No place like home

Sorry it's been a while! Things have gotten hectic... well, sort of. Can you believe I've been gone almost a MONTH?!.... I can't!

Things around here are so much different than at home. Stores close between 5 and 6 every day and aren't open at all on Sundays... office hours are 9 to noon... and I feel like I've been thrown into this university without any guidance.

I'm definitely experiencing some culture shock! The music on the radio and in the restaurants is from the 90s.. not late 90s either! To put it nicely, the people dress for the same time period! It's kind of like a time warp! Everyone jokes about Lederhosen and Dirndls.... it's no joke here, folks! The pictures of the store front selling the Tracht is not a tourist attraction. People just wear it for the heck of it. As long as you're up for taking the time to wash each piece by hand... you wear your Tracht whenever!

I also cannot get used to the office hours. We have class daily from 9 to 12:30 with a 30 minute break around 10:30; however, we are expected to get all these things done before noon. The first week we had to go to our dorms and have the administrator sign the police forms saying we live here, then take them back to the international office, and while at the international office we needed to get some other paperwork signed, provide copies of our passports, etc. That's only a few of the things we were expected to do.. and we ALL have to do all of these things so we are all standing, waiting in line for 30 minutes wasting our break time..

On our first day of class, we had a meeting with the international office and they told us that they would arrange for each of us to talk with a campus "advisor" about what classes we should take... well, the semester officially starts Thursday and none of us are enrolled. My roommate is enrolled because she missed that meeting and found someone to help her. But most of us... just left hanging. I've emailed a few people and am waiting on replies... but I've searched the course catalog and am just not sure how their system works so I really need to talk to someone! It would have been one thing had they told us to handle it ourselves.. but they straight out said they'd help us and haven't. It's so frustrating!

I think across the globe universities have a reputation for being a bit disorganized, but this definitely takes the cake!! When I applied, I sent a copy of my passport. My first week here, they asked for another copy of my passport and of my Visa, and now I have an emailing saying I need to come by the international office (again, over my break when I need to be figuring out what classes to take!!!) and bring my passport! I'm starting to wonder if they're stealing my identity! :)

It's funny the little things we take advantage of and don't realize it's specific to the US. It's always the little things though... For me: ranch dressing (or any "normal" salad dressing), PEPSI (especially Diet Wild Cherry... how I miss you....), tortilla chips and Mexican food in general, hamburgers and fries (I might get brave this weekend and see what Austrian burgers are like.. eek!), and, of course, in a BIG way, Wal-Mart!!!!!!! :)

Aside from the frustration..... it is funny how quickly we become accustomed to certain things. I'm used to the room.. the shower... I just accept that after class, we go across the street to the cafe, Uni.Wirt, and have a coffee/pop and hang out until we get completely bored with that... then we come back to the dorms and do our own things until dinner and Amy, Sam, and I eat in the kitchen and hang out all evening. Tuesdays we go to Mozartclub at the other dorm. Kind of pathetic... but at least I am not alone in my boredom OR my frustrations! We speak English all of the time, so sometimes I forget where I am.

Our intensive course is far from intensive, except in a boring way. Last week I had a really bad encounter with the phonetics instructor. It was our first time with him and he decided to make me an example. Everyone had to read a sentence or two from a text and he would tell them how good they did and maybe fix one thing... but when it was my turn, he stopped me every few works and corrected me over, and over, and over, and over! Everything I said, "No, no... like this" and no matter what I tried, it was wrong! At the end of class, he dismissed everyone saying, "You all did very well!" Then looked at me and said, "Work on your umlauts, the 'st', 'sch', and ..." went on and on! I was furious, embarrassed and just wanted to go home! Today our normal instructor told us he was coming again and I about left the class, but today was much better!! The first time I read, he said nothing and when I read more later, I actually heard him say bravo without interrupting me. YAY! He did correct a few things, but that's to be expected. I KNOW my German is far from perfect!

So hopefully, I'll have my classes figured out in the next few days-- and along with it, my schedule for the next 3 months! A few of the classes that I've found that meet the subject of what Carol said I should try to take only meet a few days a semester for quite a few hours at a time, which I would actually be pretty okay with! Who knows though..!

Of course-- the things I miss the MOST from home are: my family (puppy dog included!) and my friends! Love you all!