Friday, 23.04.2010
Final Presentation in the Town Hall
On our last day in Austria, we gave a presentation in the city hall.
We presented the work that we did in the four weeks that we spent together.
When we arrived at school in the morning, we didn't know exactly what we had to do, so it was like a surprise for us. In the beginning, we were very nervous, so we spent three hours in the school rehearsing what we were going to say; we had two minutes to speak about our topic, one of our articles and about our impressions.
First of all, Ana and Nerea gave a present to the Major and to the headmistress.
Julia and me were the first ones to speak. Our topic was economy. Then, Lukas and Dani talked about terrorism, Nerea and Katrine about tourism, Marta and Marlene about the job market, Andrea and Alexandra about sports, Bea and Tanja about agriculture, Ana and Corinna about traditions, Adri and Klemens about art and culture, Charlie about the Naschmarkt, and, because Chistoph wasn't in the presentation, Bea and Charlie talked about politics. Later, Hala and Bea focused on differences between Spain and Austria. Finally, Bea and Desiree spoke about society, and Carol and Vane about youth and the presidency of Spain in the European Union.
At the end it turned out to be great! Every one did very well and the parents and other students enjoyed their time as well.
The Spanish students said: “I could speak in English in front of a lot of people including a mayor, my teachers and a lot of Austrians parents, I feel like now I can do anything!”
But the presentation hadn't finished yet, we took a photo of the whole group, and our teachers asked us about your impressions. We thanked everyone of course.
A big applause took over the city hall.
It was a touching moment, because we had to say goodbye; we left that evening.
by Inma
We presented the work that we did in the four weeks that we spent together.
When we arrived at school in the morning, we didn't know exactly what we had to do, so it was like a surprise for us. In the beginning, we were very nervous, so we spent three hours in the school rehearsing what we were going to say; we had two minutes to speak about our topic, one of our articles and about our impressions.
First of all, Ana and Nerea gave a present to the Major and to the headmistress.
Julia and me were the first ones to speak. Our topic was economy. Then, Lukas and Dani talked about terrorism, Nerea and Katrine about tourism, Marta and Marlene about the job market, Andrea and Alexandra about sports, Bea and Tanja about agriculture, Ana and Corinna about traditions, Adri and Klemens about art and culture, Charlie about the Naschmarkt, and, because Chistoph wasn't in the presentation, Bea and Charlie talked about politics. Later, Hala and Bea focused on differences between Spain and Austria. Finally, Bea and Desiree spoke about society, and Carol and Vane about youth and the presidency of Spain in the European Union.
At the end it turned out to be great! Every one did very well and the parents and other students enjoyed their time as well.
The Spanish students said: “I could speak in English in front of a lot of people including a mayor, my teachers and a lot of Austrians parents, I feel like now I can do anything!”
But the presentation hadn't finished yet, we took a photo of the whole group, and our teachers asked us about your impressions. We thanked everyone of course.
A big applause took over the city hall.
It was a touching moment, because we had to say goodbye; we left that evening.
by Inma
Thursday, 22.04.2010
Cooking Class
When we entered the classroom in which the cooking classes take place, the mother of our Austrian Spanish teacher was already waiting to us. The mother of Ulrike is a very nice lady, she showed us how to prepare apple strudel. The first thing that we had to do was washing our hands and then we started to prepare the apple strudel dough.
First we had to make dough with our hands, like in the picture. It was an interesting feeling. Then we had to cut the edges of the dough. We had to do it carefully, because the dough could have broken easily.
After this we had to add a little bit of sugar, the cinnamon and the apples.
Now we started to roll the dough with the sugar, the cinnamon and the apples. When we finished rolling it, we put it on a baking tray and in the oven.
As soon as the dough had a golden color, we had to wait 5 or 10 minutes before we could eat it.
This is the photo with the mother of Ulrike, when we were preparing the apple strudel.
by Carolina
Farewell Party
We celebrated the last night in Austria with a farewell party in Marlene's restaurant.
All students of the exchange program were there (the Spanish students, the Austrian students, their parents, the teachers...)
We dressed up nicely, the girls wearing dresses, shorts or smart trousers, and the boys jeans and shirts.
First we had dinner. It was a buffet that had everything: meat, vegetables, it was so delicious food. Also there were sweets, like cake and biscuits.
After dinner we took some photos and then the Spanish teachers gave a present to the Austrian teachers: a small olive tree that meant the beginning of a friendship that we hope continues growing and growing. Also, Austrian students handed milka chocolate and a bouquet of flowers on to the Spanish teachers. Then everyone thanked everyone for the effort that was made in the exchange program. It was a touching moment.
But there was something strange: Klemens wasn't there! When we came back to our tables, someone told us to put the chairs in a different way, because Klemens had brought his partner and they dance for us!!! They did it very well, we were astonished. They danced a twist, a salsa, but the best was the pasodoble, typical from Spain!
We were mood to party and went to our favourite café without the parents and teachers.
It was a wonderful evening, but there was also this sad thing: the following day we had to leave Austria.
by Inma
Wednesday, 21.04.2010
The Silver Chamber
On Wednesday all the students of the Comenius project visited the Silver
Chamber. The Silver Chamber is an exhibition that shows the former Court Silver and Table Room. It's in the 1st district of Vienna. The visit started with a painting of Mª Theresia in a festival situated in the Palace. Also Spanish people attended the feast. Then we participated in a guided tour through many different rooms. In these rooms we could see the plates, tables, forks, knives and all these things that used to use The Empress Sissi. Something that we found interesting was that the monarch ate with fingers until the Russians brought table manners (eating with knife and fork) and also napkins that were folded in a specific way to Austria.
And... did you know that the Empress Elisabeth may have been the first known person who
suffered from anorexia? These, and more things we learned thanks to Ingrid. Our personal guide in the exhibition. Thank you!
by Vanessa & Agnes
On Wednesday all the students of the Comenius project visited the Silver
Chamber. The Silver Chamber is an exhibition that shows the former Court Silver and Table Room. It's in the 1st district of Vienna. The visit started with a painting of Mª Theresia in a festival situated in the Palace. Also Spanish people attended the feast. Then we participated in a guided tour through many different rooms. In these rooms we could see the plates, tables, forks, knives and all these things that used to use The Empress Sissi. Something that we found interesting was that the monarch ate with fingers until the Russians brought table manners (eating with knife and fork) and also napkins that were folded in a specific way to Austria.
And... did you know that the Empress Elisabeth may have been the first known person who
suffered from anorexia? These, and more things we learned thanks to Ingrid. Our personal guide in the exhibition. Thank you!
by Vanessa & Agnes
Tuesday, 20.04.2010
The teacher came to the class and introduced herself. Then she gave us material with information about Sigmund Freud. We read the biography about his life and his theories. Freud was a Jewish-Austrian neurologist who founded the PSychoanalytic School of psychiatry. He was one of the most important thinkers and he elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex energy-system. After reading the biography we read the dream symbolism and how Freud interprets dreams. Then we played a game that was like a puzzle with a number behind each jigsaw piece. The aim was to interpret dreams in groups at the end.
After that class we went to the “Sigmund Freud Museum”. A guide told us everything about his house, his live, his furniture. It was impressive!
-Freud lived in that house for 50 years and he had to leave the house because of the nationalist regime. He went to live in London and spent the last years of his life there.
-The museum place of high interest: A man stole a hat from the house of Freud and a few years later he sent an anonymous letter and the cap back…explaining everything, because he was a fan of Freud.
-Freuds passions were smoking, travelling and collection different things.
-He smoked a lot and the consequences was that he got cancer and had to be operated 40 times.
-Freud was very ill, and he asked his doctor to help him die with a overdose of imorphine.
-He always had a dog with him, a Chow-Chow.
- In his house there was a room for the patients that had two doors, one was where the patients entered for treatment and the other one was where the patients left, unseen by other patients. Only rich people could afford to be his patients.
-Freud had six sisters and he was the firstborn.
-Freud liked taking cocaine, but he was not an addict. He only used it to animate himself.
-Freud fell in love and sent many love letters to Marta. They couldn’t get married due to his social standing.
-A few years later, when he earned a lot of money because of his own business, Marta finally could get married with him. Together they had six children: three boys and three girls.
-Maria Bonaparte was a patient of Freud and later became a psychologist as well
-A very famous book by Sigmund Freud: “Interpretación de los sueños”
by Bea García & Desiree
After that class we went to the “Sigmund Freud Museum”. A guide told us everything about his house, his live, his furniture. It was impressive!
-Freud lived in that house for 50 years and he had to leave the house because of the nationalist regime. He went to live in London and spent the last years of his life there.
-The museum place of high interest: A man stole a hat from the house of Freud and a few years later he sent an anonymous letter and the cap back…explaining everything, because he was a fan of Freud.
-Freuds passions were smoking, travelling and collection different things.
-He smoked a lot and the consequences was that he got cancer and had to be operated 40 times.
-Freud was very ill, and he asked his doctor to help him die with a overdose of imorphine.
-He always had a dog with him, a Chow-Chow.
- In his house there was a room for the patients that had two doors, one was where the patients entered for treatment and the other one was where the patients left, unseen by other patients. Only rich people could afford to be his patients.
-Freud had six sisters and he was the firstborn.
-Freud liked taking cocaine, but he was not an addict. He only used it to animate himself.
-Freud fell in love and sent many love letters to Marta. They couldn’t get married due to his social standing.
-A few years later, when he earned a lot of money because of his own business, Marta finally could get married with him. Together they had six children: three boys and three girls.
-Maria Bonaparte was a patient of Freud and later became a psychologist as well
-A very famous book by Sigmund Freud: “Interpretación de los sueños”
by Bea García & Desiree
High Society
There are many different reasons you can become famous for. While some people became famous only for being famous, others worked very hard for their dream to come true. A typical example for stars who are famous because they are famous is Paris Hilton.
The bad thing is that many people work very hard, go to many castings and have a real talent, but have never become one of the high societies.
Another reason to become famous is to die young when they are at the top of their career. For example: Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana or Michael Jackson. Because of their death, they will be in our minds forever. After they had died early, they became more famous than they had ever been.
Moreover, there are stars who are not very popular but very famous. Not for doing something very good. No, people know them because of their scandals and the media, which write and talk about them a lot.
For example: Amy Winehouse. They don’t have a popular status but because of their bad status people think and discuss about them and they become more famous.
Often, stars do something scandalous to become more known, to be in the media. For example: they pretend to have an affair or to have a crisis in their relationships.
Nowadays you can become famous very easily. You only have to tell the media the most embarrassing things about your life.
The problem about society is that many young girls and boys want to become famous. So they start to tell about there life to everybody over the radio or the TVs.
Now I want to compare a famous person of Austria with these reasons and explain how he or she became famous.
One of the most important and most famous singers in Austria was
Falco.
He is a typical example of stars who died very young and became more famous after their death. He died because of a car accident.
At that time he wasn’t at the top of his career (yet).
But before his death, he also tried to do things to become more known.
He reached his plan with scandals. Not like most of the stars do, so he didn’t pretend to have an affair or a crisis in his relationship. Falco produced and sung a song, so that the people started to think/worry and talk about. At first, the songs were forbidden to play. The most scandalous song was “Jane”. The song is about the kidnapping of a young pretty girl. People didn’t know that Falco wanted to get in the media because of this song.
Compared to Isabel Pantoja.
She was born in 1956 in Sevilla, her parents were Juan Pantoja and Ana Martin. She sings “coplas” and she is an old actress; she made a movie called Yo soy esa in 1990 and another famous film called El día que nací yo
She is famous too for getting married with a very important bullfighter, but her husband died and she was very sad. On 2 May 2007 she was arrested, accused of a lot of crimes against a village/the people and for money laundering, she was the wife of the major of Marbella, the man who was in prison for stealing money.
She got out of prison on 3 May 2007 after paying/she paid 90,000 Euros.
She is a very good singer and she has a lot of discs. She started her career in 1971 and the last disc that she made was in 2010.
by Bea García & Desiree
¡¡SPANISH LESSON!!
First of all, when we arrived to the Spanish lesson the teacher gave each of us one piece of paper, there were some questions about ourselves, like: what do we normally do… what do we like, dislike… etc.
So, the activity was based on forming/making groups of four people and fill the copy putting in common the information (talking in Spanish of course). Then we had to do like a small interview to the Austrian people, in which they had to tell us what they are doing in the future, what the sport that they like most is… etc. When we finished our small interview the Austrian people had an interview for us. We had to tell them which things we like to do on the weekends, what our favourite colors are, what we do in our free time, and something like this.
In conclusion, we, the Spanish people, learned with this class more things of the Austrian people and the Austrian people knew more from the Spanish people.
Carolina
She was born in 1956 in Sevilla, her parents were Juan Pantoja and Ana Martin. She sings “coplas” and she is an old actress; she made a movie called Yo soy esa in 1990 and another famous film called El día que nací yo
She is famous too for getting married with a very important bullfighter, but her husband died and she was very sad. On 2 May 2007 she was arrested, accused of a lot of crimes against a village/the people and for money laundering, she was the wife of the major of Marbella, the man who was in prison for stealing money.
She got out of prison on 3 May 2007 after paying/she paid 90,000 Euros.
She is a very good singer and she has a lot of discs. She started her career in 1971 and the last disc that she made was in 2010.
by Bea García & Desiree
¡¡SPANISH LESSON!!
First of all, when we arrived to the Spanish lesson the teacher gave each of us one piece of paper, there were some questions about ourselves, like: what do we normally do… what do we like, dislike… etc.
So, the activity was based on forming/making groups of four people and fill the copy putting in common the information (talking in Spanish of course). Then we had to do like a small interview to the Austrian people, in which they had to tell us what they are doing in the future, what the sport that they like most is… etc. When we finished our small interview the Austrian people had an interview for us. We had to tell them which things we like to do on the weekends, what our favourite colors are, what we do in our free time, and something like this.
In conclusion, we, the Spanish people, learned with this class more things of the Austrian people and the Austrian people knew more from the Spanish people.
Carolina
Monday, 19.04
The last Monday we spent in Austria, we had an English lesson with Elisabeth in 6B. The topic was culture shock. Culture shock is the reaction that you experience when you spend some time among people from a different culture.
First, we did a test in pairs to see who the most adaptable person in the class was. It had questions like: How much time have you spent living in another country? That person was Beatriz García, who has lived in Australia for nine months. Later, we made groups of five or six people. Each person had to take a piece of paper where a phase of the cultural shock was explained, and then tell the others what that phase consists of. For example, my phase was re-entry shock, which is the fact of feeling a stranger in your own culture. That is, when you go back to your original culture and all your family and friends realise that you have changed, but they don't understand why.
Later, we put all the phases in order. This is the result: the first is called Honeymoon. It happens at the beginning, when you arrive to the new culture and you find everything absolutely wonderful.
Second one is the Negotiation Phase, it consists of realising that now you are different from what you were before, and you feel frustrated and angry with yourself for this reason. The third one is called Adjustment Phase and it is the acceptation of the new culture, the adaptation to the new routines, taking what you like of your own culture. And finally the Re-entry Shock is the last one.
The conclusion we got to is that everyone has to adopt to new situations throughout their lives, when this happens one can choose between facing it in a positive way, enjoying every new thing, or just comparing the new culture or situation with the one that you come.
Inma
History Class on: Maria Theresa
Today we have had a class about Maria Theresia. It class was very funny, because one Austrian girl dressed up like Maria Theresia and explained details about her life and her physical appearance. To me she looked like an old woman. After that the Austrians explained more interesting things about their history.
by Dani
Saturday, 17.04.2010
Schönbrunn
After going up the blue stairs we arrived at the guard room where the guards of The Emperor Franz Joseph posted. They protected the door to his private apartments.
I was quite fascinated by the following room, the billiard room. The billiard table has been there since 1830 when members of his government or high-ranking military staff came. They were allowed to play while they waited to be received.
Franz Joseph spent almost his whole live in his study room. He started his day at five o'clock in the morning and while working he just had simple meals. This room wasn't like the others. Here there were a lot of paintings and private photographs, most from Empress Elisabeth. Two large portraits show himself at the age of 33 and his wife.
Next room was Franz Joseph's Bedroom. He got up at four o'clock, washed himself with cold water and as a strict Catholic he was, he said his prayers every morning. Inside the room there was a bed made out of iron where he died at the age of 86, in 1916. On the left side of the room there was his English-toilet.
Then we saw Elisabeth stairs cabinet where she wrote her letters, diaries and poems. Empress Elisabeth spent a few hours in her dressing room everyday. She had very long hair so her hairdresser was the first woman. She was allowed to work our of her house because Sissi trusted her so much, that she asked Franz Joseph if she could work for her.
Franz Joseph and Elisabeth shared a bedroom but it was only used during the first years of their marriage.
The reception room of the Empress was redecorated in 1854. The clock in front of the mirror on the window side of the room is very interesting. It has a reversed face at the back so that you can see the time just with a glance at the mirror.
The family dining room was also called the Marie Antoinette Room. The emperor himself said that those who sat there were allowed to talk across the table, whereas at court dinners one could only converse with one's immediate neighbour in an undertone.
The yellow salon was the bedroom of Emperor Francis Stephen.
At the age of six Mozart had given his first concert in the mirrors room, in front of the Empress Maria Theresa.
In the carousel room there were two big pictures. One of them was showing the Ladies carousel of carriage parade.
The last room we saw was the hall of Ceremonies. Here was where the family used to celebrate christenings, name-days and birthdays.
Bea Garrido
and here a personal opinion...
On 17th April, our teachers organised a visit to this palace. We arrived there at 2 o'clock and we had to wait to enter until half past two.
We visited every room in the Palace and I liked the tour very much. Especially because the guide did not give us information about what he Palace was made of or boring things like that. She told us things about Maria Teresa and her family lives, how did they used to behave and so on. It was very interesting.
I was surprised to know that the Empress Sissy was so worried about fashion. Her waist was about 52 centimetres! Can you believe that? It's incredible!
At the end of the visit, we saw a picture which was hung in the last room. The guide told us that the painter had spent almost five years painting it, because he had to see everyone to paint their faces as exactly as possible. It must have been a terribly hard work!
When the visit finished, we had the opportunity of dressing ourselves like Princes and Princesses! We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a very good experience, I'll never forget it.
by Ana
Naschmarkt
Last Saturday we went to Naschmarkt, it is the most popular market in Vienna.
Naschmarkt history is very interesting. It was born in 16th century when mainly milk bottles were sold. From 1793 onwards, all fruit and vegetable brought to Vienna by cart had to be sold here.
Every Saturday you can buy here fresh fruit and vegetables from around the world, exotic herbs, cheese, baked goods such as bread, Kaiser Rolls and torte, meat, and seafood too. And you can also enjoy a meal in any of the very good restaurants that are there, where you can try sushi, kebab, fish, seafood, and typical food from Vienna. But this is not all, if you want to you can also buy clothes and some complements here, like our ``rastro´´ in Spain.
We enjoyed the excursion very much, ate at a kebab, and later we bought a pair of sunglasses.
by Carlos & Christoph
After going up the blue stairs we arrived at the guard room where the guards of The Emperor Franz Joseph posted. They protected the door to his private apartments.
I was quite fascinated by the following room, the billiard room. The billiard table has been there since 1830 when members of his government or high-ranking military staff came. They were allowed to play while they waited to be received.
Franz Joseph spent almost his whole live in his study room. He started his day at five o'clock in the morning and while working he just had simple meals. This room wasn't like the others. Here there were a lot of paintings and private photographs, most from Empress Elisabeth. Two large portraits show himself at the age of 33 and his wife.
Next room was Franz Joseph's Bedroom. He got up at four o'clock, washed himself with cold water and as a strict Catholic he was, he said his prayers every morning. Inside the room there was a bed made out of iron where he died at the age of 86, in 1916. On the left side of the room there was his English-toilet.
Then we saw Elisabeth stairs cabinet where she wrote her letters, diaries and poems. Empress Elisabeth spent a few hours in her dressing room everyday. She had very long hair so her hairdresser was the first woman. She was allowed to work our of her house because Sissi trusted her so much, that she asked Franz Joseph if she could work for her.
Franz Joseph and Elisabeth shared a bedroom but it was only used during the first years of their marriage.
The reception room of the Empress was redecorated in 1854. The clock in front of the mirror on the window side of the room is very interesting. It has a reversed face at the back so that you can see the time just with a glance at the mirror.
The family dining room was also called the Marie Antoinette Room. The emperor himself said that those who sat there were allowed to talk across the table, whereas at court dinners one could only converse with one's immediate neighbour in an undertone.
The yellow salon was the bedroom of Emperor Francis Stephen.
At the age of six Mozart had given his first concert in the mirrors room, in front of the Empress Maria Theresa.
In the carousel room there were two big pictures. One of them was showing the Ladies carousel of carriage parade.
The last room we saw was the hall of Ceremonies. Here was where the family used to celebrate christenings, name-days and birthdays.
Bea Garrido
and here a personal opinion...
On 17th April, our teachers organised a visit to this palace. We arrived there at 2 o'clock and we had to wait to enter until half past two.
We visited every room in the Palace and I liked the tour very much. Especially because the guide did not give us information about what he Palace was made of or boring things like that. She told us things about Maria Teresa and her family lives, how did they used to behave and so on. It was very interesting.
I was surprised to know that the Empress Sissy was so worried about fashion. Her waist was about 52 centimetres! Can you believe that? It's incredible!
At the end of the visit, we saw a picture which was hung in the last room. The guide told us that the painter had spent almost five years painting it, because he had to see everyone to paint their faces as exactly as possible. It must have been a terribly hard work!
When the visit finished, we had the opportunity of dressing ourselves like Princes and Princesses! We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a very good experience, I'll never forget it.
by Ana
Naschmarkt
Last Saturday we went to Naschmarkt, it is the most popular market in Vienna.
Naschmarkt history is very interesting. It was born in 16th century when mainly milk bottles were sold. From 1793 onwards, all fruit and vegetable brought to Vienna by cart had to be sold here.
Every Saturday you can buy here fresh fruit and vegetables from around the world, exotic herbs, cheese, baked goods such as bread, Kaiser Rolls and torte, meat, and seafood too. And you can also enjoy a meal in any of the very good restaurants that are there, where you can try sushi, kebab, fish, seafood, and typical food from Vienna. But this is not all, if you want to you can also buy clothes and some complements here, like our ``rastro´´ in Spain.
We enjoyed the excursion very much, ate at a kebab, and later we bought a pair of sunglasses.
by Carlos & Christoph
Friday, 16.04.2010
“Immer bestens informiert”, in English, “always up to date” is the slogan of “Die Presse”, an Austrian quality newspaper, which we visited with our school on Friday. First we were given some basic information about the history and the newspaper as such. At the beginning 500-600 people were employed by the newspaper and more than 50.000 copies were sold annually. In 1938 a supporter of the nationalists sued the newspaper, because of its Jewish employees. From 1953 on, the new owner of “Die Presse” was Fritz Molden, because his father Ernst Molden died. In September 1996 “ Die Presse.com” was established. Every newspaper has its special topics. Regarding “Die Presse” it´s politics, economy, culture and comments.
To Begin with, some information about the building where the concert took place on the 16th of April:
The Wiener Musikverein in Viena, Austria, was open on the 6th of January of 1870. Is one of the best sound rooms in the world, with the Symphony Hall of Boston and the Concertgebouw Ámsterdam. Is the headquarters of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
The building was built by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. The space where it is now, was donated by the Imperator Francisto José I.
The Golden Room is 48 m long, 19 m wide and 18 m high. It has 1.744 seats. Every New Years Day there is the The New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic celebrated there.
To continue, lets give some personal impressions about the rehearse of the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich:
"When I got into the room and the violins, clarinets and all the instruments started to play… I fell in love with the melody, the music notes’ concordance… even though I don’t know too much about music, I noticed that it was something magic. Those two hours passed by like two minutes for me.”
During the rehearse they surprised us with an vocal intervention and they repeated some songs once or twice. All in all, it was a perfect experience and something to remember and tell your friends, because everyone knows the New Year’s Concert.
by Ana
From Monday to Friday there are between 28 and 40 pages and on weekends there are even more; the first page has only one article (the most important), and the last one is a summary of the previous day.
“Presse für junge Leser”, the press for young readers is a new project of the newspaper, also “Die Presse macht Schule". It can be translated as “the press goes school”.
The department of the digital press has its own journalists. Although they have a different kind of work, they are in the same building. The digital journalists can show the information more quickly than the others.
An important point is that 1000 copies are printed an hour, they start being printed at 6:30 p.m. They finish at 1:00 in the morning and then it is delivered all around Austria.
After this we visited the building of the “the Press” and looked at the different departments, we went into a storage room with many old issues of "Presse", in fact there were some of the first newspapers as well and a library with many books. We also met the main editor, he explained the daily routine. The first thing a reporter makes in the morning is reading the newspaper and finding out what is going on in the world. At 10 o´clock he is at his desk and talks to this colleagues about the topics and the news. Then every journalist gets his topic and he starts looking for information. At 12 o´clock they all have a meeting and talk about their ideas. In the afternoon they start writing their articles.
To Begin with, some information about the building where the concert took place on the 16th of April:
The Wiener Musikverein in Viena, Austria, was open on the 6th of January of 1870. Is one of the best sound rooms in the world, with the Symphony Hall of Boston and the Concertgebouw Ámsterdam. Is the headquarters of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
The building was built by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. The space where it is now, was donated by the Imperator Francisto José I.
The Golden Room is 48 m long, 19 m wide and 18 m high. It has 1.744 seats. Every New Years Day there is the The New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic celebrated there.
To continue, lets give some personal impressions about the rehearse of the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich:
"When I got into the room and the violins, clarinets and all the instruments started to play… I fell in love with the melody, the music notes’ concordance… even though I don’t know too much about music, I noticed that it was something magic. Those two hours passed by like two minutes for me.”
During the rehearse they surprised us with an vocal intervention and they repeated some songs once or twice. All in all, it was a perfect experience and something to remember and tell your friends, because everyone knows the New Year’s Concert.
by Ana
Thursday, 15.04.2010
When the class began, the teacher explained us how to dance a choreography in couples clapping our hands and turning around ourselves with a typical Austrian song. Apart from this introduction, the teacher started with special activities witch she had prepared for us.
First of all she wanted us to give her our opinion about Michel Jackson's death and Vanessa said: Well, everybody knows who was he… a really famous singer and a great dancer. In Spain there are a lot of fans, some people think that he was a crazy guy, because he changed his skin colour and then he was called “King of Pop” due to his dancing skills.
And one of the Austrian students said that he doesn’t know anything about him, only that he is dead. Afterwards we listened to “We are the world” and besides we sang it! (click here for the music video with lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2y1pE3yn6M)
Then Feli (our English teacher) played the guitar and sang “Algo se muere en el alma, cuando un amigo se va”, which is a “Sevillanas”. So some Spanish people showed the rest of the class how to dance it. In fact Vanessa and Inma were dancing together in front of everybody to let them see better the way to do it.
I enjoyed the lesson a lot and I hope the Austrian students did so too. We have learnt more about their dancing culture and they have also learnt about us, and the most important thing is that we shared our different points of view.
I felt proud of my school mates when they danced and when my teacher played the guitar and I don’t know why, but it was a special feeling.
by Marta
First of all she wanted us to give her our opinion about Michel Jackson's death and Vanessa said: Well, everybody knows who was he… a really famous singer and a great dancer. In Spain there are a lot of fans, some people think that he was a crazy guy, because he changed his skin colour and then he was called “King of Pop” due to his dancing skills.
And one of the Austrian students said that he doesn’t know anything about him, only that he is dead. Afterwards we listened to “We are the world” and besides we sang it! (click here for the music video with lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2y1pE3yn6M)
Then Feli (our English teacher) played the guitar and sang “Algo se muere en el alma, cuando un amigo se va”, which is a “Sevillanas”. So some Spanish people showed the rest of the class how to dance it. In fact Vanessa and Inma were dancing together in front of everybody to let them see better the way to do it.
I enjoyed the lesson a lot and I hope the Austrian students did so too. We have learnt more about their dancing culture and they have also learnt about us, and the most important thing is that we shared our different points of view.
I felt proud of my school mates when they danced and when my teacher played the guitar and I don’t know why, but it was a special feeling.
by Marta
Wednesday, 14.04.2010
At the Embassy
The Culture Counsellor is Jose Luis Rodriguez de Colmenares y Jascón. He was in a meeting with all of us explaining and answering questions about his profession letting us know more about his work. It was very interesting!
To be a counsellor means to sell the image of your own country abroad. Everybody thinks that is about organizing cultural events, but is not. Much rather it means helping and collaborating with institutions related with Spain and transmit information to Austria.
Our leaders (prime minister, president) can communicate with another country of the UE without problems. The degree of relation that an embassy can offer is very intense.
The embassies facilitate the relations between countries (in to the political, social, cultural area ...)
In developing countries the counsellors of culture are who organize the events. But here in Austria (an advanced country) they only collaborate with Spain. Normally it exits only in the capital, in this case Vienna, and this is too bad. The purpose is to spread the culture all over the country. Anyway, changing the image of a country also has to do with the economic level of the country. The Austrian society values that there are Spanish products of good quality like ZARA or MANGO.
Some years ago everybody had an specific image of Spain, only certain things were known: like “flamenco”, “paella”, “toros”… but nowadays there are more ways and much more information to find out new things about Spain.
The image of a country is very important, due to this tourism can increase and this has economic consequences.
Jose Luis said that he considers his job as entertaining as he is very interested in culture. He explained the different options of his career:
Privileged: countries like Austria. There you are able to stay between four and five years and usually there are really good destinations for ambassadors and people who work in the embassy.
Normal: most of the countries are in this category and there you can stay between three or four years.
Hard: there are some countries with problems like a war (Iraq) and you are able to stay there just for two or three years.
Nine years is the maximum time to return to your country and you are able to stay there for two years, then you must leave and choose a new destination. In case you really love your country and you don't want go away, you can remain there as long as eight years.
Jose Luis was talking about some personal experiences, because we asked him some questions. For example he told us that he has been moving all his life, even so when he was a child and that’s why it wasn’t a problem for him to accept the condition to travel a lot in this job. In addition he enjoys travelling and he loves to get to know new people and new places. Finally you realize that it is necessary to do it in your own skin, and you discover that is much better than reading it in the books or watching it on TV, you can only judge by your personal experience.
INTERVIEW
Before the meeting Carlos and Marta prepared some questions for the Culture Counsellor, and one of them was:
-Which activities are carried out to make people get to know Spain?
-The culture’s function is much more than this, I mean, it has a lot of repercussion in the GDP or PIB (Gross domestic product- Producto interior bruto), function that enter in direct contact with the members related to the culture. They establish a relation; singers facilitate the access to artists, painters, musicians... There are lots of cultural events, like theatre plays.
So they are a way of communication, they work like a “bridge” or like a “connection” between two sides (two countries in this case). Here an example:
at the end of June ends Spain's leadership of the UE. Important people are invited and there will be a special celebration with a Spanish Mezzo Soprano. In fact it is one of the best in the world. He is going to receive 20.000 Euros during one evening.
-Do you know which is the most famous destination of Austria?
I am sure it is Sissi’s Palace.
- Is it necessary for everybody to be Spanish at the Embassy?
That depends on the department; The diplomats must be of Spanish nationality, the civil servants too, but other employees can be Spanish, Austrian or of a third nationality.
-Which languages are indispensable for a diplomat?
English, Spanish and French are obligatory, but you can also be a diplomat with more languages of course; Russian, Arabic, Italian…
After this meeting we had the opportunity to get to know the Spanish Embassy building inside. The Culture Counselor showed us around the main rooms ,where they usually invite people.
Everything looked very elegant and staff was very professional. We saw different rooms. The last room was the most important: There was a very big table and the decoration was amazing. Actually they tried to copy the style of the building years ago because everything was burnt in the war.
At the end of the excursion Carlos de Álvaro and Marta Hernández thanked Jose Luis for receiving us and for his time.
My personal opinion is, that it was the best excursion we have had, because the topic is intriguing!
In other words, I think it was a great idea to have a meeting with someone who works at the Embassy, because he can transmit lot of personal and noteworthy information. In addition I liked that it was in Spanish and I felt "at home" and could relate to the Culture Counselor easily. But the main reason is, that I am thinking about going that way as well, one day maybe forming part of a embassy.
I am really interested in the issue, because I love languages and travelling, meeting new people, new places… So, this excursion was very positive for me and for the rest of my school mates as well. We enjoyed it a lot.
To sum up I have to say that Jose Luis was so nice with all of us and he knew how to make us feel comfortable with a special deal.
by Marta
Belvedere or “The beautiful view”
The Culture Counsellor is Jose Luis Rodriguez de Colmenares y Jascón. He was in a meeting with all of us explaining and answering questions about his profession letting us know more about his work. It was very interesting!
To be a counsellor means to sell the image of your own country abroad. Everybody thinks that is about organizing cultural events, but is not. Much rather it means helping and collaborating with institutions related with Spain and transmit information to Austria.
Our leaders (prime minister, president) can communicate with another country of the UE without problems. The degree of relation that an embassy can offer is very intense.
The embassies facilitate the relations between countries (in to the political, social, cultural area ...)
In developing countries the counsellors of culture are who organize the events. But here in Austria (an advanced country) they only collaborate with Spain. Normally it exits only in the capital, in this case Vienna, and this is too bad. The purpose is to spread the culture all over the country. Anyway, changing the image of a country also has to do with the economic level of the country. The Austrian society values that there are Spanish products of good quality like ZARA or MANGO.
Some years ago everybody had an specific image of Spain, only certain things were known: like “flamenco”, “paella”, “toros”… but nowadays there are more ways and much more information to find out new things about Spain.
The image of a country is very important, due to this tourism can increase and this has economic consequences.
Jose Luis said that he considers his job as entertaining as he is very interested in culture. He explained the different options of his career:
Privileged: countries like Austria. There you are able to stay between four and five years and usually there are really good destinations for ambassadors and people who work in the embassy.
Normal: most of the countries are in this category and there you can stay between three or four years.
Hard: there are some countries with problems like a war (Iraq) and you are able to stay there just for two or three years.
Nine years is the maximum time to return to your country and you are able to stay there for two years, then you must leave and choose a new destination. In case you really love your country and you don't want go away, you can remain there as long as eight years.
Jose Luis was talking about some personal experiences, because we asked him some questions. For example he told us that he has been moving all his life, even so when he was a child and that’s why it wasn’t a problem for him to accept the condition to travel a lot in this job. In addition he enjoys travelling and he loves to get to know new people and new places. Finally you realize that it is necessary to do it in your own skin, and you discover that is much better than reading it in the books or watching it on TV, you can only judge by your personal experience.
INTERVIEW
Before the meeting Carlos and Marta prepared some questions for the Culture Counsellor, and one of them was:
-Which activities are carried out to make people get to know Spain?
-The culture’s function is much more than this, I mean, it has a lot of repercussion in the GDP or PIB (Gross domestic product- Producto interior bruto), function that enter in direct contact with the members related to the culture. They establish a relation; singers facilitate the access to artists, painters, musicians... There are lots of cultural events, like theatre plays.
So they are a way of communication, they work like a “bridge” or like a “connection” between two sides (two countries in this case). Here an example:
at the end of June ends Spain's leadership of the UE. Important people are invited and there will be a special celebration with a Spanish Mezzo Soprano. In fact it is one of the best in the world. He is going to receive 20.000 Euros during one evening.
-Do you know which is the most famous destination of Austria?
I am sure it is Sissi’s Palace.
- Is it necessary for everybody to be Spanish at the Embassy?
That depends on the department; The diplomats must be of Spanish nationality, the civil servants too, but other employees can be Spanish, Austrian or of a third nationality.
-Which languages are indispensable for a diplomat?
English, Spanish and French are obligatory, but you can also be a diplomat with more languages of course; Russian, Arabic, Italian…
After this meeting we had the opportunity to get to know the Spanish Embassy building inside. The Culture Counselor showed us around the main rooms ,where they usually invite people.
Everything looked very elegant and staff was very professional. We saw different rooms. The last room was the most important: There was a very big table and the decoration was amazing. Actually they tried to copy the style of the building years ago because everything was burnt in the war.
At the end of the excursion Carlos de Álvaro and Marta Hernández thanked Jose Luis for receiving us and for his time.
My personal opinion is, that it was the best excursion we have had, because the topic is intriguing!
In other words, I think it was a great idea to have a meeting with someone who works at the Embassy, because he can transmit lot of personal and noteworthy information. In addition I liked that it was in Spanish and I felt "at home" and could relate to the Culture Counselor easily. But the main reason is, that I am thinking about going that way as well, one day maybe forming part of a embassy.
I am really interested in the issue, because I love languages and travelling, meeting new people, new places… So, this excursion was very positive for me and for the rest of my school mates as well. We enjoyed it a lot.
To sum up I have to say that Jose Luis was so nice with all of us and he knew how to make us feel comfortable with a special deal.
by Marta
Belvedere or “The beautiful view”
On the 14th of April, Wednesday, we went to Belvedere after visiting the Spanish embassy. While the teachers got the tickets, I and some others of the group went for a walk in the gardens, but it was raining cats and dogs and we couldn’t enjoy the walk. For this reason, we missed the beautiful summer views that you can see in the photo.
These are some interesting facts about the place:
History:
The Belvedere Palace was built in 1721-22, when Prince Eugene of Savoy asked Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt to construct a Summer palace for him; but he never lived here. He was born in Paris and he wanted to become a French soldier, but he couldn’t do it because he wasn't tall enough and Louis XVI told him that he wasn’t fit enough to do it either. So he went to the Austrian army to fight against the Turkish.
When Prince Eugene died without any heirs, princess Victoria who was Austrian was in charge of the palace. Then it was sold to Maria Theresia, who named it Belvedere.
Joseph II, Maria Theresia’s son and the father of Sissy tried to find a special purpose for the palace and so it became a picture gallery. Later, it was used again as an imperial residence. When the monarchy ended, it became a palace again and now it’s the National Museum of Austrian Art.
Architecture:
The museum consists of two main buildings, two palaces: a lower one and a upper one. It has beautiful gardens, which are asymmetrical. The buildings are made of marble (the majority its false, because it was really expensive.)
The decoration is very symbolic, even allegorical; in the reception room, for example, there is a fresco painting showing a mystic theme and an ostrich, which refers to the fact that Prince Eugene was the first person to have a zoo in Vienna.
Paintings:
Nowadays inside the Palace there’s the Austrian Gallery with 19th and 20th centuries Austrian and International pieces. Among others there are works of Amerling, Hausner, Hundertwasser, Klimt, Kokoscha, Romako, Schiele, Waldmüller, and some French impressionists, too. The most important collection is on impressionism and it’s of the decade of 1900.
The most important painting of Gustav Klimt is “The Kiss” (1907- 1908). It is the last picture for which he used gold.
Egon Schiele:
The family (1918) it is the opposite of beauty, one of his last paintings.
All in all, we had a very interesting day in Vienna, although the weather was beginning to get on our nerves!
Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele is renowned alongside Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka as one of the leading usual artists of the Viennese modern movement.
He was born in 1890 into a simple family background in Tulln on the Danube.
In 1906 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After the great Klimt-era Egon Schiele is the painter that strongly influenced the artistic scene of Vienna in the early 20th century. He soon developed his own inimitable language of forms while still a student at Vienna Academy of fine arts.
In 1908 Schiele had his first exhibition, and was very successfully. Together with his friends and fellow artists, he founded the “Neukunstgruppe” (New Art group) and developed a drawing style that intentionally conjured up the impression of fragility and tension. In an anti-academic and radically subjective manner, Schiele chose perspectives and views in a way that figures, which are only rarely shown head-on or in full length in the picture, appear twisted and deformed by their compositional arrangement. The main motives of these decadently coloured representations are self-portraits and portraits, but also nudes that are distinguished by strongly erotic features. These pictures irritated the conventional perception and therefore became early examples of Viennese expressionism.
He combined ornamental structuring fractured line and an expressive use of colour.
Schiele portraits, figural paintings and landscapes often orbit within the charged polarities of love and solitude, life and death; the motif of coming into being and dying away is a constantly recurring theme in his works, expressed in the sunflowers, vigorous flowers and petals as juxtaposed to dark, symbolising the cycle of life. In his paintings, colour becomes an independent value, being particularly effective in its many watercolours and deluded in their design voltage.
Schiele moved to Neulengbach, where he embarked on a very productive period. At that time, he was erroneously charged with kidnapping and sexual abuse.
Schiele separated from his longstanding life companion Wally Neuziel to marry Edith Harms.
The First World War started and Egon Schiele was not sent to fight because he was considered to belong to an intellectual elite.
Some view Schiele's work as being grotesque, erotic, pornographic, or disturbing, focusing on sex, death, and discovery. He focused on portraits of others as well as himself. In his later years, while he still worked often with nudes, they were done in a more realist fashion. He also painted tributes to Van Gogh's Sunflowers as well as landscapes and still lives.
Like other Austrian painters of the time as Alfred Kubin and Oskar Kokoschka, the space becomes a kind of vacuum that represents the tragic existential dimension of man, in continual conflict between life and death and especially the uncertainty.
In October, 1918 the six-month pregnant Edith Schiele fell ill with the Spanish flu and died on 28th October. Schiele himself also contracted the Spanish flu and died the 31 of October, 1918.
Adri & Klemens
These are some interesting facts about the place:
History:
The Belvedere Palace was built in 1721-22, when Prince Eugene of Savoy asked Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt to construct a Summer palace for him; but he never lived here. He was born in Paris and he wanted to become a French soldier, but he couldn’t do it because he wasn't tall enough and Louis XVI told him that he wasn’t fit enough to do it either. So he went to the Austrian army to fight against the Turkish.
When Prince Eugene died without any heirs, princess Victoria who was Austrian was in charge of the palace. Then it was sold to Maria Theresia, who named it Belvedere.
Joseph II, Maria Theresia’s son and the father of Sissy tried to find a special purpose for the palace and so it became a picture gallery. Later, it was used again as an imperial residence. When the monarchy ended, it became a palace again and now it’s the National Museum of Austrian Art.
Architecture:
The museum consists of two main buildings, two palaces: a lower one and a upper one. It has beautiful gardens, which are asymmetrical. The buildings are made of marble (the majority its false, because it was really expensive.)
The decoration is very symbolic, even allegorical; in the reception room, for example, there is a fresco painting showing a mystic theme and an ostrich, which refers to the fact that Prince Eugene was the first person to have a zoo in Vienna.
Paintings:
Nowadays inside the Palace there’s the Austrian Gallery with 19th and 20th centuries Austrian and International pieces. Among others there are works of Amerling, Hausner, Hundertwasser, Klimt, Kokoscha, Romako, Schiele, Waldmüller, and some French impressionists, too. The most important collection is on impressionism and it’s of the decade of 1900.
The most important painting of Gustav Klimt is “The Kiss” (1907- 1908). It is the last picture for which he used gold.
Egon Schiele:
The family (1918) it is the opposite of beauty, one of his last paintings.
All in all, we had a very interesting day in Vienna, although the weather was beginning to get on our nerves!
Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele is renowned alongside Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka as one of the leading usual artists of the Viennese modern movement.
He was born in 1890 into a simple family background in Tulln on the Danube.
In 1906 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After the great Klimt-era Egon Schiele is the painter that strongly influenced the artistic scene of Vienna in the early 20th century. He soon developed his own inimitable language of forms while still a student at Vienna Academy of fine arts.
In 1908 Schiele had his first exhibition, and was very successfully. Together with his friends and fellow artists, he founded the “Neukunstgruppe” (New Art group) and developed a drawing style that intentionally conjured up the impression of fragility and tension. In an anti-academic and radically subjective manner, Schiele chose perspectives and views in a way that figures, which are only rarely shown head-on or in full length in the picture, appear twisted and deformed by their compositional arrangement. The main motives of these decadently coloured representations are self-portraits and portraits, but also nudes that are distinguished by strongly erotic features. These pictures irritated the conventional perception and therefore became early examples of Viennese expressionism.
He combined ornamental structuring fractured line and an expressive use of colour.
Schiele portraits, figural paintings and landscapes often orbit within the charged polarities of love and solitude, life and death; the motif of coming into being and dying away is a constantly recurring theme in his works, expressed in the sunflowers, vigorous flowers and petals as juxtaposed to dark, symbolising the cycle of life. In his paintings, colour becomes an independent value, being particularly effective in its many watercolours and deluded in their design voltage.
Schiele moved to Neulengbach, where he embarked on a very productive period. At that time, he was erroneously charged with kidnapping and sexual abuse.
Schiele separated from his longstanding life companion Wally Neuziel to marry Edith Harms.
The First World War started and Egon Schiele was not sent to fight because he was considered to belong to an intellectual elite.
Some view Schiele's work as being grotesque, erotic, pornographic, or disturbing, focusing on sex, death, and discovery. He focused on portraits of others as well as himself. In his later years, while he still worked often with nudes, they were done in a more realist fashion. He also painted tributes to Van Gogh's Sunflowers as well as landscapes and still lives.
Like other Austrian painters of the time as Alfred Kubin and Oskar Kokoschka, the space becomes a kind of vacuum that represents the tragic existential dimension of man, in continual conflict between life and death and especially the uncertainty.
In October, 1918 the six-month pregnant Edith Schiele fell ill with the Spanish flu and died on 28th October. Schiele himself also contracted the Spanish flu and died the 31 of October, 1918.
Adri & Klemens
Tuesday, 13.04.2010
The English Class
On Tuesday 13th April the Austrian people prepared a special English lesson to talk about some famous meals of the Austrian cuisine.
We discussed in pairs, Austrian and Spanish, about the differences between what it is common to eat in Austria and Spain.
We also talked about the times people usually have their meals in each country.
Austrian people taught us how to make things like pancakes, apricot dumplings and veal escallops, it was great fun!
Then the teacher gave us a photocopy and we had to match all the pictures with their correct names.
After the game, the teacher cook a sachertorte (the most typical dessert in Austria), and all the students tasted it, it was absolutely delicious!
Here is the recipe of sachertorte:
This torte has become the symbol of Viennese confectionery worldwide.
For 1 Sachertorte base:
4 oz couverture 1/2 cup soft butter 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar 6 eggs, separated 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar 1 cup flour, sifted
For the icing:
2 cups sugar 3/4 cup water 13 oz couverture, chopped
You will also need:
9-inch springform pan Parchment paper About 3/4 cup apricot jam for filling and spreading
Preheat the oven to 350F. To make the batter, melt the couverture in a double boiler over hot water. Cream the soft butter and confectioners' sugar with the couverture tempered at 89F. Stir in the egg yolks one at a time. In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar until stiff. Combine the two mixtures and fold in the sifted flour. Line the base of a springform pan with parchment paper. Spoon in the batter and smooth the top. Bake for 55 minutes. Allow to cool. Invert the pan onto parchment paper dusted lightly with sugar. Use a small knife to ease the torte from the sides, and remove from the pan. Cut the base in half horizontally. Heat and strain the jam, and use half to sandwich the two layers together. Place the torte on a piece of cardboard cut to the same size. Coat the torte thinly with the remainder of the hot jam. Gently emphasize the rounded edges of the top. The apricot masking is a base for the icing. It also helps to keep the cake moist and the chocolate glossy.
The recipe for the chocolate icing is generous enough for two tortes. To get a really smooth surface, the icing has to be poured over the torte as shown in the pictures opposite. A certain amount always sticks to the pan, strainer, and table top. It can be scraped up and used again after reheating. Place the iced torte immediately on a firm base and set aside. When the icing has set hard, use a small knife to trim the sides where it has run. Carefully slip a clean damp palette knife under the torte to release it and place on a cake plate.
A big copper pan is still used in the Hotel Sacher to melt the couverture. Master confectioner Friedrich Pfliegler can test the temperature of couverture between his finger and thumb as accurately as a thermometer. with his experience, there is no question of a mistake.
Nerea
The Spanish Lesson
First of all, when we arrived at the classroom the teacher gave us one piece of paper each. There were some questions about ourselves, like: what are your hobbies… what do we like, dislike… etc.
So, the activity was done in groups of four people. Then we had to do a small interview, asking the Austrian people. They had to tell us what they want to do in their future, what is the sport that they like most… etc. When we finished our small interview the Austrian people interviewed us. We had to tell them things we like to do on the weekends, what are our favourite colours, what we do in our free time, and things like this.
In conclusion, we, the Spanish students, learned many many things about the Austrian people and the Austrian found out a lot about our habits and hobbies.
by Carol
On Tuesday 13th April the Austrian people prepared a special English lesson to talk about some famous meals of the Austrian cuisine.
We discussed in pairs, Austrian and Spanish, about the differences between what it is common to eat in Austria and Spain.
We also talked about the times people usually have their meals in each country.
Austrian people taught us how to make things like pancakes, apricot dumplings and veal escallops, it was great fun!
Then the teacher gave us a photocopy and we had to match all the pictures with their correct names.
After the game, the teacher cook a sachertorte (the most typical dessert in Austria), and all the students tasted it, it was absolutely delicious!
Here is the recipe of sachertorte:
This torte has become the symbol of Viennese confectionery worldwide.
For 1 Sachertorte base:
4 oz couverture 1/2 cup soft butter 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar 6 eggs, separated 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar 1 cup flour, sifted
For the icing:
2 cups sugar 3/4 cup water 13 oz couverture, chopped
You will also need:
9-inch springform pan Parchment paper About 3/4 cup apricot jam for filling and spreading
Preheat the oven to 350F. To make the batter, melt the couverture in a double boiler over hot water. Cream the soft butter and confectioners' sugar with the couverture tempered at 89F. Stir in the egg yolks one at a time. In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar until stiff. Combine the two mixtures and fold in the sifted flour. Line the base of a springform pan with parchment paper. Spoon in the batter and smooth the top. Bake for 55 minutes. Allow to cool. Invert the pan onto parchment paper dusted lightly with sugar. Use a small knife to ease the torte from the sides, and remove from the pan. Cut the base in half horizontally. Heat and strain the jam, and use half to sandwich the two layers together. Place the torte on a piece of cardboard cut to the same size. Coat the torte thinly with the remainder of the hot jam. Gently emphasize the rounded edges of the top. The apricot masking is a base for the icing. It also helps to keep the cake moist and the chocolate glossy.
The recipe for the chocolate icing is generous enough for two tortes. To get a really smooth surface, the icing has to be poured over the torte as shown in the pictures opposite. A certain amount always sticks to the pan, strainer, and table top. It can be scraped up and used again after reheating. Place the iced torte immediately on a firm base and set aside. When the icing has set hard, use a small knife to trim the sides where it has run. Carefully slip a clean damp palette knife under the torte to release it and place on a cake plate.
A big copper pan is still used in the Hotel Sacher to melt the couverture. Master confectioner Friedrich Pfliegler can test the temperature of couverture between his finger and thumb as accurately as a thermometer. with his experience, there is no question of a mistake.
Nerea
The Spanish Lesson
First of all, when we arrived at the classroom the teacher gave us one piece of paper each. There were some questions about ourselves, like: what are your hobbies… what do we like, dislike… etc.
So, the activity was done in groups of four people. Then we had to do a small interview, asking the Austrian people. They had to tell us what they want to do in their future, what is the sport that they like most… etc. When we finished our small interview the Austrian people interviewed us. We had to tell them things we like to do on the weekends, what are our favourite colours, what we do in our free time, and things like this.
In conclusion, we, the Spanish students, learned many many things about the Austrian people and the Austrian found out a lot about our habits and hobbies.
by Carol
Monday, 12.04.2010
On Monday we attended the Geography class of 7a in which we were divided into four groups and found out a lot about different places in Austria.
The Austrian students were in charge of a zone of the country each. They gathered information and presented the most important facts. It was a greatly organized and vivid class - not boring at all. So all in all, we got to know many new things about our host country!
by DaniSaturday, 10.04.2010
Excursion to the Danube Wetlands
On 10th April we went to the Danube wetlands where 80% of the territory is forest.
We spent the day on a stretch between Bratislava and Vienna. There is also a national park which reaches two km inland from the banks of the river.
Our guide told us that he had visited Spain in 11 days, and had travelled 120 km every day on his bike. He had liked our country very much.
On the bank of the Danube there was a large wooden boat, called Tschaike. We got on the boat and rowed. There were about twelve oars altogether. It was very difficult to row at the same pace, we counted one, two, three and started. Finally the owner of the boat, who had actually built it himself, switched on the engine. This type of boat was originally brought in by the Turkish 500 years ago. They also used the river to take soldiers from one side to the other and when a bridge collapsed or when there was no bridge they put a number of these boats side by side so that people could cross the river.
At this time of the year the water line of the Danube is one meter lower than usual because it is still very cold and the snow in the mountains has not melted yet.
In the Danube wetlands there are lots of beavers. In the past they were a rare species, but now there are many more.
The water of the Danube transports the stones to the ground so sometimes you can hear a hissing sound which is called “the song of the river Danube“. In the middle of the river there is a buoy and on the right side big ships go along the Danube.
On the bank of the river is a ship-mill, which is now used as a museum. The guide taught us how to grind the grain and make bread and then we ate it. Inside the mill there is a wooden oven to get the room warm. The advantage of this mill is that when the water goes up the water wheel goes up too.
The guide also told us that you must grind and sieve the grain three times to get the flour for the bread. It takes half a day to get one kilo of flour!
In the past the ship mill sank and it took 146 days to restore the building. The owner restored the house himself which had almost sunk.
Nerea
On 10th April we went to the Danube wetlands where 80% of the territory is forest.
We spent the day on a stretch between Bratislava and Vienna. There is also a national park which reaches two km inland from the banks of the river.
Our guide told us that he had visited Spain in 11 days, and had travelled 120 km every day on his bike. He had liked our country very much.
On the bank of the Danube there was a large wooden boat, called Tschaike. We got on the boat and rowed. There were about twelve oars altogether. It was very difficult to row at the same pace, we counted one, two, three and started. Finally the owner of the boat, who had actually built it himself, switched on the engine. This type of boat was originally brought in by the Turkish 500 years ago. They also used the river to take soldiers from one side to the other and when a bridge collapsed or when there was no bridge they put a number of these boats side by side so that people could cross the river.
At this time of the year the water line of the Danube is one meter lower than usual because it is still very cold and the snow in the mountains has not melted yet.
In the Danube wetlands there are lots of beavers. In the past they were a rare species, but now there are many more.
The water of the Danube transports the stones to the ground so sometimes you can hear a hissing sound which is called “the song of the river Danube“. In the middle of the river there is a buoy and on the right side big ships go along the Danube.
On the bank of the river is a ship-mill, which is now used as a museum. The guide taught us how to grind the grain and make bread and then we ate it. Inside the mill there is a wooden oven to get the room warm. The advantage of this mill is that when the water goes up the water wheel goes up too.
The guide also told us that you must grind and sieve the grain three times to get the flour for the bread. It takes half a day to get one kilo of flour!
In the past the ship mill sank and it took 146 days to restore the building. The owner restored the house himself which had almost sunk.
Nerea
Friday, 09.04.2010
The city has about 150 steps, and we climbed them all! It was hard because there was so much dust, but it was worth the effort. When we got to the top and opened the door… the view was amazing. We could see the whole village, and also Vienna in the distance.
After that, we came back to the school making a detour to go sightseeing. We saw different monuments, as the one dedicated to those who died in the World Wars. It consisted in a marble wall with the names of the people who died in the Wars inscribed on it.
There was also a monument in memory of the victory of the city of Deutsch Wagram over Napoleon Bonaparte. That is an excellent monument for them because it expresses how proud they feel for defeating such a powerful army. There is also a museum devoted to this battle.
For me it was a nice experience because I learnt a lot about Deutsch Wagram history and culture. However the most important thing is that I've learnt it directly from the people living there, who rather than telling the history feel it, because it is their own history, the history of their ancestors. We would like to say “thank you” to the Major for the tour. Without him, it wouldn't have been the same; he was so kind to us!
Inma
Thursday, 08.04.2010
Although we had to wake up at 5 a.m. because the flight, we have enjoyed ourselves so much.
When we arrived, Austrian people were waiting for us with a big surprise, pictures and balloons. We all felt exited when we saw our partners, and also when we got to know the families. All of them have made us feel like being at home and they have given us all we needed for a start.
In the evening, we had a welcome party, where we met the principal of the school and some other students. We ate and, later, we played funny games like "limbo."
We got very surprised because today the weather in Vienna was so hot and sunny, more than in Spain!!! We were very impressed too by the houses, they seem like the ones that appeared in Heidi, the cartoons!
Tomorrow we started the school here, and the most popular question is: "Do I have to wear slippers in the school?"
But, with sleepers or without them, we will try to learn, enjoy and become open-minded people: THANKS TO EVERYONE!
by Ana
When we arrived, Austrian people were waiting for us with a big surprise, pictures and balloons. We all felt exited when we saw our partners, and also when we got to know the families. All of them have made us feel like being at home and they have given us all we needed for a start.
In the evening, we had a welcome party, where we met the principal of the school and some other students. We ate and, later, we played funny games like "limbo."
We got very surprised because today the weather in Vienna was so hot and sunny, more than in Spain!!! We were very impressed too by the houses, they seem like the ones that appeared in Heidi, the cartoons!
Tomorrow we started the school here, and the most popular question is: "Do I have to wear slippers in the school?"
But, with sleepers or without them, we will try to learn, enjoy and become open-minded people: THANKS TO EVERYONE!
by Ana
Welcome party
On Thursday, the day we arrived in Austria the first thing we did was to go home with our host families. In the evening we went to a place near a river in Deustch- Wagram, where we met everybody else for a welcome party.
We ate snacks and sandwiches and drank coke strange fizzy drinks. Our hosts also had prepared some typical Austrian sweets. I think I tasted most of the food and everything was delicious!
After eating, we played some games:
One was with a big thread that we had to put underneath our clothes and pass it to the next person in the row. The team who managed to pass the thread on to every member the quickest was the winner. We did it two or three times.
The next game was about move your body under a stick and if you did okay, the two people who held the stick had to put it lower and lower. We won thanks to Marta, who did great.
The third game was the traditional “chairs game”. It went like this: you had to put a lot of chairs in a circle, but you have to have one less than people. For example if you are 25, you put 24 chairs. Someone has to play some music. When he/she stops it, everybody has to sit down quickly and the one who can’t grab a chair is out. It was exciting!
Then, we went to the bank of the river and listened to music, took photos and talked. We spoke about Spain, about Austria and about the differences between our two countries. And so ended the first day of our visit; the party was a very nice surprise and the games were a good way to start making new friends.
by Adri
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