A final ridiculous image to remember me by.

I'm going home.  Get it?...

I was really bored.

The Final Post Perhaps

Although I have been stressed out to the max in the last five days, I have also done a lot of cool stuff.  For instance, I:

*Went the the Natural History Museum and looked at rocks and dinosaurs and Earthy things for hours.  

*Spent a lot of time with the other few IES people who have been stranded.

*Climbed to the top of the hill at the Schönbrunn Palace.

*Walked around Christmas markets

*Watched Gone with the Wind with Diana and Waltraud

*Went to LOCO, this ridiculous club off of the U-6 that everyone goes to on Monday for 50 cent cocktails.  I resolved not to go a long time ago, but how could I not go yesterday?  I had one last shot to go to a bar full of people at least 4 years younger than me and sip on a 50 cent drink.  

*Cooked a lot of pasta with Ian, my poor friend who is trying to fly through London (not going to happen; that place is a mess)

I'm listening to two young Austrian people have a conversation next to me in the airport cafe where I am sitting, and I understand what is going on.  Go Deutsch.  I'm going to finish my chai, go through security, and come home.  I hope...hahahahaha.

All I Can Do Is Laugh

My third attempt at leaving Europe begins on Tuesday morning and will hopefully end at 4pm in Chicago. Don't worry about me, folks.  I'm hanging out with Waltraud and Diana and occasionally running about the city to do something interesting and keep me from thinking about the traumatizing airport experiences I have been having recently.  I don't really feel like I have anything to complain about.  I get to stay a few more days (although most of them are spent in lines at the airport), and there are literally thousands of people here who are stuck in airports around the continent. *Pause...Waltraud just handed me a sleeping bag because Diana has a few friends coming tomorrow and something about sheets and me and a sleeping bag...and...I think I am confused.  I'm going to use every form of bedding I currently have including the sleeping bag because I am cold and tired... Unpause*  The other great thing about being stranded is that you get to keep reading my hilarious blog posts.  Whew.  I'm going to to go sleep now even though it is 2:41 pm.  I think this is called a nap.

The Saga Continues

Just in case anyone is curious, that last post was only the beginning of a 15 hour day at the airport that resulted in me re-booking my flights for Sunday and going back to Waltraud's house.  I can't think about it, so I'm not even going to begin to describe how the rest of the day went.  I may have made a small scene while I was trying to call IES and get Waltraud's phone number at the ticket counter tonight.  Excuse me for having a panic attack.  You try fighting airplanes on 2 hours of sleep.  ANYWAY that is all over now, and I am snuggled up at Waltraud's house in the ole' room that I thought I said goodbye to 24 hours ago.  It's almost starting to be funny.  I'm glad I get to hang out tomorrow and sleep in my cozy bed and see a few more people before I attempt to leave the continent again.  I've been gifted an extra day by mother nature, and I'm using it to visit the natural history museum and eat pizza from an Imbiss stand.

I can't believe how lucky I am that I have such lovely people to come back to in Vienna.  I straggled into the apartment at 10-ish tonight, and Waltraud was waiting for me at the door.  She kept saying "poor Katy" (Kah-tee. I LOVE the way she says my name) and was offering me food and everything I needed.  Then I drank tea, and we watched the news together.  Most people had to go to hotel rooms tonight, but I got to go to the next closest thing to home.

........

So I'm stuck at an airport right now, and I feel like I've come full circle.  My music theory teacher would call this "circulatio" and then say "Guuuud!" (good with a very strange and unidentifiable accent).  I, however, would call this "a bummer".  Once you say goodbye to everyone and reluctantly drag yourself to the airport at 4 am, you kind of focus on just getting through the next few plane rides with determination.  First my flight to Amsterdam got delayed because of snow, but they boarded us anyway and said we would leave soon.  Then, they told us we would have to sit on the plane for 2.5 hours before we could go, so I said peace out, I'm going to sleep and hunkered down.  Unfortunately after a short nap the friendly captain man told us that Amsterdam was down to zero flights in and out of the airport, and the not-friendly bus people were coming back to take us to the gate.  Now I am sipping a latte and skyping my mother so she doesn't worry when I don't get to Chicago on time.  I only slept for like 2 hours last night/this morning/whatever time it is now, so I feel like a zombie.   Don't worry, America, I'll be back soon.  Just not on time and probably not on the same flight.  And a little crankier maybe.

Almost Done Packing

Last day. No time to blog.  Must squeeze the juice.  You don't know what that means because it is an IES-ism, but trust me-it's hilarious.

Bis bald, Amerika

I was discussing crazy people with my friend, Daniel, yesterday.  There are lot of them around here because everyone is living in this paradox where we can't fathom leaving Vienna but are really excited to see friends and family soon, too.  You want two things that are impossible to have at the same time.  It makes you feel funny.

I am having such a lovely week despite the weirdness of it being my last one here.  We are all kind of cramming in as much "together in Vienna" time as possible around finals.  Last night we went to a schnitzel place for my friend Jeremy's birthday.  I, of course, ordered my usual mushroom soup since there isn't much for a vegetarian to eat at a schnitzel house, but the soup was satisfying.  Here is something awesome:

I SAW CABARET AT THE KAMMERSPIEL LAST NIGHT!  Cabaret is quite possibly my favorite musical, and it was sooooooooo good.  I wanted to take my clothes off and dance in my unmentionables with the Kit-Kat girls so badly.  It was in German, but I totally understood everything because I pretty much have the show memorized.  Woo hoo!

I'm trying to think of funny things that have happened, but it has just been so strange around the ole' Palais Corbelli.  I started packing more at like 1 am last night in a random fit of excitement, but then today I was totally dreading leaving as I walked down snowy Kärtnerstraße to IES.

Lasts

Siena`s new favorite game is to say "This is the last time we are going to <insert whatever we are doing at any given moment>!"  Today on the U-bahn it was "Katy!  This is the last time we are going to ride the U-3 to Herrengasse at 16:14 on a Saturday afternoon!"  The last week is going to be full of that sentimental stuff that I will be trying not to think about. 

Last night we had a going away bash at this bar called The Travel Shack.  We played the IES slideshow from the whole semester, and everyone got sentimental.  Then they kept drinking and just got happy again.  You know.  Typical going away party, college style.  The only casualty from the night was my scarf, which is probably stuck in a pile of snow somewhere or tucked under the bar or something.  It didn`t make it home, but I did so I still consider the night successful.  I´m going to go play some Schubert instead of writing a paper.  Go Vienna.

Week Eighteen

Last week in Wien.  For now, at least.  I can't imagine not coming back in the future for one reason or another.  The final concert was last night, and there were SOOOO many people there.  It was lovely.  I think I got more complements for my role as the monster than the Bach I sang, but that's ok.  I was way more excited about the Magic Flute scene anyway.  The Ladies (Siena, Amanda, Claire) and Jeremy, who brilliantly directed, were amazing and hilarious.  After the concert we all had wine and food at a reception the staff organized for our last hoorah together.  Waltraud and Diana came to the concert!  I love them so much.  It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them.

It's hard for me to balance cynicism with gratitude for the next part of this blog.  IES decided to award a spirit award every semester beginning this year, and they gave it out last night after the concert.  Yours truly and my friend, Drew, were awarded the IES Abroad Vienna Spirit Award.  It's funny and easy to make fun of (especially for Siena, with whom I am in love), but it is also pretty cool I think.  I got a sweet plaque, and Drew and I get to pick out some form of IES apparel to wear home or something.  I want to get a hoodie and iron-on the faces of the IES staff.  How's that for spirit?  Sometimes during this semester I have had a really rough time being away from Butler and feeling like I'm not involved and busy all the time, but after last night I realize that I have actually done a ton of things this fall.  It is just a different kind of routine that I think I have gotten used to now. Anyhoo, it was really cool.  I'm flattered and honored.  And full of spirit evidently.

Hey, Mom. Here are my boots.

 These are the boots, Mom.  I'm working in the library right now and finishing a philosophy paper, but it was more important that I take a photobooth picture for you.

This is a failed attempt at photographing my boots.








And below are the cute little Krampus and Nikolo guys that Waltraud put next to my boots this morning.  Today is the day that kids (and I) get candy in their shoes.  She is the best.

The Winter Boots Fiasco

Tofu update:  Let me begin by saying that I am an idiot.  My tofu is usually tan, so it sticks out in that dark water in the container.  Evidently I bought some flavored kind last time so the tofu was really dark, and I didn't see it because it was the same color as the water.  The tofu was there.  Lily found it.  Then we ate it.

I had to buy snow boots last week because Vienna looks like this right now:

I went to the shoe store, but I forgot my German 1 vocabulary for when you go to the store, so I couldn't remember how to say the basic important things.  I picked up the sample boot I wanted and kind of just stood there for a while like a weirdo until I caught the eye of a lady who was helping another woman.  She said something in fast colloquial German, and I did the I'm sorry my German isn't very good apology just to get that out of the way.  That didn't stop her from speaking German to me after she said in very rehearsed English How can I help you?.  I gave up and just said my shoe size (neununddreizig).  Then she shushed me because she was helping another lady.  I considered walking out of the store and trying somewhere else where I could maybe redeem myself, but I was too far into the sale to leave without being even more awkward.  I also couldn't think of an excuse I could say in German that would make sense either.  Somehow I made it to the counter to pay, and just when I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel (not real light though because it was blizzarding outside at the time), she asked me if I wanted to buy that water-proof spray stuff for my boots.  I said Nein, danke, but she wanted to keep convincing me, so I just sort of stood there with a stupid look on my face and smiled a little.  I was thinking just let me get the hell out of this God-forsaken shoe store, lady.  All I wanted was a pair of boots, but my face was saying....wait... that is actually EXACTLY what my face was saying.  I paid and hurried out into the wintery blizzard.  It was a much better alternative to being inside that warm, awkward shoe store.  The story gets better, though.  When I got home, Waltraud stopped me and asked where I got my boots because she loved them!  I talked with her in German (obviously skipping the embarrassing story part), and then the next day she went out and got the same boots.  Hilarious.  Diana is thinking about getting some, too.  I love them.  Diana, Waltraud, and my new boots.