28 May 2009

Speise im Wien!

I was thinking that I need to be sure to tell everyone which are the places that I have been for food and which places are the best. Ok, so there is this little würstel stand just off Kärntner straße that has really good kebab and dürüm. It is kitty corner behind the Sacher Hotel. They are a little more expensive than the place in front of the Augustina as far as Bratwursts go but the wursts are bigger and tastier.
Everyone who has heard of Vienna knows about the Sachertorte which is a chocolate cake that is supposedly amazing and originated in the Sacher Hotel. Well, I haven't had it from the Sacher but I had an even more expensive version from the oldest continually running restaurant in Europe, if not in the world, Griechenbeisl. It cost 4,90 Euro (about 6.75 USD). It was dry and overrated. My roommate McKay bought one from the actual hotel and he said it was the same.
Also at the Griechenbeisl I ate the apfel strudel. I heard from others that it was awesome but I think that was because it has a little lemon zest in there to liven it up. I thought it was alright but not 5,20 alright (about 7.25). I had the marillen palatschinken (Apricot Crepes) though and they were the bomb. Maybe even worth the 7.50 (USD).
I'll have to let you know about other steals, deals and yummy meals a little later. Bis dann!

26 May 2009

I'm not complaining, I'm just busy

I'm sick of trying to post pictures to the internet. I have had something crash almost every single time. I can't even get them to my computer before something goes wrong. I am just going to put stuff on facebook and not here anymore unless at some future time I become more adept at blogging.
I am actually debating whether or not to keep doing this. Maybe it would be easier just to keep what little thoughts I have right where they are. Oh well.
I have been doing quite a lot of traveling here. The subway system will get you pretty close to anywhere you need to go. The trouble is that I have small breaks between things that need to be done and I don't have much time to do homework. I have to leave the house 45 min before class, I have an hour and a half between classes, I have a few hours after class to do homework, shop, eat, or do whatever else needs done. Because of FHE and Institute on Monday and Wednesday I am cut short those days, I have a dinner with my host once a week and I don't know what day she'll be choosing, so there is a lot going on. My homework has been failing miserably. I am getting the page and a half written for McFarland right before class and I receive about 3-5 worksheets or something from each Peter and Veronika. That's a lot to do every single day.
That said, I'm going to go eat something.

14 May 2009

First day

So I woke up Tuesday morning even earlier than I normally wanted to. My alarm was set for 8:00 and I woke up at 6:30, laid in bed for an hour then got up. I used all of that day to get ready to go to Vienna. Actually for a couple hours right after getting up I got a gift ready for Miss Hayley Burch. I wanted to give her something before I left for 3 months. After that I packed some, and then I drove my little Toyota to Midvale. Now, when I got this car (it was free by the way, from a guy that I met about 2 weeks earlier) it shook when you went over 35 mph. I didn't know why but when I turned really sharp it also clicked. Well, I had to get to Midvale to pick up 2 fiddles that my mom had dropped off for tune-up/repairs. I drove 50 on I-15 and as I was leaving the fiddle place my left front tire blew out.
My very first thought was to be upset but I then realized that it isn't that bad, then almost immediately I thought, "you know, I could have been going down the interstate and I may have died. I'm glad that just happened." Plus it happened in the parking lot of a Discount Tire store. How convenient.
I got the tire replaced, and my tires rotated (it cost a grand total of 50 bucks) and took off down the street. Santa Vaca! My car drives like a dream now. It was all because the balance was off and that made the whole car shake. It is now a really fine automobile. I'm glad I got it for free. So the day before I leave my car works well. But I proceeded to continue my preparations.
My biggest fear was that I would have no camera. I was worried that I would be here in one of the most amazing historical cities in the world and not be able to document it. So I bought a camera at 1:30 in the morning at walmart. It is a really awesome camera. It's a kodak and it has 12x optical zoom with a lot of other nice features. It was cheap too because it is a little bigger than most people want. It only cost me 130 bucks. Sweet deal.
Well, I didn't go to bed that night (as you can tell by the fact that I was buying a camera at 1:30 am. I had to be out of the house at about 5:15-5:30.

Hayley gave me a ride. Hayley is a wonderful and extremely generous example of a girlfriend.

She gave me a ride at 5:30 in the morning when she had class at 9:00. I can't think of anyone I would rather be with than her. Alas, I am in Europe and torn.

Well, I flew from SLC to JFK and arrived at VIE this morning at 8:30. It was fun and the plane rides were good. A little loud but it didn't bother me much...at all. I have just been sitting here at the Austro-amerikan Institute since we got in. I was lucky enough to fly in with Dr. McFarland who knows Vienna like the back of his hand. I'm happy to be here and I hope that all goes well...and it will.