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.