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!

Family Visit

So... this post ended up longer than I planned. I hope you still enjoy it!

Wow—what an amazing meeting of different parts of my life.

For those of you who don't know, my mom and sister were able to visit me in Austria over Christmas and New Years. They landed on the 22^nd of December and left January 3^rd. On that interval we got to do so much—it was absolutely wonderful.

December 22-23: Exploring Vienna

(not-yet) bright and early on the 22^nd I took a 5:30am train to meet my mom and sister in Vienna. Villach is a good 4 hours by train away from Vienna, so visiting the city was not something I easily do often. I got there with plenty of time to meet them at the airport and show them around.

It was so great seeing them both again, since the last time we saw each other was in September, and (if my current summer plans work out) I may not see them again until Late July. Vienna is not “my city” and possibly never will be. I have some acquaintances there and have visited a few times. Given our short time there (and jetlag on their parts), we mostly stuck to a few touristy sights—which we all enjoyed.

December 24-26: Christmas in Villach

We got in late the night of the 23^rd to my current town of Villach. It was great for me to show them where I lived and what I did here. We saw “my” river and “my” cafe, not to mention the Christmas markets still in full swing those last days.

For Christmas Eve we all went to a beautiful midnight mass in one of the churches just a few minute walk from my house.

Christmas Day was quite wonderful—the other American teaching assistant Karen joined us! We cooked enough delicious food for the four of us, and Karen brought some dishes to complete the meal. We also bonded, conversed, and laughed over a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity, one of my Christmas presents. Definitely a Christmas I will remember.

 

On the 26^th, we had time for a lovely lunch at my mentor teacher's house. It was great that my family and her family could meet each other. Of course the food was also quite delicious

December 26-28: Back to where it all began.

Shortly after lunch we hopped on our train(s) to.... Altmuenster!

For those of you who don't know, I spent August-January of my exchange year in/around the beautiful town of Gmunden. Our language camp was also in the next town over, Altmuenster, where I met Maggi for the first time almost 5 1/2 years ago.

We saw lots of sites that I have known for years. We watched the swans glide across the Traunsee, their aggression kept well-hidden beneath an air of noble grace. We visited a park and the See Schloss Ort, free of any hotels, despite what Austrian soap operas will have you believe. We saw the inside of the Altmuenster church—where memories of teenaged choirs, “Silent Nights”, and old and new people alike melded together for me.

Ceramic objects were also somehow a theme of the visit: from a visit to the, Gmunder Keramik factory to a stunning toilet museum (yes) to the plates we ate off—whether at the grocery store cafeteria I spent my time between classes or at cozy, locally-run restaurants in Altmuenster.

To me, however, the place that stood out the most was still our first evening and last morning in Maggi's apartment. In addition to my own saga of gross misunderstandings, nativity, and growing up in all ways imaginable, that space as seen many amazing stories. Just talking to Maggi, those walls (complete with original art from her daughter) have seen the beginnings of love stories and development of unbreakable friendships. The rooms have served as a sanctuary, a gathering place, and a space to share secrets. It is a space loaded with meaning and significance for so many people. The fact that my mom and sister got to meet Maggi and spend time here was one of the highlights of the trip

December 29^th and 30^th: To Hallein and Salzburg

Though my journey from Altmuenster to Hallein (well, Oberalm) was first by car, we took the train along a similar enough path. Like nearly five years ago, Elisabeth picked me up and welcomed me so warmly into her home.

After lunch and visiting, my mom, Jill, and I explored Hallein. Elisabeth dropped us off at my old school and we followed my beautiful walk back to the train station passing flowing brooks (the weather was unseasonably warm), centuries-old buildings, cobblestones, and narrow passages and alleys (the graffiti, “sex” written in large blue letters in one tunnel, was just as unfaded as five years ago). We made a pit stop at the main church, and the house where the composer of the music for “Silent Night” lived.

The walk was such a flash of memories—the restaurant where I ran into my history teacher who adored me; the little sign for picture frames, a new word at the time; The book store where I window shopped waiting for my train; the ice cream store I ran to the moment it opened in spring. Even if mundane they still meant something. Those walks always felt very solitary in the past. Experiencing them with family was something new, exciting, and still surreal.

After our walk Elisabeth drove my family up one of the nearby mountains—somewhere high enough so one could see snow on the ground. It was the most snow my mom and sister have ever seen—even if it was old and gross by my standards. The evening was filled with socializing. I always thought that my mom and host mom's easygoingness and independence reminded me of the other. I often pictured them meeting, and it was finally happening.

The 30^th began bright and early with a train ride to Salzburg—where we would go all out and be the ultimate American tourists: we had book three places on the 9:30am Sound of Music tour.

[look at all the]

That internet meme is probably more famous in Austria than the movie itself. Most people I knew who heard of the movie disliked it on principle. I never would have done the tour on my own because of this. However I'm secretly glad I could use my family as an “excuse” to hum along to the songs and revisit some interesting sites. It was also a great way to see Mondsee, another lake in the Salzkammergut (that also has some cool much older archaeology going on).

For part of the afternoon I let my mom and sister do some touristy things while I wandered a bit and spent time with a friend who worked at a youth hostel.

Our evening was spent doing the other stereotypical spending-time-abroad-in-Europe activities. My host brother joined us for a late night of Kebap eating, “Irish Pub” frequenting, and a race to catch the last train back home.

What a day!

31 December

When we got back to Villach that afternoon, Jill and I were exhausted. We napped while my mom got to explore more of Villach. Then we switched places.

Jill and my New Year was spent at a gorgeous and delicious mountain top restaurant just outside of Villach. We joined some of my international friends and acquaintances here for a very cozy and fun New Years celebration—complete with seeing all the fireworks shows in the valley and dancing. We didn't get too crazy, though, because we had some big plans for the next day.

1 January—a whirlwind trip to Venice

Fun fact: Villach is just 3.5 hours from Venice by train. A few days before we decided to take advantage of this. I had already seen Venice, but of course my mom and sister didn't. We were only there for a few hours, but had some time to wander through the windings streets, gaze at the canals and gondolas, and make it to San Marco's square. We even caught a view of the Grand Canal just as the sun was setting. Our journey back to Villach was an adventure in itself. From the bus that didn't exist, to the inability to buy tickets to Villach in the train station, to very rapid Italian rants on the train at midnight, we definitely got a full experience.

Early on the 2^nd my mom and sister hastily packed and took an early train back to Vienna—making it just in time. It was such a wonderful visit. Finally, a few weeks later, I am just beginning to process how these worlds collided. For sure it was an unforgettable visit =)

Preparing for Christmas

(Warning: my English is getting a little strange. I speak a lot of German + hear almost-English at work all day long. Let's see how it will sound in May)

So... the Christmas season in Austria is basically Awesome—whether you're religious or not. And this year since I'm not in school, my December is not marked by end-of-the-semester papers and finals which is pretty nice.

For those of you who don't know, my mom and sister are arriving in Austria TOMORROW!! I am so excited and can't wait to show them everything! I'm so grateful that my grandmother and late-grandfather were able to make this possible. I'll have a lot to say about all the wonderful things we do together, so today's the last day I have to discuss some things I did before they got here:

--Went to Christmas concerts in Villach and Spittal (a more mountainous town of about 16,000) where 90% of the songs were in German, and most of the texts they read aloud were in Carinthian dialect

--Passed by the Villach Christmas market nearly every day on the main street. Each stand sold something different: from hats and mittens, to baked goods, to incense, to homemade dolls.

--heard lots of Italian at said Christmas market stands, since lots of Italians liked to go visit Villach's Christmas market

--Gluehwein at the Christmas markets: mugs of warm spiced wine + heated tents + music = wonderfully cozy

--Visited the ice skating rink just off the main street.

--Readings, concerts, and karaoke at my favorite cafe (I think I spend much more time there than in my own, mildly creepy living room)

--Baking American-style cookies

--Eating other people's Austrian cookies

--A Christmas party with my teachers IN the school. The teachers' room was transformed into a buffet area, and every time I looked up, my table was refreshed with a new bottle of wine.

--Gaping at the few Santa Claus decorations, all of which were sans reindeer and mostly had him up against the window staring inside...

A Reason the German Word for Nightmare Translates to Alp Dream

So, this post is only about two weeks behind—hooray.

One fascinating and somewhat terrifying tradition I experienced here was Krampus.

On December 6^th in Austria and elsewhere in Europe, Saint Nicholas visited the houses of all the good boys and girls and brought them small gifts—usually chocolate. The day (or now days) before that, something else happens—the bad children were punished by creatures known as Krampus.

These creatures really are the stuff of nightmares:

(source: theatlantic.com)

This creature in some form of another, has been a part of Alpine folklore for over one thousand years, and has accompanied Saint Nicholas since the seventeenth century. Within Austria, this tradition was taken much more seriously in the more mountainous regions, especially Tirol, Salzburg, and to an extent Carinthia—my region, not as much around Vienna (we'll see what tourism and some sort of performance of an imagined authenticity does to this—if anything).

One way that people engaged this tradition of Krampus was to make or wear completely handmade Krampus costumes.

The masks were often handcarved from pine wood and could cost several hundred Euros alone.

(source: the atlantic.com)

The hairy/furry bodies were often made from over a dozen goat or sheep skins, take days to produce and also cost a few hundred Euros.

Many of them also had really large bells attached to the back of the costumes that would ring loudly every time the Krampus walked, a forboding warning of a monstrous creature nearing ever closer.

My observations/experiences:

I first came across Krampus during my first visit to Austria in August 2008 at our language camp. The instructors told us about this tradition, and pretended that in Gmunden, people even dress like them in August to scare away tourists (not really true). Joke was on us when they had their friends dress up and run after all the exchange students in the language camp's basement—unforgettable

Then, later in December I went to my first Krampulauf.

(Altmuenster Krampuslauf, December 2008)

In this Krampuslauf, it was basically a parade where dozens and dozens of people dressed as Krampusse walked past. If you were near the front, they reach at you to mess up your hair, hit you with sticks, throw flour on you, or other actions.

According to some people I talked to both this time and in '08, these parades were really safe and tame—almost too much so. The Krampus were not allowed to do such things to really really small children, and there was plenty of police presence to make sure the Krampus (many of whom had several drinks before beginning the parade) didn't do anything too crazy. Each Krampus also has a number on their costume, so if they did anything really inappropriate you have a way of finding out who it was.

This year, I also went to two Krampuslaeufe—one on a Friday night in Villach, the other on Saturday in Klagenfurt. It was pretty fun. In Villach one took my hat and made me chase it, and another hit my leg hard enough for me to feel it a good while later. Some of the TAs and I pretended to flirt with them, which was also fun and silly.

I knew about the Krampus tradition in other pars of Austria. I heard stories from very rural areas (including where my host grandmother lives) where Krampus stormed the schools and scared kids so bad they passed out. Places where wearing 3 pairs of pants (including ski pants) was sound advice. But do I feel like I missed out? Not really.

In Vilach and Klagenfurt, I was not really a tourist. Attending a Krampuslauf was a social event—not a tourist attraction. I was participating in my community's event, no matter the scale. Perhaps I didn't yet know any people behind the masks, but could tell my students in the crowd did. This was my way of celebrating Krampus, grounded in a specific time and place--not some abstracted, timeless Krampus "tradition". And it was wonderful.

Now.... for all the pics! (Klagenfurt ones taken by Karen)

from the Villach Krampuslauf, the lights in the back are our ice-skating rink.

Me, Donatella (the Italian TA at my school), and Marie (the French TA at my school)

Little kid Krampus in Villach

British and American TAs and Krampus in Klagenfurt

Krampus and Fire in Klagenfurt

Some of the images/extra research taken from:

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/12/krampus-saint-nicholas-dark-companion/100639/

November Weekend Getaways

As I got ready for my time teaching in Austria, there were a lot of things I had to keep in mind. One of which was the rather strange pay schedule. Unlike most jobs in the United States, my paycheck came once a month instead of every two weeks. Another issue with the program was that most assistants don't receive their first paycheck until November 15^th. Our teaching contract+ filling out all the paperwork starts on October 1^st—but for October pay info to be processed it needed to be turned in in mid-September. So once November 15^th rolled around, lots of TAs all around the country received two months salary all at once.

^ That was basically my life some weeks ago. It was great. Even better? The 15^th fell on a Friday

Since I finally had money, it was time to do a little travel!

Bamberg, Germany (November 15th-17^th)

Luckily in my time here, I already made a few solid friendships. Two of the people I spend the most time with are Stefan and Karen.

Karen is another American TA who lives in Villach. She's great for rescuing me from my landlord's laundry habits (long story) and accepting my obsession with knitting

(us—watching a Norwegian knitting marathon show)

Another friend here is Stefan. He moved to Villach about a year and a half ago from Germany, and has been instrumental in me meeting other new-ish people in Austria outside the group of Tas.

Stefan is from a little village near Bamberg and wanted to go back for the weekend, so he invited me and Karen along!

It's about a 5 hour car trip from Villach to Bamberg (8 hours by train) which we filled with lots of singalongs.

We stayed at his parents' house. They and Stefan's sister were super nice and welcoming.

That Saturday Stefan went to visit some of his old friends while Karen and I explored the city. It just so happened that one of Karen's good friends also lived in Bamberg, so we hung out with her and she showed us all around the city.

I have to say, it was VERY different from what I'm used to in Austria. Bamberg's influence was stronger centuries before Austria's was. In fact, at one point in time Villach belonged to the diocese of Bamberg. I definitely made an effort to take pictures of the Michaelsberg Monastery, something I remember learning about in one of my old professor's classes.

Even though Bamberg has about the same population of Villach now, it certainly seems much bigger. Maybe because this part of Germany is much more densely populated? Who knows? Anyway, great city; I wouldn't be opposed to tagging along with Stefan again.

Vienna, Austria (November 22nd-24^th)

While Bamberg for me was a place of new people and new sights, Vienna was all about nostalgia.

I had visited Vienna a few times before during my exchange year

And did some of the touristy sights. So this time I was able to go to ones I missed at a more liesurely pace.

More importantly though, it was super nostalgia. I got to meet up with all sorts of wonderful people!

I got to meet up with Amelia!!

Amelia and I were great friends all through New College. She put up with me when I first got back to the States and wouldn't shut up about Austria. So this marriage of New College+ Austria was a long time coming.

While we were both indecisive and terrible with directions, we still managed to see some good sights including the Modern Art Museum (where only AFTER I left did I realize how much fun it would be to screw with people and sit and start knitting in the middle of the exhibit halls),

The Natural History Musuem–with the Venus of Willendorf! Also, me nerding out way too much about HOW knowledge was represented in the museum—both the older parts and newly renoved parts. *Heterotopia-gasm*

Plus Amelia taking us to a ballet—3 Euro for standing room—not bad at all.

Not to mention a bunch of Christmas markets+ Gluehwein

Another part of my visit included finally meeting up with classmates from exchange! While I saw my host families last time I traveled around Austria, I didn't meet up with any classmates. This time I got to meet up with Eva for most of the afternoon and Petra for some of the evening. A lot of fun catching up—seeing what changed, what didn't and just having that time to hang out. I never thought my New College and exchange parts of my life would be so neatly reconciled, but there you go.

And I'm looking forward for a few weeks from now when I'll be BACK in Vienna—meeting up with my mom and sister!

Life in Austria: Teaching

So, I knew I'm pretty bad about writing blog posts, so hopefully this next series of posts will make up for things. Now that I've been here almost two months, I want to write a series of themed posts about my “life in Villach.” This post will be about teaching.

So what are they paying me to do anyway?

I am employed here as an English teaching assistant. This means I go around to different Austrian classrooms and present lessons and activities on various topics. The main goal of this is to engage the students and get them to talk and communicate in English.

I present almost no grammar lessons and am not responsible for grading any tests or assignments. The techers are also always present in the classroom, but usually don't interfere. Some of the topics I've talked about include:

-Diversity in Florida

-Halloween

-Fracking

-Discussing an assigned play

-Discussing assigned articles

-The American school system

Though it was a little difficult at first figuring out if something was too boring/difficult/confusing, I feel like I caught on pretty fast as to what worked and what didn't. Occasionally a lesson will work GREAT with one class, and just okay with another.

Planning the lessons has also been a lot of fun. I end up going on internet research tangents about stuff I'd never look up otherwise. I also learned just how many different ESL resources there are out there.

Who are my students?

I am one of the lucky TAs who is only assigned one school. I teach thirteen hours a week. Some classes I have every week, and a few I have every other week. So, all together I am assigned 16 different classes. I've met over 300 different students, so, unfortunately I have almost NO chance at remembering more than a few names.

I teach at a Gymnasium school which means it is a high school more geared toward academic study at a university. Some other types of high schools students can attend include a HTL, one geared toward architecture and engineering; a HAK, geared toward business; a Tourismusschule, geared toward tourism and hospitality, among other types.

Age- and grade-wise my students are between 14 and 18, their grades equal to that at an American high school. The numbering system is a bit different though:

5^th form= 9^th grade

6^th form= 10^th grade

7^th form= 11^th grade

8^th form= 12^th grade

At the other types of high schools the numbering system is still different, and many students attend high school for 5 years instead of 4 at other schools.

Other “fun facts” about School

-The students all take the same classes together, and have their own classroom for most subjects. The teachers move around instead. This means each class really has its own personality, since the students have been together for so long.

-Since teachers don't have their own classrooms, they all share a Konferenzzimmer and have a spot at a table where they do lesson planning. Students aren't allowed in.

-Students have to wear house shoes, or slippers, inside.

-They don't have the same classes everyday. Most subjects are 1-3 times a week. The students' days also end at different times every day

-There's no real cafeteria. There's a place to buy sandwiches, pizza, salad, fruit, etc during the 5 or 15 minute breaks between classes, or during free periods. Some students also leave campus in the afternoon if they have several free periods to go home (if they live close) or to the nearby supermarket or Kebap restaurant

-There are no “school zones” students pick which school they want to attend. This means a few people commute from really rural villages—or even from the next town over. The other American TA's flatmate attends a HTL, lives in dorm-style housing during the week, and goes home on the weekends.

-Classes also have some pretty epic field trips. One class I didn't meet until my third week teaching because they were in London for over a week.