American Schnitzel

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need." -Rolling Stones. Probably one of those lines that most everybody knows and for me that what one of my many song Mantras of the past two years. I tend to think a lot in song lyrics, if life was a movie best to have an awesome soundtrack that goes with it. My other song mantra that has helped me through these past two years and for a good part of my life is "I get knocked down, but I get up again you're never gonna keep me down." -Chumbawamba (for all those 90ies kids out there!)  After going through probably one of my darkest times and being alone in a town with no one you need a pretty cool soundtrack to get you up and going. But back to the first song lyrics I had mentioned. What I wanted was not what I was give to work with and I somehow had to make lemonade as my dad would tell me more than once. So since I had my very tart lemons I needed a lot...

It has been way too long since my last post. For many reasons the major reason is simply LIFE. Life happened and got in the way and my blog ended up left out. So is anyone still reading? Should I do a recap of all that has happened? I guess you don't have much of a choice really unless you decide to just not continue reading. If I had to really compress it all down into as simple as possible I would then have to steal a quote saying "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" probably the hardest time in my life up until now. Why? Well without getting into juicy details, lets just say the person whom used to spend my life here in Vienna who went by boyfriend is no more. From the statement above I guess you would be safe to presume it was I that was the hurt one in that end situation so it sent me into quite a spiral. After being with someone for such a long period of time and to have given up a lot to be with them then to turn around and bite you in the but...

When living abroad one thing you might not right away realize you will miss are the foods you know and most likely grew up on. When I first moved to Vienna there was not very many American food (more in particular I am talking about snacks) I know this might seem like a really bizarre post but I feel like it is needed. As of recently it seems like I have been seeing more and more food products from "home" then when I first moved here. One store that most every expat seems to know about is Bobby's food store close to Naschmarkt, and yes they have many British and American foods but it is about the size of a stop n' shop. I have go there very infrequently due to the fact that the prices for a student is a bit high. If you want a box of cake mix, syrup for pancakes, special sauces, or snacks be prepared to see how much importing such specialized food can be.  In my home town a basic box cake mix can be about 2 to 3 dollars and sometimes you can get th...

 If you either are trying to find a job in Vienna as a student that holds a Passport that it not within the European Union, search no more, you have found a place that will help you figure out the ins and outs of getting a job!  Most people studying abroad will only study for a semester and that is easier to do than doing your whole academic career abroad. Simply put, your expenses are going to be somewhat easy to save up for, or easy on your parents to pay.  But once you take the step into staying longer finances can start to dry up quickly. Yes, I am full aware that it is the same for any other college student that living off of Ramen and peanut butter is the norm. But for the most part you have a scholarship, a grant, or financial aid, which can ease the burden.  Here in Vienna I have not really found many scholarships and the ones I do find I never am eligable since I am not a citizen, or I am not a citizen of a poor country.  Studying abroad though c...

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Holiday Season and a good New Year.  I to be honest have been thinking for over a year about starting up blogging again, and after reviewing recent comments and knowing that people are still coming on to my blog it made me want to start again. For a quick update about how I am doing and where in the world I am. I am still in Vienna.  I am older, 22 to be exact. Yikes! I don't feel 22! In one of my last posts I think I mentioned something about my German exam. Well, I have not only finished all my pre study lectures the Uni enforced me to complete before I could start my actual BA. Thank goodness that is all over and I have already finished my first semester at the Uni! Which feels like such an accomplishment and also a relief to finally say that I am a regular College student.  I look at the people I know back in Florida and see a lot of them finishing there degrees, or close to being finished. HECK! A lot of people I know are MARR...

Dear reader you know how everyone has that story or stories that will make everyone burst out laughing? Well here is mine! I had just gotten home from meeting up with one of my friends and had a few groceries to put away. I do not know about you but, when you know you are not going to leave home again for the day one of the first things you do is kick off your clothes and shoes and get comfy in those P.Js that welcome you home. Well after getting comfy I figured time to put away my groceries. I had not been home for a few days and well some stuff started to go bad. After cleaning out my fridge, what ever stunk up my extremely tiny fridge started stinking even worse in the garbage. And who really wants to have the kitchen also starting to smell? So I did the next logical step that any person would do, take the trash outside. But I figured I don't want to get dressed right now so I had planned on placeing it outside my apartment door for me to take down later. ANYBODY who is j...

So for the past month this is how I have been feeling since the beginning of this month was my BIG German exam. If you know me you would know how I am not the best test taking person and considering that this was the last German test I had to take which would give me the green light for being able to finish my pre-studies and the proficency the Universtiy is wanting to see that I have. So I was more than stressed out and for about a good month of non-stop studying for the test and practising my writing in German. I was more than happy when the test had ended and took a break from German and just enjoying not having to study for the test. Well two weeks after the test would I and my other peers be able to see our results, the night after my test I had nightmares and dreams about the test. Dreaming about what I had written and that it was utterly false and then dreaming up of a better paper. So I was just counting the days down for the results since half of the test I found to be a bit...

Like most everyone else in the blogger world, I am going to write a post about my New Years and all of that good stuff! I will just say it now, New Years in Vienna is something everyone should have on their bucket lists. New Years in Times Square seems to be the place to be for New Years for any American but the idea of having to stand for 6 hours to watch a ball drop seems to extreme for me. Even though Florida is a great place to live New Years is not a big hoopla like it is here. My family has no real New Years traditions other than sitting in front of the T.V. and watching the ball drop and afterwards going to bed. Exciting I know. There is quite a build-up to New Years in Vienna, buying fireworks, stands all over the city selling luck charms which can be strange to any onlooker. Stands that look similar to Christmas markets sell Pig charms to big stuffed pig toys, mushroom, four leafed clovers and chimney sweeper figures in all different sizes. Having any one of the named item...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year!  This year Christmas was a rollercoaster for me since I was not able to be back home and nor was my family with me. I spent this Christmas with my lovely boyfriend and his parents. For me an average Christmas entails baking some cookies with maybe a pie. Other than that I spend maybe a day shopping and I am ready for the holidays. This year was certainly different.   I always plan to bake like there is no tomorrow and have different sortiments of all kinds of sweets and lots of them, but then when time rolls by reality sinks in and I never bake as much as I plan. Well this year was a tad bit different. Since for my birthday I was given a mixer I wanted to bake something that would require me to use it, and also find a recipes that my European boyfriend wouldn't find too sweet. Since most Europeans will say American baked goods are too sweet for their taste. So I found a really yummy Cinnamon Swirl Bread recipie that ...

Last week here in Austria was another Holiday, which meant pretty much everything would be closed even school! Two weeks before I had gone in to the OEBB office and was checking out some train ticket prices when I saw that no matter when you buy your ticket a two way ticket to Bratislava was only 14 euros. I figured, I can afford that and asked a freind the day before if she was wanting to come with me. So the next day we woke up and got ourselves ready for an excursion to Bratislava, Slovakia. The morning was starting off good until when we were buying our train tickets the woman in the office told us that we have about 20 minutes to make the train at another train station and not where we were. In Vienna there are more than one major train station and I got mine mixed up. I think if you would ask anybody that has traveled with me they would tell you there is never a dull moment! Between the running to get to the train's platform in time or just simply touring a new city. When...

Tipping in Austria is unlike in the States. Tipping in Florida is 10% of your total at a resturant and at a coffee shop the change given back goes into the tip jar. Waiters and Waitresses normally are paid lower than minimum wage and live off their tips. When I was living in the States I worked at a local smoothie bar and I know tips were what really made working with all the rude people easier and helped with the wages I was paid. I could right a whole post on how you are supposed to act around a tipping jar because after working at the smoothie bar for a year I saw some people that did not know what was proper. For example we had a few people steal our tips, we even had people search in the tip jar for the change when a order was 3.25 they would thumb around looking for the 25 cents. I believe Tips should not suppliment a low wage but rather reflect on the service itself. If that person went out of their way for you and was not rude then tipping is easy. When I was in France ...

Moving abroad can be a big decision for anybody, but what happens when you don't know where to go? If you are not moving for work reasons, it makes the deciding of where in the world to go a bit difficult.  Most common is to move to a country where the language is same as your own, or a large popular city. London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona are the top names I have heard when people are talking about Europe. It was also the cities people would have expected me to move to. But in fact not only is Vienna a big metropolitain city but it is cheaper than the cities talked about above. Paris can just burn a whole through your wallet by finding the tiniest closest to call home, I would say it is comparable to trying to live in an apartment in Manhatten close to Times Square. Also another thing to think about is you don't want to move abroad with out knowing the quality of life. So not only for me personally was Vienna the perfect choice but now according to Mercer's 2011 Quality ...