Not dead, just swamped

This is just a little note that I haven't abandoned my blog, I'm just trying to finish up the law review competition. We went to Passau, Germany and Budapest this past week, and both were great (Budapest was AMAZING). BUT, I really can't do a proper write-up about them until I bang out this paper. So I promise - lots of pictures and stories by Thursday. In the meantime, some highlights to look forward to:

The best strogonoff ever

The world's second largest organ

Hairy Hungarian chefs, and why they think that an apron is more important than a shirt

Public baths

Why Budapest is propbably my new favorite place on Earth

PS - The picture posted is of the opera house in Budapest, where we saw an "interesting" production of Xerxes.

Foot in Mouth

So of course I was completely confused and wrong about where the heck we were and what kind of place Linz is. In the sleep-deprived stupor of the first two days here, I honestly believed that we were staying the heart of Linz – and Linz was totally lame. BUT, it turns out that we’re in a suburb (thank God), and Linz does indeed have more than a BP and a gay bar.

Saturday we saw actual Linz via a bus tour, which took us up to the Postlingberg, a church high on a hill that overlooks all of Linz – very beautiful, post-card pictures galore. It was a bit chilly, and I thought that the one sweater I had brought with me might have to be worn every day and result in outrageous laundry expenses or a drought in friendships because of smelliness. However, our tour guide expressed deep disappointment in the weather, giving us hope that it wouldn’t always be so London-esque. We continued the tour on foot after descending the hill (we passed some sort of tower that warrants a later visit, as well as the botanical gardens). Major stop on the tour: basically, where the people of Linz kidnapped Mozart. The tour guide was so proud that when Mozart stopped in town once, the guy he stayed with had published in the paper that Mozart would be playing a new symphony in Linz – in four days. Instead of fleeing, he stayed and wrote the Linz Symphony in three days, and the show went on – thanks for toughing it out, Mozart.

That night the whole group went for a sponsored dinner of authentic Austrian fair, and while it was all very good, the most entertainment came from the crazy marathon runners at the bar, and arguing with each other about whether one mystery item in the family-style platter was dumplings or meat. Various suggestions (brains, testicles, etc) resulted in us choosing blissful ignorance and savoring the tasty bread-based dumplings. (I’m 90% sure it wasn’t meat…)

That night, downtown Linz got a big old helping of American revelry. Everyone had a blast dancing it out at club Walker, though the area we conquered maybe wasn’t so much meant to be a dance floor. Sunday was mostly reading day, and Laura and I went to see the Mariendom – an absolutely gigantic cathedral in town. Also, Dean Sobelson somehow made it on to one of the stained glass windows – and is in a coat and tie. Turns out that window is only a few years old, which explains why there were men dressed like Wyatt Earp around the saints and bishops – though how Dean Sobelson made it up there I guess I’ll never know.

Classes have so far been … hmmm …. dry. Very dry. But we start working on an actual arbitration role-play Thursday, so things should pick up. And - the weather has been much better this week - warmer, and sunny occationally. Tomorrow we take a day trip to Passau, Germany – but first, tonight we have a mandatory happy hour. Yeah. Linz is awesome.

The Long and Winding Road

Well, it took what felt like a year, but we made it to Linz! And yeah, I was a little suspicious when I couldn't find any travel guides for the place, but I really didn't expect the area to be Florida suburb meets Great Plains. Funny how you come to expect great bridges and monuments to great art when you travel abroad, but we're just in a normal town. That is, until you realize that you honestly can't communicate because the restaurants aren't geared towards tourists. But all that confusion began long before arriving in Linz.

Today's great mistakes in communication:

We flew Lufthansa for both legs of our flight. On the way to Frankfurt, a waiter offerred me some wine to go with my dinner. I replied, "half a glass, please." He looked at me like I has two heads, then proceeded to read me the entire contents of the wine label. Apparently, he thought I was asking about the details of the wine vintage ... of the wine being served on an airplane.

Then, in Linz, we were starving and unfamiliar with the surrounding area, so we just walked until we found the first building with the word "restaurant" in it. After a painful attempt at ordering food (we asked what they, the waiter replied "toast or baguette." At a loss, I ordered a baguette - turnes out it was more like pizza, and actually pretty tasty. A friend asked for a light. Then later, again. I asked the waiter how to say lighter so we didn't have to keep miming it to him, and as he clutched the lighter to his chest, he spat in broken English, "NO - it's my last one!" So now I'm apparently trying to con the guy out of his beloved lighter. Also, this bar looks like a real collection of locals - a bunch of sweaty, liquored-up dudes. We joke that they haven't seen a woman in here in years. Turns out we were right - because it's a gay bar. Professor Lanier was kind enough to fill us in when we explained our strange lunch experience to him later.

Under-Exposure

So the semester has mercifully come to an end, and the long wait for results begins - thank goodness for this 'little' distraction coming up. Since Thursday I've spent almost every waking minute making lists, packing, or thinking about what a poor job of making lists and packing I'm doing. This year has definitely honed my panic-under-pressure skills.

My trip to REI yesterday was particularly disturbing - I was surrounded by scores of granola types scoping out tents and environment-friendly toilet paper. I, the impostor who would never equate bathing in a lake with a vacation, was shopping for a sleep-sack to keep the scary European bugs that will undoubtedly be in our beds off of me (thanks, Deana, for planting that image in my head). Luckily, I happened to be wearing my Birkenstocks and blended in enough to prevent a yuppie effigy incident. However, I must take issue with the price of what is really a glorified sheet folded in half and sewn up the side - $65?!?! Really? Of all the times for my sewing machine to be broken .... Well, I bought it just so I wouldn't have to run back in a panic before Thursday because of some dream where Euro-bugs wearing sunglasses inside and too-tight t-shirts dance away the night under my covers to house music from 3 years ago. Still, I resent the purchase and will probably return it - updates on this fascinating topic will follow along with the Lifetime movie at 11.

T-minus 4 days!