My top five EU topics

Hello everybody :) 
In order to choose a topic for the academic paper we will have to write I did some research and I came up with five issues I could imagine to write about.

1. The compatibility of family and career in different EU countries 
There are several laws and rules concerning child and job management in different countries. This would be an interesting topic to write about for me because I often have to think about what I will do after the birth of a baby. Will I stay at home until the child is old enough to attend the kindergarten? Will I return to my working place as soon as possible and let my youngster at a crèche? I am quite sure that I will try to stay with my baby as long as I can but let's wait and see. 

2. Work - life balance
As I have to work alongside my studies I have to deal with hours of labour etc. This is how I came up with this topic. I think it could be really interesting to experience how all the different countries handle their career / lifestyle balance.

3. Important languages in the EU
At the beginning of my studies I had to decide which two languages I want to study and this decision was a very difficult one. I had English, French and Italian at school and I really wanted to learn Spanish or Portuguese. The question was: Which language is helpful in my future work or which languages are the most sought after ones? Finally, I chose English and French and I decided to add new languages after some time. Therefore, I'd like to find the answer to my question to be able to choose a language which is really in demand in the EU.

4. What different school types are there in the EU?
My brother gave me this idea. As he will finish his studies maths and physics to become a teacher soon he already thinks about schools he wants to work at. In Austria there are always lots of changes and new plans concerning our school system. I'd like to find out which types of schools and school systems there are in other countries.

5. Smoking bans in the EU
I'm a non-smoker but I have absolutely no problem with someone who smokes. The only thing which disturbs me is when I'm eating something and the person next to me blows his fume into my direction. This is the reason why I'm grateful for smoker and non-smoker areas in restaurants. Now I'm also interested how strictly other countries handle their smoking bans.

So, let me know what you think about my choice. Do you like my ideas? :)

Culture Project - Ireland & USA

Hey guys :)

I went to see at least ten culture presentations and I have to say that there were lots of very interesting topics so that it was really difficult to decide upon five topics for the Komissionelle Gesamtprüfung. The first presentations I listened to had topics concerning the USA presented by students of Frank's class.
Although I'm not a big comic fan, the presentation Comic books and superheros was very interesting and had lots of really cool pictures.
Next I payed attention to Two Heroines of America Aviation: Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman which was worth hearing, as well.
Before changing the room to go to the Irish presentations I listened to Hurricane Preparedness and actually I was more interested than I had assumed.
The Irish presentations I watched were Hill of Tara - Historical and spiritual at the same time, This is Friz!, Languages of Irish Travellers, The ambivalent influence of King James II on the Irish, The Integration of Islam in Ireland, Witchcraft in Ireland, Homophobic Bullying in Irish schools, The history of ISL and The St. Magdalene Laundries in Ireland.

The five topics I chose for my KGP:
As my first topic I decided to take Witchcraft in Ireland by Sabrina Krassnig. I love stories and movies about witches, wizards and other magic and mythical beings. Therefore I had already been very curious about Sabi's presentation and I think she did it really well.
The second topic I chose is Homophobic Bullying in Irish schools by Shirin Mahrouzadeh. To be honest, I've been a victim of bullying myself for some time because I've never had the perfect body and I had to suffer quite a few times the comments of other people or even "friends". Besides being very interested in this topic, this is my personal reason for choosing it.
Next I chose The history of ISL by Lisa Moder. I have always been really into sign language because it fascinates me how people are able to communicate just with their hands. I thought about studying sign language at the beginning of university but finally I didn't. However, I'm sure that I will start to learn it at some time.
Another topic for my KGP is The St. Magdalene Laundries in Ireland by Teresa Brenner. I think she presented it very well and this is why she engaged my interest.The topic was quite touching but it also made me kind of angry and upset and therefore I chose it.
Finally I chose Abortion Law in Ireland - A Pro-Choice View. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to listen to the presentation but I've already gathered information about it and am sorry that I wasn't there. As abortion is always a current and controversial subject it is really worthwhile to learn more about it. 

These are my five chosen topics for the Kommissionelle Gesamtprüfung and I'm looking forward to dealing with them in a more intensive way. 

A dog is a man's best friend

Hey guys :)

You have to know that I'm a total dog lover and this is why I'd like to write this post and tell you something about Martin Rütter, Cesar Millan and my little doggy!
I always wanted to have a dog. My mum grew up with dogs because my granny always had at least two. Unfortunately, our tiny flat has always been to small to have a pet and my dad was really happy to have this excuse. (He is the sort of man who thinks that animals belong outdoors. Or let's say, he was this sort of man ;))
Now we live in a big house and (yesss!!) he doesn't have an excuse anymore. So, after long long long discussions and different promises ("Yes, of course the children are going to take care for the dog") we finally bought a little black/brown English Cocker Spaniel puppy :D
My mum, my sister and I were so incredibly happy, we couldn't believe it.
Of course, we couldn't make it to keep our promise we made to our dad - Soon he started to take a walk with our Rembrandt (Yes, that's his name) because we were too busy :P Now he loves him at least as much as we do :)
My granny was very delighted as well because now her doggy, Sky, has a best friend he can play with. Sky's a German Shepherd, a really beautiful one.
At the beginning we regularly attended a dog grooming school with Remi but after some time my mum had to work a little bit more and I had to study for school exams. So, we decided that Remi is well-behaved enough and we stopped with dog school.
Today we regret that because there are a lot of things Remi should be able to do and there are also a lot of things he shouldn't do, but well, nobody's perfect :)
However, a friend of mine told me about this guy who is a dog expert and tells his stories on stage. I bought a DVD of his show and I have to say: He's brilliant! It's a kind of cabaret so, you have to laugh all the time. My mum and I were just sitting there in front of the television and were almost dying laughing, because he describes exactly the situations you experience at home with your dog. I can't retell you some payoffs because it wouldn't be so funny in this way but if you are a dog lover and you have a few minutes, watch this guy! www.ruetters-dogs.de/‎
Another dog expert my granny likes a lot is Cesar Millan! He is not a comedian but his tv show can be really helpful if you have some problems with your dog. I think his show is on the tv channel sixx.
www.cesarsway.com/

I hope that some of my readers are dog lovers like me :) *woof*

 Remi & Sky

Sunny side of Paris

Hello again :)

In my last post I opened my heart to you and told you about an unpleasant and negative experience in Paris.
In this post however, I want to show you that I also had great moments there, because I still love Paris. :)
I am going to add some personal photos of my highlights and tell you what really fascinated me instead of giving some boring dates or history facts. ;-)

My first plan was of course going to the Eiffel Tower. When I went there for the first time I was so excited, just because it's the Eiffel Tower :P Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera (what made me really angry^^) and so I had to go home and return the other day. Nevertheless it was great! I decided to buy a ticket to get to the highest platform of the tower. To my surprise it wasn't expensive at all. At first I had to wait a really really long time in a queue till I got to the elevator. It was extremely hot and (silly me!) I had nothing to drink with me. BUT it was definitely worth it! The view up there was incredible and I just felt happy and forgot everything around me. Back on the ground I enjoyed the beautiful day walking around and watching people. I even saw a gorgeous bride in her white dress who took pictures with her bridegroom in front of the Eiffel Tower. Maybe this could also be an option for me ;-)

I absolutely wanted to see the Louvre. Above all because of the movie "The Da Vinci Code" with Tom Hanks :P 
It was really nice that I didn't have to pay anything for my visit because of my age. When I left the museum two security guys asked me where I am from (Something must have bespoken that I am not French^^) and we had a really interesting chat. At least one opportunity to talk French for some minutes.

My favourite highlight was the Opera House. The reason behind is - again - a film. Do you know "Phantom of the Opera"? I LOVE this film, perhaps because Gerard Butler plays the phantom :P I always wanted to see the Opera House in real life and finally I did. It was amazing to climb the marvellous stairs and I was soo excited when I found the loge of the Phantom of the Opera. :D

A place which took me a lot of time to visit was La Basilique du Scaré Coeur de Montmartre. I was so amazed that I just didn't to leave. I spent my time there with sitting in the sun and enjoying the breathtaking view. There were hundreds of people climbing up the enormous stairs, hundreds of artists and musicians. And believe me, everybody was smiling at me! :)

Another very interesting and enjoyable visit was the cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris. Here I also had to wait for a long time till I was allowed to climb the stairs of the tower. But again, the view was worth it :)

By hazard I passed by the famous Red Mill > Moulin Rouge :)

These were the most amazing places I have visited and I hope I could show you that Paris is worth visiting ;-)

Hello, Paris - Bye, Paris :(

Hello guys!

A friend of mine has spent ten months as an au pair in Irleand and just came back a few days ago. She told me about her great "year", her amazing host family and beautiful Ireland. I was so jealous, to be honest. Everytime somebody tells his/her stories of staying abroad I have to think about my own try at spending a year somewhere else.
I wanna tell you the whole drama, let's go ;)
(Just to make it clear, I don't want to frighten anyone or do the au pair thing down because for many many people it was the best time of their life. I just want to share an experience with you. The experience that it can go wrong.)

After having passed the leaving certificate I decided to go to Vienna in order to study there. At first it seemed to be the perfect city and I was so happy to be independant and "alone" in Vienna. However, after one year of studying two different courses of studies, arguing with my flatmates and working here and there I had to admit that Vienna wasn't the right place for me. At least at this time of my life. Back in Styria I worried my brain. How could I shape my future? I didn't want to study something new again. So, I got over my biggest fear and went to Paris in order to spend there a year as an au pair. I had found my host family on my own, without an agency or something like that because I didn't want to pay something except my flight. There is this website where you can set up your profile and look through the family profiles. Once you have found an appropriate family you can get in contact. In this way I found this (supposedly) nice family which offered all I had dreamed of. They live in the heart of Paris (in an affluent neighbourhood), have a dog, two children AND they own a castle. It sounded like a dream. Added to this, I found out that the mother was born in Austria and has married a French guy. It sounded perfect to me.
When I arrived in Paris however, I was knocked out of the skies. As they had promised me I got my own flat, but it was really tiny, messy and the furniture was falling apart. All in all, it was totally  unhygienic and just terrible. I tried to be cool about that and said to myself that I just had to bring my little place to heel. (Wasn't that easy regarding the enormous pile of wall plaster on my floor which was growing every hour.^^ There had been a water-pipe burst prior to my arrival)
The next day I met the kids for the first time. They were so uneducated and unbehaved as I've never seen it before. The apartment of this family was an absolute mess, it was unbelievable. Not a single time I was able to eat with them as the cutlery and the plates were completely unhygienic. I couldn't believe my ears when they told me that I had to wash the kids' hair only every couple of weeks. The same with changing their clothes. I was speechless.
Every day with the two youngsters (8 and 10 years old) was a fight. I am pretty sure that I am able to handle kids because I always had to look after the children of relatives and friends. These two kids however, were terrible. They basically did the opposite of what I told them to do. They ignored me, they yelled at me and they even ran away in the middle of the street. It was a disaster!
I would have been able to stick it out if there had not been another really important fact: It was required from me to speek solely German with the kids. I decided to switch family because I was not willing to spend a year under horrible circumstances while making no progress in speaking French.
However, finding another family wasn't as easy as I had thought. Most of them already had an au pair girl and others wanted me to speak English. I was desperate. After three weeks I told the family that I wasn't happy at all and that I wanted to leave them because I didn't get enough opportunities to speak French.What happened next was like a volcanic outburst. She yelled at me how egoistic I was and that I wasn't allowed to leave and so on. The next two days she was ignoring me and set up the kids against me. She accused me of just having exploited her family. Her husband who had been in Egypt at this time was assailing me with phone calls the whole night. I really had enough.
The next day in the morning the concierge knocked on my door and told me that I had to leave the flat by midday. I really was kicked out! By the concierge! When he saw how angry I was he told me that he wasn't surprised at all because in the last two years he got to know 16 different au pair girls who wanted to work for this family and who left after some weeks.
So, I took my luggage and went to the bus station where I met the German mother who has been very nice to me for the last three weeks. I told her my story. She was so angry but told me the same story as the concierge because she knew the family as well. I wanted to spent a night at the airport and take the next flight home but this nice mum invited me to stay with her that night. I was unbelievably happy and grateful!
The next morning I took a flight home to MY FAMILY.
Of course I was incredibly happy to be at home again but nevertheless I was sad and disappointed that my wonderfully imagined year has transformed into three awful weeks, even today.

The Jellicle Choice

Hey guys :)

Last week I was in Graz to see the musical CATS with my best friend Anna and I was so enthusiastic about it that I want to tell you about that night!

I was a child when I watched Cats for the first time on TV. It was fantastic to see all the people in the guise of different cats dancing and singing. I always told my mum that one day I want to go to this muscial and watch them in real life. Finally I did and it was amazing. A breathtaking show!

Here's a short summary of the storyline:
The Jellicle Cats meet once a year at the Jellicle Ball. There they wait for their leader, the wise Old Deuteronomy, who will choose which of the Jellicle Cats will journey tonight to the Heaviside layer to be reborn into a new life. Step by step every cat shows how special he/she is, what he/she has reached in life and why he/she should be chosen to be reborn.
> I introduce the most important cats of the musical to you and I also add some photos to show you how incredible their make-up is!

Victoria: A pure white kitten gifted in dancing. The "official" Jellicle Ball begins with her solo dance.

Old Deuteronomy: The lovable patriarch of the Jellicle Tribe. He is very old and dignified.  

Grizabella: The former Glamour Cat who has lost her sparkle and now only wants to be accepted. Grizabella left the tribe when she was younger to see the world for herself; she has experienced the harshness of the world and is a pariah in the cats' society.

The Rum Tum Tugger: The ladies' tom. His temperament ranges from clownish to serious and he is always flirtatious.

Asparagus:  The theatre cat. He's one of the oldest tribe members and was once an actor.

Bustopher Jones: A fat cat, a "twenty-five pounder." Respected by all, as the upper class "St. James's Street Cat".

Jennyanydots: The old Gumbie cat. She sits all day and rules the mice and cockroaches at night, forcing them to undertake helpful functions and creative projects, to curb their naturally destructive habits.

Macavity: The show's only real villain.

Mr. Mistoffelees: A young black tom who has magical powers which he doesn't fully control.

Mungojerrie: Half of a pair of notorious cat-burglars, with Rumpleteazer. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are most commonly remembered for their featured dance number where at the end, they do a "double windmill" across the stage.
Rumpleteazer: Female half of a pair of notorious cat-burglars, with Mungojerrie.

Skimbleshanks: The railway cat. An active orange tabby cat, who lives on the train.


In the end Grizabella reappears and recalls her song "Memory"(I'm sure everybody knows it as the song is really popular!) and tells how things used to be. This time the cats accept her back into the tribe and it's her who is chosen to Journey to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn.

So, I can really recommend the musical to you as it is great fun to watch and to listen.
For any of you who are interested, here are some links for further infos :)

http://www.catsthemusical.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_%28musical%29

Paradise on earth

Today I'm going to tell you about a place which really fascinated me.

>> Legoland Windsor Resort <<

I went there some years ago when I had the chance to spend two weeks at my aunt's in  England. She has to kids, a girl and a boy, and I think I was the one who was most excited when she told us what we were going to do that day :D
My cousins were really relaxed when we arrived at the Legoland because they had already been there before but I was completely speechless.
That area - called "Legoland Windsor Resort" - was so unbelievably huge and full of colours. I will never forget this first impression.

We walked through the entrance and I saw one amazingly huge Lego figure after another. I just had to go to every single figure to touch it. I couldn't imagine that this was all built of Lego bricks. Absolutely fantastic isn't it?

When I saw the rollercoasters and the merry-go-rounds however, I was totally over the moon. At first I felt a little bit lonely because I had to try the majority of the facilities on my own. My cousins were just too young to join me :( But soon I forgot my sadness about that and explored every single rollercoaster in that resort. I had great fun :D

Later my aunt, my cousins and I went to the imagination theatre and I was speechless once again. We watched a 4-D adventure movie and were able to see, smell and feel things. I was excited like a little child because I had never been in such a cinema before :P

I was so delighted with Legoland Windsor that I did some research and I found out incredible facts!

With over 55 interactive rides, live shows, building workshops, driving schools and attractions, all set in 150 acres of beautiful parkland, LEGOLAND Windsor Resort is a unique family theme park.

Fun Facts About LEGOLAND Windsor

There are 34 LEGO pieces in an average Miniland figure
The largest model in Miniland is the Canary Wharf Tower which is 5.2 metres tall and took 3 modelmakers 850 hours to complete using 200,000 LEGO Bricks!
The smallest models are the pigeons in Trafalgar Square which contain 5 LEGO bricks each

If anybody is interested here's the link ;)
http://www.legoland.co.uk/