I think this blog might be quite a short one, but as I'm trying to write every week I'm sure I will find something to talk about!
I got back from my Easter break at home yesterday. It was great to see everybody and as always to be back in Edinburgh, I really love it there! We spent a large part of my time at home looking for a flat for next academic year. This is proving rather difficult since three out of the four of us are abroad this year and there really is only so much that you can do online. We've got one lead at the moment but there really seems to be fewer flats around this year than previous years and of course it is getting quite late to be looking. In first year we had a flat sorted and signed for by March. It's all a bit of a stress.
I've also been trying to sort out a summer job. I got the teaching job at the summer school in Edinburgh but as it is only for July, I really need to try and sort something else out for June and August. To be honest, it is becoming increasingly appealing to stay in Vienna until July - to soak up the sun and all things Viennese. However, I know that I would be here, spending lots of money and not actually earning any, so I'll stick to the plan to come back at the beginning of June. I never thought I'd be so keen to stay any longer here than I need to. I've fallen completely in love with Vienna lately (better late than never!) but it does mean that these last couple of months are marked by a certain sadness - I wish I could have felt like this before. I know that a lot of is to do with the weather, I've always been like this - I love sunshine and some of my best memories of Edinburgh definitely involve sunshine, the Meadows and good friends. I'll just have to make some of those memories while I'm here!
Speaking of which, on Friday Hannah and Sophie come to visit and I'm so excited! I can't wait to show them Vienna, it's so pretty in the Spring with blossom on the trees and every cafe and bar having a terrace outside. On Saturday, we're heading to Budapest for the weekend which is a city I've wanted to visit ever since I got here and discovered how close it is (about 3 hours on the train). We've bought bikinis to take advantage of 'the city of spas' and hopefully the weather will be nice to us! It'll also be nice to be somewhere a little cheaper than Vienna, not that it's that expensive when it comes to drinks and general cost of living, but being out of the euro zone will probably help my bank account - even if it is just for a couple of days!
School is still going really well. I feel really confident in my role there as a language assistant and since finding out that I'll be taking full classes during the summer and attempting to get children through their English exams at the end of the month I have been paying a lot more attention to the different teaching methods the teachers here use - especially the revision ones which are becoming increasingly important as exams are approaching, including 'the big M' (Matura) for the 8th formers. I find it really interesting seeing the different techniques and teaching styles each of them use. It reminds me of my own teachers at school and it's funny to see that a lot of the teachers are perfect matches for some of my own favourite language teachers from my school days. It makes me wonder what kind of teacher I'll be. Though I have had a taste of that, I think you only really come into your own when you have responsibility for your own classes and a real chance to build up a relationship with the pupils, which is more difficult for me as I'm with 26 different classes.
I'm really looking forward to my final months here in Vienna. We have lots of traveling planned for while Sophie and Hannah are here and it's a chance for me to rediscover Vienna and do many of the tourist things I haven't yet got round to, especially the ones which require decent weather like the wine-growing villages around Vienna, Vienna woods and Baden (a spa town which is really close by). I can't wait! 
