Flying Solo in Croatia Part 1!

Greetings, friends! I have safely returned from a fantastic 10 days in Croatia, and am now attempting to get caught up on all the emails, errands, and work that I happily let slide while away. Here’s a recap of where I went, what I did, and my general feelings on the country of Croatia!

Zagreb: A conundrum of a city

I began my trip in the capital city of Zagreb. I had read that Zagreb is often wrongly-overlooked by visitors anxious to get to the coast, so I thought I’d check out what the capital has to offer. To be honest, I’m not sure how I felt about it all in all. Granted, the weather was pretty terrible, which probably skewed my view a bit, but I didn’t really LOVE the city. It was nice, but I didn’t feel any kind of strong attachment when I left. That said, there were some really cool aspects. The city is divided into Upper Town and Lower Town. Lower Town is the newer part, with lots of museums and some very nice parks. Most of the architectural gems are in Lower Town, but I liked Upper Town better. It had the narrow cobblestone streets, random staircases, smaller and quainter homes, and hidden alleyways that are typical of an old country town. I climbed to the top of Lostrscak tower, which offered a 360 degree view of the city as well as the mountains that surround the city, and it was really gorgeous. All the roofs have the same red-orange tiles, so they look really cool from above. I have to apologize because I don’t have any pictures from Zagreb. I dropped my camera in the ocean in Zadar, so I lost my Zagreb pictures. I know. It’s horrible. But that’s what the internet is for, so if you’re really interested in Zagreb you can google it.

The only picture I had on my phone from Zagreb. A horribly-executed selfy of me in front of my favorite building in Zagreb, St.  Mark's church. The roof is so cool!!

My favorite museum in Zagreb was called the Museum of Broken Relationships. Basically it’s a collection of artifacts people have donated that represent their own broken relationships (some break ups, some deaths). Each item is accompanied by a description, or in some cases, a stpory. There was everything from photos to stuffed animals, to dresses, to an axe. There was even a lock of hair. Gross. Some stories were heart-breaking, some were hilarious, but all were super interesting. The museum claims its aim is to act as a cathartic outlet for the trauma associated with heartbreak. It was a really really cool museum, so I highly recommend a visit to anyone who goes to Zagreb!

The other highlight of Zagreb was Mirogoj, the city cemetery! As someone who truly loves cemeteries, when I heard that Zagreb’s is known as one of the coolest in all of Europe, it was top of my list of attractions to see. It definitely lived up to my mental image! One thing I thought was especially cool was that everything and everyone was mixed together. Graves with crosses were next to graves with Jewish stars. People who died in 1860 were buried next to those who died in 1995. All the grave markers were really beautiful and not tacky, and there were super interesting monuments. I loved it. I only wish I spoke Croatian so I could read the dedications on the graves. I had fun trying and filing to read the Hebrew inscriptions—there were a surprising number of them! (The website is in Croatian, but at least pictures defy language barriers!) Apparently Mirogoj is extra awesome on All Saints Day because the graves are all decorated, but I was in Split by then, so I missed out. 

ZADAR: Where my camera went to die

Stop two was a city on the coast, Zadar. I LOVED Zadar. It is situated on a peninsula and is still surrounded by the 600 year old walls originall built as protection from the Venetians and later the Turks (as my super chatty-chuck waiter told me very proudly while I was eating dinner one night: Ghenghis Khan, the Ottomans, and other bullies who tried to expand their empires never made it past Zadar!).  Inside the city walls are a lot of roman ruins, scattered amongst the stuff built later, so you can really walk, climb, kick, or picnic amongst them as you please. There are several old churches and palaces as well, and since I love old stuff, I found all of it to be very cool.

5 Wells Square

Ruins near the old Forum

Benedictine Convent and church with cool museum of old church art from the 12th-17th centuries

But what I loved most about Zadar was its vibe. First of all, my days in Zadar were the first bit of sunshine I had on the trip, and also my first glimpse of the ocean, so that certainly helped. The streets are made of smooth tan stone, not unlike Jerusalem stone (which makes me happy), and there are lots of galleries showcasing the work of local artists. One that I visted was filled with expecially cool work, and after I asked the artist a question, we ended up having a good 30-40 minute chat about everything from arts eucation to Hurricane Sandy, to the liberal arts ideal, to vegetable gardens. It was fabulous. This old man was not shy about sharing his opinions and rambling on and on to a complete stranger. That’s one thing I’ve found to be interesting about Croatia in general. They’re very proud of themselves, their county, and extremely willing to share that with others. It makes for a really great experience for a tourist like me who is interested in all that.

Probably the highlight of Zadar sight-seeing is the Wester Quay, which is home to the sea organ and salute to the sun. The sea organ is basically a set of steps that goes down into the ocean. There are holes in the steps that connect like pipes to holes in the ground above. When the tide comes in, the waves push air through the “pipes” to produce chords! At different times of day, they sound different. Sunset was definitely my favorite. Here’s a video!

You’ll also notice how gorgeous the sunset itself is. Apparently Alfred Hitchcock called it the most beautiful in the world. So there you go.

Here’s a video explaining the Salute to the Sun!

By the way, since I realized that I wasn't going to want to write a novel-lengthed blog about this trip and you wont want to read a novel-lengthed blog, I decided to add some videos into the mix because I learned in "How to be interesting 101" that mixed media is always a good thing. So I hope you enjoy my horrible-quality videos.

Until next time, when I'll share with you my experiences in Split and Dubrovnik! With many more pictures, this time, courtesy of the iPhone saving grace.

Fall here is very yellow

And gray. It's rather gloomy, which is depressing, especially because the weather channel website keeps lying to me, saying it's going to get sunny and then it just doesn't. But that's okay, the leaves are still beautiful! Here are some pictures from my hike on Monday:

We don't have as much color variety as in America, but there are still some very very pretty leaves!

In other news, we have the week off of school next week, because several holidays come close to each other (October 26th is the official National Holiday, and November 1 and 2 are All Saints and All Souls Days--because Austria is a Catholic country, we get lots of holidays!). Because I wanted to take advantage of these 10 days of no school, I'm going to CROATIA! Another TA and I will be traveling to Zagreb, Zadar, and Dubrovnik, and I have no idea what to expect, other than hopefully warmer weather! This means I'll be traveling on my birthday, too :)

Now you can all prepare yourselves for an exciting update when I get back!

Ghosts, Chairs, and Lots of Fog

I haven’t written in about a week, so here’s a little snapshot of what I’ve been up to lately!

Lessons: Now that I’m FINALLY done introducing myself to every class, I’ve been able to branch out to some more fun lessons. A few days before I’m scheduled to go to a given class, I always ask that teacher what he or she wants me to prepare. Sometimes it’s a lesson that’s related to what the class is studying (for example, one group is doing a unit on “extreme sports” so I did a lesson on Felix Baumgartner), other times it’s related to the season (I’ve done lots of Presidential election and Halloween lessons lately), and sometimes I’m just asked to discuss a text in the book (one day I had to lead a discussion on this song called “Who Killed Davey Moore?” which is about a boxer who dies and the argument about whose fault it is—not the cheeriest of topics, but we turned it into a debate so I think the kids had fun). I’ve had a lot of fun putting together the lessons where I’m given a little freedom. My Halloween lesson has been my favorite thus far. They do celebrate Halloween here, but it’s not as big a deal as it is in America. Generally their costumes are more traditional (witch, ghost, vampire) or classic (superman, princess). Because I always dress up in really bizarre costumes for Halloween, I showed the kids pictures of my costumes over the years. It was embarrassing, but funny. I also showed them this video called “Life and Death of a Pumpkin” but only the audio, so they didn’t know it was about a pumpkin, and they got really creeped out. Then I had them write their own scary stories in groups. The stories they came up with were really adorable and I can’t wait to do this lesson again in other classes. I think it was a hit!

Some of the pictures in my presentation--one of the less embarrassing ones

Sightseeing and other stuff: I had a free ticket to the “Vienna Furniture Museum,” so I decided to check it out yesterday. It was much cooler than I thought it would be! There were samples of Viennese or Austrian furniture from as far back as the early 1700s, all the way to modern designs, with a focus on the Hapsburgs of course (you can’t escape them here—I love it). One of my favorite parts of the museum was a series of exhibits that showed the pieces of furniture that were used in the Sissi movies. They had screens playing that showed movie clips in black and white, with the furniture pieces in color, so you could see where in the film the given chair or table was. And the clips were dubbed in various languages. The Chinese was hilarious.

The Hapsburgs: that's how they roll....badum chhhh

Visitors are allowed to test out the chairs and couches in this part of the museum!

On Saturday I was invited to go hiking with a group of other TAs. Unfortunately it was really misty and foggy so although we could tell that there should have been really gorgeous views from the places we were, we couldn’t actually see anything. It was kind of disappointing but we did end the day with a lovely picnic lunch in a playground on our way down the mountain. Plus, it was lovely spending time with nice people and seeing a new part of the area! Hopefully we’ll hike again soon, with more luck J

yay friends!

On Friday afternoon I visited the Prater, a very very old but quirky and fun amusement park in Vienna. It’s pretty reminiscent of a state fair or Coney Island, with really tacky rides and games, but a whole lot of character. Sadly we didn’t have time to actually take part in the attractions, but I made plans with the friends I was with to go back and experience it for real.

Vienna is so huge, so in order to see as much of it as possible, I’ve started this new thing where I get off the underground at a random stop I've never been to, and then walk around that area, searching for cool things. Usually I have no destination in mind; the goal is just to explore and see what I see. I’ll get to a street corner, look both ways, and whichever way looks cooler, I go down that street. Sometimes I stumble upon really pretty or exciting things! For example, on Saturday I found the house in which Franz Schubert died (that’s historical and cool, right?) and yesterday I found what is now my favorite church in Vienna. It was stunning. I’m excited to continue this method of exploring and see what else I discover!

Pop Goes the Culture: Julian le Play

Welcome to Part I of what will become an ongoing series about everything I learn in the world of Austrian pop culture. Today's topic, Austrian heart-throb Julian le Play. The other day I read in the horrible train-newspaper about a concert he gave to a million screaming teenage girls, so I decided to check him out. I actually really like his music!! He's not terribly original or anything, but his music is catchy and that's frankly all I need. Also, I can understand his lyrics, which helps. I would characterize him as an an Austrian Jack Johnson (but more exciting) mixed with an Austrian David Archuleta (but less annoying). He was on the TV show "Helden von Morgen" which is essentially X-Factor, American Idol, etc. This is his most popular song, and it's basically a love song of sorts, about these people who love each other but can't be together, so they imagine a life where they can. Kind of. Whatever. Even if you don't understand the song, the music video for "Mr. Spielberg" (below) is really great. So, enjoy!

And here's a video of him singing in English, a song that everyone loves, if that makes you feel better:

He also really looks like Zach Braff.

My Winter Home: Hofburg Palace

Last Thursday, I finally visited one of my most highly-anticipated destinations: the Hofburg Palace. The Hofburg was the winter home of the Hapsburg family, most recently the last Holy Roman Emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elizabeth, affectionately known as Sissi, and quite possibly the most beloved figure in Austrian history (I’d say she rivals Mozart for that role). You all known how I feel about palaces, so needless to say, I’ve been incredibly excited to go there since I heard I was going to be living near Vienna this year. My ticket came with a free, helpful, and very well-done audio guide, and I listened to every single one of the 75 tracks on it. I’m REALLY into Hapsburg history, people. The combination of the guide and the ever-informative Rick Steves guided tour made for an amazing learning experience. I wont share everything I learned, just the extra cool or interesting stuff. 

Main entrance to the palace. It's not like its huge or beautiful or intimidating or anything...

 The first part of the tour was the Silberkammer, or the Silver Treasury. Basically this was a series of rooms full of the Habsburg porcelain, silver, and gold tableware. Never in my life did I think I would enjoy walking through 10 rooms of plates and forks but I TOTALLY DID. The audioguide made it super interesting and the decadence of this tableware was really incredible. It was the perfect intro to the Hapsburg lifestyle. This was also the only part of the palace that allowed pictures, so this blog will be top heavy on the pictures. Some of the coolest things I learned:

The set of silverware above is one of the original sets owned by true life Hapsburg monarchs, but it is STILL USED TODAY AT STATE DINNERS. How cool is that? Imagine eating soup out of a spoon that was USED AND OWNED BY HAPSBURGS or whatever other foreign monarch was being entertained at the palace. So cool.

Until the 19^th century, porcelain was viewed as inadequate for tableware and was therefore only used for dessert, because dessert dishes didn’t need to be as fancy. Silver (or gold plated other stuff) was used for the rest of the meal. However, this began to change when, during the Napoleonic Wars, most of the silver in the Holy Roman Empire was melted down to use for money. Not wanting to give themselves special treatment, the Hapsburgs also melted down a lot of their silverware (not just utensils, but places, serving dishes, etc), meaning more porcelain was used, and sadly little of the older Habsburg silverware remains today. How utilitarian of them.

This is my favorite fun fact: the Hapsburgs had their own technique of napkin folding, which was only allowed to be used when the Emperor was dining. The method of folding the napkin is a tightly kept secret to this day. Only 2 people know how to do it and it is still only used when a “crowned head” is dining. Pretty cool and exclusive, if you ask me.

There's a cute little space for the rolls! So inventive!!

The next part of the tour was the Sissi Museum. As I mentioned before, Sissi is a hugely beloved character, so lots of interesting myths have sprung up concerning her life. The goal of the museum is to debunk these myths and paint a more accurate picture of her and her very tragic and misunderstood life. In short, Sissi was born to a royal family in Bavaria, but married future emperor Franz Josef when he was 23 and she 16. They were first cousins (jokes about Hapsburg inbreeding are not just clichés) and met at FJ’s 23^rd birthday. He fell instantly in love with her even though he was already betrothed to someone else. She said, of FJ, “I like the emperor, if only he wasn’t the emperor.” They married and moved to Vienna, and thus began Sissi’s downward spiral. She absolutely hated public life and being the object of the public’s scrutiny. She was apparently known as the most beautiful woman of her time, and she felt pressured by that image, causing her to engage in strange diets and experiment with various beauty regiments to maintain her appearance. She felt trapped and chained, which led her to adopt certain interests to escape. She was an award-winning horsewoman, incredible poet, and she travelled a lot, essentially running from her problems. When her only son (and heir) Rudolf committed suicide she lost it. She wore black the rest of her life, and never escaped the mourning. She was seriously depressed. 

FJ and Sissi, in the dress she wore for her inauguration

Sissi post-Rudolf's death

To make things more tragic, she was assassinated by an Italian anti-monarchist who had nothing against Sissi but rather needed a monarch to kill to bring attention to his cause. Because Sissi was in Geneva when he planned his attack and his intended target (a random Italian Prince) was not, she was the victim. Basically I find Sissi’s story to be incredibly tragic and absolutely fascinating. A few fun facts about Sissi: her hair was ankle-length and took 2-3 hours to style each day, and an entire day to wash. Her waist was 20 inches and she was obsessed with exercise and strange diets but also really really loved ice cream. One exhibit case had letters and diary entries from friends about how much ice cream she ate as well as receipts from pastry shops. A woman after my own heart.

The final part of the tour was the Imperial Apartments. Here I learned more about Franz Josef, who was also a very interesting character. He was apparently universally beloved by his people, even though he was a terrible military man, and is sometimes blamed for helping to start WW1. Oops. He took his “job” as “chief executor of the empire” very seriously and loved paperwork and bureaucracy (weirdo). He held an audience twice/week, during which any and every citizen of the empire could come speak with him, no matter how poor. And although he had minimal furniture in his room and slept on a very unflashy, small bed, he did have 14 personal servants so I can’t say he lived too modestly. In general the furniture in the apartments wasn’t super impressive but the rooms themselves were gorgeous, decorated in the Baroque/Rococo style that is expected of European royalty from the time period of FJ and Sissi (I would love to see what it looked like in the earlier times—some parts of the palace date back to the 13^th century). My favorite part was the set of hallways that had very detailed and imaginative tropical murals painted on the walls!

All in all, the Hofburg was awesome. It was definitely more informative than fantasy-indulging (like I was expecting), but it was a super super interesting kind of informative. And, because FJ and Sissi are very important to Austrian history, I’m glad I’m more aware. I find their story quite intriguing. Also, my ticket gets me into the inside of Schönbrunn which I think should definitely fulfill my Princess-fantasy requirements. So we all have that to look forward to. Thanks for reading, I hope you learned something!!

More Questions!

Since I am still meeting new students, I'm still presenting my introductory lesson, and therefore exposing myself to the fun yet dangerous Question and Answer time where the rules are: Ask me literally anything you can think of even if it's stupid, I just want to hear you speak English. Here are some more gems I received in the past two days:

1. Do you know George Clooney?
2. Do you know Justin Bieber?
3. McDonalds or Burger King?
4. Have you ever seen One Direction? (another snarky student replied--"They're from England, not California. DUH")
5. Have you ever seen the Hollywood sign?
6. Do you watch Sailor Moon?
7. McDonalds or Burger King?
8. What is your favorite TV Show? Do you like How I Met Your Mother? Who is Ted’s wife? When will we find out who his wife is?
9. Do hamburgers taste good?
10. McDonalds or Burger King? (No joke, I got this about 5 times. Apparently its a big debate)
11. Who is your favorite celebrity? Johnny Cash?
12. Do you know Gangam Style? Do you like it?

I hope teaching never gets old, because right now it's totally awesome.

Wanderung im Wienerwald: I have no idea where I am BUT IT IS BEAUTIFUL

I don’t teach on Mondays so I decided to go on a hike today. The trouble was, the two maps I have of trails surrounding Purkersdorf are horrible, and no matter how hard I tried to follow them, I kept losing my place. So I ended up using a combination of posted signs pointing out landmarks, a red and white trail marking painted on trees (no idea what trail it refers to, but I was following it), intuition with regards to direction, and an open-minded-lets-explore-even-if-we-get-lost attitude to make my way through the woods. The strategy worked surprisingly well, and I ended up stumbling upon some incredible views. Pictures to follow:

The best part of the hike was my decision to follow signs to the "Aussichtwarte" which I assumed would be a nice view point clearing kind of thing. What I found, however, was a HUGE tower (see below) that went up 126 steps to a platform with an unreal 360 degree view of the whole valley below. SO GREAT.

A few lessons I learned today:

1. When you hike through the woods the day after a full day of non-stop rain, there will be a lot of mud, and you will slip in it. Repeatedly.
2. When a path diverges, the correct direction to go is always up. More often than not, you will be rewarded with a beautiful view.
3. Do not let yourself get a One Direction song stuck in your head before hiking. It will drive you crazy by kilometer 2.

Back to the classroom tomorrow! I have to talk about violence on Wednesday...need to think about planning that one...

BONUS: A video of my view from the top of the tower!