Another Care Package! Woohoo! My dearest Carman family sent me a quite amazing box this afternoon! It was complete with another box of Cheese-Its, gum, mints, Mini-Muffins, a cute note..... and....... A UK SHIRT!!!! YAAAAY! The shirt was made to celebrate the amazing victory that the Kentucky Wildcats had recently over LSU. The shirt tells the score and everything! In their note, the Carmans said to "wear it with pride." Oh.... I will! :) haha. Thank you SO much!
Made my day! I love you!
Monday, October 29, 2007
MY WEEKEND IN BUDAPEST (Oct 26-28)
Friday, October 26
This weekend, the international students had the opportunity to sign up for the Buddy Network trip to Budapest, Hungary. We got up very early on Friday morning (about 6am) so that we could catch the morning U-Bahn (Vienna = underground train). Connie, Nirveen, Julie, Candy, Christine, and I met the rest of the group out front of school, and loaded the bus at around 7:45. There was a pretty big group of students going, so we got a double-decker tour bus! This thing was huge! My group of friends hurried to the upstairs part, and got seats in the very front, so we could see out the big window and be close to the movie screen. We are a quite diverse group of people:
Candy, Julie, Connie, Vanessa = Asian background from Canada
Nirveen = Indian background from Canada
Al = Indian background from Texas
Christine = Vietnamese from Texas
James = New Zealander
Patrick and Nick= Atlanta, GA natives
Will D.= From PA, but goes to school in Georgia
Me = Kentucky kid
Evan = Canada
Gabby = Australia
Will T. = "skinny little Englishman"
We arrived in Budapest around noon on Friday. The first thing that we did was stop at this huge shopping center to get a bite to eat. Christine and I were determined to be cultural, so we went to the craziest looking food stand and ordered. We were quite proud of ourselves, because everyone else seemed to be getting McDonalds or pizza..... until we later learned from Candy that we had actually eaten a Hungarian version of Greek food..... so much for the Hungarian experience! :)
After eating lunch, we got back on our bus and took a 3 hour bus tour of the entire city! We passed around the largest park in Budapest, saw Parliment, took crazy pictures in Heroes Square (where there are several statues and monuments celebrating important Hungarian figures in history), saw some beautiful views from the chain bridge (of the Danube river, which seperates Budapest into its two parts: Buda and Pest). The coolest part of the tour was when we went up on the big hill and saw the Citadel fortress and the Fisherman's Bastion in the Castle District of Budapest (Budapest is actually pronounced "Buda-pesht" by the locals). The scenery from on top of the mountain was absolutely beautiful! We had the best panorama view of Buda and Pest!
After our awesome city tour, we headed to the Rila Hotel where we would be staying for the next few days. Nirveen, Connie, and I were on the top floor. When we got up there, our room was kind of split into two seperate rooms. Not wanting any one of us to sleep alone, we took charge of the situation and moved one of the beds out the door and into the larger of the rooms. Who needs men?! We executed the furniture removal perfectly! Way to go, girls. The bad thing about our room was the shower. After taking a nice, long, relaxing shower before dinner, we realized that the drain didn't work.... and we (well.... it was actually just me... but girls stick together!) flooded the floor.... and some of the hallway... whoops. It wouldn't be a trip if Amanda didn't break something, after all!!! :)
After showering and swimming out of the 4th floor, we headed out to dinner. Only a few people in our big group signed up for the Buddy Network's optional meal, so we (along with Joe, Steve, and Ralph = The Bostons) just explored along the river in search of a place. A man on the street pointed us in the direction of a little restaraunt called Oliva. We walked inside, and Oliva turned out to be a very beautiful two-level restaraunt. We were a little concerned about the price, but decided to sit down and check it out. The menu looked good and was VERY CHEAP! We were pumped. Nirveen, Christine, and I decided to order a few things and just split it. We got a Veal and dumplings dish, grilled honey mustard chicken with fries, and the traditional Gulashe Suppe (Gulash soup!). The meal turned out to be some of the most amazing food that I've had in years! It was perfect! :) -- The funny part came when we were paying for the meal. So, in Hungary, they use a currency called the Forint. It is very colorful little money. 1000 Florints are worth 4 Euro... so a little less than 6 US Dollars. Our final bill ended up coming to 27,000 Florints!!!! I felt like I was spending SO much money, but when I figured up my personal bill, I only spent 5 Euros total! Our entire group got out of there for about $150 US dollars... and there were about 13 or 14 of us! It was so cheap and VERY delicious. We were hungry in Hungary!
Coming back from dinner, we ran into three guys who study at Tulane University in New Orleans. They were wearing the same shoes (Wallabys) as Joe, so they all thought that was awesome, and we stopped and chatted with them for a bit. We also walked along this random street, and ended up smack dab in front of St. Stephen's Basillica (named for the first king of Hungary). At night, the huge church looked amazing! After walking for a while, Jess (originally from Vegas, but studying in Atlanta), and I were a little too tired to go to the club, so we just decided to walk around the city for a little longer and see more if it at night. We consulted our trusty map and found the Synagogue of Budapest. This synagogue is the 2nd largest in the world, and was also just breath-takingly beautiful. Jess is Jewish, so she really really loved seeing it. After that, we successfully navigated our way back to the hotel, hung out with Canada Julie for a bit, and then headed to bed around 2am.
Saturday, October 27
The next morning came pretty early! P.S. -- Happy 55th Birthday, Dad!!!!!!! We got up and had the regular European breakfast of ham, bread, and funny eggs before heading out on another adventure. At 11am, I met up with some of the people in the buddy network group (including Jess and Anna from Canada) to go to the famous Budapest Thermal Baths called Spa Szechenyi. Well, in the spirit of un-modest Europeans, this bath house was NO different. We had to change into our suits in this very open room..... ugh. That was probably the fastest that I've changed clothes in my life!!! :) Now, at first I was a little apprehensive of getting in a bathing suit in front of a bunch of strangers, but once I got there.... I was completely comfortable.... and didn't look too bad compared to the tons of old people! :) I looked pretty good, haha.
When we were leaving the baths, we randomly ran into two guys that Jess goes to college with who are studying in Prague this semester..... RANDOM! I love running into people like that. So cool! :)
After leaving the baths, I headed off to meet up with my people at the crazy market. Anna, Jess, and I navigated around the city and ended up in this huge building with every kind of food that you could ever want, and some of the most random little trinkets. In Budapest, they have these deserts (that dad told me to look for) that are a cone-shaped thing with honey and nuts on the outside called Kurtoskalacs. It was very yummy (as was the strudel that everyone had... yum), and I even got the recipe for dad to try them out.
We had a nice walk around the market, and then decided to go learn something! We went to the other side of town to the Terror Hàza (the House of Terror). The House of Terror is a museum now, but it used to be home to two different and tragic things in Budapest. In 1944, Hungary was dominated by the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party, and this building was known then as the "House of Loyalty," but was actually the headquarters for the Hungarian Nazi party. Then, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, this building was home to communist terrorist organizations. Since then, it has been known as a house of "terror and dread." The museum was set up to commemorate all of the millions of victims of the communist and Nazi occupation, and serves as a reminder to the Hungarian people about the terrible acts of the terrorist dictatorships of the time. -- We got to see several cells in the dungeon of the Terror House. Once cell really freaked us all out, because it was completely dark, and you couldn't stand up in it. The victims put in there would just have to sit or lay down all day. Also, one fact about this place was that a lot of people committed suicide, because conditions were so bad and crazy. We also saw a lot of Communist propaganda, the china set that the leaders ate off of, an actual Nazi army tank, real uniforms, etc. This museum was VERY powerful, and I'll definately never forget it. The main quote of the Terror Hàza was by Attila Jozsef: "A mùltat be kell vallani" (Which means, "The past must be acknowledged."
For dinner that night, we all went with the Buddy Network to the Mongolian Barbecue, which was an all-you-can-eat place. This food rivaled the food from the night before! It was delicous! The coolest part was that you picked out what meats you wanted, and then the cooks prepared them right in front of you! We could choose from rabbit, horse (I know!), beef, duck, chicken, and a few others. I ate with Evan, Julie, and Patrick. Beside us were Connie, Candy, Christine, and Nirveen. When they told us All You Can Eat..... we took them at their word! Those 4 teeny-tiny girls ate a total of 13 desserts together! The waitress just kept coming, and they just kept eating!!! It was halarious! Afterwards, James said he had a completely new outlook on all women. :)
After dinner we went to the Soho London club, where they played a lot of random American music. A guy who looked like Bob Marley kept trying to dance with me, so Evan became my wingman and kept me safe the whole night... thanks, buddy!
Sunday, October 28
We got up early again and had a wierd ham and rolls breakfast. The group got together and headed out to the HUGE Parliment building on the river. We all laughed, because of the level of security that we had to go through. Evan (who looks a lot like Ryan Cabrerra, a cute blonde pop singer), got searched by a buff female guard. You should have seen his face! :) To keep track of all of us, they put these red watch-looking things on our wrists. We all started talking in "hushed tones" into our watches and pretended to be CIA agents. Then we got some wierd looks from the actual security guards, so we stopped. :) We got to see the main meeting hall, the dome room, the original crown of the first king of Hungary, and a few other beautiful rooms. This had to be the prettiest Parliment building that I've ever seen. The conference hall where all of the deputies meet is done almost entirely in gold. Even the flat screen TVs had gold around them! :) I want one!
To get around Budapest, we had to take the old subway system, which was the first underground system in Europe. Since this line was so special, a cute little song would play at every stop.... but after a while, we wanted to kill the little flute that would play! It was the wierdest subway ever, because it kind of sounded like a carnival ride. Every time that the song would play, it sounded like somebody had won a prize! haha.
My friends and I split off from the main group after Parliment and headed back to the Castle District. I had a very hard time communicating with the locals (since not a lot of them speak English), but finally we figured out how to take the bus up to the top of the hill. Once we were at the top, we went into the Budavàri Labirintus (Buda Castle Labyrinth). These Budapest people must have been on something when they built this place underground. It was like a huge cave with random rooms in it that twisted and turned everywhere. In one room, there was a HUGE stone face in the ground, and in another a wine fountain that you could taste. Some of the different themes included: Labyrinth of another world, labyrinth of love, of courage, the ivy grotto, and the prehistoric labyrinth (complete with cave paintings!). At one point, the caves got pitch black, so our group all held hands and made a train, with Evan leading the way. We definately bonded in this very strange labyrinth! It was a lot of fun, though!
We met back up with the entire group to get on the bus at 5:30pm. While on the bus, we got to taste several different Hungarian wines, which was fun (some people had a little more fun than others, lol). We finally arrived safely back in Vienna at 10pm. This trip was great!
Friday, October 26
This weekend, the international students had the opportunity to sign up for the Buddy Network trip to Budapest, Hungary. We got up very early on Friday morning (about 6am) so that we could catch the morning U-Bahn (Vienna = underground train). Connie, Nirveen, Julie, Candy, Christine, and I met the rest of the group out front of school, and loaded the bus at around 7:45. There was a pretty big group of students going, so we got a double-decker tour bus! This thing was huge! My group of friends hurried to the upstairs part, and got seats in the very front, so we could see out the big window and be close to the movie screen. We are a quite diverse group of people:
Candy, Julie, Connie, Vanessa = Asian background from Canada
Nirveen = Indian background from Canada
Al = Indian background from Texas
Christine = Vietnamese from Texas
James = New Zealander
Patrick and Nick= Atlanta, GA natives
Will D.= From PA, but goes to school in Georgia
Me = Kentucky kid
Evan = Canada
Gabby = Australia
Will T. = "skinny little Englishman"
We arrived in Budapest around noon on Friday. The first thing that we did was stop at this huge shopping center to get a bite to eat. Christine and I were determined to be cultural, so we went to the craziest looking food stand and ordered. We were quite proud of ourselves, because everyone else seemed to be getting McDonalds or pizza..... until we later learned from Candy that we had actually eaten a Hungarian version of Greek food..... so much for the Hungarian experience! :)
After eating lunch, we got back on our bus and took a 3 hour bus tour of the entire city! We passed around the largest park in Budapest, saw Parliment, took crazy pictures in Heroes Square (where there are several statues and monuments celebrating important Hungarian figures in history), saw some beautiful views from the chain bridge (of the Danube river, which seperates Budapest into its two parts: Buda and Pest). The coolest part of the tour was when we went up on the big hill and saw the Citadel fortress and the Fisherman's Bastion in the Castle District of Budapest (Budapest is actually pronounced "Buda-pesht" by the locals). The scenery from on top of the mountain was absolutely beautiful! We had the best panorama view of Buda and Pest!
After our awesome city tour, we headed to the Rila Hotel where we would be staying for the next few days. Nirveen, Connie, and I were on the top floor. When we got up there, our room was kind of split into two seperate rooms. Not wanting any one of us to sleep alone, we took charge of the situation and moved one of the beds out the door and into the larger of the rooms. Who needs men?! We executed the furniture removal perfectly! Way to go, girls. The bad thing about our room was the shower. After taking a nice, long, relaxing shower before dinner, we realized that the drain didn't work.... and we (well.... it was actually just me... but girls stick together!) flooded the floor.... and some of the hallway... whoops. It wouldn't be a trip if Amanda didn't break something, after all!!! :)
After showering and swimming out of the 4th floor, we headed out to dinner. Only a few people in our big group signed up for the Buddy Network's optional meal, so we (along with Joe, Steve, and Ralph = The Bostons) just explored along the river in search of a place. A man on the street pointed us in the direction of a little restaraunt called Oliva. We walked inside, and Oliva turned out to be a very beautiful two-level restaraunt. We were a little concerned about the price, but decided to sit down and check it out. The menu looked good and was VERY CHEAP! We were pumped. Nirveen, Christine, and I decided to order a few things and just split it. We got a Veal and dumplings dish, grilled honey mustard chicken with fries, and the traditional Gulashe Suppe (Gulash soup!). The meal turned out to be some of the most amazing food that I've had in years! It was perfect! :) -- The funny part came when we were paying for the meal. So, in Hungary, they use a currency called the Forint. It is very colorful little money. 1000 Florints are worth 4 Euro... so a little less than 6 US Dollars. Our final bill ended up coming to 27,000 Florints!!!! I felt like I was spending SO much money, but when I figured up my personal bill, I only spent 5 Euros total! Our entire group got out of there for about $150 US dollars... and there were about 13 or 14 of us! It was so cheap and VERY delicious. We were hungry in Hungary!
Coming back from dinner, we ran into three guys who study at Tulane University in New Orleans. They were wearing the same shoes (Wallabys) as Joe, so they all thought that was awesome, and we stopped and chatted with them for a bit. We also walked along this random street, and ended up smack dab in front of St. Stephen's Basillica (named for the first king of Hungary). At night, the huge church looked amazing! After walking for a while, Jess (originally from Vegas, but studying in Atlanta), and I were a little too tired to go to the club, so we just decided to walk around the city for a little longer and see more if it at night. We consulted our trusty map and found the Synagogue of Budapest. This synagogue is the 2nd largest in the world, and was also just breath-takingly beautiful. Jess is Jewish, so she really really loved seeing it. After that, we successfully navigated our way back to the hotel, hung out with Canada Julie for a bit, and then headed to bed around 2am.
Saturday, October 27
The next morning came pretty early! P.S. -- Happy 55th Birthday, Dad!!!!!!! We got up and had the regular European breakfast of ham, bread, and funny eggs before heading out on another adventure. At 11am, I met up with some of the people in the buddy network group (including Jess and Anna from Canada) to go to the famous Budapest Thermal Baths called Spa Szechenyi. Well, in the spirit of un-modest Europeans, this bath house was NO different. We had to change into our suits in this very open room..... ugh. That was probably the fastest that I've changed clothes in my life!!! :) Now, at first I was a little apprehensive of getting in a bathing suit in front of a bunch of strangers, but once I got there.... I was completely comfortable.... and didn't look too bad compared to the tons of old people! :) I looked pretty good, haha.
When we were leaving the baths, we randomly ran into two guys that Jess goes to college with who are studying in Prague this semester..... RANDOM! I love running into people like that. So cool! :)
After leaving the baths, I headed off to meet up with my people at the crazy market. Anna, Jess, and I navigated around the city and ended up in this huge building with every kind of food that you could ever want, and some of the most random little trinkets. In Budapest, they have these deserts (that dad told me to look for) that are a cone-shaped thing with honey and nuts on the outside called Kurtoskalacs. It was very yummy (as was the strudel that everyone had... yum), and I even got the recipe for dad to try them out.
We had a nice walk around the market, and then decided to go learn something! We went to the other side of town to the Terror Hàza (the House of Terror). The House of Terror is a museum now, but it used to be home to two different and tragic things in Budapest. In 1944, Hungary was dominated by the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party, and this building was known then as the "House of Loyalty," but was actually the headquarters for the Hungarian Nazi party. Then, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, this building was home to communist terrorist organizations. Since then, it has been known as a house of "terror and dread." The museum was set up to commemorate all of the millions of victims of the communist and Nazi occupation, and serves as a reminder to the Hungarian people about the terrible acts of the terrorist dictatorships of the time. -- We got to see several cells in the dungeon of the Terror House. Once cell really freaked us all out, because it was completely dark, and you couldn't stand up in it. The victims put in there would just have to sit or lay down all day. Also, one fact about this place was that a lot of people committed suicide, because conditions were so bad and crazy. We also saw a lot of Communist propaganda, the china set that the leaders ate off of, an actual Nazi army tank, real uniforms, etc. This museum was VERY powerful, and I'll definately never forget it. The main quote of the Terror Hàza was by Attila Jozsef: "A mùltat be kell vallani" (Which means, "The past must be acknowledged."
For dinner that night, we all went with the Buddy Network to the Mongolian Barbecue, which was an all-you-can-eat place. This food rivaled the food from the night before! It was delicous! The coolest part was that you picked out what meats you wanted, and then the cooks prepared them right in front of you! We could choose from rabbit, horse (I know!), beef, duck, chicken, and a few others. I ate with Evan, Julie, and Patrick. Beside us were Connie, Candy, Christine, and Nirveen. When they told us All You Can Eat..... we took them at their word! Those 4 teeny-tiny girls ate a total of 13 desserts together! The waitress just kept coming, and they just kept eating!!! It was halarious! Afterwards, James said he had a completely new outlook on all women. :)
After dinner we went to the Soho London club, where they played a lot of random American music. A guy who looked like Bob Marley kept trying to dance with me, so Evan became my wingman and kept me safe the whole night... thanks, buddy!
Sunday, October 28
We got up early again and had a wierd ham and rolls breakfast. The group got together and headed out to the HUGE Parliment building on the river. We all laughed, because of the level of security that we had to go through. Evan (who looks a lot like Ryan Cabrerra, a cute blonde pop singer), got searched by a buff female guard. You should have seen his face! :) To keep track of all of us, they put these red watch-looking things on our wrists. We all started talking in "hushed tones" into our watches and pretended to be CIA agents. Then we got some wierd looks from the actual security guards, so we stopped. :) We got to see the main meeting hall, the dome room, the original crown of the first king of Hungary, and a few other beautiful rooms. This had to be the prettiest Parliment building that I've ever seen. The conference hall where all of the deputies meet is done almost entirely in gold. Even the flat screen TVs had gold around them! :) I want one!
To get around Budapest, we had to take the old subway system, which was the first underground system in Europe. Since this line was so special, a cute little song would play at every stop.... but after a while, we wanted to kill the little flute that would play! It was the wierdest subway ever, because it kind of sounded like a carnival ride. Every time that the song would play, it sounded like somebody had won a prize! haha.
My friends and I split off from the main group after Parliment and headed back to the Castle District. I had a very hard time communicating with the locals (since not a lot of them speak English), but finally we figured out how to take the bus up to the top of the hill. Once we were at the top, we went into the Budavàri Labirintus (Buda Castle Labyrinth). These Budapest people must have been on something when they built this place underground. It was like a huge cave with random rooms in it that twisted and turned everywhere. In one room, there was a HUGE stone face in the ground, and in another a wine fountain that you could taste. Some of the different themes included: Labyrinth of another world, labyrinth of love, of courage, the ivy grotto, and the prehistoric labyrinth (complete with cave paintings!). At one point, the caves got pitch black, so our group all held hands and made a train, with Evan leading the way. We definately bonded in this very strange labyrinth! It was a lot of fun, though!
We met back up with the entire group to get on the bus at 5:30pm. While on the bus, we got to taste several different Hungarian wines, which was fun (some people had a little more fun than others, lol). We finally arrived safely back in Vienna at 10pm. This trip was great!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
My aunt Pam sent me a book in the mail, which has served as my nightly devotional book. Each night, there is a new word. Each word is accompanied by several scripture, quotes, and how a Christian should approach this word.
Tonight's word was "Character." It had a great discription of a Christian's character, and about how living for God, even through tough circumstances, makes a person's character grow. It was great.
I had to laugh out loud, though, when I came to the "theme verse" of the character devotional.
"The Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." -- Acts 17:11
All I could think after I read this was, "Well done, Berea...... you make God proud!"
:)
Tonight's word was "Character." It had a great discription of a Christian's character, and about how living for God, even through tough circumstances, makes a person's character grow. It was great.
I had to laugh out loud, though, when I came to the "theme verse" of the character devotional.
"The Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." -- Acts 17:11
All I could think after I read this was, "Well done, Berea...... you make God proud!"
:)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
ANOTHER CARE PACKAGE! This time, it was from my momma, dad, Sara and Danny! This glorious care package included real Caress soap (because the soap over here smells funny), Clearasil, Clinique lipstick and eyeshadow, nail polish, and lip gloss. I needed several beauty products..... because I started to look pretty yucky lately, haha. Mom also included numerous boxes of granola bars and Kashi cereal bars, two of my favorite cereals from Kashi (including Strawberry Fields, which my roommate Meghan and I got addicted to last semester), a lanyard for my keys (so that I don't lose another one), pictures of me, Sara, and Danny at the wedding, some small boxes of cereal (Cin. Toast Crunch.... yes!), Trident melon gum (which they don't make here.... and it's a shame), Ministrone and chicken noodle soup mix, and oatmeal. --
I have determined that my family knows me VERY well. In each care package that I have received, there is always a surprise item or two..... fam....... you did well. I got BLACKBERRY JELLY from Cracker Barrell, and Ale-8-One! Woah. I've never been happier! :) Mom sent two Ale-8s, but only one survived the journey.... but one is enough for me. I will just have to slowly enjoy my one beautiful Ale-8.... and remember how much I love the fair state of Kentucky!
Thanks Mom and Dad and Sara and Danny!
I have determined that my family knows me VERY well. In each care package that I have received, there is always a surprise item or two..... fam....... you did well. I got BLACKBERRY JELLY from Cracker Barrell, and Ale-8-One! Woah. I've never been happier! :) Mom sent two Ale-8s, but only one survived the journey.... but one is enough for me. I will just have to slowly enjoy my one beautiful Ale-8.... and remember how much I love the fair state of Kentucky!
Thanks Mom and Dad and Sara and Danny!
I was having a pretty stressful day. With the car accident stuff, the rain, the destruction of my second umbrella in the Vienna winds, etc, I was a little flustered by the time I reached the university at 11am. To add to my wonderful morning, when I was typing my regular facebook messages to my friends at UK, for some reason, my "g" key wouldn't work. I started to get really irritated at this point, because the phrase "great! where are you guys going" just didn't make the same sense without the g's. I am also one of those people who get really nervous when it comes to electronics, because it seems like most everything I touch (non-electronics included) breaks or malfunctions or bursts into flame. Mom has developed a term for people like me -- BULL IN A CHINA SHOP. I think it fits.
So, anyways, I got rather antsy when I realized that my only course of action would be to remove the g key and operate on Lorenzo the Laptop. Breaking my only access to America was NOT something I was prepared to deal with today. But.... in I went. I carefully and ever-so-gently removed the key Grey's Anatomy style and peered down into the keyboard. And there it was...... the source of all of my frustration was sitting underneath the key, preventing it from going all the way down...... a single Grape Nut. I was in a study room on the fifth floor of the university, so it took all that I had in me not to burst out laughing! I was getting so mad, and the whole time it was a piece of my most treasured cereal that was causing all the trouble. (Thanks for sending the Grape Nuts, Pam! haha) This really lightened my mood!
So, anyways, I got rather antsy when I realized that my only course of action would be to remove the g key and operate on Lorenzo the Laptop. Breaking my only access to America was NOT something I was prepared to deal with today. But.... in I went. I carefully and ever-so-gently removed the key Grey's Anatomy style and peered down into the keyboard. And there it was...... the source of all of my frustration was sitting underneath the key, preventing it from going all the way down...... a single Grape Nut. I was in a study room on the fifth floor of the university, so it took all that I had in me not to burst out laughing! I was getting so mad, and the whole time it was a piece of my most treasured cereal that was causing all the trouble. (Thanks for sending the Grape Nuts, Pam! haha) This really lightened my mood!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Today in class was pretty neat! I had International Trade this morning, and we talked about out group projects that are due mid-December. My partner, Chris, from Austria, is very excited to be working with a kid from the US. :) We talked about cool vacation spots in Europe that I should try to go to while I am here, about our families, etc. He also showed me a place where I can get 100 free copies! That will definately come in handy.
I'm definately glad to have made a good Austrian friend!
I'm definately glad to have made a good Austrian friend!
I can say with confidence that Amanda Tyree has done something in Europe that none of my friends have ever done.... no, I didn't get arrested! :) I got in a car accident!!!! :(
On Sunday morning, Amber, Laura, Ugur, and I got up at 5:00am to get an early (very early) start to our Slovenia day trip. Amber and Laura were running a little late, because we stayed up pretty late watching the Kentucky vs. Florida game.... but we still had plenty of time to make our cave tour, so we weren't worried. Ugur picked us up in his car at 5:30, and off we went. I was VERY excited! I was riding shotgun, and Amber and Laura were holding it down in the back seat. We packed some Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch, had some driving music, and were ready to get out of Vienna for the day and do some exploring. I had been planning this trip for several weeks and was quite looking forward to it...... but nature had other plans.
After being on the road for about an hour, it started to rain a bit. I don't really like driving in the rain, but it's never been too much of a problem. Within about 5 minutes, the rain became heavy, and then in about another 5 minutes, it turned to VERY heavy snowfall. The ground around us was completely covered in snow just a few more miles down the road. This was insane! We all looked at eachother, and Ugur slowed down a bit. One of the lanes on this major highway had already been cleared, so we started driving in that. We came up behind another snow plow truck that was shooting snow everywhere. I guess Ugur didn't feel comfortable driving right behind this truck, so he decided to switch lanes and pass on the right side.
We successfully passed this truck, and then all of the sudden, hit this huge patch of snow/ice that was in the middle of the lane. Ugur's little car started fishtailing and swerving! I got very very nervous, and was about to tell him to slow down a LOT more, when his car started spinning out of control. I don't think that he'd ever drivin in snow like this before, because he didn't know what to do. He just held on, and the car was sent spinning completely around several times. Then, the wheel suddenly locked up, and (unfortunately from previous experience) I knew what was coming. I was buckled up, but grabbed onto the door and leaned back, bracing myself as best I could. After another spin, we slammed on the left-hand side of the front of the car.... into a very solid concrete wall that seperated us from the on-coming traffic.
I turned around immediately to see if the girls were okay. Laura looked really scared, but she said she wasn't hurt at all. Only my neck and shoulders were pretty sore, but Amber's face was bleeding, though. She had hit her face on the back of Ugur's seat, and then hit the window. She said she was alright, so we got her a napkin, and tried to figure out what to do next. Another car that was passing us at the time had pulled over to make sure that everything was okay, and the man helped Ugur call the police.
The heater in the car was, of course, broken, so the three Kentuckians sat in the freezing car, surrounded by snow, for at least an hour until the police arrived. Looking back, I can imagine that the scene looked a little odd..... One Austrian guy and three American girls heading out of the country at 7:00am in a snowstorm.... but they didn't ask questions. The cops then called a towing service, which took another 2 hours to arrive, because the first truck that showed up was the wrong one. They led us to an exit and we sat there for a long time waiting on the other truck. After I get in a scary accident, I naturally get hungry... I'm not sure why. So, Amber, Laura, and I ate our KFC meal while we waited for the tow truck. Ugur just looked at the front of his broken Italian Stallion (he drove a red Alfa Rameo... nice.).
FINALLY, after we emptied the bucket of family chicken, and after I had to hike into the woods to go to the bathroom (thanks for making me a tom-boy, dad! It came in handy), the huge yellow tow truck showed up. There was only one seat in the front of the truck, so the towing man just drove the car up onto the back of the truck.... with the three girls in it! I don't think this is legal in the states, but I didn't really know how to ask the man questions, since he only spoke German. He started talking to me about an "auto," so I assumed he was the right man for the job.
The three Kentuckians had an interesting ride on the back of a tow truck. It took about 20 minutes to get to the towing station, where we got a new car to drive CAREFULLY back home. We arrived at Haus Erasmus at about noon, and I immediately collapsed on my bed for the next 6 hours.... I was exhausted, and we had only been about 70 miles. This was NOT the day trip that I had planned, that's for sure.
This was definately a European First for me...... let's hope that it is NOT a repeat adventure..... I don't think I'll be riding in a car anytime soon... planes and trains for this girl.
On Sunday morning, Amber, Laura, Ugur, and I got up at 5:00am to get an early (very early) start to our Slovenia day trip. Amber and Laura were running a little late, because we stayed up pretty late watching the Kentucky vs. Florida game.... but we still had plenty of time to make our cave tour, so we weren't worried. Ugur picked us up in his car at 5:30, and off we went. I was VERY excited! I was riding shotgun, and Amber and Laura were holding it down in the back seat. We packed some Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch, had some driving music, and were ready to get out of Vienna for the day and do some exploring. I had been planning this trip for several weeks and was quite looking forward to it...... but nature had other plans.
After being on the road for about an hour, it started to rain a bit. I don't really like driving in the rain, but it's never been too much of a problem. Within about 5 minutes, the rain became heavy, and then in about another 5 minutes, it turned to VERY heavy snowfall. The ground around us was completely covered in snow just a few more miles down the road. This was insane! We all looked at eachother, and Ugur slowed down a bit. One of the lanes on this major highway had already been cleared, so we started driving in that. We came up behind another snow plow truck that was shooting snow everywhere. I guess Ugur didn't feel comfortable driving right behind this truck, so he decided to switch lanes and pass on the right side.
We successfully passed this truck, and then all of the sudden, hit this huge patch of snow/ice that was in the middle of the lane. Ugur's little car started fishtailing and swerving! I got very very nervous, and was about to tell him to slow down a LOT more, when his car started spinning out of control. I don't think that he'd ever drivin in snow like this before, because he didn't know what to do. He just held on, and the car was sent spinning completely around several times. Then, the wheel suddenly locked up, and (unfortunately from previous experience) I knew what was coming. I was buckled up, but grabbed onto the door and leaned back, bracing myself as best I could. After another spin, we slammed on the left-hand side of the front of the car.... into a very solid concrete wall that seperated us from the on-coming traffic.
I turned around immediately to see if the girls were okay. Laura looked really scared, but she said she wasn't hurt at all. Only my neck and shoulders were pretty sore, but Amber's face was bleeding, though. She had hit her face on the back of Ugur's seat, and then hit the window. She said she was alright, so we got her a napkin, and tried to figure out what to do next. Another car that was passing us at the time had pulled over to make sure that everything was okay, and the man helped Ugur call the police.
The heater in the car was, of course, broken, so the three Kentuckians sat in the freezing car, surrounded by snow, for at least an hour until the police arrived. Looking back, I can imagine that the scene looked a little odd..... One Austrian guy and three American girls heading out of the country at 7:00am in a snowstorm.... but they didn't ask questions. The cops then called a towing service, which took another 2 hours to arrive, because the first truck that showed up was the wrong one. They led us to an exit and we sat there for a long time waiting on the other truck. After I get in a scary accident, I naturally get hungry... I'm not sure why. So, Amber, Laura, and I ate our KFC meal while we waited for the tow truck. Ugur just looked at the front of his broken Italian Stallion (he drove a red Alfa Rameo... nice.).
FINALLY, after we emptied the bucket of family chicken, and after I had to hike into the woods to go to the bathroom (thanks for making me a tom-boy, dad! It came in handy), the huge yellow tow truck showed up. There was only one seat in the front of the truck, so the towing man just drove the car up onto the back of the truck.... with the three girls in it! I don't think this is legal in the states, but I didn't really know how to ask the man questions, since he only spoke German. He started talking to me about an "auto," so I assumed he was the right man for the job.
The three Kentuckians had an interesting ride on the back of a tow truck. It took about 20 minutes to get to the towing station, where we got a new car to drive CAREFULLY back home. We arrived at Haus Erasmus at about noon, and I immediately collapsed on my bed for the next 6 hours.... I was exhausted, and we had only been about 70 miles. This was NOT the day trip that I had planned, that's for sure.
This was definately a European First for me...... let's hope that it is NOT a repeat adventure..... I don't think I'll be riding in a car anytime soon... planes and trains for this girl.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Wien Spanische Hofreitschule präsentiert! (Vienna Spanish Riding School Presents!)
This weekend's plans had to be altered slightly. We planned on going rafting in Slovenia, but with a forcast of -15 degrees Celcius (which is pretty cold in our temperature, too... I guess), we decided to pass on hypothermia this week and find an alternate means of entertainment!
Amber, Greg, Paul, Laura, Jenni (from Australia), Jogul (from Brazil), and I headed off to the Spanish Riding school to see the white stallions perform! Amber was walking around the center of the city this week and just happened to pick up a brochure about the performance dates. Lucky girls from Kentucky! Tonight was supposed to be the only performance for a few weeks, so we jumped on the opportunity to attend one of Austria's Top 10 Must-Sees. :) In order to have a sitting place in the horse arena, you have to be VERY wealthy (or in debt up to your eyeballs), so we opted to buy standing seats for a mere 16 Euro. We had a great view, though!
The performance was amazing! First, the young stallions (who weren't entirely white yet) came out and did their little dances. It was very cute.... and Amber observed that some of their young riders weren't too bad, either. -- After their performance, the big boys came out. These horses were the size of my dad's diesel truck, seriously! They were absolutely beautiful, and the most muscular creatures that I've ever seen.... they were perfect. First, about 5 horses and their riders came out and created several complicated formations while prancing sideways! The horses also had this one particular move that I got a kick (no pun intended) out of. It looked something like a runway model walk! The control that the riders had over these horses was completely amazing! I can't even get my 5lb. yorkie to walk in a straight line, much less have a several-ton horse skip in a circle. I was in awe.
The best part of the performance came when the best riders and the best horses came out and did jumps! The guys riding didn't even have their feet secured, but stayed perfectly still while their massive stallions stood on their hind legs, jumped up, down, and even sideways! If I could have anything for Christmas, I'd totally want a jumping horse.... but I don't think that a 5 million dollar animal would fit under the tree.... or in the Christmas budget! It is a well-known fact that Greg has zero dancing ability, so Paul leaned over during the impressive figure-8 sequence with 10 horses and said, "Greg, how does it feel to be out-danced my a horse?" :) I think they could even give ME a run for my money!
This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I absolutely loved it! I wonder if they're taking applications to be a horse trainer in Vienna? You never know... this marketing thing might not last....... I really did appreciate seeing the horses tonight. It reminded me some of home! -- Also, in the spirit of Kentucky appreciation, I am watching the UK vs. Florida game tomorrow! Paul has this thing called a SlingBox, which allows you to watch American tv from your computer here. We are have our own College Gameday from Austria, complete with hotdogs, nachos, and some good ol' Wildcat football!!!!! Go CATS!
On Sunday, we plan on taking a day trip to Slovenia to see the Caves at Postojna and the church on Lake Bled. This should be a very eventful weekend!
This weekend's plans had to be altered slightly. We planned on going rafting in Slovenia, but with a forcast of -15 degrees Celcius (which is pretty cold in our temperature, too... I guess), we decided to pass on hypothermia this week and find an alternate means of entertainment!
Amber, Greg, Paul, Laura, Jenni (from Australia), Jogul (from Brazil), and I headed off to the Spanish Riding school to see the white stallions perform! Amber was walking around the center of the city this week and just happened to pick up a brochure about the performance dates. Lucky girls from Kentucky! Tonight was supposed to be the only performance for a few weeks, so we jumped on the opportunity to attend one of Austria's Top 10 Must-Sees. :) In order to have a sitting place in the horse arena, you have to be VERY wealthy (or in debt up to your eyeballs), so we opted to buy standing seats for a mere 16 Euro. We had a great view, though!
The performance was amazing! First, the young stallions (who weren't entirely white yet) came out and did their little dances. It was very cute.... and Amber observed that some of their young riders weren't too bad, either. -- After their performance, the big boys came out. These horses were the size of my dad's diesel truck, seriously! They were absolutely beautiful, and the most muscular creatures that I've ever seen.... they were perfect. First, about 5 horses and their riders came out and created several complicated formations while prancing sideways! The horses also had this one particular move that I got a kick (no pun intended) out of. It looked something like a runway model walk! The control that the riders had over these horses was completely amazing! I can't even get my 5lb. yorkie to walk in a straight line, much less have a several-ton horse skip in a circle. I was in awe.
The best part of the performance came when the best riders and the best horses came out and did jumps! The guys riding didn't even have their feet secured, but stayed perfectly still while their massive stallions stood on their hind legs, jumped up, down, and even sideways! If I could have anything for Christmas, I'd totally want a jumping horse.... but I don't think that a 5 million dollar animal would fit under the tree.... or in the Christmas budget! It is a well-known fact that Greg has zero dancing ability, so Paul leaned over during the impressive figure-8 sequence with 10 horses and said, "Greg, how does it feel to be out-danced my a horse?" :) I think they could even give ME a run for my money!
This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I absolutely loved it! I wonder if they're taking applications to be a horse trainer in Vienna? You never know... this marketing thing might not last....... I really did appreciate seeing the horses tonight. It reminded me some of home! -- Also, in the spirit of Kentucky appreciation, I am watching the UK vs. Florida game tomorrow! Paul has this thing called a SlingBox, which allows you to watch American tv from your computer here. We are have our own College Gameday from Austria, complete with hotdogs, nachos, and some good ol' Wildcat football!!!!! Go CATS!
On Sunday, we plan on taking a day trip to Slovenia to see the Caves at Postojna and the church on Lake Bled. This should be a very eventful weekend!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
I have the best family in the world! I can honestly say that, because I'm on the other side of the world, and I haven't met anybody who tops them! :)
I got up early this morning to work out and get a good start on the day. I went downstairs and checked my mailbox..... and then I saw that glorious little piece of yellow paper with the word POST on it! I'm not sure why, but this time I was supposed to go pick up my mail at the local post office on Zieglergasse, which is about a 5-10 minute walk from my dorm. I was so excited!
I headed out with my map and figured out a winding route to the post office. When I walked in, I was determined to try to communicate what I needed in German. I've really been trying to not seem so American all the time and fit in to the Euro culture! :) I did it! I didn't speak a word of English the entire time that I was in the post office...... okay, so I really didn't say much at all, but used some signals (I tried!). The clerk asked me to show ID to prove that I am, in fact, Amanda K. Tyree, but I understood what he said, and didn't miss a beat! Yay! I immediately recognized which package was mine... the massive TAYLOR PUBLISHING box with Uncle Keith's writing on the front!
This box was about as big as I am, so the real challenge of the morning came when I had to carry it back home, haha. I'm sure the locals found it halarious to see this 5'3 1/2 (I always throw the 1/2 inch in there... I need all the help I can get!) little girl carrying a huge box down the road. :) I got a second workout from this!!!!
To increase the excitement, I turned up some country music before I started opening the box. In this box of treasures was some Progresso Soup (which absolutely thrilled me, because Europeans eat powdered soup, which is absolutely disgusting), my favorite gum, real Neosporin (because I don't think they have it in Austria.... or maybe I just can't translate well enough to identify it at the shops), Cheerios and Grape Nuts (heavenly cereal!), wash cloths, some amazing-looking devotional books (I really needed some Jesus over here... thank you!), pictures of my wonderful Rileys, dried fruit and nuts, and Cheddar goldfish (which also don't exist over here... what's wrong with these Europeans? lol). Perhaps the most wonderful two items in this package were the Fruity Certs and Royal Dansk butter cookies in a tin. Pam and I have been eating butter cookies and certs since before I can remember. I laughed out loud when I saw them! Thank you SO much, Riley family!!!!!!
You can tell that I am VERY excited to recieve any type of mail, and that going to the post office can turn into an adventure for me. They say that simple minds have simple pleasures..... that's okay with me! :) It's always just so refreshing to get a piece of home in the mail. I had really started to miss home this week, since the Cats are dominating and I hear all about it several times a day (lol), but my family really keeps me going! Seeing everyone at Christmas will be so wonderful! I couldn't ask for better -- Thanks!
Love,
Amanda
I got up early this morning to work out and get a good start on the day. I went downstairs and checked my mailbox..... and then I saw that glorious little piece of yellow paper with the word POST on it! I'm not sure why, but this time I was supposed to go pick up my mail at the local post office on Zieglergasse, which is about a 5-10 minute walk from my dorm. I was so excited!
I headed out with my map and figured out a winding route to the post office. When I walked in, I was determined to try to communicate what I needed in German. I've really been trying to not seem so American all the time and fit in to the Euro culture! :) I did it! I didn't speak a word of English the entire time that I was in the post office...... okay, so I really didn't say much at all, but used some signals (I tried!). The clerk asked me to show ID to prove that I am, in fact, Amanda K. Tyree, but I understood what he said, and didn't miss a beat! Yay! I immediately recognized which package was mine... the massive TAYLOR PUBLISHING box with Uncle Keith's writing on the front!
This box was about as big as I am, so the real challenge of the morning came when I had to carry it back home, haha. I'm sure the locals found it halarious to see this 5'3 1/2 (I always throw the 1/2 inch in there... I need all the help I can get!) little girl carrying a huge box down the road. :) I got a second workout from this!!!!
To increase the excitement, I turned up some country music before I started opening the box. In this box of treasures was some Progresso Soup (which absolutely thrilled me, because Europeans eat powdered soup, which is absolutely disgusting), my favorite gum, real Neosporin (because I don't think they have it in Austria.... or maybe I just can't translate well enough to identify it at the shops), Cheerios and Grape Nuts (heavenly cereal!), wash cloths, some amazing-looking devotional books (I really needed some Jesus over here... thank you!), pictures of my wonderful Rileys, dried fruit and nuts, and Cheddar goldfish (which also don't exist over here... what's wrong with these Europeans? lol). Perhaps the most wonderful two items in this package were the Fruity Certs and Royal Dansk butter cookies in a tin. Pam and I have been eating butter cookies and certs since before I can remember. I laughed out loud when I saw them! Thank you SO much, Riley family!!!!!!
You can tell that I am VERY excited to recieve any type of mail, and that going to the post office can turn into an adventure for me. They say that simple minds have simple pleasures..... that's okay with me! :) It's always just so refreshing to get a piece of home in the mail. I had really started to miss home this week, since the Cats are dominating and I hear all about it several times a day (lol), but my family really keeps me going! Seeing everyone at Christmas will be so wonderful! I couldn't ask for better -- Thanks!
Love,
Amanda
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
This week has mostly been about classes..... woohoo! :)
In my Global Market Research class, we got into groups and have to develop a research proposal and conduct interviews, focus groups, etc. My group is researching the Facebook craze. We're not entirely sure what angle to take, but it's going to be really interesting. I am the only American in my group, which is really wierd. Sometimes I'll say things, and the people in my group just stare at me and then tell me to slow down. Haha. My country accent is a little thick sometimes! :)
I am very excited about my International Finance class that starts up next week. Everyone says that it's hard, but I figure.... I've been counting money since I was about 4 years old, so it can't be TOO bad!
This weekend I am heading off to Slovenia for my "Extreme Trip," complete with a cave adventure and white water rafting!
By the way, I have never been prouder to be from BIG BLUE NATION! The UK Wildcats, and especially my buddy Tim (the punter #44) are so amazing! I guess I'll have to go abroad more often.... then maybe we'll win a Basketball championship, too! -- When we were on our trip to the Alps, we stopped by an Internet Cafe to check the score. When Laura and I saw that the Cats beat LSU, we screamed! The owners didn't like that too much, so then we did a silent victory dance in front of everyone!!!! Keep it up, Kentucky!
In my Global Market Research class, we got into groups and have to develop a research proposal and conduct interviews, focus groups, etc. My group is researching the Facebook craze. We're not entirely sure what angle to take, but it's going to be really interesting. I am the only American in my group, which is really wierd. Sometimes I'll say things, and the people in my group just stare at me and then tell me to slow down. Haha. My country accent is a little thick sometimes! :)
I am very excited about my International Finance class that starts up next week. Everyone says that it's hard, but I figure.... I've been counting money since I was about 4 years old, so it can't be TOO bad!
This weekend I am heading off to Slovenia for my "Extreme Trip," complete with a cave adventure and white water rafting!
By the way, I have never been prouder to be from BIG BLUE NATION! The UK Wildcats, and especially my buddy Tim (the punter #44) are so amazing! I guess I'll have to go abroad more often.... then maybe we'll win a Basketball championship, too! -- When we were on our trip to the Alps, we stopped by an Internet Cafe to check the score. When Laura and I saw that the Cats beat LSU, we screamed! The owners didn't like that too much, so then we did a silent victory dance in front of everyone!!!! Keep it up, Kentucky!
Monday, October 15, 2007
There is a LOT to catch everybody up on!
For most of my life, I've been a pretty big planner. I have some kind of plan... or at least general outline of most things that I do.... ESPECIALLY vacations. Well, this weekend, I wasn't in charge. My friends Paul and Greg decided that they wanted to go to the Hohe Tauern National Park, which is about 6 hours away by train. We bought our train tickets, and they told me to leave the rest up to them...... (famous last words? lol)
On Friday night at midnight, Paul, Greg, Laura, and I jumped on a train and headed west... that's all that I knew. Our tickets were for Hallein, which I assumed would be our ending destination. We had to switch trains in Salzburg so that we could head to Hallein. We had about an hour of downtime, so we thought we could find something to do, or somewhere to eat..... what we didn't realize was that it happened to be 4am, and nothing was open.... and there are no such things as Austrian Waffle Houses. We decided to just camp out at the train station until our Hallein train arrived. There was a "warm room" in the corner of the station, so we headed inside. About 5 seconds after setting foot inside the room, we felt severely out of place. We were surrounded by some of the sketchiest looking people I've ever seen. In the corner, a man in a turban sat Budah-style in one of the chairs, sound asleep and another guy with rotted hair glared at the four Americans standing in the doorway. This warm room also smelled worse than a cattle farm, so the four of us exchanged disgusted looks and immediately decided to leave the stench box. made ourselves comfortable on some benches in the open-air train station and attempted to take naps. I'm pretty sure we looked like four homeless bums! haha.
Finally, our train arrived and we jumped on, since by this time I couldn't feel my legs. It gets pretty cold on Austrian nights. We got to Hallein at about 5:30 or so in the morning, and again, the city and the train station looked completely abandoned. While on the train, Greg named himself "Supreme Group Leader," after winning a game of poker, and decided that his first duty would be to delegate group responsibilities to the rest of us. He said that Laura didn't have any real skills to speak of, so she was just the food and beverage coordinator. Paul is the best with reading maps (since, apparently, men have a sixth sense that is amazing directional skills), so he was named Team Navigator. I guess people think that I talk a lot (no idea where they came up with this), so I was named the Communicator, meaning that I had to talk to all of the locals to figure out where and when to go places. Well, this should be easy..... seeing as I speak ZERO German..... awesome. I walked up to the information desk at the station, and asked the attendant which was to go to get to the national park. She looked at me like I had seven heads, and started talking about Ice Caves in VERY broken English. She said she had never heard of a national park. At this point, I seriously thought about killing Greg and Paul. Did they just pick a random town and hope it was close to the park? haha. So, I went outside and saw a group of taxis gathered. Now, if anybody is going to know where they are, it should be a taxi driver. I asked if any of them spoke English, and luckily, two of them did. They said if we took this same train about 30 more kilometers down to Zell am See, that we would be in the heart of the national park, and would be able to find a place to stay.
WE DID! We just jumped back on the train and spontaneously changed our lack of plans completely! I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous. It was just 7am when we got to Zell am See, so we grabbed a bite to eat at a pastry shop and asked where the nearest hostel was. We only had to walk a few minutes, and got a room in this very cute place. It was a little more expensive than we would have wanted to pay, but not much. The room was also VERY nice and not creepy at all. When we looked out our window, we saw that we were situated at the bottom of an enormous mountain, which was absolutely beautiful! This HAD to be the national park! :)
We decided to sleep for a few hours, since Greg and I hadn't slept at all on the train down. We had to be the look-outs for the correct stops. -- We all got up at about 11:30, and were ready and refreshed to take on some nature! The owner of our hostel pointed us in the right direction, so we set off for another random adventure.
After walking a long way and not seeing ANY sign of a park entrance or hiking trail of any sort, we got a little nervous. We were walking along a sidewalk on a small hill, and saw a little bitty man in overalls fixing a concrete wall. Well, since I'm the "communicator," I was pushed ahead of the group and went to speak to this local. In about 2 seconds, I realized that he didn't speak ANY English. He called his wife outside, and she didn't speak much more. All we got out of this old couple was that we were in the right place, but that the park was a long walk down the road still. Oh great.... more walking! :) The nice little man pointed to his car and offered to give us a ride to the park entrance. We had two decently strong guys with us, so we weren't too nervous about one old man, so we agreed. We didn't understand his name, so for the rest of the trip, we referred to this good citizen as "Stanley." Stanley made sure that we knew where we were before he drove away. Cheers to Stanley! :)
We all looked up, and saw some of the biggest mountains that we've ever seen! WAY bigger than in Kentucky! So, in the spirit of adventure, we headed up a little road that we were told would eventually turn into a hiking trail that would take us to the top of the mountain..... in only 3 hours (ooooh, boy... put your hiking shoes on, kids!). Now, in high school, I could have boasted to be in pretty good shape, but after 3 years of not playing soccer, I've lost just a little bit of my stamina. Let me just tell you, this was without a doubt the most strenuous hike that I've ever participated in. We were all dying after about 20 minutes! haha. But, we didn't want to give up, so we grabbed walking sticks and started singing and hiking like champions.
At the top of one if the hills, there was a HUGE horse just standing looking at us. My life pretty much flashed before my eyes. I could see this massive devil stallion charging four out of shape twenty-year-olds.... we wouldn't have had a chance. We felt that if we moved really slowly, the horse might not see us, and let us pass. We creeped along the tiny road to safety! Yay! Finally, after several breaks and after we demolished a few chocolate bars, waters, and pretzels, we made it to the peak! It was breathtaking..... and not just because I was physically out of breath, but because the view from the top was amazing! We stood up there for a long time, just basking in the sun and in the glory of climbing the Alps! Success! After 3 hours of hiking straight up, we made it.......
Not wanting to be too big of overachievers for one weekend, Greg took charge and voted that we take the lift back down to the base of the mountain..... no arguments came from the rest of us! haha. We got back to our room and watched our first ever rugby game on tv.... since we didn't understand anything else.... and since Spongebob was in German, too.
The next morning, we slept in a little (since none of us could feel out legs!), took full advantage of the free breakfast of the hostel, and then headed out to find another small adventure before heading back home. We decided to rent an electric boat and take it out on Zell am See (See means "lake" in German..... so the Zell Lake or something!). We rode around for about an hour, got chased by some crazy swans, told stories, and just enjoyed the incredible weather that we'd been blessed with. We started talking about how this trip reminded us of Homeward Bound (the movie with the three animals that were lost in the wilderness together and had to climb over mountains). Paul was Shadow, the wise golden retriever. Laura was Sassy, the opinionated, yet sweet, cat. Greg was Chance, the crazy pale bulldog. Since there weren't any more characters, they said that I could be the Porccupine, who basically just caused trouble in the movie..... thanks guys. :)
The trains back were PACKED with people, so from Zell am See to Salzburg, we sat on the floor and played cards... because there were NO seats left. We stopped in Salzburg to get dinner, and then caught another train back to Vienna. From Salzburg to Vienna, the train was, yet again, packed. There was a bar area in the middle of the train, and we found a table where we could stand off to the side. Greg busted out the cards, and we played cards for about three hours! We also met this guy named Erik, who was from Michigan. Erik was just vacationing from his Engineering job for a few weeks. He joined us for several rounds of cards. He was very nice! I love meeting random people like that. After we got of the train, we showed Erik to a nearby hostel, since he had no idea where he was staying! :) (Sounds like us!)
I finally got into bed at around 2am, after a long train ride, several unscheduled stops, some card games, and pizza! Class this morning was at 9am..... staying awake was quite a different adventure. :)
I really loved this weekend trip. Sometimes, not planning things leads to a really awesome adventure. We all definately bonded this weekend (maybe near death experiences with horses, climbing huge mountains, or just being utterly lost in Austria will do that to you!). I had a great time just being in the Alps! I'll definately have to go back!
For most of my life, I've been a pretty big planner. I have some kind of plan... or at least general outline of most things that I do.... ESPECIALLY vacations. Well, this weekend, I wasn't in charge. My friends Paul and Greg decided that they wanted to go to the Hohe Tauern National Park, which is about 6 hours away by train. We bought our train tickets, and they told me to leave the rest up to them...... (famous last words? lol)
On Friday night at midnight, Paul, Greg, Laura, and I jumped on a train and headed west... that's all that I knew. Our tickets were for Hallein, which I assumed would be our ending destination. We had to switch trains in Salzburg so that we could head to Hallein. We had about an hour of downtime, so we thought we could find something to do, or somewhere to eat..... what we didn't realize was that it happened to be 4am, and nothing was open.... and there are no such things as Austrian Waffle Houses. We decided to just camp out at the train station until our Hallein train arrived. There was a "warm room" in the corner of the station, so we headed inside. About 5 seconds after setting foot inside the room, we felt severely out of place. We were surrounded by some of the sketchiest looking people I've ever seen. In the corner, a man in a turban sat Budah-style in one of the chairs, sound asleep and another guy with rotted hair glared at the four Americans standing in the doorway. This warm room also smelled worse than a cattle farm, so the four of us exchanged disgusted looks and immediately decided to leave the stench box. made ourselves comfortable on some benches in the open-air train station and attempted to take naps. I'm pretty sure we looked like four homeless bums! haha.
Finally, our train arrived and we jumped on, since by this time I couldn't feel my legs. It gets pretty cold on Austrian nights. We got to Hallein at about 5:30 or so in the morning, and again, the city and the train station looked completely abandoned. While on the train, Greg named himself "Supreme Group Leader," after winning a game of poker, and decided that his first duty would be to delegate group responsibilities to the rest of us. He said that Laura didn't have any real skills to speak of, so she was just the food and beverage coordinator. Paul is the best with reading maps (since, apparently, men have a sixth sense that is amazing directional skills), so he was named Team Navigator. I guess people think that I talk a lot (no idea where they came up with this), so I was named the Communicator, meaning that I had to talk to all of the locals to figure out where and when to go places. Well, this should be easy..... seeing as I speak ZERO German..... awesome. I walked up to the information desk at the station, and asked the attendant which was to go to get to the national park. She looked at me like I had seven heads, and started talking about Ice Caves in VERY broken English. She said she had never heard of a national park. At this point, I seriously thought about killing Greg and Paul. Did they just pick a random town and hope it was close to the park? haha. So, I went outside and saw a group of taxis gathered. Now, if anybody is going to know where they are, it should be a taxi driver. I asked if any of them spoke English, and luckily, two of them did. They said if we took this same train about 30 more kilometers down to Zell am See, that we would be in the heart of the national park, and would be able to find a place to stay.
WE DID! We just jumped back on the train and spontaneously changed our lack of plans completely! I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous. It was just 7am when we got to Zell am See, so we grabbed a bite to eat at a pastry shop and asked where the nearest hostel was. We only had to walk a few minutes, and got a room in this very cute place. It was a little more expensive than we would have wanted to pay, but not much. The room was also VERY nice and not creepy at all. When we looked out our window, we saw that we were situated at the bottom of an enormous mountain, which was absolutely beautiful! This HAD to be the national park! :)
We decided to sleep for a few hours, since Greg and I hadn't slept at all on the train down. We had to be the look-outs for the correct stops. -- We all got up at about 11:30, and were ready and refreshed to take on some nature! The owner of our hostel pointed us in the right direction, so we set off for another random adventure.
After walking a long way and not seeing ANY sign of a park entrance or hiking trail of any sort, we got a little nervous. We were walking along a sidewalk on a small hill, and saw a little bitty man in overalls fixing a concrete wall. Well, since I'm the "communicator," I was pushed ahead of the group and went to speak to this local. In about 2 seconds, I realized that he didn't speak ANY English. He called his wife outside, and she didn't speak much more. All we got out of this old couple was that we were in the right place, but that the park was a long walk down the road still. Oh great.... more walking! :) The nice little man pointed to his car and offered to give us a ride to the park entrance. We had two decently strong guys with us, so we weren't too nervous about one old man, so we agreed. We didn't understand his name, so for the rest of the trip, we referred to this good citizen as "Stanley." Stanley made sure that we knew where we were before he drove away. Cheers to Stanley! :)
We all looked up, and saw some of the biggest mountains that we've ever seen! WAY bigger than in Kentucky! So, in the spirit of adventure, we headed up a little road that we were told would eventually turn into a hiking trail that would take us to the top of the mountain..... in only 3 hours (ooooh, boy... put your hiking shoes on, kids!). Now, in high school, I could have boasted to be in pretty good shape, but after 3 years of not playing soccer, I've lost just a little bit of my stamina. Let me just tell you, this was without a doubt the most strenuous hike that I've ever participated in. We were all dying after about 20 minutes! haha. But, we didn't want to give up, so we grabbed walking sticks and started singing and hiking like champions.
At the top of one if the hills, there was a HUGE horse just standing looking at us. My life pretty much flashed before my eyes. I could see this massive devil stallion charging four out of shape twenty-year-olds.... we wouldn't have had a chance. We felt that if we moved really slowly, the horse might not see us, and let us pass. We creeped along the tiny road to safety! Yay! Finally, after several breaks and after we demolished a few chocolate bars, waters, and pretzels, we made it to the peak! It was breathtaking..... and not just because I was physically out of breath, but because the view from the top was amazing! We stood up there for a long time, just basking in the sun and in the glory of climbing the Alps! Success! After 3 hours of hiking straight up, we made it.......
Not wanting to be too big of overachievers for one weekend, Greg took charge and voted that we take the lift back down to the base of the mountain..... no arguments came from the rest of us! haha. We got back to our room and watched our first ever rugby game on tv.... since we didn't understand anything else.... and since Spongebob was in German, too.
The next morning, we slept in a little (since none of us could feel out legs!), took full advantage of the free breakfast of the hostel, and then headed out to find another small adventure before heading back home. We decided to rent an electric boat and take it out on Zell am See (See means "lake" in German..... so the Zell Lake or something!). We rode around for about an hour, got chased by some crazy swans, told stories, and just enjoyed the incredible weather that we'd been blessed with. We started talking about how this trip reminded us of Homeward Bound (the movie with the three animals that were lost in the wilderness together and had to climb over mountains). Paul was Shadow, the wise golden retriever. Laura was Sassy, the opinionated, yet sweet, cat. Greg was Chance, the crazy pale bulldog. Since there weren't any more characters, they said that I could be the Porccupine, who basically just caused trouble in the movie..... thanks guys. :)
The trains back were PACKED with people, so from Zell am See to Salzburg, we sat on the floor and played cards... because there were NO seats left. We stopped in Salzburg to get dinner, and then caught another train back to Vienna. From Salzburg to Vienna, the train was, yet again, packed. There was a bar area in the middle of the train, and we found a table where we could stand off to the side. Greg busted out the cards, and we played cards for about three hours! We also met this guy named Erik, who was from Michigan. Erik was just vacationing from his Engineering job for a few weeks. He joined us for several rounds of cards. He was very nice! I love meeting random people like that. After we got of the train, we showed Erik to a nearby hostel, since he had no idea where he was staying! :) (Sounds like us!)
I finally got into bed at around 2am, after a long train ride, several unscheduled stops, some card games, and pizza! Class this morning was at 9am..... staying awake was quite a different adventure. :)
I really loved this weekend trip. Sometimes, not planning things leads to a really awesome adventure. We all definately bonded this weekend (maybe near death experiences with horses, climbing huge mountains, or just being utterly lost in Austria will do that to you!). I had a great time just being in the Alps! I'll definately have to go back!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
The semester is in full swing! And by that I mean that the semester is swinging and knocking me in the head! It's been a crazy past few days trying to get all of our courses figured out. Now, I'm the kind of person that loves everyone and is all about peace and such, but this past week I have wanted to jump on a plane, fly to UK, and throw something at our study abroad advisor! There was no organization when we registered, so Amber and I are just learning that half of our classes conflict with eachother, and some of the others aren't even what we need (thanks a lot.... grr). BUT, Amber and I decided to take matters into our own hands......
This morning, we marched up to the registration office and stayed in there until everything got worked out (which took about an hour and a half!). Now, I am taking International Finance, Global Market Research, Negotiation Management, International Trade, and then my online course through UK Business School about Operations Management. -- When they said that studying abroad classes were easy.... they were lying! I am in for a crazy semester of traveling and research projects! Let's just hope that I can fit it all in! (eek!)
I was put into a small research group for my Global Market Research course. I am the only American in the entire class, so the rest of the kids in my group are native Austrians. I had answered several questions in class that day (making myself known... oh yeah!), so one girl in my group said quietly, "Oh, your English.... we are intimidated because it is so good." Um.... thanks? It's the only language I know! hahaha
In our International Trade course, Amber and I are... again, the only Americans. We were discussing how different countries have a competitive advantage in production of certain products, and how those products are usually what that country exports to the rest of the world. She asked for every country represented in our class to tell one product that their home country exports. Being from Kentucky, I immediately thought of tobacco. When I answered with this, the entire room goes, "oooh yeah! AMERICA!" I guess they are thankful for that, since EVERYBODY smokes over here. -- After class, we were told to form groups of 3 for our group project due at the end of the semester. We have to compare how the different countries that the people in our group belong to do trade, and then prepare a presentation on that. Immediately, Amber and I were approached by Chris from Austria (who had answered several questions in class) who REALLY wanted to work with us. He said he studied abroad at Berkley last year, and was very interested in American trade. Hey, fine with me! This kid must be very smart to have studied at Berkley.... so welcome to the group, Chris! :)
Yesterday on the train back from university, there were about 1 million (give or take a few) people on the subway. I was smooshed up against some of the craziest-looking people that I've ever seen... and some of the smelliest.... eew. At one of the stops, a woman and her 4 small children boarded my car. These were probably the cutest kids that I've seen in a long time, and they were just chatting away to eachother in Arabic. Then they started trying to run around, which made me and several other people laugh. A VERY tall man wearing all black that looked something like a mix between Yanni and Lukasz Orbzut, looked down at me and said something in German. I caught the word "kinder," which means children. He was laughing, so I just assumed that he meant something about how cute they were, so I just said, "Ja!" back to him. About a million more people got on the subway during the next 4 stops, so that's where our conversation ended. Finally, we got to Burggasse (my stop on the U6), and I shuffled out of the subway and onto the platform. Well, so did my large, long-haired friend. As we walked in the same direction, he looked down and smiled at me, continuing to talk German. Man.... I thought... I can't fool him for much longer... the only other thing I can say is 'Ich bin Amanda,' and I'm SURE that's not the appropriate response to his rather lengthy story. Knowing that he was bound to either think I was a little slow (I think I had a blank look on my face, haha) or really mean for not answering, I spoke. "Ein bisschen Duetch," which means "A little bit of German," and kind of shrugged. Then, in perfect English, he answered, "Oh, is English better?" :) He introduced himself (as some unpronouncable name.... so we'll just call him Yanni) and asked what I was doing in Austria. When I told him my name, he had trouble understanding me because of my accent. I appologized and spoke less Kentuckian, but he said that he loved how I spoke. "You are just so cute," he said. I told him about studying business here for the semester and that I was from Kentucky. Very surprised and excited, he responded, "Ah, you're from AMERICA?" Well, I guess the fact that I was wearing gouchos and flip flops, carried a bright-blue Vera Bradley bag, and had a University of Kentucky BCM shirt on wouldn't have given it away! He told me that he was here for a week doing business for Audi car manufacturers. Yanni was actually from Hamburg, Germany. -- We walked out of the subway and outside, where we both crossed the same street, but then started to go in different directions. I shook his hand and said nice to meet you.... but he held on (um... large German man has your hand.... what do you do..... they never taught this in Girl Scouts). He just looked at me and then finally said, "VERY nice to meet you, Amanda. Have a wonderful stay." As I waited for the next cross-walk, he walked away..... but he definately looked back several times.... oh, European men.... hahaha.
After I got home from school, I met up with my other amigos, Amber, Paul, and Greg. I cooked bacon cheese burgers for all of us (but at this point, Greg would want to add that he grilled his, since grilling is a man's thing.... oh, New Yorkers...). After another amazing dinner, we sat down and watched a few episodes of Band of Brothers, the HBO series about the paratroopers at D-Day. I think this might have been "The Unofficial American Appreciation Night" or something haha.
This morning, we marched up to the registration office and stayed in there until everything got worked out (which took about an hour and a half!). Now, I am taking International Finance, Global Market Research, Negotiation Management, International Trade, and then my online course through UK Business School about Operations Management. -- When they said that studying abroad classes were easy.... they were lying! I am in for a crazy semester of traveling and research projects! Let's just hope that I can fit it all in! (eek!)
I was put into a small research group for my Global Market Research course. I am the only American in the entire class, so the rest of the kids in my group are native Austrians. I had answered several questions in class that day (making myself known... oh yeah!), so one girl in my group said quietly, "Oh, your English.... we are intimidated because it is so good." Um.... thanks? It's the only language I know! hahaha
In our International Trade course, Amber and I are... again, the only Americans. We were discussing how different countries have a competitive advantage in production of certain products, and how those products are usually what that country exports to the rest of the world. She asked for every country represented in our class to tell one product that their home country exports. Being from Kentucky, I immediately thought of tobacco. When I answered with this, the entire room goes, "oooh yeah! AMERICA!" I guess they are thankful for that, since EVERYBODY smokes over here. -- After class, we were told to form groups of 3 for our group project due at the end of the semester. We have to compare how the different countries that the people in our group belong to do trade, and then prepare a presentation on that. Immediately, Amber and I were approached by Chris from Austria (who had answered several questions in class) who REALLY wanted to work with us. He said he studied abroad at Berkley last year, and was very interested in American trade. Hey, fine with me! This kid must be very smart to have studied at Berkley.... so welcome to the group, Chris! :)
Yesterday on the train back from university, there were about 1 million (give or take a few) people on the subway. I was smooshed up against some of the craziest-looking people that I've ever seen... and some of the smelliest.... eew. At one of the stops, a woman and her 4 small children boarded my car. These were probably the cutest kids that I've seen in a long time, and they were just chatting away to eachother in Arabic. Then they started trying to run around, which made me and several other people laugh. A VERY tall man wearing all black that looked something like a mix between Yanni and Lukasz Orbzut, looked down at me and said something in German. I caught the word "kinder," which means children. He was laughing, so I just assumed that he meant something about how cute they were, so I just said, "Ja!" back to him. About a million more people got on the subway during the next 4 stops, so that's where our conversation ended. Finally, we got to Burggasse (my stop on the U6), and I shuffled out of the subway and onto the platform. Well, so did my large, long-haired friend. As we walked in the same direction, he looked down and smiled at me, continuing to talk German. Man.... I thought... I can't fool him for much longer... the only other thing I can say is 'Ich bin Amanda,' and I'm SURE that's not the appropriate response to his rather lengthy story. Knowing that he was bound to either think I was a little slow (I think I had a blank look on my face, haha) or really mean for not answering, I spoke. "Ein bisschen Duetch," which means "A little bit of German," and kind of shrugged. Then, in perfect English, he answered, "Oh, is English better?" :) He introduced himself (as some unpronouncable name.... so we'll just call him Yanni) and asked what I was doing in Austria. When I told him my name, he had trouble understanding me because of my accent. I appologized and spoke less Kentuckian, but he said that he loved how I spoke. "You are just so cute," he said. I told him about studying business here for the semester and that I was from Kentucky. Very surprised and excited, he responded, "Ah, you're from AMERICA?" Well, I guess the fact that I was wearing gouchos and flip flops, carried a bright-blue Vera Bradley bag, and had a University of Kentucky BCM shirt on wouldn't have given it away! He told me that he was here for a week doing business for Audi car manufacturers. Yanni was actually from Hamburg, Germany. -- We walked out of the subway and outside, where we both crossed the same street, but then started to go in different directions. I shook his hand and said nice to meet you.... but he held on (um... large German man has your hand.... what do you do..... they never taught this in Girl Scouts). He just looked at me and then finally said, "VERY nice to meet you, Amanda. Have a wonderful stay." As I waited for the next cross-walk, he walked away..... but he definately looked back several times.... oh, European men.... hahaha.
After I got home from school, I met up with my other amigos, Amber, Paul, and Greg. I cooked bacon cheese burgers for all of us (but at this point, Greg would want to add that he grilled his, since grilling is a man's thing.... oh, New Yorkers...). After another amazing dinner, we sat down and watched a few episodes of Band of Brothers, the HBO series about the paratroopers at D-Day. I think this might have been "The Unofficial American Appreciation Night" or something haha.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
"Look at all the diversity in this room. We have black, white... even yellow and brown people!" - Pastor Samuel Bamford
This morning, Amber and I set off in search of the International Baptist Church of Vienna, not really knowing what to expect. We had to take several subways and walk a few blocks to get to the 10th District. The church was on Herndlgasse #6, through a small courtyard in a quiet part of the city that neither of us had ever been to before. We walked into a small building, and up some stairs to a small sanctuary. It was so cute! I've never seen so many different nationalities in one room before. There were people from Africa (wearing traditional dress), the Philippines, China, India, Austria, Germany, Australia, and then smack dab in the middle of all of that were two little Kentucky girls!
We sat down and noticed a cute family of four sitting in front of us. Almost immediately, the wife turned around and said, "Are you two from the states?" (In a very American-sounding accent!) Of course, when we said, "Yes," they immediately knew we were from the south. The family was in Vienna for the week, because the dad was there on business..... from VIRGINIA!!! We finally ran into some neighbors! Amber and I were so excited. They started asking us all of these questions about what all there was to do in Vienna, and Amber and I were very pleased that we could give them some suggestions. The mom was so impressed that the two of us were studying abroad, and even asked, "How DO your parents stand having you away for so long?" :) My mom just bought some new deck furniture, so she's doing alright! :) lol.
During the greeting portion of the service, a little Asian woman walked over and introduced herself to me. Her name was Shirley, and the first words out of her mouth were, "Oh, you two girls are so beautiful! We have such beautiful people here today!" If they're calling me beautiful, I think I'll come back to this church!
The service was so great! They had a praise band, and one of the first songs they sang was "Wonderful Words of Life," which we sing a lot back at home. It was so comforting being there in the midst of all of these Christians from all over the world, just singing and praying together. The message was delivered by one of the members of the church, Mr. Samuel Bamford, an African atomic physicist.... woah. His message was about the importance of FERVENT prayer. Not just regular prayer, but he stressed how important it is to really be passionate about what we are talking to God about. He said that the crucial elements of a good prayer life are Regularity, Fervency, Variety, Expectancy, and Persistency. Being an atomic physicist, he made a connection between prayer and a particle accelerator (yeah... a what?). He said that, simply put, an accelerator takes a smal particle and adds more energy to it, then focuses it into a beam, and directs the beam to a specific target to get results. => Likewise, prayer, when done fervently and with a specific purpose, will gain direction and energy, focus on a particular goal, and get results from God! Prayer is strong enough to act like that beam.... and it will get things done. :) I loved it!
After church, we were invited to go downstairs for some of the most excellent finger foods ever! Amber and I definately didn't turn that down. They even had apple strudel! My FAVORITE! While we were downstairs, we met a missionary for Illinois named Elizabeth, and a boy from Indiana University named Brandon, who was here to study Opera (wow!). Brandon said that his father had gone to college in Kentucky. Amber and I were thrilled! We asked where, and Brandon said, "I don't know if you would have heard of it. It's a very small college in a little town called Berea." (I almost fell over.... Amber actually sat down, haha) We explained to him that the world seriously couldn't get any smaller than it had at that moment! :) After the finger foods, the three of us headed out to get coffee at a local coffee shop. We made our first Christian friend in Vienna! YAY!
Tonight, the other Americans and I are having Sunday Night Football appreciation night, and watching a some NFL on tv. I haven't watched tv since I've been here, so I'm ready for some good ol' American sports! :)
***"The God of the mountains is still the same God in the valley." -Mr. Bamford***
This morning, Amber and I set off in search of the International Baptist Church of Vienna, not really knowing what to expect. We had to take several subways and walk a few blocks to get to the 10th District. The church was on Herndlgasse #6, through a small courtyard in a quiet part of the city that neither of us had ever been to before. We walked into a small building, and up some stairs to a small sanctuary. It was so cute! I've never seen so many different nationalities in one room before. There were people from Africa (wearing traditional dress), the Philippines, China, India, Austria, Germany, Australia, and then smack dab in the middle of all of that were two little Kentucky girls!
We sat down and noticed a cute family of four sitting in front of us. Almost immediately, the wife turned around and said, "Are you two from the states?" (In a very American-sounding accent!) Of course, when we said, "Yes," they immediately knew we were from the south. The family was in Vienna for the week, because the dad was there on business..... from VIRGINIA!!! We finally ran into some neighbors! Amber and I were so excited. They started asking us all of these questions about what all there was to do in Vienna, and Amber and I were very pleased that we could give them some suggestions. The mom was so impressed that the two of us were studying abroad, and even asked, "How DO your parents stand having you away for so long?" :) My mom just bought some new deck furniture, so she's doing alright! :) lol.
During the greeting portion of the service, a little Asian woman walked over and introduced herself to me. Her name was Shirley, and the first words out of her mouth were, "Oh, you two girls are so beautiful! We have such beautiful people here today!" If they're calling me beautiful, I think I'll come back to this church!
The service was so great! They had a praise band, and one of the first songs they sang was "Wonderful Words of Life," which we sing a lot back at home. It was so comforting being there in the midst of all of these Christians from all over the world, just singing and praying together. The message was delivered by one of the members of the church, Mr. Samuel Bamford, an African atomic physicist.... woah. His message was about the importance of FERVENT prayer. Not just regular prayer, but he stressed how important it is to really be passionate about what we are talking to God about. He said that the crucial elements of a good prayer life are Regularity, Fervency, Variety, Expectancy, and Persistency. Being an atomic physicist, he made a connection between prayer and a particle accelerator (yeah... a what?). He said that, simply put, an accelerator takes a smal particle and adds more energy to it, then focuses it into a beam, and directs the beam to a specific target to get results. => Likewise, prayer, when done fervently and with a specific purpose, will gain direction and energy, focus on a particular goal, and get results from God! Prayer is strong enough to act like that beam.... and it will get things done. :) I loved it!
After church, we were invited to go downstairs for some of the most excellent finger foods ever! Amber and I definately didn't turn that down. They even had apple strudel! My FAVORITE! While we were downstairs, we met a missionary for Illinois named Elizabeth, and a boy from Indiana University named Brandon, who was here to study Opera (wow!). Brandon said that his father had gone to college in Kentucky. Amber and I were thrilled! We asked where, and Brandon said, "I don't know if you would have heard of it. It's a very small college in a little town called Berea." (I almost fell over.... Amber actually sat down, haha) We explained to him that the world seriously couldn't get any smaller than it had at that moment! :) After the finger foods, the three of us headed out to get coffee at a local coffee shop. We made our first Christian friend in Vienna! YAY!
Tonight, the other Americans and I are having Sunday Night Football appreciation night, and watching a some NFL on tv. I haven't watched tv since I've been here, so I'm ready for some good ol' American sports! :)
***"The God of the mountains is still the same God in the valley." -Mr. Bamford***
Friday, October 05, 2007
Today has mostly been about studying. I woke up this morning and did a practice exam, and soon I will start reading through my notes to refresh myself with the numerous Operations Management concepts and formulas.... tomorrow at dawn.... I'll be ready for this exam! :) I honestly don't think it will be too terrible, so I've taken a break for a while to eat lunch, upload pictures, etc. I read some from a book called Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell (which I highly recommend) and also wrote in my prayer journal. My prayer journal has turned into more of just a conversation with God about my day, rather than listing out prayers and such. It's really been a great way to just get some of what I'm thinking out. Here's something that I wrote today:
I think one of the most different things about here and life back home is that I have a lot of time to just think here. Less than a week ago, I would have considered just "sitting and thinking" a waste of time, but now I really think it is great. I was so busy at home and I really didn't stop and look at things or really think. I don't mean to say that every moment is better spent lost in a profound thought, but here I feel like I get a balance: of the fun and busy schedule, and the thoughtful, peaceful moments. I am thankful for the times I have to just sit and reflect on God, on this experience, and on the people I love.
I am convinced that to keep sanity, you need to be able to get away by yourself for a few hours.... maybe even just a few minutes each day to think, to wonder, and to imagine. I'm learning the value of that each day while I'm in Austria. :)
I think one of the most different things about here and life back home is that I have a lot of time to just think here. Less than a week ago, I would have considered just "sitting and thinking" a waste of time, but now I really think it is great. I was so busy at home and I really didn't stop and look at things or really think. I don't mean to say that every moment is better spent lost in a profound thought, but here I feel like I get a balance: of the fun and busy schedule, and the thoughtful, peaceful moments. I am thankful for the times I have to just sit and reflect on God, on this experience, and on the people I love.
I am convinced that to keep sanity, you need to be able to get away by yourself for a few hours.... maybe even just a few minutes each day to think, to wonder, and to imagine. I'm learning the value of that each day while I'm in Austria. :)
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Lions, tigers, SHEEP, OH MY!
This afternoon, Amber and I went to the Zoo! This zoo was located directly through the gardens of the Shonbrunn palace.... I mean, no huge palace in the middle of one of the most historic and beautiful cities in the world with over 300 rooms is complete without a zoo in the back yard! (And I thought we hit the big time when Mom let Sara and me get two dogs!)
When it comes to animals, I turn into a little kid almost instantly. Nothing fascinates me more than a good wildlife experience, so Amber humored me today by taking me to the zoo. I expected this zoo to be just like any other, but there were several things that were different from any American zoo that I'd been to before. First, there was an entire exhibit dedicated to sheep. SHEEP!?! I can hear Steve Irwin now (rest his soul), "Crikey, look at him.... the illusive farm sheep. Stand back now, he may shed on us at any moment.... oh, but he's a beauty."
Also, when we entered the monkey house (I felt right at home!), there were ropes hanging from the rafters. All of the sudden, possibly the cutest critter that I've ever seen scurried across the ropes and sat in a tree right in front of me. It was this strange-looking tiny monkey, which I named Henry. Henry was about the size of a kitten, and would have fit nicely into my backpack, but I don't think that I could have caught the little fella. He moved pretty quickly! :)
Another thing that I'd never seen before at a zoo was a bat exhibit. Amber and I saw a sign pointing through a doorway (one with those plastic flaps hanging down) that had a picture of a bat on it. I was pretty excited, so I pushed open the flaps and started to head in. Then, out of NOWHERE, about 10 little bats started swooping around in front of me. THE BATS WERE LOOSE.... and it was supposed to be that way! This zoo had an entire indoor cave lit by dim blue lights where people could walk in and be surrounded by little bats. Amber and I put up our hoods and kind of crawled through the cave, just so we could say we did it. I kept picturing us getting about half way home and feeling a little creature crawling up my neck! Eeek!
Recently, a baby panda was born at this zoo, and we got to see a live video on a monitor in the middle of the park that showed the momma panda holding the baby. It was SO cute!
While we were at the seal exhibit, I decided that if this Sports Marketing career doesn't work out, that my next career choice will be a Seal Feeder. These people have the coolest job, ever! We got to the tank just as the seal personnel brought buckets of fish out, and they got to throw fish up into the air for the seals to snack on. The coolest part was that the HUGE seals would jump off of the rocks after the fish and splash everybody in the crowd. It was AWESOME! :)
We passed by the giraffe cage, and the tallest of all the giraffes poked his head up out of the trees and watched us for a bit. He kind of reminded me of Bryce.... can't imagine why! :)
As you can tell, I very much enjoyed myself today! I might just come back to bond with Henry or to visit the bat cave again. Tonight most of the other exchange students left on a train for Oktoberfest. I have an online exam on Saturday morning, so I am staying to study. It's going to be a pretty fun weekend.... put your hands in the air for Quantitative Analysis of Operations Management! Woohoo!
This afternoon, Amber and I went to the Zoo! This zoo was located directly through the gardens of the Shonbrunn palace.... I mean, no huge palace in the middle of one of the most historic and beautiful cities in the world with over 300 rooms is complete without a zoo in the back yard! (And I thought we hit the big time when Mom let Sara and me get two dogs!)
When it comes to animals, I turn into a little kid almost instantly. Nothing fascinates me more than a good wildlife experience, so Amber humored me today by taking me to the zoo. I expected this zoo to be just like any other, but there were several things that were different from any American zoo that I'd been to before. First, there was an entire exhibit dedicated to sheep. SHEEP!?! I can hear Steve Irwin now (rest his soul), "Crikey, look at him.... the illusive farm sheep. Stand back now, he may shed on us at any moment.... oh, but he's a beauty."
Also, when we entered the monkey house (I felt right at home!), there were ropes hanging from the rafters. All of the sudden, possibly the cutest critter that I've ever seen scurried across the ropes and sat in a tree right in front of me. It was this strange-looking tiny monkey, which I named Henry. Henry was about the size of a kitten, and would have fit nicely into my backpack, but I don't think that I could have caught the little fella. He moved pretty quickly! :)
Another thing that I'd never seen before at a zoo was a bat exhibit. Amber and I saw a sign pointing through a doorway (one with those plastic flaps hanging down) that had a picture of a bat on it. I was pretty excited, so I pushed open the flaps and started to head in. Then, out of NOWHERE, about 10 little bats started swooping around in front of me. THE BATS WERE LOOSE.... and it was supposed to be that way! This zoo had an entire indoor cave lit by dim blue lights where people could walk in and be surrounded by little bats. Amber and I put up our hoods and kind of crawled through the cave, just so we could say we did it. I kept picturing us getting about half way home and feeling a little creature crawling up my neck! Eeek!
Recently, a baby panda was born at this zoo, and we got to see a live video on a monitor in the middle of the park that showed the momma panda holding the baby. It was SO cute!
While we were at the seal exhibit, I decided that if this Sports Marketing career doesn't work out, that my next career choice will be a Seal Feeder. These people have the coolest job, ever! We got to the tank just as the seal personnel brought buckets of fish out, and they got to throw fish up into the air for the seals to snack on. The coolest part was that the HUGE seals would jump off of the rocks after the fish and splash everybody in the crowd. It was AWESOME! :)
We passed by the giraffe cage, and the tallest of all the giraffes poked his head up out of the trees and watched us for a bit. He kind of reminded me of Bryce.... can't imagine why! :)
As you can tell, I very much enjoyed myself today! I might just come back to bond with Henry or to visit the bat cave again. Tonight most of the other exchange students left on a train for Oktoberfest. I have an online exam on Saturday morning, so I am staying to study. It's going to be a pretty fun weekend.... put your hands in the air for Quantitative Analysis of Operations Management! Woohoo!
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
The last few days have been primarily "homework days," so there's not been too much excitement around here.
The weather has been absolutely beautiful, so I really wanted to go play soccer. Nirveen and I walked by the park where all of the kids play each afternoon, and wanted to see if we could perhaps join in and show them how North Americans do it. When we got a little closer, we saw this little 7 or 8-year-old boy pick up a ball. Awwe, he's gonna play a little soccer... what a little cutie! I thought to myself. He was the smallest little Spanish boy, I was sure he and his friends would let us join in. As we walked a little closer, this tiny boy started juggling the ball.... a lot more times that I've ever done in my entire life! Now, I've been playing soccer for much longer than this kid has been ALIVE, and he could seriously run circles around both of us. He started doing all of these crazy tricks and everything. He would have owned me...... so needless to say..... Nirveen and I just kept on walking and acted like we are looking at the trees. (I'm such a Kentucky Fried Chicken)
All of us got to missing some good ol' fashioned USA this week, so tonight we ventured out to find an English Cinema. Luckily, we found one really close to Haus Erasmus!!! We were SO excited! :) Amber, Joe, Patrick, and I enjoyed 2 hours of Matt Damon saving the world in the Bourne Ultimatum! It was action-packed, and I don't think that I've seen the boys this happy since we got here. :)
Tomorrow, some of us are going to the Vienna Zoo! Maybe I'll get to see a Wildcat!!!!!
The weather has been absolutely beautiful, so I really wanted to go play soccer. Nirveen and I walked by the park where all of the kids play each afternoon, and wanted to see if we could perhaps join in and show them how North Americans do it. When we got a little closer, we saw this little 7 or 8-year-old boy pick up a ball. Awwe, he's gonna play a little soccer... what a little cutie! I thought to myself. He was the smallest little Spanish boy, I was sure he and his friends would let us join in. As we walked a little closer, this tiny boy started juggling the ball.... a lot more times that I've ever done in my entire life! Now, I've been playing soccer for much longer than this kid has been ALIVE, and he could seriously run circles around both of us. He started doing all of these crazy tricks and everything. He would have owned me...... so needless to say..... Nirveen and I just kept on walking and acted like we are looking at the trees. (I'm such a Kentucky Fried Chicken)
All of us got to missing some good ol' fashioned USA this week, so tonight we ventured out to find an English Cinema. Luckily, we found one really close to Haus Erasmus!!! We were SO excited! :) Amber, Joe, Patrick, and I enjoyed 2 hours of Matt Damon saving the world in the Bourne Ultimatum! It was action-packed, and I don't think that I've seen the boys this happy since we got here. :)
Tomorrow, some of us are going to the Vienna Zoo! Maybe I'll get to see a Wildcat!!!!!
Monday, October 01, 2007
Today continued the days of awesome stuff about home. I got my first real care package! :) The Carmans sent me brownies, a baking pan, hair ties, Cheese-Its, popcorn, flavor to put in bottled water, PENCILS and a sharpener, my favorite gum, granola bars, cute socks (which I am wearing right now), a card and picture of the family, and a Berea Citizen (complete with articles about MSHS soccer, homecoming, and the Spoonbread Festival!) I'm seriously so happy right now. I've spent the last hour looking through the Berea Citizen at the Public Record section and eating Cheese-Its... ahh, home!
Angie, John, Haley, and Adam.... THANKS! I put your picture up on my cork board, and my roommate was in complete awe of your outfits and the beach. She said, "Wow, who are these people? This is the most beautiful picture!" I have a pretty darn good-looking family back in Kentucky! :) Miss you!
I also got a card in the mail from Rhonda, Alyssa's mom (my best friend from UK who is also in Spain this semester studying abroad). The card talked about how Rhonda wanted me to have a fun day and laugh a lot. It made my day!!! Thanks!
Angie, John, Haley, and Adam.... THANKS! I put your picture up on my cork board, and my roommate was in complete awe of your outfits and the beach. She said, "Wow, who are these people? This is the most beautiful picture!" I have a pretty darn good-looking family back in Kentucky! :) Miss you!
I also got a card in the mail from Rhonda, Alyssa's mom (my best friend from UK who is also in Spain this semester studying abroad). The card talked about how Rhonda wanted me to have a fun day and laugh a lot. It made my day!!! Thanks!
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