Whirlwind Weekend!



                                                                                                           



Part of the group at the Play!





Last Supper scene



My busy weekend started out by having to meet at the train station at 6:20am and boy was that early! We all met at 5:50 to make sure everyone was up and so we could get to the bus in time. We all made it to the train station and headed to Oberammergau. It was about a two hour train ride with an hour stop in Munich. The train ride wasn’t too bad. We all pretty much slept the whole way. We got in to Oberammergau around 11:00. Oberammergau is a beautiful town! It is surround by mountains and it was absolutely gorgeous. My favorite part was there is a large mounting towering over the city and there is a large cross on top. It is really neat! We then walked to our hostel and checked in. It was a pretty nice hostel but one thing I had trouble with was the unisex bathroom! Incredibly awkward! The stalls were right by the urinals and there were definitely a couple times I walked out and saw some old men using the urinal. Ahh! Not something I really want to experience again. Haha! I shared a room with 5 other people and it was really weird because they stuck us with one of the professors and another girl not in our group. There are 6 girls on the trip so we just assumed we would all be in the same room but I guess not. She wasn’t my professor but the other girls agreed it was weird sharing a room with a teacher. She insisted the window be open while we slept and it was soooooo cold! I absolutely froze and did not get any sleep. It was terrible! I broke the quiet hour rules and got in the shower before we were supposed to just because I needed to warm up. Anyway, after we checked in to the hostel we got lunch there and headed to the play. We walked about 10 minutes to the where the building was and there were a ton of people. The building holds 5,000 people and it was definitely sold out. It was interesting because we were for sure the youngest people there. It made me realize how cool of an experience it was for us to be there. It takes people a long time to get that experience and we get it when we are in college. It was pretty cool. The play was absolutely amazing! The first half lasted about 2 ½ hours then we had a 3 hour break and then it went for about 3 hours. It was long but I loved it! The acting and singing was great which is hard to believe because the townspeople put it on. They aren’t actors or anything yet it is amazing! There is a rule that you have to have lived in Oberammergau for 20 years before you can be in the play. We all agreed that the play was a little too long. If it would have been an hour shorter I think it would have been perfect. The whole play was in German but I was surprised how much I could pick up on. They spoke so clearly so it was nice. We also had a book with the English script but in the second half it was too dark to read it. I was completely blown away with the entire production and I feel very blessed to have had the experience. There were some people in our group who weren’t too excited about it but that is there loss. I loved every bit of it!

Ettal

We booked it back to our hostel because we were frozen and it was raining. Not a good combination. Then I didn’t get any sleep that night which didn’t help. The next morning we got up and ready around 8:00am and had breakfast. This was the day I was in charge of planning so I was a little nervous. It is a lot of pressure. It was absolutely pouring and we had an hour walk to another small town planned. I talked to my director and we decided to look into taking a bus. We found a bus and made our way to Ettal. It was a really cute little town but it was cloudy and rainy which didn’t really help. We had planned a tour of the monastery there but with the bus schedule we had to cancel it. In the morning we went to the monastery but didn’t get a tour of it. We saw the church which was beautiful. There was a mass going on so we sat in there for a little while. Since we had some time until our lunch reservation our directors were trying to fill time so we went to the most random place ever. We went to a cheese factory! It was the funniest thing! We had a “tour” of the place but it was basically sitting in a room watching a video about how they make cheese. It was alright just so random! That went longer than we thought and we were late for our lunch reservation. This is when I had to step in to lead us to the restaurant. It was a mess because we saw a sign pointing one way and apparently is was the wrong way. We asked some guys where it was and they pointed us in the other direction. Anyway, we eventually found it and when we got there, there was another issue. We told them we had a reservation and they gave us the blankest stare. It turns out the person I made the reservation with didn’t work there anymore and they didn’t have our reservation. It was all ok because they had room for us but it was kind of a mess. Everyone kept saying how good the food was so that made me feel better. I didn’t like the pressure of planning but I guess it was fine. Everything turned out alright just not the way it was planned but that happens. We had to catch the bus back to Oberammergau to get our train. The bus was every two hours which made things difficult but we got to spend more time in Oberammergau which was nice. A group of us walked around town taking pictures and we visited the church there. I think that is one of my favorite things to do. The churches here are absolutely gorgeous! Nothing like what we have in the states. Once we got to the church I knew I had been to Oberammergau before. We took a trip there in high school but no one ever told us! Haha! We caught our train around 4:30pm and headed to Innsbruck, Austria.

The train ride into Innsbruck was absolutely gorgeous! We all had our windows down trying to take pictures but it was kind of difficult. The pictures do not give it justice anyways. The mountains were covered in snow and it was beautiful! When we got to Innsbruck we walked straight to our hostel and checked in. The hostel we stayed in was specifically built for the 1976 Olympics which was cool but you could definitely tell it was built in the 70’s. Really awful colors! We then went out to get dinner and most of the group went to this restaurant called Al Pacino’s. It had really good pizza and good music so it was a lot of fun. We went to bed right away after that. We were all so tired. I slept a lot better the second night which was good. I woke up at 7:15am and the first thing to pop into my mind was “I just missed Piano Man”. There is a 7 hour time difference and right when I looked at the clock I knew. I was definitely thinking about everyone all weekend but this is when it hit me. We got breakfast at our hostel and headed to the streets of Innsbruck. It was really cool but it was raining which makes everything look worse. I really liked the city. We walked around for a little bit and then we went to the Goldenen Dachl museum which is the Gold Roof museum. It was all about this gold roof which was built in the 1500’s. It was interesting but a whole museum on a roof was not really our thing. We then got lunch at this really nice restaurant. We tried to find a restaurant that wasn’t so fancy but we were kind of stuck since we had to go as a group and they had to accept Visa. We use group money for meals but our director was short on cash so we had to pay all together. It had really good food! I got schnitzel which I am really starting to like. After lunch we were all on our own. We got free tickets to a museum because we are students which was nice so we saw parts of that. We went to the chapel there which was called Hofkirche and it was beautiful!  Then we also saw this show thing which was really strange. I don’t even know how to explain it but we basically walked from room to room and they showed us different things. It was weird.

We went as a whole group and we laughed through the whole thing. Afterwards a group of us went to the other churches in town. I love seeing all the churches because they are all so different. After that we went and saw the Imperial Gardens which weren’t that great. With a name like that I thought they would be amazing but it was just a regular garden. It was pretty but nothing special. In the afternoon we went and got gelato which was yummy. We sat on a bench on the main street and ate our ice cream which was nice. We had to then meet at the train station at 4:15pm. We got on the train and headed back to Salzburg. We had a great weekend but we were all ready to go back home.

On Sunday night there were fireworks because it was the last day of Rupertikertag and it was absolutely amazing! A small group of us went and sat right along the river. They lit the fireworks from the fortress and it was so cool! I have seen better fireworks before but the scenery with the river and the town was breath-taking. We all couldn’t believe that other people missed out on it. It definitely made me think of Katie’s great words of wisdom to never say no to anything. If someone asks if you want to do something you always say yes and I am totally living by that rule! I would have felt so sad to miss something like that. Yes, I was tired but that just doesn’t matter. Time is flying by and there will be time to sleep when I get home! Haha! Monday was a really relaxed day. I got to sleep in because I didn’t have class until 1:00pm which was really nice. I feel so terrible because my roommate told me I was screaming in my sleep! Ahh! I don’t know how to fix it and she probably thinks her roommate is absolutely crazy! Hopefully I won’t do it often. Well that was my weekend which was a lot of fun! It was very busy but I enjoyed every minute of it!











Roommate, Religion, Rum and Rupertikirtag

This week has been pretty laid back but still a lot of fun! We had a big weekend and have a big weekend ahead of us so we decided to relax a bit. Which for our group is not saying much. Monday was a full day of classes so the group didn't do much. Tuesday I only had two classes and did some much needed grocery shopping. More noodles and sandwich makings. Yum! I really need some new ideas of what food to make. Tuesday was Megan P's birthday so we all went out. We were going to go back to the boat bar we went to before but they were closed. The night we went there they said they would be open for her birthday but of course they didn't remember. (I knew they wouldn't be open) And of course Megan was not happy. We ran into the bartender and she whined to him for like 5 minutes. If you can't tell this girl is not one of my favorites. She likes attention and she sure got it that night. It was fun going out together but it got a little too crazy. We have a couple people who get really drunk every time we go out which I somewhat expected but EVERY time they drink it is too far and it got really annoying. Everything was fine but a couple of us got frustrated and left earlier than we would have wanted to.

Rupertikertag

On Wednesday we had an extra class to go to. We had to make up for one of our art classes. It was kind of dumb because the professor was gone for a whole week and she is using up our free time for the class when it was her fault we didn't have the class at all. Now she is going to be gone for 3 weeks so we have to have 3 hour classes in October. I just dont think it is that fair but what can you do? It wasn't so bad because we went to a church in the middle of Salzburg called St. Peter's Church. It was beautiful! She pointed out different types of architecture which was pretty interesting. There was a poster that said they had a special service that night so a couple girls decided to go. After our little art field trip we walked around town because it was the start of Rupertikirtag. It is a big festival in Salzburg with a lot of lederhosen, beer and sausage. There are beer tents and rides. It is like any fair we have at home. We have been having really nice weather this week so its just nice walking around town. We had an hour before we had to get to our other class so Brady and I sat right along the river. It was beautiful! Great views of the city and I just kept thinking how lucky I am to be here. It was great! Later on Wednesday night a couple of us decided to go to the special church service they had at St. Peter's. It was probably one of the most beutiful services I have been to! They had great choral music and the church is just gorgeous! The whole service was of course in German but I could actually pick up a good amount of it. Of course you can tell what is going on just because I know the mass so well. It is so cool to me how universal religion is. Our culture is so different yet when I go to a church in another country it is completely the same. I think it is interesting to think about. After church we all agreed on how much better we felt. There has been some drama lately (so annoying!) so it was just great to relax in a beautiful church. After chuch we of course did the Austrian thing and went to a new bar which was recommended to us by the other bartender, Andreas. It was called the Havana Club. The girls who were annoyed the night before planned it and we invited everyone on the condition that they would not get as drunk as they did before. The bar was really cool and we had a great time! There were about 8 of us who went and it was perfect. The drinks we got there were really good! I had a drink called Oase and it was awesome! It had pineapple juice, orangejuice, banana something and rum. Overall it was a fun and relaxing night! Much better than what happend on Tuesday.

St Peter Church

Today has been an interesting day. I didn't have any class so I slept in. I woke up at 10 and got ready and good thing I did because my roommate came today! Luckily I was done getting dressed and everything. I just had a bad feeling she would come at a really bad time! haha! She is from Poland and guess what her name is? Ola! How crazy is that?! I never thought I would meet anyone by that name and now I know two people. She seems really nice but of course it was kind of quiet. It felt like freshmen year all over again but I'm sure it will get better as time goes on. I'm glad I don't have to keep wondering when my roommate will come. I quickly picked up all of my stuff that was in the room. It wasn't too bad I just had stuff all over the kitchen and bathroom but nothing on her side of the room. In the afternoon a big group of us went into town to see more of Rupertikirtag. I have no idea how to pronounce it but we have all been saying Ruper-teeker-tag which is totally wrong! haha! We sat in the beer tent for a little while which was fun because they have typical German music playing. Everyone said it couldn't even compare to Oktoberfest but it was still fun. There were a ton of people and I like to see everyone in their Dirndls and Lederhosen. Tonight a group is going out to dinner and then going to bed early. We have to be at the train station at 6:20am! It is going to be crazy! We will definitely all be sleeping on the train ride to Oberammergau. There is definitely another place I would rather be this weekend but I am sure I will still have fun. 

Everyone have a great time on Saturday! I will be thinking of all of you and I can't wait to hear all about it! 

CONGRATS KRISTIN AND PHIL!!  : ) 

Prost!

What a great weekend! Just a warning that this is going to be quite a long blog post since there is just so much to say!

On Thursday (9.16.10) I didn’t have any class so Chris P and I went to get our train tickets ready for Oktoberfest. We got a really sweet deal! There is a ticket that takes you to Munich for 28 Euros for five people. I bought three of them for the entire group and they all just paid me back. Since the individual price was 5.60 we decided to tell everyone 6 so I didn’t have to deal with all that change! It was nice because people were fine with it and Chris and I split the extras so we only had to pay about 3 Euros. It was a great deal! J Since the plan was to only go for the day, the ticket included our way there and back. I’m glad that traveling to Munich is so cheap. I have a feeling we will be doing it a lot. After we got the tickets figured out, the group all met to get a tour of the Fortress. It was great because the sun came out right as we got there and it made the view much better. When Mom, Dad and I were there it was a little cloudy. It was nice to see it again because I actually learned something this time. My friend, Steve wasn’t there so I could actually listen to what the audio tour said! Haha! On Thursday night all of the girls in my group decided to go out. We were planning on going to this really cool terrace for some drinks but it ended up being closed. We were all disappointed because it was a really nice night and the view would have been great! Of course there are a lot of other options though! We ended up going to the Salzach Bar which is a boat on the river that stays permanently docked. It was really cool! We were the only ones in there for awhile which was fun because the bartender played any songs we wanted. We all got fancy drinks. We talked to some guys and the bartenders which was fun. They were all really nice and it was fun for me because I was pretty much the translator. It is fun knowing German better than the rest and I think I am getting more confident with it so that is good! Overall it was a really fun night and I think we are heading back to the bar for Megan’s birthday on Tuesday.

Friday was a really calm day. We all knew we had a big day ahead of us so we didn’t really do much. I got some homework done but other than that I did absolutely nothing. I didn’t feel so bad because it rained all day and there isn’t much you can really do. Then Saturday came!! We got up early to get on the bus to the train station and everyone was really excited. I felt a little bit of pressure because I planned all of the train stuff but for the most part it worked out. I looked online and it said the first train was at 9:08 but when we actually got to the train station it said the earliest train was 10:17. I felt bad that I messed up the times but no one really cared at all which was nice. Everyone was really appreciative that I got the tickets so that was good. We just waited until the next train and I then got worried that the train would be full. We saw so many people in their Oktoberfest outfits. Once the train came everything worked out fine! The train was empty when we got on and everyone got to sit next to each other. I could finally relax once we were on the train. The train was about two hours long. Once we got to Munich we figured out a meeting time and everyone kind of split up. We all decided it would be way too difficult to stay in a group of 17. We all started walking towards where the tents were and some people went the wrong way so that is why we got split up a little more than we thought. I was with Kevin and Brady the whole day and it was a lot of fun. When we got to the entrance to Oktoberfest it was crazy! I have never seen anything like it. So many people in crazy outfits! It was basically a large fair with buildings, rides and vendors. The tents looked pretty busy but we decided just to go for it. We went to the Hofbrau tent and were surprised we got in right away. It took a lot of pushing but we eventually got in. Inside was nuts! People shouting, dancing on tables and singing! So great! We figured out that you can’t get a beer unless you are at a table but it was pretty much impossible to find a table. We walked around for a little while and then left. It was fun to experience it though because it is the most famous tent there.

We then found a smaller building that was actually seating people so we got in a lot easier. It was called Wildmoser’s. They sat us at a table and told us we had to be out within an hour and a half which was not a problem at all. We all ordered the classic 1 liter beer and did the classic “Prost!”. It was so great! I have to admit I thought the beer was good! I must be getting used to it. Haha! It still was a lot of beer but I actually finished it. I had one beer to Kevin and Brady’s two beers but that’s ok! I loved hearing all of the German drinking songs and everyone hitting there beers on the table! It was so great and so typical of what people think Oktoberfest is about!  After that tent we walked around. The people watching is amazing! So many crazies. We decided to try and find other people in our group. We went to one tent we thought they would be in since it was the beer everyone liked. We didn’t get too far because we met some really cool guys from London. They were so funny! Kevin likes talking to random people so he started to talk to them and they were great. We ended up getting a beer outside the tent and which was fun too. They actually blocked off people from the tent after awhile which was weird but we were glad to have gotten there when we did. After we left the tent we walked around some more. We never did find anyone else in our group. There were just too many people. We found some other nice people to talk to and we looked around at the stuff they were selling. I got a Oktoberfest pin for my collection so I was happy! We all met back up at 10:00pm at the train station. Our train left at 10:45 and we reached Salzburg at about 1:00am. Luckily we go on the last bus back to our dorms. I was glad everything worked out on the way home.  When I got back to the dorm I was glad Laurann was on Skype because I got to talk to all of the family. I have only talked to Mom at work on Skype so it worked out well.  I was so tired after all that I slept until 12:00 on Sunday. Today has been a really relaxing day just getting some stuff done. It will definitely be hard getting to class on Monday after such an awesome weekend!

My Easy Week

It is officially the weekend! I am so glad to be done with classes for the week. I don’t think this will ever happen again but I only had classes on Monday and Wednesday and it was wonderful. On Tuesday, Megan B. and I went to see the Mirabell Gardens. We both have the same schedule so we like to find something special to do when we don’t have class. It’s nice to always have someone to do something with who is up for just about anything. We went to the gardens and luckily it was a nice day. Everything was so beautiful. I believe the gardens are also in the Sound of Music but I’m not sure at what point. I think Julie Andrews runs through the vine arches during the “I have Confidence” song. We walked through the gardens and then just sat and talked. I think I could have done it all day. There were a ton of tourists so it was fun watching them too! After awhile we went and had lunch at the same little restaurant we went to a couple days ago. It has really good food and good prices. In the afternoon we went back to our dorms and not much was going on. I really needed to get groceries so a group of us went to the market which is just down the road. It is really nice to have a place so close. I had absolutely no food and I think I was getting a lot of weird looks from people since I had so much. Haha! People just don’t buy a lot of groceries at a time apparently. It’s a lot different than it is at home. I will pretty much be living off of sandwiches, noodles and chicken for the rest of the semester. I am such a horrible cook!

Today I had two classes. I went to Philosophy in the morning. That class is going to be the death of me! I do not understand it at all! Our professor is really intimidating and asks us a bunch of unanswerable questions. It will not be fun. In the afternoon I had my German class which is my absolutely favorite class. Our professor is awesome! She is a younger woman and I love that she talks about such relevant things. Last time she gave us a map of all the fun things for younger people to do around town and today we spent the whole time talking about Oktoberfest since she knew we were going there this weekend. It was great! In the afternoon a group of us went to the park and played football again. It was a lot of fun but I do have some bruises. Some people are pretty brutal! At 6:00 Chris, Jen and I decided to go to Mass at the Cathedral. Well, that was an adventure! When we got there we thought it was at 6:30 but they had locked the doors. So we looked at the sign and it said 7:00 so we decided to wait until then. Around 6:45 a line started forming outside the door. We thought it was strange but it is a famous Cathedral so we thought there were just a lot of people. As we got closer to the door we saw a man taking things from people. It turned out there was a concert that night! I was so disappointed. We think the daily mass is at 7:00 in the morning which is just dumb. I really wanted to go to weekly mass because we have been busy on Sundays. We were pretty bummed so instead we decided to do the Austrian thing and go to a bar! We tried to find Murphy’s bar but we couldn’t find it. We are so used to traveling with a group who knows where it is and we totally forgot how to get there. The whole night was a fail but it was an adventure that is for sure! Hopefully tomorrow will make for a better day! Chris and I are going to figure out our trains for Oktoberfest this weekend! It will be fun to have our plans set!

"Melk" It For All It's Worth!

Group at Augustiner Brau

(Sorry, title is really cheesy but it is so hard to come up with blog titles!!!)


Yet another successful weekend has come and gone! On Friday we had one class which was really boring! We listened to the Austrian director of our program speak and I couldn't tell you much about what he said. He spoke the whole time in German and really fast. Our professor would then ask questions and of course no one knew what was going on. It was just an overall pointless class. It was alright though because we were done with class by 10:30. It is so nice getting done early. We then went back to our dorms to hang out for awhile and then around 1:00pm a big group of us went to the park to play football. As random as that sounds it was actually a lot of fun! I was absolutely terrible though! Haha! So, in my usual Nickie-fashion I added the comic relief by always laughing at how awful I was! It made for a fun day!  : ) I did manage one touchdown and an interception which I thought was pretty good - just not compared to everyone else!

On Saturday, almost everyone decided to go hiking in the mountains. A large group of us started hiking and some wanted to go off the trail and some wanted to stick to the trail. We ended up splitting up. The off-trail route seemed a little too extreme for me so I stuck to the trail. It was kind of a lot of work but the views were amazing! Of course we hiked on the hottest day yet so far and after awhile I got a headache which was too bad so a couple of us went down before we reached the top. Going down was so much better than up because I found out I missed so many things! There were so many cute houses, creeks and bridges. It was nice to take a relaxing walk down and soak in everything. On Saturday night a group of us decided to check out Augustiner Brau. It is a pretty famous brewery with a beer garden. It was great! It was such a nice night so I liked being outside. When we got there we all bought our beer which was interesting. They have you pay and then you grab your mug and rinse it out. Then you handed it to a guy and he fills it up. It was a little wierd but cool at the same time! The beer was not my favorite that I have had here which was too bad. I drank most of it though! I really enjoyed the atmosphere at the beer garden. There were a lot of people and it was really fun! We are definitely planning to go there again!

Melk Monastery

Sunday was our big day trip to Melk, Austria. We were up and at the train station by 7:30am which was really hard to get up for. Everyone was pretty tired but luckily we had a 2 hour train ride where we could sleep. We got to Melk and right away had a tour of the beautiful Benedictine monastery that is there. It was gorgeous! The monastery was huge and it towered over the whole town which made for great pictures of the city! I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Afterwards we were on our own to get lunch and see the town. Unfortunately since it was Sunday almost everything was closed. When we did find a restaurant that was actually open we instantly went in. We found a nice Italian restaurant that had really good pizza and for a good price! It is nice because when we go on excursions our director pays for lunch. It is nice not to have to worry about it. Then we went and visited the monastery's gardens. It was really nice to walk through there. We just relaxed and took some pictures. I was mad that the stores were all closed because I really wanted to get a pin from there. I decided it would be cool to get a pin from everywhere I go and put it on my backpack when I am done. Maybe I can find one somewhere. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Melk but it was fun to see another part of Austria. Tomorrow is a full day of classes but luckily I don't have class Tuesday or Thursday this week!

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

This week was the first week of classes and everything went pretty well. I have to get back into the habit of going to class and doing homework. I feel like I have just been on vacation the whole time! My classes seem alright but it is hard to tell after only going to them twice. Philosophy is going to be difficult I can tell but that is ok. I think my favorite class will be my German class because our professor is really nice. She is going to give us a map of all the fun places and bars people our age go. We also talked about really relevant things so that was cool too. As much as I don’t want the homework to start I think classes should go well.

With classes going on, we don’t do much at night. Most of the time it just consists of hanging out in one of the lounges. We have gotten to know each other a lot better so it is fun just sitting around. On Wednesday, two of the girls and I decided to go for a little walk. It was nice out and we didn’t feel like just going back to our rooms. We decided we are in Austria and we can’t just hang out in the dorms all day! So we walked to Hellbrunn Castle again. It is a really nice walking path that is really close to where we live. We walked all the way to the castle and we found the Sound of Music pavilion. It was the first thing we found on our self-guided Sound of Music tour. It is funny because they keep it closed since so many people got hurt trying to jump from bench to bench like Liesl does in the “16 going on 17” scene. It makes sense because I totally would have tried it if we could have gone inside! Then we walked up a hill where there was an overlook with benches. It was really nice just sitting there and looking over the city. It was beautiful!

Today I didn’t have any classes. It was great! I slept in a little bit and actually worked on homework. Shocking I know. Megan B. and I decided to take an adventure to find one of the houses that was in the Sound of Music. We asked other people if they wanted to join in and it ended up being a pretty big group of us. I was surprised. I was proud of myself because I figured out which buses we needed to get on and it actually worked out! We found it right away. I think I’m getting the hang of it! We walked around the lake that the house is on and right when we got there the weather turned nice so it was great. The house is privately owned so we couldn’t go in it or anything but you get a good view from across the lake. It is in the part where Maria and the children tip over in the canoe. It is neat to see the things from the movie! Haha! I can now check two things off of my self-guided Sound of Music tour! After that we walked into town instead of taking the bus back. The group split off at that point and a couple of us went and got food. I had wiener schnitzel which is actually really good! It was a cute little restaurant. Tomorrow we have one class and then it is the weekend. I’m not sure what is going on but I’m sure it will be fun!

First Day of Class

9/6/10 - Monday

I think I am a little off when I post things but hopefully I will get back on track! Today (Monday) was our first day of classes. We all thought we didn't have to really go to class but just meet up to solidify our schedules. Well, that definitely wasn't the case. We all met with the professors and it was really dumb we all had to be around for that. All the professors were talking about when they wanted their classes and we all just sat there. It wasn't like we had any say in when our classes were going to be so I don't know why they couldn't have met at another time. Anyway, we got our schedules figured out and I am really excited because I only have classes on Mon-Wed! I lucked out because the only classes being held on Thursdays are the other two German classes that I am not signed up for. It worked out really well! We will sometimes have class on Fridays but that is only when we have something planned for the weekend so that is not a big deal. It will be nice once I start planning trips to be able to leave Wednesday night. I ended up having to go to three classes. I don't know what we all missed about today but no one thought we would go to that many. Oh well, it all turned out ok. Mondays will be my long days but it will be ok. They were going to move a class to Thursday but we told them we would rather have a full day Monday than class on Thursday. Mondays I will have class from 8:30 to 4:30 with an hour break for lunch, Tuesday I have one class at 3:00 and Wednesdays I have class from 9:00-10:30 and 1:30 to 3:00. I think it will be a pretty good schedule!

After class ended aroud 4:30 I went back to my room and relaxed a little. Then the whole group went out because it was someone's birthday. We went the Murphy's law which was the bar we all were at last time. They had half price beers so we all got one. Most of the group left to go to another bar with half price beers but me and a couple of people stayed. They always rush from bar to bar and all of you know I can't finish a beer that fast! haha! So we stayed and talked and it was perfect. We ended up meeting some girls from California who were studying abroad and they were really nice. It was definitely a full day and I think I am going to have trouble getting used to going to class!

What a weekend!

So I survived my first weekend! It was a little crazy but a lot of fun. On friday the whole group went to the place where we will have class and met with the Austrian director of the program. He didn't really say much and it was kind of a waste of time but its ok. We don't have our schedule set yet which is a little upsetting but we will find it all out Monday. After we toured where the classes will be we got lunch at one of the cafeterias. Then we had some free time. I walked around the city for awhile then headed back to my room and took a little nap. It was a much needed nap! At night the group hung out and relaxed. It was fun just to hang out after a long day of walking around.

On Saturday I met back up with Mom and Dad. They went to Halstadt for Thursday and Friday and came back to see more of Salzburg. We went out and bought a few things for my room which will be really nice since the bedding they provided was not good. Now I have a huge pillow and a nice down blanket. I'm excited to test it out! After the shopping we found their hotel and parked the car. Then we hit the streets! We walked to the main parts of Salzburg and it was really crowded. It made sense because it was a Saturday and full of tourists. After seeing the town a little bit we went to the fortress which overlooks the whole city. It definitely had the best views! So beautiful! We walked around the fortress and then went on an audio tour. I am looking forward to going again with my group because I didn't hear anything! I could not tell you one thing that I learned. This guy Steve kept talking to me the whole time. I tried to make it obvious I was listening to the audio but that didn't stop him. I am pretty sure the group is planning on going again so maybe I will actually learn something about the fortress. Afterwards we got dinner at a nice restaurant with typical German food. Then we headed back to the hotel and I actually stayed the night with them. It was very nice!

Sunday morning we got breakfast. I kind of mooched off of the hotels included breakfast but no one noticed. Then I said good bye to Mom and Dad and got on the bus back to my dorm. My group then headed to Hellbrunn Schloss which was a very pretty mansion. It was a summer home to the Archbishop. It had beautiful gardens and the tour was pretty cool. The best part of the day came in the afternoon. One of the girls on my trip ended up in the hospital Friday morning and four of us went to visit her. She is still in the hospital and might have to be there until Wednesday. I felt so bad for her but it was good we visited. Afterwards the four of us who visited her (Kevin, Brady, Chris and me) took one of the bus lines all the way to the end of the line where there were mulitple walking paths with beautiful lakes. We found a big park with a small zip line and it was a lot of fun! The view was beautiful with the sun setting, the reflection on the lake and the mountains in the background. Also, the weather was really nice so that helped. We just hung out for a couple of hours and it was great. We decided it was nice to just be in a group of four for a little bit instead of the whole group. The whole group is great but smaller groups are good too. When we got back to our dorms, we found out that we needed to do a homework assignment that was due awhile ago so we got together to do it but that of course didn't happen. We got a little distracted by music and Youtube videos. We will get it done eventually! :P Overall it was a great day even though I miss not having Dad and Mom here!

This is going to be good!

My side of the room

This was the day I was so very nervous for and looking back on it, I have NO idea why! My whole group met at our dorms at 9:00am. Mom and Dad came with me and when we got there all of us were telling our travel stories. If was fun to hear about where everyone went. Although I was the only one lucky enough to have their parents along! We got our room keys and checked out our rooms. They are surprisingly really nice! It is just a dorm but we get our own bathrooms and a little kitcenette. (Bascially a kitchen in a closet that is not connected to our rooms). I do not have a roommate yet but I will be getting one sooner or later. The regualar semesters do not start until October so that is probably when my roommate will come. There are 4 different buildings and they are all really bright colors. I love it! I am in the orange building (I thought Lud would like that!). There are 6  people in my group in the same building so it is nice. Although the buildings are all right next to eachother so it doesnt really matter.

After everyone arrived and got settled, we set out to see the city! It is gorgeous! Everyone who told me Salzburg was the prettiest city was right. I am so lucky to be able to live here for four months! We walked around town and saw where we will be going to class and all the popular parts of the city. It is really nice that we got a bus pass as part of the program. We can take a bus anywhere in the city. Public transportation is not something I am used to so it will be interesting. Hopefully I can figure it out! Afterwards we had to fill some paperwork out and get our bedding. Which is not very nice. It is nice because it is brand new but it consisted of a tiny pillow and blanket. I might have to buy another blanket once winter rolls around. Then we got to be on our own for awhile. A big group of us went to the supermarket to get some things. It was kind of hard buying food when everything is in a different language! I didn't know what I was buying. haha! I just bought some essectials and I will probably go again when I meet back up with Mom and Dad and they can help me. Right now they are in Halstadt which is a small town about an hour from Salzburg. I hope the driving went well because I could tell Dad didn't want to drive. I'm sure Mom was excited to get rid of me because she finally got to put the top down.

Our group at the bar

After shopping we had a little down time. I took the time to unpack everything and get everything organized. It was nice. I had some music blaring so that always helps! Then I got ready and a big group of us went and got dinner. I have to say my group is great! They are tons of fun and we all get along really well! No one really knows each other all that well but it just seems to work. : D After dinner we of course hit up the bars. I had my first full Austrian beer in a bar! I am still trying to like beer but it is a slow process. I figure I can't be a Galowitz and not like beer! It just doesn't go together. Then we went to another bar which I liked a lot better. It had a better atmosphere with music and the bartender was really funny. We pretty much took up the whole place because we had a group of 13 people. It was a lot of fun! It is just so cool walking through the streets because it is so beautiful. Everything just has a great feel! I think I am going to love it!

"Hallo, Polizei!"

2/1/10 - Wednesday

I don't think I have experienced anything as crazy as today. It started out really nice but ended another way. In the morning we shopped around Rothenburg and it was beautiful! We bought a few things and walked around the city more. Around 11:00am or so we decided to head out so we loaded everything and started to drive to Neuschwanstein Castle. Mom of course loves seing Europe "through the back door" so we decided to try to get off the Autobahn for a little while. Well, we headed towards the Romantic Road which ended up not being romantic at all! It was basically another highway. It was too bad because it added an hour or so on to our trip. It wasn't a big deal because seeing the countryside in the car is part of the fun. We got to Neuschwanstein and it was breath taking. We had kind of a hike up the mountain to the castle but it was all worth it for the scenery! The weather was great and the sun was shining over all of the tiny villages with the mountains in the background. I have never seen anything like it! The pictures do not give it justice and neither does my description. I had been to Neuschwanstein before but it was a lot better this time. I think the weather helps out a lot!

After getting a tour of the castle, we headed to Salzburg. We thought it would be about a 2 hour drive but that definitely didn't happen. We started following the GPS because our real map wasn't much help. The GPS took us through the smallest German towns and we ended up getting completely lost! None of the towns or even the streets were on the map. After we ended up on a street that looked like a driveway with goats right along the street we eventually turned around and asked for directions. We found a younger guy walking on the side of the street. Mom simply asked "Salzburg?" and the look on his face was priceless. He only said "Long way". I think he was laughing at us too! He ended up being extremely nice and helpful. He gave us direction and they were exact. We didn't really have any trouble after that. Well, atleast not for awhile.

His directions eventually got us back on the Autobahn and we felt a lot better. It was a little stressful for awhile and once we got to the highway we felt a lot better. That didn't last too long. As we were driving, Dad saw some flashing blue lights behind him. He assumed it was the police but he didn't know how to pull over since we were going to fast on the Autobahn. Eventually the police car pulled in front of our car and it had a sign that read "Stop! Polizei!". Then we knew he was pulling us over! It was crazy! We pulled off onto a side road and the man came to our window with a flashlight and just said "Hallo, Polizei" in the most stern voice. It was just like in a movie! Mom asked what the problem was and he said "control". We assume he was with border control because we were really close to the Germany/Austria border. Once the guy found out we were Americans, he didn't really give us any slack. The only things he said in English were passport, drivers license and registration. He asked for all of our passports, Dad's drivers license and the car registration which we of course didn't know exactly what it was. We eventually found it. This really put my German to the test because once he knew that I was the only one who could understand him he somewhat railed the questions at me. He asked where we were coming from, where we were going, what we were doing in Germany and where we bought the car. He spoke really fast and I am kind of surprised that I knew what he was saying. I guess there was just so much pressure that I had to! Eventually he said we were ok and let us go but it was completely insane! After we pulled out I just couldnt believe that we got pulled over by the German police! So crazy! We finally got to Salzburg and of course the hotel booking was wrong and we only had a double room for three people. It was just the cherry on top of a "perfect" day (as Mom would say). So we got to the room and had some drinks. We were all glad to be off the roads!

Quote of the Day - Sorry, no quote of the day. Things got too stressful to be cracking jokes!

Deutschland!

8/31/10- Tuesday

This morning we docked in Kiel, Germany at about 9:00. Everyone made a mad rush to their cars which were parked extremely close to each other. How we made it without any scratches we will never know! As all the cars were waiting to drive off the boat, all of a sudden the platform we were on started tilting forward. It was crazy! Good thing we had the parking brake on. We drove off the ship and down through the streets of Kiel. It was a little crazy but we figured everything out. The GPS is really helpful but for some reason we can never match the street it tells us to go on to any of the street signs. Haha! This sounds a little crazy but we do have a system now. Once it says the street name for a second time that is when you turn. It has seemed to work! Today was our long day of driving. We left Kiel and headed to Rothenburg which took us about 6 hours. Driving on the Autobahn was nuts! There were multiple times that cars were zooming past us in the left lane at about 100mph+. We went about 80mph for the majority of the time and it felt slow! It was crazy! Dad was a little worried but after awhile he caught on to the etiquette of the Autobahn. Basically it is to get out of the way when in the left lane.

Our only little “speed bump” (no pun intended ;) ) came when we stopped for food and gas. We got food at the gas station which was fine but Mom almost ended up stealing an apple. She said Dad and I rushed her so she forgot to put it on the counter. Funny thing is…she went into the building first! Anyway, she ended up putting it back. I do have to say (no one will believe this!) but Mom is really impressing me with her German skills. She remembers a lot and people actually understand what she is getting at. She is pretty fearless, unlike me so it works. After we got our food, we decided to go to the bathroom. Well, of course we had to pay to use the bathroom – which I completely forgot and guess who is in Germany without any Euros? Yup! None of us had one Euro. How dumb! Luckily there was an ATM but the next problem was that the smallest bill it dispensed was a 20 and the bathroom cost 70 cents. So Mom and I had to ask for change which ended up being ok once I could figure out how to say it! I found out that I need time to think about how to say something and then I can do it. Thank goodness the girl understood what I meant! Haha! It is kind of intimidating but I’m getting there. It took us about 20 minutes just to go to the bathroom! It was a little ridiculous.

Once we got to Rothenburg we were happy to get out of the car. The hotel we are staying at is so nice! It is two rooms with 4 beds and 2 bathrooms. We do not know why they gave us such a big room. One room has a queen bed and the other has three single beds which makes me sad Katie and Laurann aren’t here with us! Rothenburg is famous because it is a walled-in city with cute cobblestone roads and everything. Dad was so nervous driving in because once we got inside the wall it did not look like cars were supposed to be in there at all! There were so many people and no cars! Looking back it is hilarious but at the time Dad was freaking out. Once he saw a car doing the same he felt a lot better. He made sure I took a picture of it so people could see what he had to drive on. We walked around Rothenburg and along the wall which was beautiful. It is a really cute little city. It is exactly what people think of when they think of little German towns. We had some drinks and found a place for dinner which was very typical German food. I had Kasespatzle (jealous Katie?) which is pretty much the best macaroni and cheese you could ever eat. We of course had to end the night with Spaghetti Eis (ice cream shaped like spaghetti with strawberry sauce and white chocolate shavings) which is the best! It was a really nice day and I cannot believe we will be in Salzburg tomorrow night!

Quote of the Day: (When trying to decide where to go for dinner…) Dad- I want Wienerschnitzel and sausage and sauer kraut! It is going to be fart city! (Sorry Gramma for the language, but he said it not me!)

Volvo: Roll On!

8/30/10 - Monday

After a night of absolutely no sleep, we left our hotel at 9:00am and headed to the Volvo Factory. When we got there we took a look around and then met with a man named Michael. He went over a packet of information and Mom had to sign multiple papers. As we were waiting for Michael to bring the car around to the show room, we overheard another couple talking who were from Minneapolis. We talked to them for awhile and ran into them periodically throughout the day. After that we went over to the showroom where we saw our C70 convertible drive in the door. It looked so good! After test driving all the cars at the Volvo dealer, it was crazy that this was our actual car. It was so clean and nice. Even though Mom seemed crazy when she told us it had cranberry interior I have to say it is my favorite part! It looks a lot better when you actually see the car than in the brochure. Michael showed us everything around the car and then we took it out on the “test track”. The track was literally one road that you could drive down and back. It wasn’t helpful at all but I was excited because I got to drive it for a little while. We of course had the top down. It wasn’t too warm but the sun was out at least. Afterwards we had lunch at the factory. Anyone know what we had for lunch? Swedish meatballs of course! The meal wasn’t too good. Haha! We had some time to kill so we loaded up our luggage in the car and tried to figure out how everything worked. Then, at 1:00pm we had a tour of the factory. They took us through the factory in a little train and the man behind us had a Twins hat on. It turned out they were from Minneapolis too. It is quite a small world. The tour was really interesting but we were all so tired we might have zoned out at some parts. ;) The one thing we did find out is that Volvo is a foreign word that meant “roll on” (hence the blog title). The tour lasted about an hour and after it was done we headed to the streets! I think Dad was a little nervous but in the end everything turned out fine! We decided to get to the fairy early so we headed straight there. Well, at least we tried to…What was supposed to be a 10 minute drive ended up taking us 30 minutes. We got a little twisted. The GPS would tell us which road to take and all of a sudden it would say “Recalculating route”. We never really saw a road sign that matched the road the GPS was saying. It was kind of a mess but eventually we got to where we needed to be.

We were 2 hours early for the ferry so we walked around a little bit. It was nice because we really didn’t have time to see Gothenburg much. As we were waiting for the ferry, a man started staring at our car. Of course we started talking to him and it turns out he was from Holland. He was quite a character. Then something funny happened and of course it happened to Mom. A woman came up to her and started speaking Swedish. Mom’s response was “I don’t speak Swedish”. The lady looked really confused so Mom added “Ich kann Deutsch sprechen” (I can speak German). Well that was a mistake!!! The lady started going off in German. It was the craziest thing. Mom’s response to her response was “Nur ein bisschen” (Only a little bit). We didn’t realize how funny it was until later but it was hilarious! The lady just kind of walked away. We have decided Mom looks too approachable because it seems like everyone comes up to her. Next we boarded the ferry, which is more like a small cruise ship. Our room has two beds and two bunks. Mom and I were instantly reminded of our New York cruise when Kristin said “We just yanked”. It was nice sitting on the upper deck to watch the boat pull out and the sunset. It got a little chilly so we went down and got some food. Now we are just resting in our room and will hopefully get more sleep than we did the previous night!

Quote of the Day: Dad- “Whoa, either that guy smelled really bad or he just tooted!”