Last month in Linz!!!

My last blog post about Austria...!  How about I return to my original format of anecdotes and facts?

Fact #1: Having a sprained ankle is not fun and seems to last forever.

Anecdote #1: For Earth Day, William and I went on a tram ride with the Austro-American Society.  The society rented out the tram and we traveled from the university to Solar City (I know this conjures images of an amazing intergalactic space station peopled by many alien races and powered by a nearby red giant...but it's not that cool). It was sort of ridiculous to me that I had to travel out to the university in order to get the tram, and then our EARTH DAY event consisted of riding a tram for 2 hours for no other purpose than entertainment (not very environmentally friendly...).  HOWEVER it was all in the name of visiting Solar City, a suburb outside of Linz that has crazy multicolored glass everywhere, lots of solar panels and other environmentally friendly things, and also looks sort of like a weird summer camp.  The tour of the city was in German...and kind of boring.  The tram ride was sort of hilariously embarrassing.  William and I sat in the back while people who had no presentation skills read to us in English or German about various environmental initiatives in Linz.  Then some smiley high schoolers played guitar and sang songs whilst swaying back and forth. The tram was also bedecked with posters and streamers, and on the way back into Linz from Solar City, one of our friends saw the tram and pointed and laughed.  Then he saw us inside and his jaw dropped open in shock and horror.  William and I found this highly amusing.

Anecdote #2: Evan, Tasha and I visited Hallstatt.  This is a tiny city in Upper Austria that is nestled between the mountains and a lake.  It is really very picturesque, and is in the Salzkammergut where salt used to be mined before being shipped to Salzburg.  So the three of us took a mine tour involving ridiculous costumes, long wooden slides, and animatronic miners that speak in robotic Upper Austrian dialect.  An excellent time was had by all.

Hallstatt

Evan, me, and Tasha in mining costumes riding the mining train

the wooden slide...it actually clocked how fast each person went down

Fact #2: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a really interesting book - this was our choice for the May book club meeting.

Fact #3:  I realized I love teaching history.  I taught lots of classes on American history this month (although most predominately the Revolutionary War).

Anecdote #3:  So, by May 9th Calum was still not in France.  I had been planning on changing my plane ticket and visiting him in France after my contract was up, but without him knowing if/when he was ever going there, I was starting to get anxious about changing my ticket.  Eventually I asked if I could visit Calum in England instead.  Direct quote from the responding email: "YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY COME AND VISIT ME WHILST I AM IN ENGLAND. which means, I RECKON YOU SHOULD COME THIS WEEKEND COMING UP!! come on. COME ONNNNNNN."  So anal retentive, super organized me did something spontaneous and bought plane tickets the next day (which was a trial...the Ryanair website would not accept American credit cards...and the Ryanair people were gone from the airport when I got there, meaning I had to sit around for an hour to get the shuttle back into Linz without even having procured the tickets...Josh saved the day and used his British card :-).  I skipped out of school Wednesday and Thursday and went to England instead.  Seeing Calum was really, really nice and I had really, really missed him.  We saw London and Brighton and Hever castle near where Calum lives.  We also had an Emma Stone marathon (Zombieland and Easy A...Emma Stone is my hero and the reason I dyed my hair red).  I also feel infinitely sorry for Calum's mother - she has four sons and seemed to really like me, probably because all the boys gang up on her all the time.  Item of interest: there is a fox with a crooked head that Calum's mother has been feeding for the last two years.  I think it's cute...Calum asserted that it was "manky," at which Calum's mother frowned disapprovingly. 

Big Ben!

me and Calum in front of the Tower Bridge

Hever Castle - once owned and occupied by the famous Anne Boleyn (the second wife of King Henry the VIII, she was later executed by her husband)

Fact #4: In England, I have an accent.  Win.

Fact #5: You cannot see the Eiffel Tower from London.  Calum Muress may try to convince you that the radio tower in the distance is the Eiffel Tower.  Do not listen to him, he is only trying to prove the stupidity of Americans.  (I'm infinitely gullible, apparently)

The tower that Calum convinced me was the Eiffel Tower...I believed it for several hours.  The shame.

Anecdote #4: At the end of May we had a goodbye party for all the TAs in Linz.  Tasha and I were delighted by the prospect and planned on making white cocktails (gin and tonic) and red cocktails (Sex on the Beach) in order to represent the colors of the Austrian flag.  We also bought miniature Austrian flags to put in our cups.  It was super cute.  The party itself was dec.  Saying goodbye is sad :-(

Fact #6: Leaving somewhere is an organizational nightmare.  Had to have meetings to sign paperwork with the tenant taking my room, do laundry, clean, wire my money to the US, cancel my gym membership, de-register my address, buy train tickets...ETC

I arrived in Minnesota last night.  Already having weird reverse cultural shock...people here are fat, microwaves and dryers are amazing inventions, as is skim milk and hummus, waving to every person I see on the street when out jogging is new and novel....etc.

My time in Austria was wonderful and difficult and interesting and trying.  I'm really glad I had this opportunity and I already miss all the people that made it memorable!