Vienna, Austria Part 1: Arrival in Vienna

Decision to Study Abroad:

During the Fall 2015 semester, I was in German 201 at BYU and started making the decision to double major in German. Dr. Cindy Brewer was my professor for both German 201 and 202 and influenced this decision. She made the classes enjoyable and challenging. Around September of last year was when I first heard about the Vienna study abroad program. This was during the time that Carli and I were engaged so I didn't give the idea of participating in the program much thought at all because we were focusing on wedding plans and the current semester. I don't even think I brought it up with Carli because it was crazy. Well we got married in December and then Winter semester started. Some time during January and February we went from not having talked about the program to being signed up. We knew it would be expensive, but we both felt that we needed to go. When we got married, we were determined to be financially independent so it was hard to imagine covering all the costs of the program by ourselves. I ended up receiving $2,700 in scholarships from BYU for the study abroad which made a huge difference for us. Carli and I both worked as much as possible and were blessed with good jobs. I was able to work up to 50 hours a week for the entire summer while Carli took classes. It came time to apply for scholarships, and a few months later, Carli receives an email from the McKay school of education informing her that she was awarded a full tuition scholarship for two semesters. Just a few weeks later, she received an email from BYU's  scholarship office that she had been awarded a half tuition scholarship for two semesters. In the end, everything worked out and we were blessed with much more than we had anticipated, and we were ready for a semester abroad. 

Eurail!

For my birthday, my dad gave us Eurail train passes which give us virtually unlimited access to the train network in 28 European countries. With no classes on Fridays, Carli and I were ready to take advantage of these passes and get out to see the world! My idea for this blog is that I will post a few "Vienna, Austria" posts covering various events and experiences from our time in Vienna itself, and write posts to cover each place we visit. 

Vienna

We arrived in Vienna on the 14th of September, and having had a week in Europe already, were done with our jet lag and ready to go. As most of the students in our group that arrived in Vienna that morning came straight from the States they were pretty exhausted and there were no plans that day until the evening in order to let everyone rest. We went out with our entire group to a Pizza place for dinner and a little orientation. The next morning we all had breakfast and a rather long and exhausting walking tour of Vienna... I'm still convinced that they just took us in circles. We had a meeting with the directors of the Austro-American institute and afterwards were picked up by our host family. We are staying with Lloyd and Jessica Stiles along with their baby girl Eleanor. 

Day 1 in Vienna while most students were resting from their trip, we got a Donor. :) The church in the background is the Neo-gothic Votivkirche. The Votivkirche was built by the brother of Emperor Frans Joseph as thanks to God for saving the Emperor from an attempted assassination in 1853. The emperor was saved from being stabbed by an assassin because the knife was deflected by the stiff collar which was covered in Golden patterns. 

Carli really likes the cross walk guys here. 

We attend the International ward, mostly because it starts at 1:30 pm rather than 9am and on some weekends our night trains don't get us back into Vienna until late Sunday morning.

Meals are difficult to plan here because we are so busy. Our schedules are actually pretty busy! I am taking German 301, Opera and Theater in Vienna, and Viennese Art and Architecture, as well as a part time internship. The internship took a while to get sorted out, but I ended up being able to work with refugees which is what I was hoping for. There are so many refugees here in Austria, and Germany from all over the middle east. I am working in two different places. One is called "The Connection" which is a coffee house in Vienna that also has a "Lernfabrik" or "Learning Factory" I work in this Lernfabrik every Monday teaching a Math class with Morgan, another student from BYU.  We have anywhere from 2-5 students every week, with two regular students. Morgan is a math major at BYU and handles the student who is now getting into calculus. I have worked with students from Afghanistan and Syria who are between the ages of 18 and 21, have been in Vienna for anywhere from 6 months to two years, and have the math education you would expect of a third grader in the United States. It has given me a new appreciation for the education that I have been blessed with. Carli was hired to tutor Dr. Brewer's children while we are here in Vienna, so the 5 Brewer girls keep her busy during the day while i'm in class. 

This is the Belvedere Palace which was build in the early 1700's for Prince Eugene of Savoy by Baroque architect Johann Von Hildebrandt. The palace was designed to display to all visitors his wealth and military conquest. 

The gardens and grounds of the palace were just as important as the design of the buildings themselves. 

Carli came home so happy one day because she had successfully bought veggies and fruit at the street market all by herself... in German!! She is picking it up quickly and will be fluent in no time! 

This one is us inside the art history museum in vienna with our friends Will and Mariah Allen. We saw a lot of paintings which actually wasn't that exciting.