MY HOMETOWN

 

Time to talk about my hometown. I originally come from a little market town in Salzburg, Austria. After finishing school in June 2014, I moved to Graz in order to study Transcultural Communication at the University.

Tamsweg is the largest town of the Salzburg Lungau region and located near the border with Styria. As all Austrians know (or should know), the state Salzburg is devided into five different regions. These regions are called Flachgau, Tennengau, Pinzgau, Pongau and last but not least, Lungau. Tamsweg is situated on the southern slope of the Schladminger Tauern, a mountain range within the Central Eastern Alps. Around my hometown, there are many ski resorts that attract tourists from the Netherlands and other countries near Austria. Not only tourists come there in winter to spend some time in the mountains, also the inhabitants enjoy the fresh mountain air and do some winter sports.

Like most of the kids who are brought up on the countryside, I learned how to ski when I was about three years. Over the years I improved my technique and got better and better. I enjoyed going skiing with my family and later on with friends, but it was never kind of a passion. The reason why I learned how to ski was because it´s like a tradition on the countryside. Nearly everybody does it and most people spend the whole winter with skiing. About two years ago I stopped practising it. I don´t know if I go on the piste once again, but if, I hope that I am still able to ski! ;)

I lived in Tamsweg since I was born there. My father was also born there, went to school and now works there (for some time, he lived in Graz but then went back.). My mother is Dutch and moved to Tamsweg about 20 years ago. She grew up in Vienna. Since she was very little, she always spent her holidays in the Netherlands where she originally comes from. Her relatives are from Groningen, a province in the north of the Netherlands. My family and I often spend our holidays there as my mother did it when she was young.

Now, something about special places and sights worthwhile visiting in my hometown. One reason, apart from the ski resorts, tourists come to Tamsweg in order to see the Wallfahrtskirche St. Leonhard, a Roman Catholic church. This historic building is located on the foot of a mountain, called ”Schwarzenberg”. When you are standing in front of or near the church, you can enjoy a fantastic view over Tamsweg.

 

Another attraction is the “Prebersee”, a beautiful lake on the foot of the mountain “Preber”, which is the highest mountain in the region. The water is extremely cold, about 17 degrees Celsius in summer. It´s that cold because of its location in 1500 meter height. My friends and I though love spending hot summer days there and taking a dip in the icy water. We also use to swim from one side of the lake to the other, since it is not very large (about 350 meters long). Large parts of the area around the lake are under nature protection. Specific types of plants and animals are living there.

Ever heard about the “Vereinigten zu Tamsweg”? That’s a World Heritage Site and nowhere existing apart from Tamsweg. The “Vereinigten zu Tamsweg” are a brotherhood that brings together all members in order to strengthen the community and honour God. Every three years a huge procession takes place with many people taking part. Within this procession a new leader of the brotherhood gets elected. All members wear special costumes and then celebrate the new leader. People from everywhere are coming (not only the inhabitants of Tamsweg) in order to watch this spectacle. There is also a television broadcast. The next procession takes place in 2017. Watch it if you like! ;)

Of course there are countless other things you can do and visit in my hometown. I picked out the most specific ones to give you an insight. Hope you enjoyed reading this blog entry!

LONDON, HERE WE COME!

Last week I decided to book a flight to London. I´ve already been there about a year ago and I really enjoyed my time there. I instantly gravitated towards the charm of the city. I am fond of the small houses and they reminded me on the architecture of buildings in the Netherlands. Two friends of mine joined me and travelling together is always much more fun! On Tuesday in the early morning we started our four-day trip. After spending hours in the plane and several busses, we finally arrived in London. Well, the weather could have been better since it was rainy and cold…

In the afternoon of our first day we visited Greenwich, a district of South East London. We visited the Maritime Museum among other things. My friends are fond of museums... To my mind, the majority of them are rather boring. The only good thing is that you learn something new and a wide range of knowledge definitely broadens your mind. Afterwards we went to Covent Garden. A Dr. Martens store is located there besides many many other shops and stores. Dr. Martens is a footwear store which offers boots, sandals and other shoes. I personally love this British footwear brand and I have already three pairs of this brand. After spending some time and looking around I finally found another nice pair.

In the morning of our third day we went to Oxford by bus. Oxford is very famous for its colleges and universities. We also visited the building where parts of the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Afterwards, we went to Blenheim Palace. I was so tired and thought this would be nothing special, because I had never heard about this place before. Surprisingly, I was completely fascinated by this lovely place with its stunning garden. Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to John Churchill, who was the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Blenheim Palace was also the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Although I´m not that interested in history, this building and its story are quite impressive. It sits in the centre of a large park, which is typical for the English landscape garden. I was really fascinated!

One of my favourite places in London is definitely Camden Town. So, on our last day we decided to go there. When you come out of the Camden tube station, the first part of the Camden experience you´ll have is the wild looking shops along Camden High Street with giant shoes and spiders adorning the tops of the multicoloured buildings. Then the Camden Market which is mostly clothes and accessories and Camden Lock Village with little food booths, for example. Back at the hotel again, it was time to pack our suitcases and get to the airport.

Our trip to London was appealing and definitely worthwhile, but too short. Can´t wait to go there again!

 

MY FIRST SEMESTER AT UNIVERSITY

As my first semester of university has finally come to an end, I have now some time to reflect.

After the last really stressful weeks I can finally enjoy a big break and relax a little bit. Of course, towards the end of the break I do have to study and get prepared for next semester. There are two exams in March which I didn´t took in my first semester, because otherwise it would have been far too stressful. And that´s maybe the most important thing I learned at university: it can get extremely difficult and stressful at times! I would say that I am an ambitious person, but sometimes I am snowed under with work (Yes, everybody knows that feeling :D). Then I do not know what to do next and get really really nervous…

I experienced a big difference between school and university. At school, everything was well organised and prepared. There was homework and I knew exactly how and what to study for my next test. Except for Maths which was never one of my favourite subjects… Unfortunately our teacher wasn´t able explain in a clearful way which made it quite challenging to understand what he was talking about. Not to mention to prepare oneself for the tests… Maybe that´s one of the reasons why I decided not to study something technical at university. My choice was to study Transcultural Communication which I do not regret since I love languages (especially my mother tongue German).

 

Towards the start of the semester, I didn´t know what to expect. But I was curious to learn something new and to broaden my mind. Except for English, German and Italian classes I also had lectures like "Einführung in die Transkulturelle Kommunikation" or "Linguistische Aspekte der Transkulturellen Kommunikation". In these lectures everything was about communication, culture and transculturation which was definitely worthwhile. I really did enjoy all of my language classes, because I learned so much I didn´t know about, such as the country, people and the way people live and life in general.

Another big thing is to be organised. As I have already mentioned, going to school was a lot easier because of the organisation and preparation already done by the teachers. At university you no longer have teachers who write the dates of assignments on the blackboard and remind you all the time. I experienced that I have to be aware of my assignments and other important dates. There are cut off dates for changing the subject for example…

The two final weeks of the first semester were definitely the most stressful ones because of the many exams and the preparation for them. During the whole semester there wasn´t a day I didn´t study anything or did some homework for my classes. Nevertheless, it was nothing compared to the last few weeks. At some days I couldn´t go outside to do some sports because there wasn´t any time left because I had to study that much. But I knew that it would be well worth it in the end though.

This semester I have also met all kinds of different people. At school I nearly knew all of the students, whereas at university there isn´t a day I don´t see new faces. People here are at all ages and at all different points of success in their life, which makes the conversations more interesting I have with them. I like talking to them and hear other points of view about a specific topic. To my mind, there is always something you can learn from other people.

So, my first semester of university is done now! It was probably nothing I´ve ever experienced, but worthwhile. To wrap up, I can definitely say that I have learned a lot these past few months. I´m looking forward to next semester and the new challenges and adventures it will bring!