Freedom! Independence! The last final is over, so all is right with the world. With these last few free days in Vienna, I’m going to be conducting a Christmas shopping spectacular, so if there’s anything in particular that you want from Austria, get your orders in now. I’m hoping I can hold out on the not-having-to-wear-a-coat-this-entire-semester as the finish line is in sight and the weather forecast is predicting above freezing highs for the rest of the week. I feel it will be a different story as I return home to Pocatello and its below zero temperatures, but not to fear, North Carolina is also in the near future.

For all you doubters out there (Genessa), I actually have had to do schoolwork this semester. It hasn’t just been a big vacation. And to prove it, let me just tell you what I have to finish up in the next week and a half. For my German language course I have to write a 350 word essay (natürlich auf Deutsch) comparing Christmas traditions in the U.S. and Austria. To boil it down, the rituals here could scar one for life (case in point) while in America it’s more about peaceful manger scenes and reindeer with glowing red noses. The final in this class is on the subjunctive, which I’m a definite fan of because it’s all about the umlaut. If I had enough money, I would build a library like the one in Beauty and the Beast=Wenn ich genug Geld hätte, würde ich eine Bibliothek wie in Beauty and the Beast bauen.

I just finished up a paper on Franz Joseph for History of the Habsburg Empire, which was either supposed to be 3-5, 5-6, or 6-10 pages long. Guideline is a foreign word to Austrian professors. We’ll see how the final goes... Another interesting final should be the one for Music Survey. On the same day I need to hand in a 4-5 page paper examining whether Schoenberg followed in Beethoven’s footsteps or not. The professor said we wouldn’t need to do any outside research. Right. I also need to squeeze in two concerts before the final and review them.

Returning to the German side of things, for my Österreich in Text und Film class I have to write 1000-1200 words about Brief einer Unbekannten, finish reading Die größere Hoffnung/present on it in class, and take the oral final. For Österreichische Kulturgeschichte in addition to the final I need to write a 4-5 page paper exploring the district I live in, which was known as Im Saugraben an der Wien auf der Gstätten (“In the sow pit on the Wien on the meadow”) in the seventeenth century.

So much to do, so little time. Well, I should probably start getting ready for German. Oh wait, today’s a national holiday, and classes are cancelled.

In order to most effectively express the whirlwind that was last weekend, I feel a timetable is an appropriate form of communication.

Friday, November 24, 2006
1:00- finally “bedtime for Bonzo,” as Bonzo had put off packing until then
5:30- alarm went off
6:10- walked toward U3 Neubaugasse to catch the subway to Erdberg
6:30- frantically searched Erdbergstrasse until locating RyanAir shuttle to Bratislava
6:50- bus left for Bratislava
8:20- arrived at Bratislava airport
10:00- flight departed to London Stansted
11:15- arrived in Stansted
11:45- Stansted Express train left for London (English countryside is pretty sweet. I especially liked the cows...or were they horses?)
12:30- arrived at Liverpool Street Station, which is quite lacking in the whole map department
13:00- after a seemingly unnecessarily long orientation time, set off (at what some would say is a “brisk” pace) for Tower of London
13:15- snapped a couple pictures of the fortress. Polynesian man asked me to take a picture of him with Tower Bridge. Apparently accidentally pressing “Mode” messes up some camera functions. Who knew? Also in response to my bewilderment about the peachy blur on the display, Polynesian man kindly explained that I needed to move my finger out of the way of the lens. Clearly I was firing on all cylinders.
13:30- crossed Tower Bridge
13:40- unfortunate episode with the puddle along Thames Path
13:50- visited HMS Belfast, London Bridge (as in “London Bridge is” not “London Bridges”) and Southwark Cathedral
14:00- walked past Shakespeare’s Globe and Tate Modern
14:15- greatly impressed by the London Eye (and the sweet statues guarding County Hall)
14:25- made my way across Westminster Bridge
14:30- visited Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, and the general Westminster Abbey area
14:40- strode on to St. James’s Park
14:55- visited Buckingham Palace (Definitely not designed for the in-and-out visitor in mind. Trashy fences without gates.)
15:10- hastened along The Mall
15:25- passed by Duke of York Column and through Admiralty Arch
15:30- missed out on a prime statue photo-op with the lions on Trafalgar Square (At least I got to photograph others enjoying the giant statueness, right?)
15:35- continued along A4 and/or Strand
15:38- started regretting bringing only one pair (blister inducing) shoes
15:40- rain began
15:50- finally decided to break out the umbrella
15:51- rain stopped
15:55- visited St. Paul’s Cathedral
16:00- started heading back toward Liverpool Street Station
16:10- African American man asked me if I worked in this area
16:12- Asian woman asked if I knew where the closest post office was (Clearly I looked like a local.)
16:20- caught Stansted Express back to the airport
17:30- met Melissa for the first time in six months (woo-hoo!)
17:50- slid in to greet (and startle) Joy
18:50- bus to Birmingham left, 20 minutes late. Oh, National Express.
19:30- Joy made the acquaintance of our lovely National Express driver. If there only had been an “accident.”
22:00- arrived at Digbeth coach station, 20 minutes early (Clearly all the traffic laws were obeyed by said driver.)
22:30- checked into Birmingham Central Backpackers hostel (sparkly purple bathroom decor, anyone?) and hopped into bed for the night.

(Because this is bordering on tedium, I’m going to switch over to narrative for a bit.)

Saturday was the big day as we were planning on visiting Cadbury World. There was a moment of crisis when we were told that we had to have reservations before we could get a train ticket, but no worries, we beat the system. The word that best describes Cadbury World? I’d say “magical.” From the company propaganda to the Cadbury Dance Dance Revolution, this was a one-of-a-kind experience. Another one-of-a-kind of experience was had later that night when we wandered into a Congolese wedding at St. Martin’s Church. The rest of the time was spent shopping (scorpion lollipop, anyone?)/eating/watching movies until...

Sunday, November 23, 2006
0:30- returned to Digbeth coach station to catch National Express back to Stansted
0:30-2:00- friendly French émigré (okay, she didn’t leave because of political reasons, but it is of the language) told me her life story. It was quite interesting; I’m only afraid that the rest of the bus was trying to get some shut-eye.
4:30- arrived at Stansted
6:25- plane took off
9:35- arrived in Bratislava
9:45- attempted to rid myself of my last SKKs. Hawaii toast and hot chocolate, a winning combination.
10:30- shuttle left
11:45- arrived back in Vienna
12:15- arrived back home

My body was screaming for sleep, but sleep I could not. Trashy hot chocolate. It’s all right, though. Rest is negligible with such a weekend.

Come on, you know something’s important when it has its own train station.

Interested in more pictures? Check out the England album.