Treasury and Armory

What a combination for one day, seeming to span the entire Habsburg rule (or at least the beginning and end)-- from the Crown of Charlemagne (10th century!) and coronation robes of Holy Roman Emperors and kings throughout the ages, to grand extravagant ornaments and jewelry, including an emerald larger than a human fist and long narwhal tusks... to an entire room devoted to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand--the car in which he was riding, the couch on which he died, and the uniform which he was wearing (complete with bullet holes and faded blood stains still visible). Very eerie.

In addition, I baked a yummy apple cake for my roomie's birthday! And I proved that gluten-free cake can be delicious, and that icing can be made without vanilla extract (which, in addition to pre-made icing, apparently isn't available in Austria).

I'm exhausted, and there's still so much German waiting.

On Language

NOTE: Photobucket has been updated, including all the Deutschland pictures! :)

Today it snowed for the first time since I've been in Vienna. Nothing stayed on the ground, but it was beautiful. Reminded me, albeit briefly, of the snows up upstate New York. :)

The more I learn German, the more my French slips further away. (Well, with the exception of sometimes reading cooking directions in French because I still understand more of it written than Deutsch). However, French is a subtle language, and has found ways of sneaking into my subconscious and slipping out of my mouth hidden amidst German phrases. When I first started this language, I had a hard enough time picking up "aber" and not saying "mais". But recently it seems to have gotten worse. I have been saying "quelquefois" and unable to remember "manchmal", and yesterday I asked for olives that were "vert", not "grün". I got a strange look from the vendor, but didn't realize what I had said until my friend told me later. How embarrassing! It doesn't help that there are a good number of German words from French too. (For instance, Austrians call french fries "pommes", short for the french word for potatoes). Dear French, you're a beautiful language, but please stay in your place and wait your turn and stop confusing me!

In other news, here's another sad story about the death of a language. The gifts of the modern age are many; we have the technology to connect everyday individuals around the globe in a way that no one ever dreamed of that a few centuries ago! We're no longer isolated in small villages or remote areas where people might speak a unique language, but as the world shrinks, the smaller languages of the world are decaying and dying off. It's natural that a language will grow and change, mixing with other languages and eventually passing on its legacy and dying out... but nowadays our languages are condensing, and the smaller unique tongues are not passing on any traits to successive generations, but simply reaching a dead end with no heirs. I wish I had more talent with languages to at least listen to some of the tongues that will never be spoken again, but I suppose the continued language decay is inevitable at this point. Terribly depressing.

Well, I'm back

Apologies for the huge break since I last posted. The internet in my apartment died shortly after my last post, and that Saturday I left to travel to Germany for our post-intensive break. More coming soon on that, stay tuned!

Today was the second day of regular classes, and the first day of needing to be at the student center by 9am. UR has spoiled me with only have a 9am class once, three days a week; but in Vienna I will have a 9am class 4 out of 5 days each week. To top it off, starting next week I will probably be doing my teaching internship Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and thus will be at the school at 8am (in other words, leaving the apartment at 7:30). I've done those hours the past few summers for jobs, but somehow it seems much less appealing when occurring during the semester.

Class again in about an hour and I need to get groceries; will try to write more tonight. Tschüss!