Saturday Afternoon Thoughts

Gotta know your basics: The Austrian flag.

I'd like to keep filling this blog and keeping you all up to date, but truth is, there isn't much to tell. Our next meeting is still a week away, and our departure is only one month away! I've finally found out who will accompany us: Mr. Mars from the Office for Student Activities. It's his first year going. He's helped out in the past, has taken groups to the airport and such, but this is his first actual time going on the trip. He beamed when he told me. I think this will be a great first time for many of us.

Not only will it be an amazing learning experience, but it will be a break away from everything, away from school deadlines and academic stress, and a trip where we can expect to see and learn new things every day, in a country that is sure to surprise us every day.

I'm still unclear as to what exactly will be going on, but I'm expecting we'll be taking intensive workshops of some sort each day, concerning global issues and discussing our opinions and the current state of affairs.

We'll definitely be doing some sightseeing as well. We'll probably see Mozart's birth house, Salzburg's most famous son. We'll visit the Salzburger Dom, the city's cathedral opened in 1628 and is Salzburg's top-attraction. Then there's St. Peter's Monastery with the cemetery, founded in 696. That is old. Really old. If we're visiting Mozart's birth house we'll surely be passing through the Getreidegasse, Salzburg's fancy shopping mile. OK, then there's a lot more castles and churches and parks, too many to list, or maybe too many to list without boring you.

I'll be very excited to hear my native language again and I'll have to make sure to buy some classics in German that I've been trying to get my hands on. This is kind of silly though, considering that the German collection of the public library on 53rd Street probably has a larger selection of German books than any bookstore I'll be able to go to in Salzburg.

I wonder what the weather will be like. Today it's 46 degrees in Salzburg, 7 more than we have here in the city. Knowing that Germany, which is so close, tends to have moderate winters and summers, I expect we'll have decent weather.

Just for fun and to wrap this up, here's some fun trivia you might want to study up on (which I found here): Salzburg's capital is Vienna, the language spoken is German. It borders eight other European countries: Italy, Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. It sits between two mountains: Kapuzinerberg (which loosely translates to hooded mountain) and Mönchsberg (monk's mountain). It's probably what you imagine in to be: a cute town with rich history, plenty of beautiful old buildings with a breathtaking "Altstadt" (literally translated old city, meaning downtown), tiny Harry-Potter-movie-like alleyways and heaps of castles and cathedrals that are older than anything we've ever seen in the infant U.S.

Like Germany, Austria is divided into nine federal provinces. It's a member of the EU, and it's most prevalent religion is Catholic. Despite the fact that the language is German, the culture is mixed and represents many ethnicities and more languages are spoken. Kind of like New York. Neat.

In case you didn't already know, Austria uses the Euro. The current exchange rate is $1=1.32 Euros. When you go out to eat, make sure to tip 10%, keep your elbows off the table, and be ON TIME! I love this one, it's been a pet peeve of mine since moving to the states. My poor husband has suffered many scoldings for standing me up even if only for a few minutes. I've gotten much more laid back about it. Practice how to say "Guten Tag" (goo-done dog) to say hello and "Guten Appetit" before a meal (goo-done uppe-teet). If you're trying to read the Schloss Leopoldskron website try google's translator here.