Alles gute zum Gerburtstag!

I will continue to catch up with you all now by recounting the events of the 23rd of September! Turning twenty in Salzburg made it quite a unique and splendid birthday! It got off to a wonderful start by my host parents giving me a sachertorte for breakfast, with a massive sparkler shooting out of it, and then they sang to me, and it was all extremely sweet (no pun intended) of them. The cake had an apricot jelly between the two layers and a chocolate glaze-delicious! Of course, I ate a normal and healthy breakfast before having a slice of yummy cake.

Not to be out done in the ways of cakes by my host family, Brigitte, our delightful chef at school, presented me and my lucky table mates with another cake, this time after having everyone attempt to sing to me in German, which was kind of a failure, but fun all the same. This cake had like three different layers and like twelve different glazes and jelly and whipped cream all over it-it was an insane, sugary confection. Everyone swarmed around our little table to have a piece of it before German class, but I was successful in having a piece or two myself before it was devoured. I love Brigitte.

After a busy afternoon spent calling my lovely parents and chatting with friends online, I raced back to school for cooking class in the evening. This time around, we started off with a traditional Salzburg souffle, called "Salzburger Nockerln". You make three little puffs (which represent the city hills surrounding Salzburg), and it is quite light and tasty. Then, I set about creating the vegetarian entree for the night, which was baked eggplant with mozzerella and fresh basil-not particularly Austrian this time, but very good all the same! Others worked on a delicious pumpkin-creme soup (they love pumpkin over here), fried fish for the carnivores, potato patties with almonds, salad, and berry pie for a second (my fourth) dessert. Needless to say, we were all extremely stuffed after this delicious meal, yet I still managed to put some Indian food away with my friend Stephanie afterwards! Throughout the day and over curry, we hatched a scheme to go to Graz for the weekend, which I will write about as soon as I can. Some how I made it home without exploding after all the wonderful food of the day.

I would really like to thank everyone for sending all the wonderful cards, facebook messages, and good birthday wishes my way! It was very thoughtful of you, and made this birthday even better. It was followed up the next night by a splendid concert that we went to go see with the History of Music class. A stunning set of Schumann, Luciano Berio, and Schubert-the Salzburg Orchestra is very good! Thank you once again, and more stories will come soon...

Catching up in Salzburg

I do apologize for not updating you all for a week, but it's been rather busy here, and if you keep reading, you shall find out why...

I guess I will begin by recapping my recent explorations of Salzburg. Last weekend we had some really terrific weather, so Gerhard and I went for a nice long bike ride in the morning, which was great fun and very refreshing. I learned the best bike route into the city along all the little streams and rivers, so now Gerhard and Margot let me use their son's old bike to ride to school when the weather's nice. This is a great way to start the day, if one disregards the bicycle seat from hell (I swear it's a torture device left over from the Spanish Inquisition).

The afternoon was then spent climbing the Mönchsberg, one of the city hills (nearly a mountain by Maine standards) and the one that lies behind the school. On top, it hosts some of the oldest ruins in Salzburg; the remnants of the medieval defences and a monestary, not to mention the Schloss, a five star hotel, and a modern art museum. The views of the city were great, and it was a lovely break from homework! I didn't get into the art museum that day, so I will have to go back. Later on, we will visit the castle with school, so more on that when we make the field trip.

On Tuesday, Pheobe from school took us out to Hellbrunn, the former residence of one of Salzburg's archbishops. This is no ordinary mansion and garden! Perhaps it is better described by the Austrian nickname for it: "Wasserspiele" (playful waters), because throughout the gardens are the most incredible fountains! They are integrated into a series of grottos, seats, and paths throughout the lawn, and you never know when you might get squirted. There is even a theater of miniature figures in a medieval town setting that move and a kalliope plays-all powered by water!

The archbishop at the time thought the best way to entertain himself through a dull court dinner or visit was at the expense of his guests, because all the fountains along the way are booby-traps to surprise the unsuspecting courtier (now-a-days tourists). At a table beside the outdoor theater, water will shoot out from all the stone seats (except the one at the head of the table-that was reserved for the archbishop himself, and therefore dry!). During dinner, he would signal for the water to be turned on, leaving his poor guests soaking wet in their best clothes, and they of course could not get up from the table before the archbishop due to etiquette. I don't suspect that many wanted to return for a second visit!

The grounds were quite beautiful and entertaining, and we also got a look into the residence itself, and a small museum of folk art on the nearby hill. Most of it is rather like a public park, with gardens, a cafe and many walking paths. At the base of the hill, there is a really cool natural ampitheater, where one of the earliest operas was performed first. It was a very entertaining afternoon, and I only got wet once!

Strudel and Graphite

Who knows how to make authentic apple strudel? I do!!! Austrian Cuisine was a blast last night. We started off with a short lecture on the history of Austria's cuisine, and learned about how the neighboring countries (at one point or another acquired to the Austrian Empire by marriage) influenced the food and about the (minimum) EIGHT course meals that these crazy people ate! And I thought that I was eating a lot over here...

Then we made our way down to the kitchen, where the fabulous and talented Brigette introduced us to the wonderful world of strudel. We made a mouth-watering mixture of apples, and then proceeded to make the dough. One of the best things about strudel: If you're having a terrible day, or just need to work out some aggression, this is the thing to make! Because to get the lumps out of the dough, you SLAM it against the counter over and over again until you're exhausted. It's great fun, and sends a flour-cloud up into the air and all over the place. I had a good time chucking dough. And then, you do this really cool trick to make it as thin as possible, and wrap the apples up as tenderly as you would swaddle a baby, (you call the strudel your baby-that's just the way it is) and let it bake! It's delicious and amazing.

Then, we began to schnitzel everything in sight! Ruby and I are the only veggies in the class, so we of course had to team up, and we made our schnitzel out of zucchini and mushrooms (the mushrooms were so tasty!). Actually, should my Dad read this, the way that he prepares zucchini is the same way you make schnitzel, so actually Dad, you've been making schnitzel for years! Everyone did different stuff; some kids made the potato salad (German potato salad is the yummiest thing in the world), turkey schnitzel, sliced the toasted bread, and made the green salad. Of course, everyone wanted to try our scrumptious vegetarian schnitzel, which I was highly reluctant to share. So, we all sat down and ate this amazing meal, and it was great. The strudel with fresh whipped cream was the perfect desert, too. Wednesdays are my new favorite days of the week.

In Austrian Civilization today we learned about this really cool thing that you can do! In one of our readings, we learned about the mountain farmers in Austria, who work really hard to give the country organic milk and cheese, and you can volunteer with them! By working for them in whatever capacity you can, you get free room and board, and an amazing opportunity to meet Austrians an practice Deutsch. I so want to come back here for a summer and work on a mountain farm!

Martin, the art teacher, finally told me what my assignment is for the term today, too (everyone has their own individual projects). And you know, it's nothing major or anything, he only wants me to like TACKLE THE FUNDAMENTAL THEORIES BEHIND DRAWING AND ABSTRACTION. AHHHHH. This will be challenging; to work on the drawing for the sake of a drawing, with less of a focus on the subject matter, but purely on the quality of the composition and technique. Oh my. And we all know how much I just LOVE abstraction! But this will be a really good opportunity for me to grow as an artist and improve. It's a tough assignment, and taking it on will be interesting.

So, it's been a fun-filled day and night in Austria. Tomorrow a few of my pals and I are going to check out the movies in German, and hopefully the weather will be good this weekend, so I'll have a chance to frolick around outside. Thanks for reading! Everyone at COA: Get ready for the best community dinners of your life when I get back.

New Photos!

Haus Am See

This weekend Jasmine, my German teacher, and the steadfast Eddie (our amazing bus driver) took us on a trip to the Salzkammergut! The Salzkammergut is one of Austria's lake regions, carved out by the glaciers and supplied with the clear, fresh water of the mountains. We got to visit three small towns: Mondsee (which means "moon lake"), St. Wolfgang, and Bad Ischl ("bath-lake").

Mondsee was our first stop, and there we got to see what was apparently the yellow church featured in the Sound of Music (I haven't honestly seen the movie more than once, so I didn't recognize it). There was a wedding taking place there that day, so we got to hear music played by a traditional brass band, which was neat. After the brief stop at the church for photos, we climbed up the hill to the Rauchhaus ("smoke house"), and that was pretty cool.

The Rauchhaus is a traditional farm house hundreds of years old that is specially designed for smoking food. The upper floor has many slats for putting meat and fish on, and the air flow travels up, so the smoke gathers in the eaves and cooks the food. It was very dark, but interesting and full of original furniture, goods, and farm tools. In the back on the bottom floor they also had several bunnies! They were quite cute, and I certainly hope they don't meet an unpleasant end...

Next stop was St. Wolfgang, which was right on a huge mountain lake. It was a very small, special little town that we got to stop at for lunch and walk around. I'm pretty sure that I saw the biggest slug in the entire world there. (There are HUGE slugs in Austria! Grammy wouldn't like it, but perhaps she would have enough salt to assail them with-it is Salzburg, after all!) The water in the lake was crystal-clear, and we could see the big fish swimming around in it, and a random watermelon that was floating around. Another wedding was taking place in this town; this time it looked like the entire village was there in full liederhosen and drindel dresses. Also in St. Wolfgang, I found some of the wackiest postcards in Austria, which some of you will probably be receiving soon, so watch out!

The last village we got to visit was Jasmine's home town of Bad Ischl, which was actually along a river and not a lake. It is home to the Cafe Konditorei Zauner-a coffee house where years ago the emperor of Austria liked to enjoy coffee and pastries. It was quite crowded though, so my friends and I opted to walk along the river for the remainder of the time. All in all, the lake region is very pretty! The villages were quite charming, too. It is quite understandable why Peter Fox would want to live in a Haus am See (house by the lake). Unfortunately the weather was not the best, so we did not get the good views you would see on a clear day. Instead, it looked like the coast of Maine and the Alps collided, as they were mostly covered in fog.

Sunday was spent doing homework for art class and completing several drawings. On Friday though, there was a Wilkommen Party at the College for all the students and the host families, and that was fun. I got to meet some of the families that the other students are staying with, and eat the (as usual) awesome food at school, prepared by Brigette the chef, who I may have to take back to the States with me.

School is quite interesting, and on Monday Ruby and I did a short power-point presentation to the Art History class on the Richter stained glass window we saw in Cologne. Tomorrow I have my first Austrian Cuisine class, and I am quite excited about that! We're going to prepare vegetarian versions of the dishes, too, which should be especially yummy. So, I will no doubt have lots to tell about that! Till then...Tschüss!

The L-word

Last night I learned an important lesson about Austrians. They do NOT like the German word "lecker" (which means delicious). I love this word, mainly because it is so very German, but I was soon schooled on NOT using last night at dinner. Margot made a delicious creamed vegetable soup, with dessert crepes stuffed with homemade apricot marmelade for dinner. So, I thought I would be cool and whip out some Deutsch to impress my charming host family with, so I said "Margot, die Suppe ist lecker" which is a nice compliment...or so I thought. Then Gerhard immediately went off on this tangent about how Austrian's hate the word "lecker" because it's a very German word and only tourist use it and no one likes tourists, etc. It was all very funny! Margot assured me that plenty of Austrians use the word lecker, and don't dislike it, but Gerhard was quite adament. When I asked Dr. Krecht about it in class this morning she confirmed Gerhard's opinion. So, if you every eat something tasty in Austria, avoid the L-word at all costs. Go for "Schmeckt gut" instead.

So far at school I have had nearly all my classes, and I like them all very much. For German, our instructor is a graduate student at the University of Salzburg, and she is excited to teach us whatever we need to know. For History of Music, the professor is a professional flautist, and he gave a very good lecture on Wednesday about Grecian and Christian music and notation, so I think that his class will be very interesting. And we'll get to go to many classical concerts in Salzburg, and have to write reports on them. Austrian Cuisine starts next week, but I'm not sure about that class-I will have to see how much meat we prepare to decide whether it's worth taking or not. But the studio art teacher seems excellent! After meeting in the studio today and getting to know us, he took everyone out for tea and coffee. His assignments are going to be challenging and creative, so I'm very excited! Tomorrow I must tramp off to an art supplies store to find a large pad of paper and a suitable second-hand smock, which I forgot to pack. And, he taught us the best lesson that I've ever had in an art class so far, and it's quite simple, so I shall repeat it here to school you too.

ART IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT.

Something tells me that I am going to like his class.

The weather is continually beautiful, and hopefully that will last for a while longer. There are all kinds of excursions that me and some of the other girls would like to take around the city, so it would be nice if we could get to those before it starts to pour again! That's all for now, und haben eine schoener Tag!

Back to School

Hi Everyone! So today was the first official day of school at the college. Yesterday we had an orientation of the building and the town. The school is inside an adorable pink building on Ursulinenplatz, right along the southern bank of the Salzach, and carved into the cliff face of the Mönchsberg; one of the hills surrounding the city with an abbey on top. The school is small and quaint, with little classrooms, and the 24 of us have it to ourselves. Brigette, the chef, cooks amazing meals for us at lunch in the cafeteria, which reminds me of TAB, back at COA. Today's classes were Art History and Austrian Civilization, which is taught by Dr. Krecht, the program director. Ruby and I are going to share a book for Art History, and it must weigh about thirty pounds! Austrian Civilization also has a lot of reading, but some of it looks very interesting.

Our house though is in the most idyllic part of town by far! It is in a nice neighborhood, at the northern edge of town, and right behind it are beautiful fields, little woods, brooks and paths that run along a hillside and zig-zag through the meadow. It's really gorgeous-I've already taken several walks and runs back there. If you follow one of the paths for 20 kilometers, it will take you to the nearest hill-town, and past some cows and the stables for the city's horses, which pull carriages through town. You can ride your bike, walk or take the extremely prompt, convenient and electrically run bus just about anywhere. There are even some tennis courts nearby, and if I was any good at tennis/had a pal to play with, I totally would.

Salzburg is a very pretty town, and it is chock-full of churches with architecture from every age; Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, you name it. My host parents go to one closer by that is actually in a recycled factory building. There is a great castle on the hill to the south that over looks the city (we'll visit it with the school) and beyond that are the Alps. The Alps are absolutely magnificent, and they make Cadillac and Katahdin look like meager hills. And I have already been to the best vegetarian restaurant in town-the Bio Bistro! Serving excellent vegetarian and Indian cuisine, and the puffiest naan you've ever seen.

So, this week is a little crazy, and a period of adjustment. But once I get into the swing of things, I'm sure everything will go much more smoothly. I must thank Nyssa for helping me out with a monetary issue today (Kudos!), and it's been great to hear from everyone since I've gotten here. This Saturday the school is taking us to the Salzkammergut, the lake region, where I suspect the water will be absolutely freezing, but I'm sure it will be very beautiful. It's also the location of the oldest settlements here from the Neolithic period! Well, it's off to bed before another interesting day...

Photos!

Heidelberg to Nuremberg

After more buttered breakfast rolls with cheese, we were given a tour of the Schloß (or castle) of Heidelberg. This place was enormous! Serving both as a palace and a fortress, it contained both extremely thick walls and more delicate and ornate decorations. Inside, it also contains the largest wine barrel known to makind (or at least, it should be). I believe that it holds over 44,000 gallons, or some ludicrous number like that. You've got to love Germany. Then we continued through the Old City, and had about two hours to spare before we had to leave. Across from the Old City and over the Old Bridge (quite clever names, really) is the Philosopher's path. It is a walk the has been taken by Mark Twain, university professors and other intellectuals, so I went up part of that. It wended it's way through a very pretty orchard and by a tree house, but I needed to grab lunch before we left, so I didn't make it to the top of the hill (I'm sure the entire walk is quite beautiful!) But, I had a very nice mango-apple-banana smoothie with a salad from on organic cafe!

In the afternoon, we were supposed to explore Rothenburg, a very well preserved medieval town, which indeed would have been fun, but for the fact that it had begun to pour on the way there! Thus we made an abbreviated stop; just enough time to go outside and get soaked, which was a shame. It was a really cute little town with lots of teddy bear shops. But the weather was miserable, so we continued to Nuremberg, where we spent the night in a youth hostel built inside the palace's stables. Owing to it being such an old place, it was a rather peculiar hostel with many strange features, such as the enigmatic showers which no one really felt like bothering with. The top floors were used as a granary though, so the seventh floor offered spectacular views of the city!

We began a tour of the old city starting right from the hostel this morning, and learned about the castle's history, feudalism, and how Nuremberg does not really wish to be a Franconian city. From there we continued down the hill, past famous German painter Albrecht Dürer's house, and into the city square and by it's beautiful fountain. Out of all the places we have visited, for some reason I liked Nuremberg the best. For lunch I found myself a great little vegetarian kitchen/health market, and had lecker (delicious) slice of quiche and a yummy bowl of soup-just the trick to warm me up after being out in the chilly wind! I will have to go back there, since there are apparently two more vegetarian restaurants that sound really good...

The afternoon was then spent at the Nuremberg Documentation Center, walking through an exhibit on the Holocaust. It was an excellent exhibit, that really conveyed what WWII and it's roots were like in Germany and to the Germans. They had several witness accounts from that time recorded as part of the exhibit, and those were very interesting. Hitler really did dupe about 95% of the country, not to mention the entire world.

This was also the same location as the Nazi rally grounds, where we stopped before leaving town. That was truly a bizarre and eerie location. Although it is really a huge expanse, 2/3 of it has been covered by a sports field. Still, it was quite a sight.

Finally, at the end of a long bus ride, we arrived in Austria, where we met our delightful host families. Now, I am going to retire into a glorious looking bed in a room by myself for a very good night's sleep.

Guten Tag! Today I actually arrived in Austria! Tonight will be my first night in my host family's house, and they are wonderful. There names are Margot and Gerhard Nagele, and they are an older couple who's kids are out of school and living in Vienna. Their son works at the University, doing engineering research and earning his doctorate, while their daughter has a degree in economics and works for a large bank in Vienna.

Gerhard picked Ruby (another girl from the program that is also living here-but in a different room) and me up right after we arrived in Salzburg. They live on the north side of town, and their house is really quite charming. They also have a cat, named Enzo (christened after the creator of the Ferrari) who is an older tiger. My designs are to befriend him, and he will have to be the proxy for our sieben Katzen in South Portland. They fed us a wonderful meal of salad and pasta (Ruby and I are both vegetarians-these poor Austrians!) followed by apple and plum cake. Plum cake tastes a lot like rhubarb! I tried conveying this discovery, but I don't think they got it. They do speak very good English, though, but I hope to soon be speaking mostly German around them. Tonight they watched the Austrian equivalent of Lawrence Whelk/a PBS concert before going to bed.

So! It has been several days since I posted, but now that I am here with the convenience of a wireless network at my disposal, I shall keep you all informed. The rest of the field trip has been very busy.

On the second, we managed to hit three towns for a brief visit in each. The first was Bonn, where we stopped at the Geschicter Museum to learn about Germany's history in relation to the Berlin Wall's erection and destruction. It is a very new museum, chocked full of snazzy exhibits and artifacts from the times. We got to see handmade goods that the people improvised with once the war was over, Konrad Adenauer's car (he was the first Chancellor of West Germany), slices of the Berlin Wall, and learned a great deal about the differences between the two states. West Germany was the capitalist state after the war, and was able to make an economic recovery due to the introduction of the Deutschmark. Meanwhile, East Germany was a socialist state that worked it's people hard, and was very resistant to the capitalist West. But, they had certain aspects of gender equality long before West Germany. Eventually the two reconciled, and apparently Berlin is still in the economic after shock.

Next was Worms, which was a center of Jewish culture in the Medieval Ages through today. We began our tour on the Judenstrasse (Jewish Street) at the old Synagogue. Like Cologne, much of Worms was rebuilt after the war, and the Synagogue was no exception. In fact, it had been destroyed several times (basically whenever the people most recently felt like expelling the Jews). Next to the Synagogue was the Mikveh; a purifying spiritual bath underground. After entering a graveyard, giving birth, and a few other events, it is tradition to be washed with flowing water to cleanse the soul. It looked cold. We made our way through the city, passing a monument dedicated to Martin Luther, who began the Reformation in Worms. Then we came to the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe, and I was able to reveal my inner Trekkie.

The cemetery was beyond the original city wall, as by tradition, and contained a tombstone nearly a thousand years old! But there were some more recent ones, and on of them featured two hands making a gesture known to us all as the Vulcan symbol of "Live long and Prosper". Of course, as all good Trekkie's know (shout out to Amanda Pratt and my mom), Leonard Nimoy took this gesture from a Jewish prayer that you're not actually supposed to watch, lest the light of God blind you. But, it is part of a blessing, and the hands actually form the shape of a Jewish letter, which I felt very clever and extremely dorky in explaining to the tour guide and other members of the group. Go Spock.

After our foray into Jewish History, we hopped back on to the bus (driven by the steadfast Eddie) to head to Heidelberg for the night. This lead to an ordeal, as dinner was on our own, and therefore the various individuals in our group had to navigate a bus system to the downtown of Heidelberg and then the eventual choosing of a restaurant, acting like completely obnoxious tourists along the way. But, we endured, and Julia, Julie, Laura and I from the group slip off to form our own faction and found a nice Italian restaurant, where I had a delicious plate of gnocchi. Then we took a turn about the old city, and retired in the hostel for the evening. So, that was Thursday.

Germany Field Trip: First Stop Cologne

Ich bin in Deutschland! The flight was long, but smooth and uneventful. The girl seated next to me on the flight is also in the program. Her name is Julia, and we had a chance to chat and get to know each other on the way over the Atlantic. It turns out there are about twenty five of us in the program, which is small but that's fine with me. There are more girls than guys, but what else is new.

After meeting up, we hopped on our bus to go to Cologne, where we made our bedraggled and jet lagged way to the youth hostel, and began our sight seeing. I must say, that the youth hostel is quite spiffy, although the food is not great. But it is large, clean, and has some green features, and is more appealing than most dorm rooms. And so we began our tour of the historic city!

Our first visit was to the Dom (Cathedral). It was once the world's largest, and is the best surviving example world-wide of Baroque architecture. In the reliquary it contains the remains of the three Magi; that combined with it being an archbishop seat, makes it a very popular and famous church. One of it's interesting features is a modern-design stained glass window installed in 2007 by Richter, a German artist. It looks sort of like a version of Joseph's technicolor dreamcoat, but I liked it. In the afternoon we were able to climb up (many flights of dizzying spiral stairs) to the top of a spire, where we had a great view of the city.

Next we were quick to learn that there are traces of the Roman Empire everywhere! Underneath the city hall of Cologne are the remains of the Roman Praetorium, or Governer's house. In the Romanisch-Germanisch Museum, they had a special exhibit on the jewelry recovered from the excavations, which was just beautiful! There was also a great deal of pottery, household artifacts, and a huge floor mosaic featuring the god Dionysos. We also got a peek of the sewer system, which was cramped and a little moist, but not gross.

In my free time, I visited two art museums: The Ludwig, and another focusing on classical art. I saw a number of great pieces by many famous artists, and many gruesome depictions of Jesus. I did get some sketching done, too, which was great fun. Also, Germany is cool, and the government actually PAYS artists to do PUBLIC art! Can you believe it? So even by just walking down the street, you get exposed to a number of great sculpture pieces, not to mention the architecture. 95% of Cologne was destroyed in the WWII bombings, so much of what you see for buildings is either entire recreations or post-war architecture. This style is typically kind of blocky, symmetrical, and simple, and quite enjoyable.

As far as food goes, the hostel has not provided any stellar examples of German cuisine, although I'm sure that will improve. For lunch, I headed to a pub with some of the other students. While they ate sausage and drank beer, I sipped apple juice (which rather resembles beer) and had a delicious salad, accompanied by goat cheese and honey on crunchy, yummy bread. It was quite good!

One more neat feature before I go: On one of the bridges over the river Rhine, it is a tradition for couples to lock a pad lock to the bridge with their initials or names on it. Then they throw the key in the Rhine, as a token that their love will last. The bridge is covered in thousands of locks! I suppose there are many happy couples living in Cologne.

The trip has gone well so far, although I must still catch up on some sleep. Even though there are not many other students, we still don't know each other that well yet. They like to go pub-crawling, and I...don't. But making the adjustment to a new culture, language, and surroundings will take a little while, let alone a new group of companions. I'm sure as the program goes on we'll get to know each other better!

Well, it's off to bed for the last night in Cologne. On the road again tomorrow to Bonn, Worms, and Heidelberg!

Gute Nacht,
Alicia

P.S. Photos will come soon!