So long, Farewell

I am planning a "going-away" party!

When I studied abroad in school, I never really felt the need for one of these. I actually don't really care for going-away parties. They seem so self-promotional and egocentric. But, as has been said to me by a number of people (who shall remain nameless...mostly because it's been said quite a bit and I can't actually remember who exactly said this at what exact point), I need to get out more and be more social.

So, here I am, throwing myself a going-away party. I even put up a Facebook event (which is apparently how it's done now) and invited everyone I could think of, and even people I know won't be able to attend. Why is that? Well, being a stickler for Emily Post and other such fuddy-duddies, I know that it is more polite to invite people you a) can't stand and b) can't go anyway if you know they will hear about it somewhere and feel slighted by not being asked. There you go. Never assume that just because someone can't attend, or is not very close to you, does not mean that they will not feel unduly disliked, ignored, etc., even if they (were they able to attend) have any inkling of a desire to actually go. People do things they don't like to do all the time, just to feel included. People are funny that way.

Also, no gifts. That makes things easier (not that anyone will think of buying me anything anyway) and not just because I have no space whatsoever in any of my baggage. I've been packing and repacking trying to squeeze everything in, and it is just no use. Amanda, the woman at my bank, when I came in to tell her that I would be in Europe (so that she would not freeze my account), allowed me to borrow a mattress pad she used when she backpacked around the world in college. How absolutely generous of her! I am so very grateful; and yet, there seems to be no room in my luggage for anything that large, considering I can only take one "free" suitcase (thanks, Aer Lingus) and that is already loaded with crap...clothes, appliance converters and so forth...which I apparently need. Well, I am going to be in the Alps over winter. What do you want?

...a nod to Schubert

Hello!...or, should I say "Gruess Gott" or something similarly Austrian??

This is my blog about Austria,

where I will be teaching on a Fulbright!

Or, rather, a Fulbright-type position.

I will be leaving September 19, to start school on October 4. I will be teaching English to high school students and I AM EXCITED! I have only been to Austria once, when I was studying abroad in Berlin. I went to Vienna for a weekend with my friend Angela. It was awesome! We basically went to churches, farmers markets and wine shops...my idea of a vacation!

The title of my blog is lifted from Schubert's Der Wanderer. Completely appropriate, wouldn't you agree? I will attempt to document my life in Austria and discipline myself to actually update it. In the past, I have not been the most, um, dedicated to blogging. My resolution is to write something at least twice a month...let's see how well I do by mid-November.

I don't quite know what it is that turns me off about blogging. Maybe it's the tech part. When I have *better things* to do (apologies) I am really bad at sitting in front of a computer and recounting all the crap I did. Also, the last time I actually kept a diary, I was thirteen...

Not that I don't love to write! I love to write. I live to write. I am happiest when I write. I just never seem to get the hang of writing about myself. It all seems so boring and trite when it comes down to me, my Bic pen and a leather-bound journal. With fictional characters, there's always a veneer of protection...these are Character X's emotions, situations and complications, not mine! These problems are fake (with grains of truth) and these emotions are what I would feel if I were experiencing these things...when everything steps back into the indicative, I feel too exposed, too embarrassed to admit my pondering to a public audience.

But, hey, blogs are the wave of the future! They make you hip, and interesting, and somehow legitimize your time abroad. If you don't have a blog, people think you just lied about going abroad and have just holed up in your room, being weird and antisocial.

With this in mind, I feel I can save more insights such as these for when I am actually in Austria.

Viel Vergnuegen!