This week has honestly flown by! With all the Austrian religious holidays, it's been a while since I've had a full week of work, so I'm tired, but it was good to get into a routine. This week I've taught lessons on pronunciation, media (phone hacking), the British class system (I used clips from Downton Abbey, the students didn't really get it :P ), and music in Britain, so again a real mix. I enjoy teaching lots of different topics as it varies my day, but it does mean lesson planning takes a lot longer!
Other than school, a few exciting things have happened:
1. I bought my own dirndl!
Dirndls are the female equivalent of lederhosen, and so are the traditional dress in Austria. They aren't worn so much in the cities anymore, but for events and in the countryside they are still very popular. It will be such a good souvenir to take away from this year, and I feel like a true Austrian now :P
2. I am organising film nights for both of my schools to watch 'The Sound of Music'.
No-one over here has really seen 'The Sound of Music'. For us in Britain, it's a classic film about Austria, and it's where we get a lot of our Austrian stereotypes from, but it's not popular over here, so I thought it would be fun for them to watch it. Both schools seem enthusiastic about it, so I'm hoping it will go down well!
3. I've been to enquire about a gym membership and hopefully will be joining fairly soon to go along to fitness classes and swimming etc.
I also went on a trip to Graz, a town in the south of Austria in the Styria region. I went with two other TAs, Emma Cate and Carissa, and we stayed with the daughter of one of the teachers Emma Cate works with. She was lovely, so welcoming and kind, and her boyfriend is from Spain so it was a good opportunity to practise a little Spanish. We travelled to Graz by train on Friday afternoon and came back Saturday night, so it was a flying visit, but I think we managed to fit in everything we wanted to see! Here are a few photos from our time in Graz:
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| The view from Schlossberg, a huge hill in the middle of Graz where you can see all over the city. |
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| The view from Schlossberg, a huge hill in the middle of Graz where you can see all over the city. |
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| Emma Cate and I in a little garden on the Schlossberg. |
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| The view from Schlossberg, a huge hill in the middle of Graz where you can see all over the city. |
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| The steps up the side of the Schlossberg - we only walked down there, luckily there was a much gentler slope on the other side! |
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| Murinsel - a restaurant built in the middle of the Mur river which also acts as a bridge. |
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| The opera house |
We also went to see the cathedral, ate waffles in the Hauptplatz, and got very excited at finding 'The Body Shop' in the town centre (I may have bought a candle...oops!)
All in all this week has been great. I'm exhausted and ready to sleep for a very long time, but I've had great fun, and I'm loving having this opportunity to explore Austria.
However the awful news of Paris has really left me shaken. For something like this to happen so close to home, it really makes you realise how dangerous ISIS is. So many innocent lives have been lost across the world this weekend, not just in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but also in earthquakes in Japan and Mexico, at a funeral bombed in Baghdad, and a suicide bombing in Beirut. It makes me so sad to see the world in such a mess. I am very lucky to have the opportunity I have to be living in Austria having the time of my life, and to be safe, and this makes me all the more determined to make the most of it, and focus on the positive parts of life.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Stay safe! My thoughts are with all those affected by this weekend's tragedies.
Laura :)
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