Monthly Archives: November 2010

Winter in MQ

I  have only recently realized that Vienna is full of Christmas markets..everywhere.I am personally not a big fan of Christmas spirit, in the sense of shops and things.However I found the Xmas version in Museum Quartier quite interesting..In the main plaza a series of igloo-like kiosks have been installed that serve warm wine and beer as far as i know.It is pretty nice as every night it is quite busy and sometimes there a DJ set in one of the kiosks. And when you get freezing cold, you just run to „Kantine“ in the front and have a proper drink at the bar!

on-line radios

Another tip for improving your listening skillsMy discovery these days are two online austrian radio stations where one can listen to some good tunes as well as news , comments, book and exhibitions critiques etcThe first one is mainly based on classical music and some cool talks from people on politics, art  and music https://oe1.orf.at/  The other , Radio4 , is a bit more mainstream with quite a varied programme https://fm4.orf.at/So enjoy them. It’s free learning while spending some time at home  

Frida Kahlo

Another exhibition I would definitely suggest people to visit is the Frida Kahlo exhibition in the Bank Austria Kunstforum.Frida Kahlo is a painter born in 1907 in Mexico.She is famous for her large number of self-portraits depicting herself in various stages of her life.The paintings are beautiful, full of colors and details, telling her story through metaphors and surrealist images.Perhaps many people have seen the film made a few years ago-which is actually quite nice-but nothing compares to the real thing. Beware though, the exhibition ends on the 5th of December.More details on: https://www.bankaustria-kunstforum.at/en/exhibitions/preview/46       

Words and Phrases

While on my second month at the Deutschakademie I am quite happy to see that I can start to communicate with people at shops, restaurants and simple conversations with other students at University.And that feels good! In general we have been focusing in class on prepositions-pretty complicated business!- and also the past tenses.My aim is to start using all the vocabulary I have learned up to know in order to make my points as clear a possible during a conversation. Not an easy job for a beginner in german since you have to think quite a lot of grammar before actually saying exactly what you want to say. But practice makes perfect-or is at least the right way to perfection, right?  ; )

Prater

I am must admit I am very bad when it comes to sightseeing! For example Prater, one of the hot-spots of Vienna was a place I visited quite late.Now I am quite a regular visitor since the Akademie of Fine Arts has the sculpture department there.Prater is quite interesting since it starts of as a theme park but then it turns into a forest where one can actually walk around for quite long.In the Hauptallee there are always people jogging whereas further down there is a club „Pratersauna“where one can enjoy some night-outs.I guess it covers quite a lot of tastes though today I was actually freezing cold and rushed myself to get as quickly as possible into class!!  prater1.jpghauptallee.jpg  signs.jpg

the place i have been 2 years ago

The first time i have been in Vienna was 2 years ago

I was attending a music camp here for 3 weeks.

Really excited about it because that was the first time i travelled to Europe.

The culture and the place are so different than America,

and i really enjoy to visit the city because so many historic building and they were nice.

We had lesson and practise in a music factory near Taubstummengasse.

And today i just passby it,

unfortunately,

it is closed.

Actually i knew it before, but still kind of sad about it.

Hope the factory will come back to Wien again.

 

William Kentridge

This week my class visited the exhibition of William Kentraidge at the Albertina museum.Kentridge is an artist from South africa that works on themes based on his experience of the Aparheid. However heavy the theme, the result is a series of beautiful drawings and prints. The most amazing aspect of his works though are his films a combination of drawings, photographs and prints, made by the technique of stop-motion.The result is movies based on surrealist stories with amazing musical background.The exhibition will be on for some time and is definitely worth a visit. For more information check: www.albertina.at  

Kino

For from studying grammar and exercises in class one of my favorite ways to improve my German is actually going to the movies. Though many foreign films are dubbed in Austria there are cinemas, or Kinos that have subtitles.There you can enjoy new films while still practicing on your reading skills.One of the most central ones is on Mariahilferstrasse.For more advanced cinema lovers there is always the Filmmuseum in the address: Augustinerstraße 1, 1010.You can subscribe in the newsletter once you enter the websitewww.filmmuseum.at Today for example are shown the films of George Mellies, that most of them are silent though!   😉  

Jugenstil

 One of the great things about learning a new language is the fact that you come to really understand words you already knew for quite a long time.Having studied architecture the term „Jugenstil“, as one aspect of Art Nouveu, was very much a subject of our Architecture history classes.As I learned recently Jugenstil means „Youth Style“ , after the German magazine „Jugend“, which promoted it.Another common term for Viennese architecture in the Art Nouveu era, is the movement of „Secession“, which also is the name of the beautiful building in Karlsplatz.  

dinner with friend

When studying aboard people always miss the stuffs from the own country,

may be friends, family, environment or something else.

For me,

food will be one of the thing i really miss.

There are varieties of food in Vienna,

however,

still there are some missing….

last week,

one of my friend would like to make his own version of „Don“

since both of us love to have it, and would like to see if it is possible to make it at home

Finally,

it tastes really good and we both enjoy the dinner and chat the entired night.

Great!

 

performative dinner

performanceThis weekend I was in the performance symposium „The sentence is being performed“ in the Akademie of Fine Arts.The event was part of the Vienna Art week with many people from abroad invited to present their work.After a series of presentations  and talks, the first night ended with a huge performative dinner!Members of the Akademie, students and staff were sitting around a huge table where food and wine was served while several young artists performed on the table!!Mixing academic talks with food seemed like the idea way to spend the evening