we're here

Well, we've made it...we're finally in Austria!

I started out at 11:00 yesterday morning, and these last 24 hours have been such a whirlwind. With every stop, we seemed to accumulate more and more students. I started in GR with maybe 12 classmates and I walked out of the terminal in Vienna with 30+.

Our first flight went to Chicago, a trip that usually takes about an hour to get from the airport in GR to the gate in Chicago. However, the plane that occupied our gate in Chicago conveniently broke down, forcing us to wait for that gate &/or wait for another gate to open up. I felt bad for our pilot - he was so nice & apologetic; in the end it took longer for us to get into a gate than it did to cross the lake. Good thing we had plenty of time to spare!  

The flight to Germany departed later that afternoon, so after a brief rest period, we geared up to board an 8 hour flight. Our previous flight had random seating assignments and I was worried that this flight might be the same. However, I had nothing to worry about... my entire row was students. Hallelujah! 

2 (3) observations from this plane ride:

 - If you want to un/willingly get to know a person, spend 8 hours on a plane with them in close proximity. Seriously. 

- I just might spring for first class next time I fly across the ocean. I don't know if 8 hours in a stiff chair influenced my judgement at all on this or not, but the chairs in first class seemed to have gotten bigger & comfier...and it just might be worth it. 

....

- The person who designed the air bus has to get an award for figuring out how to keep that sucker up in the air. 

Since I got absolutely NO sleep on this flight I caught a few minutes on our next flight to Vienna and woke up when the wheels touched ground. Sweet, sweet land!

Immediately we met up with our group and were led to a bus that would take us to our orientation location. Located an hour and a half from Vienna & minutes away from Hungary is a village called Mörbisch, and we will be here for orientation until we move back to Vienna & our host families later this weekend.

First entering Mörbisch!

After checking into our hotel, we quickly took showers to feel human again & had lunch in the hotel. Since we are so close to the border, the girls decided we needed to rent bikes and bike to Hungary. So after converting money, picking up bikes, and pedaling 5 miles - we were in Hungary.

Let's go to Hungary! 

Since none of us speak any German or Hungarian, we missed the sign welcoming us to the country. We saw one sign, took a few pictures, but debated whether or not it was the right one and biked on. It wasn't until we biked back past the same sign in the opposite direction that we saw "Goodbye" written on it & saw the line painted on the pavement in front of an old check-point station that we figured out it had been the right sign all along. Apparently we are a super observant bunch, especially after 24+ hours with little sleep!
When you think about it, we went to four countries in two days. Not too shabby! :)

Hey, look. Hungary.

Straddling the border. Hungary on the left; Austria on the right.

In addition to our biking adventure, we spent time biking & walking around the village...and it is so stinkin' cute :) So quaint and classy. I can't wait to explore it a bit more over the next few days while we are here! People bike and drive their tractors. It doesn't get much simpler than that. I love it.

Beautiful.

And now... the jet lag hits. I am exhausted but have successfully stayed awake this far so that my sleeping pattern isn't too switched around. This will be the best. sleep. ever.