Long time no see!

August 04, 2014 - I have modified the original post to remove the broken photos. Most of the text remains, except where it references the photos. 

I apologize for the delay in updates. It seems that everything that could go against me - did.

My computer broke. This computer is less than 3 months old and cost me $1000. I purchased it in August. I opened the lid and found it in this state. Now, I know enough about LCD screens to recognize that as bad. But this is where it gets funny. Not more than two weeks before, one of the other girls in my group, came back from a Mexican restaurant and found her computer in the exact same state. This is the kicker: She has the same model, purchased around the same time, from Best Buy as well.

I have never purchased a Toshiba before this - and, unless they stand by their product and actually repair my computer with the warranty - I will never have another Toshiba anything again.

My final paper for International Law had been finished - but I still had a final paper for International Relations to write and research. So, I was now at the mercy of the school computer. Where Becky's computer had half the screen (thank goodness for Windows 7 snap to fit!) to work on her paper with - mine only had the top 1/4 - the rest of the screen flickered in a way in which I couldn't see anything (I could fumble the controls enough to pull up iTunes and use my computer as a $1000 crappy radio).

Let me tell you about the computer labs at the Webster campus in Vienna. Firstly - they aren't made for all day research/writing considering the wooden chairs that are provided. The campus goes in waves - the computer lab gets extremely loud at some times. Usually around lunch (which means that it is break time for me once I can no longer drown the sound out with my iPod), and it is not 24 hours. Which meant, that my writing was at the mercy of the computer lab hours (8:30-9:30p if I recall correctly, except Saturday - only til 2:30 and Sunday its completely closed). When you have a major paper to write and can only use campus computers and you have limited days to write it - it was by far the most unbelievably frustrated thing.

And - not only did I lose my ability to work at home. I lost my ability to communicate with my family and friends - and I lost my entertainment on my 12 hour journey to Bangkok.

So, Toshiba is really high on my shit list at the moment. My dad is awesome and mailed my old laptop to Bangkok (Sony rocks!) - but I was pretty much sans-computer for all of October.

So, what all did I do between my (forever ago) last entry and today?

First, I went to Prague, Czech Republic. I have to say - the whole EEC/European Union/Whatever - is making me super sad. Mostly because I don't get stamps in my passport anymore. On the other hand - you know they could make some good money at the border selling 'souvenir' passport stamps. JS.

Prague was so beautiful! I met some awesome people at the hostel. I will say - this is an observation I have made after years of hosteling: Pretty certain there are no Australians in Australia. It doesn't seem to matter where in the world I am, when I am at a hostel, there are always Australians present. Not that this is a bad thing - I actually find it quite incredible. Anyway, I took a tour of Prague, it was a great tour of the city and the castle grounds. I also splurged on a river dinner cruise the last evening, where the musician hired to entertain us thought My Heart Will Go On was an appropriate song to play on a boat -_-. I also walked by the house of Franz Kafka, it was closed which was sad to me, and I didn't have time to visit the Kafka museum, but I have been a fan of Kafka since I read the Metamorphosis so it was cool to see that.

The astronomical clock in Prague's town center was phenomenal  though I would say it wasn't worth waiting around for the "show" at the top of every hour (if you stumble upon it great). Our tour guide taught us how to read the clock, though today I can not remember, I am sure it available on the internet somewhere.

What struck me most about Prague was how incredibly beautiful it was. It struck me in a bad way, because it made me realize that I was not expecting it to be beautiful. I think if you had asked me what I envisioned of the Czech Republic before going to Prague, the mentality I had probably would reflect more of a Cold-War-Era style of thinking about the Soviet Bloc. I tend to consider myself a very open-minded person, so anytime I am confronted with dealing with my own prejudices of any kind, it's always very unnerving. Mark Twain once said "Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness" and I think it most certainly rings true. Travel makes you confront your own misconceptions about the people and places outside of your walls. The process for me is unsettling because it makes me wonder what other pre-concieved notions I have about other places that I am not actively aware of. Prague was never high on my list of "must see" destinations, not for any particular reason that I knew of - but mostly because of this misconception I had that was rooted far deeper than even I knew. I am glad that my cousin, Laura, encouraged me to go - it would be a shame if I had missed it - because it is now on my list of must-return places, and quite possibly one of my favorite cities in Europe.

So: here are a few shots from "Pretty Praha" - you can see them all HERE and HERE

Prague was my last out-of-country excursion for the remainder of my time in Vienna.

Webster arranged for us to take a tour of the Jewish quarters in Vienna. You can see the photos of that HERE

I celebrated my birthday on September 27. I had an amazing birthday! This morning I went out to Mödling with Mom's friend's parents (keep up with me here). They gave me a tour of historic Mödling and then took me to their house for lunch. They stuffed me with the most A-MA-ZING traditional Austrian food - and all the veggies came from their garden - and fresh squeezed Lindenberry juice from their garden!

Then, they took me to a 12th century castle. Very - very Mid-evil castle! It was awesome. After, we drove to a 13th century monastery. All of this was a drive through the Austrian countryside. The leaves were beginning to turn - so the mix of greens, oranges, and yellows was spectacular! Afterwords, we went back to their place for coffee and pastries and conversation.

Kara and I went to Stephensplatz and found a cafe where Beethoven used to dine at - and had wine and desert. When we got back, it was insisted I go see Samantha - and I walked in and everyone was there - they had baked a cake and had Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for me - and made me a really awesome birthday card from a Vienna city map!

Here are a few photos from my day in Mödling, you can see the rest HERE

Me at a Castle - I'd look good with a castle!

Castle Lichtenstein from a distance

My gracious hosts!

My birthday gift to myself was a day trip to Salzburg for the Sound of Music Tour that weekend. Yes, it's overly touristy and campy - but it was so much fun. I highly recommend doing the tour because it gets you out of the city and into the "alive hills". Really the views were incredible. Here are a few shots, the rest are HERE

Do-Re-Mi Fountain

Me - doing the Do-Re-Mi pose at these statues

I took a break from my final paper writing to go on a Wine Tasting Excursion with Webster. We went way out into wine country - to Retz, which sits right on the border of the Czech Republic. It was a nice day. Photos are HERE

I also voted absentee for the first time ever - everyone I voted for won! YAY for Obama and Representative John Barrow in GA-12! Here's hoping that my ballot actually made it to the states! :-D

I finished out my time in Vienna with a trip to see The Marriage of Figaro at the State Opera House. I can't think of a better way of capping off an amazing 8 weeks in Vienna than that.

So, my first 8 weeks was filled with encounters with long-dead political heros, music, art, wine, opera, and new cultural experience. I will forever remember Vienna as smelling like fresh baked bread, and the abundance of waltz music. Vienna finds a way to make even their UBahn an experience.

Kurt, waltzing in the UBahn with some other tourists


Also - for my first term in graduate school - I got straight As!


I will try to update with my time in Bangkok very soon. I have two papers to write this week, mini-papers, but still, that writing has to take priority. 

Vienna, Week One

So, I am going to try to make Sunday my updating days (that will last until what do you think - midterm?) but it will be my valiant effort!

I already talked about my journey from post-Spain, until I arrived in Vienna, which was exciting, to say the least! If you go to the MAPS section of my blog, there are now two maps of my journey. The first was a projection, which has been posted here for sometime now. The second is updated, real information, from graduation day (May 12, 2012) until my arrival in Vienna last Saturday.

But here it is:



My original projection, for the entire year was 46,619.6 kilometers to travel. This new map, for three months of travelling, I have already covered 42007.9 kilometers! That's a lot of planet covered and still a lot to go!

Anyway, we arrived in Vienna Saturday night. A group of us had booked together, we all met the driver at the airport and he drove us to the apartments we would be calling home for the next 8 weeks. I am living in Vienna's 10th district, Favoriten (we later were told that we are in the 'ghetto' though it is the absolute nicest ghetto I've ever seen!). The apartments are very, very spacious, big for even American standards - something I had not expected at all. After a month in Spain I was growing used to the tight quarters that are common in Europe.

Living room of my apartment

My roommate missed orientation, but she arrived early Sunday morning and we got to know each other, then I took her to meet the rest of the cohorts. We had all been getting to know each other a lot since Wednesday and all seem to have clicked very quickly. Everyone was curious about the missing girl from our cohort so they were all excited to meet her.

On Sundays everything is closed, but we took some time to take a walk around the neighborhood and see what we could find. There is a bar across the street from us Mabel's No90. So far, that has quickly become our hangout spot.

Di (my roommate), Rach, and Sam at Mabel's

Monday morning, first thing, we all went to the grocery store. We arrived Saturday after the store was closed, and it wasn't open on Sunday, so we were all ready to ditch the bar food and get some food in our (very small) fridges. Then we all locked ourselves in our rooms and studied for class that was to begin the following day. 100 pages of International Law on the computer screen (we had yet to receive our textbooks) was most definitely the highlight of our entire journey!

Tuesday, the Globals coordinator, Guergana "G" picked us up to walk us to campus. We are quite a distance from campus, about an hour (but we are only about 30 minutes from the city center).

We had orientation just for the Globals about an hour before the orientation for all the graduate students. Between the two orientations we went to the bookstore to pick up our books. The program fee covers our books, but they had run out of some of our books, so as of now, I am still short 1 book, some girls are short 2. It was nice to get a chance to mingle with some of the other graduate students. Webster University really is a global university. As we went around the room, people were introducing themselves from Russia, Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey, etc. One really good-looking guy stood up and said he was from Serbia. Of COURSE he was! Seriously - what is in the water there!?

Our first class was International Law (Tuesdays 6-10pm). Our instructor is Polish and works for the United Nations so she spends half her time in New York City and half her time in Vienna (teaching in both cities). She works in Human Rights issues and is very interesting, she is also very detail orientated and likes examples, as she was constantly asking us for examples of NGOs, IOs, treaties, customary laws, etc. So, I imagine the tests are going to be very specific. The class is structure pretty basic: two quizzes, one final exam, one final paper, and a presentation. Because the classes are all only 8 weeks long, we had to pretty much decide on our presentation topic (which would also be our final paper topic). I am going to be writing on Women's Right to Health laws (mostly on reproductive health). We shall see how that goes!

Wednesday was our International Relations Theory class, same time (6-10). The instructor is Italian and is Director of Research, Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy. I made the mistake of wearing my Spanish football jersey. In my defense I have no loyalties to any European football teams, I happened to be in Spain for the Eurocup, which is why I had it. The rest of class he kept calling me "Spain" though (since he doesn't have names yet). He told me he may not let it affect my grade. (My undergraduate professor told me a few days later that one of the other professors is teaching Politics of Soccer and I got a small taste of his lesson plan!). Same basic structure. Midterm, final, final paper. We also will have group work each week. Midterm is on a Sunday and the last class will be on a Saturday, so we can have our final on Wednesday! Ohy!

On the way home from class! Becky, Amber, and Sam

Speaking of my midterm being on a Sunday (the 23rd) - that is the last day of Photokina, I have my Professional Seminar classes on Fridays, so that pretty much killed my hope of going to Photokina.

And speaking of cameras, before class Wednesday morning, I made my way to the camera store to see if they could do something about my camera. The guy who was helping me went through all the troubleshooting things for me: checked battery on his charger (50% full), checked his battery in my camera, tested the internal battery (I had already gotten a new one to try to see if that was the fix), cleaned battery contacts. Nothing brought my camera to life. So, he packed it up and sent it off to the repair center, and I bit back tears.

The hospital for my baby at the moment

Thursday we took a bus tour of the city. After the hour or so tour, Kurt and I went back to the Hofburg Palace, I wanted to see the gardens where the Mozart memorial is and he wanted to go to the arms and armor exhibit. He knows a lot about ancient weaponry so it was really informative for me!

Karlskirche

Hofburg Palace

Pretty certain this gun would knock me on my butt!

Mozart Memorial before my battery died

Kurt told me about a show he had gotten tickets for. Mozart and Strauss, in a smaller venue, and the performers would be dressed in period costumes. I bought tickets for the show for that evening and we headed back to the apartments (well meandered - went the long way). Sam decided she wanted to go to the show as well, so she reserved tickets and the three of us went out that evening.

There was also a ballet dancer and opera singer!

I figure, I am in Vienna, I am going to take in as much classical music as I can afford! The show was really entertaining, I liked the size of the venue and the performers were all very good. The pianist rocked Turkischer Marsch (Click here if you are unfamiliar) which is one of my favorite pieces. The venue had very good natural acoustics. It is an old house, at one time Mozart performed there with his sister! 

After the show we walked up to Stephansplatz to see Saint Stephan's Cathedral at night, the meandered around the city, getting up to the river and back down toward Stephansplatz, just talking and enjoying the weather. We had our "Oh my goodness, we are in Vienna!" moment then. It was so beautiful, the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and the city was lit up, there were lots of other people out walking around, and it's an easy city to navigate. 

I think I am in love! I can see why this city inspired so many great artists and musicians! 

Saturday morning, Di, Rach, Amber, and I went to Naschmarkt, which is a large, open-air market in the city center. We didn't walk the entire thing and it was raining the entire time, but it was a lot of fun to see all the different stalls with fresh foods. Before heading back we all stopped at the cheese store and got some amazing cheeses! 

Di and Amber buying some stuffed olives. 

The really awesome cheese guy! :-D

I spent the rest of the day studying and managed to get the two chapters for International Law read, which only left two articles to read. So, I went out with all the girls. There was supposedly a "Welcome Webster" party at one of the local clubs (Aphrodisiac). We all dressed up and went out, the cover was 12ϵ and it was pretty lame. and way overpriced (10.50 for a gin&tonic - no.) But we made the best of it. We were the only ones dancing for quite sometime. It got a bit better by the end of the evening, but by then we were all pretty much done.

And today, I have done nothing productive. I got my two articles read, cleaned a bit, but for the most part, have had a nice lazy day. We just had a wine and cheese get together for a few hours to relax (since unlike me, most people have been studying all day!) and hang out.

It is really hard for me to believe I have only been in Vienna for a week, and with Webster for 11 days! We have all been going so hard and fast the whole time that I feel like it's already been forever, I am losing track of time.

But so far this is working out brilliantly, my cohorts are amazing - everyone has such interesting, different backgrounds with such fun stories, and varying personalities. So far we all get a long really well, hopefully that lasts for quite sometime since this is going to be one crazy, long year!

Me and my Roomie at a Cafe!

Orientation

Okay, so now my journey really begins. So after the exciting journey over the summer (See Here) I finally started my year with Webster University in their Global MA in International Relations. My first stop was a 2 day orientation in Leiden, the Netherlands. 

Woke up and dragged my luggage to the train station to catch my train to Amsterdam (well, okay I caught a train that took me to the train that took me to Frankfurt, which took me to the train that took me to Amsterdam).

Beanie is all strapped in and ready to go!

It was my first real European train ride. My seat on the train was in one of the compartments too, which was really nice! It was just like Harry Potter! :-D German trains are incredible! One of the employees told me that the train was travelling at 300kph (186mph). But the ride is smooth as glass and so punctual. If the train says it arrives at 9:24, it arrives AT 9:24 - you can set your watch to it! It really is something spectacular.

6 hours later I arrived in Amsterdam. I then had to figure out how to get the train to Leiden from there. After fighting with the ticket machine for a bit (it wouldn't take my credit card) a Dutch guy behind me said "Do you need some help?" So he helped me with the machine, and then told me he lives in Leiden and is heading there now, so if I want to wait he will help me get there. He even carried my luggage up the steps for me, which was really very nice :-D

Don't get me wrong, I pride myself in being an independent girl, and up to that point I had lugged my nearly 30kg luggage (and backpack and purse!) up and down stairs in 2 train stations and on and off 3 trains, so I could do it, but after a day of doing all that - the help was great. We sat on the train to Leiden and talked about school, travels, the Netherlands, and he pointed things out to me on the ride. After we arrived in Leiden he walked me out of the train station and pointed out my hotel to me (which was visible from the station).

I got checked into the hotel and met one of the girls in my cohort, Mariah, who was my roommate for orientation. Then, I met with Kurt and Emily, also in my cohort, who I had been chatting with on Facebook a lot over the summer. Everyone got together to take a walk around the city.

Leiden is a gorgeous little city and super easy to walk, just beware of the bicycles! There were hundreds of bikes: people riding them, parked in front of restaurants and store, etc. It was a bit of a cloudy day, but it was still very pretty.

The Windmill

There are lots of these riverside/boat restaurants

Webster University Campus in Leiden

Pancakes for dinner - holy cow!

The great thing about the two days of orientation was the chance to meet the people from the other two cohorts! Since we travel in cohorts you really get to know the group you are travelling with over the year, but you don't get a lot of time to mingle with the other people in the program. It was kind of sad though too because you get the chance to met some awesome people and two days later you're all saying 'goodbye'.

I wish I had more photos but the saddest thing happened. At the end of the first day we went to the beach for a barbecue. I had been using my canon earlier that morning, but when I went to take a photo of everyone on the beach - the camera would not turn on. I figured it was a dead battery. But, when I got back to the hotel and put a new battery in, there was still no life. Three batteries, none worked.

I called Keith (former boss) in tears. He said to me "Carrie, you did this for seven years, you need to troubleshoot the camera the same way you would for any other customer with a camera that won't come on." Yes, but they've never come in with my broken camera!!

A former co-worker found me an address for a camera store in Vienna (since I didn't have the time to do anything about my camera while still in Leiden), so I spent the next two days sulking.

I do have my Olympus PEN as a backup camera, and I do love that camera - but, the Canon 40D is my *baby*. I worked very hard for that camera, and it has been a lot of places with me. I have a very sentimental attachment to it!

So, Saturday morning the majority of the people in my cohort had all booked the same flight to Vienna. We flew from Amsterdam to Belgrade, then Belgrade to Vienna. I am not entirely certain what they put in the water in Serbia, but the male flight attendants were *gorgeous* and then some of the guys at the airport were gorgeous too. I think I want to take a trip to Serbia!

Next post will be my first week in Vienna!

You can see the rest of my photos from Leiden Here

Post-Graduation Travels

My mother on the porch of Elvis' birth home.

My summer has been a already been a whirlwind of activity. The day after my graduation I jumped into the car with my mother, brother, and step-dad to drive back to Minnesota (my home-state). We stopped at Memphis and stayed a few nights to visit Elvis' Graceland, with a quick pit stop in Tupelo, MS (the birthplace of Elvis). 

Graceland itself is quite the visit, a tourist-trap of the best kind. I never have been a huge Elvis *fan*, definitely enjoy his music  and appreciate his contribution to the music industry, however, it is my mother and sister that are the fan-girls. Even so, Elvis' home was quite interesting, and the audio-tour provided some interesting insights into his life. If you are passing through Memphis it is definitely worth the stop. 

Love the Peacock stained glass in the living room!

Very 70s! Definitely want to be sober in this room though. 

After leaving Graceland we headed home. We took a rest stop in Saint Louis. I have never actually seen the Saint Louis arch, but I don't think I expected it to be quite as large as it actually was. It was quite fascinating. we did not have time to go up into it, but I went into the guest center and picked up brochures and other literature on the arch because I am sort of a nerd like that. 

Considering how long I will be gone over the next year, it was wonderful to get to spend as much time with my family as I did! I had a graduation party in Minnesota for the family and friends that could not travel to Augusta to celebrate with me! I was very happy that some of my family came that I don't often get to see on my trips home. I got to celebrate birthdays that I normally miss. All in all it was fun, but a bit chaotic. Our family in the last few years has gone from having *no* children in it, to having 8, with 7 of them under the age of 8! So family gatherings are quite the production and full of energy. It can be very exhausting.

As if I did not have enough going on this summer, we took yet another road trip! Here was a trip I didn't think I would ever have to make again: Minnesota to New Mexico and back. Growing up in Albuquerque we would make the drive back to Minnesota at least every summer. If you have never had to make the drive, I hope you never have to, it is a long stretch of dull piled on top of boring.

The upside to the long, flat drive, is that your first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains completely takes your breath away, as if the Rockies aren't breathtaking enough on their own merit! Unfortunately, we did not have enough time on this trip to stop in Colorado and really enjoy the mountains as we were on a time schedule. My sister was getting married. So most of my photos of the Rockies were shot through a window as we drove along side them.

Myself, my mother, and my sister at the state line

Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque

The day before the wedding, my sister invited everyone to come up to the Sandia Peak Tram and hike, or in the case of my mother, my aunt, and myself, sit in the restaurant and drink (vodka at 10400feet - not a great idea!). It is an incredible ride to the top of Sandia Peak! The tram is the longest tram ride in the world. Anyway, I thought it was impressive. 

Canyon Rock

The Sandia Peak Tram

Sandia Peak

Beyond that, it was an enjoyable month back in Minnesota. I spent a day with my cousin and her family at Minneahaha Falls (See Here), and did a "Trash the Dress" photoshoot with my younger sister as a sort of "moving on" ceremony after her engagement was called off (See Here).

Additionally, I did a lot of shopping and began to strategize my packing for my journeys the next year, which I will probably address in a future post. I have a feeling I will have to re-assess my strategy after I finish up in Salamanca, before I begin with Webster University.

Ciao! 

Trash the Dress!

Took my sister out for a trash the dress shoot. 

For the full album click HERE