What should she buy??

Alyssa is furnishing her dorm room and I try to give her some advises. She really needs some necessary basics. These basics are a desk, a bed, a chair and a cupboard. She should also buy some hangers, a pillow, a blanket and some sheets. She could also buy some decoration items, adequate for every season to bring more color in the empty room. Alyssa should get utensils to study for her semester like notebooks, pencils, highlighter, pens, post-its, index sheets and also blank sheets to print something out. She might buy a printer to be independent from the university printer and has not to go to the computer lap because I know she has a laptop. She also should bring the fridge and the microwave from her old room at home. A bedside lamp or any other lamp could also be very useful. She should also buy a ventilator for her room because in the summertime it can be very hot inside, also maybe a colorful curtain could light the room up. She definitely needs pins and tape and some posters for the walls to make the room comfortable and homelike.

Easter weekend!!!

My plan last week:

I will go with two other international students, Gus and Noe, to Washington D.C. At first we weren’t sure should we go to Washington D.C. or to New York, because some of the other Internationals spend their weekend in New York. I really looking forward to see the Capitol city it is a unique opportunity for us. Our trip starts on Friday at 2.00 AM in the morning. In Washington we will stay in a youth hostel which should be close to all sight seeing highlights. We would like to see the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Memorial, the Mall, the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorial also the Pentagon and some of the Smithsonian Museums. We also tried to get tickets to visit the White House but it is very hard to come on the list if you are not a large tourist group or have it reported to the security stations two months before the visiting date, but maybe we have luck. Noe and I also would like to go shopping, but Gus is really afraid that we will stroll hours in shops. I hope it will be an exciting trip and the weather is fine. I’m sure that we will take a lot of pictures and buy some souvenirs.

my scenarios

1.) He promised to book five tickets for the flight to Atlanta and we gave him the money, but he only bought one ticket for himself.

2.) Chris was driving his car during he wrote a message to Jill. He was amused and didn’t recognize the traffic jam. His car crashed into the end of it.

3.) Jess dated Mike but she knew that her best friend Alice had feelings for him.

Number 2: "Fasching"

According to my last post I decide to chose number 2
“Fasching is almost the same as Mardi Gras”

We have in Austria almost the same as Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is called “Fasching” and also known as fifth season of the year. It is also combined with many customs and we celebrate with it the end of the “dark” winter season and the beginning of spring. It should also banish the winter. Fasching starts on 11th November at 11:11 AM and ends on Tuesday before Ash-Wednesday. We celebrate it every year and it is completely the opposite of lent. During the last month there are many customs and traditions. The highlight is from Saturday till Tuesday before Ash-Wednesday. At this time, we have many parades and all the people are masked. There are also parties, events and performances and you can also see some “Fasching-meetings” on the TV. In this shows; actors make sketches about the past year, politicians and some interesting things which happened. We also always put funny and colorful decorations in our homes and you also can see some in the cities and in shop-windows.

Parade in Graz

My Mindset List

I was thinking about my own mindset list and these are my results:

1.) I always have been addicted to coffee!!!!
2.) Mardi Gras has always been the same as "Fasching" in Austria!
3.) I've always liked fiction movies, as for example: "twilight", "Stardust" or "The Lord of the Rings"
4.) the next ice age is coming.
5.) Since Spring Break I have travel fever.
6.) London, Rome and Venice are amazing. You must have seen these cities.
7.) In 2050, the last glacier are melted in in the alpes.

My Mindset list 2012

These are my 5 interesting or humorous items out of 75 according to the website http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2009.php

22. For daily caffeine emergencies, Starbucks has always been around the corner. (Oh that works definitely for me I’m addicted to cafe, but why always around a corner?)
48. Snowboarding has always been a popular winter pastime. (I agree!! It is one of my favorite hobbies but I believe that skiing is a bit more common)
50. Biosphere 2 has always been trying to create a revolution in the life sciences. (But the project failed or? They couldn't create sufficiently an artificial world without any external influences.)
51. The Hubble Telescope has always been focused on new frontiers. (It is focused on new frontiers in an area without frontiers!! But the pictures are amazing and some looking partial unreal.)
54. They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly (I know from the disaster in the year 1986 and it was a bad setback for the NASA. But I think the shuttle flow or? )

Watching

My favorite view point on the campus is a window place in the café in the Davis Center. I drink nearly every day my coffee there and I love it because you have a perfect view outside and what happen around. And when the sun is shining that makes me happy. In the "rush hour" after the classes are a lot of people there and it is hard to find a place. The students and faculty meeting friends, talking, reading a book or doing their homework in the cafe. But the best time is in the early morning short after 7:00 AM. It is the time in the day which is only for me and I can relax and enjoy my coffee. I can observe how slowly the day starts, outdoor I can see the smelting ice and snow. I will go there also the next few weeks.

Changing Seasons

You can observe how the winter slowly retires, one need only open his eyes and realize it. The birds are singing louder and more brightly than a couple of weeks ago. The ice on the river is melting and from the closed snow cover are only small pices left. The sun is stronger and the air is warming up. Also the wind is not so cold as weeks ago. The days are longer and everthing start to move. The nature wakes up from the winter sleep to starts in a new season. This change is so beautiful and the colours in the springtime are amazing. Everthing starts and grows up again. You can also notice that when you are watching people - there are less caps and scarfs and the coats are not so closed till the head.

This was my impression on Wednesday and on Thursday came the snowstorm but I think it is only a little break and the change isn't to stop. The sun is raising earlier and the air is a bit warmer and when the sun is shining and I can feel the Winter is coming to an end...

...snowstorm

Springtime in Austia (Graz)

My in-group 100 years ago...

I know that my life 100 years ago was a lot harder than today. I had to do a lot of manual work and an in-group was probably a social dance club or a music club. It was an important part of our life to be in such clubs and know how to dance. It showed everyone the position in the society regardless of whether you lived in the countryside or in the city. Folk dances were an important means of communication. Whether waltz, polka or "ländler", it belonged to our social life in this time. Every time you met new people and it was the easiest way to start a conversation when the men asked the women for a dance. The other leisure activities of women were limited to working in the household and raising children.

The Austro-Hungarian-Empire - before World War 1

Viennese waltz (opera ball)

traditional Austrian folk dance - very popolar until circa 1960.

Service Learning

Now, I have no service learning projects, but in Austria I supported our neighbor’s child “Florian” last summer vacation for his reexamination in History and German.
It sounds easier than it is. He is eleven years old and for me something like my little brother. I also helped him with his homework or looked after him when his mom worked. He is the only child and has only his mom, because his dad died on a car accident four years ago. I also took care of him on weekends during the year and for him I'm not only a "teacher" or babysitter but rather a friend and contact person. He entrust me many things of his mind and his problems. And for me it is also an important experience how to deal with him. It is always also a social lesson for me too.

BOB - Blugold Organizations Bash

On last Wednesday I visited the BOB (Blugold Organization Bash) in the Council Fire Room and I was very surprised that there were so many clubs and organizations and people.
Over 100 clubs have introduced their organizations (who they are, what they do, how to join and why they were the best choice). It was really absorbing, because I had never seen such presentations before Wednesday.

There is also a big diversity of topics like: Greeks, Media, Religious Organizations, Special Interest Organizations and many others.
I talked with a lot of people from the clubs, to find the right one for me, for this semester. At first I talked with the members from the “Student Organization of Latinos”. I don’t know why but I was very interesting but not the right one for me.

The next was the “Sigma Sigma Sigma” - I would know more about this, because I here from some organizations in movies and I would know what they do and where they are. I also talked with the "Alpha Xi Delta" - to understand the difference between these two clubs.
And I talked with the members from the Bowling Club, Model United Nations Club and Unicef.

At finally I joined two clubs:
1) Two to Tango
I took it because I think it’s good to know how to dance especially on balls. I’m not a very good dancer but it’s still funny every time and a good opportunity to meet new people. So I am looking forward to the first unit tonight!!!

2) Native American Student Association (NASA)
My second club that I joined, is the Native America Student Association (NASA) , because I have a geography class called “Native American” and I think that’s a good way to learn more about the people. It’s so fascinating, because the most things that I really know of them are from movies or documentations.

Unexpected Things

What you though would happen this week?
I was very excited and nervous about my new experience in America. I hoped that my new experience would be great and I was really inquisitive to my new environment, the people and the country and also a bit scared for it, because my English isn’t on a good level.

What actually happen this week?
At first, I met my host family, they were so nice and helpful. Tom and Mary live in a beautiful big house in Rock Falls. They showed me the campus and the downtown of Eau Claire and the museum in Carson Park.
In the orientations week I got a lot of information about the university and the social life on campus. Our peer guides showed us the whole campus and the “tunnel-underground-system” between the buildings. I was really confused about that.
I also met a lot of people; all the internationals, peer guides, classmates and professors – and the all are so nice. That was a really positive surprise for me.

What do you think will happen next week?
I can’t say what will happen this week, but I hope that my English-skills will improve. I will enjoy my new experience here in Eau Claire.