New Year's Eve

"Tomorrow is the first page of a 365 page book. Write a good one!" - Brad Paisely

It's the end of one heck of a year. 12 months of ups and downs have come to an end and we thought is there a better way of welcoming a new year than by concluding a list of our new years resolutions? -Definitely not!

1. Finish high school! From May to June we will hopefully pass the Matura, our final exam at school. 

2. The classic. Get fit! Assuming that just about everybody is challenging them to start working out in the new year, we are no exception either.

3. Be courageous! We will hopefully stop worrying about the future and get less stressed out from what's to come. We just wanna be ourselves and don't care about other people's opinins.

4. We wanna make an effort to upload posts on a regular basis. You can expect one every sunday.

5. Finally, we promise that we'll try to stick to these resolutions for more than a week. ;)

We wish a happy new year! See you 2015 -sober and full of motivation!

Alex and Juno xx

Stereotypes

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries" - Aldous Huxley

This year is getting to an end and we decided to clear up some stereotypes about Austria. Here we go!

We wear “Dirndl” and “Lederhose” every day.

We are sorry, but that’s definitely not true! These days, there are many, especially young people and adolescents, who would never wear a Dirndl or a Lederhose. Nevertheless, we have to confess, they are becoming more popular.

We smoke a lot. 

Yes, that’s a real problem here in Austria. Smoking is everywhere: in bars, restaurants, on the streets,… You have to get used to it.

We drink a lot of alcohol. (You have to love beer!)

Yes, that is true! Mostly young people between the age of 16 and about 20 go out weekly and drink until they forget where they are. We think the main reasons for this “problem” are limp drinking laws. (We are allowed to consume alcohol at the age of 16.) Drinking (particularly bear) is really trendy these days! It is not for nothing, that we are among the top three biggest bear drinkers in the world. ;)

We drink a lot of coffee.

Yes! Coffee is kind of our second national beverage (next to beer). In Austria coffee always comes with water and a kind of cookie on the side, which is great! Maybe you have heard of one of our famous “Kaffeehäuser” (=coffee shops)? They are worth stopping by and having some delicious coffee (and some Sachertorte)!

We are excellent “Jodler” and sing all the time.

No, that’s false! We are neither great “Jodler” nor is singing our daily pastime. Maybe you have heard of Falco, Udo Jürgens or Rainhard Fendrich?

What do you think about those stereotypes?

See you soon!

Alex and Juno xx 

24th of December in Austria

As a little christmas present for you, we thought we'd do a post on Christmas Eve. For us it is a much more important day than the 25th because the Christ child comes to the houses in the evening and brings the Christmas tree and presents. In general it's a day spent with family, eating cookies, listening to Christmas songs and waiting in quite some excitement for that bell's chime. We've each written down a little piece describing our versions of the 24th of December:

Juno:

It has turned into quite the tradition for me and my family to visit my grandma for lunch. Every year she fries sausages, a traditonal christmas food in Austria, and we have coffee and cookies together. In the afternoon, we lie down a little and relax to refill the batteries for the evening. By this point my seven-year old brother is already bursting with excitement and couldn't wait any longer. Around 6pm, the Christ child then finally comes and we get to see the beautiful and usually 4.5m high tree. At about 8pm my dad makes a big and very yummy dinner. We then just sit around with smiles on our faces enjoying family time.

Alex:

Every year, my family and I, we walk to a small village near my home village and go to church. After church we go home and my brother, my grandmother and I prepare our Christmas dinner, usually sausages and for me a vegetarian dish (I’m a vegetarian). During that time, my parents prepare everything for the so-called “Bescherung”. They decorate the tree and prepare our presents. At 6pm we eat dinner together and afterwards, when the “Christmasbell” rings, we go upstairs to celebrate our “Bescherung”, eat cookies and drink some “Punsch” (a mixture made out of tea and orange juice).

We hope you enjoy Christmas as much as we do, wherever you are. Have a good last few days of the year and spend as much time with your loved ones, as you can!
Want to see the cutest Christmas video?
See you next sunday! 

Juno and Alex xx

Last-minute Christmas presents

If you are like us and you're always late when it comes to buying Christmas presents for your loved ones, we've got you covered. The following ideas are all presents you can get easily ahold of and don't need to rush around for ages searching for them.

Best Friend:
- Mason Jar: filled with all the goodies you can possibly think of. Candles, bath bombs, bath oils, lip scrub, face masks, hair masks, fuzzy socks, lufa, hair ties, bobby pins, chewing gum,...

 

- Cosmetics: if your best friend is a beauty lover these gifts might float her boat: Eyeshadow palette, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush palette, Jo Malone perfume, brush set from Zoeva or Bobbi Brown (they did a really nice one this year)

Parents:
- a really funny film you can watch as a family: Serial (Bad) Weddings
- invitation to a wine tasting event

Grandparents:
- calender for 2015 with some nice family pictures of you all together
- a bottle of really good wine

Partner:
- voucher for an evenig together or a day trip to go hiking or to a thermal bath
- candle-light dinner

Siblings:
- take them to the movies to see a new film that's just come out
- petrol lighter (I believe that that's an appropriate gift for both sexes)

school/work friend:
- a mug filled with gingerbread cookies and tea
- bottle of sparkly with a nice card (the law in Austria is different and so we are allowed to drink alkohol at the age of 16)

We hope that these gift ideas were of use to you and saved you a lot of time and embarrassment!
See you again soon!

Juno and Alex xo

Our favourite Christmas songs

Seeing as it is almost Christmas, we like to get into the festive spirit by replaying that Christmas playlist over and over. Here we've compiled a list of our top 5 picks:

1. The Pogues - Fairytale of New York

2. Slade - Merry Xmas Everyone

3. Coldplay - Christmas Lights

4. Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone

5. Train - Shake Up Christmas

I hope you like our list and feel free to share yours with us in the comments!
See you next Sunday!

Alex and Juno xo

Winter colds: how to survive them

Especially in this time of year, when the temperature drops below 0°C and the weather gets nastier, it often just so happens that you catch some bacteria and end up with a cough and a clogged nose. Now the worst you could do at this point is just pretend that nothing has happened and go on like before. Doing that you’ll think that you are brave for attempting to power through. You, however, will just end up dragging your cold along for weeks. So in order to avoid you ruining your advent, we’ve compiled a little list in collaboration with Sophienderella:

- don't overdo it: Especially in the weeks leading up to Christmas, everybody has a lot to do, be it at our workplace or at school. Do not just carry on like normal, take a step back and if needed, stay home one or two days, it’ll actually work wonders, trust me.

- stay hydrated: (Writing this, I feel like a fitness trainer in a workout video on Youtube right now :D) Be it tea, water, beer,… drink whatever floats your boat and drink as much as you can! It will help wash out all that’s making you feel under the weather at the moment.

- get comfy: grab your favourite pair of sweat pants and use them for exactly the opposite of what they were designed to be used for. That’s right people: full permission to lay in bed all day being all snuggly! Oh and in case that didn’t already come across, don’t even worry about making yourself up.

- Vitamins: Eat a lot of fruit to supply your body with as much vitamin C as you can. You will be surprised how good it actually feels to taste tangerines and oranges when you aren’t feeling your best!

- Distractions: Unless you want to constantly think of your cold, find something to do. Watch TV, Youtube videos or, if you are feeling super fancy, read a book (:D). Take a lot of naps and go to bed early, to give your body the rest it needs to get better again.

Wrap yourself in warm winter clothes and maybe leave that cute mini dress in the closet when it’s freezing outside. I hope you are heaving a nice advent and a little more snow than we are experiencing here in Austria (damn you global warming!). And in case you are having a cold right now I hope you get well soon!
Feel free to share your tips in the comments below! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and we will see you next Sunday.

Alex, Juno and Sophie xo