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nokingsonlyfooles · 8 months

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Proximity Alarm! Or, What Even Is Culture? Or, Funny, You Sure Look Jewish...

I've gotta get this out of my head because it's... Well, the thing is, it's NOT weird to me, but I think it would be weird to other people, so I'm just trying to calibrate myself. The following will be tangled brain yarn.

I'm name-checking an old joke, but maybe you never strayed across it. A little old lady on the bus says to a younger man, "Pardon me, are you Jewish?" He says, "No, sorry." But she really won't let up about it, she's asking him if he knows certain families in her neighbourhood and trying to get him to trust her and open up and finally he loses all patience and says, "Okay! You found me out! I am Jewish! Will there be anything else?" And the punchline, of course, is "Funny, you don't look Jewish."

I've strayed across a fellow NB who shares a lot of my intersections, but the European side of their family is Jewish and mine is Catholic, except...

Right away, our roots are in Eastern Europe, so I let them know, Hey, we eat a lot of the same food! Potato pancakes and Manischewitz, right off the bat. I probably could've namechecked kolache and had some recognition too, due to the Slavic countries trading language like Pokémon cards.

But it's not just that. I picked up a lot of stray Yiddish as a kid, either from people who were near or in my family. I try not to use it now, because somebody might get upset when I step on their culture... But if I grew up with it, what do you call it?

I think part of this is because my mom ALMOST married a certified Nice Jewish Boy. He had a delicate old grandmother who would have literally died if she knew he was engaged to a Catholic girl. Mom had to go to synagogue and pass, and prepare to convert. Grandma lived, even if the engagement didn't, so I gotta figure Mom did pass, or Bubbie was smarter than she let on and just let the family pretend. But, all that stuff my mom picked up, on top of the Eastern European background, she kept.

So, my standard, "bounce the fussy baby" song was "Hava Nagila." Mom also taught my cousin Debbie and her kids got bounced to that song! I probably learned how to sing that, phonetically, before I could walk. I had a book with Schlemiel stories in it. I knew how to keep the pastrami and the corned beef Kosher, even if not what to call it. CHEESE? No! We don't put cheese on this meat! Unthinkable! Deli mustard, okay? I didn't have a Reuben with Swiss until I was well into my adult years. I dunno, it just seemed wrong. (I got over it, I like 'em now.)

The result of this is, when I was a kid, I wasn't even trying to pass and I passed. I got a babysitting gig with a Jewish family. I saw the Manischewitz in the pantry with the matzohs and said, "Oh, my mom and Nana love this. Yours too?" The kid couldn't contain herself anymore, and spoke the opening line of that old joke, "Are you JEWISH?" With disbelief. 'Cos I resemble my dad's side of the family too, just with fairer skin. I don't look Jewish.

But I kinda do, too?

And I wonder. I was told my great grandmother on my grandpa's side spoke "Swiss," almost exclusively, such that my mom couldn't understand her. Not Czech, that was different. Well, "Swiss" ain't a language, so what was it? I assumed, because Mom really didn't like Germans, it must've been German. She refused to say "Czech-German," even. She'd say, "Czech-Swiss." That side of the family emigrated from Prague when it was still in Bohemia, well before admitting to Jewish heritage would've gotten you dead in the Holocaust, but there was antisemitism in Eastern Europe at that time too. Kinda always? People got converted by force, and just to blend in. Mom wouldn't have been able to tell between Yiddish and German as a kid. I mean, they're close.

I do know she reprimanded me for saying "schmuck" as a small child. "No, no, that's really rude." "Can I say 'putz'?" "...That's a little better."

And I remember, as she was arranging us in the mirror one day, she told us we had "noble noses." Roman noses. It seemed weird to me, that why I remember. I didn't have a problem with my nose. Why go out of your way to tell me what to call the shape of it? I don't think it even looks particularly "Roman," although it does turn down slightly at the tip. Grandpa's was similar, but more pronounced. Did he go out of his way to tell her it was called that? Did his mom do the same? Is this merely the result of swimming in the bog-standard antisemitism of the past and wanting to differentiate yourself from your Jewish neighbors in the nicest possible way, or are we hiding something?

I'm divorced from my family. I got no one I can ask. But even as a kid, the Pribek family history vanished at Ellis Island somewhere around the turn of the 20th century. We looked for 'em and couldn't find 'em, so a name change may have occurred. My dad had a genealogy hobby and traced the Gonzalez clan all the hell over the place, but Pribek resisted the level of research he was able to do at the time. Joss, my maternal grandma's family, was doable. We found a baseball hall-of-famer! But Pribek? No. I was told, vaguely, that a distant relative had a statue somewhere in Prague, but I don't have a name to look for.

While I was in high school with that babysitting gig, I participated in "Knowledge Bowl" basically a pub quiz, but we'll call it educational and put it on our college applications. The teacher helping us "train" divided up subjects and tried to assign us to learn things we were already familiar with. She was Jewish. She surveyed a pool of mainly Hispanic, white, and South Asian kids and said, "Does anyone know anything about Judaism?" Nope. Nope. Finally, my smartass hand goes up, to be funny. "I've seen Fiddler on the Roof a bunch of times!" I had. We had it on VHS. I got the laugh I wanted, and the teacher said, "Okay, then you learn about Judaism!"

It wasn't much. I memorized some Cliff notes-style information and forgot most of the details, until I took World Religion in college and got reminded. But, broad strokes, I already had most of it. I had the idea of it. Not "obey the law" like Catholicism - Catholics famously do not read the Bible - but know the law, so you can have an argument about it and defend your position. OK, God. I've read your demands. Now let's negotiate!

What the heck do you call growing up so near a thing, but being told over and over again that you're not of it? That's not you. We just do all these very similar things for a different reason. Even if you look a bit similar, it's for a different reason. It's all explainable that way, I guess, but it's still in my brain. So whose culture is it? What even is "culture"?

I honestly don't know, but if you come to my house with latkes, I will steal them and eat them. Seriously, I've done that. I think they were leftovers, but later it occurred to me that my husband's friend may have intended to take them home and eat them himself. I'm so sorry, my dude. You had to put up with your friend's apparently-Mexican spouse screaming, "ARE THOSE LATKES? I LOVE LATKES!" and running for the sour cream and applesauce.

They were really good, though.

#cultures #mixed race history #wtf am i?#i mean i know i'm me but relative to other people...?#mexican czech-german probably swiss a li'l indigenous #tamales and latkes is a perfectly cromulent christmas

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jbeverywhere · 4 years

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Myths about Poland and Poles

It’s time. Let me explain you some things. I hope this post will be a nice Polish culture lesson.

I asked some foreign friends what they think about Poland and Polish people, what had they thought before going there, how it was different at the end, etc. And also I added what I usually hear and drives me crazy 🤦‍

1. Temperature

Polish person: “It’s cold” ; Foreigner: “but you’re from Poland..”

And what? I’m Polish and I don’t feel cold? Aha. I think this is the most annoying answer which I hear a loooooot of times.

People have really bad image of Polish climate especially when they haven’t stayed there for longer time. So we have 4 seasons (+ 2 transitional ones).

early spring - March and April when the weather is going crazy. One day is snowing and -10⁰C, another day sunny and +15⁰C. You never know :D So if you go to Poland that time - be prepared for that, take different kind of clothes.

spring - May - first storms, during Juwenalia always rains, but the first week last years was really sunny and warm - perfect for Polish barbecue opening season :D

summer - may be hot as f.ck or colder and rainy. Many storms especially in August. Nights are much colder than days. But - surprise- temperature around 30⁰C is normal. And because the nights are colder you can sleep well - you won’t melt in your bed.

autumn - colder nights, leafs are brown, it may be really beautiful. More rainy days but still can be sunny.

early winter - October/November - crazy like early spring - may snow, may rain, may be sunny. You feel the winter in the air.

winter - yes it’s cold, but outside. Inside the buildings - it’s warm - surprise. For example I don’t have special pyjamas for winter nights because in my room is around 20⁰C. You go outside you put winter jacket and boots on. May be even -20⁰C (omg wow omg) but then you enter the house and t-shirt is enough. For example in Spain - I’m dying. Winter in Barcelona and in the flat for 3 months 12⁰C - IN THE FLAT. I opened the windows to put some warm air. In Valencia maybe not that drastic (probably it depends on the flat as well) but still I slept with 1 duvet, 2 blankets and the warmest pyjama ever xDDD So please, don’t tell that I’m from Poland and 12⁰C in the room should be perfect. Please.

So in Poland it’s like from minus extreme to plus extreme - variety! I think I like it, I just don’t like that the weather changes immediately. But the most important - inside the buildings - nooooo extreme. It’s pleasantly. So please don’t say to Poles that we should be used to the cold temperature. It’s personal not national thing, I love when is warm and I’m “more ok” with the summer in Valencia than Valencianos (they should be used to that hot no? XD exactly).

2. Music

“Omg la polaca knows reggaeton songs”

“OMG there is Polish reggaeton”

Ok. Music is a difficult topic. But yyy yes, in Poland they use to play reggaeton (fortunately or unfortunately). For example - in Warsaw and Krakow there are clubs: Teatro Cubano - where there is only reggaeton and some latino rhythms. So if you love to dance to this kind of music, don’t worry, you will find a perfect club for you.

I really like Polish music, especially now I think it’s really good one. But I like others as well, I have Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, even one German song in my playlists because - why not - variety! And reggaeton I like for the energy and dancing rhythms. Also I like it as a “culture”, for me it’s interesting and fascinating - I can talk about it hours! :D

3. The look

“Polish people are blond with blue eyes” XDDDD hehehehehehhehehehehehhehe

I’M NOT BLOND - first thing to note. The sun in Spain makes my hair lighter but still is not blond. In Poland there are different types of hair and skin. We are not so white. And blue eyes are not thaaaat common. Brown, green, blue, grey - but also not that brown like Spanish ;) AAAAAND - surprise - we can be tan! Wow! xD There are people who have really white skin and the sun changes it to red, but mostly Poles are tan in summer and even I would say that we love to be morenitos ;) What is funny for me (here we have the Spanish myth) that I’m more tan than many Spaniards. So let’s repair the myths: Poles may be tan in summer Spaniards are not tan at all (the Latinos yes - but also not always!).

4. Location

OK. It’s geographic lesson time.

What I heard once: “For me everything what is on the right from Germany is RUSSIA” omg. Where is my patience. omg. Please, think before saying shits like that. It hurts.

We are not that small in Europe. We have 7 neighbors, OWN language which is not Russian (it’s juuuust a liiiiittle bit similar, like some words). I can understand somehow Slovaks and Czechs but Russians - few words. AND IMPORTANT - we have Latin alphabet! Not Cyrillic like Russia. We are Slavic countries, our language is from Slavic family, Slavs love each other (in their way of love ;* ) but each of us is different and we exist, we are not Russia - note that in your head.

5. Religiousness

This is difficult topic. Yes, we are mostly Catholics and we don’t hide it. But not everybody. Many people are very religious - and I respect that. It’s kind of beauty, traditions and everything. It builds the culture. The problem appears when someone forces others to own rights. When religious is an argument in the politic world. And this I agree - in Poland we have a problem with that. But when you visit Poland don’t show your aversion to the religion. Respect it and be curious - then you can discover many nice things, interesting traditions and some kind of passion. I love to talk about our traditions and you can see it in my posts about Christmas and Easter.

6. Safety

This is more region problem than country problem. I mean, everywhere you go - you can meet bad people. In Kraków there were “bad times” but it was long time ago. When I was living there I felt really safe. Many times I came back alone and I’ve never had a strange/dangerous situation. And I always passed so many police during the night. So I think in big cities the government cares about the security.

Just don’t enter any places where you can meet pseudo-fans of football and don’t scream any football team name. This I see still as a problem in Poland. But I don’s say that going to the matches is a bad idea.

7. Food

This I’m writing thanks to the opinions of those who visited Poland and tried Polish cuisine. So what I heard, that some Erasmus were afraid about the food, that it may be a bad quality and not tasty, but theeeen - surprise! - Where are you from? - from Poland - oooo soplica!!!! (ok, this is not food) - żurek! - pancakes - placki ziemniaczane! - PIEROOOOOGI <3

So if you haven’t visited Poland yet, you haven't tried Polish cuisine - be prepared 😋😋😋

And you have me to ask before!

8. Language

Hehe Ok, it’s not the easiest language in the world. But it’s not an impossible one! So if you are planning to spend in Poland even only few days it’s nice to use: - dzień dobry - good morning - dziękuję - thank you - przepraszam - I’m sorry/excuse me - proszę - please/you’re welcome - do widzenia - goodbye - dobranoc - good night

Poles will appreciate a lot! We love when someone is trying to say something, and we know that it’s not easy.

And! I know some people who stayed to live in Poland and their Polish is - wow! So as you see, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE ;)

9. Character

Hmmm I heard that some of you were afraid that Poles won’t be friendly but then again surprise. Well, I think we are nice people xD We are for sure hospitable. There is always a bottle of vodka and some cookies for a casual visit.

English is not our native language, more and more people can speak it but still not all (well like in other countries). But we won’t leave you without helping you when you ask. Gesticulating, speaking slower and louder (because this changes everything xD) - there is always a way to communicate and express yourself.

So smile and don’t be afraid of us, especially me, I don’t bite! :D

Meme to sum up

10. Famous Poles

I think you may know many but even you don’t realize that. So let me remind you or introduce you Poles who have changed the world.

- Robert Lewandowski - football player in Bayern Monachium

- Jakub Błaszczykowski - was a football player in Borussia Dortmund

- Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik) - Heliocentrism, stopped the sun, moved the Earth ;)

- Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin - composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era

- Marie Skłodowska Curie - (note: her first surname is Polish. And in many places they skip it -.-) - physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields

- Tadeusz Kościuszko - military engineer, statesman, and military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States.

- Pope John Paul II - Karol Wojtyła - the first non-Italian pope since the 16th-century, the second longest-serving pope in modern history, one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. Etc, etc. We are really proud of him and you can see that - everywhere there is his name, a looot of monuments etc.

- Lech Wałęsa - statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the first democratically-elected President of Poland.

- Andrzej Wajda - film and theater director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards.

- Roman Polański - film director, producer, writer, and actor. There was a quite big scandal with him - no comment.

- Robert Kubica - he became the first and only Polish driver to compete in Formula One.

- Anja Rubik - supermodel, activist, philanthropist, and businesswoman.

- Adam Małysz - former ski jumper and rally driver, one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport.

- Wisława Szymborska - poet, essayist, translator and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.

- Robert Korzeniowski - the best walker in the world, he won 4 gold medals at the Olympics (Atlanta, Sydney and Athens).

- Izabella Scorupco - actress, singer, and model. She is perhaps best known for having played Bond girl Natalya Simonova in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye.

- Justyna (Justi, JB) Biel - Polish butterfly with Latin blood, author of this (and the other) blog. Known by you, one day by others as well.

and much much more!

11. Alcohol

Yes, I know, I shouldn’t forget about the most important - vodka. Yes we drink it, yes, on the parties, birthdays, etc. Yes, shots. We drink shot of vodka and then one/two/many sips of juice/coke/water/etc.

But come on, I don’t get why it horrifies you. Like vodka is 40%, rum, whisky, gin - all which you drink is also 40% and for me has even worse taste (especially gin, uff please don’t offer me that, never). Or tequila! Madre mía.

We don’t drink vodka with the dinner, like many people do with wine. Wine is also kind of alcohol I would like to remind.

And yes, we love beer a lot. And normal glass of beer is 0.5l - we don’t have smaller ones.

So, I hope... since now when I ask you to drink vodka on the before party - please, don’t be afraid and drink it with me, I’ll appreciate it!

Ok. I think that’s all. I hope that since now your image of Poles and Poland is much better - the correct one. Here you have everything in one picture xDD

#poland #stereothypes #poles #polish people

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babblingbat · 6 years

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Various Characters I meant to post Months ago

Various Characters of mine

I have so many I want to write (some) of them down! This is a suuuuuper long post so more under the cut! Includes a spy, a crime lord/activist, and a bargaining warlock (I have to reblog this later bc tumblr threw a hissy fit about the length)

- Kinda in a Bond-esque spy agency, but more of a contractor

- When everything goes to shit, you can count on them to fix it

- Nonbinary protege of whoever is in charge of the tech division (Mezza? Sloane? Dixon? idk, but they have a hell of a shady past and there’s like… noooothing that can keep Sloane out of computer systems)

- X isn’t formally recognized by APO (authorized personnel only, the spy agency) but they do have access to all information because of a backdoor Sloane made

- So I guess the name is Sloane

- Anyways, X goes on the black ops of black ops, typically with either mercenaries or no back-up at all

- Thus trust issues and like the opposite of dependency - they have so much trouble asking for things but are willing to help anyone or offer material assistance - if they have it

- X is nonbinary and really doesn’t have any preferences on pronouns, as long as they aren’t he/him or she/her

- They’re also autistic and shut down if there’s too much loud noise or if they’re just too tired for some reason - sometimes this means going nonverbal or just Not Functioning and their favorite way to feel better is to sit on the ground, wrap themselves in a blanket and listen to music - so in conclusion they don’t really use guns unless there’s a silencer, and they aren’t v good with them

- A huge part of their espionage function is language!

- They speak German, Spanish, Japanese, FSL, and ASL all idiomatically

- They also speak Russian, French, and Afrikaans, but not fluently

- They can swear and count to ten in Korean and Czech

- They’re pursuing a PhD in computational linguistics, though APO gets in the way

- They’re 24, and have a bizarre set of skills because both of their job, previous jobs and jobs they hold as a cover to pretend they pay their taxes, and special interests

- Sloane is only 7 years older than them, and recruited X out of high school

- At first it was small things, like ‘pick up this book from Elm Street and drop it at Main’ but it got bigger after they graduated

- When X turned 18, they went through formal training - protocol, combat, and analysis

- They’d done some martial arts before hand, but not much punching, mostly kicking, throws, and staffs (5 and 6 feet)

- X’s main job is to clean up messy situations, usually by stealing things or extractions, and their own ops are less combat oriented than the clean ones

- X is not the best at math, not by a long shot, but they can see patterns from a mile away

- “I am the fact guardian, guardian of the facts!” “Puzzles quiver before them!” “FUCK OFF”

- They do simple division when bored and solve a lot of math things by finding patterns and using them

- X is both their designation in the agency (as in ‘x factor’) and their actual name- they use an alias for college

- They live with a few people, most of whom complain at their erratic sleep schedule and ask that please, for the love of god, X gets sleep meds and just a solid 8 hours, for once

- Sloane eventually sends X on an op to extract Mel, Sloane’s girlfriend and top operative

- X doesn’t know what to tell Mel, so mostly they just tell them that things will be answered later

- Mel asks Sloane, who reluctantly explains X’s role, and this sets some things into motion of X eventually being brought into the spotlight

- They have several hearings about their activities

- Eventually, Seville (who runs things? I guess) tells them to carry on as they do, reporting directly to Sloane, but they are recognized now by the APO

- There are three other things I want to fit in:

- Goes missing for [period of time], leaving a very close friend behind, comes back after being presumed dead and no memories, apparently solved a conspiracy and now has many illegal friends who all enjoy thievery

- Magic is a thing (because it wouldn’t be my words if it wasn’t lmao) and common enough that people know it exists but rare enough that it’s kinda intimidating and sometimes people will freak out about it, despite plenty of people having it.

X has/develops magic at some point but is terrified to tell anyone and tries to hide it from their team (which is now their family, love that trope) because they don’t want to be barred from the APO, but it comes out accidentally during a mission

- X’s infodumping saves the day somehow

The Celestian

- K so this is more about an organization, but the Celestian lives in a like a 1920s fantasy setting and likes dancing

- They run a social activism group masquerading as a crime network that uses queer bars and stuff as fronts

- To get money, they dance competitively with their bodyguard and d8m8, the BFF (butch femme fatale) who identifies as a nb lesbian

- To get into any of the places where actual political dismantling and activism happens, who have to have very specific patterns on your nails - nail painting is a method of communication and is also a huge teambuilding exercise

- There are different codes for everything

- When cops try and get in (they can only find the places if they have a member of the Queer Folk), the code is “blue denim” and then the person caught tells the police they need nail polish and then laugh as they get caught, as if they were bullshitting the whole thing

- Other things are called “10:50 am” which looks like a sleepy eye

- Or “songbird rhapsody” which is also a popular song that the Celestian sings at clubs

- Or “money” which is just a green splotch on all the nails

- If you’re a member of the Queer Folk, you get a crate monthly of money and nail polish, and special things on birthdays and holidays

- The Queer Folk do everything from organize protests to take kids in and try to pay for their education through crime - as in robbery from different places

- Their crimes always have a certain flair to them - they value creativity and snazziness

- The Celestian is like 5’ 3” (which, to be fair, is 3 inches taller than I am) and the BFF picks them up a lot

- They don’t like alcohol or caffeine but drink herbal tea 24/7

- If they don’t, something is very, very wrong

- They have a prosthetic leg

Red

- Literally in high school

- A warlock! They traded their gender and all “gender identifying features” to a trans demon for magic powers

- The demon mostly asks them to get coffee and stuff because the demon isn’t very good at bargaining and just wanted Red’s gender, but it’s expected of a patron to keep using the warlock for things

- (on the demon phone) “hey so this is super duper important and if you could get it in the next half hour that’s the best thing”

“what is it”

“alright so go to the corner of Lincoln and Greenleaf, turn three times to your right, once to your left, and a door should open behind you. Don’t try to turn towards it, just fall backwards”

“if I fall onto poison ivy or concrete I’m breaking my fucking contract”

“No, no no no, you’ll appear in that good good heaven spot”

“… the coffee shop?”

- Red focuses on science in their school

- Every interaction is a deal. E V E R Y I N T E R A C T I O N

- Breakfast? “I’ll give you the salt if you hand over the pancakes”

- Entering a building? “Hold the door open and I’ll give you praise”

- School? “You want me to tell you what I do in my spare time? Give me an A on my midterm and I’ll tell you”

- The last one has left a lot of teachers confused and more than a little scared of the silly little nerd in their class

- Honestly, they have straight A’s because they make deal after deal about grades. They never cheat on tests, but they make deals, hold people to them, and know what they’re doing

- Red’s demon is getting a little worried with all the deals

- Red is most accustomed to deals rather than anything else because they think that unequal exchange (i.e., gifts) is really suspect

- That said, Red has no problems altering “equal” exchange to benefit them

- If they ever became a business owner, they would be terrifying

- They want everything to turn out the best it can for every one but… are not fans of laws

- They have many Opinions on law, its enforcement, and the government

- That cousin that will tell you constantly about how the government is corrupt and should be rebooted with the youngest people as the primary interest

- Anarchy? Not quite, but revolution? Most definitely

- No angst, just high school silliness and chaos

- Has no idea what’s going on 90% of the time - a kid on a sportsball team did something amazing, people started treating him like shit for adults liking him, and Red had no idea until like 3 months later

- Red just kinda lives in their head

- Did they hear what you just said? Nah, but they sure did hear that wristwatch every time it clicked on the second.

- Likes the sound of adventure, but mostly gets lost in Ikea and makes deals with the eldritch monsters in the mattress section

- SUCH A SHITTY SENSE OF DIRECTION, COULD GET LOST IN A GRID WITH MAPS AT EVERY INTERSECTION

- Charismatic, but mostly in the sense of lying their ass off and persuading people

- Once tried to go a day without making a deal (on a dare), ended by making a deal to not have to ever do that again

- Businesses both hate and love them - they pay for nothing but will bargain away odd things of equivalent value every time and catch shoplifters, dislikes shoplifters because it’s not a fair trade

- Bizarrely good luck with finding things in pockets, particularly to “pay” for things

#my ocs #red (oc)#X (oc)#the celestian #crime #warlock #dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #there was another dude that was supposed to be in this collection sort of thing but tumblr screamed at me when I tried to add them so ¯\_(ツ)#my writing #how am i supposed to tag again #please ask me about these kiddos #thanks

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adventuresinaustria · 6 years

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Life Update!

March 9, 2018- Hello from Portugal!

My sincerest apologies for being so behind on my blog.. it’s been an eventful couple of weeks! I’m writing here from Porto, Portugal where my roommate Des and I decided to spend our spring break. It’s been in the 50s and rain here but we’re making the most of it! Everyday it rains for a quick 5 minutes, totally clears up, and repeats - so bizarre! Nonetheless, we’re happy to be out of the cold and snowy Salzburg for a bit. Instead of making it another busy travel week, Des and I used these six days in Portugal to relax and make it a vacation without any agenda or schedule. Everyday we wake up and walk aimlessly as we explore the city and enjoy the slow paced lifestyle we haven't had much of in Salzburg where its always go go go. This is exactly the type of break Des and I needed at this point in the semester so I’m really soaking it in while I can! It’s amazing what a world of a difference it makes when you travel with just one person instead of a group of ten.. just so much easier to go with the flow and make plans on a whim. Although, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to going back to Salzburg because it is home now and I love my life there. Porto is a city that could easily be explored in a weekend’s time just because there isn’t necessarily a TON to see if you're looking for things to do all day everyday as a traveller. It’s more of a coastal beach city that is good for relaxing and laying low, which makes it a prime destination in late spring or summer. Des and I were a little sad we weren't able to soak up the sun on the beach like we had originally anticipated but it seems like everyone in both Europe and the States are having a tough blow with bad weather these days! Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches though, right?

Here are some pictures of different spots in Porto as well as some of the delicious food we ate!

We came across so many beautiful views in the city but this was definitely a favorite!

Nothing like pancakes with blueberry jam, vanilla ice cream, powdered sugar, and fresh fruit!

Above is what they call pizza kebab. Kebab’s are a really popular food in Europe and it’s a type of meat that you can enjoy in a burrito or sandwich and apparently on pizza too! We were both in food heaven and ended up getting the same pizza for dinner two nights in a row. We’re going to keep our eyes out to see if they have the same combo in Salzburg. So yummy!

A look back..

The week of February 18 we had an excursion to ORF, Austria’s public broadcasting network, which was pretty neat! We were given a tour of the whole building and even had the opportunity walk in on a live broadcast where the broadcaster controls the music playing on the radio and makes announcements. I am not huge into media so I really learned a lot about how their television and radio broadcasting system works. We also had to write a paper comparing and contrasting Austria’s public broadcasting service to ours in the States (PBS). Doing that analysis was another interesting way to see just how alike and different the Austrian and US cultures are.

Later that week a few friends and I went to a really fun international soccer, or “futbol” as they call it in Austria, match in Salzburg! Three of the guys in our study abroad program play soccer for their university in Texas so they were over the moon about this game! It was a dream come true for all of them to attend an international soccer game in Europe and I could see how incredibly inspired they were. Their big smiles and constant excitement made me smile! We sat in the Salzburg section, eventually picked up some of the chants in German, and despite the cold had a great time. Soccer isn’t the first sport I would choose to watch but this game totally changed my perception of the sport and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed myself.

Prague!

The next day, Friday, majority of our study abroad group (10/13 of us) woke up early and boarded the train to Prague for a weekend getaway! Prague is just absolutely magical... I have never been more in awe of a city than Prague. Every single place you look is a breath-taking view. It is so authentic, romantic, and wonderful to explore. I took the day with one of my friends to get breakfast and just walk anywhere and everywhere! As I mentioned before about Portugal, it makes a world of a difference to travel with one person rather than a big group. We took our time walking, stopped in a few beautiful churches, checked out a market where I purchased a cute journal, ate a delicious Czech dessert, and saw a lot of other little things that as a group we wouldn't have been able to stop and see!

One of the many cool street views of Prague. The buildings are all sorts of fun colors and the cobblestone roads make it an even more beautiful sight to see.

Me about to enjoy an afternoon treat!

This may very well be the most delicious dessert I have ever eaten! They call it a Trdelnik which is essentially a hollow piece of dough covered in cinnamon sugar. You can very well eat it plain, or if you really want a dessert like I did, you can get it filled with chocolate and/or ice cream! I couldn’t resist and went with the vanilla ice cream and chocolate drizzle on top. It’s safe to say that I was in a state of pure happiness as we strolled through Prague and enjoyed every bite of our dessert.

In addition, we did see the bigger sites such as the St Charles Bridge as well as the Castle, both of which were absolutely stunning! No pictures will ever be able to serve them justice but I’ll post some just so you have an idea of what I saw. The weather was insanely cold (~15 degrees) but the sun was shining and we pushed through. Even when I thought I had frost bite it was completely worth it! Definitely a city I’d love to visit again with my future hubby.

St Charles’ Bridge

Couldn't get enough of this view!

The inside of the Castle - absolutely gorgeous!

The view from the walk up to the Castle aka a perfect view of the city

Oh and their currency is Czech Korona so we had to withdraw some money at the ATM in Prague when we arrived and I gotta say.. it was quite surreal holding a 1000 bill! To give you an idea, 1 USD = ~20 Czech Koruna so we all withdrew about 50 USD for the weekend. Not bad! Prague is an insanely inexpensive city which we all really appreciated as college students.

In total we were there from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. We departed Salzburg at 8 am and arrived in Prague around 2:30 pm for a total of ~6 hours travel time. We switched trains twice within that time which broke up the trip a bit. Overall it was a smooth day of traveling but I cant say the same going home. On Sunday, we had the morning to do some more exploring before checking out of our hostel heading to the train station around 5:15 for our 6pm train. Much to our surprise, our initial train was diverted or cancelled (something along those lines) so we spontaneously got onto another train that we were told would take us to the city where we were to board our next train. Keep in mind that 95% of people in Prague speak Czech, which is a completely foreign language to all of us, so that was a challenge in itself.

Eventually we made it to another station where we boarded a train to Linz (Austria) which was supposed to be our original stop. Once we arrived in Linz after 10 pm, we were running behind from the original delays so despite our best efforts to sprint to the train departing for Salzburg we were 30 seconds too late and saw it pull away just as we got to the platform! We were all exhausted and defeated and at that point stranded in Linz until we could find another train to Salzburg. It was also Sunday which means everything in Europe is closed or closed early so nothing in the train station was open except Mc Donalds. Thankfully, one of our friends found a train going to Salzburg at 10:45 pm so we quick grabbed dinner at Mc Donalds and boarded this train that technically we didn’t have a ticket for. We walked the entire length of the train before finding a little cabin to sit in and had a little over an hour ride home. Upon arrival to Salzburg a little before midnight we hopped in a taxi and at last made it back to our dorm. We were all wiped out and couldn't wait to snuggle into bed.

Week 6 / Info about school

The week after Prague was by far the busiest one yet! We had only three days until our next travel excursion! In those three days we had class but also a midterm and final exam. Oh yeah, and the US ambassador visited our dorm on Wednesday afternoon too! It’s safe to say we had no time to study the previous weekend in Prague so it was definitely a stressful couple of days with our exams. Our German class only lasted the first half of the semester so we had a final for that class right before our spring break and then had a midterm for the Austrian history course that every student in our program is required to take. Our semester is split up into two blocks so as of March 1 we are officially finished with block one and onto the second! It’s unreal how fast time flies..

The second half of our semester I’ll still be in my Austrian history course (”The European Experience” as they call it), my intro to Photography class which is super fun and I will share more about later, and then I will be starting a class called The Art of Propaganda which I think will be fascinating! Austria was obviously very involved with World War II so it’s really fascinating studying in the country where everything happened. These classes are totally out of my element as a nursing student but I’m totally loving the change of pace and different type of challenge.

As I briefly mentioned above, we had the awesome opportunity to meet the US Ambassador! He was so excited to talk to us Americans after interacting with the other German speakers of Austria on a regular basis. There is a statue of Abraham Lincoln in the backyard of our dorm building so we all went and took a picture in front of it as shown below!

After that it was just a low key social hour with coffee and cake. It was interesting hearing him speak about his life and also his experience studying abroad in college. He couldn’t say enough about how much studying abroad shaped his career path and the way he lived the rest of his life! I 100% agree with him and feel that there is no better opportunity than studying abroad to discover who you are and grow as you learn so much about the world around you. On many occasions Des and I have discussed how oblivious we were to so many things before this. It’s like we didn’t even realize how much of a bubble we lived in until we removed ourselves from life as we know it and stepped completely out of our normal boundaries. I finally see a whole new side to life with new eyes that I didn’t even realize existed before. I’m going to do a separate post that goes more into detail about the cultural differences and ways I’ve positively changed from this experience.

Meet and greet with the US Ambassador.. check! √

I’m going to discuss my excursion to Vienna/more about spring break in Portugal in separate post just to break it up.

PS. I began this post in Portugal and am now finishing/posting it today, March 11, from Salzburg because much to my surprise I didn’t have Wifi during our 7 hour layover in Zurich, Switzerland on the way home from Portugal yesterday. We had a long day of traveling that began at 5:30 am and didn’t end until we arrived back in Salzburg at 2:30 am early this morning. We flew from Porto to Zurich where we had a 7 hour layover as mentioned above, then Zurich to Vienna, Austria, and finally took a train from Vienna to Salzburg. It was quite a day but we’re happy to be home and enjoying a relaxing Sunday here in Salzburg. Oh, and winter is officially behind us! We woke up to a sunny 60 degree day here without the presence of snow and couldn't be more excited for the spring weather we are about to enjoy.

Auf Wiedersehen!

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suckitsurveys · 7 years

Text

Which was worst for you: freshman year of high school or of college? All of school was awful, but probably freshman year because that’s just a fucking unpleasant age to begin with.

What is the last language you spoke, other than your first? Spanish.

If you could visit either Germany or Argentina, which one would you choose? Argentina.

Would you ever consider moving to a different country? No.

How do you stay awake in the morning? Good fucking question.

Do you prefer your men/women to have light hair or dark hair? I like dark hair, but it doesn’t really matter.

What is your favourite food from your culture? I’m white as fuck, I don‘t have a culture. If you mean from my heritage or background or what the fuck ever, I LOVE sauerkraut and potato pancakes. If that counts as German/Czech food.

If you were stressed out, would a nice long run help? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA are you fucking kidding me? But really, exercise had been helping me feel less stressed. But definitely NOT running.

What is your favorite New England state? I’ve been to New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. My favorite out of the three is New Hampshire.

Do you find soccer/football/etc boring or exciting? American football is the worst fucking thing on TV.

Do you have a favorite team? My three favorite teams are the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Chicago Bulls.

What is your favorite time of the year? SUMMER.

Do you know any pick-up lines in a foreign language? Nope.

When is the last time you went to the beach? New Years Day Mark and I went to Holland State Park Beach to walk around and take pictures of ice haha.

What degree are you or will you pursue while in college? Hahahahahahahahhahahahahahahah.

What movie did you waste your money going to see at the theater? I don’t know.

Is the upcoming weekend going to be busy for you? Not super busy, no. If they are a teeny bit longer, I might try to get my nails done Saturday morning and then we are going to dinner with my coworkers in the evening. Sunday I have to finally take down the damn Christmas tree.

Favorite arcade game? Ski ball and pin ball. I like balls.

Would other people consider your sense of humor inappropriate? I mean, sometimes it is.

Do you look good in hats? Winter ones.

Who performed at the last concert you went to? My friend’s band.

Who is your biggest celebrity crush right now? Michael Ian Black recently came back into my life.

What are they famous for? Stella Comedy and Wet Hot American Summer

What is your phone background? My lock screen is the Cubs logo and the home screen is the Wrigley Field Marquee saying “WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS” because I’m still not over it.

What do you think is the best holiday to celebrate? Christmas and Halloween.

What is your favorite time in history to learn about? Early Native American history.

#surveys

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