This will be my last post. This is a little sad for me because it is essentially the one "last" thing I've done that really means "this is the end". It also probably isn't helping that I'm listening to the new Coldplay album right now (You know how I know I'm gay?). So the bags are packed and sitting on my floor. Tonight we are going out for a few drinks and then saying our goodbyes (of course a kebap will officially end the night).
Its been a good one. I mean that very seriously. Thank you so much mom and dad for allowing me to do this for a semester. I owe you more than you know. It was good for me to get out of Champaign for a semester. But now I'm ready to get back home. I'm really gonna miss this place but its just been so long since I've had Papa Dels...
My final souvenir that I bought yesterday was an Austrian flag that I'll put up in my room. I feel connected to this country in a sense now, but as cool as it is over here, I can't imagine living in any other place but the United States of America. I'm gonna get a little patriotic for a minute here. This is due mostly cause I'm coming home, 4th of July is next week, and I miss home in general. Europe is cool, but I don't see how people say that America needs to be more like Europe. My program director loves it over here and he is always trying to tell me what Europe does that is so great. I gotta tell you I don't think it sounds that fantastic. Plus they don't even have ice or water fountains over here haha. Sure there are some perks in Europe that I like, but overall I think we do it right. I do wish we loved football (I guess I have to start calling it soccer now) as much as they do over here.
So ends another chapter in the life of Andrew Sweeney. Thanks for reading! I'll be home before the fireworks...
Prost!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
last class
I feel like these posts are getting less relevant each day. This weekend was more fanzone and taking care of logistical stuff before I peace outta here. Please forgive me if I'm ranting and not making sense but my mind is wandering tonight and I can't concentrate on my homework. I think Djavad is losing his mind by the way. He has been nose deep in a calc textbook all weekend and he will randomly turn on his Iranian music and dance around the room. Normally I would be uncomfortable with these actions but now I'm at the point where if he didn't do that I would be concerned. He leaves for Iran in late July so he's got his own bachelor pad after I leave next week.
I started my final class today. Its called Export Marketing Management. Its probably the most worthwhile class I've taken here so far and shouldn't be too bad. The teacher is from Greece and seems pretty cool.
I saw the movie "The Happening" tonight. I give it the official Andrew Sweeney thumbs down. I think Shyamalan is losing it like Djavad.
I've been in a perpetual state of stickiness these last two weeks. Europe doesn't believe in air conditioning. Among AC I'm also excited to get back to water fountains, food delivery, ice, the english language, cheeseburgers..... I could go all day.
To be fair I will miss a lot of things here so it will be a bittersweet departure, especially because I can start naming my "last" things like last night at Loco, last night at fanzone, last kebap....
Other than that it will be good to be back at home. Gotta go.
I started my final class today. Its called Export Marketing Management. Its probably the most worthwhile class I've taken here so far and shouldn't be too bad. The teacher is from Greece and seems pretty cool.
I saw the movie "The Happening" tonight. I give it the official Andrew Sweeney thumbs down. I think Shyamalan is losing it like Djavad.
I've been in a perpetual state of stickiness these last two weeks. Europe doesn't believe in air conditioning. Among AC I'm also excited to get back to water fountains, food delivery, ice, the english language, cheeseburgers..... I could go all day.
To be fair I will miss a lot of things here so it will be a bittersweet departure, especially because I can start naming my "last" things like last night at Loco, last night at fanzone, last kebap....
Other than that it will be good to be back at home. Gotta go.
Friday, June 20, 2008
unbelievable
I am in a less than happy mood tonight. I just cannot believe the game I just saw. Just when you think Turkey is going to be eliminated, they find a way. The car horns have been going off for twenty minutes and I don't think they will stop for another few hours. Someone told me today that there are 700,000 Turks living in Vienna and that they make up for 70% of Vienna's (or Austria's) immigrants. A lot of cars honking needless to say...
I'll be doing homework.
I'll be doing homework.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
European Top 5 Pt. 2
OK break time from homework.
3. BARCELONA
They kind of spoke Spanish here, but not really. The water was hardly drinkable. The public transportation there sucked. There was a beach but it was too cold to enjoy it (wow why is this even on the top 5?) Well, there was so much to do and a lot of really cool places we drank at. Amy's sister studied there last spring so we knew where we were going. We saw a fountain show, ventured through bustling market streets, ate paella and tapas, climbed a mountain, stormed a castle, saw the famous and unfinished Sagrada Familia, saw the Barcelona soccer team's gigantic Camp Nou stadium and so on and so forth. No museums. No tours. Just a lot of fun at our pace and our time. It was a good midway point in the spring break trip. I wanted to see more Spain and go to sunny Madrid but we spent too much time in France.
4. SALZBURG
I had to throw in something from good old Austria. Since Vienna is out of the running I choose Salzburg, the Disney World of Europe. Yes, I suffered the Sound of Music tour here. However, we had a really good group of people with us. There was a really cool fortress/castle thing was saw, that even had a torture chamber. The scenery was beautiful. The Augustiner Brauhaus was AWESOME and there I learned that "Ein muter Trunk Macht alte jung". Plus we saw the largest ice caves in the world. The trip lasted 5 days so we were able to take out time. All in all a very memorable trip.
5. BASKA
Sneaking in at the end of the Top 5 is the island town in Croatia. This was a fantastic trip. Our true Spring Break of 2008. A tiny town nestled at the southern tip of the island of Krk (possibly the largest island in the Adriatic, I'm not sure) was the perfect getaway from the stresses of one class a week. The sun was shining, the water was clear, and the sheep were roasting. It was peaceful and relaxing during the day, and then at night the party started. European rock bands, beer that tasted like it was from back home, and delicious lamb. I could have stayed there for another week, especially because of the exchange rate. I really need to stop thinking about these places because I'm getting a little melancholy that this semester is over.
Honorable Mentions:
Munich
Munich was fun because the town was basically founded on beer and that's really all you have to do there. I couldn't put two German cities in the top 5 because I wanted to spread it out and not show a bias towards Deutschland (even though there is one). The walking tour was guided by a newbie and he was terrible, so my experience is tainted a bit. I did get to reunite with old friends and I really enjoyed that.
Bratislava
Ok this one is mostly a joke but I went there three freaking times (not by choice) so the joke here is that I secretly love it. The poor city does get beat up on a lot (think the movies "Hostel" and "Eurotrip") Yes it is still getting itself together after the iron curtain went down, and yes, some of the buildings are falling apart, but hey, gotta love that exchange rate. Great food, great drinks, and a near-death experience I will never forget.
Graz
A very cool day trip to the capitol of Styria in Austria with one of my favorite museums and the best schnitzel I've ever had.
By principle I did not include anything about France but I did enjoy Nice and Paris. Not so much Avignon.
"Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me."
-Michael Scott
3. BARCELONA
They kind of spoke Spanish here, but not really. The water was hardly drinkable. The public transportation there sucked. There was a beach but it was too cold to enjoy it (wow why is this even on the top 5?) Well, there was so much to do and a lot of really cool places we drank at. Amy's sister studied there last spring so we knew where we were going. We saw a fountain show, ventured through bustling market streets, ate paella and tapas, climbed a mountain, stormed a castle, saw the famous and unfinished Sagrada Familia, saw the Barcelona soccer team's gigantic Camp Nou stadium and so on and so forth. No museums. No tours. Just a lot of fun at our pace and our time. It was a good midway point in the spring break trip. I wanted to see more Spain and go to sunny Madrid but we spent too much time in France.
4. SALZBURG
I had to throw in something from good old Austria. Since Vienna is out of the running I choose Salzburg, the Disney World of Europe. Yes, I suffered the Sound of Music tour here. However, we had a really good group of people with us. There was a really cool fortress/castle thing was saw, that even had a torture chamber. The scenery was beautiful. The Augustiner Brauhaus was AWESOME and there I learned that "Ein muter Trunk Macht alte jung". Plus we saw the largest ice caves in the world. The trip lasted 5 days so we were able to take out time. All in all a very memorable trip.
5. BASKA
Sneaking in at the end of the Top 5 is the island town in Croatia. This was a fantastic trip. Our true Spring Break of 2008. A tiny town nestled at the southern tip of the island of Krk (possibly the largest island in the Adriatic, I'm not sure) was the perfect getaway from the stresses of one class a week. The sun was shining, the water was clear, and the sheep were roasting. It was peaceful and relaxing during the day, and then at night the party started. European rock bands, beer that tasted like it was from back home, and delicious lamb. I could have stayed there for another week, especially because of the exchange rate. I really need to stop thinking about these places because I'm getting a little melancholy that this semester is over.
Honorable Mentions:
Munich
Munich was fun because the town was basically founded on beer and that's really all you have to do there. I couldn't put two German cities in the top 5 because I wanted to spread it out and not show a bias towards Deutschland (even though there is one). The walking tour was guided by a newbie and he was terrible, so my experience is tainted a bit. I did get to reunite with old friends and I really enjoyed that.
Bratislava
Ok this one is mostly a joke but I went there three freaking times (not by choice) so the joke here is that I secretly love it. The poor city does get beat up on a lot (think the movies "Hostel" and "Eurotrip") Yes it is still getting itself together after the iron curtain went down, and yes, some of the buildings are falling apart, but hey, gotta love that exchange rate. Great food, great drinks, and a near-death experience I will never forget.
Graz
A very cool day trip to the capitol of Styria in Austria with one of my favorite museums and the best schnitzel I've ever had.
By principle I did not include anything about France but I did enjoy Nice and Paris. Not so much Avignon.
"Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me."
-Michael Scott
European Top 5
OK so the semester if winding down and I'm sure everyone needs a break from me taking about EM 2008 so I will dedicate this post to my top 5 European cities. I've put much thought into this and have debated with people for countless hours about my choices. Excluded from this list is Vienna because I couldn't really allow it to compete with cities I've visited for only a couple of days. Plus I freaking live here and it holds a special place in my heart. While doing my power rankings I've deciding to use the following criteria that have no particular order or importance: sightseeing, public transportation, cost, amount of sweet stories I can tell people back home, knowledge/cultural experience gained, quality of food, quality of beer, and of course, nightlife.
1. BERLIN
Berlin was just....the best. I can't say enough about it. If I was doing a country ranking Germany would easily be up there. It could be that I just spent a lot of time there and saw old friends but that's not the case. I just love the German culture, and the people are uber friendly. I haven't slept in a more comfortable bed this entire semester than the ones in that hostel. I was so happy about it I almost went online and wrote a review. Basically the company that made that visit was called NewEurope. They do free walking tours (they only work on tips) and then they take you out at night on pub crawls. The tour was fantastic. The guy was hilarious. The pub crawl was one of the best nights out I've had here. I met the coolest people and had the most interesting conversations. The beer and brats were excellent. Ok I'll stop now. I've already talked about the city so you don't need to hear it again. One more final point I would like to make is that Berlin was near the end of my long two week spring break trip, so for me to be interested in anything by that time is saying something.
2. PRAGUE
Oh Eastern Bloc. I feel like I have betrayed Prague a little bit for not being number 1 because now that I'm writing my reasons down there's no way this guy deserves to be number 2. But, this is the real world and there are number 1's and number 2's. I would be the first to tell you. Just look at my trophy shelf. The trip to Prague was my first group trip out of Vienna besides ski week. I was at that time still really pumped about traveling. I was running around with my camera in one hand and a map in the other with my "Czech Me Out" t-shirt on. Just kidding. I do have that t-shirt but I was not wearing it. Oh, beginning of semester Andrew, there is so much I need to warn you about, and yet, I can't. Anyway, the Czech Republic has arguably the best beer in the world. The pilsner beer was invented in this country! Our famous Budweiser was stolen from this country! The sights in Prague were great. The famous castle was closed so I was a little bitter about that, but Prague had it all: sights, drinks, nightlife, and even Anti-American graffiti!
OK I've got my next two cities lined up but I haven't actually figured out which one I will throw in for number 5 so I'm actually going to do my homework now.
Prost!
1. BERLIN
Berlin was just....the best. I can't say enough about it. If I was doing a country ranking Germany would easily be up there. It could be that I just spent a lot of time there and saw old friends but that's not the case. I just love the German culture, and the people are uber friendly. I haven't slept in a more comfortable bed this entire semester than the ones in that hostel. I was so happy about it I almost went online and wrote a review. Basically the company that made that visit was called NewEurope. They do free walking tours (they only work on tips) and then they take you out at night on pub crawls. The tour was fantastic. The guy was hilarious. The pub crawl was one of the best nights out I've had here. I met the coolest people and had the most interesting conversations. The beer and brats were excellent. Ok I'll stop now. I've already talked about the city so you don't need to hear it again. One more final point I would like to make is that Berlin was near the end of my long two week spring break trip, so for me to be interested in anything by that time is saying something.
2. PRAGUE
Oh Eastern Bloc. I feel like I have betrayed Prague a little bit for not being number 1 because now that I'm writing my reasons down there's no way this guy deserves to be number 2. But, this is the real world and there are number 1's and number 2's. I would be the first to tell you. Just look at my trophy shelf. The trip to Prague was my first group trip out of Vienna besides ski week. I was at that time still really pumped about traveling. I was running around with my camera in one hand and a map in the other with my "Czech Me Out" t-shirt on. Just kidding. I do have that t-shirt but I was not wearing it. Oh, beginning of semester Andrew, there is so much I need to warn you about, and yet, I can't. Anyway, the Czech Republic has arguably the best beer in the world. The pilsner beer was invented in this country! Our famous Budweiser was stolen from this country! The sights in Prague were great. The famous castle was closed so I was a little bitter about that, but Prague had it all: sights, drinks, nightlife, and even Anti-American graffiti!
OK I've got my next two cities lined up but I haven't actually figured out which one I will throw in for number 5 so I'm actually going to do my homework now.
Prost!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Strategy Weekend
This last weekend I have been wrapping up my strategic management class. It was a lot of fun and only a little work so I'm real happy about that. We went to a tiny village called Nasswald (wet forest?) with a population of only 86 people. It was literally a one horse town. Seriously. There was a single horse standing around in the middle of the town. Anyway the hotel we stayed at had a big conference room that doubled as the presentation room and the viewing room for the soccer matches. We pretty much had the hotel to ourselves so they let us party until the wee hours of the morning. The bartender was even joining us. At around 1 am he came out with a full bottle of schnapps and turned up the music. The weekend was a success and he gave us all an "A" for basically showing up. I've got two more weeks of this vacation, I mean, semester. I have one more class to take that actually doesn't start for another week and only goes for 3 days. Those three days of export marketing management and I get to opt out of Accounting 301 for my Senior year. Booyah!
Tonight is do or die for Austria. I'll be in the Fanzone.
Prost!
Tonight is do or die for Austria. I'll be in the Fanzone.
Prost!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Immer Wieder Osterreich!
Hey it wasn't pretty, but we're still alive. I'm leaving for the weekend now goodbye.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
give me a jersey
I just read the latest euro 2008 diary entry of page 2 after posting and the Ottakringer Brewery is giving away a lifetime supply of beer to the first Austrian who scores in the tournament. Sign me up. I guess Patrick Bode was right: "If you drink enough Ottakringer, anything is possible."
tourney update and misc.
So I'm supposed to be working on my Strategic Management presentation for my weekend excursion right now so I need to make this relatively quick. I have been kicking myself for not having the foresight to pick other classes that ended earlier so I wouldn't have to choose between work and fun. I thought I was on vacation anyways...
I promise I won't talk about the games much because if you are watching them then you don't need me to tell you what happened and if you want commentary Page 2 of espn.com has a hilarious recap of the games in a daily diary. But this is my blog so these are my thoughts:
Romania has surprised everyone with their tenacity and bunker ball defense that even had enough courage to stand up to ribery's ugliness. I still say if Thierry Henry was in the game France would have put one away but that's just my own biases coming into play. Italy got whooped one of the best games so far of the tournament. The Dutch were outnumbered 3-1 in the Fanzone but that didn't stop them from going nuts. What else...oh yeah. The first half of the Sweden/Greece game I literally wanted to die. It was one of the most boring halves of soccer I've seen. Ryan Hoch pointed out to me that it looked like the Simpsons episode where they make fun of soccer and the players just pass it back and forth the whole time and not score. Spain looks like they are gonna be a tough team to beat as long as they don't choke. I found myself bewildered at this Spanish striker who wasn't Fernando Torres who was scoring all the goals (Who the hell is David Villa?). Portugal just soundly beat the Czech Republic in what I called the We don't want to play Germany in the Quarterfinals Bowl. The other game was pretty boring too. I was expecting more fights. Tonight I'm going to try to sneak away from this presentation and head to Fanzone for the Austria/Poland game tonight, because if Austria wins, that is where I want to be. They probably won't win, but I can still believe.
(at this point I realize that I broke my promise about talking about the games)
In other news I got an e-mail from my landlord telling me to remove the couch and pool from the front lawn. I knew about the couch but pool? Where the heck did we get a pool? How big is this pool? I have a bad feeling that my house on campus is starting to turn into a circus and that I'll have some surprises in store for me when I get back home.
After this weekend I will be 4 classes down and 1 to go with my online class that I'll be doing for the better part of the rest of my summer when I get to Champaign.
Have I mentioned that this weekend excursion destination is unknown? With Austria's tradition of having creepy molester people I'm a little wary of following this teacher guy anywhere...
If I don't report back by Monday send a search team.
cheers
I promise I won't talk about the games much because if you are watching them then you don't need me to tell you what happened and if you want commentary Page 2 of espn.com has a hilarious recap of the games in a daily diary. But this is my blog so these are my thoughts:
Romania has surprised everyone with their tenacity and bunker ball defense that even had enough courage to stand up to ribery's ugliness. I still say if Thierry Henry was in the game France would have put one away but that's just my own biases coming into play. Italy got whooped one of the best games so far of the tournament. The Dutch were outnumbered 3-1 in the Fanzone but that didn't stop them from going nuts. What else...oh yeah. The first half of the Sweden/Greece game I literally wanted to die. It was one of the most boring halves of soccer I've seen. Ryan Hoch pointed out to me that it looked like the Simpsons episode where they make fun of soccer and the players just pass it back and forth the whole time and not score. Spain looks like they are gonna be a tough team to beat as long as they don't choke. I found myself bewildered at this Spanish striker who wasn't Fernando Torres who was scoring all the goals (Who the hell is David Villa?). Portugal just soundly beat the Czech Republic in what I called the We don't want to play Germany in the Quarterfinals Bowl. The other game was pretty boring too. I was expecting more fights. Tonight I'm going to try to sneak away from this presentation and head to Fanzone for the Austria/Poland game tonight, because if Austria wins, that is where I want to be. They probably won't win, but I can still believe.
(at this point I realize that I broke my promise about talking about the games)
In other news I got an e-mail from my landlord telling me to remove the couch and pool from the front lawn. I knew about the couch but pool? Where the heck did we get a pool? How big is this pool? I have a bad feeling that my house on campus is starting to turn into a circus and that I'll have some surprises in store for me when I get back home.
After this weekend I will be 4 classes down and 1 to go with my online class that I'll be doing for the better part of the rest of my summer when I get to Champaign.
Have I mentioned that this weekend excursion destination is unknown? With Austria's tradition of having creepy molester people I'm a little wary of following this teacher guy anywhere...
If I don't report back by Monday send a search team.
cheers
Monday, June 9, 2008
fanzone
So as you know the tourney is underway and things are nuts. I've been at fanzone the last two days watching the games and as a result I feel incredibly fatigued and malnourished. As I type my right hand is shaking. However, I'm going to power through and tell you about all this fun. Picture 1 is, well, a lot of people. Just to the left outside of the shot is the entrance to fanzone. The first day wasn't this bad but day 2 was the Austrian game. A lot of energy. A lot of emotion. And a lot of Croats too. After getting through the very friendly pat-down we headed towards the Rathaus to watch the games on the main screen. Our spot was conveniently right next to the Carlsberg tent too! Anyways it was a disappointing game with the only goal being scored on a penalty kick in the 4th minute of the game and having to watch Austria desperately struggle to equalize to no avail for the other 86 minutes.
The atmosphere in there is great. Singing and chanting with everyone is a lot of fun, although I don't know what they are saying half the time. When the other team scores, you can expect cups of beer to get thrown towards the other fans, especially when it is scored off of a controversial call/no-call. I wanted to take a break from this craziness but a guy in my program who was born in Holland wants me to go with him to the Netherlands/Italy game. I agreed because 1) I give in too easily to this kind of stuff and 2) Its so much fun to see those dirty Italians go down (apologies to anyone who may be offended by that statement but you really just need to watch these videos).In other news I now have concrete evidence that Djavad has been siphoning my internet usage and was responsible for me not having internet for 5 days at the end of May. I've tried asking him why he switches the internet cords from one jack to another while I'm out of town but he insists the maids must have done it. It appears appeasement will not work with him, so I have to figure out a new method to stop him lest my internet gets sucked up for my remaining days here. More on those developments later.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Believe!
Nobody writing about this tournament has anything nice to say about poor Austria. I have tried to find some silver lining, but it is tough when you are ranked 101st in the world and aren't expected to even score a goal this month. But the players are singing a slightly different tune. My boy Erwin "Jimmy" Hoffer who plays for Rapid Vienna thinks they can shock the world. It's about time I found some flipping optimism. Anyways, for those that care, they play Sunday the 8th at 11 am central standard time, 6 pm my time against Croatia, who many consider to be the tournament's Darkhorse this year. The stage is set. Cue the music. Tap the kegs...
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
National Pride
Although there is much excitement leading up to this tournament, you will find many Austrians that are not as thrilled as you would expect
One of the locals I found myself talking to at a bar last month suggested that because Austria was so bad, they should drop out and sell their spot on eBay. I'm sure the English would be happy to pay. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because I have heard rumors all semester about a petition for Austria to drop out of the tournament because they do not actually belong in it. I have just found evidence that this petition exists.
The concert I went to last night at Shonbrunn was hosted by the Vienna Philharmonic btw.
Today I went to a museum called the Haus der Musik. The history stuff about the various composers was boring but they had a couple floors of interactive stuff where you could play around with different sounds (real and imaginary), test your hearing threshold, create new sounds with multiple sounds layered together in the right way, and finally make your own music onto a cd. Fun while learning!
my euphoria is limited because I have to start lesson 2 of my online class and my head is playing tricks on me because I could have sworn I just caught a hint of BBQ in the air....
auf wiedersehen.
One of the locals I found myself talking to at a bar last month suggested that because Austria was so bad, they should drop out and sell their spot on eBay. I'm sure the English would be happy to pay. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because I have heard rumors all semester about a petition for Austria to drop out of the tournament because they do not actually belong in it. I have just found evidence that this petition exists.
The concert I went to last night at Shonbrunn was hosted by the Vienna Philharmonic btw.
Today I went to a museum called the Haus der Musik. The history stuff about the various composers was boring but they had a couple floors of interactive stuff where you could play around with different sounds (real and imaginary), test your hearing threshold, create new sounds with multiple sounds layered together in the right way, and finally make your own music onto a cd. Fun while learning!
my euphoria is limited because I have to start lesson 2 of my online class and my head is playing tricks on me because I could have sworn I just caught a hint of BBQ in the air....
auf wiedersehen.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
"Das ist genug" und Sommernachtskonzert
Yesterday I wrapped up yet another class here. It was my German "for beginners" class and will transfer back as 4 credit hours to the U of I so that's a plus. I spent a total of 3 hours doing work outside of the class, which is approximately the same amount of beers I drank during class time. For our last day we handed in our take-home final in class and then all of us (including the teacher) went to get drinks across the street. Her whole "philosophy" is that language should be a fun learning experience and that it is important that we simply put in an "effort" and have a good time learning the German language. Translation: I will give you all an A. She was a lot of fun and we spent the better part of the 3 hour class time sitting around and telling stories of our travels and perspectives on things and whatnot.
Tonight is Austria's annual "gift" to the EU. It is a summer outdoor concert by Austria's most famous orchestra (the name escapes me) being performed at the lovely Shonbrunn palace. It just got done pouring rain so we'll see if it actually happens. The annual performance is done in honor of Austria entering the EU in 1995. Whenever a country enters this organization, it gives a gift. Austria's is this summer concert. I've been feeling guilty about being in Vienna all this time and not going to a concert so after tonight I can sleep easier.
The tournament starts this weekend and people are already filling this city up. I hate the tourist surge but I also like it because I can look at the them with disdain as I no longer feel like I am one anymore. Someone actually told me that they read a Europe travel guide that was updated for the summer and it basically tells people not to come to Austria because of all the people that will be here. The large crowds will not discourage me from going to Fanzone whenever I can. To get an idea of where the party is at I'll post a link. You can count on me being here at least whenever Austria plays, but most likely if there is any free time or a big game on.
Tonight is Austria's annual "gift" to the EU. It is a summer outdoor concert by Austria's most famous orchestra (the name escapes me) being performed at the lovely Shonbrunn palace. It just got done pouring rain so we'll see if it actually happens. The annual performance is done in honor of Austria entering the EU in 1995. Whenever a country enters this organization, it gives a gift. Austria's is this summer concert. I've been feeling guilty about being in Vienna all this time and not going to a concert so after tonight I can sleep easier.
The tournament starts this weekend and people are already filling this city up. I hate the tourist surge but I also like it because I can look at the them with disdain as I no longer feel like I am one anymore. Someone actually told me that they read a Europe travel guide that was updated for the summer and it basically tells people not to come to Austria because of all the people that will be here. The large crowds will not discourage me from going to Fanzone whenever I can. To get an idea of where the party is at I'll post a link. You can count on me being here at least whenever Austria plays, but most likely if there is any free time or a big game on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)