Tschüss, Habsburgs!

Well, my time in Vienna is over. The month of July just flew by! Alllright, let's get real--these three months have flown by incredibly fast. I can't believe I'm going home in a week!

We had to study for our last final this week--the history of Austria. All of it. So much information. But the final is done, thank goodness! And I have a month entirely free of homework! :)

This is one of the last museums we went to. The WWII stuff was the most interesting to me.

The building was also really cool--there was a large ballroom, in which we had to dance, of course!

We also enjoyed being sailors.

We went to Prater twice this week--once at night and once during the day.

Vergnügunsbetrieb AKA "Fun"--German is awesome.

We rode these swings and got to see Vienna lit up at night.

Our entire study abroad group had lunch together. Here's Amina sculpting her food and toothpicks.

We also visited Vienna's Cemetery, which is MASSIVE! Over 3 million people are buried there. It's the second largest cemetery in Europe.

Also, many famous musicians are buried there!

Arnold Schoenberg's gravestone fits him perfectly, I think.

There was a really cool Art Nouveau church--the dome is beautiful! This was my favorite church in Vienna.

I'm so sad to leave! But I'm really excited to go back up to Germany for a week to visit family! I'll get to put all my German to good use, right? :)

I've started compiling a list of things I'm going to miss when I leave Germany/Austria:
1. German blankets. They're the best blankets ever.
2. Haribo, RitterSport, Milka, Kinder, Manner...basically all candies

3. Müsli (various types of granola that we'd eat with yogurt and fruit for breakfast almost every day)

4. Hearing German everywhere

5. Riding the Bahns

6. Döner Kebaps--mainly Mustafa's in Berlin

7. I'll probably eventually miss visiting museums :)

8. BAKERIES!

9. Seeing the members of our study abroad group every day

10. Speaking our crazy, messed-up Denglisch

I've also started compiling a list of things I'm really excited for when I come back to Amerika:

1. Free water. I'm tired of buying drinks! Also, I'm not a fan of Mineralwasser

2. Free restrooms

3. Light switches to be on the INSIDE of the bathroom. Really--who ever thought putting them on the outside of a room was a good idea? I can't tell you how many times we've teased someone by turning off the light while they're inside the bathroom!

4. Plugging things in without using a converter

5. Not being able to be locked in my house/apartment. Yes, this is entirely possible in Europe.

6. A showerhead that I don't have to hold with my hand while I shower

7. A car

8. Mexican food. 

9. No more suitcases! (well, until I head back to Provo)

10. MY FAMILY OF COURSE!

I've also started compiling a list of things Colter will miss.

1. Almdudler

Sachertorte, Dirndls, Mozart--Yep, I'm in Vienna!

Now is when the “study” part of “study abroad” really kicks in. I don’t want to complain about my homework, so I’ll just state what we have to do and then move on: 2 papers, 2 finals (thank goodness 1 is already finished), lots of readings about Austria’s history, and finishing up 50 “journal entries” for pieces of art or architecture that we’ve seen.

Consequently, the parts of Vienna that I’ve been visiting lately are as follows: museums, museums, museums, and my apartment. The museums are pretty cool, but I think I’m at the breaking point of cultural overload at the moment. :)

So the first museum we visited was the Natural History Museum, which I really enjoyed. I saw lots of rocks, dinosaurs, taxidermied animals, and the famous Venus von Willendorf—a sculpture created around 24,000 BC. It’s 11 cm tall. And in a room about a thousand times its size...haha!

Here’s some more of Vienna! (I wrote on these things for my journal entries):

Karlskirche

An Art Nouveau Bahn Station:

The Hundertwasserhaus! Ever since I learned about this in German 330 (oh wait, that was just this past Winter semester) I’ve wanted to go see it. And here I am, in Vienna. I like post-modern architecture, and I really love the Hundertwasserhaus! There are hardly any straight lines (yes, I know that’s redundant) to be found. There are over 200 trees that are growing from, in, or on top of this apartment building, and all the windows are different sizes and there’s not really any rhyme or reason. And most importantly, it’s extremely colorful!

Here’s the inside of the building across the way that Hundertwasser also designed (he was an artist, not an architect).

We also used the Toilet of Modern Art:

Here’s another museum I visited. I wrote on some pop-art pieces that were inside and then wrote about the building in its entirety for modern architecture. 

Becca and I passed this van on the way to school: “Mädchen Auto” (girl car). Not sketch at all, right?...

Here are some pictures of the Karlskirche and Vienna at night! I went to a performance of Beethoven’s 5^th symphony in the Karlskirche—the orchestra also played some Mozart. It was really cool to attend an orchestra concert. Mozart and Beethoven. In the Karlskirche. In Vienna!

We also visited the Schmetteringshaus (Butterfly house)! 

And I almost bought this book. Instead of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, in German, it’s called “The little never-full caterpillar.” “Nimmersatt” is just a fantastic word! I really love studying German :)

Vienna is known for its Sachertorte, so naturally, we had to try it out :) It was pretty delicious!

We visited Schloß Kreuzenstein on Saturday for class. It was pretty neat—a jumble of different styles. Can you spot the gothic part? 

Naturally, I had to take tons of pictures of Cindy’s girls because they are just the cutest! 

Oh, yeah. And Jordan. :) He fits right into the Medieval Era, oder?

Kristen being a princess:

Becca and Katelyn being “urban:”

Trying to get a cute picture:

Cindy photo-bombed our picture! And I absolutely love it :)

On Sunday, Cindy’s girls were all wearing Dirndls! I died of cuteness-overload:

 

So now I only have 3 more days in Vienna! Crazy--how did that even happen?! I lived in Berlin for 2 months and Vienna for one month. I feel so incredibly blessed to have had this opportunity. And instead of going home on Thursday, I'm taking a train up to northern Germany so I can visit my family for a week--I'm really excited! And the day after I get to Pennsylvania, my family and I are going on vacation to Maine! I can't wait :)

Last night, we had a "fireside" where we all just talked about our favorite experiences, things we've learned, funny stories, memorable things, etc. It started to hit me that I'm not going to be with these people on my study abroad group every day anymore, and I don't like the thought of that! Thankfully, Cindy has applied the "come visit me at my house" policy she has here in Europe to when we get back to Provo! Yay! :)