... then my 'current mood' would be 'relieved'. Today I decided it was time to stop sending repeatedly unanswered emails to my coordinator and actually try phoning him. I had been putting this off because I don't really like phone calls if I can avoid them, and especially not phone calls in German, to someone who for all I knew could have had the worst and least intelligible accent this side of, well, Vienna is probably ground zero for unintelligible Deutsch actually. Never mind.
So anyhow, I phoned him, and I am now going to meet with him on monday afternoon. And he gave every indication of understanding everything I was saying, and didn't try switching to english! (This may be bad if he knows none, but you do not get to head an academic department without passable english I would think). Monday afternoon is after the supposed deadline for applying for courses, but he does not seem to think this will be a problem. I was confused when he said he had received my emails though, because why in hell would he just read them and not even reply with his visiting hours?? Hmph.
Other gargantuan achievements today include (and are in fact limited to) obtaining and charging with money the card we have to use to pay for the washing machines. Apparently coins would be too low tech or something. It does eliminate the change problem I guess, even if we do have to go to the bank to put more money on it. Washing is cheap (€1,60 for washing, drying free!), I may not actually wait until all my clothes are dirty and then wash them all at once now!
It is erasmus orientation week, which is like freshers week with better people, cheaper drinks and constant repetition of the three most important definitions of one's personality, to whit: nationality, home town, and course of study. On monday I went on a tour of the university led by a gloriously vague man who was obviously more concerned with fun than academia during his time as a student. This was followed by a semi regrettable trip to the erasmus club night, overcrowded, too loud and terrible music, but if you get there early drinks are actually free. It is mighty weird to be standing by the bar, cash in hand, and have a random cocktail thrust at you before you can even open your mouth to order. I left this at around ten and went on a long meandering walk through the near deserted streets of central Vienna (not sure if people don't go out late on Mondays, or more likely all the bars are further out of the centre than in London) with a new Finnish friend. If you will allow me to put on my T-rex voice a second: 'Guys! I have learnt more about Finland this week than I ever expected to know, it seems like a pretty OK country to me!'
Interestingly, though we all do a fair amount of drinking round here, nobody I know has taken it upon themselves to drink themselves into an embarrassing stupor, and were someone to suggest this as the sole goal of a night out, I think they would be looked at most oddly. This is made all the more topical following the extremely sad death of a UCL fresher after a fresher's event last weekend. It looks like he probably had an existing unknown health problem, rather than drinking himself to death, and he may not have imbibed much or anything at all, but still, there are many Sun etc articles recounting with horror and disapproval the plethora of cheap drink nights and adverts geared towards students that merely boast about how wasted it will be possible to get.
I don't really know what to think, except that there is something slightly off with the British attitude to drinking and yet I do not think it will ever be possible to change it, it is just what we do. The drink prices in Vienna and the ease with which beer can be obtained, combined with the bebevolent attitude to people sitting down and drinking it in public, are somewhat refreshing, and make an interesting counter argument to recent UK arguments about cutting down on supermarket booze deals etc.
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Monday 28 September 2009
Opera etc
Oh, hello blog! Why, yes, I have been quite busy. What's that? Oh, ok, I will write about what has been happening then.
Mostly, I have been going out. Thankfully, unlike in London this means going to bars and actually talking to people, unlike going out in the first week at UCL, which appeared to involve bright lights and deafening noises in an attempt to unite us in collective shellshock. (Disclaimer: this may not be the actual aim of the delightfully named 'UCL Ents' team). On friday night we went out and drank in various bars in central Vienna, and then went to an underground club where I thoroughly enjoyed myself as stupid dancing seemed practically encouraged, and the music was pretty good. I may just be inexperienced, but I am not sure that disco remixes of the Pirates of the Carribbean main theme are in any way guaranteed when one enters a club. The most significant vent of the night for me though was definitely that at 3.30 am we went home on a nightbus called the N29, the same name as the trusty/crime ridden nightbus that has brought me home in London for the last 2 years countless times.
Saturday brought a failed attempt to vist a cafe with FREE BOARD GAMES (it was closed, but a pilgrimage will definitely be attempted again) , and a more successful stroll through the beguilingly sunny main streets of Vienna to locate an excellent dingy coffee house covered in posters and modern art. Here I was informed of a plan to visit the opera that very evening!
And so it was that, dressed in smart trousers and shirt but foolishly lacking any shoes except trainers, I had my first experience of opera in Wien. We went to the slightly cheaper and less architecturally baroque Volksoper, as opposed to the Opera in Vienna, the Staatsoper. Having waited in line until 5 minutes before the performance began, we finally obtained returns (Resttickets, I believe) for €12 each. The performance was of probably one of the most Austrian operas, Die Zauberflöte/Magic Flute.
As with my previous opera experience, I found some parts utterly fantastic, and other parts reasonably dull. My understanding of the plot was rather incomplete, as there were no subtitles (even german ones), and I stupidly forgot to look up the plot beforehand. That said, when I did look it up afterwards most of the transitions that seemed to have little or no reason behind them weren't relly explained there either, I think exposition in opera is pretty light in general. You can google the precise story, as for all its slight lack of logic, it is quite complex.
The hero was as usual the least interesting character, as he just had to be heroic, and the heroine only redeemed herself through amazing singing. The best character is a guy called Papageno, who is having none of all this grandiose questing and challenges rubbish, and just wants good food, wine, and an attractive and equally uncomplicated Papagena to love. The guy who played him was a good actor, and although he wasn't required to do any crazy vocal stunts, he still really made the whole opera for me, Papageno is just such a likeable guy. I thought he had some pretty good chemistry with the princess too, she could have done a lot better than generic brave prince with a flute.
The vocal stuff was stunning of course, Die Zauberflöte contains what are apparently some of the hardest vocal solos in opera for the character the Queen of the Night, and although you wouldn't recognise the name, I guarantee that if you hear them, you will recognise them. I have never ever heard a human voice used in such a way, and with such incredible power as well. We were right at the back and everyone on stage was still loud, despite being unamplified.
All in all, I would definitely see an opera again, but I think that the Magic Flute had a very good mix of beauty, humour, and welcome spoken word sections, and I do not think I will enjoy all or maybe many operas as much. It being sung in german helped, as I do love the language so much after all. I completely get what I was told by someone in the Macbeth opera I saw about english being a rubbish language to have to sing opera in. It is too hard to elongate the ends of words, so you have to maaaaaaaake do with the miiiiiiiiiiddle too much.
Sunday I did some work (!!) then went to a bar and hung out with more Erasmus people. Have not met more than one British person here, the largest proportions seem to be from Italy, Spain and Denmark, I know not why.
Mostly, I have been going out. Thankfully, unlike in London this means going to bars and actually talking to people, unlike going out in the first week at UCL, which appeared to involve bright lights and deafening noises in an attempt to unite us in collective shellshock. (Disclaimer: this may not be the actual aim of the delightfully named 'UCL Ents' team). On friday night we went out and drank in various bars in central Vienna, and then went to an underground club where I thoroughly enjoyed myself as stupid dancing seemed practically encouraged, and the music was pretty good. I may just be inexperienced, but I am not sure that disco remixes of the Pirates of the Carribbean main theme are in any way guaranteed when one enters a club. The most significant vent of the night for me though was definitely that at 3.30 am we went home on a nightbus called the N29, the same name as the trusty/crime ridden nightbus that has brought me home in London for the last 2 years countless times.
Saturday brought a failed attempt to vist a cafe with FREE BOARD GAMES (it was closed, but a pilgrimage will definitely be attempted again) , and a more successful stroll through the beguilingly sunny main streets of Vienna to locate an excellent dingy coffee house covered in posters and modern art. Here I was informed of a plan to visit the opera that very evening!
And so it was that, dressed in smart trousers and shirt but foolishly lacking any shoes except trainers, I had my first experience of opera in Wien. We went to the slightly cheaper and less architecturally baroque Volksoper, as opposed to the Opera in Vienna, the Staatsoper. Having waited in line until 5 minutes before the performance began, we finally obtained returns (Resttickets, I believe) for €12 each. The performance was of probably one of the most Austrian operas, Die Zauberflöte/Magic Flute.
As with my previous opera experience, I found some parts utterly fantastic, and other parts reasonably dull. My understanding of the plot was rather incomplete, as there were no subtitles (even german ones), and I stupidly forgot to look up the plot beforehand. That said, when I did look it up afterwards most of the transitions that seemed to have little or no reason behind them weren't relly explained there either, I think exposition in opera is pretty light in general. You can google the precise story, as for all its slight lack of logic, it is quite complex.
The hero was as usual the least interesting character, as he just had to be heroic, and the heroine only redeemed herself through amazing singing. The best character is a guy called Papageno, who is having none of all this grandiose questing and challenges rubbish, and just wants good food, wine, and an attractive and equally uncomplicated Papagena to love. The guy who played him was a good actor, and although he wasn't required to do any crazy vocal stunts, he still really made the whole opera for me, Papageno is just such a likeable guy. I thought he had some pretty good chemistry with the princess too, she could have done a lot better than generic brave prince with a flute.
The vocal stuff was stunning of course, Die Zauberflöte contains what are apparently some of the hardest vocal solos in opera for the character the Queen of the Night, and although you wouldn't recognise the name, I guarantee that if you hear them, you will recognise them. I have never ever heard a human voice used in such a way, and with such incredible power as well. We were right at the back and everyone on stage was still loud, despite being unamplified.
All in all, I would definitely see an opera again, but I think that the Magic Flute had a very good mix of beauty, humour, and welcome spoken word sections, and I do not think I will enjoy all or maybe many operas as much. It being sung in german helped, as I do love the language so much after all. I completely get what I was told by someone in the Macbeth opera I saw about english being a rubbish language to have to sing opera in. It is too hard to elongate the ends of words, so you have to maaaaaaaake do with the miiiiiiiiiiddle too much.
Sunday I did some work (!!) then went to a bar and hung out with more Erasmus people. Have not met more than one British person here, the largest proportions seem to be from Italy, Spain and Denmark, I know not why.
Friday 25 September 2009
A photo blog: the Prater
I have now fulfilled almost all of the small administrative quests set before me (except the now rather pressing one of actually being able to apply for any modules, hmmm...). I have an Ausweis (uni ID card), made rather charmingly out of cardboard, a real photo, glue and a sticker. I have registered with the authorities. I have my 4 month all travel anytime pass (less than 120 pounds!!!). So, today I thought I would explore more fully the magnificent park near my halls called the Prater. I also thought I would take some photos.
First up we have this crazy ball shaped house. This is Das Kugelmugelhaus (seriously!), roughly translated as the ball on a hillock house. Not only does it have an awesome name, note the the barbed wire! You are looking at the entirety of the self declared Republic of Kugelmugel, which has been in existence in the Prater for over 25 years, and as of 2008 claimed around 600 citizens. The big plaque on the left explains how the thieving corrupt mayor of Vienna in the 80s reneged on his deal to provide the house/ country with power, water and sewage piping, and how he and his successor are not to be trusted. The one on the right reads (in german) 'This square (the name of which is 'Anti-Fascism Square') is dedicated to the great democratic revolutionary leader Edwin Lipburger, who has here begun to get rid of the old morals, and to identify and fight all forms of corruption behind every mask'. Cool, huh?
This little dude is telling you to clean up your dog's doings. Around the picture of the poo it says 'Sind dir Wurst?', which as far as I can tell means 'do these look like sausages to you?'
The differing landscape of the Prater, grass and honest to god woodland.
The best pic of a squirrel I took. They are small and fast. This one is notable for it's dark brown coat and white belly.
Arty stuff above.
A crow. Crows here are hooded, like in scotland, but also seem larger. Other birdwatching news: saw a Nuthatch (10 points if you know what one is) and probably also a woodpecker.
I'm pretty proud of these 3. It is important to note that the Prater combines not only 4.5 straight kilometres of park (with a specially paved central shady walk designed to be easy on the joints of runners, with water fountains at regular intervals, if you like that sort of thing) but also a large permanent funfair AND the aforementioned woodland etc.
Et finalement, the obligatory tourism shot of the 'Riesenrad'/big wheel. A little bit more old school than the London eye, but no less impressive.
Well, that was fun. Stay tuned for next time, when I don't make your poor computer work as hard.
First up we have this crazy ball shaped house. This is Das Kugelmugelhaus (seriously!), roughly translated as the ball on a hillock house. Not only does it have an awesome name, note the the barbed wire! You are looking at the entirety of the self declared Republic of Kugelmugel, which has been in existence in the Prater for over 25 years, and as of 2008 claimed around 600 citizens. The big plaque on the left explains how the thieving corrupt mayor of Vienna in the 80s reneged on his deal to provide the house/ country with power, water and sewage piping, and how he and his successor are not to be trusted. The one on the right reads (in german) 'This square (the name of which is 'Anti-Fascism Square') is dedicated to the great democratic revolutionary leader Edwin Lipburger, who has here begun to get rid of the old morals, and to identify and fight all forms of corruption behind every mask'. Cool, huh?
This little dude is telling you to clean up your dog's doings. Around the picture of the poo it says 'Sind dir Wurst?', which as far as I can tell means 'do these look like sausages to you?'
The differing landscape of the Prater, grass and honest to god woodland.
The best pic of a squirrel I took. They are small and fast. This one is notable for it's dark brown coat and white belly.
Arty stuff above.
A crow. Crows here are hooded, like in scotland, but also seem larger. Other birdwatching news: saw a Nuthatch (10 points if you know what one is) and probably also a woodpecker.
I'm pretty proud of these 3. It is important to note that the Prater combines not only 4.5 straight kilometres of park (with a specially paved central shady walk designed to be easy on the joints of runners, with water fountains at regular intervals, if you like that sort of thing) but also a large permanent funfair AND the aforementioned woodland etc.
Et finalement, the obligatory tourism shot of the 'Riesenrad'/big wheel. A little bit more old school than the London eye, but no less impressive.
Well, that was fun. Stay tuned for next time, when I don't make your poor computer work as hard.
Tuesday 22 September 2009
A 15 page epic poem about squirrels...
...is what I promised Tim would be my next blog entry. I wonder if he will be disappointed?
Having arrived after the first lot of Erasmus students (all here a month ago for german courses) but before the second round of freshers-esque speed-befriending events, I actually don't know very many people here. So at the moment I'm spending a looot of time not doing very much at all. This was nice for a while, but now i've finished reading two whole new webcomics, all 600 pages of Best New SF 22 are gone and I'm close to finishing the last season of 30 Rock, I am starting to get a little bored.
It's all very well going to see sights, but some of the sights I'd like to save for later when I have people to see them with, and you can't spend the entire day and night sightseeing. Well I can't anyway. So sometimes I feel like I am wasting my days, although other times I see it as a nice rest.
In the spirit of relaxation I decided to go for a lovely walk in the sunshine today. It is genuinely still summer here, as warm as it ever is in England at any time of year. The destination for my walk was the Donauinsel, a really long, really thin island separating two strands of the extremely wide and straight man made channel which directs most of the Danube to the East of Vienna. It was amazing, because it is basically a really thin but seemingly infinite park, strolling along it you feel you should keep going to see what is at the end, but, it never stops... It is a paradise for sunbathing, barbecuing, dog walking and going pretty fast on/ using your wheeled contraption of choice. Because you can only get onto it from some reasonably scarce bridges it has a nice wild and deserted feel, grass growing between concrete and graffiti on the benches sort of thing. There is so much anarchist graffiti around, I am not sure what to think about all the graffiti saying 'no to sexism' and 'down with racism'. Should I be impressed? Or do people just write it because they think that's what anarchist graffiti kids ought to do? Better than SHIT in ten foot high letters, anyway, though there is plenty of that sort of thing too.
Here we see an example of how sunny it is, and how long and hyponotically straight the island is. (this is looking north from a footbridge, with the island to your left)
My walk was great until I atempted to cross the river back to mainland Vienna and ended up walking through an area that was just building sites until I reached the bottom of the Prater, another huge park just south of my house. It is a bit bigger than the inner city london parks, with a lot of woodland, a bit like the Tiergarten in Berlin. Looks like a nice place to go on sunny days, all shade and rolling grassy bits. But by this time I was very tired and quite hot, as I can't tolerate temperatures over 15 degrees for too long. The photo below sort of conveys the length of the park, I could see this view to vanishing point in both directions for a good while.
Got home, grilled some Bratwurst (no seriously) and now I have a headache because I am completely evolved for UK temperatures. I will be a wreck come June next year...
Having arrived after the first lot of Erasmus students (all here a month ago for german courses) but before the second round of freshers-esque speed-befriending events, I actually don't know very many people here. So at the moment I'm spending a looot of time not doing very much at all. This was nice for a while, but now i've finished reading two whole new webcomics, all 600 pages of Best New SF 22 are gone and I'm close to finishing the last season of 30 Rock, I am starting to get a little bored.
It's all very well going to see sights, but some of the sights I'd like to save for later when I have people to see them with, and you can't spend the entire day and night sightseeing. Well I can't anyway. So sometimes I feel like I am wasting my days, although other times I see it as a nice rest.
In the spirit of relaxation I decided to go for a lovely walk in the sunshine today. It is genuinely still summer here, as warm as it ever is in England at any time of year. The destination for my walk was the Donauinsel, a really long, really thin island separating two strands of the extremely wide and straight man made channel which directs most of the Danube to the East of Vienna. It was amazing, because it is basically a really thin but seemingly infinite park, strolling along it you feel you should keep going to see what is at the end, but, it never stops... It is a paradise for sunbathing, barbecuing, dog walking and going pretty fast on/ using your wheeled contraption of choice. Because you can only get onto it from some reasonably scarce bridges it has a nice wild and deserted feel, grass growing between concrete and graffiti on the benches sort of thing. There is so much anarchist graffiti around, I am not sure what to think about all the graffiti saying 'no to sexism' and 'down with racism'. Should I be impressed? Or do people just write it because they think that's what anarchist graffiti kids ought to do? Better than SHIT in ten foot high letters, anyway, though there is plenty of that sort of thing too.
Here we see an example of how sunny it is, and how long and hyponotically straight the island is. (this is looking north from a footbridge, with the island to your left)
My walk was great until I atempted to cross the river back to mainland Vienna and ended up walking through an area that was just building sites until I reached the bottom of the Prater, another huge park just south of my house. It is a bit bigger than the inner city london parks, with a lot of woodland, a bit like the Tiergarten in Berlin. Looks like a nice place to go on sunny days, all shade and rolling grassy bits. But by this time I was very tired and quite hot, as I can't tolerate temperatures over 15 degrees for too long. The photo below sort of conveys the length of the park, I could see this view to vanishing point in both directions for a good while.
Got home, grilled some Bratwurst (no seriously) and now I have a headache because I am completely evolved for UK temperatures. I will be a wreck come June next year...
Sunday 20 September 2009
Bloggen
This blogging thing is tricksy. It takes over your mind a bit. You are constantly looking at the world through a blog shaped lense: how can I write that incident in aclever and interesting way? Little phrases pop into my head. I suppose this is what journalists do, except they then write that stuff down in a moleskine notebook.
Today I have wanted to write about: the Viennese underground train, my thoughts on the first part of Cory Doctorow's new book, interesting cultural misunderstandings I have encountered/ perpetrated (already!), the british language education system, my trip to the Vienna Natural history Museum (and consequently a discussion of German rock names). I'm sort of posting this as a reminder to myself . Plus, it's nice to let people know what they're missing, haha.
I am sticking to the tradition of reporting stuff that has actually happened to me, for now at least. So: Today I went to the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. It is situated in the rather impressive Museumsquartier of Vienna, which coincidentally is a 15-20 minute journey from my halls, door to (somewhat more impressive) door. I managed to get in as a student by showing my UCL ID, so it cost me a fairly reasonable €3.50 to get in. The place was quiet, probably due to today being sunday, and there was a lot of space to stand in and stare.
Now, the London Natural History Museum is impressive architecturally, but what hit me about this museum was its sheer sense of grandeur. It is a lot more like a stately home, with huge ceiling paintings and imposing doors, and maybe it being older it was maybe more designed as a storehouse of treasures for more private viewing than our own NHM? I speculate, but what was very noticeable as I wandered around is that there is a lot less emphasis on big, themed experiences than the NHM London. The zoology section is basically a stuffed example of a reasonable proportion of large modern bird, fish, reptile mammal and other assorted species organised in accordance with traditional taxonomic order. There are a few little interactive exhibits but by and large you are left to explore the museum for yourself. You learn what you want from it, which I found very enjoyable.
So what did I discover on my first exploration? (for I will surely return). Lots of animals are way bigger than I thought. I think I am so used to seeing animals on TV that I think they are all TV sized. Albatrosses are HUGE, as are elephant seals, bears, whales etc. Kiwi birds look amazingly silly. Pangolins are cute. The german word for sloth is even more to the point than ours, they are called 'Faultiere' (lazy animals). Aardvark in german is 'Erdferkel'. Butterflies are pretty. etc etc.
I also spent a long time in the geology section, quite unsurprisingly. There was a meteorite ROOM with more meteorites than I have seen in the rest of my life combined stored in it. Incredible. The mineral collection was wierdly identically displayed to the London one, but slightly bigger, and accompanied by very detailed landscape paintings on all the walls that I didn't even notice till half way through. They had a lot of salt crystal lumps presented to them by various people in the past, all of them over 1000kg, including a 1680kg actual pillar of salt. Very biblical eh? It was all good revision, I learnt a few translations of rock names from english I hadn't known before. They aren't all as easy as I'd expected, and I'm considering taking a very low level class just for vocab purposes.
In the middle I stopped in the very posh cafe for a Struedel and a tea. It was expensive, but what the hell, i'm on holi... oh. Well, tasty Struedel and proper loose leaf darjeeling tea, so all was not lost. Mild confusion when I forgot to tip the waiter, but I got the hint in the end.
I now appaer to be off back to the Museumsquartier, but am reliably informed this is because there are bars there, not to go to a late night museum opening. Although they do stay open till 9 every thursday.
Today I have wanted to write about: the Viennese underground train, my thoughts on the first part of Cory Doctorow's new book, interesting cultural misunderstandings I have encountered/ perpetrated (already!), the british language education system, my trip to the Vienna Natural history Museum (and consequently a discussion of German rock names). I'm sort of posting this as a reminder to myself . Plus, it's nice to let people know what they're missing, haha.
I am sticking to the tradition of reporting stuff that has actually happened to me, for now at least. So: Today I went to the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. It is situated in the rather impressive Museumsquartier of Vienna, which coincidentally is a 15-20 minute journey from my halls, door to (somewhat more impressive) door. I managed to get in as a student by showing my UCL ID, so it cost me a fairly reasonable €3.50 to get in. The place was quiet, probably due to today being sunday, and there was a lot of space to stand in and stare.
Now, the London Natural History Museum is impressive architecturally, but what hit me about this museum was its sheer sense of grandeur. It is a lot more like a stately home, with huge ceiling paintings and imposing doors, and maybe it being older it was maybe more designed as a storehouse of treasures for more private viewing than our own NHM? I speculate, but what was very noticeable as I wandered around is that there is a lot less emphasis on big, themed experiences than the NHM London. The zoology section is basically a stuffed example of a reasonable proportion of large modern bird, fish, reptile mammal and other assorted species organised in accordance with traditional taxonomic order. There are a few little interactive exhibits but by and large you are left to explore the museum for yourself. You learn what you want from it, which I found very enjoyable.
So what did I discover on my first exploration? (for I will surely return). Lots of animals are way bigger than I thought. I think I am so used to seeing animals on TV that I think they are all TV sized. Albatrosses are HUGE, as are elephant seals, bears, whales etc. Kiwi birds look amazingly silly. Pangolins are cute. The german word for sloth is even more to the point than ours, they are called 'Faultiere' (lazy animals). Aardvark in german is 'Erdferkel'. Butterflies are pretty. etc etc.
I also spent a long time in the geology section, quite unsurprisingly. There was a meteorite ROOM with more meteorites than I have seen in the rest of my life combined stored in it. Incredible. The mineral collection was wierdly identically displayed to the London one, but slightly bigger, and accompanied by very detailed landscape paintings on all the walls that I didn't even notice till half way through. They had a lot of salt crystal lumps presented to them by various people in the past, all of them over 1000kg, including a 1680kg actual pillar of salt. Very biblical eh? It was all good revision, I learnt a few translations of rock names from english I hadn't known before. They aren't all as easy as I'd expected, and I'm considering taking a very low level class just for vocab purposes.
In the middle I stopped in the very posh cafe for a Struedel and a tea. It was expensive, but what the hell, i'm on holi... oh. Well, tasty Struedel and proper loose leaf darjeeling tea, so all was not lost. Mild confusion when I forgot to tip the waiter, but I got the hint in the end.
I now appaer to be off back to the Museumsquartier, but am reliably informed this is because there are bars there, not to go to a late night museum opening. Although they do stay open till 9 every thursday.
Saturday 19 September 2009
Luck
Sometimes I am so ridiculously lucky I just don't get it. And I'm not even talking about the low level, background fluke that means the universe, the planet, and humanity exist, or the luck that got me born in the UK at this point in history.
I went to meet my 'buddy' Ruth at her house today,and I was pretty nervous, as I always am when attempting to be good friends with someone I don't know in another language (partly). Whatever I was expecting I was NOT expecting her or her friends to be Battlestar Galactica fans, or that they would like Deep Space 9 and LOTR, OR that they would also like climbing. OR that one of them had just read the Zombie Survival Guide.
It would be understandable if the buddy program asked me detailed stuff about my life, but all they asked was basically my name and degree... Anyway, despite the fact that I can only understand 1 word in 3 and that this is not enough to decode most conversations, I am extremely glad to have some Austrian friends to take me places where people don't speak English.
Also today I paid my bills and registered with the authorities. Afterwards I went on an aimless walk to a park called the Augarten. In the middle is this incredible concrete Flakturm (anti aircraft tower) from WW2. It is HUUUUUGE. And run down,and covered in pigeons. I love it, it is retro futurism come to life. I love that slightly unsettling feeling you get when you are next to something manmade which is just a little bit too big.
Check it out. It's not even the only one in the city! The other one has a climbing wall.
Hurrah!
I went to meet my 'buddy' Ruth at her house today,and I was pretty nervous, as I always am when attempting to be good friends with someone I don't know in another language (partly). Whatever I was expecting I was NOT expecting her or her friends to be Battlestar Galactica fans, or that they would like Deep Space 9 and LOTR, OR that they would also like climbing. OR that one of them had just read the Zombie Survival Guide.
It would be understandable if the buddy program asked me detailed stuff about my life, but all they asked was basically my name and degree... Anyway, despite the fact that I can only understand 1 word in 3 and that this is not enough to decode most conversations, I am extremely glad to have some Austrian friends to take me places where people don't speak English.
Also today I paid my bills and registered with the authorities. Afterwards I went on an aimless walk to a park called the Augarten. In the middle is this incredible concrete Flakturm (anti aircraft tower) from WW2. It is HUUUUUGE. And run down,and covered in pigeons. I love it, it is retro futurism come to life. I love that slightly unsettling feeling you get when you are next to something manmade which is just a little bit too big.
Check it out. It's not even the only one in the city! The other one has a climbing wall.
Hurrah!
Thursday 17 September 2009
Golb Golb Golb
Today I went on what a German speaker would call a Stadtbummel, and what an english speaker would call (much less concisely) a big aimless walk around the town looking at Stuff. It's what we all do when we visit a new town, but only German came up with a word for it. Actually, I had all kinds of boring registration to do, but I won't write about that.
The streets of Vienna are fantastic. They strike the perfect balance between having almost entirely old and beautiful buildings, yet being wide enough to fit 2 lines of traffic, trams, people and bikes all on one road, and still with room for the ubiquitous plane trees to form a lovely shady canopy on sunny days. Vienna feels like a city I might want to have a real life in. Kids seem to be around a lot more (partly due to the different school hours I think), and getting anywhere is so easy and nicely divorced from the traffic so you don't feel your lungs wither so much. I will have to be careful though, even with the curtailing of my london instinct to run red lights, there is still more to think about when crossing any road here, as there are both bikes and trams that can come from unexpected directions and are somewhat quieter than a bendy bus...
My route crossed the Danube (well a bit of it anyhow) and headed on into the town centre. I navigated by my vague sense of north and by heading for the coolest architecture I could get a glimpse of at the end of each narrow street (or 'Gasse' in Ausrian). Everywhere will have to be revisited in detail but I wandered past most of the major landmarks. Stephansdom (the big central cathedral) is a bit scaffolding-y at present, but still very impressive, if not enough to beat THE cathedral in Cologne to top spot. Around the base were many people dressed in a Mozart-y way that maybe had come from a convention or something, because several were in full costume + wigs but also wearing jeans... Perhapsy favourite vista was looking out over the museum district. It is completely unbelievable, the most incredible buildings and parks, just when you think you have seen it all, another one rolls into view. The university portico dwarfs the piddly little thing that UCL is so proud of, and at their nearby campus there is a beautiful park with bars and a playground with children and a supermarket. Vienna has a lot more space than London I guess. One odd thing was the magnificent Votivkirche, which could easily rival Cologne cathedral if it had no scaffolding covered by a MASSIVE CAR ADVERT on it at present. The park there had free deck chairs and these big stone chairs around tables that I think were to commemorate some conference or other because they had the names of different countries on the back of each. People sat round them and it looked like they were at some kind of medieval conference.
Cannot wait to properly explore all the places I passed, but it could take a while. Lucky I've got a year!
The tube back costs a mere €1.80 full price single (for any distance mind), but ASAP I will get a semesterticket which is valid from 1. October to the end of January, and gives me free transport (bus, tram, train, U-bahn/tube) for only €129. ONE MONTH travelcard for tube zones 1+2 and buses in London is £65ish.
When I got back I got into a friendly discussion about healthcare with my Ecuadorian-Austrian flatmate (who has also lived in the US and Spain). Never argue healthcare with a politics student, especially not one who has lived in all those countries.
The streets of Vienna are fantastic. They strike the perfect balance between having almost entirely old and beautiful buildings, yet being wide enough to fit 2 lines of traffic, trams, people and bikes all on one road, and still with room for the ubiquitous plane trees to form a lovely shady canopy on sunny days. Vienna feels like a city I might want to have a real life in. Kids seem to be around a lot more (partly due to the different school hours I think), and getting anywhere is so easy and nicely divorced from the traffic so you don't feel your lungs wither so much. I will have to be careful though, even with the curtailing of my london instinct to run red lights, there is still more to think about when crossing any road here, as there are both bikes and trams that can come from unexpected directions and are somewhat quieter than a bendy bus...
My route crossed the Danube (well a bit of it anyhow) and headed on into the town centre. I navigated by my vague sense of north and by heading for the coolest architecture I could get a glimpse of at the end of each narrow street (or 'Gasse' in Ausrian). Everywhere will have to be revisited in detail but I wandered past most of the major landmarks. Stephansdom (the big central cathedral) is a bit scaffolding-y at present, but still very impressive, if not enough to beat THE cathedral in Cologne to top spot. Around the base were many people dressed in a Mozart-y way that maybe had come from a convention or something, because several were in full costume + wigs but also wearing jeans... Perhapsy favourite vista was looking out over the museum district. It is completely unbelievable, the most incredible buildings and parks, just when you think you have seen it all, another one rolls into view. The university portico dwarfs the piddly little thing that UCL is so proud of, and at their nearby campus there is a beautiful park with bars and a playground with children and a supermarket. Vienna has a lot more space than London I guess. One odd thing was the magnificent Votivkirche, which could easily rival Cologne cathedral if it had no scaffolding covered by a MASSIVE CAR ADVERT on it at present. The park there had free deck chairs and these big stone chairs around tables that I think were to commemorate some conference or other because they had the names of different countries on the back of each. People sat round them and it looked like they were at some kind of medieval conference.
Cannot wait to properly explore all the places I passed, but it could take a while. Lucky I've got a year!
The tube back costs a mere €1.80 full price single (for any distance mind), but ASAP I will get a semesterticket which is valid from 1. October to the end of January, and gives me free transport (bus, tram, train, U-bahn/tube) for only €129. ONE MONTH travelcard for tube zones 1+2 and buses in London is £65ish.
When I got back I got into a friendly discussion about healthcare with my Ecuadorian-Austrian flatmate (who has also lived in the US and Spain). Never argue healthcare with a politics student, especially not one who has lived in all those countries.
Wednesday 16 September 2009
Blog blog blog
So yesterday I went on an exciting journey to a land called Austria.
I was actually pretty pleased at my packing skills, I was over the 20kg limit by literally .9kg, and the person at the check in desk didn't charge me! This victory was achieved by taking complete advantage of the lack of a weight restriction on cabin baggage, and my carry on bag was a bewildering mixture of laptop, cables, textbooks, a camera and some climbing shoes. The people at security spent a LONG time gazing at the X-ray before calling me over and searching the bag...Despite my triumph, several important things were just to heavy to bring, like a sleeping bag. But luckily I am not the sort that wories about only having 9 days worth of T-shirts, as I've seen them enough times in the last 4 years not to mind which one I'm wearing any more.
The plane journey was delayed for almost an hour before take off. However, I had made the boredom-banishing purchase of the 600+ page anthology 'Best New SF 22', so this was absolutely not a problem. Most people won't know about this anthology, but it is pretty much the definitive yearly sci fi short story collection. For someone like me without the time, inclination or money to prop up the short story industry paticularly, it is nice to know you can get a brilliant selection without having to make any effort to sift through the rubbish. Plus the editor is called Gardner Dozois, which is a pretty sci fi name I think.
The reason I love plane journeys is almost exactly the same as the reason many hate plane journeys, and it is that I think it is pretty damn cool that I am hurtling through the air at 600 mph in a small metal cigar built by people. Plus, the view is alright. Most of the way there was thick flat cloud with islands or mountains of cloud projecting above at intervals, and making it look like we were flying over some arctic landscape. Clouds look very solid for something made out of little bits of water. As we neared Vienna the clouds disappeared. In a cool turn of events for passengers, but possibly not tourists on the ground, the flight path goes right above the Schönbrunn palace, one of Vienna's many famous landmarks. A very nice 'look, you're in Vienna now!' sort of moment.
Actually, my journey would have been infinitely more stressful if not for the incredible help provided by Ruth, my 'buddy' charged by ERASMUS to look after me. The keys to my room had to be collected from an office across town from the halls (why??) and the office (sensibly, of course) closed at 4pm. Bearing in mind the earliest flight I could find was supposed to land at 14:25 and actually landed at 5 past 3, actually sleeping in my bed last night looked unlikely until Ruth volunteered to go get the key for me. Which makes perfect sense of course, but I somehow never expected anyone to volunteer to do that. Maybe I am merely exposing my evil, lazy nature. I resolve to see if there is anything like the buddy system back at UCL and be disarmingly helpful to a foreigner of my very own one day. Of course I showed my gratitude to her by showing up 10 minutes late, very sweaty (forecast was rain, but it is practically still summer here I swear), and so tired that all I wanted to do was lie down after scoffing the sandwich I had bought. She sensibly left, but I will try and properly meet her soon.
Halls are of amazing quality, literally everything is provided, TV, internet, toaster (!), kettle (double !), a desk bigger than any I have ever had in my life, plus bedding, coathangers, cooking utensils etc. They feel a bit like a hotel though, without the homely and run down smell of Max Rayne. Also, the cooker is a big disappointment, 2 hotplates, a microwave cooker and NO GRILL. WTF Austria, do your students not like to cook chips and pizzas???
The people in the flat are friendly, but v. international. I think after you have lived in more than 3 countries in your life you begin to develop a certain character of 'internationalness' which all these guys have and I don't. They all speak perfect english, but 1 is German and another lived there for 11 years, so when I decide I can be bothered to speak German, I will. I can't wait too long though, or I will get stuck in an English rut. The other guy is from everywhere, but most recently Spain, and spends a lot of time speaking Spanish with the Spanish guy who spent the last 11 years in Germany... All 3 study non science subjects, 1 business, 1 hotel management, 1 politics. I do not think they will become my best friends, but I forsee no real problem with living with them for the year at present. When more people are around though, I suppose I will have to go knocking on doors to meet more people. Choosing which language to speak when I greet them may be problematic...
Today I am going to do very little. My muscles ache a surprising amount from the 25 or more kilos I dragged from the station. Went to the supermarket, the Austrian version pf which is called Billa, and their version of basics is called 'Clever'!. Bought English tea (v expensive, must cut down), but I really wish they sold bacon.
Bacon, bacon, my kingdom for a bacon! Ahem.
bis bald,
Tom
PS sorry for all the spelling mistakes, but this new keyboard seems to need more pressure than I am used to using, so misses letters out at random
I was actually pretty pleased at my packing skills, I was over the 20kg limit by literally .9kg, and the person at the check in desk didn't charge me! This victory was achieved by taking complete advantage of the lack of a weight restriction on cabin baggage, and my carry on bag was a bewildering mixture of laptop, cables, textbooks, a camera and some climbing shoes. The people at security spent a LONG time gazing at the X-ray before calling me over and searching the bag...Despite my triumph, several important things were just to heavy to bring, like a sleeping bag. But luckily I am not the sort that wories about only having 9 days worth of T-shirts, as I've seen them enough times in the last 4 years not to mind which one I'm wearing any more.
The plane journey was delayed for almost an hour before take off. However, I had made the boredom-banishing purchase of the 600+ page anthology 'Best New SF 22', so this was absolutely not a problem. Most people won't know about this anthology, but it is pretty much the definitive yearly sci fi short story collection. For someone like me without the time, inclination or money to prop up the short story industry paticularly, it is nice to know you can get a brilliant selection without having to make any effort to sift through the rubbish. Plus the editor is called Gardner Dozois, which is a pretty sci fi name I think.
The reason I love plane journeys is almost exactly the same as the reason many hate plane journeys, and it is that I think it is pretty damn cool that I am hurtling through the air at 600 mph in a small metal cigar built by people. Plus, the view is alright. Most of the way there was thick flat cloud with islands or mountains of cloud projecting above at intervals, and making it look like we were flying over some arctic landscape. Clouds look very solid for something made out of little bits of water. As we neared Vienna the clouds disappeared. In a cool turn of events for passengers, but possibly not tourists on the ground, the flight path goes right above the Schönbrunn palace, one of Vienna's many famous landmarks. A very nice 'look, you're in Vienna now!' sort of moment.
Actually, my journey would have been infinitely more stressful if not for the incredible help provided by Ruth, my 'buddy' charged by ERASMUS to look after me. The keys to my room had to be collected from an office across town from the halls (why??) and the office (sensibly, of course) closed at 4pm. Bearing in mind the earliest flight I could find was supposed to land at 14:25 and actually landed at 5 past 3, actually sleeping in my bed last night looked unlikely until Ruth volunteered to go get the key for me. Which makes perfect sense of course, but I somehow never expected anyone to volunteer to do that. Maybe I am merely exposing my evil, lazy nature. I resolve to see if there is anything like the buddy system back at UCL and be disarmingly helpful to a foreigner of my very own one day. Of course I showed my gratitude to her by showing up 10 minutes late, very sweaty (forecast was rain, but it is practically still summer here I swear), and so tired that all I wanted to do was lie down after scoffing the sandwich I had bought. She sensibly left, but I will try and properly meet her soon.
Halls are of amazing quality, literally everything is provided, TV, internet, toaster (!), kettle (double !), a desk bigger than any I have ever had in my life, plus bedding, coathangers, cooking utensils etc. They feel a bit like a hotel though, without the homely and run down smell of Max Rayne. Also, the cooker is a big disappointment, 2 hotplates, a microwave cooker and NO GRILL. WTF Austria, do your students not like to cook chips and pizzas???
The people in the flat are friendly, but v. international. I think after you have lived in more than 3 countries in your life you begin to develop a certain character of 'internationalness' which all these guys have and I don't. They all speak perfect english, but 1 is German and another lived there for 11 years, so when I decide I can be bothered to speak German, I will. I can't wait too long though, or I will get stuck in an English rut. The other guy is from everywhere, but most recently Spain, and spends a lot of time speaking Spanish with the Spanish guy who spent the last 11 years in Germany... All 3 study non science subjects, 1 business, 1 hotel management, 1 politics. I do not think they will become my best friends, but I forsee no real problem with living with them for the year at present. When more people are around though, I suppose I will have to go knocking on doors to meet more people. Choosing which language to speak when I greet them may be problematic...
Today I am going to do very little. My muscles ache a surprising amount from the 25 or more kilos I dragged from the station. Went to the supermarket, the Austrian version pf which is called Billa, and their version of basics is called 'Clever'!. Bought English tea (v expensive, must cut down), but I really wish they sold bacon.
Bacon, bacon, my kingdom for a bacon! Ahem.
bis bald,
Tom
PS sorry for all the spelling mistakes, but this new keyboard seems to need more pressure than I am used to using, so misses letters out at random
Sunday 13 September 2009
You know it is a good song when it makes you WANT to be sad.
Would you like to watch a long video of the final song from the best gig I've ever been to? I found it today and I'm going to post it here and there's NOTHING YOU CAN DO.
Saturday 12 September 2009
T - 3 days.
I have never had a proper blog before. I am not really sure what to write. This is not so much due to a lack of things to write, more a surfeit of them. I write what I suppose could be blogs in my head on a very frequent basis.
Today for example I could write my feelings about leaving the country in 3 days time, musings on the nature of friendship, wafflings on the profoundly unsettling nature of September, a brief treatise on why it might be that Jason Webley (who I am listening to right now) strikes me as particularly autumnal, a gushing review of either the new Fiery Furnaces album or the new Jamie T album or both, or even a considered and unasked for response to a long note written on Facebook by an aquaintance concerning their dissatisfaction with their life. In fact it is more correct to say I have written them, but only in my head. I think it best that things stay that way.
Instead I am going to stick to stuff that happened in the real world, which I take for the sake of simplicity to be the one going on outside my head.
Interesting things I discovered when I visited London this week, in brief:
Paul Gross' grandfather may have been Jesus.
The view from Alexandra Palace is amazing. I was foolish not to go there sooner.
It is weird visiting a house you lived in for a year and that you no longer live in.
Ballet dancers at the Royal Ballet school are exceedingly good at ballet dancing.
I can get from Highbury and Islington to 80 Warwick Gardens Harringay in 18 minutes.
Even Amanda Palmer's notably impressive music sounds much better when played in a church. (I think I will continue reviewing/recounting any and all shows I go to on my last.fm Journal, so I will post a link here when I am done with that.)
http://www.last.fm/user/TomG88/journal/2009/09/12/307zfh_amanda_palmer._union_chapel_11th_september
I am leaving in 3 days! I must tidy my room in order to have the room to pack my things.
Today for example I could write my feelings about leaving the country in 3 days time, musings on the nature of friendship, wafflings on the profoundly unsettling nature of September, a brief treatise on why it might be that Jason Webley (who I am listening to right now) strikes me as particularly autumnal, a gushing review of either the new Fiery Furnaces album or the new Jamie T album or both, or even a considered and unasked for response to a long note written on Facebook by an aquaintance concerning their dissatisfaction with their life. In fact it is more correct to say I have written them, but only in my head. I think it best that things stay that way.
Instead I am going to stick to stuff that happened in the real world, which I take for the sake of simplicity to be the one going on outside my head.
Interesting things I discovered when I visited London this week, in brief:
Paul Gross' grandfather may have been Jesus.
The view from Alexandra Palace is amazing. I was foolish not to go there sooner.
It is weird visiting a house you lived in for a year and that you no longer live in.
Ballet dancers at the Royal Ballet school are exceedingly good at ballet dancing.
I can get from Highbury and Islington to 80 Warwick Gardens Harringay in 18 minutes.
Even Amanda Palmer's notably impressive music sounds much better when played in a church. (I think I will continue reviewing/recounting any and all shows I go to on my last.fm Journal, so I will post a link here when I am done with that.)
http://www.last.fm/user/TomG88/journal/2009/09/12/307zfh_amanda_palmer._union_chapel_11th_september
I am leaving in 3 days! I must tidy my room in order to have the room to pack my things.
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