Thanksgiving = Awesome

When I was selected for the Semester Abroad Program, one of the first thoughts I had was, “I bet Thanksgiving will be weird.” It was, but in a good way. It ended up being one of the best Thanksgivings ever. Thanksgiving started with a final in our Rhetoric class, or it was, at least, supposed to. At formation we found out that our final had been switched out with an airplane tour of Austria. As you can imagine, we were all greatly pleased by this.

The tour was amazing. We took off from the small military airport in Wiener Neustadt (when I say small, I mean the runway was grass) and flew all the way to Tirol in the west of Austria. The plane was relatively small, seating two pilots and six passengers, which was nice because we were able to fly slowly and get close to the mountains. Austria is absolutely beautiful from the sky and we saw several castles and even more castle ruins. The Alps were gorgeous and we saw several monumental ski resorts, which made me wish that I could fly. After three and a half hours in the sky, we landed once more in Wiener Neustadt and were promptly returned to the MilAk so we could get ready for dinner at the Ambassador’s house in Vienna.

Me just before take off.

One of the many amazing mountain views.

We arrived in Vienna about an hour before the invitation said to arrived, so we wasted some time looking for flowers for the Ambassador’s wife, Donna, and we got some coffee. At this point we all realized that we were extremely hungry, mostly because we hadn’t eaten that day, having missed lunch while in the air. Upon arriving to the Ambassador’s house, we realized that it was not a house at all, but a palace. We went through security and our names were checked off the guest list. When we were ten yards or so from the palace itself, the door was opened and a servant took our coats. --Side Note: I say servant because I think that is the best way to describe it, her title was probably “Palace Assistant” or something like that.-- We then entered the living room (or at least one of the several living rooms) and met the Ambassador again and he introduced us to his family. As soon as we finished shaking hands, another “Palace Assistant” greeted us with a tray of cocktails, wines, and beers. Settling down with a Gin & Tonic, we talked with the Ambassador’s sons, one of which is a sophomore at Duke, and their friends. It was a very nice and relaxed setting.

The Ambassador, William Eacho.

Drinks, anyone?

A few minutes later, the marines who serve as Embassy guards showed up and after a minute or so, we introduced ourselves. I’m not going to lie, it was extremely awkward. There is usually a little tension between army soldiers and marines, but in this case the bigger tension was caused by them being enlisted and us being officers (or at least officer candidates). I should also add that this tension was not at all our fault. We did not once talk about going to West Point or even college in general, we were actually very interested to hear what they had to say, but once they knew that we were West Pointers, it was like they had something to prove. Comments like, “Oh yeah, I haven’t had time for college since I’ve been deployed twice, but you wouldn’t know about that…” or “I’m sure life is real good at West Point, huh…” were common. For the first 30 minutes, it seemed like they wanted to fight us or something. I decided to try and get a tour of the house, after they asked us if we had brought a change of clothes with us and if we thought we could beat them at football. --Side Note: We had not brought a change of clothes with us. After all, this was a fancy dinner at the Ambassador’s house, not a barnyard feast. Also, I do think that we could have beaten them at football, especially because the son who goes to Duke and his friend both play Rugby.--

Eventually, we sat down for dinner. I was sitting down next to a guy wearing light jeans and a polar fleece jacket (which I thought was a little weird because even though it was a casual event, everybody was pretty dressed up (I was wearing a sports coat)). Next to him was Donna and across from her was the Ambassador. After the start of the meal, the guy in jeans starting talking to me and I found at that he was the CIA Chief of Station for Vienna. He talked with me about what my plans for the future was and rattled off his extensive resume, which included speaking fluent German and Arabic, being the former Chief of Station for Iraq in 2003, and a long career in the Special Activities Division. --Side Note: The Special Activities Division is one of the most secretive parts of the CIA and is made up of a relatively small number of paramilitary officers, basically Jason Bournes. -- We talked during the entire dinner and he gave me his card and his email and told me that if I was ever interested in joining the Special Activities Division, I should give him a call. I didn’t really know what to say to that, so I just nodded and said “Sure.” The meal itself was fantastic. It was cooked by the Ambassador’s chefs and had everything that a Thanksgiving dinner should.

Turkey? Yes.

After dinner, people started to leave. At 8 o’clock, we decided that we should leave, although we really didn’t want to. It was a truly great experience and a great Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought that I would wish all of my readers a quick Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for this opportunity and for a wonderful fiancee, friends, and family back home. I'll see you all very soon. I had a great Thanksgiving, which I will talk about in a post tomorrow. Until then!

Goodnight!

It's 12:15 am and I'm heading to bed, but before I drift off into unconsciousness, I thought I drop off a quick update.
This weekend was fairly uneventful. I did, however, get to meet Christian’s family, who came all the way from Lancaster, PA to see him (and have vacation). It was nice to meet people who know Christian really well and here some good stories. We met up in Stephansplatz and headed to the 19th District for some true Austrian grub. One of Christian’s close friends and a stand out guy, Dan Pucher, helped us find the restaurant, which was named “Zum Renner”. --Side Note: There is about a 12% chance that “Zum Renner” is the correct name.-- Regardless, I ordered the goose and it was absolutely amazing. After enjoying some goose, I headed back to work on a 15-page paper that’s due this Friday. By the end of the weekend, I had around 5 and a half pages finished.
On Monday we had our German class with Frau Graf, which was fun as always. Additionally, we were visited by Doctor Vazulik, who is running our correspondence class back at West Point. While I had never before had a class with Dr. V, I had several interviews with him and his visit reminded me how intelligent and nice he is. It was a very nice visit. I also had dance class and to my surprise, I think I'm getting better.
Today was… long. I had Tactics class from 8 am to 8 pm, with only about 2 hours of breaks. Most of it was spent outside in various Austrian fields and it was pretty interesting, however, it was also terrifically windy and cold outside. --Side Note: This wind was not messing around; it seemed to cut straight to the marrow as soon as it hit you.-- Upon returning to my room, I chatted with Michelle and a buddy from back home, Seth, and worked on my paper. Page Count: almost 8.
Goodnight!

Old Corps

For the past 3 and half years, I've mostly sported a buzz cut. Upon arriving in Austria, I found that my hairclippers are either broken, or that the voltage in Europe is off, which is causing them to malfunction. That being said, my hair has gotten a little long. Not too long ago, one of my Ritter von Lehmann buddies, Christian Stadler, found some clippers for me to borrow, but I decided to turn him down and grow the hair out. When my fiancee was here, I found a comb in her hotel room. Let's just say, I've gone Old Corps. For the past week or so I've been combing my hair to the side, it started as a joke, but I can't stop. We'll see if I keep it up when I get to the states...

The Rest of the Days of the Week

Tuesday Bluesday
On Tuesday I woke up with a bit of a cold, which has done its best to linger (but is on it's way out). We expected to have class in the morning and in the afternoon. Due to a seemingly lucky stroke we had most of the morning off. Then in the afternoon we arrived to class just before 1, only to learn that we would be sitting in class until 6. This instantly bummed me out, because the thought of sitting in a 5 hour class was not a happy one. But I also thought, "Well at least I'll get some work done." --Side Note: During these German classes we really try to pay attention, but after 30 minutes (sometimes less, rarely more) your brain just sort of shuts off, due to fatigue from constant translating. When this point hits, we normally pull out some sort of work to discretely do, usually essays, because it looks like we are just taking notes.-- It turns out my thought was completely wrong, when the teacher came in, he made us spread out (we Americans normally cluster together) and I was forced to move from the 5th row to the 1st row, directly in front of the teacher. Needless to say, this completely hindered any ability to get work done. So instead, I sat there and listened to the finer points of military supply and the proper use of anti-armor lessons.-- Side Note: Twenty minutes into class, we found out the reason for us having to spread out. A photographer came into class and began snapping photos. Ironically, being near the teacher didn't at all hinder him from getting work done. At one point I was taking notes and when I had finished I looked up, only to see the photographer tell me to take more notes because it would be a good photo. Upon finishing, my "notes taking" My Austrian buddy, Angus, an Austrian Special Forces (Jagdkommando) B.A., and I looked at each other and just shook our heads.-- By the time class was over, it had been dark for two hours and my brain was exhausted. I finished the night just sitting at my computer.



Wednesday Pretendsday
Wednesday was considerably better than Tuesday. For starters, class was only two hours long, not five. Additionally, I was able to get a considerable amount of work done.-- Side Note: The reason for "pretendsday" is because we were pretending to listen and take notes in class, while we were really listening, but doing homework instead of taking notes.-- I got a couple pages done on a 15-page essay that's due on the 26th (the day after Thanksgiving). I also finished another short essay and finished a PowerPoint with Christian later in the evening. It was a very productive day.

Thursday Blursday

Thursday was a blur for two reasons, horse-back riding and go-kart driving. As we are starting to reach the end of our sojourn (exactly 3 weeks remaining) we are also beginning to have finals our culminating events in our classes. On Thursday we had our culminating event for riding (although I think we will still have more lessons). We saddled up our horses with stirrups, which we had never used before, and rode out into the woods. It was awesome. It turns out, stirrups make riding WAY easier and I was able to use them to prevent the crushing of things that I treasure while the horse was trotting. Three of the Austrians cadets in our Jahrgang rode with us, along with the instructor, Major Pulsinger, and two cadets from the military high school. We rode in formation and a couple other cadets filmed us for a video they are going to send back to West Point. The only downside was that we had to wear Dress Gray instead of ACUs. --Side Note: If you have ever worn Dress Gray, or even seen anybody in Dress Gray, then you understand that it is an extremely uncomfortable uniform. My DG is especially uncomfortable, as both the pants and the jacket were fitted for a Dan that was 25 pounds lighter.-- The Ritter von Lehmann Jahrgang likes to have fun, this is common knowledge. Usually on Thursdays the Jahrgang, or at least a large group of them, goes out and does something fun, normally bowling. This week, 40 of us headed out to the go-kart track. Upon arriving we waited for the other group to finish and then got geared up for two hours of driving. The group paid 980 Euros for 2 hours with 10 karts so we were split up into teams of 4. We Americans were grouped together and we gave ourselves the name Prestige Worldwide. --Side Note: This clever nod to the critically acclaimed film, Step Brothers, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, would be lost on the Austrians. Most of them had not seen Step Brothers and the ones that had did not pick up the reference.-- We began with a qualifying round that would determine the starting positions. It was 40 minutes long, so each driver got 10 minutes to see if they could get the fastest lap and earn the top starting position. I believe that Prestige Worldwide started in second to last place. After the qualifying round, the real race began. It lasted 80 minutes, so each driver got two-10 minute rounds to try and earn their team the Gold medal. Unfortunately, Matt did not understand when the race umpire said that you couldn’t pass on the first lap, and we were forced to make a driver change almost instantly, putting us a solid lap behind at the very start of the race. Luckily for Matt, it didn’t matter whatsoever, as we finished 7 laps behind first place. As Christian astutely recognized, the Austrians were great go-kart drivers, because they drive their cars in almost the same manner that they do go-karts, fast. I do think we Americans were at a disadvantage, mostly because I estimate the number of times I drove a car in the past year to be somewhere around 20. Perhaps I am just trying to make myself feel better for getting last place.

Friday Oldguyday
Friday was a day filled with class. We had gym class and history of the Austrian army in the morning and our four hour German class in the afternoon. After the German class, we headed into town to get some grub. We eventually settled on this little café/restaurant named Café Smankerl. Upon entering, I asserted that this was basically the Cheers of Wiener Neustadt, a place where everybody knows your name. After ordering and talking for a while, the waitress/barmaid asked us where we were from and we told her. When she heard America, she mentioned how a guy in the corner, Paul, was English, and he came over and we started chatting. At first, his Cockney accent was difficult to understand but soon Paul introduced us to a golf-pro from Liverpool named Simon. After Simon told us a couple racy jokes, he introduced us to Walter. Walter is without a doubt, the most interesting person I have met during my time here in Austria. Now around 90, Walter fought for the Austrians in WWII and was captured by the British in North Africa. He spent his time as a POW in Egypt, where his commanding officer, who was an English professor at Cambridge (or some prominent) English University, taught him English. Walter, in turn, became his professor’s butler. He lived in England for some time, and while serving as a butler he studied all sorts of things, including Austrian history. His English was far more proper than any of us native speakers and he was noticeably clever. The bar completely revolved around this man, everyone wanted to hear what he had to say. It is likely that we will return to Café Smankerl, just to talk to him again.

Monday Funday

A relaxing snack while writing an essay.

Okay, so today wasn't really all that fun, but it definitely wasn't bad. Right after formation this morning, Major Lampersberger told us that that we were to meet him at 9:40 for a special meeting. When we met up with him he said that we needed better weather for what we were going to do (it is super overcast and foggy out), and that we were going on standby. A couple of hours later he told us we were going to take a helicopter tour, but that the weather was to poor. Bummer. Luckily, he told us that we would go on another day. Hooray!

Due the meeting and the subsequent standby-status, my morning plans were almost completely erased. I began to work on a short essay, but eventually just wasted the entire morning playing a Super Nintendo emulator that I got from Seth. When the afternoon promised more of the same, I decided to do something that I had promised myself before coming to Austria that I would do all the time: I went to a coffee shop and did homework. I know, I know. It sounds boring, but it was really enjoyable. I sat there for about an hour and just snacked on a Vanille-Erdbeere Schnitte and Riesen-Melange and wrote an essay on whether or not women should be in the Austria army. I'm not sure whether I'm actually allowed to leave the academy and go to a coffee shop during the middle of the day, but I went anyways. I find with things like that, I just kind of do what I want and nobody really questions me because I'm American. When I was coming back into the Academy I saw our Jahrgangskommandant (basically our TAC Officer). He looked at me and I imagine a conversation like this was going on in his head, "What is that cadet doing in civilian clothes at 3:30 in the afternoon? Something is definitely wrong here. Oh wait, is that one of the Americans? I'm sure he knows what he's doing." That is definitely something I like about this place, people just assume that you know what you're doing.

Tonight I have dance class in Vienna. So far we have learned most of the Waltz, the Cha-Cha, the Foxtrot, and probably a ton of others. It's usually pretty fun, because I am terrible and usually my partner is, too. When choosing partners a lot of the guys, Kopfy, for example, try to find the most attractive girl and dance with her. While looks are nice, I try to find girls who will be fun to dance with (AKA girls that talk). My first dance partner didn't say a word the entire time and needless to say it was about as awkward as someone farting during a fancy dinner. Having a partner who is a poor dancer has pros and cons. A positive aspect is that it makes you feel good to know that you are a better dancer than at least one person in the world. The biggest negative aspect is that they usually make you look even worse than you actually are. Regardless of the other positive aspects, having fun instead of feeling awkward makes it worthwhile.

Tomorrow I have riding early in the morning, from 6:00 to 7:15. We have been free-riding lately and it appears that we are permanently off the launch (the rope that makes you just go around in circles). When we first started free-riding it was pretty difficult and we’ve had to learn pretty fast. Our instructor informed us last time that most people spend 6 months on the launch before free-riding (in comparison to us, who spent 1 month on the launch). That makes me feel better.

Oh also, I want to congratulate Army football on going to their first bowl in 14 years. This is the year!

Alright, I’m off to dancing. Bis später!

Update

My fiancee, Michelle, and I at a vineyard in the Steiermark

Michelle, Seth, Matt, and I in Hungary

The Austrian Sports Badge (also called the ÖSTA)

Bowling with Ritter von Lehmann

Brigadier General Rapp, the other cadets, and I after sharing lunch together

Once again I must apologize for my extended blogging break, it has been a little busy of late. Over the past two weeks a lot has happened, here is a condensed list:

-Excursion to the Steiermark (also known as Styria)

-Weekend trip to Budapest (pronounced Boodapesht)

-More and more free-riding in Horse Riding Class

-Earned (but have yet to receive) the Austrian Sports Badge (similar to the German Proficiency Badge)

-Attended class

-Played poker twice

-Excursion to Graz (the capital of the Steiermark)

-Turned 21

-Enjoyed unseasonably warm weather (70 degrees Fahrenheit)

-Got a haircut

-Attended Mass (which is not normal, as I am Non-Denominational Protestant)

-Went Bowling

-Showed the USMA Commandant around the military academy

While I did more than this (breathed, slept, ate, etc.) I thought I would try and keep it to things that are interesting or important. Additionally, if you are curious about any of these things, you are welcome to contact me or just google them.

Also, my fiancee was here for almost two weeks and it was absolutely wonderful. It was great to see and spend time with her, and was a welcomed break from a little homesickness. I think it was also really enjoyable for her to get to see Europe (and me) and we definitely enjoyed ourselves. I am very much looking forward to seeing her in a little under five weeks.

This is Sparta... oops, I mean Athens

At the bottom of the Acropolis

Getting down on some Greek grub

Piraues - the Port in Athens

The Parthenon

My neato chess set

After a two hour flight on Aegean airlines Michelle and I landed in Athens, Greece. It was about 11:30 at night and we were exhausted since we had spent the entire day on an excursion to the Burg Kreuzenstein and Stift Klosterneuburg. Upon arriving we realized the Greek writing was impossible for us to read and after a while we found a help desk who told us how to get to our hotel. It turned out to be a good thing that we asked her, because we caught one of the last trains from the airport, and it would have been probably over 100 Euros for a taxi ride. We got to the hotel and found out that the reservation I thought I had made had not gone through. Luckily, they had rooms and crashed almost immediately after stepping in the room.

The next day we headed out to see the Acropolis and adventure. It was absolutely amazing. We went into the museum and hat a great time just seeing the art and the history. Michelle had taken an art history class on Greece and is a Ceramics major, so she was very knowledgeable on the subject of Greek art. After the museum we got some coffee and then lunch. We decided to see the Acropolis the next day because it was cloudy and a little bit chilly. On our way back, we stopped in a tourist shop and the guy charmed us into spending some money. One of the things we purchased was a really cool chess set with Spartans as pawns and Zeus and Hera as the king and queen. We decided to test it out and found a coffee shop near our hotel to play at.
Later that night we saw the Plaka, which is a giant shopping area. It was packed with both people and shops and it was a lot of fun looking through the shop windows at shoes and clothes that we were not even close being able to afford.

The next day we headed out to the Acropolis at about 8 in the morning. On our way we passed a basketball court where we saw about 20 homeless people sleeping on cardboard. It did not look like a slumber party that I wanted to attend. This kind of leads me into the negative aspects of the Athens trip. I think that the sea is beautiful, the food was delicious, and the Acropolis is seriously one of the coolest things I have ever seen, but on the whole I did not like Athens very much. It was filthy, with dirt and trash absolutely covering the roads and sidewalks, often producing an… off-putting smell. Additionally, there were homeless people and stray dogs everywhere. Even at the Parthenon there were stray dogs walking around, begging the tourists for food. The worst part was that I never really felt safe while walking any roads not around a giant tourist attraction. Perhaps this was caused by the fact that I was travelling with only one other person, which was a girl, or by the fact that several people warned me that Athens was dangerous, but it was probably because the city was super crowded and it was such a poor city. The people seemed very nice for the most part, but there were still times while walking that I thought to myself “I wish I had a knife.” At one point we met a redheaded American girl who was studying in Athens. She said that she really liked it there, but she also said that she gets grabbed on the streets by men often. At hearing this, Michelle and I both gave each other a look of concern and the girl followed up that statement by saying “Yeah, the worst is when it’s the cops, because you can’t threaten to call the police on them. You just have to play along and try and get away.” Later Michelle and I talked to each other about how utterly unpleasant that sounded, but I digress…

We arrived at the Acropolis and it was very sunny out. We paid 12 Euros a piece and walked to the top. Along the way we passed two amphitheaters and a bunch of ruins. Eventually we made it to the top and saw the Parthenon. I think that the Parthenon was absolutely remarkable. I will certainly never forget the view; you can see the Aegean Sea and all of Athens from the Acropolis. After taking numerous pictures we headed to the port to see the Aegean Sea and relax before heading back to the Airport.

I think advice I would give to travelers looking to go to Athens, is take either a cruise there, or a guided trip. We really enjoyed all of the touristy things, and the people taking guided tours looked like they were having a wonderful time. Perhaps that way you can avoid the not so great things in Athens and focus on the amazing things.

Birds, Castles, and Wine - Oh my!

Burg Kreuzenstein

Checking out the birds

A Bald Eagle descending on its prey

Inside the castle

Stift Klosterneuburg

To all my readers, I am once again sorry for the long break in between posts. Two weeks ago, we went on an excursion to the Burg Kreuzentstein and Stift Klosterneuburg. These are both just outside Vienna, in Niederösterreich. When we arrived at the Burg Kreuzentstein the first thing we saw was a bird show. We were able to walk around and see the birds beforehand, from owls to ravens to bald eagles to condors, it was very cool. Then the show began, they had trained the birds to fly back and forth between the handlers and they flew so close that you could reach out and touch them. Sometimes the birds flew over your head and were so close that you could feel the rush of the wind from their wings. It lasted about 30 minutes and they showed all of the different birds. One of the coolest parts was when they had the eagle dive towards a pool of water and snatch food out.
After the bird show, we headed into the Burg Kreuzenstein. A “Burg” is a castle that is used for living, but can easily be defended. Kreuzenstein was built in the 19th century as a show castle. No one has ever actually lived there, but it is now a museum where visitors can see what it was like to live in a castle. It was huge. We entered through the big stereotypical castle doors over a small moat bridge. Inside we saw a large courtyard with a well and a beautiful clock tower. Unfortunately, this was the last place we were able to take pictures. Once inside the castle we traveled to the kitchen and saw the giant rotisseries and cooking utensils that they used to use. The tour guide said that in castles, the kitchens were always worked by men because the work was so difficult and heavy. We then saw the chapel (every castle must have a chapel) and the living quarters. It was a little chilly out and I realized that life inside a castle must be very cold during the winter. The beds were also interesting, because they were very short. The guide said it wasn’t because the people were smaller, instead it was because they slept sitting up, which caused a lot of heart problems in the long run. Overall, the castle was extremely cool.
We then traveled to Stift Klosterneuburg (I believe I explained what a Stift was in an earlier post). Stift Klosterneuburg was not quite as gaudy as Stift Melk, but it was still interesting. Major Lampersberger decided we should go on the wine tour (they have several different types of tours). Unfortunately, the wine tour was a little boring, especially because the tour was more about the commercial process of making wine, instead of being about the wine itself. After the tour, we were able to sample some of the wines, which was nice.
I think the nicest part of the excursion was that my fiancée was able to come. After a 44-hour trip from Fairbanks, Alaska to the other side of the world, she was tired when the excursion was done, but she still enjoyed it. On the way back to Wiener Neustadt, Michelle (my fiancée) and I were dropped off at the airport so that we could catch a flight to Athens.