Arrival in Munich/Salzburg

I'm somewhat trying to get caught up here...

This is on Sunday, February 10th

I didn’t even hear the alarm for the next morning (now February 10, 2008). Thank goodness we had packed all our stuff up the night before because by the time we got ready and went downstairs it was exactly 5:45 – when we were scheduled to leave. All of us checked out, put our bags on the coach, and headed back to Heathrow. We stood outside in the lobby area for a long while they did a group check in, gathered our tickets, and distributed boarding passes. That took around an hour. We then all had to check our bags (there are probably about 35 of us at this time). Originally we were only allowed to have 1 checked bag, but I guess they let us all get away with like 2 or 3 without extra charge because there were so many of us. We went through security and randomly my baggie of liquids got individually tested….hmmm. After that we went to get something to eat – we were starving. What was really annoying is they don’t tell you your gate number until like 30/40 minutes before your flight leaves so we had to sit there until 9 to get that info. Basically this part is kind of boring – we get on the flight, fly, get our baggage, pee, get on the coach, drive away. haha. But driving through Germany was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Little country towns and mountains/some snow on the ground.

One of the magnificant mountains!

View out the bus window!

Finally we got to AUSTRIA – and then to Salzburg. I would say its only around 15 minutes away from the German border. On the bus we got our housing info, calling card, 9 Euros, a piece of chocolate, and some other junk. As soon as we arrived, we took taxis to our new housing arrangements and checked in. Since school here doesn’t start for around another 2 weeks it’s really quiet around here. I’m rooming with Caitlin in a place called St. Sebastian and it is absolutely amazing. It’s so hard to describe because everything is so different here and of course everything is in German so I’m freaking out a little bit. Some people in the program have German families who speak it at home, some have taken it all throughout high school and college, some started in college and then there are the few that have absolutely no background. So I’m hanging with the kids that know it just in case I need them. haha. But yeah, so our room is definitely bigger than the dorm room I’ve had for the past 5 semesters (I think we got a corner one so its awesome). There are also maids that come Mon-Frid to clean up….YES!! Around 16 people live here from our program and we are on the 4th floor along with 2 other rooms (in our program). They shared a foyer and have smaller rooms, so I don’t know what we did to deserve a big room, but who cares because its great!! Then again it does look quite naked since we only brought 2 suitcases.

Caitlin's side of the room

The desk area

My side of the room

The bathroom area - see that box looking thing above the toilet - thats how you flush it. haha.

The other part of the bathroom - small shower

The view looking to the right outside my window

The view to the left

The view kind of down and in the middle.

That is one thing that I really love - being able to open the windows and let the cold air just come into your room. It's basically just great.

After unpacking we met up with the group and went walking around. We are in the middle of the city/university which is very convenient – seeing as some are around 40 minutes (walking) away. The part of the city that I’ve seen so far is all little shops connected with kind of like a cobblestone walk way in the middle. We met up with another group living elsewhere and went searching for a place to eat. Since its Sunday, most everywhere is closed around here but 7 of us found a cool little Italian place. The others just wanted to go to a pub. I ordered broccoli penne pasta and non-sparkling water. The other kids that went with us basically know German pretty well so were teaching us some phrases. I’m already confused. haha. We walked back and I found out that the internet is 15 Euros for 4 weeks, so I signed up for that and got online for the first time in like 4 days….wow I was having withdraws. The only thing is that my computer was dying so I had to figure out how to use the plug converter/adaptor. We have to be at this place at 9 for our orientation so I need to rest. I’m still getting dizzy a lot and think that it’s still just due to a lack of sleep and the altitude. I’m not sure how well my sleeping will go seeing as the pillow we got is basically non-existent and there is one skinny scratchy comforter. It looks like I’ll be going to the store tomorrow.