My Fairytale in Castle Country Comes to an End

And so (as Mom put it) my fairytale in castle country is over. There are not even words to describe how wonderful it was. I am so blessed and thankful to have had such an amazing experience. There are so many things I will take from this trip and I truly feel like I have learned so much. I have seen so many countries, made new friends and as cheesy as it sounds have grown as a person. I hope one day I can make it back to Salzburg and relive all of the amazing things I did while I was there. As for now I am so excited to be home and ready to be back at CSB in the Spring. I cannot wait to share my experience with those who will be travelling there next fall and to hang out with everyone in my group. We really did get close and that is one thing which I am so happy about. Thanks to everyone for reading my blog and coming on this journey with me! It truly was great reading all of your comments. I am sad it is over so soon but I feel like the luckiest girl in the world by being able to have this great experience.

Auf Wiedersehen!

The Long Trek Home

The train ride was absolutely horrible. I had my big suitcase right in front of me with my legs on top of it and my backpack in my lap. I was so uncomfortable and did not sleep one bit. The people in my cart were a little strange and I didn't really want to sleep in case something happened. I got to the Frankfurt airport at 6:30am and I headed to terminal 1. I got a little twisted but just asked people a bunch of times where it was. Frankfurt is a really big airport but I found where I needed to be eventually. I was really excited because my exchange student, Ola, was going to meet me there. I had emailed her the day before asking her if I could stay with her if my flight gets cancelled again. She lives really close to Frankfurt so it was comforting knowing I had a back up plan if I did need to spend Christmas in Germany. I was waiting in a really long line to check in and I saw Ola. It was so nice to see her! We talked while we waited in line, checked my bag and then got breakfast together. We were only together for one hour but we tried so hard to get together over the semester and it just didn't work out so I was so happy to see her! She walked me to security and then I said goodbye. She is planning on coming to the states again so hopefully I will be seeing her soon! I went through security and of course I got stopped. I swear that always happens to me. They had to wand me and then they had to dig through my backpack. They took out my iPod speakers and I had to go to a special room. They swiped something over the speakers and then ran it through a machine. It took about two minutes and then I could leave. It was kind of dumb but atleast I didn't have to get stripped searched like a lot of people did. They were brought behind this partition that was in the room where everyone was waiting. It seemed a little awkward and a lot of people were being checked. I got on the plane and everything after that went fine. The flight was really long though. I was in the air for 11 hours straight. The guy I sat next to was kind of strange and of course right when I fall asleep he wakes me up because he has to go to the bathroom. I never sleep on planes and of course this happens to me. I got to Dallas and found out that I had to grab my bags. I was not expecting that. I then had to wait in a line where a lot of people were complaining. There was this one crazy lady who freaked out even though the line only took about 15 minutes. It went really fast. I then rechecked my bag and went through customs which was a breeze. I always get nervous for that stuff but it was all find. I had a good hour before my plane left for Minneapolis which was nice. If I had an earlier flight I would have been nervous so it was nice that I had a good amount of time. I got on my second flight and it seemed long just because I was so anxious. I was so excited to be in the states and to be almost home. I got the Minneapolis airport and was SO excited to see Mom, Dad, Katie, Laurann and Pato there waiting for me. It was such a long journey and I was so excited that of course tears burst out of my eyes. There is no greater feeling then coming home! There truly is no place like home! We of course talked the whole way home and it was so weird walking into the house after being gone for four months. It was great! We stayed up and talked for a little while before going to bed. We had to get ready since the next day was Christmas Eve. It was so crazy getting home one day before Christmas but I was really excited to see everyone!

Finally made it home!

One Last Day in Hamburg

I woke up around 10am and checked my flight status again. I was so happy to see that the Frankfurt Airport webiste said that the runways were all clear and the airport was up and running again. That definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of the day and I could just enjoy being in Hamburg one last day. Aimee's parents then came around 1pm which was fun because it added a change to our normal routine. They are such nice people. We had soup for lunch and just talked for a bit before heading out to the Christmas market again. I didn't mind seeing that again because it is absolutely amazing. We had some drinks and then Sandra's sister, Julia, took me back home. The rest of the family was going to a professional handball game but I couldn't go because I had to catch my train to Frankfurt. It was a good thing Julia didn't want to go because she was the one who took me to the station. I had to then say goodbye to Aimee and her family which was sad but I knew it was coming. I am so glad I got to spend more time with Aimee because she is so much fun. Julia and I headed to the train station at 10pm but we were there a little early because my train didn't get there until 11pm. I was so glad Julia didn't mind staying there with me. The train was a mess. I had made a reservation because there was no way I was going to risk not getting a seat. So I had a seat on wagen 9 but when the train came there was only a wagen 7 and 10. I was so confused! It was terrible. So I got on one wagen and it was all full so everyone was standing in the hallway. It was nuts. Luckily they cleared out a cabin and let me sit because I was going all the way to Frankfurt. I had to ask one woman if I was on the right train because I just didn't know. It was a good thing she understood my broken German. Haha! The train ride was definitely the worse one I had ever been one!

Making the most of it...

I woke up this morning really sad. I should have been on a flight home already but sadly I was still in Hamburg. I guess it was good I had a family to stay with and wasnt just stuck in some other city but I was looking forward to being home. It was nice of the family to let me stay another night. We all got up and ate breakfast. Then we hung around the house a bit until Sandra's old neighbor Frau Herte came over for cake and coffee. She was very sweet. They were exchanging Christmas gifts and she was nice enough to bring chocolates for us. After she left it was Brady's turn to head home. He left for the train station around 5pm. He had to get to Amsterdam and then fly out the next morning. He had to spend 9 hours at the airport before his flight left which I am so glad I didn't have to do. Jake then left at 9pm and he was headed to Munich to fly out. After they both left we all decorated their Christmas tree. Michael put on Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and we decorated. It is funny because they decorate the tree the day before Christmas. This was early for them. Another thing which was funny was that they decorated the tree only in red ornaments. I thought it looked funny but it was their tradition and it was nice being a part of it. I had skyped with Mom earlier and she gave me some good advice to just make the most of it even though I was not excited about still being there. It was a nice day despite the fact that I could have been home. I was constantly checking my flight status and I was glad to see there weren't any problems yet.

Heike and Michael decorating the tree

Touring Hamburg

St. Michels Tower

Monday was nice because we toured around Hamburg with Heike. We saw the harbor and St. Michels Church. It was a beautiful church and you could go up to the top of the tower. We headed up there and there were so many stairs. I got a little creeped out because the stairs were kind of rickety and have spaces in between which I hate. We made it to the top and it had a great view of the city. It was absolutely freezing but we stayed up there for awhile because the view was great. After seeing most of the city we went and did some running. Brady needed some things and it was nice because they stopped for me to get another carry on bag for all of my stuff. For dinner we went to a Kebab place where the kebab was gigantic! It was so big but really good too. Of course Heike wouldn't let me pay again. We went home for a little bit before heading out again and going sledding. There was a huge sledding hill right by Sandra's house. It was the biggest sledding hill I had ever seen and it was pure ice which made it even scarier. Sandra had two old school sleds that were really fun. It was so great going sledding. I hadn't done that in a long time. On the way back we actually had Kevin pull the sled with his car which was funny. We got back to the house and watched another movie. Before I went to bed I got online to check the status of my flight to find out that the leg from Hamburg to London had been cancelled. It was terrible! Luckily I got to talk to Mom on Skype to get everything figured out. She was on the phone with American Airlines for two hours until we got something figured out. At one point the lady we were talking to said the only flight I could get on would be on December 26th. It was a good think Mom was persistent because the lady looked again and I got another flight out of Frankfurt on December 23rd. I was not happy about waiting two more days but it was definitely better then the 26th. I wrote Heike a note saying my flight got cancelled so I didn't have to wake up early. I was up until 4am trying to get it all straightened out. It was not a fun way to end the night.

Sunday Funday

On Sunday morning Aimee and I went to Sandra's handball game with Heike (Sandra's Mom). We left at 9:30am because we all couldnt fit into one car and we didn't mind getting up early. Handball was really fun to watch because I had never seen it before. It was basically a mix between soccer and football. It was set up like soccer but they could throw and catch the ball. Later on Emily, Brady, Jake and Michael (Sandra's Dad) came to watch Sandra's game. Michael brought noise makers for us and it was fun. One the car ride home we stopped at a little castle. It was cute and a really nice area but we were so cold so we didn't stay long. Then we got back to the house and had chicken and rice for dinner. It was delicious! At night we all went to the Hamburg Christmas market which was so great! Michael gave us all Santa hats to wear. I thought the Salzburg market was cool but this was absolutely gorgeous! They had multiple markets set up around the city with so many lights and huts. One of the spots even had a sleigh with a real Santa go across the sky. It was magical! haha! I loved the market and it was so nice because Michael and Heike paid for our drinks. I tried to pay but they just wouldn't let me. They are great people. At one point we went inside one of the malls where there are names of cities on the floor and Michael wanted to show it to us because one of the cities was Salzburg. We all got really sad and realized how much we missed it. We were getting pretty cold so we went back home and watched a movie before going to bed.

Group at Hamburg Christmas Market

Hamburg: Final Destination

We woke up Saturday morning and packed up all of our stuff. We had breakfast and then headed with Franca to the train station. It wasn't a far walk but it had just snowed so it was so annoying dragging my suitcase through the snow. It was so heavy! Luckily after awhile Jake and I switched suitcases. It was very nice of Jake to take my suitcase. We made it to the train station and bought out tickets for Hamburg. I was not looking forward to another day of lugging my suitcase around but it had to be done. Aimee, Emily, Jake, Brady and I made it to Hamburg around 6pm. The train ride took about three hours. Once we made it to the Hamburg train station I thought we would be loading in a car but no. We had to carry our stuff on to two subways and one bus. I was getting very tired of it all. We met Sandra at the train station and she seems very nice. She stayed with Aimee for a whole year so Aimee knew her pretty well. We made it to her house and hauled all of our stuff to the top level where we all stayed in one big room. Once again it was crazy to think they had a room big enough for five people. Then we ate homemade pizza for dinner. It would have been good but I think she took it out of the oven too early. It tasted raw and the cheese was barely melted. I didnt have the heart to say anything. We hung out awhile until Sandra's friends came at 8:30. We met Andy, Kevin and Yana and they were all really nice. We had some drinks and sang some classic German songs before heading out the the club. We went to the Keats which is one street full of clubs and bars. The one we went in was an Irish club which was so much fun! Downstairs had classic club music but another part of the club had a live band called the Rock House Brothers. We all wished we had listened to them earlier because they were so good! And they played really good songs. It was a really fun night and we headed back home around 3:30am. We didnt realize how tired we were until we got back to the house and went to bed. It was a nice first night in Hamburg.

Club in Hamburg

Pitstop in Hamm, Germany

Saying goodbye to Gustav and Marianne

We left Graes and headed to Hamm around 11:30am. We met up with Aimee's parents and loaded all of our stuff onto the train. We have so much stuff! It is crazy! It was a two hour train ride but it was nice talking to Aimee's family. They are all really nice people. When we got to Hamm, more of Aimee's family picked us up. Their names were Alexa and Franca and Aimee hadnt even met them before but the rest of her family did. They were nice but a little strange at times. We had to load into a taxi and some people had to walk because they only had one car and there were 7 of us. It worked out pretty well and they paid for the taxi which was nice. Their apartment was absolutely crazy. It was huge! I didnt think we would all fit but Aimee, Emily, Jake, Brady and I all fit comfortably in Franca's room. It was so funny. They then put Aimee's parents up in a hotel. Franca then took us around Hamm and it too was a cute city. It had a Christmas market but it was smaller than the other ones we have seen. She had to go to work soon so we hung out at the apartment until dinner. We all went to a restaurant called Delphi's. It is a greek restaurant where Franca works. Alexa's husband was playing the piano there too because it was their Christmas party. It was so much fun! The food was great and I loved the music. We all sang along with the music because it was mostly in English and then something funny happened. Why me? We were sitting at our table kind of dancing and the owner of the place came over and asked me to dance! ah! So we got up and danced in the middle of the restaurant! haha! It was funny but those types of things always happen to me. We kind of made a scene in the restaurant but everyone loved it because we were having fun. They played Christmas songs and we added our own little words to Rudolph the Red Nose Raindeer. It was great! Then the owner's daughter who was also a waitress made Aimee, Emily and me sing Jingle Bells. We got up to the mic and sang it together. It was so funny! We stayed at the restaurant for quite a while and ordered some more drinks. It was a really fun time and before we left they said they would cover the bill. It was insane! There were so many of us and each of us said we must have had over a 20 Euro bill. It was very nice. Then we went with Christina and Laura who we met at the restaurant to a club. Franca got to leave early from work to go with us since Christina was the owners daughter. We went and danced for a couple of hours then went back to the house to go to bed.

Hamm Christmas Market with Franca

Christmas Market in Münster

We got to sleep in again this morning which is absolutely wonderful! It is so nice just being able to relax and get up when we are ready. After everyone was up we headed to Münster, Germany. It was about an hour train ride but it wasnt too bad because we had a thermos of hot chocolate and rum along with us! : ) Marita came with too which made it a lot of fun. When we got there it was pretty cold. We found the market and had some hot drinks. Münster is a really cute town and I absolutely love all of the Christmas markets. I definitely think it is something we should bring back to the states. Everyone had some Glühwein which I think is gross. It is like hot wine and I cant drink it. The other thing people drink is punsch. It is hot punch that comes in different flavors. I'm not a fan of that either so I got hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps! mmm!! It was so yummy! We basically went from hut to hut getting more hot drinks. It was a lot of fun! We headed back to Graes around 5:00pm because we were getting pretty cold. It had started to snow really big flakes and it was so pretty. It was a fun day in Münster. On the way back to the house we stopped at Jakob's Pizzeria. It is about the only restaurant in Graes and it was tiny. The food was good though and really cheap. It was a fun experience. We got back to the house and what did we do? Of course they offered us more beer. Aimee went to visit more family because her parents and sister came today. Marita, Brady, Jake and I played some games and it was so much fun. We taught her some of our games and she taught us some of hers. It was a great night. Then when Aimee came back, her sister Emily came with too and we played some more games. It was a really fun day.

Aimee, Me , and Marita

A day with Gustav

Aimee, Jake, Brady and I all got up and ready aroun 9:30 which was pretty good for all of us. We had a huge breakfast with sandwiches and Marianne made really good eggs with bacon in it. It was so delicious! After breakfast Gustav took us all to the Wiesman Gecko car factory. It was really random but so cool! It was a car factory that handmakes all of the cars. They were really cool looking but the price was not so cool. One of the most expensive was 200,000 Euros. There was one for only 90,000 Euros though too. ;)  We saw the cars being made and looked at some of the ones on the floor. They were really nice cars! And really fast! The speedometer went up to 360 km\hour. Afterwards Gustav took us to Lakeside Inn which was a really cool bar. We had a drink there before going back home. Marianne had soup waiting for us. We all relaxed a bit while Aimee went and visited some more of her family that she had never met. We decided it wouldnt be too bad if we missed that since Aimee hadnt even met them. Then Aimee's other cousin Claudia came over with her baby. She was really nice but the baby was probably the ugliest baby I had ever seen! I definitely didnt say she was so cute like everyone else because that would be a huge lie! haha! Then we headed to Enschede and saw Harry Potter 7 with Marita. It was a lot of fun! We got food before the movie but it was really strange Dutch food. We went back to the house at 12:30 and of course Gustav and Marianne were still awake. I went to bed even though people stayed up. I was just too tired.

The 200,000 Euro Car

Touring Graes, Germany

Aimee and I slept in until 12:15 which was amazing! I hadnt slept that well in a long time. The bed we had was so comfortable and they had a dark shade so the light didnt even wake us up. We had an amazing breakfast ready for us. Good bread with meat, cheese, and of course nutella. Jake and Brady woke up about an hour after us and missed breakfast so Marianne made more goulash. It must be a German thing to always offer you so much food. We relaxed around the house for a bit which felt great. It was nice to just be at a house for once even though it wasnt mine. Then Marianne took us on a walk around Graes. It didnt take long because it is such a small town. It was a cute little town and we went and saw the church and walked around the neighborhood. It got pretty cold so we went back after about an hour of walking.

Graes

After our walk we cleaned up a bit and then had a beer with Gustav. He is so funny and fun to talk to. It was wierd getting offered beer so much but he brought a Radler especially for me and said "Girls like this stuff". And he was right! That is my favorite kind of beer. haha! At 8 we met up with Marita for dinner at this really nice restaurant. She wasnt there yet and when we walked in Aimee says "We have a reservation for five people under Marita Söbbing" and the girl gave her the blankest look and I said "Aimee, we are in a different country!" and then I said it in German. It was so funny how she just went off in English. She felt terrible afterwards but it was hilarious! The food was really good. Aimee and I had mozzarela sticks while we were waiting for Marita and then for dinner I had schnitzel with cheese and pineapple. It was delicious! We hung out there for awhile and talked and had some more drinks. It was really nice. Then before we were about to leave Marita said she was going to grab the waitress so we could pay but she paid for us all! It was so nice! We tried to give her money for it but she of course wouldnt take it. Aimee had said she did that before but I didnt think she would since there were 4 of us. Marita is really nice and alot of fun to talk to. Her english is amazing! She said somethings I would have never thought someone who didnt speak English would say. We went to bed when we got home and once again Marianne and Gustav were up later than us.

On to a new adventure!

Monday morning I could not get myself out of bed because I knew what was ahead. I got up around 7 and packed up my last minute things. It had snowed alot so we decided to leave earlier. It wasnt a big deal because all of my stuff was packed up already and we didnt want to risk missing our train because the buses were late. We got all of our stuff together then started going around and saying goodbye. We said goodbye to Aly first because he had class. It was really hard to say goodbye to him. I guess I havent said much about Aly but he was Brady's roommate and he was really close with our group. He did just about everything with us. He was a lot of fun! After saying goodbye to Aly, Aimee and I woke up Sean and Dan to say goodbye. It was definitely difficult. I know I will see these people next semester but it will never be the same as it was when we were in Austria. Then we said goodbye to Kevin, Jeremy and Jen. We then turned our keys in and headed to the bus stop. It was not fun dragging our luggage through all of the snow. My luggage was so heavy! Aimee and I got to the bus station and we tag-teamed it to get our luggage on the bus. Everything was really heavy but we did it. Jake and Brady had already left and the plan was to meet them at the station. The tears started up again once we drove through the city for the last time. We were definitely getting some wierd looks from people on the bus. We got to the train station with plenty of time so we grabbed something to eat. My stomach was in knots so I didnt really finish it all. We then had to go up a bunch of stairs to get to our platform. Its nice though because everyone is willing to help out. Brady and I switched bags so that made it easier. Our first train went to Munich and then we switched trains. We only had 8 minutes but luckily it was just on the next platform over. The next train we got on was 4 hours long so we could relax a bit. Then we switched trains in Kassel-Wilhelm, then in Hamm and then in Münster before we made it to Enshede. It was a crazy trip but luckily everything went smoothly. We got to Enschede at 9:20 and Aimee's cousin Marita was there to pick us up with her dad, Gustav. Then we drove to their house about 20 minutes away in Graes, Germany. There we unloaded her stuff and met Marita's mom, Marianne. They were all so nice! Marianne had goulash ready for us to eat which was great because we were all so hungry. Of course we had to have a beer with our goulash! haha! After we ate we sat up and talked with them until 12:30 which was so great. They are really nice and they remind me a lot of Ola's family. It was kind of funny because we were the ones that were tired and Gustav and Marianne are in their late 60's! Not that that is old, but I was surprised how late they stayed up!

All of our stuff

Bittersweet Farewell

So here it is. My time in Salzburg has come to an end and I never thought it would be this hard to leave. Saturday was spent soaking in every last minute that I possibly could. Matthew, Aimee and I went into town to finish all of the shopping we needed. We then headed back to the dorms to get ready for the dinner we were having a Stuart and Lisa's house. The group all headed to their house at 5 and we ate another amazing meal. We had turkey schnitzel with mashed potatoes and vegetables. It was great! After dinner we handed out our Secret Santa gifts which was funny to see what people thought to give. We went in a chain so everyone could see what everyone got. Megan B had my name and got me a stocking with candy. It was a classic secret santa gift. Some people got personal with their gifts which was so funny. It showed how close we have come over the four months. I had Chris Pignato for my Secret Santa and I gave him a snowglobe of Salzburg. Might be cheesy but I thought it was nice! haha! Then we ate dessert and while we were eating it Kate and Megan B played a slideshow that they made. It was really great but incredibly long. It was a 45 minute slideshow. It was a nice thing though. It might sound bad but the only time I felt emotional was when the picture of Katie, Laurann and me at Thanksgiving came up. Of course the other pictures were great but I miss having them here! After the slideshow we left and headed back to the dorms to get ready to go out. Mostly everyone was in the mood to go out since it was our last night all together. Everyone but 5 of us went to Soda Club for their two-for-one cocktails. It was so much fun! We were all sitting around and talking which was so great! It was funny because we all talked about our first impressions of everyone from those incredibly awkward orientation meetings we had to go to. It was so funny to hear what people thought! And it was fun because it just shows how close we have come to be able to admit those kind of things and to realize they were incredibly false. It was so great. At about 11pm people wanted to head back to the dorms but Aimee, Kevin and I were still in the mood to go out. Kevin knew of this place outside of town that had dancing so we went with him. It was so much fun! We haven't really had the opportunities to dance much and it was so great to just let loose! They played classic german music and music we knew so it was a good mix. We stayed at Steinlechner for awhile and then headed to Watzmann. It was a lot of fun too and a little better since there were more people our age. We stayed there until 4am! I can't even remember the last time I stayed up that late but it was such a great night!

I slept in Sunday morning since I obviously didn't get much sleep. I got up around 11am because I had to start packing everything. So sad! We had to pack our bedding and dishes to give to Lisa at 1pm. It was kind of a hassle because the bins they gave us weren't big enough. Everything was fine though. I got my suitcase all packed and cleaned my side of the room. It was kind of a lot of work and super depressing! Then for dinner since we didn't have any dishes Aimee, Sean, Kevin and I went to get our last kebab from Haci's. It was so yummy and so wierd to think I won't be back there. We went back to the dorm then because the first group of people left tonight. Megan and Megan came up to my room and I said goodbye to them. Then Kolby came to say goodbye and it was all so sad! I know we will see each other next semester but it just means that this amazing experience is over. After that calmed down I went over to Dan and Sean's room to try to get my mind off how sad I was. We went to Jeremy's floor to watch a movie and it was the dumbest movie ever. It was called Battle Royale and it was terrible. After I had more people to say goodbye to which as harder than the first people. I said goodbye to Matthew, Chris P and Chris S and there definitely were some tears. It is hard when everyone leaves at different times. I wish we all just left at once and it was over quickly but no. It is drawn out just to torture us! Now I am going to get ready for bed and who knows how much sleep I will get. I have been dreading tomorrow for four months and now it is here. It is hard to believe this is over but it is definitely bittersweet. I am so excited to go to Germany and even more excited to be going home in a week. I guess all good things must come to an end sometime.

Happy to be done with classes, not so happy to be done with Salzburg

I spent the whole morning on Thursday studying for my philosophy final. I studied so much for that test that I got to a point where I just had to stop because I couldn't study any more. The test was at 3:40pm and it was an oral test with the professor. Aimee and I got to do it at the same time so we went a little early to see how it went for the people before us. Megan and Megan went first and it was a little dissappointing because they didn't tell us anything about how it went. They just ran off. I didn't understand why they did tht. Anyway, we went in to take the test and it was a little nerve-racking. First of all, Dr. Zecha is really intimidating and he is an overall rude guy. He has no problems telling you you're wrong which can be scary sometimes. So we went in there and he started asking questions and I felt so bad for Aimee because her questions were SO much harder than mine. I actually felt pretty good about my answers. There was only one answer where I got only part of the correct answer but I'm not too worried about it. As I was listening to Aimee's questions I just kept thinking how I would not know how to answer them at all. I felt so bad! The test only lasted about 20 minutes and man were we SO happy when it was over! It was the best feeling. We then went back to our dorms to rest a little bit since we had been studying all day. Then later Kevin came over and he asked some people if we wanted to grab dinner somehere. We went to Gabler which had really good food. It was Aimee, Kevin, Jeremy, Matthew and I who all went and it was a lot of fun! It was really nice because Kevin paid for us all. I told him he didn't have to but he insisted. It was great! Then at night everyone went to the blue building to hang out. They do that every night which gets kind of boring after awhile but whatever.

Friday was a great day because it was so nice being able to not worry about homework and just enjoy Salzburg! Aimee, Matthew and I headed to Mirabell because we had to "check-out" of the country. You have to tell them that you are leaving otherwise they might think you are still there when you shouldn't be. I am no longer a part of Austria. How sad! Afterwards we went to the Mirabell Christmas Market. I thought it would have the same stuff as they do in town but it was different and I found some stuff to buy which was great! Then we headed to the old town to look at the Christkindlmarkt some more. I bought stuff there too which was fun. I have definitely been in a money spending mood lately. haha! At two we had to meet with our director to turn in our books and get our bins to pack things in. After that I started packing up my room and it was so wierd! I took down everything on my wall and packed all the things that I bought. I did some laundry which was good and packed some of the clothes I wont be needing for the next couple days. I am hoping everything fits in my suitcase. At 7 Aimee and I went ice skating in the town square. No one else wanted to go with which was dumb but it didn't stop us from going! It was so much fun! Eventually Sean, Dan and Kolby came and we made them bring us some hot chocolate with baileys. So yummy! It was the perfect thing to have while ice skating! It was even snowing a little bit which made it that much better! At 9 we went back to our dorms to shower because we were meeting up with the guys at Flip. Unfortunately when we got there the boys had left already and I forgot my cell phone. We didn't care all that much though so we stayed at Flip and had a drink. It was nice just the two of us. Aimee is so great! Afterwards we went back to the dorms and people were hanging out it blue again. Aimee and I weren't really in that mood so we just went to bed. It was a really fun day and it is so sad to think we only have two more!

The Final Stretch

The last week in Salzburg has come and I can hardly believe it! Monday was my last full day of classes. I started out with Art which was as boring as ever. Then I went to German and took our finl. It went really well! It was our last German class which made me sad because I really enjoyed that class and the professor was great! It is also really wierd to think I am done with German. I have had a german class every year since 8th grade. That is a lot of German! I should be so much better than I am! Then I had my last Philosophy class which I definitely was not sad about. We listened to presentations then he gave us the questions for our final which I thought would be really helpful. NOPE! He gave us 170 questions to know and he is going to ask us 5. It is so ridiculous! I also have an 8 page paper to write for that class. Ahh! It is a little bit stressful. Monday night was spent studying for my art final.

Tuesday started with Lisa's class whcih was pointless like always. After class I went back to study for art. Then at 3 we had our test and last art class. The test went pretty well but you never really know until you get it back. She then made us her Christmas punch which contains black tea and rum. Only in Europe will a professor make her students alcoholic drinks! Got to love it! The punch wasn't really my thing but everyone else loved it. It was nice of her to make it for all of us. Frau Hintner was a nice lady but not really a great professor. Her class was always boring. After art I worked on some homework. My german class met at 6 to go to  movie my german professor set up for us. We went together and bought her a thank you gift. We signed it and then headed over to the place. We watched Die Welle (The Wave) which was a great movie. It was pretty intense but it was good. Frau Raidel gave us our tests back which I was happy about. We then said goodbye and left which was wierd to think we won't ever see her again. I got back to my room and worked on my philosophy paper. I got a majority of it done which was good and then went to bed.

Wednesday was great because we didn't have any class since it is a national holiday. Apparently they get school off because of the Immaculate Conception. Strange but i'm not complaining! I got up and headed to the city to go shopping. I had every intention of buying Christmas gifts but I came back with stuff for myself instead! It was terrible. I havent bought many souvenirs so I didn't feel that badly. Town was incredibly crowded. I guess it makes sense because it was a holiday but there were so many tour groups too. It was also a really nice day so that probably had an effect too. It was so nice today but sadly all the snow melted. It got up to 50 degrees. I shopped for about 2 hours and ten went back to my dorm to work on homework some more. I got my paper done but have to study for the final which is going to be rough. It will definitely be a late night. I have until 3pm to study tomorrow so hopefully that will help. It will be SO nice to be done with this test!

Church, Christkindlmarkt and Krampus!



Christkindlmarkt



Sunday was a very nice day altogether! In the morning Aimee and I went to church and the Cathedral. There were so many people there. Way more than when we went before but we figured the Advent season brings more people to church. It was a nice service and very relaxing. We then had about an hour before we had to meet up with the rest of the group so we looked around the Christkindlmarkt. I love walking around there because it puts you in such a good mood! I am so excited for Christmas! We looked at everything and got some lunch. Then we met up with the rest of the group for the Krampuslauf in St. Leonhard. It is a Christmas market in another town where they have a parade of Krampus. The story of the Krampus is that if kids are bad they will put them in a sack and beat them with their whips. Krampus and big, scary creatures who go around hitting people. They actually wack people pretty hard. I had never seen one before and after today I could care less if I see another one. They are freaky but most the time you just try to not get whacked. I was the only one in our group to not get hit by one which I am glad because everyone said it actually really hurt. After the Krampuslauf we all went to a restaurant for hot chocolate which was nice. We got back to our dorms around 5pm and I started homework. This week is going to be pretty crazy between finals, last minute Salzburg things, and packing. I cannot believe I only have one week left!



Krampus!



Did anyone know it floods in Venice?

So Matthew and I decided out of the blue to go to Venice for the weekend. We invited everyone else but no one seemed to want to go so we headed out ourselves. We bought our tickets on Wednesday and left Thursday morning. Thursday morning was crazy because Matthew was late. We were supposed to meet at 11:15 to go to the train station but Matthew came back t 11:30 and still had to grab his stuff. He was running around getting things together and when he was done we walked really fast to the bus stop. He kept saying "I'm sorry!" over and over again. At this point I didn't think we were going to make the train because it was cutting it pretty close and we had a long bus ride to the station. Once we got off the bus we booked it to our platform. Our train was set to leave at 12:12pm and we got on the train at exactly 12:11pm. It was definitely a relief! Then we had a two hour train ride followed by a four hour bus ride until we got to Venice. By the time we got there it was dark and we had to find our hotel. I had printed walking directions but we couldn't find the street we wanted. We decided just to walk to see if we see any of the streets on our sheet. Venice is so confusing! There are so many "streets" (they are not really streets because cars can't drive on them) and they go every which way. We eventually bought a map which helped and we found our hotel after walking for an hour and a half. The hotel was another story. We got there and the person at the desk did not know English very well at all. I gave him my confirmation and everything and he had me sign some things and then gave us a key. There was not much talking involved at all. We went up to our room which was absolutely hilarious! It was a hotel room from hell! It didn't have two twin beds in it like we signed up for online and the door hit the bed because the room was so tiny. It had curtains which were hanging off the pole they were supposed to be connected to and the room smelled horribly! It was terrible but all I could do was laugh. We dropped off our stuff and headed out to get some food. We walked for awhile and could not find anything. There was only one place we found which was right by our hotel. We went in and the waitress went off in Italian and I had no idea what she said so I said the only Italian I knew which was "Pizza?" and she understood what we wanted. She then spoke English and kind of ripped us off. We were planning on splitting a pizza and when we asked how big it was she said it was really small and we should get two. The pizzas were definitely not small and we could have shared. It was a crazy night and at one point Matthew said "Venice can just go ahead and sink!". That became the saying of the day!

The Flood

Friday morning we woke up pretty early and were ready to hit the streets of Venice! Little did we know what was waiting for us outside. We walked down the stairs of the hotel just in time to see water splash under our hotel door. The entire street was flooded!!!! There was atleast a foot of water in the street. I was laughing until I cried. I could not believe it! We went back to our great hotel room and watched a movie until the tide went down. At about 11:30am it was ok and we could go outside. We walked around the entire city that day. We first headed to San Marco Cathedral which was really pretty except people had to swim to get there! The San Marco square had a foot of water on it. Luckily they put up platforms for us to walk across but most people were just walking through it in their knee-high galoshes. It was completely crazy! We walked along all of the canals and had lunch. We saw the Rialto which is a large bridge over the grand canal and saw about every church in Venice. In the afternoon we got gelato. How can you go to Italy and not get gelato? It was really good but kind of a cold day to have ice cream. I felt so bad that I didn't know the language. It is really difficult sometimes. I was thinking about how nice it is that I know German. My friend Laura was in Italy for 6 months and I can't imagine being in a place for that long and not knowing the language. I would feel so trapped! We didn't have too many problems. I just said "grazie" a lot so they knew I was trying. Definitely did not use "no capeesh"! In the afternoon the sky opened up and it was beautiful! Everything looked a lot better when the sun was out. We walked around the entire city and then went back to our hotel and watched a movie. It was a great day walking around Venice. It really is a cool city!

Saturday was a pretty long day. We had to check out of our hotel at 11am and when we got outside it was absolutely pouring! The tide had just gone down so water was still washing up on the streets. We were soaked! We tried to find a coffeeshop or somewhere we could sit and dry off but there really was nothing. We decided to sit in the train station until our bus came. The train station was right next to the bus stop so we got lunch there and sat in there for about 2 hours. It was pretty boring but it was so cold and rainy outside that we did not want to be out there. We caught our bus around 3pm and it was nice and warm! The bus was about 4 hours and then we had another two hours on a train. The trip actually went by pretty fast. We got back to our dorms around 10:30pm. Then right away I went out with Aimee, Sean, Dan and Kolby. They are all so much fun and it was nice being in a smaller group. The whole group is great but sometimes it is just easier when it is smaller. The only problem was that we got checked for tickets on the bus and Aimee got written up. She had her ticket but it wasn't stamped with the date yet since we just got them. The guy was a jerk because he didn't let her stamp it then but gave her a 70 Euro ticket. It was terrible. Then we went to Flip for a couple drinks and afterwards I went to bed. I was surprisingly not as tired as I thought I would be. It was a fun night!