Tuesday February 16, 2010 a.k.a Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday a.k.a Mardi Gras was pretty eventful here at the Theresianum in Vienna. All day people were dressed up in costumes as we would do for Halloween back home. It was a very good vibe throughout the school, and even the teachers were dressed up in goofy hats and costumes. Techno music seems to be very big over here, and that was played through out the school day with confetti being thrown around all over. This is one the few days that the students are allowed to have some fun and let loose during their tedious day of 8am-6pm. On this day we also had our first German class with Professor Genner. She first started us off by looking at a German newspaper and finding twenty words that were similar to English. Surprisingly enough most words are very close or similar to the English language. We also learned new greetings from formal to informal, as well as how to say goodbye correctly. After this one class I feel a lot more confident in my German speaking; it also has helped me out greatly when I go to grocery store because I now know how it's all correctly spoken. After class this was one out of two days when the Theresianum's pool is open for our use from 8pm to 10pm. A few of us went down to try out the huge indoor pool and its diving board. The pool was not as warm as we thought, but once we got in we found out that its not as bad as we first thought. There is always a lifeguard on duty because it is mandatory for the Theresianum. There is a huge diving board and four lanes for people to swim. We had the pool to ourselves because about 700 out of the 800 students live at home. Later that night after the pool some of us went out to experience Mardi Gras in Vienna, and we ended up running into Professor Genner on the subway, which was actually pretty cool. She had previously invited all of us to a local gathering where older students would be if we were looking for a true Austrian place to visit. I think mostly all of us are getting comfortable with the city and the subway system, especially. Besides that, Tuesday was pretty eventful and a gave all of us a look at a yearly event that occurs here in good old Vienna, Austria.