Yesterday I walked back home instead of taking the UBahn…

… because I literally sat at my desk at CHBL for approximately 9 hours with a 0.5 hour break for lunch and conversation with Filip (another intern from Belgium). The work is putting tha autoCAD plans into Adobe Illustrator and working with the line weights, hatching, and everything else so that it is fitting for the graphics department. Seeing the autoCAD plans are good, but it is easier to read the drawings (+5, -3 floorplans, 4 sections, 3 site plans) if they’re in B&W and sans room stamps, dimensions, etc. This is my task for the past two weeks-ish. I think yesterday was especially taxing because my wrist started to hurt and my eyes were shot, thus the glasses today. They make me look old…er and more severe. Which makes me self-conscious.

This past weekend I came into work for a few hours just so that I didn’t have to stay long nights this week, and I’m glad I did, because now I’m a little bit ahead of where I thought I would be. WOO! But at the same time, I missed going to Graz with Omama. Saturday night I went to the annual Donauinselfest with some co-workers. A little about the Donauinsel: it sits in the Donau (kind of like Ile de la Cite) but it is super long and super skinny. There were 18 different stages set up… and the most famous band there was Snow Patrol. Which was the only band I knew, so that’s the one we tried to see at about 11pm on Satuday night with literally (check it out on the news, google it, whatever) a million other people. Million. GAH. Don’t get me wrong, I dig fests and crowds and the like, but we were packed in and couldn’t even see the stage where we were at. So we decided to leave, which was also a crowded situation. Good new though: I went to bed a little earlier than normal and the sleep really did me well! I was able to get up Sunday, talk to Josh a little bit (despite many Skype -related issues), tried to call the family (again a no-go because I guess my Skype really sucks), cleaned the apt a little and took the train to Neusiedl am See for Andrea’s (Roswitha’s sister) birthday. It was amazing food: kind of a pancake roll thing with mixed greens (what am I, a menu?) to start out (like an appetizer), next roast pork and rice with a delicious sauce, then a rasperry dessert with creme. And Chocolate birthday cake and coffee. I really loved this experience. Not only was Andi, Ulli, Ita, and Margit there, but the Strands family and Andrea’s family. It made me miss our family birthday’s at 915 Church. We played board games and watched half an old movie snuggling with Ulli (Okay only a few people will get this but: chee!) before Andi and I returned to Vienna.

Later that night (Sunday) I met up with a friend to try to find his favorite Croatian beer. I guess there are only two bars in Vienna that sell it legally, and both were in Ottakring (one of the farthest reaches of the Ubahn) so we get there and it tastes like Stella! I love it! Haha. We then took the train back into the first district to see all the beautiful buildings at night and I couldn’t agree more with this quote from (okay, don’t go crazy) Hitler:

“From morning until late at night, I ran from one object of interest to another, but it was always the buildings that held my primary interest. For hours I could stand in front of the Opera, for hours I could gaze at the Parliament, the whole Ringstrasse seemed to me like an enchantment out of The Thousand and One Nights.”

(Mein Kampf, A. Hitler)

I’ve also taken to reading the book about Vienna that I bought here, so I look like an uber-tourist on the Ubahn on the way to work. Whatev, I like it.

During the beginning of last week, I met up with more people from the GB here. I really felt like I was in the right place at the right time. Definitely an answer to what I’ve been waiting for. More on that later… I’m meeting up with them again tomorrow.

Jeez, I gotta get back to Illustrator. I’m totally going to finish these plans today… Muahaha. Oh and for all you archstudents reading this blog, Wolf Prix is having an internal intern competition for one of his projects: the House of Music. The goal is to design a 3-D surface to cover the interior walls of the concert hall to act as a sound diffuser. I’ll post my entries up here when I’m done. Check it!

Peace,

Liz

r o b o t party

Friday: Robot Party – Simon’s birthday. Okay, I’m going to be honest, I didn’t initially want to go because I was having one of those days where I missed everyone. So when I got home (at around 7:30pm) I called Catherine, Rosemary, and left a message with Dad before I called Sarah. It was really great to feel like someone else knew how I was feeling… so after awhile, I got ready and try to find a “costume”. Initially I was just going to wear two computer cords twisted around my body but then realized it was raining super hard outside and opted to not wear them. I got to the UBahn stop and completely forgot where Simon lived so I proceeded to get lost and when I finally arrived, I had missed the birthday song. It was still super fun… great costumes! I pretty much loved the Bender costume… which eventually won the prize. The prize being a lazer cut trophy of a robot. Go architecture and all the fun it affords with its sweet equipment.

Some pics are on the facebook.

Stayed out too too late.

Saturday I went to Hornstein in the evening in order to go to a mass for Sisi that Sunday. The priest actually gave a homily this time. I met Peter and Maria – which made me so happy!! We had a delicious lunch and I spent the evening with everyone in the living room before heading back to Vienna (originally Stef and I were going to go to Laxemburg and then back to Vienna earlier, but he had an emergency his friend needed help with).

Monday and Today the weather is just cold and rainy. I slept extra late to late to make sure I had the energy incase I needed to stay late today.

Thankful for: an early morning conversation with Josh yesterday – although Skype is really awful sometimes, the salad that Andrea made for dinner last night and watching Grey’s Anatomy for the first time, realizing why people get sucked in (I was so close to crying!), the french cd I just downloaded, coffee this morning, and my family across the world.

Peace&Love,

EL

Detailing… on buildings and in CAD

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I’m straight up going to sit down and blog super fast because I’m going for a run after this. Man, I really need to run again.

Sunday last week: Spectacular lunch with Margit and Oma – completely organic and delicious. Honestly the best pumpkin soup I’ve ever had and everything was grown in the garden. Fans, a picture:

It was super beautiful that day, I wish I took more pictures.

So from there we went to a, I forget what they’re called, but basically some Austrian people have a smaller house or cottage and a plot of land that they can go to and just chill and garden or something. Again we had some coffee and cake until I heard Stef come up with his motorcycle. Haha, it was pretty hilarious. I came out and he was waiting on his hog leaning back with the spawling countryside behind him. I felt like I was in a cheesey movie, but it was super fun! He explained that I needed to wear this belt thing around my waist because the wind would make my back cold and my organs would be affected… I’m doing such a horrible job explaining it, but I put it on, and climbed up behind him and off we went on a GORGEOUS sunny day. We went to get icecream in the next village, Neufeld (which turned y teeth absolutely blue) and then rode around to the different villages. Super fun, although I (of course) got sunburnt. Then came back to Vienna.

Monday: Work in the morning… lunch at a park and then more work… yep nothing much to report from that day

Tuesday: After work I went to check out the Secession building and kind of realized that it was in a state of disregard… graffiti, homeless children and people, although a cool hippy cafe on the same block produced a great coffee. Check it:

Katy would love the owl detailing

Saw this too

Which one is it? Haha, if I was near this area of town, I thought I would check these out too... Although it was kind of raining so I was the only person there.

Wednesday: Worked a little late pretty much cadding all day. Blech, my eyes hurt afterwards and I’m going to get severe wrist problems some day… But after work I went to dinner with Felix and talked about his work in the Social Sector of Vienna… crazy stuff. And really depressing, but I wouldn’t find a better person for the job – he is always so upbeat and tells great stories.

Thursday: Work work and then met Roswitha and Hans in the Sand in the City for dinner and after went to a concert next door… interesting. It was an American woman, Susan Graham I think? I can’t really remember but she only sang french opera love songs with a piano… I liked the concert hall and the first couple songs she sang, but as the concert continued the songs got more and more modern and weird. To make matters worse she came back out after the last song and applause literally four more times. At this point people were like dude I’m out. As were we. We got a couple spritzers in the SinT again and I spoke to Inge, a colleague from Hans. Really interesting.

Oh and here’s a picture:

Snazzed up. What.

Enough already lady, jeez.

I will post a separate blog about Friday… it deserves it.  Now to get running!

One Beautiful 88th Weekend

Saturday morning, after struggling to be alive, I got up and did laundry (dude I gotta blog about this, its important!) and then, before meeting Omama for a birthday dinner (yeah I know, it seems like shes been celebrating for a week straight, but if I was turning 88, hell I would too), I took a trip to see the Belvedere in the sun. Originally built for Prince Eugene (a FRENCH military genius that fought for Austria – think about that!), it has changed hands a million times, but is still the resting place and original location of a lot of Gustav Klimt’s work, most importantly (or should I say most well known) the Kiss. But I didn’t actually go and see it because there weren’t any other exhibitions on in the galleries so I’ll go back in July. Anywho, it was amazingly warm (finally!) and I got some sweet pics.

Typical Belvedere shot. But it is kind of known for its many Sphinx.

The upper and lower palaces don’t seem so ornate from the get go, but once you get closer, the interiors are super sculpted.

And this little guy, I couldn’t resist him. Yeah I’m talking about sculpture. I need friends.

Hello Ladies.

So after checking that out and doing a little shopping, I packed my stuff and took the tram to the Sudtiroler platz (Rosemary, remember the Wurststand there? Yeah, I totally at a Wurst there.) to board a bus to Hornstein.

And Voila! Had dinner with Omama and visited some of her good friends with her:

What up, g?

That evening I went to a Mexicanafest with Stef, Dani, and Inge in the nearby dorf of Oslip. I was totally prepared for some salsa, bachata, merengue, etc. But no, it turns out the only mexican thing was a giant bottle of corona, and the surplus of tequila. And surplus of Austrian teenage punks. Haha, it was a good time though, I really enjoyed the company.

Viva Mexico??

Amigos

Dani and Inge

Okay, I seriously have to get to work…. BYE!

Work hard, play hard

Update: I know its Thursday morning, so I’m nearly a week late with updating. I will try to have separate posts in order to update everything accurately.

Friday I went to dinner with the team from CHBL to for a going away party for a lot people. Marcelo (Brazil) was the HoM project manager and will be taking a position with Herzog and DeMueron on a project of their in Brazil, so he’s happy  and Stephanie (Canada) was the other HoM intern besides Tyler, who has the model building market covered. So I’m took up her responsibilities and this is the four (yeah? Wow) day I’ve been there. But I stray from the point: picture this. Everyone on HoM team, sitting in a heuriger in the Prater, drinking beers and spritzers, eating those huge meat dishes (Stimmerl?? I think), and just laughing and talking together. Picture it, even though I’m including a picture right below this.

Keigo demolishing the last of the meat on the bone from the giant meat stack dish.

Good going away party

Prost!

The rest of the team watching the riders willing to go to one of the last rides open that night.

Side note: The Prater is an area of Vienna that just houses a carnival type of scene all year long. It’s just like a city theme park. Hahaha, it was really fun.  Included rides like this:

Marcelo rocked this mother like three times or something ridiculous.

Anywho, after that night, we didn’t get to the metro before it closed, resulting in taking a taxi home. It was okay – although the following morning I felt so awful! I think it had something to do with the drinking and chain smoking… Hahaha

I’ll start with Saturday and Sunday in a different post, I have to get into work now! I’m just finishing my coffee  and cheerios, kreeping on Catherine’s blog and listening to Lauryn Hill. what what.

LOVE family! and Friends!

EL

Fronliechnam (Tijelova) and Omama’s Birthday

After leaving work early on Wednesday and told not to come in on Friday, I found myself in the situation of a four-day weekend! Thursday is the feast of Corpus Christi here and is a public holiday. So I left work and went back to the apartment to pack and go to Hornstein. I decided to stop by the Gemeinshaft und Befreiung meeting in the University part of Vienna next to the Rathaus. I don’t know what my deal was, but I had a splitting headache, which I normally never have, and so it was really hard to concentrate. But here are a couple cool points: 1. they started off the meeting in song, one Italian and one Spanish. 2. It was a lot like the conference in Peoria, everyone is sitting facing two priests in the front and sharing their experiences. 3. It ended in prayer and Veni Sante Spiritu, Veni Per Mariam. But other then that, I didn’t really understnad too much of what was going on.

Bus to Hornstein.

Mass on Thursday morning and the Church was so beautiful!

Tied to the trees

And the trees line the interior of the Church (St. Anna)

After mass in the two languages (German and Croatian) everyone processed outside around the village following a band, the priest and monstrance, and flowergirls, to four different altars where a gospel and petitions were read. We were walking on fragrant grasses and flowers.  It was such a clear day that morning…

Beginning of the procession towards the first altar

This is what we were walking on...

The head of the procession

Altar number three

Afterwards I joined Stef for a morning Spritzer at the Firestation where the town brass band was playing. I then went from there to Jaetz where Inge and Herbert were celebrating their birthdays (and Omama’s too!). It was such a wonderful meal!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Omama!

Happy Birthday!

CHBL = Coop Himmelb(L)au

Just wanted to clarify. That is where I work. Which is what I did today and yesterday. I’ve been helping a lot with office management stuff – like the floorplan where everyone sits, what their email is, what project they’re on, etc. It’s weird because I can walk around the office and I image saying “Hello Angus” to a guy I’ve never met before who wouldn’t say hi back because he’s always listening to music. Haha, I’m a secret creep. Or people will talk to me and think I’m very thoughtful to have remembered their name after only hearing it…. wait, she’s actually never heard my name before… how does she know?!

The new thing I’m working on is a translation (kind of) of the Welcome booklet (more like novel, its over 50 pages long!) from German to English and adding all the pages like “What to do in Vienna” and “Telephone numbers to know” and “How to figure out your registration and tax information”. On Monday I will be starting with HOM team. So I’ll update about that later.

Last night after work, I met Andrea and Sonya for a drink and dinner at Sand in the City outside of the Stadtpark Ubahn stop. Basically they fill the outdoor icerink with sand and border it with little bars and eateries, leaving the middle for sitting, playing volleyball, and dancing. It was nice, although kind of a “Men are Pigs” conversation was prevalent from some stories that Sonya and Andrea were talking about. After getting some thai food, a friend from work from California met us there and we were able to geek out together about Architecture until about 10pm when Andrea and I took the Ubahn home.

Tonight after work, we all went out to this place called Running Sushi (I don’t always go out, so this is rather an uncommon occurance). Basically, there is a long rotating conveyor belt that has small pieces of sushi or plates of something that goes past your table, and you pay an overall fee and can eat as much as you want. It was freakin’ sweet, but I ate about 14 plates all within 20 minutes and had to take a break. Through the course of the dinner, I continued to nibble here and there but started to feel really nauseous. I left dinner early to take the Ubahn a couple stops home, but after I started to walk I felt a little better so I just walked the twenty minutes back to the apartment in the dusk. I really liked it although when I got back I really got sick. Should I really blog about this? Haha, whatever. Basically, I was too excited about Running Sushi and should have paced myself. I’ve never gotten sick from Sushi. I really liked it, just should have slowed down.

What else? Oh, I will be going to CL in Vienna tomorrow!! It’s a 7:30pm at the Edith Stein House behind the University complex and the discussion with be about “Hope” according the email I received from Thomas. I’m pumped! I also have to take a bus back to Hornstein later that night, because it’s Omama’s 88th birthday (I hope I’m right about that!) on Thursday and a public holiday for Austrians!

I hope everyone is doing well – good night!

Liz

Post post post

Hello world, so last time I wrote was right before an outdoor concert at Schonbrun.. This past week at the office, I have been getting to know more people and then given the opportunity to work in Illustrator & Rhino for the first time. I had to create a new floorplan of the office… it was super hard because, I have never learned Illustrator before, it was all in German. It was only until recently (like the last two hours of work on Friday) that instead of modifying the old floorplan and reinserting it into the Illustrator document, I could have just updated the old version. pah.

Anywho, after work on Thursday there was an orchestra at Schonbrun. Forget the umlauts.

Sorry, the picture came out blurry... but it was beautiful!

Many people from work were also there, so I got to know some more faces. Afterwards, we all just went home and got ready for the Friday at work…

Friday night after work, Stef came by and we went to a Jugendvigil together in Heiligenstadt, a rustic and absolutely gorgeous village in the middle of wooded hills. I was amazed at the sheer AGE of the buildings that were still being used, i.e. the seminary, cloister, and church. Check it:

Still in use.

It was more of a worship service. There were a lot of young people – 18- 34 years old – and everyone began by singing songs. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed later on, but the cool thing was that a large part of the actual Cross was enshrined in the new chapel. It was a really peaceful experience and I was finally able to learn the Hail Mary in German. The past week, with work and everything, didn’t really allow me to spend time in prayer a lot, so it was great to have that time with Him. The brothers that live there also led some reflections in German, which was pretty cool. When we were singing it took my longer to say the words, and so I sang quietly, but because I did (and because what was discussed in CL) it actually made me more aware of what I was saying. Afterwards, Stef and I went back to Vienna and I got ready to go to Neusidler am See in the morning with Andrea.

Speaking of which – I finally took pictures of their house: Voila!

View from the Zeger Family's home.

It was funny and sad this weekend, Andrea and I thought it would be super sunny and warm on Saturday so that we could sunbath and I would cease looking like an albino compared to everyone else.  But we got there and it just rained. And it was cold.  So the next best thing to do: shopping. Ulli, Andi, and I spent around 4 hours in the Designer Outlet Center a couple minutes from their place.  Afterwards we came back and slept. We ended up going to a Heurigen, Moser’s, conveniently located next door. We went to a couple bars later that night, and I really enjoyed the conversation. It was good to be with some sisters – I miss mine!

I’ll end with a post about today: Carnuntum.

The Roman Amphitheater in Carnuntum, where Ulli is currently digging!

After a delicious Chili lunch, Ulli and I went to Carnuntum to the Romanfest and checked out her dig site. She taught me about the different soil layers and how you can tell whether or not someone has used a layer as a road or if it was just infill. I thought it was interesting that after they dig and discover something, they record the discovery and then put all the dirt back! Apparently, Carnuntum has just been recently excavated (not the amphitheater but the town itself) and there is still a lot more to be done. It was super interesting!

On the way back to Vienna, Andi and I saw a rainbow. This week will be a good one

Vienna was sunny.

Love to my family and friends, Dad, have you gotten back from China yet??

Liz

The CHBL Xperience

The CHBL experience has been ongoing now for about three days. My first day there, I was with three other interns and a new employee, all getting the tour at the same time.  They are from Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Germany. We had the tour and then the interns were assigned to teams. Right now, the main teams are the European Central Bank (which consumes a lot of the people here), HOM (House of Music), the Dalian Conference Center, Busan Cinema Complex, Musee des Confluences, some apartments that I forgot the name of (in construction process), and a competition project. I’m on the team for the House of Music, but I don’t start until the 12th, so right now I’m doing random office-bitch work. Ah the life of an intern.

I just got a call from some people at work, and there is an outdoor concert a Schonbrun Palace, so I’ll update later!

Bye!!

Feuerwehrscheune

I’m up a little too early to go to work – so I’ll make myself write a post.

I never thought I would be able to listen to so much Tamburizza for long, but people change. I can’t believe how much I enjoyed this weekend in Hornstein! Considering myself lucky – again.  So to get into the details… mhhhmmmm, well the weather started out cold and rainy as I carried all my stuff out to Stef’s car. It was great to talk with him! I think he is stuck with the rest of us in a state of transition, although he does seem to have a sweet job.

So I have to back track, haha, I’m looking at the pictures I took, and I forgot a whole part of Friday during the day! I went to find the Hunderwasser House, which is really close to where I live. That didn’t stop me from going one Ubahn stop too far and having to backtrack. I found it due to the fact that every tourist in Vienna was there. I’ll shove in a picture, why not? Only walked around the outside and tried to sketch a little but it wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. It is pretty funny looking back at what people thought was “green” architecture. Oh how the meaning has changed since.

I checked out a really interesting antique shop around the corner from this building, where I had to find a present for a friend. It was daunting to be the only person inside and having to speak only German, but the keepers turned out to be SUPER friendly and cut back on the price for me. Woot.

I met up with Andrea after wandering around near St. Michael’s kirche and the Burghof area, for a DELICIOUS (seriously, I haven’t eaten meat except for when I go out to eat, so this was great) lunch at a new Turkish place in the 1st Bezirk, Etap. Akat, her boyfriend, works there and was such a charmer. We talked about ancestry and where I could go find a good watch, among other things. I felt it was a really European affair, because normally when I go to lunch with my friends, it lasts an hour tops. We were there for 2.5 hours.  I came back to find Stef, and we left for Hornstein, driving through some countryside that never ceases to look beautiful to me.

I met up with my grandmother for mass, and afterwards went with Stef to a Tmbrza (thats my abbrev. for it) practice. I was unaware, but he is amazing with music. I am going to try to upload this movie I took: pah, nevermind. I am not going to purchase a video upgrade with YouTube is straight up free. So I’ll have to put it up there and then get the link here… Later. Moving on:

We got a couple drink’s at Lindi’s pub and then went home.

The following morning, I went and ran some errands with Stef. It was a great place to catch up, despite more awful weather. I think the plan was to walk to Loretto, but that was scrapped due to the weather. Some things I learned (I’ve known them already, but I think they’re an interesting comparison to the US culture)

-Cereal is rarely eaten for breakfast, its Yogurt and Musli, some combination of cold cut meat and bread/pickles, eggs and coffee, breads with jams/jellies.

-Automatic vehicles (as opposed to manual) are for the truly retarded

Okay, so those were only two, but I’ll be sure to keep up the observations.

Later that afternoon, I spend with Oma, sleeping. I suppose thats the only thing I did at Kuma’s house. Just sleep and eat. Wow I feel like a bum haha. Later that night, I went with Stef and his friend Michael to a Scheune in Trausdorf, a couple of towns away for some drinking, singing, and dancing. In no particular order.

Stef and Michael

We left Trausdorf at 12 or 1am, not sure back to Hornstein where I thought I was going to get into bed – I was exhausted. But no, I have to build up a stamina I guess, we went to the Feuerwehrscheune in Hornstein for another 3 or 4 hours, with more drinking and dancing. I met more of Stef’s friends, and it solidified my opinion of the people in Hornstein – genuine and good hearted.

The next day, Sunday, we all had to get up early for mass. Afterwards, I went back and slept. And then ate lunch with Kuma Marica, Uncle Paul, and Oma. Following this, I slept some more, and got ready to break a Guiness World Record. Yes, folks, you guessed it, all the tmbrza groups from the neighboring villages were gathering in Trausdorf (who was celebrating their 50th anniversary of their tmbrza group) to break the record (or more likely, create the record) for the most players in the same location, playing the same songs together.

All the Tamburizza musicians in Trausdorf

Dani and I

So we danced and sang and drank some more. The following day followed much of the same course, except I enjoyed a great lunch with the Matkovits family and played with my cousins (four times removed) Dominik and Belinda. I have yet to find sweeter kids.

I drove back and put off writing this. But I have to get to work, so I’ll just post this without checking it – love to my family in the US, I miss you all.