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.
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