Woche 5

It has been much too long since I've done an upload, so I apologize to all the loyal readers (sorry, Moo, Grandma, and Aunt Joanne!!). A lot has happened in the last week and half. The weather became plötzlich fantastisch letze Woche (suddenly fantastic last week) aber leider hat es nicht gedauert (but unfortunately it didn't last). The few warm summer-y days we had were fabulous, however-- we definitely took advantage of the sun. There is a Strand (beach) just about 25 min from my house via train/walking, so we spent a great afternoon there-- pictures to follow. Would like to reiterate that the drinking age in Germany is 16,  and 18 for hard alcohol, so all beverages in posted pictures were completely legally obtained and getrunken (drank) (this information is for you @sdintzis).

The weekend before last was also packed with cultural activities, i.e. theatre performances prearranged for the group. Saturday was a performance of Don Giovanni by the Komische Oper auf Deutsch. The set and costumes were super interesting-- basically, there was no set besides a bunch of large, shifting silk screens with floral-like patterns on them. The costumes were all neon, and each main character was dressed in a different color, making each extremely recognizable. Unfortunate that I couldn't get any pictures, because it was super interesting. There was a little English translation screen directly in front of each chair (also available were Übersetzungen auf Turkish (translations in Turkish) and just German subtitles), but unfortunately our seats were pretty terrible, so one couldn't really see the whole stage (craning neck over railing on the second floor balcony) and read the translation at the same time.... Still was awesome, and orchestra was fantastic. The following night, we saw Germany's famous musical called Linie Eins, which is about a girl who moves from West Germany into Berlin in 1986, and has many adventures and meets Berliner types on the new U-Bahn. Very entertaining, catchy music, awesome live band. Both were a lot of fun, and probably my favorite Theatre-Stucken so far. Much of the following week I spent working on an important project for my Geschichte (history) class. I am doing a presentation on the Denkmal für die ermodeten Juden Europas, which is the Holocaust memorial here in Berlin. I'll be presenting later this week (probably... hard to know when anything is due in these classes).

Last Thursday, Andrew, Luke, Carter and I left for Vienna. We stayed at a fantastic Hostel where we had our room (there was also a bar), and packed our days totally full. Saw Royal Jewels, the Hopfburg Royal Apartments, where we learned about Sisi and Franz Joseph (last emperors of Austrian-Hungarian empire), Kunst Historisches Museum, Schönbrunn und Belvedere Schlösse (castles), das Technisches Museum, and more. Also ate a lot of restaurants where they had few options for vegetarians. On the last day, I tried to bring the boys to a highly rated place where there was a meat-buffet, but when we got there they turned us away (side-note: why do they do this in Europe??? They won't let you wait! They just say "wir sind jetzt voll" (we are already full) and make you find somewhere else to eat. It's weird). So I looked up the highest rated closest place, and it just happened to be a vegetarian place. I found this hysterical, but felt kind of bad. But then I realized all of the places in which I have had to eat a block of fried cheese,  and then I didn't feel so bad.

Vienna has a lot of art. And I realized this trip that I really can't appreciate most art. I am a Philistine. I can appreciate it for about 25 minutes and then it all starts looking the same and I get tired of standing. I would much rather be running or hiking than standing. I wish there were running art museums; that would be very good for me. Maybe I should take an art history course so I can appreciate art, but I have a feeling that wouldn't help me very much.  Being a Philistine is congenital.

Austrian German was very difficult to understand: their accent is completely different from Berlin Deutsch, and honestly I found it a lot uglier. The annoying thing is that everyone can understand you, because Germans speak Hoch-Deutsch (high German, proper German), but you can't understand them, so it's kind of a one-sided communication, and you can often end up speaking English, which is not ideal, and shouldn't be necessary at this point. Oh well. Even my Gastvater hat mir gesagt, dass er kein Österreichische Deutsch verstehen kann (can't understand Austrian German).

Just want to reiterate how much I love my host family here. We are incredibly compatible, and I love spending time with them. Went out to dinner with my host dad last week, and we had a great conversation mostly auf Deutsch (ALSO met a family that lives in Berlin and has a freshman at Dartmouth!! Completely out of chance-- saw that they were wearing Dartmouth gear and approached them; American family that has lived in Berlin for 5 years, and who live one street over from my host family. Small world). I am going to be sad to leave my host family, and this awesome city as well.

Baluchen in the backseat. "Chen" is the German diminutive word, so it means little Balu.  

Two Fridays ago, I went with my older host sister Luise and some of her friends (one who is her roommate, who she has known since elementary school, and one who was visiting in town from Zürich) to a poetry slam at a club. It was eigentlich so cool. I couldn't understand everything, but there were a couple of performances that I really got the hang of, and there were a few super, super talented readers. I am so glad I went. Awesome cultural experience. 

At the Wannsee Strand (beach) with Emma and Riley. Beautiful, beautiful day.

The dogs did not particularly enjoy the days when the weather got into the high 70s. This last week, we had a colder stretch of weather, but it is warming up again.

Forgot to mention a super cool part of last week. On our excursion, we had the opportunity with our history class to go down into a former air raid shelter from WWII. It was located at a Bahnhof station in East Berlin. Our tourguide was an awesome Welsh dude who knew a TON about WWII history and filled us in on the function of the bomb-shelters. Apparently the Nazis didn't particularly care about keeping citizens safe, so the shelters were not bunkers, which would make them bomb-proof, but merely a nice psychological safespot where people thought they were protected.

After this underground tour, we went to a neighboring park that had a Nazi fortress build into the hill. 

Fortress had a good view of the city. Was extremely graffitied up. 

Andrew, Riley, Zak and Emma hang out at the Nazi fortress.

 Riley and Emma attempt to thug in front of the abundant graffiti. Riley fails miserably.

Cover page of DIE ZEIT, a huge publication in Berlin. I found this picture very, very funny. 

Vienna! (Wien!) In front of the parliament building near the Museums Quartier.

Carter plans to conquer the world, starting with Österreich.

We found it somewhat disappointing that there was a large juice poster Werbung (advertisement) on the front of this cathedral. So geht's. (so it goes)

Hopfburg Palace! 

Carter and Luke stand in front of the palace

Here they are again

Downtown Wien

Andrew reads the guide book (which was in German...) and Carter takes a short rest 

This shop was in der Nähe (in the area) of our Hostel. We found it entertaining. Not good pizza, not great pizza, just okay.

Gates to Belvedere palace.

Belvedere! Absolutely gorgeous

My favorite art was definitely the interior design of the rooms, plus the ceiling.

Recognize this? Another, bigger version is in the Louvre, so we thought this was fake. Apparently the artist was commissioned to paint multiple, and this smaller (actual) version of Monsieur Napoleon was somehow acquired by the Austrians (??)

Sparkly things .

Day turned sunny! While the boys looked at medieval art, I looked out on the garden. Ich konnte keine Kunst mehr (I couldn't stand any more art).

Belveder's backside

Smelly trash river that was not the Danube

Stephansdom! Fantastic 14th century church. Beautiful. Love the roof design, which is not something I've seen on a lot of other European cathedrals.

There was a huge festival going on around Stephansdom for some German holiday, so the church was absolutely packed, and there was a choir and an orchestra. Outside were a ton of little artisan and food stands. I bought this ice cream cone that was basically filled with sugary marshmallow fluff. It was a little strange. 

We went into the Treasury of the church and looked at all of the reliquaries. Everything was extremely shiny and overdone, completely with gaudy gems und ungodly (ha!) amounts of gold. Additionally, there were fragments of bone and a whole body in a casket. 

I LOVE THIS PICTURE because the sheep and the dragon are so great, and medieval art ist eigentlich schrecklich (actually awful).

Relic, i.e. the whole body in a basket

Stefansdom also happens to be the burial place of Mozart!! Who would have guessed?

We payed 5 euros to go climb up the South tower of the church, but then it turned out that you couldn't go outside on the balcony. So basically we climbed 367 crazy tight-packed tiny stairs to be inside a gift shop. View of the city was still pretty epic, however

Another view from the Nordturm 

Delicious Himmelbeere (raspberry) wine with soda spritzer (it was a good combination) at the little fair outside the church

Next we wandered over to the Karlsplatz region, and saw this memorial to the Red Army, i.e. the liberators of Wien during WWII. Truly a gorgeous memorial. Tons of Russian inscription, which was interesting to see in the middle of a german-speaking city.

Karl's Kirche in Karlsplatz

FOUND PHO!! IN VIENNA! Andrew and I thoroughly enjoyed. It was pretty decent.

Roses outside of Schönbrunn palace

Our last day in Wien, we headed to the Schönbrunn palace, which was incredibly packed and touristy. Every part of the entire complex cost 20 euros to get into, so we decided that it wasn't worth it to pay for another Schloss and just walked around the grounds. Not a big fan of the Schönbrunn color scheme.

Fountain in the back garden of the palace

Carter stands in front of a small building on the palace grounds

Very pleasant to walk through the forests of the castle area.

More fountains, and a monument to Marie Theresa, an Austrian empress that the Wieners are particularly fond of

The weekend before heading to Wien, on mother's day, I went with my host mom into Schöneberg, a neighboring Kiez (neighborhood) to Zehlendorf (where I live) and had a fantastic brunch. Yum!! 

Emma and I at the beach the week before

Beach the week before. Sorry for the weird order in which the pictures uploaded...

The Komische Oper! Beautiful venue

Luke at the Oper

This is the view from IBZ, where I have Unterricht (my classes). I like to sit in the window and look out on pretty days like the one above. The neighborhood is very ruhig (quiet) with lots of cute cafes. I like to grab a tee or a brezel between classes. 

This is how the majority of students currently feel about classes. This weekend, however, we all head to München (Munich), which should hopefully be a great time. I will make sure to post soon after I get back for an update! 

Danke für eure Geduld! (thank you for your patience) Bis bald (till soon!)