Day 166: Apparently I partied all the time this weekend

Hi readers! Another week, another post. You know the deal by now!

Seems like this past week went by in the blink of an eye--I feel like I was just sitting on my bed to type up my last blog post, even though a lot has happened since then. Well, not necessarily a lot--the weekend was pretty chock full o' stuff, even if the week itself wasn't super exciting.

On Friday night a bunch of teaching assistants both British and American had a little good-bye party for one of our own. Although the Fulbright and USTA programs hire college graduates, the British Council's teaching assistants are actually students still in school, so this is their study abroad and are only around for one semester. The TA's apartment was actually very fancy and sleek, especially for an apartment that a teaching assistant can afford, and we drank some white wine and ate slightly flavorless cheesy puffs for a little while.

I am not sure why there were masks there, since it wasn't a costume party, but I figured I would put one on just for purposes of this photo. (I am the night. I am Gotham.)

Saturday morning I woke up as a woman on a mission: to go to the Vienna Secession and review some shows. In order to get there, I decided to meander through the flea market at the Naschmarkt (nahsh-mahrkt), where I bought a cute little enamel ring made in Vienna as a souvenir that I can actually wear all the time without worrying it'll fall off! The Naschmarkt has a flea market every Saturday as well as a permanent food market that is basically the Austrian version of the Los Angeles Grove Farmer's Market, which was fun to walk through, even though I had to dodge people shoving samples in my face left and right. If you take the sample, they'll want you to buy, and I am not one for buying expensive cheeses that will expire in two days!

It's got Jugendstil/Art Nouveau motifs--very Austrian!

Enjoy my weird (fading) writing bump on my ring finger. I think switching from writing to typing has finally made a difference (although is Carpal Tunnel a fair tradeoff? Ask me in 20 years...)

The Naschmarkt actually reminds me of the Shuk in Tel Aviv in terms of atmosphere--hustling, bustling, tons of produce and meat and cheese and drinks available.

I always end up seeing fruits I never recognize when I go to these kinds of markets. Every fruit conceivable from every country imaginable except guavas (which seem to evade me forever regardless of where I go)!

Despite the loveliness of the Secession building, the shows I saw there ultimately didn't impress me much. I'm not going to give away the contents of my review here, but the shows there didn't exactly compel me to come back anytime soon, even if the admission fee was only 4.50 euros (since my bank has a deal with the institution). I guess the problem with having permanent works in your space by artists as great as Klimt is that the contemporary works in the programming risk being overshadowed.

The Klimt mural is located on the lowest level of the building. It's underground, but manages to feel pretty airy and light even with no windows. Gotta love that gold ornamentation! Look at those forms! Ugh. I could gush for hours.

On Sunday, a bunch of teaching assistants went to Schönbrunn Palace for a picnic--two of us Fulbrighters had had birthdays recently, so we decided to have a little fun on the palace grounds. When I previous visited the palace complex, I had only gone through the side gardens, which were lovely enough, but the backyard (such as it is) of the castle is amazing--there are Versailles-esque gardens and Classical-inspired sculptures, all leading up to a giant hill, which is where we set up camp. We ate cake and Girl Scout Cookies and homemade bean dip and chips and all sorts of yummy picnic foods, and even threw around a Frisbee for a few moments before regrouping to sing "Happy Birthday." Even though the weather had been getting better leading up to that day, it did end up getting a little cold in the later afternoon--apparently to the point that my lips were blue enough for my friends to notice!

View of the castle from our spot on the hill. It was pretty clear, so we could see lots of the city!

Obligatory selfie of our picnic.

Love that Schönbrunn Gloriette!

Yummy yummy foodstuffs. By the time we took the train home, I pretty much never wanted to look at food again. 

Taken just as we were about to leave--we made it home before dark!

 Since my last post, I haven't gotten any updates on the grad school apps. I've still got two to go, and every time I get an email notification I feel my heart skip a beat out of sheer nervousness. I'm trying to think positively about it, but the odds are not great, statistically speaking. I'm also getting back into the job search, which is familiar enough from last year when I was waiting to hear back from Fulbright. We'll just have to see how it goes. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Miscellany of the week:

Warm enough for bare legs! Spring can't come a moment too soon for me.

Spotted in a comic book shop near my apartment. Since when is Batman part of the Avengers? Talk about a crazy crossover!

"Rot" means red, but I just thought it was funny that you can buy "grapefruit rot." Deliiiiicious.

"Wifeyyyyy.....just killed a man...."

Spotted: a new friend in the window. Unfortunately, it was a one-sided friendship.