So, here's the Dealio...

I am ashamed of myself and have never been more disappointed. I am fully aware that I have completely disregarded this blog since October, and I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself. But, onwards and upwards, as they say... So, rather than attempt to do one huge post, I am going to do a few little chunks over the next week to sum up the past 3 months! Do forgive me, I know I am a terrible person...

Picking up from the start of November...

A lot happened in November, and it all began with a short weekend in Salzburg. This alone was eventful enough, and I will share some highlights...however, the real heart of this story lies in the fantastic experiences Tiffany and I had travelling... All will become apparent.

Thursday evening, I travelled to Melk and went for a fantastic burger with Tiffany and her friends at a Lokale. This then turned in to a night out, lasting until 3am. It was so much fun, and everyone was just enjoying a great time. Getting up at 7am for the train the next day proved to be much less pleasurable... though it was helped considerably by heinz beans on toast and cathedral city cheddar. It's the little things.

The trip to Salzburg was lovely, including a lunch of Schnitzel and Wurst in this cute little restaurant (right by Mozart's birth place), where they were cooling their freshly-cooked strudel in the window! It wasn't too pricey at all, and the food was delicious.

The day included taking the walk up to Hohensalzburg fortress, I would seriously advise sensible walking shoes if you plan on doing this. It is pretty steep, but we found reminding yourself of the cake you can eat later was motivation enough. You can take the guided tour once in there which, although informative, we found a little dry. However, it is definitely worth the trip up there just for the amazing views over the Alps.

The weather was really decent, and we could see the beginnings of the snow on the mountains. It was such a stereotypical view of Austria, but breathtaking nontheless. So after a lovely trip up to the fortress, if memory serves me correctly, we headed on to a little konditorei in the altstadt, where we enjoyed some amazing apple strudel and hot chocolates. I sadly have no pictures of this place, and can't remember the name... but it did Austria proud for sure!

And then there was more...
On the Saturday, Tiffany's friend from Melk came and joined us to spend a day eating, drinking coffee and doing a bit of sight-seeing.
We of course did the obligatory trip to Mirabell Palace, where some of The Sound of Music was filmed. Sadly, I have since realised our "Sound of Music" pictures were taken infront of the wrong fountain. Cringe. So they will not be added, just to save ourselves from the sheer embarassment they could cause... But here is a photo which looks like it could be straight out of a catalogue, instead. This was also taken at Mirabell. It was beautiful but, sadly, being out of season it was all shut up. The gardens were worth a visit though, and very Sound-of-Music-esque...

The next trip truly changed my life. Anyone who knows me knows how important food, especially cake, is to me. So, we spent our late afternoon in a cafe called Tomaselli. If you ever go to Salzburg, there is no way on this earth you can miss this place out. There is a woman who brings around a huge selection of cakes which she describes to you, and you then choose which one you would like. The coffee is amazing, too, and if you aren't a caffeine fan then stick to the amazing hot chocolate, instead.



This pretty much sums up the fun weekend we had in Salzburg, in between all of the beautiful churches and cathedrals we popped in to! All but one thing, that is...
Being the savvy-scrimpers that we are, we managed to book the train back from Salzburg for a measly €7, it just meant travelling a little later and arriving back in Melk at around 10.30pm... not so bad, we thought. That is until we were joined in our carriage by a man describing himself as "sexy" but a bit "professor-like", who then proceeded to flex his biceps and remove handcuffs and rope from his bag... the remnants of "a fun weekend with his girlfriend". After surviving this and a cocky train conductor, we proceeded to be hit on by a bunch of Arabic-speaking guys. And the lesson learnt from this was... never use the late-night trains in Austria, no matter how cheap they are! But all in all, a great start to November!

Brioche and Camomile Tea

Grüss di! May have been a little fib to say I would write sooner again next time, verzeihung! So, prepare yourself for a slightly longer post than I had initially planned.

Sadly, I still do not have an Austrian accent or dialect... but if I say 'na, gehhh!', 'jö', 'sicher' or 'schau wir mal' one more time, I may end up punching myself...

My time in Austria has not only provided me with experiences I will never forget, it has also given me a home here. The thought of leaving this place honestly breaks my heart. I can't imagine my life without this amazing place anymore! I have become more confident in my language abilities, and people are patient with me despite my terrible grammar. I am honestly so grateful to the people who have listened to my broken German without laughing uncontrollably! Obviously, food has featured heavily, too... and I have found myself opting for Dinkelbrot, Volkornbrot, unsalted butter and camomile tea on multiple occasions. I feel like I have well and truly adapted in this sense! So, I still have a long way to go in the way of language and cultural understanding, but it is incredible how much you can learn in just two months.

It is simply impossible for me to write about all of my experiences on here, but picking and choosing is just such a difficult ask! Here are some of my highlights (big and small!) of the past few weeks.

1. Visiting Melk (Affectionately renamed 'Melky Way')

Another language assistant, Tiffany, is working a little way away from me in a town called Melk. So I spent the afternoon there the other week, we went for a walk around Stift Melk and ate copious amounts of cake. I am not complaining. The Stift was super pretty inside, and the sun was shining, so all in all it was a good day. We were even rebellious enough to take a cheeky selfie in the library after being shouted at by a grumpy lady, 'Keine Fotografie in der Bibliothek, bitte!!'

2. Der Naschmarkt

In my last post, I mentioned that I met an American woman at church. So, I went for dinner one evening with her and her husband, it was lovely to spend some time with them. They have a castle in their back garden, no joke. How amazing?! Anyway, we decided that we would visit the British/American food store in Vienna one day. So, one Friday afternoon we drove in to Vienna. It only takes 45 minutes from Krems, so it is ideal if you just fancy an afternoon there. We spent a couple of hours browsing the Naschmarkt (naschen means to nibble), and naschen we did. There are so many different cultures there which have come together in this explosion of flavours, smells, languages and traditions. Everyone wants you to try the falafels, dried fruit, stuffed peppers, pastries, cheeses, breads, that they have to offer...and there's no harm in trying, right!? It was such a nice experience. We stopped at a small Turkish restaurant and had some food there - it was amazingly tasty, I'm so sad that I didn't take note of them name! After this we pootled off to the English food store. It was super expensive, but I was able to get hold of some custard powder, Vimto, liquorice allsorts and cider... all the essentials. So, that evening there was a veritable feast when I got back to Krems!

3. The first experience of going 'out' in Krems...

This was a key event not for particularly good reasons, but simply for the ridiculousness of the situation! Anybody who knows me will know that I don't really do nights out. I find a quiet drink somewhere with a few good friends is more enjoyable. I have explained this to most people who have asked me 'bist du schon fort gegangen?!'... but the relentless requests to go out have kept coming, so I thought if I went once they would hör auf. So, after a couple of bottles of Magners (yes, from the food store in Vienna!), my housemate and I decided we would go to a live band/open mic night which he had heard about. It has been a running joke between us that he is such an 'old man'... I have been known to refer to him as Opa on occasion. So, after umming and arring about whether to go or not, we went. The band was really good, and we saw a few people we knew there. Anyway, it gets to 1.30, and I turn to find David.. who is nowhere to be found. My phone decides now is a good time to have no signal, and David has my pass, so if I go outside, I can't go back in. Half an hour passes, and I am one of the last people sitting there, feeling sorry for myself. Eventually, I go to get my coat, and figure he has abandoned me. Suddenly, I spot David! I explain that I had looked everywhere for him... Turns out he had fallen asleep in a corner, and only just woken up. We both laughed at the stupidness of the situation and toddled off home. So, it's fair to say nights out since have been few and far between, and the Opa jokes have continued.

4. Deutschsprachige Christen!

I am pleased to say that I have fully settled in to my church now, and feel so comfortable there. The services are usually alright to understand, and I am feeling so blessed to be part of the community there. This weekend I went along to the Jugend Gruppe a little way out of Krems. Fearing that 20 might be too old I thought I would go and see what happened.. It was such a nice evening. There was worship, games, a Bible study and food... Oh and lots and lots of friendly people. It was nice not to be the oldest person there at all, and also nice to be in with such a fun, friendly, lovely group of people!
I spent Sunday afternoon with Christine, a girl I have met through church, and her sister and sister's boyfriend. We spent the day playing board games and just generally relaxing. It was so nice to be socialising here!

5. Brioche, brioche and more brioche...

This was just one of those little things that absolutely makes your day! I had just finished cooking myself a bit of food one afternoon after work, when I heard someone call 'hello' from the hallway. Going out to investigate, I discovered my housemate's Dad with armfuls of brioche! He teaches in a bakery school, and had just finished work. So, he left us with 25 brioche rolls, a cake and some fresh bread - it was the cutest thing ever!

There are just too many things to include in here, but I feel like these are some of the main things which start to sum up some of my time here, but really they are the tip of the iceberg.
This week I am off Thursday - Tuesday (inclusive of!), so I am off to Salzburg on Friday through to Saturday evening, how exciting! Next week I will finally be reunited with my parents, who are coming to stay from Thursday to Monday. Words can honestly not come close to expressing how excited I am to see them after 2 months! Sadly, I won't be able to introduce them to the beauty that is Sturm (try this drink for sure if you are in Austria at the right time!), but Apfelstrudel, Schnitzel, Tafelspitz and a few good coffees are certainly on the menu!

Thanks for reading! And hopefully... I will write again soon!

A little bit spät!

Please forgive the lateness of this blog, I have been having so much fun I forgot I was even doing this!

So much has happened, I don't know where to start. My opinions have not changed, only strengthened. The people here are amazingly lovely, the food is absolutely amazing, the wine is good yet cheap, everyday life is just so cute, and I think I have fallen madly in love with the accent.. It is clear, then, that to say I am "besotted" with this place would be an understatement. I want to talk like an Austrian every time I speak German, but it must sound like I am simply mocking...so instead I guess I will have to continue with this harsh "hochdeutsch" type accent... really, I am all for teaching Austrian German in schools, it would be much cuter to hear 11 year olds talking like it...

Ok, so aside from the language, what can I say that would even come close to explaining my experiences!?

I'll start at the very beginning, for that's a very good place to start*. I have had so many opportunities, let's start with cycling through the Wachau valley (why yes, yes I do live in a UNESCO world heritage sight!?). So my housemate, David, and I cycled 30 minutes to Duernstein and visited a castle ruin. The walk up the hill kills your calves, but the view from the top makes it all worth while! We stopped for icecream overlooking the Danube, balanced precariously on some rocks, where the waves got us as a ship passed by; not so much fun!

I have visited a Heuriger, which is basically a traditional Austrian tavern. The food is pretty basic, but amazing quality! And, being fortunate enough to be living in the Weinviertel, the wine here is also amazingly good quality and so cheap! (€1.60 for a glass, what!?). I have visited a Feurwehr Fest to celebrate the new fire engine they bought - no seriously, so cute! I stopped and had a few drinks with the locals, who told me "Die neue Sprachassistentin!? Wenn du Deutsch lernen willst, dann bist du leider am falschen Ort!"... this banter has happened too often now!.. I have also got to confess, I have tried far too many white wine spritzers at too many places; this was due to panicking and saying the only drink name I could think of, thankfully I am a fan anyway...

So, what's next? Yes, so a couple of weeks ago it was a beautiful day, so I thought I would cycle a little further, to a 'town' (village) called Weissenkirchen. I didn't know what was there, but thought the fresh air and scenery would be nice. When I arrived, I was surrounded by Dirndl and Lederhosen clad people, "wow! They must be REALLY traditional here!" I was thinking... But, it turned out it was their harvest festival! So I stuck around, and watched some of the dancing they had going on, it was just so sweet. A lovely day was had... and then, disaster. I was just cycling along, thinking about stopping at the next coffee shop, when the chain on my bike decided to pop off... 3 times. So, after 3 different, and very helpful blokes, stopped I was finally on my way... in first gear, with another 35 minutes to cycle. It turns out that, in such situations, repeating the one word you do know will help significantly "brauchen Sie hilfe?" "Er, ja... die Kette... die Kette... ja, genau." Was largely how the conversations went. I have since learnt the words for ratchet, screwdriver, and the expression "My chain has come off"... all a learning curve, hey?! But, in all seriousness, Weissenkirchen was beautiful, and if you have the chance for a little visit and a coffee, snap it up.

Ok, next! The next thing worth writing about would be my wonderful training week in Graz! With a mish-mash of British and US assistants, I spent a week staying in a convent (na, wirklich.), and having seminars in a castle! Monday to Friday we had different seminars to teach us how to teach, we visited an Austrian school and taught grade 3 (12 year olds) - it was surprisingly much more fun than I had anticipated! So, I met some great people, some of whom live near me, who I can meet up with during the year. One girl and I are looking at starting traditional Austrian dance lessons... Why not, eh!?
Graz was nice, but I definitely prefer beautiful Krems! We experienced a lovely guy on the tram expressing his opinions about us, "wenn du in Oesterreich bist, dann musst du Deutsch sprechen!!!" - a group of only US and British citizens... hmm. Since then, there has been the election, which saw Styria vote pretty highly for the (not so politically correct, and slightly racist) FPÖ party... It pretty much reflected our experiences!

Now, moving on... Sunday was a big day for me... finally trying a church here! After going one Sunday to the right building, I couldn't find the right room... So, unable to find anybody to ask, I wandered home a little disappointed. This time, however, a leader came and met me, and I was welcomed in. The language was a little difficult, but I think understanding 70% was a good start! Singing familiar songs with different words is a definite way to build vocab, too. It was great to be in amongst my extended church family once again, though! I met an American woman and her Austrian husband, too, who have invited me for dinner some time, how exciting! I have now got invites to concerts, youth groups and different churchy-events! Praise God!

And, finally, I think... I have started work! Monday was the first day... which consisted of 45 minutes chatting with a few people, then going home. So, a little disheartened, I started work properly on Tuesday. Being thrown in first to the lions who call themselves "grade 5". Aged 14, they asked me questions including "is Justin Bieber your boyfriend?" And "what kinds of Schnitzel have you tried?"... A bunch of cuties, really, and it was a treat to teach them. Then came grade 8, and today grades 7 and 8. It's a little trickier with the older ones, particularly when they do not want to talk... but we will get there, eventually! I was pretty much thrown in the deep end, expected to teach 8-10 students material I myself don't know! But hey... it can only get better, right!?

The teachers are lovely, I have been invited to the school ball on Saturday, and one teacher is letting me borrow her dress, how sweet! I've been offered the chance to go to Salzburg with them, the opportunity to join a choir, and also to go out for lunch and walking with the teachers some time! I am feeling so welcomed, it's honestly unbelievable.

I am pretty sure I covered the main events (highlight of my week so far, watching the new school fish being put in to their aquarium today...). Obviously, lots more has happened, but just too much to write about! I have also had the chance to go to bars, watch Star Trek (!?) - which involved a lot of physics banter...not my strong point in English, let alone auf Deutsch... and also watched too many German and Austrian films to count on one hand.

Congrats on making it to the end of the blog! Next time I will write sooner and a little less!

*Sound of Music reference, for those not-so-avid-fans.

Arrival in the Prettiest Place on Earth

So, here goes the first actual blog entry from Austria! How exciting...
Well, I arrived on Monday, tired, nervous and excited in equal quantities. I made it from Manchester to Cologne, Cologne to Vienna, and then took 3 trains to get to Krems. It was a long journey, but really beautiful once I arrived in Austria. It is just so green here!

I spent Monday night in a hotel, and then moved in to a flat with the son of a host family the school found for me. They have been amazing, I've been cooked 'real Austrian' food, visited a few coffee houses, been taken for lunch out, and even been given a bike to use for the year! I am feeling so blessed and grateful for this family!

It is even more beautiful here than I had imagined, and people are just so friendly! Ok, so in England we don't even make eye contact with people on the street, so it isn't difficult to be friendlier than that...but people actually talk to one another, greet each other... how very civilised!;)

Admittedly, I have not spoken all that much German..which is a big no-no, so I am trying a little harder with that. This morning I even braved my meeting at the bank alone, and successfully understood and communicated, so I can't be utterly hopeless, right?

I'm hoping to go for a little cycle down the Danube some time in the next week, and maybe even catch the train to somewhere for a visit...although I don't think I have even finished exploring Krems yet! If you are thinking about doing a year abroad, do it! It is really no way near as scary as you would think!  Even with my fears of not understanding the Austrian accent, it is not as hard as everyone seems to claim...and people are at least a little slower and clearer when they speak to us foreigners...

So, I will keep you all updated on my adventures as they unfold! Bis dann!

Aufwiedersehen, Pet!

So, finally I have got myself as organised as I can possibly be, and this thing is ACTUALLY happening!

After finding multiple possible places to live, it finally worked out on the third one! So I now have an apartment exactly where I need to be, with easy access to transport, work and, most amazingly, a church!

I have now been in contact with my schools and got myself organised with what materials I need to take. I must admit, having only been scheduled to teach 13 lessons a week I am wondering what on earth I will do with all my spare time! I think this year will involve a lot of travelling, coffee shops and running (to burn off the amount of food I will have had time to eat...).

So, the nerves have started to settle and I'm so excited for what adventures these next 10 months will hold. Being in 'real' Europe will be such a treat, and being able to travel affordably is so exciting!

So, nearly time for part 1 of my adventure to start... Watch this space!

Tschuess!

Mein Gehirn tut weh...

Okay, so, back to updating this thing. Where do I begin?

I've just come back from a wonderfully relaxing 2 weeks in the Bahamas and Florida with my family. It was sunny, fun and incredibly relaxing. I thought I felt fully okay about the concept of moving abroad for the year...then I got home to an avalanche of emails asking me to print this, sign this, ask this, apply for this...
So, I guess I'm back to not quite knowing how I feel right now. One minute I'm so excited to go, I'm completely care-free, not worried about finding a place to live there and then, and fully assured that it will 'all work out in the end'. Five minutes later, there I am again on wggesucht, Donau Universitaet, google, anything which might give me hope that, somewhere, anywhere, in Austria has a room where I can live for 9 months. It won't even matter if I commute for an hour or so, I tell myself - when getting in to work for 7.45am is clearly going to be an issue even if I live next door... Then the calm comes again, and I wake up the next morning feeling sick with anxiety. So, with regards to accommodation, I think it's safe to say I'm a little on the nervous side...

Other than that, things are looking pretty good! I have had contact with a church who are asking around about accommodation for me, and a student group who have invited me to meet weekly with them for socials and prayer meetings. I've got visitors lined up for the entire year, I think this may be the only thing that is helping me keep my head above water right now. I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of paper-work, legal documents and general-life-worries. How do I open a bank account when my German can barely order me a Schnitzel, what about phones, I can't explain what I'm looking for in a contract in the o2 shop here! I hear so many great things about years abroad though, if everyone else can do it...it can't be that hard, right?

Then there's my main mentor, who hasn't replied to the initial email I sent 6 weeks ago - surely that isn't TOO uncommon though...I hope.

On the bright side, my thoughts on travelling are the same. I can't wait to just get out and explore the world. I'll be independent and earning for the first time, none of this living-on-student-loans rubbish. I will genuinely have money, and places to see, and I'm unbelievably excited for it!

Other than this, there isn't very much to report on. For the time being I'm working my way through child protection training, and watching Austrian news to try and remind myself what German actually sounds like. Oh goodness me, this is actually happening... less than 4 weeks to go!

Dirndls and Edelweiss?

Wow, so much has happened since I last updated this blog! It's difficult to know where to start when your head is a whirlwhind of paper-work, application forms, financial support forms, certificates of employment, emails, languages, teaching materials, flights, train tickets etc etc etc! So, I finally found out that I will be teaching in the most beautiful little town just outside of Vienna, called Krems an der Donau! I've been placed with pupils doing their Matura (A levels), aged up to 18 years. It's incredibly exciting to think that I'll be starting work in a couple of months! When British Council first assigned me my Bundesland I was disappointed that it wasn't my first choice. However, after being placed in such a cute little town I have fully forgiven them - I couldn't have chosen better myself!

The next step I took to building myself a (temporary) home out there is that I began my hunt for churches, and have found a couple which I'd like to try out. I'm almost more excited for that than I am to be teaching English! Having a church family where I am living is one of the most important things to me, they provide a support network and will encourage and help me, both spiritually and emotionally. God has provided me with the most amazing answer to prayer with regards to churches, but more on that as it progresses - I can hardly believe it myself!

Having nowhere to live yet is perhaps the most difficult thing of all. How can you possibly prepare yourself to go when you don't know where you'll be, or who you'll be with? However, I don't feel I need to worry - I'm trusting God with that one. Today I finally booked my flights, and will be spending 2 weeks getting settled before my induction course starts in Graz. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity to travel, regardless of how scary it currently seems!

Cultural assimilation is one of the aims of this year. Having never travelled to Austria, my knowledge is a little limited! Of course we all think of The Sound of Music, Dirndls and Coffee, right? But, what is the REAL Austria like? I'm spending every free minute I have researching every aspect of life in Austria - usually to very little avail! I guess I'll just have to wait for that one, too!

The reality of this experience is just starting to sink in. Leaving your family, friends and home comforts for a whole year to live in another country is a difficult thing to do. I don't know yet how it will feel, or how I will cope. I'm sure there will be a few tears nearer the time, but right now I'm trying to make the most of all the opportunities I get to visit friends and spend time with family.

I'll update the blog as more things happen - although now it just seems like a waiting game as my CRB check is processed and I wait to hear back about financial supports!

Adieu, Adieu, to you and you and you!