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!”