Settled In

Well, I moved into my new place the other day and it feels good. This is a picture of my house. I like it. And I like my new housemates, too. Andrea is my 'landlady', but she lives here too. She grew up in the house, and she and her brother inherited it. Her brother moved out and she is now renting out the rooms so she can pay him back for his half. She studies Biology in Vienna and takes care of the pets in the house. I can't recall the names of the dogs, but the cat is named Gweny and I don't think she likes me. She doesn't show her face very much, but when she does it is usually to growl at me. She probably has said feelings for me because the dogs, her domestic rivals, have taken a liking to me. Another roommate, Attila, who is in his final year of high school, seems very friendly as well. We have spent a lot of time watching and discussing the dubbed-in-German version of the Simpsons. The show seems to be a hit here as well, as its reruns are broadcast almost as much as in the states. One complaint that he had about the German version, though, is that the original German voice actor for Marge recently passed away, and the new voice just doesn't cut it. Dubbing German scripts over foreign TV shows and movies is widespread. Although the acting quality and timing sometimes takes a hit, for the audience, dubbing is just a more comfortable alternative to reading subtitles. They can also change jokes and lines that would otherwise be irrelevant to those living in the German-speaking world. The German voice actors are, of course, far outnumbered by foreign 'visual' actors, and so this leads to funny overlaps in voices. For example, the same guy who did a voice part for Harrison Ford could do a part for, let's say, Mel Gibson. Weird.
I do also have one roommate that I haven't met. His name is Horst. I'm not sure when we will meet because I am going to Graz until Friday for my program's orientation week. At the end of the week, we will get our first in-class experience in an Austrian high school. Sounds like fun to me. I am looking forward to getting to know some other people in the program, as well as doing a little more wandering around in an unfamiliar city. The two photos at the end are of my street sign and a sunset as seen from Dreipappelstrasse.