Schinken Käseröllchen

Spending a relaxing Friday catching up on homework, since next week's a big project/test week. It's hard to believe we're coming to the end, and I need to get some work done so I can enjoy the next three days, which are supposed to be a little warmer and a little less rainy.

Yesterday Jeremy, Melissa, Shireen, Bethany, Bärbel and I took the bus out to Leopoldskron to sit in on a speech at the Salzburg Global Seminar. The Seminar has been in existence since 1947, and it brings college students, faculty, and other intellectuals together each spring and summer to discuss and debate international issues. Those participating in the seminar stay in the Von Trapp house, as well as Leopoldskron (a mansion/castle next door). Yesterday, as special guests, we got a brief tour of the house (whose backyard looks absolutely identical to the movie, yes, the lake and all). We also got to hear a distinguished Smith College professor speak about issues of diversity and immigration in both Europe and the States. It was definitely an afternoon well-spent. Who knows, maybe I'll apply some time to be a part of the seminar.

Wednesday night, Stefan and Lukas cooked a typical Austrian dinner for Laura and I. It was delicious! I can't even spell the name of the food; I think it's something like Schinken Käseröllchen, but it had ham and cheese and the same breading that is on Schnitzel. Mmmmmm. They're wonderful cooks, and we will have to have them over sometime next week so we can cook for them :-)

Well, I must get back to my reading. Of course, we read all of our books in German. So far this quarter, the Fortgeschrittene have read Fräulein Else with Herr Pertlwieser, a classic which I thought was fairly enjoyable. In one of Bärbel's classes, we're reading a book called Crazy, about an Austrian boarding school, and in the other class, we're reading a quaint 1930s love story set in Salzburg called Der Kleine Grenzeverkehr. I think that's my favorite. Not only is it a very nice story, the people in the book talk about and go to all of the Salzburg landmarks we've come to love as well.

I forgot to mention that in Wien we visited Belvedere, a beautiful old castle (?) turned into an art museum. Most notable is probably Der Kuss (The Kiss), which is an extremely famous Gustav Klimt painting. Very impressionist. I bought a small print of it because I liked it so much. Wish you could have been there, Dad. There was a lot of Austrian/German modern art, and even some works by Monet and Egon Schiele.

Well, I must now do my laundry and get ready for tonight's party. We have some birthdays to celebrate in Europa Kolleg!