The worldwide Augustana College experience

The Vienna group

Is that a girl?

Yesterday we sat in on the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsal.  Only invited guests from the conductor are allowed into the area and we are very lucky that Dr. Culver has a long history with the Orchestra. We were able to sit half way back in the hall and listen to them rehearse Beethoven Symphonies for their [...]

Budapest, Hungary

Guten Tag!
Yesterday we took a day trip to Budapest Hungary.  We left at the ungodly hour of 6:00 am to catch our 3 1/2 hour train to Budapest.  We stayed in the compartments in the train like you always see in the movies.  When looking outside, I often felt that I was looking at the [...]

The Australian Dream

We are back in America.  It is hard to believe that just over a week ago 26 of us were half way across the world experiencing the most beautiful scenery and having the most surreal adventure for 2 months.  In a way they entire trip almost seems as if it were a dream.  For all [...]

Rainy Days in Vienna

Guten Tag!
Our first week of classes in Vienna have officially started.  The weather has been rainy and windy everyday, claiming many umbrellas, including 2 of Kristen Classen’s in one day.   Along with the bad weather, our first week of doing laundry in the sink has started.  The Viennese do not use dryers, and in order [...]

Underwear in the sink…

I have been here a full week and it’s just now sinking in. My room is piling up with dirty clothes, which means that tomorrow will be my first laundry-in-the-sink adventure. Many people in Vienna do not have dryers and therefore, hang their clothes. In the hotel, there is only one washer and it requires [...]

Truly Remarkable

As I’m staring out the fourth floor library window right now (bundled up in my winter fleece), the cold draft serves as an unpleasant reminder how far away I am from Sydney, Australia.
The last month has been a blur—containing heaps (a popular Australian word) of exciting adventures, humorous encounters, and sad goodbyes.  The following are [...]

Leavin’ on a Jet Plane…

So it is the first day of Spring Term, and it has been an odd feeling to be back in the U.S. and on campus.  I find myself missing Vietnam at weird times.  It has been nice to be home in a place that I am more familiar with, but over the past month, Vietnam [...]

First Impressions of Vienna

Hallo from Vienna!!
We arrived in Vienna 3 days ago and have been staying at The Wombat Hostel on the southwestern side of the city.  On the plane ride here we experienced a great deal of turbulence, making sleeping almost impossible.  Therefore staying awake for the first day to avoid jet lag was quite a trial.  [...]

vienna, oh so soon.

I was busy spending way too much time on Facebook chatting with my friend Jeff about the upcoming spring term at Augustana, when I realized I would be leaving tomorrow for Vienna, Austria. I’m heading out to O’Hare airport around 10am to catch my flight to Germany which then connects to Vienna. I am extremely [...]