to remain in Vienna. Friday afternoon came and I was simply exhausted and quickly deduced that there was no way that I could have been forced onto a train that afternoon, so I had clearly made the right decision! Friday afternoon a couple of girls and I took a field trip to an old gorgeous church which we thought was located on the edge of Vienna. Turns out it was located outside of Vienna. We boarded a train and arrived at our destination later to find out that we were supposed to have paid extra to ride that specific train because it left Vienna limits (good thing it’s on the honor system and nobody checked, right?) oops! We walked around the picturesque little town and exclaimed that we had in fact left Vienna for the weekend! We met a few others and elected to locate a Chinese restaurant. We intended to find a small family owned place but it had turned into a chain restaurant named Akakiko, whose tagline is “easy Japanese dining.” Although this sounds horrific it is anything but! I had eaten at another Akakiko in Vienna and it was delicious. This restaurant in particular was fantastic because they had a large outdoor garden with beautiful green plants and twinkling lights. We spent the evening pouring over delicious food and great company and conversation.
The next morning we made way for the Spanish riding school. Resulting from our status as cheap college students we decided to go on Saturday morning because they have a practice, which including our fantastic student discount is more ¾ less than a ticket to an actual Sunday morning show. We got to see the beautiful horses walk around and basically just act like horses. They were also training some horses it appeared, so it was cute to see them practicing tricks and getting treats and perking up when the audience clapped for them. After the riding school we met the Hope professor who is leading the group (we call him Doc, short for Dr. Hemenway) as well as a few other students who stayed for the weekend for lunch. We hopped on the U-bahn (subway) and rode until we reached a district far from the city center near the Danube River. The restaurant was situated right along a small bay and served the most delicious food. We also, of course enjoyed great company. That afternoon, relaxing was in order! Three other girls and I set out to one of Vienna’s MANY phenomenal parks with the intention of catching up on some reading for class. After not too long we all closed our books one by one and fell asleep in the lovely summer air. It was likely one of the best naps I’ve had! I continued to relax the rest of the day rounding it out with a visit to an Internet café to enjoy a coke and time to catch up on e-mails and phone calls.
Sunday morning I finally slept in for a bit before going to an English speaking Protestant Church. A couple minutes into the service while saying a corporate prayer I had a few tears—understanding everything around me in a public setting was just so beautiful and comforting. I didn’t realize how much I missed English, and for the first time in a long time an English translation wasn’t a burden. It wasn’t a sense of homesickness that overwhelmed me, but rather a sense of peace. It was in that moment that I became fully content with my time spent and time left in Vienna. I am so ready to come home, but not until Thursday—I still have things that I need to do here first. It was a much needed sign that has put me into a great state of contentment. I wake up excited for the day and fall asleep satisfied that another day has passed. However, moving on from that aside, I then after church met two other girls to go to the zoo. I was skeptical about the high price tag, but after about 30 minutes was enthralled. The zoo is gigantic and filled with so many animals. Highlights include polar bears that liked belly flops, sea lions that were quite “talkative”, giant pandas that sleep on their backs kind of like my dog Emma, and monkeys that chased and jumped on each other. In true form, I forgot my camera, however not to worry I shared a camera and have an embarrassing number of zoo pictures! After the zoo closed we went to a dinner of broccoli corn pizza and chilly white wine mixed with mineral water (can’t knock it until you try it!). It was the perfect weekend filled with as usual good food, fun friends, and amazing sights!
1:39 AM
I've made it one month here! I'm enjoying myself immensly but having two weeks until I can come home is starting to sound more and more fantastic. I think this is the perfect amount of time for me to be gone. I'm still enjoying myself, but I'll be ready to come home when it's time.
So, I've been a blog slacker. I am now going to try and catch you all up to speed as best I can. I finished my first of two classes last week. It was cultural heritage which for all of you non-Hope College people means history, philosophy, and english all rolled into one. I'm not a huge fan of this requirement so although my class was interesting I am thankful to be done with that general education requirement! My new class that I started last Thursday is called Intercultural Communication. We're reading a book called The European Dream. It's a fabulous book, that I honestly enjoy reading. This is a breath of fresh air in itself. We are learning mostly about the differences between Europe and America. Although I initially thought, "No duh they're different, a whole ocean sits between them." we're learning so much more than that. The differences range from obvious to minute. For example, as Americans many of us believe that if we work hard it will be enough to get us to where we want to be. Europeans don't buy into this nearly as often. At first this boggled my mind because my goal in school has always been to work hard and if you get a good grade out of the deal, great. It's just different mindsets. We're starting a project analyzing aspects of Viennese culture. I chose to talk about personal space. I never thought of myself as having a particularly large bubble, however it has been made apparent that I do in fact require more personal space than many local Viennese do. Take lines for example, if I stand too far back from the person in front of me someone else will simply cut straight in front of me without a second thought. It's interesting to think about these assumed rules that at home I don't even notice anymore. Needless to say, I'm loving this class. The 2.5 hour time block which normally turns me into an antsy pantsy little kid flies by because I'm so interested in what I'm learning.
Enough talk of classes--I do other things here, too! I've been quite busy with homework so I haven't been to as many museums as I would have previously thought or desired, but this weekend we have off of all obligations. I have elected to stay in Vienna. Possible adventures include the zoo, art museums, spanish riding school, english speaking protestant church service, etc. Time will tell what I decide to do!
Last night I went to my fourth country since I've been here in Europe (well, fifth if you include that I was in Germany for a while during my underground tour of the salt mines a few weeks back). We travelled to Bratislava, Slovakia for the afternoon. How crazy is it that I just went off to another country for the afternoon?? It is about an hour or so drive. Per usual, we piled onto our bus and set out for our destination. We arrived and met our tour guide who showed us around the city a little. We of course saw a "panoramic view" which made me fall in love with the city. It's a small city that isn't completely overun with tourism, I like it a lot. If I were to make it back here someday I'd want to head back there and spend more time. After our tour we had dinner and then went to the brand new opera house to see the ballet, Swan Lake. The music was great and the dancers breath-taking. I loved every minute of the performance. During intermission we were given champaign. I declined but had a sip of some else's just to see if I liked it. I did not. Maybe it was cheap champaign, or maybe I'm just not an alchohal person, but yuck, haha. Today I have no class because it is a Holy Day and my professor cancelled. The holiday is in latin Corpus Christi, which in English means the body of Christ. Vienna is predominantly catholic so today stores and even some restaurants and museums are closed. I am taking today to do homework/ update my blog that I've been obviously neglecting. Okay, now I'm off to go do homework! If you've just read this, I have another new blog post about Prague below. I hope all is well wherever you may be!
-Tess
1:21 AM
This is late coming, but we got back Sunday night and Monday morning hit the ground running with classes, this week has seemed the busiest yet! Rewind to last Friday: We hopped on our bus and made the approximately 5 hour drive to Prague, Czech Republic. We took a tour of part of the city and then ate dinner at an old monastery. For our appetizer we were served an unidentified meat, we're thinking it was liver. I did not feel compelled to eat more than a tiny bite. We then checked into our hotel room where I quickly proceeded to fall asleep-- I was exhausted! The next morning we woke up early (as always) to have another tour of the city. We of course had to visit a high point of a city for a "panoramic view," European tour guides seem to be obsessed with panoramic views. Next we had special lunch plans, on a boat. Yes, that's right I ate a meal on a boat for the third time since arriving in Europe. Keeping in custom with a meal on a boat it of course rained, but luckily the lower deck where the food was served was completely enclosed on all three boats. The lunch was buffet style complete with fresh fruits and vegetables which I have been craving my entire time here. After that we had free time. We walked around the city, and although it was gorgeous it was hard to see the real Prague I feel. It felt like a tourist attraction, and we fit right in. It was still gorgeous to see though! A few friends and I went to an Italian restaurant which was delightful. We sat and had great conversation over some of the best plates of pasta I have ever tasted. Next on the list was tickets to what we thought was a blacklight show. Turns out it was a multimedia dance show. It was the first multimedia theater in Prague, so still very cool. The dance was modern and sometimes weird, bu interesting and an experience all the same. A few girls and I then left to head back to the hotel early. We hopped on to the tram that took us through some very scetchy areas, but we arrived safe and sound right in front of our hotel. Sunday morning we took a tour of Jewish Prague, then had free time for lunch and last minute shopping or errands. I of course had to have gelatto after lunch in keeping with my routine. As we were walking back to the bus it began to rain, signaling our goodbye to the city we got back on the bus and trecked back to Vienna. It's interesting I absolutely love my experiences travelling, but I think I picked the right city to be in, I love Vienna the most! Maybe it's because I have a phenomenal host and unlimited passes to all public transportation which I now navigate like a pro. (Would you believe me if I told you I don't get lost, and can actually read a map? Beleive it!)
Love to all!
-Tess
5:36 AM
Week one--Rachel, Leah, and I at the highest point of Vienna.
Salzburg weekend! From left to right: Rachel, Me, Leah, and Bri
Hungarian Parliament.
A view of Budapest on our tour!
Better late than never: this is the street that my flat is on! I live on the fourth floor a couple of doors down from the green building on the left.
For those of you with extra time on your hands I added even more pictures onto my other photo album. I'll post the link again for you! Click Here!
Enjoy! Love, Tess
7:19 AM
Before I launch into this past weekends adventures, I must note that I saw the Nutcracker Ballet. It was beautiful and again made me miss dancing and gymnastics! I went with three other girls from my program and had a perfect evening!
After that aside I must move to my weekend trip to Budapest. I never expected to find myself in Budapest. I have envisioned myself in France and England, but this trip has turned those plans upside down and launched me into the fascinating world of Central and Eastern Europe. I did not know what to expect at all. We arrived in the city and took after a dinner at the hotel hopped back onto our tour bus for a driving/ walking tour of the city. In Budapest you can feel worlds and experiences colliding. It is a city that truly tells a story. One our way into the city we drove past old roman ruins. They appear on the side or even in the middle of the road. Closer to the city old apartment buildings begin to come into view. They are run down and immediately made me think of the projects in Chicago. Our tour guide informed us that the communists built these as housing. After that introduction it became plainly obvious that this place was behind the iron curtain. Old communist monuments have been changed to celebrate freedom, but the lasting impression remains. Mixed in are old beautiful buildings from many eras including many designed in the art nouveau style. The buildings radiate beauty except for the great deal of damage they have obviously endured. This damage remains from the war. There are chunks of stone blown away from buildings, many literally crumbling from wear. This sounds like complaint of dissatisfaction. It was anything but. I felt as if I was walking in a history book, this city really had things to say to its visitors. Saturday we had entirely too much free time to contend with. We had a delicious outdoor lunch and then made our way to explore. Throughout our aimless wandering we spent easily a couple of hours in total on public transportation. This was an adventure in itself. In Vienna you must have a ticket, but are rarely checked, in Budapest I could hardly walk anywhere without showing my ticket to be allowed onto the subway or tram. The subway system is very old, and sometimes we felt as if the train car was going to deteriorate around us—this was quite entertaining I must say. We saw both the Buda and Pest side, as well as the island that lies in the middle of the Danube separating the two. The weather began to look ominous and Rachel, Leah, and I wisely decided to find an indoor location to spend the rest of our free time. We found a café and chose to each order a cold chocolate. Although this sounds deceptively similar to chocolate milk it was one thousand times better. It contained lots of milk, but the stomachache I later incurred was worth it. We then ate dinner on a boat (may I note this is the second time we have done this on the trip.) We were served a delicious stew, which tasted fabulous after we had been standing in the frigid rain for literally 30 minutes because our boat decided to park on a different dock and not tell us, yeah oops. We then hopped back on the bus and went back to the hotel where my two roommates for the weekend and I played Dutch Blitz. This game is fantastic and hilarious. I plan to purchase it and teach it to people, get ready for it! Sunday we went to an adorable town outside of Budapest that is primarily small cafes and shops. I purchased many things to take home for gifts; I was very excited for this! The currency in Hungary is hilarious. They are called Florins, but the value is MUCH different than a euro or dollar. For example, one dollar converts to 200 Florins. Seeing the prices was really funny because when charged 1,000 florins for something initially seemed ridiculous but turns out that’s about $5. We decided it was similar to spending monopoly money, it didn’t feel real! We drove home and I traveled back to my flat stopping for a brief dinner. My host Frau invited me to enjoy a piece of leftover birthday cake from her daughter and kindly sat down to chat about my weekend. She is a delightful woman who has quickly become somewhat of a relative figure. I am blessed to be able to live in her home!
This is very long, I am so sorry. However, I am not done yet. We’re nearing the halfway mark, the first session students leave Thursday. Second session students come this tomorrow (Tuesday) so we’ll have one full day together as a cohesive Vienna Summer School group.
Permission to quit reading: this is a much less exciting part of my blog, but it’s honest. I’m starting to feel the first real hints of being homesick. I’m over the honeymoon “oh my gosh I’m in Europe” phase and realizing the reality of still being away for three more weeks. I am enjoying myself immensely all the same. It is difficult being a college student and not wanting to drink. It’s a reminder that I’m just a little different but also an amazing reminder that I am so blessed to have the friends at Hope that I do—people that support and understand my decision. Seriously, you guys are great and I am beyond blessed and thankful to have you in my life. This is not all to say that I think drinking is wrong, but simply that I’d rather enjoy a good glass of white wine at a cute restaurant here in Vienna as opposed to frequenting bars.
No more complaints. I’m off to write a paper and then have dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant with a few friends! I hope all is well know that you have all been in my thoughts and prayers!
6:58 AM
This past weekend I went to Salzburg, it was a great experience filled with many different events. Friday afternoon we stopped in Melk to see an Abbey on our way to Salzburg. It was gorgeous and an extremely informative experience. We arrived to our hotel that night in Hellbrun, a town just outside of Vienna. The next day we took a tour of the city, and then travelled to an old fortress that used to protect the city. I have some pictures a lot of that; you can click on the link again and go to the end of my pictures. I have yet to put on captions of what exactly things are, that will happen sometime soon, I promise. Sunday morning we visted an old salt mine. We put on these crazy white suits and travelled into what used to be an active mine. It was extremely interesting. While we were there we crossed the border into Germany. The day went from adventurous and exciting to emotional when we drove next to Mauthausan, a concentration camp in Austria. It was an experience indescribable. To place my feet on the same ground where so much terror insued was a heart wrenching experience. I chose to take no pictures. If you want to know more about this feel free to send me an e-mail but talking more about it in a blog feels strange and innapropriate. Shifting gears I arrived back in Vienna Sunday night safe and sound. My class has only 5 days left. We then have a final and a days break before I start my next class. Many people will be leaving after the first class, but then a new group comes also. It will be a change of pace which should shake things up in the best of ways. I plan to attend the Nutcracker Ballet this thursday night, providing I am able to get tickets. Shows are extremely expenisve here, but through careful planning it's possible to get good and affordable tickets for just about anything! Friday we are off again for a weekend trip. This weekends destination: Budapest. I'm not sure what we're doing exactly, but I'll tell you that when I return! I've received requests for pictures of the place where my classes are and the street my flat is situated on. I will do this soon, my goal is to take the pictures tonight/ tomorrow morning so you should have them soon! For now, here are pictures from this weekend! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046774&id=1149750801&l=1b9bc1cad1
Much LOVE!
3:47 AM
Nothing earth shattering has happened in the last 24 hours, however I finally have a few pictures! My computer knowledge is currently failing me, so I cannot get them to post here, however you can click on this link to view them! http://www.facebook.com/album.
4:54 AM
I'm finally starting to settle in and feel really at home here. My roommate has gone home, so now I am alone at my homestay. Selfishly this is very nice because I get along beautifully with my host Frau so I get to talk with her more than I would otherwise. I've become a pro at my streetcar that I take to get to and from class, but am not very fond of going home after dark. There are people around but I'm paranoid-- I have walking home alone in HOLLAND. Luckily, last night a few friends took a detour to my house because it's so close to ensure that I got home safely before they went to their homestays. That was really nice. We had been at a small local winery where being me: I ordered apple strudel. It was delicious! I think it's a good thing I walk my way through Vienna because in the process I eat my way through Vienna. Me and two of my friends: Bri and Biz found this amazing place for lunch. It's this chicken sandwich on delicious bread. We went there for the second time this week and the man remembered us, including that I don't like onions, when we left he said "see you later" it was hilarious, and also sticking with the common theme-- delicious. I eat ice cream nearly everyday, and I am quickly forming specific opinions about my favorites. I tried Grapefuit ice cream, which although somewhat tart and sour was to die for. My class which I had previously assumed would be at least somewhat boring is proving to be really interesting. I have more of a knack for history and philosophy than I thought. It's a ton of reading, not hard just time consuming. The next few days hold more adventures. Tonight a few friends of mine have planned a trip to the Albertina art museum which I have been looking forward to since day one. This weekend I'm off to Salzburg, I'll leave on friday afternoon (aka the middle of the night for all of you). I'll be back sunday night, meaning that I'll have internet access again on monday if I don't update before then. Hope all is well, miss you all!!
11:39 PM
Updating a blog is tricky I’ve already come to notice. I want to say everything that I’ve been doing, however I do not have the time to write it, nor do you have the time to read it. As you know from the previous update I had safe travels. Went to Morbisch (spelling?), which is an hour outside of Vienna for orientation. It was a relaxing start to the trip; interestingly enough we were able to walk to Hungary from our hotel. It was just country, so we didn’t see much. We did get to see the old security check in, which since Hungary joined the EU we didn’t actually have to have our passports to get in, there was nobody of authority there. Apparently years prior there were guards with guns checking passports, but no longer! We arrived in Vienna on Friday. We met our host families and were taken home. My host Frau is very kind. She seems prim and proper, but this is due to her old age not lack of a kind heart. She invited me to join her for strawberry cake (yum!). I am staying with another Hope student, but I don’t see her much, but I like my alone time so it is just as well. My homestay is 30 minutes walking, but about 15 or less by street-car (think San Francisco). We have unlimited rides on any public transportation and as a result of quickly mastered the tram (street-car) and U (underground train) systems. I shockingly have good bearings on where things are in the city considering I am directionally challenged. I have been eating very good food, attempting to cautiously try new things (which has been very successful!). This morning I saw the Vienna Boys Choir: gorgeous voices! Later we went to the Vienna woods and then traveled to the highest part of the city, which revealed breathtaking views. I am enjoying myself so much, there are about a thousand things on my to-do list. I think six weeks will be a great length of time to be here. I could not picture myself away for an entire semester—this is exactly what I needed. I haven’t had a ton of culture shock, just little things such as hard beds that have only a fitted sheet and comforter, no top sheet. The largest thing is language, obviously. I feel kind of stupid, having to always ask for English. I plan to take the optional German conversation courses so that I can stop looking like a total idiot. People immediately turn and look at us when they hear our language. I don’t blame them, I do it to people at home! I hope that was a sufficient and hopefully not too long of an update! I love and miss all of you very much!
P.S. I forgot my camera cord in my flat, so I’ll add pictures tomorrow! :)
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