My Birthday and Traditional Upper Austrian food

Hi everyone :)

So last Friday (1st April) was my 21st birthday, and I had a lovely time celebrating in Austria. I was teaching just one class so I decided to take tea, biscuits and sweets in and play some games with them. I was very spoilt by my colleagues with some lovely gifts (which Niki enjoyed too!), and my class had prepared a special birthday song for me called 'Wie schön, das du geboren bist' (how lovely it is that you were born), for which they were accompanied by the teacher and her ukelele!


In the evening, I had some friends over for food and then we went bowling. Unfortunately I didn't win, but I did have a wonderful time!

The beautiful birthday cake that Charlotte and our new housemate Michael made for me! 

Of course Niki had to have a place at the table...

On Wednesday I decided to cook for my housemates, and I had received an Upper Austrian recipe book for Christmas, so I thought I'd give it a try! Overall, it worked pretty well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

The dish was called Bauernkoteletts - literally 'farm cutlets'.
It consists of pork cutlets with vegetables and frankfurter sausages in a gravy sauce and with roast potatoes.
(Upper Austria is the farming region of Austria, so the food is similar in sorts to back home)

Other than that, not much exciting has happened! I've been teaching, lesson planning, and working on my dissertation, which is due on 3rd May (really not very long left!) But I do have lots of exciting things planned for May to make the most of my remaining time here.

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

Winter in Austria: Snow and Skiing

Hi everyone!

In the last two weeks, winter has really arrived in Austria. One morning when I was at the bus stop at 7am, the temperature was -16 degrees Celcius!! I'm not built for temperatures like this!

A few exciting things have happened in the last two weeks:

1. The snow came back! I went to stay at Emma Cate's house in Steyr and we woke up to heavy snow outside. And the snow is still here as well - it's so cold it's not melting, and we had more yesterday!

2. I went to see 'Joy' at the cinema and it was great! A film that makes you feel every emotion at the same time, I'd really recommend it.

3. I've got back into reading again, and I'm on my second book of the year. My first was 'Me Before You' by Jojo Moyes and the second is 'The Little Paris Bookshop' by Nina George. 

4. I taught at the primary school again and we learnt parts of the body, colours and numbers up to ten. Next time, we're going to draw and describe monsters, which I'm very excited about! I'm always amazed at how quickly they pick things up. Some of them can't really read or write yet, yet they are able to memorise vocabulary in a foreign language and even sing songs like 'Silent Night' without ever reading the words!

5. The Student Language Bureau (an organisation which provides jobs for students abroad) are starting up a blog site and are going to feature a blog from me every two weeks!

6. I bought a ball gown for a Viennese ball I'm going to next week - pictures to come in the next blog post!

7. Yesterday, I went skiing for the first time with Carissa. It was great! Not as terrifying as I thought it might be, apart from the final slope we attempted in order to get down the mountain...we ended up being rescued by one of the piste machines because the slope was difficult and they were about to close the slopes! But apart from that, I'm very proud of myself for trying, and I had a great day! Here are some pictures...

Stopping for refreshments in the restaurant

Me in the all-in-one ski suit I borrowed from me housemate!

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

Christmas and Krampus

Hi everybody :)

So this is probably going to be my last blog for the next few weeks, as I head home for Christmas on Wednesday - wahoo! I cannot wait to be back at home, I'm so ready for it :) But here is a little run down of what I've been up to this week...it's been a busy one, as December tends to be!

I began the research for my year abroad research project this week, which meant that I was getting most of my classes to fill in a questionnaire during lesson time. They were all really helpful in filling it in, and happy to do it - the only thing is I now have a lot of data to analyse! After the questionnaire part of the lesson, I've been talking to my students about Christmas in the UK, and that's been quite fun. They cannot get their heads around crackers - they just do not see the fascination. They also get very confused about why there is no meat in mince pies, and why on earth we eat fruit cake, when we could have chocolate cake instead. My favourite part of the lesson, though, has been getting them to listen to 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' and try and write down the gifts they hear - my favourite suggestion was 'a jingle bell tree' instead of 'a partridge in a pear tree'! But they were good sports and played along :)

On Monday I did my first lesson at the local primary school. They have asked me to do some private lessons with a group of 6 and 7 year olds, about 20 of them. And oh my goodness were they adorable. I was teaching them some Christmas themed words, and so had made flashcards for 'Santa Claus', 'Reindeer', 'Present' etc and they were shouting the right answers out whenever I showed them the picture. I also taught them to sing 'Silent Night' as they sing the same song in German, and I was amazed at how quickly some of the youngest ones memorised the whole verse in English! At the end of the lesson, one of the girls came up to me and said (in German) "Laura, guess what? I have English on my t-shirt!" - it said 'I love you to the stars and back', so adorable! And then as I was leaving the building, they all shook my hand, thanked me for the lesson and wished me a good Christmas! Austria is seriously doing something right!

This week I also had a lovely girly sleepover with Carissa. I went to stay with her in Kirchdorf, and we watched a few films, made brownies (and ate them), and we made apple strudel (the first time I'd made it!)...and of course, we ate that too ;)

As this was the last full week of term, both of my schools had their Christmas parties as well. One of my schools is in the grounds of a monastery, and the party itself was in a part of the monastery which is not open to the public, so it was very exciting. The general format of the Christmas parties was that a group of teachers get together and form a choir, and they are very good, and then there are some texts read out, and once this part is over, you eat, and drink quite a lot of Punsch and Glühwein (mulled wine). I had a great time at both of the parties, it was nice to chat to the teachers out of the normal school environment.

On Friday, I hosted a film afternoon at my main school. I've been organising it for a while, and the idea stemmed from the fact that no one over here has really seen 'The Sound of Music', but they will always be asked about it if they go to an English-speaking country. So they bought tickets for €1 and in return I brought along snacks and drinks. At first I was a little disappointed with how many people came in comparison to how many said they would be interested, but the ones that did came really made the most of the opportunity, and although it's an old-fashioned, cheesy film, they sat and watched it, and many stayed to watch the entire 2.5 hours! People only left early because they had to get buses. And the sweetest part of it, was that as each person left, they personally came up and thanked me for organising it, and wished me a happy Christmas, so that made it all worth while.

On Saturday, Emma Cate and I took an old-fashioned bus to a little village just outside Steyr where they have the official North Pole post office. Unfortunately the post office was closed when we got there, but we had the excitement of travelling on the bright yellow bus with the very loud horn, and exploring the village which had a beautiful Church.

Once back in Steyr, it was time for the Krampuslauf. This is a tradition in Austria, and the idea is that on the 5th and 6th of December, St Nicholas comes if you have been good and gives you little gifts like sweets etc, but if you have been bad, Krampus comes. The Krampuslauf is basically where people dress up in 'Krampus' costumes, and run through the streets scaring people...it was interesting to see, and you have to give them credit for the effort they put in to the costumes, but it was terrifying. There was a railing between us and the Krampuses, however at times they would climb onto or even over the railing - poor Conor ended up with Emma Cate and I cowering behind him!

Fairytales in Austria are darker than England, for example they tell the Brothers Grimm stories. The idea is to scare the children into behaving, because children over here are given a lot more responsibility than back home. The 6 and 7 year olds I taught got the bus home by themselves after school!

Austria doesn't have the Santa Claus figure. They do have St Nicholas who comes at the start of December, but they also have the Christkind (Christ child) who comes on the evening of 24th December. It is an angel figure who comes and brings presents, as well as the Christmas tree and decorations. The children have to leave the room while the Christkind is there, and know to come back in when a bell is rung. It has been really interesting finding out about the different traditions over here, even if some of them are terrifying!

So all that remains is to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and thank you for reading! Until 2016...!

Laura :)

A very festive murder mystery!

Hi everyone :)

This week has felt like a very short one. Having Mum, Jen and Alison to stay last weekend, and the bank holiday Monday and Tuesday, meant I actually only worked on Wednesday. Thursday is my day off at my second school, and then Friday was a training day, so the week went by very quickly.

On Thursday I worked on my Year Abroad Research Project, as in school next week I will be working through the classes getting them to fill in my questionnaire for my research, so I've been busy designing and finalising that.

Our training session on Friday was a follow up to our training week at Hinterglemm in September, which now feels like forever ago! It was lovely to see everyone again, as some I haven't seen since September, and to see how we're all getting on. Some people presented their 'Greatest Hits' in the classroom, so it was fun to see how everyone teaches and what has worked for them. We also got some more tips and ideas to use from other English teachers, and generally felt more confident about our teaching ability than three months ago!

On Saturday, something very exciting happened. I'd organised a Murder Mystery evening for some of the Teaching Assistants to come over. Everyone had a character, it was Christmas themed, and it was fancy dress. Overall the evening went very well, everyone got into character and played along really well, and there was a lot of fun and laughter! The bribery and suspicion just made it all the more fun. Naturally as the host, I was Santa Claus, "Head of North Pole Operations" (and because I went all out with my costume, I won the 'Dressed to Kill' award :P ) The best acting went to my beautiful wife for the evening, Emma Cate (Mrs Claus) and 'Mrs Money Bags' was Lisa (Spanky the Elf), who ended the night with the most money, due to her bribery skills. The murderer, Chloe (Jangle the Elf) did a very good job at spreading rumours and covering her tracks, so much so that no one guessed that she was the murderer! So hats off to Chloe! Here are a few pictures from the night that show the fun that was had...

Me getting into character as Santa!

Mr and Mrs Claus

A group picture of us acting out our roles for the night.

Now I am officially in the festive spirit, and I'm ready to teach my students all about Christmas in the UK whilst wearing my Christmas jumper. I hope they're ready for me!

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

My First Thanksgiving

Hi everyone :)

Yet again this week has flown by! Apart from work I've done a few exciting things:

1. I went to see the new Sound of Music film. It's a modern-day take and the story is told from Agathe's point of view, the oldest daughter in the Von Trapp family. There aren't all the famous songs, but it's the same story and it's a good film. I'd definitely recommend it.

2. I went on a lovely walk with Chloe, one of the British TAs in Linz, at a little lake near where she lives. It was freezing, but the sun came out (between snow showers) and the view was beautiful.

3. I found a 1kg limited edition jar of Nutella with Santa's face on it in my local supermarket, and naturally I bought it...

4. I spent most of my weekend working on my 1000 word progress report (in German) for Southampton University. It's a report on my year abroad research project, saying what I've done so far and what my plans are. I have finally completed it, and have a plan of action for the next few weeks, so that is good!

5. As a reward for finishing my progress report, I baked some Christmas biscuits. These are the ones that didn't end up burning (the oven likes to cook stuff quicker at the edges of the tray...)...but the burnt ones didn't go to waste! ;)

6. On Sunday afternoon, I celebrated my first ever Thanksgiving. Being me, I took along the most British dish I could think of: apple crumble. The food was amazing, and Carissa very much enjoyed my reactions to all the new foods - sweet potato casserole was definitely my favourite! It was such great fun to spend time with lots of the TAs from Upper Austria, and it made me realise how thankful I am for the wonderful friends I have made since moving to Austria. 

Chloe, Carissa and I post-dinner :)

Carissa and I post-dinner :)

The thing I am most excited about right now though, is that Mum, Alison and Jen are coming to visit me next weekend, and I cannot wait to see them! I'm sure next week's blog post will include lots of adventure, and many pictures!

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

The Christmas season is here! Yay!

Hi everyone!

As I'm writing this post, it has just begun to snow outside my window, and it's getting heavier by the minute. I am extremely excited to have a snowy winter this year! The trouble is, watching the snow is very distracting, and it's hard to pull myself away from the window!

Anyway, back to this week...
This week has been another varied week with lessons. I've talked about grammar, war and terrorism, Australia, smoking, American vs British English, adolescence, pronunciation and multicultural Britain!

I've also been asked to do some extra (paid!) work at a primary school, doing some basic English with 6 and 7 year olds, which is very much my cup of tea! It'll be great fun to play games, do basic vocabulary and sing some songs...however understanding their child ramblings in the Austrian dialect could be interesting! Fingers crossed there will be a teacher with me all the time, although it will probably help me to learn a lot quicker.

My film afternoon at my main school is all planned and ready - on the 19th December I'll be showing "The Sound of Music" at the school, and so far everyone seems really keen on coming, which is very exciting! One response in class came from a girl after my own heart. When I asked if they would be interested in a film afternoon, she said completely straight-faced "Will there be food?", to which I replied, "Of course!". Thankfully, that convinced her to come :P I'm asking them all to pay €1 for a ticket by the Wednesday before, and then I'll go and buy a load of snacks for them to eat during the film :) I just hope they enjoy it!

I also went along to a badminton club this week. I was nervous about going, but luckily I was put in touch with a guy at the club who speaks English, so whilst I want to practise my German, it was nice to have the choice of speaking English if I was struggling. The training is three hours, two nights a week, and I'd forgotten how exhausting it was! I have to say, my body is still aching three days on, and Friday was a struggle to move, but I loved it and I cannot wait to go back. It was lovely to be back playing again, and everyone was so welcoming. I think it will be a good little community to get involved in :)

On Saturday, the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) opened in Linz, and a group of us TAs went along. It's been quite warm here the last few weeks, but the temperature suddenly dropped on Friday, and it's turned quickly to winter. This just added to the atmosphere at the market. All the Christmas lights were lit, you could smell Gluhwein (mulled wine) and chocolate everywhere, and the stalls were selling beautiful handmade items which would make wonderful Christmas presents (spoiler alert for everyone back home! :P ). Here is a picture of the Linz Weihnachtsmarkt to give you an idea of what it's like...

I think that's all for this week. I'm working a lot on my Year Abroad Research Project at the moment, so my exploring has taken a step back for a couple of weeks until my deadline, but there will be more to come before the Christmas holidays!

Thanks for reading :)

Laura

Dirndl shopping and a trip to Graz

Hi everyone!

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:

The view from Schlossberg, a huge hill in the middle of Graz where you can see all over the city.

The view from Schlossberg, a huge hill in the middle of Graz where you can see all over the city.

Emma Cate and I in a little garden on the Schlossberg.

The view from Schlossberg, a huge hill in the middle of Graz where you can see all over the city.

The steps up the side of the Schlossberg - we only walked down there, luckily there was a much gentler slope on the other side!

Murinsel - a restaurant built in the middle of the Mur river which also acts as a bridge. 

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 :)

Teaching Trials and Adventures to Altaussee

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since my last blog post, so I thought it was about time for an update.

I feel like I'm getting into my stride with teaching now. I'm really starting to enjoy it! I've done lessons on Facebook, smoking, bonfire night, prom, report writing...and many more! The staff are very friendly and mostly helpful, and the students mostly are enthusiastic and interested. I especially enjoy teaching the 8th form (equivalent of year 13) because they speak very good English and really like hearing about England and things, and tend to participate in the lessons really well.

There have, however, been a few 'teaching trials', which I feel many of my fellow teaching assistants will understand:
- Some teachers do not reply to emails, ever, which means I have no idea what they would like me to plan for the lesson, and then decide to tell me what they want me to do an hour (or less) beforehand!
- It's hard to get 15 year olds to speak. They just sit there and look at you blankly until you start rambling like a crazy person and wasting five minutes of the lesson.
- Some students just love to talk, only they love to talk in German, and that doesn't really help in an English lesson.
- Some teachers like to sit back and let you lead the lesson, which is fine unless the class misbehave. Others like to participate in the lesson, which is fine unless they say something that isn't quite true, and then you have to decide whether to correct them in front of the class or just let it go and hope the students didn't take it in.

I went to one of my schools' Maturaball last week, which is basically like their year 13 prom, but they tend to do it earlier in the year. It's very different to prom back home though, as it's not just the students that go to the ball, but also their families, teachers, previous students of the school, and younger students too - so there were a lot of people! There isn't a sit down meal, but you have the opportunity to buy drinks and food while you're there. All of the food is made by the students, just like the decorations and invitations, because the whole of the Maturaball is organised and funded entirely by the students. This means that in the weeks leading up to the Maturaball, students are selling a lot of cake at break time, so I'm not complaining! I was really impressed at how much effort they had put into the organisation, and on top of that, they also provided the entertainment. There were group class dances, as well as a teachers dance, a tombola and many sketches that took place throughout the evening. I thoroughly enjoyed my time, and it was a great opportunity to get to know members of staff better and practise my German.

As last weekend was Halloween, I decided some baking was in order. We didn't really celebrate or anything, but my housemate, her boyfriend and I went to a lovely tea house in Linz for a relaxing evening of tea drinking and then came back to carve pumpkins. We were very impressed at Markus' attempt at carving the smallest pumpkin I have ever seen. And of course, I carved a minion into my pumpkin...

My minion pumpkin, Markus' tiny pumpkin and Charlotte's pumpkin

Last Thursday I went to see Spectre, the new James Bond film, and I loved it! I won't be giving away any spoilers, but it was amazing! I ended up going on my own, which I was a little nervous about, but I actually really enjoyed it, and felt like a strong independent woman who just goes to the cinema on her own and doesn't care! Sounds silly, but it made me feel good :P I think it might become a regular occurrence, as it's also a great way to watch German films.

It's also been really lovely to spend time with the other TAs - I feel like I'm making some wonderful friends who I have a lot in common with. It's great to have people I can go exploring with, but also who I can stay in and watch movies with :)

During my days off, I've been spending time working on my year abroad project, for which I have a deadline at the end of November, so a lot of my free time will be taken up with that for the next few weeks, but I have been off on some adventures too, because I want to make the most of my time over here!

For example yesterday, three of the TAs and I went on an adventure to Altausee, which coincidentally is where part of the new James Bond film is filmed! (Everyone was very excited in the cinema I can tell you!) It was honestly so beautiful. We took a train from Linz to Bad Aussee and then a bus up to Altaussee, which is a little village in the mountains. There is a lake there that you can walk around in about 2 hours, and I will add some pictures of our walk because the autumn colours and the reflections in the lake and the mountains surrounding us were breath-taking!

I have plans to do lots more walks like this, and to go and explore lots of towns and villages around Austria, because it is such a beautiful country with such a variety of scenery - I really love it here :) I am also hoping to join some sports classes in the next few weeks with the French assistant at my school, as it will be a good way to keep fit whilst also meeting new people. My aim now is to get involved in a lot more activities and meet new people to practise my German, because I feel like that will help me settle in a lot more.

The final thing I wanted to say is that I am starting to make some progress with the dialect over here. It's not easy at all, and at times sounds like a completely different language...here is a link to a YouTube video that gives you an idea of what I'm up against! The man in the video is actually from Upper Austria, where I am, so that is how people here sound :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkuAd97WUSw

Thanks for reading! I'll hopefully have lots more adventures to tell you about in my next blog post :)

Laura :)

My Second School

Hello everyone!

This week I started at my second school. My Monday morning didn't start off too well, as I arrived at the school and was taken into the staff room by the secretary, and after waiting for ten minutes or so, I was informed that my contact teacher at the school was signed off ill for three days and they didn't have a timetable for me. Luckily some of the English teachers adopted me for the morning and I was passed around different classes until they found my timetable, which then turned out to be wrong, so I will have a different timetable when I go back in two weeks! However despite all of this, all the teachers were very helpful, and one of the teachers especially. She's letting me share her desk, and gave up an hour and a half of her own time on Monday to go through everything with me, introduce me to everyone and answer all my questions. She was a life saver!

Something I have also found about the school is that the children are louder, and like to chat amongst themselves in class. One of the teachers said that this might be because it's a sports school, rather than a private school like my main school, and this can make teaching difficult when you have to spend half the time asking them to be quiet. I've found myself using many phrases I remember my teachers using, like:

"I'm talking, so no-one else should be."
"Please can we listen to one another?"
...and my personal favourite:
*to person who is talking* "Could you please repeat what was just said?"

That being said, I have had some really good lessons this week. The students like to have fun, so if you're willing to laugh along with their jokes and make the lessons entertaining, they will actually participate and learn something. And that is the point of me being there, to give them fun lessons and to get them to speak in English, not to just do textbook exercises. I've also realised how rewarding it feels when someone who has been messing around, actually joins in the discussion and makes a really valid point!

So this week was exhausting but rewarding, and hopefully when I go back in two weeks, I will get to meet my contact teacher (I still haven't met her) and things will be easier, as I've found my feet a little more in the school.

Apart from work this week, I went to watch the quarter finals of the Generali Ladies Linz tennis tournament, which was great fun! We ate cake, watched some great tennis, and even learnt all the tennis terms in German in the process!

I also went to visit one of the English Assistants who lives in a town outside of Linz called Steyr. She gave us a guided tour of the town, and here are some pictures:

There are mountain goats living in the castle moat in Steyr!

Two rivers meet in the centre of Steyr, and it's beautiful. 

I also have a fair amount of lesson planning to do, as the last two weeks have mainly been me doing the same introductory lesson over and over again, whereas now, I've introduced myself to everyone, and I start teaching on the topics they are studying. This week, I will be doing lessons on character profiles, the evil within people (linked to The Lord of the Flies), and ways to learn a foreign language abroad - so quite a variety!

Next weekend we have a long weekend, as it's the national holiday on Monday 26th October, so some of the other TAs and I are planning a long weekend trip to Prague which is very exciting! My next blog post will be all about our adventures there :)

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Becoming a Teacher!

Hello everyone!

This week was my first week teaching in Austria! I am working in two schools, and so will do alternate weeks in each. On Monday, I started at the first one, which is a little outside of Linz city centre. In order to get there, I have a twenty minute walk/10 minute tram journey, followed by a ten minute bus journey. It's not too bad, but the problem is, Austrian schools start at 7.45am!!!! So if I'm teaching first thing, it's a very early start for me!

On Monday I had a little bit of confusion with buses, because apparently the bus doesn't go from the logical side of the road...it goes from a lay-by on the other side of the road, does a U-turn and then heads out of the city - I mean, who wouldn't have guessed that?! Anyway, that meant I'd missed the bus, but luckily I was organised and had gone for an earlier bus, so the next one would still get me in on time. And it would have, if I hadn't then missed my stop...So I eventually arrived at the school, rather flustered, but luckily I met my contact teacher in the car park and she didn't seem to mind at all! Our stereotype of the Austrians being very punctual isn't quite as accurate as I thought - they seem to be very laid back, at least at this school!

This week has involved taking in a lot of information in a short amount of time. Luckily one of the year groups was away, which meant I had less lessons to teach and more time to try and figure out what I was supposed to do! The lesson I've been mainly doing this week has involved introducing myself and where I am from, playing a couple of games, and then discussing stereotypes of Austria and England, which is always good for getting them talking. The students seem to be interested in what I have to say, and are all really well behaved, which makes me feel a lot more comfortable.

I am mainly working with pupils between the ages of 15 and 18 in this school, and I was amazed by the level of their English - they are pretty much fluent! I particularly enjoyed working with the oldest year, as it was just a normal conversation really, and they even tried to teach me some of the Upper Austrian dialect. Each time they asked me to repeat something, they would end up bursting into hysterical laughter - I'm guessing I wasn't quite doing it right! I have to say, I am finding the dialect very hard to understand - hopefully by the end of the year I'll have made some progress.

The teachers at the school have all been so welcoming and friendly. The English teachers like to practise their English with me, and I tend to speak to all the other teachers in German - apart from one French teacher, who speaks to me in a mixture of German, French, and English song lyrics (she doesn't speak much English but has memorised song lyrics - it makes for an interesting conversation!). They've all been happy to answer my questions, show me around or help me with anything I'm worried about, especially my contact teacher, who I've been sending a lot of emails with questions about bank accounts and lessons and general life in Austria!

On Wednesday I had a day off, and I spent the day setting up an Austrian bank account (I did this completely in German, I'm very proud of myself) and I also popped in to my second school, as at this point I'd heard nothing from them, and had no idea when to come in on Monday to start work. The receptionist was very helpful and gave me a bit of information, and so I am coming in at 7.45am with the hope that I will then be given a timetable and be told what I'm doing! We shall see :)

On Saturday I had some friends from the English TA training week over. I showed one of them around Linz during the day - we visited the many churches and cathedrals that Linz has to offer and did a lot of the tourist attractions. Then, after chasing each other around Linz for about an hour because none of us could get in touch with the others, meaning things just got very confused, we had a lovely evening eating pizza and watching a film - it was needed after a long week for all of us! And then today (Sunday) we went to watch the qualifiers of a professional tennis tournament held in Linz. We cheered on our fellow Brit Johanna Konta, and watched some great tennis - we're now thinking about going back next weekend to watch the quarter final or even the final :)

It has taken me quite a while to write this, as Niki (the cat) is begging for my attention, and likes to sprawl out over the keyboard in the hope I'll stop typing and just play with her. I am loving having a cat around the house - she's great company, even is she can have some attitude on her sometimes ;)

"Please play with me????"

Tomorrow morning I start at me second school, so my next blog post will be all about my first week there, and how things went! So I will update you all soon :)

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

Three weeks to go!

Hi everyone!

The count down begins!

My flights are all booked - on Sunday 20th September I'll be flying from London Gatwick to Vienna, and travelling on to Linz by train. Three weeks and counting! Now that I've booked my travel it all suddenly feels real and very soon, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time! Especially when a lot of my course mates have already left or are leaving in the next few days to start their new adventures!

I'm hoping my accommodation is also pretty much sorted. I am going to view an apartment the day after I arrive in Linz. It's in the Hauptplatz, owned by a 28 year old lady called Charlotte who seems lovely from the emails we've exchanged over the past week. She's renting out a room in her flat, and it seems to be perfect for me, so I am hoping to pay a small deposit in the next few days to secure it, but want to view it before I move in to ensure everything is as I expected. I will most likely be staying in a hostel for the Sunday and Monday evening, and, all being well, will move in on the Tuesday! Once I get out there and have moved into accommodation, I will post pictures on here, but from what I've seen so far, it's a lovely flat and I can imagine myself being happy there. Plus, she has a cat - what more could I want?

There are a few things left to do, for example changing my English phone contract onto pay-as-you-go for the year, but mostly the remaining things to do will have to wait until I get there. I may have to set up a bank account in Linz, as my bank doesn't have a branch over there, but I will have to research this more. And I will also need to look at getting an Austrian SIM card for my phone so that I can use it out there as well.

All the big things are pretty much there now, it's just the little things remaining. But the main thing is reading through all the information I've been given about my placement, talking more with the school about my role and the logistics of it all, and most importantly swatting up on my German!

I am starting to get excited now, especially with my accommodation coming together - I think that was something that was stressing me out quite a bit, so it's good to have a bit more of a plan to go on.

I plan to post another blog post once I have arrived in Linz and have settled in a bit, which will hopefully include pictures and descriptions of where I will be living. But for now, this post is just to let you know my plans and how all the preparation is going for my year abroad! Now I need to start thinking about packing.........!

Liebe Grüße

Laura

Oberösterreich - Upper Austria

Hi everyone!

My year abroad is fast approaching and things are starting to fall into place. In mid-late September I will be headed to Linz in Upper Austria for nine months to work as an English Teaching Assistant. This scheme is run by the British Council and they have placed me in two schools. One is a private Catholic school, and the other is a standard secondary school. From the communication I have had with teachers at the schools so far, it seems that I will do alternate weeks in each school, leading smaller groups and sometimes larger classes, helping them with their English and teaching them about the English culture.

I am in the process of sorting out accommodation, and am hoping to live with a group of students in the Linz-Urfahr area, however this is still to be confirmed. Although the cost of living in Austria is quite high, I have been able to find some reasonable rooms in shared flats/houses through the website www.easywg.at, which I found through one of the blogs on www.thirdyearabroad.com. I just had to create a profile and I could search for relevant adverts, and people advertising rooms that fit my criteria could email me and so the process was put into motion. I am hopeful that one of the flats I'm in contact with currently will work out, as they all seem very nice so far!

I am also hoping to do lots of travelling while I'm away, both in and around Austria. I'd love to visit Vienna and Salzburg, as well as possibly Budapest and Prague, and maybe go down into Italy. That's the great thing about Austria - it's bordered by so many countries that travel around Europe is so easy and not too expensive.

I am also hoping to learn to ski - it's a must if I'm living in Austria! Hopefully my awful balance and fear of falling won't get in the way too much!

For now, this is all the information I have, but I hope to post on here every few weeks to let everyone know what I've been up to and how my year is going.

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

The first meeting and initial plans!

A few weeks ago we had an introductory meeting to our year abroad. There was a lot of information thrown at us for 6pm on a Monday, but I just wanted to get started on planning where I was going to go and what I was going to do! Unfortunately though, not much can be done until October, other than researching and considering where would be best for me to go.

Technically, I have the choice between a French-speaking, German-speaking or Spanish-speaking country, however I am studying accelerated beginners' Spanish, and, at my university, in order to continue with this course next year, you are supposed to go to a Spanish-speaking country for your year abroad - not that I'm complaining! My initial thoughts are that I would like to go to Spain over Latin America, as I feel that would be a very big step and a long way away from home and everything I know...and plus, spaces are limited!

I also feel that a British Council teaching placement would be my preferred option, instead of studying at a university or finding my own work placement, as I have in the past considered teaching once I graduate and I think this would help with that decision, and also with my Spanish in general!


In order to get us to the level of Spanish we need, the university run a trip to Salamanca in September, the start of your second year. It is a two week intensive course, all expenses paid, studying in a Spanish school. To go on this trip, you must get over 60% over the year in Spanish, and yesterday I discovered that I had achieved this! So now, I am very excited for this trip, especially as it is now confirmed and only three months away! I have never been to Spain before, and I think it will be a great opportunity for my Spanish, and to learn about the Spanish culture in preparation for my year out.

¡Hasta pronto!

Laura :)