One last blog

Now that I've been back for almost a week, it's given me some time to think about my time and experiences in Austria. It was truly an honor to meet all of the cadets and officers at the military academy in wiener neustadt. I can't thank them enough for giving me a great time that I will never forget. I already miss Austria and can't wait to go back some day, hopefully sooner rather than later. Who knows when we'll run into eachother, downrange, in a bar, or otherwise. The Austrian way of life is a great one that everyone can try to match. However, I love being in America, and would never want to permanently live anywhere else. The free ketchup and free refills are just to big to pass up on. Seriously though, I want to thank everyone that positively, or negatively for that matter, impacted my life while abroad. I especially want to thank everyone in room 210 for being there when I had questions or didn't understand your fast as hell speaking. The picture of us is great and I'll keep it for a long long time. Another big thanks to the guys that took us to the different cities. Big thanks to Bernd and his great family for their hospitality. Thanks also to Mathoi and Max and Andy for showing us around Innsbruck and Graz respectively. Thanks to Braz and Ratzi for always being ready for a party. Well, I guess that should go out to all of the Lehmaenner. What a great group of guys. I'll never forget you all. In closing, I just want to say that there was nothing like my time spent in Austria. It was really an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. For all of those involved, it's not good-bye, just see you later.

the strategery of being classy

     Yesterday I worked on my term paper for my history class for the majority of the day. Ratzi helped me edit it for grammar and all that. I ended up finishing around 3. The paper is seven pages long and about 2300 words, all in German. That was pretty much the last thing I have to do here minus the "exams" this week, all (2) of which are oral. We do have to go to Vienna and take a German test to see how much we have improved, but this shouldn't be too stressful. Last night I was invited to play Risk with Braz, Andy, and Mayr. We played a different way than I'm used to, but I got it after a little while. We started off the game by breaking out a bottle of Cognac and Jameson. Fate led me to have Australia, so I knew it was going to be a good game. I started off slow, but eventually took Asia. We were playing with mission cards, and just as I was about to accomplish my goal of 24 countries, Mayr finished his, taking Africa and North America. The red troops were shocked. After a while we decided to go to the Christmas Market in the city. The specialty this time of year is Punsch. Its a hot drink pretty much made from wine. Instead of having regular punsch, we had the special punsch. If you keeping up with my blogging, then you can probably guess what special punsch is. Yes, those that guessed punsch with another shot of alcohol are correct. After about 4 mugs of this wonderful concoction, we headed to rox for a little bit. The night ended a little early and I went back to the academy.
     Today was a very lazy day. I watched a movie and studied a little bit for my test with major lampersberger tomorrow. It feels good knowing that I don't really have any more studious committments left while I'm here. I can just relax and enjoy my last week (5 days really) in Austria.

Time is dwindling

     This week was pretty normal as far as an Austrian life goes. Over the weekend it snowed a lot, so now everything is still covered in snow. At KA Seth and I ran with a group of cadets through the snow on a route I hadn't been on before. We went outside the gates and through a field, on what I assume was a path, except we couldn't see it because it was covered in 5 inches of snow. It was all about trying to stay in running step with the peson in front of you so you could step in their footsteps to make it a little easier. We didn't end up going all to far, just to the next town over, which was about 5 miles total. After KA we had another military history class, where feined paying attention. In the evening we had the dance course again. I've decided that the worst part of the dance course is walking the quarter mile to get to the bus from the academy, and then waking up after a 45 minute nap to the dance class. Actually being in the class and dancing is pretty fun. This week I danced with a girl from Manchester, England. She must have been about 4'8", just not tall at all. She was a surprisingly good dancer though, coming from a ballet background as she said. As we were leaving the dance class back to the bus I was able to take in all of the Christmas decorations in Vienna. It's a wonderful city, and especially beautiful this time of year. However, you're hard pressed to not find a place that looks pretty done up with Christmas lights and a layer of snow.
      Tuesday we had the german course again. Nothing too new or interesting. On Wednesday though, we had our LAST german class. Quite an event, especially now that I don't have to spend four hours a day in a stuffy classroom. During class we watched an Austrian movie parodying star trek and star wars. I don't think the maker could decide on which movie he wanted to parody. After the movie we played a board game to improve our german. It was all about matching up words that would go with different ones, and finding words from a jumble of letters. Afterwards we said our goodbyes. Later in the day, after another history lesson that consisted of doing a sudoku (professional sudoku mind you), we went running again. This time I went with Seth and Rene again, but we took a different route. We went through the same town as last time, but instead of coming straight back, we went across a bridge and then along a river on the way back. This meant running through about 6 inches of snow for 2 miles, which is about as hard as it sounds. When we finally got back on the asphalt, my feet were soaked, but it still felt great running on solid ground. Once we got back inside the park walls, we took the long path around, which was also covered in snow, but trampled on, so there was place to comfortably run. When were about a quarter mile out, the chase was on. I gasped to the end where Rene was stopped, and we lightly jogged in from there. The run lasted about and hour and fifteen minutes. I have no idea how far we actually ran. When I got back I quickly showered because we had plans to see a show that night in Vienna. This wasn't actually just for shiggles, but rather an essay we had to write for a class back at West Point. The show itself though was really cool. It was held in the Volkstheater in downtown Vienna. The play was called "Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti," which roughly means,"Mr. Punitla and his servant Matti." It was about a landowner (Puntila) that struggles with alcoholism and his relationship with his friend and chauffeur Matti. He is always happy-go-lucky when drunk, but penny-pinching and mean when sober. He also struggles with whether to marry his daughter to an Attache, or his friend Matti. Overall it was a good experience, and yet another thing to check off the list of things to say that I've done. It was pretty late when we got back to the academy so I went to bed.

Here's a picture of all the snow. As you can see from the balcony, we got about 8 inches in the past few days.

     Thursday started off with our final exam in rhetoric, a class we're not getting credit for, but rightfully so because he haven't actually done anything. The exam consisted of giving a presentation about our time in Austria thus far. It was very laid back and didn't take all that long. The rest of the day was ours to do with as we wished. We have a 7 page history paper due next week, so I started on that. I didn't realize just how long and how much effort it would take until I started. Oh yeah, it's also in german..About 200 words in I needed a coffee/tv episode break. Further diligence throughout the day got me about a third of the way through. Later in the day I went running by myself in the snow once again. This time around it was snowing, but the path I went on was recently shoveled/taken care of, so I didn't have to worry too much about where I stepped. I ran to the next town over again. Instead of distance, I just went for time. I ran 30 minutes out at a pretty good pace, and then came back. I was pretty tire on the way back, but managed to keep about the same time. Later I worked on my paper some more, and then got a pizza in the MAk Casino with Weicher. For those interested, The theme, or I guess thesis of my paper is: What effect did the Austro-Hungarian loss at the battle of Cer have on the for the rest of the war? In English..for the sake of simplicity.
     Today was another work on the paper day. I didn't do much besides that. Between research and writing, I'm about 2/3 of the way done. Ratzi also helped me edit it a little to make the grammar better. He owed me since I helped him with his English homework. The rest of the day was pretty much the same. In the evening Braz, Patrick, Mayr and I went to chen's cooking, a great asian food buffet where I ate entirely too much. My last weekend here will consist of writing this paper due next week and studying for the "final exams" on monday, tuesday and thursday. I'm sure there will be going away parties during the week though, so there's no need for me to fret about a lost weekend. Until next time then. And for those keeping track: yes, only 8 days until my return.

flying, schmoozing, eating, and being saved by my guardian angel

    This past Thanksgiving was probably one of the best days I have ever lived through. I went to formation in the morning to find out that we would be receiving a plane tour of Austria that day. We had about an hour of time to kill before we left, so I watched a little bit of TV. At nine we left with the major to the military airbase in Wiener Neustadt. There, we met the pilot who would be giving us the air tour. Our plane was relatively small, an eight-seater I think. The tour was supposed to last about 3 and a half hours, so using the bathroom beforehand was highly encouraged. We had to wait while the plane was refueling, so they offered us a coffee, which we promptly declined for obvious reasons. The plane took off after not too much longer. The land from up above was absolutely incredible. As we got further west, the mountains started to get bigger. Snow also started to show up on the mountain tops. Eventually we got out so far west that everything was snowcovered. It was very pretty. We also flew right by the tallest mountain in Austria. After another couple of hours we completed our airplane tour. (pictures to come later).
     Since the flight went until about 1:30 we missed lunch, which was okay because youre not supposed to eat at all on Thanksgiving Day until dinner time. We had to be at the Ambassador's house at 4:30, so we left around 3 just to be safe. We ended up getting to Vienna pretty early, so we stopped and got a coffee. Luckily we weren't wearing dress grey. Dan was able to talk to the person in charge of us out of making us wear this grotesquely uncomfortable uniform, which turned out later to be a very good call. It ended up being "casual attire" for everyone. We got to his house a little late (fasionably late, as if you will (and I believe you will.)). We were greeted by someone working at the house taking our coats, after being checked at the gate by security. We then walked into the Ambassador's living room and had a manservant bring a different variety of drinks out on a platter, which we could take, or make a further request should our fancy not be tickled. Ambassador Eacho then showed us around his extravagent house, which was adorned with many pictures of him and famous politicians through history. There was one of him with Ex-President Ford quite a while back, and many pictures of him with President Obama. After seeing his house everyone stood around for a while talking, and finding out how impressive another individual was. His second in command was also there, along with someone from the CIA. I'm not exactly sure on that story, as I didn't talk to him too much. Refer to Dan's blog for further details on that one. A little while later dinner time finally arrived. There was all kinds of stereotypical Thanksgiving food, expertly prepared by the Ambassador's chefs. After two large platefuls of food, it was time for desert. There was pumpkin, pecan, and apple pie. I felt it was my duty to try a little bit of everything. My patriotism was matched, if not bested by the Ambassador. He would joke with a friend of his son's every time he would get up to get more food that he was lagging behind. After getting completely full, we resigned to the living room once more, when people started to slowly filter out. We ended up leaving around 8. We got back to the academy around 9:45 after a little walking and train-ride back to Neustadt. This concluded one of the best days ever.
     Friday was a very busy day. We had KA in the morning, where I froze my butt off running with Seth. After that was our military history class. The subject was post WWII Soviet occupation, and the different sectors of the different countries. After lunch we had our German course again. I decided I'd go to Linz and Freistadt with Ratzi this weekend. During lunch I got a text message from him saying, "I'll ask maj. Lampersberger if we're allowed to leave at 1400." I laughed because I didn't think this would be possible. However, around 1:30, he comes up to the classroom and asks the teacher if it would be ok for me to leave early in order to get a tour around Linz and Freistadt by one of his NCO friends, to which she replied yes. Hence the title, being saved by my guardian angel. The others weren't too happy about me leaving early. Sorry guys. When we left, I got to Linz where Stitz gave me a tour of the other part of the city. Ratzi and I left and got to Freistadt around 5, at which time he had tennis practice, while Stitz showed me around the city and gave me a great tour. He's very smart about all things history, and knows a lot about where he lives and Austria in general. Later we met up with Ratzi and went to a bar, where we met Julie, whose house we stayed at one night last weekend. One of her friends was also there. We weren't trying to stay out too late, so we ended up going back around 1 or so. The next day we went to Linz. We looked around the city a bit, and then went to the barracks again. After a funny little chat with Braz, we went to Tina's (Ratzi's sister) apartment. His other sister Teresa was also there. A little while later, some of their other friends came as well.

After a while we went out on the town again. We went to the RememBar and Rox, where Ratzi continued to show his myriad of skills in the art of womenry. At Rox I talked to Helene, one of the people that was at the apartment. The night drove on for a while until it was time to head back to the kaserne. The next day we woke up and headed back to Neustadt.

racing, chasing, neighing, and playing

     Last week was not very eventful at the military academy, save for the last few days.
     On Wednesday, Major Pulsinger (the riding instructor) asked us to wear our riding uniform to riding lessons. We weren't sure what he meant by this, so upon further inquiry, we found out that he meant the Dress Grey uniform that all West Point cadets have come to love and cherish. If you have ever seen anyone in this uniform, you could understand how uncomfortable it is. When we got to the lesson, we found out we were filming in order to send a video back to school detailing what we've done with him so far. To show us off and make us look good, we used stirrups for the first time, as well as riding outside. The stirrups made trotting so comfortable. While alternating standing and sitting between each trot you don't even feel discomfort in your most sacred place. We rode with three cadets from our year group, one of which was Rene Poschinger, who is also my roommate. The group was lead by Major Pulsinger, the three Austrian cadets, the four West Point cadets, and 3 Austrian students from the military high school. It ended up being a lot of fun, and we got some great footage too for our "propoganda" video. More to follow on the video. If it gets online then I'll post the link. If not, I'll post it when I find it.
     On Thursday in the evening, 40 cadets from our year group went go karting. In total we payed 980 Euros for 2 hours to rent the place. It was tons of fun. Turns out, all Austrians know how to drive VERY well. Do to a tragic miscommunication on my part, and some slow driving in general by the Americans, we ended up losing to the first place team by 7 laps, and 2 laps behind the second to last place team. Yes, Prestige Worldwide, as we were named, finished in dead last. To my dismay, our team name fell upon deaf ears, as almost none of the cadets had seen Stepbrothers, and those that had didn't get the joke... their loss. After the race, the gokarting place gave out trophies and medals to the top three teams, and there was a champagne shower at the end. Daniel Weicher and Max Koran were two members on the winning team. I forgot the other..sorry. below is a picture of the guys after karting.



After we got back, of course we had to go to the MakCasino to celebrate with a few drinks, which ended up turning into more than a few drinks. Would would've thought?
     On Friday we had a very normal day, concluded with the four hour german course in the afternoon, which I'm still not sure if I'm getting credit for back at West Point. Having class that long with only one break is torture that late in the day before a weekend.. Anyway, after class, Ratzi (an Austrian cadet from my year) left for Linz, the capital of upper Austria. He lives nearby in the city of Freistadt, so it was no trouble for him. When we got to Linz, we checked into the barracks we were staying at that night. This isn't technically allowed, but Ratzi pulled some strings and talked to a guy he knows that's in charge (shh, don't tell anyone). A little while later one of his friends came that is from Linz, and was also a cadet at the academy as a member of the second year by the name of Stitz. However, he had to leave the academy. I think he likes being an NCO better anyway... We started off the night with a few drinks, and then went out into the city. We went to a lot of great clubs, including one that had three completely different atmospheres. One was rock music, another pop, and the other, I don't know what the hell it was.. there was fog everywhere and I couldn't see much. After some time here, we went to the Rox in Linz. For those that don't know, there is also a Rox in Wiener Neustadt. I can now say I've been to every Rox in the world..all two of them. The night ended here for me and Stitz at around O' dark: thirty. Ratzi came back a little while after us, and took some very nice pictures of us sleeping...pretty creepy if you ask me. Anyway, here's a picture of Stitz, Ratzi and I at Rox:

      The next day when I woke up, Stitz had gone out and got breakfast. What an angel. Ratzi had some studying he needed to do for a test on Monday, so Stitz took me into the city to show me around. Linz has a ton of very cool history, much centered around the Second World War. Linz was slotted to be Hitler's city of residence after he conquered Europe, thus all of the industry in the city and pretty sites as well. Something rather interesting, but very morbid at the same time: The following picture was taken atop the mountain where Hitler supposedly decided to go into politics in order to "help" people.

     After tour through Linz, we went back to the barracks to find Ratzi asleep, not quite having accomplished his goal of studying. We woke him up and then went out to get some lunch. After lunch, Ratzi and I went to his house in Freistadt, agreeing to meet up with Stitz later. I met his dad and two sisters. His older sister is 25, and the younger 18. We took a picture, and for some reason they felt it necessary to put on the high heels they had just bought right before the picture. We were all pretty much the same height before the picture, but during...well, let's just say I had to stand on the step. Yes, I was reduced to step-standing for the picture. Nothing agaist them, they are just girls that love shoes I suppose. They were very sweet.
     Later on in the night, we and a few of Ratzi's lawyer and software engineer friends went to the American Chance Casino in the Tschek Republic (another country checked off the list). We stayed there for a few hours until some had won, and some had lost. Ratzi was the big winner of the night, winning 90 Euros on the Roulette table. I only lost 5 Euros on the night..not too shabby. Afterwards we went to a few bars in Freistadt. The first place we went to we ended up staying the longest at. The owner of the place won the lottery and wanted to open up his own place. He doesn't really care about making money, so drinks were dirt cheap. Here we met up with Stitz (who was having a great time at this point, if you know what I mean), and Ratzi's sister Teresa. Later on we went to another place that was really crowded, but Ratzi knew the owner, so all was well. When we were having a few drinks in the back, someone called someone gay, but either way, my tall Austrian friend's honor was at stake, so someone went flying into the bar, and it wasn't Ratzi. This got the fat guy's companions involved, but was quickly broken up. I think Teresa wanted to see another fight, as she antgonized the fat drunk one throughout the night, which was hilarious. On the way out of the bar, I discovered that someone had "mistakenly" taken my jacket, which I was rather fond of. Doing the only natural thing, also under the guidance of my Austrian companions mind you, I tried on another jacket until I found one of equal or better liking. An eye for an eye, and a jacket for a jacket is how the saying goes I believe.
     The next day after lunch, we went to Stitz's grandfather's house, where he gave us a presentation about his time in America serving in the Army. He served the Austrians in World War Two, but was later a sort of police officer in the American sector after the war. Somehow he got to go over to America and serve as a signal NCO, where he was a master sergeant, and eventually sergeant major. He spent his time in Fort Gordon in the years leading up to the Vietnam War. He showed us all sorts of pictures from around the area, which I was very familiar with, being from the Atlanta area myself. It was very interesting seeing everything during this time period, being told from the perspective of an Austrian. This concluded the weekend in Linz and Freistadt. Afterwards, Ratzi and I headed back to Neustadt to start another week.
     On Monday our teacher, Dr. Vazulik came from West Point to see how we were doing. We gave him a tour of the castle in German, by which he seemed very impressed. Obviously, we have all gotten much better and proficient at speaking during our time here thus far.
     Today we had a training exercise with the first year group, which is meant to improve land terrain reading skills. Basically, the task was to determine how to best utilize land against enemy troops. Securing and defending was the central theme. We were kind of thrown into this, skipping the classes that they had taken the previous week leading up to the exercise. It didn't really matter much though...In all we were out for about 9 hours in the cold looking at the terrain, which would have been quite pretty had I not been shivering. Luckily we don't have to do the rest of the training with them this week because the American Ambassador to Austria if coming tomorrow, where we will give him a tour of the castle (a common theme for visitors). On Thursday, we will eat Thanksgiving dinner at his house in Vienna. Until then my avid readers...

It's been almost a month? my bad...

     It's been quite a while since my last blog. sorry about that... I guess it's due to the fact that I've been pretty busy, or just a general lack of motivation to write down what I've been doing. Well, let's get cracking.
     I guess it was the last weekend in October that I did something since my last post. On the 29th we went to the Steiermark, the southern region in Austria known for its many vinyards and something called kernöl, which is basically pumpkin oil. It's quite tasty on salads and bread and whathaveyou. The first place we went to was a chocolate making plant, not unlike Wonka industries. We were able to see the entire process of making chocolate and could also taste the chocolate at all points of the production. It was pretty nasty until they added the sugar. They made all types of different chocolate, from 100% dark chocolate (bleh, no sugar or creme), to chili chocolate (also bleh). Pretty much all types in between were very tasty. At the end of the tour you could taste every kind that they made at the plant, which was upwards of 100. I didn't go very long before i started to feel sick...
After the House of Upset Stomachs..er, chocolate plant, we visited the vacation house of a colonel at the academy. He has a ton of land and makes his own wine, which may be the best I've had so far. We stood around in his cellar drinking wine and eating bread for a while. Not a bad life... After much drinking and merrymaking (which seems to be a common practice in Austria) we made our way to a local restaurant, where we had fried chicken and french fries, not quite a local dish, but good nonetheless. It was however, accompanied by salad with kernöl, which was again quite good. I'm bringing home a bottle to share the wonders with those interested. After all of this we went back to the MilAk.
     The next day (Saturday now), all of the cadets minus one went to Budapest (pronounced Buda-pesht, who knew?), the capital city of hungary. Dan's fiance Michelle (hope I spelled it right) came along as well, as she was staying in Austria for a few weeks to visit Dan. We took a free walking tour of the city, which ended up being a great experience. I'd recommend free tours to anyone, not obviously just because it's free, but the tour guides really have to know what they're talking about because they work for tips. So really it only ends up costing about $10, and you still get to see everything you would normally, plus the guides advice on local eateries and whatnot. Because Monday was a national holiday, we got to stay longer than we would on a normal weekend. Sadly, there weren't to many halloween parties to be found in the city. After the good long weekend we went back to the adademy to start another week of rigorous academics (or something like that...).
     Not much really happened the following week. A few history classes and riding, and then some meeting, but that was about it. During the weekend Seth and I went to Graz, the capital of the Steiermark, with an Austrian cadet named Bernd. We met him during our first week in Austria when he was showing us around Vienna. We went to his house for the weekend. I can't begin to describe how good the food was. I ate enough over the weekend to satisfy an impoverished nation for a month (sorry to those from impoverished nations reading this). He also had a sauna in his basement, which is definitely something I want when I buy a house. We did quite a few sessions in the sauna in the evening after dinner. You may be asking: "But Matt, don't you usually go out drinking in the evening on the weekends? And wouldn't the sauna make you dehydrated, thereby lowering your tolerance to alcohol?" Well, the answer would be yes on both accounts... Fortunately, we were able to prepare ourselves for the evening by having a couple beers in the sauna, a great idea, no? Am I proud of what I did? Well, yes.. you only live once right?

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     After a while we went out to the town for a while and met some of Bernd's friends, including a dance instructor at one of the nearby dance schools. I got to see him in action at one of the clubs we went to, and it was kind of funny to compare him dancing to the feeble attempts of myself and everyone else in the room. The next morning we slept in a bit and then had a very large brunch. After this we ended the weekend a bit early and came back to the academy. I was able to finally get a bit of work done. 

     This past week was pretty much the exact same as the last, Graz included, except this time we went with people from our year group, and more was paid for because we did cultural things as well (yes very surprising I know). One of the places we went to was an armory from the 16th-19th century. There were hundreds of thousands of pieces of armor and weapons encompassing 4 floors of a building. The tour was in German, but I found myself understand the majority of what he said, which is a testament to how much I've learned since I've been here. After doing the obligatory, but always fun, night of merrymaking, we woke up and had a very good breakfast in the city with one of the Austrian cadets. After a while we again went back to the academy.

     It's good to note here that over the past few weeks I earned the Austrian Sportabzeichen, which, for those familiar with the German proficiency badge, is quite tough to get. To get this, one must do a series of track and field events, along with swimming and running a 5k. The list to get the best one is: shotput 8 meters (which was hard for me), swim 300 meters in 8 minutes (too easy, did it in 4:40), run a 5k in 24 minutes (again, too easy, 20:55), sprint a 100 in 13.2 seconds or 400 in 65 (tough, did the 400 in 62 seconds), and high jump 1,4 meters (I knicked the bar as I jumped over, but it somehow stayed up). The paperwork has to go to Vienna to get approved, but I should have the award soon.

Living the life

     Two Fridays ago, the group along with Major Lampersberger and a „willing“ recruit went to Melk, and the surrounding area of Wachau. Wachau is regarded as one of the prettiest areas in Austria. The Donau River runs through Melk to Kremz. The area in between is the Wachau region. We started off by visiting the giant Stift Melk. A stift is basically the German word for a church where there is also businesses, and sometimes a school. It was built during the baroque time period and has some very neat architecture. The library inside is extremely old and has a lot of historical books. The Roman Catholic Church also inside the stift was unbelievable. Before we went inside, the guide said it is probably the prettiest church ever built. Needless to say, it lived up to its expectations.

     After this we went to the local military post that hosts the 3^rd Engineer battalion. We got a short intro as to what they do there, and then we took the motor boats out on the river. They did all sorts of formations, and towards the end I got to drive and attempt to stay in the similar formations. After this we ate lunch and then went to a very old castle, which was very cool. The guy who built it was a robber that stole from people in the surrounding region to fund the castle. He had a balcony high up where he kept his prisoners called the rose garden. The prisoners could either starve to death, or jump to their death. There weren’t big leaves down beneath, so you couldn’t do any crazy avatar stuff or anything like that. After this we went out to eat at a place called a Heuriger. They basically make their own wine and are only opened when they have wine left. We learned all of the steps to wine making. They aren’t allowed to sell most other types of alcohol, and for the most part can only sell food that they make. For example, our meal consisted of a few bottles of wine, a platter of fresh cold cuts, cheese, and fresh baked bread. After much merry-making we headed back to Neustadt.

     The following week was pretty standard: riding, dancing, and a few classes mixed in. I had more riding lessons than actual class lessons. On Friday we had another excursion, this time to another monastery type place.  This place was more for commercial wine, and there was lots of it. We got a grand tour of the winery below the stift. Additionally, we saw an eagle show at a nearby castle, which was very cool. They trained the birds so they would fly directly over your head. There were golden eagles and also a bald eagle. In German, the bald eagle’s name is Weißkopfseeadler, which translates to white head sea eagle. I came within about two inches of it as it was flying over.

     During the weekend I went to Innsbruck in western Austria. We basically went around and saw all of the cultural stuff there was to see. We also took a tram up one of the higher mountains around Innsbruck, which was about 2400 meters. We had to walk up the last 100 meters in order to get to the very top. There was a good bit of snow and ice at the top, where it was also -10 degrees Celsius. One of the cadets from the MilAk showed us around because he’s from Innsbruck, so we didn’t have a chance to get lost. We also ate a lot of the local food, which was incredible. Innsbruck is quite famous for their pork products, and rightfully so. I could barely move after the lunch we had it was so good.

     Monday we had another dance course, where we learned more dances that I’ll never use in my life. One of them was a crazy foot crossing waltz type thing. If anyone out there reading has ever done this dance at any time, please feel free to tell me I’m wrong. It’s a good experience though in the long run, further “culturing” myself. Today (Tuesday the 26^th) was a national holiday similar to our fourth of july. That basically means that people have an excuse to go out the night before and party, and then use today as a recovery day. Austrians always find something to celebrate. Our Commandant from West Point is coming tomorrow, along with several other officers. We have to show them around and basically give a tour. Luckily the general doesn’t speak German, so I can give my presentation in English. This weekend after another excursion with the major, myself and the other west point guys are trying to go to Budapest. We’ll see how that goes.

Hazing and hell raising

     Yesterday was the most school packed day I have had here thus far. I had my four hour german class in the morning, and then two history classes back to back after lunch. The history classes basically just double-tapped the time between the first and second world war. Class let out at around five or so. All week I had heard about the first class initiation into the "MAK casino." This is basically a place where the cadets can go and drink after school or at night. They said be prepared to drink a lot. I decided getting food before would be a good idea, as not to drink on an empty stomach. Dan, Christian and I went to Torino's, our favorite pizza place a little ways from the MilAk. I got a ham and mushroom pizza that was extremely tasty.
     When we got back it was about five till seven, when the festivities would begin. I rushed to get changed back into uniform and went downstairs into the entrance hall where the entire first class was. The class speaker from the fourth year group (seniors) was giving an introduction to what was about to happen. The rules he gave were simple: 1. everyone must leave by 12. 2. You have to be able to leave on your own free will, and on your own two legs. 3. Should your buddy be struggling to get back, you may assist him. Then everyone went down the hall to the MAK casino, which was lined with seniors in ponchos and gas masks. At the entrance of the casino, two guards were standing by the door, dressed in overcoats and gasmasks holding scythes. In order to get into the casino they had to pass a series of tests. The hardest one involved standing on an ammo box and unsheathing a saber. Then the person had to balance a shot on the hilt, and proceed to take the shot. Once they earned the key into the casino, everyone was "baptised" by having their head dunked in a big bowl of water. I participated in this part because we hadn't been formally welcomed to the MAK casino like all the other seniors.
     The casino consists of one main bar, with several smaller rooms. It can hold about 150 people, which is about how many were down there. Upon entering, everyone had a shot and a beer at the ready. The class was christened by drinking a glass of beer and then throwing it in the corner and breaking the glass. This is done on important occasions. It signifies that no one else will drink from the glass from that event. After all this the hazing stopped and everyone just hung out and drank together. They had another ceremony where a member from each class took the saber off the wall and used it to open a bottle of champagne.This is done by unrapping the top part and then basically pushing the saber into the cork. The first two classes that went took about four or five tries to do it. The first years did it in two, which was the best so far. After a few hours of general debauchery, Colonel Fleishman, the batallion commander showed up in his formal uniform. I thought it was to bust up the party, but instead he had a drink with everyone. He then did the bottle opening thing with the saber. I didn't know we had a professional in our midst because he did it in one try. Before he went they said I was next and I had to do better than the colonel. After he went I thought I was going to embarass myself because one cadet from west point a few years ago had to go to the hospital and get stitches from cutting his hand with the bottle. I prepared myself (and the bottle) and gave it a try. To my surprise, the cork popped on the first try, and there was much rejoicing. They told me to keep the cork and busted top as a memento. After a couple more hours of hydration, I decided it was time to head off to bed. This turned out to be a great decision because a group of guys ended up going into the city a little while later and didn't stumble back until 5 a.m. Don't think that these guys are unprofessional or unfit though. I've never seen a group of people that know so much about the military, or are in such good shape. This Friday the west point cadets are going to Melk with one of the majors here to further "culture" ourselves. No other plans for the weekend yet though.

Bratislava and ballroom dancing

     On Saturday a few friends and I ventured to Bratislava, Slovakia. "What might draw you to such a city?" Well, initially it was to take in the culture of eastern europe, and go sightseeing. Then I heard about the cheap food and drinks, and a myriad of attractive women. I supposed these three things couldn't hurt my becoming more cultured. We took a late morning train and got into the city around 2. We had a hostel in mind that we were trying to get to, but had not yet made a reservation. We weren't exactly sure how to get downtown to where the hostel was, so we first tried looking for our bus stop...to no avail. Then we tried the tried and true method of walking in whatever direction seemed most populated. After about 45 minutes we found ourselves back at the train station. After then looking at a map, we saw that our bus stop was on the other side of the train station. About five stops into the city, we arrived where we needed to be and found the hostel. The cheap place we were trying to stay (12 euros a night) was completely booked, so we made our way to another hostel. The next one we arrived at was a little more centrally located, and ran us about 20 euros each.
     We dropped our stuff off and went into the older part of the city where there was more to see. There was a very cool castle and many old tower building things... Then the night rolled around. We had dinner at a KGB themed restaurant, where the waitress didn't speak a lick of English or German. We basically pointed and grunted at what we wanted. The meal was very good and very cheap, costing only about 6 euros total for pork rib with potatoes and a beer (dark- Regular beer in Slovakia is crap compared to Austrian beer). We asked her how to say several phrases, such as "thank you" and "hello", which we promptly forgot... After dinner we made our way around a few bars, where drinks were quite cheap. However, our night came to an abrupt end when discovered everywhere except the trashy places close around midnight. This put a damper on things, but just walked for a while anyway. The next morning we took the train back to Wiener Neustadt.
     On Monday my school day consisted of horse riding at 8 a.m., followed by nothing...In the evening we had our first dance course with the first years. It is tradition that every class takes a dance course in Vienna or simply in Wiener Neustadt. I was with the group of about 30 that went to Vienna, along with the other cadets from West Point. We went inside and all of the men lined up on one side of the room, and all the girls on the other. I say girls because the average age on the "other" side of the room was about 15. There were, however, some older "ladies." quite a few, you could say, would not make it on the cover of Maxim. I got lucky though and danced with a girl my age, who was quite cute. It turns out she is from france also studying in Austria. As a group, we slowly learned the Foxtrot and then the Waltz. I'm not sure what dances are scheduled for next week, but expect a post. Also, today during my riding class we galloped on the horses for the first time. We're still going around in circles, but it's quite an experience.

Ride like the wind Bullseye!

     This week was very busy academically. And by that, I mean that I had four actual classes. On Monday I had the German class again, which wasn't so bad this time. In the afternoon we had sport class, aka: mandatory fun/run time. Tuesday I didn't have anything until 1 in the afternoon. From there the first years had a tour of the "Burg." It was very cool to here and see all of the history behind the MilAk. The church here is pretty neat as well. In the middle there's a big see-through container with a bunch of skulls from important people. They may not be what the guy said because I just made that up, but there really are skulls. Talk about skeletons in your closet (zing zing). After the tour we had a military history class. The teacher basically blazed through the entirety of World War I in an hour and a half. I didn't understand much because he was talking a hundred miles an hour.
     Wednesday was a legitimately busy day. We had the German class in the morning for four hours, then lunch, and then another military history class. This time it was everything leading up to the war, and then again on the war itself, and a little after the war. Right after this we had more mandatory fun time. The middle school kids that go to the military school next to the MilAk joined us. We started off as a group jogging around the sport complex, which is surprisingly big. Then we stopped and did some core exercises. It was funny in a sick kind of way watching the high school kids struggle with variations of push-ups and bridge exercises. I just chilled and did my thing until it was over. After this we broke up into two groups: those that wanted (needed) to run, and those that wanted to play soccer. Having ran the day before, I decided to play soccer. There were about 4 people from the academy, and the rest were from the middle school. The only thing that I really have going for me in soccer is that I can run a lot. Basically all of these kids were better than me, but I could outrun them after a while, so that led to me being decent. I also played goalie for a little bit and had some sweet saves.
     Yesterday was my first day horseback riding. We learned how to groom the horse before and after you ride it, put the saddle on, and all that good stuff. After that we went into the riding hall and learned how to make them speed up, slow down, gallop, and stop with just commands. Then we got on the horse with just saddles, no stirrups. This was just to get confident and improve balance. We rode around in circles, with the horse on a lead. We did different exercises to work on balance. Riding was a lot of fun, and I look forward to getting better as the semester goes on. Supposedly we're going to be able to ride two to three times per week. The instructor was also telling us that these kinds of private lessons with world class horses would usually cost 50 Euros per hour, and we can pretty much ride whenever we want. I think we got a nice deal. We'll see how it goes.

Burgherr

This past week I was put into the rising senior class at the MilAk after the two week training with the first years. I also started a German class that I take twice a week for four hours per session. On Tuesday the other cadets and I gave a presentation about west point to our class. The catch was that it was in German. It was about 30 minutes long and we did a pretty good job. Everyone was a little tired because right before we went up a general had spoken for about an hour. Needless to say, people were not sitting on the edges of their seats.

            On Wednesday we had another German class in the morning. This one was a little harder. It consisted of reading newspaper articles and summarizing them. We also had to match up animals with the sounds they make and where you can find them. Seems easy right? It took me 30 minutes to complete with the help of a dictionary, and Dan sitting next to me. In the afternoon we had a sport festival. It was basically all of the classes against each other. The three other cadets and I ran a relay track event. Seth had the 400 meters, Christian the 300, I had the 200, and Dan the 100. It’s not that we ran slowly, but the people we ran against were incredibly fast. We came in last in our heat by about 5 seconds. However, I think we did better than the other team from our year that was in a different heat. The first years won by a lot, but the “Lehmann” group took second. Apparently our year had taken first every year before, but second was okay today. Naturally, like the end of any Austrian social event, there was lots of beer afterwards. Many a drink was drunk, and many a song was sung.

The next day I met the horse riding instructor for the academy because that’s the sport I’ll be doing here. Something interesting about Austria is that all of the horse trainers are trained to teach at the academy. The instructor, Major Pulsinger is a world champion in military horseback riding. He along with another NCO train all of the horses for the academy and Bundesheer before anyone else is allowed to ride them. This is to ensure that it is a good horse that won’t go crazy when someone else tries to ride it.

            On Friday we had a parade for the graduating class. Fortunately, the west point cadets did not have to participate in this one. We simply stood on the balcony and watched. At the end there was a very cool fire work show. Talking to some of the guys in my year, I learned that the next day (the parade I would be marching in) that the parade would last about three times as long, and would be much more boring. Joy. Because it was the sensible thing to do, we went out drinking with the Austrians. They said that if you weren’t asleep standing up during the parade then you were doing it wrong. I came back home at a decent hour…which got me about three and half hours of sleep. The next day we formed up at 8 to practice for the parade the same day. We wore our full dress uniform, which is infinitely times more uncomfortable than the Austrian parade uniform. During the actual parade, we stood at attention for two hours while a general, the Bundesminister, and the Bundespräsident spoke. The general spoke for about 40 minutes, and pretended he was done 7 times before actually stopping. The president only went for about 30 minutes, but spoke in a monotone voice while mumbling. I would have paid him to stop talking. After they finished we marched out and reformed on the street alongside the academy. There was a parade with a bunch of military vehicles along with several helicopters and two Euro-fighters. We then marched along the street, which was very crowded. We went past the minister and president and all of the graduating cadets. They were yelling “Burgherren” as we marched by, signifying that we were now the oldest class at the academy. Naturally, that night there was a celebration, which everyone partook in. It was also Seth’s 21^st birthday, so it was kind of a double celebration.

Oktoberfest checked off the bucket list

     This past weekend I attended the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest located in Munich, Germany. A short 5 hour train ride from the MilAk in Wiener Neustadt made this possible. We arrived in Munich at about 2:30 in the afternoon and met some fellow cadets studying abroad in Germany at the central train station. From here they took us to the place they were staying which was about an hour outside of the city. We dropped off our bags and headed down to the grounds where Oktoberfest is held. I walked out of the U-bahn and saw sheer madness. There were rollercoasters everywhere, stands selling all sorts of things, and huge beer tents. It was basically just an enormous fair. I had been to the grounds once before when i did a mini-exchange in Biberach, but there was nothing there, just an empty field as far as the eye could see. From mid-september to early october, these grounds are completely full.
     At this point we hadn't eaten lunch, so we decided to get something to eat before commencing in typical Oktoberfest rituals (drinking). I had a schnitzel sandwhich, which would turn out to be a terrible decision. It was cold and a little crunchy, but I was hungry so i finished it. Our grouped walked around for a long time looking for open seats at any of the tents. Apparently you have to arrive very early in the day to even think about getting inside a tent. After about 45 minutes of walking around and shoving children and elderly people out of the way (joking, but not completely), we finally found some outside seats at the Augustiner tent. For those not familiar with Augustiner beer, it is widely regarded as some of the best in the world. Those that don't agree with this: you're wrong.
     From here, we began to consume a good amount of beer. Not only was it very tasty, but the waitress kept them coming. At Oktoberfest, waitresses are recruited based on how much beer they can carry at one time. The only size available to order is the 1 liter Mass. She would come outside carrying ten of these at a time, which is quite a site to see. We were there for about two to three hours. I can't remember the precise time for some reason unbeknownst to me. During this time we each had about 3 beers, which equates to about 100 ounces of fluid, a hard amount of water to drink.Needless to say, there were a few bathroom breaks intersperced in this time period. When we got up to leave, the nasty schnitzel sandwhich decided to make a comeback. Food poisoning at Oktoberfest was not too fun. A few people had gone back home at this point, and it was starting to rain, so some of the guys wanted to go to a huka bar. While they were at some seats in the restaurant, I had a place reserved in the bathroom. After a while we decided to get back home, which came to my relief.
     This morning, having nothing in my stomach, I felt much better. Sorry to those reading about the bit of graphicness (is that a word? I don't think so...) here. We then made our way back to the central train station to get a ticket back to Wiener Neustadt. This coming week should be fun, minus the parading part... Either way, I'm another week down in Austria, and I'm now able to mark Oktoberfest off of the list of things to do before I die.

The past month I've been in Austria... a bit long so bear with me.

     So i decided to finally give in and start a blog on my adventures/travels/whathaveyou in Austria thus far. I've been here for almost exactly one month now. For those that don't know, West Point sends about four cadets a year to the Theresian Military Academy located in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. I was chosen for this in order to improve myself as a German major and to learn about the Austrian Army. My time abroad will last until about mid-december. I will take five classes that will count towards my credit hours at West Point. I'm not actually taking classes in the classroom yet, but I do have a "distance learning course" that requires me to write an essay each week in German. So far I've scraped by pounded out the essays with little to no bloodshed. As time goes by however, I find it easier and easier to write because my German skills are vastly improving.
     Myself and three other cadets arrived in Vienna in late August and stayed there for two weeks. During this time we stayed at the Stiftskaserne that houses the Landesverteidigungsakademie: Sprachschule des Bundesheers. Basically, it's just a school where Austrian officers go to learn. And stuff... Here we were instructed by Hauptmann (Captain) Schiffl. We learned about the Austrian army, their ranks, Austrian history, and other interesting things. The LVAk was a great chance to get accustomed to the Austrian culture and figure out what the hell they were saying. For those that don't know, Austrian german is very different than german spoken in the northen parts of Germany, or Hochdeutsch. The Austrians use a lot of slang and say things differently. Their accent also gives familiar sounding words no meaning to me whatsoever... Just an example: instead of using an "ah" sounds for a's, they often use an "oh" sound. It sounds small, but imagine talking to a friend with peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth, and that's about the equivalent...but i digress.
     During the second week in Vienna the group cadets went with Hpt. Schiffl into the Seetaleralpen in order to shoot some weapons with the Austrian Army. We shot the Sturmgewehr 77, the Pistole 80, and their version of the machine gun, sort of a mix between our 249 SAW and the 240. It was fun, but damn cold up in the mountains. Little would I know that the Seetaler would haunt me later. After this we went back to the LVAk and had a few more days of class. The following Friday we went to Wiener Neustadt with all of our stuff and found a room at the MilAk. We had the weekend free until Monday, so we went out exploring and found a good Kebab stand (one of the Turkish foods I love in Europe). On Friday and Saturday night we checked out the local bar scene in town. For a relatively small city, there were a good number of places. One of our favorites is Clumsy's, an irish/british bar (not really either) that serves good cheap beer. Cheap beer relative to all of the other cheap beer in Europe (beer costs less than coke).
     Monday was the beginning of the training. We loaded up all of the required gear and got on to vehicles similar to our HUMVEE. The first phase of the training was at the verdammte Seetaler, where God seems to say, "nah, they don't need the sun today." Needless to say, it was rather cold. The Austrians also thought it would be fun to make me the assistant machine gunner in our squad, which consists of carrying two extra barrels, two boxes of ammunition, maintainence gear, an extra bolt, cleaning supplies, and a hot mit for when the barrel gets hot and you have to change it. traipsing around in the woods with all of this while being "tactical", aka, with facepaint, was tons of fun... But on a serious note, I did learn quite a lot during the first phase of the training and got to meet a lot of very nice guys and made a lot of friends. Also on one of the last days we had some free time and there was really nice weather up in the mountains. While eating some wurst and sunflower seeds, we watched the helicopters train up around the peaks. I can't wait to be a pilot...
     The second week of training was held in Allentsteig, or Allentgrad as it is affectionately called by the Austrians. they said to prepare for cold, snowy conditions, and that Stalingrad..Allentsteig, rather, always had terrible weather. However, when we got there after the 8 hour drive the weather was not bad at all. It turns out that their academy has the same unofficial motto as ours: hurry up and wait. We would go somewhere and wait around for literally hours until told to do something else. The only real training during this last week was securing a fake town with no people in it. We also did a lot of pulling security, which entails lying in the prone position looking out for would-be attackers. Their army also does crowd and riot control, which is a royal pain in the ass. Fortunately, we only did training for this the week before, and no actual CRC in Allentsteig. I would say we did a good 5 hours of actual training there. I would always joke to our driver Lindy (last name Lindenburg), "Hey Lindy, what are we doing now?" to which he would reply, "Waiting again." To emphasize my point: On the last day of the training, some others from my platoon went out to secure a site. My squad stayed behind at the enemy base camp to make sure nothing happened. We stood/sat/napped for 7 hours until one clock in the afternoon. It was cold and wet in the morning, but it eventually warmed up to make for very good napping conditions. After this we drove out to the secured location and they called an end to the exercise. In the evening, we finally got to shower after 4 days of no shower and the platoon leader bought everyone beers. Not a bad time all-in-all. I got to learn a lot of German and met a lot of great people.
     As I write this I'm on the railjet train to Munich, where the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest is currently being held.We'll see how that ends up... The Austrian verison of graduation week starts this Monday, so yet another week with no classes. lucky me! Sorry to all my West Point friends that have had classes for over a month now. Goodbye for now, and I hope to make another post after this weekend of assured chaos.