First class day (oh yeah, this is school)

Hopefully my blog posts will be a little shorter from now on, so they are less painful to read and to write. For some reason, my phone decided to be dyslexic this morning. Thomas (who was fully awake at the time) verified for me that I was not just delirious. At 8:54, my alarm went off and the screen said “Alarm: 8:45.” Weird. Everyone else in my apartment was gone by 9. Thomas waited back for me, but I told him to go ahead. I had to scramble a little, because class began at 9:30, but I made it to the U-Bahn station by 8:15. Naturally, the train was broken, so it didn’t start moving until 9:23. I was still able to manage getting to class by 9:40, but Billy was clearly upset that I had come in late. Somehow, I beat Thomas and Jonathon there despite having left way after them, so at least I wasn’t at the top of the bad list.

Our first day of class, Billy talked about the process of an engineering project. It’s reminded me of when we learned the process of turning a bill into a law. Then he talked about how drafters must write very neatly, and only in caps. So our homework is to trace the alphabet and copy it down onto the kind of paper that kindergarteners learn to write their letters on.

Our german professor , Brittel, came in at 11. She said “so this is where I should say I like to get to know you, blah blah blah. Instead, let’s begin.” She asked what things we would like to know how to say, and we told her we wanted to be able to order food at a restaurant and shop at a retail store. She mainly spent today talking about hellos & goobyes in the formal & informal. Our homework was to go to a bar and ask a real Viennese person things like “what’s your name, where do you live, where are you from, etc.

When class let out, I went to talk to Helmut about David. He said he would send an email nicely telling him that he needs to stop squatting in our apartment, and move to where is supposed to be. Hopefully this will painless.

Then I went to exchange some money at the Endo Bank on Kartnerstrasse. I was going to try the local Handelsbanker, but The receptionists in the IES office said it would be better to go to the middle of the city for some reason. They seemed kind of upset at the moment, so I didn’t ask whya bank in the heavy touristy area would be better – I just went.

I think I’m starting to blend in a little better at least. The banker greeted me with “grüß gott” instead of immediately speaking in English, but she did speak English, fortunately. She got a little tripped up as she was trying to count the euros aloud in English to me (here’s 20, 40, eh…), and I learned that whether they need help with the numbers or not, you never help a banker count money. I think she thought I was trying to tell her a false number, because she gave me that german glare and told me to stay quiet.

I took my euros and went back to the IES office so I wouldn’t be messing with my moneybelt in the middle of Kartnerstrasse. Then I went to the little kebap place Billy has been recommending as the best in the city since our first meeting. Honestly, I thought it was ok. All the ingredients were separate, so I either got a mouthful of lettuce, tzaziki sauce, tomatoes, OR meat. The bread wasn’t great either. Maybe next time I’ll get it in a bowl and mix it up.

I went back to the school and worked on some homework for the rest of lunch, as I ate my kebap. Our lab was a little difficult, but just because we were all unfamiliar with the software we need to use. I was the last one to finish, but I feel like I understand how to use the program well enough now that I won’t always be the last one. I have been playing around with it tonight on my own.

After lab, we went ot Philadelphiastrasse to validate our eurail tickets and get reservations for our trip to Prague. Billy said we wouldn’t need our passport to validate a ticket that has alredy been purchased, but let it be known that you do indeed need your passport. We were told by Tobi to leave our passports in our rooms at all times and never carry them with us, so I didn’t bring mine. However, I was still able to reserve a seat on the train with the group. Weird. I’ll probably go validate my ticket tomorrow or the next day. Billy still needs to BUY a ticket, and he did not bring his passport either. We were going to have him reserve a seat with us, but when we turned around, he was gone. He keeps doing that.

Corin, Thomas, Ryan and I went to the Hofer with Emily, Kelsea, Kerri, Ashley, and Paige, which has the same logo as Aldi in the US. It is a cash-only grocery store that sells food for discount prices in bulk. My kind of place! I was tempted to get some Grand Mariner and make margaritas, but it was 10 euros, and we already were getting a lot of food since we were still in the process of moving in (also, because we are American).

After taking our groceries back, Ryan & Corin went to get some better vodka from Billa than what they had at the Hofer, so the girls and I waited for them and then we went to the Museum Quartier to find a restaurant I had read about as having “the best schnitzel in the city – and for an awesome price.” We only walked by it once, but we finally got to Centimeter. Our waiter fortunately spoke English, and her was very tolerant of our American-ness. I got a hausbier and the swienschnitzel with pommes for 2,30 + 8,60. and it was the best schnitzel and beer I have ever had. Kelsea was really excited when she saw that she could order 2 meters of wurst for 8,80 and a Sex On The Beach for 5,60 (which we all thought was expensive, but she said it was worth it – it was pretty strong). Paige has us all cracking up, because she ordered a water, no gas, and a Pepsi Lite with vodka. They didn’t understand, so they brought her 2 waters, a Pepsi, and a shot of vodka. …so she ordered two more to be put in the same glass. That poor bartender was so confused.

I was surprised at the experience we had at the restaurant. We had been told that in Europe, waiters are very difficult to get a hold of, food comes out very slowly, and the custom is to be there for several hours. Eating here felt like eating in an American restaurant would, we also ordered in English and didn’t stay longer than about 2 hours (though we were there long enough for Kelsea to write several things on her plate using the detergent-sized bottle of ketchup).

Afterwards, Ryan and I went to the girls’ apartment to finish our very tedious homework. Kerri & Paige went back out to go to clubbing, but the rest of us sat in the kitchen to work. We were all done within about a half hour, and then our study party became a youtube-watching party. The girls didn’t want us to leave, because Rosa, the RA, was supposed to come back today, and they’re afraid she’ll be mean so they wanted us there when she got back (the apartment they are living in is actually where the RA lives,). It’s pretty funny for the rest of us, because the RA is a ver organized person, so she has sticky nothes and chore charts and all kids of notes for the girls to pay attention to all over the apartment. We ended up leaving about midnight though, and Rosa was still not back.



When we got back to the apartment, David was all pissed off because apparently he received an email from Helmut telling him he needs to move. Hm, wonder where that came from. He is still fuming to the other guys about it, who are just sitting and listening to his rant, saying “uh huh…uh huh…uh huh…” I couldn’t take any more of the ridiculousness. Why is he so upset? He is not supposed to be living in here anyway! Whatever. Hopefully he’ll just listen to Helmut and move out so he’s out of our hair and I can have a key to MY apartment. More tomorrow, I have class at 9:30. Gute (not guten) nacht.