Salzburg Festivial and Oktoberfest.

Been a very interesting 10 days! It snowed last week. Which was crazy! Snow in the middle of September. The group went to a castle that day so it was really pretty walking around the old castle in the snow.

This last week on Thursday the Salzburg festival started. There are rides and booths and lots of really good food, and of course a beer tent. (no where in this region is there not a beer tent at a large event) I got to see some traditional dancing and tons of cool looking stuff.

The Salzburg festival ends tomorrow but there is still lots more to come this semester. Today I went on a short trip to Munich. I will be going back in a week again with my group but today was all about Oktoberfest! I think it is a one time deal in my lifetime. SO MANY PEOPLE! I didn't even know that so many people could fit into one area. I got the best chicken in the world there. It was amazing. We saw rides and the beer halls and the gardens. We did try and get into one of the beer gardens but no luck. We stood in a mass mob of people for a good hour waving the number four and jumping around like a fool. It was also the closets I have ever been to random strangers before as everyone proceeded to get as close as possible to each other. I tried to take on the 6 foot guys that elbowed me in the shoulder but not luck. However the very handsy Italian guy (also super loud and was resting his arm on my friends while trying to shove them out of the way) got kicked out before ever getting in. Interesting times in the beer garden mob.

We did however finally make it out of the festival area and into a nice part of the town with a second hand English book shop and an ice cafe before heading back to the train.

Tomorrow is the ice caves. Super excited for that. (not excited about the 800 steps though) Should be lots of fun. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Ich liebe Österreich!

Greats from Austria! I have been here 3 days now. First day was rough. New city, a couple major dorm issues (that have been fixed YAY!) The city is awesome. Its pretty easy to get every where by bus and by walking. I just bought a monthly bus ticket that is good until the 13 of next month. The bus basically gets you every where and then walking does the rest. My poor feet have taken a good beating by the amount of blisters that have appeared since London.

Signs of life today in the dorms! There are tons of Austrians on my floor. I don't have a roommate right now but she will be here in the next week or two depending on when her classes start. The University its self is all over the city, in old buildings and new buildings. Its really hard to spot what is academic and what is not... doesn't help either that everything is in German.

Tonight a friend of mine and I went to a cute cafe called Mozart's Cafe. I got the coolest looking dessert ever. It is egg whites beaten in the shape of the mountains with cranberries on the bottom. So good! Tomorrow I have German class but then its off to Mozart's house. Can't wait!

London and First Day in Salzburg

My trip did not go as smoothly as planed to begin with. After getting to the airport I found that I could not carry on the plane the bag I had brought. So in the midst of changing everything around at the check in counter the zipper on my bag broke... A share moment of panic. Thank goodness the other zipper still zipped. Then during the 7 hour plane ride the guy in front of me decided it was a good idea to keep is seat reclined all the way back for all 7 hours. It wasn't the best 7 hours of my life that's for sure. I did make it in one piece though!

London was amazing! Got in at 7 am and had to wait in the longest line ever to get through immigration. Which once I got up there, only took 2 min. I got to meet up with Anna and went to see Kings Cross and Soho. Some really cool places there and I got to see platform 9 and 3/4. We then had a group gathering where we all got to know each other. Finally got to bed around 11 pm after what was basically two full days.

The next day we went on a group tour to see all of the famous sights. Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Westminster Abby, ect.. It was awesome. I saw the crown jewels got to take lots of pictures. It was over all a super fun day.

Finally today I got on a plane to Munich. After finding our AIFS guide at the airport we got to take a wonderful drive through the Mountains to get to Salzburg.Its so pretty here! Although I am having major defficulties finding things on maps and trying to understand German...

One Week before takeoff!

Super excited to leave a week from tomorrow! I have already starting packing and have found that it is super hard to pack your whole life into one carry-on bag, a backpack and one checked suitcase... the whole other part of that challenge is making sure its under 50lb... two issues I am seriously fighting with. I have two more days of work. (tonight and tomorrow) one family party, and tons of small errands to run before I leave.

I am hoping all of these small things keep me busy until 1:35pm on Friday. First stop on my grand semester adventure will be LONDON! Where I will hopefully be meeting up with my roommate for the last 2 years Anna. :D Then after 3 days, it's off Germany where I will catch a bus into Salzburg.

Also one final note before I sign off and go attempt to narrow down which clothes I am taking, I got a lovely email stating that my per-departure packet would be arriving by UPS in the next day or two. So the UPS truck pulls up to the house and I run to the door and anticipation only to get a package of shoes. (note the box of shoes is super less exciting then it sounds because its only a size 6 right shoe for shoe shows.) It was a complete let down.

Stay tuned next week for my adventures in London!