Paris Part I

Someday, I will figure out how to upload photos and not have them show up in reverse order. Today is not that day.

This is taken in the Louvre. It's the Rescue of Psyche by Amour. So beautiful and romantic!

You know what this is.
The Pyramids outside the Louvre.

My favorite graffiti in Paris. It's on the Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter, where Geoff and I had dinner every night.

Wien Part II

This is the central building in the Wien Cemetery. If I remember correctly, it's the biggest cemetery in Europe.

A grave I thought was especially beautiful.
In front of Schloss Belvedere. It was my favorite castle in Wien, not least because it houses a beautiful art museum. Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is the highlight of the collection. I had seen reproductions of it about a thousand times, but seeing the real thing was very moving.
Here's the castle from a distance. The roofs symbolize the tents of the Turks who laid siege to Wien. Prinz Eugene, builder of Schloss Belvedere, began his rise to amazing fortune by defeating them. Interestingly, he was hunchbacked and a Frenchman. He offered his services first to the Sun King, but was turned down for not being pretty enough. Prinz Eugene went next to the Austrian Emperor, who care more that he was a brilliant tactician than that he wouldn't win any beauty contests.
The Wien Ferris wheel. When I make my post on Paris, there will be yet another Ferris wheel.
In short: Wien/Vienna is beautiful, interesting, and amazingly cold!

Wien Part I

I went to Vienna as part of my History class, and we were sent to some pretty shady areas.

Some of them were even filled with hooligans.

Me enjoying Cayi Limon, traditional Turkish lemon tea.
A rather impressive-although not very old-church in Mexikoplatz.

Me in front of Castle Schoenbrunn, home of Maria Theresia. This is where Marie Antoinette grew up. I was kind of disappointed in the castle, but there was an amazing Christmas market in front of it.

Lots of News!

Well, as you would expect from letting two months go by since I wrote, I have a lot to talk about! I also have a lot of studying to do these days, so I think I'll be catching up on this blog in my study breaks.

First, in answer to my last post: my mom has now figured out Skype! I really should have cut her more slack, because she is very much of the generation that finds computers mystifying. So I got to see her, not to mention the dogs and cat, for the first time in over four months! It was very nice, especially since I'm starting to feel homesick. Bizarrely, one of the things I feel homesick for is my mom's maroon Honda Odyssey. It's not like the car itself is special, it's just a big symbol for Home for me.

I won't write about this properly now, because it needs a post of its own with photos, but I went to Vienna! It was a trip with my history class, it was completely exhausting, and I enjoyed it very much.

And perhaps the biggest news of all: Geoff has been here, and is now on to his job in Ireland. We were in Graz for Christmas, Paris for New Year's Eve. I'll be writing a post about all that soon.

Now I'm in class again and studying for finals, and the time is going fast. Before you know it, my time here will be half over! It's hard to believe. Harder still is that some of the good friends I've made here will be going home. There's so much to be sad over. Luckily, there's just as much to look forward to.

Museums and Perspectives

Yesterday I had quite a museum day. At long last, I visited Schloss Eggenberg, our local palace and museum of Medieval and Renaissance art and old coins. It was very impressive, even though it wasn't the best time of year for it. I'll try to post some photos later.

Because I had bought a ticket for the castle museum, I could also go to other museum with the same ticket. And that's how, after much anticipation, I ended up at the Kunsthaus. Modern art is very hit or miss for me. I tend to like about 1% of it, so a collection needs to be pretty large before I'll like many of its pieces! The collection in the Kunsthaus is very small. However, two works of art really stood out for me. One was a collection of mechanical spiders that apparently go for a walk every day at 3 o'clock. (Sadly, I missed this.) The other was very simple and very witty. The artist had a shipping box on the floor, with a highly pretentious title and a note that due to unpacking issues, it could not be removed, and the artist requested it be presented in the box. I like modern art with a sense of humor as well as a message.

As far as perspectives go, being here has really made me realize something about my family. We are close, and enjoy each other's company a lot. However, 'out of sight, out of mind' is very, very true for us. I've talked to my family (specifically my mother) once in the 75 days I've been here. I called her. Similarly, no one has Skype set up, despite having know that I would do this for months. In comparison, Geoff had Skype within a couple of days of me being here, long before I even had internet to Skype with.

It's not a case of my family not loving me or caring about me. My mom has done many, many things for me since I've been here, from loaning me money and helping me get it transfered, to sending me a care package at Halloween. The thing is, it's generally things I ask for. And when I don't start communication, it doesn't seem to happen at all.

This also isn't just about me. The same thing happened when my brother moved to New York. Clearly, no matter how much we love each other, we love each other loosely. When someone is out of reach, we seem to just get on with our lives. It's interesting for me to realize this, because it's absolutely a habit I have as well, and I want to change that.

Graffiti in Graz

Happy Halloween! Since Halloween is about transformation, if just for one night, I thought it would be a good time to post some of the transformative graffiti I've photographed in Graz. One of my classes here is on art in public spaces. In my opinion, several of these pieces qualify.

There are some amazing artists in the world of Graz graffiti. I like the Banksy style designs in particular. Here are a few of my favorites.

An Ode to the Older Ladies of Graz

They have ovaries of steel. To wit: today, I saw a lady who looked about 70 jaywalking across a busy street very, very slowly. A) jaywalking is a big no here and b) she absolutely had to walk past a crosswalk in order to get there. But that isn't the best example I've seen. It just reminded me of something that happened a couple of weeks ago.

I was walking home, and had to cross another very busy street. (This one, there's no way you could jaywalk it.) There was a woman, about 60 years old, standing next to the button you press for the walk sign. She was close enough that I would have had to get creepily close to press it, so I just stood next to her. Finally the light changed, and the street was clear...but the walk sign didn't come on. We stood there and waited. Finally, I asked her very politely, "Haben Sie es gedruckt?" (Did you press the button? in German).

She said, very indignantly, "Doch ich habe es gedruckt!" (Of course I pressed it!) Then she pressed it anyway, and the cross sign instantly came on. It is at this point she gained my eternal admiration, at much the same level and for the same reasons as Miss Piggy.

Without the slightest irony or self consciousness, she demanded, "Warum hast du nicht frueher gefragt!!" (Why didn't you ask me earlier!!)

Wow, lady. Just wow.