Buda... oder Pest? Budapest!

The very first weekend I traveled away from Vienna I went with a group of guy friends to Budapest.  This was a memorable trip for a lot of reasons.  One, this was our first weekend outside of Vienna on our own.  Two, this was the warmest weather we'd seen since coming to Europe.  Three, we stayed in the most epic and awesome hostel possible.  And four, because Budapest Hungary is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to! 

So, the first two are pretty self explanatory so I'll start with the hostel.  Tiger Tim's was as I said earlier, great, but you have to understand that there's a little back-story to this.  I am with a group of boys.  Wonderful friends... but they are still college boys who don't always think everything through... And I'd let them plan this trip.  Smart right?  Anyway, we make it safely by train to the city, before realizing we don't actually know where the hostel is.  After a little scrambling, we were able to find the hostel and find our way through the public transportation system.  (That should really be a whole other post... European public transportation system nightmares...oy)  However, here we are, a large group of loud Americans, with all our stuff and not really much clue of where we are going.  Budapest has one of the highest theft rates in this part of Europe... So... Bad combination?  I think so.  Our group lost a camera and a wallet in the chaos before we'd even gotten back on the street. 
But anyway, I'm getting off track.  We made it to the hostel... and what do my wandering eyes see but the largest and most brightly lit sex shop I've ever seen.  Jaw dropped, and face red I looked at the guys in horror.  Where on EARTH did they book this hostel??? I knew I should have suspected something when the hostel was only 8 Euro...
Luckily, we discovered that the real hostel was just right next door in a very sketchy courtyard... with some very scantily dressed women and questionable looking men. 

If we made it out of there alive, I was going to kill those boys.

However, the tides quickly changed when we met Tim, the owner of the hostel and an extremely friendly Irishman.  He showed us how to get in to the hostel, and we hiked up the stairs into a very small and cozy floor of apartments that was our home for the next few days.  The people there were all some of the most friendly and generous people I've met! 

Our first night out... The boys ordered beer... a LOT of beer...
The next day we went on the city free walking tour.  Have I explained free walking tours yet?  I don't think so... ok.  The "free" walking tours are done by hostels around the city, and usually take you to the most touristy spots as well as some of the more local stuff.  The quality of the tour can vary a lot... but they're usually pretty good!  At the end of the tour you pay what you thought the tour was worth.  Anyway, it's a great way to see a city pretty quickly and cheaply. 
The walking tour took us to both sides of the city, Buda and Pest.  The Buda side is covered with hills and castles, while the Pest side is absolutely flat directly across the river.  We saw the most gorgeous St. Stephens Basilica (even though it's not actually a Basilica haha)  and the Parliament building- which was spectacular.

St. Stephan's Basilica



Hungarian Parliament Building on the Danube



 We ended up on the other side of the Danube, where we decided to take a hike to the tallest point, where there is a beautiful statue, somewhat similar to the symbolism of our Lady Liberty.  It was so spectacular!!  Ever corner I came to caught my breath with new amazing sights.

After a full day of hiking we went to a special restaurant that had been suggested to us by a friend.  The idea is, you have 3 hours from the time you sit down, and you pay a fixed price, but you can eat and drink anything and everything you want!  I tried all sorts of weird foods... including some that I'm not entirely sure what it was... but it was delicious!  All sorts of fresh fish and vegetables... ice creams and cakes... ugh.  I thought I was going to die from over eating.

The next day we went to the famous Hungarian Bath Houses.  Oh My Goodness.  Best choice ever.  There are indoor and outdoor pools, all the way from unbearably hot to unbearably cold and everything inbetween!  Plus sanas that could melt your face off... it was a perfect relaxing way to spend our last day in the city... I found myself a perfect hot spring in the sun to just soak and enjoy life for a while.

 "Hero's Square" on our way to the Baths

We took the train back to Vienna that same evening...  and scrambled to get the homework we had all put off done.  But it was such a fabulous little weekend getaway!

Voice Lessons

I've been taking voice lessons from two people in my time here. One is an American living in Wien that IES appointed me. Her name is Donna Robin, and she has spent almost all of her singing career here in Vienna singing at both the Volksoper and the Staatsoper! She is a lot more focused on the body and how I use it as a tool than the musicality of what I'm doing, or at least that's how it seems to be so far. It's always a challenge getting used to a new teacher! Everyone has slightly different perspectives and ideas, and even terminology that takes time to get used to. But so far it seems like I like her style. Unfortunately I've been too sick to sing for the last few weeks and she got sick as well. So between the two of us, there hasn't been much time for lessons...

My other teacher is a friend of my Professor from home. His name is Benjamin Bruns, and he is currently singing as one of the leads at the Staatsoper!!! Pretty amazing :) So for my lesson with him I got to go into the depths of the backstage of the Wien Staatsoper... I got to sing my lesson in the same warm up rooms as some of the MOST famous opera singers in the world. WOW. Benjamin is an Austrian, so our communication was a little rocky, but not too bad considering the language barrier. As a performer, he is mostly focused on the presentation aspect of my singing, in contrast with Donna's style. I think this is a really interesting pair for the semester, just because it will allow me to get coaching on pieces from both a technical side and performance side. Awesome :)

Back to Blogging...

Alrighty... so now that I'm extraordinarily behind on blogging, I'm going to try and catch up! I am sick in bed, so it's the perfect opportunity for me to blog and blog and blog... oh my... So I'm terribly sorry that all of these are going to come at once! Some of them might be out of order, and some of them may be pretty short, but I'm giving it my best shot! If anyone has specific things that they'd like to hear about, please leave a comment! It's not always easy to remember everything that I want to write down :)

Valentine's Day

Ahh.... Love is in the air! Ok... well... whatever. For Valentine's Day we were all in this awkward situation of wanting to do something, but not in a "date" sense. So I planned a dinner party for our apartment and the one above us ("the guys upstairs" as they are lovingly known) as well as a few other friends.

My partner in crime, Abby, came over to help cook. We cooked most of the afternoon and schemed some fabulous Valentine's flirting techniques. Now... for those of you who know me well, you know I'm not particularly comfortable with my cooking abilities. So this dinner was a great feat for me! We marinated chicken breasts in a homemade italian dressing, and then stuffed it with a sundried-tomato, feta, garlic, breadcrumb and spices deliciousness. Of course... we ended up with a lot more stuffing than intended so we just decided to smother the whole thing with more. It was a good choice.

The company was fabulous too! While waiting for food the men even offered back rubs :) We had a great evening, and the food was actually really good! I wish I'd made more though. Mmm.... nummy.

If you want the recipe let me know! You'll have to convert everything from the metric system... and possibly translate some German... but it's not hard and very yummy!

May the Classes begin...

So upon returning from the "post-intensive" break, we started classes bright and early Monday morning. It's amazing how quickly you get into vacation mode, and how SLOWLY you get back out of it... ;) But anyways, I thought I'd give a little info on the classes I get to take over here and all that jazz. So here goes.

I'm taking Austrian Art and Architecture (AA&A) really just for fun. It doesn't fulfill a requirment or anything... but heck! I'm in Vienna. The least I can do is learn about the art and buildings I'm seeing every day. I LOVE this class. Dr. O is our professor and she is probably one of my favorite people on this planet. She's a smiley faced, frizzy-white haired woman who seems to know everything about everything in Vienna. Her teaching style is literally that she just shows slides and tells stories about experiences she's had with the artifact or building. Oh, yes, she'll throw in some dates and names and context as well... but what you really remember are her stories. I haven't ever known so much about art history in my life! We meet twice a week. The first class is a lecture (slides and stories) and the second class is a field trip. Every week we go to a different museum or church or some other site. It's fabulous! We get to go see and touch and experience the things we are learning about first hand.

I'm also doing an Education Internship while here. This has been one of my favorite experiences... and also one of the most challenging. I won't write too much about it here, because it needs at least one of it's own blogs. But as a basic overview, the class has two parts. The first my lecture (although it's so interactive you can hardly call it a lecture...) which is taught by a wonderfully crazy and extremely enthusiastic woman named Heidi. I have never in my life met someone with so much passion and enthusiasm. I can't lie, she scares me a little! But in these classes she uses techniques to try and give us ideas for how to teach our own classes, as well as to open our eyes to the differences in education systems internationally. The second part is the internship part, where we actually teach. I teach at an elementary school in the 17th district. I teach a 1st grade, two 2nd grades, and a 4th grade class every week. Mostly I am their English teacher, but occasionally I get to teach them songs or dances and chants. Oy, I've already talked too much about this class. I'll have to say more next blog, but I will end by saying that I have learned more about myself and my own teaching abilities and my beliefs within education systems then I have ever learned before. It's been difficult at times, but I've learned tons.

Alrighty, I am also still taking German I (we call it baby German)... but really I am shocked at how much I've learned! I mean, I'm no native speaker, but I can understand and speak well enough to communicate in most situations... if I don't get too nervous hehe. Ich verstehe viele Deutsch, aber ich spreche nicht sehr gut... haha. It's going to be hard to come back to the states and not say "Bitte" everywhere I go...

I'm also taking a Performance Workshop class that is basically a class on how to perform in an ensemble setting. I get to perform 3 pieces total, one of which I performed last week. This one was a Bach piece with 2 voices, a cello, a basoon, and a harpichord. FUNKY mix of instruments. What's great about this class is that they take whatever they have to work with and find the random pieces that have actually been composed for that instrumentation! It means that I get to be working on pieces that I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to do otherwise. Fun. Anyway the concerts are all recorded, so I'll try to post the recordings on here at some point for all to hear!

And last but not least I'm taking voice lessons which I've talked about in a previous blog. So, certainly not a heavy load, but the Internship and Performance Workshop eat up an enormous amount of time.

Plus, seeing the sights of Vienna is sort of a class of it's own. There is just SO MUCH here. And never ever enough time to see it all.

Alas... Berlin comes to a close

Now friends... about 2 months late, I am finally moving on to blog on another subject. Huzzah!! There were sketchy holes in the walls and Ballroom Dancing clubs that will forever be remembered but never blogged... but it's time to move forward. We drove back from Berlin through Prague once again, and I ordered something by pointing and hoping. The Czech language isn't kind to foreigners... I don't think I'll ever actually know what I ate that day. But it was delicious. Ahhh good times.

Maybe some day I'll actually catch up enough to blog in the present... who knows?

Berlin Museum Montage

I'm getting tired of being this far behind in blogging... so these ones are going to be pretty speedy, sorry! But at least the events will be jotted down.

We went to Check Point Charlie first. This museum is in the same spot that the most well known crossing existed between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Today, this museum serves as not only a preservation of a historical spot, but also a reminder of the Soviet regime. The exhibit was extremely extensive, with countless personal stories and accounts of life behind the "Wall". My favorite part of the museum dealt with various incredible escape methods that people used to get across the border. Hot air balloons, hiding in suitcases, one family even found a "look-a-like" family accross the border and stole their identities in order to escape. The inventions got even crazier and more risky as the wall got thicker, both literally and in a political sense. The museum gave a good idea of what it had to have been like to live in such constant fear. The secret police had access to all of your information, as well as a practically unlimited supply of weaponry and unrestricted violence. A failed attempt at escape was almost certain death, or if you were lucky, you might just be beaten in prison. One story told of a woman whose children were taken away from her after their capture and given new names, and their records were erased. The woman was told that her children were taken to new homes, however these "invisible children" were never again found. This was only one of many horror stories.

I feel like this section of history is sort of skipped over in America. Between WWII and The Cold War we just like to brush through. There are so many awful, gritty details that we ignore because it's not fun to think about... I think I've said this before, but I learned more in this one week long trip about this time in history than I learned in years of history classes. Puts the education system under a harsh light in my eyes... anyway, back to museums!

We also went to the Reichstag which is sort of like the equivalent of the White House for Germany. We didn't get to see much... too much security (go figure). But we did get to go to the top and see some amazing sights. Here are some pics...

Moving right along... We also saw the Perganon museum that is a gigantic Roman Antiquity collection. This museum was huge! They had entire Roman buildings re-constructed within the building. Cool. It also had a lot of Ancient Egyptian ruins as well as some Middle Eastern Art.

Next was the Egyptian Museum. Now... I know what you're thinking... "Susan, you are in Berlin. Why oh WHY did you go to an Egyptian Museum??" Well you see, they have one of the most extensive collections in the world (besides Egypt of course) and I had a free pass. Anyway it was super cool and very beautiful, however by this point I was very over-museum-ed... and don't really remember all that much. The main thing worth noting is that this is the home for the famous "Bust of Nefertiti". Now the art historian in all of you should be jumping for joy... if not, no worries. But it's pretty much like the Mona Lisa of this style of art. Pretty sweet!

The last museum really deserves its own blog... but I'm on a roll. This was by far the best and most important visit of the trip for me. We went to the Holocaust Museum that is built underneath the Holocaust memorial that I put pictures of earlier. It was so powerful to be in the same city that Hitler stood and convinced so many people that it would be a GOOD idea to commit a genocide, and to so humbly stand and listen to the stories of all those lives it affected. Part of the exhibit was a very dark room where you could literally just sit and listen. A voice read out the names and ages as well as a small history of literally EVERY victim they have on record. To listen to them all would take something like 6 or 7 YEARS. There were places where desparate letters were sent to loved ones, saying goodbye, the writers often knowing that their deaths would come quickly and horribly. I couldn't stay very long in the museum. I was so emotionally overwhelmed by the horrors that the human race could cause. It was jarring to go from the quiet museum full of dark stories and memories to the light and noise of the outside where there was so much beauty and life.

For me, the most important lesson is that we always remember what we are capable of, even when being led by just one influencial man.

Life on the Red Carpet

We had the good fortune of being in Berlin while the Berlin Film Festival was happening. This is one of the biggest international film festivals in the world and draws in celebrities and their crazy fans from all over! So we had a free night, and happened to be downtown... where there happened to be a movie premier going on... so we thought we'd just check it out.

Now... I've never been one to fawn over celebrities. As a matter of fact, I usually have no idea who they are. However, we didn't really have any plans for the evening so we stood outside a movie theatre in the freeeeeezing cold for about an hour and a half before the premier started. DUMB. But totally worth it!! We met some absolutely crazy fans who were absolutely obessed with these people. They knew exactly which hotels they were staying at... and when exactly their press conferences are... I mean REALLY people!

But really I suppose I can't judge... the three of us were in the front row of the masses waiting for the starst to arrive in their cars. Many many people walked down that red carpet... and I can say that I only knew.

Diane Kruger (I know her from National Treasure... hee hee)

And... drum roll please.... Jake Gyllenhaal! Ok so I know I said I am not gushy about celebs... but really. He is very good looking. Anyway he left the paparazzi to come across the driveway and talk to the fans, and well... we had a moment. I'm pretty sure if he'd had stayed longer we would have become best friends for life. But alas, he had to leave for his own, very suave stroll down the red carpet.

Oh by the way, while we were there we DID go see a French film. It was called "A moi seule" and it was very well done! Definitely on the suggest list if your in the mood for a dark foreign film...

Gates and Walls of epic proportions

Alrighty, so one more time we went on a guided bus tour of the city. At this point in the trip they were getting a little old I can't lie... but it really is a good way to see the city and get your bearings. But anyway, we were once again on the good ol' tour bus. I honestly didn't know too much about the history of Berlin before I got there... so you'll have to forgive me if I make this blog a little bit of a history lesson. I learned more about European history from this 5 day trip than I did in all my years of history in school.

So we started off by seeing some of the more famous museums in the city. Most of them are all in a few block radius of each other (super convenient for those of us traveling by foot or bus metro...), but I'll show some pictures of those museums later. The first real place we stopped was a monument called Neue Wache. It is placed in a building that used to be used as a guard tower. In the 1960's it was turned into a monument for victims of fascism and Militarism. Under the statue of a mother an child in an empty room are the ashes of two unknown victims, one from a soldier and another from a World War II concentration camp victim. It's all in a very cold, concrete, empty room with one sky light in the ceiling. Very eery and very powerful.

Our next stop was the Holocaust Monument. It is a mix of different sized blocks of smooth concrete that are placed in a semi-orderly fashion. You can walk among the pillars and the rows match up so that you can just barely see the outside. It's sort of disorienting and I found myself getting nervous if I didn't have sight of other people... it felt like a maze. The effect was perfect for the meaning of the monument.

We then got to go see the Brandenburg gate, and the brick path that dictates where the Berlin wall stood not so long ago. We walked through the gate that for so long separated this great city so violently.

My absolute favorite part of the day was seeing the Eastside gallery. This is a mile long section of the Berlin wall that is still standing. Chunks of the wall have been given to artists to make statements of Peace and reminders of the horrors that occured during this opressive time. This was by far the most powerful thing we saw in my opinion. I actually got to touch a piece of history that affected the lives of most of the people in Germany, and probably a lot of the lives in Europe, and I'd even say changed some perspectives of the world.

Some of my friends wanted to "Reenact" an escape from East Berlin... I think they look pretty sneaky...

This was one of my favorite paintings... so powerful.

This gives you an idea of just how huge these paintings are:

One of the most famous pictures taken at this time... The text below says "My God, help me survive this deadly love." It is the two communist leaders at the time. At a meeting the leaders went in to kiss cheeks as is customary and... well... whoops. A fortunate camera man took the shot at just the right moment, and we now have one of the most famous paintings on the Berlin wall.

Schokolade om nom nom....

First of all, I have to explain that chocolate here is just not the same as at home. I can't really explain it... but it's just BETTER. The cheapo stuff you get at the grocery store is pretty much unbelievable. Hershey's just doesn't hold a candle to my beloved Milka bars... Plus the flavors are totally different. My absolute favorite is the milk chocolate with yogurt filling. Ach. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Anyway, the point is that Ritter Sport chocolate (very famous here in Europe... I'm not so sure about the US but it's delicious) is manufactured right in Berlin, and has a very large factory for tourists to visit. There are exhibits to show how the chocolate is made, and of course I very very large selection of chocolate bars. Everything from bite sized samples to larger-than-life honkin' mega bars! And pretty much every flavor you could imagine.

Now here's the cool part. This chocolate factory lets you design your own chocolate bar!! They have a huge bar of all sorts of fillings... cookies and candies, fruits and nuts... you name it. So you pick your fillings and then fill up your "mold" from a never ending fountain of either dark or milk chocolate. You then wait while it sets (and of course shop for more chocolate) and voila! You have your very own creation. And OH MY.... was it delicious. Please excuse me if I start to drool...

The other decadent treat we found at this place was the hot chocolate... mmm.... They literally take an entire bar of their dark chocolate and melt it down, and then mix it with hot milk. Period. Hands down the most delicious hot cocoa I've ever tasted :)

Alright. My chocolate rant is done. Now go! Eat some chocolate!

First night in Berlin

For the last 5 days of the trip we went to Berlin, one of the most historically famous cities in Europe. What an amazing experience!! We got there pretty late in the evening, so first things first we checked into the Hostel. Now... I don't know how many of you have read, watched or listened to "the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy", but if you haven't this next part might not make a whole lot of sense... but bare with me! Our hostel was called "The Heart of Gold" and the theme was entirely funky 60's space station. Our room keys all said "Don't Panic!" on them, and "Don't forget you're towel!" It was the most clever hostel theme that I've seen so far.

That night we ate at this fabulous Indian place right down the street that was completely waitered and run by one guy. He even cooked everything himself! I had this mango drink called a "mango lassi"... oh my... It was heaven on my taste buds!

I think I'll have to do separate blogs for each day in Berlin... so... goodnight, and next blog!

Leipzig

Our second city in Germany was Leipzig. After the bus ride from Dresden we took another bus tour and then a walking tour of downtown.

This is the largest monument in all of Europe, the Monument to the Battle of the Nations.

The weather here has been the coldest that Europe has ever seen! So we had to cut our walking tour a little short. It was SOOOOO cold... 10 minutes outside and your face and legs were totally numb. Everyone was bundled from head to toe (literally). Hats, scarves, multilple coats and leggings... I'm talking BUNDLED!

Anyway. After the walking tour we had a delicious lunch in the TV tower of Leipzig, that over looks the entire city. The view was fabulous!

After a lovely lunch we went back out into the cold to go see the reason that Leipzig is famous, the Bach church! St. Thomas church is where Bach worked in his time in Leipzig. Walking into that church the history and music was just palpable. It was almost dead silent in the church, but I could still hear Bach composing masterpieces. We even got to see the organ that he composed some of his most famous works on. SO great!

Then it was back on the bus for the ride to Berlin!!

Dresden

OK. So our first stop on the break was to Dresden Germany. We started on a guided bus tour through the city. Here are some pics...

We started at the Opera House:

And from there just saw some cool historical buildings that I can't even remember the significance of right now... but they're beautiful!

I may have gone a little picture crazy... sorry about that.

We ate lunch at this crazy "midieval" style restaurant with torture chambers and thrones... even a table that rotated like a carosel! Plus the food was pretty traditional German cuisine. Potato dumpling, sour crout, and meat. Yummy! More pics...

After a fabulous and filling lunch we went to the Turkish Museum. This is one of the largest and most important collections of Ottoman art in the world (outside of Turkey). Sadly no pictures were allowed... but let me assure you, there were some fabulous sights. Weapons entirely encrusted with gold and turquios and every gem you can imagine. Entire horse saddles woven in gold and silver with precious stones. They even had a segment of one of the tents used for war time. It was quite amazing!

We wanted to stay a little longer in the downtown area of Dresden, so some of us took off on our own. We discovered the most magnificent church, and some fabulous views. There was also some hardcore parkour going on! Too much fun. Even though it was absolutely freezing, we all decided to walk back to the hostel and enjoy the sites.

That evening, it was the Superbowl!! So... being the obnoxious Americans that we are, we found a sports bar around the corner from our hostel that was playing the game. Our time, kick-off wasn't even until 11:30 or 12... so I was surprised at how many people were actually willing to watch the game. Especially when I discovered (much to my dismay) that there were NO SUPERBOWL COMMERCIALS!!! Being in a foreign country, the stations do not have the rights to said commercials. So, with the only real reason I watch the game gone, I ended up leaving after the half time show. Speaking of which, I was pleasantly surprised by Madonna this year... I thought her collaborative efforts were quite nice :)

Anyway...

It was certainly a fun trip. We had to be up before the sun the next morning to be on our way to Leipzig, but that is for another blog...