Here comes the weekend!

It's been a while. Last week we spent four days in Vienna, the first two at the Fulbright orientation, and the next two looking around the city. We learned a lot about Austrian history and culture, ate Wienerschnitzel (of course) and some sumptous pastries, and toured the imperial apartments. You should see how many forks, spoons, and fancy place those rich people left behind them . . . But were they happy? Well.

There was a rather dramatic wind storm on Saturday, as we were walking, and we were more or less driven into St. Stephen Dom, the central cathedral. It was a blustery day, but we persevered (guided by an acquaintance from Illinois who's working on a doctorate at the university), then took a nap and saw a good chamber concert that evening.

This week I've been mostly at the university getting my classes together, and Marlyce has been working at getting things organized, both around the apartment and for a trip to Italy that we're planning for the week after next, which is Easter break here. (Yes, it is coming really early in the term!)

I have students begging to get into my seminar--over 20, it looks like, though the limit is supposed to be 15. It'll be ok until it comes time to read all their papers, then I'm not sure what I will do. My lecture class keeps getting bigger too--it had 138 students registered the last time I checked.

The chair of the department has also discovered that I'm a poet and asked me to be writer in residence--though I'm still waiting to discover if that is any more than an honorific title. Still, it sounds pretty good, don't you think?

We now have working cell phones and a bank account, too! We're still looking for cheap bikes to drive around--the bus is pretty good, but a little roundabout sometimes.

For lunch today I ate in my office, then decided to walk up to the Festung (fortress) that's perched on a steep little cliff nearby. I discovered that it costs 7 euros to go inside, so I put that off till M. could come with me, but it was a rather fine walk . . . more photos soon, I hope.