new york

The Wall Street Bull - a famous tourist attraction in the Financial District.

The entrance of MACY's: It claims to be the largest shopping store in the world. What IS in fact true: I have never ever seen so many ties and gay visagists at one place.

On "Top of the Rock"(efeller Center) - a 360 degree observation deck with a stunning view all over Manhatten and the outer districts. The tower between Anna and me is the Empire State Building.

That's what I call a proper outdoor advertisement!

Christoph and me at the biggest lake in Central Park - we even saw a turtle.

Birthday greetings

Hi folks! New York was AMAZING - pictures and stories will follow this evening. BUT: right now I am stirred by an e-mail from my family. I have never received birthday-greetings like these...

yesterday: baltimore, today: N.Y.

Yesterday the Embassy went on "betriebsausflug" to Baltimore, just an hour north of D.C. with a nice harbour. Schedule: A tour through Baltimore's finest museum, a glass of wine in between and then dinner at a marvellous seafood-restaurant (incredibly high prices, but luckily Ambassador Nowotny paid).
Highligt of the museum: We met the cartoonist of "The Economist" and the "Baltimore Sun" Kevin Kallaugher ("Kal") in person, while he guided us through a special exhibition dedicated to his 20-year-career as a cartoonist. One of his recent cartoons on Bush's ban of stem cell research (Copyright: KAL, The Baltimore Sun:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand today after work we are heading to NEW YORK!!! Pictures will follow, from Times Square and me, Statue of Liberty and me, Brooklyn Bridge and me and and and and and and and so on...

meet my workmates

I am proudly presenting you the first pictures of my workmates. Let me introduce to you...

you may know the woman on the right *g*. The man on the left is Hannes, my colleague who is sitting in the same room as I do. In his 30ies, great fun, always hungry :o) and very patient!

Two workmates who definitely like each other a lot: Elisabeth, formerly in Syria and Indonesia, married to a former rock star and mum of 3 lively dogs. Joey, my other workmate in the press office: he knows the best bars and the newest gossip in DC.

escalators in D.C.

Just one of many very large metro-escalators in D.C. If you decide to just stand on the escalator 'cause you are lazy it may take 3 to 4 minutes to get from the bottom to the top.

sleep sleep sleep

I ... am ... so ... tired *schnarch" Slowly, but finally my nights out take revenge on me. Today I overslept and came 1 1/2 hours late to work! Thank God that my boss is on vacation and does not return until Monday. Yesterday I went to an open air cinema-festival on "the mall" - a big lawn in the middle of downtown D.C. between the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Great setting at night and hundreds of people...
Today I will go out with my workmates Hannes and Joey - I am totally looking forward to it. So I will not get any sleep until *thinking* ... next week, because this weekend we are heading to New York for the weekend.

Arlington National Cemetary

So far the best sight in D.C. I have been to - the atmosphere ist overwhelming and really hard to describe. Since the Revolutionary War every military person and its family has been buried here - until now there are about 245.000 graves.

go nats go!!!

Today we went to a baseball game: Washington Nationals (nats) vs. Chicago at the re-openend Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. And of course the good guys from Washington won 7:6. Awesome game, awesome impressions - listed below...

no cake, no fun

Usually the Austrian Embassy has a so called "Schubertiade" on Fridays at 3 o' clock. Which means: Getting together in the entrance hall, eating cake, having a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette. afterwards everybody is happy and the work day nearly over. BUT TODAY THEY CANCELLED IT!!! So I'll invite you to a short extract from my e-mail-conversation with Anna, the other intern here, just half an hour ago:

Anna: is there cake today? i have nothing to do i am bored
Laura: I HOPE that there is cake today - let's just meet at 3 downstairs.
Anna: naja...wenns heut keinen cake gibt krieg ich die krise
Laura: ...
Anna: kannst du mal bitte schauen ob da schon teller liegen? habe schlimme befürchtungen...
Laura: es liegen keine teller - oh mein gott, was machen wir jetzt?
Anna: ogott, ich bring mich um!!!!!!

Ausgangssperre in DC

Hey folks. derStandard writes in his current issue: Ausgangsverbot in Washington - Jugendliche unter 18 Jahren dürfen ab 22 Uhr nicht mehr auf die Straße. Artikel. Don't worry about me - I have my pepperspray (thank God that I am over 18 ;o).

ocean city

our first trip out of DC on sunday: ocean city, maryland. the atlantic ocean, sunshine and a nice beach.
Anna and me on a lifeguard chair guerilla marketing project of the catholic church - "das letzte abendmahl" made of sand there even was a rollercoaster and last but not least - Homer Simpson enjoyed the sun too :o)

TV insight I

welcome to my American Television Report - every now and then I am gonna inform you about current TV show in America... today check out the Tyra Banks Show. Ex-model Tyra discusses REAL problems of Americans, for example "The girl who has no eyebrows" or "I feel uncomfortable without makeup". Well guys, what problems do WE have compared to those important issues?

are the Americans crazy? YES!

the post-title explains it all...

hilarious VW-ads

Check out the link VW ads. Right now on American TV, these ads of Volkswagen are great.

welcome to loughboro road

After I left my creepy place I can finally show you some pictures - the horror is not THAT obvious in the pictures, but I swear to god that it was groce. Impression from the street / the closer you get, the uglier it gets... Water dripping from the bathroom into the kitchen - my landlady's reaction: she just put pieces of newspapers on the kitchen floor... broken floors, ugly lightbulbs - it lookes like this EVERYwhere...

let the weekend begin

just an hour left and my second weekend in DC will start. the schedule for today: theatre at 7, exploring the nightlife of Georgetown (considered to be the most beautiful community in DC) afterwards. schedule for tomorrow: barbeque and hot tub-party at the house of Anna (guess which girl on the picture below Anna is *g*?). schedule for sunday: going to Virginia Beach and swimming in the sea. Pictures will follow as soon as I have internet at home.

We want to speak to the ambassador!

You might think that Austria is really unimportant in the US, but you are wrong: I am sitting at my desk in the office, looking out of the window and what do I see? A DEMONSTRATION IS GOING ON! About 30 Kurden are protesting against - yeah, against what actually? We all guess that is is because of the murder of a "Kurde" in Austria back in the 80s, where Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seemed to be involved. Right now they are shouting: We want the embassy doors to be open - we want to speak to the ambassador!!! But I can tell you: No one is going to welcome them here - we had a discussion about that in the morning. I am wondering how long the demonstration will last. Anyway, a funny distraction from work...

meet my former roommate

This entry is dedicated to all my female friends :o) Let me introduce to you my (unfortunately) former roommate Kyle from Alaska...

dangerous city

Where AM I? Since July 1st 13 peeple have been killed in the DC area. Now the Police Chief has declared a "crime emergency", a move that gives him the freedom to quickly adjust officers' schedules and restrict their days off. Washington Post
update on my search for a flat: I have finally found a gorgeous studio in Arlington, Virginia!!! I relocated yesterday :o) but: internet will not be available until next Monday - sorry, guys!

soccer worldcup final

Actually we wanted to watch the worldcup final Italy-France at a bar near Dupont Circle BUT the f****** doorman did not want to accept my identity card. So we accidentally met an American guy called "the gardener" and he invited us over to his place. By far the strangest American I have met so far - 29-year-old sales manager who thinks he is a "nice guy" - his mother was Miss Maryland in 1956 and number 11 in the election to Miss America. I have attached some impressions... You wouldn't believe that his mother once was a model... And he knows Lenny Kravitz (If I knew Lenny, I would have more than one picture of me and him) - he has a house on the Bahamas in the same area as Lenny has one... He is even prouder of his hot tub than of his car - but he is mostly proud about his new house that cost him half a million dollar. Strange guy, but great fun!

murder in georgetown

This city is not safe at all - tank God (or Ronni) that I have my pepperspray always with me. Murder in georgetown

watch and enjoy

Standing beneath so many American flags you HAVE to be patriotic :o) Drinking alcohol in the park in front of the White House with Maria and Christoph. Me in front of the White House (I threw a "Bierkapsel" into the garden of George Doubleju *hihi*). Awaiting the firework on the 4th of July. Bush is SO popular in the States *g*.

happy weekend

First real weekend in D.C. is over and I have a major HANGover :o). The facts --> Location: Adams Morgan (a famous party district here), a black club where I can't remember the name and Adam's Mills. Starring: me, my roommates Maria from Germany and Kyle from Alaska (he's definitely a hotty) as well as the other interns from the Austrian Embassy Norbert from Salzburg and Christoph from Vienna. Highlight: Sitting on a park bench drinking alcohol in brown paperbags and two police officers come by. What we did not know: even in brown paperbags drinking alcohol in public is not allowed in D.C. what happened: the officers spilled our drinks on the pavement ON PURPOSE!!!

impressions from work

I can't believe that tomorrow the first working week is already over. Time for a little review - to cut it short: work is great so far. today we drank sparkling wine at the office :o) to say goodbye to my "vorgängerin" in the press center. When I don't get drunk I am replying email-requests, watching the media coverage and brainstorming for the relaunch of the current embassy-website (ME and IT - can you believe it?). But the best thing: my internship tutor joey is GAY - and I already love him! next week he is flying on holiday to the bahamas and I already miss him being around (imagine him sitting in his office and talking to the girl in the next office - "maaaaaary, can you beliiiiiiiiieve this?"....).

Playing UNO in front of Georg Doubleju

Yesterday was Independence day in the States - and it was f****** awesome :o) Me and some colleagues from work met in the city center before noon and were around until 3 am :o) Imagine: The White House, a fence, a public garden across the street and hundreds if not thousands of Americans sitting on the grass. Among them: 4 Austrians with beer/whine/prosecco in brown paperbags, smoking and playing UNO. Unbelievable, but true: we were the only ones with alcohol *g* and EVERYBODY stared at us. Pictures will follow, but I still don't have internet access at home. By the way: Today I made the decision to move out from my place - it is really groce and not comfortable at all. Wish me good luck to find an affordable better place!!! Love you all, laura

where grows the edelweiß?

my first day at work (still in the office, 'cause internet still doesn't work at home) and my first request: an american guy called to tell me that he is planning to do a "sound of music"-performance. therefore he desperately needs edelweiß, but doesn't know where to find one in the States. big problem, 'cause Lauri didn't know either -but thank Google and my workmate --> there is an edelweiß farm in Canada: http://www.edelweissgrowers.com/

nothing works, folks

Hi dudes- it's the end of my first real day in the States and it was AWESOME! the flight was pretty cool - comedian Andreas Vitasek and his daughter sat two rows behind me from vienna to paris :o) the house where I stay is groce, the guy who installs my internet returns not until the weekend from russia and my adapter for the sockets is the wrong one. BUT: I'm fine. I will report you EVERYTHING when I'm online - hopefully on the weekend! lots of kisses!!!