On October 24th, the AIFS group headed off to Wien. It was immediately a fun city. Though I was exhausted, Vienna gave off the aura of a capitol city. I am familiar with this aura from having visited Washington DC, but this was quite different. Vienna embodies a deep and very rich history. It exerts its own love of the arts like a painter working furiously, yet quietly. Vienna is huge. Vienna is fun. I like Salzburg, but once I realized what Vienna is like I began to ask myself why on earth I didn't study there instead. But it's ok--I just need to return someday!
Of all the interesting things I did while there, one of the most interesting was visiting what was once the home of Sigmund Freud. He lived in that house for 47 years (and most of his life in Vienna) and is where he developed his practice, and therefore most, if not all, of his ground-breaking theories on the human mind. This was positively surreal. I couldn't believe where I was.
Another highlight of my time spend there was the group trip to the Schoenbrunn palace. This place is awesome, as well as absolutely huge. Austrian royalty used to live there, so the place is amazing. It's slightly cheesy, but I bought earrings in the gift shop. However, as I debated purchasing them, I decided that it was like hitting 3 birds with one stone: I had a souvenir from Schoenbrunn, from Vienna, and the earrings include Swarovski crystals (which come from Austria). Perfect!
On our way back to Salzburg, we stopped in a town called Melk (which sounds like the way I was brought up pronouncing "milk") to see a monastery.
Since Vienna, I haven't been up to anything too extraordinary. Homework has been increasing, so I must mind that. However, yesterday I, 2 other AIFS students, and an AIFS guide went to see the Lake District. The weather didn't cooperate very well, but it was cool to see nonetheless. In between the many many bus rides all over the Lake District, in a tiny town called Monksberg, we saw the church where the wedding scene in The Sound of Music was filmed. : )
This past Tuesday was fun. With the exception of my new shoes which turned out to be the most horrid things on the planet, Tuesday evening was a fun event spent viewing the Russian Ballet perform Swan Lake. Those crisp white tutus made me want to try one on, except I think I would look much different than those ballerinas who held their knees next to their ears with complete ease. : )
It's been unusually warm this past week. On Wednesday it got up to 78 degrees in the sun! No one could believe it. It's much cooler now, but still--it's November! Anyway, Wednesday was a day of discovery. First, I planned to leave my house a little early so I could get some lunch before class. It ended up being a very good thing that I left early because I unexpectedly ran into construction that caused more traffic than I've ever seen in Salzburg. In a place where traffic flows pretty well, this was extremely irritating. I was shouting things in my head that I haven't heard since being on I-40 in Raleigh. My stomach was going to absolutely kill me during class if I didn't manage to get something in it, so once I finally got off the bus, I quickly stopped at a little bakery with just 5 minutes to spare. I got a schoko-croissant. A chocolate croissant. This little baked good was absolutely divine.
After class, I got a real lunch with a friend and ate it on the side of the Salzach--the river that runs through Salzburg. It was so warm in the sun, I felt like I was baking. But I have to admit that it felt very nice to just eat, talk, and relax next to a river with a view of the city.
This past week would've been an exciting one to spend in the states, with the election and all. However, it's been very interesting to see first-hand an international response. Obama has been dominating the media here since he won. We American students were told that Europeans are probably going to be nicer to us (because they seem to assume that we like whoever our current president is, and Bush isn't exactly favored over here). Yes, many Europeans like Obama. Austria just had an election too, but there seems to be more hype surrounding America's!
Anyway, I'm quite tired. I will post pictures of the things I mentioned in this entry, hopefully tomorrow. As for now, guten Nacht und auf wiedersehen!
Hillary
