Weblog

Okay, one of the critical things that I've learned is that Austria is not Germany. I've learned that Austrians have very little to be proud of (at least compared to their northern neighbour). Of all the states in the European Union, Austria has one of the highest acceptance rates for the euro while Germany has one of the lowest with the general populace wanting to revert back to the mark as a sign of national pride. So, Austrians are very unnationalistic? Wrong! Yesterday, we took a trip to the top of a mountain.¹ While we were ordering drinks at the small café/pub in the Alpinehous, one of the group members grabbed an “American-made Coca-Cola”. However, the clerk at the register took it from him and replaced it with an “Austrian-made Almdudler”. Why did this happen? As far as Austrian culture, they do that. When Dayton today ordered a coffee with a double shot of espresso, he was overridden by the barrista who said, “It tastes better with milk.”. As far as the paradoxical, Austrian nationalism whatnot, I have no explanation. In America, no one's going to care if your beverage is Austrian or Australian.

So, today was just about as unnotable as yesterday. At first, visiting cities was unique. Now, they're all the same.² Today, we visited Salzburg. Salzburg is famous for two things: Mozart and The Sound Of Music. People in Salzburg (or Austria for that matter) have never heard of The Sound Of Music, and those who have hate it. Still, there's a love-hate relationship³ with The Sound Of Music since it brings hundreds of American and Japanese tourists to Salzburg a day. So, it should come as no surprise that we visited a lot of the places featured in the film.⁴ However, Austrians are very proud of Mozart. It's also some significant anniversary of his, so the town is decorated to the hilt.

However, Salzburg just wasn't that fun. After we saw all of the sights, they set us loose like they normally do. Sure, it's great if you're a shopper and want to spend money like a high-maintenance, Manhattan socialite, but for me who inherited his father's frugality⁵, I'm content not buying expensive, European goods. I wanted to tour the Stiegl brewery in town. I had visited Coors once, but I was like… maybe seven at the time? However, no one was in the brewery touring mood. So, I was perfectly content walking up and down the tourist district of Salzburg⁶ thinking in my head of things like race relations, the depravity of humanity⁷, space travel, my finances, human relationships, Almdudler and linguistics. We ate at an Italian restaurant⁸ where the waiter spoke excellent English⁹ After that, we returned to the Schloß. The big issue is that finals are tomorrow. So, while all of us should be studying at this moment, I'm writing a journal entry.¹⁰

I know that I've hijacked my weblog in order to chronicle the details of my trip to Europe, but I have the urge to write a good ol' fashioned rant on some issue. As I was walking around Salzburg alone, I started thinking about things that I deserve. I mean, I'm a good person, so I should have some decent things that I don't have. So, I wonder if I should pursue obtaining what's missing in my life or just be content that I have what I have. I don't know the answer. I don't even know if I'm looking for an answer. I'm probably just wanting people to feel sorry for me. So, if you're reading this, please feel sorry for me: the Wolfeman doesn't have what he's entitled to…

…but you're entitled to leave a comment if you would like.

1. Which involved us going up on gondolas, throwing snowballs at each other, staging a mock wedding in a chapel at the top (I was the minister.), hiking down to the Alpinehous, going back home. It was so unnotable that I summed it up in a footnote.
2. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
3. One other thing that I've learned from this trip is that there is a difference between a love-hate relationship and a hate-love relationship. Love-hate is how I feel towards my high school. Hate-love is how we feel towards our academic dean who, despite being a cool guy (It was his anniversary today too), he's on a campaign to increase the workload of the student body as a whole. Wow, I'm really using the footnote feature tonight. I'm glad that I put it in; I wrote this software myself, you know.
4. I performed in The Sound Of Music once when I was a freshmen in high school. I was asked to list my favourite things about being in the play for the program. I wrote down “The free food and the homework catchup time. Other than that, it's not much fun.”. My comment was not printed.
5. Thank you.
6. This footnote is pointless!
7. I wrote the worst paper of my college carrier yesterday on the depravity of humanity with Dachau as a backdrop. I totally chalked the paper and my grade of 100% reflected the poor amount of work that went into it. Well, I shouldn't say that; a ton of work went into it; very little thought did.
8. <sarcasm>Since Italian restaurants are extremely hard to find in this part of the world, and we had never eaten at an Italian restaurant on the entire trip.</sarcasm>
9. <stillMoreSarcasm>Which is notable since no body in Europe speaks English (except for the possible exception of England).</stillMoreSarcasm>
10. It's required for one of my classes anyway, so this counts as homework. I just hope that I don't get docked for my excessive use of the footnotes.