Easy does it. Hard does it better.

Okay.... so slight change of plans. NO biggie! Just a little... different. For one thing, remember my new best friends I was bragging about making in Alabama? Billy Jean and Jed are going to be so sad, but we aren't going to get to fry up some catfish for another whole year.

Instead, I've got some new new friends waiting for me:

AUSTRIANS!!!!!

(Or as I will now and forever call them, "Austrifriends".)

A few weeks back I got accepted for the Fulbright to go and study all my booooring / totally fascinating linguistics stuff in Vienna. And, after much ado about whatever a quadratmeter is (turns out: big), I even --hopefully-- have a place to live while I'm there.

I'll be doing language acquisition and maintenance research in the the Turkish migrant community in Vienna, and for an added bonus, 12 hours a week of "Native English Speaker" TAing at a UNESCO high school there. Sweet deal? Terrifying? A little of both??

The big bonus of all of this? Apartment in Vienna?? = meh, okay. Great experience teaching English to high school students who are probably faaaar cooler than me?? = yeah... close. Prestige of being part of the research community blah blah blah? = now you're not even trying.
Give up? For a week in September I get to go through a TA orientation in sunny, beautiful, Kulturhauptstadt 2003 Graz!!!! Back to my old Austrian tromping grounds.


I was trying to find a funny picture to put here, but then I remembered: Graz is actually amazing. Not funny "amazing". Actually, truly, gorgeous. Thanks again, Graz.

So the big story is that I also got accepted for this other grant to go learn Turkish before I start in Austria, so before I meet my bff Gunther under the shadow of St. Peters, it's off to Ankara, to get to know the Turks and their CRAAAAAZZZZY language. I just found out classes start July 3rd. What's that you say? It's already June 13th? Oh, I KNOW.


Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet my host family.

Did I mention I get to find my own housing?