Trying...

As you can see I am trying desperately to catch up with everything that is going on. I hate being behind, but it just happens basically traveling every weekend. AND tomorrow I leave for Barcelona for a week, so then that will make me even farther behind than now. SO as of now all I have left is Prague and the Munich Beer Fest.

I'm so proud that I have almost caught up. I did all my homework on Friday, so now I don't really have anything to do....well that is kind of a stretch of the truth. I have a presentation on May 8th and don't have any info for that at all, but oh well I still have time. I guess I still have to pack for tomorrow too but like I said I just want to do this!

Sorry if this is going to be boring for people - don't read this one if it is, but I feel like I have to just write something. All my posts have been about me going places and doing things and not really about my everyday life. I mean...maybe it's just boring so I don't feel like I have to write about it or that it just might be boring for people to read too....

Anyways, so the last week or so I was studying a lot because I had a German midterm which was going to be killer as well as a Culture test and a folk art one this week. I got a 1 on my German TEST!!!!! I was so excited when I got it back because I have gotten 2's on everything in that class so I thought there was no way....but I did it! YAY! I haven't gotten back my other tests but they weren't too bad so I'm not worried. Tomorrow my Culture class got cancelled, Tuesday I don't have Business Comm, Thursday it's Austria Day/May Day (I'm a little sad I will be missing out on those festivities) so we don't have school, and I don't have class on Friday so its just perfect for going to Spain. I'm only missing 3 classes so it worked out great! Plus the flights this way went from around 236 Euros to only 90. That will do it too :)

Another thing that is on my mind too is leaving to go back to the states. I am really not ready to go back at all. This has flown by faster than anyone can even imagine. I've almost been here for 3 months and I go home in almost a month. We have a rule that we aren't going to talk about it, but it's so hard because you can feel it coming. I honestly feel like I have known some of these people my entire lives and thinking of going back to our own Colleges and Universities just breaks my heart. I know that I will still talk to the ones I care about the most, but it still is going to be hard. I'm ready for my friends at home too, but just thinking of summer school and working everyday is just not appealing, especially compared to the life I'm living right now. Then the even larger thought of me graduating in a year is even more freaky. We aren't even going to go there....

But yeah I don't really think there was that big of a point to this, but it's ok - maybe I'm better now! :) Make any comments on here if there is anything my fans want from me - haha. But really, if you want to know anything comment and I will try and write some about life abroad...

As for now....I'm out.

Little Trip...

One of the classes on our program is a WWII class and they had an excursion to Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus) - Hitler's getaway in a small part of the German Alps. Other people could come even if you weren't in the class - it was just 10 euros which was a good deal to get there and back.

So we get to where we are going and I was thinking...hmm...the Eagle's Nest is up there...why are we down here? Well it actually doesn't open until May and it is just a restaurant, so we went to the little museum that they have and the professor lectured on every little thing there.

Driving up to the Eagle's Nest

There's the Eagle's Nest at the top of that mountain...this is as close as I got

A good view from the museum

A bunker underground that is opened to the public. It was incredibly huge!!

Later that day Emily's friend Catherine came into town (from Florence - who took us around there) with Andrew and Max (goes to UT but studying in Florence) and also Caroline (Emily's friend studying in Paris). We took them around Salzburg - the pastry shop, the sausage stand, Augustiner, annndddd we went to the Stiegl Brewery! We hadn't been either so it was pretty fun.

Picture of part of the outside

We walked through the museum and literally only saw like 2 people, so it was cool that we had it all to ourselves.

This is my favorite picture of the day. haha. What Salzburg is all about...beer and mountains. Well not really, but I thought it was funny.

Equipment

Beer fermenting/brewing

Caitlin and I in front of a huge beer pyramid!

We got to then sample 3 types of beer and got some type of salt/wheat flat chip/paper. I don't know...haha. I got some souvenirs and you also got a "free" gift included with the price of the tour. I got a glass that says Stiegl Salzburg. We went to the Augustiner and they really enjoyed it. We sat outside which was really cool because it hasn't really been warm enough to. They had all the lights on and I definitely want to go back again when it gets even warmer.

Prague weekend...

Getting back to Prague...we had to meet at 6:45 in the morning - but our bus ended up being late (so the 5 people who slept in actually made it...lucky them) and we didn't leave until like 7:30. It takes around 7 hours to drive there. There are no main highways once you get out of Austria, so it was basically windy small roads half the way.

We arrived in the afternoon, checked into our hotel and then had a city tour arranged for us. The lady didn't really talk much about the city in general I thought - just more about the architecture of the buildings...and her tour was like 3 hours long.




A theater by our hotel - pretty huh?




The astronomical clock in one of the main squares




Me in front of a church




The Charles Brigde in the background (it's a stone Gothic bridge that connects the old town with the new town)


After we got back from the tour, the hotel had a dinner prepared for us. The first course was caviar on boiled eggs. Gross. Then the main meal was really good it was chicken and fried dough balls? haha. Then we got fruit and ice cream as dessert. It was just cool that they set that up for us! That night we wanted to go to the largest club in Central Europe, so we did!




The same church in the plaza that I took a pic of before - now just at night. I think it looks really awesome!

The club's side in the middle of the day




The board when you go in telling you what is on each floor!! haha. This was awesome!


The lower level was just rap, the 2nd was techo and crazy lights, the 3rd was 70's and 80's, the 4th was a dance off, and the 5th was a "chill out" floor. Basically 5 clubs in 1. I had a really great time here just dancing!


Us at the club

The next day we had all free to do what we wanted, so we picked to go to Prague Castle. Anna (Caitlin's friend who has lived in Prague for 5 years - but from Austin - told us this was a must! She was back in the states when we came, but is coming now to visit Salzburg and we are going around here, Innsbruck, and Munich). We walked a pretty long way there and it was sprinking the entire time. The bad news was that the ancient section of Prague Castle (which is actually a ton of separate buildings was closed. boo).




But here is the church that is part of it - St. Vitus Cathedral



Here is some of the stained glass that was inside. This part was the best because every one was so detailed and different - they were all along the outside of the church.




Me outside another part of Prague Castle




A kind of crappy view of Prague - weather-wise, but cool nonetheless

We then walked a different way back and went to a bagel place...yumm...then saw the Jewish cemetery in Prague. It was closed because of a holiday, but what our friend Maggie told us was that they just kept burying people on top and on top of each other so the graves kind of come out of the ground.



The old Jewish cemetery


So I really wanted to eat Mexican food and Anna had recommended this one Mexican restaurant because it was supposed to be really great! The only thing is you have to call for reservations and by the time we did, it was already full until 10 - and it was pretty far from our hotel, so that was a bust :( We asked the hotel front desk lady where to go for Mexican food and she told us a place close by. We walked there, definitely no resturants in sight, so we just walked and then food a Chinese food place. That night we then wanted to go to a place that Catherine (Emily's friend studying in Florence) had told us about. We got ready and walked there...

This place probably had about 20 tables with taps right in the middle of the table. Some of the people from our group were already there, so we joined them!

Our table

So they have screens on the wall that tell you how many 1/2 liters you had drank compared to the other tables. We were table 14 - this is ours at the beginning - 12.

Me, Michelle, and Keegan

Here is the first time we got into 1st place!!! Table 15 and ours kept going back and forth - they were a soccer team from somewhere in Europe.

Here is ours at the end of the night - 87 1/2 liters! I actually think that there might have been another picture, but I left and this is Caitlin's picture.

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel around 8 and left to head back to Salzburg. BUT we had a stop along the way...Cesky Krumlov. It was a somewhat small Czech town that was just really beautiful!! We had a guided tour there as well and then got some free time to grab a bite to eat!

A really cool bridge that we walked across

A view from the top!

A Czech specialty...so good.

Me in the city by the river. We ate right on the bank and it was just a great way to end the trip.

The only thing that I think our program should change is leaving earlier, because we really only got 1 full day in Prague and I think that I would have appreciated it much more if I had more time. It was a cool city, but I needed a couple more days!!

Italy, Slovenia, & Croatia trip...

(4-12 & 13-08)

So two of the girls that are on our program live in a homestay and their house frau (house mom basically) organized a trip for anyone who wanted to go to Italy (Trieste), Slovenia (Piran/Portoroz), and Croatia (Umag). If you are wondering how might that be possible to do in 2 days, they are really close together on the coast.

As if we haven't done enough traveling, we decided to go. It was only 150 Euro for the bus ride to all the places, a calamari lunch, 1 night in a hotel (with breakfast and dinner buffet), and a visit to caves in Slovenia. Just getting there would have cost a lot more than that, so I thought this would be really fun.

We left Saturday at 5am to begin our trip. The bus driver announces if everyone has their passport, don't ask why but I didn't even think to bring it, so I had to run back home to get it. Thank goodness we only like like 7 minutes away. But that was a good way to start off the day right. haha. Frau Schöttke had brought us little treats and sandwichs for the bus ride. Just to get a picture in your mind she is a 72 year old lady, but really hilarious as well. She brought like 3 friends along and then there were 16 students.

We basically just drove for around 6 hours with a few potty breaks and then stopped at a castle in Trieste. It was absolutely beautiful on the outside (we didnt get to go in because of some type of party going on) and there were lovely gardens and trails and the castle was right on the water too.

Castle Miramare

Me posing in front of the bay area

Our whole group at the castle

hahha. Frau Schöttke looking for us - it wasn't raining, but that was her tour guide umbrella

Me and the castle

So after that stop in Italy we continued our drive and entered Slovenia (it's part of the EU so we didn't have to stop there at the border).

I caught this sign - its amazing that I did so too because we were going really fast by it and I had to rip out my camera, turn it on, zoom in and just aim around Caitlin. It's not spectacular, but I thought it was pretty good for all of that. haha.

Driving through Slovenia was only like 15 minutes, then we arrived at the Croatian border (which is not part of the EU yet, although trying to become a member) to get our passports checked. Being nerds like we are, they stamped them so we could have a Croatia stamp haha. We then drove to the restaurant that we were scheduled to have our lunch. It was a really nice place and we got one free drink and our calamari with fries.

Our lunch

We then drove some more and stopped at a little place to just look at the ocean/sea/body of water. We walked around on the little beach area and collected some shells and beach glass.

Caitlin and I in front of the beach in Croatia

Modern technology at its finest

We jumped back on the bus and took it to our hotel. It was really nice and had great views of the water (we had a balcony as well). The dinner didn't start until later so we ventured into town to have a look around. It was just extremely peaceful and not overcrowded like every other city we have been to so it was really nice just to see a place for its natural beauty.

The city of Umag, Croatia

After a little self-guided tour, we went to eat the dinner buffet. I was actually not feeling too well so just had soup and ice cream. The smell of all the seafood was just making me feel sick, so we tried to hurry a little bit. We headed up to our room (Caitlin, Macy and I) and just started watching tv. It got kind of stormy outside so we didn't want to treck the 30 minutes into town, so we settled for a nice night in. Then again getting up at 3:45 in the morning and traveling all day does tend to wear a person out. We watched The Bone Collector and American Pie 2 in English with Slovenian or Croatian subtitles. haha.

The next morning we got up and had the buffet breakfast. I was feeling much better and really enjoyed all of the food. We didn't check out until 11 so we had time to walk along the shore around our hotel. It was pretty cool and we found interesting things along the way...

Ok - so this is the longest earthworm I have ever seen. It's hanging from this stick and I'm comparing it with my hand. ew.

Um... no explanation, just me standing on a rock

Our little hermit crab friend

Us searching around feeling like we are on one of those study abroad trips that have classes on the beach and explore all day aka oceanography

We checked out at 11 and started our driving again. We stopped in Slovenia on the way back in Portoroz and Piran.

Slovenia

Me in front of the sailboats

A group of us waiting (Clayton, Caitlin, Brynna, Leah, me, Macy, and Kirstin)

Look closely and you can see a jellyfish in the water!

Also while we were just sitting on the wall we saw this guy doing a handstand on his windsurfer's board...if that is what its called. haha.

So we then left Piran and started our drive back home. Our next stop was at caves in Slovenia. I really wanted to go because I'm totally into stuff like that, but the only catch was that it was another hour before the English tour, the tour lasted around 1.5 hours and then we still had to eat and drive home. We took and vote and democracy sucks because only like 4/16 wanted to do it. :( But anyways, the drive home was hilarious. It went by so fast because we were just quoting movies, you tube videos and telling stories the entire way, so that was awesome.

We ended up not getting back too late, probably around 7 or 8. Something like that. But seriously this was an amazing trip. I liked how it was smaller than our huge group but then again not just a couple of us. Another great thing was that even though it was crappy weather (I feel like I say this all the time), every time we got off the bus to see something it would stop. It was so weird, but obviously awesome as well.