Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
Valentine's Day in Austria is another one of those weird holidays, like Halloween, that never used to be celebrated but has gained popularity with younger generations in the last decade or so. Store shelves are lined with heart-shaped chocolates, bottles of chocolate liqueur, and flowers of all varieties. When I was at the grocery store today, an employee dressed up in a black tuxedo and red bow tie was giving daffodils to each woman walking out the door, so now I have a daffodil sitting in a vase on my windowsill. It hasn't bloomed yet, and hopefully I don't kill it before it does!

This past week has been fairly quiet otherwise. I didn't have any classes because the schools in Vienna are closed for the semester break. Vienna's school break was actually a week earlier last year, but since the dates this year coincide with school breaks in Germany, Holland, and Belgium, the Austrian Minister of Tourism asked the schools in Vienna and Lower Austria to postpone their break by one week. Why? For the skiers, of course! There aren't enough lodges in the Alps to accommodate so many visitors, assuming that families from Austria, Germany, Holland, and Belgium all decide to go skiing over the break. In the words of the tourism minister: if the school breaks are all held at the same time, everyone will suffer.
Imagine living in a country where tourism dictates school schedules!