The Urge to Leave Salzburg

Hello there. This post is going to be a little different than the others. This is a test-situation, a blog-test-situation. Interesting. Usually in written test-situations, I'd suffer from a severe case of writer's cramp (or cr*p - depending on the topic), but this time I think I can manage. Today's blog topic is "the urge to leave Salzburg", as the title already suggests.

To give you some insight into why I sometimes have the urge to leave Salzburg, I'll have to tell you two things: First, about my personal history (can you call it history if you're not even 25 yet, I wonder?) and second about my person or rather about specific character traits that come into play here.

As I'm only 21 ysears old now, I think the fact that, all together, I have already moved seven times is pretty striking. I was born in Carinthia, lived there for only a short time, then moved to Innsbruck, Tyrol, where my parents decided to stay a little longer before moving again. The next step and this is where we finally ended up after a couple of years, was the province of Salzburg. Our first station here was St. Johann im Pongau but, interestingly enough, my parents didn't like it there either - so we moved again. But only to the other side of town. (Don't ask.) The last move my family as a whole undertook was a move from St. Johann to the beautiful village of Wagrain on the other side of the mountain. It is a lovely place; nestled in the mountains of the ski-resort Amadé it is not only a perfect place for a skiing holiday but also a perfect place to live. However, I clearly prefer one half of the year to the other in Wagrain, since I love skiing, snowboarding and pretty much anything else what one can do in winter. Before I digress too much, I'll leave you with some nice pictures of the place where my parents still live.

But this is not the end. (If you've been counting, you're surely missing three more moves.) After "enduring" about eight years of living in Wagrain, I felt the urge to leave again - this time on my own. So, when I was only 14, I decided (as fas as one is in the position to decide anything at this age) to drop out of my current school and moved to London. I won't go into further detail here on what I particularly liked about London because one of my earlier posts deals with this beautiful city. Here are a couple of photos for you:

After finishing school there, I had to move back home again but I could not stand it there. Wagrain was just too small and so I soon moved into my flat in the city of Salzburg. This was my last move, so far. But as you can see, both my parents and I are rather restless types and with this history of constant moving from one place to another in a fairly short amount of time, I clearly have difficulty in settling down properly.

This was the first part to make my "occasional" urge to leave Salzburg sound reasonable - here is the second: As the first part was about my personal history I'd now like to tell you a bit about my person. (Although you don't know my sister) I am the very opposite of her. My sister always was (and actually still is) Mommy's little girl, whereas I almost always took every opportunity to leae the "nest". From when I was five years old, I participated in weeklong children's camps (bless the poor ponies!) in the remotest places in Carinthia or Styria. When I was a little older, I became more daring and took part in all sorts of language camps in England, Switzerland and France. (I'd go anywhere as long as there were ponies.) By coincidence, I found this old photo today and I thought it'd be good to have you laugh a bit at me on a slow, fat pony back in the day.

Over the years, my interests have changed a little and I'm not as much into horses as I used to be (come on girls, we all were!) but I still feel the urge to leave home every now and then.

Along with my liking of "adventurous" trips, I do have another character trait (not as amiable as fluffy ponies) that comes into play here. I have a rather short attention span - in every aspect. And with short i mean very short. I doesn't matter if it's books, films, music or anything else. Sometimes I cannot even mangage to listen to one song all the way through (those are a tough three minutes!!) and it's the same with books. With certain books I get so annoyed that I skip the "last" 2/3rds and read the last couple of pages instead. Not as time consuming as reading every single page.

Sadly, this also holds true for people. I'm a real people person. I always need people around me - as many different people as possible. Though I live on my own, my flat looks like I share it because I almost always have someone over. But, bringin this back to the actual topic, it comes clear that I do need a lot of variety, be it places or people.

Though this revelation doesn't portray me in a particular positive light, I think it makes clear what a restless person I am. I do have to say that I love the city of Salzburg with all its old (-fashioned) places and as much as I love Wagrain, though sometimes I feel like all this "comfort of a smal town" and its ordinaryness smother me. It's not that I get fed up with Salzburg or the people living here (at least most of the time; let's not talk about the Salzburg Festival) but for my unapeasable hunger to see new places, cities, countries and to encounter many people from all over the world. Travelling is one of my favourite (and most expensive) hobbies (thank God I quit horse-riding back then), and I try to get away as soon as I can afford it again (taking money and university into account, of course.) So far I have visited about 21 countries and all continents except Australia, but I've got some interesting plans for the summer - we will see.

The last major holiday I undertook was a three-week trop around SouthEast Asia. I started out in Hong Kong, where I visited some friends, then flew to Bali, Indonesia and went back home with a three-day stop-over in Singapore. To anyone interested in shopping, surfing, partying and having a blast of a time I'd surely recommend this trip! (Be aware of the monkeys on Bali though; they are mischievous!!) Again, without some photos I am sure one couldn'd describe the beauty (and the beast, top right) of Bali and Hong Kong properly.

If you, dear readers, also feel the same about Salzburg or generally about leaving home, here are some helpful links for a comparatively cheap getaway: (if you're not saving up for a "proper" holiday somewhere far off")

Ryan Air, GermanWings, Easy Jet.

The Urge to Leave Austria – A Life Less Ordinary

I think the urge to change something in our lives or in our daily routines is a feeling familiar to most of us. At least I long for some kind of variation from time to time. Some people might feel the urge to leave their city or their country. As far as I am concerned, I feel more like leaving my everyday life behind. And this doesn’t necessarily mean leaving Salzburg or Austria.

Sometimes I get kind of sick of my ordinary life, especially when I am totally stressed out. I am stressed out when there is so much work to do for university that there is no free time left. I have to complete assignments, prepare presentations and study for exams. And somebody has to take care of all the housework in my apartment. I have no time for myself, for my hobbies or for my friends. Then, once in a while, I decide to take some time out. I simply go for a walk or I have a cup of coffee with my friends.

When I need a longer break in order to relax, I go on a short trip with my boyfriend, either by car or by motorbike – my Suzuki. We’ll take a trip into the countryside to explore the province of Salzburg, especially the Pinzgau Region – one of the five districts of this province. I like visiting sites of natural beauty there, like the Kitzlochklamm gorge near the city of Zell am See. It is a beautiful gorge where you can walk around for hours and enjoy the beautiful landscape. You can forget everything else. The same goes for the waterfalls of Krimml. These waterfalls are the highest in Europe. The immense power of the water makes everything else appear trivial. Wandering around and taking in such a wonderful spectacle is a good way to relax.

The alpine reservoir in Kaprun is another spot that is perfect for me to forget my daily routine. Surrounded by impressive dam walls there are two reservoirs at 2,000 meters above sea level. The trip to the reservoirs is quite an adventure. There are particularly powerful buses for the way up because the road is so steep. Besides, you have to use a diagonal funicular big enough to carry whole vehicles. The clear water of the reservoirs is surrounded by beautiful glaciers and mountains. This makes the view absolutely idyllic. You go hiking, visit a museum or have lunch in one of the restaurants. This means that you can have a nice day up there. Another site of natural beauty where you can have a good time as well is the Großglockner, the highest mountain in Austria. At almost 4,000 meters above sea level you can breathe in air so fresh that it’s absolutely revitalizing. There are different observation platforms offering a breathtaking view of glaciers, hills and valleys. One of the special attractions is the alpine road up this mountain, the Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße. It is the perfect road for bikers – narrow and winding. I love the feeling I have on my bike. I am free and independent. It is the ideal way to leave my everyday life behind and to provide the necessary variation – for a life less ordinary.

My family and me

I don’t know how you see it, but the longer I live on my own the harder it gets to spend more than two days with my family - without freaking out, that is. It’s not that we don’t get along or anything, but all that talking, sharing and constantly being around people who know you best and don’t hesitate to offer unsolicited advice, can only be endured for so long.
When I’m in Salzburg I’m essentially a grown-up, my own person, and I do whatever I want. However, the moment I get back home I feel like I have to be a kid again.

The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective. ~Robert Brault

I guess it also depends on the kind of family you grew up in. In my case, it’s Italian. When we think of the typical Italian family, we usually think big, loud and crazy. Italians love family gatherings and they are constantly in each other's business. Unfortunately, this is true.
My father, sister and I usually stick out like a sore thumb. It seems we are the only ones that somehow “dodged” the Italian gene altogether.

Every year the entire family on my father’s side (roughly 55 people) meet up around Whitsun in Cattolica, Italy. Some stay for only a couple of days, others for as long as a month. Anyway, we usually have three “joyful” days where everyone is here at the same time. Let me tell you, the hotel we are all staying at gets pretty crowded. The only piece and quiet I get is the time I spend in the bathroom and even that turns out to be a challenge with three siblings sharing one room. This year it was even worse, because for the first time it rained all the freakin’ time. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them.
~George Bernard Shaw

But what do we do there? Well, basically we eat and drink, we drink and eat and then we eat and drink some more. Meanwhile everybody talks (some might say we bicker and argue, but that’s just the Italian temperament for you) at once, all the time. Valium is a must-have, although alcohol does the trick too.

Since Cattolica is one of those typical Italian tourist cities, the women spend most of their time shopping. I tagged along once – trying to escape my grandfather’s fascinating story about how he's managed to live so long and my grandma’s Rosamunde Pilcheresque tale about how she should have married someone entirely different, namely the most handsome man in town – but I soon regretted it. They get into this weird shopping frenzy and let me tell you they take no prisoners. It’s like a pack of wild animals rampaging through every shop in sight. On Saturdays there is a market, mainly for locals, where you can get special deals on clothes, shoes and what not. They get up at 7 in the morning and then spend about 7 to 8 hours scavenging and fighting for “special deals”. It’s actually fun to watch but you shouldn’t get in their way, though.

If minutes were kept of family gatherings, they would show that "Members not Present" and "Subjects Discussed" were one and the same. ~Robert Brault

Obviously, it gets hard to keep up the appearance for such a long time. My sister, for instance, is a vegetarian, which would be a disaster if it came out. Well, not exactly a disaster, but everyone would try to convert her again and show her the right path. It’s easier and definitely less nerve-wracking to lie a little now and then. My brother, 26 years old, is a smoker and still has to hide that from everyone (sorry Chris, the secret’s out). He isn’t alone though. One third of the family are secret smokers. Usually the men hide it from the women. "A closed mouth catches no flies" as the Italians like to say.
Personally I find it hardest to avoid all the little kids. Just because I was always rather dedicated to my studies in high school and usually avoid getting into family arguments, most think I’m the perfect Kindergarten teacher. Well, the kids don’t and after an hour or two they usually remember from last year that I don’t play nice . It’s not that I’m mean on purose, but these kids nowadays have no manners. It definitely wasn’t like that when I was little. I’m fully aware of the irony here and that I sound like one of my older relatives, thank you very much.

You might say “well, it’s only once a year”, and you are absolutely right. We meet once a year in Italy before summer, but then again in Tyrol in November. Having the entire family stay in a little hotel out in the middle of nowhere is even worse, believe me. Also, let’s not forget the big birthday parties (I swear we have a decadal birthday twice a year), the barbecues, Sunday dinners and all the other lovely holiday celebrations.

All people are your relatives, therefore expect only trouble from them. ~Chinese proverb

Of course it’s not all bad, and I love my family, just in case you had any doubts. The reason why we work as a family is because we don’t take all the bickering and arguing too seriously. It’s all in good humor and I’m grateful for my family, this big social network spread all over Austria. Although we do have our fair share of problems, we still can always rely on each other. It’s just that it’s really hard sometimes to go from living alone to the insanity of being crammed into one place with people that have known you since you were little…..and love to tell the tale, too. There is nothing more “fun” than digging up old family stories and serving them up with a healthy dose of public humiliation in the private circle of your family. In ours everyone gets his/ her fair share.

Do you have a big family and can you understand what I’m talking about? Do the quotes apply to your family as well?

A Guide to University Life: Step 3: University Classes

As I mentioned in my last posts, at university you are entering a completely new period of your life. You have to get used to new organizational practices and you have lots of vacations. Another special feature of university is the number of different classes you can take.

At school, you have the same subjects several times a week, and each lesson lasts 50 minutes. There you are exposed to mainly one kind of class: teacher-centered teaching. This means that the teacher introduces one topic after another and offers explanations and illustrations. Then, you do exercises and participate actively. These classes involve homework, classroom participation and regular exams. They form the basis for your final grade. In school, there are only a few subjects without written tests, like art, PE or manual training. And in school, daily attendance is an unavoidable necessity.

At university, in contrast, you attend each class only once a week, but for a length of 90 minutes. Besides, you can choose from a number of different kinds of classes. This means that there are several categories of university classes. And each category has a particular token. You will see that the academic subjects carry short labels in addition to their individual titles. They determine the type of class and tell you how time-consuming they will be. Normally, the labels also point to the kind of examination you will have – whether you have to do tests, give presentations or write papers. To make this labeling system even more complex, the tokens vary from university department to department. In the beginning, you will be wondering why these labels are necessary altogether. Is the only aim to confuse you? In this case the answer is no. There is a particular reason for the labels. They tell you about the amount of credits you get for each subject. For classes with the same labels you will get the same amount of credits.

So far, so good. Let me give you some examples to underline my point. In English Studies at the University of Salzburg you can take courses like VO, PS, UE and SE, which you can look up in the curriculum of the English Department. The abbreviation VO stands for a lecture course. It is often an introductory class with a more general topic, like an introduction to English and American literature. You will notice that such a course is most different from school lessons. The professor is reciting his or her topic and is mainly the only one who does the talking. You don’t have to attend each week mandatorily. This means that you can be absent any time you like. However, bear in mind that you need to get hold of the lecture notes anyhow. Nobody will check your attendance, but you have to be sure to pick up the subject matter on your own. Generally, these courses aren’t very time-consuming because you won’t have to do a lot of tasks during the term. You need to do some reading at the most. A special characteristic is that you will be assessed on one single end-term exam. There are mostly written exams and only a few oral ones. You either take it at the end of the term or at the beginning of the next one. Mostly, you will even have the possibility of a third examination date. This means that if you fail the exam on one date, you can try it again on the next. So your final grade exclusively depends on the one end-term exam. And it is rather unlikely to improve this grade … or to deteriorate it.

If you take a look at the other courses, proseminars (PS) and tutorial lessons (UE), you will recognize that they are very similar to each other and that there aren’t many differences to school subjects. You have to be present regularly, so that you are allowed to miss only twice. Otherwise you fail the class. You have to hand in weekly assignments; you have to give a presentation on a chosen issue and write an academic paper. Alternatively, there is an exam, or even two. One positive aspect is that you receive more credits for proseminars and tutorial lessons than for lecture courses. Another advantage is that you have more possibilities of participating and so it can be more interesting. It depends, of course, on how enthusiastic you are about participating … Since all those tasks mentioned above contribute to your final grade, your assessment doesn’t depend on one single exam. Consequently, you have various opportunities to show your skills to the professor. However, you have to do a lot of regular work.

Last, you can take seminars (SE) which are the most challenging classes in English. Because by the time you are allowed to do these classes, you are already well advanced in your studies. So you have to show perfectly sophisticated skills. You either deal with specific topics of a language phenomenon or with particular aspects of a certain literary period or author. You have to hand in regular homework and you have to read a lot of texts or books. Then, your professor expects highly intelligent remarks on the reading material in every lesson. Besides, you choose one topic or aspect of the term schedule which you present in class and you have to hand in a proper academic paper with at least 20 pages. This means that you will be stuck with having to do a lot of work just for this course: you have to contribute a lot, do a good presentation and write a sophisticated paper. All this makes such courses very challenging.

In order to show you the varying class types or labels within the university itself I want to refer to the Department of Sociology. There are lecture courses just like in English. The aim is again to provide you with a more general knowledge about overall sociological phenomena. Then, there are special classes, labeled KU. There you get to know more details about the topics of lecture courses. Normally, they are very similar to proseminars of the English Department because you have to attend and participate regularly and you have to do assignments, presentations or tests. However, such classes are more practical than those at the English Department. You take, for example, classes on statistics where you will learn how to calculate with and interpret numerical data of surveys.

Next, you can take a kind of practical course (PK) which offers a huge amount of practice-orientation. It is basically like working in a real job. You have to fulfill realistic tasks, such as carrying out surveys. With the assistance of university professors you meet clients, you design the questionnaire and you do the interviews as well as the whole interpretational work. Such classes last about four hours a week. So the workload will be immense, but you receive lots of credits. And these lessons provide a valuable variation to all the theoretical classes you mostly have at university.

Last, there are seminars (SE) again. You have to be present regularly, you have to give a presentation on a chosen issue and you need to write a paper. Classes often deal with topics of special sociological fields like Sociology of Tourism or Criminal Sociology, offering interesting insights into their individual characteristics. The only difference to English seminars is that they aren’t the most challenging classes in Sociology. These are the above mentioned practical classes.

So you see that university is full of variation. The different types of subjects allow you a diversified class schedule. You can choose among differing degrees of workload and specialization. It will help you to keep the effort balanced, which can be an important factor for your success in your studies.

Miss Independent… (not Kelly Clarkson)

I suppose part of the beauty of student life and what appeals to us, is the independence that comes with it. I know lots of people, who never really had much freedom while being in secondary school because their parents were quite strict and that includes many of my closer friends. I remember the frustration when they had to cancel on me because they were not allowed to go out and I also remember how excited they were when they talked about life after secondary school a.k.a. life away from home.

I’ll elaborate just a little on this because you should know that I am originally from Luxemburg and have double citizenship since my dad is Luxemburgish and my mum is Austrian. I finished my high school education in Luxemburg but it was clear from the start that I would not get my university degree there too. It’s not because Luxemburgish students are so capricious that they absolutely need to leave the country as soon as they graduate, it’s because there is only one university in Luxemburg and it was founded in 2003. As to organizational issues and the like, you can do the math. No one in their right mind would want to study there, or so I’ve been told.

With the situation being as it is, many students take the opportunity and leave the country as soon as possible and also try to get as far away as possible, which probably goes without saying. My best friend for example studies at the University of Montpellier in the south of France. That’s pretty far away from home, about 1000km. It’s not a trip you take every other weekend and it’s not a trip your parents regularly take, not even to check up on you as often as they can. The newfound independence is of course lovely and I would never begrudge anyone their luck to ‘get away’. Most of my friends were happy not to be controlled as much anymore and enjoyed not having to answer to anyone. I sometimes had and still have trouble relating because I never had these problems with my parents.

It’s true that I also left Luxemburg but I did because I wanted better education and also to be away for a while. I am saying ‘for a while’ on purpose because very few people leave Luxemburg for good and I definitely intend to go back. My parents also moved to Austria simply because my dad has retired by now and it’s my mum’s home. They both love it in Austria and while I am studying in Salzburg, they live a bit more than an hour away and close to the big skiing areas Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Zell am See and Kaprun/Kitzsteinhorn. I remember my friends being not-quite-but-close to gobsmacked when I told them that my parents lived that close to me, but then again I never had any problems with my parents to begin with.

I know this was quite a long intro to what I was getting. The thing is, studying abroad can be scary. At least it seems to me. I suppose it depends if you go abroad privately or if you participate in an exchange program. Being in a foreign country with a program such as Erasmus, AIFS or Bowling Green obviously gives you more security because you have coordinators and advisors to help you in case there are problems. You have to keep in mind though, that it isn’t the cheapest option when you consider the different expenses. According to some of the people from Bowling Green State University I met, a semester here in Salzburg costs up to 9000€ just to give you an idea. I am not an expert on the matter but it probably won’t be much cheaper the other way around with you spending a semester at BGSU.

All this was just to give you a general idea because I didn’t come to Austria with a program like the ones I mentioned above. I can’t rely on coordinators to sort things out for me when there are problems with admin or some such thing. The same goes for living expenses: I pay rent and do not have a ‘room and board’ option, where you can have three 'free' meals a day and a 'free' room. This means I might not pay as much money ecause I spend money on food as I go and as I need it, but I also have more bureaucratic business to take care of which can be annoying despite apparent ‘inter-governmental agreements’, that are supposed to make life easier but end up doing the opposite more often than not.

On top of that, one or the other mishap just happens every once in a while, even though I am not a klutz or even majorly accident-prone. In my first semester I fell down the stairs at university and was happy to just know that my parents were only a phone call and a one-hour-drive away in case I needed them. During the last week of Easter holidays, I had a more severe skiing accident and I probably would have gone into hysterics if I would have been all alone in a country far away from home. If you consider that Luxemburg is ‘only’ an eight-hour-drive away, things don’t seem so bad, but if you need immediate medical care or attention like I did and you have no one else but yourself to rely on, things can become frightening.

For me it’s also not only worrying about being on your own, even though that’s the biggest part, but it’s also the “smaller” things like insurance. My dad’s insurance covers mine because I am still under the age of 26 and don’t work. However my dad’s insurance is in Luxemburg and bureaucracy on Austrian and Luxemburgish sides makes things very tedious at times. When you have to take care of yourself and of this kind of paper work, stress is not far away, which in turn is not going to help you recouping. Plus, it’s also nice to be coddled when you feel bad after an accident and believe me I know what I’m talking about.

I also suppose not everyone is going to agree with me because if you never were in the situation I am in now, you obviously have a different point of view. I understand that because I also thought like that: “(Skiing)Accidents? Yeah right!” Not so long ago, I just tended to shake my head when new reports of even more skiing accidents were broadcasted. I am aware that that sounds horrible but the winter season is long and when you live close to these areas you are confronted with it literally every single day. You also tend to think that you’re above accidents because you’re a local and know how to ski without breaking every bone in your body, thank you very much. And now I know better. It can happen in the blink of an eye, and one moment of unawareness is sometimes all it takes for you to end up in pretty bad shape.

And if it does, if you’re looking at months full of follow-up appointments, being on your own is not all what it’s cracked up to be. I suppose I was lucky because if there is one advantage of living in a skiing-cum-tourist region where everything is ridiculously overpriced, it is that highly qualified and certified medical staff is remotely close by. But who drives you to appointments when you are high on pain killers and aren’t allowed behind the wheel? What do you do when public transport is close to non-existent and cabs are too expensive? How do you cope when you have to be put on a special diet and there are limitations to taking proper care of yourself? It’s all these things you never really think about until you are in that exact situation.

I know I painted a very negative picture but it seems that people sometimes tend to forget that accidents can happen extremely quickly. Of course, you can also be run over by a car while crossing the street, just to quote this old stereotype. However, that doesn’t erase the fact that independence is wonderful and liberating but also a double-edged sword. All in all I can say that I like studying abroad and it’s an opportunity everyone should grasp when the occasion arises. Just make sure you cover all your bases and take the right precautions. I can only advise you to take care of important issues such as insurance and health care well ahead of time just to be on the safe side.

If you plan on going abroad, stay safe and make sure you come back in one piece :)

Yours Truly,
Michelle

Dark Roasted

Everything around me was dark; I could only see a dim light banning its way through a thoroughly covered window at the other end of the room. It was gloomy around me and the monotonous voice coming from the darkest spot of the room had a great similarity to my favorite lullaby. In front of me I could see a bunch of letters and words which changed their positions on a big white screen at approximately 2-minute intervals. The person next to me was already in a whole nother world – at least it seemed so, because her head was smoothly placed on the table and her eyes were closed. I could also hardly keep my eyes open and I have never in my life experienced a greater need for a revitalizing coffee. (Cross my heart!)

Although the scenario described above bears a striking resemblance to George Orwell’s 1984, this is what students regularly experience when once again one of their fellow students tries his luck with a PowerPoint presentation (PPP). No offense, I totally get the fact, that not everyone is a born rhetorical genius, but at university level everyone should at least be able to deal with the basics of conducting a not all too boring presentation.

It begins in the 7^th or 8^th grade, when you’re asked to do a presentation for the very first time in your life. Usually this is in one of your scientific classes like Biology, or Geography (I did my first on dogs). At this point your teacher will most probably hand out a complete list of Dos and Don’ts on how to do a good presentation, like DON’T READ or DON’T STARE OFF INTO SPACE (if not try Presentations for Dummies). So why not simply stick to these rules? I just can’t listen to someone who never looks at me or seems to be reading out Hamlet’s soliloquy without any sense of intonation, never averting his eyes from the excessively long sheet of keywords in front of him. From secondary school onwards students prepare and give presentations on a regular basis. Most likely you will also have the privilege of taking part in at least 5 rhetorics seminars in your school days, where again and again (and again) people try to teach you how to speak in front of an audience. So the procedure shouldn’t be all that unfamiliar by the time you get to university.

The technological revolutions of the 20^th century haven’t really solved the problem of having to endure bad presentations – and they seem to have made them worse. Since PP has entered this world people often seem to rely on their virtual friend far too much. Not only do they hope to have their overloaded PPP speak for themselves, they also try to include every single function the tool offers into their presentation. Honestly, it isn’t necessary to have every point on a slide appear line by line, whirling in from different sides and afterwards fading away. It also gets kind of annoying to listen to someone who constantly has to click his mouse until all 10 points of information are finally on the screen. Although this gets really interesting when someone from the audience asks if he or she could see the previous slide again and the poor “clicker” at the speaker’s desk needs to click all the way back and forth once again. (Never tried it? - It’s definitely worth it.)

Another thing that makes me aggressive while listening to a presentation is when people try to spice up their PPPs with unnecessary clip art. I mean, take the case of the all too well known Microsoft Office classic (illustrated below):

Especially in companies where presenters often try to offer solutions to certain problems in their company they tend to include this particular piece of clip art in one of their slides as an attempt to represent pictorially the “aha experience” of their ideas coming to the rescue (seriously, not working). Students seem to walk right into the same trap. Admittedly, the little man with the pointing finger and the light bulb above his head looked kind of charming the first time I saw him, but I get embarrassed at the mere sight of him in a presentation. I can’t help it. It’s like Pavlovian conditioning. So whenever this appearance makes me start from my half-sleep, I seriously lose my nerve. The same goes for pre-made PP designs, although I regularly catch myself starting to use them too. It isn’t really a problem when you are the first presenter in a new semester, but after seeing PP slides with the same design three times in a row, it gets annoying.

So what’s the point of this blog post you might ask? Well. No, I can’t help you to become a better presenter, nor can I offer you an introduction course to the not yet entirely explored depths of PowerPoint. Still, there is one thing I would ask you to do (for my sake and that of your fellow students): the next time you confront us with one of your PPPs, just be so kind and go over your 7th-grade teacher’s list of Dos and Don’ts beforehand.

Insight # 1 Kids Rock. Duh.

Reader, I think it’s time to tell you some stories about my monster years. They say that once you've been an Au-Pair there are only two ways you can go: you are either traumatized and never ever want kids of your own or you simply loved it and are much more at ease about having some monsters of your own later in life. Three guesses ... which type am I?

Footprints
I think first a little (boring) history is in order. Bear with me. I have been a nanny or Au-Pair for a good five years and I’ve worked for five different families. I love “my” kids, all ten of them, to bits and I’m still in touch with them all. They are strewn across four countries on two continents.

My first family lived in Madrid, Spain. The dad was German and the mom Spanish so they wanted someone to speak German to their two children. The two chicos, Isabel and Javier, then one and three years old, were by far the most challenging as Isabel took over a month to accept me and to start speaking German to me. That time was also the most challenging culturally. I spoke no Spanish when I first got to Madrid and had to come to terms with the ways of an upper-class Spanish family. Not eating dinner in the dining room with the family, for instance, but in the kitchen with the maid was a first for me. This didn’t mean that the family didn’t like me or was snobbish. It was just the way things worked in their household.

Next I went to Scotland. Quite the change of scenery! I stayed with a young family on their organic farm near Edinburgh and looked after their two kids Wren (then ten months) and Casper (two years). You shouldn’t pick favorites. But the Cadells are pretty high up there. The parents were yet another mixed-nationality couple (come to think of it, four out of five sets of parents were international … interesting, I have to think about that some more), her from Georgia in the US and him from Scotland. There are always certain things you take on board when you work for a family, ideas on how you want to or really don’t want to raise your own children, techniques for surviving a Bob the Builder marathon on TV, recipes etc When I left Scotland I felt the urge to write everything those parents had taught me about raising sweet, happy, good kids down for future reference, but I figured I would never forget it anyway.


In the summer of 2007 I went to Australia where I looked after Danielle and Erin, then eight and six years old. They were the daughters of the only non-international couple I worked for. But they had their own interesting story. They were an American family who had moved down to Australia for three years because of the parents’ jobs. It was a pleasure to watch the girls settle in (they had just arrived when I started working for them) and make new friends in a country so far away. It was very cute to listen to their accents change.


When I decided to move to Salzburg for college, the first thing I did was reactivate my profile on the online Au-Pair site I had been using to find my families in the different countries. Soon I got a call from Hege, a Norwegian opera singer who was married to an Austrian actor. That’s how I started looking after little Albert, then three. I was Albert’s nanny for two years and I was with him so much that he started calling me “Mama” after a while, which was an intense experience.
When my little Albert moved to Vienna with his mom and dad, a family friend of theirs asked me if I wanted to start working for them. Even though I had planned for Albert to be my last nannying job, I eventually agreed. And that’s how I started looking after my current three monsters here in Salzburg!

End of history lesson. :)



Being a live-in Au-Pair vs being a nanny
Twice (in Spain and Scotland) I was a live-in Au-Pair, which means I had my own room in the family’s house, stayed with them permanently, ate with them, just lived the day-to-day family life with them. This had its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of this was my daily commute to work in the morning – or lack thereof. It involved walking down a hallway and opening a door. (But work usually commuted to me and jumped on my bed until I got up and/or threatened to strangle it.) The big disadvantage for live-ins is that they never really stop working. You can’t refuse to play a round of Candyland (or seven) just because it’s past 5 pm. That’s not how monsters roll.
As a live-in, you get attached to the little guys even quicker which is wonderful, but also heart-wrenching when you eventually have to leave. I recall a particularly hard good-bye. Leaving the farm and the kids in Scotland was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Having my little guy Casper crying and screaming my name in the farm yard as I tried to put my suitcases in the back of his dad’s truck really broke my heart.

With the monsters now I’m basically on call. I have certain days of the week when I’m always there, especially when there are a lot of extra-curricular activities going on that they have to be taken to or picked up from. The rest of the week I just have to be flexible and so do the parents. The monsters’ mom can call me whenever she needs me, but she usually has a back-up plan in case I’m not available.

monsters 1, 2 and 3 :)

I love being a nanny. Especially when …
… a monster smacks their lips at dinner and says “exquisite” with a French accent and a mouthful of pasta alla yours truly
… a monster, aged four, starts shaking her booty and singing to a German pop song playing on the radio in the kitchen, telling you to join in
… a monster asks you to cuddle with them because you “feel so soft”
… a monster yells “get off of my cloud” after you tried to reprimand it with a “hey, you”

But not so much when …
… a monster throws an I want a cookie/to watch TV/to mash all the play-doh into one big brown ball NOW tantrum
… a recently potty-trained monster suddenly sits very still and gets that look in their eyes and then says “… uh-oh”
… a monster tells you that they hate you and want their mommy NOW
… a monster finishes your sentence with a loud and hearty “HELL” when you were just able to stop yourself at “what the –“

So that's the story! Join me again soon for more ... also, I am collecting a few lip-smackingly scrumptious, monster/student approved recipes for you! Any requests? Drop me a line or two in the comment box.

Oh and this one is for you, Red Shoes:

me and Wren, 2006
:)

"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life;

- for there is in London all that life can afford."— Samuel Johnson

Why this quote you might ask. Why London? Have you ever been there? If not it’s definitely worth a visit. Its sheer geographical size and a population of nearly 8 million people of many different ethnicities, London is not only the largest city in Europe but also a place where a staggering amount of creativity is produced: fashion, architecture, music (just think of all the Britpop/Rock!), art and much more. A lot of people with a lot of ideas encounter and influence each other every day, and the openness and individuality one finds in larger cities are just two factors that London is such a “buzzing” city (“swinging” is soo 60s – for London is constantly changing). There is so much happening in this city; no matter where or when (who said Sunday was a day of rest, anyway?!) you are sure to find what satisfies your flights of fancy anytime.

Still not an answer to my question, you might think. What does this have to do with shoes? You are quite right – here it is: I am a huge fan of London. Not only did I live there for a couple of years but I also try to go “back home” at least once every six months. But more importantly, as one can imagine, Londoners with all their creativity and individuality also use their shoes to express these values. The Easter break was a good opportunity for another visit – so we (my bf and me) jumped onto the first plane Friday morning and off we were to one of my most favorite places in the world. On a purely research-based journey of course, besides the little bit of shopping.*cough*

But back to the actual topic. In London it’s pretty tough to avoid “cool” people. The plan was to catch some of these cool people and take pictures of their extraordinary, fascinating or just “plain cool” shoes. The sheer amount of people passing you in the streets, in shops, bars, clubs etc. is incredible – you’ll find anything you can think of. Guys in pointy shoes, fake pink fur coats (topless underneath) and tight jeans that surely must be doing some damage somewhere. There is also a huge trend toward all sorts of revival-fashion: neon colors, leggings, bright hair colors, jeans jackets etc. I dare say that it is true – if you can’t find it in London, you won’t find it anywhere else in the world. The most prominent shoes we saw were Converse All Stars, Nike and Adidas trainers but also boots and, as mentioned above, really pointy shoes.

With the girls we also saw some very interesting outfits: to get one thing clear right away, there seemed to be three predominant types of shoes. First, high-heels. No joke, there were so many girls out on the street (any time of day really) wearing some really nice high-heels. I’d hate myself if I had chosen a pair of my stilettos to walk around London the whole day, but these girls didn’t seem to mind it. The second group is made up of the different trainers. Prominent examples are the Nike Air Morgans or the Adidas Top Ten Hi, all in neon colors of course. (editor’s note: I bought a pair of those…each.) The last group of footwear worth-mentioning is somewhat typical for England: Wellies! Wherever you look, you are sure to spot some Wellies. They come in all sorts of colors and with different patterns and the girls I saw didn’t seem to think of Wellies as being a “fashion-no-go”. They wore them with jeans, dresses, short skirts, anything really. And they all looked fab.

Anyway, for today I’d like to look into the people behind their trainers. To me, people wearing trainers seem cool and with cool I do not mean trendy or fashionable. I rather mean accessible cool, down-to-earth cool, cool in a pretty uncomplicated way. You find these people everywhere; at Uni, in the city, in bars and clubs at night etc. They are always on the move – they know what’s happening where and when. These people are probably just like their shoes – flexible, fun and ready for anything. This sounds stereotypical. True. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. You’ll also find people wearing trainers because they just don’t care. Trainers, at least around Salzburg, are the perfect type of shoe to wear all year long, so why bother wearing anything else if this one pair you own works for all seasons and any kind of weather? The choice is really up to you. The people I took photos of in London all seemed to fit the first group rather than the second. They all seemed pretty much down-to-earth (considering the different places we found them – on the street, in a rather posh club, in a bar) and were very kind when asked to pose for the photos. One feature they all shared and which set them apart from the people wearing trainers for the sake of convenience was the color of their shoes. Neon or sparkling metallic colors really brighten up the greyest day or the darkest (as in not sufficiently lit, just to make sure) club. In contrast to their easy-going side, I am pretty sure these people also have crazy, wild side. The best example is the guy wearing the shoes with wings attached to them.

First of all, this reminds me of the Greek messenger-god Hermes with his winged sandals. The wings, along with the sort of psychedelic artwork, not only perfectly complimented the guy’s outfit but also emphasized his crazy character: he was dancing like a maniac, laughing hysterically and soon set fire to the whole crowd in the club. He was on drugs, you might think. That could have been a reason for his behavior, yes, but it would still be fitting of his psychedelic shoes. I do think such shoes only suit certain people; people have to embody what the shoes convey. Think about it, would you wear such shoes? Would they fit with who you are? I would feel rather stupid or like a clown if I was wearing such shoes. Anyway, this was a brief look at the people behind their trainers, at least of those I found particularly interesting. To finish off I'd like to share with you some more photos of extraordinary shoes:

With a little help from my friends

Or to be more precise, from one of my professors, I got by and was able to write a (hopefully convincing enough) letter of purpose. The letter of purpose is the first and probably most important application document that people, usually the coordinator, will look at. Like I mentioned in my last post, you give your reasons for choosing that specific university and explain your academic goals. But that’s not everything. Selling yourself is equally important, even though you should always try to relate this back to the university, your academic goals, etc.

Now, what should you have done up to the point where you start writing your letter of purpose (for the sake of space, I'll just refer to it as LoP in the future.) You should have chosen one (or preferably more) universities you are interested in, established contact with the coordinator (and had a meeting), and consequently come up with a mental list of reasons (or literally written down) for your choice of university. Before you get started with this, let me share some of my wisdom. Having your CV in front of you (more on that in one of my next posts), can be very helpful. In your LoP, you should manage to combine your sparkling personality traits with your life achievements and relate them to your chosen university, courses that the university offers, your general academic goals, and why this particular university would actually benefit from having you there. Don’t forget to mention why you would like to study abroad at that particular time in your academic career, either. You might even want to mention something about it having a link to your dissertation (even if that won’t happen for another couple of semesters). In the end, your LoP should clearly show that you are a very (hopefully even the) most desirable candidate for your chosen university. As I’ve mentioned above, I had a little (or a lot) of help from one of my professors. Since not everyone out there will have that possibility, I’ll try to share as much of what I’ve learned during that time to make it easier for my fellow sufferers.

So far it seems simple enough. The first problem you’ll come across before starting to write is the question: how and where do I start? The introduction of the LoP is definitely the hardest part. So in order not to completely freak out after half an hour and maybe one written sentence, do what I did: do not start with the introduction. After a slight obsession with my two picks, I knew exactly why I wanted to go to these particular universities. So it wasn’t too hard to start there. Some of the points I mentioned in my LoP were the reputation of the universities, their locations (e.g. close to the ocean), special science labs, to name but a few. Not to lose sight of the big picture here: this was only one paragraph of my LoP. In the end I had about 1,000 words, just so you know. And from what I can see now while writing this blog post, it’ll probably end up being about the same length.

Well, now how do you continue? To guide you through all the things you have to consider, I’ll state a few questions that my professor asked me at the beginning of this (sometimes torturous) writing procedure:

· Why did you choose XYZ university in academic terms? Which courses do you intend to take? What reputation does XYZ have? What are their specialist research areas? Link this to your own research/interests.
· Social aspect: Consider what you find appealing about campus life, societies (e.g. international societies), etc.
· What can you offer them? Mention your traveling experience, independence, maturity, problem solving skills, previous job experience, etc.

My LoP was more or less arranged in these three sections. After a more general introduction where I referred to my traveling experience and why I am studying English (apart from my second major in a natural science), the second paragraph was about the particular university, how I came to know about it, what I do know about it (e.g. about its societies, special courses and science labs), and what fascinates me about it (campus, libraries, location, reputation). Then I moved on to my academic goals. I wrote (and here I quote from my first draft, i.e. still unrevised) “[m]y academic goals include the complete mastery of the English language”. There were worries after this statement that I actually wanted to conquer the world or something like that, so I decided to revise it. Just to make it clear: I do not want to conquer the world... yet.

In the last part of my LoP, I concentrated on “selling” myself. That means I referred to my work (hence the advice with the CV) and travel experience. By pointing out the most important lessons I’ve learned from these experiences, I could show how they helped me become an independent and mature person who is adept at solving problems (and who one day will “take over the world”). In this section you could also mention some of your extra-curricular activities, e.g. if you play in a brass band (FYI, I don’t do that), volunteer for the Red Cross, or if you are a tutor. This would answer the last questions I mentioned above, about what you can offer the university.

After answering the questions, you’ll still have to come up with a good conclusion (and of course introduction). In the conclusion you should just emphasize again why you would benefit from a particular university and how that university could also benefit from you – it’s always a give and take, isn’t it? And definitely give it to someone else (e.g. a friend or colleague) to read before you submit it. This person will hopefully think it's coherent and logical. Don’t forget to proof-read it, either. Remember that Word can check spelling and grammar; and even though you shouldn’t completely rely on this feature, it can be very helpful.)

That’s it for now after, as I predicted, about 1,000 words.

Yours truly,

Lemon

Greek Life: Salzburg Style

Q: Are there any fraternities or sororities in Salzburg? A: Kind of…

Joining a fraternity or sorority is what some consider a HUGE part of ones college experience in the United States. There are many positive sides to going Greek, as there are negative sides. The positive sides include: close friendships, community work, fundraisers, etc . . ., whereby the negative sides include: excessive drinking, failing courses due to ridiculous mounts of drinking, life-threatening accidents, etc . . .. Most people tend to associate fraternities and sororities with massive outlandish parties depicted in American movies (American Pie’s Beta House, The House Bunny, Animal House, Old School, etc . . .) and television (GREEK, MTv's Fraternity Life, etc . . .). Salzburg however, does not have anything to offer that resembles the Greek System in the States. In fact, no university in Austria offers anything close to one.

So how does Salzburg kind of have a fraternity/sorority system?

Salzburg has what are known as “Studenten Verbindungen”, loosely translated as “Student Societies” but are considered as the closest thing to a “fraternity/sorority”. The fraternities and sorority (there is only one)in Salzburg take on a different approach than the American ones; they have a religious (Catholic/Christian) and political infrastructure, which the American ones don’t have.

The main Fraternities and Sorority consist of:

K.ö.St.V Almgau

K.S.M.M.V Erentrudis (sorority)

K.S.H.V Lodronia

K.ö.H.V Rupertina

K.ö.H.V. Rheno Juvavia

The History of these fraternities and sorority is long and complicated and I wouldn’t be able to begin to explain how they work. [It has been my experience that very few of the actual members of these “Verbindungen” can explain the history themselves].

Here are all the terms one needs to learn if they join a fraternity or sorority in Salzburg:

English Version

German Version

What kind of a role do these fraternities and sorority have in Salzburg?

There are a few answers to this question: 1. None. They are a waste of time and just an excuse for people to act like they’re in kindergarten all over again and drink ridiculous amounts of alcohol (mainly beer). There is a plus side however, one can meet a lot of people, but that’s about it. 2. They offer a sense of “belonging”; literally anyone who is Austrian [unfortunately that is a key requirement, one cannot join without Austrian citizenship] and wants to join can do so. 3. They are a source of entertainment. When members of the different fraternities and sorority are dressed in their, "wichs”- a term used for the formal wear for formal representation of the "Student Society" (which includes a sword), they are definitely eye catching!

What does a fraternity/sorority structure in Salzburg look like?

When one signs the “member agreement” when joining a fraternity or sorority, one is signing away their soul and pledging allegiance to the four pillars, the heart of the fraternity/sorority. The four pillars are:

Religio—one must be of Roman-Catholic belief (rather, one can claim to be of Catholic belief for the sake of joining)

Amicitia—one must put value in life-long friendship

Scientia—one must put value into their studies whether still in highschool or studying at university

Patria—one must be Austrian

Next, one has to choose a “couleur” name, which is a code/nickname. The name can be completely random or meaningful, whatever one wishes.

Then there is a ceremony for the new “Fux”—term used for a new pledge.

[Fux: is a play on words for the German word for fox, Fuchs.]

During the ceremony the new pledge declares who they want their “LeibMädchen” or “LeibBursch" (a term used for “Big Sister” or “brother”) and then after chugging a half litre of beer they are the newest member. [Sounds just pleasant! Please note the sarcasm!]

The time needed to turn from a pledge into a brother or sister tends to take a while, on average it’s about 2-3 semesters.

Misconceptions:

There are many misconceptions about “studenten verbindungen” in not just Salzburg but in all of Austria and Germany, which has to do with the fact that they normally have a negative connotation due to brotherhoods (separate from the normal fraternities/sororities) called, “Burschenschaften” a.k.a “Schlagende Verbindungen” or “fighting/fencing societies”. These are fraternities with a Neo-Nazi view and tend to be very conservative in their political viewpoints. [In my opinion they are frightening really, but Salzburg not only has fraternities and the sorority, they have a brotherhood as well sadly, called, Burschenschaft Germania zur Salzburg.]

Personal Experience:

Back in the day, in 2006, when I was more or less a loner, a complete outsider in Salzburg, and I had no friends to call my own, an acquaintance of mine was able to convince me to join her sorority. I often feel like I want to kick myself in the head for ever having agreed to it. But at the time I was told I would meet a lot of new people and make a lot of friends, something I was in no position to refuse. I do dare say that I did meet A LOT of new people, and thought that I had made some friends for life- but I was eighteen years old at the time and naïve in that respect. I must say that I have not been involved in the sorority for over 2 ½ years now and the fact that I ever joined still haunts me.

However, a few things I am grateful for due to the sorority are: a few friendships that have lasted, having learned and being able to sing the "Gaudeamus Igitur”, and the knowledge that the fraternities/sorority in Salzburg aren’t all that bad. I do not wish to give the impression that the fraternities and sororities are awful and that no one should join them. They do have their upsides; everyone tends to have a different experience. For example: some people actually do find friends for life. [These are normally either very low-key, introverted members, or high maintenance members who get mixed up in or create unimaginable amounts of drama!]

I would not recommend joining a fraternity/sorority in Salzburg, (Although, I can’t speak for the fraternities) but I would recommend visiting one just to see what it’s like!

A last word for this post, deconstructing the inner webs of a fraternity/sorority here in Salzburg is like deconstructing the brain of a crazy person. No one really knows what’s going on.

TTFN- Ta Ta For Now