Es ist alles so schön

I am still loving Vienna and everything I see is so beautiful! On Friday we all went to the Wien Museum which was great! We had an introduction to the Art and Architecture History Course which is part of our program. I am really excited for that class because I have never really learned much about it before so I think it will be really interesting. We had a transportation rally after the museum where we were put into teams of three and had to leave and come back to the same spot after using four modes of transportation, which were going on the Straßenbahn (streetcars), Autobus (bus), U-Bahn (subway), and the Schnellbahn (railway). My team came in second place so we were happy about that. We came home after that and our host had made us wiener schnitzel which was really sweet. The next day we went to the Ephesosmuseum and the Römermuseum. At the museum they had works of art and architecture on display from Ephesus which was located in what is now present day Turkey. Since 1895, archaeologists have been excavating the ruins of Ephesus and many of the objects are now in Vienna at this museum. We learned about a lot of Greek and Roman art and architecture while we were there and had an assignment to do a formal art analysis on one of the works we saw. We also saw the Mozart Memorial, which is in the Ringstrasse. Afterwards, a few of us went to a store called Primark, which is kind of like H&M, but way inexpensive. It is awesome, I so wish they had these in America!! Later that night we went to a friend's house to watch Eurovision! Okay, so I hadn't heard about this until I got here but it's a European song contest where each country sends their best singer/band and they put on a huge show, I guess it is similar to American Idol, but with many countries and more enthusiasm! It is a big thing in Austria right now because last year Austria won with the singer Conchita Wurst, which, just to give you a nice mental image, is a transgender guy who looks for the most part like a woman but still sports a beard. Google images can help you out with that one. On Sunday, I went to church with my host and it was really fun. I wasn't able to understand a lot but it was great to see how strong the members are here. I was also able to talk to the missionaries a little bit which was great. This morning I was able to go find the Jesuitenkirche where I will be having my organ lessons, I will have my first one tomorrow! Then, we went to Naturhistorisches Museum: Venus of Willendorf. It was a fun Museum and there was so much to see! They have casts of dinosaur skeletons, a large display of skulls that show the history of man, lots of gems, prehistoric sculptures and extinct birds and mammals. I was able to meet some family friends for lunch which was wonderful, it is great to have some connections here. Tonight, we are going to Die Fledermaus, which is an Operetta by Johann Strauss. Bis später!