Jam - packed!

            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?

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.

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.

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.

I hope you know what this is...

Olympic Park in the rain

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.

Professor Stipsitz pointing out Aros on the grave

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.

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?