August 4

Today was our first day of class. Since many of the students were late, we went over some German phrases that would have been helpful over the weekend. One of these phrases that I would have found helpful is “Wo ist die Toilette?”, which is “where is the bathroom?” Asking people if they speak English is the phrase that I have used the most though. It is “Sprechen Sie English?” In class we talked about the beginnings of Vienna’s history, such as how the city started out as a Roman military outpost called Vindobona in 100 AD, where the Roman emperor Marcus Aerulios died around 180 AD. Eventually the city came to be ruled by the Babenberger dynasty, which died out in 1246. King Ottokar eventually took over and was defeated by the first ruler of the Habsburg dynasty and the Holy Roman emperor, Rudolph I, in 1273. Our teacher, Kathy, took us on a short walking tour after class. She showed us a memorial for the many people that died in a bombing that took place down the street from our classroom during WWII. The statues and memorials at this site were made to represent the feelings and emotions of the victims. I thought it was very moving, and it was a little surreal to stand in a spot where a direct bombing had occurred during the war. She also showed us some more statues of various rulers, such as Prince Eugene and Maria Theresa, that were scattered around and near the Hofburg buildings. I liked the Maria Theresa statue located in front of the Art History and Natural History museums because I thought that it was a good representation of how important she was in this city. We also saw a spot where Hitler had given a speech. The spot was located on the balcony of one of the Hofburg buildings. She also showed us some of the Roman ruins from when the city used to be a Roman military outpost. There were also many museum located around this area of the city, so I knew that I would definitely be back to visit many of them. After the tour, many of us went over to the shopping area that Kathy said many of the Viennese shop at. It was exciting to visit an area of town where there were more native Austrians than tourists. We ate lunch here, and then I went off with some of my fellow classmates, Stephanie and Jennifer, to Stephanplatz, where the famous St Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) is located. I was in awe of the size and beauty of the church because I had never seen anything like it before. Unlike most of the buildings in Vienna, St. Stephen’s is built in more of a gothic style rather than baroque. The inside of the church is huge and full of many decorative carvings and statues. We went on a tour of the church and the church’s catacombs. I learned many interesting things about the church and its catacombs, such as how there are not only bodies buried under the church, but there are many containers in the catacombs that contain the organs of important people. The reason for this is because many other churches want pieces of these important people to bury in their church as well, so the organs of famous rulers are divided up amongst various churches throughout Europe. Certain organs of Maria Theresia and Napoleon II are located in the catacombs here, as well as the bodies of Rudolf IV and his relatives. I also learned that Mozart was married in this church, and that the church was rebuilt after bombings during WWII. After the tour, we climbed up to the top of the south tower. It was a hard trek, but it was definitely worth it after seeing the view from the top. After buying a couple souvenirs from the gift shop at the top of the tower, we walked around Stephansplatz, which is full of shops, tourists, and musicians. I really liked the bustling atmosphere of this part of the city.
The German word of the day is wahrscheinlich, which means “probably”.