Rain Rain && More Rain

Since I got to Europe, it's rained consistently. I literally haven't had one day in Salzburg when it didn't rain at least once! Well, not too long ago, I made the comment of "oh! well, at least it doesn't rain like it does back home where it just POURS!" Yeah, good job Mallory. It's been doing just that since yesterday late afternoon....while I was walking home...with my laptop. Ha Ha Me and Karley had to stand under the little overhang thing at the front door of some random storm with my umbrella shielding us FROM THE HAIL!!!!! It was absolutely ridiculous. Today, the high was 50...that's how magnificent it's been! Ha Ha ooh well, everything is a new adventure.

Tomorrow I have my first midterm in my Understanding Austria class. This means that I'm going to be up most of the night studying since I haven't been able to make myself sit down and actually study. It's awful. Not only am I having to study :( and suffer through cold weather and rain, but I also have to deal with the fact that the food here is so freaking amazing and I can't seem to stop eating it...and to make it worse...it's mostly bread! AAAGGGHHHH!!!!! Someone save me! Just kidding-it's all great! :) Except for the homework and studying...that I could be saved from! Ha Ha

Thursday morning we leave for Vienna for four days and I'm pretty excited for it! It's going to be a lot of fun! We're going to Mauthausen, an orchestra, palaces, tour of the EU agriculture something, etc. I don't have a schedule...just my memory so that's all I could come up with! :)

I guess that's all...class is about to start! I guess just pray that it stops raining and it warms up and that I get all my presentations and papers done and that I do good on my final tomorrow and Wednesday and that we have a safe trip to Vienna on Thursday! :)

Munich

Yesterday, ten of us, out of everyone in our program, went to Munich for the day. We went in groups of 5 so that we only had to pay 6EURO for a ticket that would work for the train, buses, and even sbon (like the subway). Me, Laura and Karley met at our usual spot at 730 to walk to the bus stop by the school and ride it to the train station. There was only one problem that occurred...we missed the bus by literally 2 minutes. Ha Ha so, we ended up having to walk 45 minutes to the train station and instead catch the 915 train! :( It was okay though because weren't really on a time schedule or anything! lol

We got there a little bit after noon and we got on the subway thing that took us to Dachau. Yesterday, for the 4 1/2 hours we were there, I experienced one of the most overwhelming and humbling experiences of my life. I've always been intrigued with WWII, but actually being there where the absolutely horrific events took place was a whole new experience.

This is the sign that you see when you're entering the whole place.

"Work Will Set You Free"
One of the monuments in the camp that says "Never Again" in different languages.
At the camp, there are only two barracks that are still standing for everyone to walk through and see the extremely small living areas that they had to stay in. This is where Barrack 7 once stood. Someone left this rose with a note on it that said something in German. All I could understand was the name and a date.
This was the room where they would go in and think they were going to take a shower, when instead of water coming out of the "shower heads" in the ceiling, gas would come out...

The whole time I was there, it was ridiculously difficult to just not cry my eyes out. If the different rooms and places weren't difficult enough, they had videos and everything on display which would really hit you pretty hard.

After the camp, we decided to lighten the mood a little bit and head to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich. The Hofbrauhaus is an extremely large brewery in Munich. It was really cool...and the beer actually tasted amazing (but to set the record straight, I only tasted someones beer! I ordered a coke..you can check my receipt). :)

On our way to the Hofbrauhaus, we passed by this absolutely GORGEOUS catholic church. We lucked out and got there right before 5:00. The reason it was good that we got there then was because at 5:00, the bells go off and then these little people in the clock tower start going around the bells and everything. It was basically just like a giant koo koo clock. lol It was really cool.

Well, that just about sums up my Munich experience. Unfortunately, time ran out and we didn't get to go to all the places we wanted to visit but it was still really cool. Today, 8 of us are camping out in McDonald's studying because we get free wifi here! yay for homework....

Romeo, Romeo, Where For Art Thou Romeo?

On Saturday, we all took a trip to Verona, Italy. It was absolutely beautiful! When we got there, of course the first thing we did was eat lol Unlike Salzburg, Verona served ice with their drinks!

I've never had a sprite taste as good as that one did...EVER!
Once we were done eating, we walked over to "the Arena" which was basically just a smaller version of the colosium...but i dont think they used to do gladiator fights or whatever in there haha anyway, it was really pretty and they were actually setting up for a Michael Buble concert which was held there that night. Unfortunately, being poor and having to pay for everything ourselves, me and Karley opted out of getting tickets so we didn't attend haha
After walking throught the Arena, we found "Casa di Giulietta" AKA Juliette's house.
All the different letters to Juliette and the signatures of people and everything was really cool and slightly overwhelming at the same time! haha
Me and Karley got to go inside and take a picture on Juliette's balcony :)
After that, we wandered around and actually found the old Roman ampitheater (which is behind us). We asked someone how to get there and their response "across the bridge"...however, we couldn't find a bridge!
I saw these sunflowers and they were absolutely STUNNING!!! and I was so amazed and wanted to buy some....then I found out they were fake and I was really upset! BUT, they still made for a really good picture! haha
We finally found the bridge to cross and trecked up all the stairs and it was definitely worth it because this was the view from the top!

Of course, we had to take a cheesy picture...yes, we all took one! So don't make fun of me because I wasn't the only one!

Well, Verona has been my favorite place so far to say the least. However, next week we go to Vienna, then Prague and Budapest, and then Florence, Pisa, Genova and Milan so I'm sure I'll change my mind every time I go somewhere new! :)

Venezia

Italy. Italy. Italy. I can talk about Italy all freaking day. It is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!!!! Thursday night, me and like 15 other people went to the train station in Salzburg to catch a train (at 1AM) to Venice, Italy. The train ride all went well and it was quite uncomfortable (but definitely not as bad as the airplane ride). Anyway, Friday morning around 9AM or so, we all got on a boat and went to the island of Lido, which was where our hostel, Locanda da Scarso. The owner was just absolutely precious! Him and his son run it (maybe his wife-I never saw her so who knows!) and it has been in their family since 1906. He was so nice, he cooked us breakfast every morning, let us use his computer in his office, etc.

After checking in, we headed to the bus stop aross the street and this is the view we got every single time we walked out of our hostel:

It's gorgeous isn't it? I mean, it should be a postcard! Ha Ha Anyway, we went to San Marco where we walked around, grabbed something to eat and then we did what everyone should do when they go to Venice...take a Gondola ride!
After the gondola ride, we walked around some more, ate dinner, blah blah blah. Ha Ha On our boat ride back to the island, this is the gorgeous sunset over Venice that we got to see...like every night!
Once again, it should be a postcard right?! :)
On Sunday, me and Karley went to Doges palace which we toured through and they had a dungeon/prison in it and the old supreme courts, etc. All the rooms were absolutely gorgeous! The artwork was just so pretty!
Me and Karley were wasting time so we just road around on a boat (which ended up taking 2 1/2 hours to get back to somewhere that looked familiar). But this was just a random picture that I took while we were just going all over the world lol I thought it turned out really cool. :)
Our last day there we all went to Murano Island, "Glass Island." On glass island, they literally just make glass. Everything that they made was just absolutely gorgeous and absolutely amazing because i can't figure out how they do it...even after watching them do it! Ha Ha

Well, that's my Venice trip! It was oodles of fun!!! :)

ITALYYYY!!!!!!

Well, as I've previously mentioned....

I'M GOING TO VENICE AND VERONA THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!

I leave for the train station in and hour and a half and we leave the train station in 4 hours!

That's all for now.

Have a super weekend everyone! :)

Day Seven

Today has been kind of a relaxing and slightly uneventful day unfortunately :( lol Let me see...yesterday was our first day of classes. The European Union I have on Monday and Wednesday and Understanding Austria I have on Tuesday and Thursday. I got our syllabus' and the classes are going to be a little bit more difficult than I had been anticipating but it's okay...I'll live! Let's see though...I had McDonalds for the first time in a LOONNGGG time last night and I must say, it wasn't all that great! :( lol Before I say anything else, I must say how absolutely thrilled I am that my niece Mackenzie Parr Hogue has now graced the world with her presence!

Is she not just absolutely beautiful????? :)

ANYWAY! This morning, I had Understanding Austria for the first time and it's going to be great! It's history and more of what I know and am interested in as where EU is ALL new to me and is going to be way more difficult! lol After class, Karley, Eliel and I went to register at the police station with a bunch of people and then we went all the way out to my house. From there, we went to the Red Bull Museum. The inventor/owner of Red Bull absolutely LOVES Salzburg, so he not only owns their soccer team but he also has a huge museum that's free to everyone and his headquarters are in the Salzkammergut, which we saw over the weekend.

This man has more toys than could ever be necessary! He has two hangers, one for touring and looking at all the different airplanes, cars, helicopters, etc. that he owns as well as a virtual tour/airplane ride and a cafe, the Carpe Diam (which is supposed to be AMAZING).

One thing that I see EVERYWHERE over here is dogs. They're seriously all over the place! It's ridiculous! They go in to stores, restrooms, shopping malls, museums, everywhere! It's crazy! And poodles seem to be the dog to have! lol

Karley, Me and Eliel had so much fun walking through the museum and looking at everything! I think the best part was afterwards when we had to find the bus stop...and then get on the right bus to take us back in to town! haha Let's just say, that wandering around on our own is the best way to sightsee...even in the rain, tornado-worthy winds, and cold temperatures! :) I can't wait until this weekend though!! We leave for Venice on Friday morning at 1am and get there at 9am. Then, we're going to travel to Verona sometime and do umm...something! lol and then we will be heading back Monday night at around 11pm and will get home at 4am. Then, I have class at 9am Tuesday morning and then apfelstrudel making with Brigette at 1pm. THEN, it will finally be SLEEP TIME!!!!!! lol :)

Yes...it's still cold and raining...

Today was my 5th day in Salzburg and we haven't had a day where it wasn't raining yet :( but it's still been so amazing!! So far, there has only been two really bad things happen. 1. about 9/10 of my money that I brought with me was put on these little Visa gift cards...however, they're not working!!!! 2. I have been walking SO MUCH, my ankles are swollen and I feel like I'm walking on two sprained ankles! :( But hey, I'm in Austria so I just have to suck it up and deal with it lol Anyway, yesterday, we went on a walking tour through the city which was so much fun! Then, last night, me and 4 of my friends went to the Salzburger Marionettentheater where we saw the Magic Flute. It was so amazing and so much fun...however, it lasted 2 1/2 hours!! lol

This is Kerry, Me, Aaron, Karley and Laura during intermission.

After that, we went to this really random restaurant (the only one that was still open) and got food...which was AMAZING! It was kind of random though, it had Austrian, Italian and Indian food? But whatever...it was good and not very expensive at all!!

Today, we went on a tour through the Salzkammurgut which is the "lake district" of Austria. It was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I wish it was really sunny and pretty outside so it would've been a little bit more fun but it was amazing either way!

One of the places in Salzkammurgut is the wedding church from the Sound of Music...yes, she didn't really get married in the convent like the movie makes you believe! The outside is the convent but the inside was this cathedral in the lake district!

Also in the lake district was the Bone Room...I think that's what it was called I don't really remember. Anyway, it was a room that has 1,200 "dead bodies" in it and the families all paint the skulls of their family members that have passed away and they're organized by family.

As you can see, it is FREEZING!!!!! I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt, fleece underarmor pull-over, sweatshirt, scarf that I bought the other day and my host mom's gloves and jacket that could easily be passed as a snuggie with a hood and pockets! :) Anyway, this is one of the views from the lake district. It was absolutely gorgeous! There's still snow on the top of all the mountains and it was just gorgeous!

Well, my classes start tomorrow so I'd better get ready for bed! :) Anyway, enjoy! And there are also TONS of pictures on my facebook now...I'll try to get descriptions on them so you'll know what you're looking at! lol

I'm a little behind...

Hello everyone! :)

I'm sorry I'm so behind on this thing! My host home has internet, but I have to use her computer...which doesn't have my pictures or anything on it...and the keyboard and everything on it is in German so that makes it a little bit difficult. :\ Also, I can't put any pictures up just yet because they're all on my laptop. So, next week when our classes start, I'll have my computer at the school where we get internet and I can put some things up! :)
Anyway, Salzburg is GORGEOUS...even in the rain, cold weather and fog! haha I got here 3 days ago and have adjusted extremely well, despite the food changes! We haven't gone too many places or really done too much yet! Yesterday was orientation. We all introduced ourselves, then had lunch (which was cooked by our AMAZING cook at the school Brigette), then went on a walking tour through old town, which is where our school is (so i've heard). There are about 30 students in the program, and over half of them are from the University of Florida. Everyone is really nice and really cool. My roommate is from UF as well. She's very nice, slightly awkward, and complains about EVERYTHING but she's a music student so I'm not around her all that often thankfully. Well, last night we all went to Murphy's Irish Pub which is right next to the school and apparently the owner is really close with our professors or something like that, I'm not really all that sure!

Today, we met at the school at 10:00 for "introduction so salzburg" which was basically just an hour and a half of Salburgs brief history. It was really pretty interesting. Then, me and four other girls just kind of wandered around the city for a couple of hours! There's this really cute market in one of the squares that has fresh fruit and vegetables, all kinds of food, clothing, etc. The fruits were so big and gorgeous, they really just looked fake! Then, we walked to the other side of the river and looked for the train station for about two hours. We're planning on going to Paris for a weekend and then on another weekend going to Prag and Budapest. So that will be pretty exciting.

Tomorrow, we're going on a walking tour all through Salzburg. My favorite place so far in the Meribel Palace which Franz Josef built for his mistress Elizabeth and it is absolutely GORGEOUS! (we stumbled across it accidently today while looking for the train station). On Saturday, we're going to ummm....Salzkkamurt...idk-i know i didn't spell it right but whatever! It's the lake district and it's supposed to be GORGEOUS! So, please pray and keep your fingers crossed that the sun comes out so its not really cold! :(

Now, I have to go get ready and walk back to the school. We're having a dinner with our host families and all the students! Oh! And after, there's this big party\celebration in the Residence Square because last night, Salzburg won the Austrian Cup or something in Soccer. IDK, something major so there's going to be some kind of celebration and it ought to be interesting! Anyway, it'll probably be Monday night (morning for ya'll) before I post again...and hopefully I can get some pictures up! :) -Oh, and sorry this is kind of long!