Dirndl Day!

Its official, I am now a real Austrian "Mädl".  I speak with a dialect, I love schnitzel, the stench of cow manure doesn't phase me, and today I bought myself a dirndl.  A dirndl is the Austrian traditional dress (called tracht) for women.  The men wear ornate hunting lederhosen with buttons made from deer horns.  No, lederhosen aren't a silly Hollywood invention, German and Austrian men actually still wear them today!  And I have to hand it to the Austrian people, they really have found a way to take an ancient Alpine tradition that can sometimes look archaic and outdated and make it trendy!  This might be what you think of when you think lederhosen, along with lots of wurst and beer:

But lederhosen can actually be quite attractive, as so dashingly displayed by Johann here ;)  Austrian girls think so at least, and around age 18-20 almost every Austrian boy gets his first pair of real lederhosen.

Same goes for dirndls.  While feminists would balk at the idea of wearing a dress that was designed for a cooking, cleaning, bread-baking, baby-making Hausfrau, modern Austrian women wear their dirndls with pride!  Some dirndls, in my opinion, can look very outdated and matronly,

There are lots of more modern styles that are incredibly cute and very wearable!  While I find many reasons not to be a Paris Hilton fan, I had to give her props when she rocked this awesome golden dirndl to Oktoberfest in 2006, inciting a resurgence in the popularity of the dirndl.

I wanted one that was a little shorter and one that was spring/summertime appropriate.  So Kiley and I went to Eugendorf after my classes were over today, a little town just outside of Salzburg, to an outlet that's far enough away from the tourist crowds where they have tracht outfits for reasonable prices.  

This one was a little too costumey for me, 

Same with this one.

I loved this one, the colors were beautiful but it was waaay overpriced.

After hours of driving and searching through two different outlets, zipping ourselves into hundreds of dirndls, fastening and un-fastening countless rows of buttons, I finally found it!!  The perfect dirndl :)

It was love at first sight!  I'm planning on wearing it to my host dad Gerd's 60th birthday bash this weekend, I can't wait!  I also think I could wear it around Memphis, it'd cause quite a scene!  I love it!

For all my runner friends...

This is where I get to run every day :)

                                                  

Ma citay!

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!

P.S. I'm going on some great adventures this weekend, so look for a post sometime in the next couple of days!  

Easy Athletics?

I made a horrifying discovery today.  In searching for the owner of the track that's next door to my dorm, I had to ask a few people if they knew of any track and field teams or clubs around here that I could train with.  At first I just said "running" but then I alluded to the track and they supplied me with the word I was looking for.  In German the word for track and field is Leichtathletik.  Directly translated this means "easy athletics"...  Easy athletics??  And that makes me a Leichtathletin... an "easy [female] athlete". What a terrible slander of the most ancient and sacred of all athletic competitions!  I tried not to show how offended I was, but obviously Austrians don't take T&F as seriously as some ;)

Wort des Tages: Fasching!

Because Christianity is so widespread, this time of year (the season leading up to Lent and Easter) is festive no matter where you are.  Venice has Carnival.  New Orleans has Mardi Gras.  The list goes on.  This week, in almost every country of the world there will be parades, costumes, parties, food, and general merrymaking!

In Austria, the celebration is known as Fasching.  On Fasching-Saturday and Fat Tuesday there are big parties in every town and village across Austria.  On Saturday Tina and I pulled four boxes of Fasching gear from years past out of the attic and dug through the wigs and sequins, umbrella hats and fake noses, finally putting together these very convincing Tina Turner and Venetian dancer outfits!

Who are those lovely ladies?

It's really me... but don't tell ;)

The point is to be totally disguised, so you can mingle and dance with whomever you want without anyone recognizing you.  Fasching is the time for the ladies to ask the men to dance ;) You scan the crowd, trying to figure out who the three robots in the corner are? They're only talking in beeps.  And the Smurfs who are getting blue paint on everyone.  And who's that tall lady with the big hands over by the bar?  Oh, nope wait... that's a guy.  Then, at exactly midnight the truth is revealed when everyone takes off their masks in the Demaskirung.  Then its schnapps and musi and dancing until four in the morning!

Happy Faschingswoche!

Hello? I think I'm lost in a postcard...

Some highlights of my first AMAZINGLY beautiful Saturday on the Tauplitz, one of the many peaks of wintry heaven found in all directions around the Ennstal.

Mama Tina <3

Is it ok if I stay here forever?

Even though the ski resort Taublitz was one of the first mountains in all of Austria to install a chairlift, they just added a gondola this year that takes you from all the way down in the village up over the first ridge where there is a station to get off if you're chicken, and then allll the way up to the summit!  Its awesome, and very comfortable... as long as you don't look down.

Thanks to Alex for the use of his snowboard.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Saturday.  Herrlich :)

I Love Mail!

Here's my address:

Caroline Webster
Kolpinghaus Salzburg
Adolf-Kolping Strasse 10
Salzburg 5020 Austria

I'm off to spend the weekend in the Ennstal with my Austrian family!  I fully expect my mailbox to be overflowing by the time I get back here on Monday ;)

Wort des Tages: Schwarzfahren

German Word of the Day!


Schwarzfahren- sshw-ARTS-fah-ren "black-riding"

To ride the city bus without paying for a ticket.  I'm pretty sure everyone in Salzburg does this, but it is still frowned upon by civilized folk.  Its easy to do because you don't have to show a ticket every time you get on a bus.  BUT if you're caught by the random ticket control officers that are apparently out there, you can be fined 60-100 Euros!  But hey, at 2.10 a ride, who wouldn't take that risk?

First Day as an Austrian Uni Student

So I realize I haven't posted in a while, I'm sorry to all my followers who've been waiting anxiously for another post (see right -->)  ;)

But as of today I am going to set aside some time every other day to post some news, thoughts, pics, and other happenings from my life here in Salzburg.  Even after two days here there is so much to tell its gonna be hard to get it all in in any sort of chronological order, but I'll try!

Today was my first day of classes and it was busy!  I left here at 9:00, even though my placement test wasn't until 10:00.  I knew it would take me a while to figure out the bus connections and such.  And after three different connections, one which I quickly realized was driving back in the exact direction I had just come from, I finally made it to the test center.  Then another bus ride to another part of the University for "Alpine History" at 11:00, an hour break, then "Concepts of Democracy" at 2:00.  I didn't get back here until 8:00.  When I did finally get back, all I wanted to do was put on my fleecy pants, throw my high heeled boots out the window and snuggle into bed.

Before I got here, I had so many worries about how I was going to meet people, fit in, get around, figure out my schedule and what not.  At times, when I let anxiety get the better of me, I started to think that this was all too much and that I was making a huge mistake by going all by myself.  There's a reason people pay thousands of dollars to go on programs like ISEP, I kept telling myself.  You're gonna be screwed... But now being here and getting a feel for the flow of life here, I have settled into a blissful state of a contented existence.  I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be and I'm so excited to wake up every day and find out what is in store for me next!

As much as I worried about it before I got here, it turns out that not being attached to any particular exchange program has proved to be much more of a blessing than I expected.  While at first I thought it would be really nice to have other people to live with and explore the city with, I quickly realized that just by being outgoing and friendly I can meet people just as well on my own as if I were in a big group.  I would even argue more easily.  I don't have to be supervised or accountable to anyone but myself, I got to choose my own place, and I get to do whatever I want.  But best of all, I'm totally independent and free to live by my own schedule which is sooo freeing!!  It's the best feeling to walk out the door with no plan at all and just follow where your feet take you.  Like today, at 4:00 after my last class was over I had nowhere else that I had to be so I went and had coffee with some Austrians, why not?  They're all political science students, one of them is in my Concepts of Democracy class and invited me to join them, an offer I accepted right away.  And because of that I met "Long-haired earthy Austrian" who looks and talks like he's about 30 but says he has an old bike I can use while I'm here!  Yayyyyy!!  Even after one day of jumping from bus to bus to get around the city, I realize that I will go stark raving mad after a week if I don't get a bike.  Plus, its green :)

All for now, time for bed...