Central College Abroad

About a two minute walk away from the dorm is a fruit stand. I can get fresh fruit for breakfast every morning on the way to the Central College office. I’ve only tried the apples and the peaches, and they’re super fresh. The fruit is pretty safe, so I know I’m going to make several stops there in the future. Four pieces cost about 80 cents (5 kwai) so that’s a pretty awesome deal.

A few nights ago, we had the welcome dinner. We all walked to this fancy restaurant in a hotel. The table was set up in its own little room. Miss Li then instructed us in Chinese table manners. For example, the host always sits in the seat facing the door. The most honored guest sits to her left and another person from the host’s party sits to her right. Every other seat sits a member of the host party, then a guest, then a host. But pretty much all of us were guests, so it didn’t really matter much at this meal. Miss Li asked for a menu, and the waiter gave her this ginormous book of a thing. Every dish had pictures, which would be helpful if I ever had to order food. Miss Li ordered so many different foods. We had pumpkin with lily (like the flower), spicy bullfrog soup (which was pretty good, actually), soup that tasted like buffalo wings, fish that melted in your mouth (and incredibly difficult to eat with chopsticks…), this amazing dong po ro which was alternating layers of fat and pork in this tasty sauce, black fungus (which if dipped in vinegar wasn’t too awful), and so many more things that I can’t even remember. Miss Li also ordered a surprise for us–smiley fries! It was good to see something familiar. But I think my favorites were the fish and the dong po ro.

For lunch on Tuesday, we went to this place nicknamed Muslims. We don’t really know the names for places, so we make up nicknames for places, and the only thing we know about this place is that it’s run by Muslim Chinese. This place had amazing handmade noodles. We’d see the chefs stretch out the noodles, and you could tell that each noodle wasn’t exactly the same width. I’ve never had homemade noodles before. The noodles themselves were softer and dough-ier. There were onions and peppers in it too, with pork I think. Delicious.

For dinner, we went to a little place nicknamed Pacmans (due to the little guy’s red cousin on the sign). It was deliciously cheap. Four of us shared a meal, and it came out to around 4 kwai (65 cents) a person. We got bao zi which is dumplings, ro su mien which was meat with noodles, and ban mien which was peanut butter noodles. THAT was strange. It tasted exactly how it sounds: oily peanut butter with noodles. It wasn’t terribly awful…we tried to make it better with hot sauce, and that didn’t work. Then we tried adding vinegar, and that just made it terrible. The verdict was that it was alright, but we wouldn’t be ordering it again.

For lunch on Wednesday, Miss Li took Grisell and me out to lunch at a chicken place downtown. We had gone to China Mobile to get our phones during the morning, and it took a looong time. Lunch time came, so we all went out for lunch. Miss Li ordered chicken and mushroom soup for us, and chicken and bamboo shoots for herself. It also came with evergreens, black fungus, pickled radish (which was weird), cucumbers, and small beans. Everything was delicious. All of a sudden, I picked out a piece of meat from my soup, and it was a soggy chicken foot! “Oh my, a chicken foot,” was my response (believe me, I was freaking out on the inside!!) Miss Li laughed and asked if I was going to eat it, I said “Nooo”. She said she liked chicken feet, so I gave it to her. I also saw she ate another one in her soup a little while later. Weird, so weird.

We visited the wetlands on Thursday, and for lunch, we went to an old styled restaurant.  Miss Li ordered a whole bunch of interesting things, like eel (strange, but good), eggplant (my favorite at this meal), snails (kind of like clams. I almost couldn’t do it, but I did it, I tried it.), chicken soup (like intense chicken soup–the whole chicken was cooked in the soup!), these crispy little fish (you’re supposed to eat the entire thing! I couldn’t do it, I tried it, but I couldn’t eat the whole thing), cabbage (like normal cooked cabbage), and of course, rice. So while everyone would agree that most of the food here is delicious, there are a few things I’ve seen which seem slightly off to my Westernized palate. Like chicken feet, snails, whole fish and peanut butter noodles.  But all in all the food has been delicious, and I’m excited to try even more places.

My name is Monica, and I’ll be the blogger for this semester. A little about myself: I go to Houghton College, a small private college in Western NY. I’m an Intercultural Studies major, with minors in Linguistics, TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and Chinese Studies. I love traveling and I’m super excited to be in China for a semester, learning Chinese and seeing how the other side of the world works.

Flying into China was somewhat of an adventure. I speak absolutely no Chinese whatsoever. I had three flights, and the second one from Seattle to Beijing was delayed for an hour (they never told us why…)  However, I wasn’t traveling alone! Another girl from CCA (named Grisell) and I had emailed each other beforehand and arranged to meet in Seattle and to travel the rest of the way. It was a good thing we did, too! One of our flights were delayed, and we had to change our flight. At the airport most Chinese spoke at least a tiny bit of English, so we were able to get our point across well enough in order to change our flight.

One interesting anecdote here is the way I’m finding how communication is working. After I got off the plane into China, Grisell and I were both used to being able to explain the whole situation clearly and be able to get what we wanted. At first we were saying things like “Hi, we just flew in from Seattle and our flight was delayed and so we missed our next flight. Can we change flights?” But we quickly learned that “Change flight? It was delayed” and handing the lady our old tickets worked just fine. She understood what we meant, and she was able to explain enough where to go (in response she said something like, “Air China, Terminal 3, take bus, depart at 9″) I’m finding this is a much better way to communicate with people. Using this method I’ve been able to change a flight and get my room deposit paid (I said, “Room deposit?” Aaaand they were trying to speak to me, and I just gave them a blank look (I think they wanted my passport…?) Eventually, I gave them my room key and the money and I signed a paper. I hope that was all I needed to do!). I was also able to pay for an IC card (I said “IC card?” The lady said a few different things and finally I understood she wanted my room number. I gave her my room key with the number on it, and I gave her money. She showed me a poster that explained how to  use it.) All in all, I’m finding communication does not have to be many words exchanged at all, actions with a few simple words is sufficient.

Immediate differences: really hard bed, shower with no lip, so the water runs all over the bathroom floor, it’s not rude to stare at Americans apparently, humidity has gotta be like 90 percent, boiling our drinking water, old bikes everywhere, crazy traffic. Almost all of these things I was at least semi-prepared for, so culture shock hasn’t been too bad yet. I wouldn’t say I’m in love with the place, but I wouldn’t say I don’t like it either. It’s just the place I am right now, and I’m really happy to be here. I can’t wait until language classes start and I can start communicating a little better!

That’s all for now!

-Monica

My name is Keri Hartman and I’ll be blogging about my experiences during Central College Abroad’s Vienna Program this fall. I’m a junior at Harvard majoring in sociology and pursuing a language citation in German. I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA, and enjoy taking walks through urban neighborhoods, volunteering at an after-school program and a mentoring program in Boston, and reading blogs about race, class, gender, and social activism.

I’ve taken German language classes since my freshman year in high school. I only chose German through a process of elimination: Latin was dead, I didn’t like the Spanish teacher, and I considered French a “girly language.”* I never expected to fall for the language as hard as I have. I’m now entering my seventh year of studying German (= 5 college semesters), and I love everything about it, from the guttural “ü” to the hissing “sch” to (yes, the cliche is true) the spitting “z.”

During the summer of 2008, I spent one week in Gänserndorf, Niederösterreich, a small town on the outskirts of Vienna, as part of an exchange program between my high school and an Austrian one. I loved every portion of my experience: living with an Austrian family, (struggling to) speak German in daily life, and witnessing the beauty and cosmopolitan energy of Vienna. My time in Austria, as short as it was, solidified my desire to return to the region for study abroad in college.

As I began to research programs last winter, I knew I wanted to challenge myself by taking actual classes in a German-speaking university, but I also recognized that I would need support from a program (and some intensive language preparation) to reach that goal. Central College Abroad was exactly what I was looking for. Before I begin my coursework at the world-renowned University of Vienna (home of Theodor Adorno, among others), I’ll be taking four weeks of intensive German classes at the Goethe Institut in Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg, a small town in southwestern Germany nearest Stuttgart.

My goals for the semester are two-fold. I am excited about the opportunity to practice German in both academic and non-academic contexts. I hope to finally grasp the idiosyncrasies of the language that only reveal themselves in the context of everyday life, and to further progress towards my eventual goal of fluency in German.

At the same time, I expect that my semester abroad will enhance my capacity to relate with youth – to consider their unique perspectives, to appreciate the hardships they may undergo as newcomers to the United States, and to understand the struggle of maintaining multiple  and sometimes conflicting identities. After college, I would love to work with youth, either in a social service capacity or as a youth organizer. By undergoing some degree of culture shock and disorientation myself, I will be better able to support youth as they make transitions in their lives.

* My views on the last of these changed, thankfully, when I met my college roommate — a strong, brilliant, athletic young French woman — and her very masculine (and Roger Federer lookalike!) Quebecois boyfriend.

Hallo!

There’s only about a month left of my time in Vienna, and still sooo much to see!  Central College classes have been keeping me pretty busy with reading assignments, plays to see, and presentations in German to give – a great help for my German skills, and a great way to learn more about Austria and Vienna.

Last weekend, some Central students and I decided to try yet another “Stadtwanderweg”, or city hiking trail, which took us through the wine hills outside the city for a great overlook of Vienna. It was a beautiful day outside, and we met again later for schnitzel, yet another food Vienna does well, at a local bar/restaurant.

Vineyards outside Vienna

Schnitzel!

Early Sunday morning I woke up with a friend to catch a train through the Austrian Alps (the views never get old!) to Innsbruck. Innsbruck is a beautiful town in western Austria situated with a breathtaking view of the mountains around every corner. We spent the rest of the day walking around the town, enjoying the Lederhosen, Cuckoo clocks,  and warm wool clothes that were in the small shops around the town square. We sat down for yet another Austrian dinner, had a drink, and hit the sack to wake up again and move on the next morning.

View of the Alps at Innsbruck

The next morning we traveled shortly through the Alps a little further to the country of Liechtenstein, known as the largest exporter of dentures, 6th smallest country, and the only still-standing German-speaking monarchy. Why do you visit a country this small? To hike across it! We hiked across Liechtenstein in the morning, and still had plenty of time to explore its capital, Vaduz, and the other small towns scattered across it’s portion of the Alps. We made it to Switzerland to the east of Liechtenstein, and from my one or two small encounters with the Swiss, I can confirm that their German is almost impossible to understand!

Entering Liechtenstein!

On our hike, almost across Liechtenstein

This weekend I had originally planned to go traveling for a day trip or two, but changed my mind when I realized that my list of things to see in Vienna was still quite long. Having a finite amount of time left in Vienna and in  Europe makes me both happy and sad that it will be soon time to leave. The more places I visit in Europe, the more I realize how proud I am call Vienna my home, even if only  for a short amount of time. There are many things that I will miss in Vienna when it’s time to go: getting a Viennese coffee or bottle of wine or ice cream for under 2 euros, walking around the city with friends at all hours of day and night, picnicking in the park, people watching at the cafe, listening the the Underground doors open and close, hearing “Zug faehrt ab” or “Alle bitte aussteigen” overhead, learning German all around me, and the list goes on. Naturally there are many things I miss about home, but I will miss many aspects of Viennese life, and I decided to take this weekend to soak it all in.

Well, I hope that there will be one more blog before I depart, including, but not limited to, events of Prag and Salzburg!

Bis Bald! – Laura

Well, the grand adventure of studying abroad has now ended as of Monday the 24th. I write this final blog from my home in Riceville, Iowa. I actually got home a few days ago, but have been and am still so busy unpacking and rearranging my life from abroad while preparing for my next adventures. It was truly a strange feeling when I realized that upon leaving, cleaning, and packing up my apartment that my almost four months in the Netherlands fit into my two (though both nicely sized) rolling suitcases, a backpack, and laptop case. It is just a strange feeling to me to know that I have done, seen, and experienced so much during that time, yet, I had the same amount of luggage that I arrived with (okay, I admit it, I threw out some things to make room for what I collected throughout the semester).

My last week here since ending finals last Tuesday really flew by. My finals went really well and confirmed to myself that I managed to learn much while abroad. Once finals were over however, I packed extreme traveling into my remaining days from Wednesday the 20th to Sunday the 23rd. During that time I went to pick up my residency permit and explored Delft, The Hague, Amsterdam (twice!), and Rotterdam going to museums and just exploring the cities, though I had visited several of them before. As I visited each city, I thought about how I would miss this Netherlands, this European lifestyle and culture. My final day I spent in Leiden saying goodbye to all the locations I would miss, visiting the botanical garden for the first time, and having a final giant Dutch pancake.

I also said goodbyes to my program, both fellow students and professors, during this time. We had one final meal at a Chinese restaurant together and afterwards a final borrel. It was strange saying goodbye and then having everyone leave over the next few days, either to return to their respective homes or set off for grand adventures in Europe. This process was strange and like my moving out process, all together surreal. In retrospect, I can say that I do have regrets, resentments, and missed opportunities about my time abroad. But, I know that I have had an incredibly unique experience that has allowed me to grow and mature as a person. I also have learned so much about my context in the world, as a woman, as an United States citizen, and as an eager learner of history and culture. I also learned a great lesson about human nature and learned to better treasure those who love and love me for who I am. These are what the most important lessons of my study abroad experience has been. Though I may always carry with me some regrets, and have always wished that I would have been able to go to Prague, I know that overall what study abroad has given me has eclipsed these regrets as it has allowed me to mature as an independent person who now has a better understanding of the world and a better appreciation of those in it.

I can’t believe this is my last post and my last week in Paris! Where did the time go??

With my flight home looming, I decided to make the most of Paris and go back to all of the places I enjoyed most in the past 5 months. On top of that, I’ve been trying to make some progress on my “bucket list” of things to do. There’s never a dull moment in Paris…always something left to do!

The last weekend was full of fun and one last 21^st birthday and yes, that’s right, one last Nutella cake. We celebrated in Bastille (our favorite “going out” spot in Paris) and said goodbye to a couple Central kids (dropping like flies!). We also spent the day hanging out in Luxembourg gardens, which hold a special place in all of our hearts as we have walked through them to get to school almost every day for the past five months.  The desolate, cold, dusty gardens we first knew are now flooded with flowers, sailboats, trees, and the most adorable babies!

One of the abovementioned adorable babies

Maggie and her Nutella cake

It’s funny, everyone asks me what monument I like the best and I just can’t answer. My favorite parts of Paris weren’t the monuments at all, they were the parks. I’m a runner, so I set out to discover parks the minute I got here, and I found the most beautiful places in the world. My favorite has to be “Buttes Chaumont.” Yesterday I sat there for three hours with my feet in the water of the waterfall and people watched. I’m really going to miss this place.

A fairly terrible picture of Buttes Chaumont

On Monday, my friend Liz and I finally got ourselves together and went to visit Monet’s gardens in Giverny. It’s about a 40 minute train ride away and then we rented bicycles at a classy little restaurant with a sign outside that said “HERE RENT BICYCLES.” We followed orders and biked down the most beautiful three mile trail to Giverny (well, before that we were biking on a highway until a nice man directed us to the trail). We pretty much skipped over spring here, so it was one million degrees and the sun was blazing. We found a nice tree and had a picnic before braving the hour-long line to get into Monet’s house and Gardens. Ca vaut la peine, as they say here (it was worth it!). The gardens seemed to stretch on forever, with all different kinds of flowers I had never seen before. The water lily garden was unreal. It felt like I was in one of Monet’s paintings…so cool.

Beautiful

Japanese Bridge in the water lily garden

We also got to check out his house, which was equally as beautiful. It was painted in all different vibrant colors and there was Japanese artwork everything. It was pretty awesome to see all of his inspirations in the house.

Monet's house

Last weekend, there was some kind of spring festival, and the Champs-Elysées was filled with trees and flowers. The ground was covered in mulch and there were no cars allowed. I’ve never seen so many people in one place in my life. It was awesome, and the constant smell of kebabs from the street vendors wasn’t bad either.

Champs of trees!

I don’t have too much more to report, besides the massive cleaning and packing initiative that is currently going on in my room. I’m off to take my last run in the park. Sad to leave, but I know I’ll be back again soon. Thanks for reading for the past five months and thanks for the memories, Paris. Au revoir!

Last time at the Sacre Coeur...au revoir, Paris!

Servus!

So, now that I have passed all my Austrian midterms, I’ve had a bit more time to explore Vienna and its surrounding areas! About a week ago, a group of us took a day trip to Krems, about an hour from Vienna, and then sailed the Danube in the Wachau Valley to a small town called Spitz. Both towns were very cute, and in Spitz it was nice to walk the rolling hills of the valley and taste some of the local wines at a Heuriger.  Krems is actually a blend of the town itself, plus two additional towns, Stein and Und, (“und” is german for “and”), so we can say we’ve been to “Stein Und Krems”, three places in one! It was a beautiful day and a great day for a boat ride.

Me in Krems

On the boat in the Wachau Valley

Back in Vienna, I saw a few new places, including the famous Hundertwasserhaus, a set of apartment buildings build by the architect Hundertwasser. His work is very different and interesting, as you can see from the pictures below, and he has many other works scattered throughout Austria and beyond.  I also got to go to the Musikverein, the music hall in Vienna, on two separate occasions (courtesy of Central College!), to hear a String Quartet and an Orchestra – both were amazing! I’ve had much more free time, now that midterms are over, to explore the city and discover streets, gelato, coffee shops, etc. that are new to me.

Hundertwasserhaus

The next day I walked around Schloss Schoenbrunn, the castle that the Hapsburgs rulers once lived in, and went to a museum full of their carriages. It was the first time I’ve been there, which I am ashamed to say, but it was also one of the nicer mornings we’ve had in Vienna – no rain for once! – The gardens were beautiful and the flowers were all in bloom. In the afternoon I traveled to the Zentralfriedhof, or Central Cemetery in Vienna, which holds the graves of many famous composers, including Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Strass, and many more. Our cemetery expedition got cut short again due to Mother nature, but was a good walk nonetheless.

Beethoven's grave

Mozart

On Saturday I traveled to a Jewish concentration camp in Mauthausen, which is a couple hours from Vienna. This was a very different experience for me, and I learned a lot. In Austria, they are somewhat ashamed of their history during WWII, and would like to basically erase it from everyones memory. While there was a museum at Mauthausen, it was a more difficult place to find, and is obviously not marked well, but was worth the hassle. From this experience, as well as interactions with Austrian students, I feel like I have a better understanding of the way Austrians look at their own history, and not just they way that we view it. The United  States was not as closely linked  to the hardships as Germany, Austria, and other European countries, and therefore it’s not as much of an integral part of our history.

Wailing Wall at Mauthausen

And…today was another typical Sunday in Vienna: coffee shop, museum, and homework! We have (yet another) holiday coming up this week at the University, so who knows what my next travel plans will be…. Austrian Alps? Liechenstein? We shall see!

Tschues,

Laura

Well, it has been a busy past few weeks as evident by my tardiness in updating my blog. In fact, this week begins my last full week here in the Netherlands as I leave on Monday, May 24th. These past few weeks have been a blur of both assignments and activities. In this time period, I have written three major papers and have actually completed my Globalization course.

Besides these more academic pursuits, in this time period our group went to Belgium. We left on Monday May 5th taking a train first to The Hague (Den Haag here in the Netherlands) and from there to Brussels. We spent two days and two nights in Brussels. During this time we had free time as well as organized tours around the city and its sights. I made sure to enjoy the sights of churches and the general architecture of the city which is modern with a unique old charm. I also made sure to eat many waffles with chocolate sauce. As a group we also went each night to a bar that holds the world record for having the most beers available at 2,004 varieties. A highlight of this time in Belgium was going to the EU parliament on May 6th. If we had been there a few hours earlier on that day, we would have actually been able to meet Joe Biden, but instead the man in the tour was able to show us a clip of the speech he gave. When seeing this speech, it was important to realize how many languages it had to be translated into. In fact, we were able to see where the EU holds its parliament, especially to see all the different booths for the language translators as there are many languages which must be translated, including Gaelic.

On our last day in Belgium, we took a train from Brussels to Brugge. Brugge is a beautifully preserved old city with a great art history. While there we went to a church that houses a statue by Michelangelo that is protected by glass because people have tried to destroy it so many times. We also visited an art museum while there that had art from medieval to modern times, so that was good to observe for my art history class. This time in Brugge was not very long, but for the amount, we certainly did see a good portion of the city.

Besides these exciting travels, we have been busy with finals as I mentioned above. In fact, I actually need to go and study for my last two finals before I complete my junior year in the Netherlands. Next week my blog will probably be written Monday from my home in Iowa.

So…it’s time to make the best of my last couple of weeks here! I had a great week back in Paris after break. Getting back to classes was a bit of a reality check, especially because European school means piling up all the work for the end, but I am still enjoying my time at the Institut Catholique. Last Wednesday, we went on our cultural excursion to the Musée national du Moyen Âge, or the Middle Ages Museum. The building itself was pretty cool, because it was actually an old townhouse of the abbots of Cluny, started in 1334. It was really interesting learning all about the Gothic and Renaissance architecture and looking at all of the artifacts in the museum.

Can never get too many pictures of the Tower!

This past weekend, I celebrated my 21^st birthday here in Paris!! While it’s not such a big deal to turn 21 in Europe, my friends made sure to make it a big deal anyway. We went to a cool bar the night before. It’s located near the stock market and so they have big screens on all the walls and the prices of the drinks change depending on demand. At midnight, there is a “crash” and all the drinks drop in price. It was a pretty cool experience! I ended up ringing in the birthday at midnight at “Harry’s American Bar,” which was pretty hysterical. There were American University flags all over! The next day, my friends followed in tradition and made me the most delicious Nutella cake we’ve seen so far. Peanut butter bars, covered in chocolate, Nutella and M&Ms. Yum! I also had my birthday lunch at a restaurant called “Breakfast in America.” Think I was craving home a little bit? It was so yummy. No toast and jam for me. I had an all out triple pancake, triple egg, and triple bacon meal. Ooof..no wonder the French think we are fat!! It was delicious!!

Birthday celebration!

We decided that since there are so many parts of Paris we have yet to see and there are only two more weeks, we are going to start pretending we are tourists on the weekends and actually get out and see what else Paris has to offer us! My friend and I started Saturday by going to check out Pere Lachaise, which is the most famous cemetery in Paris. Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried there, and it’s tradition to kiss Oscar Wilde’s tomb when you visit. There was lipstick all over it! So cool! The cemetery itself was beautiful. It looked like something out of a movie. There were huge tombs everywhere, covered in flowers and on each side of the most beautiful cobblestone winding roads. Gorgeous!

View from the top of the Arc!

Another view!

The next day, we went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the top. I’ve been there a million times but it was the first time we made it all the way up there. It was kind of a hazy day but the view was still incredible. We could see the grand arche at La Defense all the way down the road, so that inspired us to check it out after. An arch filled day! La Defense was a really cool, not-touristy part of town that I had never seen before. All the buildings were pretty modern and there was a board walk that extended over a cemetery for what seemed like miles. Very interesting!

La Defense Arch!

Again!

As far as sightseeing goes, so far so good. Hopefully it continues this weekend. I’m looking forward to trying to get out to Giverny to see Monet’s Gardens! Bon soir!

Hi all!

Wow, how time flies here! There are less than 2 months left of my time in Vienna, and I have been making the most of it!

After taking a very difficult test on Tibet history at the University of Vienna, the Central College Abroad students in Vienna and I headed off for a weekend in BUDAPEST! This was our one weekend trip where arrangements were made through Central, so that all students could go. Despite a few minor mishaps, we had a beautiful weekend seeing both Buda and Pest, which are separated by the Danube River (the same river that runs through Vienna!). Buda is very hilly, while Pest is very flat. We had a bus tour with everyone and a nice Hungarian dinner on Saturday, and on Sunday we all split to different areas of the city, and I went with some students up the hills of Buda and in the caves as well. Hungary was a very interesting and different country, because it became a part of the EU not too long ago (2004), it still uses the Forint as its currency. Since about 300 Forints = 1 Euro, it was crazy to picture that we would spend thousands of Forints on one meal! Overall it was a very enjoyable weekend with all of my friends from Central College Abroad.

On the Danube at Budapest

Budapest Parliament

After our short weekend trip, it was back to the “studying” reality in Vienna. Last week I had two Midterms and this week I have two more, but it is somewhat interesting stuff to learn, since I am experiencing it all around me: Did you know that Rudolf IV (a Hapsburg ruler, of course), established the University of Vienna in 1365 and started the construction of St. Stephans cathedral?? What would Vienna be without its history!  After my hard work for the week, on Friday I went to the Theater Museum, a typical Viennese coffee shop called “Cafe Central”, and then to a German musical, “Tanz der Vampire.” Obviously singing in German is a lot harder to understand than just talking in German, but with the actions and songs, it was not too difficult to understand.

Cafe Central

On Saturday was the Music Workshop, which is a one credit class that Central offers over a weekend. This semester in the music workshop, we learned about important composers, from the classical times of Mozart and Beethoven to more recent works by Schoenberg and Webern. After that I went with a few students to the Botanical Garden (an internship place for some Central students this semester) as well as the garden in front of the Belvedere.

Me at the Belvedere

And…..that about catches you up to the present! Today I spent going to church and doing homework, and just got home from the play “Gut Gegen Nordwind” that I saw for the Theater class with Central. The past few weeks it has been soooooo nice outside, I spent as much time outside as possible, which meant little computer time!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Laura