A brief run-down for anyone's fyi

Yesterday we sang carols on the street, and a policeman stopped us, so we tried to officially register today, but found out that we can only sing in some places, and with only 4 people, only if the spots not taken, and only for an hour. Oh well. We watched Meet me in St Louis instead, and I tried to start working on my final research paper about the future of the EU in 2051. Crazy. But I'm excited. I got an A on the German essay I wrote without anyone's help and I was super excited about that. Yesterday I ate at the a cafe called world cafe and got almond/milk hot chocolate and hummus. The hummus was sooo good. Marinda and I went to the Christmas Market at the City Hall and I bought a piece of sachre torte. It was a great alternative... Next week I'm going to a 5-hour opera which translated means twilight of the God's by Wagner. It's only one act and I think it's actually supposed to be 7 hours or something. Crazy.

Revelings

Wow. The last month went by fast. Here's an excerpt from my letter to my sister.Thanksgiving was no big deal-- I rather forgot it was Thanksgiving- it started out running for an hour through grounds of one of the major palaces here and then studying for the test I had that day. Although 3 girls made a mini Thanksgiving feast at school. Later that night I went to a Christmas Market and then to Cindy's where people had been making pie for the last 24 hours and there was soup and bread and lots of people and I watched funny people play cards all evening and talked with other cool people and then I was bored and went home with Kasia and we watched thoroughly modern millie- which was thoroughly less innocent then I had anticipated!!-- And the next morning we met our group at school at 7 in the morning to leave on a weekend trip to the temple. Oh. The temple trip was just so lovely. So, so lovely. I don't know- but the timing of things and the time- maybe it was just the time I had on the 9 hour bus ride to Freiberg that allowed me reflect on how I've really changed the past few months and the nature of things I've learned about myself and life and people. I love it all, although I feel so overcome sometimes with the vastness of life- and frustrated and a little impatient with the fact that I simply won't understand all of life here. How many many ways there are to change and improve and learn. And there is a right way through all of it. There really is one right way to live and be happy- and it's not cultural- unless it can simply be called the culture of eternal existence- and I can't comprehend how I'll fit into that vastness, but I know that all human beings have identity in common- and that's so huge- so if we can hold on to the things that we have in common- if we seek for unity as Elder Christofferson spoke of last conference, unity with all mankind whom we should seek to know and love- then we will find peace, and joy. And wherever that unity can be, the loyalty to our identity and the faith in the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, wherever that exists, it can defy the destitution and ghastliness that comes upon us in this world- all war and suffering, persecution, pride, and power-seeking. His Atonement applies to everyone in every culture and dimension of life. If we could see with greater clarity and in the full spirit of purity the people of the world as God's children in whatever walk of life they may be in, we would come closer to real progress as a people, as humankind, as eternal beings. And the balance of cultural and simply personal diversity with eternal truth is completely possible, attainable, and necessary. I love life. I try not to cower at it's vastness because I know that that fear is the antithesis of my progress, my faith, so I continue to strive to live with hope towards the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that I can better understand its place in my life, and the lives of those around me as well. I hope that the strength of His love and sacrifice for me and for others can help me see life more clearly, that I might live with greater urgency and greater love and well-doing, less for me, and more for Him and God my Father. That I can see His purpose in my life, and thereby see the purpose of my life and have the strength to accomplish it. Words can't explain. Only feelings.Being abroad reconfirms my ideas of the futility of pure communication through words. The most real communication comes only through the spirit. But of course, we can learn and communicate a lot through the words we use- but the spirit is the highest product of our humble communications. Learning another language shows me how even the language we speak carries with it a subconscious bias and way of thinking which subtley changes as we learn to express ourselves with a whole new network of expression. Ah, life and learning. Amazing.

This may be less of a travel log and more personal than whoever reads this was expecting, but it's all I have time for, and it's most important to me. Hopefully my expressions can ring true with someone else as well. I love you all!!Actually, I hope to add more random pictures in the future, even after my trip, of the fun and random moments. :) I love to share, really. :)

29.10.08

I went running this morning Miranda! Yeah for me! My friend Lisa and I met at the U6 subway station at 6:30 and ran from there past the Parliament building where the European studies class is going on Friday for a tour, right to the Volksgarten- a nice little park with a few fountains and lots of pretty flowers and a pseudoparthenon that must be being restored or something because it was all ‘walled’ off- and we couldn’t go check it out. Yeah- basically one or five other things are being restored here at any given point in time- because it’s all so blessed old! For instance Stephansdome – one of the coolest really old churches, (I’m pretty sure I have a pick of it earlier in my blog) is always, always experiencing construction- or reconstruction rather. But that’s especially because it was damaged during world war II- I think on e of the towers was demolished or something. So many things here were destroyed during that war. Schade.

Ok. Especially for Grandmas and mother I share this small experience/thought. Yesterday I was walking home from the institut/outreach center where I often go in the evening to do work or play the piano or whatev because they have computers and internet and USB ports on their computers (the 2 out of 7 comps that work at the Austro American Institut are ancient and do not have such useful features) ---Anyway--- so I’m walking home and I pass a stroller, and this darling little baby is saying bye, bye, bye over and over and looks and sounds so precious in its little baby-stay-warmer thing that people keep kids in strollers in in Vienna, and I looked back and smiled at it’s (probably his) mom and kept walking and thought to myself- how precious. A few secs later the baby let out one of those shocking shrieks that babies like to make in the form of ‘bye’ that babies like to make sometimes and I thought- hmmmm I think babies just like to be shocking and have an impact on the world when I they do that- in that way I am not so entirely unlike a small child myself- haha heheh heh… Anyway I few meters later I glanced up to see a mother and daughter walking along with another small child, probably 3, and she was saying a baby- a baby- and pointing to the stroller a short ways behind me, and I thought to myself- yes, these streets are quite safe, frequented by small children and their mothers… at least, that’s what I thought. And all that took place in about 40 seconds.

As you can see I enjoy details- and would love to tell all of you all about the entirety of my experiences here abroad, but alas- simply cannot, and should not, because I’m not here to log my life, I’m here to live it. But I WILL try and log more little experiences here on the blog and slowly catch up with the somewhat composite record of my experiences that I’m making with my pics as a guide, and I will show that to whoever asks later… it’s too big to post… In the meantime also, I will post more pics to my gmail account, and I think that will be easier. OK that’s all for now! Love you all J !!

Okay okay! Whew everyone! I just finished most of my nursing school application so now I just have to blog and I'll be caught up with life a little. :) Sorry it's taken so long... Oh and ps, it's been so long since I last posted that I've completely forgotten everything I once knew, and I am yet pressed for time, so this may turn out a little schloppy again. Just enjoy the pics and--- go on your way. :)
Well, the first is a picture for dad. Yes, I think of you in while in Vienna. Your name shows up randomly... This is just on a typical street in austria. In the bottom right corner you see the little round Strassenbahn Haltstelle or streetcar stop. That's where I wait every morning and during the day to take the street car to school and other exciting places. But to the REALLY exciting places, I take the subway. :) By myself. Like I did today when I had a beautiful success finding jeans to buy after like an hour of trying on different pairs. All of them were crap but the ones I bought. And -HA- they're from Canada! They're great. I'm just glad that I can stop wearing skirts all, all the time, as much as I love my pink courds, my only pair of pants that doesn't have a largely compromising hole.

Here are some pics out the window of our bedroom. I'll have to take more pics of the apartment eventually... but for now I think I'm doing pretty well taking bazillions of pictures, like I was advised (cough, Cory :) yay! I like taking pics now )
PS Right now I'm in Burgerking using the free internet, and they are playing my beloved classic rock. Right now they're playing "more than a feeling" and they've played tons of awesome music... All the music in stores around here is in English- from America or Brittain. Funny.
Oh, and also, the other night it was so awesome- I was just getting done being lost since the streetcar I normally take home was out of service and I was trying to find my way home w/o a map- haha. Anyway, I made it to our street, and the reason the streetcar line was out of service was because they had a ton of bands and street vendors selling random Austrian food and fruit all over. I stopped to listen to Dire straits... it was awesome. :)


The streets here are super narrow. Super narrower than in the US anyway.





































Here's a picture of Kasia and I with our Hausfrau (host mom, or grandma really) Frau Crenville. She actually has 3 last names: Folliot, Crenville, and something else I forget. She has an aristocratic backround through her husband; she's currently divorced. It's just me, Kasia and her! But we're all frequently out and about.







Here's a couple pics on the bus to Bratislava, our first Friday in Vienna.


This is Kasia sporting that awesome jacket Miranda never wore. I brought it because the color rocks, and come one, color is the most important thing to plan for when you bring few clothes but many outfits, eh? Men. :) For those of you who don't know me well enough try that last part again. It goes Amen. :)



Dang. I have a ton of pics to post. This takes way too long. I'll have to be very selective and share more later. Sorry everyone. But when it comes it will be good. :)

Quite obviously I'm new at blogging- and I'm not quite sure how to get all these pics and text just where I want them- maybe someone can give me the lowdown. I'm sure I'll learn- but for now, I'm going to bed, and I'll trust that everyone will be able to discern the order I attempted. For one, in the future, I'll have to work on the chronology... Good bye and good night everyone! :)





And our walk.








And pics of the apartment...











Here are pics from the bus trip to the hotel.

This is my dinner! Mmmm- so much detail- I love it! The tiny salad we had was half chicken- goodness! The entree is beef stroganoff with spaetzle. I'm not sure spatzle will grow on me- but Kasia likes it... See that half and half? Pretty sure that's for coffee- but, I drank it. :) I'm storing up for later. My budgeting philosophy? ALWAYS take food when it's free.- and going to be wasted.

Here's a random little girl who was quite attracted to Kasia- and kept dashing up the aisle to er-spout some nonsense we couldn't understand. However, I pretended to understand and spouted back to her in English. Kasia didn't think she spoke English. Later her mom scooted her up the aisle speaking French- Kasia was right.

This is me, stirring the salt and pepper into my tomato juice with a cool, pretty green stirry thingy. Yes I'm easily amused- it's a good thing, I assure myself. Plus, I kept that stirry thingy- I bet I could



This is Kasia and I basking in the take off sunlight pictured above- though you can't really tell... we just look cute.
Here's Ruth. Eating a hazlenut on our Austrian Air flight. Austrian Air is lots nicer than Delta. They had blankets and pillows for everyone, and served us 2 meals, and their upholstery and flight attendant outfits were pleasantltly colorful :) I like.


Haha- Haha! Whoa! I'm heeere! :) (Nervous/excited laughter) Yeayaa, this is so much fun I'm having right now. So here's a quick review of the 'day' (Which has really been a day and a half) traveling to Vienna, first in words and then in pictures, with commentary. Airport, hotel, walk, dinner. Now for the pics :)

Here is my good friend Kasia, graciously pointing to the Terminal 1 sign. Funny that that identification is no where on any map we found... Kelsey (my sister-in-law) was right. The JFK airport is confusing! Plus, since I'd had basically no sleep the night before (busy tying up loose ends- HA! Like I could ever tie up all the loose ends of my life... :) ) I was definitely out of it, and very grateful and fortunate to have a lovely group of BYU girls to navigate the airport with. And by group I mean there were 5 of us. It ended up that a JFK employee saw us puzzling over the fact that there was no "terminal" 1 pictured on the map and pointed us in the right direction. And we made it!

Introducing the start of wonderful things...ABROAD!

Oh hello. Soon Kasia Cook and I will enter the world of our dreams and make them come true. Thanks to our hard work and lovin' of life. :)