School 1 - Ödenburger Straße

Ödenburger Straße was my first school in Vienna. If you've read my first couple of blog posts you will know that I spent one of my first days in Vienna in hospital (which you can read more about here), so I didn't actually get to start school with the new term. But that was ok really, because I was going to be the new girl no matter what!

Here's a brief overview of the Austrian School System. It may be boring so you can skip this paragraph if you like!
It is compulsory for all children who are permanent residents of Austria to go to school from the school year following their sixth birthday, with their education lasting at least nine years. Primary education (Volksschule) lasts for 4 years. Lower secondary education lasts for another four years and at this level there are two streams of schooling to choose from - Hauptschule or Allgemeinbildende Höhere Schule (or AHS-Unterstufe). Both the lower secondary branches offer basic general education preparing students for their transfer to their final years of schooling in upper secondary education, however Hauptschule (as far as I can tell) teaches at a slower pace. Upper secondary school has a lot of options! Students start there when they're about 14, and education goes for another four to five years. At this point, students from the Hauptschule have the choice to study VET (Vocational Education and Training) programs with apprenticeship training and students attending AHS-Unterstufe will often branch into different specialist Gymnasiums (Yes, high school is called 'Gymnasium'!) preparing them for university study. Gymnasiums have focuses such as Languages (inc. Latin and Ancient Greek), Maths and Geometry or Economics (among other things). So now you are knowledgeable!

Ödenburger Straße is one of the biggest schools in Vienna and has 3 different streams within it - Languages, Arts and Maths/Science. I was in the Arts stream but I only attended this school for three very very cold, foggy weeks before moving!

A typical afternoon - my bus stop outside school

Every morning I had to catch the bus at 7:40am - still in the dark - which was about the same time I had to in Australia. School went from 8:10 until 1pm everyday which meant it usually went quite quickly and I always free afternoons! It is AMAZING the amount of subjects students must attend here and I found it quite strange because school hours were a lot shorter than in Australia and yet I had eleven different classes. Yes. ELEVEN. They were German, Geography, Psychology, Physics, Chemistry, English, History, Maths, Italian, Music and Religion. Students don't get a choice in which subjects they have, and the majority of subjects were only 2-3 hours a week.

A typical, foggy walk home from the bus stop

Now onto the general school and class. As I think most people know, it is very daunting starting at a new school. Everything feels so big and confusing and you don't know where anything is. Well, let me just tell you this: it is absolutely TERRIFYING starting at a new school, in a new language, with thousands of students, all the ones in your class having known eachother for the last 10 years or so, and with everyone you know on the other side of the world. The first day I started school I was totally bewildered with where I was and what I was doing. But to be honest this feeling stayed for the three weeks I was there! The first day I walked into the class with my new teacher and was announced to the class. I don't actually remember much about it and I didn't write in my diary that day (which I do regret now) because I was so overwhelmed. I know that from that day though, I was pretty well ignored by the teachers because I understood very little of what they were saying. I spent most of my days trying to catch words out of the air and pin them down in my memory after translating them. So. Many. Words.

My first (and crazy) proper snow fall! Walking up my street, home from school.

The class was ok. It seemed to me that none of the students really payed all that much attention to the teachers and would often do their own thing - playing on their phones or iPods, talking, doodling... but after thinking about it, there's always students doing that and even more so in the back row, which was where my seat was! I was incredibly shy so didn't really make any friends, plus they all always had work to do. That's another thing - we had only one 15 minute break between 9:50 and 10:05 in which I would usually just stare into space, scared out of my wits. A very productive use of time, even if I do say so myself! But by the end of the three weeks I was starting to settle in a little more and found some people in the class who were more like myself (rather than the outgoing back-row smokers, which of course are good in their own way... but who wants to go out into the snow to smoke every break?). And then there were the teachers. I don't remember all of them but here goes. My German teacher was also my 'class' teacher (like tutor group) and was the first one I met. She gave me her email address and phone number straight away (which seems to be pretty normal here!) so if I had any problems I could talk to her. She was pretty nice.
My English teacher was a bit of an old fart (sorry, but it's true!) and always came up really close to talk to you. He always had lots of questions for me which were often difficult to answer (such as how my school and grades worked EXACTLY. That's hard enough to explain to people living in Australia!). I remember a particularly interesting conversation with him one lesson while the rest of the class was taking a test. He was determined to try and teach me some German, which was very nice of him but his method of doing it wasn't really the best. This consisted of him asking me questions very slowly in German in a whisper, which made it even more impossible for me to understand! He wanted to know all about my life, and this particular exchange was about what I want to do next year at university. We resorted to English and I told him that I wasn't really sure what I wanted, but maybe visual arts, music, science or historical conservation. I told him I'd already been accepted into ceramics and glass making, to which he wanted to know what the point of that was. The cheek! His argument was that there is absolutely no purpose in being a glass artist and it gives no contribution to the world so why on Earth do it? I told him it's like any art, and all for the enjoyment of others. I asked him if he thought the same about music. His answer was no, that music actually contributed to society in a greater way and that we wouldn't be able to live without it. "But why?" I asked. I pointed out to him that we live with glass around us every day - windows, jars, glasses, computers, bottles... That everything we see was originally someone's art. I was getting really pretentious at this point but I would not back down! In the end I don't think he was really convinced with my argument and it never really got resolved, but after that point I would keep looking forward to English classes just so I could talk my native tongue, and maybe just wind him up a little...
The last teacher I remember was my physics teacher and was the EPITOME of mad scientist. He had this absolutely hilarious Austrian dialect and spoke really really slowly. He wore crazy woollen jumpers (sweatshirts or pullovers for those who don't understand Australian!), huge round glasses and pulled the craziest faces. He seemed to hold a certain delight in demonstrating crazy and dangerous pracs, and there was one particular lesson which he just spent blowing bubbles... I'm sure there was a point to it all, but as an outsider looking in without understanding a word, it was simply hilarious.

A beautiful, unusually clear sunrise at my bus stop one morning

So there you have it. My first school. I didn't get an overly large impression of it because it was really big and I only attended there for three weeks. New schools are always hard, but I was looking forward to leaving and starting at the next one... who knew what would face me there?

Storm's A-brewin'

Here I am in the middle of Austria with a beautiful Spring storm brewing. Every minute or so there comes a loud rumble of thunder. But half the sky's still blue.
I have lots of thoughts today. So many things to write about, so many dreams, aspirations, confusions. Yesterday I felt really sad. Today I feel really happy.

What's bothering me. Maybe "bothering" isn't the best word. Maybe it is.

Nonsense, I'm writing nonsense!!

It's been a beautiful Spring day. I rung my family this morning and spoke to various family members for about an hour. I rung them yesterday too, and cried to various family members for about an hour. My brain these last couple of days has been like this Spring weather. Gorgeously sunny one minute, storm a-brewin' the next.

Sometimes I just feel stuck. Like I can't go forward and I can't go back. It's like that little kid's game stuck in the mud. But there's no one there to come running after me to tap me free.

There are so many things I want to teach the kids here. But I just don't know how. I feel like I'm two and no one understands me. I'm talking in broken sentences, the words clamouring to get out, but they're all the wrong ones. I want to be able to teach my brothers cricket. I want to be able to explain to them that I found a pair of deer antlers in the woods the other day. I want to be able to dream with them. I want to be able to make up games with my little sister instead of just sitting there with her wondering what to say next to make her laugh.

I've become a lot more of a physical person here. If you can't tell someone how you feel, you learn to show them. Pointing, pictures, actions, and lots of laughing. I don't say all that much, but I try my best to make them laugh. When they laugh, I've achieved something. When they stop crying, I've achieved something.

I was playing soccer with Carl in the garden this afternoon (like so many before). I felt like myself again. I was pulling faces and dancing around and throwing my legs into the air and falling over and doing the splits and somersaults and generally acting like a clown. And he would laugh and laugh. And, and, and...


Brain Storm! My oh my there's so much in my head!

That Small Thing Called School

Judging by all my previous blog posts, it would appear that all I do here is whine, travel around and celebrate various occasions - and never actually go to school. But on the contrary, that is how most of my time is occupied and of course, I wouldn't be an exchange student without it! The main reason I AM an exchange student is to go to school and experience the life of an average teenager in Austria. Plus going to school gives me something to do every day - a way to get out the house, but most importantly provides me an easy environment to meet people my own age and to learn lots of German in a HUGE variety of subjects! So as I'm sure you're all able to guess, this is going to be a post about one of the biggest aspects of my life here.


Because I've moved around quite a bit, I am already at my third school within four months, and they haven't been easy transitions. I'll start with this.
I always wanted to be the new girl. You watch all these American movies or TV shows about the new girl going to high school. Sure, she may have some difficulties at first, but it's always exciting. She's interesting, no one knows where she came from, where she fits in. I always thought it would be an exciting adventure to be "the new girl" as they always make it out to be (yes, you may think I'm a little ridiculous). And I think in some ways it IS (and has been) exciting, but once again I may have had a few over-the-top expectations, and a few things that were not expected, or simply didn't exist:

•  I'm not going to an English-speaking school. In a lot of ways that makes me MORE interesting, but it also makes it REALLY hard to make friends. You're of interest to people for the first couple of days, maybe weeks, but then it becomes normal, they have better things to do than try and strike up conversations. YOU have to talk to people. And when you literally don't know how to talk to people, that gives you a great disadvantage.
  I thought I would be the same person when I came here. I would have called myself happy, positive, outgoing and friendly. Ready to talk to people if they wanted to, and ready to strike up a conversation. When I left I realised just how many people cared for me though, and started wondering why I was actually leaving. But then I remembered: I've watched exchange students before - being the centre of attention, supposedly so happy, surrounded by 'friends' - and I'm sure some of them were! But some of them were probably just crying inside wishing for their own friends, their own school, their own language. It's amazing how well some people can hide their emotions.
• Too much of a good thing. Being the new girl once was pretty exciting. Very daunting at the same time, but still exciting. Twice was pretty good because I knew more of what to expect, but it was really hard to do everything all over again. Three times was horrible. I knew I wouldn't make instantaneous friends, I'd already made friends in my last school and didn't want to leave them and the comfort I was just starting to find with them. It's not fun.
• I never realised just how much of an impact being a twin would make on my life. I was never the girl alone in the corner - I always had Tim. I never had to figure out how to make friends quickly - I always had Tim to wait with me until the time came. And it's simply a lot easier when EVERYONE'S new (i.e. Primary School [but as if that even counts] and High School). So I never really formed this survival technique of making friends for myself without the support of another. And that's been the hardest part for me.
  I've never spent so much time "on my own" before. I've never had to catch the bus home without knowing there was someone to share my day with somewhere. I've always had someone to laugh at teachers or fellow students with, to help with homework, to just be there. And that's a huge thing to be without so suddenly after 18 years, when I now need to speak German with everyone and when all of my family is on the other side of the world. I know that having to experience that all by yourself is just totally normal life for basically everyone else my age - and I am well aware that we wouldn't have spent the rest of our lives together, but that doesn't mean it's not hard!

This blog post could go on forever. But I'm going to end it there as an introduction, and do separate ones for each of my schools:

• School One: BG Ödenburger Straße
• School Two: BORG Straßwalchen
• School Three: BORG 20 Brigittenauer Gymnasium

Woooooooooooooooooooooo School!

One Third and Kroatien

To put it simply, I've been flat out busy for the last month and a half (or so...). The four month mark has officially come and gone and it's incredible to think I've already spent a third of a year in Austria! It's funny looking back remembering being amazed at reaching simply four WEEKS in Austria. This past month has flown. It hasn't really felt like it while I've been living them, but looking back they have! One of the main reasons for this is because I've had things to constantly keep me going, to look forward to. I haven't had a free weekend (with just the family, chilling at home) for 6 weeks which is the main reason I haven't written more here. It turns out that quite a few people actually read my blog (as in not just my family!) and I've had quite a few compliments about photos and information and writing. I am shocked but also immensely grateful about them all (and feel pressured more than ever to do a good job...)! Thank you! But more thoughts later. For now I want to tell you about my trip to Croatia. For those who hadn't heard, my host family and I travelled to Croatia for the Easter long weekend. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Four days definitely wasn't long enough to spend there, but I relished them immensely.

Early on Good Friday morning (literally - about 5am) we all packed into the car to just casually drive to Croatia... We stopped somewhere in the middle of Slovenia to have breakfast and then kept on going. I was kind of worried about what it would be like with such very young kids for a 6 1/2 hour drive, but I was very pleasantly surprised at how well they behaved themselves! There was no fighting, hitting or screaming, very little whinging and crying and quite a lot of silence! I remember car trips from when I was that young; they always seemed to take FOREVEEEER and there was lots of noise and singing and squabbling and unrest. But these kids were great! Our desitination was the island of Krk just off the coast, and on there, a tiny little town perched on a rocky outcrop called Vrbnik.

Finally we got there. After a quick lunch, we all went down to the beach (except Georg) and spent hours down there. It was awesome for me to be back at the water again. Even though it wasn’t anything like an Aussie beach (no waves, no sand) and even though I don’t normally live on the coast - I miss it! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the beach was clean and the water was FREEZING. We amused ourselves by skipping rocks, climbing along the rocks, lying in the sun and attempting to catch fish and shrimps with Carl’s net. Walking around in the water your feet get numb, and if you stand still for long enough, a shrimp may find a resting spot on your foot. I managed to ‘catch’ a beautiful little red sea urchin, much to the enjoyment of the kids (including myself!). It is just an incredible beach. The water is so picturesquely blue and clear, and the ocean is so silent.

How deliciously wonderful!

Part of our 'beach'

Carl's occupation for the weekend

We eventually went back up to the apartment because everyone was hungry and we had heard there was an Easter procession on that evening. We went and had delicious and HUGE pizzas, and something I found really interesting was the fact that the waiter could speak Croation, English, German and Italian. You certainly don’t find service like that in Australia! It’s so normal for people to speak at least two languages here though. Europeans are cool. And have really, really good language education (which Australia really should learn from…). After dinner we walked to the Parish Chapel of St. John, a 14^th century stone Church, where the Good Friday Easter service was being held. The church was absolutely packed out, but somehow people still kept managing to squeeze in there or just stood outside waiting. I was cautious going in because I was honestly felt a little guilty because I thought maybe it was more important for someone to take the place I would stand in, but I decided it was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I may as well. Turned out that although the church was really full, there was just a bit of congestion right at the back, so I got a nice place and didn’t feel like I was in the way.

The church service was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced – I literally cried I was touched so much. I’ve never been to a Catholic church service before, and so that was really interesting in itself, but the fact that it was in Croation, in this incredible old stone church and the whole town was there, made it even better. Their praise and love of God was so strong. They all sang in their rich, Croation, incredible perfect harmonies filling this church on a hill with sound, love and hope. I can’t explain how moved I was by it all. Croatian is such a beautiful language, which I would really love to learn! After about an hour of standing inside enraptured in the spectacle, I decided to go back outside to see what the rest of my family were doing. Georg had already taken the boys home because the whole service ran a LOT longer than anyone expected, but Nine and I stayed around with Freya waiting for the procession to start. Soon enough it did. Hundreds of (very brown!) men and women came filing out of the church all singing. Priests and young boys with candles and crosses, then we walked around the tiny, narrow, cobblestone streets, winding between houses and gardens in the calm dusky evening. We got back reasonably late, but it was definitely worth it. It was an incredible day. Here's a bit I filmed of the procession. I LOVE the singing.

Saturday was another long, exhausting, beautiful day. I woke up at 6 to Carl bawling his eyes out at something, and it felt like FOREVER before he stopped but it was probably only a few minutes. Eventually I got up, had breakfast and got ready to face the day! That day we decided to try and find another beach not too far away.

I was absolutely captivated by the sea in Croatia. I’ve never seen the ocean so calm – such an expanse of water so calm. The ocean is wild and rough. Unforgiving, deep, terrifying. The profound quietness and calm of the ocean there is almost unimaginable. And the incredible blues and greens. I can’t describe the beauty of it. It’s just unbelievable! Of course I love the Australian oceans too. For a start we have actual sand. The beaches on Krk consist of beautiful bleached white, pink and orange rocks, but they can be REALLY painful on your feet! The beach for me has always meant waves, sand and wind. But I love it all.

LOVE

So, we spent the morning on the beach, which would have been lovely and still had there not been singing, whinging, shouting, crying children! But the sun was out and the water was cool (i.e. FREEZING) so that made it kind of bearable. After our little picnic lunch we went into town to have an ice cream and a wander. The more I see of Europe the more amazed I am! It’s just like in all the pictures! I guess I should know that it really looks like that, but to see it all with my own eyes is so much more incredible. Vrbnik is set on the hilly cliffs with nothing flat except the ocean. It’s a gorgeous little town with ups and downs, the amazing water, tiny narrow streets, gorgeous gardens and moody houses with cracked walls, tiny doors and stray cats. Perfect. Sometimes I find it hard experiencing all these amazing things ‘on my own’. I want to be able to tell someone everything that comes into my head, to be able to take spontaneous adventures and be able to look back with someone and say ‘Oh do you remember that one time in Croatia…’ but in a way that’s what I have this blog for! To share my adventures with you for an audience who actually has a choice as to whether they want to hear it or not!!

The narrowest alley we could find and a typical door

Easter Sunday. A day I thought was going to be dreadfully hard, but it was one of my best days this year. For the last couple of years for Easter, my brother, sister and I, along with a bunch of friends, volunteer at the National Folk Festival in Canberra for 4-5 days, filled with IMMENSE fun, memories, excitement, music, food, folk and camping. It is the highlight of my year. Of course this year I missed it, but I’ve realised now that was ok. I was in Croatia having the time of my life with another beautiful family.

I was woken up early by Carl and instantly remembered the overwhelming excitement getting up early for Easter would always give me. Got to be honest though, it still really excites me! We went straight outside to search for real eggs, chocolate eggs and bunnies, and presents! I felt so incredibly lucky and loved. My Mama had sent an AMAZING rocky road egg (rocky road doesn’t exist in Europe!!), Nine’s parents gave me some chocolates, Georg’s a lovely German children book, and Nine and Georg (slash the Easter Bunny) gave me a pair of ROLLER BLADES. HOW COOL IS THAT?! It seems to be pretty normal to give kids presents at Easter here (something I’ve discussed with other people here!) which was nice but certainly something I’m not used to! Theo got a pair too, and Nine had brought Carl’s with, so in a big hurry straight after breakfast, off we went.

View of Vrbnik from one side of our balcony

Sunday morning. A beautiful view and a beautiful breakfast!

It doesn’t help that we were staying in an apartment right on top of one of the hills. The view was worth if, but trying to roller blade down a steep hill (with cliffs and an ocean at the bottom) for the first time in years was HILARIOUS to say the least. I felt so immensely uncoordinated and if I’m going to be honest, I may have fallen over a couple of times… I had to get Georg to hold my hand! However eventually I got a little more confident and was soon off on my own, chasing after the kids. I have SO much more respect for actual skaters *Damiano*.

The rest of the day spent in Krk – the main town on the island. I spent about an hour trying to catch fish with Carl in his net, then we all went and had ice-cream for lunch! We wandered around the town and I found a cute touristy shop where I bought some GORGEOUS little hand made ceramic houses, which I just had to buy.

Someone else couldn't think of a better way to spend their Easter!

Offshore

A rather common occurance. I love it!

My family was really patient with me and waited around outside while I was looking. When I came out again, Georg and Carl were running around playing soccer with Freya’s ball, so I joined in having a lot of fun - the most fun I’d had in ages! It’s the little things! Eventually after more walking and eating, we went back ‘home’ and had a beautiful dinner of pizza in an incredible restaurant balancing on the edge of a cliff. It was a lovely day. Something, which really struck me that day, was the power of language. A lot of the people we met on the island spoke German. It made me realise how my German’s coming along and it felt like I was really putting it to a practical use. It’s interesting trying to talk to people in your second language when it’s their second language too, but your only form of communication.

I wrote this in my diary that evening:

“I’m here sitting on the balcony with Georg. We’ve been sitting here on the couch for the last half an hour (it’s now 10pm) reading/sewing, drinking wine, and now I’m writing. It's all pretty quiet. No traffic, the sea is mirror-still, occasional dog barking, people singing in the distance. You look out into this immense darkness. There are no stars and no reflections in the inky water – even with the lights of a distant town sparkling on the hill. The church steeple is lit up tonight – a soft green, the highest point you can see. The air is clean and sweet and radiates calm.”

Our view from dinner (we were eating on the terrace outside)

The last full day in Croatia was another good day, but kind of felt like a dream coming to an end; wanting to catch those last fleeting thoughts and escape reality for just that tiny bit longer. I was woken to the sound of roller blades thumping up and down the hallway, children crying and the usual chaos. I have SO MUCH RESPECT for my parents. How does someone put up with so much silliness?! No wonder parents are such big fans of peace and quiet! After breakfast I went down to the marina with Carl to do some more fishing even though I didn’t particularly feel like it (I bend under his every whim!), though I ended up enjoying myself.  We caught some shrimps, I managed to catch a positively HUGE fish (about 15cm :P ) and we saw an awesome starfish which I almost trod on. Eventually we left (after a couple of hours!) and walked up one of the hills looking out to beautiful views. I take far too many photos.

The Marina

View from someone's vege patch at the top of the hill. Jealous!!!

After lunch the whole family (even Georg!!) went down to the beach for the last time. It was beautiful (again), and after throwing and skipping stones and building towers, Carl and I decided to go SWIMMING! I decided to look for a place where I could just jump right in because I knew if I’d tried to walk in from the beach, apart from being painful and slimy, I would probably give up because I would only be able to take one step at a time. Let me tell you one thing. That water is COLD. It averages about 18˚ in Spring, 8˚ in Winter and 28˚ in Summer. That is a BIG difference.  But I always go swimming at the beach, no matter what the season (unless it’s dangerous… or maybe the Baltic Sea in the middle of Winter…). So I found myself a rock to jump off and after a lot of deliberating I decided it was ‘now or never’ and dived in. OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS FREEZING. I promptly went very red and very numb. However it was one of the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done. I was clever enough to bring my goggles with me. Fish, water, colours, sun. It was incredible. I dived down and the first thing I saw was hundreds of blue sea cucumbers which were actually kind of scary until I remembered they couldn’t do anything to me. I made some fishy friends – silver fish with a black spot on their tails which wouldn’t swim away. Blue and yellow striped fish. Big fish, small fish, lots of slimy white and green rocks. I felt like there should have been a shipwreck down there for me to explore! It was magnificent. And cold. So I got out after not all that long and lay in the sun until it crept behind the impending clouds, when we went back to the apartment and roller bladed on the balcony, played memory, and I read in very valuable silence while Nine took Freya for a walk and I had managed to distract the boys with doodle jump on my iPod. Finally it was bedtime. Finally it was really silent.

Last sunset off the balcony

Vrbnik is a beautiful, beautiful town. Narrow alleys, cobble stones, stairs, little doors and tunnels, chiming bell towers and that medieval history, all perched precariously on a high cliff top looking out to the bluest ocean you will ever see. From now on I will try my best to convince everyone to go there.

It was sad to be going back home. And that’s how I’ve been thinking of it lately. Home. I have two homes now. I have two families, two lives, two homes. Some days I never want to leave and can’t think of any reasons to. Others, all I want to do is get a hug from Mama, play a game with Tim, talk nonsense with Claire or garden with Dada. Having two lives is a struggle, but in a way I know I’m the only one making it that way.

Eighteen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

To me! Two weeks ago it was my 18th birthday. To be honest I had been dreading this day as well as the Easter long weekend, basically the whole time I've been here. I mean - my 18th birthday! You only turn 18 once... I was also dreading the fact that I would have to spend it away from my twin brother. This year has been hard enough already without him and having a birthday (let alone a 'big' one) just seemed impossible... But, I actually had a wonderfully pleasant surprise and had a really lovely day - probably one of the best I've had here yet! I will start at the very beginning though, because I had a few celebratory days. The first letters started arriving a week before my birthday, and letters are the best. There's something completely wonderful about receiving things in the mail. Knowing that the person you're corresponding with was the last person to touch what's inside that mysterious envelope. Well, that's how I find it at least :) 

On Friday the 15th of April I had band as usual. It was one of the other member's birthday as well, and so a whole heap of us went to a local Heuriger (like a little traditional wine-tavern: they're EVERYWHERE in my area) and had a couple of drinks and nibblies. It was lovely to celebrate his birthday and mine as well (early!) and I ended up getting home about 12 - REALLY LATE. I get so tired here, so it was difficult and a really long day. It was nice to be out with people though.

On Monday (18th) Spring holidays started (YAAAAAAAAAY), and I caught up with the other 2 Aussie exchange students for a wonderful day in Vienna. Katherine was staying over at Jess's house for a few days, so I met up with them and it was just so wonderful to see them and to be able to talk to people and just have some good Aussie fun and company. We met on Mariahilfe Straße which is the main (or most well-known) shopping street in Vienna and has quite a nice variety of shops. We each bought some new clothes for ourselves (because you can't bring enough clothes in your suitcase to last a year!), wandered slowly, had lunch and gelatos and went to 'Thaila' the big international bookshop. AKA my new best friend. It's SUCH a good bookshop and has a huge English section, as well as a really comprehensive German section. We probably spent about an hour in there reading and it was just nice to sit down with a book with friends in companionable silence. From there we moved on to the highlight of my day: the Aussie pub in Vienna!!

We walked in, and everything's decorated with Aussie road signs and things and of course lots of beer signs. Especially for Fosters which for some reason everyone thinks we drink, but no one actually does... Here's the website if you want to check out more about it! Anyway. We went downstairs and sat at a table, generally admiring the Aussieness of it all and being bubbly and happy. Because I was the birthday girl, Jess and Katherine really kindly bought me my drinks and dinner which made me feel very special and happy! Everything was pretty overpriced and the waiters were all American or British, but we had a lot of fun and were very loud and raucous nonetheless. 

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Jess's kangaroo burger! Yay for good Aussie burgers, but ESPECIALLY the chips!

Jess, me and Katherine digging into my birthday cake :)

We ordered one slice of "Grandma's Mud Cake" because we were so stuffed after our burgers that we couldn't eat one each! The waitress brought it out with a FIREWORK CANDLE (it literally said that on it!) which was shooting flames everywhere, and was honestly the best birthday candle I've ever seen. Jess and Katherine sang happy birthday to me VERY LOUDLY and then we dug in. It was lovely to have a loud, honest catch-up with some friends.

On Wednesday was my actual birthday.

I was woken up about 7.30am to my WHOLE host family opening the door and walking into my room singing happy birthday carrying a cake aflame with candles and with Georg toting the camera. It was a little overwhelming but so lovely! They made me blow out the candles then we all went down to have a lovely breakfast.

Super delicious cake with German, Aussie and Austrian flags on :)

On the small table in the kitchen was sitting all my cards and presents. From Omas and Opas, a huge parcel from my family, from friends and from my last host family. I was really overwhelmed then, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do first – breakfast or pressies! But Nine seemed pretty keen for me to open things. I started opening cards and just felt so sprinkled with love it was unbelievable. I was especially in awe and SO happy at the present my host family gave me – a ticket to the Ballet at the Viennese State Opera House, plus a pair of earrings, plus what we did for the rest of the day AND just hosting me in the first place. I feel so blessed to have such loving, kind and genorous people as a family here! After breakfast I skyped home and was lucky enough to speak to my whole family and wish Tim a happy birthday, for 1 hour 20 mins. It was amazingly wonderful and just reminded me again why I love them so much. I unpacked my big parcel over the phone, which included practical things like more Summer clothes, but also some really special things just for me :) Gotta love the amazing technologies we have these days!

While on the phone the door bell rang so I went down to get it. It was the post for me!! The post man had a HUGE bunch of flowers for me which I had to sign for. I was absolutely captivated. Who would be sending me flowers in Austria? I went inside and unwrapped them, and inside was a card from two of my BESTEST FRIENDS! It made me feel so so so loved! So I proudly showed my family over Skype. After hanging up, I went out with Nine and Freya for the day (Theo had kindergarten, Carl soccer camp and Georg work). We went to Schönbrunn Palace which is the former Imperial Summer Residence for the monarchy in Austria. It has over 1400 rooms (although we only looked in 40...) and it is completely over the top and AMAZING. It really made me want to become a conservator or historian more than ever and just blew me away with the depth of history and culture.

Grounds of Schönbrunn

Me on the stairs - just for a bit of perspective

The lines were reasonably long (although not too much so - we only had to wait half an hour) because it was an absolutely gorgeous Spring day and so there were a lot of tourists. We had a little time to wander around, and luckily enough there was an Easter market in the grounds of the castle. Every time I go out and see a bit more of Vienna I realise how much more there still IS to see and that there's a surprise waiting for you around every corner! I've always loved markets so I was really happy to be able to look around a traditional Austrian one. There were stalls selling all kinds of things, from traditional kids toys, pottery, hand-painted hand-blown eggs, dumplings, wood crafts, beeswax, and books.

One of the bright, colourful toy stores!

Beautiful hand-painted Austrian porcelain.

After the tour (which was mind-blowing) we had a yummy lunch bought from the market. I realised something which amused me - one of those little ways I've changed. I was sharing my food with Freya, just a fork-full here and there, and I suddenly thought how different I was. At the beginning of my exchange I would never have thought of doing that, but after so long it just came naturally - that's just the way it is! Then we did lots of walking through the palace gardens (which are GINORMOUS and beautiful).

Spring!!

Eventually we left to pick up Theo from kindergarten and Carl from soccer and I was feeling really happy about the day. We went home and ate my delicious cake outside in the garden in the beautiful Spring sunshine with a lovely cool breeze. I ended up lazing around outside for hours, eating, laying in the hammock, listening to music, sewing. That's what life's really about I think and it was nice having my birthday in Spring as oppose to the normal Autumn. Eventually Georg came home and we all got ready to go out for dinner.

Theo being a bit of a clown just outside the house before we left.

For dinner, at my request, we went to an Italian restaurant. There happens to be one just down the road so we walked there in the cool, dusky evening. The food was delicious and Nine and I reflected on our day with Georg and just talked about whatever. We left around 8.30 to go home which was pretty late for the kids. I raced Theo and Carl most of the way up the hill in high heels. It was good to find out I can still run in them but I was pretty stuffed! I love this family and I feel pretty happy most days when I'm with them. I just feel so comfortable and like we have just so much in common.

My table full of love. ♥ Cards and presents and FLOWERS(!!) galore :D 

So, I'm 18 now. Sometimes I feel different when I say that, but I'm sure that's just a mind thing. 18 used to be this huge incredible age. People who were 18 were adults; had maturity, responsibility, knowledge.  Sometimes my chest puffs up with the thought of myself being 18 but then I realise it's just an 'age' and doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean I'm not still a kid, that I don't still love and adore my parents and value their opinion above anything else. That I don't still get sad and cry and hug my teddy. That i don't run around hills in Austria singing "The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music" at the top of my lungs. And it definitely doesn't mean I know what I'm doing with my life and what direction it will take next. In fact, I think you're more sure of what you want to be when you're "grown up" as a child than you do when you actually "grow up". (I know I used to want to be a butterfly. Then a dancer. Then, then, then...) I'm still a kid. And I'm ok with that.