First Week in Salzburg!

Friday 1/18 cont: Welcome Party!

Hanz drove Franzisca, Victoria and I into town to another brewery for the welcome party! When we first got there, we got a quick tour of the brewery by the owner, and learned about how the beer is made there! It’s all natural ingredients, consequently once a keg is open they have to drink all the beer, they don’t save it or put any preservatives in or anything. After the tour we went upstairs and Rusty and Greg held the keg while a man “tapped the keg” which pretty much involved pounding a spigot into the wooden keg with a giant wooden mallet! Pretty neat! (Glad I didn’t get beer sprayed all over me like some unfortunate souls :P) I decided that the context allowed for a taste of the beer, so I tried a couple sips, and it actually wasn’t horribly awful. Still definitely not a big fan, but at it was surprisingly tolerable. The rest of the evening was quite enjoyable! We sat around a big table and talked about random stuff, Konrad even came over and joined in the conversation! When Victoria and I finally left to catch the bus back to our house I was feeling pretty confident in being able to get back without any trouble. I thought wrong. I’m not 100% sure what happened, but I know that where we thought we were on the map wasn’t quite accurate, so we ended up walking around to the back side of the mountain, and finally going through a tunnel only to end up way on the opposite side of town then where we wanted to be! So had a nice hour scenic tour of Salzburg! Bleh! Thankfully neither of panicked or anything, and we were luckily able to find the house again on the first try! To top off the night though, we were really confused about how the lights in the hall way worked! We would turn them on, and then press the switch to turn them off but they wouldn’t turn off! So we went upstairs and downstairs, trying to be quiet and figure them out, giggling because of the absurdity of our situation! Finally they turned off properly, and it was a couple days later that we learned the lights are on a timer! Go figure! Sigh, what a night!

Quick overview of the first weekend!

Saturday 1/19

            Slept in, accidently missed breakfast (in our defense we thought that there was an understanding that we wouldn’t be coming down to breakfast…) Finally unpacked! That felt nice! Leisurely got dressed and came downstairs when Franzisca called us for lunch at 12. After lunch, Hanz, Tori, me and Noah (the little grandson) got to go on a walk up on the mountain! So we drove into town, picked up Noah (who is one of the cutest kids I have ever seen!) and had a nice leisurely stroll on the mountain overlooking the city! Got lot’s of great pics, it was a beautiful day! Me and Noah became friends over the course of the walk! I was delighted that he let me pick him up to take some pictures! And on the car ride back home I was trying to communicate with him using the few German words and phrases that I knew! He wanted me to come play with him when we got back, (Franzisca said he was asking if I was going to come in) and I said yes, I’d be down in a minute, but then I realized I had to do a couple homework assignments and I was trying to last minute plan for a skiing trip the next day so I felt bad but I didn’t get to hang out with him anymore that day. L Ahh I hated disappointing him! But there will be more times to see him in the future I’m sure! Spent the rest of the evening hurriedly trying to get the skiing info that Franzisca had found for us out to the group (she has gone above and beyond to help us with travel stuff, skiing stuff, letting us borrow stuff… everything!), call and get reservations on the bus, answer questions etc! Whew- if everything worked out on Sunday it would be a miracle! Franzisca was super sweet though, that night she told me, “I am so glad you are here!!” J Oh yeah, and because we are on our own for dinner on Saturday and Sunday, Tori and I decided to try out the Chinese restaurant that is just about a 5 min walk from our house! When we first got there they gave us German menus… imagine trying to interpret Chinese food in German?! I got out my German phrase book that I had borrowed from school and was trying to translate stuff, but we ultimately went with the easier option and our waiter brought us the one English menu in the restaurant! J So we got fried rice J The meal was good, but afterwards I think we sat and waited for 45 min for them to come bring us our check… we were trying to be polite! In the mean time I enjoyed getting to talk to Tori, we had a great conversation and I feel like I got to know her a little better. J And we tried this little glass of warm, dark, unfamiliar liquid that they brought us… weren’t quite sure what it was but we decided to try to act as if we did and ask Franzisca about it later! Turns out it was probably some sort of hot wine :P haha. Oh, and win! When I said “Danke,” the waitress started speaking to me in German! Apparently my accent was that good! Of course I stared blankly at her and had to shatter the illusion that I actually could speak German… but it was a little win regardless. :D When we got back to the house I started trying to figure out information about the cell phone and sim card that past students had left for me to use, as well as learning about the different electricity currents so I don’t blow an appliance! I think google is going to become a great friend this semester! Cheers to trying to figure things out by yourself! I learned that I am slightly lazy and would prefer to have people tell me how things work and what to do and where to go etc, etc. But I think this trip will be a huge opportunity to become independent and look out for myself, makes mistakes and learn from them (I’m already getting quite adept at trying to get back to familiar territory after getting lost!) Wow. Definitely going to have to rely on the Lord a lot though otherwise all of these adventures are going to wear me out!

Sunday 1/20

            Our skiing adventure!!! So woke up around 6:45 ish to dress warmly… figured it was probably going to be pretty cold on top of a mountain! Headed downstairs and met Franzisca, who drove me to the bus stop where we would be picked up to head to Dachstein West, Russbach- the ski region that we were going to! When we got there (the bus stop was only about 5 minutes from our house) I was happy to see that Rusty was already there! Franzisca gave me a small bag of food for breakfast and a chocolate milk! She’s so great! When the bus came, Rusty and I got and hoped that the two other girls who were planning on coming, Melody and Rebecca, would be at the next stop! Thankfully they were! Yay! Everything was working out so far! We had about an hour and a half ride (because the bus was making stops to pick up people along the way) so I enjoyed my breakfast, caught up a bit with Rusty and talked to Melody and Rebecca! When we got there, we were able to quickly get a lift ticket and get all our equipment! The store people were all very helpful, and spoke English J I felt quite taken care of! Finally, after struggling to get my ski boots on and putting on my snow pants etc, we were ready to go! On the gondola headed up the mountain we got our first glimpse… GORGEOUS!!! Ahhh there are some pics on facebook I think, of course I didn’t bring my camera with because I didn’t want it to get broken, but suffice it to say that it was freakin incredible!! And what a day too! Sunshiny, actually kinda warm on top of the mountain! Us girls had to take our scarfs off and I would have gladly shed a couple more layers of clothes but I didn’t want to waste the time! When we got to the top, it was my big test! Could I still ski? Especially after breaking my leg a couple months ago! Well, I definitely took it pretty slow, and thankfully made it down the first time without any crazy falls! But man it was a lot more painful than I remembered! My boots were killing me! Anyway, but we skied it up in the morning, went down some crazy steep hills, and thankfully my confidence grew and I went a little faster each time! I could tell that my leg control wasn’t quite as confident as before, I’m not sure how much of that was just influenced by the fear of hurting myself really bad! We found a small terrain park, and the first time I skied through without going off any jumps (I hadn’t really jumped up and down on solid ground!) But I decided that I wanted to try it, so I went again and managed to get a little air!! Whahoo!!! So the morning flew by! Man I do love skiing. I was having a bit of trouble with my skis wanting to cross a lot, and I wasn’t quite as solid balance wise either. When cutting back and forth I tried to put most of the pressure on my left leg- the strong one. Midday we decided to stop for a little break at this mountain cabin! Lots of Austrians were sitting around eating food and drinking beer, all of us had a couple bites of the fruit Heidi, Rusty’s mom had packed him. The breeze on the top of the mountain was unreal. The sun was shining and warming us up, and the breeze felt like it was 60 degrees. Wow! After we rested up a bit, we decided to head back toward the first mountain top! Got to this really long run, and it was going well for a while until the slope got really steep, and there were powdery moguls that I couldn’t see too well, and a ton of kids and really fast skiers came, and I started to get tired and fall. My ski popped off, and it took like 10 minutes to get it back on, Becca was so great she stayed with me and was encouraging me- she also suggested walking down the mountain, but I thought that would be really painful because the boots really were hurting… Anyway, got my ski on finally, skied about another 10 ft, my skis crossed and I fell again. And my ski popped off again. This time I wrenched my ankle pretty hard. I started to get frustrated, started crying… became sortof a mess… Yeah from then on it was “take forever to get the ski on (while sniffling), bad ankle throbbing, ski for a couple feet, completely lose control, skis cross, fall, turn my ankle, more pain and frustration.” Not very fun. I realized I was definitely done for the day, even though we had planned on another hour or so. But getting down the hill was going to be the challenge since I basically couldn’t ski anymore, didn’t want to walk, and it was a long way down. So I  slid down on my back! I’m sure all of the Austrians were like “What is that girl doing?!” It was kinda fun actually! I picked up quite a bit of speed! But even so, by the time I got to the bottom I was in so much pain and feeling defeated and sad that I was fighting (and losing) tears… and yeah it just wasn’t too fun. Then we had to ride up to the top of the mountain to get back to a different slope to go down. Sigh. So I put my skis on for the last time, as we got to the top of the lift I couldn’t control my skis again and unfortunately I basically fell on top of Rusty and we were in a big heap right in front of where the people were getting off the lift. Sigh. I was definitely a lot better in Colorado last winter! (But granted, I was a lot stronger and more confident… hadn’t broken my leg!) So we eventually made it to the gondola lift, I got to ride down the mountain instead of ski! Thank the Lord! Turned in all of our equipment and got to put on my hiking shoes which made my feet feel quite a bit better! I wasn’t limping so bad after I took the ski boots off. Also, learned that you are NOT supposed to have any pants or anything that can wrinkle up in the ski boot, because there is so much pressure from skiing on your legs, that wrinkles pressing into your legs are what cause all the pain! Wish I would have known that before! But oh well, next time! So yeah, I told the Lord that the skiing hadn’t exactly gone as I had been looking forward to, but I was going to have to accept that. I don’t know if I’m really going to be able to go much more, maybe I’ll try one more day, but it was kinda rough and not nearly the same breathtaking, heart pounding, dazzling, exhilarating experience that I had last year. However, the day had a happy ending in having a really good conversation with Rebecca and Melody, getting to know their background made me feel like we became even better friends! And the Lord has a plan, he can take a bad situation and turn it to good! Very thankful for that! Oh and, when I was taking the bus back home, of course I didn’t listen to Melody and get off on the right stop, so I rode the bus for an extra 30 minutes! The one highlight was a guy sat next to me and I started talking to him and found out he was a Salzburg University student… and we had a nice conversation and I was really excited to finally talk to an Austrian boy about my age!! (He was kinda cute too!!! :P) Unfortunately, didn’t catch his name… but who knows! Maybe I’ll get lost and run into him again! When I got back Franzisca had dinner for me and I got to tell her all of my adventures! Then later I was glad to facetime Mom and Dad and Karl and update them on the adventures! What a weekend!

First week of school! The highlights J

Monday-Thursday 1/21-1/24

            Monday morning commenced what was to become a familiar little before school routine. J Tori and I got up, around a quarter to 8 am, we both get ready in our rooms and meet in the hallway at about 8:20 to go downstairs for breakfast. On the table there is always orange juice (which Tori drinks) and apple juice (which I drink) and a basket of breads (we usually split one) and two jams (which smell a little strange and so we haven’t tried them yet…) and then I always get the butter out of the refrigerator too. And then some days there is dessert from the night before! After we are finished eating, we put everything back in the kitchen and then head up stairs to brush our teeth, grab our backpacks and coats, go downstairs to put on our shoes, and then are on our way (target time is 8:45)! We have about a 3-minute walk around the corner of the neighborhood to the bus stop, where the bus is supposed to come every ten minutes, (usually at 8:56) but most often it’s a little earlier. For instance, on the first day, we hastened to the bus stop and literally walked straight into the bus- and it was about 8:54! Thankful that we made it just in the knick of time! Our bus ride into town is about 15 min, so Tori and I usually put in our headphones- I like listening to some worship music, I think it is a good reminder at the beginning of the day and there is also just something comforting and familiar about it! When we get off the bus we have to walk in this little alleyway for a couple minutes to get at the college! It’s always fun when we see other students heading to school too. J So proud of ourselves when we made it the first day with about 10 minutes to spare! It’s nice to make a little cup of hot chocolate from our coffee machine and chill on the ground floor lounge with everyone before class starts! Our first class is at 9:30 and it’s Beginning German. Everyone is in this class except for Melody, who is taking intermediate! We all sit in a ring and Konrad pretty much goes through the workbook that we have (which has instructions and everything in German) and we listen to some dialogue and then practice asking and answering questions with the people around us! I am really trying hard to get the pronunciation just right; I can’t stand it when I sound like an American trying to speak German. Over the course of the week we learned how to ask and answer questions like, “What is your name? Where are you from? What language do you speak?” and we learned how to introduce one’s family. I was just really excited to start learning how to conjugate verbs because I think that is one thing that will really enable me to start having conversations or at least start recognizing words people say… we finally started them on Friday much to my delight! And I was thankful that I had already learned a little from Konrad on the train ride back from the castle the week before, so I was a little bit prepared! I think taking French helped me because conjugating is similar, and it’s actually even a little less complex then in French! Also, Konrad said that the grammer is easier in German than English, and that once we know the sounds that certain letters or combinations of letters produce, we will be able to read German just fine because the way words are spelled pretty much tells a person exactly how to pronounce it! Konrad said in this way, German is a fairly easy language to learn! So I am excited because I want to be able to communicate and understand German so bad! But it is also just exhausting to learn a language! Both mentally exhausting- from trying to think and figure things out, and also physically exhausting- trying to make sounds that we don’t really have in English! It wears a person out! But it’s only been the first week, so hopefully things will just get easier! After German gets over at 11, we have an hour break before heading over to the pizzeria Il Sole for lunch! This seemed to me to be a perfect time to have some quiet time! (Well, Tuesday I didn’t get a chance to because we left a little earlier to go somewhere else for lunch.) But Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I headed up to the top floor- the library after class and enjoyed some time with the Lord! (I’m going to write a separate note about what I learned this past week!) Lunch at Il Sole’s is always delicious! I especially look forward to dessert… A couple meals that we’ve had so far… Snitzel (sp?) um this chicken dish with a sauce that tasted like chili cheese popcorn seasoning… I kid you not! And my favorite was probably spaghetti! On spaghetti day, I made what I thought was a clever comment, “Hey guys today must be Italian day!” Everyone kinda stared at me blankly, and I was really confused because I thought the joke was easy to get! Then someone (I don’t remember who) said, “Um… this is an Italian restaurant… so I guess that would make every day Italian day!” Whoops! Failed to pick up on that one… Everyone had a nice laugh at my expense! Sigh. When I told Hanz and Franzisca about it they laughed too! They must think I’m pretty ditsy sometimes! I prefer to classify myself as blatantly unobservant in many cases! On Monday and Wednesday from 1:30 to 4, all of us have Understanding Austria- which talks a lot about all different aspects of Austria. So far we have talked about the landscape, the history of Austria and the state of Salzburg in particular, some aspects of the culture, religion etc. Definitely a very interesting class but a little long for the afternoon! On Tuesday we got a long tour of the city and learned lots of interesting facts and took lots of pretty pictures. J I think in general I am doing a good job of asking lots of questions and trying to interact and process all of the information I’m receiving! Konrad even made a comment during Monday’s lunch about having very curious students that ask lots of questions… and he looked right at me when he said that! I asked if that was a problem, and he said no, as long as it doesn’t side track the other students! (Sometimes I think ahead and ask about things that he just hasn’t taught us yet ;P) So I’m very much enjoying the school aspect! J After class this past week Tori and I usually just caught the bus back home, although a couple days we did stay in town for a bit, one afternoon to go shopping with some of the other girls for toiletries and snacks- that was really fun because we were all being really loud and swapping stories about different adventures we’ve all had so far- man that’s what I need to do a little more of! Hang out with these fun girls! And then another day we stayed to book our hostel in Venice with Rusty and Greg!!! Really looking forward to that trip! We are going to take a night train on Thursday so we will get to Venice Friday morning and meet up with Alicante and Liverpool people!!! I am so excited to see my friends!!! Even if we don’t end up doing much more than walking around the city together I think it will be absolutely wonderful to catch up with everyone :D Can’t wait!!! But most of the school nights were kinda chill! Getting from school to home usually takes about 25 min total, and then we go downstairs for dinner with Franzisca and sometimes Hanz… we tell them the stories of the day and ask them questions about traveling and various other things, a couple times we’ve even talked about Jesus which is pretty neat! They have been great! Franzisca teases us, Hanz laughs at us, they offer lots of helpful information, I am so blessed to have such a wonderful host family! After dinner Tori and I work on our German homework together, I usually get on facebook or something, try to take a shower before 9pm, and then pretty much head to bed! Tuesday night, Tori and I sat down and made a list of all the money we’ve spent so far- that was a huge accomplishment! Proud of myself for coming out only a couple euros different from the cash I still had! Wednesday night I got to talk to Jenna Hurst, one of our friends from school, while Victoria was skyping her, and then I also got to facetime my friend Luis! And Leah!!! So good to talk to sis J that was really fun! So thankful for modern day technology to keep me in contact with people back home! Thursday night Tori and I watched “Bounty Hunter” together- felt so homey! We decided we might have to make movie night a common occurrence. J And I also got to talk to Mom and Dad again which was lovely. J Um I think that pretty much sums up the happenings of the week! J Ooh and random note: I really, really, really like the Les Mis soundtrack :D

Friday 1/25

            So great to wake up on a Friday and not have class! Slept in til around 10, then quickly headed downstairs for breakfast because we didn’t want Franzisca to have put out the usual spread for nothing! (I am still afraid of slightly offending our host parents, even though I know they are extremely gracious and will in all likelihood forgive small misunderstandings.) After breakfast I tried to finish the couple homework assignments I had leftover from our Munich field trip- it’s really bad that I procrastinate the little things so much! They were only two 250 word paragraphs and I had waited a week to do them! I guess I’m just kindof a perfectionist when it comes to that type of things. I finished my music history assignment which was to trace the development of stringed instruments over time, and I started on my art history assignment- comparing the “Barberini Faun” and “Boy with the Goose” sculptures to the “Statues of the Pediment of the Temple of Aphaia.” Then I had to break for lunch. This was the second lunch we had had at home with them, because on Monday through Thursday we eat it with the college. I was unused to having a huge meal midday, especially after having just had breakfast a couple hours before! We had pumpkin soup as the first course, and then dumplings, ham, sauerkraut, and a vinegar/olive oil lettuce and potato salad. It was an accomplishment that I finished it, even though I seem to always be the last one done… I feel like a little child again who feels forced to sit at the table until I finish my food, but in this case it’s because I don’t want to waste anything… hm. Still need to figure out a way to ask for smaller portions to begin with! After lunch Hanz was showing us some pictures of Greece, he and Franzisca took a vacation there last year! Looks like a place of breathtaking beauty! I know Victoria really wants to try and go there on a weekend, and I don’t think I’d be opposed either J I just wonder if a weekend is really enough time to take in its beauty! We went back upstairs and I finally finished my art history assignment! I also realized that I kinda enjoy analyzing art, trying to figure out if there is a story behind a piece and if so what it is! Victoria and I next set off to go to the Europark- a pretty good sized mall- to do some shopping! (Or at least she did… I looked haha) But, as is becoming a rather regular occurrence, first we managed to end up at the opposite end of the bus route, at the Messi Soccer Stadium! Why?! In every single retrospect the correct route seems crystal clear… so why do I always lead us in the wrong direction?! We decided it would be an accomplishment if, by the end of the semester, we can get to where we want to go and back without once getting lost. Sigh. But we finally made it to the mall after an extra hour or so of riding on the bus! Our first stop was to have a scoop of some delicious chocolate gelato! It was by far the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Just saying. Then we wandered around the mall, Victoria got a sweater at H&M, I tried on some beautiful raspberry colored corduroys but decided not to get them then, enjoyed people watching! I felt like I probably stuck out like a sore thumb… got to work on dressing to blend in a bit more! I think I like the Austrian style though! Especially for the guys it looks pretty swell! It was interesting to note a slight trend of girls having a small part of the side of their head shaved… think Miley Cyrus’ new do without cutting off all the rest of her hair too! And definitely saw some alternative youths with wild hair color and lots of piercings. On our way back home we stopped at the pizzeria that we eat at for school and grabbed a hawiian pizza to go! The owner, Ferdinand had a special deal for SC students on the weekends. J By the time we made it back to the house the pizza had cooled down quite a bit though, probably because we got off the bus one stop too far and had to walk a bit extra. Yeah I know. You’re not surprised. I really don’t know how this happens. But finally home, the rest of the evening was quite relaxing! Me and Tori quickly changed into our comfy clothes, and then we ate our pizza on the little couch in her room while watching “The Tourist” on her computer! (we also had some mochas and pretzels and nutella for dessert!) All in all it felt very homey after an adventurous afternoon!