Really quick: I'm here in the MQ, or Museums Quarter, which is basically a big outdoor space by the museum of modern art, the Leopold Museum, and across the street from the huge Habsburg musems. (es ist ein platz, aber wie sagt man "platz" auf Englisch? Ich habe vergessen....) It's really nice here, lots of students smoking and laughing...I'm sitting on this strange, vaguely chevron-shaped pink seat thing....I'll take a picture of it. Anyway, the best thing is....free wireless internet!!!! ^_^ YAY! So this is actually the first time I've been online with the iBook! The wireless internet at the institute will not be up for another couple of days.....grrrrr......but until then I can just walk down here, it's not too far. I'm going to try and upload some pictures, so we'll see how that goes. Also, I uploaded all my journal entries from the last few days, so below you will find what I would have blogged my first two nights in Vienna, had I been able to get online.

Not much happened today....my German teacher asked me if I wanted to change to 201, since I was too advanced for 102. Fair enough, but then why did they place me in 102 in the first place?? Whatever. Anyway, I went to 201 after the break, and had to immediately jump into the activity they were doing, which was group-writing skits that take place in a Kaffeehaus. I caught on fairly quickly, and although the grammatical things we're learning are more advanced and my professor speaks much faster then I'm accustomed to, I think I'm acclimating more quickly.....already I feel a little more comfortable speaking and composing complicated sentences on the fly. So...we'll see how that goes.

Everything is so pretty and wonderful here....it's funny, all the schmultzy crap that I wrote in my essay petitioning to study abroad here (which, at the time, I considered way, way exaggerated) is all true! The city is clean (you wouldn't believe how clean it is), safe, and just p[lain beautiful. Everywhere you turn, there's beauty. And music! My god....last night I was walking through Stefansplatz and I heard a group in the distance playing Eine Kleine Nachtmusik with (I think) fiddle, accordian, and some low brass thing. It was hi-larious. On the U-bahn this morning, the entire crowd I was walking with was walking perfectly in step....I felt like we were all about to start dancing or something. Anyway, it's really just a magical place all in all. I can't believe how lucky I am to be here!

Tonight I see my first concert, of sorts. My friends Mike, Kate, and I are going to see an outdoor presentation of a movie version of Don Giovanni in front of the Rathaus. (apparently tonight is the last night of the film festival they've been having there) Hopefully on Friday I will see Tales of Hoffmann, and on Sunday there's an organ concert I want to go to. There's just constantly way too much to do! And before I leave, I MUST find time to see Barbarella, das Sexy Space-Musical. (I laugh every time I see the huge ads for it...)

Now to try uploading the pictures....I'll put the link here when I get it to work!