Austrian-style fun

Well, I've been talking about it long enough so I thought it was about time.... I went into town and tried on dirndl Friday! In case you aren't sure, dirndl is the traditional style woman's dress from southern Germany/Austria. Think St. Pauli's Girl or Oktoberfest-- yup, that's it!

Amy, Audrey, Joe, and I went to find a good store and found one with a gorgeous purple dirndl in front... but I saw the price on the dress-- 880 euro!! So much for buying one! I thought. We went in anyway and I was surprised how relaxed the staff was-- a group of English speaking 20-somethings around expensive clothes never goes without all sorts of fuss at home. They simply pointed us towards the room and left us be. There were all sorts of cute, pretty, and awful dirndl and all sorts of prices-- from 150 euro for a short length dirndl to the painful 880 euro for the pretty thing in the window. I grabbed an armful and went to try on... but I felt a bit lost-- how do you tie the apron? do I unbutton each button to put it on or can it flip over my head? How's the undershirt work? Just in case any of you find yourselves trying on dirndl-- unbutton each button, there are funny snaps on the skirt-- you did not rip it, the undershirt just feels funky, and tie silk aprons in back. :)

The first dirndl I tried on was very traditional-- plaid with a higher neckline. It was very much what I think of when I think of old Germany-- like when everybody wore these!! The next dress I tried on was very Christmas. Black bodice with red flowers and a red striped apron. Very pretty! But soo Christmas-y. Then I tried on a grey and light green dress. Omy. SO pretty! A bit more modern aka the neckline dips a bit. It looked so nice, the price wasn't bad.... I'm preparing to become the wacky German teacher. I own a dirndl! :)

We did another thing we've been needing to do for quite a while... we went out to eat! I know, trivial but it was long overdue. We had no idea where to go, which explains why we haven't gone out! We even got online and looked into it. We finally decided to go to Weiβes Roβ, a traditional German/Austrian guest house/restaurant. Best. Choice. Ever. The food was absolutely awesome and the prices were great too. I am glad I found it-- I'm taking the family in a month! I had the tastiest Cordon Bleu! Mmmmm!

Another bit of shopping I did this week to add to my classroom someday-- I bought 3 children books from an author that Katharina recommended and we watched a bit of a documentary on. His name is Janosch and his most-beloved character is a wooden duck striped like a tiger, resulting in the creative name Tigerente (Tiger-duck).

That's been my week of fun! On the menu for this week: Monday- test in Sprachkurs. Tuesday- test in Grammatik. Wednesday- jump around. Friday- Krampus parade. Saturday- Venice!

Alles liebe!

Photo Catch up

Hi hi! So I just realized there are a few parties that I haven't posted pictures from... so I put together a quick slideshow. Nothing incredibly exciting but just a bit of the goofiness we've been up to lately!! The first party is from October 22 (oops!!!) and the second was last Tuesday.

Off to Grammar... wish me luck because I need it with this awful class!!!!!!!

Another week gone by..!

I know I've said this going on a bajillion times, but really.. time is just flying by! I cannot believe it's already been another week!!

Let's see, let's see.. where to start?! Just another week of classes-- thrilling as usual. Sadly, they're beginning to prep us for the mid-term tests. ICK!! I am absolutely dreading any form of test in grammar... but I'll survive one way or another. The best part about class here is you suffer through most of them once a week and then it's done. Basically the band-aid approach. Do it all at once and then forget about it-- which, for these classes, is best. Except, I could handle having grammar split into two classes. I think I would dread it significantly less not thinking Omigosh...2 and a half hours of grammar. WHY?!!!! each time. If it were only, Okay, an hour of grammar. This will be over in no time! I think twice would be better...but they really don't care what I think!!

I've stayed in Klagenfurt (for the most part) now for the past two weeks. Aside from a small excursion to Graz last Saturday, I've stayed put-- which has actually been quite nice. It's been relaxing and enjoyable. Got to just breath and spend time with everybody here. Yesterday Audrey and I went into town and did some shopping-- books (yay!), a new purse for Audrey, basically just the normal shopping day sort of items! But the Gluehwein Fest started Thursday. Gluehwein is basically wassail. Pretty gross if you ask me. But they also serve Gluehmost, which tastes like cider with some alcohol in it, and it was MUCH better. The best part of the festival was the lights. Klagenfurt is 100% ready for Christmas. Lights on every street, most buildings etc. The main areas, Alter Platz, Neuer Platz, and parts of Heuplatz, are just awesome! Alter Platz has lights strung everywhere (but not gaudy!) and it's exactly what I had hoped for as far as Christmas in Europe goes. And this is Klagenfurt-- not even Nuremberg or Munich or Frankfurt!!

FridayAudrey and I took advantage of the great weather and went on a mission to find bikes to rent. Sadly, our first two stops were failures. Apparently, once summer is over, bike rental is not such a common thing in Klagenfurt; however, we found a place that mostly just looked like a workshop that rents bikes year-round-- for great prices too! For only 10 euro, we rented bikes for 24 hours! Can't beat that. We met up with Joe, who has a bike, and went through town-- and a bit through the outskirts-- to look at the "castles," which are really just mansions. Of course, castles (whether they're just talked up mansions or actually castles) are on big hills or mountains, so it was quite a bike ride! Let's just say I got quite the work out in. The bad part was that most of the castles are private property now so we couldn't see inside any of them and only got to go up close to one. Boo! But it was definitely a good way to spend the day. I'm fully exhausted and a bit sore now!!

To finish off our weekend in Klagenfurt, we planned to try on Tracht Saturday! How perfect, right?! We met in town and started our mission. But each of the stores we knew of that sell Tracht were closed already! Isn't Saturday a shopping day? How can stores be closed by 1 then?! This place...!! So no Tracht, yet. Definitely a yet though. We've rescheduled our Tracht excursion for next Friday! Can't wait! Now just to decide: traditional or "gothic/punk Tracht," which is cute but.. not the real deal.

But really... can anyone tell me how it got to be mid-November? I don't know where October went...! Most Christmas markets officially open November 24ish. That's 10 days away. Holy cow. I have only four weekends left until my family arrives-- which is both exciting and a bit frustrating. I haven't gotten to do everything I've wanted. I'm just feeling really comfortable here and have started to get adjusted to life here. I'm not ready for this to be over. But, of course, I am thrilled to see my family again and then to be home and see my friends and everyone... but it's a weird feeling right now. I guess I kind of knew it would be like this but I didn't think it would fly by so quickly!

So since my time here is limited, I really have to prioritize what I want to do. Krampus day is December 5 and the parade is that Saturday, which I hear is very entertaining and is local. Everyone would really like to go to Venice. Berlin is a must for me. The group is talking about going to Munich but I'm pretty torn. I'll be there for a bit with the family so I can't decide if it's worth it or if I should get a cheap flight to Hamburg or Cologne. Ideas or suggestions?!!

What's been going on in the life of Amy

Hello hello! It's been a while, eh? After my trip to Vienna, I was completely exhausted-- and almost immediately hopped on another train to Germany, but it was totally worth it!

Last Thursday I woke up bright and early (well, not really bright but.. definitely early) to catch a bus to Freiburg for Katharina's going away party. My total trip was about 10 hours on 2 buses. Once we got to Germany, the problems started rolling in... first we were about 10 minutes delayed, then we passed the train station at Ulm and literally stopped on the tracks-- for 30 minutes! My connecting train was only supposed to arrive 36 minutes after the first and I just knew I would be screwed.. and to top it all of, my cell phone would not connect to a network! I could just picture myself stranded at the Mannheim train station, entirely unsure of what to do, all by myself! Of course, every other trip I've taken has gone entirely smooth-- because I had someone else with me and I just knew this would be it. My train ticket was for a specific train and I had no idea what I would do when I got to Mannheim and had missed my train. However, with some sort of incredible luck, our train managed to only be 20 minutes delayed and I had enough time to run to the next platform and get a drink out of the vending machine on the platform as the train pulled up! ::insert deep sigh of relief!!:: The rest of my journey was uneventful. The intercity train from Mannheim to Freiburg was completely booked and then some, I stood for the first 45 minutes before I was able to jump a seat from someone but that was bearable! I arrived in Freiburg only about 10 minutes behind schedule to see Katharina waiting for me!! YAY!

Katharina's party was a very nice time. Quite a few of her and Till's friends made it out and had drinks, snacks, and fun saying goodbye-- although, of course, the goodbye's were a bit less fun. I was so exhausted from lack of sleep and my stressful ride that I was a total party crasher! I left the party before midnight, I think, to crash in bed. We woke up the next morning and had a wonderfully relaxing day just sitting, talking, and eating with Till and his roommate, then caught a bus to Baden-Baden to spend the weekend with her parents. It was great getting to speak some "real" German and be in an actual house (with my own room and everything was CLEAN!!). I felt like the weekend really helped my German, even though I still spoke English a bit-- just being around German I can understand and that I've actually learned, watching it on TV, etc, I could just tell it helped me.. if only I could do that more often!!

Like always, my visit with Katharina flew by and before I knew it, I was back in Klagenfurt... but to my surprise, it actually felt really nice to be "coming home." I had class Tuesday-- grammar, which is no fun at all-- and Wednesday-- Austrian culture, painfully boring, phonetic, actually fun, and my general language course, which is boring but goes by quickly! Joe's birthday was Saturday, so Audrey, Amy, Sam, and I schemed to surprise him with a bit of a party. We invited a few people to the dorm, there was ice cream cake, scones, and wine! It was a very good time! The best part was that Joe had no idea we were doing anything-- always a plus! We just sat around the dorm and he kept saying if there was nothing else to do, we could always go grab a drink somewhere and I said, yeah, or we could just have a bottle of wine! It was great. And Saturday we ended up catching a bus to Graz, only a two hour trip, and spending the day there. Quite a nice city. It's the second largest city in Austria but it didn't feel that large and I guess, in comparison to "big cities" at home, it's not. Less than 300,000 people live in Graz! Yikes.. but it was good.

Now it's back to class once again. Drat!! But time's flying-- we have six weekends left in Klagenfurt! WOW! I have some major exploring to do... Berlin and Hamburg top out my list, while the rest of my group has set their sights on Venice. If they go, I'll go because how could I not?! But it's definitely not my must-see location.. it's not even German, after all and what am I here for?! So, I may be making at least one trip by myself... but I'm okay with that! If nothing else, I've definitely been reassured of my independence in the last few months.. although I'd still prefer company to not a lot of times... I know that I could navigate the trains, the buses, the hostels, etc. in a foreign city without too much fuss, so I just may be doing that!

The family is here in less than 50 days-- yikes! So exciting. So crazy!! Christmas is in the air in Austria. I went to town on Friday to see the Alterplatz, formerly filled with tables and chairs for cafes, now being filled with booths and lights strung between buildings-- Christkindlmarkt!! Whohoo :) The opening ceremony is THIS Thursday, so that should be a new and exciting experience-- I hope it lives up to my expectations! The Christmas markets will definitely be one advantage to traveling in November and December. Almost every city has their own market with local cafes, wines, and crafts and I can't wait to see how they each represent themselves! My Austrian Advent calendar is just aching to be opened... but I'm being good. It will be opened all the way before I even know what's happened!!

Well.. laundry is calling my name. Lots of love to all!!