Little Britain.

Vienna is an international city. You didn't know? Well, listen to this: tonight I went to the "Anglistenstammtisch" for the first time - that's a group of students who are studying English and American Studies at the University of Vienna and who want to practice their English in their freetime. It takes place every Wednesday at 8pm at the "Bogside Inn", an Irish pub in the 1st district of Vienna and the rule is that anything can be discussed but only English is allowed - of course, rules are never as absolute as they seem but most of the time people do stick to the regime and it's an absolutely great opportunity to both meet new people and to not forget your spoken English skills while living in Austria. I've had a really good time, a pint of lager is 1,90 Euros, that's like one quid twenty, and I've been having an interesting chat with a guy who's come back from his exchange year in Canada a few months ago.
I'm sure that I'll be going there as often as possible, that's once a week if time allows it!

What's "dog" in French?

Just finished my latest translation exercise. As I love languages and dogs and as I'm studying French at the moment I thought I might as well combine both and translate French articles about dogs.
And that's what I did: I visited the website www.chien.com - La Monde Francophone du Chien (chien is dog in French) and translated the description of my absolute favourite - the Labrador Retriever.
I was quite astonished that I was able to do it - well, I admit that I had to guess here and there (after all, why else would God have passed us the law of probability?) but most of it was understood and processed. Might translate the same description into German too some day but for now here's the German version. The Labrador Retriever.

Going home over the weekend.

Oh, what a privilege it is to be able to go home in the weekends! That's one thing I like most about living in Vienna now: when I feel like it I can always mount a train and return to the homestead on a Friday evening, get yummy meals there, a big telly, the silence and the beauty of the countryside around me and not at last be able to see my two cats Kenji and Takeshi that can be seen on the picture. Aren't they just sweet?
Anyway, last weekend I spent home with my bro and Jasmin, on Saturday we went to the cinema and on Sunday to the spa - all these nice saunas, it was so relaxing! Soon I won't go home over the weekends so often anymore as I'll want to spend as big a part as possible of this precious freetime with my foster dog who I can't take home over night so we'll have to stay in Vienna. But then I'm sure my parents will come and visit me here...!

New.

After the "winter break" there's a short new translation on Global Bernie's Translations!
Not much but funny anyway! :-D

Man's best friend!

Today I finally did something I've been planning to do for quite some time: I met up with Claudia whose acquaintance I made on an internet forum and went to the Viennese dog shelter, the TSH Vosendorf. Claudia's been sponsoring dogs there already for almost a year and has got two dogs at home and so she's got pretty much dog experience - and is extremely kindhearted. She showed me around in the animal shelter and we went for a walk with "her" dog, Chrisu. He's a three-year-old half-breed who's got, as far as I can tell, some boxer ancestry. Anyway, he's absolutely amicable and playful and apart from the fact that he still needs some socialisation (he knows "come here", "sit" and "lie down" but still has to learn how to walk on a lead properly) and doesn't like other male dogs too much, he would make a great companion.
Well, in my current situation I can't even think about keeping a dog myself as no pets are allowed where I live and also the time I have wouldn't really permit it but this is, in my opinion, a great way to do good for an animal and for myself and although a sponsored dog wouldn't be my dog and would still be placed into a family eventually and although parting would then be hard it's the knowledge that every dog with a placement has finally got the home he deserves and that I can pass on to helping the next dog - it's that knowledge that would make parting acceptable.
So I'm thinking about sponsoring a dog myself in the nearer future, that means paying some 15 quid a month for his welfare and for insurance, visiting "my" dog like twice a week, taking him for walks, training commands, playing with him and so on...

Mood of the moment: bursting with happiness and eagerness.

Taking the "Badener Bahn" local train to the dog shelter.

The TSH Vosendorf.

Not really Chrisu but bears enough resemblance. In the beginning Chrisu was still to nervous, so I didn't take photos and then we had so much fun that I simply forgot...

(Btw, to everyone who's been wondering about my grammar, I know that dogs are normally addressed "it" but as they have genders, character, and even sort of "personalities" I refuse to use the neutral article. Dogs are not things, therefore to me a dog is a "he" or a "she"...)

Bern joke! :-D

Haha, just read this joke on the internet which I found pretty good - personally I'd classify it as a classical "Bern joke" although it was not, I repeat, it WAS NOT made up by me.
Anyway, hold your breath, ladies and gentlemen 'cause here it is... ;-)

I was meeting a friend in a hotel bar and, as I entered, I noticed two beautiful women checking me out. "Nine," one whispered to the other as I walked past them. Pretty proud of myself, I bragged to my buddy that a girl had just rated me a nine out of ten. "I don't want to ruin the evening for you, pal," he said, "but when I came in, they were speaking German!"

No, it is funny, really, believe me, just take a look at the bow-wow on the upper right, he got it!!

La première neige d'hiver!

This morning, when I got up around six, it was still dark outside and you could see hardly anything but then I noticed it: it was snowing - and that is for the first time this winter!
It must be mentioned here that this winter has been exceptionally warm, some say the warmest since records began, some say the warmest in a thousand years, I don't know, all I can say is that in Austria first snow normally falls around Christmas time at the latest while this year temperatures have been up to around 15 degrees centigrade until recently...
Anyway, looking out of the window now the roofs are sprinkled with that white stuff one can only like or dislike but hardly ignore and it looks quite nice to me, somehow.
What about that thing "It's going to snow in Liverpool", was the BBC forecast right?

First snow in Vienna.

Schnitzel evening.

Tonight, while Liverpudlians were hanging out at the Scream as usual (or at least that's what I'm assuming) it was my first Schnitzel evening in my new hall of residence. My bro and Jasmin came round too and we had a pretty nice and chilled-out evening, the servings were quite big and with around 4,50 Euros (some 3 quid) quite cheap as well. After we finished our meal we spent some more time hanging out in the hall of residence's lounge (yes, we have a lounge with leather sofas and everything!), then the two of them went home and I went back to my room.
Now the storm's already really violent outside so it won't be a quiet night, hope that I can sleep alright...
Wonder if it was stormy in Scousepool too?

The day I became Viennese.

So now I'm officially a citizen of Vienna. On Monday I went to the registration office and that was it. My parents' house is my secondary residence now. Of course I'm busy with all kinds of things such as enrolment procedures, application for credit transfer, trying to find a work placement here, still organising my new room etc. And soon I'm gonna do something I've been dreaming of for a long time and which is gonna be really good for me.
So long and I'll keep you updated about my "new life"!

Greetings from Vienna.

So, after quite a long time without updates on my blog here the latest from me.
Last Saturday I reached Austria safely, no sign of fog and the plane even arrived early. Reunion with my family, again. Hiking in the mountains on Sunday, it was just great! Yes, I’m a real outdoor person, love going for walks and hiking, no matter what the weather is like. This might imply things but more about that later.
Anyway, on Monday I moved into my new room in Vienna which wasn’t much more than a normal, sparsely furnished student room until me and my dad started showing off our DIY skills: buying supplies on Monday and working all of Tuesday and almost all of Thursday – cutting, drilling, constructing shelves, fitting in fridge and freezer, placing microwave oven and the like we upgraded it to a small apartment which may well be called “student flat”. Thursday night I started unpacking and although everything’s still terribly unorganised it’s starting to look homey now and I’ve already noticed three nice things about my new home: the quietness in the evenings (no listening to music loudly at night, yes, some discipline can be found in this world after all!) and the absence of road noise and the absolutely stunning view (due to the room being on the 10th floor – and yes, fortunately there’s a lift).
I know I’m gonna love it, big time. Tonight I already showed the room to my bro and Jasmin, they liked it as well. Especially the view, of course. :-)
Now I’m going to my parents’ over the weekend and on Monday I’ll pay a visit to the registration office to officially become a citizen of Vienna!

It's time.

I've sorted out a few things in the past week, spent some nice hours with my mates and now it's time for me to go home. After all it's been a rather good time here in Britain. Je ne regrette rien.
Weather's clear, flight tomorrow shouldn't be a problem - something quite important ;-)
Next update will be from Austria then, quite possibly from Vienna.

Back in Liverpool.

My Austrian companionship's gone home to Austria and I'm back in Liverpool now, busying myself with packing and other stuff. The few days of sightseeing were nice and although I was sort of a tour guide responsible for a good outcome of the holiday I found it pretty enjoyable too. Some of the sights in Liverpool were a bit boring, of course, as I'd seen them plenty of times before but I also got to do things I normally don't do too often such as eating out. And the day we spent in London still carried some of the excitement of novelty, even for me, as I'd only been to London three or four times. And of course that completely new feeling of walking British streets talking German all the time... :-)
In Liverpool I pretty much gave them the standard tour - Albert Dock, the cathedrals, the Royal Liver Building, some nice views from the banks of the Mersey, Beatles Story museum, Maritime Museum, things like that... and naturally one day in London passes more quickly than you'd like.
Anyway, I've got a few more things to do in Liverpool and then I'll fly home on the 6th.
Here a few impressions of our holiday:

It wasn't quite Boxing Day - but there were still loads of boxes around... ;-)

Thumbs up for the Full English, yey!

Streets of Liverpool...

Picadilly Circus.

The three of us, shortly before midnight, waiting for the fireworks.

Fireworks launched from the London Eye.

Crowds at Trafalgar Square - simply overwhelming.

Hyde Park - a paradise for man, dogs and water birds.

Guard at Buckingham Palace.

Ye Olde Swiss Cottage - a rather curious thing to be found in an English city...

Tower Bridge at night.

The London skyline.