Wow...

I don't even know what to write because I'm kind of just in a state of shock still. I'm basically not believing that I am leaving at all. It just feels like I am going through the day not really thinking about it. I haven't gotten upset or anything - I think once again because I am not letting myself believe it yet. It will probably hit me like a week after I get home. Then again it really sucks going back to reality. This has been an amazing time of my life and the best 4 month vacation ever. :) But once I get home school starts like 3 days later then I will be doing that all summer. I want to get into grad school so it's just what I have to do...and also work in order to at least have some money since the Euro is way better than the dollar. When I get home, I think I will be like...oh wow it is so cheap in the US!!! This is only 10 dollars - wow that's only like 6.3 euros!! haha.

But as for now I have to finish packing - 3 bags...gross. Then it's basically just spending my last day in Salzburg and hitting up some of my favorite places. The shuttle picks Caitlin and I up at 2:25 in the morning. We then drive to Munich then just kind of wait at the airport until our flight leaves from Munich to Frankfurt at 7:00am. Then our next flight doesn't leave until 10:00am - 2 hour layover. We fly straight from Frankfurt to Houston - 10.5 hours. BOO. We get into Houston at 1:35 in the afternoon.

We are the first people to leave Salzburg. It can be a good or a bad thing - seeing everyone, but being away first. At least I guess I won't have to watch everyone else leaving - but then again a different shuttle comes for different people at our separate houses.

I think that Salzburg was a perfect choice for me and I can't wait to come back and visit someday. Goodbye to everyone and everything here. I wish you the best in your lives!!

Events in the last week...

It's coming down to less than a week left here in Salzburg. On Monday I had my last culture class and final. I then had my last folk art class and final on Wednesday. So now it's 2 classes down and 2 to go.

On Thursday our professor for culture decided to have a get-together in the park next to his house then walk over and have a drink at his house. What a nice guy, no one would really ever do that at school! But anyways, we went and it was so much fun just hanging out. He played on the playground with us and it was hilarious. We then walked over to his house where he had made homemade fruit punch for us. He also has triplets that just turned 1 year old last month. They are pretty much the most precious things and they entertained us the whole time!!

The part of our class that made it to his party in his backyard

The triplets - (L to R) - Laura, Valentina, Sophia

Haha. Their 3 swings on the porch

Valentina

Sophia with Laura in the background

My favorite baby and picture

Then on Friday I decided that I wanted a little get together with my best friends on the program before we all have to study and eventually leave - so we had a taco dinner which was amazing - especially the appetizers and desserts as well that everyone brought. Afterwards we played some card games and then came to my room to watch a video I had made. I had been working on it for like 2 weeks and it ended up being around 36 mins long with pictures and videos throughout the semester. It was really a great time looking back at everything that we have done.

Part of our table of food! haha...Austrian salsa is a joke! more like ketchup :)

Group picture at the table with everyone eating!

The ultimate taco that was so big it wouldn't close and we all took a bite of it.

Then today, Saturday, we finally went to Schloss Hellbrunn which we had a free pass to from AIFS as well as a pass to the Wasserspiele (Water Gardens/Trick Fountains). It was such a great day outside that we made the decision to walk there from our house (Caitlin, Michelle, Leah and I). It took around an hour and 15 minutes...I think - but we also stopped to take some pictures of Salzburg. I will share a few!

Our German building on Akademiestrasse

The building on Rudolfskai where our Culture class was 1 time a week

Caitlin and I behind the fortress

We got to the Trick Water Fountains, waited in line a bit, got our tickets, waited again then entered the gardens. So I thought it was going to be like you kind of just sit around and watch lights and water shoot all out of the ground...not so.

Michelle and I before the fun started

You can see a little water squirting here

Basically there is a tour guide that leads you around and points out different objects or you go into rooms and he tells you info about them...then when you are "least expecting it" or just plain confused he flips switches and squirts everyone with water - from the ground, ceiling, walls, objects....haha. Everyone screams and tries not to get wet.

Caitlin and I walking in the gardens

Right as they walk through he sprays them full force. haha.

Me in the gardens afterwards

Some huge fish in the pond

An even bigger fish in the pond

The three of us

Sound of Music gazebo - I am 16 going on 17...

We then just walked all the way back home and stopped at a market on the river to see if they were selling anything worthwhile. I didn't really find anything and I was getting tired for having been gone for like 5 hours - and all on my feet.

But I did take the most famous picture of Salzburg!

Basically we then came home and were all exhausted, cooked dinner, typed a little of my paper, and am here now at my computer. I still can't believe that there are only 5 days left, it's crazy!!

Weird Things about Austrians...

1. They must going shopping at least 5-7 times a week because they only check out with like 3 items at the grocery store.

2. They never say excuse me - even if they basically run you over. If you are in their way, then it's just too bad because they will do anything to get to it/what they want.

3. I feel like the kids never have school. They are always around the city doing what that want at like 11 in the morning or just randomly at any time. They also go everywhere on their own. Yep...5 years old just riding the bus and doing what they want. Independence is a virtue.

4. Some people feel the need to use Razor scooters as a means of transportation. I'm talking like I've seen 50 year old women.

5. No matter how "hot" it might be they always have on a coat. 80 degrees = not cold.

6. Bikes have power over people here. You hear a bell ding - you better get over!

As for now that is all that I can think of even though are way more weird things out there. :)

Nature Day...

AIFS planned the trip that we took on Friday and I thought that it was just going to the Dachstein Ice Caves, but we ended up stopping in 2 places on the way home and it just kind of became a nature day!


Us in the back seat of the bus


We stopped to take a picture in front of the lake!

So basically we drove around 1.5 hours to the Ice Caves and took a cable car up to the area where they were, and then had to hike about 20 minutes up the mountain to the entrance of the caves. There was a really big group and the tour guide gave it in English and German.


Their scared faces
The first part of the cave was dry (meaning there wasn't ice in it) and then around 3/4 of it was ice. Here is a picture of a stalagtite

Here is where it started turning into the ice part. The caves open in May because if not it is pretty full with ice and now it's just starting to melt (at parts the handrail was covered in a block of ice)

Some more of the ice sculptures

More ice

This part was awesome. It's called the Ice Cathedral. They also had lights within the cave that would go on and off to light up different areas so that was pretty cool.

Me walking out of the entrance. It was a breathtaking view of the mountains and lakes.

We stopped for lunch and to walk around at Hallstatt a little cute Austrian city. This is Leah and Michelle - some of my good friends that live with me in St. Sebastian.

We walked aroung for a bit and explored this tiny city - that took about 20 minutes. haha.

A waterfall right in the town

Isn't it just cute!

Caitlin with her Eiskaffee :)

We then left here and made another stop at a gorge and did a 30 minute hike around it.

Me and the gorge...haha

Here's a picture of the rushing rapids - we saw some kayakers go down it and it said that it was a level 4 of 6 difficulty. Pretty crazy.

It was a great day, but extremely exhausting. I had wanted to see the lakes before we left, so this was a perfect opportunity - I wish we could have relaxed more rather than hike all day, but it was still cool. I only have 10 days left, so trying to cram everything in is getting difficult!!

WHAT...

This is amazing....I am finally up to date. Tomorrow we are going to the Ice Caves so then I will have another post right after that, but still...currently as we speak...I am here! haha.

We leave at like 8:45 and don't get back until around 5 or 6. It's a long day. Besides the Ice Caves we are also visiting like 2 other places/cities/lakes so it will be cool to do that. But really I can't believe that we are going home in 2 weeks...it's absolutely crazy.

Today we had a depature meeting so then it really started feeling real. We also went around to all the shops to scope out which had the best souvenir prices. It seems like we were planning this a long time ago and once again...it's here...

We also went to the top of Hotel Stein which has an outdoor cafe looking over the city and watched the sun set the best we could through some clouds and talked about stuff that had happened this semester. It was a really good time, but at the same time sad.

There are still things that I haven't done in Salzburg that I am going to try and shove in these last 13 days I'm here. I have a final on Monday and one on Wednesday, (and some more the next week...as well as packing which I am so not talking about right now...) so I also have some school work to do in between these as well. As for now...Auf Wiedersehen!

Girls Trip...

There is so much that went on between last Thursday and finally this Thursday. Anna (her mom and Caitlin's mom work together in Austin - she has been living in Prague for almost 5 years) came into town to visit! I met her outside St. Sebastian for the first time - Caitlin was in class - and that began our adventure. We cooked dinner for her then took her out to Augustiner. It was such a nice night and we all sat outside. Emily's parents from Connecticut were in town as well as other friends of people on our program so it was a fun with all the people who hadn't left Salzburg yet to travel.

Us 3 at the Beer Garden

I think that this picture is so cute - outside Augustiner

Of course we had to stop for some 50 cent kraut!

The next morning we woke up, cooked some breakfast and took Anna to Mirabell Gardens. It's not all blooming yet, but much more than before since it has finally started to get warm.

Caitlin and me in the gardens

After that we just kind of wandered around Salzburg, showed her some of the main attractions, got some pastries, and took some pictures. We then walked down the river to the perfect spot to get a picture of the Aldstadt during the day. (At night it is absolutely gorgeous, but hard to capture in a photo - believe me....we tried)

Salzburg

After packing some sandwiches for the road, all 3 of us headed off in her car to Innsbruck where we would meet the other 2 girls going with us. It was nice just being able to drive and leave at whatever time you want, stop when you want, etc. However, it did feel kind of funny driving around Europe because we haven't been in a car (besides a taxi) since we have been here.

It was perfect timing, as soon as we got to Innsbruck, parked and walked to the track, their train pulled up. The other 2 girls (Megan and Paige) go to TCU and Megan's sister is best friend's with Anna. They had also visited her in Prague this semester since they were both studying in Florence! Hope that wasn't too confusing. But we checked into our hotel and decided to explore Innsbruck. They had never been there so we looked at a couple of the main sites and that was about it.

View from our hostel's street

Us tasting liqueurs

We got hungry so then looked around at a few places before deciding on Augustiner in Innsbruck! haha. It was really nice outside and I enjoyed the food and company.


Our Austrian cuisine


We packed the Skoda (the car) up and then headed for Neuschwanstein Castle (also known to some people as where Disney got the idea for their castles) in Fussen, Germany. This part was really awesome because we were just driving through the Alps and getting to really take in the beauty. It is still amazing to me that there is all this snow at the top in May. I can't even imagine this area in the winter!



Us in front of the Alps - we timed the camera (which was on top of books) on top of the car


Our first sighting of the castle!


OK RANDOM - we pulled into the parking lot of the castle and I'm standing outside of the car just waiting for everyone. A car pulls in next to us and I just glance inside....guess what? It's freaking Alexandra Feehery. She is studying abroad in Germany and we were trying to figure out a way to meet, but it just wasn't going to work out. I have known her since Sacred Heart and then we went to Montgomery together too. What a coincidence, seeing her at the exact day, time, place we are there...


We decide to take a bus to Marion's Bridge to get a great view of the castle. This bridge is like 100 years old, wide enough for 2 people, crowded, and it is windy and high. Let's just say that I was scared....haha. BUT we did get awesome pictures from it.

The epitome of castles

Us eating our packed lunch on the other side of the bridge

See the waterfall - look straight up - the line connecting the two mountains...the bridge where we were

Here is a zoomed in picture from the castle of the bridge



Cool picture of the surrounding area which was gorgeous


An illegal picture I took inside


We then finished up with the castle and started our drive toward Munich. The girls had never been there before either and really wanted to go to the Hofbrauhaus. I had only been once during the day so we went there to get some dinner and have some beers in the crazy German atmosphere.

After walking around for a while, we found a table in the middle of the big room - awesome seats and especially for 5 of us. We order some food and beer and are just having a good time talking. Two American guys came up and asked if they could sit with us, so they took a seat and we started talking. Turns out that they went to Duke and Stanford and work for Microsoft in London...hmmm. loaded much? Basically as the night goes on they order us more beer, we play card games, and they buy all of our food, pretzels, drinks, etc. Let's just say it was around 175 euro...HAHA. Good times.



Paige, Caitlin and Anna drinking their free beer!

Me and my stein

All of us posing for the pic

After the Hofbrauhaus fun, we went back to the hostel to find a 50 year old Indian man in our room (we had 5 of the 6 beds AND the hostel said that no one else was going to be put in there...). He seriously got up at like 4am to start his rituals of getting ready for the day. He would yell out questions to us like, "where are you from, how long are you here, have you been to India, are you taking a fast train??" WHAT THE HECK? haha. He made a HUGE mess in the bathroom where we couldn't really even go in. Let's just say that Megan and Paige took their train home and the rest of us left for Prague!

The drive back was fun just to go thought Germany and then the Czech Republic. There were these yellow fields everywhere so we finally had to stop to take a pic.

Caitlin and me in the fields!

We then decided that we wanted to visit these caves in the CR - so after a long ride through many small rodes we finally made it there. It was pretty sweet to think that this was under some random hill!

One of the main caverns...cool. At one point they turned out the lights and you couldn't see an inch and your eyes didn't adjust or anything. It was pretty freaky.

We then stopped at a little castle/village. It was another nice little stop to walk around then get some ice cream.

The castle!

We got to Prague and went to Anna's house. Her boyfriend Leo had cooked us dinner (chicken, rice, potatoes, spinach, broccoli). It was amazing!! That night we just chilled around her house - which was crazy to think that we were in Prague at this time and watched half of Forrest Gump since Caitlin is apparently not American and hadn't seen it :)

The next morning Anna cooked us a great breakfast of pancakes!! We then went to this chateau, buttttt it was closed...so we opted for the next best thing. The Prague ZOO! It is ranked 7th best in the world by Forbes. I think that it lived up to it's standards, because it was really amazing! It was a perfect day and not crowded at all and we honestly had a great time.

2 little animals

A tiger yawning

One of the best pictures I have taken - looks unreal or like a postcard

After the zoo we drove up to a beer garden overlooking Prague (the Czech Repulic by the way has the most beer consumption/person in the world at around 157 liters/yr). It was nice to relax our feet and look at the city.

Us walking around Prague on the Charles Bridge

THEN we had reservations at Cantina to eat some Mexican food!! haha. It was nice just to be in that atmosphere and get some fajitas. They definitely weren't as good as home, but it was great just to have a taste.

We started walking back to where the car was parked and decided to take night pictures on the Charles Bridge. Anna has a little bendy tripod to set down so it doesn't make them as blurry. It was so funny watching us set this thing up and run to get in the picture. Believe me, we were entertaining everyone. haha.

A good one of all of us and the Prague Castle in the background

We went back, drank some coffee and finished Forrest Gump. The next day our train was leaving at 3 so we had some breakfast and then went to some secret gardens in the city. It was awesome getting to have a guide that has lived there for so long and also plans weddings so knows where the hot spots are. There was barely anyone here and you got great views!!

Caitlin and I at the top of the gardens

Another picture of us in front of the bridge

We then went to get some sandwiches for the ride home, got our stuff and went to the train station. Anna let me borrow the book Lovely Bones so I had something to read on the way home! I also bought an English book for only like 5 euros which was great considering the ones in Salzburg are like 8-11! Long story short, we got home at like 11:30 and was supposed to get there at 10 because our connecting train was late. boo. Long ride home.

It literally felt like we were going back home to the US when we left Prague and Anna. We hadn't seen the people on our program in like a week and it seemed like we packed up to leave. It is really a reality check that we are going home in 2 weeks. scary. I was just saying in my Prague post that I didn't get enough time there, and then I got this opportunity to go back. It was an amazing trip and big thanks goes out to Anna for showing such hospitality by letting us stay with you and your generosity by taking us everywhere we hadn't been yet in Prague. It was a total different experience this time around and I loved every minute!