{day eight}

well, today was pretty low key, but enjoyable! i had class this morning at 9, so that gave me an extra hour to sleep in (which quickly turned to an extra hour and a half). it was my music 201 class and we are focusing on a lot of literature right now. today we discussed the iliad-homer, and the apology-plato. these sorts of readings have always interested me, but i never had the chance to study them like i will this semester so i'm really looking forward to that. i have a great teacher, jane, and she is so passionate about this material, so it makes it even more exciting to learn about! we had some good discussions and a lot of insights were shared. 

after our two hour class, we were sooo hungry! we headed back to the u-bahn in hopes of finding something other than a sandwich to eat. we stumbled upon this chinese restaurant near our teachers house and decided to give it a shot. it was quite satisfying. i haven't been hungry since!

afterwards, me, alexa, teancum, and kristin decided to walk along the canal and admire the graffiti lining the walls. it was incredible, some of the artwork. like this for instance:

who has the time to just whip out a remarkable life-like painting of a whale??

apparently the viennese. 

alexa had to borrow my book for a minute, and then she wanted to give it back. but i wasn't walking all the way over there to get it, and neither was she.

in the end, i won. :)

over the canal and through the graffiti...

we spent the rest of our afternoon walking down the canal, finding little beauty treasures along the way

creepin'

"rubber ducky, you're the one..."

goin' rogue

backpack+giant camera+jacket tied around waist=american tourist (aka alexa)

oh just some graffiti-ed stairs

hahahahahahahaha

do we look cool or what?

goin' for a shwim

saw this today and thought of you bec! 

I MISS YOU

(and seriously, you better not be wearing any of my clothes.) 

:)

after the graffiti-ed stroll, we went to alexa's home to drop her stuff up and then headed to a street full of shops to find some little goodies! unfortunately, my credit/debit cards aren't working at the moment so i was unable to by anything. but i guess in a way that's a good thing! luckily we came across a pet store to and to lift my spirits we went in. my spirits were immediately dropped when i walked through the door and the first thing i saw was a bunch of rats with red eyes swarming in the corner of a cage! (i don't know if you know this, but any type of rodents give me the willies! guhhh they creep me right out!) luckily the store owner informed us if we wanted to look around we would have to pay 2€, and quite frankly i was relieved to get out of there! ew. rodents. we continued to saunter down the shopping street until we found the sports store we'd been looking for to by some running shoes and holy smokes, things are expensive here! the cheapest pair i found were 119€!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that's like, $180!!!!!!!) thank goodness i didn't have no monies. after the shock of prices and a few purchases, i decided to head home to rest and get some homework done. by the time i got home it was 5 and i had to leave at 5:50 to catch my bus to the u-bahn station so i could go to a choir performance me, kiely and paige were invited to watch, and maybe perform with in the near future! ok, let me just say it was a most spectacular performance! i was in awe as i listened to the music being made. this group was especially talented. it was actually three choirs combined singing with an impressive orchestra. (pretty sure there was some music made between me and the conductor also... ok not really but he was very handsome, which may be another reason i enjoyed the concert so much.) i wish you could have heard the music because it was inspiring. i want to learn how to play the violin! maybe that will be my 2013 resolution? anyway... i was talking to paige today about how i've gotten into the habit of just not talking to people. simple things like saying sorry, or excuse me, things like that have completely disappeared from my vocabulary because i don't know how to say them in german! hopefully i will learn enough german to get me by in these regards so people don't think i'm some cranky young lady tromping around vienna who cares about no one but herself. hopefully! on my way home i was on the bus with my headphones in (because people don't usually talk to you when that's going on) and a cute little old man sat down next to me. i was looking out the window admiring the enchanting beauty of the city when i heard a question directed at me. i turned my head and saw the man was talking to me! *cue panic* "uhh... ya?" (with german accent) "germangermangermangermangermangermangermangermangerman" "oh... ich spreche nein deutsch! enschoolagung!" (i don't speak german... sorry!" he kind of laughed a little bit and then said, "it's hot under here" pointing to his legs that were in front of the heater under the seat. "i'm shweating like a pig!" hahahahah best day ever! we continued our conversation a little bit longer, but i think we both gave up on trying to understand little german with an english accent and little english with a german accent. he was really nice to me, and it's refreshing every once in a while to encounter those kindred spirits in this big city!