On the road again...

So, I’ve been delaying updating my blog with the rest of my Easter Break adventures for quite some time.. I wanted to ensure I had enough time to sit down and reflect on all I had done, as there is really just so much to explain. I’m still a little awe-struck myself at all of the many things I saw and did in such a short period of time. Well, here goes!

I had a (necessary) two days rest in Vienna after visiting my host families in Germany, which was just enough time to do laundry, and give my brain a break from all that German I had been speaking ;). The perfect summer-like weather we had experienced in Bavaria the week before continued, and I managed to spend both afternoons basking in the sun in the (now) very busy Prater Park behind my house.

On Thursday April 16th, the Euro-adventures continued. I took the (now-familiar) train ride to Salzburg, where I met up with Kim* (*see my blog from my Munich adventure!) We were booked on a Ryanair flight from Salzburg to Dublin. This was both of our first experiences flying with a so-called “discount” airline, but asides from the distractingly bright blue and yellow interior of the aircraft, the flight was smooth-as-can-be. Once in Dublin, we were a little flustered trying to figure out how to get to from the airport into the city centre and to our hostel, but we soon found out that the Irish really are a friendly and helpful bunch. (Kim and I often found ourselves looking at each other and smiling at all of the adorable Irish accents, especially the kids.) We were booked for three nights at Abraham hostel. The hostel itself left much to be desired, but the staff were quite helpful, the showers had pretty decent water pressure and we basically just needed a place we could crash at the end of each night. (And to think my family calls me “Five Star” – gosh, I’ve changed, huh? Guess that’s what happens when you’re paying out of your own pocket!) Being the penny pinchers we are, we opted to attend the hostel’s “free breakfast” each morning of our stay, which literally consisted of a cup of instant coffee, and as much white toast as you could possibly consume – and believe me, some people took advantage of this. The wait for the toaster could get pretty long when some of the big boys were shoving up to 10 pieces through at a time!

After settling into our hostel, we set-out on the short walk to Trinity College to meet-up with our “personal tour guide” for the weekend - Lara, a friend of Kim’s from highschool, is attending Trinity on a year-long exchange program with the Queen’s Commerce program. What a lucky girl! Trinity College is actually one of Dublin’s most renowned tourist attractions, and Lara even managed to score herself a room in one of the historic on-campus residences. (The “privilege” of living on campus at Trinity is typically reserved for fourth-year students, to allow them easier access to participate in many of the on-campus clubs and activities.) Lara brought us to the famous Temple Bar area, the cobblestoned streets which are home to plenty of traditional (although perhaps over-touristy) Irish Pubs pulsating with mostly live Irish beats. Our first stop was the (most famous and) original “Temple Bar”. Being the Canadian girls that we are, we were delighted to find that they had (some very expensive) Coors Light on tap. Apparently we’ve been spoiled with our Austrian beers, as I can honestly say it was pretty rough going down – so much sugar! We stuck with Irish beer and cider for the remainder of the weekend ;)!

On Friday morning, Lara had to attend classes, but recommended we check out the famous Guiness Storehouse. As it so happens, 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of Guiness - kind of neat! We had already learned much about the “brewing process” of beer on our Munich brewery tour, however the building itself was quite extraordinary aesthetically, and I also really enjoyed the section on Guiness’ marketing and advertising. To finish the tour, we were treated to a complimentary pint of the dark stuff in the Storehouse’s rooftop bar that provided 360 degree views over the city. While we each barely managed to slug back about half of our beers, the views were certainly incredible, and establishing all of the major landmarks helped us in orienting ourselves around the city for the remainder of the weekend.

Lara had the remainder of the afternoon free from classes, and once again played tour guide. In my opinion, Dublin is best enjoyed wandering the quaint streets and alleyways, and absorbing the fun-loving Irish culture, rather than jetting around the city searching for “must-see” buildings and landmarks. As it was Friday, another night out was a necessity, and we signed up to attend the “Backpackers Pub Crawl”, which was actually started by a Canadian way-back-when. Ironically, although the Pub Crawl meets up at 8 o’clock every night at the Trinity gates, Lara herself had never experienced an organized Dublin Pub Crawl. We immediately befriended a group of loud and rambunctious Scottish girls, who were just visiting Dublin for the weekend, and so from the beginning it promised to be an interesting, if not great, night. The Pub Crawl took us to five typical (and apparently less-touristy) bars before finally ending up in the Temple Bar area once again. It was a good opportunity to get off the “main drag” and to see the nightlife as the Dubliners themselves experience it.

Saturday morning we woke up to sunshine (!) – an apparent rarity in Ireland. We packed ourselves a picnic and took a 45-minute train ride out to the tiny seaside community of Howth in the Dublin suburbs. The charming town was surrounded by a blend of jagged cliffs, and endless sandy beaches, and we couldn’t have asked for a more gorgeous day in which to enjoy the beautiful scenery. After a lovely day hiking in the sun, we finished off our evening in one of the many new and popular gourmet burger joints before settling down for an early night - my flight to Paris was to leave at 7 AM the next morning.

I had to wake up at 4 AM Sunday morning, to ensure I was at the Dublin airport for check-in at 5 AM. Despite the lack of sleep, thoughts about Paris and the girls I would meet there kept me awake with excitement through the flight. Waiting for me at my gate in Paris was Virginia, my roommate from Guelph who has been on a semester abroad program in the “City of Lights” for the semester. It was so great to see her in flesh and blood; we had been planning this Parisian rendezvous even before we set-off to our respective destinations in the winter. We quickly hurried to Terminal 3 on the very opposite side of the airport to pick-up the third member of our little Euro-group: Melanie, another roommate from Guelph. Melanie had flown-out of Toronto the evening before, but despite the jet lag, was anxious to be with her girls again and get her very first Euro experience started. On the train-ride back into the city it was just like old times; non-stop chatter, and cutting each other’s sentences off as we all shared our own stories of what we’d been up to the past four-ish months :).

We were booked in for four nights at “Oops” design hostel in the Latin Quarter. As this would be Mel’s first hostel experience, she wanted to ensure that the place we were staying was the upmost in comfort and security (by hostel standards, at least!), and thus the artsy and posh interior was well received in comparison to my shabby accommodations the previous few nights. We were booked into a four-person room, and a quick glance at the “Italian-French” dictionary on one of the bunkbeds gave us a good indication of who our new roommates might be. As it turns out, the two girls (who were Italian, obviously) spoke very little English, and communication was sparse but friendly throughout our stay. I even went down to the hostel breakfast with the two girls on a few occasions, as Mel slept off her jet lag, and it’s quite amazing how far hand language can get you in a pinch.

After checking-in, our whirlwind itinerary throughout Paris began. In the first day, we conquered most of the main sites including the City Hall, Notre Dame, Champs d’Elysees, Arc de Triomphe and a view of the major exhibits in the Louvre (including our dear Mona, of course). Virginia really enjoyed our “oohs” and “aahs” at all of these well-known attractions, as it was a chance for her to re-live the city through “new eyes”. We had dinner at a tiny Italian place right on the Champs d’Elysees, which provided for some great people watching. Paris, while full of tourists, is nevertheless a very multicultural city, even in contrast to Vienna, another European capital. One of my few negative impressions from Paris was the unwanted and excessive attention from men; Virginia warned us early-on not to make eye-contact with men, as that is often taken as an invitation. We took heed of this lesson quickly!

After a relatively early first night, and a much-needed sleep-in, day two was scheduled as a relaxing day to shop and casually wander the side-streets. I was struck by the differences in architecture between Paris and other European cities I have been to, as it truly is very unique. Virginia, who took a course on Parisian architecture while she was there, explained that in fact, Paris was intentionally designed to be such an aesthetically pleasing city, and for the building styles to be analogous and complimentary to each other. It seemed that every corner we turned, a new and beautiful building, park or monument awaited us, regardless if it was something deemed an important cultural or tourist landmark in the guidebooks.

Decked out in new duds from our shopping trip, the evening plan was a stroll along the Seine River (complete with a bottle of wine), en route to the Eiffel Tower. While the Eiffel Tower had at first been rather unimpressive to me (in retrospect to all the hype), as our stroll took us nearer, and the night sky darkened, the lit-up Eiffel Tower soon loomed before us, and I no longer doubted it’s architectural uniqueness. After grabbing Nutella and banana crêpes from a nearby “crêperie”, we settled down on a bench where we enjoyed our treats while watching the glimmering lights of the Eiffel Tower light show (-lights up every hour on the hour in the evening). Epic!

Already day three in Paris, there was still so much to see! We trekked up the many stairs to the beautiful, white Sacré-Coeur/Sacred Heart Basilica, which also provides the highest outlook point in the city. The nearby and charming Montmartre artist’s district was once its own tiny town, before it was swept up into the Paris city limits. Just down the hill from Montmartre is the red light district, home of the renowned Moulin Rouge. There were certainly some scandalous shops, museums and clubs as we made our way down the street and back to our metro station. To finish off our afternoon, we visited Paris’ largest park, Jardin du Luxembourg. The former Luxembourg Palace is now home to the French Senate. Just like in the movies, “Springtime in Paris” meant that the park was just a-buzzing with families in search of an afternoon under the glorious, and (unusually?) warm April sun. (We truly lucked out with weather over the course of our adventures!)

For our last day in Paris, we enjoyed a picnic in one of Virginia’s favourite parks, a lesser-known but beautiful park that she had really only happened-upon due to her architecture class. After packing up our picnic, we headed to the street market district of Mouffetard, to marvel at some of the French delicacies, and to pick-up some of our own last-minute gifts and treats.

The food in Paris was definitely pleasing to the palate. We certainly ate a lot of fresh white bread, which Virginia says is a “must” since a baguette typically goes hard before the end of the day. Even the simple baguette sandwiches or paninis bought on the street corner or at a local Boulangerie (bakery) left our mouths watering. Although I had heard Paris was a very expensive city, one could subside on an endless supply of Brie cheese, croissants or baguettes, and yummy wine, even while pinching pennies. The sit-down restaurants were significantly more expensive, particularly the beer, as it is not as important a part of French culture as in other European cities. (Although I must say, I would pay 8 euro again for the very best (Belgian) beer I have ever had!) Going out in Paris is also apparently expensive (-cover is often as high as 20 Euro, and drinks at 15 Euro a piece), and thus we decided to post-pone any clubbing activities until we were in Vienna.

After a whirlwind four days, it was once again back to the airport and on to our next destination: Salzburg! After a long day travelling, we were happy to settle down in our new accommodations in “Yoho” Hostel. Though not as trendy as our place in Paris, the place was impeccably clean, and the staff could not have been more welcoming and helpful. (A charming aspect of the Austrian people.) For dinner, the girls had their first taste of Schnitzel, accompanied by a delicious (and woohoo, inexpensive) Austrian wheat beer, which might just be my new favourite!

We had long-before planned a day trip out to Hallstatt, a scenic lakeside town which Virginia had come across under an online article entitled “Europe’s 10 Most Interesting Places to Visit”. The hour (plus) train ride through the Salzkammergut region of mountains and lakes was an experience in itself. A ferry boat, scheduled to meet us at the arrival time of our train, took us across Hallstätter Lake and over to the town of less than 1000 inhabitants. Soon after arrival, I realized that this was not my first visit to this mystical town, and in fact I had been there three years before on my last Austrian tour, while my parents were visiting me in Germany. The happening-upon of such a unique and beautiful place twice was really quite remarkable, and I enjoyed myself and the stunning views regardless. Asides from a ridiculous amount of picture-taking, checking-out a couple of shops, and a glance inside the town’s two churches, there was little left to do asides from settling-down in one of the many restaurants, and enjoying the delicious Austrian cuisine while taking in the amazing views and oh-so-fresh mountain air.

Our Saturday was spent exploring the “old city” section of Salzburg, appreciating the generally charming and medieval feel of the many winding shopping streets. On the city map provided by the hostel, I had found the city was home to the “Augustiner Bräustübel”; a former St. Augustine monastery, which has been brewing beer since 1621. I was eager to bring the girls to a traditional brewery to experience the very best of Austrian beer tradition and culture. The entrance to the brewery had a market-like atmosphere, and there were various counters set-up selling a variety of warm and cold Austrian dishes. We settled on Sausages, Pretzels, and some traditional Potato Salad before grabbing a couple mugs of beer and settling ourselves at a table in one of the many large beer halls. After a satisfying meal, we wandered outside where the girls had their very first “beer garden” experience under the shade of the many beautiful Cedar trees.

Sunday I left the girls in Salzburg (where they would attend the Sound of Music tour), while I headed back to Vienna to unwind and prepare for their arrival the following day. This past week they’ve spent in Vienna was (hopefully) enjoyable, as they were introduced not only to the traditional Viennesse culture and hotspots, but also received a first-hand glimpse of how I live my day-to-day life in this beautiful city. They are now underway again for another week of Euro-city-visiting, and I wish them all the best in their future travels <3. As for me, it’s back to the books (for real this time), as the second-half of my semester abroad picks up. Until next time ;)!

Take me home, country roads..

The first 1.5 weeks of my approximately three-week-long Easter Break were spent with my three host families from my Rotary Youth Exchange three years ago. I departed via train from Vienna early afternoon on Friday April 3rd, anxious and excited to see the people and the town that were home to me what seems like so long ago. After an approximately five-hour train ride, I arrived at the Buchloe Bahnhof (train station), where I was greeted by my host mom and youngest host sister from my first (and also last) host family, Familie Palm. From there we made the short drive to my old home town, Türkheim. It was interesting to have my little sister Tini, now seventeen, behind the wheel. Recently Germany instated a drivers license system similar to Canada, allowing youth to begin driving with parents and driving instructors at seventeen, before receiving their full adult drivers license at eighteen. (Previously, German teenagers couldn’t get behind the wheel until they were eighteen.)

(For those of you who didn’t know me back when I did my first exchange, I will give a brief autobiography of each family as I go along.)

Familie Palm
Father: Claus (Paper Engineer)
Mother: Heidi (Lawyer)
Esther (22, Studying Psychology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria)
Barbara (21, Studying Politics in Mainz, Germany)
Christine/Tini (17, Grade 12 at Türkheim Gymnasium)

I was a little leery speaking German in the first moments after my arrival, considering the little opportunity I have had to speak it in Vienna, however it didn’t take long for the words and rhythm of the language to come back to me. I am also proud to say that by the end of my visit, I was once again “thinking” in German, and I’ve made a new goal for myself to continue speaking German as much as possible for the remainder of my time here (including with my Swiss roommate!)

Surprisingly, there were quite a few changes in the sleepy town of Türkheim over the past three years. Due to the construction of a road allowing travelers to by-pass and drive around the town, instead of through it, many of the former shops are no longer in business. In their absence, many cafés, restaurants and ice cream shops have opened up, and the town council has set-out to “beautify” the town, most likely in hopes of attracting more tourists and day-trippers.

The Palm family has also done some renovating of their own. The once small and cramped kitchen was expanded, and is now much more practical for Heidi, who loves to cook and entertain. Asides from the new kitchen, little else seems to have changed in the Palm household, and it was only a matter of moments before I felt completely at home..this feeling was unanimous amongst the family members, This should probably come as no surprise, as I had the wonderful opportunity to live with the Palm’s not just once, but twice, adding up to a total of about 6 months or half of my exchange. (Exchange students in Germany generally have four host families, but as there was not yet a fourth family set up for me, the Palm’s decided to take me in again at the end of my exchange.) As it turned out, it was only at the Palm’s house that I slept in my “old room”, although I can tell you I definitely slept better in Bavaria than I ever do in Vienna – must be the fresh Bavarian air!

Most of Saturday was spent baking, colouring eggs, and preparing for the evening’s Easter Egg Dinner that the Palm’s were hosting. The Easter Egg dinner tradition stems from Claus’ family, from when he was a child. Each person receives a hard-boiled egg and you then challenge an opponent to an “egg-breaking” competition. Basically the opponents try to break each other’s eggs, hitting once tip to tip, and then again bottom to bottom. The game gets a little frustrating when you have a strong egg and you start to get a little hungry, but there is generally always someone looking for some competition. The shelled eggs are then cut in half and filled with mustard, oil, vinegar and a dash of salt; apparently this combination allows one to consume an absurdly large number of eggs within an evening. Following dinner, while the adults continued to socialize, some of us young’ns decided to head into Buchloe to a “Spring Break Party” being held in the hockey arena. To my luck, I ended up coincidentally meeting-up with several people from my old school, including my “German best friend” Lisa, whom I had already been in contact with prior to my arrival. We made plans to meet-up again later on in the week for a more intimate catch-up!

During my stay, the Palm’s decided that they would try to teach me how to drive “stick”; if I caught on quick enough, they would allow me use of the girls’ Volkswagen Polo for the remainder of the week. I wasn’t very optimistic that I would feel comfortable enough taking their car (or that I would even really need it), but was eager to get behind the wheel and learn! I can’t quite decide if it’s beneficial or disadvantageous that I already know how to “drive”..I just couldn’t seem to get used to using my left foot when we have always been taught to keep it away while driving automatic. The start-up proved to be the most difficult aspect of driving a stick-shift vehicle, and once I got going, shifting gears proved to be pretty easy. Nevertheless, ever the cautious driver, I wasn’t comfortable going any faster than in third gear, and I think my passengers were a little bored! I ended up getting some more driving lessons from Kaufmann’s at the end of my stay, and even made it out of the fields and parking lots onto a “real” road. All in all, I’d say I’m an automatic kind of girl, but it’s always fun to learn something new!

The Palm’s are a family who withhold the tradition of German Brotzeit = “Bread time”. Brotzeit may technically be held at any time of the day: breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, and the menu consists of freshly baked bread or rolls accompanied by the best assortment of German (and European) cheese, deli meats and fresh vegetables. On the weekends, a breakfast Brotzeit also features an assortment of (usually homemade) jams and marmalades. Generally in Germany, the big/warm meal of the day is eaten mid-day, and the evening meal is a more simple Brotzeit; depending on the work and school schedules of the family members, a warm meal may also additionally (or instead) be served in the evening. No longer accustomed to this pattern of eating, I can say I spent many an afternoon feeling a little bloated ;).

On Tuesday April 7th, the Palm family departed on a 10-day family road trip through Eastern Germany. In the years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, even the Palm parents had not yet had the opportunity to explore a majority of the former Soviet part of the country. Thus for me, Tuesday meant moving day, and I re-packed my suitcase and headed off to visit family # 2 – Familie Thalmann.

Familie Thalmann
Father: Hans (retired, formerly worked for Ministry of Agriculture)
Mother: Renate (homemaker)
Katherine (Teacher & Artist, lives in Munich)
Christoph (Unsure of profession, lives in nearby Marktoberdorf; married in 2007, wife Heike and he are expecting their first child in about a week and are currently building a house in Tuerkheim!)
Johannes (23, In last year of school; has a one-year-old son, Kilian, with his girlfriend, Mira; Johannes, Mira and Kilian are now living in an apartment within the Thalmann’s house)
Anna (21, studying Homeopathic medicine in Northern Germany)
Matthias (20, in grade 13 at a Music Gymnasium in Marktoberdorf) – was on exchange in Argentina while I lived in Germany
Sofia (16, grade 11 at Tuerkheim Gymnasium)
Verena (11, grade 5 at Tuerkheim Gymnasium)
Lisa (8, in grade 2 at Tuerkheim Grandschule)
àYes, this makes 8 kids in total, although only 4 of them were living at home during my stay with the Thalmann’s.

The Thalmann’s picked me up from the Palm’s in their large VW van Tueday morning, and we headed off into the sun for the Bavarian Alps. An hour’s drive brought us close to Fuessen, home of the famous Neuschwanstein castle. We embarked on an easy-sloped trail familiar to the Thalmann’s, and appropriate for a day to be spent with kids and baby’s (Kilian of course); a harness was attached to Kilian’s baby carriage to help pull the carriage on the way up. The weather could not have been more perfect, and the views were just gorgeous..hard to believe these Alps were once more or less the backdrop of my backyard. At the end of the trail was an old hut and restaurant, which had probably only recently opened up for the season. We settled down for a traditional picnic, complete with Pretzels, and spent some time basking in the mid-day sun.

Overall, the weather during the course of my stay was exceptional, and even now as I re-energize for a couple of days in Vienna, the sun continues to shine and the twenty degree days march on. I definitely took advantage of having a backyard/garden to tan in while I was in Germany, and thus also managed to knock off a couple more (German) books from my reading list.

The Thalmann’s were the family that had changed the most in the past three years, an obvious observation considering the ages of the children. The two youngest are now nearly the same height, and only have about a head to grow until they are taller than me. It’s hard to believe that I had once carried little Lisa, who was then just 5, all over the house..we now have the same shoe size! Verena, now 11, has really transformed from a little girl into a young lady, and it was obvious even in the way she talked and in her vocabulary. I was happy that she hadn’t completely outgrown the need for a big sis, and I at least still remained her favourite hair dresser ;)!

One of my most enjoyable evening’s with the Thalmann’s was spent in the “Therme” mineral baths and sauna in nearby Bad Woerishofen – a well-known tourist destination for wealthy, old people seeking a Spa weekend getaway. Hans brought Sofia and I, and we enjoyed an evening sipping tropical cocktails and catching-up on how teenager-hood has been treating Sofia so far.

An interesting aspect of the Thalmann family is their involvement with music. Each of the children play an instrument, generally a string instrument. An advantage of having such a large family is that the older kids can help the younger kids, and additionally that the younger kids have a role model to aspire to be. Laying down in my bedroom for an afternoon snooze, it wasn’t unusual to have the classical music from upstairs bringing me into dreamland. The youngest daughter, Lisa, started playing cello very young, and hasn’t seemed to have taken to it the same way as the older kids have. One night at dinner, she proposed selling her cello for a pony – no matter where you are in the world, kids just say the darndest things!

The three days with Thalmann’s were a blur of activity, as can be expected in such a large family, and soon I was headed “for the country” - to Schlingen, population 800, and home to my third host family, Familie Kaufmann.

Familie Kaufmann
Father: Gottlieb (retired, former accountant)
Mother: Maria (homemaker)
Christian (24, studying something with computers (?) in Kempten)
Toby (21, also studying in Kempten, currently on Co-op)
Michael (20, studying in northern Germany, near Heidelberg) – was on exchange in Brazil while I lived in Germany
Andrea (17, in grade 11 at the Mindelheim Gymnasium)

While my time in Schlingen brought me a little farther away from my friends and school at the time, one can’t help but enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the “country”. My jogs through the woods in Schlingen were always the most memorable, and I even managed to find my old “route”. The Kaufmann’s are also one of the most generous and loving host families an exchange student could ever hope to encounter, and they remain eager to help out with rides, etc. in any way they can. Their hospitality has now extended to outside of the Rotary family, and they are now hosting an EF Exchange Student, Handsuh from Finland.

I arrived at the Kaufmann residence in time for Easter Weekend, appropriate considering the family’s close ties with the community Church. I opted to attend the Saturday evening mass (the longest Mass of the year in Catholic tradition – although some churches have their Easter service on Sunday morning at 5 A.M. instead, so I suppose I lucked out in that regard!) It is Bavarian tradition for each family to offer a basket of Easter goodies (lamb- or rabbit-shaped cakes, hard-boiled eggs, etc.), to be blessed by the Priest during mass. The Mass begins by candle light, and without organ music, and part-way through the lights and music begin (and the Church Bells begin to ring) to symbolize the rising of Christ. I didn’t attend Mass very frequently during my year in Germany, but I did note that this time around, I was actually able to follow the Mass, and understand what the Priest was saying. After Mass, we headed home (just a few minutes walk down the street), where we cracked into the just blessed Easter basket, before heading to bed (with dreams of the chocolate eggs the Easter bunny would be bringing in our heads, of course!)

Maria is an excellent baker, and as it was Easter, the sweets were exceptionally plentiful over the weekend! German tradition, particularly on weekends, is to have coffee and cake in the afternoon. It was in Germany that I really began to drink coffee, and now that I am rather addicted, I am quite in favour of withholding such a tradition! Maria is really an all-around excellent homemaker, and after taking care of my laundry, and even removing a stubborn stain out of one of my shirts, she insisted on loading me up with homemade jam and other treats for me to bring back to Vienna.

I did manage to meet-up with my friend Lisa two more times over the course of my visit. It was hard to believe that three years had passed, as it was really like old times while we were together. Unfortunately I’ve really only stayed in relatively frequent contact with Lisa and one other girl from my class (who happens to be in New Zealand right now). I suppose this is fairly inevitable, especially when considering how quickly we fall out of touch with some of our highschool friends even here in Canada. It was also interesting to hear how the “cliques” in our grade had changed in the remaining two years of school following my departure. There have been talks of me returning to Tuerkheim once again for the “Abi Ball” or Graduation Dance/Prom for the grade that was below us; it is a popularly attended event, and thus would be an opportunity to meet-up with some of the people I didn’t get to see this time around. I am also hoping that a few of the girls will come visit me in Vienna over the course of the next couple months!

My departures from each of my families were teary, and when I finally boarded the train for my journey back to Vienna, it hit me that I really wasn’t sure of the next time I would be back, and how much more things might change between now and whenever that day may come. It’s amazing the bonds that can be formed between relative strangers and in such a unique situation; taking a young and impressionable exchange student into your home and family is certainly no easy task. My year abroad was an experience never to be forgotten, and now I am proud to say that indeed the relationships and experiences live on, and my “families” in Bavaria will always hold a very special place in my heart, as I will hopefully always hold a place in theirs.

Gruß Gott from Bavaria!

As of Friday April 3rd, my 3-week long Easter break has commenced. Quite ironic considering it really feels like the semester just got underway!

I am now 'back home' in Bavaria, Germany, visiting my old host families from my Rotary Youth Exchange 3 years ago (2005-2006). It has been great re-uniting and reminiscing with old family and friends, and I look forward to giving you all a more detailed update when I am back in Vienna early next week. (So check back soon!) For now, I just wanted to check-in and let you all know where I am since I haven't done any updating in quite some time!

Have a great Easter Weekend! :) I hope you luck out with the same fabulous weather as we've been having in Bavaria. Blue and sunny skies..feels like Spring is in the air!

Weekend in Munich, Germany. "Home Sweet Home."

My weekend “back home” in Bayern met and exceeded my expectations!
Not surprisingly, I was unable to grab any shut-eye on the train (I think I just get anxious when I travel). To my luck, the views afforded from the train were absolutely breathtaking. The train took us through Linz and then Salzburg – the tiny alpine towns en route were tucked in amongst the snow capped Alps, and with my iPod blasting some of my favourite tunes, I felt like I was passing through a dreamland.

The Hauptbahnhof (“main train station”) in Munich was a bit of a nut house upon arrival. Kim was supposed to arrive on her train from Innsbruck four minutes before us, but she was nowhere to be found at the planned meeting spot. A quick phone call informed us that she was already waiting for us in the (warmer) hostel, a mere couple minutes walk down the road. Asides from the ideal location, our hostel “4 You Muenchen” was a great choice. The staff was friendly, the rooms were clean, the lockers were huge.. The one downside was the water pressure in the showers (it pretty much just sprayed in all directions), but we were told by the owner that they would be replacing them in the next few weeks. (Great timing, eh?) The inexpensive nightly rate also included what would definitely be considered a better-than-average (hostel) breakfast each morning.

After dropping our luggage at the hostel and checking-in, the three of us girls set out for a late lunch. It was immediately obvious from the way the three of us chitter-chattered away that it was going to be a great weekend..and to think Morgan and Kim had met only minutes before! We wandered away from the over-touristy (and therefore over-priced) Marien Platz, and onto one of the side streets, where we found a tiny tucked-away tavern. We each ordered our first beer of the weekend, and I went through the menu explaining some of the typical Bavarian dishes to the girls. Already I had my mind set-on Weiss Wurst and Brezen – basically white sausage eaten without the skin and dipped in sweet mustard, coupled with a freshly-baked giant Pretzel. Traditionally, Bavarians don’t eat Weiss Wurst after noon, but as a tourist I exempted myself from this rule. Both of the girls decided to try one of my other favourites, Käse Spätzle, cheesy egg-type noodles served with fried onions.

After a satisfying lunch, we continued to explore around Marien Platz before deciding it was time to head back to the hostel to get ready for our planned evening activity - At 5:30 we were to meet in front of the Rat Haus (City Hall) in Marien Platz for a “Beer & Brewery Tour”. The tour promised an insider’s glimpse into the history of beer and breweries of Munich, as well as (most importantly), some beer sampling. Beer has a very rich history in Bavaria, and of course the Bavarian’s claim to make the “best beer in the world”. Beer brewing originally began in the monasteries of Munich, and some of the big brewers still have the names of the monasteries from where they originated (ex. Augustiner – from St. Augustine). Today, there are six main brewers in Munich; these are the only six allowed to participate in Oktoberfest, as the requirement is that the beer must be brewed within the Munich city limits. Each restaurant, pub, etc. remains faithful to a particular brewer, only serving beer produced by them. Apparently this can be slightly awkward when planning a dinner or drinks out with friends, depending on each person’s beer preferences. After visiting a couple of famous beer houses, we ended with tour of a Paulaner microbrewery. We tried “Helles” (light), “Weissen” (Wheat) and also “Bock”/”Stark” (Strong) beers. It happened that we were in Munich during the “Starkt Bier Festival” (Strong Beer Festival) - during Lent, many of the breweries offer a strong (12% alcohol content) beer. Historically, the Monks fasted during Lent, and in lieu of food were given a ration of 5 Litres of strong beer each day throughout the Lenten season. I’m sure this was an interesting time of year in the Monasteries ; ).

Following the tour, we headed back to our Hostel to check-out the Hostel Bar. Because we had booked online, we were given “Happy Hour passes” for the entire weekend..which basically meant that any hour was Happy Hour! We quickly befriended the bartender, as well as the Hostel owner, and other fellow travellers. From there we received advice on where we could go to dance the remainder of the night away.

Day number two, Marienplatz was an absolute madhouse! We attempted to browse around a few shops, but after H&M (and one scarf later), we quickly gave up. We set off for the Viktualen Market, where already in March the beer gardens were buzzing with excitement. We marveled at the stands of fresh cheese, exotics fruits and vegetables, and fresh-cut flowers. We saw several people walking around with what appeared to be giant pickles, and set-out to find them. It was literally a giant (pickled) cucumber, and obviously the most exciting and delicious thing a pickle-lover could ask for.

At the end of the market, there stood a double-decker tour bus; I had never been on one before, and a glance at the map showed the bus would take us to spots that would be quite a hike by foot, and so we jumped aboard. Unfortunately it wasn’t a “live” tour, and instead we listened to the (broken English) explanations through head phones, but the tour nevertheless gave us a good overview of the history of Munich and some of the most important monuments.

Our tour bus let us off again in Viktualen Markt. The smell in the air was absolutely incredible, and we noticed it came from everyone around us eating “Leberkaese” sandwiches. Leberkaese translates into “liver cheese”, although I am pretty sure that it is made from neither “liver” or “cheese”. Basically, it is a meatloaf shaped hot dog, cut into slices and served on a round bun with sweet or spicy mustard. The description I had offered to the girls the day before was met with looks of disgust, but there was no denying that the sandwiches were absolutely delicious. (We even had them again the next day for lunch!) Our overall consensus from our favourite foods in Austria and Germany is that it is often the most simple dishes that are the most delicious. (Wiener Schnitzel, Sausage from a street vendor, or even a bakery fresh bun topped with a few slices of deli meat.)

We had hoped to have a brew in the famous Hofbrau Haus, but like Marien Platz earlier that day, the place was absolutely jammed, and so we took some pictures and left. Instead we set-off for the Augustiner Keller, a beer house just down the road from our hostel which served my absolute favourite beer, Augustiner Helles. There was a beer festival taking place in the festival hall, but as we were only looking to have one beer, we decided to forgo the 7 euro entry. We were eventually seated at a corner booth, where we were quickly joined by several other small groups of people. This camaraderie is one of my favourite aspects of German beer culture – why turn away a thirsty customer when there is plenty of space available at an (already occupied) table. After our first Litre of beer, we could hear the festival in the neighbouring room was getting pretty rowdy. A peek inside showed that already by 8 o’clock, many people were up and dancing on the long benches and tables, and enjoying the live band. It was quickly established that another night out at any old club could be repeated anywhere, and this was an opportunity not to be missed. We were not disappointed, and quickly joined the throngs of people for an atmosphere and a night not to be forgotten!

Day three we headed to Schloss Nymphenburg, the summer residence of the Bavarian Monarchy, and also birthplace of the “fairytale King” Ludwig II. I had been through the rooms and Museum before, and so the best part of the day was definitely our long stroll through the (seemingly) endless gardens surrounding the castle. We were fortunate to have sunny, Spring-like weather for most of the weekend, and we finished off our expedition with a coffee on a sunny patio in the castle botanical gardens. Unfortunately by this time it was late afternoon, and time to head back to our respective destinations. Our four-hour train ride back to Vienna was absolutely packed, but thank goodness Munich was the first departure station and we had seats, unlike the many unfortunate ones who had to camp-out with their suitcases as seats in the hallways. (Note-to-self, the 3 Euro it costs to reserve a seat in advance might be a worthwhile expenditure!) Even after an exciting weekend away, it was nice to return to Vienna, and I can tell you I had a very restful sleep back in my familiar bed in my other “home away from home”.

Viva Bavaria! Back home to Bayern :)

I'd like to apologize for not having wrote a new blog in quite some time. I guess I've felt that I'm really getting into the swing of things here, and that my day-to-day life isn't quite exciting enough to ramble on to you all about.

But that said, keep tuning in, as that should change over the weekend. It is actually just after 7 A.M. Vienna time on Friday morning, and I am ready earlier-than-expected to catch an 8:20 train to Munich for the weekend. Joining me is Morgan (a new and awesome friend from my residence here, who is a native New Yorker on exchange at the University of Vienna). In Munich we will be meeting up with Kim, a friend who lived with me first-year in South Res at Guelph, and is now on exchange in Innsbruck, Austria. (Lucky for Kim, the train ride to Munich is only 1.5 hours or so..for Morgan and I it'll be 4 hours..definitely hoping to catch some Zzz's!)

For those of you who don't already know, my year-long Rotary Exchange three years ago was actually to a small town only about an hour or so from Munich. It might seem strange to some that I have not chosen to embark on a new European destination for the weekened, but for me, a part of me really feels like I am "going home". I am also delighted to have the opportunity to introduce some new (and old!) friends to the Bavarian culture and folklore which I have so missed. Already my mouth is watering at the though of delicious Pretzels, Sausage and my very favourite Bavarian beer - "Augustiner" - which is brewed right in Munich.

Have a great weekend,
and expect a new update soon :).

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

Back from Budapest, and wow, what a weekend!
Six exchangers from our Uni (5 North Americans plus an Aussie) met-up at Vienna’s West Bahnhof at 9 A.M. Friday morning for our first big ‘Euro-trip’. From stories I’ve heard from other travellers, I’d say travel by train is definitely the way to go. It might be slightly more expensive than the bus, but we managed to get a six-person cabin to ourselves for the three hour journey, and it was a very comfortable ride. I had hoped the views would be a little nicer, but it was basically just flat agricultural fields.

Upon arrival in Budapest, we fell into the roles of lost and confused tourists. We quickly found a counter to exchange our Euros into Hungarian Forent. The exchange rate was about 300 Forent to 1 Euro, so we felt pretty cool with our 10,000 dollar bills. We would have to rely on public transit to get us to our hostel, so we next set-out to buy a three-day transit ticket. (As in Vienna, one ticket will give you access to subways, trams and buses.) Unfortunately the ticket machine didn’t seem to like our money, although we were eventually able to find a ticket booth salesperson who spoke English (somewhat). The language barrier in Hungary was definitely more obvious than in Vienna, where just about any person you meet speaks English. Also, Hungarian is in a league of it’s own as far as languages go. Generally while travelling, German or the minimal amounts of Spanish and French that I know will get me by as far as reading signs and such, however the next closest language to Hungarian is actually Finnish – therefore, no comprendo.

Riverside Hostel was easy enough to find, tucked away in an old 19th-century house on a fairly busy street in the “Pest” section of Budapest. The hostel had a real homey feel to it, and the girl working for the weekend was super friendly and helpful. The six of us stayed in a massive room, with ten beds/bunk beds. I believe the hostel also had one more similar ‘dorm room’, as well as several private two to three-person rooms. We were provided with sheets, blankets, towels, and lockers, all definite pluses when searching for hostels. We were also given full access to the kitchen, and the living room was equipped with various movies and games. (We watched “Borat” the first night. Kind of suitable considering we were in ‘Eastern Europe’ I suppose.)

After dropping our things off at the hostel, we set out to explore. One notable difference from Vienna was the amount of garbage on the streets. It seemed to be piled everywhere! (However, I have heard from other Europeans that Austria is exceptionally clean.) Our first goal was to find some ‘real Hungarian food’. (Funnily enough, Kebab stands seemed to be even more prevalent than they are in Vienna.) None of us really had any idea what ‘real Hungarian food’ would entail, with ‘goulash’ being the only dish that came to mind. Eventually we stumbled upon a place called “Hungarian Fast Food”, which seemed a fairly obvious choice for a quick and easy lunch. The place was set-up cafeteria style, and we had actually read about similar places in travel books we had brought with us. Apparently they are typical hang-outs for the working crowd. Lucky for us, the man working quickly realized we were English-speaking tourists, and went through the entire display of food, explaining each item. I went with what else but – Goulash! It was basically a tomato-based stew-type dish loaded with other veggies and chunks of beef. (It actually wasn’t beef so much as fat cut into worm-like strips, but either way, it was actually pretty delicious.)

With our bellies full, we made a plan to go and find St. Stephen’s Basilica, the largest church in Budapest, and home to the mummified arm of St. Stephen. From the Basilica, we made our way down to the river (the Danube). We walked across the famous “Chain Bridge” from Pest over to Buda;. the early evening light provided for a very majestic atmosphere, and made for some great photo ops of Castle Hill and the lovely Parliament buildings.Our walk eventually led us back to our hostel. By this time, we were getting hungry again, so stopped into a neighbouring grocery store to grab some munchies. We had actually planned on going out (both nights) but by the time we settled back in at the hostel, and cracked open some bottles of cheap (and deliciously sweet) Hungarian wine, staying in and just getting to know each other better seemed like a better idea.

Day number two we were up fairly early, and decided to do a city tour to get an overall broader picture of the city and it’s history. The hostel staff recommended “Budapest Free City Tours” to us. Apparently these free tours operate in all large cities across Europe, and you simply tip your tour guide at the end of the tour, based on their performance. Our tour guide quickly informed us that this was not going to be a typical touristy tour, where the tour guide points out buildings and explains their importance and history. Instead, he would provide us a detailed recollection of Hungary’s political, economic, etc. history, so we would have a better idea of why Hungary and Budapest are the way they are today. While this all sounds very interesting, we were slightly disappointed when an hour into our tour, we still hadn’t moved an inch from our meeting point. This same trend continued, as we stopped at various, little-wind-as-possible spaces for our guide’s long stories to continue. (It was absolutely freezing! Although we did luck out, because they had been calling for rain the entire weekend, and we barely saw a drop.) The tour was quoted as being 2.5 to 3 hours long, but far past the 3 hour mark, we had just made it up to the top of Castle Hill. At this point, we decided to tip the tour guide and duck out of the tour to do our own exploring, the tour not being quite the “sightseeing” endeavour we had hoped for. We had a late lunch at a small café, and I braved it and ordered goulash again – this time goulash soup. (Delicious, and a little more in line with my Hungarian cuisine expectations.)

The afternoon was spent Sz échenyi Spa in the City Park. Budapest is known as a city of medicinal baths, and apparently not going to the baths is like going to Paris and not going to the Eiffel tower..I was more than happy to comply with an afternoon at the Spa.

On our last day, the bitterly cold weather made a visit to one of the city’s many museums a fairly obvious choice of activity. We decided on the “House of Terror”, a museum set-up in the former headquarter of first the Hungarian Nazis, and then later two other communist terror organizations. The exhibitions were historically interesting and informative, very moving emotionally, but also very visually stimulating, and I had a very positive overall impression.

After the museum, it was unfortunately time to head for the train station, to ensure we made it back to Vienna for some of the gang to get ready for school the next day. (Not me of course, since I have Monday’s off : )!) Our pockets were still heavy with Hungarian Forent, which are apparently difficult to exchange back to Euro, and so we used our last minutes in Budapest running around the train station buying Hungarian chocolate and treats. The ride back to Vienna was peaceful, and all of us commented that it really did feel like we were headed “home”. The familiarity of the city and the language was definitely an unexpected surprise.

Overall, our first Euroventure was a great success, and to no surprise, I am already busy planning the next one! (Feel free to send any suggestions my way!)

Back to school, back to school...

Finally another update!
I figured I must squeeze in a blog tonight, as tomorrow morning a group of us are hopping on an 8:30 A.M. train to BUDAPEST for the weekend!

This week marked the beginning of the ‘Summer Semester’ at BOKU, and so I thought I would use this post to describe some of my courses and experiences at BOKU so far:

‘Environmental Risk Analysis & Management’ – This was my very first class on Tuesday afternoon. After Mike (an American) and I finally managed to find the seminar room, we waited at least fifteen minutes until the professor showed up. (I assumed that the professor was just “running late”, but after witnessing this in several of my classes, I was informed by an Austrian student that the class doesn’t “technically” begin until about fifteen minutes after the stated time. Interesting.) When the professor did walk in, everyone was suddenly silent as he went to the front of the classroom, pulled down the overhead screen and proceeded to boot-up his computer. Mike and I exchanged glances, surprised by the apparent hostility and formality of the situation. As it turned out, our first impression of the professor was far from the reality. Professor Nachtnebel (translation = “nightfall”) was a comedic elderly fellow who had a real passion for his research (water management), and some great stories to share. Within the first twenty minutes, we were asked to find partners and choose from a list of topics for our final written paper and presentation. Mike and I were two of the first to raise our hands, and lucked out with the topic of ‘water pollution’. We are thinking (I guess obviously) of presenting the topic from the perspective of problems within North America, since it turns out we are the only “Americans” in our class. The class was three-and-a-half hours long, far longer than the usual fifty minute classes I am used to at Guelph (but that said, the class is just once a week.) Thank-goodness for the assorted “vending machine” coffees which can be found just about anywhere on campus. (Don’t mock them til you try one. I recommend the “Schokoccino” – chocolate cappuccino. You’ll need about 5 of them to equal a coffee of standard North American size.)

‘Psychology of Landscape & Natural Resources Management’ – I was first attracted to this course not by the name and course description, but because it was being taught by an American guest lecturer from the University of Arizona. The title of the course is a bit out of the ordinary at first glance, but after a short explanation, the connections between Psychology and Natural Resource Management (or any management situation) makes perfect sense. Terry and his colleagues at U of A found that after speaking with students who had graduated from the Natural Resource Management program, the students described the hardest part of the job to be not the actual “managing of resources”, but the “management of people”. (This makes sense, after all, trees are really fairly co-operative with what we want to do, people on the other hand are not.) So far the discussion that has taken place has revolved around “how people see nature”, “why we see nature the way we do”, and “how we can attempt to modify that behaviour” ie.) how can we make people want to recycle, go green, etc.. For those of us looking to get credits from the course, Terry is willing to work with each of us individually to design a paper, research proposal, etc. that is in line with courses back home, or other interests we might have.

The only other classes I have had so far are my ‘economics’-based courses, so I won’t bore you with the details on those. I’ve definitely lucked out with my class schedule, as I’ve managed to avoid both Monday and Friday classes – the ideal situation for an exchange student looking to travel, that’s for sure! It also turns out that several of my classes won’t begin until May or June (after which they will be “intensive”, or nearly every day for a specific block of time), which is kind of a bummer since this will be the time when the weather starts to get really beautiful.

Some interesting cultural differences between Canadian and Austrian Universities are noted below:
-Austrian students pay (next-to) nothing for their University education. Apparently they tried to implement a small tuition fee (a few hundred for a semester) some time ago, but there was widespread outrage that they should be entitled to a University-level education so long as they were willing to work for it.
-The above reason might explain the limited attendance of students in lectures. After speaking to one Austrian girl, I learned that they typically attend a particular class in the first week to receive the course outline, and to find out whether attendance is mandatory and whether notes will be available online (they almost always are). In her opinion, because student’s didn’t pay hideous fees for school, they didn’t feel the same “obligation” to attend classes as American students tend to. If a student chooses to do so, they can simply register for a class and then show up only to write the final exam. (A final exam is often the only contribution to the grade in a particular course.)
-There are no rules in classrooms surrounding eating or drinking, and students wander in and out of classes as they please. (I’m pretty sure one student had a picnic packed into his book bag for our three-and-a-half hour lecture.)
-If you refer to University as “school” when in conversation with any European, they will have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. “School” is the education received at highschool level and below. We don’t go to “school”, we go to “University” ;).
-At the end of the lecture, students knock their fists on the desk to indicate a “job well done”. I find it a nice and subtle way to end the class, and show appreciation to the professor.

Next post – BUDAPEST!
Viszontlátásra!
(Apparently that’s “good-bye” in Hungarian. Doesn’t look like I’ll be picking up any of that language over the weekend!)