Trieste Trip + Slovenia

Even though I just finished a blog post about my travels around Germany and Strasbourg, France just three days after getting back, I was on my way for more sightseeing.

Some of the students at my school elected to go on a three day-two night field trip to Trieste, Italy and the surrounding areas where they would learn about geology and geography of the region, wind, and among other things, as well as practice their Italian. One of the teachers who organized the trip was a French and Italian teacher, and invited her TAs along. She graciously extended the invitation to me, which I (of course) accepted.

We were able to see a LOT. Part of the trip was with the students, and part was just us three TAs exploring.

About Trieste (briefly):

Getting to Trieste from Villach took a mere 2 or 2.5 hours by bus. It's a city in Northern Italy that's also right on the Slovenian border. When the Hapsburgs were still in power, it was one of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's only access to the seas and was an extremely important city (just behind Vienna, Prague, and Budapest).

Dinosaurs!

Our first stop with the students was to a palentological site in the tiny village of “Villagio del Pescatore” where “Antonio” the dinosaur was uncovered. This dinosaur was the largest and most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in Europe.

Afterwards was a trip to the natural history museum in Trieste where the actual skeleton was housed. Pretty interesting! However the presentation was pretty much completely in Italian, and my Spanish skills only helped me enough to discern what the researchers were talking about—not actually any details.

As the students got settled in the the school and Italian students they were working with, the teachers and us TAs wandered around Trieste, saw some churches, the big piazza, and indulged in good espresso and later good food.

Day of Exploring Trieste

The next day, while our students were in school, Marie, Donatella, and I set off to explore more of the city itself—this time with daylight.

We saw Roman ruins

More old churches and a castle

Got food

Visited the few open museums

And went window shopping

One of the most unexpected parts of this day was in wandering around Trieste. We ended up running into someone else we knew who lived in Villach (Daniel). Either the world's too small, I'm somehow a socialite, or coincidences are eerie and fun.

Day 3—Gorgeous surprises

For some reason, I didn't know the German word for cave was “die Höhle” so when I saw that word on the program I thought it meant something like cliff—or something up high.

When I realized we were going to caves I was pretty excited. I've been to very few caves—and certainly none in an area with terrain as varied as this region.

Second surprise? The cave system happened to me in Slovenia! I still haven't been to Slovenia even though I live right on the border. The caves we visited were the Škocjan Caves—also a UNESCO world heritage site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0kocjan_Caves

It's one of the largest underground canyon systems in the world, has underground rivers, and the region has been inhabited on and off for thousands of years. Though I took some pictures both outside and inside, they don't do the site justice. Regardless—here's some to share.

NOW I'm ready to just hang in Villach and work on other projects.

Speaking of, if you are interested, I started another blog about all things coding and web (which I plan to keep pretty separate from here. Check it out if you're interested in/ thinking about learning similar things I decided to work with): http://skeinsofcode.wordpress.com/ 

Semester Break Adventures

As I might have already mentioned, the semester break from schools in Austria is usually in February. In the secondary schools this break lasts for a week. For me this meant a week of traveling and catching up with various people in my life.

I planned on staying with four different people over nine nights of my break in Germany and France. This meant a lot of travel by train. I haven't yet figured out the best way to get super cheap German train tickets (if they exist)--and I certainly didn't buy my tickets enough in advance to qualify for most of the discounts anyway, so I decided to go with a Germany-Austria Eurorail pass. It was certainly MUCH cheaper than getting regular rail tickets, at least

HEIDELBERG (Feb. 7th-10th)

My first stop on this trip was in Heidelberg where I stayed for three nights. I got to visit my friend Amelia again—who I also saw in Vienna in November.

When I left Villach, the city was covered by a meter of snow and my train was one of the first running on time between here and Salzburg in about a week. So when I finally arrived in Heidelberg it was incredibly mild—and even warm (well, it is the warmest part of Germany).

The city was absolutely beautiful!

One of the typical touristy sites we visited was the Heidelberg castle, which was a lot of fun and gave a great view of the city.

In addition to wandering around the Altstadt, I also spent time at another touristy place, the Philosophenweg.

Despite all of these beautiful things, I think some of the parts I enjoyed the most included sitting in coffee shops and really catching up with Amelia. And, does Heidelberg deliver on great coffee shops! I found my first pour over coffee since leaving the states, and could choose between all sorts of different roasts of coffee, at least at my favorite place there, Coffee Nerd. (My Villach coffee shop still holds a special place in my heart, though).

Another great thing was I also was able to enjoy a bite to eat with some other folks I met in Sarasota, Sandra and Peter!

All-in-all, it was a wonderful visit and I hope I can return (or that Amelia visits me!)

STRASBOURG (Feb 10-12)

The next stop on my tour was the city of Strasbourg. Historically I was interested in the city because I like early medieval history. One of more important documents in the 9^th century was signed in the city and drafted in 3 languages (the Oaths of Strasbourg for fellow history nerds). The document itself is stored in Paris, but still doesn't detract from the city's significance.

However, my main reason for visiting the city was to reconnect with an old friend I haven't seen in over 5 years—Clarissa. We met way back in 2007 when she was an exchange student in my hometown. During my exchange year I visited her in Germany. But now she studies in Strasbourg.

We did a lot of wandering around the old town—which was also gorgeous. One of the more famous sections was the preserved old town, full of half timbered housing.

We also splurged on a boat tour of the city which lent itself to great pictures as well.

My last evening there Clarissa, some of her school friends, and I went to a wonderful little bar with a great selection of Belgian beer—something I definitely missed while living in Villach. Mmmmm Delirium Tremens

MÜNSTER (Feb 12-14)

Another stop and another reconnection with my distant past.

In the University town of Muenster, I spent two days with my friend Kenneth and his roommate. Ken and I chatted a lot online way back in 2005 and 2006. Since Muenster was near to Clarissa's hometown, I also got to meet him in person for the first time in 2008.

The visit was pretty low key in the best way. I already saw some of the main tourist sites in 2008, so there was a lot of time just to chat and bond over food and walks around the city (including the university botanical gardens—even if it was the off season).

I also got to nerd it up and get cozy with board games and fun television (and singing along to Doctor Horrible) in the evenings. Hopefully it will be less than 5 years until the next time we see each other again!

KÖLN (Feb 14)

While I didn't stay the night in Koeln (Cologne), I made a point to stop there for a few hours, since it was right between Muenster and my next stop. Even though I was there and extremely short time I LOVED the city.

Part of the reason I chose to stop here as opposed to elsewhere was because I knew the MASSIVE cathedral was right next to the main train station. I've been to a lot of large, old, churches but the outside of this one just might take the cake. At 157.4 meters (or 516 feet) it's pretty insane. At its completion in 1880, it was briefly the tallest building in the world.

Pictures is not doing this cathedral justice...

I also had some time to wander onto a bridge over the Rhine, wander about the old town, and take in some sites. It definitely had a pretty nice, liberal big city feel to it too.

One of my favorite places I stumbled upon was the largest costume store Ive ever been to. As big of a deal as Villach's Fasching is, Cologne's Karnival (by virtue of the size of the city) is even larger. It was the perfect place to find some accessories for my costume back in Villach.

WÜRZBURG (Feb 14-16)

My final stop on my tour was the city of Wuerzburg. I'd been talking to someone online from the city for a few months, and decided that trip would be the perfect time to finally meet up.

Though it rained most of the time, visiting the city was a lot of fun. We hiked up to the fortress, which housed an impressive museum.

We also saw a bunch of churches and got delicious food.

One thing that particularly interested me but may bore other people was I got to see where the medieval poet, Walther von der Volgelweide was buried. Writing in the 13^th century he is THE most celebrated Middle High German poet, in case ya cared (which I do....)

Though a very short visit, it was pretty neat.

The next day involve a 7.5 hour train ride back to Villach. I have just enough time to recuperate before my next small trip coming up on Wednesday-- three days in Trieste, Italy. Can't wait!

What a Wonderful Month at home in Carinthia

In contrast to the excitement of Christmas and New Years with my family, January was quiet. For me this was wonderful since it left a lot of time to start some new things (and get back into old things) I never really made time for.

At my time at New College we had something called an ISP, or Independent Study Project. Between Fall and Spring semesters was about a month where students would work on their own projects, internships, or what-have you. With a large percentage of campus gone elsewhere, it was usually a nice quiet few weeks. For many people (depending on their project and things outside of school) it was also a time for trying new things or reorienting oneself.

In the Austrian school this year there was also about four to five weeks between Winter Break and the technical end of the semester. For me this was a nice parallel to my life for the four years before this. I think I used these well (even if it meant being less immersed in German than I originally expected)

Things I did

Fitness

Like countless people I decided to start “getting in shape”. My goals probably weren't defined enough to help me stick to this the rest of the year, but I definitely made an effort to get a little healthier this January. I discovered the website and videos from FitnessBlender and started doing workouts along to them. I think they're really well-done, and I hope to keep referring to them throughout the year. The opportunity to do some hiking once it gets warm is at least a small motivation.

Spanish

Even though I am in a German speaking country, for some reason, I decided to get back into Spanish. I had already learned a lot—5 years of high school Spanish, Spanish conference in said high school, and a few refresher courses in college. It was my first of several foreign languages I started learning, so it holds a special place for me. I spent a good bit of time on Duolingo refreshing a lot of the basics, and just signed up for a Spanish conversation class starting in February here—can't wait!

Travel in Carinthia

So I don't think I left my state in Austria at all this month. Which is fine because I already have plans to make up for this as early as next week. However, I did check out a few interesting places while here.

Warmbad

Warmbad is still technically part of Villach and is absolutely beautiful. The area is famous for its warm springs (hence the name). There's both an inside swimming area and outside springs and light hiking.

I went here with other TAs on an unusually warm January day and walked around. Next time I'm definitely bringing a bathing suit.

(photo from:Wikipedia)

Of particular interest to me is that the area has a really long history of settlement, fromf the Bronze Age to the Celts to the early Christians to (obviously) today. There's even ruins of an old church right on the hike!!

Gurk and Schloss Strassburg

 (pictures courtesy of Anita)

Another weekend I went on a somewhat spontaneous roadtrip to a very rural and different part of Carinthia all together. It took over an hour up a bunch of mountain roads to reach these places but it was so worth it!

Gurk is a pretty small/sleepy town today, but wasn't always this way.

In 1043 years ago Saint Hemma of Gurk founded a monastery here—which didn't last long.

The inside of the church was also beautiful--and some of the painting on the wall was such a contrast to what I'm used to seeing here

The Archbishop of Salzburg of the time wanted influence over the area for himself and his archdiocese (as all Archbishops of Salzburg seem to want to do...). In 1072 he dissolved the monastery and replaced it with the Diocese of Gurk. For those at home keeping score of the political drama of the Investiture Contest, Gebhard was a major supporter of the Pope and huge opponent of King Henry IV.

We also visited the town and fortress of Strassburg. The main attraction for us was the Fortress just above the town, built in 1147. It served as the seat of Prince-Bishops of Gurk until the 18^th century. Its presence made Strassburg the most important town in this little valley.

Exploring the castle was a lot of fun. An earthquake badly damaged the castle in the 18^th century and it has only been partially rebuilt. In the summer, there is a restaurant open for business, which would have been cool to check out.

I'm hoping before I leave to do some other little trips to get to know the area. It's such a different type of travel from visiting all the big, famous cities here.

Beginning Coding!

In addition to traveling and moving about, I also discovered this month I really really want to learn to code. I spend so much time on the computer and internet, and really like more mathematical/logical tasks even though I majored in pretty much the opposite of that. I've also been missing systematically learning and studying new sets of things since leaving school. SO why not go all out with a field where I have no experience?

This month I did a crash course introduction to HTML/CSS (not programming languages but still kind of necessary) on codecademy and it's really inspired me to do a little bit more with those skills.

I think I decided I am going to learn JavaScript REALLY well over the next few months. There's a codecademy course, other learning to code sites, + a giant book for much more theoretical background to fill in any gaps. Even if it's not as much of a server-side language as some and still technically more of a scripting language, I think I can get a LOT of use out of it.

This year will also give me a change to practice and integrate programs I write into my lessons. So maybe now I'm just sorting cards, or vocab words for students alphabetically with JavaScript. But one day, I'd love to create something more tangible and useable in my and other classrooms.

In a perfect world, I would also love to combine these skills with my anthropology knowledge and training. One of the biggest issues I see with anthropology today is creating a dialogue with the public. (I noticed now how much easier it is to find good interactive teaching materials on science, and rote-memorized civics, etc for my lessons that more critical social science and humanities topics). And also the ability for people anthropologists study to access and respond to that research/those publication when it's trapped in books that usually just anthropology students read. There's so many much more active interfaces and ways of representing material and engaging people I'm just now finally itching to explore.

So maybe my scripting and programming knowledge is limited to putting lists of vocab words in alphabetical order or making websites from scratch that look like they're from 1995. BUT, I have so many ideas and things to look forward to.

I never thought learning all-the-computer stuff would start to take over parts of my year (or more?) in Austria, but there you go!