das Wochenende

Hallo!
I have had a very eventful weekend!  On Friday, I had my first German test, which was really easy.  I think they're trying to make it so we don't have to study very much...a very nice gesture!  After my test, I registered for classes (2 music classes and 2 Viennese culture classes).  On Friday night, I went over to my friends' apartment and we ordered 2 GIANT pizzas for 5 euros.  I have become quite the expert with public transportation because I have to take a bus, the U-bahn, and a tram just to get to my friends' apartment in the 15th District (my apartment is in the 3rd District).  But after our pizza, we went to a couple different clubs in an area called the Bermuda Triangle.  The are was so neat!  Both of the clubs were underground and in what looked like wine cellars.  They were made completely of concrete bricks and had crazy lights.  They played really funny music...a lot of old cheesy American music, and one of them even played the Blues Brothers!  All of the clubs apparently have really good beer.  I've tried them and cannot make myself drink it, but my friends say it's really good and cheap compared to the U.S.  It's kind of neat because all of the beer that people usually order is made here in Vienna or at least in Austria.

Then on Saturday, I woke up at around 8 in the morning (I'm still pretty jet lagged I think!) and we went on a bus tour around the city.  The tour took us up into the base of the Alps just outside of Vienna and we had an incredible view of the entire city.  We also saw a famous building that has no right angles except for the windows because the architect had some weird belief against right angles.  After the bus tour, I went back to my apartment to eat dinner, my typical toast with Nutella, cheese and crackers, Pringles, and a couple scrambled eggs.  The eggs here are extremely yellow, but they're delicious.  My 2 friends live right next to a Turkish bakery, so I get loaves of bread from there that are really good with the cheese here.  I also treated myself to a chocolate croissant because they are just too good to resist on the weekends.  The food here drives me crazy because it is SO delicious but just unaffordable!  There are schnitzel, kabob, and pizza stands and extremely delicious bakeries everywhere, but we try to cook in our apartments as much as possible.  When we do splurge though, it is totally worth it.  Whoever said the food in Vienna is not good did not get the same food that I've gotten!  After dinner, I booked my plane tickets to Greece!!!!  We got really lucky because our plane leaves out of Budapest, so we're going a day early so we can spend a day there and see the city.  So our plan is to take a bus from Vienna to Budapest for the day, then fly to Corfu for 3 days, then fly to Athens for 3 days, then fly back to Vienna.  I am so beyond excited, I can hardly stand it!!

Today we all woke up around 8 again (it's ridiculous!) so we got up and went to the Schonbrunn Palace.  It was beautiful and is right next to the Botanical Gardens.  We spent pretty much the whole afternoon walking all around there and laying out in the sun because it was so nice out.  When I got back to my apartment, I struggled with the washing machine, but finally figured it out.  There is no dryer, so everything has to hang on a drying rack.  Our apartment looks like a clothing store!  Tonight we are going back to the Rathaus to watch a showing of the Viennese Philharmonic.  The film festival is almost over, so we are trying to squeeze as many concerts and delicious food in as we can before opera season starts.  I think that's all of the exciting things that happened this weekend, but hopefully much more to come!!  I put a couple pictures up of the Schonbrunn Palace and a few other things so you can see a few of the places I'm talking about.  I couldn't get them to go where I wanted, so it might look a little discombobulated, sorry!  Salud!