Hey Fel's sister is on the uni website!!

That was mildly freaky (not in a bad way, just rather unexpected!). Mum tells me I've received a big parcel of stuff from the uni, so I have to actually start thinking about my subjects for next year...!!

GO AND SEE WALLACE AND GROMIT! I don’t know if it’s still on in Tassie, but if it is, go and see it! It’s SOOOOO funny!!! Went and saw it on Tuesday night, with Maria, in English, with French and German subtitles! Has some hilariously funny touches (many of which I think I was the only person in the theatre to understand… Loud laughing by me, followed by ‘oops, self-concious, was that really that loud’ mouth cover up!

Read The English Patient last week, must say I was incredibly disappointed, found it really boring... Couldn't wait to finish it, which is never a good sign, because it was a please, i just want to be rid of this book kind of couldn't wait! Also read the Great Gatsby, alright, although not brilliant. Kind of intersting, but once again, i was a little disappointed... Serves me right for choosing books I've heard so many great thingy about I guess!

Read The LIon, the Witch and the Wardrobe in German this week... Was interesting, I got different impressions reading it in German - some scenes I've always imagined as one way, I saw as another way thi time... Hmmm!!

Holidays! Holidays! Hooray Hooray! Until Wednesday!

Hey Tasmania got onto the news here, with the whale strandings! There was footage and everything! Very exciting!! On the German CNN partner (N-TV) and on one 2 minute news break on a normal station!

Was watching MTV yesterday, in the 20 minute break between Dwasn’s Creek and The SImpsons, was watching this amazingly stupid show, Date My Mom. Basically a guy has to choose between 3 girls by going on a date with each of their mothers. Bibi and I think there should be a Date My Dad for the girls, and maybe even a Date My Parents, or Date My Pet, but anyway. Yesterday’s guy has lived in Australia (wow, his Aussie impersonations were terrible, the worst I think I’ve heard) and when he heard one of the girls was going to Australia for something, he did the whole Aussie Aussie Aussie thing, followed by the Oi Oi Oi, himself, because the mother had NO idea what was going on. They then did one of those soliloquy type of comment things by the mother, who said ‘I have no idea what he’s talking about right now.’ Was rather funny, but really, why doesn’t she know the third Aussie national anthem (after Jolly Swagman and that one about rejoicing Australians)…. Hmmm!!! Not as funny as his accent and kookaburra impersonations though….

Anyway(s, as my English teacher would say, agh!) GO AND SEE WALLACE AND GROMIT!

Quiz answers coming soon, but they’re downstairs and I’m not….

Change to Winter Time this weekend, so we’ll be 10 hours behind you guys again!

Bought a downie!

Teehee! They do good quality cheap winter clothing here well... (funnily enough!), so in my hunt for a winter jacket/coat, I found a downie, for about $Aus60. Is brown, not my first choice, but the only one in my size (is very popular, you should have seen how many were hanging on the 'on hold' rack!). Comes down just past my bum, has a detachable (zip) hood, and I thought, well it's not exactly the dressy coat i was hoping to find, but is perfectly in my price range, is a downie (note, I do actually already have one here, from my sister, but since she'll want that back, and i feel like a big grey elephant wearing it (warm, but BIG and grey!!) I thought this one, smaller (shorter sleeves! I can see my fingers!) was perfect! Very exciting! i'm sure all you outdoorsy types will sneer at such an obviously 'inferior' downie, but watch out, the wind might change and your face will stay that way!

Working out sending stuff home at the moment, I have well over the 20kg I'm allowed on the plane, so have tos end stuff. My host father is currently (well, next week is going to) looking into a possibly cheaper way that he knows (I have no idea, but he said is company uses it, I think, and he's pretty sure it'd be cheaper!), so that'd be nice! It's amazting how much stuff you can accumalate in 10 months! I currently have 2 daunting returning home areas,
1. looking at my bedroom, trying to work out what stays, what goes, etc etc (and also, when I should start packing... I think I need to post stuff first, but maybe I need to pack first...! I can't pack though, I need everything still! And that would seem horribly eager to be leaving!!) ) Also wondering what to do with my school work! Seems a terrible waste if I just throw out everything I've done this year, but can't take it home... WIll have to ask Magdalena about that one I think!
2. Looking at my to do list (or to buy)... I feel so good now that's I've crossed off a couple of items, but there's still a lot to do! And I have no idea what to buy for a few people (family members, not friends - no pressies for you really! Sorry, but there will be edibles...!) EEEK!

Well, still on the hunt for my count down clock!

Holidays (for a week) next wednesday! Hooray (they have a 'nationalfeiertag' - national day of celebrating being Austria!)

Yep, Erica, my relief religion teacher was called Devil... Now that, I thought, was rather funny!

And hooray, you commented!

Ok, train soon (now I'm procrastinating against searching for pressies!)

Hmmm, German.... (since edited!)

Well 'm sitting in German at the moment, the rest of the class is searching for information for their 'Spezialgebietes' - like the portoflios we have to do for exams and stuff... i'm on a good computer for once (good maybe exaggeration, but it works, accepts all the addresses I want to visit, so ok! The keyboard is really horrible though!) and i thought i should correct a couple of things in my last blog... The police here wearr grey, not green, but it's still completely militaristic! I was actually looking a group of different police type people when I wrote the note for that comment, and it got through my rather weak mistake sensor!

Love the quiz answers whoever that was... Kate or Susan are my two guesses, although the lack of Red Dwarf knowledge (unless it's my faulty brain going again) suggests Kate... I don't know...!!

i've since been informed that the ultrasound actually shows the two stomachs, not the two heads... Hmmmm... I'm not at all convinced, but the nurse with the maternal ultrasound decipheracation certificate said so, so it must be true!

Ok, my mother tells me my sister looked forward to returning to our toilet when she was on exchange in Denmark (whether or not this is true, I don't know) and continuing with the bathroom theme, i'm looking forward to own sink and shower, which actually DRAIN! Is really wrong - all the sinks here drain SOOOOO slowly, so the one in my bathroom (which is, I might add, only 1.5 metres wide, more an ensuite!) seems to have a permanent blue toothpaste scum rim (I'm not joking) and my shower has an icky old shampoo slippery patch...

Edit: cleaned my bathroom yesterday, but the vacuum cleaner is kaputt, so had to use dustpan and broom for all my hair (why do I always seriously moult in autumn....?) which was a wrong, because I forgot about the spot where I'd spilled water, and then dust hair and water combined to make this really rather disgusting mix in the dustpan... Blergh!!

Today, we had a rather appropriately named teacher for religion (although here, when it's a relief teacher, they just sit there and we all do what we like - the teacher doesn't leave work to be done or anything...) Who can tell me why I found the fact that our relief teacher was called Teufel really funny????

I'm getting suspicious of my friends here, lots of note passing, and 'don't let Imo see it' s (although half the time i have to pass the note and that message....!!) Bit worrying... i'm sure they're organising something lovely to celebrate my leaving them alone, but still....!!

Save the Last Dance on tv tomorrow, will try to tape it....

REading a very interesting book at the moment, Memoirs of a Geisha, is fiction, but seems very well researched. The author has written it in an interesting way, promoting it as non-fiction, with a 'note from the translator' at the beginning, about how he once sdaw this Geisha in Japan, when he'd just moved from the Netherlands, and how he then years later became friends, blah blah blah! At the end how ever is an Author's Note, saying it's all fiction... (haven'T actually read more than the first line of the author's note, but suspect there is more truth than he lets on in the story) Is fascinating though, a girl taken from her nearly dead mother (cancer) and elderly father, when she's 9 (her sister (16ish) is also taken but she barely features). SHe's taken to be trained as a Geisha, and has this amazing eyes, which make her stand ou from everyone else. Has a hard time, doesn't want to be a Geisha, trys running away, big mistake, but then nice things happen (well, she's used to get at someone else, but it's to her own advantage!!) I'm only about half way through, so I'm hoping it doesn't have a really weak ending, as such books often do!!

Ok, must be off!! See you all in about 48 days! (wow, that's so close!! Boohoo wahoo!)

Daniel Craig

Dunno what I think abou that choice... After all he was in Tomb Raider.... But could be ok, alhtough no one can beat Sean COnnery...

http://imdb.com/name/nm0185819/

Quiz!!!

1. What ingredient in Panteen Shampoo gives it it’s name?
2. A lot of people here wear what on their feet?
3. Mauthausen was what in WW2
4. From which book (and tv series) comes the quote: From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents – your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.
5. What is Spongebob Squarepant’s German name?
6. Complete this quote: In my day, television…
7. What is the common name of dihydroxide?
8. What do statt, stadt and staat mean?
9. What’s the name of the Austrian Bundespräsident?
10. How many states does Austria have?
11. Was Austria divided by the allied forces after WW2?
12. Where is Österreich?
13. What is mined in Halbstadt?
14. Is Princess Mary’s baby a boy or a girl
15. Which famous composer was born in Salzburg?
16. Who is Austria’s (current) biggest singer?
17. In which film about dancing is there a character named Baby?
18. What course does Imogen go into next year at Uni?
19. From which film comes this quote: We brake for no one.?
20. Austria was originally settled by who?
21. Who is playing Elizabeth in the new Pride and Prejudice film?
22. Übung macht der…
23. What is the romantic meal between Lady and the Tramp, in that film?
24. What are Rimmer and Lister fixing before the accident on Red Dwarf?
25. Who was Boris Karloff?
26. What is the currency of Sri Lanka?
27. What time does Imogen start school in the morning?
28. Is Terry Pratchett available in German?
29. McDonald’s is how old this year?
30. From which tv series comes the quote: We do anything, anytime.
31. What does James Bond drink in the books?
32. Beyonce Knowles’ boyfriend is which rapper?
33. Which actor, as James Bond, said: Excuse me, I was out walking my rat, and I seem to have lost my way.?
34. To whom is Katie Holmes (maybe/apparently) getting married?
35. The new James Bond actor is….
36. What is the chemical formula for sulphuric acid?
37. Bridget is now where?
38. Currer Bell was who?
39. What is the population of Austria?
40. Which traits were added to Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein’s monster (respectively) for their screen incarnations?
41. Which country has been the first EU country to have the Bird Flu in the latest outbreak?
42. In Ancient Greece, the cutter of the naval cord had what name?
43. Does the spell checker know my name?
44. What is the first ‘shocking’ treatment Mac receives in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?
45. In My Big Fat Greek Wedding there is a (perceived) problem with a cake, what is it?
46. Who won the recent German election?

And the New James Bond is.....

While in Australia, the slightly ‘more individual’ people carry beer cans, here they carry Red Bull. It seems to be the drink of the moment (was actually invented here, I’ve seen the house of the inventor, who is now stinking rich), and can always be seen carried by the people who’ve just had a Friday or Saturday all nighter in Altstadt. Maybe it’s like a status symbol or something, but kinda strange to watch all these punk-tartan-pant-wearing-mowhawked-young-people swigging from their Red Bull…

I think I have a Swiss German accent. Three times now I’ve been asked if I come from Switzerland by the people doing surveys on the streets. Conversation usually (thought I’d write in dialect, just for the novelty factor! Isn’t strictly correct dialect, but the best I can do!):
Them: Hallo, kon i bitte füe an koz moment dein Attention hob’n…? (hi, can I have your attention for a moment)
Me: Tu’ mia layd, i kom (or wir kom’n, when I’m with other people) nit aus Österreich. (Sorry, I/we don’t come from Austria)
Them: Oh, da Schweiz? (Oh, Switzerland)
Me: Nah, Australien… (no, Australia)
This then either turns into a discussion about the Australian girlfriend their brother has, why I am here and whether I like it, or simply, enjoy your stay have a nice day bye bye… Works nicely! But I’m intiguied about the accent thing… Not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, they do think of a German speaking country at least, but that could just be because they don’t immediately think of German being a second language… I just nod smile an correct and run….!!

Freaky when I got up this morning… My bedroom was lit by moonlight… I have two sets of curtains in my room, the thin, lacy curtain ones and the thicker block out the light ones. I only use the first, usually, and on Sunday morning I was woken up because I turned over and the moon was shining right in my eyes. I thought this was at about 3am, but when this morning I woke up at 6:10am and the moon was beaming happily into my room, I revised my opinion… Walked to the train, 40 minutes later (yep, I still do my up in half an hour, including lunch making thing here!), by moonlight… Weird! I think the time goes to the hour earlier one soon though…

Police here have such militaristic uniforms! They have their trousers tucked into socks and boots, everything very green and ready for commando crawls looking! I’m worried about the trousers into socks fashion, is starting to set it… Hopefully just lots of people forgotten to untuck after bike riding….

Hey, best news! I’m going to be an Aunty again (don’t know if you already knew that or not, but there you go!) and of TWINS!!!! Oh lala! Identical twins! My mother tells me it’s one of those completely random and freaky non-genetic, one in three gazillion types of things…How exciting! I always wanted a twin sibling, but twin niece/nephews (not known) is almost as good! So HOORAY MICHAELA AND JIM!!!! Oh and I think they’re due in March, but I could be mistaken, maybe it’s earlier…. But I reckon prayer there, that everything goes well and healthily would be fantastic! Mum sent me a pic of the ultrasounds (20 weeks, you do the maths for due date!) and there are obviously two heads in one (my first thgout there was just Tassie genetics, but hey Michaela is first generation…!!! Sorry…! Had to say it….!) and a hand in another, but everything looks kinda blobby otherwise (I know Michaela, I’m talking about your insides here, but it’S true… Must be some special maternal degree to be abel to recognise things in ultrasounds!) Still VERY exciting, and amazing! Btw, CONGRATULATIONS Rosie and Keith on little Amelie! (Amelia? Sorry…!) Hooray!

Caleb, good luck with the house moving... The end of a era... No more bus rides, lift stinge-ing (maybe I'll actually have to get my licence now!) etc etc...

Hey, the biggest train museum i nthe world (or at least Germany) burnt down last night, I saw some footage on the tv. It was so.. surreal.. to see this burning building, and the outlines of trains through the flames... Peculiar, not sure why, but was a very strange thing to see. It was in Nürnberg, btw!

Hmm, new quiz for you, I hope it’s new, I wrote it so long ago that I can’t remember if I’ve already given it to you!! But will check…!

Why is it that the mention of lice is enough to make the scalp itchy?

There's an outbreak of lice inteh school at the moment, wahoo... Have no idea how it started, except that it was in the class of a couple of girls who come and spend every break in our room.... But everyone started feeling itchy as soon as it was announced that teh annual outbreak had arrived!! Horrible feeling!

Finished watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, must say I enjoyed it, in an 'I'm so glad it isn't like that anymore (hopefully no more lobotomies)' way! We're about to look at The CUrious INcident of the Dog in the Nghttime too!

REad Sherlock Holmes last week, this week Father Brown (G.K. Chesterton), which is really funny! This little priest just keeps on popping up all over the place and solving mysteries very quietly and inconspiculously!

Trying to find a countdown clock at teh moment for all you exctied bunnies, so you can see how long until I leave here! I dad that stupid thing of deleting my old one entirely, so now have to hunt it down again!!

And I had so much to talk about this time, but completely run out of time, as usual, so have to stop there for the moment, will prolly be back some time next week with something for all you busy uni people to use fror procrastination! Maybe a new quiz or soemthing... Alhtough what you could do at the moment is look for a simple javascript countdown timer for me!

Boohoo

I'll be back...

2 months today... 61 days... That's nothing... i'll be getting to Hobart on the 8th of December, sometime in the evening.. I have tried everything I can think of to get a later flight, have asked to fly to Melbourne (nothing between the 5th and the 30th), have asked if I can change Economy classes, even asked how much it costs to upgrade to business (hey, getting desperate! Don't ask by the way, I nearly had a heart attack!), but nothing! So I shall be seeing everyone sometime around thenish...

Got a ball dress, borrowing one fro Simone in my class.. Not exactly what I would have chosne had I been shopping, but it isn't bad!

Had a nice observation for everyone, but can't remember it now! WIll tell you sometime, I'm sure!

Watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo'S Nest in English (the extra class), I'm really enjoying it, is funny to see a young Christopher Lloyd (would pick those ears anywhere) and Danny deVito I see from IMDb is also there, somewhere... He's not as distiguishable as Lloyd though... Is interesting, reminds me of 1984 in some ways, not really sure why, although if it ends in the way I currently see it going (he's just been 'treated' after the boat escapade) then there are similar themes - outsider fighting the system, gets entrapped and put into the system (sounds like an old plot, is, but in these two cases it's much more comlicated, and I don't want to give away too much!)... Of course I could be complteley wrong! Will find out on Wednesday! We're looking at Mental Illness in that English, and in normal at Cosmetic surgery... Interesting juxtapostion (is that the right word? Is so long I always forget exactly what it means, excpet that its the placing to two unrelated things next to each other in a way they become connected... or something, that was Tammy in drama...!)

Btw, Mum tells me someone at the Student Excahnge office reads my blog! uh-oh! Nah, not really! Hello!!! Glad you read it! IS that why i don't have to fill out quarterly reports like I was told i would HAVE to...? Hmm... Anyway!

So, starting to get things organised now, amking (by hand) business cards, with all my Aussie details, for all those people who have promised to send me panicked 'help me with my english for th exams' emails, letters, phone calls and sms'!! Trying to work out my budget, so I can buy lots of pressies for everyone and all that (nah, that's too complicated, be happy with chocolate or soemthing, that's what i'll prolly end u getting for unrelated people!) Have to send home clothes soon... Ohhh! And write a list for mum to go host family pressie shoppping! So much to do... Getting my visa on tuesday... Teehee... I think that's very funny, that I get it NOW! Finally finished with the holidays and everything (the 'Bezirkshauptmannschaft' people that is!)

Well anyway, this was actually just to tell you when i'd be home (considered not doing it, arrive as a nice surprise and all that, but I'm terrible at that kind of secret, will forget who you like in a minute, but this kind... nah!) Hey, when's the dancing concert this year? Will I be back in time? If yes, I'm coming....!!

Laws of Attraction

Just discovered I have the most useful contact in the world in Dina here! Her father owns a restaurant at one of the cinemas here, so not only does that mean free before and after movie refreshments, it also means free tickets to the film.... Just saw Laws of Attraction (Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore), and i was pleasantly surprised. Was actually not too bad, and rather funny at times. I've never been sure of comments that say 'the actor Blah saved this film', I mean, maybe it was having that actor that made it seem to need saving - maybe they were jsut so good they outshone the rest, and i do have another argument, but I can't quite think about how to word it, is all in images in my head at the moment, (occasionally my mind does that...!), something about the script being already written, and the actors just having to act it out, so really the script needs to be good for the film to be saved - it isn't just on the facial expressions that a film is made... If I think up a brilliant way to explain, I will.... In 3 years! Anyway, that was said about this film, and it's the kind of film that made me wonder about the logic of the phrase... Well yes...!!! Umm the film... About two divorce attorneys, originally fighting against each other. Moore is super organised and has never lost a case (or something close) and Brosnan is chaotic, always late, and has also never lost a case. They get drunk together one night, sleep together (of course) and everything goes from there... She still 'hates' him, but then they are fighting against each other again in a celebrity divorce, have to travel to Ireland to see a castle, get married when drunk, and decide they have to pretend to be happily married... Blah blah blah! Predictable, but funny if you're in the mood for such a film!!

Well now waiting for my train! On Saturday nights there are no trains between 7:30pm and 11:00pm so I have to wait for another hour or so... That'S why I'm in this expensiver cafe, jsut time wasting, but have to go anyway! Dina is going to write something in English for you all to enjoy, but she'S going to email it to me, so you'll all get it later!

Gotta go now! Btw, lots of good looking films coming here soon!