First day at the HAK/HASThe school is one of the upper-secondary schools (Handelsakademie) with the stress on economics. After finishing such school with the final exam (matura) most of the students continue their studies on the academic level but they can also start working as office officers, office managers in different companies.
Krems is a small town on the river Danube, east of Vienna. It has about 23.000 inhabitants. I came by car with my friend Slavica Bratuša. We met my host teacher Helmut Wagner. He teaches Geography and German language. His wife Maria is a Sports teacher at the same school. We had lunch on a tourist farm (Göttweig) outside the town. The wine from the last picking of the grapes (Heuriger) was a speciality of the region. Being invited to the Wagner family home I got the insight into the culture and design of an average Austrian home. I have to say I was impressed by the comfortable atmosphere, tasteful design and a homelike feeling.
I was brought to the boarding school, which is a part of Upper Secondary School of Wine and Fruit Growing . I got the biggest room I have ever seen. However I was transferred to a nice hotel later. I have been staying there ever since.
Krems is a small town on the river Danube, east of Vienna. It has about 23.000 inhabitants. I came by car with my friend Slavica Bratuša. We met my host teacher Helmut Wagner. He teaches Geography and German language. His wife Maria is a Sports teacher at the same school. We had lunch on a tourist farm (Göttweig) outside the town. The wine from the last picking of the grapes (Heuriger) was a speciality of the region. Being invited to the Wagner family home I got the insight into the culture and design of an average Austrian home. I have to say I was impressed by the comfortable atmosphere, tasteful design and a homelike feeling.
I was brought to the boarding school, which is a part of Upper Secondary School of Wine and Fruit Growing . I got the biggest room I have ever seen. However I was transferred to a nice hotel later. I have been staying there ever since.
1st day: Monday, 23rd November, 2009
The first lesson of the dayat HAK/HAS was a lesson in German language with Helmut Wagner in his 4th class. The theme of the day was Faust by W: Goethe. Students were keen on explaining how they had tackled the theme, what they had done so far. They were in Vienna and visited the Burgtheater where they saw the newest performance by the Austrian renowned artists. As warming up into the difficult theme they have a German language books with different important texts in the Austrian and German literature. With the help of questions from the book and parts of the text they try to get a picture of the themes, which are important for the whole of humanity: the fight between good and evil, selling your soul to the Devil. Students were to write a piece of criticism for the theatre performance they had seen. Most of the learning materials are available on the Internet in the Moodle learning platform. The Mahara platform is catering the students needs. They can blog write their impressions, hand in their homework.
After a very tasteful lunch in the schools restaurant, which is run by the student of the tourism branch, I was taken around the town by students, which are specialising in international business affairs. The students prepared the presentation of the town sights, schools, the Donau University, economy of the region. They prepared very well. We saw the oldest part of the town dating as far as 10th century. Most of the buildings are medieval. Along the way we saw three churches: Piarists orden church, the town cathedral dedicated to St. Veit (St. Guy), the Spitalkirche, the church which used to be a hospital church.
The steel industry has been the most important industry in the town. The possibilities which are offered by the river Danube to connect different branches of a great concern have made the region very industrial and Krems an important centre.
The town and its surroundings used to be very important, wealthy and prosperous as the history shows and it is still seen on different important and wealthy buildings, churches . Besides industry, agriculture with its vineyards and tourist farms seems to invite many foreign and domestic guests.
Evenings in the small town are interesting only if one goes to a small town tavern or pub, where local people meet. I spent an interesting evening meeting Helmuts friends. We had typical drinks of the region: Apfelsaft (cider) and beer. Although the local wine really good is it is not so common to drink it in the evening if one has not eaten before.
After a very tasteful lunch in the schools restaurant, which is run by the student of the tourism branch, I was taken around the town by students, which are specialising in international business affairs. The students prepared the presentation of the town sights, schools, the Donau University, economy of the region. They prepared very well. We saw the oldest part of the town dating as far as 10th century. Most of the buildings are medieval. Along the way we saw three churches: Piarists orden church, the town cathedral dedicated to St. Veit (St. Guy), the Spitalkirche, the church which used to be a hospital church.
The steel industry has been the most important industry in the town. The possibilities which are offered by the river Danube to connect different branches of a great concern have made the region very industrial and Krems an important centre.
The town and its surroundings used to be very important, wealthy and prosperous as the history shows and it is still seen on different important and wealthy buildings, churches . Besides industry, agriculture with its vineyards and tourist farms seems to invite many foreign and domestic guests.
Evenings in the small town are interesting only if one goes to a small town tavern or pub, where local people meet. I spent an interesting evening meeting Helmuts friends. We had typical drinks of the region: Apfelsaft (cider) and beer. Although the local wine really good is it is not so common to drink it in the evening if one has not eaten before.
