Vienna is becoming very familiar now; I know my way
around the important parts of the city; my courses are all sorted; and I’ve
built up a great collection of friends. In fact the first seven weeks here have
been tremendous; constantly meeting new faces; visiting interesting sights and
museums; learning about cultures and languages; and of course finding new
places to sit back and have a drink! On Monday 19th I attended the first lecture of
a course entitled ‘Theory of Film’. The main theme is a debate about whether a
certain character of feature film can be associated with the Baroque
(characterised by illusion, complexity and movement). In each lecture we will
be analysing different movies, the first was ‘Gun Crazy’ (1950). I originally
intended it to be a bit of a ‘social class’ but have become quite interested in
the subject and theories presented.
Wednesday night was spent in Bricks Bar on Taborstraße – a small, underground pub with
vaulted ceilings - where they were giving away free beer between 8 and 9pm as
part of an opening anniversary celebration. The next day was the most stressful
experience I’ve had during my time in Vienna; it was the first day of British architect,
Will Alsop’s course ‘The Mediterranean City’. As a student not registered on
the course, I was extremely anxious to find out whether I would be allowed to
stay. Already the online system showed 23/20 students registered
(oversubscribed). Around 40 students turned up to the course and Alsop
explained his dilemma; with so many, he would be unable to give adequate
guidance to all of us – stating that his ideal number of students would
actually be 15.
Alsop began by asking which native and non-Erasmus students weren't registered
and then asked them to leave immediately. I was now one of the four students not
registered remaining in the room, all of us on the Erasmus program. He asked us
each where we were from and how many semesters we had been in Vienna. Everyone
was on edge; the tension in the room was stifling, even I suspect, for those
who were registered. Telling him that I was from England he asked ‘where is
that?’ – nervous laughter ensued. His face relaxed a bit, he pointed at me and
said ‘you can stay’ …and breathe!
Alsop eventually let the other three Erasmus students
stay as well. The celebration that night was in Prater-Dome and I even managed
to convince Kathryn (also from Portsmouth Uni.) to join us - showing up with a
few French girls at her door and employing a little peer pressure did the trick.
Staying awake in the lecture the next morning (Friday 23rd) was definitely
a losing battle. It was ‘Spatial and Environmental Planning’ so already
something of a challenge to keep attention. Fortunately I had an hour before ‘Current
Issues in Architectural Theory’ and it was an excellent day so I found a patch
of grass in Resselpark, set my alarm, and went to sleep.
That evening I joined a group of friends at Raffaele’s
flat for a dinner party. Federico, a “polentone” from Trento made polenta, I made
some chilli con carne, and others brought drinks and snacks. It was a fantastic
evening, and I especially enjoyed improving my Italian (albeit mostly
inappropriate sentences). We met up again on Saturday to join a larger group of
students enjoying the weather with a picnic on the banks of the Donauinsel.
Raffaele, Dariusz, Xavi, Solvita, Andrea, Me, Federico, Stéphanie, Tiphaine
Picnic on the Donauinsel
Later a small group of us we split off to visit the Schloß Schönbrunn, a Rococo palace used as a summer residence by successive
Habsburg monarchs. As we ascended the hill in the garden toward the Gloriette
structure the sky coloured into a superb pale purple. From the Gloriette there
is a terrific panorama across the rooftops of Vienna with Stephansdom rising prominently
above its neighbouring buildings. From this vantage point we soon realised that
a storm was headed our way and made our journeys back home.
Schloß Schönbrunn
View over Vienna (Stephansdon centre)
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