Viennese Life!

Hello again! Apologies for the lack of blog entries....but it means that I have been enjoying Vienna! As of today, I have lived in my apartment for one week! It feels like I have been here for a lot longer than that, and also that I have known my roommates/other friends for a really long time as well.

This past week, and for the next 2 weeks, I am taking an intensive German class. It's for almost 3 hours in the morning (9-11:45), and after that I have the rest of the day to myself! After class I've been going to the Donauinsel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donauinsel), where I lay out in the grass and swim in the water (or rather just jump in and quickly get back out), walking around the Kertnerstrasse, one of the largest shopping streets in Vienna (it is a pedestrian-only street that links St. Stephen's Cathederal and the Opera House), and just frolicking around Vienna in general. Every night during the summer, Vienna puts on a filmfestival in front of the Rathaus, the city hall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathaus,_Vienna). A GIANT screen is put up in front of the building, and they play operas, ballets, etc. on the screen. It's free for anyone to come and a VERY popular spot, as there are also resturant and bar tent type things set up all around it. I went to a Biergarten for dinner a few nights ago, and thinking it would be steak, I ordered the "Lachssteak," but it turns out it was fish...and if you don't know, I'm not a seafood person. Whatsoever. I need to be more careful when I order next time.

Yesterday, I went on a 3 hour bus tour of Vienna that my study abroad program set up for us. It was nice going around and seeing things I hadn't seen before, as well as getting a better sense of the city. We past one of Beethoveen's houses that he lived at, as well as a church that he attended. We went up to the Vienna Woods, which is basically the last of the Austrian Alps which border the main part of the city. There are some resturants and things up there which was nice to see, as well as a spectacular view of the city.

Yesterday I also went to the Naschmarkt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naschmarkt), which is a HUUGEEEE food market and flea market, for REALLY cheap prices. I will definetly be doing my grocery shopping there from now on!

We will see what this week will bring....Thursday afternoon I am going on a 2 hour bike ride on the Donauinsel with some of my friends....woo!!!

I will be putting up pictures soon....I am not allowed to upload or download photos in my apartment becasue it makes the internet extremely slow, but I will put some up soon!

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday

7:45: alarm goes off, get in the shower and eat breakfast

8:17: leave my apartment

8:18: run and hop on and barely make the Strassenbahn

8:21: get off the Strassenbahn at Alser Straße, hop on the U6 U-Bahn towards the Westbahnoff

8:32: get off at the Westbahnoff, switch to the U3 line towards Stephansplatz

8:43: get off at Stephansplatz, walk to Johannesgasse where the IES center is

8:51: arrive at IES center, get coffee, say hi to friends, go to class

9:00: day four of intensive german starts

11:45: intensive german ends for the day

12:04: walk down the street to Wolfbauer (a cafe) and eat lunch and drink coffee with friends

12:21: hop on the U3 to Donaueinsul to hang out at the canal

12:38: get off the U3, lay out, swim, do homework
4:30: leave
5:10: arrive home in the apartment, clean, skype, etc
6:16: leave apartment to meet up with friends for dinner
6:45: arrive at a Biergarden in the 18th district
9:45: arrive back at the apartment, do homework, shower, etc.
12:30am: go to bed

Grüß Gott!

at a rest stop going from Vienna to Mariazell!

Mariazell, Austria (Province of Styria)

The Basilica in Mariazell (the pope is coming here in a few weeks!)




Hanging out with some guy in Lederhosen...the usual.

A lake near Mariazell!

Hello all! I am officially moved into my apartment in Vienna! For those of you who know the city, I am in the 17th district, about 2-3km away from the center of the city. I have been pretty busy the past few days! After a flight from Dulles to London and a connecting flight from London to Vienna, I finally arrived. On my London to Vienna flight there were 5-6 other people on my same program, so we all met up and hung out the first night, along with my friend Katie who I am rooming with in my apartment, she goes to Susquehanna with me...and we ate a Turkish resturant, yum!

On the 20th, all 100+ people on the program met at the Westbahnhof (train station) and from there took buses for about 2-3 hours to the town of Mariazell, located in the province of Sytria--VERY pretty. The IES staff (who is awesome) had lots of info sessions for us and we also had a lot of free time. On Friday afternoon, we went to a lake near by where i went e-boating (electric boating) with some friends and hung out. Friday night, the staff had a surprise for us where men dressed in lederhosen came and did traditional Austrian dances for us...very interesting to say the least. Not to mention they were all drinking a lot of beer. Saturday I went into the town of Mariazell, which was gorgeous...besides the fact it was raining a little! Pictures to follow below.

Yesterday afternoon we said our goodbyes to Mariazell and arrived in Vienna! After some mad chaos at the Westbahnoff, we got our luggage and took taxis to our new apartments....mine is VERY nice! I'm in an apartment with four other girls and we all get along great. It's interesting an new cooking for myself and living in a city...but I kind of like it!

More to write later! And I will be adding photos soon!

So much to do!

T-Minus 52 hours till I leave for the airport (4pm on the 18th).

Things still to pack:

• shoes
• underwear
• running clothes
• toothbrush
• brush
• hairties
• deoderant
• travel shampoo and conditioner
• socks
• coat(s)
• towel/washcloth
• jewlrey
• contact stuff
• laptop
• camera
• cell phone/charger
• purses
• scarves/gloves/hat

To Do:

• deposit paychecks
• make Target run
• get haircut
• clean out wallet
• say goodbyes
• print out flight information
• fix computer camera

To Buy:

• clear care
• adapters
• makeup
• space bags

As you can clearly see, the stress level in the LeMunyon house is pretty high right now! Not to mention that my sister, Heather, leaves the day after me for South Africa for an entire year, so there is double the amount of packing going on. Much to my mother's dismay, our house isn't the cleanest it's been in awhile. I've been trying not to freak out and been listening to "The Sound of Music" soundtrack to get pumped for Austria. It's working.

Offffff to packing!!!!

Pre-departure

Hello everyone!

Here I am...setting up my blog before I go and trying to get a hang of this! I still have so many things to do before I go...I have 6 days of work left and only 2.5 days after that until I leave for AUSTRIA! I leave on August 18th....ten days from now! If you would like to comment on any blog post that I write, please click the "comment" button, then write your message and on the drop down "comment as" screen, you can either choose "anonymous" or "name/URL" and just leave your name. (I would absolutely love comments!) Anyway...there will be PLENTY more to come and as of now, I'm just enjoying the last week of summer! I've been a camp counselor at a nearby day camp, as well as working part-time at Harry & David at my local mall to make money for Vienna! Thanks for reading! There will be a lot more to come!