On a mission....

...to improve my German. That's what I've decided recently. I plan on continuing to post here, but it may be less regularly depeending on how things are going - to cut a long story short I've realised I have a fair whack of work I think I need to do for next year, and I've got myself a plan. Let's just leave it at that, I don't want to bore you :)

Anyhow, quick post just now - the whole country has gone crazy today. Today, Shrove Tuesday, is "Fasching", here. Largely unbeknownst to me before today, the entire place goes mental for this - fancy dress everywhere, teachers and pupils included, stalls in the town centre, parades everywhere (including TV), and a lot of doughnuts. Me? I'm making some pancakes, as I feel I've indulged in my share of Fasching insanity at school this morning :)

So yeah, not a great deal else to report - I had a *great* weekend in Vienna, and am back here in Krems enjoying the fact that it's decided not to stay relatively not-cold, and it's back well into the minus temperatures. Ach well, nice while it lasted... :)

Last thing - as it's pancake today, I warmly recommend bananas and icing sugar, as it's a combination which tastes rather lovely. I'm looking forward to it :)

Later :)

Time flies....

...in a farily scarily fast fashion. It really does.

Basically, I've decided this week that I really need to get some Uni work done. I'm not one for comparing myself to others, but reading Kim's blog, as linked to to the left of this text, and seeing that she's already polished off one essay really made me want to get my ass in gear on that front. So, work.

Also, I've been looking into flights home in June, and it really does feel like it's going way quicker than I thought it would. (Dammit, just edited this to fix the time at the bottom, 'cause I never set it right. Seems I can't change it. Damn)

With a small break over the weekend, when I'm in Vienna. And when I get back on Monday, 'cause Tasj is around 'till Wednesday. Ach well, I've never heard of a more welcome break, so I'll start again afterwards :) It's actually not going that badly on the work front, so it's not all bad!

Anyway, like I said I'm in Vienna all weekend this weekend - going to try and be more touristy this time rather than going to meet people like I normally do, though I'm not sure entirely what the agenda is so far. I quite fancy going to Schönbrunn, and possibly sampling some of the fantastic nightlife on Saturday....

So, what else? It's gotten oddly warm here - it was above 5 degrees for the first time in months this week. Weird. I've also aquired a new flatmate, a lass from Bradford who's living at our place for a month. Such is the wonder of accomodation owned by a college - still, she's pretty cool, so that's grand.

Anyway, I'm actually gonna go work now. See that look on my face? Determined, that's what that is.

Later :)

That's better...

I feel altogether less bad than I did last time I posted...still got a bit of a cold, but nothing special. Must be the excessive ammounts of tea I've been drinking, combined with the ammount of hockey on TV that's done it :)

So then, what to report - the Olympic hockey's been good fun. It's just nice to have live hockey on TV, and it's been entertaining though the "serious" stuff hasn't started yet. Also on TV has been the truly terrifying skeleton-bob, which appears to be solely for atheletes with death wishes (but Britain won a medal, score!) and the Snowboard Cross, which is superb viewing - 4-up snowboard racing round a fairly mental looking track. I love the Olympics.

In other good news, it's actually gotten back to normal temperatures here! No longer do I have to freeze off my extremities just to get to work...no no! Plus, my flat's warmed up considerably, which is always nice.

Anyway, what else? Oh yeah, after searching through various methods of getting home in June, and them being too expensive or involving mammoth train journeys (which I was up for, as I'm getting bored of flying!) I found flights from Vienna to Glasgow, with a stop or two, for 60 quid! Made my day, that did.

Anyhow, back to work tomorrow - so hopefully getting back to actually doing stuff will make for more interesting stuff written here! Later :)

Euuugh...

...is how I felt, and sounded this morning. Not sure quite what's up with me - I'd go with "flu-like symptoms", but it appears to be alleviating itself, so it's clearly not a full blown effort. Still, I had to miss work today, as let's face it - it's tricky to try and be a "language assistant" when you can't speak.

Anyway, I've accomplished very little today, thanks to having no energy. On the plus side, the hockey's started in Turin! ORF showed highlights of 4 games today, the third period of Germany vs Czech Republic live, and are showing the entirety of Sweden vs Russia tomorrow. It's great! Plus, my German hockey-lingo is improving greatly.

Anyhow, there's not actually a great deal to report at the minute, as it's been a fairly quiet few days. I've properly settled into my flat now, which is grand, and I'm working on getting broadband sorted for it. All's good on that front, really.

I read a story that amused me the other day - I can't find the link to it right now, but it's on the BBC news website somewhere - "Berlusconi says "I am like Jesus". Seriously, sometimes our continental friends make British politics just seem boring.....

Sweeeeeeet Caroline....

...as was sung by 20000 people at Madison Square Garden last night. Bizarrely enough, it's become the Rangers victory song, as as they marched to their 9th win in the last 11 games, it was sung rather loudly by all and sundry. For all it's old, and Neil Diamond, it sounded rather nice :)

Anyway, not a great deal happening at the moment - I was in Vienna all day today, having an ever-so-stressful time sitting in Cafe Central drinking coffee with somebody from Uni. It was grand, as it made for a welcome distraction from the slushy mingin' snow that was outside, as big cities tend to attract. I'm only online for a wee while - off to watch the highlights from the Olympics in a little while.

We went out last night - nothing too late, just dinner and a few drinks, but it was really nice. I managed to almost avoid bumping into any of my students in the pub, which was unusual, and we met a Swedish guy working in a pub here, who was great. I said I was Scottish when he asked where we were from, and he then told us that he was there once, and spent 5 days (!!) in Jon O'Groats. Quite what they were doing there is a mystery to me, but they appear to have realised there was nothing there after one aftenroon, and spent the rest of the time drinking. Fair play, I guess. One thing I love about the whole pub thing here - you pay less than €3 for a half litre of very good beer, and it's all table service. Only disadvantage is that smoking appears to be something of a national pasttime here, which is my only pet hate about going to the pub...

Anyway, tomorrow I plan to work - I've been going over some of the finer points of German grammar to aid my essay writing, and I plan to (hopefully) get a chunk done tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes....

I'm back!

...from my little jaunt to Kent at the weekend. Suffice it to say that I had an excellent, relaxed time with my wonderful girlfriend and am now back (apparently) ready to start work again! That's not 'till next Monday, so I've got some time to myself. I've got plans though, oh yes. In the next 4 days I plan to...

1) Work. Essays galore await me in my room, and I'm going to use this time, hopefully, to do a fair whack of work on them
2) Listen to the Arctic Monkeys album I picked up while in Britain :)
3) Go to Vienna on Saturday to see some friends I've not seen in too long.
4) Watch the Olympics

All in all, I think I've got the balance between working *too* hard and relaxing *too* much sorted. I hope it works out :)

Aside from that, not a great deal to report here. It's oddly a lot warmer than before...it's actually *above* freezing! This feels rather strange....I've also just realised that today was my 4th flight this year, and that the people of Ryanair are largely responsible for it. I like travelling, so it's not too bad though.

Lastly, I've decided I'm going to start asking customs officials for stamps in my passport wherever I go now. Tasj got one from the officials in Denmark (she's Danish!!), just by asking nicely, and it really brightens up what is otherwise a fairly dull document. So next time I go over one of the numerous borders round here, or home, I'm asking for some. I know they're totally unneccessary in the EU/Schengen area, but what the hell.

Incidentally, if you want the last 30 seconds of your life back after reading that not-very-riveting piece of news, then I'm sorry :)

Later :)

Well then...

I've pretty much moved all my stuff to my new place. It's actually quite nice...quite nice and big, and I like it :)

My arms hurt mildly from having hauled all my stuff down the street for the last little while, but it's done now, and my room is looking quite comfortable. Tidy, too, though that's unlikely to last, if we're honest...

Only mild problem is an internet connection - the wireless network *does* work, but not particularly well. I'm typing this on one of the computers in the Studentenheim, largely because I happen to be here handing my keys back...reception in my room is a bit patchy, but I plan to sort that out as soon as I can. It'll be grand :)

Anyway, I've gotta go to work, I shall hopefully post later on!

:)

Another reason to be cheerful...

I've just read the ORF (Austrian version of the BBC) Winter Olympic schedule....not only is there the obvious winter sports galore, but they're showing loads of the hockey!

A lot of the group games, highlights, and (I'm fairly sure) live knockout games. D-e-lighted :)

I'm excited :)

For numerous reasons.

1) I get the keys to my new flat tomorrow, and plan to spend most of the day moving my stuff in and making it Mike-friendly.

2) I'm on holiday next week.

3) I'm going to Kent on Saturday.

4) I've got fun planned for Friday afternoon too, involving buying stuff (got paid the other day:)), and a small flatwarming gathering.

5) We're about to order pizza.

All in all, life's good! I have a fairly light schedule at work this week thanks to it being the last week of the semester, and it's all going grand on that front. It's even been warming up slightly, and it nearly got as high as 0 today. Controversial, I know.

Anyway, this might be a fairly short post, as like I said, pizza is immiment. I've just finished compiling a list of stuff to get in Britain, as it'll be my last time there for a wee while and there's some things I need to stock up on. Firstly, the Arctic Monkeys album, largely unavaiable in Austria, by the looks of things. Secondly, some various foodstuffs/drinks that you can't get here....little things.

Oh, and tea. That's a big thing. You *can* get that here, but it's not quite the same...

That's about it, actually. Still, nice to have some comforts from home :)

Anyway, I'm being summoned to order pizza, so I'll leave this one here....