Weihnachten in Wien

Hallo everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a restful weekend. I’ve been in Vienna for one week now, and it’s been a week of up and down emotions.

I arrived late Saturday night, and it was snowing when I landed. I don’t think I have ever flown in the snow, and it was a really amazing experience. Aside from the nagging terror that the runway was covered in ice and snow, it was beautiful. It was nighttime too, so the swirl of snowflakes was only lit up intermittently by the lights on the wings of our plane. As we started our decent, I could see the small towns around Vienna and the houses and trees all covered in snow. It was really quite beautiful. And also quite cold. Lisa was waiting for me outside the baggage area, and we hopped in her sporty little car to head for her apartment. Lisa lives in the town of Baden, about 20 minutes outside of Vienna. I had visited Baden last year when I was in Vienna for work, and Lisa’s parents invited me for dinner. They were so kind and friendly, and that was the spark that led to me spending Christmas with them this year. Baden is a beautiful town, and very different from summer to winter, and it is especially transformed at Christmas. Lisa had to work a few days last week so I was free to explore Baden and the Christmas markets, and have lunch with her parents who live just 10 minutes away. Her parents speak a bit of English, about the same level as my German, so while we struggle a bit, we are able to communicate quite well. It helps that they are very patient and encouraging, so I’m not as tense when speaking with them. They also have a dog, a Doberman, who is less than a year old and full of energy. I went to the park with Lisa’s parents and the dog so she could run. Dogs act the same in every country, and I love it.

I’ve really enjoyed exploring Baden, and Vienna as well. As I said, Lisa has been working but I’ve gone into the city a few times to look around on my own, and then met her after work. We went to some of the Christmas markets in Vienna with her colleagues, drank pünsch and glüwein, and walked around to look at the beautiful Christmas decorations. It was wonderful to be there, and I know how lucky I am to be here. When I visited Vienna last fall, Lisa and her colleagues told me all about Christmas in Vienna, and I said that I hoped I would be able to come back and spend Christmas there someday. One year later, here I am. Funny how things work out like that.

Of course, it hasn’t all been fabulous Christmas markets and charming colleagues. I’ve had some pangs of homesickness too, and it’s difficult. I love preparing for Christmas at home- buying gifts and sending Christmas cards, decorating my apartment and attending Christmas parties. I haven’t been able to do any of those things, and it felt like Christmas was passing me by. And as much as I usually adore cultural differences and new traditions, it was hard knowing that I was missing out on traditions at home and not understanding the Austrian Christmas traditions. And so many things reminded me over and over that I am an outsider. Lisa and I went to a Christmas gathering at the home of a friend of hers , and while Lisa told me that none of them spoke very good English I didn’t mind because I wanted to practice my German. As I said, Lisa’s family is very patient and understanding, and they try very hard to include me in conversation which makes me feel much more at home. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case at this Christmas party. After introductions were made, no one acknowledged me at all. I didn’t expect them to strike up a conversation in English, but German would have been nice, or at least someone looking me in the eye. I sat for 35 uncomfortable minutes unable to get anyone’s attention to even pass the bottle of cola. Eventually, one girl said to me that they should be speaking in English so I could understand. I told her in German that they didn’t have to speak English, but it was hard for me to follow their conversation because it was so fast. She said, “well we should speak English then!” Another girl at the table replied in German (which I understood) that no, they should not speak English, they should speak German. When the first girl said “langsam!” (slowly!) the second girl looked at me and said very condescendingly, “ha….llo.” I felt like she was talking to a child. I wanted to reply that I wasn’t an idiot, but it was Lisa’s friend’s party so I just kept my mouth shut.

Christmas itself was a little odd. In many European countries, Christmas is celebrated on Christmas eve. I was prepared for that, and it was really wonderful. We went to a children’s mass with Lisa’s friend Maria and her family. Two of Maria’s children were in the Christmas pageant, in fact her son was playing Joseph. It was probably one of the most adorable things I’ve ever not understood. It was neat though, because the story is the same. Even if I only understood half of the words they were saying, I knew how the story went and it was fun to see it acted out by Austrian children. Afterwards we came back to Lisa’s parents for a delicious roast beef dinner and then we gathered in the living room to open presents. It was much more low-key than I’m used to, but still very warm and intimate. The next day we went to Lisa’s grandparents house for dinner with her extended family, and it was a bit more chaotic- like I’m used to. On Saturday evening, Lisa’s parents had a whole mess of friends and relatives to their house for dinner, and we were treated to an impromptu concert. Lisa’s brother Sebastian plays the piano, and her aunt and cousin both play the cello. These happen to be two of my favorite instruments, so when you combine them, well! It was wonderful.

Today was spent working on my paper, and then Sebastian and I went for a walk and I bought him some pizza for his birthday. Lisa is sick with swine flu or something, so her time has been spent shuffling from the kitchen to the bedroom to the bathroom. I hope she’ll feel better soon, because we’ve got to make some New Years plans! I’m sure whatever we end up doing will be great.

I hope all of your New Years festivities are fun filled and loads of fun. Bis dann, und ein gutes neues Jahr!

Frohe Weihnachten!

Hallo Everyone!

It's been a while since I last updated, and I apologize for that. I've been a very busy student so you'll have to excuse me. Today is Friday the 18th, and it was the last day of my third module. This module was on the subject of Internationalization, a topic very near to my heart. I had high expectations of this class, and it did not disappoint. We had a good number of group discussions and I'm continually amazed by the differences in higher education systems all over the world. I've got to begin this paper right away, but fortunately I'm super interested in it.

In case you were wondering, I did manage to finish my last paper before this class began. It turned out to be a totally fascinating subject, and I really enjoyed writing the paper. I can only hope that my Professor enjoys reading it. I wasn't sure if I had a good grasp, but I got my grade for my first paper, and now I feel as though I am on the right track. My grade was a 1.3, which essentially translates to an "A". 1.0 is the highest, followed by 1.3, 1.7 and then 2.0, 2.3, 2.7 etc etc so I suppose I did pretty well. Hooray!

I'm headed to Vienna for Christmas tomorrow, and I still have much to do before I leave so I apologize if this post is a bit short. But I do want to share some pictures of the Weinnachtsmarkt in Kassel. It's such an incredible experience and I couldn't get enough of it. I hope my photos convey just a bit of that. There are also some pictures of the rain from my window and the town of Warburg (very old town).

Please click here to see the entire slideshow.

Enjoy, and I hope your holidays are warm and wonderful.

A Blue Christmas

Time has been rolling along here in Kassel, and it's been difficult for me to keep up sometimes. I start my next module in ten days, and I've barely started my paper for the last module. It was so difficult to settle on a topic and find resources, I ended up changing my topic yesterday. I have a good idea of how this paper will go so I'm not terribly concerned, but it's daunting to have just one week to write it.

I'm also a little bummed about the structure of my program in general. It was advertised on the website that the modules could be completed in one year or one and a half. I was ambitious and I hoped to complete all the modules in one year, but ever since I've been here, anytime I mention that to any of the professors or administrators they tell me that it is not a good idea and I should not do it. Why do they advertise that it's possible then? I had a plan, based on one year of classes, and I'm realizing that I may not be able to do that. I didn't anticipate being here for a year and a half (or more), and I don't know if I can. Not just financially or logistically, but mentally either. I'm doing OK here, in fact better than OK. But I won't be able to visit home at all, and it's hard. I miss my family and my friends and my dog and my boyfriend and oreos and CVS and chocolate chip cookies. I can certainly survive, and thrive, without those things for a year or so, but I had a plan and now I don't know when I'll be able to go home. It's a hard pill to swallow.

I should be getting excited about the holidays, and I am a little bit. The Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) opened here in Kassel last week. It's an incredible sight, and I've been watching them build it for weeks. There are two main squares in the City Centre, right next to each other, and the market fills up both of the squares. Everything you could possibly imagine is there: huts for beer, roasted nuts, bratwurst, coffee, chocolate, cakes, popcorn, candy, sweaters, ornaments, slippers, mugs, toys, wood carvings, candles and honey. Plus ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, petting zoos and miniature trains. The market opens in the evening, and it is filled with people. There are couples and families and groups of young teenagers wandering through the aisles, and musicians playing traditional Christmas music. It's really beautiful, and incredibly festive. I walked through part of the market on my own last night, and it had a strange effect on me. I love the Christmas season more than any time of year, and it was so nice to be surrounded by all the merriment. But at the same time, it felt so out of reach and so foreign. I have bought a few small decorations for my room, but it's not practical to buy very much since I can't really bring it all home. I miss having a space to decorate with MY decorations, and I miss the anticipation and preparation with my family and friends. As I walked around the Christmas market, surrounded by so many happy German revelers, I felt incredibly alone. I do have friends in Kassel and I will continue to make friends, but I have a lot of time on my own. Mostly it is nice alone time, but sometimes it is lonely. I love being here and I'm so grateful for all the new opportunities, but I am in a foreign country where I know very few people, I don't speak the language and my surroundings are often unfamiliar. That can wear on a person sometimes and for me, the Christmas season is a time when I feel just a little out of place and the pangs of homesickness hit.

I think though, that sadness, loneliness and a feeling of disconnectedness are part of the whole experience. It's important to have these feelings, as long as it isn't constant. Being abroad isn't all lollipops, bunnies and sunflowers. It's hard, it's stressful, and it's wonderful because of that, not despite that. I might be lonely and sad now, and I didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to be away from home for the holidays. But it's part of this episode that is my graduate studies in Germany. I know that in the end, I'll be a better person for it, but it sure is tough right now.

That said, I sure would love to get some Christmas cards and cookies in the mail.

Die Junggesellinnenabschied and a Franco-American Thanksgiving

Hallloooooo Freunden! It's been a fun few weeks for me, albiet very busy and totally devoid of any work.

As I mentioned, I attended a German bachelorette party last week, and though my expectations were high, it did not disappoint. My landlord, Maria, had no idea what was in store, but the ladies assured her that she was in for a good time. We drove to a nearby town, and went for a hike in a really beautiful forest. There were about seven girls as we started out, but right from the start we were joined by Sepe, a guy in a wig. Sepe is a dear friend of Maria’s, and is going to be her “maid of honor”. Because of this distinction, he was allowed to join us. As we hiked through the forest, she was given special tasks along the way. Sewing a button on a pair of pants, memorizing the names of trees, wedding charades, etc. And of course with every stop, we all downed a little bottle of Shnapps. This worked out well for me, because as I’ve said, my German gets better with every drink I have. We started off in daylight, but it got very dark very quickly. Thankfully we had flashlights, and the trek continued. It was important to end in the dark, because Sepe had hidden a treasure chest of sorts, and marked it with a glow stick. We traipsed through the brush when Maria spotted the treasure, or “schatz” among the trees, and she retrieved her prize. There was candy of course, a photo cube with pictures of her and Knauffi, money and other goodies.

After we emerged from the woods, we walked to the Königs Alm, a Bavarian-themed restaurant, and had dinner. It was a beautiful building, and the staff was dressed to impress in Dirndls and Lederhosen. Christine had arranged somehow for various men to come by ourtable throughout the evening to present a rose to Maria and congratulate her. By the end of the night, she had a dozen. We played games, decided on which strangers Maria should present one of her roses to, and ordered a ski full of shots. What’s a ski full of shots? Well, have a look:

There was also a guy playing the accordion and he had gotten wind of Maria's impending nuptuals, so he played a waltz and made her dance with a stranger from another table. As the music continued, I guess we had the right mix of people there, because everyone started dancing. The waiters and waitresses had their cameras out to capture the ridiculousness. There were conga lines, kicklines and dancing circles. The high point for me was when I had a line of 25 Germans doing a dance that my friend created in college. Ben Brisson wasn’t much of a dancer, so he came up with a simple dance that goes with any song. My friends and I have performed this dance at weddings, in bars, on the street… anywhere we can. I was incredibly proud to have brought it to Germany.

My German got quite a boost as well, because many of the others on our outing didn’t speak much English. It was difficult at times, but fortunately I spoke with enough different people that I could say the same sentences over and over. I had a really great time, and I'm glad they invited me to come along. It was nice that we didn't do anything obnoxious to Maria, we just had a lot of fun surprises for her. Oh, and we made her take most of the shots.

I only had a little bit of downtime after that, as last Wednesday I hopped a train towards France on my way to a unique kind of Thanksgiving. While I lived in Providence I worked for the Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art, and I'm still working for them part time while I'm here. My boss, Gwen, invited me to come to the campus for Thanksgiving, since they have a big party every year. I took the train the whole way, which ended up taking 12 hours. It was not a fun experience, but I survived, and I was really hoping it would be worth it. Pont Aven is located in Brittany, in the far north-west corner of France. It's a tiny town, very beautiful and idyllic and French, but I can understand how students might go crazy after living there for 15 weeks. Still, it's an incredible place, and the students all seemed extremely happy. I had never met any Pont Aven students before, which was hard since I worked so closely with them as they prepared for their semester abroad, so being able to spend time with them was a treat. It was fun for me to see them interacting because I had known them all separately, some a bit timid and others a bit annoying. Now they are all (mostly) the best of friends, some are dating, and they are distraught to be leaving each other in just two weeks. Ah yes, this is what study abroad is all about.

The Thanksgiving party was a ton of fun. There was excellent food, an excellent band, and not-so-excellent dancing. (What do you expect from art students?) Gwen had made homemade cranberry sauce which was absolutely delicious, and she had also ordered two huge turkeys. I heard that the turkey was good, but I didn't have any. There was so much else to eat, cous cous, sausage, vegetables, salads, potatoes etc etc etc, that I didn't have space for turkey.

I stayed at the party until the very end, taking photos and talking with a few of the students and their host families. After the party was cleaned up we walked to the only pub in Pont Aven. We sat outside overlooking the river and had a lively discussion. I understand now what Gwen means when she says that each semester is a new set of characters. After we were kicked out of the pub at closing time our group dwindled in size, but we continued to wander the streets in search of adventure. I don't know if we found adventure, but there was an artists show at a small gallery in town, so we went inside. It was a motley crew of artists from all over the area, and I managed to find probably the only guy in Pont Aven who spoke German. This was actually a blessing, as I am completely incapable of forming a sentence in French. I studied French for almost 6 years, and I managed to understand a LOT of what my hosts were saying, but when I open my mouth to speak, there is only German. When I told the folks in Pont Aven this, they looked sympathetic and told me to keep at it and I would remember. I would smile and nod, but what I didn't tell them that I was glad that I am babbling in German and I couldn't care less if I ever speak French. My conversation with Mr. German Pont Aven was going great, since neither of us were native German speakers, and while I'm sure we both made plenty of mistakes, neither of us noticed. Actually, that's not true. I noticed mistakes that he made, and I was able to help when he was struggling for a word. My German was actually better than someone elses! I can't tell you how pleased with myself I felt.

We spent a good chunk of time at the artists party, but we left after Mr. German Pont Aven got upset that I wasn't staying in town longer. "But why are you leaving? You have such pretty eyes!" Right, it's time to go. I truly enjoyed my time in Pont Aven, but it didn't feel much like Thanksgiving. I'm not sad about missing it though, because I don't feel like I "missed" Thanksgiving, I just feel like it didn't happen this year.

I spent the weekend in Duarnanez, at Gwen's home. Her house is literally steps from the beach, and I could hear the ocean from my room. It was probably beautiful, but it rained almost the whole time. I didn't mind though, it's still a lovely place with a fascinating culture and very friendly people. We did have a few hours of sun on Sunday, so Gwen drove me to some of the interesting places in the area. One of the places we stopped was the village of Locronan, a renaissance village that looks completely unchaged over thousands of years. The main reason for this is that absolutely everything electrical is buried underground, with no trace of anything modern in sight. The movie "Tess" was filmed in Locronan, so the directors had everything buried. The result is incredibly cool.

On Saturday evening Gwen and her husband Herves (Her-vay) brought me along to a housewarming party at one of their friends new lofts. I enjoyed myself for the most part, but there weren't many English speakers and even fewer German speakers. I did learn a lot about Bretton culture though. The people of Brittany are extremely proud of their culture, and prefer to think of themselves as Bretton rather than French. The Bretton language is still spoken, and the music is everywhere. The language is more than a dialect of French, it is a legitimately separate language, with grammer and vocabulary. It is actually very close to Gaelic. This surprised me at first, but it turns out that the Celtic culture in Ireland comes from the same tribes of people who settled in Brittany. There is actually a stone sculpture in the town of Carnac that was erected by the same tribe of people who built Stonehenge. And the ones at Carnac came first.

I also got to witness, and participate in, Bretton dancing. As far as I can tell, it involves standing in a circle of people, linking your pinkies, and dancing around and bumping into each other. It wasn't quite the "Ben Brisson" dance, but it was still a ton of fun.

I took the train back from Brittany yesterday, it took 14 hours. It was long and tiring and annoying, but you know, it was totally worth it.