Austria and the like

Destination Unknown: Stockholm

2009-02-17T02:31:00.007+01:00

So!! Yes, London in ''chaos'' is 2cm of snow that shut down the whole public transport system hahahahah it was hilarious!! Ive been following the cold very well this trip, its snowed in London, then Manchester, then Amsterdam, then in Freddie's hometown- Uppsala (SO BEAUTIFUL!!)

The coolest thing we did with Freddie was go walking on a frozen lake- just to emphasise how cold it is Sweden!! I've never walked on a frozen lake, Freddie showed us cracks in the snow and threw a massive snowball at me, we took lots of silly photos of our long shadows, and wrote messages in the snow :)

It was so lovely to actually see Freddie's home - it's like a postcard, and his parents are so lovely, even his little fluffy dog was so cute. Rita and I had a good laugh over what baby photo was Freddie - he was the fat baby :P Jordi and I slept out in the little sleepout, the only problem being that the roof was very close to my head, and I hit it when I woke up in the morning (late). Good times!!! Uppsala itself was so beautiful, I LOOOOOVED the cathedral, and we went and watched a game of rugby (England v... I dont remember, Italy?) at a local pub, which was so great! Even though i'd been away from Rugby for so long, I still remembered how to yell at the ref and the good lines of abuse to hurl. The locals were impressed (I think)!

Anyway, unfortunately, we didnt spend enough time in Uppsala; we left Freddie and his lovely family home (and his mom's great cooking!) and trained down to Stockholm after hanging out with Freddie all day. When we arrived, we got off the train and walked for (what seemed like) forever in very icy conditions to find out hostel - a boat! It was also so awesome to see, all the water around Stockholm was iced over, it was so impressive, it looked like broken glass!!

Anyway, more cold!!! Even though it snowed everywhere I visited on this trip, Stockholm definitely takes the cake though!! It was only -4 degrees, but the wind-chill factor made it more like -12!! On our first day of exploring (Valentines Day), we went to Galma Stan (the Old City), to the side with the Royal's Church, and looked out over the water. We all sat down on the edge of the platform, and it was like sitting on ice! My bum instantly froze! Rita wore her scarf and beanie so close together, all you could see was her eyes! It was such a shame when they left, because I was by myself for a day in Stockholm, and a bit of a loner in the hostel-boat. But i made friends with the French chicks and some crazy dude in my room, had an early night and had a really good look around Galma Stan, took BAZILLIONS of photos and had a really nice lunch with a Swedish lady and her beautiful baby girl, who came and sat next to me and we ended up talking for an hour!

My one panic of the day however was when I returned to grab my bags to get to the train station to find my way to the airport... As I should have known, Ryanair departs from the most inconvenient of locations (way out in the middle of nowhere), and after I had a panic about the whereabouts of my bags (they had been moved from the shed where i'd stored them!), I got to the train station and realised the next Ryanair bus to the airport I needed to go to (Vasteras) was only 90mins before my flight was due to leave! But I bought a ticket anyway, and went and looked at the times for trains, just in case. Then I realised there was a train that would get me to Vasteras faster! So I went and bought a train ticket, and got a refund for my bus ticket, planning on hitchhiking or taxiing from the town to the airport (it wasnt far, I was told). I went and got some dinner, and sat by my train... Which didnt depart, or let anyone on. I then asked a local, "Whats going on?"
Local- "There's a delay on the line..."
Me - "SHIT! How long will it be?"
Local- "half an hour..."
Me' - "Bugger"
Essentially, that would have got me to the airport too late for my flight, so I raced back to the guy I had originally bought my bus ticket from (who also refunded it) and he sold me another one. Then I had no time to go get a refund for my train ticket, so I gave it to him as a thank-you for his patience in my desperation :P As I got on the bus, in my seat next to the window, a British lady sat down next to me. We had a brief conversation about where we were going (Stansted, London), and she mentioned how "This was the only bus for Ryanair, the plane wont leave without us!"

Well, someone could have saved me a lot of time and stress if i'd known this sooner!!!!

= Zoe Fail

Destination Unknown: Amsterdam

2009-02-13T02:34:00.004+01:00

"Kylea and I are having a blast in Amsterdam, then i realised you said you'd try be here, and I wanted to rub it in that you missed it!!"

This is written (way) after the fact, but I will include the most awesome pictures so it doesnt matter anyway :)

Amsterdam was a blast! I can tell all the juicy details, but we did meet some interesting characters - starting with the guy who helped is get from Eindhoven to Amsterdam, on 3 different trains because our line was blocked after a fatal accident. He was reeeeally intense! We were talking to him, but sitting on the other side of the train from him, and he literally lent over the whole isle, and was practically ON Kylea, discussing politics and religion and shit! We were like, "Buddy, we're on our way to Amsterdam, y' hear..."

Secondly, and I have to thank this dude for his patience: on the last train from whereever we were to Amsterdam, I put my ticket somewhere really special, but not in the pocket of my jacket that I always put my tickets/boarding passes in! So when he came to check the tickets.... where was mine? SHIT! Kylea and I went through all my travel wallet, pockets, bag, make-up case, camera case, etc etc, and couldnt find it for the life of me! The guy checked the whole train, and came back to me and I was still looking and couldnt find it! OH GOSHHH!!!! He said "Look, I understand you must have a ticket if you're going to these lengths to find it. Just be careful next time, because not all train conductors are as nice as me." THANK YOU KIND SIR!!! And then, as I was thanking him, I remembered I'd put it in my passport, and found it two seconds later, and everyone around me laughed. Ohh well...

We arrived without further delay in this beautiful, neon city. Our hostel, "The White Tulip" was easy enough to find (just down the road from a sex shop...). Two Russian's who were staying in our hostel offered "Can you help us?" but meant "Can we help you with your bags" up the staircase. We said no thank-you, which sucked because then we actually saw the staircase!... it was almost as steep as Everest!!! And our rooms were on the third floor...

We went to Madame Tussaud's in Amsterdam, by the town hall - WOW!! They really are so impeccable! We got to play with Bob Marley's bongo's, Kylea kissed Justin Timberlake and I kissed Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams, and stole Brad Pitt from Angelina. We both had an intense discussion with George Clooney sitting at a table, and met Nelson Mandella, Barak Obama and Ghandi. It was all very exciting. We went to the Heineken Brewery, took lots of photos of bicycles and tulips and canals and their funny falling over buildings.

By night, on the first night, we were such tourists, and took our cameras and went to a 'cafe'. Then we went for a walk, to see if we could find the red light district (thinking it'd be quite hard). Turns out! We were living in the middle of it (We should have known, with the Condom Shop just down the road from our hostel...) Both Kylea and I wandered round this corner, and saw the red windows, then realised they ACTUALLY had women in them! ARGH!!! Thankfully my bag was big enough to hold both our camera's or else we could have got in trouble. It was pretty gross though, some of the women looked disgusting, others looked bored, sitting there filing their nails or talking on the phone. One lady, as Ky and I walked past together, stood up and started making gestures at us! AHHHH, DONT THINK SO LADY!!!!!! We also had a good laugh seeing some seedy guys come OUT from these windows. SICK! We got lost in the red light district (a whole canal + its side streets!) and it took us ages to get back to the hostel. Awkward...

The next day, we were invited in to see a live Sex show by a guy in a suit and practically screamed and ran away; yes we should have been used to it, but we werent. We found a really, really awesome cafe which we went into purely for the aesthetics - im not kidding, we both had a fruit smoothie! This place literally had layer upon layer of scribblings from anyone and everyone who had been there; it was everywhere! On the walls, the roof, the chairs, the pool table, the leather couches!!! It was awesome, and also the view looked right out over a canal, it was really cool. The other funny thing about being in there was seeing these two French guys getting told off for smoking normal cigarettes! "Only Marijuana inside Cafes!" growled the waitress, who then took away their ashtray...

All the buildings in Amsterdam are on angles, its so weird to see. Its like when they were building them, they looked too straight, and so they did it purposely. It kind of resembles a bookshelf, where the books just fit, but are uncomfortably squashed together and thus bent out of shape...

We had intended on going to see Ann Frank's house, but thought it would put a dampner on a happy holiday, so we left it. Plenty of time to see it, I figure...

I dont remember leaving Amsterdam, but Kylea had to go back to Salzburg, and I had to go onwards and upwards (geographically) to Sweden, to see my other lovely friends!!

Destination Unknown: Macclesfield

2009-02-11T02:36:00.001+01:00

So, you know how I said I was so happy to get home the night of Waitangi Day celebrations?? Yyyyeahhhh... Woke up at 8am, and blatantly turned my alarm off. 10:15am, I wake up in a mad panic and realise I have 45 minutes to bus to Finsbury Park, then tube to Victoria Station and get on the coach in time. And I hadnt printed out my ticket yet. SHIT!!

I made it out the door in record time. Except I didnt clean my teeth and felt gross. But these sacrifices need to be made. Got to the bus stop in record time also, cos its a good 5 minute walk with luggage. Ran and jumped on the bus, so happy to have made it. Its only 10:25 so my chances look good of getting my bus. Eh, WRONG!! I slap a £20 note down the little table thing, and explain to mister driver that my morning's been shit and im in a total rush and im so gla--- what was that?? "You have to buy your ticket from that machine" (points out the door.) Shit. Ok, unload junk from the bus, open wallet. No coins. Run across to Boots to swap the 20, and the second bus drives past. Shit. At this stage, I run to Starbucks next door to use their loo, seeing as the next bus is coming in 13 minutes. Now the chances of making the bus are minimal...

Right I am. Because once I get to the train station, i need a ticket, then the tube takes forever to GET to Victoria Station, and once there, its a solid ten minutes down the road to the Coach station, so eventually I arrived there at 11:20am. Ohhhh well.... I got the 12pm one for only £12, so that was handy dandy.

EXCEPT!! I got some food and saved it for the 4 1/2 hour bus journey. This also included 2 magazines, a mars bar and a bag of gummies (ok, so i was pissed of at missing the bus and splurged, so sue me!) haha. Anyway, I get to my bus gate, at the other end of the terminal (more walking) We walk outside, and im standing in line for the bus. Thankfully, after learning my lesson from Disaster Day 1, i ask the girl infront of me, "this is the bus going to Manchester, yeah?"
"ahh, no, its going to Cardiff"
"Oh, thats not on the way to Manchester?"
"Err, no."
As it turns out, Cardiff is in the West, while Manchester is in the North... Like I would know that!!

After double checking I got on the right bus, the guy comes walking down the isle and goes, "so you're all going to Liverpool, yeah!!" I almost slogged him one :P

Anyway, I got the last seat on the bus next to a window, and this lovely 'plump' Indian lady came and sat next to me... So i take out my sammie, chow down cos this was breakfast and i deserved it after the horror start and mild hangover I was enduring. THEN! This lady takes out a needle from her bag, stands up, pulls up her Sari and INJECTS HERSELF IN THE LEG!!!!!! ARGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHILE IM EATING MY 6-INCH CHICKEN SUB!!!!!! EUGH!!!!!!!!!!! After the inital shock wore off, Chubbs sits down, smiles at me, and proceeds to eat at least 5 danish pastries, while eying up my Mars bar...

Anyway, the rest of the ride was fine, i caught a few more Z's and woke up to ask the dude behind me where we had stopped-- "Burmingham" oh ok, back to sleep :) "Wait, no, sorry, we're in Manchester. Shit!! Off I jump, then get quite lost cos we happened to depart at some random street and from there I wandered aimlessly trying to find Piccadilly and the bus to Macclesfield...

I found it, and the weird 4-eyed dude told me this is where I needed to wait. Liar, 30 minutes later my bus drives straight past me!! So i cabbed it to the train station and jumped on the train to Macclesfield. Then put my iPod in and almost missed the stop (thanks to the lady accross the isle from me, I didnt!)

Jenny met me at the station, we had a lovely wee catch up before arriving in this sweet little village just out of Macclesfield (still part of it but far nicer) Annie was waiting in the living room when I arrived (after I played with Jake and Poppy, the dogs, for a little bit) It was so lovely to see her, and it was nice and warm in her house!! The fire was burning, and after Richard came in, carrying mud in on his shoes, we cracked open some bubbles and drank champange!! How classy :)

We went to dinner in a local restaurant where Annie and Richard knew Kath (?) who'd owned and run it for yeeears and Annie knew her kids names and what they did and when they were born... Really odd experience for me, having grown up in a big city and not knowing my neighbours, it seems like everyone here knows everyone else!

Too right I was!! The next day:

"Hahaha sorry honey, ive also been out of communicado- hangin out in a 16th century amaaaaaazing home made of stone and fantastic-old-ness-stuff up in Macclesfield, north of Manchester. Having the best time in England!!!!!"

Again, this next bit is written post-fact, but memories and happiness are still strong :)

The next day, Annie decided she was going to take me out for a drive and show me the sights of an English countryside. I figured it'd be similar to NZ, but not really, considering I've never lived anywhere where it snows (in New Zealand, not Austria!)... She made the most filling breakfast of fresh eggs, bacon, baked beans, and toast with English Marmite (its runny, like honey!), and I read the papers and drank yummy coffee. We embarked a little while later, after i'd gone to see the hounds (so cute, but so smelly with all the poo) and went for a wander around the grounds, and took lots of photos of the mad dogs and beautiful snow-covered hills.

We drove to see Richards sister, and almost got snowed in because the snow began to fall at an alarming rate. Then, we went to the Hanging Gate, a little bar in the middle of nowhere, that Annie and my Dad went to about 30 years ago! It was so sweet, very quaint, and if you were taller than 6ft, you'd have a problem standing. We had a drink, but couldnt stay too long because the snow, wow! By the time we got home, it was quite heavy and there was enough of it to make a snowman! Jenny and I named him Morris, from Macclesfield. He had a very big head, coal eyes and teeth (even though Jake the dog kept stealing the coal and EATING it!) and he even had a hat (a bucket) and arms and a scarf! It was all very exciting :)

I loved seeing all the old, old photos on the stairwell of Richard's family; its so weird to think that this house is older than New Zealand's civilisation! It was beautiful, I cant wait to go back...

Destination Unknown: London

2009-02-08T04:41:00.005+01:00

Once again, thanks to general slackness and the lack of computer access, I write this after the fact. But for all intents and purposes, Ill write it as though its present tense. I digress...

WAHHH!!!!! Off I go to London town!! Tobi, the lovely guy he is, dropped me at the airport with enough time for me to check in, grab a latte and have a sammie :) The flight was OK and took about an hour and a half, the landing (as we've had some dodgy ones in the past) was fine, and I met this lovely lady in the elevator while i was confused to buggery while trying to find the train station. She was Polish, and when on the train, she showed me where I needed to go (Stansted Express to Tottenham Hale, then tube to Finsbury Park) Sweeg, no worries there... She even happened to be going my way so I got on the right tube!

Then we parted ways, and my first journey to an unknown land turned from looking promising to looking like a disaster. No shit, I caught the W3 bus. It said on the timetable it went via Crouch End!!

Apparently not. Because I ended up, 45 minutes later, and at the suggestion of this old dude next to me, getting off at Tottenham Cemetry. WAH!!! Dammit. I crossed the road, looked totally befuddled, and this lovely woman told me the way to get to Crouch End from my current predicament/location. Catch the 261 to Turnpike Lane, then the 41 to Green Park (?) then the somethingelse to Crouch End. Poor Debs got a blow-by-blow account of my journey via text, as I slowly made my way to her side of town...

3 hours and 45 minutes after getting off the plane in Stansted, I got off the whateveritscalled bus in Crouch End. And, about to wet my pants after holding on from SALZBURG!! I ran into the local KFC, where Debs came and found me to avoid any further directional disasters. YAY!!

We got to her and Charley's darling flat, drank red wine and ate yummy asian cuisine, and chatted about jobs and travels and studies and such... Then we all collapsed into our respective beds and I was honestly out like a light...

Oh, did I mention this journey (after the Stansted express) cost me £11? When i could have, and was going to, get a daily travel ticket for £6... Dammmmmmiiiiiiitttttt! I also asked 9 different people for directions during my epic journey through London suburbia :P

So! My first big adventure through London was, by all accounts, a failure. However, i made my way into London central the next day with very few "argh!" moments :) and once there, AHHHH! SO HAPPY!!!!! I was so excited about seeing places I recognised... from the Monopoly board!! hahaha... So, I got off at Leicester Square and walked down Coventry Street to Piccadilly Circus. What a let down. Its like its trying to be Times Square, with these huge animated billboards. But its so lame, and really only McDonalds and Coke were advertising their wares...

Continuing on, (snapping photos constantly) I walked down Regent Street to St James Park. This is where I had my first and hopefully only encounter with a squirrel, which had no tail. It was cute and reminded me of those books I used to read by Beatrix Potter... So i was taking all these photos of Stumpy (the tailless Squirrel) and crouched down... Then he came closer and I was so excited (it made a great photo!) Then I finished taking photos and got up to walk away, and Stumpy followed me down the path. When I realised, i turned around, and then Stumpy climbed up my leg!!!! ARGHH!! I didnt want to be rude to my little friend, but it was quite awkward!! But once he realised I had nothing for him to eat, he buggered off pretty promtly. Then I saw Stumpy's fuller-tailed friend do the same to some old guy, and took a photo. Hahaha.

Anyway, on I walked, and eventually came back onto The Mall, which leads to Buckingham Palace. Which was a let down so im not gonna go on about it. I walked up Victoria Street and saw Westminster Abbey. I was so excited (as most know, I have a weird fixation with churches) but it was 12 quid to get in. FLAG!!!!!! Ohh, but I could pretend I was a worshipper and get in for free, because the sign clearly stated that they cant charge people to worship. Pfffft. What if i was a worshipping tourist? However, from here I did get to see the Houses of Parliament (fancy pants!) and Big Ben, which was shorter but more beautiful than I had expected.

I got on the Westminster tube to Blackfriars, walked over the Millenium Bridge, and went to the TATE MODERN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could go on and on and on (and on, probably) about how fantastic the Tate was. I saw some of my favourite artists work (Picasso, Joan Miro, Anselm Kiefer, Pollock...) And for the first time, i really got to experience Minimalism, which I found really intriguing. And it made a nice change from seeing lots of old artwork... My favourite minimalist one was just four cubes, made out of mirrors. It had that endless effect and when you stood in the middle of all four, there were feet EVERYWHERE! hahaha...

By the time I left the Tate, it was freekin cold and thus I decided to boost it home, as Ky and Anna were also in town and we were planning on going out to celebrate Waitangi Day (apparently its the thing to do if your an expat. Even the Aussies join in!!) So I got dolled up (washed my hair and then realised my hairdryer didnt have the right adaptor, so i dried my hair on the heating rail in the lounge) caught the bus to the tube, (met a lovely lady at the bus stop, too!) then eventually made it to Charing Cross to meet the girls. From there we walked all the way back to Leicester Square (where I had changed tubes to get to Charing Cross anyway) and we found this bar called.... Walkabout? I dunno, something lame, but it was in a church, and it was apparently where all the Kiwi and Aussies hang out! So we went in and got cheap drinks and I saw they had Steinlager!! Which made me laugh...

We dance dance danced the night away, and I got attention from a cute yet severely drunken Brazillian whos name consisted of an R and a few L's... we left about 4? I dunno, but it was cold and I was so happy to get home (at the right place, just the wrong stop, and walked for ages!) But oh well, not too shabby :)

And thus, I go to Manchester tomorrow at 11am on the bus to see Charley's mom Annie, her stepdad Richard, and sister Jenny. They live in Macclesfield, in a really old house that I visited when I was about 6ish years old. And apparenlty all I did was have a bath and fall asleep. So! Im excited :P

My future...

2009-01-30T02:22:00.002+01:00

Being in Austria, i've figured out a couple of things. Parents, if you read this, please dont hate me and these plans are not finalised or concrete in any way. But, I do want to fulfill them as best I can, because at the end of the day, I live once and once only as me, and I want to have the best life so when im old and cant walk, I have interesting stories to tell :)

The way i see it, I dont want to stay in NZ forever. I want to come back to Europe. To see all I can and experience all I can and meet all the people I can. Ok, so I graduate with a degree in Communications. I would hope that could get me somewhere. But, at the same time, I do NOT want to end up in my 30s with a fat ass resenting the last 10 years of my life.

I wont be in Europe forever either. I will work here, I will travel, and I will return to NZ or Australia or somewhere, and settle. But, while im young, agile and silly, I want to make the most of my chances.

So, when I get back to New Zealand on Feb 25th 2009, I need to do a few things:

JOIN A GYM!!!!! Im so unfit its ridiculous
Find a babysitting job
Set up my own house-sitting service
Sort out my uni timetable so I can fit working at Trends around that
Get a car!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and go on a road trip-- tan??!)
And, eventually, graduate...

I think that, if I can get paid to look after peoples houses, and babysit on top of that, and then work saturday or one day a week at Trends, ill be good.

In my final year of Comms, I need to work on doing my best, but also having a good time this year. No holding back. I need to explore my country, hang with my family, party with my friends, and then, in 2010- im getting back into SAVINGS FOR EUROPE!!!!!!!

The countdown is on, baby!

The Progress Report

2009-01-18T12:51:00.008+01:00

OK! So now that im a big 20 year old, I have buckled down and done some work - finally :P Whoever said I came here to party, this is to prove you (half) wrong :) I have compiled a list of work I have to do, my deadline is Jan. 22nd; the real deadline set by the FH is Jan 29th.

Last night at 2:09am I finished my sketch of Marilyn Monroe that I had to do for Materials and Ausdruck. Personally, I think its the best sketch i've ever done. And because of this, I took 'progress' photos, which I think is quite interesting :P

I finished Hugo, my oil painting, the day before my birthday at 2:54am. I like it, aside from the teeth which remind me somewhat of a horse. But, ehhhh! Cant be bothered touching it up for fear of messing it up further.

I've almost finished my class for Customer Relations Communication... After sitting through the first class (torture, thanks to my birthday hangover) I quite like it, and hope that I understand the assignment! The funniest part of class: I went with them to the Bräustübl Tavern in Mülln- a famous beer garten- on Thursday :) My class invited me to come along and they invited the tutor along too!! It was so fun. They're all lovely and older than me- about to graduate with Masters! We had good conversation, about politics and history and beer... :)

I completed my poster for Design Compilation on Jan 11th too, its kind of like what I did last semester with Visual Communication. My tutor said he liked it, which is a good sign... Its a stupid class, but in the end we did come up with a marketing concept and did some interesting things, so... Good :) (I cant seem to upload it with the normal colours, it goes blue and green, so- grrr!)

Yesterday (a Saturday), believe it or not, this party-mad lunatic cancelled the party for this evening because she spent 12 hours working in the third floor common room with Wolfy to finish our group project!! We painted Super Mario Land, and after it dries we are going to paint our own characters into the area. I'm going to draw a flying sheep above the door... We finished in the wee hours of the morning, I got home at 1am, but that was after taking off all the masking tape lines, picking up all the shit from all over the floor, attacking each other with the blue paint, etc etc. And, as I write this, I'm still covered in paint. A good look :)

Thus, I am very happy right now, because crossing things off my To Do list is very satisfying! Only Media Mix and a few more art pieces to finish! WOOHOO!!

And, in other news:

TASHA MIGHT COME AND VISIT!!! But thats all I know thus far..!!!
It got so cold here, the river FROZE!! It was insane!
I have a couch surfer coming to stay!! His name is Dave, 19 from London, and he arrives on Wednesday to sleep on my couch :)
We went to Germany to party for Tobi's birthday on Friday

BEST BIT OF NEWS: I DROVE THEM HOME!!!!!!! It was even a manual!! Which was weird changing gears with my right hand, and admittedly I did stall, but only ever in the car park!! I even did a U-turn, Three point turn, and a parallel park- which was GOOD! HAHAHA So happy :) Did I mention I was the only sober one, and had 4 people in the back seat? Kylea was a pillow, and Kathi did not stop screaming the whole way. But it was fine, I stuck to the speed limit and Kathi didnt die of a heart-attack!

Think thats it :)

My Birthday- Summer in Winter!!

2009-01-12T00:17:00.000+01:00

Whoaaaa what a day!! Firstly, I couldnt really grasp the whole extra-long birthday, so it didnt feel right talking about my birthday when, in Austrian time, it wasnt :P

Secondly, I cant believe im 20 years old. Jeeeeeez!

Thirdly, and this was my favourite part. My darling friends here are way too cute. Anna, Sarah and Ky-unit were gonna come over and say happy birthday at 12, but i was tired and two of them were too, but Ky came over and was so sweet, we discussed wrinkles and aging... Then Jordi shows up at my door with cake (from Spain!!), two cards (Ace, my nickname) and this FANTASTIC cd called Rhythms Del Mundo, which is some of my favourite songs REMIXED to the Buena Vista Social Club!!! AHHHH!!!!!!! I was so happy and suprised, it was so thoughtful!! And the cake- so good!

Anyway, day was lovely, SUCH good weather (all things considered, like, the fact that it was covered in SNOW!) I went into Salzburg to find some decorations for the party, Summer themed!! Everyone in NZ was telling me how lovely the weather was, 30 degrees, sunny, bla bla bla

I got lots of things, it was so nice cos i really didnt expect anything, just one hella-good party!! I got Spanish cake and this awesome CD from Jordi, then he and Oriol got me a Football Club Barcelona shirt (not cheap!) AND got my name and 20 on the back!! hehe i was so happy... Anna made me cupcakes that looked like eggs (the icing) cos eggs are my favourite food, and MAN so super yummy, and she got me this necklace ive loved for ages :) Ky got me little gifts from Venice and Florence i didnt go there, and chocolate, i got a clock from Venice (special glass, so pretty), a diary from Portugal, these really cute bracelets, LOTS of wine, chocolate and lollies, and a voucher for this store I like :) Ma gave me money, Dad got me my camera when he came over here, I was very spoilt :)

We had the BEST Party!!! Started in my room about 8, Marcin all dressed like an Aussie with his boardies, open shirt, 'beach hair' and sunnies, I was in my swimsuit and had my footless tan tights on, to give the illusion that i had sock tan!! (When, in reality, i have no tan anywhere...) Anna brought over the cupcakes and we all drank and ate Eggs :P We went to the common room, where lots of other people were sitting down, and so we just plugged in the music and started celebrating :)

The highlights for me were going outside and taking photos of all of us in the snow; Jordi, Marcin and Roger running through the snow in their underwear; making snow angels; and having Happy Birthday sung to me five times- three in English, once in German, and once in Norwegian!

BARCELONAAAAA!!!!!

2009-01-01T16:39:00.003+01:00

My favourite location thus far, even more so than the wonder and splendor of Paris!!

This might have been thanks to Oriol, who was the best tour guide we could have asked for :) He picked us up from the airport (in Girona, 45 minutes away from the city) showed us around his city, took us to meet his friends and out for dinner, and he organised for us to celebrated New Years with him at his friend Tashu's home...

We caught up with Jordi and Sarah outside our hostel; I was so happy to see Jordi, it was like a lovers reunion (I was told)... I screamed, dropped my suitcase and ran towards his open arms :P I think it was just the joy of seeing my best friend... Shit, imagine how the reunion will go after a few years, let alone a few days!!

We had a really great late lunch at the Harbour (all floating, they made like, 55ha of commercial space and stuff- even a Marina and an iMax!!) Anyway, this was an all you can eat, and it was FRESH!! I had this whole plate-load of salad- YUMMMM considering we'd had Pizza, Pasta, Pasta, Panini, etc etc for such a long time!

After eating all we could, we went for a lovely walk around the Old City, saw some cool break-dancing street performers, beautiful lights, got excited by all the shops, and the Market down La Rambla, the main street in Barcelona. There were even pet shops set up, selling all sorts of animals- Iguanas, ducklings, tortoises & turtles, gerbals-- the list goes on!!

(3:30pm, like i said, we worked on Spanish time!)

Real Madrid!!

2008-12-29T12:48:00.000+01:00

Welcome to Spain, Kiwi Three!!

Well, we arrived late in the day, and somehow managed the three metro trains to get to Magdalena, the street from which we would find our hostel... After a brief moment of disorientation, we found our way to this quaint little hostel, which really was more like a hotel. We had our own room, with four beds, and it was really nice to have our own space.

By this stage it was about 11pm, and we were HUNNNNNGRYYYYYY!!! We had yet to orientate ourselves with Spanish time, and so we went in search of food. Thankfully, we had wandered past a little cafe at the bottom of the road, and decided to go there. This place smelt good, and even though they didnt speak one word of English, we managed to order "potatas bravas" (baked potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce) Kylea had a Spanish Tortilla (looked goooood!) and Anna and I ordered this amazing tapas-style plate, with 5 typical Spanish dishes- Croquettas, Ruska salata, some type of chicken nibbles, etc etc...

It was in our little Spanish restaurant that we met some very cool Americans- Kaare (pronounced Corey) and Steve. They are engineers from Orlando, Florida, and it was actually because of their divine intervention that we even ate anything from the restaurant, because Kaare came over and helped us order. We invited them to sit at our table and we spent the next hour and a half chatting and laughing and learning how much life in America is like living in a bubble...!! We wandered round Madrid with them for a little after dinner, but it was cold so we parted ways. But it was lovely to meet them, and perhaps one day we will meet again :)

After a really good sleep in (till 2pm!) we organised ourselves and went for a wander around Madrid. It wasnt particularly beautiful, or clean (there is so much graffiti!) but we enjoyed ourselves. However, as we meandered through this cute park with a big lake in the middle (with paddle boats that we wanted to go on, but it was shut) it started raining! We sought shelter in this really beautiful little church which was entirely decorated by mosaic tile! I was very impressed. We also found this fantastic little chocolate shop and got a hot chocolate, which was like the ones at Chocolate Boutique in Parnell: Entirely melted chocolate!! So amazing, but it was so rich, I couldnt finish it!! (Yes, believe it or not, Zoe threw out chocolate...!)

This city, I swear, comes alive at night time! We had the best time as soon as it got dark (and we got our chocolate hit) it was SO beautiful! Kylea and I suddenly became complete loonies with our camera's and snap-snap-snapped away for so long, I swear Anna got bored standing round :P It was really the lights, it brought all the buildings to life, gave them these fantastic personalities that were so different to the 'ordinary' buildings which looked just like the ones in Paris and Rome...

This said also, the greatest thing we did in Madrid was the €12 Pub Crawl!! (€12, or €10? I dont remember, it was cheap either way!) It got us into three bars and a nightclub at the end of it all, with a drink at each bar! It was fantastic, and so pumping, with GREAT music, and all the people we met-- more Americans (brothers), some guys from Singapore, three brothers from France who-- DANCED LIKE ROBERT!!! Hahahah :P There were also two cute Brazilians (that country is amazing, i have to go there...) The best guys though were this gay couple from America, they were so friendly and lovely and danced with us and it was a right riot!! The other thing we noticed (after we got home!) was the fact that there was a complete imbalance in the men to women ratio, so that was nice :P ha ha ha

Oh well!! At the end of it all, we got home at (a very responsible time of) 4am, even though we had to back-track because we had no idea where we were, and couldnt find Magdalena... Oh well :P The sleep in was great, and we had a 'late' check out of 11am so packed all our stuff, showered, and made our way back to the airport, a little hungover but nothing a coffee and greasy food couldnt fix!! (this is our breakfast-- never rely on airport food for a good and healthy recovery...)

PS look at the people sleeping behind Anna- HAHAHA the guys sleeping with his hand in his pants!!

Gay Paris!

2008-12-27T12:49:00.001+01:00

This is the story of Anna's birthday, full of trains, planes and alcohol from bottles.

We rose that morning, packed our bags and checked out of St Sebastians... As it was Anna's 20th birthday, and we were in France, home of the most amazing patisseries in the world, we walked to the end of the street to see what we could find... BINGO!!!

We each got quiche and a sweet, took it back to the lovely hostel and chilled on these crazy round couches, which was so nice, especially after two intenso days of sightseeing!!

We left St Sebastians with ample time to get the bus to Beauvais, as we had to metro through Paris on two different lines, then find & walk to the bus. It took about 90 minutes, not that we saw much of the trip; I woke up as we pulled into the airport...

Anna and I had to check in our cases, which weighed a lot but we figured we could sweet talk to check-in clerk, considering it was Anna's birthday and all.... Noooooo way! We had this lady with so much make up on she could literally BE the Clinique counter... It might not have mattered how nice she was anyway, because somehow our bags had gained 4kg worth of weight... each.... So, at 19 kilos i dont think sweet talking would have worked. We opened our cases at the front of the line- out came my electronics, hair straightener, toiletries, books, magazines, ANYTHING that could weigh it down... I was one moment away from putting on extra layers, when we realised the reason for our heavy bags....

The bottles of wine we hadn't drunk!!

So, out they came. With a bottle each, we had two options. To throw, or to drink... We went with the latter, obvioulsy! Clinique Clerk liked our style, and let us get away with 16kg (Ryanair would have charged us €15 for that, under normal circumstances!)

Thus, Anna and I approached the bar, asking (ever so cooly) "Now, this might be the weirdest request you hear today, but... [place two bottles of wine on the counter] Could you please open these?" How could he say no...! He obliged (however I dont think this was the first request of this nature!) and Anna and I sat in the waiting seats across from the check in lines, drinking our FANTASTIC €2 French wine, as Kylea donned an extra pair of pants, to make her bag look smaller/fit in the overhead locker :P

We managed to get through half the bottle each, before going through the security check, which we figured wouldnt let us through with our half-empty bottles... Sigh!

Thunderbirds are GO!

2008-12-26T13:50:00.003+01:00

So im really really excited, because Ive just booked all my flights to and from and during my time in London!! TRAVEL PLANS FOR FEB ARE NOW FINALISED, BOOKED AND SORTED!!

I arrive at London Stansted on Feb 5th. I will hopefully be staying with Charley May and her Wife Debs- they live in Central London and want to take me out for cocktails and do the cool chic London thing :P From there, I hope to get up to Manchester for a few days to see Charleys mom and potentially the coolest craziest lady to ever come out of Manchester- Annie... Cant wait! They have lots of hounds, so that will be cool! :)

On Feb 10th i travel to Eindhoven, catch up with Kylea and from there we train to-- AMSTERDAM!!!! THAT WILL BE SO GREAT!!!!

On the 13th I fly to Stockholm to see Freddie- and hopefully Jordi will meet me there too :) Will be back in London on the 16th, and fly back to Salzburg on the 18th.... YAAAAAY!

I know it sounds like lots of flying and moving about, but in order to see the places I am dying to go, these things must happen! Hehe.

IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ohhhhh Paris!

2008-12-26T00:44:00.003+01:00

JE T'AIME PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been by far the highlight destination I have visited thus far in life. I love the buildings, the coffee, the rivers and canals, the people!! Its so different to what I have already seen, and while it has similarites, theyre shown in a new and interesting way! And that French stereotype of wankers smoking and heaps of dog poo is so wrong!!

However, let me start from the beginning... We got into France with a bounce- literally! It was the worst landing I have ever experienced, the whole plane gasped then panicked, it was so funny after the initial fear of crashing passed :P The Beauvais airport is like Salzburg- two carosels. Robert was there to pick us up, and we enjoyed the night in his beautiful family home-- right next door to an Australian bar!! Hehe...

We got to Paris at about 9:45 on the 24th. We left our luggage at this funky hostel we'd booked, got some breakfast from the bakery just across the canal, and wandered off to find the Louvre- YAY! However, it took us forever, dammit.

It was so worth it though!!! This has been my dream place to visit for such a long time- i was so excited! OHHH It was fantastic!! The Pyramids are so wonderful, and I didn't even realise the fountains were there, which just added to the wonder! Inside though, oh!!! I went straight to the Renaissance (Italian Art) floor in the Denon Wing. I GOT TO WALK THE GRAND GALERIE!! I saw Da Vinci's (yes, I saw the Mona Lisa- laaaame!) works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Picasso (amazing), Caravaggio, Delacroix, Paul Klee, Anselm Keifer....!! I saw the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory, the Slaves by Michelangelo, OHHH MY GOD! I was such a loser, standing at all the art just staring, I was so happy!

We went on a "pub crawl" (so to speak, we just followed them and then left cos it was lame) and ended up in front of the Notre Dam as the bells rang for Christmas!!!

^ The most exciting part of the pub crawl-- "Latin Corner: Sexy Bar for Crazy Night" and this was the waiter...!

On Christmas Day we had the best morning, hanging out having breakfast and organising what we wanted to see! The biking round the city idea failed epically because our credit cards couldn't be read by the stupid machines :( Kein problem, we ended up metroing to Montmarte, but only saw the Moulin Rouge, even though I wanted to go to the Church and hang out up on the hill like the alcoholic French artists you hear of...

We wandered down to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées, which was fantastic! We walked to the Eifle Tower (past some very expensive shops like Jean Paul Gaultier, Kenzo, Gucci and Louis Vuitton; and some very expensive cars!) and it was FANTASTIC!! We walked up to the second level, which was great and not even hard, and there was such a huge line to elevate anyway! We left Tashy a message (Tash, if you read this, dont worry, you'll see it soon- there are even two editions! haha) and took tons of photos!

Tonight we had Christmas dinner in the restaurant downstairs, it was a three course meal and it was ok, the wine was the best :P

Anyway!! The real reason i'm blogging is to tell you all about this dude we met here- Anton. He's from Sydney, thought he was lovely and all alone, so we sort of hung out with him and we went out on the 24th together, had a good time, spent all Christmas day together, even though he didn't have to do either. We were joking and having a good time and beating each other with witty one liners... Told us all about his three ex girlfriends who cheated on him, boohoo!!

BUT THEN!!! Tonight, at dinner, which we invited him to, he went all quiet and then SUPER hyperactive, and was all chummy with Anna, while ignoring me and Kylea. We thought they were flirting, so both Ky and I left Anna to it... THEN!! We come back down to celebrate Anna's 20th Birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPPET!) and she tells us that the whole time we were gone, he had bitched about us, saying shit like I'm fake and unfriendly (????!) and Kylea's better friends with me and that isn't fair on Anna, and that Anna is lovely and nice (which she is) but hes being all manipulative and trying to divide us!!!!

WHAT A FAGGOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, Anna instantly told us, and now Kylea and I are so freeeeekin pissed at him, and also cos Anna continues to hang out with him, even though he completely disrespected our hospitality and friendliness and was rude to us... What a twat. Makes me so mad. Thank god i'll never see him again. Hes a Ferrari supporter, anyway.

Anyway, das ist alles. xx

PS-- Smart Canadian girl behind me just dropped the line "Im on Facebook, but im not like a Facebooker".... Obviously.

Roma II

2008-12-23T13:31:00.001+01:00

VATICAN VISIT!!!

Yes, i know I have already been there, but hey, what do we say?? "When in Rome..." Ha ha ha

I actually had the best time this time, I got to take so many great photos, and we could even take some in the Sistine Chapel!! It was fantastic!

The best part was that we met this insanely hyper American guy called Tim who we befriended in our hostel room. He walked in, and instantly was friendly, funny and lovely!! He even started singing hahaha :P We hung out and talked for ages, and we all got along really well. He came to the Vatican with us too, but unfortunately we were in a rush because we had to go to the airport, and he wanted to take his time...

Anyway, thats really it- Tims cool, the Vatican had no line and I had an amazing visit this time round :) However I'm kind of over Roma now, its so dirty (all our skin has gone a-wol man!!) and the drivers are INSAAAAAANE and we havent eaten fresh fruit or veges in so long, we're all pizza'd out, and we just wanna get outta here....

Also, the bathroom still stinks.

When in Rome...

2008-12-21T20:30:00.009+01:00

... Do as the Romans do, and-- Oh! How we've been doing it well!!

We've been here for three days already,and have been doing what all good Romans should do-- drink lots of wine, have lots of fun, see lots of old buildings (including the Colusseum, Forum, Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza Navona, Basilica San Pietro, Pantheon, etc etc lots of other old buildings and fountains!)

Today we even met the POPE!!!!!!!!! Ok, so slight exaggeration, we went to St Peters Square as he had a public appearance at midday! So we got to see our mate Bene XVI :P We also got to eat delicious sandwiches, so delicious we believe they were blessed by God :P

We are staying in M&J Hostel, right near the Termini (Hauptbahnhof) which is awesome, about 10 minutes from the middle of town, yusssssss! We met these Brazilian boys who were staying in our room (three, coincidentally!) Their names are Marcio, Daniel and Giovanni (not so Brazilian...?) AND! They're going to be in Paris for Christmas too! (coincidentally!!) So we're hopefully going to catch up with them there! Crazeeeeeee!

And thus, in two days we're going to Paris, seeing Robert and the beautiful Louvre and Eifle Tower and to eat snails and frogs and wear berés and stuff like that, haha!

By the way, we left Salzburg in the SNOOOOWWWWWWWWWW! It was beautiful but so cold!! We slept overnight on the 12 hour train ride, and had this great conversation in Italian/German with the old fat couple in our compartment :P Kylea and I are doing ok with the "Deutsch lernen" actually!! And we spent most of the first day in Roma speaking German, haha.... so cool!! And Rome hasn't even been cold, except a little at night... So fingers crossed cos i'm going to try and swim when we go to Cinque Terre on the 2nd of Jan!! Hahaha....

OHH!! TWO SMALL WORLD MOMENTS!! The girl at reception here- Rose- is a Kiwi!! She lived in New Plymouth, and Anna's Mom taught her Math in 4th Form! The second, not so cool one is the fact that Davina, a girl from Canada who was here with us for two nights, goes to Alicante University, like Natalia Garcia (our friend from Erasmus...) The third ive already mentioned (how the Brazilian Boys are gonna be in Paris the same time as us!)

Anyway, back to life as a busy Roman, just thought i'd update you on the joys of life in this fine city!

PS The toilet here STINKS thanks to this freaky Indian guy who we think lives in this cupboard (no, seriously!) and the restaurant/bar below us has the coolest old guy with three teeth who makes amazing Panini!! Yussssssssss

PPS Coffee here is fantastic and Anna and I are so super happy, words cant describe.

PPPS Words from Bene-- God Bless, and Kylea, she is cool?

Motion Graphics...

2008-12-17T14:31:00.003+01:00

So!!

We've almost finished all our classes; have a lot of work to get done when we get back, but we had never started Motion Graphics!!

BUT!

Now we have the timetable, and its like- a WHOLE weeks worth of intenso classes- like, 9-7 and 8-6!!!!!!! :( So I will be out of action from the 26 of Jan till the 30th :(

LAAAAAAAAAME

I dont even need the credits!

Bah!

HAMBURG!!!!!!

2008-12-15T03:19:00.004+01:00

Had an amazing weekend with Clemens in Hamburg :)

Havent updated this but will when I get the chance. Most of it now will be of photos, but roughly it was drunken the first night, walked through the prostitute street and got yelled at, wandered the beautiful cold streets of Hamburg by day, cooked with Clemens and met his roomy Benedikt, slept in a bed that I 1) didnt hit the wall when i rolled over, and 2) had space to spare!!!! Read lots of time magazines, spoke to Clemens lovely girlfriend Vanessa via skype, had yummy Mexican, Turkish and French food, and miss Clemens already!!!!!!!!!!!

Hamburg by day...

Hamburg bei nacht

Ingestion :P

Weihnachtmarkts!

:)

Erasmus Christmas Party!!

2008-12-13T02:18:00.007+01:00

WAAAAAHHH!!!!!!

We just celebrated Christmas, international style!!!

In the 4th floor common room we dined on Norwegian, Swiss, Korean, German, Finish, Czech, Polish ... lots of food!!!!

It was fantastic, and everyone contributed enough food to fill every belly- including Rogers insatiable appetite!!! There was pasta, potatoes, sushi-equivalent-but-better, beef, soup, sausages, EVEN SAUERKRAUT!!!!!!! The flop of the night, but they earnt points for trying, was the Polish "Poppy" Pasta, which tasted like dirt, and noone ate it :P

The Kiwi Three made Pavlova, because, against popular belief, it IS a kiwi desert, we've even been told people have written books on the history of the Pav, which proves is a Kiwi dish!! hahaha :P Anna decorated the Pav and made it look SO awesome!! Kylea and I also "whipped up" a potato salad, which was delish and we were very proud of it! And at the end of it all- the Pav was a big hit :D

Anyway!! We had Christmas songs, and even SECRET SANTA!!!! (Thanks Sarah who organised the whole thing!!) Santa even visited us!!!!! Everyone looked super happy with their pressies-- I got a bottle of Glühwein (yusssssss) and... A TICKET TO CHRISTMAS KULT @ REPUBLIC!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!!! So Happy!!! Its the day before we go away, which it think will be the best send off pressie for all of us :D

Jordi, that fantastic person, made this fantastic (long!) video, kind of like the one i made for Tash! It included most of the Erasmus students (+ Roger, ha ha ha!) and we all watched it and laughed and had a good time... After, all I wanted to do was hug Rita and Jordi, so I did, then everyone else followed, we were all so appreciative :)

The party kind of died after the film, but thats probably because we were all so full of food, it was ridiculous!!

Anyway, im off to sleep :) xx

Super Excited!!

2008-12-04T17:47:00.003+01:00

SO!!

Not only are we about to embark on our big Christmas journey, I'm planning a trip for February too, just before I leave :D

So far, my travel plans definitely include London and Manchester, so I can see the May's!! Charley said I could stay with her and Debs in London as well, which sounds freekin awesome!! I also really want to see the Dylan Moran show on the 6th in Portsmouth, so i'll see if they want to join me, because he is one very funny man!

I also want to go to Berlin, Stockholm and Krakow, and think I will, but will be travelling by myself so I need to read up about the cities... If i can make it to Krakow, I'll go to Auschwitz, which will be sad but I really want to see it.

Anyway!! Thats my exciting news #1.

#2 is that I've just come home from Materials & Ausdruck- the greatest class ever invented!! The teacher is lovely, and even though it's all in German, she comes and tells us what to do, and there is no limit to our creativity! We can do whatever we want, as long as we hand in 1 x oil painting, 1 x abstract work (probably with acrylics) 1 x sketchbook, 1 x print, 1 x drawing and 1 x collaboration with everyone in the class!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEE gonna be awesome!

So im off to be creative and refine all these ideas for my abstract work to just one idea :)

YAAAYY!!!!!!!

15 days and counting!

2008-12-03T20:14:00.001+01:00

Our trip draws ever closer!!

Quick update!

2008-12-02T22:00:00.003+01:00

Rogers birthday was a total blast!!

We had about 11 people in my room, munching on Tortillas made with love by Anna, Ky and I, we put in so much time and effort and it was so much fun!

AND! We achieved the seemingly impossible!!!! WE FILLED UP ROGER BEFORE DESERT!!!!

We went out to party after, ended up just being the Kiwi three, Rog and his friend. We went to Shamrock, Take Five, got covered in lip gloss, quite tipsy, and taxi'd home and ended up having a five person wrestle in the warmth of the laundry!!

Ha ha ha.... Fun times!

By the way...

2008-12-01T20:22:00.000+01:00

I feel terrible! I forgot to tell you all about my amazing friend Yafes!

Not much is needed to be said, other than....

my painting...

2008-11-26T02:22:00.002+01:00

Just a quick look at my Devil man's progress as of the last Materials & Ausdruck class...

This is just after applying yellow, ochre and brown in class 17 November 2008

And this is the next day; I went back to do a bit more on the face, and ended up attacking / creating the background, as well as doing his shirt...

Im getting a bit bored with the normality of this painting, so i think his eyes are going to be weird...

Wait and see!!

Skiing!

2008-11-26T01:38:00.003+01:00

Thats right team, Sunday and Tuesday afternoon I spent on the slopes of Planai, in Schladming.

On Sunday, there was a lot of snow and thus a lot of bumps and my boots hurt a lot, and it was also very steep!.. BUT! After i loosened my boots, got used to these weird ski's, and stopped trying to impress the others and just have fun (ha ha) then I had a whale of a time!! Hamish, who had just completed a snowboarding lesson with Andi) and I chilled it for the last few runs, going down at our own speed, and eventually managing the whole (supermassive) run with no stops, bails (on his part) or snow plows (on my part!) WOOHOO!!!

Today however, there was the opposite of Sunday! (minus the steepness, that was still there...) The snow was all packed, it had been moved and flattened and smoothed, to the point where it was so icy, eeek!!!

I did a few runs with the others, who are all super good- Rogers the only one on my level, but he's a boy and pushes himself like crazy- so I toddled off in search of trails I wanted to ski... What a great idea!! I had whole runs to myself!! look!!

Oh!! And this is the ONE other skiier on the mountain worse than me!! Although I tie with Roger, because he bailed twice :P

Anyway! It was insane, and it was so lovely up there, it wasnt windy so it was quite warm, and I could trundle along at my own leisurely pace :D

So that was my first and second skiing experience in Austria, and I cant wait for more!! I plan on coming back a pro ;)

met a Kiwi...

2008-11-24T17:26:00.003+01:00

Anna, Ky and I have just had coffee with this guy Hayden, from New Zealand!!

He's been living in Finland for the past 5 years, and his girlfriend is working here at FH. He found Anna through her iTunes playlist, thought that sounded like a Kiwi name, and so he messaged her on facebook!!

It was so great to talk to someone who knows where we come from- for example, i was about to explain what Netball was, until I realised he must know the sport!! YAY!!

He's also a photographer, and his stuff is pretty cool, so check it out- haydenlloyd.net :)

SNOW!

2008-11-22T14:52:00.002+01:00

It has finally become a winter wonderland here in Salzburg!!!

We arrived home from Schladming last night, to find our little Puch paradise covered in a fairly thick coating of snow!! It is very, very beautiful! The snow is so light and fluffy and, to quote Anna, the flakes kind of float... We threw a few snowballs, just to get into the winter mood, then went to bed to dream of other winter lovelies, like snowmen, skiing and Glühwein :)

And this morning-- MORE SNOW!!! All the grass outside the building, and the volleyball courts, and the trees, all covered, white! So at 11:30 we went outside to frolic about in the snow!! It was so much fun, more snowballs, snow angels, snow fights, rolling Rita down the hill, snow wrestling, and funny photos! Its so so so great :D

I love Austria....

The Black Seeds, Live in München

2008-11-22T09:56:00.008+01:00

WAHHHHH!!!!

Im not sure whether I mentioned this in earlier blogs, but about 6 weeks ago we found out The Black Seeds were doing a European tour!! Super excited, the Kiwi three in patriotic fashion decided to mission it up towards Munich to see our compatriots in concert.

AND BOY!! Was the journey worth it!!

It began like any other casual trip to Munich on a Thursday evening, with Robert dropping us at the Hauptbahnhof just in time to miss the 5:15pm train. We dined in Burger King, where I happened to mention how our night would probably end up full circle back in some fast food joint in some amount of hours...

We were very excited on the train, and to get in more of a party-atmosphere mood, cracked open our drinks that we had brought... Just as we took our first sips, a guy walked past, and, to my suprise, pressed this button to open the doors- They were electronic!! (This is after we had struggled to open four of them). So he stopped, smiled, then sat with us for the trip :) His name is Dimitri, he's from Munich, originally from Moscow, lives in Salzburg, studies Psychology, and the reason I know all this is because I like to talk to strangers :P

Upon arrival, we had befriended Dimitri enough to follow him to the Localbahn, where we happened to be going the same way. So we hopped on the train, then parted company some stops on, and went on our merry tipsy way to find Blumenstrasse...

After crossing dangerous roads and risking our lives (in a way...) we found 28b, and were so elated we ran inside, not realising how deserted this place was... After half a minute, the shortest, fattest, ugliest man this side of the Nile waddled up to us, yelling in German... Whatever Trevor!! We tried to talk to him and ask him for directions, but apparently, he was not only short and fat, but also deaf and ignorant!

We wandered on down the street, and asked some young, hip and all-round culturally-understanding guy where this place- Die Registratur- was. He pointed at the red lights almost directly across the road, AND WE WERE THERE!!!!!

AHHHH!!!! THE EXCITEMENT!!!!!! This club was so cool, the walls were covered in posters and it had this cool attitude about it, its quite hard to explain without hand gestures... Even the bathroom was funky, with big mirrors and really dark and punky (minus that weird punk smell)

The club was also great, it played Reggae music and the drinks were cheap, so we settled at the front of the stage, got chatting to some Kiwi's from Wellington (no Aucklanders there, suprisingly...) and occasionally remembered why we were here, and got all giggly and nervous!

AND THEN THE BLACK SEEDS JUST WALKED IN!!!! Through the crowd, and jumped up less than two metres away, onto the stage! If I reached out, I could have pulled down Barnaby's pants! (Not that I would, Kylea had firmly claimed him as her own...) Here is my proof!

So!!!! See what I mean!! They played such a great set, and they are SO super talented, with the percussion and the trumpets and saxaphones and the guitars and piano and drums AND singing great songs! :D :D :D

Their set was a great mix of their new album- Solid Ground- and then their old stuff. My favourites were all the ones from On The Sun, which completely reminds me of 6th form and summer and ahhhh, all good times :) I remember Tess and I used to cruise around to it all the time.

We had such a great time, I cant believe we actually made it there!! It was so surreal and we had such a good time grooving and singing and AHHHHH!!!! So here are more photos just to truly express how awesome they are, heh heh

ANYWAY!!!

This is not where the fun ends!! After the show was over, we busted a move to the toilet- Ich möchte zum Badezimmer gehen- and as we came out, we ran into Tim (the bassist- I think..) and then Nigel (the pianist) and had really good chats with them!! They were SO super Kiwi, "lyyke, yeuhh, we're frum Wellungtun, yeuh nah good toour so faur, yeuhh, nahh uts choice ayy" He he he :) We also did a "Kia ora" nod to Barnaby and a few others, which was ka pai!! Unfortunately, we were too happy, tipsy and excited to even think of taking photos, but oh well, we were also going for the cool, casual conversation look, not star-struck stalkers...

So, unfortunatley, all good things have to come to an end, as did this night. So we toddled off down the road to find somewhere to spend the other 5 hours we had in Munich until the first train home...

We met up with Dimitri and his friend who's name I've forgotten, and we drove around Munich to survey the party life at 2am on a Friday... Complete flop :P But we had a good time with our new friends in their Merc with good music, so we went to this bar called.... nope, forgotten... Anyway! There we had dinner (yes, at 2am...) and it was SO GOOD!!!!! I had steak, and I was happy, because we all know how much ich liebe Steak :P

After we parted company with Dimitri for the second time that night, it was only 3:30am, but Kylea and Anna were fading fast. A brief wander through the München Hauptbahnhof revealed to us that nothing was open at this hour, and so we plonked ourselves in the busy waiting room and attempted sleep. I ended up sleeping on the floor for about 20 minutes, until I got too cold, and woke to the sounds of what I thought was Kylea snoring like an old man! Turns out, it was the old man behind her...

At about 5ish, we went in search for the train, to maybe sleep on and not have to worry about missing it. It wasnt there, but!! Burger King was open!!! So ordered fries so we could legally sit there, and nibbled on them, when it occured to me that-- We'd done a full circle!! Bahahaha...

Once on the train, we all zonked out pretty quickly, as it was now after 6am and we were living into our hangovers... Dammit, thats not fun. Unfortunately, in the excitement of last night, we'd bought the wrong ticket home- it was one for between 9am and 3am (why you'd have different tickets for day and night, i dont understand) and the guy got all grumpy at me, and then just before we got to Salzburg, he took down my details!! So fingers crossed and hoping like hell that I dont get a fine, cos it wasnt out fault...

We arrived back at Urstein at 8:30 in the morning. Wandering back past the Fachhochschule, we saw Oriol, Javi and Lidia sitting in an early morning class. With a quick wave and a laugh, we toddled off to bed, to remember our amazing night in Munich...

-- ends --

Dad's Cooking... Part II

2008-11-18T19:08:00.004+01:00

Sorry about Part I, I dont know what I was thinking! he he he...

SO! Last night, Dad cooked the most amaaaaaaaaazing dinner! Its one of his specialties, which in turn is one of my favourites- Lemon Chicken Pasta :D

He started the preparations at 3pm, when I toddled off to my three hour painting class with Anna. As I came back down the hall at 6pm, I got this wafting smell of amazing .... bolognese sauce?!?!! YUSSSSSS!!!!!

As I walked inside, I see pasta (good sign, but not spaghetti for the bolognese) and something that looks weird sitting in my fruit bowl... Then, Dad announces that he'd like to cook for all my friends!! I was thinking, great idea Daddy, however do you realise how many that is?? somewhere in the 45-50 person bracket... If not more :P So I skyped my adopted family and told them to cancel on BYO dinner, and bring a plate and fork :)

Roger drove Dad over to Spar to buy more pasta and chicken to feed the whole tribe, and I tidied up like a good little Hausfrau :)

Dad did an AMAAAAAAAZING job with the pasta, and he cooked it in the new Wok (which may or may not ever get used again!) and it was almost overflowing with the amount of food in it! (Refer to pic) ... And it smelt soooooo good!! We all enjoyed a glass of fantastic red wine too, which made it all even better... And the rest I can explain in pictures :)

The aftermath...

So, THANK YOU PAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!! THANK YOU FOR FEEDING MY FRIENDS!!!!!! THEY LOVED IT!!!!!!!

Dad's Cooking...

2008-11-18T18:29:00.000+01:00

My name is Marcin

DADS IN SALZBURG!!!!!!!

2008-11-17T19:48:00.001+01:00

YAAAAY!!!!!!!!!! DADS HERE!!!!!!!

Roger and I went this morning to pick him up-- had a few dilemmas (we left late, and missed the Flughafen/Airport turnoff, raced to get there by 9:20 and realised as we ran inside that the flight arrived at 9:40....)

So, he arrived safe and sound, and I could see him through the glass which was so cool, we did the whole silent-excitement hand gestures :P

After the meet and hug and introduction, we loaded the bags into the car and made our first move to Germany, to the amazing cheap supermarket. There, we had some bread roll thing with this sausage patty, which was suprisingly nice... We did the shopping, came back into Austria (haha), drove to Urstein, I loaded up my cupboards & fridge and Dad fell asleep on my bed. He looked exhausted, poor Pappy :(

He woke up at about 3pm, and we ran to catch the train to Europark. He had inspected all my crockery, and was dissatisfied with my one pan and one pot :P We went to Ikea and found a €5 Wok, and a "good" knife (still dont know what was wrong with my ones!) and two good bowls, yay!! Then we wandered round Europark, which is essentially a better-designed Westfield :P

We went into Interspar to get some herbs, and happened to stumble across the alcohol section... Where Dad proceeded to get me 4 bottles of delicious red wine, + 3 bottles of spirits- Jagermeister, Vanilla Vodka & Baileys!!! Dad asked what Roger was doing for dinner, because as we were locating the hotel, we drove past "Poseidon" restaurant, and Food-loving Roger went on about how much he liked Greek food... So I gave him a ring, and he came and picked us up and we went out to dinner.

It was so lovely in there, aside from the smokers... The whole place was beautiful and I was in great company! We ordered three entree's, with lots of little Greek bits and pieces, and very nice beer :) We also ordered another Gyros (Rogers fave) to share for a main, and, believe it or not, Roger's monster appetite was full! After dinner, we were going to have a wander around the Old Town, but I could see Dad was tired, and my headache was still lingering. So we all went to our respective homes, ready for tomorrow :)

At 8:25am, I woke up. DAMMIT!! I was supposed to be on the 8:22 train!! My phone had fallen off the table and the battery had fallen out... So, I got ready and made it onto the 9:22 train, then bused from the HBF to Reichenhaler Strasse, just through the tunnel from the Old Town! By the time I got there and hung about with Dad for a bit, it was 11:45, so instead of having breakfast, we did a bit of a tour around the Old Town, so Dad could get a feel for this beautiful city that I live in :)

Also, I had my NEW CAMERA!! The best Christmas present ever-- Nikon D60 Gold :D So I was shooting left right and centre, everything I saw :) It wasnt the best day, Saturday was super and we were lucky with the weather. Today is cloudy, and even though sometimes the sun comes out, as soon as you say it, its gone again... But thats ok, because we still had a great day, wandering out and about. I think we managed to walk most of the streets in the Old Town at least once! We went to Spaghetti & Co. for a yummy Italian lunch of Crema de Pomodore soup, Passionara Pizza and some amazing wine :)

We went up to the Museum de Modern Mönchsberg, the one on top of the hill. The exhibitions in the MdM were amazing, i LOVED "Two Mountains" by Balthasar Burkhard & Naoya Hatakeyama. Hatakeyama's photos were FANTASTIC! He shot the Bern Alps in Switzerland, and they are amazing. My favourite was this big white, seemingly empty photograph, then you see five little figures tramping in the snow!! So cool...

The other great thing about Mönchsberg was the view! You can see the clear difference between new Salzburg and the Old Town, its so great. We arrived at the museum about 4pm, and at 6pm we went for a coffee in the restaurant, and all the lights of Salzburg were on, and OH! It was so beautiful! Im really glad Dad got to see Salzburg bei nacht :)

After we came down from the Museum, we went back to Dads hotel where he gave me a very intense back massage, to fix me. I was in agony, but, at the end i was so happy and my headache was gone! He is amazing, and I promise I will never complain about your massages again Dad! :P

We went to Indigo for a light dinner, I was exhausted so I caught the bus then train back to Puch and got stuck into the presentation for Design Compilation that was due today... And it went well, then I had Materials & Ausdruck which also went well :D

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend to round off the blog :)

I love you Daddy! Thanks for coming, you're the best, all my love :)
xoxoxox

Casual Update, Installment III

2008-11-14T11:51:00.010+01:00

I feel as though I havent updated this in ages. Perhaps I got busy. Or drunk, hahaha...

No, seriously! Ive had a great, yet very busy week. Lots of Uni, socialising and touristing... I really cant remember what I did over these last nine days, so sorry if this is a bit out of wack with the timeline!!

Im not going to go into too much detail about last Friday, but if you want more I will send you a private email... But, the deal is, we went to Shamrock, and had a good ol' Irish style party with a bazillion other people. Then we followed this girl who lives with an Erasmus girl in Salzburg to this amaaaazing club called Take Five-- it was full of rich and well dressed people and it made me happy... Anyway, long story short, I now have a follower/stalker, who is a little bit scary and I am taking any advice on how to get rid of HER. Please let me know :P

Shamrock, packed to capacity :(

photo of the night...

CHECK OUT ALL THE WELL DRESSED PEOPLE!!!

Anna and I went for a monster bike ride on Saturday. We originally intended to go to Rif and watch the boys playing soccer, but just as we arrived (an hour and a half late...) I saw Roger in his little yellow Seat driving away... So we toddled back to the river, and down to Hallein, then back via the road. Unfortunately, I was riding Rita's cute little bike, which killed my bum, and i couldnt get a full leg extension unless I stood on the pedals... And did i mention there were no gears?? Super... I made it back safely though :P

Anna riding Rita's bike... The Butt Bruiser :P

Freddie, Anna, Kyles and I went to Marcin's flat on Monday for dinner, to meet his girlfriend Natalie. She is so lovely, and very pretty, and his flatmates Alex and Sebastian were there too, and we had this great feast of meatballs, schnitzel, salad, beetroot (he got that for me, soooooo goooood!) and Aussie style potatoes!! And delicious wine thanks to Freddie/the train being late, which we drunk out of tea cups, cos we're classy! We had a great chat in an ACTUAL lounge, stayed until the last train left (11:14pm)

Kylea and Anna left me and Freddie to fend for ourselves on Wednesday. They went to Budapest, for 4 days, the lucky sods! I really wanted to go with them, but had class today, and DAD COMES TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!

It was ok though, because there was, like always, a party to attend on a Wednesday :) So that night, even though I was without my usual crew, I went to Kult at Republik with some of my other homies, The Spanish Connection, D-meister, Tiger and the Czechs. It was raining and thankfully Jordi MADE me take my coat (which he almost lost later!) and we walked from the Hauptbahnhof to the club, where we proceeded to party on till the wee hours of the morning. It was insane, but so much more fun than the last Kult party (a.k.a i didnt end up covered in alcohol) and there was more space to bust a move (dance...)

After we got home, I went and hung out with Robert, because he had class at 815, so we just stayed up and looked at photos in his room. Bad idea, cos I had a meeting for Design Compilation at 12 that I had forgotten about before deciding to stay awake... Boo for 3hrs sleep!!! But, im a strong person, made it to the meeting, came up with a concept (woohoo!) and had enough energy for the Halli Galli party in the 6th floor common room that night! I didnt intend on staying for long, and didnt bring a drink with me, but, i'd like to belive drinks were forced ON me... I met two lovely guys, Alex and Mario, who i spent most of the night talking to because the party was kinda lame... Mario's friends with Rene, who disappeared halfway through the party. Thus, Mario ended up staying in my room, on the most used couch on campus :P We spoke until 6am, and the only reason we stopped was because I believed I had class at 11:15... Turns out it was 11:45 and I woke up at 10:20 for nothing... Mario and I both agreed the room was spinning, not our heads!

Rene, the lovely drunken mess...

Alex! He's half Greek too- thus, together we make a WHOLE Greek!!!

Das ist Mario :)

The class I had was 3D Introduction, und ich habe einen Kater :( What a terrible class to be in!! With all the turning of 3 Dimensional shapes, and zooming and concentrating, I was not in a good way!! But the teacher seemed nice enough, so next week Tom, I promise to be 100% there, in both mind and body :)

On Friday, I went to Europark (all alone!!) and went in search of stuff for Dads arrival. Couldnt find any of it which was annoying, so I went back home in a huff. Roger invited me to go to this huge supermarket, which didnt sound overly exciting, but because Freddie was M.I.A, I went. AND SO GLAD I DID!!!!!! I LOVE YOU ROGER FOR SHOWING ME THIS PLACE!!! Its just past Freilassing, but in Germany, and OH MY GOSH!!! It was chocka-block full of EVERYTHING EVER NEEDED and SO SO SO SUPER CHEAP!!!!! Let me put it into perspective for everyone in NZ: A Foodtown Trolly full of food can cost about $200. At this place, with Foodtown-sized trollies, Roger got a full trolly worth of food- €35!!!! This includes €1 Pizzas (he got 4), fresh fruit & vegies, meat, chocolate, etc etc etc!!! Super amazed, and he was so happy, it was very cute :P

Then he invited me for dinner, which was great cos i was really down to plain rice and tomato sauce... OHHHHHH!!!!!! IT WAS AMAAAAZING!!!!!!! He made chicken breast with orzo pasta and a curry-like sauce OHHH YUMMMM!!!!! So we sat on his bed and ate and watched Madagascar 2, which in my humble opinion isnt nearly as good as the original, but it was still great to watch a real television :P

So, das ist alles, because tomorrow-- DAD ARRIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Roger is taking me to the airport, Dad arrives at 9:20am, so this means... I have to wake up early :( :(

I really like this, so I thought I would share...

2008-11-13T15:22:00.002+01:00

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is
when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about
aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a
half. You' re four and a half, going on five! That's the key

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next
number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna
be 16! And then the greatest day of your life ! You become 21. Even the
words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad
milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a
sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes,
it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams
are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day
thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch;
you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s,
you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little
kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height.
Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.'
And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is
with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable,
improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trip s. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next
county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

Fachhochschule Salzburg

2008-11-11T00:42:00.007+01:00

So, after the many weeks i've been here, here are some photos to show you how amazing FH Salzburg really is :) Hope you like them...

Das Fachhochschule :)

Our very own Great Glass Elevator

Take a stab at what this is :P

View from the top...

Artsy...

The whole uni is on 4 floors :)

I love it here :)

Addicted to grapes...

2008-11-07T18:44:00.002+01:00

So good! Ich liebe Billa for their amazing grapes...

This entry however is more dedicated to the weather of Salzburg.

OH SALZBURG! WAS GESCHIEHT??!

You gave us beautiful weather,
20 degrees at the beginning of November,
Tis a dream to be warm,
But where is the snow??

I thought by now I would be in boots,
shivering and sniffling from the cold,
but alas! Kein Schnee!!
So I ask, when do you arrive?

Today was the first day
low and heavy, grey clouds
Does this mean there will be white stuff on the mountains tomorrow?
The start of winter in Salzburg

ZOE GOT MAIL!!!!!

2008-11-06T19:44:00.005+01:00

Just after complaining to anyone with ears or eyes that the Austrian postal service hates me, I recieved a package today!!!!!!!!

It was a Fed-Ex one, thus could only be from one person-

MEINE MUTTER!!!!!!!!!!

I was so excited, because Ivo and I were having dinner in my room, and the doorbell rang, and unlike all people who know my door was open, i wondered who it could be...

It was the guy from down the hall, who I often pass and have brief conversations with...

I was super happy, and ripped it open with my amazing strength!! (Lies, I cut it with scissors...)

Inside was all the goodies I had asked Mom to send me, including:

MAAAAAAAARMIIIIIIITE!!!!!!!!
Jasmine Tea (lots and lots of it!)
VITAMIN C!!! Which is the reason it got held up- dammit...
A really cute t-shirt saying "One in four million" :D
MY BELT!!! YAAAAYYY!
and my Party Feet- fewf!!

So-- THANKS MAAAA!!!!!!

I cant wait to eat the Marmite, yum yum!!!!! And as i'm writing this, i'm sipping my favourite tea, ich bin sehr glücklich!!!!

xxxx

P.S In other news, my painting for Materials and Ausdruck is coming along quite nicely. Still looks like the devil, but thats because we have to start with red as a base layer, then add colour ontop... Here's a sneak peek :P

Layer one...

Layer two- dark red, but i was still a bit tentative...

then I went all out and gave him a jaw-line :P

XXX

Zoe's address...

2008-11-06T02:20:00.002+01:00

If anyone would like to send me mail (please do!!!) my address is:

Urstein Süd 5/235
Puch 5412
Salzburg
Austria

There is the onrunning joke here that the posties hate me, because none of my mail has arrived. PLEASE END THIS JOKE BY SENDING ME LETTERS! Small parcels of food are also welcomed, postcards, letters, small gifts of love, as is anything Kiwi :)

LOTS OF LOVE
xoxoxo

And the next President of the United States is...

2008-11-05T11:02:00.003+01:00

Barak Obama!!

So insanely happy, and relieved-- But it was so great to see how much he won by!!

I woke up this morning and immediately checked the news websites, and AHHHH YAYYYY!!!

Then I watched McCain's defeat speech, and then Obama's victory speech, which was SO great!! I really hope he can fulfill at least some of his promises. He has the guts, and i think most of America is behind him...

GOOD LUCK!!!

GO OBAMA! GO GO OBAMA!!!!

2008-11-05T01:03:00.000+01:00

So today in America it's the Presidential Elections. Im freaking out, but fingers crossed Obama wins :) The world would be a happy place, America would have a brighter future... AND! There'd be no more war in Iraq :) Also celebrating the end of Bush's reign of, well, shit, is also rather exciting :)

So that was just a quick word to celebrate all that is (most likely) the first black president of America, woohoo!!!!!

And just on that note, might I add how SUPER FANTASTIC it is that Lewis Hamilton won the Formula One World Championship on Sunday?? By one point, on the last corner, of the last race, in his second season!?

And to see the Ferrari team celebrating because Hamilton lost his place to Vettel a few corners earlier, but then Hamilton zoomed on past Timo Glock to TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!! DESPAIR FOR FERRARI!!! CELEBRATIONS FOR MCLAREN!!!!!! bahahaha...

Poor Massa though. If only Kimi hadnt won last year by one point (stupid wet fish) and Hamilton had taken the championship, I would have been ok with Massa winning this season.... :P or not.... Loser!! haha

This is just a bit of redemption.

Anyway, Go Obama!!!! :D

Life and other such lovlies

2008-11-04T21:20:00.000+01:00

Ich hatte ein gutes Wochenende! Considering the circumstances, it being the first weekend Miss America was missing :(

Friday night, as previously mentioned, we had the super-dooper Halloween party...

I woke up on Saturday ready to rock and roll, aka clean the common room and the leftovers from the "bonfire" outside. Then I went back to sleep for a doze, and woke up when my doorbell buzzed really loud and for a long time :( Turns out, everyone, including Freddie who was the most far gone last night (aside from Robert, which is a give in...) was downstairs and all the mess was gone... Aaaaaand it was 1:30pm... Oops!

So the rest of the day was spent... doing stuff... We did attempt a game of Volleyball some time in the afternoon. Freddie walked on up with a beer in hand, and after complaining where mine was, he got me one too :P The highlight of the match came with the first ball, which proceeded to hit Freddie's beer that he had placed right on the corner of the second court, almost begging to be knocked over. Which it did. Silje did run to rescue it though, and he got to enjoy half his Steigl :)

That night we went bowling, which was so much fun! I suck quite a lot, and a lot of my first attempts went into the gutter with a loud THUD as it hit the lane... Oops! But, all things considered, and possibly due to the fact that in the 8th game Javi arrived and mein Mann saved mein bacon by bowling very well (we make a great team)... I won!!! Then we played a second match with the others who had arrived, Javi of course sticking with me, and we owned again!!! It was lots of fun, except the room was SO smokey already, and then they turned on the smoke machines!! We're going to go another night and really have a whole night of dinner, bowling then clubbing, because this place is pretty pumping, and most of the people are our age...

Another funny moment, we went to McD's to sort out our travel plans home slash get a McFlurry (thats right!! they have them here!! so so good!). Anyway! Normally they have this machine that mixes the yummy smarties with the ice cream, and Anna always gets hers with caramel and its never been a problem. Except for this joint, where apparently Hell has to freeze over before this dude would do that. According to McDonalds Law, you could get "Cornetto with chocolate, cornetto with strawberry, cornetto with caramel, FLAKE with chocolate, flake with straw...." SHUT UP! So then he makes Anna's McFlurry - ohne Karamell - and then turns his back to the counter and... MIXES IT BY HAND!!!!!!! I was watching him do this, Anna saw it too, it was seriously either the funniest thing ever, or the most disgusting! Then he almost did it to mine too, and i yelled at him not to. So disturbing!!! But also, looking back, very funny. Stupid McDonalds minger.

Anywho, Sunday was my super dooper day of awesomeness, i loved my Sunday. I woke up at 9am and Robert, Anna, Kylea and I went to Hallein (the next little town next to Puch) to meet Marcin and go to the Flohmarkt. It was full of old people selling their treasures, everything smelt like moth balls, and it was great. One guy had a gramophone that STILL worked, it was great! He played us this great old piece of music, i could have stood there for hours listening...

We got back about 11:30am, and, as I was fed up with my dirty floor, i attacked the dust with the vacuum, sponge (for windowsills and other flat surfaces) (mum, i hope you're reading this!) and then!! The ultimate-- I got my old rubbish bin, filled it with water, got all the things off the floor, and proceeded to scrub and wipe my floor with Spray and Wipe and a brush! It took the best part of 90 minutes, but it was SO worth it. Now i have a note up on my wall as people walk in- "Bitte ziche deine Schuhe aus :)" (it is also in French and Spanish too :P)

After, I joined Michael and the other boys for a lovely game of Volleyball- ich spiele volleyball gern :) It was so much fun, and, for once, i didnt hit too many wayward balls!! (As is often the way I play...) OHH! highlight of my game was definately beating Andi and "spiking" the ball and winning the point for my team... Albeit he had his back turned, but that doesnt count, I still beat him. Had to pretend I was Tasha for a sec and told him to "FOCUS!!"

After volleyball was over at about three, I was in the mood for a bike ride. Andi, the lovely guy that he is, lent me his, and even though he is 10 feet taller than me, I just managed to fit on his bike (at a stretch...) So off i toddled down to the river, then got really enthusiastic (and the river smelt bad) so I rode really fast, and got to the bridge near Hallein! Then i glanced at my watch, and was thought- shit, ive been riding for Ages!! As it said 4:30... So i hoofed it back down the other side of the river, raced inside, worrying that I would miss the one hourly train back to Hallein to see Marcin-- I had a date with his television for the last F1 race of the season...

As i got home, I realised my watch was an hour fast, because i hadnt changed it after Daylight saving... DAMMIT!! Oh well, all in all, a great hour long bike ride :P

So I caught the 4:36 train to Hallein, and saw Marcin, went to his house and bit my nails for two hours while Lewis Hamilton and Filipe Massa fought it out for the F1 World Championship... I love Lewis, and wanted him to win so bad, but it was so hard to understand what was going on because all the commentary was in German... BUT!! I did understand the rain and the changing of tires and stuff, and it was all very tense, but HAMILTON WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So i was super dooper happy, I even called Cameron to celebrate with him, considering he's my F1 Midnight Trooper...

Anyway, that was the end of my awesome weekend. Good times...

Oh! Just a quick update on classes too- We just got given out "final assignment" for photography (which is, realistically speaking, the first and only, because the last one was like "shoot a roll of black and white film between four of you!") This one is SOOOOOO great, the teachers a PUBLISHED photographer, and his work is great- he did a book called Higley, and explained his inspiration and stuff, i was so impressed even though the photos seem a bit plain...

Anyway! The assignment is rad- Shoot a 20 to 30 photo series of a situation or story that is explained through your eyes, like, from your perspective. It could be of someone, something, somewhere, ANYTHING! im super excited :)

And for Concept Development, Till went to Vienna to a conference of all these TV artsy people, and met this producer for a cultural channel in Germany, which broadcasts to Switzerland and Austria as well! And we've got the opportunity to create concepts for short films, and three will be picked and produced and FH Salzburg will have a contract with this TV station!! YAAY!!! It can also intermix film with photography and digital media, so thats extra great :D

The basis of the film had to be "The Other View" so MindFunk came up with a concept that tells the story in reverse time. In short, its through the lense of a camera, that is flying in outter space, and then zooms in and you realise theres been an explosion, and its flying towards it, into earth, then it cuts to a dropped coffee cup. In reverse you see the coffee cup falling back up to the table, and on the cup it reads "Bush for a third term". The film ends with a clapperboard on time 00:00:00 and the writing "Final take", symbolising that if George Bush got a third term, this is what would happen...

Das ist alles fürs Erste :D

P.S Learnt today that "Ich muchte (?) im Badezimmer gehen" means "I need to go to the bathroom" - a very important line to know, ha ha ha

Halloween @ Campus

2008-11-01T14:10:00.005+01:00

Man, we looked good. Its amazing how with a bit of make up, some creativity and some alcohol, we turn from perfectly fantastic human beings to crazed zombies, devils, pumpkins, and mummies!

Well, to be perfectly honest, Marcin was the only mummy present at the party, wrapped up in 10 rolls of toilet paper. He looked great!! Anna was an evil pumpkin, even though some random girls figured she was a slutty pumpkin, which seemed to be the onrunning joke of the night from there on...

It started out slow, with the candles lit and everyones costumes in tact. Then, as more people arrived and more was drunk, we let loose! It was funny also, because there was also a halloween party on the second floor, but ours was way cooler and they all came upstairs, even the DJ!! The decorations were awesome, and i provided the orange and white cobwebs, but later on was attacked with them thanks to Anna and Sebastian, so that wasnt so fun :P

So, as you might have noticed, we had a super dooper jack-o-lantern, made from an actual pumpkin! it was huge, and apparently it came from Sebastians garden, which i thought was really cool... Anyway, Rambo (Freddie) decided it would be a great idea if he took the pumpkin for a little walk...

The walk ended in disaster :( Rambo threw the pumpkin out the window...

Later on in the evening, and i dont really remember when or why, Freddie's shirt got ripped off (i did partake in that event) then off came Oriol's, Daniel's and Javi's as well. Then, someone had the amazing idea (probably Fredrik) to burn them!! The entire erasmus group ended up outside jumping over this mini bonfire they'd created from burning t-shirts, newspapers, a cardboard box and bits of pumpkin... So insane!!

After that, I went upstairs and began sorting out the mess that was the third floor common room, then went to my own room to sort out that mess. After a brief visit back downstairs to the remaining fire dancers, I came home and got to talk to Mr Alex and Little D.

Anywho, a good night all round :)

Another casual update...

2008-10-31T18:19:00.005+01:00

So, as i've previously mentioned, Tash-unit aka T-Dog aka Tashachen aka Poppet, the girl also formerly known as Tasha, has now gone. I am happy to report that she made it safely back through customs and is now at home in Utah. Well done Tash!! These are some pics from her leaving do (in the com) and one last group photo :D

Last night, we were all Zombie'd out, due to the lack of sleep, emotional exhaustion, the fact we'd driven to Munich at 3am, whatever...

So everyone came round and we ate Tasha's food she'd left-- mmmm, Tortilla's!! Anna did most of the cooking, while I chopped the capsicums and onions (crying) and made myself look generally busy :P Freddie brought up the BEST red wine i've had since arriving, and we all enjoyed our mexican food.

And, might i mention, that even though we laughed at Freddie and accused him of being weird when he piled all the ingredients onto the plate and mixed them all up then stuffed it in the tortilla, it was actually a very wise and delicious way of eating...

Today I slept for a long time, and think i'm now back to normal sleeping patterns, just in time for the Halloween party so my body clock doesn't get too comfortable being on normal time :P

Marcin, Anna, Ky-unit, Freddie, Tiger and I went into Europark to look for costumes for tonight. Freddie's decided he's going as Rambo. I want Tiger to go in his undies and be Superman, but apparently he's not that into the idea... As always, Marcin's going all out on the costuming, we're wrapping him in toilet paper and he's going as a mummy... Kylea's going as a witch, I wanted to go as Dracula but now I dont have super cool teeth, so i dont know what to do-- Kylea suggested making some Grills out of tinfoil, so instead i'd be a Ghetto Dracula. Great!! Im excited to see about the costumes, should be so much fun... I wonder who's coming as a Devil? (usually me...)

Freddie being a doofus in McD's...

In other news, this weekend I will be going for a Jog with Kylea (i might die, and if so, love to all). I will also vacuum and mop my room, clean my bathroom and maybe even unblock my sink so I can stop cleaning my teeth in my kitchen... I will also finish my painting, do 3 sketches, practise my German, and think about Design Compilation...

Anyway, das ist alles! A very interesting life I lead...

Xoxoxox

Ciao Tasha :( :(

2008-10-30T00:06:00.004+01:00

So, two days ago, Tasha got some bad news, and is leaving to go home.

For the past two days, she's gotten her whole Austrian life packed up, sorted out uni and flights and her clothes and room and everything, and tomorrow morning at 3am, we're driving her to Munich to say goodbye as she catches her plane...

It sucks, and all of us who are close to her are so gutted she's leaving. (Im sure everyone else is pretty bummed too...!) Especially Kylea, Anna and I, we were so looking forward to the Awesome Foursome's Super European Adventure!! Now we have an opening, if anyone is interested in traveling around France, Spain and Italy with us over Christmas??

I made her a video to remember our time together, and showed it to her tonight in the common room. Andi and I spent a while last night figuring out how to work iMovie, the new one is SO stupid :( We went into Salzburg yesterday (before the others knew, so it sucked cos i had to lie to them about what i was doing) and found a huge Austrian flag that we all signed and so she can take that home with her too...

I'm attempting to upload the video now on Facebook, and maybe OooTube too...

Anyway, so thats whats been happening, and it sucks, but its not Goodbye, right? It's See You Again! Im taking care of Miss America (Tasha's pot-tree), her food, her old handbag, her shampoo and conditioner, her towels... Lots of stuff...

So, ciao for now, Tasha!!

I'll miss you Poppet
xoxoxo

Bad Taste

2008-10-28T05:18:00.004+01:00

So, basically just got home from the Bad Taste Party at Fago, the cafeteria on Campus.

Seriously, that was the best party i've been to since i got here... We all got into it, went shopping for outfits today-- Marcin ended up wearing my outfit and i went as an Emo which was fun :P Marcin wore a dress, with my bra and socks stuffed inside, with make-up on, the whole 9 yards!! I wore Mein Mann's t-shirt and hoodie (very emo), very heavy make up (that i had to google to see how to do!) crazy emo hair that i couldnt see through, doodled-on Chucks and Anna drew tattoos and cuts on my arm, all in the name of--- Bad Taste :P

The music was SO great, like, Vengaboys, Macarena, Spice Girls, all the good old stuff most people are embarrassed to say they like... Me on the other hand, i listen to this stuff on a regular basis, ha ha ha...

Andi, dressed as a Bad Taste sports star (in shorts shorts, tight tee and sweat band) won the best Bad Taste, and shared his prize (vodka and redbull) with us all... I cant wait to see all the photos!!

Speaking of which, here they are! Its 5am and I guess that means its time for sleeping! Marcins sleeping on "my" sofa, I went to the common room and partied hard after Fago closed (and drew all over people, I 'HEART' ZOE etc etc) and I dont have class at any ridiculously early time tomorrow, which means-- sleep in!! Yahaaahh!!!

So, Gute Nacht und I hope I will schlaf gut hahaha...
xxx

München Weekend!

2008-10-27T14:46:00.006+01:00

OK, so a bit late, but better late then never, right??

So Anna, Ivo and I went to Munich (München) two weekends ago, and it was absolutely fantastic!!! I want to go back there as much as I can before I leave, because we didnt get to see nearly enough of the place!!

Anna and I decided we would go on Saturday morning, planning to catch the 9.22 train into the Hauptbahnhoft (main station) and then train from there to Munich. Unfortunately, we went to bed about 4:30am, so waking up was a bit of a bitch. Then Ivo called me at 8am saying he'd decided to come with us. So at 9.15am we all met and wandered off to the train station, and actually (to my suprise) made it on the 9.22 train!

At the Hauptbahnhoft (HBF) we got our tickets to Munich- 27 Euro, yay! And got a coffee and toddled off to the train... Its two hours to Munich, and we got a booth to ourselves. Anna had a nap, and she wasnt feeling so good, Ivo sketched me a picture of a Polo-bear (personal joke, half the reason he wanted to come to Munich...) climbing out of its cage about to attack the three people. One (apparently me) says "Ivo, Anna, lets get out of here" but "I" am really round and look like an obese American tourist, which made me laugh very hard for a long time... Thanks Ivo!!

Anyway! We made it to Munich, walked out of the main station and started walking off down the road.... But then realised we had no idea where we were going, and thus had to turn around and go back to the station to get a map of Munich. After which, we stood outside and tried to sort out what direction "Marienplatz" was. Petra told us to use that as our main base, and wander round from there.

We found it, and ohhhh myyyy goshhhh it was SO beautiful!!! Its this square, with the Old and New Town Halls on one side, and a church and bell tower, and a fountain, and lots of people!! The Town Hall is this Gothic style building which was AMAZING. We found this old church called Frauenkirch, which was heavily bombed in WWII and its still being repaired. Inside, it was so weird, because the walls were very bare, and the roof had no frescoes or anything. Also, there was this crypt downstairs, with a painting of Christ, but in a very abstract, almost Pop Art style... Which I have never seen before in a church! So that was interesting.

We found this market that, as soon as we started walking through it, i thought, Martine would like it here. Its called the Viktualienmarkt, and it had EVERYTHING, fresh fruit, chocolates (chocolate covered strawberries on a stick-- yummmmm!!!), spices, home-wares, everything!

We wandered past a lot of street performers, which I really liked, because it really added to the atmosphere of Munich. My favourite was the hobo-looking guy playing the trumpet, but there was also this 4-piece band, they had drums and everything! I ran out of coinage to give them :P

We stayed at Petra's house, she is Martine's best friend and my adopted "German Aunty". She lives about 4 stops away from the city on the No. 19 Tram Line, and welcomed us into her apartment to stay Saturday night. I loved it, and it was WAY bigger than i thought it would be. She made us dinner (lamb, potatoes and beans, yuummmmm!!!) AND got us breakfast on Sunday, and Melina (one of Petra's twins) was such a sweetie and gave us all kisses on in the morning. So it was pretty much perfect... Except maybe the 3 flights of stairs we had to stumble up at 3am when we arrived home on Sunday morning...!

Even though by this stage Anna had completely lost her voice, we went out Saturday night to have a look at the Munich night life. Petra and Harras, her beautiful Retriever, walked us up the road and she showed us where to go, but we ended up finding the "Kunstpark", which looked like you needed to off-your-nut drunk to even enter. It was like a clubbing theme park, and we are too mature and classy for places like that, ha ha ha.

So we wandered back towards home, and found this cute little bar on the corner, about 3 minutes away from Petras. So we went inside, had a couple of drinks, Anna and I rated all the boys (the bartender serving us got a 20/10, the guy with the hairy back was a -2) and we had a great evening there :)

On Sunday, I got up early to watch the Chinese Grand Prix. It was great, because Hamilton won, but still pretty boring because nothing too interesting happened... We went to the Zoo after a late breakfast (Pretzels, eggs, and strawberry jam on toast) which in itself was a mission. We had to fit three big kids, two little kids, plus the big dog and Petra into her car.... It was fun :P Except i ended up with blonde hair ALL over my black jeans... The Zoo was super, and I loved the monkey enclosure, and the Antarctic animals- Penguins are too cute!!! The kiddies loved it too, and I found that making them fly like superman when they get cranky is a great way to distract them from crying!!

We were there for about 3 hours, and did intend to go to the German Museum, which is just down the road from Petra's, after we got back. But we were all pretty wacked, and still had to catch up with Hannes for dinner! So after we got back and said our goodbyes, we trammed back into the City and caught up with Hannes in Marienplatz. We were pretty hungry, and to keep in the Bavarian theme, went in search of a Bavarian dinner.

I loved mine- it was beef with bread dumplings and red cabbage, with gravey, and it tasted amaaazing!! Quite like a Kiwi roast, so i was happy :) Anna and Hannes had a pork shank with potato dumplings, which looked disgusting :P And Ivo had white sausages with sweet mustard, which is traditionally a breakfast meal, but oh well... It was lovely to see Hannes, and he hasnt changed too much, so that was good!

After dinner (I was stuffed!) we made our way to the main station via old-school train (seriously, wooden panels and everything!). We made it back onto the train and walked down the entire train before we found somewhere to sit, then chilled it (I almost fell asleep on Ivo) and off we went back to Salzburg...

It seemed like, as we got back to Urstein, that we'd been away for a lot longer than 2 days. I had a great time, and I cant wait to go back!! :D

Einriesenwelt (Big Ice Cave)

2008-10-26T22:47:00.000+01:00

Today we went to the worlds biggest ice cave. Its in Salzburgerland, and we needed to train to ..... (a place past Golling) and caught a bus up the mountain. It was so cool, because we left Puch in sunlight, and as we came out of this tunnel, it was like a cold winters day-- low cloud, grey and gloomy!!

The place we went to (past Golling) had a castle up on the mountain!! It was so beautiful, this is the best picture I managed to take... It was cold, and so out came the gloves, beanies, and scarves.

The bus ride wasnt the most comfortable in the world, as the climb was pretty steep, but once we emerged out of the cloud, it as amaaaazing!! The clouds actually looked like candyfloss, like you could jump in and bounce around on them. And it was SO hot about the cloud, such a contrast, that away went the gloves, beanies and scarves :P The walk from the bus to the cable car took about 20ish minutes, and was really lovely. I was hot though, because of the thermals I had on, which was not such a great look!

We made it to the cable car at about 1030am, and Oriol didnt want to take the walk up to the cave, so Anna and I went with him in the cable car. Im so so so glad i did, because from there we could see the one part of the track, a rickety old bridge held by ONE pole-- No Thank You- there was NO way I would go on that. So we made it safely to the top in 3 minutes, and enjoyed a lovely coffee in the sunlight as we waited for the others.

Upon their arrival, we continued up the path (another 10 or so minutes to the entrance of the cave. It was just like a hole in the side of the mountain, but once we got there, the temperature dropped SO fast, it was insane!! The views were also soooooo amazing, because we were up so high...

We were given these old school burners to "light our way" through the ice cave, and entered the cave. There was a huge gust of wind which was apparently the sole reason the cave stayed in its optimum temperature (I dont know it, but it was very cold...) We set off up the 700 steps, stopping along the path to listen to this tour guide sounding horribly bored about life. Either that, or it was just his accent :P We werent allowed to use the flash to take photos in there, so the photos i did get arent the best, but it was pretty amazing- there were Ice stalactites and stalagmites, one was even in the shape of an Elephant!! In total, there are total of 1400 steps in the ice cave, up and down, and some parts are very steep...

There was also some ashes from the guy who discovered the cave, back in 19?? (early 20th century). The first time he was there, he made it to the 30m ice wall, marked his final place with a black cross on the rock, and its still there today! He came back and continued exploring it in later years. He was killed in one of the World Wars, and asked for his remains to be kept there, which I thought was really nice.

My favourite part was when the guide told us of this ice wall- "This ice wall has lines like a tree has rings. It tells how old it is. Scientists dont know exactly how old this one is because of the roof of the cave, but we can estimate it is about 1000 years old. The cave itself is a little bit older, at around 400 to 600 million years old."

No shit!! Ha ha ha.

And that concludes my first, and potentially only ice caving experience. A good time, a cold time, but something I dont really need to see again :)

Walk to Hallein!!

2008-10-26T20:42:00.000+01:00

So I dont know if I mentioned our walk to Hallein from the beginning of October!

Just got Iman's photos, so this was our great walk :D

Shit we're cool....

xoxo

Just a casual update...

2008-10-25T11:40:00.000+02:00

So, I just got an email from Helen and wrote her this massive reply, then thought, shit, i havent blogged in a long time (my sincere apologies for being lazy, apparently all i do is party.... err, i mean, study...?) So this is pretty much it, with a few editions... Promise to be more up to date, now that i've got my blog off Facebook!

Can i first start by congratulating my second cousin Di and her husband Shaun on their new baby girl Chloe Maree!!! I cant wait to meet her, and am eagerly awaiting pictures :D

So its just changed to end of daylight saving, so now we're exactly 12 hours behind NZ, which does make it easier for calling and skyping people (add me, zoededes, on skype!!!) Im very happy, because, at least for tomorrow, I get an extra hours sleep- yay! :D Its also getting colder here after the weirdest few weeks of weather- it was HOT!!! I was thinking, I swear someone told me it snowed in this area.... LIARS!!! But then the cold arrived, and out came the winter coat again, which had a wee rest hanging by the front door for the past 2 weeks...

Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to the worlds biggest ice cave!! Im very excited, its 40kms out of Salzburg and we need to train then bus there, and (apparently) its gonna be SO cold in there (ha ha ha, get the joke?), so im gonna have to rug up warm!! Not really looking forward to the freezingness, cos i have the snuffles, but oh well, should be an experience and half!! Gonna try take some sneaky pics, so keep an eye out on Facebook!

Oh well... I want to tell you of my plans over the Christmas/New Year break! Im so excited!! I have christened my girls the "Awesome Foursome"-- Kylea and Anna (+ Me make us the Kiwi Three) and Tasha (Miss America...). We are travelling for 3 weeks together, starting by training from Salzburg to Rome on Dec 19th, then we fly to Paris for Christmas!! Then we go to Madrid on Dec 26th for 3 days. We're flying to Barcelona on the 29th and are staying in our friend Oriol's apartment (yusss free accomodation!!) and celebrate New Years there! Then we fly to Genoa on the 1st, and have a mosey around the Italian Riviera, train to Florence on the 4th or 5th, then to Venice on the 8th, and back to Salzburg on the overnight train on the 10th and arrive the day before my birthday! :D

So i hope that makes you insanely jealous.... Im so excited, we're all looking forward to it and being Scroog McDuck's in the meantime!! :P

In other news, it seems that im making friends with lots of boys-- I think i've already mentioned Dario? He's Austrian and lovely and really opinionated and plays the guitar. He may be coming to AUT for a semester, which would be SUPER if he did :) There is also Ivo, he's from Vienna (Wien), who-- wait for it-- I taught how to cook a meal last night!!! I know, I know, everyone i've already told knows I cant cook! But no, in comparison to Ivo, im (almost) Jamie Oliver!! He didnt know how to boil pasta, chop onions or wash a dish.... Poor guy, been living under a rock, i think.... And he's not dead yet either, so I cant be THAT bad a teacher.... There's also Fredrik, the Swedish guy who hangs out with us all the time, he's awesome and dresses well, we have a good friendship going on, he's getting to be like a brother :) And Marcin (said Marchin, so close to Martin...) he's from Poland and is so funny, he seriously sounds like Borat!! He's so nice and made this Polish apple cake thing at Anna's the other day- ON her bench. Like, flour, eggs, sugar, just sort of piled it on the bench and started kneeding it!! He's so spastic.... I have the Spanish Connection too- Jordi, we watch the F1 together; Javi, mein Mann/"mein Schnucki", the onrunning joke since Prague insinuating that we're married, and thanks to having German class together, each week our life gets more interesting-- last week it was "Ich bin Hausfrau, Er ist Kellner (i am a housewife, he is a waiter... i dont really see that one working out!! ha ha ha); and Oriol, the most pessimistic bastard in the world, but he's lovely and means well and i like him for that :) Then there's Tobi and Andi, the Germans, who are both so lovely, theyve been with their girlfriends for centuries!... I use Tobi's vacuum cleaner and we sketch together down by the river, and Andi gives me onions to cook with...!

And finally! Roger! He's my newly adopted brother, such a sweetheart, from Cologne in Germany, and is 25... And he cooks really well! So, the other night, because we normally all eat alone, i invited everyone over for a BYO dinner. However, damn intercultural communication, Roger showed up and was like, wheres dinner? I told him it was Bring Your Own, but he was leaving for Colonge the next day and had nothing to eat in his house. So we ended up cooking together-- well, i made one DELICIOUS salad, he whipped up the nicest tomato sauce with onions and salami in it, oh my god i could have died, it was the nicest thing ive eaten in my room since i arrived :P So yeah, we're gonna make a little tradition of Roger coming to my place weekly to cook. And i do the dishes.... The only thing i can really master in the kitchen! :P

So, classes; probably should mention those some time too... Ive started PROPER uni, which is a bit of an exaggeration, because seriously, its like one week I have class, the next I don't-- One Monday i had class from 10am till 815pm, the following Monday was 10am till 1130 and I was done for the day!!!! And some are still yet to start. I did have my first Photography class, in which I was about to smash my head into the table, because I did two years of photography in school, and the first hour of class (which started at 9am and I was late for and had to run up to the 4th floor....) he was explaining Analogue cameras- "This is a shutter, look how it opens to take the photo" YARRRR TRICK YARRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! :P My favourite class is concept development with Till Fuhrmeister. It's fun and interesting, and my group rocks, we're called MindFunk and we came up with the best concept in the class, woohoo!

Otherwise though, thats about it to report from campus, without going into the intense drinking sessions that happen to occur on a regular basis... For that, just look at my pictures on facebook... Or dont, and you can believe that i'm being very studious and hardworking, he he he :P

OH!! And last bit of news-- My Daddy leaves tomorrow for America, and at the end of his trip he's coming to visit me!!!!!!!! Im so so super excited, because Jordi and Freddie both have their parents here and its so cute, but it really sinks in that my people are so far away.... Oh well!! Ive also come to the conclusion that, when I arrive back in NZ, im gonna be so insane-o stir-crazy, my new two year plan is to be back in Europe... Sorry team!! Maybe you should all move over with me??

Anyway! its now 2:40am and I have to wake up early (nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i can get ready for the Ice Cave Adventure!! (Im wearing my hiking boots, yaaaaay!!!! their first outing... Thanks Dad!)

I LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS AND HEAPS!!!! But im not really missing you too much, no offence! :P

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

P.S Thanks Daniel for the spelling correction! :) xxx

Class!!

2008-10-14T09:26:00.000+02:00

Yes, believe it or not!!

And not just ONE class-- THREE today!!!

From 10am till 8:15pm!!

Talk about a day and a half!! This must be what the real worlds like!!

So, anyway, moving on…

Today i had my first real day of uni since i arrived. It started with a knock on my door at 9:55am, when i realised i’d slept through my alarm (not an uncommon occurance...) but made it to Design Compilation on time(ish)

It was really interesting but im still a bit hazy on what this actually is going to incorporate. But, for the time being, it will be great :)

Next on the agenda was a 45minute break, so i raced home and ate etc etc (the things i didnt have time to do in the morning...) and then toddled off to Concept Development with Anna and Kylea. Till (my Media Mix teacher) is taking the class, and i like him and his style of thinking, so i was already excited. We also approached him, said we were the incomings, and asked if the class would be taught in English.... Unfortunately-- he’d made the whole lecture on Friday in enlish and no incomings showed up!!

Luckily everyone saw the funny side, and thus the class was taught in German…

THE FOUR HOUR LONG CLASS!!!!!!!!!! But, this being said, it was a very interesting 4 hours, and i really enjoy the class. We were put into groups- ours came up with the name MindFunk- and we were told to create a mixed media campaign for this German brand of cola called Africola thats been around for ages. Ours incorporates the slogan “Worth it” to the ad, then we have a competition to involve our target audience, saying “Whats it worth to you? send your images to http://www.worth.it“ and the winners were the images on our print campaign!! It was awesome and we got a good response from the class :)

Anyway! After that monster class, i had another 45 minutes to wolf down dinner, then on to Materials and Ausdruck (Expression). This is the painting class, but for the first hour, the woman went over “this is pigment… this is turpentine” i was like, woohoo, year 9 art class all over again!!! :P

But once we got onto the actual painting, it was awesome. We used bright orange oil paint, and had to draw a face. Unfortunately, neither Anna, Kylea or I had brought canvas’ with us, so we just painted over old stuff. I got one with a face on it, so i did an abstract one… Which ended up looking pretty cool… I’m going to try and steal a photo of it-- or, better still, the whole painting!!! :P

Anyway, I had Ivo (my Austrian friend) round for dinner, because he cant cook and i felt sorry for him. Im going to teach him (i know, Zoe teach someone how to cook?!??!?!?) how to make pasta and eggs and the essential basics that even I know how to make… :P

OH! We also booked our flights from Paris to Madrid this evening-- 35 Euro!!!!! We’re leaving Paris on Boxing day, and will probably spend New Years in Spain… Somewhere...!

XXX

What a day...

2008-10-12T00:48:00.001+02:00

So, for the first time pretty much since I got here, I was awake before 9am....

We went to Mauthausen Concentration Camp today, and oh my god, what a place.

Even though I’ve studied all of Nazi Germany and knew what to expect, it was just something else completely. It was eerie, especially because the weather played its part and there was a fog/cloud that hung around all day… It was so quiet, as soon as we arrived we were all in a somber mood. Even when I cracked a joke, it was-- weird. Like, wrong place for being funny… (Obviously.... but still!)

So we entered in through the first set of gates which was very impressive, and apparently there used to be a massive Third Reich eagle and swastika there, but after liberation they pulled it down…

It was really well maintained, and the SS barracks were really nice, made of stone and had nice wooden doors. Instead of going straight in, there were lots of sculptures, and so we looked at those, and oh my gosh, it took my breath away. And made me cry. Twice…

The sculptures were all in memory of those who’d perished, and each one was from a different country. The French, Ukrainian, Czech, and Hungarian memorials were my favourite as they represented the strength in the face of adversity. They werent too in your face about the fact that their people were murdered; they were more representative of peace and hope, and I liked that.

I was shocked to see that 3,700 Greeks had been killed there, it was so sad and it kind of caught me by suprise. That was one of the things that made me cry…

After we’d finished looking around (and looking down into the quarry, but not actually walking down the “Staircase of Death“) we went inside the camp section… It was so sad, and a contrast to the nice buildings of stone outside. The gate we walked through was the gate every prisoner walked through twice a day to and from the Quarry, and where new inmates were examined and sorted.

We saw the barracks for the prisoners- wooden bunks, and there were pictures on the walls that were so sad- of the most starved people in the world… They had converted the old Laundry building into a memorial hall, with flags and plaques, with 4 large flags against the main wall for France, Russia, Britain and America, who liberated the camp on May 5th, 1945. However, 122,766 people had already been killed in Mauthausen :(

What stunned and really hit me the most was the gas chambers. They really, really did just look like showers. They were tiled, and NORMAL looking!! It was sick. I got shivers all over the camp, but at the gravesite where some bodies had been exumed about 15 years after the war, and in here, was where it was the worst.

There was a room to the right of the actual gas chambers (which were down some stairs, under a building...) where they laid the dead, while they broke out their gold teeth and other things of any value. Then, in the main walkway bit, there was a huge furnace, which actually just looked like an oven (which made me almost gag) where they burnt the bodies. It was disgusting and saddened me, because no matter how much i studied this stuff, it was all on paper. To be here in real life was just so.... I dont even know how to describe it!!!!

Anyway, Sarah, Anna and I went to the exhibition afterwards, which was in English so we could read about the small but significant resistance that came from within Germany, Austria and Poland. It was so nice to see (even though i had read of some before) how some people, even in the face of propaganda, war and death, could see the wrong that was being done, and helped those being persecuted. Many died for helping, but there were two really significant quotes which were amazing-- “We only had two choices: either we accept that we’re also to blame, or we fight against this regime.” The other read, “If I have to die now, I’ll die in peace and tranquility, because I know there is a cause to die for.”

So, all in all, an eye-opening, shocking, emotive and intense day. But I'm glad I went, and it only makes me want to learn more :)

Night at the Museums

2008-10-05T20:58:00.005+02:00

What a great night!!

Yesterday, there was a special deal on with the museums in Salzburg, and we could get one ticket that let us into all of them for 11 Euro! It began at 6pm and so we had an evening out as artsy cultural nerds :)

It was really great to see some art because here I haven't really had the chance to go to take in many cultural aspects here yet, apart from the bars :P

We began in museum called the Rupertinum in the Museum der Moderne. There was a photography exhibition by Nobuyoshi Araki called Silent Wishes, which was really beautiful, but them some photos seemed a bit much. It was a whole collection of photographs of his wife and their life, and then her sickness and after she died...

We went to the Salzburg Cathedral and looked at all their collection of amazing stuff- they had some amazing... I want to call it jewellery, but it was clothing and swords and a bible and this big mirror type thing that was just completely bedazzled in jewels... It was also the first place I have ever seen inside a church which has a black man in a Fresco!! I was so amazed, I tried to take a photo of it, but it didnt really come out...

We also went to the Castle, which was awesome to see by night. You can see all of Salzburg city, which was so beautiful. It wasnt too cold either, and so we took our time wandering around the exhibitions :) There was a puppet exhibition! That was fun, and there was also a weaponry exhibition and it explained how the castle has been used as a fortress over the centuries. There was this one little room with a low roof and wooden floors. On the walls were these canvases, with thick paint and really abstract things. But they were really beautiful and that was probably my favourite exhibition there.... Unfortunately, by this stage, my camera had died :(

Then we went to.... The Salzburg Museum! This was my ULTIMATE favourite!! Downstairs there was an art exhibition, with these AMAZING woodcuts- like nothing i had ever seen before!! They were FANTASTIC!!!! I forget who made them, but seriously, I was about to take them off the wall and run away... There was also this great little sketch with pencil and chalk done on a piece of newspaper. The best bit about being there, aside from the amazing artwork, was the fact that there was a string quartet playing! and they were so entertaining, at one stage they put down their bows and began strumming their violins like guitars!! The guy with the crazy hair was most entertaining :P

Also inside was this fantastic exhibition where some man decided he would correlate a note in music to a colour, and made this entire exhibition from these shapes and colours and -- i didnt understand all of it, but WOW it was cool!

We stopped and had dinner at Spaghetti & Co, which was delicious and not too expensive (my favourite kind of dining!) I had a Gypsy pizza and it had these long green "bell" peppers on them which i've never seen before, but WHOA were they tasty!

After the Salzburg museum, it was about 1130pm and so we stopped at the Mozart Cafe (in the museum complex) and had delicious coffees- The heiße schokolade looked so yummy. Another highlight was the really bad transvestite sitting at the table next to us, which provided a good laugh-- it was really just the complete misjudge of lip-liner to lip area, so amusing...

Anyway! A very interesting evening, I want to go and see more!!!
xx

OTIC's OWNED!!!

2008-10-02T22:26:00.002+02:00

So, I woke up this morning to the news that my super dooper amazing team the OTICs had won the final of our season!!

I just wanted to share with everyone how amazing Celeste, Thor, Russ, Gina, Courts and Kev are, (and… Rachael? newbie...)

They won THE most intense game- 42-40!!! I mean, you can barely win in a closer game, so for them to hold their heads, and shoot those two’s and WIN! Im very very very proud of my babies :)

So now they have T-Shirts with our name and a pimpin bar tab. Yayayayahhhhh :D

So, GO OTIC’s- Told you we’re On To It!!! hahaha

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Oh yeah....

2008-10-01T03:00:00.000+02:00

Haha, oops!

Maybe should update the reason im over here (to study..... I could almost forget!)

Well, yesterday I had my second class- 3D Intro 1. WHICH IS ALL IN GERMAN!!!!!!!!!

So.... well, that sucks!

The rest of the classes start next week, I have German tomorrow (which i refuse to go to if my face hasnt gone down) Well, having said that, Doc said if it hasnt gone down by tomorrow, I have to go to hospital. Shit!!

Booo!

And the rest of my classes im not enrolled in, THANKS JULIA!

Hopefully more news on that soon :)

xox

Updating the last 11 days...

2008-10-01T02:48:00.002+02:00

Yes, I have been very slack, but all with good reason :)

So, in the two weeks ive been here, i have visited Germany - twice!! And how funny is this, i just went to another country to do my shopping!!! Like, popped over the boarder for some cheese! It makes me laugh every time i think about it…

We (9 of us- the Spanish Contingent, the Korean, and the Kiwi’s) went to Oktoberfest in Munich last Wednesday (the 24th..) which was super dooper awesome! We caught the train over, and it worked out to be about 7 euro each!! Thats amaaaaazing!!! When we got there, we went to a Beer Tent and a lady brought over 9 1L glasses of beer!! ALL IN ONE GO!!! i was so amazed… And they all wore traditional costumes!! (like the one i wore to my party!) So I could have taken mine over and fit right in!! :P Its very busy there, and funnily enough, we ran into an Australian boy! Such a small world… We went to another Beer Garten (?) and had more beer, but it was FREEEEEEZING up there, so we left around 8.... And the damn train we had planned to catch stopped in some weird German hick town, and so we waited around on the next platform for another train, got that, and arrived home at 11pm… Such a pain in the.... :)

I spent last weekend in Prague (Praha), Czech Republic! Its amaaaaazing, the drive took about 5 hours (although going there, the amount of times we got lost, it took about 6 and a half....) We convoyed in two cars- Robert’s Citroen, and Dario’s mini Mazda… Fun times!! We stayed in a beautiful room in a kind of yucky hostel, in a pretty dodgy part of town, but that was half the fun of it!

We went out both nights we were there (the first night we didnt really do much, but the second night we went to the best club in the world, with 5 floors each playing different music!! I was in my element...) And we always remembered where our street was, because there was a Huuuuuuge limo parked on the corner with DARLING CABARET on the side… Easy! :) It was fun too, because had lots of people there (all up, 15 staying with us, plus the four other girls who stayed in a separate hostel) so we had good times :) Unfortunately though, every time we came home, no matter how tired we were, we had 2 steep flights of stairs to climb, so it was extra-exhausting, especially after a big night... (Refer to pic!)

We had Greek for dinner on Saturday night which excited me also, and made me very happy that others enjoyed their meals. Yum yum!! The sights were also quite beautiful, so that was lovely :) I took so many photos, as you may have seen in the album titled PRAGUE on Facebook!! :P However, here are a couple to keep you entertained! My favourite was the Charles Bridge, however, we got to it quite late in the day, and the light wasnt so good for pictures. But here are some others from this beautiful city in the Czech Republic :)

Anyway, this is the first opportunity ive had to sit down and catch up on emails and the like. The reason being that, i have an infection in my face and now it is swollen and I look like Quasimodo. This is annoying, because the International Students organised a BBQ tonight which i would have LOVED to go to, except i look like an Ogre, so i dont think thats going to happen… :P

Anywho, thats about as exciting as it gets. Still havent gone to see Salzburg fully, well, ive seen the shops and the amazing Ikea (like Briscoes but amazingly better and far far cheaper!) but im keeping the sightseeing for a beautiful day, which hasnt really happened because its been a bit gloomy and overcast…

Still sucking at Volleyball, although when we played yesterday, by about the 6th set I could at least vaguely hit the ball in the right direction :) So, improvement!

Cooking still hasnt improved, but at least i havent died yet. And, just for the record, the infection in my face is not caused by the food being crap :) -- This was my attempt at a Fritata.... It was disgusting :(

Anyway, thats it :D
xox

Volleyball and other such lovelies

2008-09-22T01:21:00.000+02:00

We played volleyball today!!

It was so much fun! The only time i’ve ever seen it was when Alex and I watched it at the Olympics. And it looks WAY easier than it actually is!! I suck going to the net, cant really hit it in the right direction, or serve… Well, my serve got better, but otherwise, not so good :P

BUT! Our team did win the second game, I was in Jordi, Daniel, and ..... (insert name here)’s team. They are very good. Kylea came over after her walk and joined in, but we mostly just stood there and commented on stuff. I also laughed a lot :)

But, playing in a team again made me miss netball, so i asked (Robert? I dont know, the guy from Colonge...) whether i could borrow the ball and shoot some hoops. Turns out, he has a basketball too! So I went and grabbed that, then the left overs from the volleyball game decided we’d play “Street ball”

I was very excited, you know, thinking it would be quite like netball…

ITS NOT!!!!!!!!!!

The ball is heavier, its a lot more aggressive, theres NO distance/obstruction (i just dont get it!) and i didnt get the rules. I was guarding Kylea, but just kept wacking her on the wrist…

Oh well…

Haha, and just for Celeste-- I fucked my finger!! Dont worry babe, i walked it off, but now its fat as. Guess what finger!!!!!!!!!

Stupid egg :P

Eating Gummies

2008-09-21T01:11:00.001+02:00

I bought a huge bucket of them. Theyre good, and probably going to be my dinner, because i looked at my (not so) fantastic pasta, and it had mould on it :(

So, I went to Ikea (my heaven) today, with Steffi and Anna. I got all the shit i needed, and then some. Heres a quick list
- 2 more glasses
- 2 more mugs
- coat hangers
- towels & bathmat
- tealight candles
- containers for make up and nails and teeth things
- lamp for desk (need a skrewdriver and a lightbulb)
- clock

Haha, i just ate a guitar shaped gummy…

Anyway, this, i kind of expected, would cost around 100 Euro.

To my amazement, it cos 50!!!!!!!
- 2 more glasses (35c each)
- 2 more mugs (39c each)
- coat hangers (E2 for 16 hangers, super dooper multicoloured ones!)
- towels & bathmat (all up, E24)
- tealight candles and container thingies… cant remember
- containers for make up and nails and teeth things (E3)
- lamp for desk (need a skrewdriver and a lightbulb) (E5)
- clock (2 EURO!!!!!!!!! insane...)

So that was my happiness for the day. Here's what my room now looks like, with photos and Ikea stuff everywhere-- yaaaaay!!!

I love my bathroom, by the way...

Oh, I also bought new boots after last nights amazing flop.

Hahahahahah, and i found all these bruises on my legs and on my bum from falling down the stairs last night. Made me laugh and think of Jorge…

Oh well...

xoxox

Salzburg Nightlife

2008-09-20T10:01:00.003+02:00

I just went out, Salzburg night life, and my conclusion is that it’s worse than Aucklands!!!

Lots of youngins with pierced lips and emo hair, very crowded, grumpy bouncers and no space in the clubs, aka “disco’s” (a bit 1970s...) Its so weird!!

Just went to Republic, for 80s Night. There were like, 40 year olds there, even older… Reliving their youth, me thinks!

I uploaded pics, look at them and see how crowded it was. They fully over compensate or the fact that its freezing outside, inside was boiling and packed, and crap 80s music rather than the awesome stuff! AND THEN—- MY HEEL BROKE!!!!!! :(:( my favourite heels, out of order!!!

Then i tumbled down the stairs thanks to my stupid ass shoe (lost my balance on it and didnt realise i was so close to the edge!!), got wacked in the eye by a crazy Austrian dancer, but, met a lovely lady taxi driver by the name of Monika who im going to use more often…

So now im going to sleep under my friends and flag, and am off to Ikea if i wake up at a semi-reasonable hour of the morning.

xoxoxo

PS i reek of smoke, not my fault, they smoke EVERYWHERE here!!!!!!

Zoe Has Landed

2008-09-19T06:44:00.001+02:00

haha well…

So, I just arrived in Salzburg this afternoon. Was in my summer gear- DUMB IDEA!!!! Its freezing- apparently on Monday it was 6 degrees! Excuse me?! So much for Spring, thats horrible!! Already busted out my new jacket, love love love it!

Its SO much colder than Rhodes, which sucked, but now at least im not glowing white, and had a nice wee break down on the island, and my room here ROCKS im so excited.

Just uploaded all my pics from Greece (where it was so lovely and warm...) and of my room and other such pics that ive taken in my few hours…

But i just proved to myself that i really do suck at technology and cooking- had to get this dude Michael to sort out my internet which just turns out i had it in the wrong plug socket :( and my salad was disgusting. Made some yummy lookin pasta, I plan to be a domestic goddess by the time i leave :P

My damn room only has limited cutlery, and no towels!! so i’m going to Ikea tomorrow (hahaha, thats what they talk about on Little Britain!!) (its like the warehouse but better, and mitre10 mega but bigger) to buy towels and coathangers and such… See- so bare!!

Anyway, with much love from Austria!!
Tschuess!!

p.s i miss netball!! gonna go scope out the sports tomorrow