Long over-due, I know!

So I recently had a friend calling me out on my lack of blog updates..I apologize! After having a fairly easy semester school-wise, the last month or so, it seems I've had school nearly every day (!), and now the papers, presentations and exams have been piling on as well. Not the ideal way to spend the last few weeks of my semester, but it certainly makes me appreciate any opportunities I have to escape my room and go on some sort of new adventure as a well-deserved study break ;). I've also been lucky enough to have a few field trips, and it's been nice to get out of the classroom and do some learning in the great outdoors..definitely an advantage of being a student at the Natural and Life Science University!


I was lucky enough to have my boyfriend, Craig, come visit me in Vienna mid-May. Craig arrived the afternoon of Thursday May 14th, although unfortunately due to a class and general train delays, I didn't quite make it to the airport in time to see him through the gate. It was a happy reunion, and we were both pleased to see that despite the distance and the three months that had passed, things between us really hadn't changed at all. Acting my part as Vienna-know-it-all, I ended up boarding us onto the wrong train headed OUT of Vienna, which I only realized when the train man came 'round to check our tickets. Oops! We ended up spending about an hour in a tiny train station before we could catch another train back to the airport and then back into the city. Apparently Craig brought some of the cold and yucky Canadian weather with him, and we had one of the chilliest/wettest afternoons Vienna has seen in over a month, which was the perfect opportunity to catch-up and watch some movies before cooking up a yummy fajita dinner and crashing early.


Unfortunately I had a field trip for my soils class planned for the entire day Friday, however it allowed Craig the opportunity to sleep the morning away, and try to get over his jet lag. Friday evening I brought Craig to the famed "Stephansplatz" to witness and oogle at some of his first Euro-sights including Stephansdom and the Hofburg. Although by now I have seen these sights numerous times, it never gets old seeing them through new eyes. After a walk around the centre, we headed to the "Donau Insel", an island in the middle of the Danube canal, for dinner in one of the many beach-themed restaurants open only during the summer months. Apparently Vienna's night life moves to the Donau Insel in the summer, and this particular night marked the official opening, complete with fireworks.


The remainder of our week was bittersweet, as time passed just way too quickly. I tried to introduce Craig to my typical "everyday" life in Vienna, bringing him to some of my favourite spots, and also discovering even more new & exciting Viennesse secrets (Belvedere Palace, Karlskirche, and the nearby Spa town of Baden). Another afternoon was spent hiking with friends up through the vineyards to Kahlenberg, which provides some of the best views of Vienna..and followed by an evening in a typical beer garden. My very favourite afternoon was spent lounging on a beach by the Donau River where we rented a pedal boat and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and sunshine. Saying good-bye at the end of the week ended up being unexpectedly harder than the first time around, but I lived through it, and now look where I am -- just 3 weeks til I'm home!


I was also lucky enough to spend a recent weekend in Poland. Four of us exchange students (myself and three other boys as it turns out) headed to the famed cultural wonder of Krakow on a Friday evening overnight bus. (It was a holiday weekend, so the bus was fully-booked, and the ride was anything but restful. But hey, it was cheaper than the train!) We arrived in rainy Krakow (early) at 4:30 A.M. Naturally everything was oh-so-conveniently closed, including public transportation, but our hostel turned out to be a close walk. We received a very warm welcome at the hostel, and were even given beds to rest in for the remainder of the morning, although we had technically only paid for accomodation on Saturday night.


An exchange student friend from Krakow studying in Vienna gave us the number of some friends in Krakow who met-up with us to show us around the city on Saturday. As luck turned out, the weather was much better than the forecast had predicted, and of course all cities are more beautiful in the sunshine. We explored the Wawel Castle on Wawel hill, and also learned of Smok Wawelski, also known as The Dragon of Wawel Hill..a famous dragon in Polish folklore. The girls also introduced us to the best of Polish cuisine, which turned out to be quite similar to some of the Lithuanian dishes my grandmother makes for us at home. (In general, I would say the Polish culture had a lot of similiarities to Lithuania, which makes sense as they are neighbouring countries, and actually belonged to some sort of union back in the 17th century, as I recently found out.) Poland has not yet instated the Euro, which worked out well for us, and it turned out to be a very inexpensive weekend away! (One of my lunch's ended up costing less than 2 euro!)


On Sunday we took a bus to the former Auschwitz concentration camp, in a small town outside the city. Although it was my second trip to a concentration camp (the first was Dachau near Munich), my emotions certainly hadn't been immunized in any way, and it was overall a very moving day. Sunday night it was unfortunately already time to head back home, and so we arrived back in Vienna again early Monday morning.


Other exciting recent events include a tour of the Viennesse "Ottakringer" Beer brewery, and a free summer evening concert put on by the Vienna Philharmonic in the Schoenbrunn Palace gardens. We never seem to run out of things to do in this amazing city!


Tomorrow I am headed to Bristol, England with my friend Morgan, where we are reuniting with our long-lost friend Harriet who returned home about a month ago. The three of us formed our own little "tripod" this semester, and she has been greatly missed..and we are definitely looking forward to seeing her again and experiencing a weekend in her University life back home.


I will try for another "cultural" update in the next week or so to introduce you all to more of the very best of Viennesse day-to-day life - it will make for a productive study break on my end :). Keep checking back and thanks for reading!