You will be
glad to know that I made it through midterms last week without going completely
crazy. I didn’t know what to expect but I came out of each one feeling better
than I had felt going in. By the time I was finished with all my exams last
Wednesday it was time for me to pack and prepare myself for the early flight to
London the next morning. I met my friends Nick and Matt at the bus station for
a 6 am departure to the Bratislava airport. (Unfortunately, our flight wasn’t
until 10 am.) The airport was pretty much dead when we got there. None of the
check in desks were open, so without even thinking twice we went upstairs to go
through security. The man checked our ticket and passport and we went through
security with no problem. Then we thought we’d go through the visa check to get
to our gate. Why not? The man checked our passports, stamped them and we went
through the doors to find our gate. The gate was also ridden of any life. I sat
down, ate a few pretzels and played Temple Run on my iPhone for a bit. After I
got bored with that I decided to read the 2-euro novel I’d bought just for the
trip, but after reading five pages I was too distracted by the adorable baby (called
Esme) climbing the seats behind me. At this point the rest of the people on our
flight had shown up and then everyone stood up quick to get in line for boarding.
Here is where the fun part comes in. Nick was ahead of Matt and I in line. When
he got to the lady at the desk I noticed him turn around to us. I could tell he
was about to say something awful and he did. The lady had told him that his
ticket was not stamped with the visa check that we should have gotten at check
in. After a minute of Matt and I staring at him with wide eyes he told us we
had to come with him because we didn’t have a stamp either. Yeah, remember that
little bit about us deciding to go through security because nothing was open?
Well, just like any other airport, we should have waited to check in at the
actual desk. Where have I been all these years?
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| The empty Bratislava airport |
I guess the Bratislava airport
thinks that everyone knows this because they did not strategically place any
doors in between the terminal and the visa check point for us to get back through.
We eventually popped through the one-way door to the visa checkpoint where the
guy called out at us like criminals. We told him we needed our ticket stamped
and didn’t know where to go and he let us by. Then we came back to security and
did the same thing. Back down the stairs and to the check in desk, we cut in
line to get to the lady who called her supervisor and then told us that the
gate was closed and she couldn’t do anything about it. Two minutes and sharp
comments later we ran over to the information desk where the next lady slowly
stood up from her computer, put her shoes on and came over to tell us that she
needed to call her supervisor but didn’t think there was anything she could do.
Well, some spark of kindness from the man on the phone allowed her to stamp our
tickets and we rushed back up the escalator to the security point where we cut
the huge crowd in line. I was in my own world at that point as I was sprinting
through the first terminal, past the visa check point and finally to our gate. I
honestly felt like this moment was coming out of some movie. The lady took the
ticket and I joined the huge crowd still waiting to board the plane. Besides
being completely out of breath, I wasn’t in too bad of a state. Nick had taken
on the role assertive throughout the airport and I’ll admit I just took the
back seat to it all. I did panic and many thoughts went through my mind about
having to go back to Vienna with 200 bucks thrown out the window, but in the
end I accepted whatever was going to be. It all worked out.
When I got
to London I still needed to take an hour-long bus ride to get into the city. I
made that one by a minute too. It was beautiful riding into the city. I got a
glimpse of the countryside with all of the green pastures and grazing sheep.
When I arrived I went to the nearest underground station to try to figure out
how to get to my hostel. I actually found it pretty easily and then later met
up with Elizabeth at the London Eye. She had already seen a lot since she came
a day earlier than I did, but she walked around with me anyway. I saw the
London Eye, Big Ben down the way, the Millennium Bridge (a Harry Potter filming
location), Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, and the Tower Bridge. That evening we
met up with Nick and Matt at Chipotle for burritos! It was one of the best
moments. I was so excited to have food that tasted somewhat like Mexican food,
since it’s been an absent commodity in Vienna. That night was an early one for me.
I was so tired after travelling all day and a headache was fast approaching.
(It lasted all the way through the next day too. Joy.) I settled into my top bunk (out of three!)
and pulled the nice little curtains closed and I was out.
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| The London Eye and Big Ben! |
The next
morning was so cold and rainy. Elizabeth and I met up at Big Ben to go to the
changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. We walked past Westminster Abbey
on the way. I really wished I could have gone inside, but it was too expensive.
We arrived at the palace to see a huge crowd already waiting. We stood near the
gates for about 45 minutes before the changing began. I don’t know if any of
you have seen the changing of the guards, but the four of us found it kind of boring.
We ended up leaving early to get coffee for our cold walk towards the many free
museums. On our way we walked through Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of
London. I got to see a few more Harry Potter sights and we found a great
telephone booth to take pictures with. We had a lot of fun with that.
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| Changing of the Guards... |
The first museum we went to was the National
Portrait Gallery. It made me realize how extensive British history is. There
were so many portraits in the galleries! I think we all liked the more modern
ones downstairs (especially the ones of famous British actors!). After the
portrait gallery we headed over to The British Museum. Let me tell you, I have
never seen a museum as big as the British Museum! It had rooms for every part
of the world! My hunt was to find Cambodia – and I did! By the time we were
done there we decided to head to King’s Cross Station where the popular
Platform 9 ¾ is. We took our goofy pictures and then headed to our last
destination for the day – Harrod’s. I don’t even know how to explain what
Harrod’s is. Yes, it’s a department store, but you could almost call it a
museum. It was so rich in there I felt like I wasn’t even worthy to touch a
pair of pants.
The next
morning we all decided to meet in the center to do some more walking and sightseeing.
We crossed the London Bridge and walked through a Market that Harry Potter
filmed at. I still hadn’t seen Abbey Road (which I thought was a must) so after
we walked a bit we headed for the west side of London to see it. We had fun
trying to cross the road at the right moment before any cars hit us. I think we
had some pretty awesome shots. When we were through with that we made our way
across all of London to the east side where the Olympic Park is. We walked
through the giant American style mall that was probably put up for the Olympics
and then went to the viewing point to see part of the park. Unfortunately, one
is currently not allowed in the park, very much unlike the Munich Olympic Park
that Elizabeth and I so freely strolled through earlier in the semester. This
was our last day in London and Elizabeth and I unfortunately had a midnight bus
to catch back to the airport. We stopped to have a late dinner and some
Guinness at The Hobgoblin and then headed for the airport. I knew we had a
rough night in for us, but I very much did not want to dwell on it.
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| I hope you know what this is... |
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| Olympic Park in the rain |
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| My first Guinness - not too shabby |
I managed to fall asleep on the bus
and an hour later we were at the airport. I feel like in the states airports
are completely different than Europe. In the states I imagine that airports are
always open and lively, that there’s always someone there to let you know
things are running smoothly. For the second time, I walked into an airport in
Europe and it was dead. Granted we got there at one in the morning, but the
lights were off and everything. People were camped out against every wall. The
chairs had already been taken by the time we arrived. I was so out of it that I
immediately grabbed a spot on the floor behind a ticket kiosk and passed out.
Two hours later I was awoken by my own shivering. I felt like I was stranded
somewhere in the arctic. At one point two guys started to set up camp across
from me by laying out newspapers all over the floor. I must have been staring
at them like a two-year-old stares at ice cream because one of the guys looked
at me and offered me the rest of his newspaper. In a broken English he told me
I could make a bed with them to keep me warm. I was a little skeptical, but
took them and laid them out near my kiosk. I felt an immediate difference and
was able to fall asleep for another two hours. (Oh, I don’t think I mentioned
what time our flight was. We took the midnight bus for a 6am flight!) What
didn’t help was the time change in the middle of the night that gave us another
hour in that icebox. Around 4:30 the airport people began walking through the
airport shouting “Wakey, wakey” to everyone on the floors. It was time for us
to line up to check in. We waited quite a bit longer and finally went through
security. Right when we got through I saw an American style diner with a bacon,
eggs and toast breakfast. Naturally, I told Elizabeth we were going. That was
another one of those “best moments.” When we finally got to Bratislava we still
had to wait almost two hours for the bus back to Vienna. At that point we
didn’t even care about the wait. We sat down for some coffee and played on our
iPhones.
When I was
finally back in my own room I very quickly decided that I would go to sleep,
even though it was about 1 in the afternoon. When I woke up several hours later
I found Molly in the kitchen doing her homework, and looking just as tired as I
did. She had returned from a 13-hour train ride from Rome! After I took a
shower Molly asked me if I was up for McDonald’s for dinner. Heck yes I was! We
ventured into the center without even changing out of our sweatpants. I had a
cheeseburger, BBQ shaker fries and a sprite. Molly and I took our time, talking
and relaxing. It was the perfect evening to end a crazy weekend.
This past
week was full of excursions for me. I’m not complaining, but I also felt like I
didn’t have any class all week. On Wednesday our psychology professor randomly
took us out of class to go see the cemetery. He wanted to show us how Aros
(love) and Tantalos (fear of death) were represented in the sculpting of the
graves. It was pretty neat because he also showed us the musicians section
where Beethoven and Shubert (and many others!) are buried. Supposedly the
Zentralfriedhof cemetery is the second largest in Europe. Later that day my
music professor took us the Schubert’s birth house. It wasn’t the best museum
in the world but our group did get interviewed by a TV station. They were
investigating the ghost of Schubert as a face in the charcoal of the old
kitchen wall. Supposedly every year on the anniversary of his death one can
hear the sound of his footsteps in the room.
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| Professor Stipsitz pointing out Aros on the grave |
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| Hello Beethoven! |
Yesterday
was a national holiday for All Saints Day, so we didn’t have any class, but I
did have another excursion and decided to go to my internship last night. For
the excursion my public service professor took us to “Dialog im Dunkeln” or
“Dialogue in the Dark.” The exhibition leads groups through a pitch-black maze
of real life environments to raise awareness for the blind. We were given walking
sticks and were to follow the voice of our leader throughout the rooms. It was
a really strange, exciting and eye-opening experience. The whole time I was
sure that our guide had to have had night vision goggles on or something until
I finally asked her if she could see us and she responded that she had been
blind for ten years. I was shocked and immediately went silent. I didn’t know
what to think of it, but I also knew that I felt bad for thinking she could see
us. It’s kind of hard for me to explain the experience, but I did want to share
at least that much. I also had a good night at my internship. It’s been getting
really good and I feel like I’m bonding with most of the clients. We have a lot
of fun, despite the language barrier.
Today I
really felt like getting out Vienna. Molly and I had planned on going somewhere
tomorrow, but our planning didn’t really follow through. So, today I decided to
go to Melk, a small town west of Vienna. It’s known for it’s enormous abbey
painted with the beautiful golden “Schönbrunn yellow” color. I had a late start
so I knew I wouldn’t be seeing much of it in the daylight. For some reason the
little town felt very dead today and the abbey was very quiet. I didn’t do a
tour or anything so I have no history to give you. I did take a few good
pictures though and then walked through the town for a bit.
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| Stift Melk |
And here I
am back in my room trying to finish this blog after starting it almost a week
ago. Even though it’s a Friday I am content to stay warm and cozy in my nice
little apartment after a day of travelling. Tomorrow I plan on hitting up some
museums with my museum pass and then doing another standing room gig for “The
Barber of Seville” at the Staatsoper. My time here is slowly coming to an end
and I’m really trying to push myself to experience all that I can. I really
have the mindset that I might not ever be here again, so why not do it all now?
