Well, this blog post will be significantly shorter just because I didn't really do anything today. I woke up for Mass, went to Mass, and then went to brunch afterwards. Brunch was super packed because they didn't have any breakfast beforehand, so we all crammed into the Mensa like sardines.
The weird thing about the Austrians - you can tell they're really trying hard to make meals that we Americans eat. So for breakfast we had scrambled eggs and waffles.... but while the eggs tasted more like eggs than the main campus caf eggs, they also didn't taste quite...eggy. They had put something in them? And the waffles had literally clumps of sugar in them, which I thought was delicious but also really strange. It was convenient because I didn't feel like standing in line for syrup or Nutella (Nutella is gross anyway).
Surprise - the waffles were too sweet for even Clare, so for once I enjoyed something that was sugarier than her. We ate with a girl named Mary Beth Martin whom I met last year, but who never really talked to me then, and a girl I met in the airport named Mary. (Not the Mary whose name I forgot yesterday and made her hate me.)
After breakfast I was supposed to go for a hike with Asaph and Kathryn but I couldn't find them and apparently they couldn't find me. That's something I really don't like about the fact that we don't have phones on campus... we can't really contact each other to tell each other where we're going, and the university still hasn't gotten around to getting me my own Austria phone, which is mandatory.... they also haven't gotten me to fill out my form for living at the Kartause yet. I've asked them about it and they keep telling me to wait, so I figure they're still a bit busy finishing up the orientation week.
Following mass, I just decided to go do some homework, since I couldn't find my hiking buddies - I sat down and started reading for Medieval History. My gosh, we had 45 pages of reading to do just out of the main textbook, so I sat down and read all of that and took copious notes (because if we don't, we're screwed, according to Dr. Hass), and that took me literally two and a half hours. Seriously. For one class.
I then read half of the primary sources we're supposed to read for that class, and that took me another twenty minutes. Then I read for Christian Marriage class, and it took me another thirty minutes... man, these classes are going to consume my life. We haven't even made any travel plans and I still have to fit that in.
After all that reading Asaph showed up and sat by me for a couple minutes and apologized for not being able to find me for the hike, so that comforted me a little bit. Then all of us ended up going over to the courtyard between the church and the Franziskenhaus (the dorms, basically) where they had set up tents against the rain, and they had a catering service come in and provide a barbeque (I know, catering service for a BBQ...).
BBQs in Austria apparently consist of kabobs of all sorts of kinds, weird grilled pork, potatoes, a million kinds of dip for your bread, and sauteed vegetables. I tried most all of it and ate everything there was, in very small quantities, and it was actually really good.
Clare and I decided not to socialize with students; we sat down with a professor and his family because they were by themselves, and we ended up spending all dinner talking to Professor Newton. Neither of us have any classes with him, so it was fascinating to get to know him. He's a very earnest man and I can see how he must have been very good looking when he was younger. Apparently he has a large background in software development, only he did stuff far above and beyond what I did last summer, or anything Spencer does.
I guess he used to work for NASA finding all sort of research from charting positions of the stars and planets based on electromagnetic radiation information embedded in satellite photographs? He also mentioned other engineering projects for other companies which sounded high-tech. I guess Professor McNamara (my quiet Irish professor from metaphysics) does the same kind of thing.
Funny how both of them ended up such odd fields, philosophy and theology. Professor Newton was saying that it was really that way, that theology doesn't contribute to anything practical but a search for the truth, and if any of his children said they wanted to go into theology he would require them to have a practical extra minor or major in order to support themselves, because it's very rare that he has a career in theology that supports him.
Hearing adults tell their story is really interesting a lot of the time because it seems so happenstance. He met his wife on a pilgrimage where they were both helping disabled people for a couple of weeks. He got offered a randomchance scholarship for theology studies which he only 'sort of' applied to, and ended up moving out to Gaming.
He now teaches at Franciscan and another institute where one of Clare's friends is going to school now, and he offered to drive Clare out with him while he teaches his class so she can visit that friend. I guess he also has relatives that live there, so he is going to drive his daughters Aletheia and Gabrielle out to visit said relative while he teaches the class. So if Clare goes, she'll get a happy (awkward) time in the car visiting with the Newton children.
I think it was fun talking to him - he was a little odd but he didn't seem to mind my eye contact (I've noticed a lot of people have difficulty maintaining eye contact for a long time, but Professor Newton was particularly good at it). That was really kind of him. He was so engrossed in talking to us that he didn't notice when his wife got up and left, the other people by him got up and left, and his children all abandoned him to go find their mom.
Anyway it's evening again and raining really hard so I better finish up all that reading and then maybe have a bit of free time so I can draw or write before bedtime. Then I'll get up early for gym time tomorrow. Time management may be 'good' and 'organized' and 'structured' but it feels like there's just not enough time to squeeze everything in and it's driving me nuts. I have no clue how I'm going to find people to travel with during the free weekends and 10 day breaks.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Saturday, August 30, 2014
August 30, 2014 - Salzburg, Austria
Today we went and visited the place where they filmed Sound of Music! Last night I was busy jumping in the creek across the street from the Kartause so I missed watching the movie - so I didn't recognize a lot of the places that we visited that were related to the movie, considering I haven't seen it in a while. Still, it was really gorgeous!
It actually happened to be raining ridiculously by the time we got off the buses in Austria, and I discovered a fatal but telling flaw in my rainjacket - it repels some of the rain, but then some of it soaks through and ends up getting me completely wet on the inside. So, I might be spending some time and money hunting for a new raincoat that looks nice but also keeps me dry. Which might be important, considering the amount of times it has suddenly gone from somewhat cloudy and grey to just dumping buckets everywhere. When my debit card comes back then I will probably invest.
The start of the day: I ran to the Mensa for a quick breakfast and then promptly fell asleep on the two and a half hour bus ride. Upon arriving we went to the Franziskanerkirche (Franciscan Church), which is one of the oldest churches in Salzburg. I thought it was very pretty and more minimalistic - more in a Romanesque/Baroque style. Still, it was rather dark and I thought because of that it appeared a little grim. It suited my mood, being soaking wet as I was.
It actually happened to be raining ridiculously by the time we got off the buses in Austria, and I discovered a fatal but telling flaw in my rainjacket - it repels some of the rain, but then some of it soaks through and ends up getting me completely wet on the inside. So, I might be spending some time and money hunting for a new raincoat that looks nice but also keeps me dry. Which might be important, considering the amount of times it has suddenly gone from somewhat cloudy and grey to just dumping buckets everywhere. When my debit card comes back then I will probably invest.
The start of the day: I ran to the Mensa for a quick breakfast and then promptly fell asleep on the two and a half hour bus ride. Upon arriving we went to the Franziskanerkirche (Franciscan Church), which is one of the oldest churches in Salzburg. I thought it was very pretty and more minimalistic - more in a Romanesque/Baroque style. Still, it was rather dark and I thought because of that it appeared a little grim. It suited my mood, being soaking wet as I was.
After mass we were led on a walking tour by Mrs Wolter, the wife of one of the professors here. Apparently she has lived here in Austria for quite some time and she speaks multiple languages, which is really impressive. Her son was there; I asked him what his name was and he told me, but I didn't understand him and I didn't find out until she called him (it's Elijah). He's maybe four or five, is absolutely adorable, and is already on his way to being scarily impressive and bilingual.
We saw quite a few sights - including some of the towering buildings of Salzburg, the palace up on the hill, a cemetery, and several churches. Mrs. Wolter explained the animosity of Europeans towards Catholics, and told us that we're part of the remedy and we're doing our job to making them feel more kindly towards us. I guess they saw a lot of dirty stuff going on inside the Church at the time and little of the good.
One of the weirdest things that I found was that the Austrians are very fond of reminding you that you're going to die. In the cemeteries, if you don't pay rent to have your body remain in a grave, they'll dig you up and take your bones and place them in an ossuary, which is basically a construction made of your bones. It's done artfully, but it's also on display and meant to remind us of our mortality and that we aren't meant for this earth. In one of the sites, there are skulls lined up with miters on them, which are meant specifically to remind Bishops that they, too, are mortal, and their earthly power isn't heavenly power. American culture is so focused on living longer that I found it to be really interesting but kind of morbid at the same time.
Following the walking tour - I'm not really fond of tours; they move too fast and I miss half the explanation because I'm trying to take pictures before we have to race off to the next spot - we went to lunch at the Stiegskeller, I think, which was some weird kind of noodle soup, dumpling material without anything inside it and a meat with an orange sauce, and chocolate cake. I feel kind of bad for the harried waitresses and waiters who have to handle two hundred-odd Americans parading into their establishment, but then I remember the amount of money they're getting paid and I don't feel so bad.
I felt kind of bad at lunch - I offended some girl that I'd run into at the Airport because when I saw her at the airport she hadn't been dressed up and had her hair down, and I hadn't talked to her since the beginning. I asked her what her name was, and she just kind of refused to talk to me for the rest of the meal.
I ended up talking to Asaph a little at first about the huge amounts of classical immersion he was exposed to in high school. As well as learning Latin, he was involved in learning about the art, history, and culture of the Roman empire and those particular times, so far as to go to national competitions and conventions where he would have prepared by memorizing laws, constitutions, history, and also participated in the art making part of it. It was really impressive but sounded really intimidating.
Then I talked with Clare and Maria, an exchange student from Slovakia. She speaks both Slovakian and German, and is very extroverted, fun, and self-assured. She loves to share about languages and cultures and talk about how we Americans rush everywhere and have funny words. We had a really fun time discussing things with her, and when she started teaching me German, David was listening in and then they both got really excited and told me I sounded more German than Maria did, and I ought to really try to learn the language because I would sound like a native. I guess all those voice training lessons with Elaine Scherperel-Burgess five years ago paid off! I don't think I've received a higher compliment.
So far I've learned a bunch of odd phrases in Croatian, Russian, Slovakian, and German, and I'm fairly sure none of them will ever stick, but it's so fun repeating their words and having them laugh with me. It's really cool to cross the cultural barrier.
More fun yet is teaching them better English - most of them are extremely good at English and it's impressive, but every once in a while they'll say something really off and I can't help but smile. They'll either pronounce something really strange, or use a word very out of context. For instance, "towel" versus "tower", "empiring" versus "ruling", or struggling over them trying to ask what a travel agency is in English when I can't read the sign in German to figure out what they're talking about.
Oh, I slipped - I ended up talking about after the walking tour. Well, following the walking tour we got my dream come true - we got to go out on our own and do whatever we wanted. By some miracle I ended up in a group with Clare, the LCI students (that would be the exchange students), and two of Clare's friends that I used to have in Honors, Christine Canavan and Jessica Schuster. I didn't talk very much with Jessica or Christine - they are like two peas in a pod, they don't really talk much and they just cling together. I didn't mind having them there at all though.
I did get to talk a little with Veronika - she hasn't said much to me, she seems very quiet, but she's another from Belarus, and then I talked more with Monika about her father's involvement in the Serbian-Croatian War. I thought it was really cool to get to talk to her about her life considering that, well, I'm living with her, and I really want to get to know her better. She's another one of the quiet ones.
Iryna is more outgoing and very interested in learning English, but also seems a little more distant at the same time that she's friendlier. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing.
Clare and I took some pretty awesome "selfies" - Maria is horrified at the prospect of Americans taking pictures of themselves, and she also isn't a fan of pictures in general. However, she did stand still for the pictures we asked her to take with us.
Left to right:
Christine, Jessica, Maria, Veronika, David, Iryna, me, Monika
I got to talk to David and Maria about their languages and cultures, and David spent lots of time telling me about the education system in Hungary and quite a bit about his life over there and the places he's visited and the places he wants to go. Apparently he wants to become a geologist because if you are a geologist in Hungary then you have an opportunity to travel and also make a decent salary to support that. He was telling me he hasn't ever been to America but he really wants to go all over the world... but if he had to settle down in one place forever, it would be Switzerland.
Maria has been to the States for a couple of months - she I think has the best English out of all of the LCI students. She's also very confident and it was handy to have her around. David has been to Salzburg before and he has an excellent sense of direction (not sure how he does it), so he took us up and around the back of Salzburg and to a viewpoint where we looked out across the city, and trekking back and forth over the bridges that span the river that separates the city in two. We ended up getting separated from him and Veronika and Iryna on accident, and Monika was able to ask a policeman for directions.
We visited several churches on our trip, including a Rococo style church that was honestly kind of creepy. There are grilles in the sides of the walls as you enter and if you look in there are very grey weird looking statues of Jesus in his Passion, but the statues don't look quite...human. It was dark and there was too much decoration and mixing of the colors grey and gold for my taste, but it was still amazing and a testament to art.
We also visited the Mirabell Gardens, which was part of where the Sound of Music was filmed - the part especially where they go skipping down an archway of ivy, which I did get pictures of (no, I didn't go skipping).
From what I can tell, a lot of what I've been experiencing isn't so much memorizing each place I go and the history behind it, but rather taking in the beauty of it with my eyes and feeling the newness of the culture sort of absorbing into me. Just the immersion is a fantastic experience. And I've been able to also make deeper friendships with people on a small basis, which is what I've been more focused on rather than turning myself into a tour guide.
Which I realize may not be the point of going to Europe in itself, especially because I have the opportunity to visit all these places, but I am taking pictures and I have a lot of good memories, so for now I think I'm having the experience I want to have.
Also, friends - check out Clare's blog! She updates it regularly so you might get a more historical perspective of things than I offer - she takes the time to research the sites she visits.
Clare and I have made a pact to take these selfies with statues whenever we find particularly good ones.
Friday, August 29, 2014
August 29, 2014 - Some Pictures from Earlier
I have my SD Card converter now and some better wifi so here's some pictures from earlier.
This was in the Melk Abbey Museum. I don't remember what it is
Clare atop the balcony of the abbey
The front interior of the Melk chapel
Pink stairs
On my hike this afternoon
Saw this little guy perched on a flower by a Marian shrine along the way
The waterfall where I ended up. I haven't gotten a chance to put together the photostitches or edit any of the pictures.
Tomorrow to Salzburg!
Total run time: about two hours today. It was really nice.
I would write more, but I have to wake up at about 5:30 to hit the buses on time.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
August 28, 2014 - I finally got around to uploading pictures
For some reason all the signs in Austria have men wearing fedoras. (Also, sorry Cam.)
The St. Francis statue in the courtyard has a bird, but the bird's got it's head missing...
Mr Pipp was wondering aloud if St. Francis got hungry during a long night or something.
Teenagers from all over Gaming bike here because getting a bike license is cheaper than a driver's license,
and then they hang out here in this shack thing. I haven't been brave enough to approach them, but I did wave
at some of them the other day.
Clare drawing, me exploring the "wilderness"
August 28, 2014 - "B Day"
Today was our B Day of classes, meaning that it was our Tuesday and Thursday class schedule. That meant History of the Medieval World, and Theology of Christian Marriage. History of the Medieval World was interesting, but it turns out that I don't have the right books for it - we're supposed to have a sourcebook and then a textbook, but it looks like the books they gave me in the book room are two sourcebooks, both different editions. That's not particularly helpful.... I'll have to talk to Doctor Hass later.
The lecture today, we talked a little about the formation of the empire once it had gotten really large and under the rule of Diocletian. A lot of it sounded weirdly familiar to me, so some of that history reading and that Omnibus class Mom had me do must have gotten through my thick head at one point or another.
I think that class will be interesting enough. My problem is that I'm feeling really swamped with all the papers we're going to have to be writing - probably because I don't have enough knowledge of the course material to think of a topic or any arguments for any of them, but I also am starting to freak about getting the work done already. I need to stop being such an overachiever because it's going to drive me crazy.
After that we had Theology of Christian Marriage. Let's be real, I was absolutely correct - there are roughly 9 or 10 guys in the class and 50 girls scattered throughout. To make it worse, Professor Cassidy sounds like Stoick from How to Train Your Dragon, but far harder to understand, talking five times as fast. (He has a heavy Scottish accent.) So I'm pretty sure we covered a lot about Marriage, but I can't be sure because I didn't understand everything he said.
I'm not sure how he plans to make an entire class out of that material. We already covered a bunch about marriage just today, like about how it's a sacred covenant made before God with human witnesses, a union between man and woman who promise fidelity to each other in an environment where they give themselves to each other in the flesh, with the promise of a safe environment to create and raise children. How are we supposed to cover 15 more weeks with that?
My entertainment is that I somehow ended up sitting behind three of the most good looking popular guys on campus, so I guess if I get bored I can just stare at the backs of their necks and enjoy the view and I'd still be focusing on the course material.
Later that evening Clare and I walked down to the Spar and I bought some chocolate bars for my family when I come home, if they'll let me take them through Customs. They have this special chocolate called Milka bars that they sell in the grocery stores. I also got a bottle of nice looking wine which I selected for A) The fact that it was only 4 euros, B) it's not white wine, and C) it has a pretty red label. Also plastic cups for the wine, which is really classy. Oh yeah. I still haven't even touched the lemon lime beer I bought to try later, so don't worry about me getting alcoholic real fast. I took three days to finish my very first shot, because I just got myself to the point where I was happy and warm, and then I quit.
Liqueur tastes kind of like it has nail polish remover in it, by the way. The kind I had was chocolate creme, and it was basically a chocolate bar with rubbing alcohol. I think I'd enjoy liqueur more if it tasted fruitier. Asaph told me I ought to go to the Keller downstairs sometime and see if they had anything.
For both of my philosophy classes I have mandatory attendance required for at least one of the Philosophy on Tap sessions that the professors hold, where they bring everyone down to the Keller and get everyone beers and then we talk about philosophy in relation to more modern topics, like Facebook and the human evolution, etc., etc. So I have to remember to get to those. I think it sounds really interesting actually.
Later in the afternoon I went to the weightroom again for a few minutes and was pleasantly surprised to see nobody there. I also did my laundry during that time. Then Clare and I intended to go for a run, so we went exploring out in Gaming, but we had only jogged a short way before we found a bridge that went off to the left off the street, so we decided to go up that path.
Turns out it was some sort of 4-wheeler path or something, and it was filled up with rainwater from yesterday, so it was really muddy and sloggish and we got really dirty, but it was super fun. It was more of a hike than anything. When the path ended, Clare ended up sitting down to do some sketching while I stretched and listened to music and wandered around above her in the bracken off the trail. After that I came back without her (she wasn't done drawing yet), and watched some girls go creek jumping.
There's a spot across the street from the Kartause that has a path where students go jump off into this creek which has a deep deep spot. It looked like a lot of fun but I didn't really know the girls, so I hung back and watched them and sort of awkward-interacted with them, the way you do with people who don't really want to know your name but don't mind you being there. I also helped pull some of them out because they got stuck down there in the creek, so I got a little muddier hauling them up. That cliff is pretty steep.
I sort of want to go creek jumping but don't know who would go with me, I don't really have the means to gather together a group of people who want to go get soaking wet, and I'm not sure Clare would appreciate it? We will see when she reads this post and tells me off for not asking her first. ;) She's reading Plato right now... I ought to be doing some sort of reading like for History but I don't have the right books, and I'm not sure I want to read all about marriage at the moment. Maybe I'll follow suit and do some drawing.
After that I went to dinner and Clare and I sat down with Asaph. A bunch of his friends showed up and sat around us and were really accepting and just goofed off. There's one girl named Anna Boehk who's crazy extroverted, Dominic Gentile who she makes fun of a lot and (according to her) is a lady-killer, which I don't doubt. Then there was Melissa who was quieter but apparently got a real kick out of my facial expressions, and also Katie who just laughed a lot and seemed really entertained and loved by the entire group.
So I've been doing some thinking lately about staying at Franciscan - I don't know, it just seems like I've made some friends here and I've actually had a really good time feeling on my own in Austria with a bunch of people that don't mind quite as much if you ask to join them at a table, and it's just a smaller atmosphere. I've really liked getting to know people better, and I have sort of had in my mind the thought that maybe I could keep some of my friends if I went back to Main Campus, even if I hate a lot of the ways people do things there, and it really bugs me.
Asaph and I ended up talking about it right at the dinner table (Clare and Melissa were still there), for a really long time. He said he thought that people had acted wrongly at Franciscan and that I hadn't gotten a very good experience there, but that he thinks that better things could happen, and that it's important to understand that everyone is flawed and that it's good that I recognize that they are flawed in a particular way, but to still love them.
He also said that if I think that I have had a good foundation and am secure in my own identity, then it wouldn't be bad if I were to go to a state university and be an 'example' to others, and that you can learn to love everyone no matter where you were.
But I think he really wants me to think about staying, and I don't know, it sort of felt like he was talking down to me even if I know he didn't mean it that way, and it feels like there is almost literally no one who wants me to leave Franciscan and I'm wondering why nobody ever wants anything that makes me happy, they all want me to do what they want me to do. It really pisses me off actually, I don't know.
In any case I thought Asaph was really nice, and he's a truly caring person who thinks about other people and he was just super sweet about it regardless of if it was a little accidentally condescending, so I teared up. Not sure if it's because I'm mad that everyone wants me to stay at fricking Franciscan, or because he was nice. Either way, food for thought.
Right now I'm blogging, I think I'll do some drawing later, listening to music, drinking some lemon lime beer stuff. I think i'll go downstairs later and see if the piano is free.
The lecture today, we talked a little about the formation of the empire once it had gotten really large and under the rule of Diocletian. A lot of it sounded weirdly familiar to me, so some of that history reading and that Omnibus class Mom had me do must have gotten through my thick head at one point or another.
I think that class will be interesting enough. My problem is that I'm feeling really swamped with all the papers we're going to have to be writing - probably because I don't have enough knowledge of the course material to think of a topic or any arguments for any of them, but I also am starting to freak about getting the work done already. I need to stop being such an overachiever because it's going to drive me crazy.
After that we had Theology of Christian Marriage. Let's be real, I was absolutely correct - there are roughly 9 or 10 guys in the class and 50 girls scattered throughout. To make it worse, Professor Cassidy sounds like Stoick from How to Train Your Dragon, but far harder to understand, talking five times as fast. (He has a heavy Scottish accent.) So I'm pretty sure we covered a lot about Marriage, but I can't be sure because I didn't understand everything he said.
I'm not sure how he plans to make an entire class out of that material. We already covered a bunch about marriage just today, like about how it's a sacred covenant made before God with human witnesses, a union between man and woman who promise fidelity to each other in an environment where they give themselves to each other in the flesh, with the promise of a safe environment to create and raise children. How are we supposed to cover 15 more weeks with that?
My entertainment is that I somehow ended up sitting behind three of the most good looking popular guys on campus, so I guess if I get bored I can just stare at the backs of their necks and enjoy the view and I'd still be focusing on the course material.
Later that evening Clare and I walked down to the Spar and I bought some chocolate bars for my family when I come home, if they'll let me take them through Customs. They have this special chocolate called Milka bars that they sell in the grocery stores. I also got a bottle of nice looking wine which I selected for A) The fact that it was only 4 euros, B) it's not white wine, and C) it has a pretty red label. Also plastic cups for the wine, which is really classy. Oh yeah. I still haven't even touched the lemon lime beer I bought to try later, so don't worry about me getting alcoholic real fast. I took three days to finish my very first shot, because I just got myself to the point where I was happy and warm, and then I quit.
Liqueur tastes kind of like it has nail polish remover in it, by the way. The kind I had was chocolate creme, and it was basically a chocolate bar with rubbing alcohol. I think I'd enjoy liqueur more if it tasted fruitier. Asaph told me I ought to go to the Keller downstairs sometime and see if they had anything.
For both of my philosophy classes I have mandatory attendance required for at least one of the Philosophy on Tap sessions that the professors hold, where they bring everyone down to the Keller and get everyone beers and then we talk about philosophy in relation to more modern topics, like Facebook and the human evolution, etc., etc. So I have to remember to get to those. I think it sounds really interesting actually.
Later in the afternoon I went to the weightroom again for a few minutes and was pleasantly surprised to see nobody there. I also did my laundry during that time. Then Clare and I intended to go for a run, so we went exploring out in Gaming, but we had only jogged a short way before we found a bridge that went off to the left off the street, so we decided to go up that path.
Turns out it was some sort of 4-wheeler path or something, and it was filled up with rainwater from yesterday, so it was really muddy and sloggish and we got really dirty, but it was super fun. It was more of a hike than anything. When the path ended, Clare ended up sitting down to do some sketching while I stretched and listened to music and wandered around above her in the bracken off the trail. After that I came back without her (she wasn't done drawing yet), and watched some girls go creek jumping.
There's a spot across the street from the Kartause that has a path where students go jump off into this creek which has a deep deep spot. It looked like a lot of fun but I didn't really know the girls, so I hung back and watched them and sort of awkward-interacted with them, the way you do with people who don't really want to know your name but don't mind you being there. I also helped pull some of them out because they got stuck down there in the creek, so I got a little muddier hauling them up. That cliff is pretty steep.
I sort of want to go creek jumping but don't know who would go with me, I don't really have the means to gather together a group of people who want to go get soaking wet, and I'm not sure Clare would appreciate it? We will see when she reads this post and tells me off for not asking her first. ;) She's reading Plato right now... I ought to be doing some sort of reading like for History but I don't have the right books, and I'm not sure I want to read all about marriage at the moment. Maybe I'll follow suit and do some drawing.
After that I went to dinner and Clare and I sat down with Asaph. A bunch of his friends showed up and sat around us and were really accepting and just goofed off. There's one girl named Anna Boehk who's crazy extroverted, Dominic Gentile who she makes fun of a lot and (according to her) is a lady-killer, which I don't doubt. Then there was Melissa who was quieter but apparently got a real kick out of my facial expressions, and also Katie who just laughed a lot and seemed really entertained and loved by the entire group.
So I've been doing some thinking lately about staying at Franciscan - I don't know, it just seems like I've made some friends here and I've actually had a really good time feeling on my own in Austria with a bunch of people that don't mind quite as much if you ask to join them at a table, and it's just a smaller atmosphere. I've really liked getting to know people better, and I have sort of had in my mind the thought that maybe I could keep some of my friends if I went back to Main Campus, even if I hate a lot of the ways people do things there, and it really bugs me.
Asaph and I ended up talking about it right at the dinner table (Clare and Melissa were still there), for a really long time. He said he thought that people had acted wrongly at Franciscan and that I hadn't gotten a very good experience there, but that he thinks that better things could happen, and that it's important to understand that everyone is flawed and that it's good that I recognize that they are flawed in a particular way, but to still love them.
He also said that if I think that I have had a good foundation and am secure in my own identity, then it wouldn't be bad if I were to go to a state university and be an 'example' to others, and that you can learn to love everyone no matter where you were.
But I think he really wants me to think about staying, and I don't know, it sort of felt like he was talking down to me even if I know he didn't mean it that way, and it feels like there is almost literally no one who wants me to leave Franciscan and I'm wondering why nobody ever wants anything that makes me happy, they all want me to do what they want me to do. It really pisses me off actually, I don't know.
In any case I thought Asaph was really nice, and he's a truly caring person who thinks about other people and he was just super sweet about it regardless of if it was a little accidentally condescending, so I teared up. Not sure if it's because I'm mad that everyone wants me to stay at fricking Franciscan, or because he was nice. Either way, food for thought.
Right now I'm blogging, I think I'll do some drawing later, listening to music, drinking some lemon lime beer stuff. I think i'll go downstairs later and see if the piano is free.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
August 27, 2014 - Post First Day of Classes
I'm super exhausted, so I'll keep this short - classes went well today. Philosophy of the Human Person looks like something I'll enjoy more. Metaphysics seems more like running around in mental circles to prove things I already know... and the readings so far have been super dense and make less sense than the ones for Philosophy of the Human Person.
Dr. Carreno is really nice and so is Professor McNamara. McNamara is very quiet, Irish, and dresses very nicely, and he calls me Miss O'Neill because he's happy my last name is Irish. Dr. Carreno is super strict, to the point, and has no tolerance for any BS. I like both of them so far.
Today I had a ton of time to socialize which is why I think I'm so tired. I hadn't realized how much talking to people tires me out after a while, especially when the people I'm talking to are really extroverted.
This morning I talked to Asaph and Kathryn - they ended up coming up and finding me reading a book about the Holocaust in the downstairs lobby and then they said hello and started chatting, and eventually I just told them to sit down, and we talked until class time.
Turns out I have the class with Asaph, so I ended up sitting with him and Hugh. I haven't talked to Hugh much this semester - seems like now that we're not directly forced to speak to each other, our methods of communication are laughing together at things we both think are funny, and listening to each other talk to other people, but not much else. That's okay, he's got his own group here which I think is neat.
Talking to Asaph and Kathryn was interesting, we talked about personality types and the differences between introversion and extroversion and then people's different temperaments, and the ways the ancients studied personality. Asaph and Kathryn are both really interesting people. Asaph I feel like genuinely cares about people enough to think and reflect on them and then take time to understand them as real and whole people.
For instance he was telling me how he thinks it's interesting to get to know introverts and really is very valuable, because while they may seem standoffish on the outside it's just because they're shy and afraid to approach people, and they don't show their whole selves right away, while if you take the time to get to know them, they will reveal a whole rich inner life to you, which he finds fascinating. He talked about how extroverts frequently miss the qualities introverts have to offer because extroverts give all people pretty much their personality straight off the bat - what you see is what you've got. And sometimes it's a lot easier to relate to someone who's just openly friendly right away, than to try to make the effort to talk to someone who seems less interested in you.
Both he and Kathryn seem really well read and erudite. It kind of made me feel less intelligent in a way, which I shouldn't, because I'm able to discuss on the same level. I feel like a lot of my knowledge however comes from just observing people and thinking about things and intuiting, rather than studying textbooks about how people work.
Kathryn's an RA in another section of the Kartause. We've talked a bit through the last couple of semesters but we're both pretty quiet so we haven't made much time to actually hang out with each other. We did agree that we ought to be friends quite a while ago, so it looks like now we might have the chance to see each other more frequently and talk. She is sort of intimidating because she's very smart, not afraid of being loudly opinionated, gorgeous, dresses really well, and she has a definitely in-charge approach to life. I'm surprised I attracted her attention or something.
Later in the afternoon after philosophy of the human person, I went to Mass and then to lunch with the exchange students and Clare. It was supposed to be all together, but David (he's from Hungary) and I got separated because there wasn't enough room at the one table for all of us to sit, so we ended up sitting at another table with some sophomore girls.
David's really funny - I thought he was quiet at first, and when I did meet him originally a couple of days ago he didn't seem to want to talk to me much, and the next time I saw him after that he almost seemed to be avoiding eye contact, so I made myself smile and wave at him and ever since that he's been really friendly to me and comes up and talks.
When I asked Iryna if I could sit with them, David was all, "Yes, yes! My wish was for you to come eat with me!" and I think it's just because his English isn't perfect, but it was really funny and quaint the way he said it.
Talking with the exchange students is really funny because they get such a kick out of me trying out their language and teaching me things, and then they tell us that we Americans are so interesting and they ask us about our culture, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and why do American teens have such a fascination with making random hand symbols that mean things like "Rock on!" and "Peace out homie", or "Whatever".
Not only that, but just hearing about their cultures and where they live and how they perceive us and our language is fascinating. David and I had this long conversation about languages and he made me do all the American accents I could to see if he could understand me speaking in a Southern accent, a New York accent, an English accent, an Irish accent, etc.
We ended up with this one girl named Sudie who has a huge crush on David I think. She wouldn't stop interrupting me when we were talking, moving closer to me physically so I would have to edge out of where I was standing in front of David, and touching me randomly like... to move me, and then touching David and moving closer to him. I gotta say, it's incredibly annoying. Not to mention the fact that she doesn't really stay on topic or just repeats what I say, louder, so that it sounds like it's coming from her. Massive extrovert. I managed to extricate myself from the situation because David went to class and then I found Clare, who was going to get some school supplies in town.
Turns out that people in Gaming who work in shops, take a lunch break from 12 to 2. Seems like an excessive lunch break to me, but that's how they roll.
It was raining like crazy and Clare and I went to Gertrude's (shop) to look for notebooks and such, but it was closed, so we went walking around in the rain and we both got drenched. Clare didn't even have a rain jacket. I had one on, and my shirt still got sopping wet. Seems like really weird weather for August...
We had a good long talk. I have been pretty happy today because of the gym, talking to people, and enjoying classes for the most part, but Clare has been a little down so I'm glad I got to wander around with her and have one of those adventures we've been saying we'll have. Even if it was raining. We found the creek that runs down alongside the road and stood on the bridge over it, and then we wandered around looking for a bakery.
I'm not sure I cheered her up any, but I know I had a good time. I think she's upset about the way Masses are at the Kartause. I can't complain much - the church is just how I like it, nice tasteful decoration and big windows and lots of light and high ceilings and nice wooden pews. I have been able to focus really well at Mass despite the music being sort of... off. I think she's also just annoyed about the little cliquey groups at Franciscan too, which I can understand.
The lady who ran the bakery didn't know much English. Mr. Pipp had earlier recommended something to all the students that he said was really good, but neither Clare or I could remember what it was called, so I ended up asking the lady at the counter, "Do you know Mr. Pipp? David Pipp, Kartause, Franciscan, Kartause Marienthron?" and she nodded, and then I said, "What does he usually get?" and she pointed at this massive creamy eclair-looking log thing, and I ended up asking her for one. Just so I could see what Mr. Pipp really likes.
It was actually pretty delicious despite the fact that I don't like pastries, but I think also it was because I was really hungry. Going to the gym sped up my metabolism or something, because I keep eating through the day and getting hungry again and again and again. I'm hungry right now actually.
Anyway I am exhausted from talking to people and being talked to so I'm hibernating in my room. I don't even care if other people are outside hanging out. I did all my reading for my classes next Monday and I'm going to write a little before I go to sleep, but I'm honestly falling asleep at my keyboard right now.
I took some pictures on my walk this morning and I'll upload them later - I'm too lazy/tired.
Goodnight!
Dr. Carreno is really nice and so is Professor McNamara. McNamara is very quiet, Irish, and dresses very nicely, and he calls me Miss O'Neill because he's happy my last name is Irish. Dr. Carreno is super strict, to the point, and has no tolerance for any BS. I like both of them so far.
Today I had a ton of time to socialize which is why I think I'm so tired. I hadn't realized how much talking to people tires me out after a while, especially when the people I'm talking to are really extroverted.
This morning I talked to Asaph and Kathryn - they ended up coming up and finding me reading a book about the Holocaust in the downstairs lobby and then they said hello and started chatting, and eventually I just told them to sit down, and we talked until class time.
Turns out I have the class with Asaph, so I ended up sitting with him and Hugh. I haven't talked to Hugh much this semester - seems like now that we're not directly forced to speak to each other, our methods of communication are laughing together at things we both think are funny, and listening to each other talk to other people, but not much else. That's okay, he's got his own group here which I think is neat.
Talking to Asaph and Kathryn was interesting, we talked about personality types and the differences between introversion and extroversion and then people's different temperaments, and the ways the ancients studied personality. Asaph and Kathryn are both really interesting people. Asaph I feel like genuinely cares about people enough to think and reflect on them and then take time to understand them as real and whole people.
For instance he was telling me how he thinks it's interesting to get to know introverts and really is very valuable, because while they may seem standoffish on the outside it's just because they're shy and afraid to approach people, and they don't show their whole selves right away, while if you take the time to get to know them, they will reveal a whole rich inner life to you, which he finds fascinating. He talked about how extroverts frequently miss the qualities introverts have to offer because extroverts give all people pretty much their personality straight off the bat - what you see is what you've got. And sometimes it's a lot easier to relate to someone who's just openly friendly right away, than to try to make the effort to talk to someone who seems less interested in you.
Both he and Kathryn seem really well read and erudite. It kind of made me feel less intelligent in a way, which I shouldn't, because I'm able to discuss on the same level. I feel like a lot of my knowledge however comes from just observing people and thinking about things and intuiting, rather than studying textbooks about how people work.
Kathryn's an RA in another section of the Kartause. We've talked a bit through the last couple of semesters but we're both pretty quiet so we haven't made much time to actually hang out with each other. We did agree that we ought to be friends quite a while ago, so it looks like now we might have the chance to see each other more frequently and talk. She is sort of intimidating because she's very smart, not afraid of being loudly opinionated, gorgeous, dresses really well, and she has a definitely in-charge approach to life. I'm surprised I attracted her attention or something.
Later in the afternoon after philosophy of the human person, I went to Mass and then to lunch with the exchange students and Clare. It was supposed to be all together, but David (he's from Hungary) and I got separated because there wasn't enough room at the one table for all of us to sit, so we ended up sitting at another table with some sophomore girls.
David's really funny - I thought he was quiet at first, and when I did meet him originally a couple of days ago he didn't seem to want to talk to me much, and the next time I saw him after that he almost seemed to be avoiding eye contact, so I made myself smile and wave at him and ever since that he's been really friendly to me and comes up and talks.
When I asked Iryna if I could sit with them, David was all, "Yes, yes! My wish was for you to come eat with me!" and I think it's just because his English isn't perfect, but it was really funny and quaint the way he said it.
Talking with the exchange students is really funny because they get such a kick out of me trying out their language and teaching me things, and then they tell us that we Americans are so interesting and they ask us about our culture, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and why do American teens have such a fascination with making random hand symbols that mean things like "Rock on!" and "Peace out homie", or "Whatever".
Not only that, but just hearing about their cultures and where they live and how they perceive us and our language is fascinating. David and I had this long conversation about languages and he made me do all the American accents I could to see if he could understand me speaking in a Southern accent, a New York accent, an English accent, an Irish accent, etc.
We ended up with this one girl named Sudie who has a huge crush on David I think. She wouldn't stop interrupting me when we were talking, moving closer to me physically so I would have to edge out of where I was standing in front of David, and touching me randomly like... to move me, and then touching David and moving closer to him. I gotta say, it's incredibly annoying. Not to mention the fact that she doesn't really stay on topic or just repeats what I say, louder, so that it sounds like it's coming from her. Massive extrovert. I managed to extricate myself from the situation because David went to class and then I found Clare, who was going to get some school supplies in town.
Turns out that people in Gaming who work in shops, take a lunch break from 12 to 2. Seems like an excessive lunch break to me, but that's how they roll.
It was raining like crazy and Clare and I went to Gertrude's (shop) to look for notebooks and such, but it was closed, so we went walking around in the rain and we both got drenched. Clare didn't even have a rain jacket. I had one on, and my shirt still got sopping wet. Seems like really weird weather for August...
We had a good long talk. I have been pretty happy today because of the gym, talking to people, and enjoying classes for the most part, but Clare has been a little down so I'm glad I got to wander around with her and have one of those adventures we've been saying we'll have. Even if it was raining. We found the creek that runs down alongside the road and stood on the bridge over it, and then we wandered around looking for a bakery.
I'm not sure I cheered her up any, but I know I had a good time. I think she's upset about the way Masses are at the Kartause. I can't complain much - the church is just how I like it, nice tasteful decoration and big windows and lots of light and high ceilings and nice wooden pews. I have been able to focus really well at Mass despite the music being sort of... off. I think she's also just annoyed about the little cliquey groups at Franciscan too, which I can understand.
The lady who ran the bakery didn't know much English. Mr. Pipp had earlier recommended something to all the students that he said was really good, but neither Clare or I could remember what it was called, so I ended up asking the lady at the counter, "Do you know Mr. Pipp? David Pipp, Kartause, Franciscan, Kartause Marienthron?" and she nodded, and then I said, "What does he usually get?" and she pointed at this massive creamy eclair-looking log thing, and I ended up asking her for one. Just so I could see what Mr. Pipp really likes.
It was actually pretty delicious despite the fact that I don't like pastries, but I think also it was because I was really hungry. Going to the gym sped up my metabolism or something, because I keep eating through the day and getting hungry again and again and again. I'm hungry right now actually.
Anyway I am exhausted from talking to people and being talked to so I'm hibernating in my room. I don't even care if other people are outside hanging out. I did all my reading for my classes next Monday and I'm going to write a little before I go to sleep, but I'm honestly falling asleep at my keyboard right now.
I took some pictures on my walk this morning and I'll upload them later - I'm too lazy/tired.
Goodnight!
August 27, 2014 - First Day of Classes. 9:08 AM
This morning has been really good. I got up early - it was a little harder dragging my bones out of bed this morning, and then I went and grabbed a quick breakfast, and then hit up the gym. The breakfasts, I assume, will be the same from now until eternity, which I'm just sort of resigning myself to. The Austrian hard rolls with cold cuts are already starting to get tiresome and it's only day three of me eating them.
The fitness room downstairs was empty when I got there, presumably because I don't have class until 10:20 and everyone else started at 8:40 pretty much. There's some weights and a wide open space for some cardio. None of the cardio machines are running, but I figure Clare and I will go take a walk down in Gaming later today since I have my clothes now. Yesterday I wasn't decent to go outside the room, but today I think I'll invite her to go adventuring with me and I'm super stoked.
So about the philosophy classes. The amount of textbooks we have is absurd. I have two hardbound volumes of Plato and Aristotle, I have Descartes and Bonaventure and some dude named Crosby who and all of them decided to be hugely prolific.
Want to know the weird thing? I am positively thrilled to get to read these books. I want to curl up and dig my mind into something meaty like that and think about things and ponder and get smarter. I'm not sure how reading about the essence of humanity makes me feel smarter, but it does.
Maybe it'll help my understanding of people and then I'll get better at writing. We can only hope. I feel like after today my life will ascend into a hectic busyness that I'll struggle to contain. I'm still trying to keep up my record of writing 500 words per day on story (I don't count the few days of travel I had to Austria and saying goodbye day), I want to read all these books, I want to draw and write and explore and hike.
What does help is that the timezones are different so it's helping me detach from my phone, I don't have to worry about updating people unless it's early morning or late night when I'm not usually doing anything anyways. Back home it's midnight and everyone's just hitting the hay while I get going and reflect a little in the morning and work out.
There's a prayer up on the gym wall that I really appreciate - it's not really a prayer but a sort of reminder to the Christian soul of why we're here and the opportunities we have in life to be truly alive. I don't have it memorized right now but hopefully by the end of the semester if I say it every day during my workout, I'll have it in my brain. I really liked it.
Anyway I think I'll do some reading or walking around before class. I'm not sure where my schedule went and so I've been borrowing Clare's when she's got it sitting on her desk, so hopefully I'll just magically find where I'm supposed to go. (I suspect I lost my schedule when I got frantic about my suitcase yesterday and went charging off to find Mr. Pipp following a meeting.)
So far I've actually talked to a couple of people following my being here. I haven't wanted to because I've been dirty and wearing the same clothes and gross, but since I got my suitcase last night I feel a lot better and more ready to interact with humanity (so I'm a little self conscious about how I smell; aren't you?).
Rooming with Clare and Monika: Monika is really quiet and we've asked her how much she understands of us talking. The answer is "Just a little". We know that she has a brother and a boyfriend and that she's pretty good at making friends despite being quiet. We've gotten to know a couple of her exchange student friends, like I said yesterday.
Clare is a lot more energetic than I am, I think, because she's always up and moving around or doing something or saying something. I think I'm okay at doing stuff continuously but it's harder for me to talk and do things at the same time; I'm not quite so good at multitasking. Which is fine, because as long as I'm paying attention to what she's saying while doing whatever else I'm doing, then I'm not missing anything.
Ugh, I just want to go to class. I think I'm going to go explore the Kartause and take some pictures. Updates to follow.
It'll probably be easier to write down my thoughts about each day here rather than write them by hand. I'm starting to figure out I don't think I'll have much time, so later when I come back I'll maybe take a look at this blog and then copy it into a Word document and print it out and put it in a notebook for later rather than trying to update this here and then also keep a written journal.
The fitness room downstairs was empty when I got there, presumably because I don't have class until 10:20 and everyone else started at 8:40 pretty much. There's some weights and a wide open space for some cardio. None of the cardio machines are running, but I figure Clare and I will go take a walk down in Gaming later today since I have my clothes now. Yesterday I wasn't decent to go outside the room, but today I think I'll invite her to go adventuring with me and I'm super stoked.
So about the philosophy classes. The amount of textbooks we have is absurd. I have two hardbound volumes of Plato and Aristotle, I have Descartes and Bonaventure and some dude named Crosby who and all of them decided to be hugely prolific.
Want to know the weird thing? I am positively thrilled to get to read these books. I want to curl up and dig my mind into something meaty like that and think about things and ponder and get smarter. I'm not sure how reading about the essence of humanity makes me feel smarter, but it does.
Maybe it'll help my understanding of people and then I'll get better at writing. We can only hope. I feel like after today my life will ascend into a hectic busyness that I'll struggle to contain. I'm still trying to keep up my record of writing 500 words per day on story (I don't count the few days of travel I had to Austria and saying goodbye day), I want to read all these books, I want to draw and write and explore and hike.
What does help is that the timezones are different so it's helping me detach from my phone, I don't have to worry about updating people unless it's early morning or late night when I'm not usually doing anything anyways. Back home it's midnight and everyone's just hitting the hay while I get going and reflect a little in the morning and work out.
There's a prayer up on the gym wall that I really appreciate - it's not really a prayer but a sort of reminder to the Christian soul of why we're here and the opportunities we have in life to be truly alive. I don't have it memorized right now but hopefully by the end of the semester if I say it every day during my workout, I'll have it in my brain. I really liked it.
Anyway I think I'll do some reading or walking around before class. I'm not sure where my schedule went and so I've been borrowing Clare's when she's got it sitting on her desk, so hopefully I'll just magically find where I'm supposed to go. (I suspect I lost my schedule when I got frantic about my suitcase yesterday and went charging off to find Mr. Pipp following a meeting.)
So far I've actually talked to a couple of people following my being here. I haven't wanted to because I've been dirty and wearing the same clothes and gross, but since I got my suitcase last night I feel a lot better and more ready to interact with humanity (so I'm a little self conscious about how I smell; aren't you?).
Rooming with Clare and Monika: Monika is really quiet and we've asked her how much she understands of us talking. The answer is "Just a little". We know that she has a brother and a boyfriend and that she's pretty good at making friends despite being quiet. We've gotten to know a couple of her exchange student friends, like I said yesterday.
Clare is a lot more energetic than I am, I think, because she's always up and moving around or doing something or saying something. I think I'm okay at doing stuff continuously but it's harder for me to talk and do things at the same time; I'm not quite so good at multitasking. Which is fine, because as long as I'm paying attention to what she's saying while doing whatever else I'm doing, then I'm not missing anything.
Ugh, I just want to go to class. I think I'm going to go explore the Kartause and take some pictures. Updates to follow.
It'll probably be easier to write down my thoughts about each day here rather than write them by hand. I'm starting to figure out I don't think I'll have much time, so later when I come back I'll maybe take a look at this blog and then copy it into a Word document and print it out and put it in a notebook for later rather than trying to update this here and then also keep a written journal.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
August 26, 2014 - Gaming, Austria
Today we got an official tour around Gaming for the last day before our classes start. It was actually really cool - I'm looking forward to getting some free time and some clean clothes so I can go exploring in the hills and mountains around here.
Gaming reminds me a little bit of how I would imagine New Hampshire - everything is quaint looking buildings, mostly with red roofs, and a huge amount of foliage, a lot of pine trees mixed with deciduous trees. Our window actually looks out at a wall of trees and a couple of weird plants with some berries on them, and behind that wall of trees you can sort of see one of the mountains.
We got led on the tour by Mr. David Pipp, who so far is one of my favorite people here. He's actually incredibly funny and relatable, jumps up on top of things, tells stories about his children and previous students who got into bunches of mishaps, and is very understanding. He took me down today privately to the administrative office to enquire about my suitcase after I came to him asking if I could get a phone to call the airport. He had to sympathize with me when I told him about how living four days straight with essentially the same clothing is really uncomfortable.
Mr. Pipp took us walking out to see the row of houses just across the street from the Kartause where the majority of the professors and their families live, all in a row down the street. The kids seem to run about the little town at will - I saw some of Mr. Pipp's kids on bikes near Gertrude's (the store where they sell school supplies), and out on the sidewalk in front of the houses some of Dr. Carreno's children were outside, Dani and Lina, and they waved at us and said hello.
The children are adorable. We had an opportunity to sign up for Ministry for Moms today, which is something they offer on main campus as well. I never signed up on main campus when I found out about it last semester due to the heavy workload I had, and also because the homes of the professors were so far away from campus and I had no way to get there. However, I decided to put my name down on the sign up sheet to offer my services as a piano or guitar teacher for any of the kids for one time period per week, and I also wrote that I was available to do some cleaning and bonding with the kids. I think it will be a great opportunity to meet some of the kids and the families of the professors and really make some lasting friendships.
The kids of the professors are all really intimidating - most of them speak two or three languages because one or more of their parents is pretty much guaranteed to speak more than just English. For instance, the Carreno children speak English, Hungarian, and French, and they only really speak English because of the Franciscan students who come and hang out with them.
So, be happy, Mom and Dad, I'm actually signing up for something extracurricular that makes me get to know people! ... like I said, eight year olds are lots friendlier than 20 year olds.
Speaking of which, I ate breakfast this morning with Monika, Clare's and my Bosnian roommate, Iryna and Veronika from Belarus (which apparently is located near Russia), and David from Hungary. I ended up going with all the exchange students because I asked Monika if I could go to breakfast with her, and we actually had a lot of fun talking and hanging out. They tried to teach me some of their languages and laughed a lot and they actually didn't tell me whether or not my pronunciation was good. Which, since they didn't correct me a lot, could mean that either I'm excellent at picking it up, or really bad.
I guess I probably shouldn't worry about it so much, since I'm not concerned about correcting their pronunciations - I really like their accents, they're so cute. It was really fun and my face hurt from smiling at the end.
David's language Hungarian was probably the hardest to pronounce, with Bosnian or whatever Monika speaks, being the second hardest. Russian's the easiest to get.
Apparently in Belarus there's this tradition in families where, when you sit down to eat, they say, "Have a nice meal!" in Russian. They taught me to say it, it's something like "pree-YAHT-nah-vah ah-pee-TEE-tah". Spelled in Russian it looks like this: Приятного аппетита!
Through the rest of the day I've been able to talk to a couple of people - I met a senior classics major named Kevin, talked a little with Jamie, and met on and off with the exchange students I met this morning. This was kind of my lucky morning, considering the exchange students only eat in the Mensa once a week or so. I really liked them a lot.
A lot of the other students have formed little groups where they sit together and don't talk to anyone outside of the group, which sort of bugs me. Oh well. I'm sure along the way things like that are bound to happen, but I'm feeling a little bit more optimistic about my chances for making friends.
I haven't really wanted to mingle with anyone else today anyway - my suitcase still hasn't come, which has meant I've been rewearing clothes. It's amazing how fast you can go from showered and feeling clean to feeling disgusting after putting on the same pair of jeans you've been wearing for the last four days. It's made me pretty miserable and grumpy to be honest. I hadn't realized how much I depend on smelling good and wearing clean clothes for my self confidence. I've been avoiding people, standing alone, and just feeling really unhappy all day.
Finally I went down to the office to track my bag and it looks like it'll get here later tonight, hopefully.
We finished all our meetings for today and classes start tomorrow - we'll have more meetings I'm sure, but I'm looking forward to some more control over my own schedule. Once we have classes, the rest of our free time will start being ours to go out into the town and walk around and exploring. One of my goals this semester is to get up really early and go hiking up one of the mountains so I can see the sunrise. I've heard it's fantastic. Since I've been waking up at 6 consistently every morning - which is about 9 PM Pacific Time - I might as well make it 4 and then go for a good tiring hike.
I really like Gaming - Mr. Pipp told us that everyone in the city has been expecting us and asking after the American students who are so friendly and polite. Everyone we met on our tour waved at us and said Grüß Gott, which translates roughly to "God's blessings be with you". We were told that most everyone would greet us as we just walk around the town.
What surprises me about Europe is that there's a ton of designer clothes stores. Even in Gaming I've seen at least two high-end retail stores. No wonder European people dress really classily. The only options around here seem to be 1) Expensive and 2) Super classy.
Here's some pictures I took earlier today while on our trek around Gaming - I'm sure I'll get some better pictures later. My SD card converter is still in my suitcase, so you don't get to see any of my camera pictures yet.
Since all our meetings are over and I only signed up for the Ministry to Moms thing, I don't have anything else to do for the rest of the night until classes tomorrow! Maybe when I get my clothes I'll go exploring in Gaming if it isn't too dark, otherwise I'll just take a little while to breathe and recuperate.
Gaming reminds me a little bit of how I would imagine New Hampshire - everything is quaint looking buildings, mostly with red roofs, and a huge amount of foliage, a lot of pine trees mixed with deciduous trees. Our window actually looks out at a wall of trees and a couple of weird plants with some berries on them, and behind that wall of trees you can sort of see one of the mountains.
We got led on the tour by Mr. David Pipp, who so far is one of my favorite people here. He's actually incredibly funny and relatable, jumps up on top of things, tells stories about his children and previous students who got into bunches of mishaps, and is very understanding. He took me down today privately to the administrative office to enquire about my suitcase after I came to him asking if I could get a phone to call the airport. He had to sympathize with me when I told him about how living four days straight with essentially the same clothing is really uncomfortable.
Mr. Pipp took us walking out to see the row of houses just across the street from the Kartause where the majority of the professors and their families live, all in a row down the street. The kids seem to run about the little town at will - I saw some of Mr. Pipp's kids on bikes near Gertrude's (the store where they sell school supplies), and out on the sidewalk in front of the houses some of Dr. Carreno's children were outside, Dani and Lina, and they waved at us and said hello.
The children are adorable. We had an opportunity to sign up for Ministry for Moms today, which is something they offer on main campus as well. I never signed up on main campus when I found out about it last semester due to the heavy workload I had, and also because the homes of the professors were so far away from campus and I had no way to get there. However, I decided to put my name down on the sign up sheet to offer my services as a piano or guitar teacher for any of the kids for one time period per week, and I also wrote that I was available to do some cleaning and bonding with the kids. I think it will be a great opportunity to meet some of the kids and the families of the professors and really make some lasting friendships.
The kids of the professors are all really intimidating - most of them speak two or three languages because one or more of their parents is pretty much guaranteed to speak more than just English. For instance, the Carreno children speak English, Hungarian, and French, and they only really speak English because of the Franciscan students who come and hang out with them.
So, be happy, Mom and Dad, I'm actually signing up for something extracurricular that makes me get to know people! ... like I said, eight year olds are lots friendlier than 20 year olds.
Speaking of which, I ate breakfast this morning with Monika, Clare's and my Bosnian roommate, Iryna and Veronika from Belarus (which apparently is located near Russia), and David from Hungary. I ended up going with all the exchange students because I asked Monika if I could go to breakfast with her, and we actually had a lot of fun talking and hanging out. They tried to teach me some of their languages and laughed a lot and they actually didn't tell me whether or not my pronunciation was good. Which, since they didn't correct me a lot, could mean that either I'm excellent at picking it up, or really bad.
I guess I probably shouldn't worry about it so much, since I'm not concerned about correcting their pronunciations - I really like their accents, they're so cute. It was really fun and my face hurt from smiling at the end.
David's language Hungarian was probably the hardest to pronounce, with Bosnian or whatever Monika speaks, being the second hardest. Russian's the easiest to get.
Apparently in Belarus there's this tradition in families where, when you sit down to eat, they say, "Have a nice meal!" in Russian. They taught me to say it, it's something like "pree-YAHT-nah-vah ah-pee-TEE-tah". Spelled in Russian it looks like this: Приятного аппетита!
Through the rest of the day I've been able to talk to a couple of people - I met a senior classics major named Kevin, talked a little with Jamie, and met on and off with the exchange students I met this morning. This was kind of my lucky morning, considering the exchange students only eat in the Mensa once a week or so. I really liked them a lot.
A lot of the other students have formed little groups where they sit together and don't talk to anyone outside of the group, which sort of bugs me. Oh well. I'm sure along the way things like that are bound to happen, but I'm feeling a little bit more optimistic about my chances for making friends.
I haven't really wanted to mingle with anyone else today anyway - my suitcase still hasn't come, which has meant I've been rewearing clothes. It's amazing how fast you can go from showered and feeling clean to feeling disgusting after putting on the same pair of jeans you've been wearing for the last four days. It's made me pretty miserable and grumpy to be honest. I hadn't realized how much I depend on smelling good and wearing clean clothes for my self confidence. I've been avoiding people, standing alone, and just feeling really unhappy all day.
Finally I went down to the office to track my bag and it looks like it'll get here later tonight, hopefully.
We finished all our meetings for today and classes start tomorrow - we'll have more meetings I'm sure, but I'm looking forward to some more control over my own schedule. Once we have classes, the rest of our free time will start being ours to go out into the town and walk around and exploring. One of my goals this semester is to get up really early and go hiking up one of the mountains so I can see the sunrise. I've heard it's fantastic. Since I've been waking up at 6 consistently every morning - which is about 9 PM Pacific Time - I might as well make it 4 and then go for a good tiring hike.
I really like Gaming - Mr. Pipp told us that everyone in the city has been expecting us and asking after the American students who are so friendly and polite. Everyone we met on our tour waved at us and said Grüß Gott, which translates roughly to "God's blessings be with you". We were told that most everyone would greet us as we just walk around the town.
What surprises me about Europe is that there's a ton of designer clothes stores. Even in Gaming I've seen at least two high-end retail stores. No wonder European people dress really classily. The only options around here seem to be 1) Expensive and 2) Super classy.
Here's some pictures I took earlier today while on our trek around Gaming - I'm sure I'll get some better pictures later. My SD card converter is still in my suitcase, so you don't get to see any of my camera pictures yet.
The Spar is the grocery store where we can get our ordinary items.
The Gasthof is a food place? I think?
Monday, August 25, 2014
August 25, 2014 - Melk, Austria
They gave the cafeteria a fancy name - the Mensa. It doesn't look like the caf at Franciscan, that's for sure. It's a lot more color coordinated, smaller, and the tables are really large. That could be a blessing in disguise or a curse - if you are going to sit alone, then you look really, really alone - on the other hand if you're in an adventurous mood and want to try to sit down with a group, there's usually room if you're fast enough. Here's what it looks like:
The fare is what I expected - European breakfast, hard rolls, Greek yogurt with granola, cold cuts and cheese, and coffee, lots of coffee. I'm pretty sure this is what we can expect for the next four months. Also, it looks like they have a permanent station set up for lunch and dinner, with premade plastic signs taped up over the individual food slots. Looks like we might be rotating through the same 4 or 5 meals for the rest of the semester, also. Good thing the meals are actually pretty tasty, so it'll take me at least a few weeks to get tired of them.
Today we took a day trip out to the Benedictine abbey in Melk, Austria. It's about an hour drive away from the Kartause, where I'm staying. By the way, the Kartause isn't as secluded in the mountains as I thought it was - today Clare and I took a walk down to the Spar, which is a little grocery store about five minutes' walk down the street from us. Across the street we have a car repair shop; a little further down is a kabob place, and further down yet is a shoe store, where the post office is located.
Here's a shot I took of the Kartause on the way to breakfast this morning. I haven't explored much of it yet, but it's massive - our St. Francis Haus, where the students are staying, is only a small sliver of the entire thing. I haven't even seen the Keller (the restaurant attached to the hotel).
We took about three massive buses to Melk; Clare and I rode on the double decker (on the top, of course). We were immediately whisked away to Mass in the chapel, which was done in full Baroque style, and very full of tall pillars, a massive amount of gold work, ceiling frescoes, and slightly creepy cherub statues mounted very high up on the walls looking down at us.
The Mass was wonderful. I focused a lot better than I usually do in mass, which might be because it was really wide open; or because the seats were really really uncomfortable (I think on purpose), or also because it was, you know, mass in Europe. However, I don't like how the people in charge of music ministry decided that we're still going to use modern Mass parts meant for the main Franciscan campus band, instead of switching to something that sounds more like Latin chant. It's a little out of place...
The fare is what I expected - European breakfast, hard rolls, Greek yogurt with granola, cold cuts and cheese, and coffee, lots of coffee. I'm pretty sure this is what we can expect for the next four months. Also, it looks like they have a permanent station set up for lunch and dinner, with premade plastic signs taped up over the individual food slots. Looks like we might be rotating through the same 4 or 5 meals for the rest of the semester, also. Good thing the meals are actually pretty tasty, so it'll take me at least a few weeks to get tired of them.
Today we took a day trip out to the Benedictine abbey in Melk, Austria. It's about an hour drive away from the Kartause, where I'm staying. By the way, the Kartause isn't as secluded in the mountains as I thought it was - today Clare and I took a walk down to the Spar, which is a little grocery store about five minutes' walk down the street from us. Across the street we have a car repair shop; a little further down is a kabob place, and further down yet is a shoe store, where the post office is located.
Here's a shot I took of the Kartause on the way to breakfast this morning. I haven't explored much of it yet, but it's massive - our St. Francis Haus, where the students are staying, is only a small sliver of the entire thing. I haven't even seen the Keller (the restaurant attached to the hotel).
We took about three massive buses to Melk; Clare and I rode on the double decker (on the top, of course). We were immediately whisked away to Mass in the chapel, which was done in full Baroque style, and very full of tall pillars, a massive amount of gold work, ceiling frescoes, and slightly creepy cherub statues mounted very high up on the walls looking down at us.
The Mass was wonderful. I focused a lot better than I usually do in mass, which might be because it was really wide open; or because the seats were really really uncomfortable (I think on purpose), or also because it was, you know, mass in Europe. However, I don't like how the people in charge of music ministry decided that we're still going to use modern Mass parts meant for the main Franciscan campus band, instead of switching to something that sounds more like Latin chant. It's a little out of place...
(the interior courtyard of the Abbey)
Following Mass we were led on a whirlwind tour of the museum. I didn't really like the tour; we were dragged in and out of rooms really quickly, and there wasn't all that much to look at inside the rooms. I don't like tours and I don't like being herded, I like to explore quietly on my own and have less people in my pictures.
In any case the abbey is separated to represent the balance of God's creation into the Worldly and the Spiritual sides of life. The Worldly sides of life included massive amounts of jewels and gold incorporated into chalices, monstrances, bishops' vestments, crucifixes, et cetera. There was even a ceramic and gold heater from the 18th century in every room. They had also preserved a large amount of the documents from the founding of the Abbey.
Apparently the Kartause was shut down when Josef II came into power (I think that's his name), because he demanded that monasteries should have specific buildings attached to them, hospitals etc.etc., and if they didn't they'd be closed. The Melk Abbey survived the cut. Kartause Marienthron did not.
My favorite parts of the tour weren't really the rooms with the display cases, but looking at the long corridors of the Abbey itself. There were 2 or 3 that were the length of about three American football fields, and the way the lighting was playing through them was minimalistic and very pretty. I wasn't able to fully capture the effect with my camera though.
I also spent a lot of time going discretely ahead of the tour group and looking into the next rooms. I enjoyed taking pictures of the large Marble Room, which reminded me of the ballroom where Beauty and the Beast dance... the ceiling frescoes were kind of creepy in the usual way - I think this time they detailed Athena and Hercules - but I really really liked the windows and how the light came in and hit the floor.
After that we went outside onto a balcony and I got a few shots of Melk itself from the Abbey.
That river on the right is the Blue Danube. Mr. Pipp (the Student Life Director in Austria) sang it for us; you'd probably recognize it if you heard it. To be honest it just sort of looked like another river, and not a very exciting one at that.
After that Clare and I went and sat at a table for Lunch. It was a really large table, but we ended up sitting there by ourselves for a long time before anyone dared to come sit by us...and then they shifted their chairs away from us and ignored us after we introduced ourselves ... so Clare and I enjoyed a nice lunch by ourselves, consisting of a weird brothy soup that was really good, some kind of odd bread-and-potato concoction and unidentified (but really good) mystery meat, sauerkraut, and red wine.
Then we drove back to the Kartause, and Clare and I hit up the Spar (the grocery store) for some soaps and such. I encountered an Austrian woman who laughed when she heard me trying to read a German magazine out loud, but it was a really friendly laugh, and it might have had to do with the puzzled look on my face - so I'm honestly not sure if that means my accent was good or bad. She didn't speak particularly good English, so I don't think I'll ever know.
In any case she recommended that I try this little bottle of chocolate-creme liqueur that was in a rack next to the M&Ms by the checkout stand, so I've got that sitting on my desk waiting for a good evening to give it a shot. I also got some kind of odd lemon lime beer mixture for another time. It kind of freaks me out that they don't even ID you here; I guess I look old enough or something.
Don't worry! I'll be good. I also got a 40 minute lecture along with the rest of campus about alcohol earlier tonight. As well as an hour long lecture about how we are supposed to attend class.
Internet to go shortly, so I'll sign off for the night.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
August 24, 2014 - Brussels, Belgium
In about ten minutes I will have been
awake and on the move for twenty-four hours.
I got up at 3:30 AM to head to the airport and depart for Denver, then
for Chicago, then Vienna, Austria.
That was the plan anyway. What ended up happening was the flight from
Pasco to Denver ended up delayed, and so I had to haul my butt across the span
of 40 gates in 5 minutes to get to my connection from Denver to Chicago. That went over fine (aside from the fact that
my backpacks suddenly seemed about 50 pounds heavier than they probably
are). However, we ended up landing in
the beautiful city of Peoria rather than Chicago, due to the fact that Mother
Nature had decided to blow a massive storm in over Chicago and cause ground
delays airport-wide.
About an hour later we got into Chicago
and I went immediately to customer service because I had looked at the display
board and it hadn’t said anything about a Vienna flight, so I just assumed that
it had departed already. Ahead of me was a couple speaking in German; they
asked where Austrian Airlines were of the associate at the desk, and took off
for Terminal 5 looking for the flight. I
was really tempted to follow them, but by then there was a huge line behind me
and I was near the front of it, so I decided not to chance it and just wait
patiently in line.
Turns out I really should have considered
following them like the lost little puppy I feel like I am. I think the plane got delayed the same amount
of time I was delayed for, because when I got to the counter, the associate
told me that the flight was just in the runway and now I was going to be
rescheduled to Brussels.
Okay, so maybe my geography isn’t so
great, but I definitely had to pull out my phone and do a google search for
what country Brussels was in. (Belgium,
by the way.)
Off I went on a flight to Brussels, where I was seated next to a Chinese man from Peoria and a Iranian-Swedish photographer from the south bit (he said the name, but I can’t remember it to save my life). We had a rather pleasant, odd, but slightly disjointed conversation about physics, the space-time continuum, the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, photography and Canon lenses (which he swears to), communications versus science, he showed me a bunch of gorgeous photos of Sweden and told me to come visit this semester, and then we took off and it ended up being a pretty silent flight.
I thought it was funny the Chinese man
ended up watching some kind of Chinese love drama and then Need for Speed,
which is a testosterone-jacked-up movie about cars and how fast they go. I just read my book and slept alternately.
I am way too polite for my own good I
think. About midnight I really had to go
to the bathroom, and I was in the window seat.
I waited about half an hour before tapping my companions hesitantly, and
neither of them woke up after about five minutes of tapping. I got nervous and called the flight attendant
to ask for advice. She seemed rather
aggravated and ended up hitting the men on the shoulder pretty hard and they
woke up and let me out. I felt kind of
bad, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.
Speed up about three hours and we are over
Dover. I looked out the window to see if
I could see the famous White Cliffs of Dover, but I didn’t spot them. Instead I got to watch us cross the channel
between England and Belgium, which had a ton of tiny little white clouds and
was very beautiful. Looking down on both
countries, you could see the difference between them and the US.
Where the US cities are very planned out
in squares, everything in Belgium and England looks more like little starry
patches – the center of the patch of buildings spreads out in all directions
and then trails off in pointy clumps and becomes fields and agricultural
sections, or big puffy trees.
When our plane sunk lower it was easier to
see the buildings, and they look different from ours too. While we have lots of separate houses, I got
to see my first English flats, and a lot of stacked residential areas whose
buildings tended to look pretty different.
And then I showed up in Belgium and got
told that I would have to wait another good four hours until I get to fly the
final two hours to Austria. I’m really
tired and I want to sleep, but I also don’t want to leave my stuff sitting out
with a ton of people around me.
I had to cash in 20 euros to get some
water and some change for the pay phone.
A water bottle over here cost $4.75, or roughly 3 euros, which I think
is kind of ridiculous. I also had to pay
two euros for the one minute phone call, because the first machine was broken
and just ate my coin without working.
People here are very patient, speak
English slowly, smile at me very sympathetically, and point me in the right
direction with very specific instructions, like I’m a small child. I think I look very tired and lost and I don’t
mind it at all. Specific is good when
all the signs look sort of like “Ook éében das hoek negenbehrer” etc., etc. I kid you not, I saw a word with a double
“é”. If É is supposed to be an accent,
why would you have to accent the same letter twice in a row?
For example, whatever language “Ultgang”
is – it makes me think more of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart than “Exit”. I know I am decent at languages and
comprehending general meanings without having learned the language at all, but
even my talents are failing me at this point.
I had forgotten how well European people
dress. I feel really outclassed by a
bunch of them. You can kind of tell
which ones are European before they even start talking, for the most part. Who would want to wear such fancy clothes for
an 8 hour flight, that’s what I want to know?
And why do all of them look polished and put together and I look like I
got swiped through a grease machine? It’s incredibly unfair.
In the hour and a half I’ve been sitting
here, I haven’t heard a single native English speaker. However, most of the European guys that have
talked to me, started off their conversations in English, so I guess I look
pretty American.
The European guys were really nice. They wanted to know why I was lugging around
such a big backpack while I’m so small.
I am wondering the exact same thing.
The longer the day goes, the heavier it gets, I swear someone’s putting
rocks in it.
I saw some phone charging stations but I
can’t find my converter (it must be in my suitcase) and the charging stations
also make you pedal to generate power, and I am too tired and sweaty and
intimidated by the goodlooking Europeans to want to submit myself to that.
Here’s to hoping nothing goes wrong from
here on out...
Thursday, August 21, 2014
August 21, 2014
Well, this makes the second college blog I've started! This one is going to start off with something exciting - my semester abroad to Gaming, Austria, where I will be adventuring throughout the beauty of Europe, taking tons of pictures, getting lost, talking to lots of natives, oohing and aahing at architecture and landscapes, and oh yeah, studying philosophy, theology and history.
I leave in two days.
This is gonna be crazy!
I leave in two days.
This is gonna be crazy!
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