The Epiphany

The celebration of the Epiphany

The Epiphany is celebrated on the 6 January. However, as it is not a public holiday in Belgian and France we celebrate it on the first Sunday of January except if it is the first day of the year. 

The Epiphany is very important in Spain because the children receive gifts from the Three Wise Men and not on Christmas like in France. It is also a nice day in France because we get to eat "La Galette des Rois" : the Twelfth Night cake.

There is a whole tradition around this cake. We eat it with some friends and family. There is a bean or a lucky charm hidden somewhere in the plain round flat cake. The youngest (and allegedly innocent) person has to go under the table and decide who the next slice is for. The lucky one who founds the bean in his portion becomes the queen or the king and has to choose a queen or a king as well. These two are supposed to be lucky for the rest of the year (at work he is supposed to bring another cake and in Spain he is supposed to pay for the cake). 

There are two types of cake. The first one is some kind of round bun with glacé fruits. It is supposed to remind us of a crown. People eat this cake in Spain and in the very south of France. 

In the rest of France and south of Germany, we have a frangipane cake. 

Now, between us, although I am from the south of France, I really prefer the frangipane cake!

As a conclusion, I could say that even though we, French, are still full from Christmas meals, we always find an excuse for another good meal.

I hope you are not too hungry now!

"I have a dream..."

"I have a dream..."

Everyone knows about M.L. King's very famous speech starting with this very famous sentence "I have a dream...". This speech has been inspiring people for more than 50 years now. Among them there is of course actual American President Obama. The Dutch deep house DJ Bakermat was one of them too. One of his most famous song is called "Vandaag" which means today in Dutch. I love this song mixing electronic music, saxophones and famous sentences of the "I have a dream" speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzCWGGG2gQc

Luther's speech reached almost everyone all over the world. We, Europeans, do not know all the details of American history but most of us have at least heard of the Civil Rights Movement. Black people had to wait until the 60s to be treated as any other white American citizen. The "New Deal" from Roosevelt profiting everyone and the commitment of black soldiers during WWII helped getting Black people their rights. Slavery was officially abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (December 1865)but slavery was not done away with in the American slave States.

The whole world made at some point mistakes and mistreated people from different origins. Lots of Europeans were cruel to the people in the colonies, some Americans tolerated slavery for way too long, Apartheid tore apart a whole nation for 46 years ! I hope that we will all keep in mind this wise speech and never repeat those mistakes again although racism seems to be more and more present nowadays.

Different Use of Register

Since I arrived in Austria, I noticed that the formal register was used in different situations in Austria compared to France. We have the same definitions of what formal register or slang are but we do not use it in the same situations. In French as in German, we can address each other with the "vous" or the "Sie" form when we are trying to be polite in a very formal way. Fortunately this does not exist in English. I am saving time in English because I do not have to wonder if I should use this polite form or not.

I realised that people in Austria in shops or on the phone when I was looking for an accommodation would easily skip the "Sie" form and just talk to me as if we already knew each other. In France, no one would do that. We can really be pompous, especially at the end of our formal e-mail. We do not simply use the convenient "Regards" but a whole very long sentence copy paste from the internet. Here is another example : I get to call my teachers by their first name in some classes but I still have to use the "Sie" form. At the french university, students call their teachers by their family names or simply "Sir". We are also always supposed to add "Mister" before mentioning the family name of anyone because if we do not, it means that this person is dead. Actually few people really knows that and we usually skip this rule when it is just a casual talk.

On the one hand I would say that it is nice that people are not putting up walls with all these overpolite rules. On the other hand I really get confused and I keep on using the "Sie" form, when I am not sure, to avoid embarrassing situations ! Of course I would not use it with young Austrians or classmates. This is a good thing that we do not have to ask ourself the question of the "Sie" form when we are just among young people. 

Travelling in Greece

    What about spending summer in Greece ?    

      

I went home in France for the Christmas holidays to see my friends and family. As I was talking about Erasmus and how much I enjoyed travelling there, I asked my friend if they wanted to go abroad during the summer. We usually already spend holidays together but just stay in our beautiful region or go to the sea. Still they were really excited ! I suggested Greece and everyone seemed really happy about this destination. A friend of mine wanted to go to Croatia as well because her sisters had praised this country to her. I was in Croatia in September and I must say I did not have time to see everything, but if I must choose between Greece and Croatia I would rather go to Greece !

I have to admit I hope it is going to be cheap as Greece is still going through a deep economic crisis. We did not plan anything really precise as we are still not sure if we are going to do it. Everybody is currently more focused on exams, seeking an internship or a job. Still, I already know I want to enjoy the Mediterranean coastline and beaches and visit sleepy littles towns like Santorini. I also want to walk around the famous ancient city of Athens. I know someone in Graz who lives there and can give me advice about all the good places! It would be really interesting to visit the inside of the country from Delphi to Pelion for example. Maybe if we still have some time left after this busy plan, my friends and I could go hitch-hiking in the hinterland but not too long because it is going to be really hot.





But most of all, I want to visit the ancient Greek as I have always been a big fan of Greek mythology !


I really hope that this project will come true !

Edited Version : Irish Culture Homework

Irish Culture : Irish resentment after The Great Famine

The most fascinating aspect of Irish culture that I learned about by watching the Story of Ireland was the strong resentment that arose against the British from the Great Famine in Ireland (1845-1850). This time of starvation traumatised Ireland and its inhabitants. Some of them were bitter as they thought all the British citizens did not want to help fight hunger under Prime Minister Russel’s administration. Some English however really wanted to help the Irish. For example, Lord George Bentinck went to the Parliament in London and described the horror of the famishment in order to raise awareness among the MPs. But British writers such as Trevelyan simply asserted the Great Famine in Ireland was God’s punishment. To Irish nationalists, Trevelyan was “the voice of England” and did not care about the one million people who died. Another million and a half emigrated. Most of them sailed to North America. Among them were John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny who founded the “Fenian Brotherhood” in 1858. This organisation tried two times to invade Canada, the nearest English colony. Its first act of terrorism in England was in 1867. They also sent political and financial support to help Ireland fight English domination. In short, the Irish remained very angry at the British decades after the deadly Great Famine as they thought the British could have done more to help.

My trip to Ireland !

Here is my plan for a trip to Ireland if I had 2000 euros to spend !

I would choose to go to Ireland because that would save lots of money in flight tickets. Anyway why would I go far away when I am not even done with visiting Europe. Moreover I have some friends who went there on road trips and told me how beautiful the landscapes are and how friendly and interesting the people are. I would also not have terrible jetlag and would be able to visit and party right away !


I would go in April during the semester break when, I hope, it is a little bit warmer. First I would take a flight from Graz to Dublin. Either some people from Graz would be going with me or some friends from France would join me directly in Ireland. There I would book a cheap hostel for three nights and spend four days in the capital. I would go on Sandemans' free tour of the city (http://www.newdublintours.com/daily-tours/new-dublin-free-tour.html) to get a good overview. At night they also organize pub crawl, that would be a good way to get familiar with the good Irish beer. According to the tourism websites, I should go to the The Old Jameson Distillery and visit the National Museum of Ireland among lots of other things. There is also a very cheap 6 hour tour in Howth which sounds amazing. If my friends and I don't know where to go out anymore or what do visit, I will just ask for tips from the people working at the reception of the hostel and get inspiration from the numerous leaflets at the entrance. I would just go to the best places and eat typical foods.

I would spend the rest of my journey backpacking in the beautiful hinterland and on the coast. Along the way I could stop either in sprawling cities or in remote part of the mountains. I would be sometimes sleeping in small remote country inn or just pitch a tent ! I would go to the Wicklow Mountains. Indeed I found a useful website with a very precise path through those mountains and along the coast. All details needed are to be found on the website.(http://walkinghikingireland.com/walking-holidays/self-guided-walking-tours/?gclid=CPPK2J2g6LsCFaXItAodp3EAbA). 

That would be the perfect holidays for me : tourism, party and hiking with friends !

How to Kill a Mustache

How to Kill a Mustache !

First of all, no, as a girl, I did not grow a mustache and did not even try ! However I do know guys who did grow a mustache for the Movember.

 

What is the Movember ? Well, in order to support the fight against the prostate cancer, men can decide to let their mustache grow during the whole month of November. The friends and relatives are supposed to give money as the mustache is getting bigger to help the research against prostate cancer. In reality, guys just grew their mustache for fun and we did not give money, shame on us !


By the end of November, guys are supposed to shave the mustache. Once again, they did not really follow the rules and kept it until everybody was begging them to stop it. I was also seriously afraid they were going to eat their own mustache as it was getting bigger and bigger !





They finally decided to shave it a few weeks ago. Before they did, a friend sent me this funny video explaining how to kill a mustache by the rule book!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXchNeYUmPA

The author really has a whole theory about it! You need to cut it with scissors, then shave it with an electric shaver to reduce the lenght and finally shave it. This way you can actually keep the hair ! After that, you can go on to the Viking tradition. This consists in putting the hair on a boat made out of cardboard and let the boat set on fire sail away on water...

It is crazy to realize how entertaining a mustache can be !

Studying in German !

Studying in German !

I mostly came to Graz to improve my German. As it is now almost the end of the winter semester, I decided to assess my German skills.

I am taking culture and language classes along with economics and business administration courses.  Although I really enjoy learning economics, I must say that my interest has been lately overtaken by a feeling of frustration. Most of the time, I am the only ERASMUS student in my economics classes, which basically means I am the only one not really understanding the whole class. I have a teacher who really seems funny, but I can not decide whether I find him funny or not because I actually never understand his jokes. He must be thinking French people are really hard to please. 

I am also kind of frustrated because I need to spend three times as long than the others native-german speakers to memorize the knowledge. Unlike the Austrians, I need to understand the specific vocabulary before I can even start to understand the sentence and then the principle. Sometimes, although I know what we are talking about, I can only remember it in French or in English and can not easily express it in German. For example I took a test in Applied Business Administration that contained some multiple-choice questions. The thing is that the questions were using a complete different vocabulary than the one used in the powerpoint of the teacher. As a result, even though I had studied a lot, it was really hard to give a relevant answer.  

Most of the time I have to study on my own and not from my notes as I can not benefit from the explanations of the teacher because he is talking too fast for me. The fact that I can memorize things quicker in French or in English also increases that feeling of frustration : my memory in German is unfortunately not that efficient ! I have sometimes asked for notes from other students but then they do not offer to send them again for the next class so I did not want to insist too much and did not ask anymore.

However I do not wish to end up this article sounding pessimistic, I have came up with some solutions for the second semester. Firstly I have found one economic course aimed at ERASMUS students. Then I will try to choose more class contact times rather than lectures where I usually have less opportunities to ask questions directly to the teacher. I also hope the intensive German course in February will help me get back on my feet and make me feel more at ease with German. I will also take part in the Tandem Program. This program aims at helping people practice their foreign languages. They will give me the phone number of a native German speaker who wants to speak French and German with me. In the meantime I really hope I will pass the classes I have taken this semester because I worked so hard on it. My grades are unfortunately not representative of the amount of hours I spent working. I need to accept that it takes more time for me to learn than in France and therefore I need to spend more time on it.

I really hope that this plan for the second semester is going to work ! In the meantime I will try to do my best on the upcoming exams in German (and of course on PC3 as well !)

Fiona Dictionary Review

 What would be the best monolingual dictionary ?

 

Having looked at a number of monolingual print dictionaries in class this week, I have decided to buy the "Collins Cobuild" dictionary. Just like most of the other dictionaries, an introductory guide is to be found at the beginning to help me use it efficiently and understand how to read the International Phonetic Alphabet. What I could not find in the other dictionaries though was the well-organised layout. At first glance, it appeared easily legible and entries were pleasantly separated. For each words, thanks to a supplementary column at the right of the word, we have indeed access to additional grammatical information such as the right preposition to use after a word or a verb.  Moreover as the "Collins Cobuild" was printed off in 2006, we can find modern vocabulary and new expressions. It was indeed the only dictionary to suggest the phrase : "to nurse a drink"  under the noun "nurse". Because the "Collins Cobuild" dictionary is well-formated, clear and well up-dated, it is by far my favorite.

[167 word]

Language Learner Review

Dear Fiona,

I have been studying English for ten years now. German has been my second foreign language since the eighth grade. There are several reasons that kindled my passion for foreign languages . To begin with, the cultures of other countries have always interested me. I would like to communicate with as many people as possible to gain perspective on their customs and ways of living. I was even more eager to learn foreign languages when international trade turned out to be my dream job. In order to be able to work in this field, I aim to master the English language as it is vital for communication in international trade, and also German considering the position the country has in the foreign market. 

 Two major events helped me progress towards my goal. Firstly, I spent my ninth grade in South Africa. Although I was in a French school I had the chance to practice English with my classmates, my teachers and in everyday life situations (order a meal, shopping...). I then spent July of 2013 working in Germany in the department of logistic. These two experiences helped me improve my speaking skills and expand my vocabulary, but I still need to ameliorate my grammar and my writing skills. Therefore, I am taking Business English courses at the University of Graz. I also listen and read extensively in English. I will try to make the most of my Erasmus year and practice German and English as much as possible.

Best regards,

Marianne

Wine in Austria

<Wine in Austria>

It has been now two months since I first came to Austria. I had to adapt to a different way of living. It was not too hard getting used to gaz being cheaper compared to France. On the other hand I needed more time for others habits. I will only focus on one aspect in this article. First time I went out for a drink, I ordered a beer (of course) and my erasmus neighbours told me I had chosen right. Not just because Austria is well known for its good bier but because he told me horrified that they were mixing wine with water here. I just could not believe it at first because I had already taken a glass of wine in a restaurant with my mother when I arrived and this wine was really good and perfectly waterfree. I must say I was kind of disappointed people would mix water with wine because it felt like damaging it for me. I remember when I was about 8-years-old, my grand father would pour me some red wine in the bottom of my glass and then lots of water on top of it so that I could drink wine like grown-ups. That would be the only situation in which I would understand that someone was mixing wine with water. 

Then I realised I was being narrow-minded, the opposite of a good language learner, right ? Thus I ordered one famous "Spritzer weiß“ and then later a "Spritzer rot". Although I did not really like the one with white one, I admit the one with red one was in fact tasty. Of course I will always defend my French wine but I have faith in Austrian wine again. I even registered for a Wine Tour in the region organised by the ESN (Erasmus Student Network). I am really looking forward to this event to know more about this kind of drink.

I actually tried to find some explanation for doing so but I could not find much. I just know that Austrians sometimes find their wine too bitter and like therefore to add some water. What about the historical background of this drink ? Once more I unfortunately drew a blank. I discovered though that it was originally drunk by soldiers. It could have been maybe to save some pure wine in time of scarcity ? You can also find this aperitif in the Northeastern region of Italy that used to be part of the Autrian Empire. It is famous too in Croatia, Hungary, Roumania and even Slovenia, all of them being neighbouring countries of Austria.

I am continuing to investigate on this matter and hope I am eventually going to find out who got the idea of such a mix and why !

Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween :)
Marianne

Dictionary review transcription

SUK1 WS13 Fiona  <Dictionary review transcription>

First, this is the transcription of what I said during the dictionary’s presentation.

There is another section called “Sentence Examples”. So if you go there you can find the sought word in a whole  sentence, but we didn’t really feel like it was useful because it’s just one sentence took out of its context so it’s not really useful to know how to use it correctly. And there is another section up there called Quotes.  So for example if I want to find a quote with nurse in it I just take the word nurse and it gives me this. So it’s original but not really useful as well but original still.

Then here are the comments I would like to make after hearing myself.

I first noticed while listening to me that I was using lots of useless linking word such as “like” and “so”. It is tiring for the person listening to hear this words over and over again.

I am quite happy with my pronunciation expect for a few word: For example I sometime pronounce “coat” instead of “quote”. I also say “sowt” instead of “sought”. I would also like to sound a little bit more dynamic.

I would say that my thoughts are organised but the end of my presentation is a little bit muzzy and unclear. It would have been better to describe more precisely how to find a quote with nurse. I should have maybe said “for example if I want to find a quote with the word “nurse” in it, I write “nurse”  in the search bar at the top of the page and these are the results.”  instead of “for example if I want to find a quote with nurse in it I just take the word nurse and it gives me this.”

To conclude I would say that although it is not dynamic enough and there are some mistakes on pronunciation, I am happy with how I developed my idea except at the end.

My Erasmus Trip

Hi everyone ! 

I am a French Erasmus student from the University of Lyon 2. I came in Austria to spend an amazing year in Graz. I have never been to the Eastern part of Europe. Therefore I intend to make the most of my time here and travel to these eastern countries around Austria that seemed so far away when I was in France and so close now that I am here ! I love travelling and I am definitely not the only one.

Most Erasmus students are also trip-lovers as coming to Graz was already a journey we all went on very gladly. If you are en Erasmus student and you want to go abroad, you can be sure you will find some friends to come along ! Moreover as I came by car here, it is very cheap to go on a road trip when the car is full. And of course the more the funnier ! Let me present you some of the trips I took since I arrived in Austria.

With some of my friends we have already been to Maribor and Ljubljana (I think it is the right spelling!) in Slovenia. We were about 15 and we had a lot of fun. The Capital is a lovely city (even if the center is in fact very small) and the hills around were also worth seeing. Maribor on the other hand was too quiet and some places were badly-kept. We also went to Croatia. We drove along the coast and even had a lovely swim ! Even if we were in a small city we found one of the best night club ever in the marina. On Sunday, on our way back we stopped in Zagreb. It was drowning under the rain and quite empty so we did not linger there but we went home with nice memories of our Croatian trip.

I really enjoyed these trips to Croatia and Slovenia. That is why, once more, I will be leaving Graz and Austria this weekend. This time, we are going to Prague in the Czech Republic. I can not wait to get there and live some new adventures.

Thanks for reading me :)

Marianne

Interview

Christina's interview !

I interviewed Christina today. She studied Business Administration last year but she asked if she could drop it this semester for TKK. She is still anxiously waiting for the answer from the Dean of the university. In the meantime she already attended some of her hypothetical future classes. She is learning French, English and she also plucked up courage to start Chinese courses!  

Along studies, she dances Salsa with her boyfriend and enjoys going to Tuesday Night in Katalunsky. If you want to find out more about her, she will be more than happy to practise her English with you.