It's June!

Temperatures were in the mid- to high-eighties this weekend, so my friends and I spent about four hours at the beach on Saturday. Don't worry, I put on multiple layers of sunscreen.

The Alte Donau (Danube) Bad--it's on Arbeitersstrandbadstrasse--The Wokers' Beach Bathing Street (Vienna had a couple strong socialist streaks in the past...)

Rob and Rachel

Annie

Me

After a day on the beach, we stayed inside and played Scrabble on my Travel Scrabble board. I got the highest scoring word, "acclaims," which got a double letter score, a double word score, and a 50-point bonus for using all seven tiles, for a grand total of 84 points...just for that word. Depending on who you ask, I may or may not have bribed someone for a switch for the second "a."

On Sunday, I got to move back into my room after being temporarily in another one while laminate flooring and new wallpaper was installed. I'm enjoying not having stained carpet or carpeting for wallpapers.

My toilet, like every other toilet I've seen in Europe, does not flush with a mini-handle, but with a button--either on the wall or on the tank.

Vienna is getting ready for the European Master's Cup which will be going on here, and in various locations in Austria and Switzerland all through the month of June. A "Fan Zone" is being built in the historic center of the city, near the City Hall (Rathaus) and the giant entrance gate at Heldenplatz. People will be able to watch the games on giant screens. There's also a giant inflatable tent/dome going up in Sigmund Freud Park, which I pass before class. I'll try to get a picture of that eyesore.

This comes just in time for University Finals, and the main university building is located right next to this Fan Zone. Thankfully, most of the noise will be in the evening, while most classes are in the morning and afternoon.

The Fan Zone is under construction. (I wonder if they got this idea from the Bush II-Era "free speech" zones)

Someone wasn't so happy about the Euro Cup or sexism, and decided to share this sentiment on one of the Uni builing's walls. I've probably mentioned before that graffiti is EVERYWHERE in Germany and Austria.