Euro tour day 8

Half way through Euro tour. It doesn't feel at all like we've been traveling for 8 days. And it's even less believable that in 8 days my time with these wonderful crazy people will be up and we'll have to say goodbye. To some of them forever. 

Today we went to the Gaudi mosaic gardens. My mom had told me about this place before Euro tour and I had looked it up on line, so I was especially looking forward to seeing it. Wow, what an amazing place. Austria is a beautiful country, but it’s a very stoic country. Spain on the other hand is so lively, with vibrant colors, clashing designs. Gaudi’s mosaics display that Spanish feel so well. Each of the tiles alone are stunning, and then broken and pieced back together creates just a whole new exciting feel. It’s kind of like a little amusement park there. After a few hours of more photo taking we headed into the city again. This time with Emilie, Evan, and Tia. We ventured through the winding side streets and found some really interesting shops including a hand-made guitar workshop where a guy was sitting inside carving a piece of wood into a guitar, and a little hipster, vintage cupcake bakery. Plus we got all our tourist shopping done! Later they headed to the beach and Emilie and I went back to the hotel to drop stuff off and rest for a bit before dinner.

After dinner they took us to see an amazing fountain show! There were tons of people gathered around the fountain and the water would light up and change direction and patterns to the music. It was so much fun. And being exchange students we of course were up on the ledge dancing and singing along at the top of our lungs. It was also a pretty emotional evening. The tears were already pouring from some people. These are some of the most amazing people I've met in my entire life. We've seen each other grow up, and been there for each other when we've needed a shoulder to lean on. We've become such a family, and though we try to ignore it, imagining having to break up that family in a week is just heartbreaking. I can tell Bregenz is going to be really hard to deal with.  

Euro tour day 7

I think we got to sleep in later today than any other so far!! We didnt have to be in the buses till nine! It was our first day in Barcelona and I was so excited to see the city! First they took us up to this huge Spanish fortress where we had an amazing view of Barcelona. The sun was shining, and there was a perfect breeze coming from the Mediterranean. This was exactly what I needed after days of rain and overcast. We then drove to this museum and took a group photo. The architecture in Barcelona is so pretty. I love that Spanish style! The museum was up on a hill and then leading down, away from it was a huge stair case lined by fountains and at the bottom a really big fountain. And we of course took tons of pictures. It's always funny after our Rotary events, when all the pictures show up on Facebook. The same photo will get posted by ten different people.
The buses dropped us off at the Columbus statue and we had free time for the rest of the day. A group and I ate lunch on an old plaza, then wandered through the old town, and did some shopping along the way. Barcelona is the stop where everyone was looking forward to the shopping. Everything was so much cheaper there. The Graz girls and I bought some matching bracelets from this little jewelry boutique.
Everyone in the group was itching to get to the beach. Sun, sand and water. That's really what we all payed 1,000 euros to go on Euro tour for! Finally we made it there. The water was still pretty cold, but we still went running in right away! And Lucas, being a swimmer, dived right in. Then we just chilled on the beach for a while and met this group of guys from Frankfurt. It was pretty cool to be able to chat in German with them.
Note: it’s impossible to sit on the beach without being endlessly pestered by people trying to sell you drinks, hair braids or other weird stuff. we tried to say we only speak German hoping they would stop trying to talk to us. But they switched easily over to German. Dang!

After dinner, I went back to the beach and met up with a small group there. We built a sand castle under the sinking sun, and went on a really romantic beach walk along the shore! I love Barcelona!

To see the pictures from Euro tour check out my flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saminosterreich/sets

Euro tour day 6

We had to get up and in the buses so early. Day six was mostly a driving day since we were making our way from Paris to Barcelona. But we stopped for a few hours in Andorra on the way. Andorra was kinda of a strange stop. It's its own country, but it’s so tiny, it's really just a city. Andorra is pretty much just a ski resort, but since it’s not ski season the town was pretty empty. It was also raining super hard the whole day so we spent most of our time going into shops and stuff. Since it’s such a small country, with such a stable economy they don’t have any taxes and a lot of the clothes were a lot cheaper, so was the alcohol according to Doris. which is why she also warned us there would be bag checks before getting back on the bus.

Finally, we made it to Barcelona. Already I could feel the warm weather bringing people’s moods up, especially the Latinos, who were all so happy to be in a place where they could understand everything and speak to the locals. We got our hotel and then went to dinner in the city. We didn't really have time to explore the city afterward but on the way back to the hotel after dinner William asked if we could take him to the Apple store so Lucas, Izze and I took him to the Apple store. It was giant! William was like a kid in a candy store! Apparently they don’t have an Apple store in Taiwan. Already I can tell Barcelona is going be a great city 

Eurotour day 5

I woke up from the fiasco of the night before feeling at least a bit more refreshed but ready to tackle another day in Paris. Unfortunately, our group was now one person less. One of the girls had made some bad decisions the last night, and had been sent home to Austria. 

We pretty much had free time all day. So right after breakfast I headed out with Crash, Johnny, Lucas and Emily to check out the famous Louvre museum. We spent a few hours getting lost in the underground maze of art. There are so many different halls and rooms filled with paintings, and sculptures and other unique arts. We of course visited the Mona Lisa, it’s a lot smaller than I originally thought, and a ton of the other famous pieces. We then went to the Saccre Courre, this beautiful, white church on a hill that looked over the whole city. On the way we passed this little market street and bought a small round of cheese and a fresh, still warm baguette. We sat in a park near the church enjoying our stereotypical French lunch. Below the church was a long set of stairs and this old hippie guy had set up a mic and a guitar amp there, and was playing tons of oldies for a huge crowd. It was so much fun siting on the steps swaying to the music. We also randomly met another exchange student who’s spending a year Barcelona there. The world is so small when you're a Rotary exchange student. At two Crash met up with a girl who had been his host sister earlier, and we all decided to go to this huge park in the city. On the way we passed by a really cool thrift shop and I bought a jean jacket for 5 euros! We finally got to the park and sat and chilled there for a bit. A coupple different bands were playing including a pep band which was interesting to listen to.
It was our last night in Paris and enjoyed it on an evening boat tour along the Sine. We passed under twenty-four bridges and by a few other big monuments. I actually endded up spending my last night in Paris at the police to file the theft of my wallet. Which wasn't too fun but had to be done.

All in all, J’adore Paris! It’s a crazy city , its dirty, smelly, and full of pickpockets but Paris also has a refined beauty that makes it sparkle. Literally. No wonder its called the city of love.

Euro tour: day 4

Je suis a Paris! What an incredibly beautiful city. We started the day with a bus tour through the center part of the city, and got to see and learn about a lot of the big monuments and old buildings there. We saw the Opera house where the Phantom of the Opera was made, the Court house, le Louvre, and of course the Eiffel tower! It’s actually quite surprising how different all the areas of Europe are. Paris, for example, has a lot of gold incorporated into the architecture. Many of the big, old buildings have ornate designs in gold on them or are partially plated in gold. It really makes Paris feel like a city for kings and queens. We took a few stops where we got to get out of the bus and look around for a bit. For one of the stops we took an elevator up one of the tallest buildings, and had an amazing view of the whole city. Paris is so huge! Our second stop was.... can you guess?!  Eiffel tower, of course!!! I don’t know what it is about this huge metal structure, but walking up to the plaza below the tower was such an incredible moment. Pictures never do justice the sensation of really seeing the Eiffel Tower. You can’t help but stare up at it in awe, and think, "Wow, I'm really in Paris!"

After our tour we had free time for the rest of the afternoon. Wandering around Paris is really overwhelming. A few girls and I tried to go shopping but between our lack of a map and some other problems we ended up not finding much. But still, we got to see a lot of the inner city which was really beautiful, and experience what daily life in the heart of Paris is really like. I'm a city girl, but i couldn't do that everyday. It's just so big and busy! 

We also got a bit of free time that night after dinner. A bunch of us went back to the Eiffel tower again to see it sparkle at night! I decided not to go up it since it was so expensive, but I met up with a bunch of the rest of the group and we had a little photo shoot under the tower. I'm sure we looked pretty interesting laying on the ground, trying to get the right angle, and yelling at each other how to pose. We headed back to the hotel as a massive group. Everyone was in pretty high spirits from the beauty of the city and everything. 

That's when it happened. The fact that we were all speaking English so loudly, and were so unaware of anything happening outside our perfect little exchange bubble, probably made us all really easy targets. but as I was getting onto the metro I put my hand over my bag and in a terrible second noticed the zipper was open. Someone had stolen my wallet! I got a hold of my mom right away to cancel all my cards since everything had been inside that wallet. Luckily I had left most of my money at the hotel so I only had about fifty euros stolen. The wallet part was really sad but otherwise it was a pretty amazing evening. 

J'aime Paris. 

Euro Tour: Day 3

We packed up all our stuff in the morning, loaded into the buses and were off once again. The buses dropped us off in the center of Burges where we had free time to explore until 2:00. It was raining so heavily though it really wasn't fun hanging out in the city so we spent our time at a coffee shop, going into stores, and we found this awesome thrift shop where we had a little fashion show. Even got some of the guys to try on some cool 70’s shirts! I got this really cool knitted vest thing, my souvenir from Belgium.

At 2:00 we met at the buses again and at last we were Paris bound! Euro tour had finally begun as many of the guys said! The drive from Bruges was about four hours long and then when we got near Paris traffic started moving a lot slower. The moment we saw a tiny portion of the Eiffel Tower the entire bus erupted in Cheers! I can’t believe it The Eiffel tower, Paris! Why I’m I so lucky in life?! 

Checking into the hotel took forever, and we have to “absolutely silent,” here.  The French don’t like us making the entire ruckus we normally do.  After our three course dinner we got a little bit of free time to wander around the area were staying in, which is like the slums of Paris, but it was still nice to go out for a walk after a day in the bus. Paris is such a busy city and we’re not even staying in the center of it! I’m so so so excited to get out and see the center of the city of love tomorrow! 

Eurotour: day 2

Today we spent the whole time getting to see two cities in Belgium. We left Köln early in the morning and drove about four hours to Brussels. There we got a few hours to get out and explore the city on our own. Unfortunately we had pretty bad weather the whole time. It was raining pretty hard most of the time and even began hailing for a while. I ventured around with Crash, Lucas, Johnny, and William. We saw a bunch of beautiful old buildings and palaces, and got really delicious crepes for lunch. The architecture in Belgium is stunning! The designs are so grand with all their gothic styling and lots of gold details. I could really feel the French influence in all the buildings. In Brussels one of the most famous tourist attractions is this little statue of a boy peeing into a fountain, and the people dress him up in different costumes for different occasions, so of course we had to go see that. We also got waffles from a little stand which is a must do in this city.

Finally it was back in the buses and on the road to Bruges, our next stop in Belgium. We got to our hostel in Bruges and then left to the restaurant where we had this amazing three course meal. Rotary really spoils us here! After that it was free time again until 11:00. We split up into our little groups and headed off. My group and I pretty much walked around the entire town. Bruges isn't that big but Crash was determined to see this bridge he had seen on the map. We covered a lot of ground in two hours. We found all the wind mills, walked along the river, saw some more beautiful cathedrals and clock towers. It was a really nice evening. We were also lucky the rain had cleared up so walking around was a lot nicer. So that was my day in Belgium. What an amazing country. I would have loved to have more time here in Bruges, it’s such a sweet town, with really old brick building lining the skinny cobble roads. It’s supposed to be one of the best preserved towns in Europe! But time to move on. Next stop Paris!! 

(photos from day 2 will be up on my flickr soon) 

Eurotour: day 1

Lucas and Emilie stayed the night at my house the night before Eurotour. We went out in the evening, and walked up the Schlossberg, and got ice cremes with Verena. The next morning we had to get up at 5:00 in the morning to meet up with all the other Grazers and catch our train arriving in Linz at 9:00. We were still the latest group to arrive and had to quickly load into the buses. Our group fills two buses. One bus is filled with all the Americans and Canadians, and the other bus is all the Latin Americans, Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Croatians. Were such and disproportionate group.

Our first destination was to Köln, Germany. It took almost ten hours to drive there from Linz, but luckily we got to stop a few times along the way. Getting to see everyone again was so great. I love these kids so much. We've all become such a family to each other.

Finally we arrived in Köln around 7:00 we got our rooms and had dinner right away. After dinner we got free time to explore Köln until 10:00. I went out with Crash, Johnny, and William, we found our way to the Dome and the old city and took a few really nice pictures. Köln is really a beautiful, old city. It’s too bad we only get to spend such a short amount of time here. We made it back to the hostel and was exhausted. But before bed my roomies and I had to watch an episode of Game of Thrones. What a perfect start to Eurotour! I can’t wait for all the shenanigans still to come. 

I posted the pictures we took on our evening out in Köln. Here's the link to my flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saminosterreich/sets

Alles Gute Clemens

I always forget how small of a country Austria is. So when my parents say were going to Vienna on Sunday, I'm thinking a big road trip across the country, but we didnt leave the house till 11 and were in Vienna in two hours. The birthday party was for my host dads one year old nephew. his name is Celemens and he was born on leap day, and he is soooo CUTE!

As a present my host mom had painted him a name card to hand on his door with the picture of a car on it. I painted the car but she did all the details and wow it looked amazing. My host family is really artistic! We stayed till the evening. I loved playing with Clemens, every time he saw one of his presents he would get so excited then he'd see something else and forget about it. But when he'd see it a few minutes later he'd be so excited as if he'd opened it for the first time. Ah, the care-free like of a baby. Anyway cant wait to see his adorable face at the next family gathering at Easter.

Happy Birthday Celemens, for the next three years!

Bakip Schule

Today I went to school with my host sister. She goes in the Bakip, which is a specialized school where the students learn how to work especially with children. It was like the first day of school again all over, except this time I could understand what people were saying to me, which made it so much better. (Future exchange students, LEARN THE LANGUAGE OF YOUR HOST COUNTRY, as much as you can before you go.)  The German teacher asked me a ton of questions of German and then in the English class I gave a power point presentation about myself and Portland, which was pretty cool. Got some pretty random questions in the Q and A part too. Haha. The people in her class were so funny and friendly, and really loud too. I know for sure now, I could never go to a school with just girls. But a really cool experience to see a different school other than Körösi.

During the sixth period though the school was evacuated, so that the classrooms could be cleaned, because of a virus that's going around. But apparently people forgot to tell our class till the end of the sixth period. But  we got to miss the rest of the school day which was awesome! And of course this happens the one day I go there. Never a normal day in Austria.

Nach Hause

So it's finally fixed, the tickets have been bought, and my flight back home is for sure the 16th of July. I will leave Graz at 9.30  in the morning and will land in PDX at 8.51. I have to stop in Munich and Chicago on the way and will be a total of twenty and a half hours in planes and airports. Ugh! I know I still have four and a half months left but the time is flying by so fast, it's so sad thinking of my exchange coming to an end. But I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family!

I understand the term,  bittersweet, now more than ever.

Bowling, Austrian Style

Laura really wanted to go Kegeln Friday night, so we gathered up all our exchange buddies and headed to a Kegelbahn. Kegeln is pretty much bowling but with only nine pins, a smaller, lighter ball, and a lot harder. But it was a ton of fun. When we arrived we were the only young people there and the only girls, there were a few old men who were all really friendly and super funny to listen to in German. I felt kinda like we were at old people bingo night, but it was still really cool. 

I love how international my life is now. How going out with a group of people, all from five or more different countries, conversing in at least three different languages, is completely normal to me now. I mean how many other people can say they've been Kegeln with a guy from the Czech Republic, some Venezuelan girls, and a few other guys from Argentina and Ecuador. How cool is that! 

After our kegeln fun, Laura stayed the night at my house. The next morning we went into the city and had ice creams. My first ice cream of the year!! I'm so excited for summer, there's always so many little ice cream shops in the city, and the ice cream here is really good. It's like an Austrian passtime to go get an ice cream and sit in the sun, by the fountain eating it. Last summer here, we'd get ice creams like every day!! Can't wait!! 

Third Family

Finally switched to my last host family. I keep thinking I only have three more months left like with my other families, and I have a mini heart attack! But then I realize I still have almost five months and that calms me down, a bit. 

So my new family, they're great!! I love my host sister, Verena. She is also sixteen, and I have so much fun talking and hanging out with her. She's also really musical, which is awesome. And she's  been teaching me guitar, we practice almost everyday in the evenings, and we also learned how to do the cup song from the movie Pitch Perfect! My other host sister, Amilie, is so cute, and she plays the piano! Such a musical family, perfect for me!! We also talk about school and our friends and watch movies together, it's going to be so boring going home and being an only child after my year with, all together, six host sisters!!

My host parents are also really funny. I sometimes have a pretty hard time understanding my host dad, because he speaks with a dialect. Most places in Austria all have different dialects, which makes it really hard for me, who has only learned high German, to understand. Where I live, in the Steiermark, the people have an especially funky dialect. I was really lucky to end up in Graz, which seems to be like a black hole for dialects right in the center of the Steiermark. But you don't have to go far out from the city to find the 'Steirische dialekt,' and not that my family are 'country folk,' so to say, but of my host families have had yet, this one lives the farthest from the city and you can defiantly hear it in the way they talk. But hopefully I will get to learn some cool dialect from him!! 

They have a really nice house too. I have a super, awesome, big room all to myself, and with my own bathroom and shower! Score!! compared to my last room which was like a big closet, the fact that I can sprawl out on the floor here, makes me so so happy. 

It's a very exciting life here too. On my first weekend they had a birthday party for the grandma and everything was crazy with lots of people making tons of food and video taping everything. They also asked me to play happy birthday on the bassoon! and then next weekend we're going to Vienna for another family birthday party! Busy Busy Busy. 

My one problem with them is my host mom wants me to one day a week only talk English. Which I don't want to talk English for a whole day. Anytime I spend talking English put my German back a step. And so now I have the uncomfortable decision of how I going to deal with this. 

Besides that one problem I love this family so much!! 

Well I'm entering the last big step of this adventure. Saying good bye to one family and Hallo to another. I'm so grateful to the last and everything they did for me. I will always remember my time with them. And I look forward to getting to know this new one and hanging out with my cool host sisters!! 

NEWBIES!!!

I love my newbie! And I love being an oldie. On one hand being an oldie makes me a little sad because it's just one more piece of proof that this incredible year is already half over. But on the other hand it's so exciting teaching her all the things that I learned when I first arrived too. Everything is brand new to her. She still gets to learn about the straßenbahn system, how to order and pay for coffee at Tribbeka, what kabab is, the wonderful, addictivenss of Milka chocolate, and everything else. And remembering  how exciting that whole experience was just makes me smile nostalgically.
From her I can also see how much I've progressed in my own exchange. Like how much German I've learned, the number of friends I've made and wonderful people I've met, and how just much Graz has become my home. 
I'm so excited for my newbie; all the fun times we'll have together and things she still gets to experience. I'm a little bit jelly. But I hope to be one of the best oldies ever, which I know I will, cause I had one of the best, and when when the time comes, Courtney will be too. And so the circle of exchange goes on! 

A day with the Von Trapps

Wow, so I titled this post back in September when I took a train to Salzburg to visit my friend Kaley, but..... I guess I got distracted and never actually wrote anything. I know, I'm sorry, I'm a terrible exchange student, but better late than never, right?

So, I got on a super early train to Salzburg from Graz. It was my first trip in der Zug in Austria! I was really excited and a bit nervous, I've heard tons of stories of exchange students ending up on the wrong side of the country in the train, but the train system is actually fairly simple and extremely convenient. I love the train system here, you can easily catch a train any day to anywhere in the country pretty much. By some crazy-random-happen-stance I met Laura at the station on her way to Linz. We ended up taking the same train for part of the way, and bonded over a bag of pretzels and Nutella. Looking out the window, seeing the Austrian country side fly by was so cool, another one of those "wow, I can't believe I'm really here," moments. 

I finally arrived in Salzburg about midday and was greeted by the lovely Kaley. We stopped quickly at her house to drop off my bag, before headed into the city, and I received the grand tour. 

Salzburg is probably best known for being the setting of The Sound of Music. I think I should have taken my bassoon and played, but anyways we wondered through the streets of the Alt Stadt, I heard tons of different musicians playing all different kinds of instruments and styles of music trying to earn some money. Some were fantastic and really interesting. Others not.... She showed me this beautiful, really old grave yard build at the base of a mountain. When you walked through, it was like being transported to another world, it was so peaceful and quiet, despite being in the center of the tourist frenzy. On the other side of the graveyard we arrived at this tiny little bakery, there was a water wheel outside, but I don't know if it was just for decoration or if it functioned as some sort of integrator for the bakery, if not now it most likely did at some time. We got there at the perfect time of day! We ordered, I think they were called Kaisersemmels, they were fluffy bread rolls with raisins inside, and they were still deliciously warm! It practically melted in my mouth. I requested that we went back the next morning for my breakfast. From there we explored this amazing farmers market. The strong scents of meats cheese, sweet pretzels and fruit filled the air around me. I wanted to eat everything, it all smelled and looked so good. I also got to look inside the Dome, a huge church. The ceiling was all white and rose high into the sky, and was of course domed at the top. Even though it was all white, you could still see the immense detail of the plaster that covered every inch of the walls and ceiling. It amazes me how people designed all these incredible churches and cathedrals, you can feel the power of what they symbolized to the people when you see the amount of work and invention in them.

I reluctantly left the wonderful lively atmosphere of the farmers market, and Kaley and I moved on to go check out Mozart's house. Being the huge music nerd I am, I was so psyched about being in the same area where Mozart was born and everything, it was so cool.  Of course it is a huge tourist attraction now, with a grocery store under it and everything. But one thing I really wanted was Mozart Kugelen from Mozart's house. Mozart kugelen are very popular Austrian sweets. I don't think they really have anything to do with Mozart, but the wrapper has his face on it, so of course it’s a tourist-must. 

We also did a bit of shopping along this tourist street, where I bought a cool little hanging thing for my blazer. I used to think Graz had a lot of beggars, but we have nothing compared to Salzburg. And finally we walked through the Mirabel gardens, which were beautiful. I'm lucky I got to see Salzburg in summer. We found this little hidden stage and played around for a bit. Finally after a long exhausting day we headed back to Kaley's house. On the way I saw this ad for Sound of Music tours, one day I really want to get one of those. 

Finally we arrived at Kaley's, I met her parents and we chilled for a while. Her brother invited us out to watch the sun set with him and his hipster friend in top of a mountain, so after dinner we headed out to meet them. That was probably my favorite moment in Salzburg, we sat for a few hours in a field, on top of this hill that over looked the entire city, and in the distance you could see the mountains that surrounded the city, and a perfect view of the sun as it went down. Her brother and his friends had a number of instruments with them and so as the sun sank into the mountains we got to see the sky change oranges and pinks to dark reds and purples, and listen to the sounds of guitar, and soft drums and a flute. It was a really special experience. 

Finally it was dark, and we headed down the mountain. We split up from her brother and headed to a cafe where we met some other rotary exchangers. We sat with them for a while, then decided it was time to go home. When I got back to Kaley's I fell asleep almost instantly. I had such a fantastic day with a fantastic friend. 

The next morning I caught a train back to Graz. My Salzburg adventure was over. Thank you so much Kaley for the amazing tour of your city, and letting me crash for the night. Now you have to come check out Graz sometime! 

Skifahren

Finally After weeks of jealously hearing about my moms skiing adventures back in Portland, I finally got the opportunity to ski on Austrian mountains in Austrian snow!!
It was absolutely wonderful!!

My host family drove us to Kapfenberg, a small town, about and hour and a half outside of Graz. When you get to the ski area there, you have to actually take a lift to get to the lifts. So the first one we took, was about a ten-fifteen minute ride, and it brought us up and over the steep side mountain to this little hilly area where you could then take a variety of different lifts in different directions to other ski areas. The Austrian lifts really confused me, I rode it the wrong way the first time. That was embarrassing. The ride up was so beautiful you could look out behind you while in the chair lift and see endless mountains forever, it was simply breath taking!

Being a cross country skier, downhill kind of terrifies me, but I had a fantastic time. We spent the entire day up there skiing, taking a short break in the middle to eat some packed sandwiches. Only then did the wonderful sun grace us with its presence for a little while. There is really nothing like packed lunches after a day of skiing or hiking. Even simple sandwiches always seems to taste better sitting out in nature after a day of hard work.

After lunch we hit the slopes again. Unfortunately the sun went away then too. It was replaced by this enormous pitch black cloud that loomed over the summit of the mountain. It was so scary and mysterious looking, but very picturesque too.

I was pretty proud of my self, I only had a few really bad falls. But I think I was the only person who fell the whole day. The Austrians are such good skiers even the five year old children whizzing down slops while I'm very carefully, very slowly, trying to navigate my way down. They're insane.

After our day was over we had to ski down the mountain on this road to get back to where the cars were parked. It was a really nice, peaceful trail that you didnt even have to pole going down. We just stood in place and let gravity do it's work. I think it's was at least half an hour going down. But the whole way we still had the incredible view of the surrounding mountains spreading out endlessly in every direction. On the way down, we stopped at this traditional little gasthof and had soup. It was really cool, we just skied right up, left our gear outside, and went in. It was a very stereotypical Austrian gasthof; wood walls and ceilings, a big stone fire place in the center, and the people who served us wore dirndls! The soup felt amazing after a day in the cold.


Finally our skiing day was over. we loaded up in the car, my feet and arms already aching. I'm going to be sore for days for sure. But I had such a fantastic time, I cant wait to go again next weekend! Skiing in Austria is unbelievable, no wonder they always win skiing sports in the olympics!

As tired as I was, my day wasn't over yet. My newbie, from New Zealand, arrived in Graz too that night and Laura and I really wanted to greet her in the airport. So as soon as I got home and changed I met up with Laura and together we took a train to the airport. We made her a fantastic welcome poster and everything. We were both really exciting to meet our newbie but at the same time the idea of being oldies is so sad, since it means were halfway done!
Anyway waited for her in the airport for about an hour and a half since her plane was running late. We even met her host family, and they told us she was delayed another hour and a half. I also found out then that she will be going to my school! Her host parents asked if we wanted to go back to their house and wait with them till her plane actually arrived. So we went to their house and had cake and chatted for a hour then headed back to the airport. Unfortunately as soon as we all arrived at the airport for the second time, her host parents got a message from her that her plane from Vienna wasn't able to leave again, so she was driving down in a bus and wouldn't be in Graz till like two in the morning. It was already twelve, on a school night, so we reluctantly gave up, deciding to meet her another time. So her host brother drove us back into the city which was super nice of him!
All in all it was an adventurous day! Oh and it was exactly my middle day in Austria from the day I arrived to the last day of school! Wow how the time has passed by, the amazing people I've met, and the unforgettable memories I've made.

Alles Gut Zum Geburtstag!

Originally I thought I was going to be a bit bummed by my sweet-sixteenth birthday since it would be in a foreign land, with a different family and everything but actually my birthday in Austria was fantastic!! Definitely at the top of my list of best birthdays.
So despite it being a Saturday morning I woke up really early, around 7-ish, which I think kind of threw my family off, cause they asked me why I was up so early and if I wanted to go back to bed.    But that gave me time to take a shower and get dressed and stuff. 

I was kinda afraid to go upstairs and stuff since I didnt want to ruin any surprise they were planning. When I was finally called to the table, I arrived to a ginormous layout of breads, jams, cheeses, yogurt and my favorite granola, and in the center of it all a gorgeous, home-baked cake.The kind with the creme and fruit on the top then coated with the shiny glaze. They seemed to think it was pretty funny that I found cake with breakfast to be crazy, but it was delicious. And on top of all that, They had presents for me too! I got a scarf and a pair of gloves from my mom and a certificate saying they would take me next weekend to Zotters, this chocolate factory! Two CD mixes from my dad of Austrian pop music and a collection of every Strauss composition. And from my host sister a really cute thermos mug I can't wait to bring tea to school in. Everything was so sweet and had so much thought in it! 

After breakfast, they had the whole day planned out for me. They took me across the boarder to Slovenia, where we met up with my host-grandparents. I forget often how easy it is here to cross from country to country! I received yet another cake, a Linzer Torte, yuummm. 

We went to a really fancy restaurant for lunch where my grandparents knew the chef and apparently he is the best cooks in Slovenia or something, which I can believe. I had this wonderful fish and got to taste some really good Slovenian wine. We sat and talked for a long time, I didn't really understand that was going on, but it was really lovely. After lunch the waiter brought us all shots of schnapps, even for my younger host sister! Wow, it burned my throat so bad, My host dad ended up drinking the rest. 

By this point I was pretty much in a food coma but they had yet more for us to do! We continued on our way into the wine country of Slovenia. It was so beautiful. The weather was perfect warm and sunny with a slight breeze, and from the road we drove on you could look down into the rolling valleys of green, and see endless rows of grapes and little farm houses with their red roofs. We arrived at this point at the top of a hill where we sat at rickety wooden picnic tables, in the distance you could hear the jolly sounds of an accordion  and at the table next to us was a group of loud men in Lederhosen drinking beer, it was such a perfect moment. One of those "wow, I'm in Austria,"  moments. But technically I guess I was in Slovenia. We sat there again for a long time eating marroni, (roasted chestnuts,) drinking storm, a sweet wine that's only available for a short time in the fall, and just enjoying the sun and lovely view.

In the late afternoon, we finally drove back along this highway where you could look to the left and see Slovenia and when you turned to the right there was Austria, which was pretty cool. I was so tired from all the food, I slept most of the way back, but that was pretty much the end to my my Austrian birthday. I am so thankful to my family for such a beautiful day and all the wonderful gifts. 

Alles gute zu mich!