A few days in

So my internet connection back at my apparment blows big time. It's going to be tough to upload all of my pics, but I will try. Also, German keyboards have the y and z switched, so excuse my spelling if I mess something up.

Anyways, two nights ago I finally got to wander around down in the old city. It was breathtaking, especially the Stephansdom District. I've never seen so many awesome old buildings. I have no idea where exactly I was in the city, but I am pretty sure I hit most of the really old parts. I still have some more to go, like the Museum Quarter to see the Secession building, and the Belvedere Quarter for the monument to the Red Army. I could gush on and on about the different stuff I saw, but that would take forever and I have class coming up. I'll just be sure to put up my pictures soon. Most are kind of blurry since it was nighttime, but I'll get more tomorrow since I have a day off (for some Wiener Festival) and can just walk around taking pictures.

I've had a few adventures since last time. I bought a cup of coffee for €1.50, and it was about a doubleshot of coffee. Seriously, it was one good slurp. It was good, but not 2 dollars worth of good. Breakfast is ridiculuosly expensive here. I also bought my first legal beer. It was crazy. Taking Fr. King's advice, I opted for a Stiegel, which was served kinda warm in a half-liter bottle. I took a picture so I can show Fr. King what a good influence he has been on me. It actually took me almost forty minutes to find somewhere that was still open. I mean, I was still checking out the buildings and stuff, but from when I decided "Okay, let's get a brew" to "Ein Stiegel, bitte," it was almost forty.

Also, there have been a few new cultural things. First, everyone has nose or lip rings. Really. I haven't seen this many in as long as I can remember. I saw this older looking gent in a suit, and even he had a little silver stud in his nose. Nothing against nose and lip rings, it's just unsettling to see someone my grandmother's age with them. Also, dogs are pretty much allowed everywhere. Like the supermarket. Or the trolley. Some guy got on with a pretty good sized dog yesterday, and right away it saw the OTHER good sized dog. Sparks (and barks) filled the tram as a dogfight almost erupted, with me sitting quietly in the middle pretending to be Austrian. It was a bit on the awkward side.

Last night I went to my school and watched The Sound of Music, so that I know what to expect when I visit Salzburg. Sadly, they played it in German. "Don't worry," they said. "We'll have subtitles on it!" They neglected to mention that they would be German subtitles. So I have some slight idea of what it was about. To sum: angry dad gets nice when a nun comes in and teaches his kids how to sing. For some reason she leaves and everyone is sad. Then she comes back because she loves once-angry dad. Then the Nazis ruin everything. Well, would have, were it not for music. After watching it, I feel like I need to go find a second hand store and buy some lederhosen and a little hat with rope around the brim. I would look awesome.

Off to class now, I will try to post my pictures again. This time they will be on a different site, but on facebook too. I have some pics on facebook. So check them out.