Sunday, July 14, 2013

Wiener Staatsoper Neighborhood Landscape Analysis

The Vienna Opera House was the first major building on the Vienna Ringstrasse. The building took seven years to complete, starting in 1861 and completed in 1869. The architects were August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null. The beautiful building was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. At the beginning, the building was not very popular with the public. Later it became one of the most famous Opera Houses in the world. Putting the Opera House on the Ringstrasse shows its importance to the city. It gets a lot of attention by being in the middle of so many popular streets.

The methodology that I used for this analysis was just walking down the street and observing everything I could see. I took many pictures of the stores and things I came across. I did not really talk to anyone instead I kept to myself and just looked around using my senses.

I walked down one street and saw so many things. I started on Karntner Strasse street right outside the Opera House. The first thing I saw was a souvenir store. Next I saw “World of Accessories” which looked like a pricey store. Alongside that, was a store “Sir Anthony” which looked like it sold pricey men jackets and suits. Further down was Palmers, yet another pricey store. I crossed the street and at this time I was kiddy corner to the Opera House, right away I ran into “Humanic” which is a shoe store for women. I actually looked at some prices and would never pay that much for shoes. Next to that was a “Starbucks Coffee” and more souvenir shops. Finally I ran into some banks. I then saw some food stands on the corners. On the left there was a Tally Weill which is an affordable clothing shop. Across the street from each other I saw Casino signs. There were a few jewelry shops right next door to each other. Then a “Salamander” shop that sells women’s accessories. Then next I saw “H&M” which is a very affordable shop. Then next to that were a couple more souvenir shops. It was interesting walking along the street and just observing and taking in everything that I saw.
                
After walking up and down the street I noticed and concluded that this street was for either rich locals or tourists. I thought this because the stores were either pricey merchandise; Sir Anthony, World of Accessories, Humanic, Salamander, etc. or the stores were the opposite and cheap, quick shops tourists would like such as; souvenir stores, food stands, coffee shops, H&M.
                
I think the businesses cater well to the Opera and its clientele. I feel like the Opera visitors are mostly higher class citizens or tourists coming to visit. These businesses definitely fit both types of clientele, at least in my opinion. 

                
Overall, I think the land use was used very well. These businesses fit well with the area they are located. The street seemed to always be busy and active. This project made me notice the little things about the street and made me think of the uses of the businesses. I enjoyed just walking down and taking pictures and not doing anything but observing my surroundings. 

Right across from the Opera House

Pricey shop for women right across the Opera House

Pricey shop for men right across the Opera House

Pricey shop right across the Opera House

Pricey women shoe store

Pricey women shoe store

STARBUCKS!

Another souvenir shop

Bank in the middle of the street

Food stand 

Casino

Another shop

Souvenir shop right across the street from another

Souvenir shop right across the street from another

Another food stand


View of Opera House from the angle I went down the street

CETS Experience!

A life changing experience...

Academically, I learned so much! I am the type of person that learns better from hands on or visuals. Going to all of these places and learning about them while we were there helped me a lot. I learned so much history! I did not like museums much before this trip but I did learn a lot from them. Geography wise I also learned a lot because I was horrible with directions! I get lost so easy, I have lived in the Eau Claire area almost all of my life and I still get lost. After being in a situation where you have to know your surrounds and directions it forced me to learn about the public transportation systems. I am really glad I got better at direction. As for the music component, I went into this trip not knowing much at all about music and now I can name some of the most famous music places and people. I learned a lot more than I thought I would, I think it helped having professors with us the whole time instead of just a classroom setting and exploring on our own.


Coming into this study abroad experience I was so excited. I loved my time in Winchester, England so much and I wanted to relive the whole thing. Before I left I tried hard to make sure I wasn’t comparing the two trips I wanted to enjoy my time abroad again but not have any expectations to live up to. After coming home I realized this experience was way better than I could have ever imagined. I had the best time and it made me realize my time in Winchester was so amazing because it was my home and I just traveled on weekends, whereas this time my home was the people I spent every day with since we traveled so much. I grew a lot from this time abroad. It made me realize how incredibly thankful I am for all the things I have accomplished. When we were abroad I realized this and then messaged my mum to tell her thank you for all her support and she said back to me, “Lizzy we will always be here to support you but you should be proud of yourself. You got yourself here and you are chasing your dreams. You have so much to be proud of.” I think that most of my personal growth that I gained from the CETS experience was being able to recognize what I have and what I want to still accomplish in life. Travelling is a dream of mine that I will continue to chase. 







Seriously couldn't imagine a better group to travel and have this experience with!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Krakow Thoughts

Something that fascinated me about the city was the town square how popular it was. I loved wandering around it and seeing all the tourists and locals. Another thing that fascinated me about it was that I was comfortable and not scared wandering alone. Not many of the places could I actually wander alone and feel comfortable. I loved it! They had the big market center with all the little souvenir shops; it was so nice just relaxing and shopping there.

My favorite academic experience would be Auschwitz, I cannot even explain how I felt that day during and after the guided tour. It was such an eye opening experience and I am glad I got the chance to visit it and learn even more about what actually happened at the concentration camps. Everyone handles things like this differently but for me I cried, I cried almost the whole time. I seriously could not imagine going through something like that or knowing someone who had to go through something like that. It is hard to put in words my feelings of this experience but it just made me realize how thankful and blessed I am for having this life.

My favorite extra-curricular activity would be shopping at market center! I bought quite a bit of souvenirs. I remember when the students from last year came and gave us advice they all said, “Make sure you save a lot for Krakow, it’s really cheap with good gifts!” Well I’m glad I listened because I found so many good gifts for myself, family and friends. So I recommend for future students to save until Krakow too!


I recommend eating at Coffee Heaven! This is another cute little cafĂ© with good drinks and snacks. Also, there’s wifi! Our hostel at Krakow did not have wifi and since it was so close to coming home we had to contact the people picking us up from the airport and check to see if any changes happened with our flights. So we wanted a cute place with wifi and Coffee Heaven is good and cheap!

Auschwitz-Birkenau 

Auschwitz-Birkenau 

Last night meal!

Market Hall

Market Hall


Budapest Thoughts

Something that fascinated me about the city was how old and not Americanized it was. I feel like after being at so many countries that try to be Americanized I just assumed Budapest would be that way too. I loved wandering around this city with all the old buildings and beautiful views. I really enjoyed not turning on to each street and seeing a Starbucks or McDonalds. It was so nice to see the older side of Europe.

My favorite academic experience would be the Hungarian Folk concert. I did not think I would enjoy the concert at all. I thought I would be bored the whole time but I actually really enjoy it. I thought it was so entertaining and I am glad we went because it is not anything I would ever consider going to myself. It was very cool to watch the dancers and musicians perform so well together. They were all so talented.  

My favorite extra-curricular activity would be going to the prettiest views of Budapest! The day we went up to the castle we saw such gorgeous views! I loved this because when I see these views I am just so happy and I feel like nothing else matters. Another area was the hill by Citadella, the restaurant we had our last dinner at, those were amazing views. I just feel so relaxed and reflective when I see views like that. I was looking forward to seeing the Budapest views of the bridges and city ever since Ezra showed the pictures to the class. It was worth the wait it was beautiful!


A restaurant that I would recommend eating at would be Sphinx. It is located in the shopping mall that is walking distance from the main train system. I never really ate at many restaurants, Katie and I normally just go to the grocery store but we decided to treat ourselves. It’s a very nice restaurant with good prices. I got a few drinks and a pizza; it was very good!

Hungarian Folk concert

Reminds me of the UWEC on the hill!

Bridge view!

The gang :)

Castle view!

Favorite view!

Gorgeous!

Final group presentation!

Sphinx Restaurant 



Vienna Thoughts

Something that fascinated me about the city was how Americanized some parts of the city was. I expected Vienna to be this old, romantic, wine obsessed city but some areas I could mistake it for being in America. There was one street alone that had two H&Ms, Forever 21 and an American Apparel. I just saw so many shopping areas and not as many older buildings. Austria in general was beautiful! I am glad we saw the outskirts of Austria so I could see the old, romantic, wine part of the country. 

My favorite academic experience would be visiting the Kunsthistorisches Art Museum. I did not think I would like it too much since it as just another art museum but I ended up really enjoying it. The building was beautiful. Everything about the building inside and out was just absolutely beautiful. And it was also pretty cool to say I have seen the only place that contains three Rembrandt self-portraits in the same building. 

My favorite extra-curricular activity would be bike wine tour. We biked 18 miles along the outskirts of Austria. This was the best day of the trip by far! As we started biking I had this wonderful feeling that I only felt a few times before. I tried to think of what other times I felt that way and finally remembered it was two times last year. Once when Meredith, Tianna, Heather and I did the Amalfi Coast tour in Italy! I have seen the most beautiful views in my life that day. The second time I had that feeling was last year when us four did a four wheeling tour along an island in Greece! Well the 18 miles of riding bike through beautiful Austria gave me a lot of time to reflect on my life and I realized how thankful I am for all that I have accomplished. The bike tour was so amazing for me! 


I recommend eating at Siebensternbrau! We had our group dinner there and I got the fried chicken Schnitzel with French fries and it was amazing! Best meal I had abroad for dinner. Also another place to check out food would be at the prater! I got chocolate covered strawberries from a little market shop and it was so good!

Chocolate covered strawberries at the Prater!

The Ferris wheel at the Prater!

Make sure you visit!

Beautiful Volksgarten :) I was obsessed!
Group at the beach during the bike tour!
Gorgeous Views!

Amazing views with great friends :)

Such a happy day!

My bike "LUCKY"


Brno Thoughts

Something that fascinated me about the city was how big it actually was. I really thought this was just a small town that we were stopping through as a little break and to see a museum. However, after getting lost I realized it’s a lot bigger than I thought. After the beach Katie, Haley and I went to Tesco. On the way back we got lost. I could tell all of us were trying to keep our cool but secretly freaking out. What was even more frustrating was not many people spoke English. We ended up hopping on a random bus and going to a stop or two and getting off to check a sign. We saw a lot of Brno in the process so I guess that is one positive. We finally got to areas we knew was way off because we saw intersections and I asked another girl and she barely spoke English but said it was complicated and we were far from it. So we hoped on another and almost got out but said let’s wait and then at the next stop we got off and turns out it is a major bus stop. So we found we needed bus 25 and hopped on it and after a good ten minutes found out we got the right bus but wrong way. We got off and finally found the right stop! It’s crazy how much harder it was for us getting lost there versus in America where we would have our phones to call someone or look up directions. But we found our way back and that’s all that matters! So what fascinated me was the size of Brno and the lack of English speakers.

My favorite academic experience was the Roma museum. I was very excited for this because I have always wanted to learn more about them and their history. I watch the show "My Gypsy Wedding" back home a lot but that focus more on American Gypsies so I was looking forward to learning more. What I knew about gypsies are that they have an expensive lifestyle where the wedding is the biggest day of their lives. After the wedding the woman stays at home to clean and watch kids all day whereas the man just works and doesn't do much when he comes home. To most people that sounds stupid but I actually want to be a stay at home mum so it sounds amazing to me. 

Some things I learned at the museum was that there are estimated 15 million Roma people in the world today. They originally lived in a town called "Little Egypt" which is how they got the offensive name "Gypsies" I thought that was interesting. Another name they were called was Cikani, this is also an offensive name. 

Our tour guide told us a lot about their history and how a normal family would consist of the husband and wife along with 10-12 kids. The man still would work and the woman would stay at home. We learned now days they will still have more kids than average like 5-6.

Another thing I learned was that they used to have ID cards that they had to carry around with them that describes their life and has information such as their age, skin color, body figure, husband name, number of kids, height, nose, eyes, forehead and even their teeth shape. I wouldn't like how they are all characterized by all their features like that. 

In Germany in  1933-1945 The Nazi built a concentration camp in Letech and Hodonine that the Roma people were sent too. They did tests on the Roma people just like how they did with Jews to try to get the average look of gypsies. I did not realize the Roma people were sent to concentration camps before this. In Berlin we went to a memorial that said something about Roma people and others and I was confused but now it is all going together. 

A part I really liked was social worker started talking to us about her role in the community which I liked a lot because I'm going to be a social worker that works with kids so it was interesting to learn more about what she did. She explained that the Roma students were being told at school that they are stupid. This is because they speak more Roman language or poor Czech. Another bad thing that was going on in schools were that they were not being taught about the Roma holocaust, just the Jewish holocaust. She described that there was only one sentence in the text mentioning it, something like, "There was a holocaust of the Jewish people and also a holocaust of the Roma people" 

I really enjoyed this museum! I think it was all interesting to learn so much more about their history. I took a lot away from it; it was my favorite museum yet!

My favorite extracurricular experience was hanging out down by the beach with some other people. We got there and there was a small carnival going on and so many locals hanging out. There were also a lot of locals out on the grass relaxing by the lake which was nice. The group of us just laid out and sun bathed for a while. It was nice to just relax and catch up with my thoughts since we have been on the go for so long. I really recommend the group next year to go hang out there also! 


I recommend eating at AIDA La Dolce Vita. It's a small cafe in Old Town Square that had both food and gelato! It was a cute little place with good food so I would recommend it! Also the gelato is super cheap and they give big scoops! 

Brno

Address of Aida-La Dolce Vita! Check it out :)

Prague Thoughts

Something that fascinated me about the city was the area of apartment buildings that we visited; it was called Nove Butovice apartment blocks. It was such a non-tourist spot and really calm environment. I think it was a really good idea what they were going for with fitting so many middle class individuals in that area. Something I really liked about that spot was the park and lake right in the middle. Watching families and individuals walk, run, rollerblade around was cool to see. I personally think it would be a good place to live if I wanted to live in a big city. 

My favorite academic experience would be Swan Lake Ballet. I was so excited for the ballet but I had no idea it would be that beautiful! Both the theater and the performance were amzing. It was so graceful. It was really cool because three of us girls got a balcony seat which was really nice. I guess by us having those seats it made me enjoy it that much more. It made us feel like we were important people. I am glad I had that experience because I do not think I would have ever gone to a ballet otherwise.

My favorite extra-curricular activity would be just wandering and exploring old town. We went back out to take pictures on the bridge across from St. Charles Bridge so we could get that in the background. We saw the most beautiful views of Prague from that spot. I expected a lot of Prague and I felt a little disappointed but after just going out and exploring I fell in love with the city! 


I recommend eating at Kavarna Slavia! It is located right across from the Prague National Theater and we went right after the ballet for dessert. I got chocolate ice cream with a banana covered in whip cream, chocolate sauce and nuts. It was so delicious! It was a good snack and not horrible in prices! 

Balcony seats!

Talented performers

Beautiful theater!

Pretty view from Castle 

Another group presentation!

Gorgeous views from the bridges!