Update

Oh my gosh!  I didn’t realize it had been a whole month since I’d last written!  A lot has gone on in the last month. I saw Lady Gaga.  She was, of course, phenomenal (and insane…she tore a teddy bear in half with her teeth).  In addition to her amazing music,she also had a good message-be who you are and don’t worry about what other people think. Oh, and I was also extremely impressed that the Fame Monster was represented by an anglerfish.  The anglerfish is quite possibly my favorite deep sea animal.  For those of you unfamiliar with the anglerfish, please go here. 

Moving on, there was also an IES reunion.  IES is the institute in Vienna where I studied abroad.  They were celebrating their 60th anniversary.  It was nice seeing old friends, many of whom are also teaching in Austria.  I was also able to meet a few people that had studied at IES before me. It was interesting to see how many people now live and work in Vienna.

Last weekend my friends and I celebrated Thanksgiving, complete with canned cranberry sauce (courtesy of the American/British store in Vienna).  It came a few days late and amongst some confusion (an Austrian friend thought it was okay to postpone Thanksgiving until Dec. 12th!), but I think it was rather successful.  Except for my pumpkin pie.  I think a good pie tin is key to making a good pie.  You can not use a) a very shallow, British tin or b) a frying pan.  Neither of those yielded very good pies. 

Currently, it is snowing a ridiculous amount outside. It started snowing last weekend and there has not been much of a break since then.  Although I’m not too fond of snow, I think I prefer it to rain in the winter.  The view outside my window is stunning as well with everything covered in white.  I just hope that I’m not stuck here until the snow stops!

(Actually, this is a picture from a train, but you get the idea…)