busy busy bee

Sorry I haven't written on this in so long! Only 6 days until I leave! I've been wrapping up some things this weekend and such. Erin and I went souvenier shopping together and I got a sweatshirt that says University of Salzburg on it, a Salzburg flag and a glass :) we also went shopping on Friday and I got a couple gifts for some people, and a few clothes..it was my last real shopping in Salzburg! The last thing I have to pick up is some chocolate to bring back for a few gifts and..that's it! Erin had to pick up gifts too. We had a shopping spree and picked up some Flux (a type of lemonade) to try, and then came back and made some pasta in my room. Then Saturday, today, we went to Berchtesgaden, in Germany (the very southern part of Germany, right over the border), so we could see the Eagle's Nest. In German it's called the Kehlsteinhaus. It was a cottage/house given to Hitler on his 50th birthday, that overlooks Salzburg and parts of southern Germany. I won't lie, it was a little eery being there. We ended up eating in a restaurant that may have been the location of Hitler's old office, or a guard's room..we couldn't tell for sure on the map..either of them is totally creepy! Below the Eagle's Nest is a "Dokumentation" museum which is about World War II and Hitler's rise to power, it had a lot of documents with Nazi propaganda, including pictures with children, a anti-Semitic children's book, letters back and forth, and different recordings of speeches, flags, a sculpture of Hitler..it was all really creepy stuff. We also saw an old Nazi bunker used for protection from Allied bombings. Being there made me extra thankful that the Allied powers won WWII. We had to take a bus into Germany, then a taxi up the mountain partway to the Dokumentation area (because the bus wasn't coming we took a taxi) then another bus to the little Eagle's Nest, then we hiked, and eventually took a Gondola, and then a bus back to Salzburg. lots of transportation!

After we left the Eagle's Nest we went on a half hour hike/walk to get to some awesome..alpine slides! They were really fun, you sit on a little car on wheels and go down slides, the little car you sit on has a break and everything. They were steep metal slides so we went pretty fast..and at the same time had gorgeous views of the mountains. It's hard to describe without seeing pictures, and I do have some pictures.. It was a really neat experience :) then we took a gondola back down to the ground! We then went back to Salzburg and Gabby treated us to dinner, I got really yummy Cordon Bleu and "chips" aka little french fries..sooo yummy. I also drank some Almdudler which is an Austrian soda, it's almost an apple flavor..I like it a lot! I'll miss drinking it in the US.

Tomorrow is a day I'm devoting entirely to homework and studying, perhaps a little run if I need to destress or something. I have my final for DaF class on Monday, but unfortunately we still have class Tuesday and Thursday as usual..I'll find out my final grade for the class before I even fly home, which is a good thing. I'm stressed though because I didn't know we had classes next week (including Gabby's class one last time) so it's a lot to do! I have to study for the final and take it, write 2 essays, and pack my whole room up and majorly clean everything. On Monday after the DaF final we're going to the bank to close our bank accounts (I never even used mine) and then Gabby is taking us to the lake. Tuesday we are going to meet the Rogenbauer's at a beer garden/restaurant to say goodbye to them, they were the founders of the Salzburg program and they are really sad that we are the last group to go through it. They're both really nice people.

Well, tomorrow will be a busy day. I think I'll go watch a movie and relax for a little bit..so excited to be home soon! Hope all is well! :)

*Edit* I wanted to add a list of the things Kris and I did while he was here visiting:
-walked on the Mönchsberg
-Festung Fortress (huge castle on the hill)
-St. Peter's Cemetery and oldest Bakery nearby
-looked inside the Dom church/around the Altstadt streets
-went to the Mirabell Market 2x and got yummy fried chicken/walked around
-he tried Mozartkugeln chocolate, Reyna's pizza, Murat's Kebap x2 and Heisse Kiste x2 :)
-we went to the Salzburger Dult, the local fair
-Milch Automat/walked on Hellbrunn Allee
-went to the Mirabell Gardens x2 and explored around
-went out at night to see some Salzburg nightlife: O'Malley's and Roses
-Stiegl Brauwelt, the brewery, to take the tour
-went out to dinner once
-Munich, Germany for the day
-souvenier shopping :)

Well, we could have done more as well, but we did a lot! I had a list and felt like writing it down. Unfortunately the weather wasn't always cooperating, but at least we did some fun things :)

winding down..

Things are going well in Austria…only 13 days until I’m back in the US! Yesterday Kris, Ashley and I went on an adventure to find the Milch Automat. It’s a machine where you pay 60 cents and fill your own bottle with delicious fresh milk J we had to wander around for a little while before we could find it since it’s down the path of a field, but when we did it was totally worth it. Then, we found a path called “Hellbrunner Allee” which is a tree lined path that goes back towards the center of the city. It’s pretty, really popular with joggers/locals and was something I’ve been wanting to find for a while, so we all walked back on it together. That was nice, I’m really glad I found it before we left.

I only have 2 DaF classes left and things are also winding down for Gabby’s classes. I have a short essay and a long essay for Gabby’s class, and then a final exam for DaF. The next week will be filled with some studying and preliminary..packing! That feels very weird to say. I only have a little bit more souvenir/gift shopping to do, which is nice but also…just so strange! I can’t believe I’m about to be leaving…

Last week the day after going to the fair I had some weird food poisoning or something..I didn’t eat anything at the fair but we made sausage after and I think that was it. I felt pretty bad for a little while but I’m better now. I’m glad it just went away on its own!

Kris leaves Monday morning so I want to show him a couple more things if there is time. Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been cooperating so well, BUT on Wednesday we took a train to Munich, Germany with Ashley and Paige. It’s only two hours from Salzburg. I wanted to go there for a day before I left Salzburg, so that was another thing I could cross off my list, too. We went to the city center where we saw the Glockenspiel (a famous clock with dancing people that move), and some other famous buildings in the center. We stopped at the Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer garden in Munich. We packed our own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because we were trying to save money. It worked! We also stopped at a really huge discount clothing store and I got a dress for only 7 euros which was pretty awesome:) it was a quick trip but I’m still glad I got back there on this trip. (It was one of the places I went to in high school so it was cool to go back). Now I can say I’ve been to both Northern and Southern Germany, which is awesome. I didn’t get to London unfortunately, but I’m glad I can say I went to lots of places!

Well, that’s about all for now. I guess I’ll go make plans for the day!

fun long weekends!

Things are going welll in Salzburg. It feels like we’ve been doing lots of fun stuff, and I have a 5 day weekend right now (it started Friday, and we don’t have class until Wednesday). On Thursday night I hung out with Kris, Ashley and Erin. That was fun, just hanging out together. Ashley went to bed but Erin, Kris and I went to Heisse Kiste so he could experience it. It’s basically a tiny sausage stand that sits right near the Altstadt. People only go there to get sausage at night (mostly) so we went and got Käsekrainer..that was fun, and delicious. Friday, I gave Kris a tour of the Altstadt, so we visited St. Peter’s Cemetery, and the oldest bakery in Salzburg, looked inside the Dom Cathedral, and then went to the Festung. That was my second time at the Festung and it was nice to see the great views again. We had really yummy tortellini for dinner that we bought at the store.

Saturday, we went to Stiegl Brewery, where they brew Salzburg Beer, and we got to see the process of how it works (again, since Gabby took us there when we first arrived in Salzburg in February, so long ago). We had coupons that we got from the grocery store, for entrance for only 2 Euros…plus, we got a coupon for the gift shop, so I bought a t-shirt! After that we went to dinner at the delicious Wildermann restaurant, I got Wienerschnitzel and really yummy Kaiserschmarnn dessert again…I definitely want to learn how to make that one! Then Kris and I watched the movie Little Fockers on my computer.

Sunday morning I went running, and then we lazed around a bit until Ashley, Kris and I went to the Salzburger Dult..which is a fair in Salzburg. I felt like I was at a smaller version of the Fryeburg Fair, which was awesome. I definitely noticed that the Austrians are a lot less strict with regulating fair rides..half of the rides that tip and spin didn’t even have safety bars or anything..you literally have to hold on for dear life, that was pretty crazy to watch. It was fun to people watch and watch people do carnival games all in German..and they had lots of yummy looking food, but the only thing I got was a serve-your-own slushie, which was really good..it’s free admission so I’m sure we’ll be going back before it ends on the 19^th, with more people that want to go.

Well, today we have plans to go check out a sort of craft fair that’s set up along the river, and getting kebaps tonight with Ashley. Tomorrow I have to actually do some homework, and hopefully go running again. Only 18 days until I’m home! I'll try to update again soon!

Berlin :)

Our trip to Berlin was a success! The train ride was a little long…but anyway, when we all arrived in Berlin on Wednesday evening (last week) it was really late and we just went to bed in the hostel. The next day, Thursday, we took a 3.5 hour walking tour all over the city. We saw parts of the old Berlin Wall, a lot of famous buildings, a Holocaust memorial, and the area where many WWII events took place. We even stood on the ground above where Hitler’s old bunker was, and where he committed suicide. It was a really well done tour and very interesting. Friday, some people went on another walking tour, but Paige, Kris, Ashley, Lindsay, and I decided to go to the Berlin Zoo! It was a really large, nice zoo and I’ve never been so close to some of the animals. With the way it was set up you could get really close to a lot of animals, even lions and tigers, so it was a pretty cool experience.

Berlin is awesome because they have lots of world food. On Thursday we found a Dunkin Donuts! And then after the zoo, we found..a PIZZA HUT. I felt so American but we loved that pizza so much.. that night we went out through the city a little bit and saw the East Side Gallery where professional artists made murals on  a long stretch of the old Berlin Wall. They were really awesome!

On our last day in Berlin, we went to the Pergamon Museum (not really my first choice of what I want to do/see in Berlin, but our teacher wanted us to see it) where we saw a few famous things like the Ishtar Gate and some Islamic art. We wandered an outdoor market with lots of cool souvenirs .We also did some shopping in touristy stores throughout the trip. One thing I bought for myself was a tote bag with the Ampelmann on it- the Ampelmann is a cute little man wearing a hat that they use as a symbol in the crossing lights in parts of East Berlin- it has become a sentimental thing for the people of Berlin.

For our last evening we went out to both an Indian and a Mexican Restaurant (we split into two groups and had a choice of which kind of food we wanted, I picked Mexican). It was very delicious, and Gabby said a good chance to get ethnic food because Berlin is full of it, unlike Salzburg.

We had to get up early on Sunday and take the train back to Salzburg,  which wasn’t very fun. We were equipped for the ride with more Dunkin Donuts though :)

Back in Salzburg classes have been going ok, we’re coming down to the final stretch so soon I will have another final, and a big paper to write. Kris is visiting so I have shown him around the Mirabell Gardens, Mirabell Market, and part of the Altstadt so far. We made a list of the places he wants to see. Unfortunately June is usually pretty rainy so it’s been pretty cloudy for the most part, but it’s still nice. Today we have more sun but the rest of the forecast doesn’t look so great.

I love hanging out with all my friends here and I will miss seeing them all the time when we go back to the US. It feels sad to talk about having a farewell party and going home, but part of me is really excited to be back home too. I know I keep saying that in every entry but it’s a really strange feeling to be so excited and so sad at the same time!

Today is sunny so hopefully we’ll be doing something outside, and then a small group of us will be going to Stiegl Brewery because we have coupons to get in for just 2 Euros. I realized I never wrote about the Maibaumfest that took place at Stiegl Brewery..it was a big gathering outside in the field outside their building, a traditional day where everyone has food and drinks together and they raise a huge Maypole in the yard. It takes them hours just to get the pole raised because they do it the old fashioned way. The festival also falls on the same day as Mother's Day so it's a big family event here. Once the pole is raised, they do different traditions like dance around the pole, and then kids and adults try to climb the pole. There are sausages and pretzels dangling from it, prizes for if you climb high enough to reach them. It was really interesting to watch. So basically Stiegl Brewery is a pretty big part of the Salzburg community here.

Also, there is a fair in Salzburg coming up so I’d like to check that out too. So much to do, and so little time..I'll just do what I can! Only 21 days until I’m home! :)