My first week in Linz

Hello everyone!

So I have almost been in Linz a week now - the time has flown by! I am still settling in, but my house mate Charlotte has made me feel so welcome, and so far I feel really comfortable living here.

Travel
On Sunday 20th September, Mum dropped me to Gatwick airport to embark on my first solo flight to Vienna, and then find my way by bus and train to Linz. The flight itself was fine, apart from the annoying man sat next to me who kept jabbing me with his elbows and snoring in my ear...!
The plane was delayed an hour, and so I was a little anxious that I might not make my connection, but luckily I'd given myself plenty of time, and the luggage pick-up in Vienna was very quick. Plus it was a great excuse to treat myself to pancakes at Frankie and Benny's at Gatwick airport! When I landed I had to get a bus from Vienna airport to Vienna's main train station, which took just over half an hour and gave me plenty of time to familiarise myself with the sights of Vienna.
I also managed to navigate the trains pretty well - it's very similar to in England, just in German (obviously!) - but whilst at the train station, I had my first time face to face with a group of Syrian refugees. It was quite a shock - I think in England we're very sheltered from what's going on in the rest of Europe, and seeing it for myself really brought home that fact that these are people just like everyone else, wearing clothes like ours and carrying bags like ours, who are having to run away from their own country. A group of refugees were actually giving up their seats on the train for other passengers, and whilst at first I felt quite intimidated being surrounded by people speaking a language I didn't understand, I gradually became more comfortable, and enjoyed watching them play with the new mobile phones they had been given.

Arriving
Charlotte and her boyfriend Markus were there to meet me at Linz train station, and Charlotte was just as excited and nervous to meet me as I was to meet her, which made me feel much better! She gave me a massive hug, and chatted to me in slow, understandable German to make me feel more comfortable. Once at her apartment, she gave me a tour around (it's a lovely apartment!) and we sat and drank tea and chatted in English all evening. Both her and Markus speak fantastic English and are enjoying practising it! Charlotte also has a cat called Niki, who luckily seems to like me, which means I get lots of cuddles!

My bedroom

My bedroom

My bedroom

The kitchen

Niki

The dining area

Food
Charlotte works for a company called Sonnetor who sell organic teas, herbs and spices, so she's very interested in our English tea! She also loves to cook, and so this week she's introduced me to many Austrian delicacies. The majority were high points, like the vegetable soup, the pastries, the bread, and a creamy mushroom sauce she did with rice, with only one real low point which was a soup made from her homemade stock, which was far too rich for me and reminded me a lot of gravy...We've also made pancakes together, and the food highlight of the week was an amazing 'brunch' Charlotte did where she went to a local bakery and brought back so many Austrian cakes for us to sample! And yes, I did try a bit of each!

Austrian cakes

I've also tried to introduce Charlotte to some English foods, for example apple crumble and bread and butter pudding, and I have also promised to make scones (although you can't get clotted cream over here), custard and maybe even a pasty, if Nanny will send me her recipe?!

Exploring
So food-wise, I've had a great week. But I have done things other than eating, I promise! I've managed to navigate the city fairly well so far. I've been to DM which is their equivalent of Superdrug, and I've also been food shopping in Hofer, which is pretty much the same as Lidl or Aldi. I've found my way to one of the schools I will be teaching at, and I went on a walk to the train station. I have also visited the New Cathedral and the Old Cathedral, both are beautiful but completely different styles and it was really interesting to research them, and the main square as well. I have yet to try out the trams and buses, but that will come with time! I would also like to do a test run to the other school I will be working at, which is a little outside Linz centre, and find a swimming pool and the main library to have a little look around.

New Cathedral

New Cathedral - stained glass

Hauptplatz - main square

Charlotte also took me yesterday to register as a citizen of Linz, which made everything feel very real! She did a lot of the talking, and I don't know how I would have done it without her, because the lady behind the desk obviously spoke English (to work where she works she would have had to have gone to a higher level school where English is compulsory) but she wasn't going to speak English to me! I understood the majority, but it was really good to have Charlotte there as back up, especially as the forms were all so important. I have some more forms to fill in to apply for an Activpass, which gets me discount on travel and entry to tourist attractions, and I've also been given a book full of vouchers for tourist attractions that is valid for a year, so I'm looking forward to using all of them!

I think that's everything I've been up to so far...This week coming I am on a training week in Hinterglemm, so I aim to write another post next weekend about how that went!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Salamanca 2014 - Introduction

This Sunday I am going to Salamanca, Spain as part of my degree with my course mates. We will be staying with a Spanish family and learning Spanish in a school there from 9am-1pm every day for two weeks. I am excited about the trip, and I know it will be fantastic for my Spanish, however it is also very scary because I've only been learning it for a year!

My university booked the flights for us and organised the accommodation, however we were then told we had to book a bus from Madrid Airport to Salamanca and would then be taking a taxi to our family. We have to make our own way to the airport as well. So the first hurdle was booking the bus through a Spanish website - WordReference was very helpful! I eventually got this sorted, and then we received another email to say that we had to book the bus for a later time than originally planned and from a set terminal - our lecturer then redid our bookings for those of us who had the wrong bus, thankfully! Next was getting to Gatwick. I am going by train as I live quite a long way from London, and I booked my train tickets well in advance. However I checked the timings again more recently and the train I was booked on to no longer existed! I had to get in touch with the train company and luckily I was able to get the train closest to the original one in time as I had booked an off-peak ticket - phew!

Thinking I'd sorted all the travel arrangements, we then discovered that we had only been booked onto the flight with hand luggage, despite being away for two weeks. We had to get in touch with a man from the company in charge of our trip and pay separately for hold luggage. Finally having sorted this only a week ago, all I have left to worry about is getting a taxi or walking to my family's home - but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

I've also made a list of all the important information and documents I need to take with me; health and travel insurance, travel information and confirmation, passport, family address and information and maps of the area. It's scary having to think about all of these things - I just hope I get there safely and don't get ill while I'm out there!

Map of Salamanca

While I am in Salamanca, I will hopefully have lots of free time to explore the city and surrounding area after our mornings in the school. I would like to visit the University of Salamanca, the Cathedrals and the parks and river. We are just over two hours from Madrid as well, and on the border with Portugal, so there may be some opportunity to explore further afield as well!

The family I am staying with is a mother and her daughter who is a similar age to me. I am staying on my own with the family, while others on the trip are in pairs, so I'm quite nervous but I know it will be good for my Spanish and I hope that I will be able to bond with the family well. Plus, I will see my course mates every day at the school. I am going to take a present for the family to thank them for having me, and I have been brainstorming about what I might take. I want to give them something typically British, so my ideas are shortbread biscuits, teabags, English sweets or an English book/film. I haven't decided yet!

Having just had quite a long summer holiday, I haven't used my Spanish very much, so this week I am trying to swat up on some vocab before I go! I am trying to watch Spanish YouTube videos and read short Spanish texts online as preparation, but I know it's still going to be hard!

Overall, the weather looks pretty good for the trip...

...and I'm pretty excited for that! The next few days will be frantic summer clothes shopping, packing and making sure I have everything I need for going! I'm nervous about the challenge but so excited for the opportunity to explore Spain for the first time, improve my language and bond with a Spanish family and my class mates.


Thanks for reading!

Laura