Due to my recent inactivity in many things, I haven’t felt the usual compulsion to write. This may also be partially related to the feeling of instability due to not having an individual place of my own at the moment. I’m working on that though, however it’s a tough decisions. I’ve found a place that will probably be the cheapest option, given it’s proximity to uni, however I’m torn as to whether I should remain at my parents and save money, or get a place of my own for the sake of the feeling of stability. I just can’t decide if this “stability” will have much of an effect on the other aspects of my life, as well as my focus in school once it begins soon.

I made add more to this post later but for now it can probably be summarized by saying, “meh”.

There’s a lot of changes coming up for me soon. Finals are even sooner! I’ll be departing the country again. I’d like to transition this site into more of a travel blog and hopefully that is something I can do once I get there. I know I haven’t posted in a while as well, sorry to those of you that may enjoy reading my posts. I’ll try to write more often. For the time being, there’s not much for me to write about as I’m both in transition, and in school so my life is actually quite boring currently, for the most part.

Thanks for stopping by!

It’s a bit of a pain because you have to deal with both campuses. I was trying to find out recently EXACTLY what the Post 9/11 would cover as far as tuition and fees towards the Vienna campus and the main campus informed me that for the Vienna campus the Post 9/11 will pay $17,500 per academic year. The current tuition for an average workload is 15,000 Euro per academic year which at today’s exchange rate is $20,272.50

Therefore $20,272.50 – $17,500 = $2772.50 would remain that the Post 9/11 would not cover. (based on current exchange rate)

I will be making up the difference with Pell grants and such. Getting the GI Bill to pay for your school at Vienna functions the same as any U.S Institutions. The only difference might be is that you may have to send you GI Bill C.O.E to both the main campus and Vienna campus. I’m currently dealing with this whole process myself so I will try to update this as I gain new insight into the process.

I also wanted to add a comment about housing. Webster Vienna does offer housing but it is very expensive. It’s something around 5000 euros per full semester! In Germany and Austria the government subsidizes the cost of student housing/dorms (das Studentenwohnheim). Webster Vienna students can take advantage of this as well. You only have to be a registered student at a university in the country. There are multiple housing companies in both countries with varying prices and locations. Although the prices vary per room/occupancy/location/etc, they are much cheaper than 5000 euro per semester. The room I’m currently set to be renting in Wien (Vienna) is 254 euro/month. This would bring it to about 1016 euro for a room equivalent to that which Webster was offering for 5000 euro. If interested let me know and I’ll post some links to a few housing places to check out.

The tricky thing about me going back to work is two things. First is that I’m in school and this greatly limits my availability to work (thereby affecting possible interest in me as an employee.) This also limits how much money I can actually earn from any given job. The second issue is that I will be in Germany for the month of May. It’s one thing to apply for a job knowing you will be unavailable in the future for a day or two, however it’s something else entirely to hope to be hired knowing that you will be unavailable for an entire month.

Maybe I’ll have to really begin my search once I return.

Thank you to all my readers. If you would like me to cover a topic please let me know. Also if you would like to argue a point I mentioned please do so. I can never profess to be right all the time and realize that I will often be wrong or ignorant of some information on a matter. If so, please let me know. Thank you for tuning in! Please share with you friends! Again, THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY!

Today though, my lady found some really cheap tickets to various places in Europe so we decided that we would be heading to Valencia, Spain and Oslo, Norway! I can’t wait! I will start looking at some Spanish here so to keep myself from being a complete tourist while I’m there. We’ll only be in each place few two or three days each, however it’s been my experience that that’s plenty of time to have a great trip and really do a lot!

I also get to go back to Trier, Germany to visit my good friend and his wife. (I met my lovely lady through them!) I very much enjoy Germany as well as traveling in general. Most of all though, I can’t wait to be back with my lady and be able to spend each day with her; to experience everything by her side! I could go anywhere or nowhere and it would never matter in even the least unless I have her there with me!

A house floating away into the pacific. Taken by a U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord. (navy.mil)

I know many of you have probably heard plenty about Japan. I’ve met people that can’t be bothered to hear anymore. I want to take this post to gives some information about the country that some can’t be bothered to care about as well an issue that makes me severely lose hope for this country and seriously consider leaving.

Some reasons why we (the US) can take lessons from Japan

Executives from Tokyo Electric Power Co. bow in unison to apologize over the crisis at their nuclear plants. This is an amazing thing. Executives from a company apologizing for the effects of a tsunami! We can’t even get companies in the US to actually be responsible for they actions when they steal millions of dollars in money or hide it in offshore accounts or dump tons of oil into ocean and just shrug it off and say “we’re sorry”.

Look into how much the Japanese actually donated when Katrina happened. Many individuals collectively donated at least a million dollars on top of money from the government and other sources. This isn’t to say  that we’re not doing anything to help now, many people from the US are helping immensely. Some of my friends currently in Japan also said that Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) fronted business are actually contributing quite a bit as well. Vending machine owners have been reported to be giving away their products for free. On top of all of this, There has been no reports of looting whatsoever. There’s two articles on the lack of looting here and here. This doesn’t surprise me at all and wouldn’t surprise anyone that has spent a good amount of time in various parts of Japan. During my time living there it was my experience that the country had an extremely healthy sense of national pride. Pride, not arrogance like many have in the US. It is this national pride along with the values of honesty, reputation, and responsibility as well as many others that define this country as a bright example of what we should aspire to become. This isn’t to say that Japan has all the answers–no country has ALL the answers to every problem. They are definitely a people we should observe and experience more closely though in order to really see what could be if we all just cared a little more.

An image demonstrating the cruel ignorance and blatant disregard for human life.

This leads me into the thing that infuriates me beyond anything else. Look at this photograph on the right. These are actual statements from real people here in the United States. I’ve seen another image similar to this with many more comments just like this. When I read things like this, it makes me want to go off on them. Maybe I could burn and flood there house then say “that’s what you get. ‘Merica”. People like this make me so incredibly angry due to their disregard for human life. That doesn’t even address the stupidity in their statements. Many of these people are saying that what is happening now is payback for Pearl Harbor. Aside from the asshole-ness (I can’t think of a better word right now) of their statements, they’re completely forgetting that we already paid them back and far more when we dropped atomic bombs on their country! Even after all of our bombings, conflicts, and tensions in the past the Japanese still contributed millions of dollars when we had a natural disaster of our own! [see above]  Yet these people are still seeking vengeance for Pearl Harbor?

If I could, I would have the citizenship of people like this revoked and have them deported. It’s this ignorance, stupidity, and cruelty that is destroying America. If I ever have a friend or anyone in my life that every made a statement like this, I would go off on them in an instant would would NEVER speak to them again. I don’t care who they might be to me.

I wrote all this because I just wanted to share a little more info on what’s going on here and there. I hope that maybe some of this is stuff that you might not have seen until now. Knowledge is power and NEVER forget the golden rule.

Edit – Here’s a post from inside Japan. It’s an amazing story! Please share and read! (full text below)

Hello My Lovely Family and Friends,
First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.
Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.
During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.
Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.”
Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.
We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on.
But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.
There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun.
People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.
Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled.
The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.
And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on,and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checkingto see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if theyneed help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.
They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that isa bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area isbetter off than others. Last night my friend’s husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.
Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeedan enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening nowin Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel aspart of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.
Thank you again for your care and Love of me,
With Love in return, to you all,
Anne

I have a special place in my heart for Japan. Of all the countries outside of the US I spent the most time there. Japan means what it does to me because of the people. Because of the large amount of time that I spent there, I fell in love with the people on a national scale. There are good and bad people in any nation,

but most people I ran into were so incredibly kind to me. I had so many pleasant experiences with the Japanese. Even in the US I’ve bumped into quite a few Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans who were extremely kind, and distinctly so in such a way that they stood out among the rest of the people around them.

I can’t wait for the day when I can return to Japan with my lovely lady and show her all the great things I was so lucky to experience there. It is something I would share with everyone if I could. To all you who remain in Japan, stay safe. You’re in my thoughts.