This week was a good week, things to do but not too crazy busy! On Monday I started volleyball which was really cool. It's something I can actually do. Well. So it gave me a bit of confidence and it was really fun to start playing more sport. But I talked to Constanze and Barbara and some other family friends today and they were saying here, you don't really play against other schools... Or have any sort of real competition... You basically train every week and play against each other... Without competition? Now, for Austrian school kids here, that probably seems totally normal. And any who are reading my blog are probably thinking, "well why do you need competition?". But, as a reasonably sporty, typical New Zealand girl I'm thinking... ARE YOU MAD? Perhaps we can be a little too competitive sometimes... But, you know, being raised the way I was I don't really see the point of practising if you're not going to use the skills to CRUSH THE OPPONENTS. Hm. Maybe we shall leave that... But after volleyball we had an AFS "Stammtisch". It was kinda like a chapter meeting but with people from anywhere in Austria, so better. There were so many people and we went to a bar and all talked and everything. It was great. And of course, Nick and I, being the typical Kiwis, decided the food was too expensive, so went to Maccas for a feed and then came back!
Then Wednesday we went to an exhibition of my host-father's in Oberösterreich because it's going to close soon and otherwise I wouldn't get to see it. It was pretty cool, we went with Chrissi and Conny and it was nice to spend the day with them as well. It was really long though, about 5-6 driving altogether to get there and back and then I had dancing that night... It was fun, but really tiring!
On Thursday nothing really special happened, except Physics and gym were cancelled so I only had 5 classes. That was good. Gym gets cancelled a lot... We've only had it like twice and I've been here for 7 weeks, so it's kinda strange! Apparently the girls really don't like having it... Or playing sports really... Could explain the lack of competition...
Then on Friday I made cupcakes which turned out really well. Very yummy. And Saturday I studied for my French test on Wednesday... (Something I can actually study for!) Then today we went to the youth church service thing... I'm not entirely sure what the name is for the equivalent to mass for evangelical people in English... But yeah, it was pretty cool, although I couldn't understand a lot and I had to get up early... But still!
So, this week I have the day off on Tuesday-yay! Hopefully time to catch up on sleep... Be back next Sunday!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Coldness Looms...
So, as the title suggests, it was relatively cold this week! Every week the temperature just drops more and more... I'm a little nervous about where it'll stop, I think I shall become a walking marshmallow this winter...
Well, on Monday I was sick again. I think it's the fact of being in a new place and not being immune to the bugs. Probably kinda like how first year teachers get more sick days than other teachers... All the new diseases... Oh well, I'll take a concrete pill as we NZers say! It was only sore throat and then a cold after all. So then on Tuesday I was feeling well enough to go to school and afterschool I went shopping with Constanze to the SCS (it's the biggest mall in Europe. About 15 minutes from where I live. Dangerous? I think so!) and I got a winter coat, which I can see I shall really need and a woollen jersey thing. Also some dance shoes, but that is another story... But we had a fun time and it was quite entertaining trying on all these different, some very strange, clothes!
Then on Wednesday I had dance class again which was cool. We went over the dances we'd learnt, then we learnt a new... Movement I suppose? For the boogie. It was a turn step thing which people seemed to find very difficult... I ended up dancing with the same guy for the whole night because no one came to "cut in" which is what we have to do because we have so many more girls than boys. It's a good thing he was nice and also I think we probably learnt the dance the best because we had to repeat it so many times! Haha. But then, it was so annoying, my dance teacher picked on me, even though about a third of the other girls had the same sort of shoes as me, she said that the heels on mine are too thin and I might slip so I have to get new ones. I explained to her after the class (I was quite impressed actually, because it's quite difficult to explain calmly in German!) that I am exchange student, and therefore do not have the money to go around buying new shoes all the time. But she just said I have to find a solution to the problem. GR! But I think I have one. Street shoes and jeans to my next class all the way. :P
Then on Thursday I did some baking (some nice cookies I found on the internet) and then that night I had handball for the first time. And I actually wasn't too bad! I think they probably thought my style of playing was slightly weird, because it was quite netball influenced. I still can't get used to moving my feet whilst holding a ball in my hands. At one point I nearly fell over trying to keep my feet in one place and then realized that actually wasn't necessary... It was fun though, and so good to play sport again. I didn't realize how much I was missing it, which I think will be good to also start volleyball here which is something that I actually know how to play... But, as I know she will reading this at some point, a big thank you to Chrissi for explaining the rules to me, I think without that I would have been very much like a fish out of water. Or, more so.
Then the next day was Friday. I thought it was just going to be a relatively normal day, go home have lunch do homework and such, but I get a text from a random number saying: so, we're meeting at 4pm today at Prater station. At first I thought it was a wrong number, but it turned out to be Flore, an AFS girl from French Belgium and apparently there was a Facebook invite but I missed it. So, after a bit of confusion, I managed to talk to Anna and we met up and went to Prater station together and met up with heaps of people from AFS Niederösterreich and went to Prater which is this awesome as amusement park in Vienna. We had a great time laughing and joking and doing some of the rides. I didn't end up doing too many because I didn't listen to Anna's advice and did the horrible spinny every which way ride first and didn't feel so good after that! But it was okay, and I texted Nick as well and he came and met us there which was really cool because we hadn't seen him since arrival camp. I've found here that sometimes the rushed plans are the best ones, and Friday ended up being a great afternoon!
Then this weekend I didn't do too much, did some homework, talked to my family and generally just hung out which was nice.
Oh, and this week I also started doing 8th year (so equivalent to 7th Form or Year 13) french classes instead of a couple of science lessons, because I'm pretty sure it'll benefit me more! And although it was a bit weird walking in the first time and feeling like everyone was staring at me, it was really good because I was actually learning something and the lesson was really interesting.
So on the whole a pretty good week but now I have to go and do some French homework. Bisous!
Well, on Monday I was sick again. I think it's the fact of being in a new place and not being immune to the bugs. Probably kinda like how first year teachers get more sick days than other teachers... All the new diseases... Oh well, I'll take a concrete pill as we NZers say! It was only sore throat and then a cold after all. So then on Tuesday I was feeling well enough to go to school and afterschool I went shopping with Constanze to the SCS (it's the biggest mall in Europe. About 15 minutes from where I live. Dangerous? I think so!) and I got a winter coat, which I can see I shall really need and a woollen jersey thing. Also some dance shoes, but that is another story... But we had a fun time and it was quite entertaining trying on all these different, some very strange, clothes!
Then on Wednesday I had dance class again which was cool. We went over the dances we'd learnt, then we learnt a new... Movement I suppose? For the boogie. It was a turn step thing which people seemed to find very difficult... I ended up dancing with the same guy for the whole night because no one came to "cut in" which is what we have to do because we have so many more girls than boys. It's a good thing he was nice and also I think we probably learnt the dance the best because we had to repeat it so many times! Haha. But then, it was so annoying, my dance teacher picked on me, even though about a third of the other girls had the same sort of shoes as me, she said that the heels on mine are too thin and I might slip so I have to get new ones. I explained to her after the class (I was quite impressed actually, because it's quite difficult to explain calmly in German!) that I am exchange student, and therefore do not have the money to go around buying new shoes all the time. But she just said I have to find a solution to the problem. GR! But I think I have one. Street shoes and jeans to my next class all the way. :P
Then on Thursday I did some baking (some nice cookies I found on the internet) and then that night I had handball for the first time. And I actually wasn't too bad! I think they probably thought my style of playing was slightly weird, because it was quite netball influenced. I still can't get used to moving my feet whilst holding a ball in my hands. At one point I nearly fell over trying to keep my feet in one place and then realized that actually wasn't necessary... It was fun though, and so good to play sport again. I didn't realize how much I was missing it, which I think will be good to also start volleyball here which is something that I actually know how to play... But, as I know she will reading this at some point, a big thank you to Chrissi for explaining the rules to me, I think without that I would have been very much like a fish out of water. Or, more so.
Then the next day was Friday. I thought it was just going to be a relatively normal day, go home have lunch do homework and such, but I get a text from a random number saying: so, we're meeting at 4pm today at Prater station. At first I thought it was a wrong number, but it turned out to be Flore, an AFS girl from French Belgium and apparently there was a Facebook invite but I missed it. So, after a bit of confusion, I managed to talk to Anna and we met up and went to Prater station together and met up with heaps of people from AFS Niederösterreich and went to Prater which is this awesome as amusement park in Vienna. We had a great time laughing and joking and doing some of the rides. I didn't end up doing too many because I didn't listen to Anna's advice and did the horrible spinny every which way ride first and didn't feel so good after that! But it was okay, and I texted Nick as well and he came and met us there which was really cool because we hadn't seen him since arrival camp. I've found here that sometimes the rushed plans are the best ones, and Friday ended up being a great afternoon!
Then this weekend I didn't do too much, did some homework, talked to my family and generally just hung out which was nice.
Oh, and this week I also started doing 8th year (so equivalent to 7th Form or Year 13) french classes instead of a couple of science lessons, because I'm pretty sure it'll benefit me more! And although it was a bit weird walking in the first time and feeling like everyone was staring at me, it was really good because I was actually learning something and the lesson was really interesting.
So on the whole a pretty good week but now I have to go and do some French homework. Bisous!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Week 5 Already!
I can't believe I've been here for so long already! I can still remember the flight and how tired we all were, and then the camp where we all were first introduced to the Austrian culture... But hm, this week was relatively normal (well, the rest of the week). Except I started dance school! As in ballroom dancing. OMG it was so cool. It started off with a bit of an introduction, talking about what we should wear etc. I was the only girl who didn't have high heels. Seriously. I mean, I knew I needed to get some, but I figured for the first lesson it'd be okay... Apparently not! So guess what I'm doing this week? And then we all have to wear either a skirt, dress or nice pants (no jeans) and the boys were all wearing suits. I couldn't believe it. It's hard enough to get a guy into a suit in New Zealand for a ball, let alone dance class! I thought that was really cool. So we did the foxtrot, boogie and "party dance". We started off learning on opposite sides of the room, and then you danced with the person opposite you (we did this twice because there were 15 more girls than boys...) and then the girls who went second had to "cut in". Quite funny. So the first time I was in the first group, but the second time I had to choose. And I actually went with my neighbour, so I was like okay cool I'll just go with him, but these girls are fast man! Someone else got to him first, so I went with this other guy (who, it turns out, is the son of my host family's vet - small world here!) who's name was Vali and he was actually a very good dancer, so that turned out well!
Then on Friday it was quite exciting because I got a sheet from my Klassenvorstand (like form teacher) with a list of all the first year (so 10 year old) German classes I can go to, and also eighth year (the last year of school) French classes that I can go to. This is instead of my class's German and also a couple of science lessons, because let's face it. I'm never going to be a scientist. Also I think the French will be good so that I won't fall behind back home. And hopefully it'll improve my German too! Although going to German classes with 10 year olds should also do that...
Then on Saturday I went for a walk with my host parents through the Wienerwald (a big forest with lots of hills and, well, trees, that's 5 minutes from my house) and to the Husarentempel. That was really cool because I did a presentation on Mödling in German before I came here, so I'd seen it on Wikipedia and it was amazing seeing it in real life! And it wasn't too strenuous, certainly not as bad as last weekend! Then today I went to Belvedere Palace with my host mum which was so awesome. It's massive and beautiful and so OLD! I know that's kind of obvious, but the monuments here really aren't like anything you've seen before, they're just incomparable to New Zealand. Then we came home and had duck for lunch (see mum and dad? I am trying new things! I also eat salad with dressings here. Just so you know) and then my host parents and Constanze had their dance school so I had a good talk with Chrissi (the best stalker in the world!) about psychology because she's doing a study on children for uni atm.
So yeah, when I think about it, actually quite an exciting week! Hopefully I can match it this week as well... Be back soon!
Then on Friday it was quite exciting because I got a sheet from my Klassenvorstand (like form teacher) with a list of all the first year (so 10 year old) German classes I can go to, and also eighth year (the last year of school) French classes that I can go to. This is instead of my class's German and also a couple of science lessons, because let's face it. I'm never going to be a scientist. Also I think the French will be good so that I won't fall behind back home. And hopefully it'll improve my German too! Although going to German classes with 10 year olds should also do that...
Then on Saturday I went for a walk with my host parents through the Wienerwald (a big forest with lots of hills and, well, trees, that's 5 minutes from my house) and to the Husarentempel. That was really cool because I did a presentation on Mödling in German before I came here, so I'd seen it on Wikipedia and it was amazing seeing it in real life! And it wasn't too strenuous, certainly not as bad as last weekend! Then today I went to Belvedere Palace with my host mum which was so awesome. It's massive and beautiful and so OLD! I know that's kind of obvious, but the monuments here really aren't like anything you've seen before, they're just incomparable to New Zealand. Then we came home and had duck for lunch (see mum and dad? I am trying new things! I also eat salad with dressings here. Just so you know) and then my host parents and Constanze had their dance school so I had a good talk with Chrissi (the best stalker in the world!) about psychology because she's doing a study on children for uni atm.
So yeah, when I think about it, actually quite an exciting week! Hopefully I can match it this week as well... Be back soon!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Latest Week of Crazy
Where to begin? Well. Last Monday I was sick, a bit of sich übergeben (it sounds better in German...), but that wasn't all bad because I got to Skype my family which was nice. Then on Wednesday this girl from my French class who lives down my street gave me a lift to school on her moped. First time on a moped. Pretty awesome! Slightly scary at the same time, but she was a good driver so it was okay... Then the next day I thought that handball was supposed to be starting, so I got all ready and went down to the dance school early with my neighbour (on his moped too, so many mopeds!) and signed up for that (starts tomorrow, yay!) and then he took me back to school so I wouldn't be late, only to find that they had changed it that day and handball doesn't start until next week. Very annoying!
But then the next day was Friday. The day of my second AFS arrival camp. We had a "practice" fire alarm at school. That everyone knew about. My teacher even knew the exact time. Maybe slightly pointless when trying to practise for a real fire? But anyway, after that we could go which was good because it meant I could eat before catching the train. I managed to meet all the other AFSers okay at the Westbahnhof and from there we all went in the bus to St. Pölten. All the AFSers around that area got on in St. Pölten, which included Anna. I swear, my smile was so huge when I saw her. It was just so good, after a month to finally see her again! Unfortunately we weren't in the same room again, but I was with two Luisas from Spain and Italy and a Hannah from Belgium Flanders. We all spoke in German to each other because it was just easier, so that was actually quite good to stay with them. The only bad thing about our room was the shower. So um, I went to the loo which was, quite rightly, in it's own little room, and I thought, "well that's strange, where's the shower?" So I go back out, and the shower is facing the beds. With a glass door. I'm not even joking. And yes, it was one of those ones that has patterns on it and stuff so it's not like completely see-through, but still. You can totally see the outline of the body and everything. Major design flaw? I think so... So yeah, one of the most awkward showers of my life I think... And apparently ours was the only room that had it! Like seriously, what is with a shower facing the beds?!
But anyway, the next day was Saturday, and we started off with breakfast together and then into groups to do lots of talking about how things were going in our families and communication and language, things that happen in the first month that you don't get to talk about at the first arrival camp. Then they told us we were going to go for a walk. I thought, okay you know it'll be just to stretch our legs and get a bit of fresh air. Then they told us it was to the top of a mountain. I totally thought that they were kidding. But no, we walked all the way to the top of a mountain which was over 1300 meters and very steep and I only had street shoes so it was rather strenuous on the old calf muscles! That was definitely a challenge and I am very glad I made it to the top! Turns out you should really believe what people say. What I thought was a stroll was a 4 hour walk. Go figure! That night, due to some absurd idea of Mateo's (a guy from Uruguay), we had a teeth cleaning party. Very interesting... Although that actually only lasted about half an hour and then we all just chilled and played games which was cool.
Then Sunday consisted of more talking and games which was cool, and a lot more relaxing than Saturday and then it was all over too soon and time to go home! It was really sad, because it is great hanging out with the AFS people. We all get along really well and we're all sharing similar experiences which makes it really easy to bond. Although we're meant to have friends outside AFS, which is completely understandable seeing as we're here to immerse ourselves in Austrian culture, it is great to hang out with AFSers sometimes and be able to understand what the other people are feeling.
Sunday night here wasn't great, Hayden and I ended up breaking up. It really just wasn't working because the distance meant that we couldn't really solve our problems and so we both decided it was best to end things. And while I'm sad now, I know that it was for the best and that I'm still going to have an amazing time here because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity! :)
On Monday afternoon my music class was cancelled so I went shopping with Anna for a bit of retail therapy and we also went to McDonalds for lunch. They still have mcflurries here! It was awesome. Except when I saw that there was a downstairs so I was like to Anna, "oh let's eat down there". So we walk over and start going down the stairs, with our food, only to realize that downstairs are the toilets... AWKWARD. People must've thought we were such weirdos... But it was good to talk and then that night we went to the Staatsoper to see the "Pique Dame". It was amazing, so different than I thought but so fantastic. And plus, there were little screens in front of you that you could have either in English or German so I understood the whole thing! We went to the Sacher Hotel afterwards and Anna's host mother took us for a drink which was nice. When I went home I went down to the wrong U-Bahn though and ended up missing the one I was supposed to catch and then subsequently the earlier train so I didn't end up getting home till quite late and now I'm very tired today!
But it was a good weekend on camp and I really enjoyed seeing Anna and the others again and hopefully we'll all be catching up soon!
Tschau!
But then the next day was Friday. The day of my second AFS arrival camp. We had a "practice" fire alarm at school. That everyone knew about. My teacher even knew the exact time. Maybe slightly pointless when trying to practise for a real fire? But anyway, after that we could go which was good because it meant I could eat before catching the train. I managed to meet all the other AFSers okay at the Westbahnhof and from there we all went in the bus to St. Pölten. All the AFSers around that area got on in St. Pölten, which included Anna. I swear, my smile was so huge when I saw her. It was just so good, after a month to finally see her again! Unfortunately we weren't in the same room again, but I was with two Luisas from Spain and Italy and a Hannah from Belgium Flanders. We all spoke in German to each other because it was just easier, so that was actually quite good to stay with them. The only bad thing about our room was the shower. So um, I went to the loo which was, quite rightly, in it's own little room, and I thought, "well that's strange, where's the shower?" So I go back out, and the shower is facing the beds. With a glass door. I'm not even joking. And yes, it was one of those ones that has patterns on it and stuff so it's not like completely see-through, but still. You can totally see the outline of the body and everything. Major design flaw? I think so... So yeah, one of the most awkward showers of my life I think... And apparently ours was the only room that had it! Like seriously, what is with a shower facing the beds?!
But anyway, the next day was Saturday, and we started off with breakfast together and then into groups to do lots of talking about how things were going in our families and communication and language, things that happen in the first month that you don't get to talk about at the first arrival camp. Then they told us we were going to go for a walk. I thought, okay you know it'll be just to stretch our legs and get a bit of fresh air. Then they told us it was to the top of a mountain. I totally thought that they were kidding. But no, we walked all the way to the top of a mountain which was over 1300 meters and very steep and I only had street shoes so it was rather strenuous on the old calf muscles! That was definitely a challenge and I am very glad I made it to the top! Turns out you should really believe what people say. What I thought was a stroll was a 4 hour walk. Go figure! That night, due to some absurd idea of Mateo's (a guy from Uruguay), we had a teeth cleaning party. Very interesting... Although that actually only lasted about half an hour and then we all just chilled and played games which was cool.
Then Sunday consisted of more talking and games which was cool, and a lot more relaxing than Saturday and then it was all over too soon and time to go home! It was really sad, because it is great hanging out with the AFS people. We all get along really well and we're all sharing similar experiences which makes it really easy to bond. Although we're meant to have friends outside AFS, which is completely understandable seeing as we're here to immerse ourselves in Austrian culture, it is great to hang out with AFSers sometimes and be able to understand what the other people are feeling.
Sunday night here wasn't great, Hayden and I ended up breaking up. It really just wasn't working because the distance meant that we couldn't really solve our problems and so we both decided it was best to end things. And while I'm sad now, I know that it was for the best and that I'm still going to have an amazing time here because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity! :)
On Monday afternoon my music class was cancelled so I went shopping with Anna for a bit of retail therapy and we also went to McDonalds for lunch. They still have mcflurries here! It was awesome. Except when I saw that there was a downstairs so I was like to Anna, "oh let's eat down there". So we walk over and start going down the stairs, with our food, only to realize that downstairs are the toilets... AWKWARD. People must've thought we were such weirdos... But it was good to talk and then that night we went to the Staatsoper to see the "Pique Dame". It was amazing, so different than I thought but so fantastic. And plus, there were little screens in front of you that you could have either in English or German so I understood the whole thing! We went to the Sacher Hotel afterwards and Anna's host mother took us for a drink which was nice. When I went home I went down to the wrong U-Bahn though and ended up missing the one I was supposed to catch and then subsequently the earlier train so I didn't end up getting home till quite late and now I'm very tired today!
But it was a good weekend on camp and I really enjoyed seeing Anna and the others again and hopefully we'll all be catching up soon!
Tschau!
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