The pace of life just never slows down...

I'll try and get some pics to add soon...

After our nine days of gallivanting around Eastern Europe, as I settled into my bed Sunday night I desperately hoped that I would be able to get a decent amount of rest and enjoy my first week of classes.  I got about half of what I requested.  Classes were interesting (more to come on that later), but there was certainly no excess rest to make up for all the lost sleep of the previous week and a half.

I’m taking sixteen hours of classes this semester. Davidson College only does credits and not hours, so I’ve never operated on this system before, though it isn’t particularly hard to adjust to.  Monday I didn’t have class until 1:15, so I was looking forward to sleeping in.  My plans changed Sunday evening, however, when I was informed that four Davidson students currently studying in Geneva would be arriving in Vienna around 8:30 a.m. and they would need some assistance finding our place (where they would spend two nights).  Thus, I was up by 8:30 playing host.  They easily found the correct U-bahn (subway) stop and I walked Richard Ruffner, Andrew Brown, William Reigel, and Ben Carey back to my apartment.  After a couple hours of catching up, Pat and I walked them to the Opera House where they started a tour out of a book.  Pat and I returned to our apartment to get our stuff for class (and I took a 20 minute nap) and then headed out ourselves for the day.

My first class was Austrian Art and Architecture at 1:15 with Professor Ottersböck.  She’s a really nice, slightly older lady who grew up in the states.  Through the class I’ll get to see most of the major architectural phenomena in Vienna as well as have guided tours and lectures in most of the major art museums.  On Mondays we meet in the institute for class, and each Wednesday (after the first one) we spend touring a different building or museum.  It should be really interesting.

My second class of the day is at 6:20 in the evening – Cross Cultural Philosophy.  My professor is Geza Kallay and he commutes every week from Budapest.  He teaches my class and one other on Monday evenings, spends one night at a hotel, teaches the same two classes the next morning, and then trains back to Budapest to teach at the university there.  This class as well should be really interesting; there is a lot of discussion (which I love) and we’ll probably just spend most of the time asking deep questions that really aren’t answerable anyway.

By the time we got home (Pat and I share both classes on Mondays) our guests had already eaten and were relaxing down in the Naschmarkt.  After relaxing and letting Pat and I eat a little food, the six of us plus our roommate Tad headed out on the U-bahn for the first district.  We ended up at a local establishment named the Bermuda Brau where we hung out for a few hours.  By the time we left the U-bahn was closed, so we had to walk home.  Fortunately it was a nice night, and this provided the opportunity to stop and get food on the way.  We made it back and set everyone up on a couch with at least something to cover his legs (in Williams case it was a hoody) and we all went to sleep. 

Tuesday morning I have German at 9.  Thus, I was up and out of the house by 8:35, at which point I woke everyone else up so they could start their day.  Our cleaning lady also comes every other Tuesday, so it was a little hectic making sure everyone was out of the apartment.  My German class will be fine; I have a different professor from the intensive course so it will take a little while to feel her out, and I’m not particularly sold on how we take notes in class, but it’ll all be ok.  I’m still in the same class with David so at least I still have someone with whom I can do my work.

At 11:50 I have Cross Cultural Philosophy, which left me enough time in between to go down the street and get a little extra breakfast.  Unfortunately, I also have class at 1:25, so I don’t get to eat lunch until nearly 3.  My 1:25 class is entitled “Europe Beyond the Nation State” and is taught by Professor Gerlich.  So far it has just been about the EU (which I guess is what Europe is besides nation states), and it looks like it may just be a semester long version of the four week briefing on the EU I had in Western Europe at Davidson last year.

My final class of the day is another Poli Sci class – The New European Security Architecture taught by Professor Neuhold.  He is a very serious man who occasionally cracks a joke, but it’s hard to tell when you’re supposed to smile and when you shouldn’t, though he told us he wants everyone to smile at least once per class period.  Anyway, the class focuses on what threats Europe faces now (as opposed to fifty years ago) and how Europe and the U.N. are going to face said problems.  Like the rest of my classes, it should be pretty interesting.

That night our visitors picked a local schnitzel restaurant named Schnitzelwirt and we all went out.  The portions here are huge and the prices are the lowest in the city, so it was a fantastic meal.  Afterwards they went out to try and catch the second half of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino at the Oper and Pat and I went home.  A couple hours later they showed up and we all decided that since they had to get up early and Pat and I were still behind on sleep that it would be best if we all just went to bed. 

Tobi and I at the Rapid game on Saturday

Wednesday morning Rich woke me up about 8:15 to say goodbye.  I made sure they knew where they were going and thanked them for coming.  Once they left I immediately returned to bed.  I got up about 11 because the only class I have on Wednesdays is Austrian Art and Architecture (AAA).  This first Wednesday we met and had class, but from now on we’ll be going on a tour every Wednesday of a different monument or museum in Vienna.

Thursday I have the same schedule as Tuesday except without philosophy around noon.  Also, Patrick left early in the morning to leave and visit his girlfriend Katie in Edinburgh for the weekend (actually until Monday).  Thursday evening I went to a café in the fourth district to meet Felix Petsovits, a young man here with whom my Uncle David connected me.  Felix did an internship with AFS in NYC this summer where he met David, so I was given his contact information when I left to travel to Vienna.  We sat and talked for about an hour at which point I suggested we go to the Pub Quiz IES was hosting.  This is pretty much just a trivia game at a pub.  Felix invited a friend as well.  The questions were bilingual so it was extremely helpful to have him there.  We got fourth out of a dozen teams, so I guess we did all right.  It was pretty fun though and Felix got to meet most of my friends, so we had a good time.

Friday I have German class at 9 and that’s it.  Once again, after class I immediately went back to bed.  I woke up again about 2 and prepared to start my day.  I found I had two Facebook notifications and two emails from Allison Jones, a friend from Davidson, that said she was in town with Kerry Meyer (another Davidson friend) and that they were just walking around and wanted to hang out.  It also turns out that David went to high school with Kerry, so the four of us went and got coffee at the Museumsquartier.  David had to leave so I walked with Allison and Kerry to the Naschmarkt.  We spent some time there and then went to go eat dinner.  They asked for something traditionally Viennese, so I took them to Schnitzelwirt because I liked it so much.  We got one regular schnitzel and one “a la Mexicana” just to see what it would be.  It turned out to be some kind of ham and cheese with paprika combination.  Still, it all tasted great and we couldn’t finish them both (which just meant we had leftovers we could take David. 

The Rapid team after the game

That night we walked down Mariahilferstrasse (the big commercial street near our house) to find a new place or two to hang out.  Allison and Kerry decided to call it quits relatively early due to their long day, and their place wasn’t particularly far, so I walked them home and then went back to find David and our other friends, Roger, Laura, and Aliza.  We found a spot to hang out for a while, but it wasn’t particularly fun, so we ended up going to an area named the Gertle and visiting one of our favorite places, Chelsea.  It was an 80s themed night, and after about an hour and a half of hearing great song after great song I was tired and hungry, so I called it quits.

The next day Allison and Kerry were going on a self-guided bike tour, which worked out great because I was going to a Rapid Wien game with a bunch of IES people and Tobi.  We went to a restaurant for lunch near the stadium and then poured in along with the other 15,000 fans.  There was a really cool “Rapid Zone” (a bunch of connected tents) outside the stadium that was kind of like one big tailgate.  We hung out there for a while and then went into the stadium.  It’s no Arrowhead, but for a smaller European league it’s pretty nice.  We chose to stand at the top instead of sit in our seats, which were already pretty high up.  The game was against KSV Kapfenburg and did not lack excitement: KSV scored in the 10^th minute, Rapid in the 19^th, KSV in the 50-something, Rapid in the 70-something, and then finally Rapid scored again in the 94^th minute (the fourth minute of four minutes of extra time) to seal a 3-2 victory.  The really crazy part was the "Rapid" fan section. In one endzone section behind a goal all of the fanatics sit.  And by sit, I mean they stand the entire game and yell and sing and cheer and clap and wave flags and go nuts.  The opposite endzone is similar - they call it the little brother.  It was honestly so cool to watch, and a little bit scary.  They yelled whatever a guy with the megaphone told them too.  I almost half-way understood how radicalism begins...

Their devotion is unbelievable

By the end of the game it was raining so we all went back to our respective apartments.  Eventually I went out and found Allison and Kerry who were at a café and took them to get Kasekrainers – bratwursts that have cheese in them.  They are so, so good.  Allison did a phenomenal job this weekend; she’s a vegetarian but she was very open to eating the traditional meat dishes in Vienna (apparently she’s doing the same in Florence).  After getting our food we walked back to my apartment where we hung out with David.  Again Allison and Kerry had spent the whole day out, so they were tired, and I was also reasonably exhausted from the game.  They decided just to take a cab back to their place because they had to catch a train at 7 a.m. to Budapest, and out of exhaustion I stayed in and watched college football then went to sleep.

Today has been really relaxing.  The weather still isn’t great so I did a lot of things around the apartment and for classes.  Sorry this was so long and there aren't pictures, but thanks for reading!