The Nibs

"Nibs" is a word I've picked up from the Seattle Four (a group of 4 cool peeps from Seattle University who decided to come on the trip together), basically just means snack or food.

Authentic Viennese food is SO RICH, but delicious.

They don't really eat breakfast here. They go for a roll or croissant and a cup of coffee. In the afternoon they all go to coffeehouses and have cappuccino and some rich pastry. It's delicious and hopefully all the walking I do will make up for it.

Oh, by the way, I've fallen in love. I might not come back to the states because we're just so freaking happy together.

Meet my new life partner, Apfelsaft Gespritzt:


It's basically just apple juice with soda water, but who knew something so simple could be so delicious? We seriously need this in the states! Except, maybe not, because it probably has a ton of cals. I'm just ignoring that.

My first Vienna sausage:


Also incredibly delicious. They take a long, hard roll, cut the end off and push it down on this metal thing that punches a hole in the middle and kind of toasts the inside, squirt some mustard in there and put a sausage in. It's amazing. I'm trying to stop myself from eating one every day for lunch from the stand around the corner from the University.

In an attempt to save some money and not eat McD's or a croissant every morning, I picked up some milk and cereal at the grocery store. At least, when I bought it I hoped it was milk and cereal.



I bought the little "milch" in case it was actually some kind of weird milk and I couldn't tell. I figured if it had a cow on it, it had to be normal milk. Turned out to be just fine! And the cereal is super delicious.


And, of course, what kind of blogger who's posting a blog on food would I be if I didn't include the best part of Vienna: the beer.


That one is pretty good, but this one, the Mai Bock, brewed at 7 Stern Brau (the biergarten I usually get my wifi at), is amazing. I'm not really a beer connoisseur, so I can't really explain it, but it's a light beer, fairly hoppy and ... wheaty? I mean, it tastes heavier like a Blue Moon, but better. That's probably a really awful description of a really delicious beer.


Coming up: an alternative walk home from class, a massive monastery and adorable village, and Parliament.

The Long Walk

My commute from the Academy to the law school is a little over a mile. Normally I'd be like "hell no! Where's the public transit?" but a combination of being completely baffled by the public transportation system (which I'm sure is actually quite convenient, but all in German) and the scenic walk makes me enjoy the hike every morning. I thought I'd take you along for the ride and take pictures along the way this morning.

My walk starts down this little street, which is part of Spittelberg, one of the oldest parts of Vienna and right behind the Academy:



World's smallest garage?


At the end of this road I make a right and after about a block, the Volkstheater is on the right (it's also the location of an underground station, but I have no idea where it goes or where it comes from, so as of now it's useless to me):


The entire next block is taken up by this building, which I honestly haven't figure out the name of yet:


The next block is an absolutely gorgeous park that I haven't yet seen the inside of because finding an actually open gate is nearly impossible. Oh! These sidewalk markings are INCREDIBLY important, ignore one and you'll either be run over by a cyclist or have them angrily thumb their bell at you until you move out of their way:


Across from the park is the Austrian Parliament, which we'll be visiting on my birthday (Monday, May 31st). Here's a sneak peak of where the Austrian magic happens:


I was super tempted to hop on this thing to figure out how much I've lost walking miles around this city, but then I remembered that there's no way in hell I'd weigh myself in public:


It's overcast today, but this shade is incredibly welcome most days:


Right after the park on the right is this building:


And on the left is this building:


And adorable cafe that I really want to try out but based on the fancy business looking dudes and ladies eating there I imagine it's roughly one billion euro for a cup of coffee:


Hang a right at this fine lady:


And after two blocks there is the University of Vienna Law School building that the architect says is supposed to look like a head, but really looks nothing like one (it's the glass one left on the end of the block):

The Start of It

Let me give you a travel tip right off the bat: READ THE AIRLINE WEBSITE BAGGAGE SECTION VERY CAREFULLY. I had read it, I thought I had read it carefully, HOWEVER, I missed something pretty important. Turned out that I could NOT stuff my giant suitcase with as much crap as would fit and just be able to pay the overages. They have a "heavy suitcase" cutoff limit ... which I was over by 20 lbs. Yea, the normal heavy overages is an extra 20 lbs, I was 20 lbs over that.

So, at LAX I had to buy a second bag, and shove 40 pounds of stuff into it and they pay for an extra bag, which is exactly the opposite of what I had wanted to do. Now I get to lug around two suitcases. So, if you learn anything from me, learn to read airline websites carefully.

The flight over was uneventful. I got the bulkhead with extra leg room, but I was still uncomfortable sitting for 10 hours. I don't think anyone is. I seriously considered sneaking into the business class seats that lay down that were right on the other side of the divider. I still think it's rude that they separate the "peons" from the richy-rich's with a giant curtain. Then again, if I was a richy-rich, I would probably appreciate keeping the riff raff away.

So, I got into Vienna just fine, grabbed a train from the airport to the city center, then a cab to where we're staying at the Austrian National Defense Academy. The academy is located at Stiftgasse 2. Well, the cab dropped me off at Stiftgasse 2, which was 2 massive locked wooden doors. Half a block down is Stiftgasse 7. That couldn't be it, so I walked back the other way and around the corner ... with no luck. And back to Stiftgasse 2 and then 7 and then 2a. Jackpot! Massive driveway doors with a little side door.

Here it is:


Grand, ain't it? It's pretty gorgeous.

The view from my room is equally beautiful and quaint.

My first meal in Vienna was less than exciting - Chicken nuggets at McDonald's. I apparently arrived over a holiday weekend (which, I have been told, is like Easter and Christmas combined) and EVERYTHING that wasn't a chain was shut down. So, McDonald's for dinner and Starbucks for breakfast the next morning.

Yea, McDonald's in Vienna. I should be shot for the sacrilege, but check out how freaking fancy this McD's is!



And this just made me giggle:

Hallo!

So, it's almost June of 2010, nearly a full year since I last blogged about my housing assignment for law school (which turned out pretty well, actually).

I ended up not blogging because I waited for so long and had too much to blog. I just couldn't figure out a way to catch up. But, really, my first year of law school wasn't that exciting. It was my life and it's changed my life irrevocably, but there's not much to tell about it. I did a lot of reading, there was some personal drama, I met a lot of very awesome people, I missed my family and friends back home, I did pretty well, I drank not very often but quite a bit when I did, and then it was over.

Why am I picking it back up? Well I'm currently studying abroad in Vienna for four weeks and then doing an internship in Budapest for six weeks and this here bloggy blog will be like a diary of sorts that I can look back at and remember the times when I was walking down cobblestone streets and drinking amazing beer instead of doing nothing but reading in our dungeony law library.

And off it goes ...

Housing

Application to Housing Office:

(rough summary of essay)
I would prefer to have a studio. I tend to get stressed out around other people and think it would be best for my success in law school if I was able to have my own space. If a studio isn't available, as few roommates as possible would be preferred (i.e., the two bedroom apartment option). As few roommates as possible is very important to me, with none being the top preference. Blah blah blah PLEASE GIVE ME A STUDIO!

Response from Housing Office:

Congratulations! We have assigned you to the 4 bedroom house with three other roommates!

Art.

I love to be creative and work with my hands. There's something so satisfying about finishing a project and having the physical evidence of your genius/perseverance/hard work right in front of you. It's the reason that I, despite how much I may grumble about it, actually like putting together Ikea furniture.

Unfortunately, I'm not really that creative myself. Fortunately, I'm a damn good copy cat and love to find art/projects that I can figure out how to make on my own.

A few months ago I came across some pictures of paper sculptures by Jen Stark:





The sculptures are absolutely gorgeous. I would LOVE to own an original, but I can't even imagine the cash dollars they must cost. After looking through tons of photos of her work I settled on one to make a knock off of:



After spending hours staring at the photograph figuring out how the sculpture was made; creating a small version; creating a cutting template; organizing the paper; figuring out the most efficient way to make it happen; and many, many more hours actually cutting and shaping the paper, I came up with a pretty satisfactory replica of the blue sculpture:



For a first try, I'm pretty happy with it. I had to make a LOT of compromises on the paper color, the number of sheets and the graduation of the color because of art store supply constraints. I think next time I do something like this I'll take the time to order the right colors of paper online.

I think I'm going to try this one for my next project:

I Swear I'm Not Turning Into A Food Blogger

But this looked and tasted SO GOOD:



Grilled chicken, roasted garlic asparagus, and whole wheat couscous.

Took 20 min from start to finished in the bowl.

Only downside? I probably put too much garlic on the asparagus. It was delicious, but I'm totally going to have garlic smell tomorrow.

Then, I negated the healthiness with a dirty vodka martini (no picture) for dessert. The perfect end to a Monday.