CouchSurfing, Enjoying Vienna, Family, Work / University

Two nutshells

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I like recaps. They give me the possibility to think over stuff I’ve done. Also, I’m not one for blogging all the time, as you might have seen. It’s more like sitting down once a month (or every 6 weeks), thinking about what I’ve accomplished or what has happened since the last time I wrote – and then write about it.

So here is my 2012 in a nutshell.

I finished my first semester as a student at University. Not very successful, but also not without success.

We had an awesome winter with lots of snow, and I went skiing both with my parents and Georg, and there was terrific traffic chaos everywhere (I remember pictures of roads in Tirol and Vorarlberg, covered in 1-4 meters of snow!).

I spent 3 weeks in the US and Canada, making new friends and relishing every minute of it.

When I came back, I bought a bike, Maya, and set on discovering Vienna by bike. And: a cat café had just opened in Vienna, and the BBC featured me in a fluff-piece about it 🙂

I decided to go for a 10-day hike in my holidays.

I finished my 2nd semester as a student – again, not as successful as I could have, but good enough.

There was, of course, Vienna Calling 2012.

I did a lot of hikes in preparation for The Big Hike, and worked at Vienna Zoo during summer break. Also, in August I moved in a shared flat with Stefan, and had a lot of doubts about me being at University.

Then, autumn already. I was incredibly motivated, and did a lot of work for University. Georg moved in with us (yes!), and then … somehow … already it was Christmas.

There was big get-together with old school mates (from more than 10 years back), meeting and visiting relatives and friends, and after one week, I was happy to return back to Vienna.

So this was 2012 in a big nutshell (coconut like).

2012 in a smaller nutshell: it brought lots of new friends, finally seeing old friends again, discovering Vienna anew time and time again, seeing new things in Austria and also visiting new places all over the world. And of course, lots and lots of new things learned.

Let’s hope, 2013 will be like this – or even better.

BookCrossing / Reading

Brave New World

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During the last years, I tried to catch up on some important literary works of our history. Some days ago, I decided to at least read a sample of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” on my Kindle. Funny enough, the whole sample is an introduction by somebody else: Margaret Atwood. And it’s a great introduction that I’d like to share with you – you can find part of it announcing the reissueing of the book by The Guardian on their website: link.

Enjoy.

Work / University

Uni: Good news.

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Some days ago, I wrote about how University is trying to get rid of students (see “Uni-jam-ity”). For me, this meant I had to pass 3 exams in order to finally finish the first phase of my studies. One of them was especially critical, as it could have meant the end to my studies in case I did not pass.

Good news: I passed them all. One (not critical) with 12 out of 20 points (60 %), one (also not critical) with 20 out of 25 points (80 %), and the critical one with 47 out of 72 points (65 %). The one I passed with 80 % was the first (of three) programming exams. I’m pretty proud of that one, because the 80 % mean that the whole programme did exactly what it was meant to do 🙂

Work / University

Uni-jam-ity

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A lot of foreign students in the last years and decades wondered how the Austrian educational system works: everybody, after passing their Matura (A-levels or anything comparable to it) was allowed to study at Austrian Universities. Except for some studies (like medicine, where there always were knock-out exams at the start to filter the masses of aspirants), all studies were open to everybody. And nobody had to pay a cent of tuition fees.

Now, it’s no wonder that everybody asked themselves how this could work. And of course, it doesn’t.

Last year, the public was informed that – amongst others – the University of Technology in Vienna was nearly broke. Students and professors got together to find ways to help the University. Government did nothing. And the University … found ways to lessen the number of students, because “it’s the students who cause most costs”. Also, this way, the professor-student ratio would be improved to a level closer to international standards.

Now how does that work?

The Department for Informatics, the first one to completely run out of money, and also the one I’m studying at, was the first to invent the so-called “Eingangstests”, which nothing else but exams to filter the “too much” of students. 700 people sign up for the 5 kinds of IT studies at UTV every year –  but there is only space (= money) for 375. But instead of having one test to check all required skills and knowledge at the beginning of the semester, there are several tests: one for each course. And they happen 4-6 weeks after the semester has started – so if you discover that either you don’t like IT enough to study it, or you just don’t manage to pass the exam, there’s no way of changing to another study now. You just lost one semester.

This set-up cut down inscriptions by about 10 % (guessing from the number of people who signed up for a 1st-semester course I’m attending). Also, it decreases the motivation for many a student extremely: for example, in one week, there were 3 exams to prepare for. One of them happened Monday morning, 7 am. Over 200 people decided not to partake in that exam and rather focus on the other two (or one of them).

Congratulations, Mr Steinhart (our dean, who had the brilliant idea of Eingangstests). Your system seems to work. Also, government decided to legalise these exams and allowing for other Universities and other fields of study to implement them, too.

The Big Hike

TBH, Day 5: Mariazell – Vienna

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Yep.

I did not complete The Big Hike.

Long story short: I had a bit of a nervous breakdown which could have been avoided. And I could still have walked on, but I decided against it.

Instead, I went to the trainstation, got a ticket to Vienna, and waited for the next train. I even met an interesting guy on the train. He too had just walked for a couple of days to get from nearby Vienna to Mariazell. He has done that already a few times, but keeps changing the routes to explore the area. We kept talking during the whole ride – and that’s more than 3 hours, mind you!

But: Postponed is not abandoned. I WILL walk those last onehundredandsomething kilometers. It just will have to wait until summer. Or at least until spring.

GeoCaching, Outdoors, The Big Hike

TBH, Day 4: Türnitz – Mariazell

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If you guessed it from the title – congratulations!

Somehow I managed to get from Türnitz to Mariazell in one day. It’s about 34,5 km, so no small thing to do … but let’s start at the beginning: in the morning 🙂

I started at 7.10 in the morning, and decided to take it easy. If I’d manage to get to Mariazell all by foot, great. If not, I’d take the bus. Period.

One break was in Annaberg, the next “big” village. 13.5 km – and a rather large part of that going uphill rather steeply. As a reward, I sat down for half an hour, and even had a nice chat with 3 gentlemen from UK. I even saw them again later … lovely 🙂

In Josefsberg (yep, it’s on a mountain. just like Annaberg and Joachimsberg.), I decided to have coffee and homemade Apfelstrudel. Also, I found a cache (nothing special, and dripping wet). Unfortunately, that was the only cache of the day as at the next location the GPS signal kept changing in a range of 30 ft and more.

Somewhere I of course missed a turn and walked along the Bundesstraße again.  And just before St. Sebastian, the gentlemen from UK passed me on the motor bikes 🙂  They even remembered me and waved – that’s a nice piece of motivation!

Did I just say St. Sebastian? Check the map! It’s the last village on the way to Mariazell. I seriously did it. The moment when I realized this was amazing. I started laughing like a madman.

The village itself is as touristy as I imagined. Prices in Pensions and Hotels are of course crazy. Couchsurfers are non-existent. After checking out one Pension (and not liking the room at all: there’s huge demand for rooms, so providers can ask pretty much any price for anything), I found a room at a lovely Gasthaus. If you ever go to Mariazell, let me know. I’ll tell you where I stayed 🙂

Just this much: the rooms are nothing special, but the owner was incredibly lovely. He reminded me of my Grandfather (who died last year in September) big time. In the evening, friends of his occupied the dining room – and we had a blast. Age ranged from about 19  (yep, I wasn’t the youngest there) to 74 (the owner). There was a lot of live music and singing, a lot of laughing and even some food 🙂

Although I was up all day, walking for 8 hours straight (about 10 including all the breaks), I still managed to stay up until nearly midnight.

Awesome.

GeoCaching, Outdoors, The Big Hike

TBH, Day 3: Lilienfeld – Türnitz

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I started late on day 3. It was raining, and my plan for the day was to get as far as possible. Due to the rain I did not plan for much 🙂

After failing big time trying to find a cache “on the way” (I have no idea if I really passed it or how far away I was at the closest point), I scored thrice:

The first was easy even without the pretty clear hint.

The second was tricky to get from its hiding place, and even trickier to put back. Big fun!

The third was lovely. I have seen hideouts like this before, but here it can still be used as intended 🙂

During the day, the weather kept changing from raining to dry but windy and back to rainy again, including various stages of sleet. Yuck! Also, there was a part just before Türnitz that seems to go on for ages. I swear I saw a sign “Türnitz, 1 hr” and walked for at least 2 hours until I arrived!

Arriving at Türnitz, I immediately checked out the bus schedule – the next one would have left 4 hours later. I got into the next Gasthaus and ordered a beer to think about my next moves. The bar tender also was the receptionist for the Gasthaus, so I asked about rooms and prices – and was taken aback. A single room would go for 39 Euros! “Can we do anything about that price?” – “Yep. Let’s make it 25. Only, you won’t get an official invoice for that.” How I love the black market 🙂

Outdoors, The Big Hike

TBH, Day 2: Hainfeld – Lilienfeld

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After getting off the bus at Hainfeld train station, I went to the next Gasthaus and asked if they could recommend any accommodation in the village. Some minutes later, I arrived at a nice Hotel where I got a room for the night. The hot shower and one hour-nap immediately after arriving felt incredibly good 🙂

The next day, I started out just after 7 am again. The GPS indicated a Geocache only on the other side of the street, but after searching for some minutes, I gave up on that one. Instead, I headed west towards Lilienfeld, where I had a room booked at the monastery. I was very much looking forward to spending the night there, as I had never slept at a monastery before, and Lilienfeld itself, the monastery and the church were said to be very beautiful places.

After two hours of hiking through the foggy morning, mostly along the river Gölsen, I arrived in St. Veit an der Gölsen, where my GPS again indicated a Geocache nearby. It was the perfect cache in the perfect moment: Steingarten, an open-air display of different types of stone, is a lovely place for a break. There are also different kinds of trees, flowers and bushes with descriptions. And right at the moment when I was looking for the cache, it got backlit by the rising sun … just perfect!

At St. Veit, the route divides in two stages: the valley track, along Gölsen river, and the mountain stage, over Staff. I decided to try the mountain stage. Unfortunately, I did not bring enough to drink, so I had to go thirsty for the better part of an hour, but at least this made me meet some locals and also I had the possibility to see their 690 year old farmhouse from the inside 🙂   Also, by choosing the mountain track, I met a doe rather close-up.

At about 2.30 pm I already arrived at Stift Lilienfeld, thus resulting in 22 km hiked within 7 hours (including breaks).

I washed some of my clothes in the basin in my room, took a shower, had a rather early dinner, and spent a lot of time reading before going to bed while outside it was raining heavily.

Enjoying Vienna

Monday is cooking day!

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Every Monday, about 1 pm, there’s a knock on our door, and when we open it, a nice delivery guy hands us a box full of fresh, ecologically grown, regional, seasonal vegetables. Isn’t this awesome?

It’s called “Adamah Biokistl”, and the one we’re having every week costs about 15 Euros each time. There’s always great stuff in it, like yummy carrots, beetroots, pumpkins and so on. And: there is always a little newsletter in it, and on its back, there are a couple of recipes. At least one of them always matches what we get. It’s great!

So this week, we got a nice hokkaido pumpkin, and with some corn, leek, carrots and parsnips, we managed to make a yummy lasagna 🙂  and a bit later, to make sure we don’t have to throw away all of those nice pears we keep receiving in the box, I made some apple-pear-purree.

Finally, there is a reason to look forward to Mondays!

Outdoors, The Big Hike

TBH, Day 1: Vienna – Maria Raisenmarkt

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Looking back, there are already a couple of things I can learn from the first day of The Big Hike:

  • try to get as close to your starting point as possible.
    Getting up at 5 in the morning to go to the starting point by public transport and arriving there, ready to finally really leave, at 7 am, thus being 2 hours awake but not really doing anything but wait, is a bad start.
  • get good maps, have a GPS device with you.
    Losing the route every half hour is not funny. Having a GPS device with hiking/mountain biking maps can at least help you to get where you want, albeit not via the route you wanted.

So yes, I got up at 5 in the morning, just to make sure I had packed everything I needed. I had a bus to catch at Siebenhirten (end station of U6 in the south of Vienna), and I was nervous as can be that I could fall asleep and miss the stop either at Siebenhirten or at the stop where I had to change, or the stopt where I had to eventually get off the bus to start the hike.

The hike was not very exhausting physically, but in a mental way it was very challenging: I kept losing the “right path”, because there were not too many signs around to tell you in which direction to go. I am incredibly happy that I had a GPS device with me, especially since Georg and I had downloaded a hiking/mountainbiking map for Austria the night before. That way, I at least knew which way would lead in which direction and if it would take me to the “right” next village at the least.

I called it a day in Maria Raisenmarkt, after hiking about 22 km, just before reaching the Peilstein area which is supposed to be really beautiful. I felt exhausted already, and was looking desperately at the schedule for the regional bus at the bus stop. Some guy was putting up signs for hiking routes, and he asked me where I wanted to go. Bad news was, I would have to follow the route, as it would be the shortest way to get to the next village. Good news was, he had been through the same mess as me, and in the end even offered me a ride. In the next village, I had a nice late lunch (Radler, soup and cake 😉 ) and then checked for the next bus to leave towards Mariazell. I would skip part of the hike, as I did not feel at all capable of walking on, and I was lucky: a bus towards the right direction would leave only 2 hours later. The 2 hours I spent reading at the bus stop – and I also fell asleep a couple of times.