Happy Austria Day!

Sunrise over Hollabrunn

 To be completely honest, I’m bored. I’m frustrated. And I’m really sick of living in the Sporthotel.

 I feel like I’m waiting for something, and I’m not sure what that something is. Today I managed to stay in bed until 12:30. 12:30. WHAT?! I’ve never done that. That’s over twelve hours of sleep. *Ok, to be fair, I haven’t slept well the last two nights because of the insane wind..no seriously…in my state of sleeping delirium I though a tornado was about to touch down in Hollabrunn, Austria. Its been pretty crazy here..* I played the wake up and fall back asleep game until I finally came to my senses. Today we’re off because of the national holiday, and next week we have three days sans school. Sweet deal.

I cannot wait to get paid. As of now I’m doing fine financially, but it doesn’t help that I’ve had to buy so much food since we can’t cook. Frequent trips to Vienna to look at flats have also added up. I just want to hop on a train to the Czech Republic, or anywhere, but I can’t until we get paid- November 15^th.

I’m not sure if I’m totally here. Serge, Nisha, and I have just returned from McDonald’s where we heard Teddy Geiger (“for you, I will”…oh man, High School) Maroon Five, Aretha Franklin, and Adele. I had a Chai and a chocolate muffin, it felt just like Starbucks. While I’m clearly in Austria, I’m ready to really feel like I’m here. To get my groove on. To live in the city and to have a routine that involves real person things. Not just some combination of school and McDonald’s/Kebap/Coffee and hours on my computer. I’m over it.

Given the opportunity to do nothing, quite frankly the three of us tend to do nothing. I often go for walks but the weather has been pretty miserable as of late. I should be studying German.

Trees!

While I am exceedingly happy to be living in Austria, a huge part of me misses home. This weekend I missed my grandmother’s services in NY and Pittsburgh. This left me feeling very empty as I knew my family was together celebrating her life. I decided to walk in the Vienna woods and enjoy plenty of chocolate things just as grandma would have. Of course this was lovely. I miss fall in Ithaca more than I can say. Pumpkin Ice Cream at Purity. Fall on the lake. Everything. Fall here has been quite underwhelming so far. I can’t decide if it really hasn’t started yet, or this is it.



Hiking



Ranting aside, I will be able to move into my apartment on Sunday evening, though I probably will sometime Monday or Tuesday. I am beyond excited to move to Vienna! Yesterday I explored the surrounding streets and found boutiques, a cupcake shop (yes), art galleries, a traditional Bohemian restaurant, theatres, and a gorgeous church. Not to mention I’m a five minute’s walk from the Opera and Museumsquartier. The girls are wonderful, and I’m sad to see Amaya leave. I feel like we’d have a lot of fun together! However, I am taking her room, and am so thankful for a place to call home. I think it’ll be a great eight months with Gabriella, and I can’t wait to see her perform! (Both are actresses).

I’ll be out of this phase soon, I’m sure. I just have to get through.



More hiking



I did attend a mixer at the Austrian American society last week. I met a lot of nice people and hope meet up with them again soon. Another plus- free wine and food! By the way, if you're reading this Cliff Katz, Meredith and I are waiting. Get your butt out here now!

Serge, Nisha, Sam, Robyn and I went out on Friday night to Hollabrunn's "nightclub." Capris is a bar/restaraunt with multiple purple rooms full of zebra print things. We enjoyed cocktails and ran into a few of our students. They're not a day over sixteen, but legal in Europe!

In other news, I’ve met three more classes and all have gone well. This week I taught about the Industrial Revolution, American Houses, Facebook, Halloween, and Gender Double Standards. When introducing herself to me, a student said her Father has 199 children. Hmm. I wonder what she really meant. I smiled, nodded, and turned to the next student.

Be well,

Muffin