vienna debrief

It has been four days since I woke up in Vienna. 

Four.

I remember when it was four days until I would wake up in another country. 

People always say when about kids growing up, but I think it can be appropriately applied to this situation as well: time flies.

Coming home on Friday was an adventure in itself. After waking up early & taking a scary taxi ride to the airport, we had to figure out this boarding process on our own. There was no professor guidance this time around. What a scary realization at 7am; especially when you are flying back to a country that is a lot stricter with passport control. 

We were only in the Vienna airport for a short time before our plane departed & then we had a quick turnaround in Düsseldorf. The flight across the pond was close to 10 hours. Awesome -- this has great nap potential, but unfortunately I have not yet perfected trans-Atlantic sleeping yet. So instead I watched just about everything they offered on our little screens. 

Chicago is when the real fun began. Since those who booked our flights didn't know how long it would take us to get through border control (psh, only took us 30 minutes), we had a 5 hour layover in the Windy City. In that 5 hours, our gate changed 4 times (I now know terminal B like the back of my hand), we bonded, & we watched the storms roll over Oklahoma. Storms that cause 25% of the flights out of Chicago to be cancelled -- um, say WHAT?! 

Luckily, the storms blew south of Chicago & our flight was able to get out. It was clear skies until we started approaching home. The clouds got a lot darker & the turbulence turned extreme. Becca & I held hands to the point where our knuckles turned white. We literally thought we were going to die. 

Thankfully, we landed & my parents were waiting at the end of the gate to welcome me home. 

One of the bet moments of my life! I've missed everything about them. 

I think what has kept me from writing this closing post is that it means that my adventure is finished. I'm home and Austria feels like a dream. After planning for months, the trip is done & over in a matter of weeks. So sad.

I learned many things on this trip. I accomplished my goal of learning the history of Austria, but what I didn't expect was to learn so much about myself & what I am capable of. What I like & what I don't. Who I am as an independent individual. And to that I say: bring it on, world!

This has also only increased my deep passion for travelling. Now I want to see the world even more than I had wanted to before. Places that I have never before considered are now at the top of my list. I am just so pleasantly surprised at what this world has to offer & can't wait to see more!

The biggest gift Vienna has given me is friendship. Over the course of my 3 weeks there, I became so close to 5 wonderful girls. I hold our friendships close to my heart & will cherish them forever. I hope we will always be in touch & travel again together again soon :)

Vienna is incredibly beautiful & rich in history. The most common question I've gotten from friends and family since my return is: "would you go again?"
The answer: in a heartbeat.
This experience is invaluable & I think students should definitely take the time to study abroad at least once & that everyone should see Vienna in their lifetime. I wish to go back for a visit soon to see all those I left behind. A part of them will always be with me!

I am thankful for every aspect of this trip...the ups & the downs, prime conversations with friends, FRIENDS, food, a home, the challenges, the professors (Doc is the definition of greatness), the culture, music, laughter, & travelling.

While I am glad to be home & in my own bed once again, it is bittersweet to have to say goodbye to the city that has become my second home.

So until next time (which I hope is soon!),
auf wiedersehen, wien! You are loved.

i'm coming home...

I'm coming home,

tell the world that I'm coming home! 

final days

Monday, May 27th, 2013 - Vienna

Today was a “nothing happened to me today” sort of day. 

Seriously, I was so lazy.

The weather forecast has called for less sunshine and more wind & rain. Who wants to go out in that? Not me.

So after braving the cold to go on a class excursion to see the car that Franz Ferdinand & his wife were assassinated in, I called it a day. I spent the afternoon studying for finals in a classroom while watching it pour buckets outside. 

Tuesday, May 28th, 2013 - Vienna

This day, was a good day.

After class, a few girls & I went and picked up speedy lunches from Spar & wandered to the Mozart part to eat. How absolutely lovely. We found a perfect little pond to sit by & the sunshine felt wonderful on our backs. Everyone was back in the parks today after such a crummy day yesterday...there’s the Vienna lifestyle that I love! 

Mozart Park

Allison & I decided to explore a part of the city where we hadn’t been yet. Earlier in the trip we tried to find the Danub...that didn’t work out so well for us. This time we went to find the real river....and we did (with a little of Doc’s help)! There is a little island in the middle that has walking trails, sitting areas, a carnival, and bike rentals. Sounds like the perfect place to be on a warm, sunshiny day. 

When we got there, we were a little mixed up with directions, but a nice lady helped us find the bike rentals after while. But as we started to cross the path to the building, we noticed something us...trampolines over the Danub. At 2 Euro for 8 minutes, we couldn’t say no! THAT was SO MUCH FUN. I could have done it again and again. 

Then instead of renting bikes, we decided to rent a rickshaw. That was a good choice. Others who were also renting one helped us find our way out of the maze of bikes and scooters & then we set out for the island. We got so many smiles as we made our way around the trails :) 

The Naschmarkt was calling our names afterwards & we explored there for a bit before meeting up with other friends at the institute. 

Before dinner, a small group of us went to the Belvedere gardens. This place is just as lovely as Schönbrunn! I took a ridiculous amount of photos...but it’s just to pretty not to! Of course I took a nap here to add it to my on going list. When the clouds started rolling in and the wind picked up, we decided it was time to eat. We tried out a new place by Abigail & Jessi’s house called Wild. The food was a little sub-par, but I think we made up for it with gelato on the way home :) 

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 - Vienna

Whew! Our last day before finals! 

My class as initially supposed to take the test today in order to see the Corpus Christi procession tomorrow, but the weather for Thursday made us think otherwise. So instead, we made this another review day & listened to Dr. Czermak’s stories. He has been a great professor & I have learned so much from him! 

Again a few of us went to Spar to get food, but ate it at the institute in order to cram in a little extra studying. Allison & I had another date afternoon & went to climb St. Stephen’s (south?) Tower. Wow - lots and lots of steps going around and around and around, but the breathtaking views from the top were unbeatable & breathtaking! 

Since we are leaving so soon, we tried the Naschmarkt again for souvenirs & met up with a few other students from our group who were looking for gifts, too. It is always an adventure here! I could spend full days there...there is so much to look at & a lot of delicious food that I would have loved to try! 

Don Quixote was playing at the Staatoper tonight. I was going to go and get standing room with some friends, but I was feeling too tired to stand through an entire performance. And with finals tomorrow, I was worried about studying & sleeping. Looking back at this decision, I wish that I would have gone inside to see a show, but I am satisfied with the choice to meet up with friends to watch it outside. We stayed for only the first act, but every second of it was amazing! 

The clouds rolled in again, and we called it a night. Thankfully I made it home before the downpour! Nontheless, it was chilly & my house momma made me tea to warm up. She is a sweetheart! 

Today held another adventure that I forgot to mention. Our tram kicked us off at a random stop along the route. Why? We have no idea. How did we get to school? That’s an even better question. We jumped on another tram and headed out to find another U station. The good news...we can actually navigate this city. Who would’ve thought?! 

Thursday, May 30th, 2013

I am so sad that I have to write this, because it means that it is time for me to go. 

Vienna has been such a wonderful experience, and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world! 

Everyone took their finals today & then we were done. What a weird thought. What are we supposed to do with ourselves now?!

Just like we had an opening dinner, we had a closing lunch. Filled with traditional Austrian dishes, we toasted to our time here, thanked our professors for all they have done & said our goodbyes. Crazy. 

Meredith and I went back into the city to find final souvenirs, but the pouring rain prevented us from visiting more than one shop. Our group of girls decided to meet at the Schönbrunn station at 8 to take a peek at the concert playing at the palace, & then find a nice place afterwards to have a drink before we go. 

This sounds easy, but was actually very hard on the account that we had given back our cell phones earlier in the day & also the fact that it was holiday and the bus schedules were askew did not help the situation at all. When Kelsey and I made it to the station 30 minutes late, there was a mad rush and lots of shouting...maybe even tears. Probably the best reunion experience I he ever had. I love love love these girls! 

We stayed for the first movement of the concert and went to the city one last time to find a place for drinks. We have been itching to go to a Karaoke bar, but the ones Abigail had looked up were ones we had trouble finding. So we went to the next best alternative -- Café Bloom -- our favorite place to sit and watch the city. 

Kelsey & I wanted to get home with enough time to catch the last bus, so we said our goodbyes a little earlier than we wanted & headed home. We stopped for one more scoop of gelato before boarding the U4 for the last time. It was insane to think that this was the last time I would be boarding Swedenplatz to go to Hietzing. 

Earlier in the day before we left to meet up with friends, we gave Lilo our going away present. Lilo is so cultured and has travelled the world -- what do you get a lady like that!? We thought about getting stuff from Hope for her, but she already has everything imaginable from the bookstore. 

What else makes Holland special?

Tulip Time.

Dutch heritage.

Wooden shoes.

We got her wooden shoes. Only fitting that she gets her own after hosting 30 girlies from the area! My mom had them made for her & they are being sent this week. We showed her a picture on my computer & her eyes just lit up. She was so excited! 

Way to go us! 

salzburg!

Friday, May 24, 2013

I was very, very excited for class to get out today. Very excited. We were finally going to Salzburg. I have been looking forward to this since I saw the Sound of Music for the first time when I was less than 5. So I might have been a little excited.

Turns out Spar (the grocery store, Billa is it’s competitor) has a great selection of fruit parfaits, so after making that wonderful discovery, it was time to load the bus! 

We drove for a few hours when we stopped for a tour of Melk Abbey. It was beautiful! (I say that about a lot of places here...but there really is no other word to describe everything I’m seeing!) We wandered through the old guest rooms with priceless artifacts & exhibits, then moved onto the Marble Hall, balcony (GORGEOUS views of the country side!), and library. It really feels like being in a fairy tale book. Then we found the church...I literally had to sit down in awe. I am constantly blown away by these places. They are such a surprise on the inside...absolutely love.

The courtyard with the Dome behind

The town

Hello beautiful country side

We are so blessed

Loving these stairs! 

For another 3 hours we were back on the bus. And with horrible sleeping conditions, this was a very long 3 hours. But we made it to the hotel and had a chance to unwind and unpack before dinner. Since there is just so many of us in our group, we were split into two different rooms. There was a group of 14 of us in the smaller of the two rooms, and we enjoyed a delicious meal with completely random and quality conversations all together. Pokémon & dinosaurs. Enough said.

We are actually staying in a small town just outside of Salzburg called Hallien & we heard there was a wonderful little gelato shop in the “downtown” a few blocks from our hotel. So obviously this sounds like a great idea and we went out to explore the town. I guess there was an event where everything was open late & a bar was set up with live music in the square. It was so cute & so much fun! We danced, we laughed, we ate gelato. You can’t beat a night like that! 

Adorbs.

Saturday, May 25th, 2013

Yuck! Rain! The gloomy clouds kept rolling in as we made the 20 minute drive to Salzburg after breakfast. But we persevered and met our guides a short distance from the Mirabell Gardens, where we started our walking tour. We again had to split into two groups on account of our size and explored the gardens & old town. The whole while we kept passing Sound of Music filming locations. I kept thinking -- Ahhh! Stop! Let me get pictures! We also saw the birthplace of Mozart on our way to the older parts of the city & stopped into a bakery that had the best smelling bread! We went through a beautiful old cathedral before we met with our other half to go up to the old fortress.

Nonnburg Abbey

Look familiar?

Mirabell Gardens! 

I'm just so happy right now 

Doe, a deer, a female deer...

Gah! So pleased! 

Holy cow. This climb was intense. I now have calves of steel. I was freezing before the hike, and how I was dying of heat. However, even though the climb was tough the views from the top were stunning and picturesque. Just absolutely gorgeous. I could have stayed there all day! The fortress is to Salzburg what Schönbrunn is to Vienna - if you want to meet your fellow Americans...this is it. I don’t think I heard one person speaking another language while I was there.

Hiked that...and then some.

Hello Salzburg!

Afterwards we had our free time, and we didn’t actually have a lot of time to roam the city like most of us wanted to. We grabbed quick lunches at stands & ridiculously big & delicious pretzels in the market so that we could continue to explore. We found a lot of cute little shops and pathways. Soon it was time to meet back in the gardens to get on the bus again. In the afternoon we went to Germany! We were going to a Nazi documentation site that is located on the grounds of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. If the weather hadn’t been so crummy and foggy, we might have had a chance to actually go to the Eagle’s Nest, but the views of probably would not have been worth it. During the tour that we did go on, we went into Hitler’s bunkers located in the mountain. They have opened up the guest and hospital bunkers for the public to see. It was definitely an eerie feeling down there! 

Nazi Documentation Site

We got back to the hotel early & took much needed naps before dinner. Again dinner held great conversation with the girls before we went out to celebrate my birthday. Since my day falls on a travel day, and my host mom has dinner plans for us when we get back, so tonight was the only night that worked for us to celebrate all together. We went for drinks & later found ourselves going back for more gelato. Typical.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Ah...today was such fun! It started with a trip down into the salt mines. Something I thought I would never do...but now can say that I did! 

You ride straight into the mountain on these cute little trains in your goofy white pants and coats & travel through a bunch of tunnels before you get off to continue on foot. We stopped at several open caverns for more information on the mine & a video. What these story videos were trying to tell me, I’ll never know. I just laughed at them the entire time. But then we had to slide down these massive slides in groups of two to three to go even deeper into the mine. So. much. fun. You go slower than you expect and your tushie is warm afterwards, but you can’t stop laughing the entire way down. I loved it!

They taught us how the salt was mined, had us taste salt water that was 9x saltier than the ocean, and took us for a boat ride on an underground lake...so cool. The cheesy music and light show (there’s always a light show!) was perfectly timed for our ride. During our trek underground we crossed into Germany and back again & got to see original equipment used in the mines during the 12th century. Crazy! On our way back to the surface, we got little packs of salt from the mine to take home with us & rode out on the trains again.

Afterwards it was time to get back on the bus...and for a few hours until we stopped for lunch. Since everyone was together and awake, Doc had the bus sing Happy Birthday to me and Kara, whose birthday is tomorrow. I never know what to do with myself during this song, but it does make me smile :) 

Our group stopped at the Rosenburger for lunch, where I made sure to get myself a piece of chocolate cake. If only we had candles! 

Next stop: Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Most certainly a gloomy place to think about visiting, but I was very excited to go. When we got there, we were free to explore the camp on our own. In the main part, we could see & go into the old barracks, wander the graveyard where those who died after libration are buried, explore the old infirmary which has been recently (as of this month) been converted into an artifact & history museum/memorial. In the basement of this building was an exhibit of the treatment of the prisoners and their deaths. After walking through this, you could see the larger crematorium & gas chamber. These rooms were not what I had at all been expecting & it was a really a moving experience. 

On the way back to the main gate to see the other half of the camp, I passed the old jailhouse with research rooms and another crematorium and the first barrack that has been converted into a chapel. I poked around a bit, but I was by myself and felt extremely unsettled to try and look around these buildings by myself. So I kept walking. 

The path took me to the quarry where the prisoners worked in all weather conditions and to the “Death Stairs.” The climb of 187 steps is hard enough without anything to carry on my back. I can’t even imagine the horrors that happened here. For them to climb that in the heat with granite rock on their backs... it is absolutely awful.

Mauthausen

This book is filled with the names of those who lost their lives here

The quarry

The Death Stairs

This place was a time capsule. It was very emotional, but I am so thankful that I had the chance to go. Too often we forget that these are actual places, and not just images from a film.

Okay... let’s turn the happy back on! 

 When we got back to Vienna, my housemates and I headed straight home. Our house mom was making us a good-bye dinner that was also a birthday dinner for me. She made us courses of traditional Austrian dishes that were just too good. Soup, salad, chicken with vegetables, and chocolate for dessert. Let’s not forget the Prosecco! We sat with Lilo for hours talking. She is such a wonderful lady & I am so grateful to her for taking us into her home! 

This has definitely been one of the best birthday’s ever. I am so blessed to have been able to spend it in Europe! Thank you to everyone at home and in Austria who have made it extra-special! Bring on the 20s!

salzburg

We're going there today :)

another week gone by

Monday, May 20, 2013

While it stinks to be sick abroad, I couldn’t have timed it more perfectly. 

When I woke up in the morning I felt fine, albeit a dim headache - but it became clear when I stood up & almost passed out that I was everything but fine. My roommate Rachel had to help me back to bed when I overshot the stairs and stumbled. If today had not been a holiday & I still had class like the others that day, I would have fought it. Since it was a holiday and my class had in fact been cancelled, I was more than happy to get some extra sleep. 

When I woke up a bit later, my house frau was there to the rescue. She had off from work and was willing to spend her morning taking care of me, her sick American student whom she has only known a week. What. a. doll. I got breakfast, lots & lots & lots of tea, plus her family’s “get well” soup. I found out later that when she was talking with another one of my housemates, she said that when she has girlies, they are like her children - and she wants healthy, active girlies. I absolutely love her.

By 1 o’clock I was feeling TONS better, so I went back into the city to the institute so that I could get a little online work done for the day. When I walked up the stairs & towards one of the main classrooms, I could hear a lot of chatting behind the door. Then I remembered that the music class was sponsoring haircuts & bringing in a professional hair dresser. When I opened the door...the hair dresser was the professor himself. Oh Wolfgang, I should have known. Some girls chopped their hair. We’re talking 11-12 inches. Meredith went from waist length to chin length. Happy birthday! My favorite line from this adventure...“Don’t look now, but you’re getting your hair chopped by an Austrian professor!” 

Eeeeek! Brave, brave souls. 

chop chop

For the afternoon, a group of us went to the park between the museums & of course ended up napping. We’ve napped in 3 parks now. I like this trend. Later we attempted to find the “beach” & the Danub, but later found out that what we did find was neither of those. Oh well -- was still a cool place to visit! It was a walkway along a water canal & we saw a lot of artwork (graffiti, sculptures, mosaics, etc.) and the “beach” was basically a sandbox outside of a bar. Cool spot to hangout, but not what we were looking for. 

It was Meredith’s birthday, so we went out to dinner at a fabulous Italian place & wandered a cute market set up outside of St. Stephen’s. Later we met the rest of the girls at a café bar to celebrate & then had to get the gelato that was taunting us from across the street! :)

Uh, everything they do here is cute

We love street performers.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

I am 100% better. That is rockin’. Just in time for my tour of parliament, too! My class had a guided tour scheduled & it was truly very interesting. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not into politics all that much. They’ll say I should go back to the 60s because I sound like a hippie when I say that the world would be a better place if it was filled with love, peace, and smiles. This is why I don’t even get into debates.

In our tour, we got to see the marble hall, the chambers, the meeting room of the representatives from around the country, etc. In one of the meeting chambers, we even got to sit at the front desk - where the leaders of the meeting sit. Not a bad feeling :) 

This day was also full of surprises. When we thought we were going to have a working lunch to make up for our missed class yesterday, our prof ended up dropping us off at a restaurant & turning around to head back to school. Uhh...okay? So our class had lunch together at the only mexican restaurant in the city & then went back to the institute for more class time. Then after that our prof sprung another surprise on us & told us that we were going to a movie. Okay...its not like I had plans (sarcasm).

But I’m really glad that we got to go (even if I didn’t appreciate the context under which I had to go). We went and saw “The Third Man”. Really very good! My friends had wanted to see it too, so when they found out when I had to go, they decided to come along, too! That was fun. It was great to relax for a bit in the theatre with candies. Next time, maybe Gatsby? It’s killing me that I wasn’t home for the premiere of my favorite book! Totally called them casting Leo. 

Okay...end tangent.

The Third Man - Dad, you'd like it, too.

For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by the music prof to his students. It was located in a 400 year old wine cellar & served probably the best pork roast I’ve had in a long time. When we climbed out to head home (or to get gelato - whatever suited our fancy), it was POURING rain. We scanned our maps for the nearest U and ran. No gelato tonight.

This nicely sums up our feelings about the rain.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Well I’m smart. I threw all of my pants in the wash last night & had to wear a dress for the day. Dresses are always a good thing, but not when the forecast calls for more rain. It’ll have to do I guess.

I went to my morning meeting where we got the needed information for our upcoming trip to Salzburg. This week is flying. My class session today was again cut in two to still make up for Monday. In the afternoon I was due to give another presentation, only, I didn’t have internet the night before & had to cram in last minute research while at the institute. I felt incredibly unprepared & stressed...but fortunately, it went very well. Afterwards it felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

I reloaded my phone, treated myself to tea & a muffin from Starbucks, and happily took on the rest of the day. The Staatoper across the street from the institute sets up a large screen & chairs outside of the building & allows the public to watch the show that is happening inside the building fo free. Five of us girls took advantage of that, grabbed ourselves some Subway (I know, I’m horrible. But living in an expensive city, you can’t beat 2.49 euros for a sub), and made ourselves comfy in the sunshine (it turned out to be the most beautiful day!) to watch an opera. 

A few of us left the show early & got some shopping done. Allison & I went to a café for good drinks and conversation. My day ended with a lovely study session with my housemates (and a challenge to name all 50 states) along with clean laundry. 

And it was good.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Today we got to school in record time, but not because of our own thoughtful planning, but rather that our bus driver was hauling. Probably the craziest bus ride I have been on yet here.

In the afternoon I had another excursion with my history class (it has been a very bonding week). We met our prof and then our tour guide, Bridgette. I thought we were just going to high tail it around the city for a bit, but we still had a surprise in store for us. Or maybe I was the only one unaware of this, but moving on...

We were taking a tour of post WWII Vienna, but we were going to do it through the eyes of The Third Man. Our guide has actually written a book on it, so there was no one better to take the tour with. The movie was shot in 1949, so a lot of what is seen in the movie is what Vienna actually looked like. A few parts of the movie involve the sewer system (Harry Lime’s first escape & later, trap) so where do we go first? The sewer! They really do have legit tours for this place. This movie is bigger than I originally thought! While it was cool to see where some of the film was shot and to stand where Orson Wells did, it was smelly (obviously) & echo-y, making it hard to hear the presentations. When we got up to fresh air again, people were talking about the spiders on the walls the size of their fist. SO GLAD no one told me before or during -- that would have been the end of the tour for me! 

Our class about to head down into the sewers! 

Yes...we actually went.

Afterwards we really did go on a walking tour to see the other sights & learn more facts about the movie. It was very entertaining! I love learning about WWII, so I was eating it up. 

I met some friends later to (finally!) go to the Imperial Library/State Hall. How. absolutely. beautiful. It houses 200,000+ books from the 1400s through the 1870s. Incredible. This is actually the library that inspired the library in the Beast’s castle from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I’ll be honest...this is what drew me to the library in the first place. Love love me some Disney. 

Outside 

Inside 

My artistic shot of the day

I can't get over how amazing this place is! 

My friends were recommended to see a beautiful church at the end of the green line, so we headed that way when we were done at the library. It may have taken us a bit to get there, but it was worth it. The church was gorgeous and overlooked the tree-covered hills & vineyards. So glad that they are in the art class & where willing to explain to me the art & styles displayed everywhere. I have gained a new and huge appreciation for architects. Bravo. B-e-a-utiful!

Gorgeous.