what a week!

Tuesday afternoon we FINALLY found the laundromat. And 8,20 euros later, I had clean clothes. I guess we waited two weeks to do it, but hopefully we won't have to do it as frequently after it gets cooler and we stop sweating like pigs everywhere we walk.

That night we got all gussied up and went out to the staatoper (state opera) house to see Madama Butterfly. Which is awful. Don't see it. The music was night, but the plot was senseless, and long. I think that's my problem with operas is that they take so long to say one thing. Just spit it out. Really. Apparently all the operas are sold out, but the only "seats" that are left over are the standing room only ones, which they only sell an hour before the performance. When we walked up to our seats, I was pretty amazed at how small the theater was. I felt much closer to the stage than I expected to. I was not how ever amazed at our "seats". They were like cow pens, and they herded more people into the area than there was railing, so I felt more claustrophobic than normal and they were breaking all sorts of fire codes. I was also wearing new flats, that were not nice to my heels and I could never find a comfortable position to stand in, so I was shifting every 30 seconds. Poor Amy and Leah, they probably were mad at me for standing in front of them. The only good thing was that I only spent 4 euro and I got my opera performance out of the way. I was in so much pain I couldn't even make it to gelato.

Wednesday after class we trekked out to the soccer stadium to buy tickets for that night's game (or spiel) and I found some awesome stickers that I'm excited about using in my scrapbook. Oh scrapbooking. I'm going to have a blast working on that when I get home. Thank goodness I have like a month or so at home to work on it.

Anywho, so later that night we went to the game with most of our group and had an absolute blast. The cheering section had a call for every player and every play, and we tried to play along, but I'm sure we looked really dumb. And luckily I had bought a jersey on Monday, so I fit in a little bit more than people who didn't have one. The team tied and the game was over, which I was surprised by, but Andy said that teams are given points based on whether they won, tied, or lost, so it's like ehh if they tied.

The crowd getting out was crazy, but we finally made it to the bus stop after losing most of our group and went to get some Tichy Eis since it's closing today, actually. I tried hazelnuss and kaffee, and wooo I'm mad at myself for never choosing the former before. (And yes mother, I know it's hazelnut but I didn't feel bad!!) Cari and Sarah went back for a third cone of the day, taking their total up to 9 scoops in one day. Way to go girls!

Thursday we went to the Sacred and Secular Treasury of Vienna with our CIVA class, and I must admit I'm pretty unimpressed. We went to see the sacred lance, which is what pierced Christ's side, pieces of the cross, the Imperial crown which makes the emperor believe that he is in the lineage of Christ and all the noble kings of the Bible, and the Veil of Veronica, which was said to be given to Jesus to wipe off his face as he passed carrying the cross, and which had a distinct outline of his face now.... So I guess it's all in what you choose to believe, but it was all very ehhhh to me.

Later that afternoon Bethany and I decided to go out to some parks and we chose Volksgarten and Burgarten. Volks was very formal, with lots of roses, chairs, and old people, and we weren't allowed to get on the grass. But Burg was beautiful and we were allowed to just sprawl out on the grass with anything you wanted to do. It was even soft. I wish I had a blanket here with me for those days.

One of the only things I have to complain about here in Vienna is the beggars. They will get in your face, yelling in German, and annoying you until you escape them. Or even when you say nein danke or nein deutsch... it doesn't help. They are on par with the people who just stare in the UBahn. Yes I KNOW I'm obviously an American, you don't have to stare at me because of it!

Rawr.

Anywho, today we took the afternoon off from doing anything productive and went shopping. And ummm I'm embarrassed to say that I probably shouldn't have done that. I knew I loved H&M, but today good grief, I could've bought out the entire store. But I'm proud of myself, I got 2 dresses, 1 skirt, 1 sweater, 2 shirts, and some eyeshadow (because I'm already very sick of the sparse makeup I brought) for 95 euro.

We also found this store called Monsoon and I found THE perfect formal dress. Too bad it was 235 euro and umm here in Europe. :/ Oh well. I'll find something at home.

I'm so sad I'm missing pledging. But I guess I'll get my fill of it in the spring.

This still feels like a perpetual vacation, but if it were I should've been going home by now. But I do feel like it's homier now.

Anywho, I need to be going! We have a group dinner tonight. Lets see what that brings!