Assignment 1: Planning a trip to the USA

Task:

Plan a ten-day trip to either Ireland or the US for the Easter break.  You have a budget of €2000, including flights, accommodation, spending money, transport, food, entry fees for sites etc.  Post a plan for your trip on your blog, explaining briefly where you have chosen to go and why.

Soo...
In the Easter break my friend Angi and I are gonna fly from Munich to NYC *yaay*. Since we only got to see Houston the last time we were in the States, this trip is surely gonna be aaaawesome!

Since we are gonna meet Cherry and Siggi (friends of my family) in Houston, we'll buy them presents before we leave for the US. Maybe we'll bring them Tyrolean bacon, wine, and some other cute things that represent Austria (will probably cost us around 20 Euros).

On April, 16 at 11.25 am our flight goes from Munich to Dublin and then from Dublin to NYC. We'll be in NYC at 6.00 pm, which means that we will be in the plane for 12 hours and 35 minutes *yay* *sarcasm off*. Just like two years ago, my dad will take us to the Airport in Munich, and Angi's family are going to pick us up once we get back. The flight will cost us 348 Euros....-> not too expensive :) Finally arrived, we will take a cab to the "Jazz on the Park" hostel, which is at the Central Park. Three days staying there will cost us 292.62 Euros. The trip from the JFK airport to our Hostel will cost 45.69 Euros. Since we share the costs though, this means that the stay in the Hostel will cost me actually 146.31 Euros and the Taxi ride 22.845 Euros.
In the "Jazz on the Park" hostel, Angi and I are gonna share the bedroom as well as the bathroom. We will arrive there in the evening on the 16th of April, so we are probably gonna be dead tired. Which means we will maybe just look through the rooms of the hostel and then go straight to bed. On April 17th, we are gonna get up early (seize the day  :P ). I think most of the time we will buy food and something to drink in the morning in a grosery shop (meal+ breakfast) or so and have dinner in a restaurant (will probably cost 10 Euros or so). So approximately we will spend 20-25 Euros a day on food and drinks (75 Euros for 3 days).

Day 1:
On April 17th our sightseeing tour will start in the morning. We will mostly use the subways to get from place A to place B (2.75 Euros per ride). So in the morning we will take a subway train from Central Park to the Rockefeller Center. Afterwards, we will take a subway train to the 9/11 Memorial. Near the memorial we will sit down and have lunch. After that, we will take a subway train to Brooklyn Bridge. Then, we will take a subway train back to Central Park and walk to the St. Patrick's Cathedral. Looking at the St.Patrick's Cathedral will surely take some time (1-2 hours). I think this will be enough sights for one day. I bet we will be tired and our feet will hurt like hell, so we can go back to Central Park, sit or lie down and relaaaaax (maybe take a walk through the park or so). In the evening, we will have dinner in Chinatown. Again, we will have to take a subway train to get there and back to our hostel again.
Subway costs:  11 Euros

Day 2: 

On April 18th we  will again get up as early as possible. We'll go buy some food and drinks and then we'll start our day. We'll take a subway train to Lincoln Center and look at this huge area. Then, we'll take a subway to the famous Empire State Building, get on the top of it and enjoy the great view over Midtown. There we will also have our lunch. Then we will take a subway to Times Square (crazy doing this in the afternoon but.. well.. :D). There we will go shooooopping (or just walk through the streets). I'm probably not gonna buy anything there since it's sooo expensive. But we can't spend too much time there, because we also want to see Fifth Avenue and go shopping there as well. (aaand again we will have to take a subway train to get there). In the evening we'll have lunch in Little Italy (take a subway train to get there and one to get back to our hostel).
Subway costs: 16.5 Euros

Day 3-5

April 19th -> time to leave NYC. We'll go by Amtrak to our friends in Houston, TX. At 10.05 our tain leaves to Washington DC (arrival: 1.30 pm). At 4.05 pm we'll continue our ride to Chicago, IL. We'll arrive there on April 20th at 8.45 am. At 1.45 our train will continue its journey to Longview, TX. On April 21, at 8.28 am, we'll arrive in Longview. *yaay, soon we'll see our friends again*
All in all this journey will take 39 hours, which is gonna be sooo exhausting. But for the most part we'll have beds and our own room, so it's not gonna be too bad. Also, we'll get to see a looot of different places in the US and always when we have to get out and wait for the next train to come, we have the chance to walk around and see some things. The trip to Longview will cost 710 Euros. Plus, the money we need for meals and drinks (about 30 -35 Euros). In Longview we'll be picked up by our friends and then we drive for another 3 hours or so to Houston. In Houston, we'll stay at our friends' place for free =).
So our journey to Houston will come to an end on April 21 at about 11.28 am. We are probably gonna be soo tired that we'll do nothing but play with the cute little dog  at our friends' house all day and then go to bed early.

Day 6 (April 22)

Cherry and Siggi (our friends) will take us to our Chinese friends in Houston. There we will play singstar (just like the last time we were there), have lunch, and enjoy being together. In the evening, Angi and I are probably just gonna relax with Cherry and the dog and Cherry will probably cook for us =). In the evening, we're gonna go to the Movie theater with Angi (another Angi..she's from Houston). (20 Euros)

Day 7 (April 23)

yaaayyy... Splaaaashtown with EJ, Dereq and Emmanuel =). Just like the last time they will take us to this awesome waterpark. We'll be there the entire day and we'll have sooo much fun together! Last time the ticket cost like 15 Euros, so this will probably be the same. And we'll need another 10 Euros for something to eat and drink. In the evening Cherry is probably going to cook for us again.

Day 8 (April 24)

 Cherry will take us to one of her anti-racism classes, where she teaches children how bad racism is. We will help her get the room ready for her presentation and then we'll watch her do her job :). For lunch we'll be invited to one of Cherry's friend's house. Hopefully there will be all those awesome ladies we met last time. In the afternoon we will go to Dereq and Em's house and play video games. In the evening, they'll take us out to paaartyyyyy (20 Euros for drinks).

Day 9 (April 25)

Cherry will take us to the biggest shopping mall in Dallas (NorthPark Center). There I'll buy little presents for my family and maybe also something not too expensive for myself (50 Euros). We'll go to a restaurant with Cherry and Siggi (and we'll pay for them -> 30 Euros [I'll pay for Cherry and myself + Angi will pay for Siggi and herself]). In the afternoon Cherry will show us the different neighborhoods in Houston and then we'll drive to downtown. There we'll just walk around and look at the different buildings. In the evening EJ, Dereq and Em will take us to the movie theater (20 Euros) and afterwards we'll go and have a Pizza (15 Euros).

Day 10 (April 26)

We'll sleep long, pack our things, enjoy the last day with Siggi, Cherry and the dog. We will cook together and at 19.50  we'll take the plane homewards. On April 27 at 15.55 we'll arrive in Istanbul. There we'll have to wait until 19.40. (We'll probably buy food and something to drink there --15 Euros---). Then we'll go get our plane and fly back home. At 21.30 our plane will arrive in Munich,where Angi's parents will already be waiting for us. The flight back home costs 400 Euros. So I'll have 48 Euros left =). Angi's parents will take me home, where I'll meet my parents and then instantly go to bed.

This trip will be sooo exhausting, but definitely worth it. In Houston, we'll have more time to relax, while in NYC we'll run from one sight to another.
I'm already so excited!! - meeting our friends again will be great!

 

Overcoming Obstacles And Never Giving Up

As PC2 is coming closer, one can feel the tension in the class room. People who failed PC1 are trying really hard to improve (especially their writing). But whatever they do and how hard they try...everything seems to have been in vain once they see the mark on their homework. Desperation, frustration and anger.... "Why do I make so silly mistakes?"  "I don't know what else to do", "I've tried so hard and PC2 is already in 3 days!"
This atmosphere reminds me of my first semester in Innsbruck. Although (as already explained in the blog entry below) I haven't learned much concerning the English language, I have learned A LOT about being a student in college. Back in school, most of us had an A in English. The good marks were taken for granted, and since most of us also had an A in the final English exam, we thought college would be as easy as pie: we'd study a little bit, party a lot, write exams and have our bachelors degree in no time. But after about 1- 2 months in college, one figures out that it's not gonna be that easy. Students start studying harder and do everything they can, which is mostly not good enough. They fail exams although they study harder than ever before in school.
In Innsbruck I had the exact same problems. I used to be a very good student, but somehow my talent seemed to have left me after I'd signed up for college. My homework marks were frustrating and I started to ask myself: "Should I really be studying English?".

And now comes the good message for  everyone who feels the same:

Everything is new and you need to get used to being a student and being responsible for yourself. After some time, some bad marks and maybe even some failed exams, you will figure out the best way of studying and (unless this is really not the right study for you) you will LOVE studying again. The most important thing is to NOT GIVE UP! Make a list of common mistakes you made in homeworks or exams and focus on avoiding them. Write and rewrite homeworks again and again-  practice makes perfect! Consider a homework with a lot of marked mistakes as a help rather than a tragedy, because you can only learn by making mistakes. Give up the absolute wish to write A's or B's. Be happy with passing an exam. Only then (without this pressure) will you be able to actually write A's and B's. This is how I survived my first year in college and how I started to love studying again.

Teaching Techniques... How Important They Really Are

Last year, when I was still studying at the University of Innsbruck, I had teachers who were...well let's say... not as dedicated as the teachers I have this year. In the last couple of months I've realized how important it is to have teachers who actually care about your progress and who use good teaching techniques.
In Innsbruck, my teachers told us which vocabulary books we'd need and for the final exam we had to study the vocab in those books. I can tell you- those books were the worst English books I've ever seen! There were no English defintions of words, not enough and not very good exercises and not a single example sentence. In the end I had a looooong list of words that I should know and only ONE german translation for each word. No one ever showed us how to use those words or gave us more than one meaning. So I knew a lot of English words, but I couldn't use most of them. So it's no wonder that 80-90% of the students failed the final exam. I studied really hard and in the end I passed the exam, but to be honest I had forgotten most of the words after the summer break. I think this is because I only learned the words by heart. If you don't know how to use a word and if you don't know common collocations and various different meanings you don't actually KNOW the word. That's like: how big of a help is a pencil if you don't know how to write?
So this was one way of teaching that I experienced in my first semester in Innsbruck. And I consider this way of teaching as not advisable..

In Graz, on the other hand, our teachers give us very helpful glossaries for each exam. In the glossaries they list various meanings of words, strong collocations and an extra "attention!" section (e.g. for commonly made mistakes). Also, we are provided with very interesting websites on grammar, history, geography etc. (that's how I learned all of the 50 US states :P ). It seems like the teaching techniques used here are just much more efficient. I think it's better studying less words and in the end being able to USE them,  than studying a huge number of words that I can't use and that I will forget as soon as the exam is over. It's very interesting to compare those two universities (although the fields of study are slightly different) and to figure out what I think is the best way of teaching. And since I would love to teach languages someday, I am glad to have the opportunity to experience how teaching should or should not be done.