Amanda Tyree in Vienna!

2008-01-27T20:08:00.001-08:00

The last couple of days in Haus Erasmus were very emotional. I think that I signed more books and wrote more notes to people than I did at my high school graduation! Julien had me in tears when he gave me the biggest French hug ever. I am going to miss everyone SO much, and will definitely never forget the past four months.

Our big group of friends had one last dinner together at a Mongolian restaraunt, which was absolutely delicious!!! It was also Connie's birthday, so we had a double celebration. After dinner, all of us finished packing and the girls and I sat around and talked for a while. Nina and I layed in our beds and had our typical nightly conversation and just laughed until the wee hours of the morning. I finally fell asleep around 3am.

Studying abroad in Vienna has been the absolute BEST experience ever, but after 4 months away from my family, friends, and the Kentucky Wildcats, I was quite ready to go home.

Amber and I woke up at 6am and stuffed the last bits of our luggage in and headed out the door. The first person that we met when we came to Vienna was Srdjan, so, naturally, he wanted to be the last person that we saw! Surge helped Amber and I lug our massive tons of suitcases to the Westbahnhof bus station. Saying goodbye to Surge was a really hard thing to do. He was so fun!!!

We met up with Steve, Ralph, Kelly, and Kristine at the airport...... and the frustration began! We were first in line, and I think that the KLM airlines hired a bunch of elementary school kids!!! It took the 6 of us almost an hour to get through the line. (My luggage was only 3 kilos over the limit, so I didn't have to pay nearly as much as everyone else) When I got up to the counter, the lady told me that when we connected in Amsterdam, we would have to print off our tickets when we got there for some reason.... I dunno! Then, when Amber got up to the counter, the lady notified our group that bad weather was going to be on an hour delay!!! This was not good, because mine and Amber's layover in Amsterdam was very short originally... so we would be cutting it very close. --

As we were walking toward the gate, a girl that was beside us in line was running back to the counter and stopped us. She said that we had to rebook our flights from Amsterdam to Detroit, because of the hour delay. The two of us turned around, went back to the counter, but then had to turn right back around. The lady told us that we would only be able to rebook when we got to Amsterdam, but to see if we could make our original flight first...... grr..... ok.

Over an hour after we were supposed to, we boarded our flight in foggy Vienna, and were off to Amsterdam. I immediately fell fast asleep, since I was running on very little sleep!! When the plane landed, I looked on my watch, and it was 12:55.... and our next flight was supposed to take off at 1pm!!!!!! Um... not good.

When we got to the terminal, Amber and I said some very very quick goodbyes to the Bostons, and then rushed off to look at the screen to see if we could possibly make our flight. Amber saw our flight number first. We looked at the time, and our jaws both dropped. The flight was long gone. WHAT WERE WE GOING TO DO? We ran over to an information desk and asked the cute little info guy where to go. He pointed us in the direction of Transfer Desk 2 and said, "Get in line, girls. It is a disaster." Well awesome. I've only been gone from home for 4 months, and in a few days it is Christmas time.... but there's no rush... not at all. I was beyond frustrated when I saw a crowd of several hundred people standing around this transfer desk.

We took a number from the automatic number machine and sat down on the floor. We started talking to people, and learned that because of the bad weather in Amsterdam, tons of flights had been canceled.... and they were all in the same spot as we were........ and the wait began.

We could tell that we were going to be there a while when the airline people brought out free water and sandwiches. They feared that we would STARVE or DEHYDRATE before we got our flights rebooked!!! That definitely not a good feeling. The numbers that we got were split up between the business class and the poor college student aka economy class. Our number was in the 700s, and after 2 hours of waiting, the desk people had only begun to creep through the 500s. We knew that there HAD to be other flights going out to Detroit. That wasn't the question. The real question was if we would ever even get to the desk to catch one of these flights. FRUSTRATION!!!

Amber and I just plopped down and waited it out, when we were approached by an older English guy. He asked us what number we had, and said that originally he had an economy class number, but picked up one of the business numbers, because the desk people didn't check!! SWEET! We quickly found a discarded number and hopped in line behind some Sweeden people in suits! After 6 hours of waiting in line, we got up to the desk to rebook. The next flight out to Detroit wasn't until the next day!!! WE JUST WANT TO GO HOME!!!

So.... we finally had our tickets.... but NOW what? This girl was not, under any circumstances, sleeping on a bench by the nearest Starbucks. Noooo sir. The KLM airlines woman told us to go down to the KLM counter at the exit, and they would hook us up! The KLM lady called a hotel for us, gave us a pack of free things (including soaps, 5 minute phone card, and socks!) We went outside and caught a shuttle to the hotel after waiting some more in the freezing cold. Amber and I just laughed at this, because we had been waiting in lines for most of the day... why not wait some more?? lol.

While riding to the hotel, I just pictured in my head two Kentucky girls huddled together, shivering, under a brown sheet in an Amsterdam roach motel. Bleck! However, when our bus pulled up in front of our accommodations, our jaws dropped. This hotel was awesome! There were huge Christmas trees and snowmen decorating the lobby, and well-dressed people walking all around. This place was looking sweet! We navigated our way through the halls and finally reached our room..... and OH, how glad we were to see a bed. I didn't even care which country I was in... I just wanted some sleep!! Amber and I rested and relaxed, took baths, called home, and watched CSI (in English) on our huge flat screen tv! Oh, it was wonderful.

The next morning, we got up super early, caught the bus, and headed off, once again, to the airport. When it was time to line up at our gate, we were kind of confused. There were 4 airport workers at different podiums. They called people up one by one and kind of interviewed them! I had never seen this in an airport before! Amber and I looked at our tickets and saw that we were GOLD MEMBERS (heavenly sounds!). This meant that we got to skip the HUGE line and immediately board the plane. Amber's step-dad, Eric, bought our tickets, and since he travels a lot for his work, he got to use his gold member status on our tickets. Thank you, Eric!!!!

We boarded our flight smoothly enough, and snuggled down in our seats. On almost every flight that I have ever been on, the people helping have been women. I had never had a male flight attendent before, but EVERY helper on this plane was male. Amber and I made friends with Jerry, who made us fresh coffee upon request!! :) We didn't sleep much, but watched some great movies and just got even more excited to come home.

The flight went by relatively quickly, and before we knew it, we were in the United States!!!! More specifically, Detroit. -- We had one hour to get to our next flight, which would have been fine, had we not had to go through customs (along with a million other people). Amber and I had to wait for our luggage, pull it off the conveyor belts, and get through customs before the flight took off.... and our gate was pretty far away. Needless to say, we were stressing. I found both of my huge bags in about 5 minutes, but one of Amber's big bags was no where to be found!!! We waited until the last possible second, but eventually had to leave the bag that had most of her clothes in Detroit. We were not about to miss another plane and stay in Detroit for another day!! I went in front of Amber and got through customs, and then hurried straight ahead to re-check my bags to Lexington. Bob (the suitcase security man) helped me, probably because he could tell that I was frazzled about having only 20 minutes to get to the plane. I turned around, and Amber Dillon was (like her suitcase) NOWHERE to be seen. I flipped out! She was right behind me!!! After about 6 or 7 minutes of wondering where the heck she was, she appeared out of a random door to the side of the room. The bald customs guy had gotten mad at her because she was rushing, and made her go through the food and live animals checkpoint (even though we had no fruit or squirrels in our luggage, I assure you!) After we finally got her back, we got Bob to fast track us through the next series of lines and give us directions to our gate. And then we ran.....

As we were hustling through the airport, this young American guy kept looking at us. I guess he heard us talking in our country accents to eachother, because he started chatting with us. He was pretty cool, and we walked with him and talked about our travels until we reached our gate and he kept walking to his gate (which was taking him to Alabama).

Amber and I were QUITE relieved to sit down by our gate knowing that the next time our plane landed..... we would be in KENTUCKY! But, of course, the plane was delayed (as was beginning to be custom with this trip, haha). Finally, about 40 minutes later, we got on the plane, sat down in the front, popped in the ipod, and took off for Lexington. The plane was a small one, so we could see out the window. The terrain started looking ever more familiar, and I was so excited that I couldn't contain myself! :)

About 5:30, Amber and I felt the plane touch down at the Lexington, KY airport. OH MAN! We rushed off the plane (I had just about enough of flying for a few months!) and went...... into the bathroom! We had to freshen up to make sure that we looked as good as possible for our little families! Plus, this was the first public bathroom that we had used for free, so we wanted to take full advantage of it!

As we came down the Lexington escalator, I almost jumped out of my little Ugg boots! My entire family was standing at the bottom, with colorful signs in hand! I ran to hug my little mom, and then dad. Dad started crying, so of course, I did, too! Then I went around and hugged the other 15 or so people that were waiting to see me: Mom, Dad, Sara, Danny, Bryce, Meem, Phil, Pam, Keith, Brent, Angie, John, Haley, Adam, and even Rhonda, Jeff, and Alyssa! Alyssa looked just about as happy as I was to finally be on American soil!! -- The last, and probably one of the most exciting, things was the present that Rhonda and Jeff gave me. I opened up a little wrapped box...... to reveal a University of Kentucky Music City Bowl 2008 shirt! This got me super pumped for the next installment of my life..... American Football! YES!

After leaving the airport, my entire family went to my house for chili and story time. I can tell you that I am unbelievably excited to be home, see my family and friends, and just relax for the Christmas season.

My trip to Europe is something that I will NEVER forget. I had an amazing time, and will never be able to describe all of the things that I saw, people that I met, and experiences that I had. I LOVED Study Abroad 2007....... let's do it again! :)

2007-12-19T02:04:00.001-08:00

25 Most Memorable Moments
From Studying Abroad 2007

25. International Thanksgiving
24. Eating a crumpet with Will
23. Night train to Prague
22. Watching Lost with Greg and Paul
21. Model guys in Rome
20. Spanish Riding School
19. Kentucky football beats LSU and U of L
18. Anti-George Bush kids
17. Christmas Markets
16. Sheep in the Vienna zoo
15. German Class with Ich bin Ralph
14. Washing clothes in the shower
13. Traumatic Art museum
12. Learning to count in German with Farhad
11. Frankfurt Christmas moose
10. Church in Vienna
9. Vienna Boys Choir
8. Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg
7. Spontaneous Hiking in Zell am See
6. Car wreck to Slovenia
5. Jumping in the freezing Danube
4. Getting lost in the Frankfurt airport
3. My Crazy Eye
2. Snowball Fight
1. Being attacked by pigeons with Alyssa in Italy

It has been one amazing semester -- filled with memories and stories that will definately last a lifetime!!!! Should learning something be on this list of 'study' abroad things.... haha. Nope!

2007-12-18T05:56:00.000-08:00

For the past several semesters, my dear friend Ben Osborne has created an "Elite 8" list of those people who influenced him the most during that semester. Well, in the spirit of that tradition, I have complied a list of the 17 people I met and/or hung out with this semester who were simply the best!

My Vienna Sweet 17

(in no particular order)

1. Alyssa Story (bff Kentucky)

2. Julien Macario (France)

3. Nirveen Basra (Vancouver, Canada)

4. Laura Clinton (Kentucky)

5. Srdjan Mavrenski (Serbia)

6. Farhad Oskouei (Iran)

7. Amber Dillon (Kentucky)

8. Nina Tekavčič (roommate Slovenia)

9. Will Taylor-Medhurst (England)

10. Greg Sanderson (Buffalo, New York)

11. Paul DiBona (Boston, MA)

12. Connie Guo (Vancouver, Canada)

13. Charlotte Ekholt (Norway)

14. Ugur Ersoy (Vienna, Austria)

15. Christine Nguyen (Texas)

16. Dania Gilany (Vienna, Austria)

17. Susanne Hammer (Vienna, Austria)

I couldn't pick just 16.... so we went with a Sweet 17!!!

2007-12-18T05:08:00.000-08:00

As the Study Abroad experience comes to an end....

For the past few weeks, I have thought a lot about how this experience has changed me. Before I came to Vienna, I had people all over the place telling me what a "life-changing" experience studying abroad would turn out to be, and how it was sure to be something that I would never forget. -- So, coming in, I had a few expectations/assumptions of what could possibly happen to me. I had traveled quite a bit before, so I also thought that I had everything figured out before I even got here, and looking back on me 4 months ago, I think that I expected study abroad to be like a GSP Gone Global.

Here is what I found out:

1. Never be afraid to ask questions. - Even though I was an "experienced" world traveler, I quickly realized that there are many more things that I don't know than things that I do. I had been to Vienna before, but asking questions here has saved my life! I had to figure out an entirely different way of life, so asking people for help was crucial to me surviving this experience!

2. Diversity is a GREAT thing. - I come from a place where a lot of people are very similar, so I hadn't been around a whole lot of ethnically diverse people in my day. Well, for starters, my roommate was from Slovenia, so the diversity started out right away! I have made friends with people from walks of life that are 180 degrees different from my own, and I wouldn't have them any other way. Some of my best friends are from Iran, England, New Zealand, Canada and Serbia... so they are worlds different than this Kentuckian. Differences between people have made this semester SO interesting and fun... and definitely not boring! -- Even if I did have to communicate in sign language half the time (because of language barriers), I enjoyed every minute!

3. God is everywhere. - I got a little discouraged the first few weeks here, because I was really missing my church family and friends. I was surrounded by people in a very liberal environment, and at first, wasn't quite sure how I would grow spiritually while over here. Well, I did! God is present wherever you need him to be, and I have seen Him in so much. Whenever I look at pictures from Lake Mondsee in the lake district surrounding Salzburg... I see Him. Whenever I heard the Vienna Boys Choir... I heard Him. And whenever I survived the car crash in the snow... I definitely felt Him. Even in a society that doesn't value the personal relationship with God (as much as my family, friends, and those back at home) do, I found God in some of the most surprising places and in some of the most powerful ways. -- I have also learned to really stand up for who I am, and not to be ashamed of the fact that I am a Christian (Romans 1:16).

4. I can do it! - I might be from a rural city of 14,000 people, but I can hang in there! After traveling all over and living in Europe this semester, I have become quite capable of getting around and doing things on my own. I had to book flights (and get there on time!), cook dinner, do laundry, navigate in foreign environments with non-English speakers, go to the hospital and fix my eye, pay rent, etc. I have had to take care of a lot of important things while I have been over here, and I think that I have done a pretty good job! I survived, after all!

5. Traveling is AMAZING. - After being to all of these wonderful and beautiful places, I know that my travels are not going to stop at the end of this semester. I am very excited about whatever adventures await me next, either domestically (going to Wal-Mart is an adventure sometimes!) or abroad (family vacation to Cabo!). Traveling gives me such a rush, and just seeing all of the things in the world makes me SO happy. There is really no other way to put it. Traveling makes Amanda happy. :)

2007-12-18T04:45:00.000-08:00

Last night was a lot of fun! I, along with everyone else in Haus Erasmus, was quite tired of studying by the time the day reached about 10pm. Since it was our LAST MONDAY in Vienna, we decided to go out with a bang! -- The whole group of us (including the Canadians: Connie, Nirveen, Julie, England Rachel, the Boston girls and guys: Kelly, Kristine, Greg, and Joe, French Julien (my partner in crime), and the Kentuckians headed out for one last hoorah at our favorite dancing spot: The club formerly known as Kaiko (the owners changed the name last week and changed some interior stuff, but it will always be Kaiko to us)!

Tonight was especially interesting, because they didn't play the normal rap and such. Tonight, they had an entire hour block of oldies and really random songs. We had the BEST time just singing and dancing and being fun! -- My friend Rachel had a friend visiting her this week from Warwick, England, named James. This kid was the funnest dancer ever! Most guys really don't do much in the way of dancing, but when you combined him with the craziness of Julien... those two were hilarious and unstoppable. This definately relieved some of the stress of finals week!

Now if I can only dance my way through this International Finance exam on Tuesday night.... eek!

My last Monday was definately one to remember! -- Countdown 4 days!

2007-12-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

Another short tidbit for the day:
Some people just make me very happy. :) One such person just left my room. -- My little French friend, Julien, is one of the sweetest people that I have ever met. He just finished making a huge picture album of all of our friends in Haus Erasmus. It was so awesome, and he had each of us sign it. On the inside of the book was a map of where everyone was from... and on the map.... a little arrow that pointed to Kentucky that said Amanda! :) -- Last week, Julien cried when we talked about me going home. He is so nice! -- Who ever said that the French and the Americans can't be friends?? I love that guy!

2007-12-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am still alive!! -- These past few weeks have been almost entirely devoted to studying.... eew. -- Last Tuesday, I turned in 2 26-page papers, which was absolutely crazy! Since then, I have been giving presentations and studying for my exams, which are tomorrow (Finance) and Thursday (Trade). We will see how it all goes.... but they are going to be beasts.

Today, when my friend Jaclyn (from Oregon State University) and I were at the university studying for our finance test, we heard someone's cell phone vibrate on the table next to us. Then, their ring tone started...... and it was the Sir-Mix-A-Lot song, "I Like Big Butts." Jaclyn and I started dying laughing, and it definately lightened the finance mood a little! haha

I am coming home in 5 days, and I seriously feel like one of those little kids who still believes in Santa at Christmas. I think that this is going to be the most exciting and definately the most anticipated Christmas of my life!!! -- I can't wait! :)

2007-12-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

December 6 -- Trip to the OTHER Frankfurt

After resolving my bank crisis, I was ready to get out of Vienna as safely and smoothly as possible to have a stress-free weekend of sigh-seeing. I caught a bus at 3:00pm at the Westbahnhof train station that took me directly to the Vienna airport. The bus took about an hour, so I just took a short nap. Easy enough! :) I was quite early for my flight, so after checking in at the desk and getting to pick an isle seat, I sat down and had my first Starbucks in 3.5 months. It was glorious. While I was sitting, I just sipped my tea, read a book, and listened to the English Christmas music (they played old favorites such as the Little Drummer Boy!) over the intercom. -- At 4:55, I boarded my plane, sat in my seat, and fell fast asleep (it had been a very long couple of weeks up to this point!). Before we left, Alyssa and I tried to figure out how we would meet up in the airport. Our flights were supposed to get in very close together. She was supposed to arrive from Madrid about 35 minutes before my plane did, so I just told her that she could come to my gate. Then, just in case something went wrong or something happened, just meet at the front entrance of the airport. We figured it was better to have a back-up plan, so that we could eventually meet up. Alyssa knew all of the details of our hostel, so we were just going to leave the airport together to be safe. Well, due to bad air temperature or fog or something, my flight was delayed while we were in the air. We landed about 30 minutes later than we were supposed to, but I figured that would have given Alyssa time enough to come find me. I got out of my plane, and there was NO Alyssa to be found. Knowing about our second meeting point, I thought she might have just gone on to the entrance, so I headed that way. I got out into the main departure area, and my heart completely sank. There was, apparently, a concert going on inside the airport, and there had to be at least 2,000 people all over the place. I couldn't find Alyssa ANYWHERE in the huge airport, and everyone was partying but me. My heart started racing when I thought of not knowing even the name of our hostel, and not being able to find the one person who did. I looked all around, even outside. Then, I saw that there was a second level of departure floors downstairs, so I hurried down the steps. At the foot of the stairs, I saw an information desk, and asked them if they could page Alyssa Story. I started to get SO worried, and asked them to page her in English and in Spanish! (the things you think when you are freaking out) I stood at the desk for about 30 minutes, and she never came. I asked the information people to keep announcing for her, and they did two more times. How is she going to hear this, no matter WHAT language it is in, if there is a rock concert going on in the main floor?? This was not not not good. I looked helplessly at the desk workers, and started to cry a little bit. I kept trying to make the situation seem better to myself. No need to freak out, Amanda... I am sure if I can't find her, they must have a nice place that I can lay down and spend the next 3 days......... Then, I asked the desk man if there was ANY way that he could look to see if she was looking for me. -- He pulled up a screen of all of the pages that had been made that day. I practically jumped over the desk when I saw Alyssa Story at 8:20 for Amanda Tyree. "CALL THEM! THAT IS HER!" I pretty much scared the info. man to death, and he called up to another information desk. I don't think that I have ever prayed so fast in my life. I could only pray that she was still standing at whatever information desk that she had placed the distress call for Amanda from. -- About 10 minutes later, I see a familiar pair of feet coming down the stairs across the room. I started crying and then heard my best friend yell, "AMANDA, oh my gosh!" -- Alyssa and I ran to eachother and just cried and hugged. We had been lost from eachother (in what turned out to be the 3rd largest airport in Europe) for about an hour. It turned out that her flight had been delayed, too, and was also in a different terminal than mine, so she had to ride a bus over to this one! OF ALL THE THINGS! So, after surviving that experience, we knew that we were capable of getting through ANYTHING. We bought tickets for the Frankfort U-Bahn, which was very sketchy. When we got out, we saw that we were in the Frankfurt Red Light district.... but that wasn't going to bother us, since we just survived a real crisis..... we weren't scared!! We walked away from the craziness and found our hostel, which turned out to be VERY nice! The next obstacle was trying to open the door to our room. The key system was unlike anything that I had seen. You had to push a button, wave the card in front of it, and then turn in in a special way a special number of times to get in. It seriously took us about 10 minutes to get in the room, but we made an Israeli friend in the process. Alyssa and I were hungry, so we ventured out and found a very nice little pasta joint and had a nice, relaxing meal. We just laughed at the fact that I thought paging Alyssa in two languages was going to help, haha. The whole situation was crazy, but we had made it to Germany!!!!!

Day 1 - - Frankfurt
Alyssa and I woke up and went down to breakfast, which was free with our hostel, and then decided to set out for a day of just exploring the Christmas markets and enjoying German life. We heard that it was supposed to rain, but today it was very nice outside! -- One of the first things we saw while navigating through Frankfurt's streets to the markets was a very interesting store. This store was called CHRIST seit 1863, which means Christ since 1863..... and all this time I thought that Jesus was born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago! According to these people, he wasn't any older than the United States. haha. We laughed a lot about that!
Using our amazing sense of direction, we soon found the markets! It was soooo beautiful. For lunch, we ate traditional Frankfurters, which were quite good. We spent the majority of the day looking at all of the wooden crafts, checking out a cathedral, and laughing at all of the random things we could find. -- After leaving the market, we strolled through the financial district of Frankfurt. I got pretty excited when I saw two statues in the middle of a square of a big Bear and a Bull. This was to symbolize the bear and the bull markets! I am a business major, so I get really pumped about these things. haha. We also got to see the amazing Opera House, which was right down from the financial part of town.
After that, Alyssa and I decided to do what all girls our age do around Christmas... SHOP! We went into our new favorite store, Promod, to look for what Alyssa called a "Eurotastic" outfit. I succeeded in getting a cute little shirt that was on a great sale. To escape the cold weather, we had gingerbread lattes at Starbucks and some Amaretto nuts.
Frankfurt is more of a shopping city than anything else, but Alyssa and I were completely content just enjoying the company and taking in the Christmas scene. We heard some loud music coming from a nearby square, so we decided to check it out. When we got there, we realized that it was a HUGE Coca Cola Christmas party! The music that we heard were these two peoploe singing about Jesus on a big stage. It was wonderful!!!! I am definately in the Christmas mood now!!

We started waking around some more after the Coca Cola Christmas. We passed a large crowd of people standing by a rather large Christmas booth. What sort of Christmas cheer is being spread that everyone is so excited about? I wondered to myself. Then I saw it...... mounted atop a big booth was the craziest, strangest bit of Christmas that I have ever seen in my life....... There was a Giant moose head with a Santa cap.... and it was singing. The moose started off with a lovely version of Silent Night or something, but then the real show began. This huge moose started singing Feliz Navidad.... yes.... a bi-lingual singing Christmas moose. I thought that I couldn't be amazed any further, until the moose started singing in GERMAN! This moose knew 3 languages, and was spreading Christmas cheer to the whole square. Alyssa just looked at eachother and died laughing and took pictures. This was SO random, but very funny.
Near to the square were some of the random tourist shops. Alyssa needed a postcard and a few little things, so we ducked into the store for a bit. The shop owner was this older lady who was very excited to see us. She just talked and talked and showed us all of the things in her store. Since we didn't know much about the city, we decided to ask her about a good traditional German place to eat that night. She drew me a map to a restaraunt across the main river to a place called Wagner, where she said we could enjoy some German atmosphere and food. -- That sounded good to us! We got cleaned up at the hostel, and then followed the lady's directions to the Wagner restaraunt. When we got in, we saw a VERY German-looking place. There were no private tables, but instead big long tables with random people sitting all around. The waiter seated us in between two groups of older "Bingo" looking people. They were thoroughlly enjoying their apple wine and kept their conversations to themselves. Alyssa hadn't ever tried schnitzel before, so we ordered some and also the traditional apple wine of Frankfurt. -- Alyssa and I were two of the most friendly people around, and we wanted to make friends! We were happy when the old people left and two well-dressed guys sat down. We found out that they were on business from Munich (one of them was Polish, though)! We talked to these guys for the entire meal. We then asked them if there was anything good to do in Frankfurt this time of night, and they told us about this nice bar close by. We decided to check it out and see if we could make any more friends, lol.
When we walked into the pub, we quickly realized that it was VERY upscale. Everyone in there looked pretty snazzy, so Alyssa and I weren't exactly sure if we belonged. We were approached by this group of 3 people about our age, and instantly struck up a conversation with them. We sat down at a table and talked with this guy named Simon for quite a while. He was originally from Frankfurt. He was studying Economics, and his friends had all just finished law school. Wow! Respectable, intelligent people! We got some inside local information, and went to a club pretty close by. Alyssa and I were incredibly excited when we heard a song by Usher. :) We spent a while in that club just talking and laughing with our new Frankfurter friends. Our favorites were Simon, Oli (a crazy little guy), and Jan (translated, means John). They were very cool Germans!

Day 2 -- Heidelberg
Alyssa and I woke up early to catch a train to Heidelberg. One of our friends studied there all of last year, so we thought it would be nifty to see everything that he saw. -- While we were getting ready, we talked to the other people who were in our hostel room. First, two girls walked in speaking Spanish. Alyssa's eyes lit up, and she immediately struck up a conversation with them. I really had no idea how amazing she had gotten at speaking over these past few months. I was so proud! I could understand the basic conversation, but wasn't able to say much, so I just listened to them chit chat away. If Momma Story was worried that Alyssa hadn't learned anything this semester, I can completely vouche for her and say that she is, in fact, quite the Spanish speaker! :)
After the girls left, another guy walked in from breakfast. His name was Adrian, and he was from Melbourne, and was back-packing around for 2 months alone before he started classes in Germany in February. He didn't have anything to do that day, so he just decided to hop the train with us! -- The train ride to Heidelberg was about 1 hour and 20 minutes, so not too bad at all. We arrived at the train station in the center of the city, and got out eager to explore!
We weren't entirely sure where to go from the station, so I decided to put my semi-okay (at best) German skills to the test. I did great! I found out that to get to the castle, we would have to take tram 33 to the base of the mountain, where we would then take the Bergbahn up one extra stop to get to the Heidelberg Schloss (castle). So.... we did! -- While we were on the tram to the bottom of the mountain, Alyssa struck up another 10-15 minute conversation with some ladies from Spain. She was just awesome!! I guess that she gave me some confidence in my little language skills, because once we got off the tram, I communicated in German to the Bergbahn ticket lady and even got us a discount using our student IDs (studentin karte). This was definitely the day to test our communication, and we were passing wonderfully. -- While we were riding up on the bergbahn, Lys started singing the song from Sound of Music "Climb Every Mountain," and all of the other people on the ride thought it was hilarious.... it's never a dull moment with my best friend, that is for sure. Our Australian companion kept pretty quiet... maybe because he couldn't get a word in between the 3 languages we were speaking and our chatty nature! ;)
The castle at the top was very awesome. It really reminded me of something that my dad would just love. The entire castle grounds were very rustic and manly. We got to see the winery and the place where all of the medical stuff was done. This city and castle are famous for their research in medicine and pharmacy things. Where was Bryce when you needed him??
After spending some time at the castle, we climbed our way back down the mountain and had a tasty lunch of sour kraut, brats, and hot chocolate (which I also ordered completely in German.... go AT)! YUM! -- We then explored the Christmas markets, tasted some German hot wine, took pictures of people ice-skating, bought some presents, and just enjoyed the most picturesque little town you have ever seen. It seriously looked like something out of a Christmas card.
We left Heidelberg at around 4:30 and caught a train back to Frankfurt. I was quite aware that the stop for Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof was the very last stop, so Alyssa and I decided to take a nap and just wait for the end of the line. We were suddenly woken up by Adrian, who was like, "this is our stop, let's go!" Sleepily, Lys and I climbed off the train and walked down the platform. In about 1 minute, I realized that somebody (not naming names) had made a BIG AUSTRALIAN MISTAKE and told us to get off too early. Now, how is a kid supposed to backpack through Europe for 2 months if on his first trip, gets off at the wrong train station!!!???!!! -- Luckily for us (and for his life in particular), the trains ran hourly. We just got a snack, read a magazine, and talked. Alyssa was looking at one magazine, and saw a picture of a man, woman, and kid in the most awkward nude pose ever. Alyssa tapped my shoulder and said, "Now THAT is a special family picture!" I turned to look (expecting some happy smiles coming from a typical nuclear family), and almost spit pretzels all over the train station from laughing so hard!! haha. -- After an hour, we hopped back on a new train and caught the next ride home. Oh, Australian kid.......
It was bitter cold when we reached Frankfurt, so Alyssa and I decided to stay in. Our hostel served free spaghetti dinner that night, which was delicious! We ate up, put on our pajamas, and sat up in my bed for a long time..... just laughing. We laughed about everything that had happened on our trip: me paging her in Spanish at the airport, our run-ins with the locals, our Australian baby-sitting job, etc. -- I really felt like I was back at home, chilling on the couch with my best friend. This trip was definately a perfect way to get into the Christmas mood and de-stress before the next 2 weeks of exams and hard work started up. Such an amazing trip to end my semester travels in Europe!

December 9 -- Coming back.....
Alyssa and I both caught flights back at 8am. We both had a lot of studying to start, so getting back early was the best idea. -- When I was on the bus back to the Westbahnhof train station (after my flight landed), I started a conversation with a man from the states. I found out that he (Chris) was from Michigan and was just vacationing in Vienna for a week. He was a travel agent in training, so was exploring around getting a feel for the land. -- I explained to him how to get around in Vienna, some of the must-see sights, and even offered to show him where his hotel was (because he had no idea and since it was quite close to where I live). He was a very nice man! What a nice end to a WONDERFUL weekend!

2007-12-09T04:43:00.000-08:00

A small glitch in the day....
About 2 hours before I am supposed to leave on my trip to Germany, I get a little e-mail fromthe Erste Bank people. They said that my account was 158 Euro in thenegative.... I almost fainted right there. I knew this couldn't beright, because I haven't even used that account in over a month, and thelast time I used it, I still had money. --- something was fishy. Not wanting to leave this unresolved over the weekend (I don't want worries on my trip!), I jetted down to the bank and got them to print me out a list of all transactions. Surely enough, there was a 235 Euro debit forthe November rent for Haus Erasmus. But this shouldn't have been, because I have paid all of the rent in cash so far. They had charged me TWICE! Jerks. -- So, I asked if this charge could be taken off and themoney put back in. The debit was over a month ago (and they hadn'talerted me until today) but they said there was nothing they could dopast 20 days of the charge. SO, I ran back to the Haus Erasmus officeand nicely demanded for them to put 235 Euros in my little hand so thatI could to pay the balance on my account..... they checked the books and did! -- I just kept thinking... what would mom do... freak out - NO, she would get things fixed.So, everything is dandy, the account is fixed.... no thanks to Haus Erasmus and Erste bank..... AUSTRIANS! sheesh.

2007-12-06T03:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, even the smallest little thing can brighten my day.

Today, I had to go back for another control check-up at the AKH hospital at 8:00am. I wasn't exactly excited about getting up before the sun to go sit in a waiting room for an hour just to have the little doctor tell me to keep taking my eye drops and come back in a week. I usually don't like going to the doctor at all, because it is pretty impersonal over here. The conversation usually goes something like this, "Hi Ms. (butcher my last name). Your eye is still broken. Take these three times a day. See you soon. Bye." There isn't much more to it than that. I've never been asked what I was doing in Austria, or really anything about myself before. My visits to AKH are all business, and not very friendly, so I always try to get out of there as fast as possible.

I got into the examining room after about an hour of waiting (as expected), and saw my regular eye doctor waiting for me. Also in the room were a few nurses bustling about and two medical students waiting to see the American girl with the crazy eye. -- It didn't take the doctor very long to look at my eye, and then he turned to his desk to write out some notes and give me an Rx for some more medicated drops. While he was scribbling away, the boy medical student looked over at me and smiled. He said, "Well hi! Where is it that you are from?" I was quite surprised that he was talking to me! While the doctor worked, he asked me all about the weather in Kentucky, my studies and travels, life in the US, and about my crazy eye. He ended up being German, so then I told him that later today I would be traveling to Germany for the weekend. -- He got very excited and just talked and talked about how fun it was and how he hoped that I had a great time! :)

This time, when the doctor said that he would see me next week, I was kind of sad to leave. The short conversation that I had with this guy really made my day start of wonderfully. He was so friendly! -- I am quite confident that this medical boy will make an excellent doctor one day. His bedside manner is the best I've seen in Europe!!!

2007-12-06T03:36:00.001-08:00

You know what they say: You will turn into your mother.
I have.
I believe that it takes a certain special person to be a teacher, honestly. You have to have the patience of a saint, first and foremost (something which Amanda Tyree is most definately NOT blessed with. When God was handing out spiritual gifts, he gave patience to mom and loudness to me.... oh well... I use it to the best of my ability!!). So, when I was thinking about careers that I would best be suited for, I decided to leave the teaching to those who are blessed with the ability, and pursue a career in something where I am supposed to be super vocal.... marketing! :)

All my life, I have had people tell me that I am 'so much like my father,' probably because we kind of look alike (except I am not bald) and we have the same crazy sense of humor and are just kind of wacky in a lovable way (love ya, dad!). Very recently, however, I found out exactly how much like my mom that I really am.... to a scary extent!

Since I have been in Austria, I have been named the 'smart one' by Greg. I think that is probably because I actually study, and most students on exchange decide to conveniently forget the first 1/2 of the term "Study Abroad." -- With this newfound title, I have recently had several non-American students approach me and ask me to correct the grammar in their essays. I helped Johann with a report about Wal-Mart, Karolina with a research essay on Disney Pixar, Sonia with a paper about her most inspirational family member, to name a few. Most people would help correct sentence fragments for 2 hours just to help out a friend..... but while I was in the middle of making a list of items have a parallel structure, I realized something astonishing......

I like this stuff. gasp! I really am going to come out and admit, in front of God and all these witnesses, that I enjoy correcting essays. I really get a sense of accomplishment out of making an essay flow and sound lovely. If that elevates me from 'smart' to 'big time nerd' status... then I gladly accept the title! -- My mom taught me how to put a comma in the right place, and I am not ashamed to pass that knowledge on to the rest of the world. I am proud to be like Nancy!

2007-12-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

IBCV (International Bap. Church of Vienna) was, yet again, wonderful this morning!! :)
Samuel Bamford (the man that spoke at the first service we attended... the atomic physicist from Africa) spoke. His message was centered around the first Sunday of Advent. He told a true story to start out:
There was a family that was having a baby shower for their new child. It was winter, so everyone was hanging their coats up in the house... but soon, after a ton of people came over, there were no more coat hooks. People took their coats into the back room, and then continued to the party. Everyone had gifts and just had a great time socializing with each other. After a while, some people said, "we haven't even seen the baby yet!"
The mom went back to the baby's crib, but the baby wasn't there. She asked the father where their new child was, but he had no idea! They couldn't find the baby! -- After a while, they looked in the room with the coats. The people who came to the party hadn't paid attention, and had laid their coats on the bed..... where the little baby had been put to take a nap! Luckily, the little kid was okay... just covered in coats.
The people had been so concerned about the party, that they had forgotten about the child.
This is a similar situation to how we are today around Christmas. We get so caught up in Christmas and its activities, that we cover up the baby!

Samuel then said, "A gift is never a gift until it has been recieved!" -- If we never truly accept Jesus, then we can't benefit from recieving the gift in the first place.

Bro. Samuel also talked about how precious of a gift that Jesus was. He said that when someone gets a gift, only the giver really knows how much it cost. Giving Jesus to us cost Jesus EVERYTHING. The gift is free (to us), but not to God. -- A lot of the times, when we don't think about the real value of a gift, and just think of it as free, we tend not to value it nearly as much. We should take care of this precious gift of salvation, and really be thankful for it. We have recieved a priceless gift.... so take care of it!

2007-12-02T01:27:00.000-08:00

It is officially DECEMBER!!!! I get to come home this month! -- I really can't believe that I have been gone for over 3 months, and that I will soon be snuggled up on the couch at 102 Harrison Court playing with the dog and talking to mom and dad.... woah. I get incredibly excited just thinking about it! :)

This week was probably one of the wierdest weeks of school ever. I had class every day from about 9am - 4pm straight. We would get a short lunch break, but I was literally in class all day. NOT FUN! Monday through Thursday, I had a mandatory Statistics lecture that i had to attend. In this class, we learned how to use this data analysis program to analyze the data we collected for our Market Research project. One heck of a party, ladies and gentlemen! lol.

On Friday and Saturday, I finished up my Negotiation Management class. We had a presentation of a real world negotiation case with our groups. My group was the first to present, and everything went very smoothly.... or so we thought. Our professor got up in front of the class after we got finished and began telling the good points and bad points of our presentation. She said that our content and video and everything was just fine and dandy, but THEN she started in on our presentation style..... oh boy. Apparently, me, Anna, and Jay (they are from Canada) are entirely too "Dynamic and North American." Well, EXCUUUUSE me for being a self-starter! And excuse me for being American.... I'll just go change that really fast. I'm sure that it will be no problem! She really criticized the fact that we seemed very comfortable up in front of people. Before we presented, she told us that it was a very casual setting..... so, though we were completely serious and professional, we didn't stand up in front of the class like soldiers. I thought we created a lovely learning atmosphere..... apparently not! -- Our teacher really didn't say one good thing about us.... or any of the groups that followed. We were just the guinnea pigs for her criticism.... SOMEONE got up on the wrong side of her Austrian bed this morning, is all I have to say! haha.
On Saturday, she told us that those presentation style criticisms wouldn't reflect our score (thank goodness!), but that it was a useful lesson, since OBVIOUSLY none of us had ever had presentation experience before. Well, the people in Kentucky like me!

This coming week will be full of group meetings for my 3 presentations due next week.... looking forward to it! -- On Thursday night, I leave for Germany for the weekend with Alyssa! YAY!

2007-11-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had class.

This statement wouldn't look strange at first glance. But what if I told you that yesterday was SATURDAY?!? Yes, I had a class on Saturday. Our university has made several "block" courses for exchange students that meet 3 times during the semester. This sounds like a pretty sweet deal! However, each meeting session lasts from 9 in the morning until 5'oclock in the evening on the scheduled days, AND the meeting sessions are on weekends. Not cool. -- I really needed to take Negotiation Management this semester, and this was the only available time that I could take it... so, when 9am rolled around this Saturday, my roommate and I rolled out of bed and headed off to the university. The city was pretty much asleep, and so was I! haha. I really was not looking forward to this day in any way at all.

Nina and I got to class a little early and helped our professor set up the room (good tactic for getting a good grade!). She told us to put all of the desks out of the way, and place chairs in a big circle! There ended up being about 30 people in the class, and they looked as un-excited to be at school on the weekend as I did. BUT, we all ended up being pleasantly surprised! Our teacher gave us breaks every 1.5 hours, and we even got an hour lunch break in the middle of the day! The class ended up being very interactive, and we got into several different groups to do activities. We had to do some role-play activities, where groups would have to go through the steps of the negotiation process and negotiate out a compromise based on several different issues. This made the class seem a lot shorter than 8 hours!

The best part of the class was during the first group task. We were randomly divided up, and I got into a group with several girls that I didn't know. They were from Greece, Norway, Spain, and Austria! The first situation was that each group was competing against eachother for a marketing internship. It was our job to sell our group to the class and convince them why we should be chosen to intern with this company. We had to come up with a USP (Unique Selling Point) for ourselves, too. We had about 20 minutes to prepare our spiel, and then 5 minutes to present. My group was the last to go. -- The first group that got up they had a pretty good show, and were fun to watch. When it was my group's turn, we lined up and presented ourselves. A lot of the other groups' presentations focused on the same things: the valuable characteristics of each person in the group, but my girls decided to take a little twist on it. After we introduced ourselves I (being the unofficial leader) said, "But that is all that we are going to say about us as individuals, because, after all, we are not here for ourselves. This is all about the company!" After that, we talked about the different areas where we could most benefit the company, and what we would be willing to do for them! I thought it turned out great! -- After every group presented, we had to choose a group that we thought was the best and explain why (but we couldn't pick ourselves). At the end, the group with the most votes was the winner........ AND WE WON!!!!! I was really excited! Every group but 1 voted for us! :) That definately set the tone for the rest of the class, and I ended up having a pretty good time.

---------

Since today is Sunday, Amber and I decided to get up early to attend the International Baptist Church of Vienna again. We have been traveling on most Sundays, and have really missed going to church. We came on a great day! -- The speaker was a guy named Scott Ward, who was originally from California. He used to be a commercial actor in Hollywood, and even grew up knowing Drew Barrymore and Michael J. Fox! WOW! He talked about how he wasn't a Christian growing up in Hollywood, but that for some reason, he knew that he would be unhappy there, so he left. He ended up traveling in Amsterdam and actually stayed at a Christian youth hostel (he didn't know it was Christian, though). He met a guy who was also an actor while he was staying there, and this guy led him to Christ... right there in the hostel! -- Scott's message was centered around miracles. He told some stories of some of the most amazing miracles and answered prayers that he had either seen or had happen directly to him during his 20 years as a missionary in Africa. It was incredible! -- He said that his mission team lives a Life of Faith. He hasn't had a pay check in 20 years, but his ministry continues to get exactly what it needs. Why? Because of prayer. -- Scott said that all of the miracles that have happened to him have all resulted because of earnest prayer. He said that in order for miracles to happen in our lives, we have to first believe that they CAN happen through God. "In order to find God's will, we have to have no will of our own." We must believe in God's power through prayer, and amazing things will happen.

I really got a lot out of his message this morning, and (along with Amber) have decided to write Christmas cards containing Bible verses to our friends here in Austria. We want to try to witness to them before we leave! :) Today was definately great!

2007-11-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

I just had a very cool experience! I was worried that I wouldn't get to have much of a Thanksgiving experience today, but BOY was I wrong!!! :)

Tonight ended up being one of the most interesting Thanksgivings yet! I went to the kitchen and joined a mad cooking spree for several hours. Some of my friends had bought a mountain of food at Billa today. I helped bake rolls, make mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, ham with pineapple glaze, homemade applesauce, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, peas and carrots, salads, gravy, apple strudel, and soooo much more! Me, Christine, Gabby, Amber, Julian, Andy, Judah, and several other people cooked up a storm, and by the time 6 o'clock rolled around.... we had a FEAST that my Meem would be proud of!

Christine had already invited a lot of our Erasmus friends to dinner, and we all just chipped in to pay for the food. In total, we had 28 people of 12 different nationalities around our Thanksgiving table! It was so incredible. We even got to say a little prayer before we ate. :) I just kept thinking, now THIS is what the melting pot that I like to call America is really about! The pilgrims would be proud!!!

The dinner ended up being absolutely wonderful. We explained what the tradition of Thanksgiving actually was all about, and even got to show all of the foreigners a true breaking of a wishbone!!! It was so funny! -- One of the best parts was all of the Non-Americans' reactions to Stove Top Stuffing. Our friend Gabby from Australia just leaned over the stove while Amber was mixing it and said in her Aussie accent, ''So it just.... comes out like that? That is amazing!'' The stove top was probably the biggest hit of the night.

I am very thankful for my first (and very successful) international Thanksgiving meal! I will never forget it.

2007-11-22T02:04:00.000-08:00

I did something last night that I have wanted to do for most of my childhood and into my adult life. Check this off of the ''Things to Do While Abroad'' list, because it has been completed! (drumroll please)

I ATE A CRUMPET! My friend Will, from London, had to go back to England for the day yesterday, and upon special request, he brought me some crumpets!!! I had heard about ''tea and crumpets'' for the longest time, but never really knew what a crumpet was. Well, it's nothing like I expected! A crumpet looks like a small, thick pancake. It's about the same size as a flat baseball. You put them in the oven, they get crispy, and then you enjoy! Will said that he'd never seen somebody get so excited over a little ol' crumpet before, but it was marvelous!

2007-11-22T01:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

If I could, I would definately fly home for the day. I know that the Powell side of the family is going to be eating the best food this world's ever seen today, and there are sure to be a few great football games played, too. -- When we mention Thanksgiving, all of the Europeans say something to the effect of ''Wow, Americans eat a lot... we only eat that much at Christmas!'' That's right.... we know how to eat! Not only am I missing the food today, though, but I am also missing my wonderful family and friends back in the States on this holiday. -- As I sat at the hospital today for another eye check-up, I thought about the many things that I have to be thankful for:

-God. How do you really express how thankful you are for salvation? I just know that while I have been here, God has definately watched over me. I could have really been hurt in the car accident, gone blind from this eye infection, gotten lost in Italy, etc.... but I didn't. God has kept His hands firmly on me, and shown me some amazing things. I've seen how vast and beautiful His creation really is, and have come to value my relationship with him so much more. I haven't had other Christians around to talk to, so I've had the chance to have a lot of ''Me and God'' time. I'm very thankful for that!

-A family who really loves me. I don't just have a mom and dad and a bunch of crazy relatives that I just happened to get stuck with (well, maybe the crazy part still applies, haha, kidding), but I honestly consider it a pleasure and a blessing to even know the group of people that I call my family. They have been nothing but supportive of me while I have been over here, and have definately proven to me how wonderful they all are. I love my family so much, and am VERY thankful for them today.

-Right along with family would be my friends back home, too. I am SO blessed to have a group of friends who are actively seeking God, and who have helped me grow in my faith in countless ways. They are not only mature Christians, but they are completely fun and hilarious. Each time I get to talk to Alyssa, Ben, or somebody over Skype, I always end up laughing! I love my friends SO much and can't wait to be able to hang out with them again!

-Bryce. He's definatley one in a really huge number. I've come 1/2 way around the world, met countless random guys, and found not one who even compares to the person that my boyfriend is. I am so thankful to be dating somebody who is the most motivated person I know, halarious, fun, and such a strong godly guy. You rarely find all of those things wrapped up into one person, but I guess that's why God made Bryce so tall -- to fit all of the awesomeness into one guy! I'm definatley thankful for that today!!!

-I thank God for the entire opportunity to be abroad, which has led to me learning how to live and survive on my own. learn about myself, to challenge my faith, to develop an even stronger appreciation for Kentucky, my family, and my friends, to see another wonderful part of the world, to meet new friends, and to grow closer to Him.

--Mom also would want me to say a 'small' something that I am thankful for. This year... it is definately free refills. The Europeans have never learned this concept... and I get awfully thirsty! :)

I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE KEPT UP WITH MY TRAVELS SO FAR. IT'S NOT OVER YET! I WILL BE THANKFUL FOR DECEMBER 22 WHEN I CAN SEE YOU AGAIN. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2007-11-18T02:45:00.001-08:00

Amber and I were VERY ambitious this morning. We woke up at 6:45am, got ready, and were out the door by 7:30. Of course, it was snowing VERY heavily, so the city was beautiful. We took the U-bahn to the center of the city and walked through the main arch to the Vienna Court Chapel, where the world-famous Vienna Boys Choir performs during Sunday mass!

You can either buy seats in the chapel, or get a first come-first serve standing spot in the middle of the chapel. We were 2 of the first people there, so we decided that standing for free would be just fine, since we'd be in the front. -- The inside of the chapel was, of course, gorgeous! It was pretty small, which made the environment very intimate and awesome. At 9:30, the priests of the chapel came out and started the mass. Being Southern Baptists at a German-speaking Catholic mass, Amber and I weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to do, so we just watched people. We couldn't see where the boys choir was supposed to be, but we just assumed that they'd march out sooner or later.

After a blessing from the main priest, we heard a small orchestra from somewhere in the top balconies of the church start up, and then we heard them! The boys were up and behind the entire church, so nobody could see them... but oh, boy, could we hear! I've heard a lot of choirs and singing in my day, but NEVER in my life have I heard anything that compared to these boys. Some had very strong, deep voices, and then some put my high soprano voice to complete shame (these must have been the really young ones). They sang several beautiful songs in Latin. I'm not even exhagerating when I say, that after the first few words, I had chills! It was completely breathtaking. Since we couldn't see them, I assumed that there were about 50-60 boys. Their sound was so powerful, and carried throughout the entire chapel.

After the boys had finished singing, the priest came back up, blessed the church, prayed, and then we took communion. Then, all of the sudden, this line of the most adorable little boys that you've ever seen marched out of the side curtain! They were all dressed in these blue outfits that kind of looked like sailor uniforms. They were SOOOO cute! :) -- When they all got out on the stage, I was completely shocked. The incredible sound that we'd been hearing for the duration of the mass had been coming from about 25 little boys. I'd say that the oldest of the boys was no more than 14, and the youngest had to be about 7 or 8 years old. They had come out for one final song, Ave Maria! If I could have anything for Christmas.... I think that it would be one of these little kids. lol. Their voices were so amazing, and most of them weren't even in middle school yet. :)

This morning was definately one of the MOST memorable in Vienna thus far. Today was AMAZING!

2007-11-18T02:25:00.000-08:00

It's a winter wonderland in Wien!!! :)
This week has been so exciting, because it's my first Vienna snow! On Tuesday night it started snowing on my way back from class, and by the time that we all woke up on Wednesday morning..... the ground was covered! It had snowed about 5-6 inches overnight! Now, Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city normally, but when it's covered in snow... it's really remarkable. I had a lot of fun just walking around and looking at the city.

On Friday, several of us decided to make a day of the snow-covered Vienna. Alex from Sweeden, England Will, Ricardo from Peru, Laura, Nicole, Amber, and I headed out to Belvedere Castle on the other side of the city. The castle and the grounds surrounding it were so beautiful in all of the snow. They had even begun to set up the season's Christmas trees around the palace! We've already started celebrating!!! :)

While we were walking around outside, the boys thought it would be halarious to get in a snowball fight. The Vienna snow (we soon found out) is EXCELLENT packing snow! Before too long, we were throwing basketball-sized snowballs at eachother, and dodging in and out of the stone figures and gargoyles in the courtyard! I have to hand it to him.... Sweedish Alex really knows how to throw a mean snowball. :)

After playing in the snow for quite a while, we went inside the palace for the art exhibit. Today, there was a big exhibition in the state rooms of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. We got to see a lot of Van Gough and Monet originals, which were incredible! The colors that they used were absolutely amazing. -- One thing made me laugh, though. On the wall, there was a tiny painting of a lemon..... now, I might not be an incredible art genius.... I mean, MAYBE I missed something -- but what is so incredible about a picture of a lemon?!? This little piece of fruit was hanging right next to a glorious Monet landscape! I surely don't know, lol.

On the way back, we discovered that we weren't the only people who decided to engage in some snowball fights. At the end of Kenyongasse, there's an elementary school. On either side of the road, the kids were engaged in some type of gorilla snowball warefare. These kids were RUTHLESS! They were dodging behind cars and drilling eachother in the head w/ snowballs. AND WE WERE IN THE LINE OF FIRE! I think that Alex got pegged in the head by this little Harry Potter-looking kid. I'm not sure, because I kept my head down and hurried out of the war zone as fast as possible!!! lol. We were amatuer snowballers compared to these Snowball Hit Men. They were out for blood, and innocent passerby were not spared.

----

Amber and I continued the weekend of winter wonder on Saturday. We got up early and went exploring along the famous Vienna Christmas Markets at the Rathaus. This market has been in existence for over 200 years, so we were very excited. There were tons of booths decorated all in lights and garland, people singing, horse carriages driving around, a HUGE Christmas tree in the middle of the Rathaus square, and the smell of gingerbread wafting through the air. (Mom likes the word "wafting," so I thought it would be appropriate here, lol) It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but Amber and I are completely in the Christmas spirit!!! We got to look at a lot of beautiful hand-painted ornaments, jewelry, nativity scenes, etc. It was seriously like being in the North Pole for a day!!! We were so happy! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS (almost!)

2007-11-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

Eye Update: I'm going to live! :)
I went back to the hospital on Tuesday, and met with another doctor to see how the medicine was working on crazy eye. She said that even though it still looked bad, it was slowly healing up. Thank goodness!!! She told me that for the rest of the day, I was supposed to alternate these medicated eye drops every 30 minutes until I went to sleep (while I slept, I was supposed to put this cream on my eye.... eew). This was intense, but I was ready to do whatever she said to make my eye normal again. ----- So far, it's working very well. My eye doesn't hurt anymore, and it's starting to go white again. Whew! Moral of the story: NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, SLEEP IN CONTACTS!

So, I was coming down from the 8th floor, and in front of me, there was this young Turkish guy. He was kind of looking around like he was lost. He saw me, and turned around and started speaking very fast German. I got out of it that he couldn't really find his way out. I told him that I didn't speak much German, but somehow communicated in English/German that he could just follow me out of the hospital. He explained that he had injured himself working in a Kebap (greatest sandwich ever) stand on Alser Strasse, and had to come get patched up at the hospital, but now he was lost. (This is a VERY big hospital, so it's easy to get lost... but I'd been there the day before, so I knew my way around.) -- When we got out of the front door, I started to walk off to the U6 station. He started walking the same direction, and then asked if I wanted to let him buy my lunch, since I helped him. Well, I didn't have the heart to be rude (nor did I know the words to really turn the guy down politely) ... plus, a free meal is hard to come by these days, so I accepted.

We went to a very nice, WELL LIT, place called Kent Restaraunt, and apparently my new friend knew everyone who worked there, so they treated us very well. Turkish friend spoke not much more English than I did German, so communicating with him was going pretty slowly. We managed to find out eachother's names and where we were both from.... that was about it! His name is Taren, and he is 22. Other than that, he couldn't explain a lot to me! lol Luckily, I had a pencil and paper, so we started drawing pictures and writing sentences to eachother to try to better explain what we were trying to say. I drew pictures of mom, dad, and Sara when he asked about my family. He was also very shocked to learn that I have a middle name. He really didn't understand that concept. When I told him that now that Sara is married, she has a 4th name, he said that was crazy! :)

Then the question came up about me having a "freund," which means boyfriend. I said yes, and explained that he was studying to eventually become a doctor. This impressed Taren. He asked if we had children, and I laughed and said no. When I said that Bryce was living in America, Taren said, "oh, good. No problem for me, then!" oops.... bad move, Amanda! lol. From then on, Taren tried to communicate to me that he would love to see me again the next day. He gave me his phone number, but since I don't have a phone, contacting him would be impossible.... this kind of made him sad, lol. Poor guy. :)

Turkish wives lead pretty hard lives, or so I hear, so that probably wouldn't be the greatest idea, lol. -- I don't want to run of with a random Turkish guy that doesn't really speak English, and whose career consists of cutting meat for sandwiches! --Not that it's not a lovely profession..... but I think that I'm better off sticking with my English-speaking, Christian, very smart, (at this point, Bryce would want me to say "tall, muscular, and will not be happy if you try to snatch Amanda back to Turkey") boyfriend, lol.

2007-11-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

New European Experience -- A Visit to the Vienna Hospital

When I woke up yesterday morning, my right eye was red and it was hurting. Since I've been on exchange, I have been very lazy about taking my contacts out when I sleep, and have just neglected to take care of my eyes. I've been traveling around a lot, and just not thinking about it. I KNEW that was the cause, since that's what happened last time I went to the eye doctor. It's definately my fault for being lazy!

So, yesterday after class, my Austrian friend Suzie took me to the Apotheke and got me some medicated drops to last me until I could go to the doctor. My market research professor got me the phone number of the hospital, and I went there this afternoon at 3pm. The doctor said that it was definately the same bad infection thing that was back. He gave me 3 new kinds of meds (luckily, medicine over here is cheap - 12 Euro - and the doc visit was free). I have to take these 2 different kinds of eye drops alternating every 30 minutes until I go to bed, and then put the other goo stuff around my eye while I sleep.

He said that I have to wear only my glasses for a month, and then maybe I can wear contacts again. He said that I have to come back to him tomorrow to have a look at it, and when I get home, get an eye appointment there. He said that in 99% of the cases, everything will be fine and in a month or so go back to normal.

Pray for my little eyeball. He's sick right now.

2007-11-12T22:50:00.000-08:00

Buddy Network -- Trip to Prague, Czech Republic
november 9-11

Originally, I wasn't going to be able to go on the Prague trip with the Buddy Network because of a class conflict. BUT, Amber and I decided to just take a late-night train to Prague and meet up with the Buddy Network group on our own.

We got on our train at about 10:30 on Friday night, and rode through the night to Prague. While on the train, we were introduced to some very strange people. I think we must has missed the memo about all people who travel on night trains are complete creepers.... because we were 2 of the only normal people on the train. Eek!

We were definately glad to get off the train in Prague, but immediately noticed that it was absolutely freezing at 3:45am in the Czech Republic..... great! To top it all off, the directions that we had to our hotel were by subway..... and the subways shut down a little after midnight. So, we rushed over to the night bus stop and hopped on there, heading in the right direction. Yet again, everybody up at this hour was completely scary, so Amber and I kept to ourselves. Then, when we were a few stops into our journey, the bus driver stopped the bus and told everyone that the ride was "Finito." Now, I don't speak Czech, but I'm pretty sure that comment had something to do with the night bus shutting down, too. So, we got off the bus at 4am, and had absolutely NO idea of where we were. Luckily, we saw a taxi on the side of the street, and this guy took us all the way to our hotel. -- We arrived at the doors at just after 4:30am, found our room, and immediately crashed for what remained of the night!

The next morning, we woke up, had some breakfast, and headed out on a walking tour of the city with our guide. It decided to be cold and rainy this weekend in Prague, but we weren't about to let that stop us from seeing the city!!! First, we got to see the Prague Castle, which is the largest castle in Europe (not based on number of rooms, but on the amount of area that it covered). It was very awesome!

After that, we went into the St. Vitus Cathedral, which was so pretty. The most impressive things about this cathedral were the many stained-glass windows. One of the windows was of stories of the apostles (I think), but was done completely in purple and blue glass. I wanted it! :) Another one of the windows, which was the most special of the cathedral, was unlike most windows. The scenes were not made of tiny pieces of stained-glass, but instead, was painted on the glass, so that the details were incredible! -- We learned that this cathedral, along with the castle and many other buildings in Prague, was only completed w/in the last century. Because of the war, many construction projects had to be stopped for a while. With St. Vitus, the builders had to make a wall sealing off the part that was finished, and then later tore down that wall and completed the rest of the building. We learned that the reason many cathedrals in this style were build with the pointed windows, is because the architects wanted the windows to look like praying hands. The ceilings are made in the arched style to look like the bottom of a boat, which symbolizes sailing on toward paradise, which is what the people said, was the point of the church: to bring people to paradise. -- Another really cool thing that our guide told us was about one certain tomb in St. Vitus. It stood near the back of the cathedral, but was very elaborate. The saint in this tomb had such a cool story. One day, the queen came to this saint and wanted to enter into confession. Of course, the saint heard her confession and prayed with her. Well, the king heard that she had gone to this particular guy, and went to him to find out what the queen had been up to. Like any good man of God, he wouldn't tell one word of the queen's confession.... so, the king tortured him and threw him off of a bridge! :( After the king died, the queen made this man the Patron Saint of ...... what else, but Bridges, I guess to get back at the king. :)

To get to the other part of the city, we had to cross over Charles Bridge. This bridge is the oldest in Prague, and if you rub the statue of Charles, you are supposed to have good luck and have your wish come true. The story goes, that you can only make a wish on this bridge once in your life, so it'd better be a good one!!!!

After our tour around the Old Town Square, a small group of us set out to go to lunch. After that, we went to St. Nicholas's Church, and actually saw a man outside that had a long white beard..... I guess he was Santa in disguise! :) It was very very pretty on the outside. -- By this time, it was pretty dark outside, even though it was only about 4:30 in the afternoon. Patrick, Aaron, Nicole, Laura, Amber, and I decided to hike up this huge mountain/hill thing to the Petrin Tower. This tower is 1/5 the size of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but since it's on a mountain, actually stands the same height! It was all lit up, so we got to take some awesome pictures and also had a wonderful view of Prague at night. (The walk up that huge hill about killed us all, though, haha)

After that, we met the group and had a great dinner. Later, we found out that today was the anniversary of Crystalnacht, which was a massacre of Jews back in the day in Germany. The Jewish community had a memorial in the Jewish Quarter of Prague, but there ended up being riots, because a group of Neo-Nazis came to protest and fight people. Greg and Paul ended up being down in the square at the time this happened, and saw a bunch of the Nazis get beat up..... serves them right, I guess! -- After dinner, we went to a club called Face to Face. There were some guys rapping when we came in, but we didn't think much about it. Later on, Jay from Canada talked to some locals, and it turns out that those guys were two of the most famous rappers in the Czech Republic. Jay, Amber, and I went and talked to them! :) So, I can say that I met a famous rapper.... even though I had no idea what they were rapping about! lol

The next day, we headed out in the rain again to have a tour of the Jewish Quarter of Prague. We went into one Jewish Temple that had the (close to 80,ooo) names of the Czech people killed in the Holocaust hand-written in red and black w/ their dates of birth and death (if known) on the walls. It was very powerful, because the names went on for several rooms. We also got to see drawings that the childeren in many of the concentration camps, including Terezin, had drawn of everything from their family, to camp conditions, to Biblical figures. -- I actually got a chance to talk a little bit about the Bible with a girl in our group, because one of the drawings was of Cain and Abel, and she didn't know who they were. -- After the temple, we walked around one of the grave yards. At first, it looked completely disorganized. The gravestones were sticking out every-which-way, and it just looked like a mess! We learned, however, that since there wasn't a lot of space, the gravestones that we saw weren't the only ones there. There were many layers of graves burried under the ones that we saw, so you could see the very tops of the stones sticking out! It was wierd! -- Next, we went into the Spanish Synagogue, which was completely different than any that I've ever seen. The wood was very dark, and there was gold decorating the walls. Most synagogues are very simple, but this was done in the reformed style of the Spanish Jews living in Prague, so it had their influence. -- I also learned why the Torah is usually in a scroll form. This way, when you read it, your fingers don't touch the papers and ruin it. You just scroll along! :) I thought that was so neat.

After our tour was over, Amber and I decided to go to the Franz Kafka museum. Not many of our friends really had read Kafka, but Amber and I both had Nancy Tyree for senior AP English, so we were very well-educated in his existentialist writing style! On our way to the museum, we ran into a couple from Miami, who was just traveling through Europe for a few weeks, and who were on their way to Vienna next week! We talked with them for a while about our majors, studying in Vienna, and our travels. We found out that the man used to be a reporter for the Miami Herald, and now the two of them owned and operated a PR firm in Florida. She was wearing Prada glasses, so Amber and I guessed that they'd done pretty well for themselves. They told us that their daughter was just entering college, and was thinking about studying abroad. I think that Amber and I sold them on the idea of letting her go!!!! :) They were SUCH nice people. -- After talking to them for a few minutes, we continued on to the Kafka museum. Prague was the birthplace of Kafka, so we were pretty pumped to see where he lived and wrote all of his amazing stuff. -- In the museum we got to see several original manuscripts (such as his letter to his Father and The Castle), see pictures of all of his family and many failed relationships, read about all the things that inspired him to believe and write the way he did, and also see some picture of his house, school, and friends! I could have stayed in there for the longest time! I learned that Kafka really hated the way that he looked... but to me, he was a pretty good-looking guy! -- I really loved this museum.

For the rest of the day, Amber and I just walked around and looked in the Amber shops! Prague makes a lot of amber jewelry set in sterling silver, so we made sure that Amber got a ring to take back! -- This was again, a wonderful trip!

2007-11-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

So, the last few days have been rather uneventful. I've done homework, taken an exam for my online class, and watched a few episodes of LOST (which is a fabulous show, by the way!). I have class tomorrow, so I wasn't going to be able to go with the Austrian Buddy Network on this weekend's Prague trip.... BUT.... it's looking like I will be able to after all! I e-mailed the lady in charge, and Amber and I are just going to take a night train and meet the group in Prague on our own. Then, we will be able to do the tours and everything with them. I'm hoping this all works out, because I hear that Prague is one amazing place!

Also, I just have to share two things that happened today:

1) I think that by being in Europe, the experience is trying to definately teach me patience. -- I'm one of those people who, when it comes most things (sports, school, singing, anything), I have always strived for perfection... or at least as close as I could get. On one hand, this kind of attitude has led me to try my hardest at everything, which, in turn, has led to a lot of success along the way. So, in that respect, I'm thankful for this kind of motivation (that I definately believe comes from having very hard-working parents and family). BUT, sometimes I can take it a little further than "trying hard," and I stress myself out about getting 100% on everything. I took an Operations Management exam today (my online class through UK), and didn't feel like I did very well on it. It was bothering me all afternoon, because I just had that feeling that I failed. I really started to stress myself out about the whole thing. -- Well... that's just not how the Europeans do things. They would just say "what's done is done," and be able to move on and just try harder on the next exam. Even Amber told me that I "stress out too easily." -- I got my grade back later this afternoon, and made a B, which is perfectly awesome for that test! When we looked at my overall grade, I still had a 99%.... and then Amber just looked at me and said, "you have a 99% and you were upset?" We just laughed about it for a while. I had no reason to stress out at all, but I had been all afternoon.... :)
Then, I thought back to some graffiti on a wall in Venice that I saw. It said: "No Work, No Stress!" <-- Now, I don't advocate for no work at all, but the stress part made me laugh. Maybe I can learn something from these Europeans after all..... where does stress really get us? I wasted part of my day being upset at myself for no reason at all. -- I think tonight, I will leave the homework due next week for tomorrow morning.... just relax..... watch Lost..... and not stress.

2) With our very busy schedules, Bryce and I haven't been able to have a spoken conversation in over a week. He has been studying very hard for physics, biology, and all things pre-med related.... and I've been traveling and taking exams as well. -- Well, finally, we caught eachother on Skype this afternoon and got to talk for about an hour! His 21st birthday is in less than a week, so I'm obviously missing that. -- While I'm on my travels, I've been keeping an eye out for cool birthday/Christmas presents, and I've definately stumbled upon a few (I can't tell what they are, because Bryce's little eyes read this blog, too!)... but just know that they're good! :)
So, I was telling Bryce that I had, in fact, gotten him a birthday present. Then, he told me probably the awesomest thing that I've heard in a long time. He said that usually he just asks for money for his birthday and Christmas. He said that he'll put some of it into savings, spend a little, and then with the rest, he sponsors an underprivelaged child for Christmas and shops for them some of life's essentials and then a few fun toys. I haven't been that touched by something in a long time. -- Lately, I've been getting a little down about not having many good Christian people to talk to over here in Austria. There's just a big difference in culture between here and home, and I've been missing some of that goodness from home..... but what Bryce told me was such a boost for me this week. There are definately still wonderful guys out there! :) Thanks for the blessing today, Bryce!

2007-11-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

Oh, Wow! Sara and Danny's present just arrived in the mail today, and I'm completely obsessed with it! They sent me the Kentucky Basketball 07-08 Yearbook, so today while I was riding on the U-bahn, I caught up on my Kentucky bball sports history and read up on all of the new players! What a coooool idea, guys! :) Now I can convert everyone here and make them True Blue KY fans! :) THANKS!

2007-11-06T01:27:00.000-08:00

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART FOUR..... GETTING HOME

I had a truly amazing vacation in Italy this week. The hardest part was getting home! There was NO easy way to get from Venice to Vienna (and for Alyssa, to Salamanca). Here's the route that we had to take:

Water boat from hostel to the Santa Lucia train station in Venice
Took train at Santa Lucia to train station at Venice Maestre.
Different train from Venice Maestre to Milan, Italy.
Took bus from Milan train station to Milan-Bergamo airport.
Flew on plane to Bratislava, Slovakia.
Took city bus to the Bratislava train station.
Took train to Vienna Sudbanhof train station.
Took Strassenbahn subway line to Burgasse stop.
Walked home from Burgasse to Haus Erasmus.

**In total, we traveled from 9am until 9pm..... what a day! Boats, Trains, Planes, Buses, Subways, walking. Home sweet home! :)

2007-11-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART THREE, VENICE

Alyssa, Amber, and I got to Venice and road a bus to the main boat station. On the bus, we met some ladies from America, who were taking a 2-week Italian vacation. They were so nice, and we enjoyed talking with them for the 40 minute ride.

After getting off the bus, we bought tickets for the "water bus," which would take us to the city of Venice.... out on the water! :) Our hostel was called Ostello Venizia, and was right off of the stop Zitelle on the water bus. -- We got to our hostel after about a 30 minute boat ride, where we passed several huge cruise ships and saw many Venician buildings lit up on the water. It was so pretty at night! :) (and also quite cold! lol) Our hostel ended up being very awesome! Not just students stayed there, but also some families and random vacationers. We got to pay a little bit less, because some machine was messing up.... we didn't complain! :) We were in a room with one other lady. She was from France and was retired, so she decided to take a relaxing 6-day vacation to Venice. She told us of which boat stops to take if we wanted to see the best sites of Venice, and also told us the must-sees of Venice.

The next morning, we got up and had a roll for breakfast (eew! At least it was free). We jumped on the water bus and headed along the grand canal to the center of the city. -- Once we got off the boat, we walked to San Marco Square, which was pigeon-filled, just like I remembered! :) It was pretty funny, though. Amber ran through a big clump of pigeons, just like all of the other little children were doing. :)

We walked around and shopped a little bit. I also ate a piece of pizza that had artichokes, hot dog, sauce, and pepperoni on it.... now, I know this sounds pretty gross, but it was one of the best pieces of pizza that any human has ever eaten!!!! Oh, Italian food! :) Then, based on the directions of a random street artist, we wound our way across the entire city to the other side of the river. We then caught another water bus to the Murano glass island. This glass is very very famous throughout Italy, and I can see why! Some of the designs are so intricate, and the colors are very vibrant! There were Santas, spiders, Shreks, cats, bowls and plates, chandeliers, jewelry, and just about everything made out of glass that you could imagine! We watched one of the main crafstmen make a cat statue in about 10 seconds. It was amazing!!!!! :) I bought several glass things for presents, and then we headed back on the water bus to the middle of the city.

When we got back to San Marco's square, the city was out and alive. We saw several bands playing, and listened to some lovely Italian music for a bit, while Amber played with the pigeons! -- We looked over towards one of the stores, and saw a couple that had just been married!!! They were so cute, and were taking pictures in the square! :) -- I went into a shop and bought some of Italy's famous leather, too. This stuff is of very excellent quality, and is all handmade.

Something that we didn't know about Venice, but that we definately found out, was that Venice is home to a very famous Carnival. There were so many shops that had traditional Venician masks in them. They kind of looked like the Mardi Gras masks that I'd seen in New Orleans, but there were SO many more types, and they were all handmade. My favorite mask was the crab one! -- We even watched a man create and paint some of the masks!

Venice was definately one of the most relaxing cities that I've ever been in. I saw some grafitti on a wall that said, "No Work, No Stress!" <-- maybe the Italians are trying to tell me something! :)

2007-11-06T00:35:00.000-08:00

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART TWO, ROME (continued)

day two
We got up SUPER early today, because on the agenda...... THE VATICAN CITY! We thought that by getting to the Vatican around 8am, that we wouldn't have to wait in TOO huge of a line..... but I think that the rest of the city had the exact same idea. The line to get in the Vatican was about 2-3 hours long by the time we got there. The girls and I got really nervous, because we had to leave Rome around 3pm and catch our flight to Venice. Emily also had to catch a train a little before that, because she had to go ahead back to Spain for class and an exam. We REALLY wanted to see the Vatican City, though......

Luckily, this little Italian woman came up to us, offering a tour by a guy named Luigi (how Italian!) that would bypass the entire 3 hour line, and also get us straight into all of the inside rooms and the Sistine Chapel.... we were in for it! We got to skip the huge line and go straight up to the front. We still had to wait for about an hour, because the city museum doesn't even open until about 9:30 or so. While in line, we met this group of kids who were studying in Milan this semester. Some of them went to USC in California, and another guy (Brandon from Maryland) was an opera major in Connecticut. Brandon actually looked and talked a lot like Brandon Rayford (a guy from my high school). These guys helped us pass the time while we stood in the cold.

The Vatican was incredible, as I expected! We got to go through all of the rooms that Raphael painted, and also saw an amazing room of fresco maps. The detail that artists put into these works is what amazes me so much. Each face, person, even tree, would be impossible for me to paint, and these guys decorated entire ROOMS with their paintings. -- We saw the Pope's rooms, along with a room full of tapestries. Luigi explained to us that one square meter of a tapestry would take around 6 months to complete..... some of the tapestries took a total of 20 years to finish! WOW! --- After touring the Vatican museum, we got to go into the Sistine Chapel!!!! They wouldn't let you talk when you entered the Sistine Chapel, which made the experience even more impressive. What amazed me was that Michelangelo didn't even consider himself a very good painter...... but the ceiling and walls of the chapel were some of the most beautiful frescos that I've ever seen. My favorite painting was the largest in the room, The Last Judgement. When Michelangelo was painting, one of the gardners of the Vatican kept peeking in the chapel. This made Mike mad, so he painted this guy's face on the boat-keeper of Hell...... better not make Michelangelo angry, I say! haha.

When we were walking out of the chapel, through St. Peter's Basillica, Amber was stopped by one of the security guards..... uh oh! eek! -- He took her arm and said, "My name is Michelangelo..... and I love you! I am going to kiss you now!" And that little crazy man kissed Amber's cheek.... right there in front of the thousands of people trying to get into the Basillica!!!!! We died laughing. Amber was looking for an Italian love, and this one just reached out and kissed her!!!! "When in Rome," they say. :)

St. Peter's Square was right up there with the most impressive architectural accomplishments ever. There were hundreds of Roman columns built encircling the square. This week, the Pope had given a speech, so there were still a lot lot lot of people in St. Peter's. Rome just kept getting more and more beautiful, that's for sure!

On our way back to the train station to drop Emily off, we each got a piece of canoli. We'd heard a lot about this cute little dessert, but none of us had ever tried it...... well..... we have now. I take back what I said about tasting the most incredible thing ever put in my mouth, and give the award to canoli...... OH WOW. We all ate in complete silence, because we were so amazed that such a taste could come out of that little treat..... I MUST come back to Roma, if only for the canoli! :)

2007-11-05T23:44:00.000-08:00

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART TWO, ROME

(Today marks being gone for 2 months -- November 1)
day one
We got to our Rome hostel called LEGENDS HOSTEL (located conveniently near the metro station) pretty late (around midnight), and decided to get ready for bed so that we could have an early start to the next day. For some reason, the guy at the front desk was obsessed with the fact that we were from Kentucky, and just wouldn't quit talking about his love for KFC..... lol. We were quite popular.

The next morning, we woke up pretty early, and were pleasantly surprised to have a wonderful selection for breakfast! COCOA PEBBLES!!!!! I was so happy to have some cereal instead of a crusty roll... yum! :) I realized that I had left my curling iron in Milan, so the girls and I were going to have to go for the natural look for the rest of the trip, lol. -- After recounting our amazing fried chicken tales to the desk man for the second time (who knew southern poultry was so interesting?), we headed out the door and to the metro station. This time, we were prepared, and weren't about to let any scamming girls help us buy our tickets! Milan had made us smarter, for sure. I got out my monument map and we decided that we'd like to see the Colesseum first, since lines would probably get pretty long as the day went on..... we were right! The lines were already HUGE! We weren't exactly sure what to do, and then were suddenly approached by this Italian man, who said that he was leading an English-speaking tour in 20 minutes. With this tour, we would be able to hear all about the Colesseum (rather than just walking around in it) and also bypass the huge lines! With this tour, we would recieve a free tour of a few other places in Rome.... sounded good to us!

Our tour guide gave us these little phones so that we could hear him better once we got in the Colesseum. -- We found out that the Colesseum was once-upon-a-time located right beside Rome's red light district (eew), which was kind of interesting. I had been to the Colesseum once before, but it had been about 6 years, so I completely forgot everything, and really didn't remember much of what it even looked like. -- Well, it was INCREDIBLE! This place was absolutely huge, and held 55,000 people. For back in the ancient day, this was a huge architectural accomplishment. These Roman guys were so advanced! We also got to see the underground part of the Colesseum. There were tunnels and rooms where the gladiators waited, and also cages where the lions were held! woo! We learned a lot about how the real gladiators were different than those portrayed in most movies. They weren't slaves, but actually highly-respected member of society... kind of like celebrities, who, apparently got paid a TON! Maybe I should be a Gladiator! :) -- But, back in ancient times, women had to sit at the very top of the Colesseum.... because they weren't as important. So, I doubt they'd let me be a gladiator, either.... shame.

After our Colesseum tour, we went into the Ancient Roman Theatre exhibit, that was located on the top floor. We got to have a look at all of the ancient masks worn by actors, costumes, and theatre designs. All of us had been in musicals or plays in high school, so we loved this part! :) Alyssa and I did a funny imitation of some of the "mood" masks (she made a scary face, and the mask I looked like was just confused, lol)! It was a lot of fun!

After we left the Colesseum, we went on a tour (included with our other one) of Palatine Hill and the old Roman road, where the old Roman soldiers used to march. This is also where a lot of the important people lived and partied. lol. We learned (from our New Zealand tour guide), that Romans used to have feasts that lasted all day long. Since it's impossible for a person to eat that much in one day, they built rooms for the purpose of throwing up their first meals so that they could make room for more of the feast (called a Vomitarium)....... now, as clever as that is..... that's just nasty! The views from the top of the hill were also gorgeous. We got to see the Roman Forum, where all of the business was done in ancient times, and also got to hear about the Vestal Virgins lighting the eternal flame of Rome, and about Romulus und Remus. This tour was so cool!

We left the hill and forum. Outside, we walked beside the Arch of Constantine! I'd actually heard a lot about this guy, so seeing that was amazing, too. (Everything in Italy just seems to amaze me!) We walked along the main street in Rome, where we passed several basillicas and statues of Julius Caesar. Then, we came upon a HUGE white building called L'altare della Patria (translated means the Altar of the Nation), and referred to by Romans as "The White Cake" with horse statues on it, and the Italian flag wafting (you like that word, mom) in the breeze. As we crossed in front of the building, something else caught our eye. There were about 6 or 7 guys in pinstriped suits all walking along together. Now, when I think of Italian super models... this is what I imagine. These guys were just pretty Italians! Amber got really really excited, because she is the single one of the group... we told her she could have them all, lol. She and Emily decided to be brave (since we would never see these guys again) and asked if they would take a picture with the four of us! haha. Not a single one of them spoke English, either, lol. Amber was in heaven! -- When we were lining up to take the picture, one of the Roman Colesseum guards jumped in with us and wanted us to pay him for being in the picture, lol. We told him that he should pay US, since we're all so good-looking.

After leaving our model friends, we consulted the map, and saw that the Pantheon was close. We navigated through the streets, and were approached by these two guys (Max and something... we'll call him Josh) from Illinois. BOARDER PEOPLE! :) They walked with us to the Pantheon, where we crammed in a tiny doorway (along with about a million other people). The Pantheon was soooo cool. It was completely dome-shaped inside, and was also the final resting place of the artist Raphael. Very awesome!

After leaving our Illinois buddies, we stopped in another cool restaraunt for dinner. We got a great deal: Lasagna and wine for 6 Euro! :) We checked off another traditional Italian food from the list. Let me just say, this was an incredible plate of lasagna... yum! Coming to Italy means that you are going to eat some of the most amazing food of your life, apparently! To complete the meal, we ate some more gelato..... I'm really going to have to work out when I get home.... but.... it's a cultural experience! :)

When we finished dinner, it was nighttime. We had a few more must-sees on the list for today, so we kept on going! By this time, we'd been on our feet touring since the sun came up! Next stop was the famous Trevi Fountain, which apparently was also a stop on every other person in Rome's list for the day. There were a TON of people all around the fountain, but that actually made it more fun. Everyone was throwing coins in to make a wish in the gigantic and incredibly beautiful fountain that night. We also made wishes!!! (No, I can't tell what it was!) -- Then, after making our wish on the fountain and taking a million pictures, we headed off to see the Spanish Steps. On the way, you'd better believe that we ran into those suit model guys again..... go figure! They just laughed and waved at us! :) ----

The Spanish Steps were SO HUGE. It's a good thing that Coach Cress doesn't live in Italy, because I could definately see her making our high school soccer team run up these things for conditioning, lol. The view from the top was so beautiful, though. Rome at night was one of the most breath-taking sights ever. At the top of the steps, there was an old artist sitting in a chair drawing scenes of Rome by pen. He wasn't messing up at all, and these pictures were so nice! Amber really wanted one, but her favorite picture was the one that the little artist was currently working on. She told him that she would be fine with taking it as-is (it looked perfect to us), but he insisted on us giving him 10 minutes to finish so that the picture would be "perfecto!" To kill some time, we popped in the big church, called Trinita dei Monti, at the top of the Spanish Steps. Again, we walked in on a mass-in-progress. The women of the church and the main bishop sang, without instruments, in perfect harmony. Emily, Amber, Alyssa, and I just sat there and listened to this amazing mass for several minutes. It was so beautiful!

After we left the church, Amber got her finished picture. The little old man had done a marvelous job on the drawing of the Trevi Fountain. -- By this time it was really late at night, so we headed back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep before tackling the rest of Rome the next day.

2007-11-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

Amber and I headed out to the Sudbanhof train station (on the other side of Vienna) at about 1:00pm on Wednesday afternoon. We knew that we had a very long journey ahead of us, but we were Italy-bound! We had our bags packed, and boarded a train for Bratislava, where the majority of RyanAir flights leave from. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, and about 1 hour away by train. We arrived safely and boarded our flight at around 5:30pm, and were SO excited to know that the next time we touched down.... we'd be in ITALIA with Alyssa (my best buddy) and Emily, our friends from UK who are studying this semester in Salamanca, Spain!

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART ONE, MILAN

We landed in the Milan-Bergamo airport, where we then caught a 45 minute shuttle to the Milan train station. The only information that Amber and I had was the name and street address of our hotel in Milan. Alyssa had booked the hotel, so Amber and I really had zero information. So, needless to say, we were a little nervous that we would never be able to find out where we were staying. My mom always taught me that, when in doubt... ask someone! We leaned over to two guys on our bus and asked them if they knew ANYTHING about where THE BEST HOTEL of Milan was located relative to the train station. Not to my surprise, they had no idea, but Marco and his friend from Spain did have a map. We searched for about 10 minutes for our street, and finally found it.... only about a 5 minute walk from the station! YES!

We got off of our bus, thanked the guys for their help, and set out in search of our hostel. We used their little Google map, and finally saw our hotel in the distance. We walked in, and I attempted to communicate with the woman at the front desk, who spoke very little English. Then, all of the sudden, I heard a familiar scream from the bottom of the stairs, and I saw my very best friend in the entire world running out of a room! IT WAS ALYSSA!!!!! I was so excited to see her! We haven't seen eachother in 2 months, and I definately had butterflies when I finally got to see her! Not even Skype can compare to really getting to hug somebody in person. It was such an amazing feeling.

Alyssa and Emily showed us to our room, which was incredible. We had two twin beds and one king-sized bed. This was an actual hotel, not a crummy hostel! We were so pumped, because the price was super cheap, and we had a private, very nice room. Well done, Alyssa! :) After we got all settled in, the four of us headed out to find some dinner. Emily and Alyssa had been in Milan for a few hours and had already eaten, but decided to take Amber and I back to the restaruant that they had eaten in. Both of us were starving, so we each ate small vegetarian pizzas. My first Italian pizza was soooo much better than anything I'd eaten in Austria! We also all four shared a bowl of the famous Italian gelato, which was even better than I remembered. -- By the time we got finished with dinner, it was pretty late (these Euros stay out way past my bedtime!), so we headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep. On the way, we recieved several, "Ciao Bella!" comments.... this was going to be an interesting trip! :)

We woke up very early the next morning, got ready, ate our free breakfast in the hotel, and set out to explore the city. I was the official navigator of the map. We went to one of the Metro stops, and took it to the center of the city. The subway in Milan was VERY stressful. We weren't sure how to use the ticket machines, but this little girl came up to us and pushed the English button and navigated us through it. Well, how helpful, I thought.... OH NO. When I put my money in the machine, this girl tried to keep 4 Euros for herself! What a scam artist! Amber pulled her grimey little paws open and snatched my Euros back, and we hurried off. We held all of our bags very closely, just in case the scamming gypsies tried to snatch anything else.

We rode a few stops on the subway, and came out at the central stop. When we emerged out of the tunnels, we were in complete awe of what we found. The Duomo cathedral was smack dab in front of us.... and it was MASSIVE! I was sooooo impressed. I'd only heard about the Duomo before, so it was very awesome to finally see it up close. I guess we could be labled as tourists, because the four of us immediately started taking pictures. Then, this man came up and opened Alyssa's hand, putting corn inside. Immediately, dozens of pigeons swarmed us, and were jumping all around in our hair and fluttering at our feet trying to eat up the corn. The look on our faces was halarious, and Emily started taking pictures. As we tried to scurry away, that man wanted 10 Euros for payment, too.... FOR CORN!!! Milan was just full of these crazy scammers! We threw a Euro at him to just go away, and then ran into the Duomo for sanctuary. -- Randomly, it turned out to be All Saints Day, so the cathedral was full of Italian people, and music from the mass that was going on filled the rafters. Now, I've heard some beautiful choirs before, but this was one of the most beautiful and perfect songs that I've ever heard. The four of us just stood at the back of the cathedral and listened for about 30 minutes.

Off to the side, people were lighting candles in memory of loved ones, so we lit a candle, prayed, and just watched everyone else. This was seriously something that I needed. One of the things that I've missed the most about America is church. Even though this was a Catholic mass in Italian, I really got something out of it. I could just feel God in that building, and just being there watching was a much-needed spiritual experience. I loved it! -- What a great first stop! :)

Outside and to the right of the Duomo is the oldest shopping center called the Galleria. To enter the shopping place, you go through this giant arch! Inside, the ceiling is arched glass, and all of the stores line the inside of this arch. I was thoroughlly impressed, yet again. The stores inside, however, were Prada, Mercedes Benz (who knew that Mercedes made jackets? If having a car isn't enough! lol), etc. We were merely window-shoppers in this fancy-shmancy place.

we walked past the Duomo again, and got to see an awesome statue of Leonardo DaVinci, who lived and did a lot of his masterpieces in Milan. We sat on a bench under the statue to plan out our route for the day on our trusty map. When we got up, Alyssa turned around and had Pigeon Poo on her jeans! The rest of us nervously looked at our pants, and were clean.... so I guess the Pige man wanted revenge on us and told one of his feathered friends to come poo on Alyssa's seat.... gross. -- We went inside a McDonalds (which are located about every 3 feet in Italy!) and cleaned everything up. Nothing gets Champ down, so we just continued on our exploration of the city. :) Stinkin' pigeons!

As we walked along the famous shopping street (with more $$$ shops) of Milan, we saw a lot of boards set up in rows along the sidewalks, which turned out to be a National Geographic photo display of all of the most famous and intense N.G. pictures taken over the years. My favorite was the one of the younger lady in a red robe who just stares at the camera, called "Eyes of Hope." It was really beautiful and VERY interesting.

After walking down the street, we saw a huge castle/fortress, and a great big fountain. We had to check this out! This castle turned out to be the Milano Castello (also called Castello Sforzesco), a seven-century-old castle, that has been a "significant feature of the historical and artistic memory of Milan." (from tour brochure) The castle was very awesome, but the best part was its location. The back of the castello over-looked a massive park with bridges, streams, and trees that had changed colors for Fall. It was absolutely beautiful! We lauged, though, when we saw a spray-painted side of an electrical box that said, "USA" and then had an arrow pointing down... oh well... you win some, you lose some, I guess! :) At the end of the park was the Milanese Arch of Peace, which we walked to. These Italians are all about their arch's of something-or-other. :)

After hitting all of the important monuments, the four of us were getting a little hungry, so we set out in search of a lunch spot. We walked along the outter edges of the castle and along a smaller street, where we saw a glorious sign: PIZZARIA. We wanted to eat as many different kinds of traditional Italian food as possible, so we went inside. It turned out to be another very cute family-owned restaraunt that served all of the traditional dishes for quite cheap. We were pumped. All of us got some different kind of pasta, and I got spaghetti with real tomatoes and olive-oil sauce. I was in HEAVEN! We all split a plate of Bruschetta, which is so so so much tastier in Italy, that's for sure! Right there, we all knew that our bellies would be in trouble if we stayed in Italy for too long, lol. We hadn't had a bad meal yet.

After we finished our lunch, we sat and just talked for a little while... since that's what the Italians do! -- Then, we left the restaraunt and walked along the side streets. We saw a pretty wooden door at the front of this stone building, and decided to duck in to see if anything cool was going on. We found ourselves in the San Maurizio Monestary! The walls inside the monestary were covered with 16th-century Milanese paintings. There were wall frescos of all of the famous stories out of the Bible. My favorite was the entire wall covered with Noah's Ark. It was so nice. There were also several scenes of the life and death of Christ, and those were also very well done. This monestary, we found out, stands in the heart of one of Milan's oldest and most prestigious complexes =the Benedictine convent that they call Monestero Maggiore. It dates back several centuries and was so nice. -- I was glad that the other girls who came were also very interested in ancient churches and art, because I was in constant awe of the beautiful churches that we found ourselves in. :)

We tried to go see The Last Supper painting by DaVinci, but you had to have reservations for several months in advance to even get in... so we all got a picture of the building, waved to Leonardo, and kept on exploring.

A little ways down the street from the church we'd just seen, there was another gelato shop.... well, we hadn't had some in about 15 hours, so it was high-time! I HAD to try a different flavor! This time, I got some Nutella-flavored gelato, which was probably the most amazing ice cream that I've ever tasted in my life.... WOAH, is all I can say. You guys HAVE to try this stuff.

Around 3:00, we turned a corner close to the Duomo and saw an exhibit for an artist called David LaChapelle (sounded like Dave Chapelle to me, the comedian from America.... but it was a different guy). Alyssa and I didn't really like the examples that I saw outside, but Amber and Emily really wanted to go in and check it out. We agreed to meet back up at 4:30. -- So, Alyssa and I grabbed our map and set out to look for some of the other monuments in Milan. We saw that there was a tower located somewhere near the center of the city, so we thought that might be a fun site to see. Along the way, we found a beautiful castle that had a courtyard covered in yellow leaves! The entire walkway under the trees was golden! SO PRETTY! :) Yet again, we had found another random hidden treasure by just walking around. -- We were determined, however, to find this tower. After walking around forever, all we were seeing were tall apt. buildings. We went inside this place that looked like Patterson Office Tower at UK to ask where this ancient tower was located. The guy at the front desk laughed at me, and said, "You are in it!" ARE YOU KIDDING?!? In such a historic and beautiful city, one of the sites located on a city tour map was an office tower? Seriously! Alyssa and I just laughed at eachother! We had been walking around for 30 minutes look for what we thought was going to be some ancient tower of wisdom or something, and it ended up being an office building, lol. Oh well!

We had been out and around the city for the better part of the day, and the it started to get late. Our flight for Rome left at around 7:30 that night, so we started to meander back to the hostel. We walked back down the main shopping street and heard a lot of music. When we got closer to the source, it was a short little Italian man singing like Josh Groban. His voice was incredible, and it filled the plaza. -- Then, a little ways again down the street, I heard an Indian man playing the flute. As I got closer, I immediately realized that he was playing the theme song to Last of the Mohicans -- mine and dad's favorite movie!!!! I was so happy, and videoed the whole thing! :) Dad would have loved this! :)

After a great first day out in Italy, we went back to our hostel, packed our bags, and headed to the airport. While on the bus, we met a guy named Brad from the University of Denver, who was studying in Milan for the semester, but was heading to Prague for the weekend to meet some friends. He was really nice!

Around 7:30ish, we boarded our RyanAir flight without any problems. It was a smoothe airport visit. While standing in line waiting for our flight to arrive, I saw the craziest-looking person EVER. Stacey and Clinton would NOT have been impressed with this man's attire. He was about 25 years old, had bleach-blonde hair, which was formed into a small mohawk. He was wearing a black shirt that was unbuttoned very low, and also unbuttoned to reveal his belly-button (gross). The kicker was that he was wearing a leather coat with a HUGE fur collar... seriously, what was this guy thinking? I snuck a video of him, too, because nobody would ever believe this back home! lol. He kept me entertained, needless to say.

Anyhow...... next stop....... ROMA!

2007-10-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-29T03:50:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-10-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

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!"

:)

2007-10-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-23T03:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-22T02:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-22T02:04:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-10-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-10-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

"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***

2007-10-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

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. :)

2007-10-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-02T15:34:00.001-07:00

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!!!!!

2007-10-01T01:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

So, I ended up not going to Croatia today. The prices were a little too expensive for just the 2 days on the beach that we would be there. But no worries, I am planning a trip to either Prague or Zurich for this weekend. I might end up going by myself, because everybody that I know is going to Oktoberfest. I wanted to see Munich, but since I hate beer, I figured that right now is probably not THE best time for me to be going, haha.

My friend, Ugur, and I are going to go to Switzerland in 2 weeks, so I am just going to have to hold out for that! Since this week is free, I am going to go to the zoo and an opera.

Today actually is the 1 MONTH AWAY FROM HOME mark of the trip, so I was a little sad about missing my family and friends (all of you fine people). :( This afternoon, though I expected it to be boring, since I wasn't going on the trip, was one of the most amazing afternoons ever. However, Amber and I decided to head out walking around some parts of town that we'd never seen before... in hopes to find a grocery store. Well, we never found a store that was open, because Vienna pretty much shuts down on Sundays. We walked along the streets, rather lost (as usual), and stumbled upon one of the most comforting sights ever.

A MEXICAN RESTARAUNT! Now I know that Mexican food doesn't exactly come from Berea, Kentucky, but we have 4 Mexican places in town.... so it felt just like home! Amber and I enjoyed one of the best Chimichangas that I've ever eaten, along with some chips and salsa AND a little side salad with real dressing. I've never been happier! :)

I wasn't sure how I would feel about being away from home this long, but I do really miss things back in Kentucky. I am having a great time, and getting to see a lot of Austria, and will soon get to see several other famous and cool places in Europe, but not being able to talk to my family every day is a little hard. I wish that everybody back home could see these amazing places with me. I was in awe yesterday when we were on top of the mountain in Graz, and there were perfectly defined rays of sun coming through the clouds over the mountains. I just stopped for a minute and thought about how lucky I am to be in this amazing country, and how beautiful of a world God actually created. The mountains around here remind me of home, and that added with my Mexican deliciousness comforted me today.

I'm always thinking about all of you, and I can't wait to see you at Christmas! Keep me in your prayers, and I love you!

2007-09-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

The past 2 days were full of awesomeness! Friday was the last day of my intensive German class, and I was pretty sad. My instructor was such a good teacher, and the students in my class all really bonded together. We loved our class! I can understand some things that the Austrians are saying, and I feel very comfortable with getting around the city. I even talked to the waiter just a bit the other day. True, I got laughed at in my attempt to pronounce Entschuldigung, meaning I'm sorry, but wouldn't you have problems pronouncing a word with like 14 consonants put together? Yeah... I do my best! :)

After German class ended, the group went to the Schönbrunn Palace, where the emperor and royal family (including Maria Teresa) lived for centuries. My momma always taught me that money doesn't buy happiness, and that lesson takes human form with this family! They were SO messed up! Yes, this was the most incredible palace that I've seen, with hundreds of rooms and perfect gardens, but 1/2 of the family died of some dreaded disease, and the others were either crazy or anorexic. They did have some of the coolest hardwood floors that I've ever seen (again, mom.... you're influencing me all of the time!) After we went out into the gardens, we decided to run up the massive hill to get a bird's-eye view of Vienna, the gardens, and the palace. Even though I almost had a heart attack when we got to the top, it was definately the most spectacular view that I've had of the city so far. There were 8 girls and then Chad from New York, so we made Chad take pictures of us in "artistic" poses. He got tired of that really fast, but we got some great pics! :) Thanks, Chaddy!

Today was our last trip with the OK! Program. We took a 3-hour bus ride to Graz, the second largest city in Austria (next to Vienna). Graz was one of the only cities that Napoleon couldn't conquer. He tried three different times, and couldn't breach the mountain fortress, however, when he eventually took over the rest of the country, the Grazzians (I don't think that's what they are called, but it sounds good!) had to surrender. Napoleon blew up just about everything in the city, but the citizens bought the bell tower with all of the money they had left, and it still remains there today. We got a great view of the fortress gardens and bell tower when we hiked up possibly the steepest hill that I've ever walked up in my life. I seriously thought Patrick from Georgia was going to have to drag me up the rest of the way. I kept thinking that I was glad Coach Cress never took the soccer team here, because she'd have had a great time making us run sprints up this mountain (ah, the good old days of conditioning!). The view was incredible! We saw a very interesting art museum built like a blue kidney, some amazing gardens, the Arnold S. stadium, and the whole city.

Also, on the river that runs through Graz floats this concert hall and restaraunt. It is shaped like two halves of a ball placed beside eachother. The original designer wanted to put the ball completely under water, but didn't take into account the changes in water level, so he changed his design and made the ball halves float on top. Inside, the building is all blue and there are no straight lines in the design, to keep with the symbolic "flow" of the river. It was VERY cool.

Complete on the tour was another amazing meal. We had crepes soup, chicken salad, and tiramisu that was un-coffee tasting, so I really loved it! A+ on the food in Austria, let me just say!

Tomorrow, I think that I'm heading off to Croatia.... but I haven't completely decided yet. We shall see!

2007-09-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Okay.... so I think that I have stooped to an all-time low.
To do laundry in our building you have to have a laundry card... okay, fair enough. BUT, the office has been closed for the past several days. However, even if we DID have a laundry card, we would have to travel to a bank and put money on said card. This, too, is impossible, because the banks close early, and also don't speak English.... so you see the pickle that Amber and I have found ourselves in.

Well, in the spirit of culture, it looks as if we have decided to get in touch with our roots, and do things the old-fashioned way. Amber and I threw some t-shirts and such in the shower, poored laundry soap on them, and scrubbed.... really hard. Then, we started a rinse/ring out assembly line. As we speak, there are wet clothes hanging all over Amber's room and on the window.

Mom.... I need you and your High Entensity washer.... :(

2007-09-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing and pretty religiously uplifting experience this weekend at Melk Abbey. So, when our leader told us that we would be getting to go to an art museum, I began to look forward to some Jesus paintings and some pictures of landscapes and bunnies. However, when we got to the Museum Quarter for our tour, I saw a huge sign that said, "Traum und Trauma," which translates to "Dreams and Trauma." That tipped me off right away that the next hour was not going to be spent looking at pictures of religious figures or trees. A lot of the "inspiration" for the exhibit was Freud's dream analysis and free association, which was another BIG indication that this art would be a little wacky.

AND TRAUMATIC IT WAS! This art exhibit (if you could even call it that) was completely about the shock factor. We saw some of the most gruesome and disturbing pictures that I've ever seen. Also, at one point in the tour, we came to a painting that was basically a big red splash with painted rocks at the bottom. According to our guide, this painting was inspired by the book Left Behind. She asked if anyone had ever read the book before, or if any of us were born-again Christians. Well, of course, I raised my hand..... and I was the only one who did! Right away, the guide pointed me out and said, "Oh, only one of you in the crowd. Well, would you explain to the rest of the group what the book is about? Something called the Rapture, right?" My heart skipped a beat. When I am first introducing the rather important concept of Christianity to a large crowd of people (which hasn't happened too many times), I usually don't start off with the book of Revelation. Telling them who Jesus is might have been a better starting point, but I went ahead and did my best to explain the concept of the Rapture. In my opinion, this piece of art was the furthest thing from a Godly painting, but... each to his own, I guess. Let's just say that Amanda Kalyn Tyree was glad to get out of that creepy place!

Yesterday, our group had a tour of the Ottakringer beer brewery. This beer is special and only brewed in Austria. The rest of the group was a tad more excited about this than I was, but I decided to go and attempt to be culturally stimulated in some way. Maybe after seeing this beer place, I would find out why the art people from the previous day were so messed up! The tour was actually pretty interesting, and we got to see how everything was made. Inside the fermentation room was about 100 degrees (F), so I almost died! The entire place also smelled like barley, which was pretty nasty, but it was pretty cool to see such a big part of the Austrian culture. I had a hard time concentrating, though, because our tour guide looked like Barbara Streisand with crazy hair gone bad (well, worse, haha), so I kept laughing when she'd talk. :)

Today, we went to the ORF, which is the Austrian news station. We got to go in front of the green screen and film ourselves. Three of my friends looked like they were riding a magic carpet, and then Connie and Nirveen were put onto the back of a cow in a pasture. It was halarious! They put me, Nirveen, and Connie in the middle of a yodel German dance hall, so we started line-dancing! Our tour guide made us a DVD of our performance, so I will definately bring that home with me! :)

I have recently been named the "Unofficial Chef" of the 4th floor. I think this is because some of the boys from the north east US saw me cooking pasta (really challenging, I know) one afternoon. Their only wish for this week was to be cooked a real "Kentucky style" meal. Amber and I successfully cooked chicken, potatoes, green beans, and garlic bread. They loved it! Nobody died or was poisoned (from what we can tell.... the side-effects might take longer than a few hours to set in.... time will tell), and our meal was called "absolutely delicious." Yay! Greg and Paul (both go to Bentley College in Boston, but Greg is from NYC) said that I should make dinner every night (maybe this is how I can make money over here!).

I have my first German language exam tomorrow! We are going to study a lot tonight, and hopefully they will allow me to stay in the country. I really like this German stuff, so I think that I will continue it even when I get back to UK. It's so much fun, and actually is a much prettier language than people think. German is just kind of hard to speak, because we don't have a lot of the sounds that they have, but I'm trying! Today on the city bus coming home from the TV station, there were about 10 or 11 young military boys standing all around where Amber and I were sitting. Then this little old lady got on the bus, and Amber and I offered to get up so that she could sit down. The lady insisted that we stay seated, and began talking to us in English, asking what we were doing in Vienna. All of the military boys (most of whom looked around our age) were listening attentively, we could tell. Then the woman asked me if I would say something in German to her, and the first phrase that I could think of was "Ich komme aus den USA," (which means, "I am from the USA.") All of the boys started smiling and laughing and I heard the word "American" and "English" come out several times. Then we got some kisses blown at us when they all got off the bus.... oh, Europeans! At least I said the sentence right!

Wish all of us luck on the exam! I'll keep everybody posted on how I do! :)

2007-09-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

We had our first official "Day Trip" to Melk, Austria today! The group got up and met at the bus station at 8am... which was VERY early for us! :) Amber and I heard rumors that the weather was supposed to be in the 70's on Sunday, so we thought it would be suitable to wear shorts. We walked out to the bus, and everyone else was layered up in fleece jackets, jeans, and boots. Here come Amanda and Amber, the token Southerners, in their black shorts, flip flops, and cute shirts. Luckily, we both brought matching sweaters, in case of a slight chill in the air. Everyone else looked prepared for an arctic blizzard, and Amber and I were ready to go to the beach! Needless to say, we got several wierd looks from the other 100 people standing at the bus stop. We made it work, though, and the entire day made small comments like, "Wow, I'm so glad it's so nice out today. Pretty warm, huh" ... even if we stood huddled together for warmth. Maybe we'll start a trend!

The bus ride to Melk was pretty fun. Amber and I sat around Joe, Steve, Ralph, Ryan from Phili, and Andrew. We had a pretty good time, just laughing and talking about sports! Ryan from Philadelphia said he was very surprised that Amber and I knew as much about college sports as we did. We were pretty proud of ourselves! Then a guy a few seats behind us, Ryan from Oregon, wanted to know if Amber and I would come to this sports bar this week with him, because he wanted to talk football with somebody who knew what they were talking about. :)

We arrived in Melk, which is one of the cutest, most picturesque towns that I've ever seen. There were small cobblestone streets that slowly curved and winded up the mountains. At the top of the largest hill was the Melk Abbey, which is over 900 years old. The abbey is also still running, with around 30 monks that still work and study there. We went on a tour through the libraries, gardens, and rooms of the abbey. We got to see one of the ceremonial capes that the highest bishop wears during important events, and also one of the smallest little books I've ever seen! This book was about the size of my hand when it's opened, and contained the beginnings of all of the prayers and guidelines for the monks. None of the prayers contained inside were complete, because the monks were supposed to memorize them all! I thought that was very awesome!

In the library of the abbey was a very impressive ceiling. Painted on it were Greek mythological figures, which, we were told by our guide, were painted there because the rulers during the period that the abbey was built were obsessed with being like the Greek gods. They wanted to rule with the strength of Hercules and the wisdom of Athena, so they painted them everywhere. Also in the library were golden statues representing medicine, education, law, and music. They were amazing! The library was definately my favorite building of the abbey. The entire focus of the Benedictine monks life was to "work, pray, and study." I really liked this! This abbey was SO peaceful and really just a calming place. Our tour guide was also very fun and made this trip very worth our while!

After leaving the abbey, we went to eat a 3 course meal with the entire group. Mom would be happy, because this was probably the first proper meal that I'd eaten on the entire trip! oops! -- I ate Zander fish, salad, and apple strudel. Let me just say, that it was AMAZING! Amber and I sat across from Simone (from Italy) and Carlos (from Spain). Carlos tried to help us practice our Spanish skills by talking to us in all Spanish. He was impressed that we could understand some and say a little bit back. This dinner was SO much fun! We love these guys!

After a marvelous dinner, we headed off to a vineyard for wine testing and a tour. Now, I am all about being "one with nature," but none of us expected what we were about to experience.... the poeple who owned this vineyard were all about appeasing the wine gods (which apparently come in the form of a goat), so all throughout the wine cellars (which took about an hour to walk through), there were some very strange alters built to these goat people. There was some type of maze with shooting water and lights, built to keep the spirit of the grapes at peace.... come on now.... I don't think the grapes are going to get mad and refuse to be turned into wine if they don't get to listen to their favorite country music, do you? After we left the cellar, there was a room that displayed the three different situations where wine is important: birth, love, and death. In the section of this rather dicso-looking mirror room about birth, there stood a single table. Out of this table poked a little upside-down baby foot. (why is there the foot of a small child sticking out of a table deep in a wine cellar, you ask? We thought the SAME thing) You were supposed to tickle this plastic baby foot to symbolize drinking wine at a child's birth..... nooo thank you, weird wine people! This was the wierdest vineyard that I'd EVER been to, but by far the most entertaining. Amber, me, and our friend James from New Zealand laughed a lot at the crazy things around each corner of the cellar... this is an experience that I will never forget. I think the owners had one too many drinks of that wine, if you ask me!

2007-09-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday in Vienna!
Today started out as another typical Saturday. The girls planned to go to the market and out to the shopping street for a leisurely day of bonding. Amber, me, and our newest friend Nicole (from Miami, Florida) set out with a mission to find Nicole and Amber some snazzy Austrian boots. First, we ate an actual meal at a little cafe on Mariahillfe Strasse. I ate some wonderful veggie soup and fruit. Yum! After lunch, we went into several shops, but it seemed like everything in the boots category cost a million euros.

We were just about to give up on the boot experience when we looked into the window of a very small French clothing store. I looked in, and everything in the store looked very nice, so I automatically thought that this would be just another one of those "look but don't buy" type things..... then I saw it. Red and glowing on the center table on the floor. My mother taught me that when you see something this extraordinary, no matter where you are, you must stop and take in the majesty. There it was..... a sale sign! 50% off shoes, as plain as day glittered up from a pile of boots. We walked into the store, and Amber found a wonderful pair of sale leather boots which, according to the friendly sales girl, came straight from Paris! Everything from this small store was bought during the manager's monthly trip to Paris. We were so happy! I also bought Bryce's birthday present, which is a phenomenal gift, I must say. Sorry, Bryce.... no stiletto boots, though. Maybe next year.

After we were finished with a very successful shopping experience, we headed off to the Flohmarket for a bit of grocery shopping. On our way, we passed by the Vienna Opera House, where several men dressed in Mozart costumes were passing out brochures about the latest Mozart concert. They do this regularly, so we didn't think much of it. Amber politely took a brochure from one guy, and we kept on walking and talking. After we got about 10 steps away, one of the Mozart guys, who apparently heard us talking, yelled after us. "Hallo, are you from America? Come back!" Oh, great. Another anti-George Bush questioning session from an angry Austrian..... We slowly walked back and stood in front of this 20-something guy in a fairly odd costume. He asked what part of America we were from, and then told us that he was from Kosovo, and that his "people" loved America and so he was happy to meet us. Well, I thought, that wasn't too bad. Then he looked at me and said, "What is your name?" I answered, and he started smiling. He said, "Ah, Amanda. I love you.... I mean, nice to meet you." Amber and Nicole stood back laughing hysterically, while this little Kosovo man in a crazy concert outfit (complete with coat, knickers, and a frilly shirt) held my hand and looked at me. I did everything in my power not to fall over laughing. I mean, he looked ridiculous and was confessing his love to me after meeting me for 3 seconds (someone had a green card on his mind....), AND he was about as tall as I am. Oooh, baby, let me tell ya. I thought that it couldn't get any worse, when he pulled out another brochure and asked me if I would message him on MSN, and gave me his messenger screen name. He wanted me to come out for drinks and dinner with him next week. I kindly took the brochure as I was shaking from laughing so hard and started to walk away. (Keep in mind that Amber and Nicole are standing about 2 steps to the side having a great time) "Amanda, wait," he said. I looked back at him through my sunglasses. "Can I see your eyes?" WHAT?!?!?! He can't be serious. "Can you..." I lifted up my sunglasses and put them on my head. "Ah, I love you. My name is Lili. Do message me soon!" "Okay, thanks..... um, talk to you later." I managed to get that sentence out with a straight face, and we walked away. -- Reflecting on what just happened, I thought to myself... what would people really think if on my wedding invitation, it said WE INVITE YOU TO CELEBRATE THE MARRIAGE OF AMANDA AND LILI, TO BE HELD IN KOSOVO BAPTIST CHURCH. hahahaha. No thanks.... I will stick with Bryce! :)

We finally got to the market, and I bought some Pink Lady apples, which are fabulous, a real loaf of wheat and molasses bread (that I cut myself into crude little slices), and some seedless grapes. I paid a little more for the seedless, but all of the grapes until now had me choking on about 15 seeds each.... so I was thankful.

Today was very interesting. There's no telling what will happen on our trip to Melk Abbey tomorrow...... only time will tell. :) Until then!

2007-09-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hallo!
Today was definately a fun day! It was "Parliment/Government Day" for out group, so we got to learn all about the Austrian political system. I actually learned a lot (who knew!?). First, we had a lecture from a historical author about the history of Austrian political systems. We heard about everything from the Hapsburg regime to the forming of Austria as we know it today (it's been about the same since the early 20's). Apparently, Austria has several major parties, but the two main ones are called the Red and the Black (Conservatives/Religious and the Democratic Socialists). Austria has elections much like we have in America, but even when one party wins, that party doesn't really get the full control. They still have to work VERY closely with the other party. The lecturer also said that it would be like having two CEOs of a company. Can you imagine -- having George Bush and Hilary Clinton sitting next to eachother in the board room of a company? He said this often meant very heated discussions in the parliment room!

After the lecture, we actually got to go into the Parliment building, which was absolutely beautiful! We sat in the seats where the "deputies" go to work during the year, saw the imperial meeting room, and heard a lot more about it. A lot of the building was destroyed during the war from bombings, but the imperial meeting room, which had a huge ceiling made of Bohemian glass, was not hurt at all! It was absolutely beautiful!

I was introduced to my new favorite drink today! There is a cute little coffee/bagel shop right across the street from our university. It is the "original" bagel shop in Vienna, and is called The Roast. They have this hot fruit tea, and let me just say, that it was AMAZING! Tonight we are having a Welcome Party for all of the exchange students.

2007-09-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Who wants to be on my Christmas list? :)
I went to the largest Swarovski Crystal store (which is actually two stores across the street from one another) today! Our group of about 40 exchange students got a little tour from one of the store managers. I didn't know it, but Swarovski crystals are actually artificial! This way, they can make as many as they want, I guess. The crystals have a very high iron content (I think that's the mineral), which is one of the reasons they are so unique. The special cut of the crystals is also what gives them their status. We got to look around at all of the new designs, and I even saw a Crystal purse! I don't even have enough money to put in the purse, let alone buy it! Also very interesting were the crystals that came in different colors. I had seen the clear pieces before, but there are crystals ranging from hot pink to deep blue, to even lime green! I saw a rather large statue of a cobra that was green, blue, and red. It was very pretty, but I don't know what mom would think if I brought home a sparkling snake statue to use as the centerpiece for the dining room table that cost about 6,000 Euro (9,000 bucks!!!) There were also huge statues that sold for thousands upon thousands of dollars, also which I could never afford. However, I got really excited, because some of the jewelry is actually pretty affordable. So -- those who send me care packages might just get something shiny in their stockings! Ha ha.

We also got to see where Mozart lived, died, and made his music! It was very very cool. During the walking city tour of Vienna, we passed through a beautiful courtyard that was right below St. Stephen's Cathedral in the zentrum (center in German.... I'm trying!) of the city. This courtyard and the apartments that enclosed it, belonged to an ancient order of German knights. The people who live and do business there are more like monks now, though they still call themselves knights. I thought that was so interesting!

Since we are a group of business majors, we are always interested in how much things cost. We asked our rather eccentric tour guide how much one of these apartments would run per month, and he said that in the center of town (and in most of Vienna), the housing prices are charged by square meter. For those of us not on the metric system, I think that's about a 3 x 3 space. Our guide said that in this particular part of town, one square meter would cost you at minimum around 600-700 Euro per month. $900 for a little box! You'd have to sleep standing up! (Amber made us all laugh by reminding us of the movie Coneheads, where the people all sleep standing up) Since there's no way I can afford an entire room, let alone an entire house, I now have a new phrase. To those whom I really love, instead of just saying that I love them, I will tell them that I want to "share my meter" with them.... since that's all I'd be able to buy in Vienna! :)

On a side note: In the spirit of becoming cultured and broadening my horizons, I am attempting to break down the common stereotypes that I have of other cultures! For example, I have met some friendly French people, German is actually a very pretty language to speak, my friend from London rarely eats crumpets (though he's going to bring me some after he visits his family, since I don't know what they are), etc. I have several friends from Canada, and so I'm trying to learn a little bit more about our neighbors to the north. I always thought the whole "Canada people always say eh?" thing was just made up, BUT THEY REALLY SAY IT! There is no Myth Busters proof against that! My friend Nirveen from Vancouver said it about 5 times today! :)

2007-09-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Just something funny that happened today:

I was standing in line to register for the Austria Buddy Network trip to Budapest after German class today, and this girl came up to me. Her name was Julia, and she is from Canada, I think. She looked at me and said, "Hey, are you THE Amanda?" I thought to myself, I didn't know that I had a reputation! I answered, "Um, maybe?" Then she laughed and said, "All I keep hearing is 'Amanda and Amber, Amanda and Amber from Kentucky'."

I might be in a city of 3 million..... but this girl is making a name for herself! :) (Don't worry, Mom... It's a good one!)

2007-09-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have completed my first 2 days of German class! It is, as they said, "intensive." Our class is made up of about zwanzig (twenty in German, haha) students, coming from all over the world. There are people from Spain, L.A., Italy, Oregon, Iceland, Russia, Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, Boston, and... of course, KENTUCKY! I knew a few people in there already, but I'm the only one representing our fair state.... I'll do my best! As for the professor -- she is quite capable of speaking English, but just chooses NOT to. The first 10 minutes of class yesterday proved to be quite a struggle, because I wasn't quite sure what on earth she was talking about. It's very interesting, though, and I am actually learning things. This immersion-type experience really forces you to listen and think.

So far, I have learned how to introduce myself and others, tell about my day, ask about people's names, countries of origin, age, telephone numbers (I guess they expect people to fall in love with foreigners or something, haha), occupations, etc. We also have been learning about the simple conjucations of verbs, the masculine/feminine articles, and how to count to 100! That's pretty impressive, let me tell you! I had to recite my phone number to the entire class, and I got a "sehr gut!" from the professor.... from what I can tell, that's praise, lol. Once we've learned a new Frage und Anwert (question and answer), we pass this little green beanbag worm around the room and ask and answer the other people in the class. We were asking our ages today, and one of the Russian girls in my class, Olga, tossed the wormie to our teacher and said, "Und du?" (which means "and you?") The professor simply said in German, "old." We all thought that was really funny. Also, apparently the word for CD-player (and other electronics) is masculine, and the word for University is feminine..... I take that to mean that men listen to a lot of music and watch tv, wasting their brains away to mush, while we women have deep conversations about existentialism and books. Way to go ladies!

After German class, we ate lunch at the Student Cafe, called The Menza. It's pretty cheap, and really tasty, so I was pumped. I had schnitzel again!

The wierd thing about European universities is that I have one, maybe two, classes per week. Some classes only meet 5 times the entire semester! I think that the idea is more of an independent study, where we will have a lot of work to do on our own, and not much "instruction." They just throw us in and expect us to swim, I guess! :)

2007-09-16T09:58:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty bummed about missing the UK game against U of L. I mean.... we OWNED THEM! Way to go, Cats! Amber and I got on ESPN's website and followed the game until 5am this morning. We are that intense of fans! I proudly wore my UK shirt today and ate dinner at the Vienna KFC, just to celebrate the awesomeness of our fair state! :)

Today, Amber and I woke up early and did a devotional together. Bryce sent me several verses the other day, so Amber and I read them together, prayed, and just discusses how God was working in our lives right now. This was a great start to the day, and I really enjoyed getting to talk about Jesus this morning! (We read James 1:5, John 15:4-8, 1 Peter 5:7, and Psalm 9:10) Thanks, Bryce!

After we did our devotional, Amber and I, along with Connie and Chad (from Long Island, NY) decided to travel to Danube Island, which is about 15 minutes from the center of the city. The island is basically just a big strip of land that is encircled by the Danube River in Vienna. The weather today was absolutely perfect, so we walked around for several hours, played with some geese, ate nachos, and explored along the river. This part of the city is out of all of the industry and shopping, so the walk along the river was quite peaceful... and absolutely perfect for a Sunday afternoon. I just imagined mom and dad driving their motorcycle at the same time, so it was nice!

After we ate lunch, we walked a little more, and saw some locals taking paddle boats out onto the river. We checked the price, and the four of us rented a boat for an hour. It only cost us about $3.50 each! Before leaving the dock, Amber jokingly asked the boat lady if people were allowed to jump in the river. She gave us a funny look, but said, "Of course you are allowed... but it is very cold!" So after paying the lady, Connie and I paddled our way out onto the massive river, with Chad and Amber sitting in the back. Our little boat looked kind of like a yellow VW Bug at first glance. It was so sunny, so being out on the water for the afternoon was so relaxing.

We had been out for about 30 minutes, and Amber brought up her crazy idea again. "Hey guys," she said, "wouldn't it be so funny if somebody jumped in?" Well, you know me -- the wheels started to turn. Before I left America, mom said something to the effect of "experience as much as you can." Well, mom..... I totally agree! This girl jumped into the Danube River! It was AWESOME! I've never jumped into colder water in my life. Chad didn't want to seem like a wuss for letting a 5'3 girl out-do him, so he jumped in as well, shortly followed by Amber. Connie had to navigate our little boat, so she stayed dry. I'm not sure that her little bitty body could have taken the shock of the water, anyhow. I can say with confidence that Amber and I have gone where no Kentuckians have gone before! The Danube is a pretty clean river, so I don't expect to sprout scales or turn green any time soon.... but in the event that this does happen, you'll have a good idea of why! :)

We got some Italian Gelato ice cream as we walked the rest of the way along the river, our shorts leaving a drip trail behind us. We got some wierd looks, but I definately feel like a champion! We showered right when we got back, because Amber said she had to "wash all of the duck mush" off of her.

Today was just great! We are going to take it easy and not try bungie-jumping off of the Hapsburg Palace until next week. lol. Actually, our German language course starts tomorrow at 10am, so we will try to keep ourselves alive until then. This trip is simply AMAZING!

2007-09-15T11:45:00.001-07:00

Today was definately one of the coolest days in Vienna. We got up this morning, and just had a girls' day! Me, Nina (roommate), Amber, Connie (from Vancouver, Canada), and Elizabeth (from Penn) all went to this open-air market. It is a Vienna tradition that on Saturday mornings, the people get up and go to this market. There, they all eat breakfast and shop around. This place basically looked like a giant Berea yard sale!!! Just like home, haha. There were tents and tables lined up for blocks with everything from jewelry, to tablecloths, to antique glasses, to violins. If you wanted it, it was probably there. I even saw a 1980's Prince album at one of the booths.

Half of this giant market consisted of "stuff," and the other half was all food. Connie and I got seperated from the other girls, because they wanted to eat sooner than we did. We tried finding them, but the crazy yard sale was just too big... so the little Korean from Canada and I embarked on quite the adventure! While we were walking along the food part of the market, this fruit vender called us over to his cranberry stand. He said, "Hello, Asian beauty! Come here!" I don't think that he was talking to me, but I accompanied Connie over to the stand. After giving us some free cranberries, he made a proposal of marriage to Connie after trying to communicate in various Asian languages with her. The man said hello in Chinese and Japanese, but got the idea when I just politely said, "CANADA!"

Connie and I spent several hours in the market and also tried some strudel, which was great! After that, we decided to tour the opera house on a whim. We'd passed that building every day, but had never seen the inside, so we thought that we would like to get a little culture, since the weather was beautiful! The tour lasted about 45 minutes, and since we were students, we got a discount admission of about 3.5 Euros. That's great! We absolutely loved the tour, and are inspired to go see several operas while we are in Vienna. Students can get standing seats for 3 Euros. We think that we can deal with standing, because box seats are around 200 Euro.... no thanks!

We also just shopped around a little bit and then headed back to the dorm to cook dinner with the rest of the girls. Today was so much fun, and I just love my new friend! Maybe we can take a little vacation to Canada soon!

2007-09-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

My roommate finally arrived! Her name is Nina, and she's from Slovenia! I really have no idea where that is, but I'm sure it's pretty cool. To get an idea of what she looks like, just picture the exact opposite of me! She's really tall, blonde, and quite skinny. We really get along well, though. We always talk, and she's really funny.
When I first introduced myself, she said, "Oh, where are you from? Your english is PERFECT!" Well, I guess it should be!!! :) I aint stupid. You learned me good, Mom! (just kidding!)

2007-09-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

I had my first trip! A group of us decided to head off to Salzburg yesterday! The trip was incredible, seriously. There were 5 kids from Bentley College in Boston, 2 from University of Texas, and then Amber and me from Kentucky! We have all become really good friends, so the trip was sure to be fun!

The morning was a little stressful. I accidentally bought a ticket for the wrong day, so I had to convince the ticket supervisor to let me switch days. She must have thought that I couldn't read, but I explained to her that we had a group going, so she switched my date. Note to self: when buying online tickets, make sure that you don't click on the wrong date.... that's not good! :) After that, we realized that Joe couldn't read either, and that our train left at 9:30 instead of 10:00.... so we RAN to the train station! haha. All of that craziness aside, we finally got on our way and off to Salzburg.

Our group had to split up, since there weren't 9 seats all together on the train. Kelly, Kristine, me, Al, and Monica all sat together. We started talking to these two guys from Melbourne, Australia, who had been backpacking for about a month through Europe. They were so funny, and asked me if they could just follow me around all day and listen to my accent, because they'd never heard an American accent that was so pretty. (Props to Kentucky!) Amber and the Boston boys sat a little ways down the train, and met this guy who we think was on drugs. He kept eating these M&Ms that he dropped on the floor. Ironically, the crazy boy was sitting next to a priest! :) Oh, the people you meet on a train to Salzburg!

We arrived in Salzburg at around 1pm. Since the trip was the Kentuckians' idea, we were made the unofficial navigators of the journey. If anyone really knows Amber and me, they know that this was probably not a good idea. But fear not, we did Kentucky proud, and lead the group to the Cathedral in the center of Maribelle Plaza in Salzburg. I was very happy!

When we got on our Sound of Music tour bus at 2pm, we saw that we were the only people under the age of 40. Haha! I could tell that this trip was going to be interesting. Amber and I sat behind these two older ladies from Maryland and Virginia, who were reciting every line and singing every musical number from the Sound of Music by the time the bus even started up. It was also really funny, because Joe and Ralph (from Boston) had never even seen the Sound of Music.... boy were they in for an adventure. By half way through the trip, Ralph had already been taught the "So Long, Farewell" song by the old ladies of the trip. We laughed a lot at this! Ralph was a hit! :)

The tour took us all over Salzburg and through the lake district. We got to see where Maria and the VonTrapp children fell into the lake, the Abbey where the movie filmed some scenes (and where the real Maria first went to be a nun), the villas used for the VonTrapp family house, the gazebo used in "I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" song, the gardens where the children learned to sing, and, of course, the HILLS where Julie Andrews sang the opening number. This tour was incredible! Not only did I get to see where one of my favorite movies of all time was filmed and learn some behind-the-scenes info, but I also got to see some of the most breath-taking scenery that I've ever seen in my life. The small city of Mondsee, was probably the greatest! In this city, we got to go into the cathedral where Maria and Capt. VonTrapp were married in the film! :) I could seriously live here (don't worry mom... not without you!).

After the tour, we had some "crisp apple strudel" (also mentioned in the song "My Favorite Things") and headed back to Vienna. While on the train, of course, we made some more friends. One of the best things about this trip is the people. We meet random people wherever we go. We talked to a guy who is a professional photographer in Tokyo, his cousin who is a travel agent in Ft. Myers Florida, and their friend who is a local Viennian and the owner of a local coffee shop. We talked with them the entire ride back!

The trip to Salzburg was definately worth the morning stress and the several Euros that we spent. I'll never forget the perfect mountains and the crystal clear lakes! I was just so amazed by this amazing country that God has made. He really knew what he was doing when he made the Austrian landscape, and I was just in awe of that fact today. He never ceases to amaze me with the detail and perfection of nature. I also feel really responsible now. I planned and executed a successful road trip by myself! Yay!

2007-09-10T09:50:00.001-07:00

I have a new hairstyle! I am very dark brown now. It's the "Euro Look," so I tried to fit in. :) The instructions to the hair dye were all in German, so I got Srdjan to translate them. When I went down to find him, I said that I was dying my hair. Innocently and in that same Serbian way, he said "But Kentucky, why do you want to kill your hair?" hahaha. Oh, Europeans.

Okay, so something really wierd happened today! Amber, me, and Birgit (a native to Vienna) were on our way to WU to register and get our student IDs made before going to the shopping street. I had to buy a new towel, cereal bowl, cup, and spoon. Cereal is a MUST for me, so I was feeling deprived.

At one of the stops while we were on the subway, a group of 4 or 5 of the scariest looking people that I've ever seen got on our car. They looked like gothic kids gone bad, for real! They all had crazy dreadlocks on parts of their heads, and then parts above their ears were shaved. To top off that remarkable hairstyle, their locks were dyed in various colors... such as LIME GREEN! Now what would Stacey and Clinton from What Not To Wear say about that?!? Each one of these crazies was also accompanied by a rather large, scruffy, and vicious-looking dog. 5 scary people.... 5 even scarier dogs. We three girls felt a little intimidated, but we did our best not to be noticed. I was wearing white and pink, Amber is blonde, and Birgit is 5' 10..... that was NOT going to be easy!

So we hurried off when the subway came to our stop, but our lovely friends just-so-happened to get off at that very stop, too. Maybe they were shopping for cereal bowls.... or machine guns.... I can't be sure. We were riding the escalator up to the top, and one of them turned around and goes, "HEY AMERICANS!" I looked around, hoping to find somebody wearing a cowboy hat, an American flag shirt, and spurs that stood out more than me, but nobody was there. I thought to myself.... I think they might be talking to us. Amber was closest to them, and just looked at me. Then the craziest-looking one of all yelled, "DO YOU LIKE GEORGE BUSH???" This is one of those 'honey, do I look fat in these pants' questions. We weren't about to start singing the praises of democracy right there, so Amber said shakily, "um... not really....?" Scary #2 then looked at all of us and said, "Yeah.... I hate him!" I think that experience just took about 15 years off of my life..... I wanted my mommy!

So.... interesting day so far! :) Let's see what the night has to offer. Amber and I are currently in the process of planning a 2-day trip to Saltzburg for the weekend. Then, Alyssa, Amber, me, and whoever else is interested, are going to be going to Milan/Florence in October! Yay!

2007-09-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

The last few days have been pretty interesting! We almost got swept away in the rain! The weather here kind of reminds me of Kentucky weather, because it will be sunshine and warm one day, and then turn to rain and bitter cold the next! Just like home! :)

Yesterday, Amber and I went into the city and noticed that there were more people than usual walking around. Then we saw that a big stage had been set up in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral. There were tvs everywhere! I looked over at Amber and casually said, "Gosh, you'd think the Pope was here or something." Well.... it turns out that he was! We were very curious, so we stopped these two men and asked, and sure enough, the Pope was speaking at St. Stephen's that very night! That was so amazing!!!! We also got to go inside the cathedral. I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful the inside was. It never ceases to amaze me at how much time and effort this culture puts into its churches. I feel like I'm walking into, not only just a historical building, but into a building that honors God just by being there! It was a great experience.

Later that night, we went to the most famous club in Vienna, called Passage. It had some of the prettiest interior decorating that I've seen! There were white couches everywhere, and then the lights and music were great! I really enjoyed dancing there. We met several of our Persian friends there, so hanging out with them was also really nice. Farhad and Borhan are always a good time!

Amber and I learned how to play ping pong from "the world's best" today. I will admit that I am not good AT ALL! :) I also put my skills to the test when my German friend, Johann, asked me to edit one of his papers for a class. I think that I did a pretty good job! (and mom.... I had fun doing it.... you do turn into your mother, it's true!)

Today was my first full Sunday in Vienna, so I really wanted to try to find a church to go to. I didn't expect to find one right away that spoke English or anything, but just having the experience was something that I wanted to do. Since Srdjan has lived in Vienna for quite a while now, he took me to his church, which was on the complete other side of this very large city! (my feet hurt, but I wouldn't let the Serbian know that I was hurting, lol) We ended up in the 17th district of Vienna, in a small Orthodox Christian church. Again, the paintings of Jesus and the other saints/apostles was simply breath-taking. I was in awe for the second time in two days. The interesting thing about this church is that you don't walk in and have a "service" like I normally do in American churches, but you walk in and kind of have your own personal experience with God. Srdjan and I entered the main part of the building, and he explained to me what all of the alters and paintings meant... since they were not in any language that I recognized. It was mostly Latin, I think. Then, we bought some thin candles and went into a seperate room off to the side of the main sanctuary. There were two large shelves that circled the entire room. Each shelve held about 3 inches of water, where people had put the un-lit ends of the candles. Each candle sat in the water and burned there. It was very pretty, because all of the flames just reflected in the water. Srdjan explained to me that each candle represented a prayer for a person. The top shelf was prayers for the living, and the bottom shelf was for those that had passed away. How awesome! I only got one little candle, but said a collective prayer for all of you! After the candle room, we sat down in the main sanctuary room and prayed. I ended up in tears! I just sat there in this beautiful church and was able to have a completely personal experience with God. I'll never forget it!

After we left church, Srdjan took me on a different route back home. We walked along the Danube Island and along the Danube River. We saw a huge red and tan castle on a hill, which was amazing! I could have looked at it for days. Srdjan said that he'd never seen that castle before, which was one of the reasons that he loved Vienna so much. "There is always something surprising about this city, Amanda," he said. I am in constant awe, so I guess he's right!!! The weather was perfect today, so our walk was very nice.

Amber and I are planning a trip to Croatia. Ivo, one of our funniest friends here, is from there.... and he says the Mediterranean country comes highly recommended! :)

I am loving this experience so far.... I will keep you updated on where the wind blows me.... because the Vienna winds are pretty strong (as my poor little umbrella found out yesterday.... rest its soul).

2007-09-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, Kentucky! I miss you! :)
Yesterday was so fun. Amber's "Austria Buddy" from the university took us on a tour of the entire city. We got to see St. Stephens, Freud's favorite coffee shop, Mozart's house, and the Danube. This city is home to around 3 million people, so it was a very big adventure. We also got to go see our university, which is called by the locals WU (prounounced like "vay ooo"). It is pretty nice! I really can't wait to start doing my classes. One of the funny things that I've picked up on so far, is that Europeans rarely use the word "study," but instead they say that they are going to go "learn." What does that say about the differences in the education styles of the two cultures? :)

It rained all day today, so Amber and I looked like wet American rats. We were troopers, though, and stayed out all day.

After we got back from touring around the city, we went downstairs where all of our new guy friends live, and met up with Farhad. He is from Iran, and doesn't speak a whole lot of English. He speaks fluent German, and a little bit of Italian and English, but it is a little hard to communicate. Talking with him is more like an extended game of charades! :) While we were hanging out in his room, he decided to get on his computer and play music. It was so funny, because the first song that he played was Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." He started singing the words in his little Iranian accent, which was so adorable! We understand Titanic, at least!

After we sang and danced (Amber and I danced to N'Sync.... Fahrad and Joe laughed), Fahrad, Amber, Borhan (another guy from Iran), and I went to Borhan's and watched tv and ate some traditional German kabobs! It was so good! We had such a good time getting to know these guys. On the way home, Fahrad taught Amber and me how to count to 10 in German, and we laughed a lot about that. This is just another blessing in my life, I think. Before this trip, I didn't know anyone from the Middle East very well, and now I consider Farhad one of my closest friends here. It's so exciting!

After we got back, Srdjan, Amber, and I talked to my parents and Bryce on Skype for a while. It was really funny. Srdjan didn't want anybody to see him on the webcam, because he said that he was shy! I've only known him for a week, but he is the least shy person that I've ever met! When I asked why he wasn't shy around us, he said, "Yes, cutie, but you are not someone's momma!" :) We talked for a while, and then he found my FCA bible sitting on my table. I explained to him that it was the regular bible that he also knew, but that it had applications specific to athletes in the back. I think that he understood. He also looked at the devotional book "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell, and was very interested in that. We talked about Christian authors like C.S. Lewis for a while, too. It was a really good conversation.

Today, September 6, has been pretty slow. It continues to rain, so we all just hung out in the kitchen and I cooked pasta for us. Farhad didn't complain about the taste... but then again, he probably didn't know what to say! :) Tonight everyone should be back, and we are probably going to go out and explore, regardless of the weather. Joe went to Normandy today, so we haven't seen him yet. Srdjan wanted to go to KFC, but Amber and I are a little burnt out on that restaraunt.... maybe since it was invented right close to home! Before he left, he said, "Girls, what is 'Bucket of Chicken'? Is it good?" haha.

I actually DID homework today, everybody! I started an online class through UK before I left, so I already have homework to do for that.

I will keep the updates coming, but so far..... this trip is AMAZING! Pray for some sunshine! :)

2007-09-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 4

Today was great! Amber and I woke up early and headed out into the city with our new friend, Joe, from Boston. It is mandatory that all exchange students register with the city, so we had to get our Serbian friend to draw us a map of how to get there. It was a success! I am beginning to understand the routes of the metro system, which they call the U, as well as the streets. Everything is organized into different numbered districts. I am in district 7 of Vienna. The city is that big! :) I'm not in Kentucky anymore, momma! :)

After we registered, we all came back to the dorm and took naps. Then, Amber, Joe, and I headed out to have dinner with our new friend Mac (nickname for a much harder to pronounce name) from Saudi Arabia. Mac's family are high up in the oil industry, and Mac is also studying petroleum management. He is very smart. It was funny, because to find our restaraunt, Mac pulled out his personal pocket GPS system... which took us right to the place. We ate ate Viapino, an Italian restaraunt that had the most interesting and wonderful inside design of any place that I have been to... even in the states. We had fresh Bruschetta and a ham pizza. After dinner, we all had Gelatto ice cream at a shop down town. We walked along the Museum Quarter and had a nighttime look at the parliment building and many beautiful gardens and cathedrals. Mac wants to take us to see the Spanish Riding School tomorrow, so we might meet up with him again.

One thing that I have already been able to take away, after only being in Vienna for 2.5 days --

I am learning SO much about other countries and their people. As a young person in today's society, I really feel like I am not exposed to other cultures, even though I have been abroad many times. Here, I am getting to sit down with people from entirely different backgrounds and talk about politics, our religions, music, and even just what we do for fun. We are so different, but really a lot alike, as well. The Serbian guys love the show South Park.... I don't really know why! :) The most surprising thing, though, is that the people I have connected the best with are people who I had previously believed to have nothing in common with me. Fahrad, from Iran, is probably the sweetest guy that I have met in a long time (except you, Bryce! lol) Srdjan, from Serbia, is very very smart, and I have talked to him about everything! He is so funny, and we're really a lot alike. We have so much fun with Surge (as we've affectionately named him)! Mac is also another surprise, but I really love that guy! He is so fun!

So far -- an amazing experience. I will keep you posted. Continue to pray for me, and I hope to have some great stories about our tour around Vienna for tomorrow!

Love,

Amanda

2007-09-04T05:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody!!!!

Vienna is even prettier than I remember. I really am in love with this city. It is one of the safest big cities in Europe, and it is incredibly clean. There is a park right beside where I live, and kids play soccer every day. I am trying to get up the nerve to go and play with them this week!!!!! It should be fun! I also survived my first grocery shopping experience, which was interesting. I thought that I was buying turkey, but it turned out to be ham.... close enough, right? :) I met a lot of people yesterday.

My roommate isn't here yet, but we met a ton of guys from the 2nd floor. This one guy, Srdjan (you say it like surgeon) from Serbia is probably my favorite so far. His english is perfect, so he is helping us around the city and teaching us how to say some things in German. He calls me "Cutie Kentucky" now. :) I can pick up on a few words and things so far. It's fun. We went to a club type thing last night called Keiko, and it was pretty neat.
I actually got to have a religious discussion with Srdjan last night. We talked about our beliefs. He is an Orthodox Christian, so it's similar to us. It was hard for him to understand the concept of praying to God about whatever you want. Maybe I can talk to him more about this kind of thing. I think that he is very receptive to it. He said that he used to be a refugee when the United States was bombing Serbia in the 90's. I told him "sorry about that!" He says he loves kentucky people, though.... so we're good! :)

Miss you so much. Thanks for the prayers! I thank God for you guys daily! :)

Love ya,

2007-08-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Address while in Vienna:

Haus Erasmus
Kenyongasse 23-25
Wien 1070, Austria

2007-08-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hello, family and friends! I only have a few days before I leave for Vienna. I want you to know that I will REALLY miss everybody, and I'll be sure to post regularly on my blog so that you can know what's going on overseas with Amber and me! You will have to cheer on the Cats for us! I've already talked to a lot of people about the trip, and I am beyond excited! I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers over the next 4 months.
Departure Date: September 1, 2007 @ 5:45pm from Lexington
See you at Christmas! I love you!
~Amanda Kalyn Tyree~

Ich liebe euch und Auf Wiedersehen!