On A Clear(er) Day...

The weather here has been a bit weird lately.  Often the day starts off clear and really beautiful and then the clouds come in and it gets a bit gray and drizzly.  Today was like that to some extent, although I'm not sure it has actually rained at all...anyway...I was up at school for class today just before the clouds came in, so while this wasn't apparently as clear as earlier this morning, you could still see much farther than usual.

snow capped mountains in the distance

everything is getting so green!

This week is a bit of a crazy one, a lot of reading for classes, preparing for group projects, doing research on some final papers...and I'm trying to get it all done before I leave for London on Thursday!  Off now to finish some reading for class tomorrow...

Old Churches

After a morning of class and meeting with groups about upcoming projects and an afternoon of reading, I met up with a friend for dinner and a concert last night.  Before dinner we decided to check out the church across the little square from where we were going to eat.

While walking around Vienna or most other large cities, you pass churches constantly, and eventually I think I just sort of assume they're all roughly the same and they all tend to blend together in my mind (not that they aren't all gorgeous and I don't like seeing them, but I don't always go out of my way to stop inside).  This church is just tucked away in a little corner of the inner city, so we thought we would go in and check it out. 

I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but the inside of this church is huge and ornate and really really beautiful.  Of course pictures don't really capture these buildings well, but I tried...

The columns alternated between straight and sort of curly like these.

Looking straight up.

I suppose I've learned my lesson that when I have a couple extra minutes and find myself around some of these buildings, I should take the time to step in and see what's inside.

Happy Friday!

Busy School Week

This week seems fairly long already and we're only to Wednesday night...Monday was mostly spent as a bit of a recovery day from the elective weekend, and preparing for class Tuesday.  Yesterday I was at school nearly 12 hours between class, group project meetings, and time in the library.  Although...studying in the library isn't too bad, considering this is the view:

Probably the hardest part for me is actually focusing and not getting distracted by the view...but I'm not sure that's the worst thing :)

Part of the reason I stayed at school so late was that our Sustainability Committee at school put on a movie night, so I stuck around to watch the film The Corporation...which was actually really interesting.  Somehow I missed that when it came out the first time I guess. 

Today was spent reading mostly, and I met up with some friends for dinner.  The weather is finally nice enough again for some ice cream and a stroll downtown afterwards!

This is the outside of the Opera, and just down from here along the side of the building they project the performance on a big screen.  It might have still been a bit chilly for that tonight, but people were out there watching, and it's nice to be able to enjoy the music as you walk along the outside of the building. 

Back to class in the morning, although probably not quite as long a day as yesterday.  Hopefully the weather will stay nice for the weekend so I can get outside some and enjoy more spring!

Weekend Elective

Another lag in posting...I really will try to be better about filling in these gaps.  I had class Thursday afternoon/evening, followed by a really fun night out with other MSc people from school, we laughed, talked, had good Austrian wine...a nice way to spend an evening after a 4 hour class block.  Friday my internet was being weird, so I actually went up to school to review the reading materials (most of which were online) for my elective class this weekend, and then I have spent all day (9am-6pm) yesterday and today in that elective.  The topic of this elective was The Legal and Regulatory Framework of the European Union, and was actually very interesting and helpful considering my previous knowledge of how exactly the EU works is somewhat (very) limited.  The class consisted of other MSc students like myself, but the vast majority were MBA students from Modul, who are only in Vienna a few days each month for these day long block sessions.  The MBA students added a lot to the discussions both in and out of class, that I'm not sure we would have enjoyed otherwise.

I took these pictures Saturday morning when we first got up to school, and sadly the clouds completely took over shortly after this and it's been cold and drizzly since then.  And today was marathon Sunday in Vienna! So I was really sad to miss that.

One thing about weekend classes is that the cafeteria at school isn't open, so while there are a few sandwiches and things in the vending machine, it had been strongly suggested to me by other MSc students to bring my own lunch on these elective days.  So, going back to my elementary school days I guess, I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple for lunch.  Now, the MBA students are a bit better organized I guess, because since they are used to being here on the weekend, and since most are traveling away from their home country to be here, they bring lots of food to share among the group.  They kindly offered to share their food with us, but I said I was all set with food I had brought from home.  We all went into the cafeteria to eat, and they get out loaves of bread, some sliced meat and cheese and some spreads and make sandwiches, while I pull out my pb&j...I had not taken two bites before I start hearing from the Croatian guy next to me..."what on earth is that?" "what is in that sandwich?"...I explain that it's peanut butter and jelly...he responds..."I had peanut butter once...how is your mouth not stuck together? what is this "jelly" in there?" pretty soon most of the table is in conversation about my sad excuse for a sandwich, and how a few people had "tried one of those things once"...and would I please not bring a lunch from home on Sunday, so they could share homemade Romanian food they had planned for today's lunch.  I kindly obliged, and while I do love a good pb&j...homemade pepper spread, with homemade cheese and smoked meats is definitely far superior :)

Spring!

Yikes.  I didn't mean to go nearly 5 days without posting anything...oops.  Let's see, Easter weekend was fairly quiet around here, I wandered around a bit outside close to home Saturday while the weather was still fairly nice.  By Easter morning it was snowing, and flurried on and off most of the day.  I went to church and then a few of us went out to lunch at a restaurant nearby afterwards, and then huddled together for warmth as we walked back to the U-Bahn.  This week I'm back into more full on school mode.  I don't have class until Thursday afternoon, but I've been reading a lot and starting to pull together research for several papers.  Today is much nicer, although still fairly chilly out, but after some laundry this morning and reading this afternoon, I decided to head over to the park and record some of these signs of spring before they go away!

I think that's all for now! 

A Walking Tour

A week or so ago, my mom mentioned that through her library system at home you can download audio guides for various things for free, including a couple walking tours of Vienna.  So I downloaded one called "Imperial Vienna" and while there is only about 70 minutes of actual talking, it suggested allowing up to 4 hours or so for the entire walk.  Since the weather today was so nice, and the next few days may not be quite as nice, I decided I should try to do the tour today, knowing that at any point I could stop and continue another time.  I ended up doing the entire tour, and it only took about 2 and a half hours or so, I was walking quickly and didn't actually go inside any of the buildings, but I will definitely revisit some of these places and see what the insides look like. 

Tulips are in bloom all over the city

I began at Karlskirche

then on to the Secession

Statue of Schiller

The leaves beginning to come out on the trees along the Ring

Statue of Franz Joseph in the Burggarten

Statue by the Albertina

Part of the Spanish Riding School

Michaelerkirche, originally built in the 13th century, was once the parish church for the Imperial Court.  Mozart's requiem was played for the first time in this church, following his death. 

Cafe Central

Liebenberg Monument

Closeup of the Burgtheater

Parliament 

The gate into the Hofburg, the only portion of the original city wall still remaining.

I thought the tour was really interesting, lots of historical facts and stories, and I was able to just wander around with my ipod in and not have to be flipping through any books or anything to read what I was looking at.  I really don't like looking like a tourist, so I was glad to look like I was just out enjoying the weather, rather than tripping over cobblestones with my nose in a tour book...which people seem to do a lot. 

The City at Dusk

It's amazing what fun things I can think of to do while on break...ha.  Yesterday about 6pm I was home and realized I wasn't quite ready to be "in" for the night, so I decided to grab my camera and head up to the Kahlenberg to watch the sun set and the lights of the city come on.  I hadn't yet been up there in the evening really, most of my classes have been in the mornings and afternoons, so I was pretty excited to get to see everything at that time of day.  I took A LOT of pictures, and i've tried to narrow it down some...but I'm just going to post a bunch in chronological order and you can scroll through them quickly (you can also click on any of them to make them larger...this small picture doesn't do it anywhere near the justice it deserves).

It was really neat to watch all the lights come on...and begin to recognize what things are...the Prater, the Rathaus, Schoenbrunn etc.  The city really is just absolutely gorgeous from architecture up close all the way up to viewing it as a whole from above.  I could have stayed longer until it got really dark, but the temperature started dropping quickly and I wasn't completely dressed for that, but this is definitely something I will do again.