Odds and Ends

German Word of the Day

08/02: meistens- mostly
08/04: wahrscheinlich: probably
08/07: beantworten: to answer
08/10: Autobahn- highway
08/14: bei dir- at your place
08/18: offen- frank
08/20: gesund- healthy
08/27: Fussball- soccer

Schonberg music
Kammersymphonie op. 9
After listening to Schonberg’s music, I have decided that I do not like it very much. There is way too much going on and I have no idea what I am listening to. It really just sounds like a bunch of clashing noises put together. I also cannot really make out any melody. I just may not be used to listening to this type of Expressionist music. I played piano for eleven years of my life and I mainly focused on classical music, so maybe I have developed a somewhat of a biased ear and have a particular sound aesthetic.

CNN international
CNN international is pretty similar to CNN in the United States. They broadcast a lot of the same shows that they do in America, for instance: Situation Room, Anderson 360, and Larry King Live. The only difference really is that they show the weather from more places and they have weekly special shows on different regions of the word, like Marketplace Middle East. I personally like it better because as I am interested in what is going on in America, I also like the get a glimpse of what life is like in other parts of the world, specifically ones that I am not familiar with. I also noticed that CNN international shows more sports coverage that CNN in America does.

Bratislava vs Vienna
Some of my classmates and I took a day trip to Bratislava. We made a mistake and went on a Monday and basically everything was closed. However, it was interesting to see the differences between Vienna and Bratislava, especially relating to Bratislava’s long communist past. It was interesting to see the post-Communist era buildings juxtaposed to the ones built during the Communist era, there is really a large difference. Bratislava has done quite a nice job cleaning up their city and ridding it off Communist style buildings, to a more appealing and opening look. However, I found that there was not much to do or see there. Since they split with the Czech Republic, they have been trying to forge their own culture, since Prague was probably the dominant city, Bratislava does not have much to offer. I am glad I visited Bratislava, but I can say for sure that I will not visit it again and it was not because I did not enjoy myself just that there is nothing pulling me back there.