March 28 – April 4
Adventures
with Friends! Switzerland and Salzburg!!
Thursday,
March 28: As always, started out the trip with a transportation challenge-
Rusty and I almost didn’t make our train! I had gone to the Post Office to mail
a couple postcards, and basically it took me longer than I expected, so by the
time I met back up with Rusty at the College we had about 15 min to get to the
Hbf. We both powerwalked, and I also ran a bit to keep up with his long legs.
:P But we summited the platform exactly two minutes before our train arrived!
Not a fan of close calls like that! On the way, we listened to music, Rusty
taught me how to play Chess and I entertained myself trying to beat my
computer… Lost every time. Haha. Arrived at the train station in Lucerne and we
turned to grab a burger for me at BK when all of a sudden Jacob appeared by
Rusty’s side! Joyful reunion! J
He took us to the hotel and me and Ellen reunited as well! So great to see that
girl! J
Along with Anna and their friend Katie! That night it was so nice to all hang
out in our cozy little room, with a bunk bed, 4 twin mattresses on the floor,
and huge wooden beams reaching diagonally from the floor to the ceiling! Loved
catching up and skyping with some friends. J
Next
morning we went to the train station and picked up Johanna! Fun to reunited
with her as well! Walked around, ate brunch at a Rick Steve’s recommended café,
saw the weeping lion- the landmark of Lucerne, did trust falls in the amphitheater
by the lake (Rusty got quite “offended” at my “fat joke” because I remarked,
after the 5 of us girls and Jacob caught him in a trust fall, “If we can catch
Rusty we can catch anyone!” Nothing personal intended!! ;P) got some familiar
Starbucks, went back to the hotel and chilled since it drizzled the whole day.
After making a short excursion to the grocery store in the train station to get
cheap food for dinner, we went back and chilled at the hotel in the boys room
while Jacob and Rusty picked up Josh from the train station, and then we just
hung out, swapping stories, mostly being entertained by Josh’s many adventures.
J
Saturday we
explored more of the city! Again it was drizzling rain so the weather wasn’t
exactly conducive to appreciating the alleged natural beauty of the mountains
surrounding Lucerne! I got some fresh raison rolls and a thick chunk of cheese
to eat for breakfast at the market, and we went up to the castle wall on the
hill, climbed up in the clock tower, found this awesome park with the coolest
playground equipment ever, walked by the lake again and enjoyed feeding the
swans! Showed Josh the lion and he and Jacob had a mini photo shoot! Oh those
boys! That afternoon/evening hung out in the boys room again, played the
longest game of Phase 10 ever!... and just enjoyed each others company. Oh and
I was just really happy to be hanging out with some guys for a change! Girls
are great and all, but spend a semester with 14 of them and you’ll be ready for
some male company!!!
Easter Sunday:
Pretty much spent it on a train back to Salzburg, but in the company of great
friends! And we listened to a sermon via podcast. J But admired the view of the
mountains, man I can’t get enough of them! And enjoyed re-reading “The
Host!” everyone chuckled when I would
get really into it and squeal, or suck in a sharp breath, or get really
animated in general. ;P Got to Salzburg that evening! So pumped to show
everyone where I live! Found the hostel, and then I took everyone to Il Sole,
the pizzeria that was basically our “cafeteria- except 100x better” during the
first block. They were all big fans. J
We went back to the hostel and all piled on the top bunk beds to watch
Monster’s Inc.! Reminded me of open dorm minus all the rules… hahaha! And to
top off the night, Jo and I had pillow talk. So Good. J
Monday. Me
and Jo enjoyed the nice long walk by the river to get into the city, it’s about
a 45 minute walk from my house! Definitely gonna look at differences
differently when I go back home: last semester, the 10 minute walk from Gosser
to the Science Building seemed forever! But not anymore, in fact it will be
nice to be at most 20 minutes away from everyone in the apartments, as opposed
to across the ocean for some and in different countries for all! Anyway, lol.
Met up with everyone, showed them around Old Town, the weather was kinda cold
and grey, not ideal for seeing the mountains all around :/ but I enjoyed being
with the friends none-the-less! We hiked over the Monchsberg, my favorite part
was Rusty and Jacob taking a different path, and then having to cut through the
snowy woods eventually to join us. Those guys are too funny! Went and saw the
abbey from the Sound of Music, winning moment of the day: Jacob was by the gate
that Maria comes out, and there were some other girls there reenacting the
scene from the movie. So Jacob says something like, “What are y’all doing?” And
they reply that they are taking pictures from the movie SOM, and Jacob goes:
“Never heard of it…” HAHAHAHA!!! We all died when he told us!! J That evening we
couldn’t think of good places to eat so we ended up going back to Il Sole again
and picked something different on the menu. Even so it didn’t disappoint! (And
this time Ferdinand remembered to give me my 1euro discount too ;P) Then we all
went to my house! It’s maybe a little sad that this was the first time I’d had
a group over, but you have to understand that my house is one of the farthest
out of the way… you want to take the bus, but then the bus stops running around
11 pm, and it’s quite the walk! We hung out for a while (Me, Ellen, Jacob,
Josh, and eventually Jo and Rusty) and then watched a movie (you can rent
movies off of Itunes! Who knew?!) “Moonrise Kingdom” which was about a weird
romance between tweens, with plenty of awkward moments that the boys found
hilarious and I found intriguing and strange and funny and not all at once!
When they were getting ready to leave, Rusty announced with flair, “Wellp, see
ya later!” and walked into the spare room where my host mom’s aunt (who was
visiting from Copenhagen, Denmark) was sleeping!!! I get that the number of
doors is confusing and it was late and dark, but I hoped that the incident
wouldn’t end all other opportunities for having friends over! Thankfully it
wasn’t a big deal and Franzisca said I could have friends over anytime! J
Tuesday. My
worst day… So I had class from 11:30 to 4:30 with a half hour break in between
and I was worried that I wouldn’t get much time to spend with everyone since
they were planning on going on an excursion out of Salzburg on Wednesday and
leaving on Thursday. So first, for music history we met our professor at the
archives, basically a controlled storage area for really old documents, both
books and music! I have to admit it was pretty neat getting to be right up
close to things that were made before Columbus had even discovered America! I
can’t say that I would want to have the job of cataloguing all of that stuff
though! But unfortunately the coolness of the archives was kinda spoiled for me
because we got done with class late and still had a 10 minute walk back to
school, and I had been planning on showing everyone around school during my
break but clearly I only barely had time to eat lunch. Definitely fought back
some tears on the way over… I know, pretty dramatic. Then Art History took
forever too! In fact, if I hadn’t spoken up, she would have gone on for another
half an hour! Apparently she forgot when our class was supposed to end. I was
so relieved to go downstairs and see all of my friends waiting at the table. So
over school! But then, it also kinda stunk because me and Jo weren’t gonna have
enough time to go up to the fortress before going back home to get picked up to
have dinner at my host sister’s house… and of course I was trying to figure
everything out with no margins at all, and was just stressing myself. But Jo
was gracious and said I didn’t have to stress, we could just go home and have
plenty of time and it would be ok. Sigh! Thankful that she was able to calm me
down and reassure me that everything would work out! Dinner ended up being
really good and fun though! Loved laughing at little Noah’s antics- he’s quite
the drama king, and he loudly explains everything in German, which of course I
can’t really understand, but he’s so sincere about everything! It’s great! Met
up with everyone back at the hostel and played some SPOONS. Fun fun!
Wednesday.
Jo and I had some great devo time! I had German class, then Jo and I went and
got some lunch at My Indigo- a yummy little Korean (?) restaurant? And topped
off the afternoon eating Ben & Jerrys on a bench by the river and talking!
Also shared some great prayer time too! So much encouragement whenever Jo is
around! Went back home, watched a little P.S. I love you! Had dinner with the fam!
Franzisca and Hanz were talkative and teasing as usual. J After dinner, Jo went into
town to have coffee with Rusty, and they eventually met up with the friends
back at the hostel, but at that point it was late and the buses were running at
inconvenient times and I needed to study for my Music History midterm… sigh.
Wasn’t very happy with school that night!
Thursday.
Had to say bye to Jo L
But, I guess the good thing is at that point there were only a few more weeks
til we will be reunited on the other side of the pond for good! Music History
test went better than expected, and then after German I got to go home and
managed to skype with my bff Brooke!! She’s been studying abroad in India since
right after Christmas, and this was the first time we had skyped! (We had
exchanged letters and emails J)
So that was a huge blessing to be able to hear what she’s been learning and how
she’s been growing!! Looking forward to hopefully spending quite a bit of the
summer with her in Siloam!! Then I met up with Jacob and Josh, who had decided
to stay an extra day, and we went to Schloss Hellbrunn, one of the Prince
Archbishops of Salzburg’s summer/day villa, which is situated on beautiful
gardens and has this really neat hill where supposedly the sunset is beyond words!
We powered up the mountain racing the clock, but unfortunately it was kinda
cloudy so there wasn’t really an epic sunset… the view of the Untersberg was
pretty stinkin incredible though! And there were these really huge fish in the
ponds! Oh it was beautiful! After that we went to Molly Anne and Megan’s
apartment, met Rusty there and watched most of the Sound of Music! (Except for
me… I’ve seen that movie SO MANY TIMES now… I fell asleep.) After the boys left,
I spontaneously decided to spend the night there instead of walking back home
at 12 am! Haha no toothbrush, nothing. But it worked out great! Didn’t even
have as far to go to meet up for our school excursion the next day!
April 5
School
excursion to Obersalzburg: we got to see the bunker system that Hitler had
built! Pretty incredible, the materials they built it with were so durable that
it’s still in basically perfect condition today! It was a bummer though that it
was super cloudy, so we totally missed out on what should have been an incredible
view of surrounding mountains… Then, because I had spent the night, I only had
my Sperrys, and we had to basically hike down a snowy mountain… it was slippery
going, let me tell you! Thankfully Kerri was a dear and let me hold onto her
arm the whenever we got to excessively slick areas, and I enjoyed catching up
with her! We have soccer and big injuries in common among other things. J Enjoyed lunch on a
park bench, discussing Molly Anne’s “type,” then, because it was super cold,
Molly Anne, Megan and I went into a little coffee shop and got a big (and
inexpensive!!) cup of coffee, and sat and had a great life conversation instead
of touring the city in the freezing cold. So grateful that these friendships
can be more easily continued since they are both OBU girls that I barely knew
at the beginning of the semester! Man was I missing out! J
April 6
Another
school field trip to Nurnberg! Our train was crazy packed so me, Molly Anne,
Megan, and Rusty sat on the floor, in the aisle (me and Molly Anne were under
the luggage storage compartments) and we played crazy eights. For two hours.
But it was a blast! Got to see the Nazi rallying grounds: these were
architectural designs intended to impress one with a sense of power and might.
Pretty crazy to stand where Hitler once stood and try and imagine the thousands
of troops standing in formation before him, giving him the infamous salute.
Then there was the pink limo incident… if you really wanna know you’ll have to
ask me about that in person. Discretion is advised haha.
April 7
Study day!
Two midterms to prepare for the next Monday, so Victoria and I spent a couple
hours on our Art History stuff and then I went over to Molly Anne and Megan’s
that evening to study for German. What a night! I feel like we were pretty
productive studying, all things considered, and we also managed to learn a lot
about our different personalities using some wonderful websites! Haha… ended up
staying up til 2 am, and again I decided it was better that I don’t walk home.
Spent the night. Again, with nothing haha, and went to school the next morning
no less! I’m really starting to feel at home there…
April 8 – 9
Got to meet
up with some more OBU friends! Welcome to Salzburg, Hayley and Ellen! Met up
with them for some dessert at a recommended restaurant the evening they
arrived, then Rusty showed them the Monchsberg the next day, and I had them
over to my house that night for girl time and a movie! J So fun! It was nice to catch
up on even more OBU stuff… makes me even more excited for coming back home!!
April 11 – 12
LOST. Got a
little addicted… Also got to go to a really neat Orchestra concert by students
at the Mozarteum! I was astonished at how good they were- seriously! I was
moved by the music like never before… and I know that sounds cheesy, but
usually I listen with an analytical ear, especially to the strings, but they
all moved as one unit, the breadth of dynamics was incredible, and on a couple
occasions my heartbeat rose and my breath came fast. It was pretty intense stuff!
April 13
Bike ride
around Salzburg with Molly Anne, Megan and Rusty! First of all, we rented bikes
(so I didn’t have to ride my really uncomfortable, squeaky, flat tire, bad
breaks one) and I was blown away at the difference a good bike makes. Literally
was incredible. It’s impossible to describe how beautiful that afternoon was,
the weather was warm and sunny, the sky lightly cloudy, we road through trails
in grassy green meadows, went to Schloss Hellbrunn again and sat in front of
the ponds, walked around in the gardens, had a photo shoot in the Stone
Amphitheater, apparently the first opera in the German language was performed
there several centuries ago! Pretty unreal. Salzburg in Spring is incredible. I
only wish it had looked like this a month ago!
April 14
Mountain
hiking adventure. (Going back in time, thoughts as I was there…) “Right now I’m
sitting on a shady bench, next to a log pile, with a mildly cloudy, sunshiney
blue sky, with a view of the Untersberg and other mountains through the trees,
on a trail/road somewhere on the lower part of the Gaisberg. The goal was to
hike to the top and back, but I was never really sure what trail to take… I
think I got over halfway up- it was quite the adventure! First of all, I went
by myself. Feels sorta like an ambitious thing to do, as well as toeing the
line of dangerous (and stupid) because my phone doesn’t have minutes on it, and
I was alone for majority of the time, not even sure I knew where I was. Yeah it
would have been interesting if something were to have happened. So I felt like
this was something I needed to do for myself. I was scared and excited: scared
because all Franzisca told me was to just take bus 6 to the end of the route,
and that there should be a sign or something that would lead to the path up the
mountain. So I have to get on a strange bus, going someplace I’ve never been,
trust that it takes me where I’m supposed to go, and figure out a plan. The bus
ride goes smoothly (oh random note: another interesting thing I’ve learned:
here, my goal is to blend in, to try and not stick out, to not draw attention
to myself. It’s funny because in some ways it seems kinda the opposite of what
it’s like in the US: sometimes intentionally trying to get noticed, stand out,
attract attention, etc.) Anyway. Get off the bus at the end, no clear
directions in sight. So I just take a guess and try to head in a way that seems
like it might lead up the mountain. So yeah, basically just adventuring. It was
nice to have solitude, (to make a decision at a fork in the road based on
Robert Frost’s famous lines, “I took the road less traveled by, and that has
made all the difference…”) I didn’t really even feel like talking out loud. I
kinda just wanted to have some me and God time… Although I’m afraid I haven’t really
listened much. I love being in nature, today is beautiful and it is probably
around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I am sweating profusely… another reason why I
didn’t particularly want anyone around to see me… haha. There are beautiful
woods, little waterfalls, birds chirping, wind caressing, clean fresh air, and
to be honest, it feels great to be doing something that is physically
challenging. My body really does enjoy being active. So I went where I could
see trails, got a nice view of the radio tour and people were paragliding from
the top of the mountain!!! Freaking Awesome. Man I want to do that sometime!”
