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!

"So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!"

On Friday, K,L and I got on a train to Munich. We got there at about 12:25pm and headed to our hotel. We checked in and then headed out to see Munich. Katie and I have been there before but Laurann had never seen the city. It was fun because Munich also had a Christkindlmarkt so there was a lot of lights and everything. We just walked around and went in some shops. We didn't do much but it was fun walking around. It was snowing pretty hard at one point which I loved! A funny thing that happened (which I forgot to mention before) was the we were walking down the street and I all of a sudden slipped and fell to the ground. I stepped on a manhole cover that was slippery and gracefully fell to the ground. haha! It was the wierdest thing! Luckily no one was behind me but of course Katie had to tell me that there was a restaurant full of people who saw me go down. Not exactly what I wanted to hear at that point. Oh well. After awhile we headed to the Hofbrauhaus for some beer and Kasespaetzle. It was delicious! The place was absolutely packed so we had to sit at a table in the back which was too bad. It would have been fun to be in the main hall. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun. The back room filled up eventually so that was nice. We stayed there for a couple hours and just hung out. Then afterwards we went and got Spaghettieis. Probably the best dessert ever! I have not found it in Austria so we just had to have it! Even though it was freezing outside ice cream tasted wonderful. We then headed to the hotel which was funny because it was only about 7pm but that was ok because we all had to be up early in the morning. Then we got to Skype with Mom and Dad so they weren't worrying about us and afterward we went to bed.

In the morning we were all up at 6am. They packed up their stuff and we all headed to eat breakfast. Then at about 7am I had to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes! I have always been so terrible with that stuff. I will be home in a couple of weeks yet I was still sad to say goodbye to them. They headed to the train station and I went back to the hotel to shower and everything. I called the reception desk to see when the next train to Salzburg left and I checked out of the hotel at about 8am. My train left at 8:27 so it was perfect. I spent the train ride doing my homework and reached good ol' Salzburg around 10am. When I got back to my dorm I got started right away on homework. I have so much to do this weekend! I got some stuff done and then at night a group of us got together and watched Elf. It was just what I needed! Afterwards I went to bed and started all over again with homework Sunday mornng. I feel like I have been doing homework all day and not getting anywhere. I have  philosophy presentation tomorrow that I am worried about and an art test. Ahhhh! Who knew this study abroad thing would be this much work? Hopefully everything goes well tomorrow! My next blog could be interesting...

Fortress, Football, Friends and Family!



Wednesday morning K and L went to the fortress while I was in class. It didn’t take them very long because no one was up there. We met up at 11am and walked around the city. We did a little shopping in between my two classes. After what happened in the shoe store K and L wanted to make sure I was with so I could at least translate for them. We walked around and got some lunch before I had to go back to class around 1pm. While I was in class K and L went to see the catacombs in St. Peter’s cemetery. They said they weren’t too exciting but none of us really know what they are.  After my class got done at 3pm I went back to my dorm and packed up some things. I planned on staying at the hotel with them so I didn’t have to go back and forth all the time. Then we met again at 5:30pm for the Red Bulls soccer game. Aimee, Chris S, Kate, Brady and Megan B came with us too. The game was so much fun! It was sort of a long bus ride there but we found it. The stadium was a lot bigger than I thought and it had an open roof so we all were bundled up. We had great tickets in the front row which was a lot of fun. The security guards and cameramen loved us because we were pretty loud and crazy. Haha! At one point in the game it started to snow and I got so excited! It was the first real snow we had seen. Of course it didn’t stick around but it was still great. The Red Bulls won 2 to 0 against Graz so it was a fun game to watch. I had never really been to a soccer game before and it was so much fun! Then after the game Aimee and the three of us went to Murphy’s for a beer. Katie wanted to see where we usually go so we went there for a little while. It was fun just sitting and talking. Also, we were all chilled so it was nice to be inside. We then went back to the hotel and went to bed.



Pilgrims Dan, Nickie and Sean



Thursday morning we woke up at about 8:30am. We decided against going to the salt mines so we took our time in the morning. We went and had breakfast and then headed over to my place. K and L walked to Hellbrunn to see the Sound of Music gazebo. It was good because the weather was really nice today so they could actually see the mountains all around. I was worried that they would be in Austria a whole week and not see any mountains! I went back to my room to get some stuff done and just took it easy. Things have been really busy so it was nice to relax a bit. Then K and L came back to my room. After relaxing a bit we headed into town to go ice skating. There is an ice rink right in the center of town and it is so cool. They have music playing and lights on at night. At first it said there was a kid program so we were worried it was only for kids but when I asked we found out it was for everyone. So we went skating for about an hour. It was the greatest thing! There were little kids skating better than us but oh well. J After skating for about an hour we got some really good pretzels and headed back. I was super forgetful so I went back to my dorm and K and L went to their hotel to get ready for the Thanksgiving dinner my group was having. We met back up again at 5:15pm and walked to the restaurant. We were a little early but that was alright because my group needed to practice our skit. The dinner was for our whole group, our professors and then there were some other guests there too. It was a really great time! We put on our skit before dinner and everything went well. Luckily I didn’t forget any lines! Haha! Then we ate a really great meal. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and vegetables. It was so great to have real food! After dinner other people performed little things. Matthew and Megan P did a dance they have been working on, the guys sang a song, and we all sang 99 Luftballons. It was hilarious! I had so much fun and seeing everyone else having fun and puttin

The whole group!

g on all the different performances just made me love my group even more! They are all so great. We took some pictures afterwards and then all headed back. I had to pick up some things from my dorm so we did that before going back to the hotel. We were all tired so we headed to bed so we will be well rested for our trip to Munich in the morning!

I hope everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving!