There is something about traveling that just gets you thinking about life and gives you a sense of adventure. There's something about getting lost in a foreign world that just makes you feel scared but fully alive.
It's most likely the language barriers but I think it's more so just the culture in general and the way of life.
Traveling just makes me feel alive. Yes, I could easily go up into the Utah Mountains and see similar scenery as I am currently in Switzerland, Germany, or Austria, but it's not the same. It's about the experience of getting lost both within the country and within yourself. Traveling makes you truly experience life, enjoy the little things in life, and no longer take for granted what is handed to you. You get to enjoy the scenery, the little conversations and memories, and good company that comes along the way. You can no longer just hide away and say "I'll do that tomorrow." You have the opportunity now and you will take advantage of that opportunity. Some of those opportunities turn into adventures and some turn into major horror stories, but they are stories that you can laugh at down the road. Traveling is about getting lost but also enjoying the free feeling you get along with it.
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I started my journey to Europe two weeks ago now, and "Oy Vey" there is a lot to talk about! I remember traveling to Europe the summer after my sophomore year of high school, but this experience has not even compared to my past experiences. I believe that since I was with a lot of Americans during my high school trip, I did not quite get the culture shock that I have currently felt within the last two weeks. Yes, culture shock can be quite frightening, but at the same time it has been a major learning curve, as well.
To start off with, we arrived in Frankfurt Germany. Let's first get off our chest the fact that both of us packed WAY too much. We both attempted to keep it small, but let's be real. We are girls... and we are definitely by no means light packers!!!
Now, with that being said... imagine little subarus in the US. Now imagine a car 2/3 its size... that is the average size of the cars here in Europe. Needless to say, we BARELY fit all of our luggage into the little car that my friend picked us up in. Kelsee unfortunately had to squeeze into the back of the car with two other suitcases next to her, and her backpack! We were a bit packed tightly.
However, we did manage to make it to his place in Darmstadt with ease. We got situated into his little apartment and then he showed us around the little town of Darmstadt.
Cute little Darmstadt
Here is where the culture shock partially started to hit. After our walk, Matthias brought us across the street from his apartment to his university where we had lunch in the cafeteria. We felt like lost puppies - everything was written in German and everyone was talking in German. We didn't really even know what food we ordered, just was told it would be good.
We felt awkward sitting with the boys because everyone around us was talking in German. We had absolutely no idea what was going on besides the fact that it felt like we were in a dream that we had no control over. However, the food was good and and it was interested to see a university in a different country.
Matthias had to go to class that afternoon, so Kelsee and I were on our own for a few hours. We decided to walk around town and enjoy some time in the park. While we were at the park, we decided to enjoy ourselves, and started to learn a little German. Unfortunately, our German app apparently says words a bit differently than how the German's pronounce words, so we got scolded and laughed at when we tried to say some phrases to Matthias.
Laying out in the park, trying to learn some Deutsch!
Pretty little garden area in Darmstadt.
The gate to the garden.
Church and the garden
Anyways, we enjoyed our day around the town. It was a good way to relax after a long flight to Europe and get acquainted more with the culture.
After Matthias got out of class, we hung out with him and his friend Lucas for a bit. We actually ended up relaxing even more at the park and had a BBQ at the park! It was fun to see all of the University Students hang out and try some different German meats.
Matthias BBQing for us <3
Meat on a stick!
How the Germans drink their liquor....
That night we went get some Apfel Cider Wine! (Don't worry, this was only for the picture. Us two girls actually shared one. These things were MASSIVE!)
Fireball Whiskey that the boys took shots of that night
Frankfurt for the day!
View from the mall in Frankfurt
Frankfurt city view
On top of Main Tower
It was a wee bit windy....
A bridge in Frankfurt, walking to the Stadel Museum. The best picture we could get....haha!
After Frankfurt, we headed back to Darmstadt to get some food and hang out for the night. The boys took us to a Turkish restaurant that sells Doner Kebabs! Apparently anyone and everyone who comes to Europe and tries them becomes addicted to them. They were really good, but VERY messy. The boys gave Kelsee a hard time because she made an absolute mess out of her Doner, but we enjoyed it!
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Unfortunately the next day we had to start our individual travels and leave the boys. It was so nice being able to have them show us around and allow us to become acquainted with the trains and transportation systems and language! To this day we still have many inside jokes that were made with them. We also talk to them daily and make sure we try to learn a new word or phrase. (Let's be honest, they are probably now annoyed with all of our questions and teaching lessons! It has helped us a little bit, though!)
Waiting for the train with a thousand other people to go to Frankfurt...
We took a train from Frankfurt to Interlaken, Switzerland very early in the morning. Let's just say this adventure made me almost hate Europe, or the train system all together.
The first train from Darmstadt to Frankfurt was absolutely packed full!! Apparently the trains here are on strike so very few trains run during the days, and this was the ONLY train going to Frankfurt that day so everyone was getting on it.
Now imagine two girls with LOTS of luggage trying to get on this train, and then there are a million other people all around us. We were crammed person to person in the train. I was actually very impressed with Kelsee because she is very claustrophobic, but she did very well. We kept eye contact and used breathing techniques the whole 20 minutes to Frankfurt.
The next train was also a problem. We managed to find our platform and found a coach that had our seat numbers on it so we got on, however there was no place to put our luggage AND someone was sitting in our seats!!! Let's just say I finally had my first breakdown (and I even told my mom I would have one eventually...) I wasn't sure if all trains were like this where they double-booked reservations and if they would all be this full where there was no place for luggage. Thankfully one guy was nice enough to help us move other peoples' luggage around so that we could fit ours out of the aisle. However, we still had someone in our seat, so we ended up standing for a little bit. The lady in our seats left after the first stop, thankfully, but I was nervous for the rest of the train ride that a similar situation would occur. Thankfully, it did not!
View from the train on our way to Interlaken
One of the lakes from the train to Interlaken
Train ride video
We managed to make it to Interlaken after a long 5 hour train ride. I felt so awkward carrying around my luggage through the city to our hostel, but we had to do it. We managed to get settled into our room and then decided to walk around town and get acquainted with the cute little city. We even ended up going up to Harder on the Harder Kulm Funicular so that we could get an overlook of Interlaken. We went at a good time because by the time we got down, it was raining and little visibility (Plus COLD!)
So we decided to sit down for some pizza and thankfully split it. Pizzas here are SO BIG! Also, Switzerland is so expensive that even by splitting, we still paid about 15 Euros each.
Our tiny little private hostel room that turned more into a home for us
Interlaken
Selfie time!
Cute little garden park area in Interlaken
The "Grand Hotel" in Interlaken
River running through Interlaken
The funicular up to Harder Kulm
Restaurant at the top of Harder Kulm
Interlaken Panorama
More panoramas of Interlaken
The woods at Harder Kulm
The platform above Interlaken
Selfies at the top of Harder Kulm!
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The next day we took a bus to St. Beatus Cave. It was BEAUTIFUL! Words unfortunately cannot explain this place, and more unfortunately neither can pictures... Nonetheless, we had a wonderful time exploring the deep caves of St. Beatus.
Our morning breakfast!
Looking up the waterfall
Beautiful waterfalls
Selfies!
After the caves, we hiked back to Interlaken, and it was quite the adventure. We got a bit lost, but we met some nice people along the way and made the best of our time. It was a long hike, probably from all of our picture taking and getting lost, but it was fun, and it got us ready for our hike the next day!
After our hike, we were STARVING and went to get some more Italian food, but once again we shared a dish. Originally I thought it was enough food, but we devoured it and were still hungry!!! So we bought a "large sundae" but it didn't seem that large when we got it.... We managed to devour it as well.
Inside St. Beatus. This was the best photo I could get!
Our hike back to Interlaken
Rando selfies on our hike back
Beautiful lake
Love it here
Having a fun hike back to Interlaken!
Beautiful walk around the river
Interlaken river
Interlaken river
Cute homes in the area
Dinner!!!!!
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The next day was our longest and hardest day. We decided to hike from Lauterbrunnen to Murren in the Jungfrau region! Many websites were recommending that we take the tram up to Gruschalp and then continue hiking on to Murren where the trail is more flat, but we decided to stick it out and hike the whole way up.
After the first 2 minutes we nearly regretted our decision. The beginning was actually the steepest part of the hike!!! It wore us out right then and there, but we kept trudging along.
The trail took us up to Gruschalp after about two and a half hours of straight up hill hiking, but we had fun (and got quite a bit of sun despite all the shade!) We were a bit worn out by the time we got to Murren (about 3 and a half hours after leaving Lauterbrunnen) so we pigged out on some schnitzel and bruschetta at the only restaurant that was open on Sunday in Murren. It was delicious!
Walking down to Gimmelwald
Murren; walking down to Gimmelwald
Murren
Gimmelwald!
Even with a three and a half uphill hike, we are still all smiles!
Beginning of our hike! All smiles
Lauterbrunnen. The beginning of our hike
Starting to get sweaty
Top of Murren!
View from our hike
One of the 27 waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen region
At Grutschalp
After our feast in Murren, we trekked on to Gimmelwald (which was thankfully DOWNHILL!) However, once we got to Gimmelwald, we learned that the trek down was another 4 hours! So we decided to take a short cut and take the tram down. It was an adventure because it looked nearly straight down! I've been on trams before, but none that were this steep.
Beautiful flowers and homes on our downward hike to Gimmelwald
These stumps reminding me of Australia and all of the work we did for Wild Mountains! Brought back so many memories!
The tram from Gimmelwald back down to the valley floor. So steep!
We were going to try to go to Trummelbach Falls, but we did not have enough time because they closed at 6, so we made our way back to Interlaken to enjoy a relaxing night in Interlaken.
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The next day we went to "The Top of Europe" which is Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. It was a long train ride up to the top, but it gave us many beautiful views of the Jungfrau mountain region!
When we got up there, we were a little disappointed thinking there was not much to do or see except what was out of the windows. (Many places were closed off due to "falling icicles" since it had just snowed the past week.) However, as we walked around, we discovered there was a "tour" and that was when we discovered how big the place was on top of the mountain! We got to go outside and enjoy the sun and see the views. We also got to go into an ice cave, and much more! Yes, it was a lot of money, but we ended up really enjoying ourselves and found that money well worth the trip to the top!
Panorama
When we got up there, we were a little disappointed thinking there was not much to do or see except what was out of the windows. (Many places were closed off due to "falling icicles" since it had just snowed the past week.) However, as we walked around, we discovered there was a "tour" and that was when we discovered how big the place was on top of the mountain! We got to go outside and enjoy the sun and see the views. We also got to go into an ice cave, and much more! Yes, it was a lot of money, but we ended up really enjoying ourselves and found that money well worth the trip to the top!
Early morning selfies
Top of Jungfrau
Beautiful area to ski!
From the platform ledge
Enjoying the snow in the summer!
All smiles in Switzerland!
Friends
On the platform
Selfies for days
Inside the ice cave
Ice cave
Our mini cucumbers!
Huge chocolate!!!!!!
View of Lauterbrunnen from the train!!
After our adventures to Jungfrau, we found a place in Interlaken where you can make your own Swiss chocolate!!!! We had to take advantage of it, and we had come in the day before but they told us we could not do it because not enough people were signed up. Well, we got there and there was no one there! Apparently they are closed Sunday.... so we sent an email to them asking if we could come in Tuesday instead since it was our last day, but we got an email back from the girl who told us no the day before, and she told us she was in the area and we could do it in 20 minutes! So we basically walked over there immediately after receiving the email and got a private swiss chocolate making class! We had such a blast
Making dark chocolate
Getting started
Mixing up the chocolate!
It's ready!
Getting messy
Kelsee got this!
Yay for chocolate
Giggles and smiles
Chocolate making is a team effort....
....A team effort to get messy
Love at first site
Selfie pro
Tatiana, me, and Kelsee
Get silly
James Bond
I messed up..... it started to spill over.
Woop, there it is.....
Our chocolates
Yum!
Afterwards we went for a walk... and got a little bit lost....
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The next day was a bit hard to decide on what we wanted to do. We originally were thinking we would go paddle boarding or kayaking on the lakes, but we ended up traveling up to Grindelwald and took a hike to First where there is a lake that was supposed to be gorgeous! However, to our dismay it was completely covered in ice and snow, so the view wasn't what I was expecting. Nonetheless, we had a good walk. It was fairly flat, except in a few places where it became incredibly steep for a few minutes, but we managed to talk the whole way, make jokes, and enjoy our time together. It was nice to just relax, walk, and talk!
Afterwards, we took a zipline back down to Grindelwald! It was Kelsee's first time so she was a bit scared, but she had a blast and did so well! I took a video while we went down, and I tried to find her behind me on our way down, but it was too hard to see what I was videoing.
Our hike to First Bachalpsee Lake
Bit nippy out
We matched today....
Selfie after our hike and before ziplining!
She was so scared! This was her first time!
View of Grindelwald form above
The tram ride back to Grindelwald
Gindelwald <3
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The next day was unfortunately our last day in the Interlaken area, and basically our last day in Switzerland. We headed to Lucerne (Luzern) for a half day in the city. We mostly walked around and enjoyed our time. We saw a couple of the "Must see" sites in the city, and then took a lake cruise. It was fun to see the little city ports along the lake and just relax.
View from the train to Luzern
Little town on the way to Luzern
Chapel Bridge
Famous Kapellbrucke (Chapel) Bridge
Panorama of the bridge
Picture from the bridge!
Selfie on the bridge
Evening shot
The Lion Monument
On our cruise
Little town on our cruise
Cute little town on our cruise
After our cruise, however, was when we really hit culture shock. We realized how rude some people can be.
We went to a restaurant and could not figure out if we should sit inside or outside. We finally went inside and someone let us sit down, however there was no one else in there. A few minutes later, though, another waiter came and gave us funny looks and tried to tell us to go outside. We were really confused and decided to just go outside with everyone else, instead. However, as soon as we got outside it started to sprinkle rain a little bit. We did not want to get caught up in rain if we had food, so we decided to get up and move again, but this time go to a different restaurant.
Europe is different where most of the time you seat yourself. However, some places still seem as if someone will seat you, so we are always confused as to whether we seat ourselves or have someone seat us. We always feel rude just seating ourselves, since this is not our customs, but we feel awkward asking someone to seat us for it is not their customs, either. It's all just a jumbled mess that makes us feel overall awkward.
We managed to get seated and ordered some food, but yet again we felt rude when we had to ask for the bill. However, once again this is a custom in Europe because waiters find it rude to just hand you the bill because they do not want to rush you. We have experienced in the past, though, that you must ask for the bill or otherwise you can end up waiting for an hour until the word gets brought up.
Once again we felt a little bit rude when we had to ask, but we did not want to wait any longer for it and just wanted to get back to the hostel and relax. (Plus we had to wake up early the next morning for a 6am train!)
Our hostel room in Luzern
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The next few days seemed to fly by. Most of it was spent on trains traveling from one city to another. We left Luzern early in the morning and headed to Munich. Here, we put our luggage in some lockers and made the adventurous travel to Dachau Concentration camp. We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to find the subways in the train station, so we ended up going against the directions and took a train directly to the stop. I think it actually worked out better this way, and it was faster! Plus it was a lot less confusing. We have finally figured out the train stations and platforms and how they all work by now.
I had been to Dachau before, but we had just read A Man's Search for Meaning for our Psychology class that we are taking this summer, so it was interesting to see the camp after reading about personal experiences and the psychology within each prisoner while they were in the camp. It gave me a different feel in the camp. It was still eerie but it gave me a better understanding about the living conditions and experiences that the prisoners went through.
The Dachau barracks
The museum of Dachau
After Dachau, we headed back to Munich. We had a little over an hour before our train came to head to Fuessen, so we decided to redeem ourselves in our Doner Kebab eatings! Kelsee and I both bought a Doner and managed to not spill a single drop, except one little piece of lettuce. We were pretty proud of ourselves. After that, we decided to get a little dessert and got some crepes to make our tummies happy before the long train ride haul.
Doner kebab
We succeeded
Yummy crepes
We managed to make it to Fuessen that evening, but we discovered we would have quite the interesting haul up the tiny winding stairs of the hostel all the way up to the third floor! We made it, but we were sweating by the time we got to the room. Let's just say that being a girl can be hard work. I think it's time I learn how to pack lighter... at least next time I come to Europe!
That night we had the giggles and unfortunately were in an eight person room! We tried to be quiet, but I bet you anything our roommates may not have been very happy with us that night! Oops!
Kelsee was being goofy that night! haha
We did sleep in that morning though, especially after staying up a bit late from the giggles. The day was also rainy, so it wasn't too much of a hurry to get up and going.
We did however manage to go to Neuschwanstein Castle that day, despite the rain. We hiked all the way to the top of the castle and up to the bridge overlook. It was so busy though with tourists that it made being on the bridge a bit sketchy, but we enjoyed the views. We went up at a good time, too, because by the time we got down to the main city again, the clouds started to roll in low which would probably make the castle harder to see from the viewpoints.
Rainy days
Umbrella selfie
Neuschwanstein
Hohenschwangau Castle
Hohenschwangau Castle
We were a bit cold after our hike to the castle, especially in all of the rain, so we decided to stop in a cafe and get a little lunch and some coffee to warm up! Unfortunately, we got macchiatos since Matthias had us try his in Frankfurt that was REALLY good, but these were bland... we ended up having to put in a couple packets of sugar, but hey! It tasted much better after the added sugar! :D
After exploring the castles, we decided to head down to Fuessen early. We went back to the hostel to warm up, and my phone decided it was full of pictures so I had to take them all off to put onto my computer. It was nice to relax after the raining afternoon, and we ended up meeting a New Jersey gal who would be our roommate in the hostel. We talked to her for a bit while my computer uploaded all my phone photos, and she actually ended up coming out to dinner and hanging out with us that evening!
Our coffee and salad to warm up
We had to get drinks that night
Yum
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The next day we once again woke up early for a morning train that took us to our second to last destination: Salzburg. Unfortunately, we only got a half day here and did not get to see everything that we wanted to see, but we still had a fun day. We went to the top of the Salzburg fortress and explored it for a while.
The walk across the bridge in Salzburg
A little park garden in Salzburg
Floating man
View on our way up to the fortress
The fortress
Salzburg city
Panorama
What interested us the most about this city was how hot it was, to us anyways, and how many layers everyone else was wearing. We were in jean pants and tank tops and were ready to strip down to our undies because we were so hot! However, everyone else around us were in layers: pants with shirts, jackets, and even puffy jackets! I do not quite understand how people can tolerate that much heat. It was only 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and with that I am worried about how I will take the 100 degree SLC heat when I get home! (Oh, that's right! I'll be wearing tanks and shorts without getting stared at like I'm crazy! haha)
We indulged in this pretzel after our hike. It was too hot
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Last but not least: our travel day to our official destination of Wien (Vienna, Austria) where we will be spending the next month studying Health Promotion and Education.
We will be honest, we were TERRIFIED to meet our host family.
Nervous!!!!!!
Remember that time where I was about to have an anxiety attack from all the stress from my first practicum for nursing school? Well today I nearly had the same feeling as we adventured off to meet our host family. The nerves, excitement, fear, ecstasy, and everything in between surfaced, but thankfully it's only been more than a good experience.
We made it to our homestay with extreme ease and were kindly greeted the minute we arrived.
Our host mom showed us around the house and we got situated and unpacked in our room. Afterwards she fed us a snack/lunch that we greatly devoured. Unfortunately I thought we were eating a bread, but it happened to be an apricot cake. I felt a bit silly and guilty when I realized we had just eaten three slices of cake with our fingers!
Afterwards she showed us to the tram station where we took a tram towards the center of their "district" Hietzing. It was interesting to figure out the trams. We are officially pros at traveling on trains, that the trams made us feel like we were back to phase one on travel knowledge. However, we figured it out and somehow made it to the stop that she told us to take.
We made it to our homestay with extreme ease and were kindly greeted the minute we arrived.
Our host mom showed us around the house and we got situated and unpacked in our room. Afterwards she fed us a snack/lunch that we greatly devoured. Unfortunately I thought we were eating a bread, but it happened to be an apricot cake. I felt a bit silly and guilty when I realized we had just eaten three slices of cake with our fingers!
Our room!
We even have a TV. Don't worry, we won't watch it. It's all in German
Kelsee's bed.
Our yummy lunch!
We walked around a huge park and even took a wrong turn into a labyrinth maze of hedges! 😉 We decided to have some fun and release our inner kidlets. We played around with some of the random toys that they had in the mazes and just enjoyed our time in the park.
Afterwards we headed home to enjoy some homemade lasagne, salad, and just one more piece of cake.....
Nonetheless we are safe in Vienna and boy does it feel good to no longer live out of a suitcase!
Walking in the park
Beautiful building in the park
Another building in the park
The labyrinth
Releasing our inner kidlets
I saw a sign saying "Kangaroos are in Australia, not Austria" but I found the Kangaroos in Austria! ;)
Kelsee and her seal! (:
Afterwards we headed home to enjoy some homemade lasagne, salad, and just one more piece of cake.....
Nonetheless we are safe in Vienna and boy does it feel good to no longer live out of a suitcase!
Our neighborhood
Our cute little homestay!
The next day we were going to go to the Hietzing Zoo that is nearby our house, but we were told that our class was getting together in the morning to go on a hike with our class! We decided to get together with our class and get to know them a bit better, and we were happy with our decision. It was nice to get out of the city and take a hike down from Kahlenberg to Grinzing. Kahlenberg is like a little mountain that gave us a nice overlook of the City of Vienna. The hike down was surrounded by many vineyards and trees. It was just a nice fun walk and we got to talk to everyone and hear about everyone else's travels and experiences coming to Europe on their own. To be honest, it was actually really nice talking to people who were American.
Our hike and panorama of the Vienna city
The last couple of weeks we have felt kind of embarrassed to be American. Americans are self-centered. We don't really learn other languages so we felt rude that we came to Europe without knowing any other language. We also have always received the look that basically says "I can totally tell you're american." Also, even talking to our German friends, they wouldn't always understand our sarcasm or humor, so we ended up just making ourselves sound dumb. It was nice to finally be around people who understood us, our humor, and were just able to talk our language without difficulty or need to slow down.
I never thought I would say it but it was nice to be surrounded by Americans in such a foreign place.
I've always thought of myself as wanting to move out of the country and work in like New Zealand or something and just experience a different country, but there is always that homey feeling you get when you are around your own people.
Anyways, we hiked back down to Grinzing where we had some lunch. Unfortunately it was around 2:30 when we got down so many places were closed for lunch until dinner, so we didn't have many options for food. We were going to try to go to an Austrian place that had homemade brewed wines from the vineyards that were in the area, but they were closed. We ended up in a pizzeria, but it was delicious nonetheless!
Afterwards, Kelsee and I headed back to our home where we attempted to work on some homework outside. It was such a beautiful day! We even went to the supermarket. The people working were incredibly nice and kept asking where we were from. It made me finally feel like I was home and not just a random tourist. (I do not think there are many tourists in the little district that we are living in....)
Also, care to know what we ate for dinner? PBJs. The son of our homestay told us "Typical Americans...." Hahahaha! Oooooops!!!!! :D
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I've always thought of myself as wanting to move out of the country and work in like New Zealand or something and just experience a different country, but there is always that homey feeling you get when you are around your own people.
Anyways, we hiked back down to Grinzing where we had some lunch. Unfortunately it was around 2:30 when we got down so many places were closed for lunch until dinner, so we didn't have many options for food. We were going to try to go to an Austrian place that had homemade brewed wines from the vineyards that were in the area, but they were closed. We ended up in a pizzeria, but it was delicious nonetheless!
Hiking through the Vineyards to Grinzing
Also, care to know what we ate for dinner? PBJs. The son of our homestay told us "Typical Americans...." Hahahaha! Oooooops!!!!! :D
Our homework spot for the evening!
Homework + alcohol = Europe...?
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We had our first day of class today. Let's just say that I am not in the school mode yet... and sitting for four hours was a bit of a challenge. I had to start eating my cliff bar just to keep myself awake enough!
First day of school selfies
On our way to class! #viennastyle
Exploring the city before class
Exploring the city before class. Sorry, Eric started to move while I was taking a pano!
St. Stephen's Cathedral
After class, we went to get some food with some friends. We got to try Austria's famous Sacher Torte cake. Man alive, it was DELICIOUS!!!!
Delicious Sacher Torte Cake!
After that, we walked around a little park where we managed to find Mozart's grave! It was pretty cool. There were flowers in a shape of a music symbol.
The memorial statue
Beautiful Memorial site for Mozart
Then we went to the La Sylphide Ballet at the Vienna Opera House. It was just a ballet story, kind of like the nutcracker. It was a bit confusing, but it was fun to see them dance and see the different types of clothing.
Opera ready!
At the ballet
Us girls at the opera
Coming home, however, we got stuck in a huge lightning rain storm!!! We were walking home with our umbrellas when a HUGE lightning hit and thunder roared just a second after. It was so loud that we screamed and started to run to the house. We were having trouble getting the door unlocked, but thankfully our host dad was awake and allowed us into the house. I'm sure he knew we were coming from our scream down the street....
We got a little wet....
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The next day was much easier to sit through class, I am not
sure why. Maybe it was the coffee I finally
had before class! I’ll be honest and say
that I have missed starting my day with coffee every morning, but I also don’t want
to be spending five dollars every day to get coffee so I’ve been living without
it. Unfortunately there is a Starbucks
nearby our university so I have been indulging in the opportunity to enjoy a
coffee in the morning the past two days; let’s hope I don’t get used to the
starbucks being so close and get it every day.
Typical Americans....
Anyways, like I said, class was easier. We did not do too much today. After class we went home to get some homework
done since we leave for Prague this weekend and have a presentation and a
couple of quizzes due on Tuesday after we get back and we don’t want to work on
them during our travels. We got most of
it done but just have some final touches to finish on our presentation.
We made some dinner at our house, and it sure was nice to make my own chicken! It definitely made me feel like home and be a little bit healthier than eating out at restaurants all the time.
We made some dinner at our house, and it sure was nice to make my own chicken! It definitely made me feel like home and be a little bit healthier than eating out at restaurants all the time.
Our delicious dinner <3
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Today we just have class again, and tonight we are going out
to a fancy restaurant with our class and sharing some more sacher torte. Afterwards we are all going to see the
Cinderella Opera! Let’s hope I do not get quite so lost in this opera as I did
in the ballet! (:
That is all for now! Sorry for the long blog; I will
continue to write about my experiences and weekend traveling experiences to the
Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia!
For now,
Auf Wiedersehen!!
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Here is a video I put together from the first week we were in Europe (Germany - Switzerland)
Enjoy!
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