1. His stage name is stylized as MOD SUN and is an acronym for "Movement on dreams, stand under none"
2. He is also a poet and author. (see: Did I Ever Wake Up?, My Dear Pink, Happy to be here)
3. This dude straight up chugged half a bottle of Jack Daniel's before passing it around the crowd. (I skipped out on that mostly because there was none of it left by the time it got to me despite there being a total of only 23 audience members present).
4. He also hit a total of two blunts while on stage, which were not passed around.
5. Mod Sun claims to have no fans - "only friends".
6. The above fact resulted in the after-show-meet-and-greet being turned into a competitive hang out sesh which I was okay with losing. Anna and I did get a few trashy looking pictures with him though.
7. I believe there were about 8 songs sung about weed that night.
8. You can buy a themed vape pen on his online store! (http://modsun.storenvy.com/products/13039665-mod-sun-vape-pen)
I think my favorite part of the whole ordeal was sending the videos I took to my mother without any context. Made her day.
with the man himself :')
it's a four hour drive but we didn't get back until about 4:00 am
Other things I did since then include spending a Saturday shopping in Klagenfurt with Eva. It was decorated for Christmas, and we hung around to drink some punsch. (Yes, like punch, but with a "s" because maybe it makes it more festive or something... it's very good and tastes like Christmas).
On Wednesday the 25th, I left for Vienna to stay with the Königs until Sunday. (For those who don't know, their son Aurel is being hosted by my family in America so we're some kind of weird exchange in-laws it's lots of fun) Gabe (their host son) picked me up from the Bahnhof and we went exploring and found the national library and Bridger at Four Bells. I attended an Alt-J concert Wednesday night which I LOVED. I went by myself so I got to squeeze to the front without too many issues.
On Thursday, I met up with Martin, an exchange student friend from Australia for the day. We went to the International Centre and looked at flags, and spent some time in a modern art museum called the MUMOK. We then met up with Gabe and went to Mozart's and Beethoven's and Strauss' and Brahm's graves.
Friday, Deitma (Gabe's host dad) took me around Vienna to explore some more. He and his wife Alexandra are actors in the theater, so I got to see a little more than the average tourist. We also stopped by the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Another great thing about Austria in the Christmas season is the Christmas markets. We spent a lot of time wandering around some that weekend, and they're honestly the sweetest thing.
Friday night and all day Saturday we prepared for Thanksgiving that the Königs graciously offered to host in their home. Claudia and I prepared the turkey which was no small feat, and it turned out really great with the help of adults who were not afraid to get burning oil on their hands when the bird had to be flipped. We had casseroles (courtesy of me, no one can casserole like Cam can), Claudia's cornbread, egg, mashed potatoes and gravy, and more. We listened to Christmas music the eight hours of cooking Saturday which really helped usher in the holiday spirit. About nine other exchange students ate with us, and we had an amazing time sharing our traditions with others here in Austria. The prayer and thanks giving we had before we ate was sappy and I don't wish to elaborate on it, but I and everyone else who was present can't even begin to tell you how thankful we are to have people caring about us and people to care about on both sides of the Atlantic.
And now Advent season has started! Here in Austria, they light one of the four traditional candles every Sunday in their homes, as opposed to religious people seeing them lit mostly in church. Advent calendars are also really popular, and not the lame felt ones you hang on a wall. They can get pretty extravagant. I'm excited to see how the Christmas season unfolds here, especially with Krampus, but I think I'll make another post about that next week after my first visit to Salzburg this weekend.
As for my German, I think it's really progressed. I can understand a lot of what people are saying without feeling the need to translate it back to English. I'm actually thinking in German sometimes too. (Nothing elaborate, but some short phrases once in awhile.) The dialect can be difficult sometimes, I'm getting better at understanding it, and I'm definitely using what I've learned (although this isn't good for my high German skills, it's fun to use!).
Just for example, here are some differences between "Kärntnerisch" and Hochdeutsch:
Ich weiss nicht (I don't know) = E vass nit
Ich habe (I have) = E hob
Gehen wir (let's go, we are going) = Gemma
I also feel as if I'm close to the point of being able to spit out more complex German sentences without feeling the need to structure them in my head from English to German before. My grammar is probably rather skewed, but with more practice and vocab learning, it will get easier for me to speak naturally. I'm excited to see how it improves in the coming months. Along with that however, comes a downward spiral in my English. Talking with friends back home is always a bit of a mess, I have lost my ability to use common sense when spelling and sometimes ignore grammar rules. It's horrifying, I am aware, and I apologize.
On that note :-)
Bis später!!
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