I am so jealous right now. I'm sitting in Julia's LIVING ROOM (emphasis on LIVING ROOM, which I do NOT have in my apartment). This is so frickin' cozy and cute, I can't even handle it. I guess I shouldn't be jealous though because as long as I'm nice to Julia and keep letting her do yoga podcasts with me, she'll probably keep letting me come over and bask in the homeyness of her living arrangements. :D (Also, maybe if my roommates and I took out the trash we could bare sitting around our kitchen table to hang out and study, but alas, it will not be so.)
I've actually had a really pleasant afternoon! After class I hung out at IES and studied with friends ("studied"). Then I went on an adventure to an eyebrow waxing place a few blocks away from the institute. It's scary to knowingly go into a situation like that in a foreign country because things definitely have the ability to go horribly, horribly wrong. Vanity always comes out on top though, and so I took my chances and can happily report that I still have eyebrows and no one got hurt. The whole thing made me feel surprisingly independent too; it's hard to believe that exactly three weeks ago I couldn't speak a lick of German and now I can get through interactions with people relatively incident-free!
Julia came over around 3:30 and we did another one of Alanna's yoga podcasts together. It was a really inspirational and raw class and afterwards Julia and I just saw on my balcony and talked and reflected and it was super serene. Alexa came over and we all went across the street to eat dinner my favorite little local restaurant. They have this patio out back, so we sat outside and enjoyed the crisp evening air and our hühnerschnitzel. I was supposed to meet up with Matt afterwards to go watch the opera broadcasted outside of the theater tonight, but it's was getting surprisingly cold out and I was tired and have my oral final in the morning so Julia invited me over for studying and hanging out instead. This was definitely a saving grace, because the alternative would have been me sitting at home on my bed, staring blankly at my computer, my book, or my worksheet; retaining absolutely nothing at all.
We bought some pretzels and coke to nom on but one of her roommates had some liptauer (the Austrian's version of cream cheese AWESOMENESS) that her professor had given her so our snacks we saved from being hopelessly American and 7th grade sleepover-esque.
For my oral exam tomorrow I have to talk about my hometown and then pick from a hat one of the dialogues we have been learning (hotel interactions, restaurant interactions, shopping for food, etc.). It shouldn't be that hard, but I'm obviously just looking forward to getting it over with. Then Friday is the REAL DEAL final. I seriously can't believe we've been taking intensive German for almost three weeks now! Therefore, tomorrow night will be spent studying and packing for the 3-city tour which I leave for straight from the final! Madness.
It has been an amazing first three weeks here. Ridiculously awesome things I have done so far:
-seen Placido Domingo at the opera for 3 Euro
-seen the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform my FAVORITE PIECE OF MUSIC EVER (Shostakovich's 5th symphony) for 6 Euro
-gone to Shonbrunn Palace
-gone to the oldest zoo in Europe
-swam in the Danube (and biked like a boss around it)
-eaten AMAZING authentic German food, even when I have no clue what it is (as well as countless Kebaps)
-MADE a Kebap
-shopped at a gorgeous outdoor market (Naschmarkt) and held my composure as every single vendor literally threw free samples at my face
-successfully ridden the public transport all over the city, bought groceries, ran errands, and asked for directions (these are surprisingly difficult tasks when NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH)
-danced until 2am like it's nobody's business
I LOVE ÖSTERRICH! YAY YAY ÖSTERRICH!
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