I am sure you saw stickers with this little guy all around the city on stop signs and lamp posts. If you have not noticed big posters with the same guy in U-Bahn/ tram stops, it is for Viennale: Vienna International Film Festival. It started on the 20th of October and lasts until the 2nd of November. There is a wide range of fiction movies, short films, and documentaries spread out across the city in different cinemas (check the schedule here http://www.viennale.at/en). Although the festival is showing an overwhelming number of films, I roughly looked through the list, which is diverse in terms of culture, genre, and time period.

I have not yet decided which films I want to see yet because I am trying to carefully select only two or three movies. Initially, I thought the tickets would be cheaper than normal cinemas, but unfortunately they basically cost the same amount. A ticket costs 9.50 euros without any student discount, and full length fiction films and documentaries and short films all cost the same. The price of tickets made my a bit hesitant on going to as many shows I would like to. So if the price is stopping you from going, there is another way to enjoy the festivity.

Viennale’s afterparty takes place everyday during the festival right by Schwedenplatz. One, the entry is free; two, its atmosphere was fun. Every afterparty features different DJs or themes (they have a Halloween party too!). On some days, they have they have live bands playing at the after party as well. So why not join this artistic festivity for the next two weeks?!

Last week, my boyfriend’s cousin invisted us to a jazz concert at Porgy & Bess in the first district. The show was last night where Shai Maestro Trio from Israel played. The concert started at 8:30 (or supposedly), but the bar and the seating area opened before the show started. As I was waiting for the show to start with my drink, I thought to myself, wow this is an incredibly grown up thing to do. The club has a show rather frequently (see schedule here http://www.porgy.at/). Ticket prices vary based on shows they have, but they cost about 20 euros on average with reserved seats. Luckily, our seats were on the very first row, so close we were able to rest our legs on the stage!

Shai Maestro Trio includes Shai Maestro, a jazz pianist from Israel, and a Peruvian bassist, Jorge Rodeder, and an Israeli drummer, Ziv Ravitz. I could not get all three of them in one frame cuz I was too close to the stage. In addition to songs from their old album, they also played a couple songs from their upcoming album that wil be released in early November. When they played without a set list, but before playing every song, they gave us an update on the next song and its background. There was a brief (about ten minutes) intermission in bewteen. I was very impressed with their music, and one song about the war between Israel and Palestine was actually emotional and sensitive. I definitely recommend this place to all musicians and jazz lovers!

We already talked about Mumok and Vienna’s modern art scene, but more importantly I want to share another kind of art scene. One of my favorite museums in Vienna is Albertina. Although it is one of the museums with more expensive tickets, In addition to its beautiful permanent collection, they always have different types of temporary exhibitions. I always thought I got the money worth every time I visited. However, for those who are staying here for a long time, there is another way to visit Albertina.

You can become a member/ Friend of Albertina for 15 euros for 6 months for student. Of course, there are different tiers of membership status, such as full member, students‘ club, sustaining members, and sponsoring members. I joined Students‘ Club which is basically a full member at a discounted price. I get free admissions to the museum, 10% off from the Albertina shop, exhibition previews, reduction on special events, free check room, and cheaper audio guide. For the upper tier membership statuses, you have more benefits obviously.

More importantly, I was at Albertina this week because of this particular exhibition with Paul Signac, one of my favorite artists. Along with Paul Signac, the exhibition featured Georges Seurat and Vincent Van Gogh as well. While I was there, I also enjoyed Albertina Contemporary as well as the Colorful Vienna Woodcut Around 1900 exhibitions. So basically if you visit the museum twice within the six months, your Students‘ Club membership has already paid for itself!

For more information, visit here! http://www.albertina.at/en/members

Like many other people, I have marathon on my bucketlist, but as a novice runner for long distances, I figured I should take one step at a time… So, I signed up for half marathon in Vienna City Marathon in April. First of all, I had already heard how beautiful the route is, for it runs around the Ring, starting from the other side of Donau. So, if you are a runner, this is one way to make a memory in the city.

I wanted to share some details I learned when I registered myself, and disclaimer: these details come from Vienna City Marathon (but I am sure many city marathon events are similar. One, it is cheaper to register early; the registration fee for the first 2000 spots, for example, costs 55 euros for half marathon, 65 for the next 4000 spaces etc. Two, unfortunately, you don’t get a free t-shirt. This one actually annoyed me a lot. Three, there is a hidden cost of 6 euros; 1 euro for administration fee and 5 euros for a speed chip.

Briefly, I wanted to share my regular running route. I live near Wien Haupbahnhof, so the roundtrip from my apartment’s main door all the way to the end of the Belvedere garden takes exactly 5km, which is perfect for a quick run. Also having this view every day on your run is always a huge plus. If you are still in the city by the end of April, why not challenge yourself for an event at Vienna City Marathon in 2017?

As you know Vienna has an incredible art history scene, but surprise, they have just as much modern art scene here! Last Sunday was Mumok’s Dorotheumstag, which essentially provides free entries with hourly tours of the museum. Normally Mumok is one of the more expensive museums in Vienna: 11 euros for adults and 7.50 euros for students. But Mumok had an free opening for the day on the 16th due to partnership with Dorotheum. The free entry included their current exhibitions such as Painting 2.0. Besides the free entry, they provided hourly tours and a bit of art education on modern art from their with Mumok’s curators.

I spent about two hours for two different tours at 15:00 and 16:00. The first tour is at Hyperlinked and their current exhibithion: Painting 2.0. Then the second tour was on pioneers of postwar modernism. The event started at 11:00 and ended at 18:00, and the whole event consisted of the repetition of these two types of tours. Normally, I would not pay for the tour in addition to the ticket, but this time, score!

Well, like this event, many museums in Vienna provides free entry days or free tours or special exhibitions (for free of course!). You just need to look for those events online and keep your calender marked! Usually, I just keep my eyes peeled for those events on facebook (as much as I want to stop using facebook, it is still a great tool for those public events. So why not try something for free and cultured this weekend!?

I know I have posted about enjoying the skyline of Vienna at the Justice Palace, but I wanted to introduce a more active and adrenaline rushing way to enjoy the skyline. The other day, I saw something I had never heard before in Vienna! I saw this when I was helping a friend out who entered a commercial contest with basically no budget. We were on the top of Hotel Ibis in Mariahilf. As I entered the rooftop, I saw none other than a bungee jump stand!

It turns out that it is called House- Running, which is a bit different from bungee jumping. Essentially, you strap on a harness and walk on the wall of the building to the ground. Hotel Ibis has 13 stories, so you can imagine how high you will be walking from and how adrenaline- rushing it will be.

Later I checked online, and it costs about 90 euros. But I found a coupon  for 55 euros. In addition to having this nice deal, the view of Vienna from the top of the hotel is actually so beautiful. Also I am fairly sure that you can schedule your time for house- running, and I would say schedule it around the sunset time! Also the sunset side of the building is where you can see the church and more dramatic skyline (as you can see on the picture above). The following is the address (Hotel Ibis Mariahilfe Gurtel 22- 24, 1060 Wien), and you can find more information on this website (http://houserunning-wien.at/)

Let me be clear first, I am currently in A2.1, and for thouse who are not sure about that level of proficiency, I just learned adjective conjugation for different nouns and cases. So, like the title of my post, is my German good enough? Well, last weekend, I had an opportunity to test it out.

Last Saturday, I went to Kurztheater in Liesing (for the first time). I initially decided to go to this one over other theater options given because this one is supposedly a musical theater (not musical apparently). Before going to the venue, I had heard nothing of what it is about or how it is structured. The venue was located in an old coffin factory, and the festival consisted of a number of small pieces with a musical events at the main stage, as you can see in the picture.

I was delightfully surprised for how much I understood! Also, German theater language is a lot similar to that of English, so I had less problem understanding.

Next weekend and the weekend after, MIMAMUSCH-10 Jahre Festival fur Kurztheater in Liesing (Sat and Sun) is still going on. The event starts at 20:00 until 4:00. The venue is very unusual and the tickets are affordable as well. Mine (student price) was 19 euros, and you can find more information here (http://wohin.vienna.at/2016/mimamusch-10-jahre-festival-fuer-kurztheater/wien). There are pieces dialogue oriented, which may be more difficult for A.2 level students to understand, but there are many pieces that are musical and performance- oriented. So if you are not doing anything this weekend, why not experience this modern theater?

In Thursday morning in class, I checked my instagram account during the break (I leave my social media alone in class!). Then, I saw something interesting… One of my friends from my Uni in the US was posting in Vienna! In hopes of catching him soon, I messaged him asking whether he is still in town and when he is leaving etc.

It turns out that Dan was staying in Vienna for about three more hours after my class and heading to Bratislava. As we talked about his trip after class, I saw myself giving him my condensed version of Vienna. For he was in town for only 72 hours, he hadn’t done all the things on my Diana list, but it gave me an idea about this post: How to sqeeze Vienna in 72 hours…

Of course there are things you have to hit that your guidebook will explain without a doubt, but there are several things guidebooks overlook or underrate. One, sit at one of the oldest coffee houses in the city to do…. nothing for hours. This experience may include you sitting and people watching or stuffing your face with amazing Austrian cakes. Though many people may know famous coffeehouses in Vienna, those tourists seem to overlook and underrate the importance of this experience: just sit and enjoy your Melange and why not a piece of cake.

Two, as I posted before, enjoying the skyline of Vienna on top of the Justice Palace. Many people may choose to go to Stephansdom, but if you want to see Stephansdom in your view, you probably don’t want to stand on top of it.

MQ like a local. In the evening, if you want to see the nightlife, come to MQ (maybe not now that weather has gotten awful.). Mainly because of people’s lounging, but also it is such a central location with all the restaurants and bars. Walk up to Mariahilfestrasse, and from there, turn your heads side to side, you will see smaller streets like Neubaugasse with bars/ cafes full of people.

Besides must-visit places like Schonbrunn, Belvedere, Kunsthistorisches, and Stephansdom, these sites/ experience gave me deeper insight of the city which I highly recommend!

I am sure many of you are familiar with this exhibition or some photos from this exhibit. You probably have already scrolled through some of the photos throughout the year or have seen one or two of them in Times magazine covers or Nat Geo magazine covers. World Press Photo is an organization known for holding an annual press photo contest. Of course, after the contest, all the award winning photos are hung in its annual exhibit across the world. Having photographers/ contestants from around the world taking pictures for the press, the exhibit, in a way, is a snapshots of pressing matters across the world and genre.

In Vienna, the exhibit is at WestLicht Museum (Westbahnstrasse 40). Unfortunately, you only have about a week to visit since it is ending on the 16th of October. Its visiting hours are 11-19 everyday and 11-21 on Thursdays. The entry costs 7 euros for adults and 4 for students. I’d say it will take about an hour and half. It’s not the biggest collection since it only shows this year’s winners. But every piece has a very interesting story and will remind you of what happened this year that you’d forgotten about.

Additionally, they also have a great collection of old cameras and other apparatuses if you are interested in that as well. Though small, the floor also contains a small cafe and a bookstore as well as small seating areas. So, the viewing itself might take only an hour and half, but you can still sit and enjoy the experience and soak up this year’s collection of most powerful photos.

Although the nights in Vienna at the moment may be chilly, calling for a more sedentary lifestyle, tomorrow, you might want to visit Neubaugasse, if you haven’t today already. Starting today at 8am, a street market is taking place in Neubaugasse. On both sides of the street, you can find all different kinds of eateries as well as stands/ tents/ shops of different kinds such as second-hand clothes, vinyls, household items, and self-made accesssories. It stretches for about a few blocks, and I recommend to start your way at Mariahilfestrasse. There are many people who clearly found this market as enticing, so don’t be surprised if you bump into people you know and or just super crowded. Also a tip for those who are looking for a cheap dirndl or lederhose, you might get lucky, I saw one stand that sells them for less than 40 euros. Of course if you are looking for somewhat better quality they are there as well.

I thought it is a cool opportunity particularly for exchange students or those who just arrived in Vienna, looking to furnish their rooms and trying to fill up their closets (which I am sure a lot of you are).

At last, I wanted to point out this one particular tent, called Horsefeather located between Burggasse and Mariahilfestrasse. It’s a black tent near the restaurant Happy Vietnam. If I read their German sign correctly, in addition to regular products you can find in stores, they also sell products from design students in Vienna.

I think many people can agree this: I like Austrian food, but being raised in South Korea and China, I have seen better and more diverse street food scenes. But once in a while, like this weekend, street foods of Vienna from the corners where you were clearly not aware of come out to a single place: Vienna Food Festival.

This weekend from Thursday to Sunday, Vienna Food Festival #3 takes place at Marx-Halle 1030. Apparently, 50 food trucks introducing different types of cuisines (including weird fusions as always). Last time, they had one by MQ, and I saw someone selling kimchi hotdog…. Anyway, I have been to two previous Food Fests, but this is by far the biggest and maybe best organized one of all. On Thursday (today), it opened at 5pm and goes on until 11, and unlike tomorrow and Saturday, there is no entry fee. Tomorrow it starts at 4pm and the food part of the fest goes until 11pm with 5 euro entry fee, but there is an after party from 11pm until 2am. Sorry, it costs 10 euros :(, and I am guessing all the food trucks will be gone as well? Saturday’s schedule is just like that of Friday, except it opens at noon for those who will be very likely to be hungover… Sunday entry also costs 5 euros, and it is open from 12pm to 8pm.

I went today because it was free, but unfortunately I was not as hungry as I wish I was. Therefore, I only got a few bites, but for those who are hesitating to go this weekend due to its entry fee. I think it’s worth it. They have all different kinds of food there, and most of them are very affordable!