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...
