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!