No Thanks, Vienna

Today I wish I was in Vienna. Vienna? Really? I didn’t even like Vienna!!

There is something about that city though, that made an imprint in my memory. I can’t get rid of the feeling. I didn’t even like Vienna.

Whenever I listen to Mahler Symphony number 5 I feel like I’m there again. Maybe because I had listened to that piece while I was there? I can’t recall, but i can recall that this piece, to me, defines the feeling of Vienna.

I was there only one day. I woke up very early in the morning to get as much out of Vienna as I could on a one day visit. The sun made its appearance over the Danube, but quickly retreated behind rain clouds for the remainder of the day. Vienna was still asleep when I woke up, I was alone with the dissipating fog moving along the cobbled streets. I, of course, immediately found a cozy  cafe and situated myself in a wicker chair under the awning. Narrow streets always grabbed my attention in Europe, probably because I knew I could escape tourists with great success. This cafe happened to be at the end of a narrow street that I followed.The street ended with a half circle stone wall creating a very small cul-de-sac. In front of the stone wall were trees providing the tiny platz a very warm feeling along with music provided by the inhabitants of the trees. I was so excited when I saw ‘kaffee’ on the window… yes I know, I was easily amused. You would be too if you were traveling alone for three months.

By noon the city center was bustling. Quartets playing on one end of Stephens Platz and a marionette dancing to Stevie Wonder  on the other. Stephens Platz is one major reason for my contempt  for Vienna. Just as Mahler’s 5th Symphony has its ups and downs through the piece, so does Vienna. Stephens Platz was a major low. Stephansdom is a huge beautiful Gothic cathedral in the center of the platz. It didn’t feel like a Gothic Cathedral at all. It felt like a disgusting tourist trap. There were blue lights drawing attention to the “important” parts of the interior. Ugly and cheesy. I left immediately.

Vienna was the beginning of my disdain for tourists. I wrote a blog on my extreme hatred toward them while I was in Florence. It’s the same story. A beautiful, culturally rich and historically important city is ruined by tourists.

When the rain started I figured I’d better give in to the inevitability of becoming a tourist in a foreign city… The rain suited the excursion perfectly. I went to all of the very tourist locations, the Hofburg Palace, Karlskirche, the Opera House…

By the end of the day I went about my wondering and lost the tourists. The day ended like Mahler’s Symphony 5… The street lamps were slowly lit emanating a tranquil glimmer on the buildings. The wet streets had deep shadows behind each cobble stone making a very dramatic setting. I bought myself a chocolate gelato and wandered back to my hostel. As the evening ended, I sat in my room and read my book with the sound of a woman singing with a piano streaming in through the window.

I’ve forgotten about the more intimate moments with Vienna. I guess I did like Vienna after all.

October

Here I am. It’s October now. Summer never happened, it was too cold and now it’s colder.

I’m sitting in the University Gallery listening to Fur Elise being played on the piano in the other room. I never hear anything good being played on that piano. It’s always something so obvious and simple. I don’t think most people move beyond the obvious. Becky should be here playing. Something obscure and original, or at least something that most people wouldn’t know ever excited.

Summer was lovely, but too cold. The leaves have all changed and it’s perfect. It fits my mood too. The sun went away at the end of August and took my good mood with it. I look forward to seeing it again in May. For now, I’m living like a hermit. I go to school and then I go home.

I haven’t taken any pictures since the sun went away. I wish I had the motivation. I’m not excited by anything right now, even the colors… the gray background kind of distorts the colors a bit too much.

I’ll be in New York for a few days at the beginning of November. I don’t know if the sun is still there, but I’ll be happy to see Byron again and sit in cafes with my sister. New York in the autumn is wonderful. The crisp air doesn’t feel as cold as it does in Michigan, it feels refreshing. I want to sit on a hill top in Central Park and watch the leaves blow through the trees while the sun glistens on the city backdrop. I want to take pictures of children in red rain boots splashing in puddles and women walking their dogs dressed in coats.

People in New York still sit outside in the autumn. Even though it’s cold outside the park benches are still occupied and outdoor cafes are still bustling. The feeling of autumn in New York is priceless.

In the mean time, I’m looking forward to an early spring trip to Prague. I’m certain the sun didn’t escape to central Europe for the winter… but I’ll be happy to be in a different part of the world for eight days.

Byron in Egypt

This is the first email that I got from Byron when he arrived in Cairo. He had quite a time trying to make his way to the hostel….

i cannot just yet describe what i’m feeling. i wish you were on. omg. this is a bit rough….i’m in culture shock right now….

no one was at the airport to pick me up…i was confused and had no idea of how to contact the hostel. let me tell you, getting in to a foreign place at a late hour blows.

I met an egyptian on the plane ride here and we talked quite a bit. he gave me his name and info to visit him in alexandria…but he didn’t make sure i had a taxi ride to my place. he was tired…i guess. but, he did tell me that one thing that i would not like about egypt is the pestering people that flock to the tourists.

i found out quickly what he meant. I had no privacy outside of arrivals. i was followed by a mustached man with a limp who kept asking me which hotel i was staying at. he would leave me. i wanted to hit him. i’d go outside to look around, and nothing. no guy with a sign that had my name on it from the Lialy Hostel. Shit. Back inside. The sound of dragging feet followed me in. another man came up to me. then another. to be honest, i’m not sure how many i spoke with.

finally, hungry and tired. I talked to one of them. About my height and a bit portly. Ok, I told him the name of my hostel and the address. He said he knew where that was. I looked around one more time…no one and no sign. Fine. I went with him.

We got into an airport shuttle bus and i asked to use his phone. i could not get through to the numbers that i dialed. then i remembered something from the egypt survival guide book. they give you excuses and even offer you their phone, but only to lure you in. I was fed up though…and no taxis in sight. Ok, lure me, reel me in damn it.

The bus stopped after a very short ride and we got out at a large ill-lit car park. I was scared. Who was this guy. I had arranged the price with him back at the arrival terminal, 70 EGP…like 14 dollars. One the bus, i had attempted some more arabic. He told me, “hey, you can speak!”, smiling. I said, no, just a little.

We got into his car and i told myself…ok, this is it. We zipped out, almost hitting a few other taxis. I recognized the body of other taxis and compared it to the quick image i had gotten of his. they looked similar. then another taxi driver shouted hello as we zipped past each other. Before leaving the airport, he paid a gate keeper who handed him a receipt…which he then handed to me. Ashra. Ten. Ok, so i was supposed to reimburse him later? i decided not to ask. i was still pretty freaked out.

We sped along the motor way in silence. Windows rolled down. The car had to be plus forty years or so. Then he said abruptly, “Heliopolis!” “Oh!” I said, “Yes. Heliopolis.” That was the part of town we were ripping through. Then more, the markets, mosques and places i did not know of. Soon it became clear that he did not really know exactly where the hostel was. We asked about half a dozen people before finally stopping in front of the place.

Cupcake-alicious

I’ve had a lot of time on my hands without Byron here… cause he is pretty much my only friend in Ann Arbor… and we do everything together. So I took up baking. I made cupcakes a couple of weeks ago and then made even better ones for Byrons family last Friday.

There are the ones that I made for the Scerri fam. I didn’t try them when I made them because I’m on a diet and I didn’t want to give in, but I tried one the next day and I thought it was one of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. Byron’s little cousin Sabrina said that they were too chocolaty, which I can see because I used some pretty rich chocolate for both the cake and the frosting… I love chocolate so I thought it was perfect!

Anyway, so I’m on a diet and I’m doing really well so far! I’ve already lost about 6 pounds! I’ve been sticking to fruits and veggies. Basically very low calorie foods. Cheerios, low fat crackers, fruit, couscous, grilled veggies, olive oil – no butter… This is what I eat now. I don’t have any sweets or junk food at all, nothing fried or made with loads of butter. I make all of my own meals and I will only eat out when I am possitive that the food will be healthy. I can have a burrito with no sour cream and no cheese and I feel pretty ok about that. I’m also excersising regularly…

I’ve taken some pictures recently that I haven’t posted until now. Byron and I went to Marshall in April or May… I can’t remember now…

We walked around downtown and went antiquing. The fountain was under construction so we didn’t get to go to the circle.

We went over the old house and the new owners let us walk around little bit… it was really weird to see the house that I grew up in taken over by old people…

We ate lunch at Schuler’s and then went to a couple of antique shops. There was one that I really liked, the way they sent up the store was really creative and unique, something that I can appreciate.

Since my trip last year I have not let a day go by without thinking about my experience last summer. This summer has so far been very depressing. It is the complete opposite of what I went through last year.

I cannot help but think about what I was doing and where I was this time last year. I’ve been doing that a couple of times a week every week since May 6th. Right now, this time last year I was in Arles, France… or I was taking a very long bus ride to Torino, Italy. I can’t remember exactly. I had just consumed the most amazing baguette sandwich from a road side vendor and was making my way to the train station to figure out my next move (Torino). An old man stopped me to talk to him. The dirty old man scared me to death when he showed me a picture of a girl sitting on the floor of a basement. He then asked me to take a picture of myself…??? I took the camera and pointed it just enough to the right to miss my face.

Now, back in the States, I observe and compare. Since I came home last August, I notice everything about Americans and the US and I compare it to the world. I compare everything, people, food, speech, towns, cars, the sounds of daily life, fire trucks, roads and building construction, coffee, cafes, restaurants, service in restaurants, cars, taxis, clothes, shops, markets, traffic lights, music… I could probably do this all day…

I’ve noticed how disconnected Americans are from the rest of the world. Of course, while I was traveling I would defend my country at locals accusations about my people and my country, but since I’ve been home I see what they mean. I’ve witnessed the “ignorant Americans” in drones. I was always so offended by this generalization made by foreigners, but I think it makes sense. The United States is literally disconnected from the rest of the world. We assume that we are the center of the world because our culture is very dominating and we grow up learning about immigrants coming to the “free world” to achieve the “American dream”. Maybe all of this has gone to our heads?

I don’t know the statistics, but what I’ve noticed is that Americans do not see the importance of understanding other peoples and cultures. If they could make a profit off of them then they care, but until then, forget it! I’m just as guilty as my fellow Americans. I’m getting my degree in International Affairs and with that I want to go to foreign countries and help improve the livelihood of oppressed women. But who am I to say whether a county’s society needs improving? I feel that this may be the arrogant-ignorant-American in me.

Last semester in my french class I had to give an oral presentation on what I wanted to do when I finished school… what I want to be when I grow up. I can’t remember how I said it in french, but basically I said that I wanted to improve women in other countries… something like that. My french professor was horrified and I was mortified. He said that what I had said made me sound like I was God or something, with the divine ability to shine my light upon the lesser of mankind. …and here I am still on track for this pretentious degree…

In the mean time, I’m trying to volunteer at the Detroit Institutes of Arts to fill up my schedule a little bit more. I love art plus I need to get my mind off of all this political science bullshit I constantly have crammed in my brain.

♥

♥

Malta now has Byron Scerri. The tiny island of 121 square miles is the luckiest country in the world.

We can blog if we want to, we can leave our blogs behind

This semester is almost over and I could not be more thrilled. I get a whole week for my summer vacation! How lucky am I!? I don’t know what in the world I’m going to do with ALL of that free time! I’ve been contemplating taking a road trip eastward… maybe to a  little town called New York? I don’t know. I need to work, but I also need to preserve my sanity.

So, I’m sitting in a cafe and I have these two weirdo guys sitting right next to me and one of the guys is disgusting and doesn’t know how to breathe like a normal human being and the other guys thinks that he knows me or something because he keeps trying to integrate me into their conversation…. listen, that’s not ok with me. And whenever I pause for a second from what I’m doing I’ll kind of survey the room and accidentally make eye contact with him and wants to begin conversing with me…. I’m pretty sure don’t look like the type of person who is interested in making new friends with old creepy men.

So these guys are really stressing me out on top of my pre-exciting ‘end of semester’ stress so I started listening to my ‘Easy Listening’ play list on my iTunes. I’ve been kind of in love with Mahler’s Symphony number 5 lately. It immediately lowered my stress level.

I’m selling my backpack on eBay. I tried to sell it before, but it only got up to $160 and I’m not crazy about only taking half of what I/Dad payed for it. This time I started the bidding at $100, I’ll take $200 for it, but no less.

I am very dissatisfied with my life right now. I hate school more than ever and I’m losing motivation to keep going. What’s the point? I don’t know what I’m going to do with a lame bachelors degree. I’m so sick of Ann Arbor it’s unbelievable. I get zero respect at work and I’m pretty sure it has a lot to do with my gender. I thought I was getting away from that when I left the Indian restaurant. Turns out it’s not a cultural thing at all, it’s just men in general.

I’m doing fine in school, but I don’t feel like I’m being completely successful unless I’m wowing my professors. I don’t know why I feel that way, but I do and I’m not, which leads to my displeasure. I really don’t want to go on to get my master’s, but if i don’t I won’t be all that marketable and I won’t be able to be as successful as I’d like. At the same time I don’t think that I would get accepted anywhere for a master’s program, so it’s kind of a lose lose situation. I’m not competitive, I have not experience in anything, I’m trained for nothing – no skills = worthless and I’m a terrible writer and my application essays would be laughed at and immediately put on the reject pile.

“Slovenia isn’t a real place”

I work with some pretty stupid people. I got into an argument with a guy about whether Slovenia was a actual country or not. He really believed that it wasn’t… It made me really hostile. These people are why American have such a bad name!

Last week I finished all of my work that I had due for this week… now I’m bored.

I want to go to Chicago with Byron this spring because one of his favorite NPR shows, “Wait wait…don’t tell me” is recorded there and I think he would love to see it. It only costs $21…so why not? Chicago is great in the spring! We can tip-toe through tulips. I love tulips!