The dinner party was a success!! Everyone enjoyed the meal, and no one got sick. This morning I went to church with Terry and her daughter, my roommate Sarah Hannah went with us and abs. loved it. Terry got me a present... it was a glass pan to make brownies and other yummy treats in!! I was so excited because we desperatly needed one, for we had made our friends bring dishes to our party. After church, we made a delicious breakfast consisting of eggs and pancakes, then I went for a two hour walk into the mountains. When I got home, I was exhausted, so I laid down thinking I would take a short nap, and woke up 3 hours later. I then made a grilled cheese and ham sandwich and then took a bus to find where our exercise classes were going to be tomorrow. Yes, I start my cycling class tomorrow afternoon. I am a bit nervous about the class being taught in german, but kel and beth convinced me that there is only one way to ride a bike... it cant be too hard. So, I will let you know. Well, I am going to snuggle into bed. I am whiped out and have a full load tomorrow. I am actually giving a presentation in my International Organization class, which I am praying is what the teacher expects. Well, love you all!! Talk to you soon!!

Austria nicht Australia

Last night, I babysat with one of my friends for a family who is from New Jersey. We had a good time, but were wishing we were with our friends watching an opera. It was at a very nice house close to where I live. They had four kids that were all very sweet. After we finished at 11, we headed downtown to meet Marie, Heather, and a few of our guy friends at an Australian Bar. It was pretty nice, because everyone spoke English. I felt as if I was in another country. We had Fosters and sat around talking with the manager of the bar. We got home at 3 am, and fell right to sleep.

This morning I woke up at 10 am, and headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. I ended up walking for an hour and finding a new grocery store. This was very exciting because they had a whole new selection of products to choose from. I even found pancakes and syrup, which we had all been craving. I piled up my grocery bags and headed out for the long journey home. I realized that it takes as long as the equivalent of walking from my house in Gonzales to the methodist church to get back to my apartment..which is quite a ways. At home, I would think that was insane, but today I actually did it twice, with heavy bags to carry. When I got back home the first time, I realized I had forgotten a few food items. So, I thanked God for my Ipod and headed back into the world again. We are having a dinner party tonight at our house. We invited some of our friends over to see our apartment and eat our good food. We have to cook for 12 people, so its going to be tough considering the small supply of dishes we posses. I am making a tomato, mozzarella, mushroom, olive, pepper salad with balsamic and olive oil, as well as, provide dill dip and salsa with chips. The main course is a special family recipe by Marie, which is a ham, pea, cream tortellini casserole. Heather is making roasted vegetable salad, Sarah Hannah- homemade peach cobbler and ice cream. We will also have potatoes and a green salad with garlic bread. So, pretty much its going to be amazing. A real homemade meal. The other people we invited our bringing drinks and other side dishes. We are going to take out the furniture in our living room and put a couple of our long tables together and set the table. I'm so excited... we are even all dressing up! So, I will let you know how this turns out, I hope its what we are expecting! So that's my day thus far... walking to the grocery store, cooking, laundry, and getting ready for a dinner party. What a wonderful and beautiful day in Vienna!! Love you!

ps. one more thing

I posted some new pics, so I thought I should explain... a couple of the pics are my crazy roommates cooking. We made Mexican food which was delicious. Then there are a couple random buildings in Vienna... it was a pretty day.. couldn't resist. Finally, there are a few pictures from my friend Kelsey's birthday. We went to a Japanese restaurant... which might I add was my first. I am not a fan of oriental food, but I went because it was her birthday. I had chicken kabobs while everyone else had sushi. Sorry, still no fish, but the chicken was good. So, yeah... that's it :) love you!

My first week of classes....

Sorry its been a while... I have been busy getting use to school. As far as now, I enjoy all of my classes. My favorite is going to be the Art and Architecture class. The teacher is enthusiastic and passionate about what she is teaching. She speaks as if she is telling a children's story. One thing that I especially like is that we have to keep a journal of the museums and churches we visit. Along with a written description of what we saw, we also have to draw a picture of our favorite part. I got really into this and woke up early Tuesday morning to visit St. Stephen's Cathedral. I sat in awe for over an hour and a half writing about what my gut feeling was about the church and what art truly meant to me. I also drew an abstract depiction of my favorite part, the beautiful chandeliers. I think that my favorite part 50 years from now when I look back on my journal is going to be the horrible spelling mistakes I made. I am so use to my computer correcting my errors, it has been so long that I actually have turned in something hand written. The hardest class I have is German. I would rather sit an extra 10 hours in Finance which isn't that great, just so I didn't have to look so stupid in German. Why didn't I take advantage of Oma, Helga, and mom's teachings. I don't know why, but languages are extremely difficult for me, especially when the head of the German dept is my teacher and has the thickest accent EVER! The one class that will be difficult but I will learn the most hopefully is my International Finance: Euro banking. It involves a lot of reading, a 15 page single spaced final paper, 2 long tests and is on Tues and Thurs nights (which sucks). But, the teacher is very enthusiastic and really wants us to learn and be able to talk intelligibly about finance and the banking systems in the EU and the US when we are done. Which would be very nice to be able to do. I feel like this is one area I have not been exposed to as much, but would like to have some understanding of how it works. So, Opa I will learn banking in honor of you and Oma..German for you. Oh, I am also taking an Art, Culture, and Entertainment management class. This is a really cool class too. We are learning how one manages large events, museums, art exhibits or festivals, plus focusing on Tourism and how important that is to our society. This class is at 9 am, but its worth waking up for. I must say this semester is teaching me a lot. I use to not ever have class before 11, now I am up and out the door by 7:30 am every morning even if I don't have to, just so I can walk around the city. I have been walking up the stairs instead of taking the escalator as well as walk instead of taking the street car. I am really trying to change my habits, so hopefully it will continue when I get back home. Tonight, I will go to Euro banking and then to my friends house after to hang out. It has been absolutely beautiful here the past two days and then this morning.. it was awful...pouring cats and dogs. When this happens, the day is just ruined, because we walk everywhere and its so cold. So, when I got to German I was soaked not because I didn't use an umbrella, but because I had been walking for so long in the rain that it was all over me. Oh well... that's life. Well, I hope everyone is doing well!! Miss and love you!!

A blessing in disguise....

Yesterday morning, I arose quite early at 5:30 am. Poor Mel, she woke up as well to take me to the train station so I could take a fast train to the airport. (by the way..thanks again Mel). When I got to the airport, I realized that I actually didn't need to wake up that early, because I was the only person in line. The good thing was that I got through check in and security in a matter of minutes. I was able to get a nice breakfast and then relax. The plane ride was quick, only an hour. By the time I got there, I was wishing it was longer, for I was sleeping so incredibly well. When I left Copenhagen, it was freezing. I had two layers on, two pairs of socks, a big jacket,thick gloves, and when I got to Vienna it was extremely warm. The sun was out and shinning brightly. It was such a warm beautiful welcome back home. I took the CAT, a fast train into the middle of town and then transferred to a couple different underground trains to get home. The whole way home I was wishing I had packed just a tad lighter. I was exhausted hauling my huge bag up and down the tall stairs of the underground train stations. It is amazing what people do here, no wonder everyone is thin... the calories just sweat off of you going up and down those things. As I was walking from the train station down the road to my apartment I noticed that there was a huge festival taking place really close to home. So, I got home, changed out of my Eskimo suit into summer clothes and walked down with my roommates to enjoy in the festivities. It ended up being a huge flea market with music and yummy food. I ended up getting a really pretty pearl necklace and a black watch, totaling 10 Euro together. Great deals, good finds. We then sat and ate sausage and listen to the fun Austrian music. On our way home, I suggested we head to the store since it would not be open on Sunday. I went to get some cereal while Nick and Marie got eggs. I noticed that they were talking to someone, so I went behind them and listened in. It ended up being this amazing lady who was from the USA and had been living in Vienna for 6 years. She is an art teacher at an international school. We stood and talked with her for a while, and then we ended up going with her to another store we had no idea existed a ways down from where we lived. She was so kind and helpful, showing us all the things we thought never existed here. It was nice because we usually have to carry everything 8 blocks, but she had a car, so we pilled our goodies up. You know how I was saying I wish that we had a Target, well this wasn't Target but it was like a Super HEB, so it had a huge selection. This was something we just weren't use to, and ended up spending hours just staring in awe. We even found fajita stuff, which we had been craving. She took us home and gave us her email and phone number in case we needed anything. She then asked if we had found a place to go to church. I told her that I was looking for one but hadn't found one, so she offered to take me to hers. I couldn't say no, so she told me she would be here at 9 am. That evening we made fajitas and guacamole. It was quite delicious.

So, this morning I was up and ready at 9 am. Her and her daughter picked me up and we went to the this church inside the Vienna International School. I sat with her family. They were abs. amazing. I truly felt as if I had known them forever. Her name is Terry and she reminds me of Laura Phelps :). She is so encouraging and fun to be around. The church was an English speaking, non-denominational church filled with amazing praise music and a charismatic preacher. I had a blast. The sermon was about Noah and how he was so dedicated to what God had told him to do, that he spent 120 years of his life building a boat. He compared his life to how we should live ours. I thought it was interesting that at that time Noah had never seen a boat of that magnitude, or had ever seen rain. Up to the point of the flood it supposedly never had rained before. So, Noah built tha ark even though he didn't know exactly what God meant by a flood. The preacher main theme was living by faith and not self rightousness and doing things even though it might not be familiar. The sermon went on and on with so many cool points. I gained so much out of it.. I could go on and on about what I leaned, but I won't bore you with it. The cool thing is that it was just like I was back in High school when Jon was still in Gonzales. There were so many college kids there. We all sat around and talked afterwards, we exchanged phone numbers and are planning to get together in the near future. They also have praise music and a bible study for high school/college age kids on Sunday nights. I was hoping to go tonight, but I'm not for sure since classes start tomorrow. Also, Terry is one of the youth leaders and she asked if I would come and help out with the younger kids when I had time. It sounds like this church is involved and does a lot of neat activities and retreats. All day, I have been thanking God for putting Terry and her family in my life, they are all a blessing. She said that she wants to have my roommates and I over this week for dinner, she offered to drive us wherever, as well as use her dryer. I mean you couldn't ask for a more amazing gift.

After church, I decided to take everything out of my closets and start over. I have gotten into the habit of not being organized lately, and it was starting to drive me crazy. So, I reorganized and it looks and feel so so much better in my room. This afternoon, I think we are going to go for a walk and then hopefully cook some chicken. I hope everyone had a wonderful day!! Mark, I hope your 18Th birthday was great!! Love you all so much.

Last day in Denmark..

Like my title says, today is the last day I am in Copenhagen. I leave tomorrow at 9:30 AM from the Copenhagen Iternational Airport and will arrive at 10:45 AM in Vienna. Yesterday, I met Melissa after her morning class and went for bagels with her and her good friend from her program. We then walked around the main shopping street and made are way up the Roundtower. The tower was built with a ramp that circled in the inside all the way up to the top, so that the king could ride his horse all the way up to look over his country and see if any invaders were close. I liked this walk a lot more than the one I did in Prague, because there were only a few stairs to climb. Once we reached the tip top, it was a gorgeous view. Mel pointed out the major points of the town and explained to me that there were only 7 districts in Copenhangen, where in Vienna there is 21, so everything was very close by. After our long hike down, we headed to a pizza shop near her school. I had hawiian pizza of course, and Mel has lasagna. I had the opportunity to meet some of Mel's close friends that she hangs out with in Copenhagen. Everyone was very nice and enjoyable. During Mel's afternoon class, I walked around and explored. I found some cool shops and a great juice bar to sit in and read. I finally found a heavy coat! I had been looking everywhere for one, and finally I had found the perfect one. That evening we rode back to her house on a city bus, and cooked a delicious dinner. Mel and her roommate made chicken breast covered in cornflakes, veggies, pasta, and marianera sauce. I must say it was quite a delicious meal. I ended up going to sleep very early last night around 10. I was wiped from the long day of walking. This morning I woke up fairly late at 10 am. Before this past summer, I would have said this was too early, but as I began to wake up early for work and then German class, sleeping past 7 was late. But, I needed the rest, and I am glad I slept as long as I did. Today, we are going to explore the area around which Mel lives and then head over to Tivilli, the oldest amusment park in the world, and hang out with her friends. Tomorrow morning I have to be at the airport at 7. This is going to be tough considering it takes an hour to reach the airport. Oh well, it was a cheap flight and I will be able to be back in Vienna early so that I can wash clothes and enjoy my own envionment. I hope all is well!! I love you and miss you. Mel and I were just discussing how much we enjoy Europe, but at the same time we can't wait to be home. We miss all the conviences that we take for granted, such as air conditioning, free refils and free water, cars, and stores like Target and Wal-Mart where everything you need is there. So, be grateful for those little things, for I know I sure do now!! Talk to you soon!! Have a great Friday!!

my time in Prague

Like I said in my last post, I made it to Prague successfully on Saturday. I took a train with 5 of my friends from school. On our 5 hour journey, we laughed, slept, and ate on the restraunt part of the train. From the train station in Prague, we took a taxi to our new home of three days, Hostel Elf. Not knowing what to expect, I walked in to the entrance of the buliding that took over 50 stairs to get to. The building resembled one of what you would think of what a hostel might look like. There were 10 rooms on each floor, 8 beds in each room, and 2 bathrooms per floor. So pretty much 80 people sharing 2 bathrooms. Wow, was I excited to sleep there... not. So, we put our things away in a locker and headed out to see Prague. That evening we walked around the beautiful city, ate authintic czech food and listned to a jazz band. After dinner, we decided to meet up with Marie and Nick (my friends from Trinity) and have some delicious hot chocolate and gellato. It was rather cold that night, but it was clear and crisp. After our late night snack, we decided that we try out a club that we had heard about. The club was 5 stories each with its own theme and music, and was called Karlovy Lazne. We had such an awesome time. It was almost surreal. We met some Polish guys that were a blast to hang out with and had the most hillarious dance moves I have ever seen. When we arrived back to the hostel, we realized that the other 4 beds in our room were filled with men. Upset with the situation, we went up to the desk to see if we could change rooms. They said, no, for it was a co-ed hostel... where ever there is a bed, anyone can sleep. So, we crawled into our faded disgusting sheets and tried our best to sleep the night away. I, however, could not, and stayed awake most of the night. The next morning, we faced the bathrooms, and all took showers. Heather (my roommate in Vienna) whispered to me that she did not like the living situation, and I totally agreed with her. So, we vowed that if we could find a hotel room by the night, that we would leave, and if we couldn't, we would be strong and get by. Well, luckily we found a hotel room, an extremely nice one for a reasonable price. It was called the Hotel Carlton, I suggest it if you ever come to Prague. It was so so so nice to have our own bed with our own bathroom and shower plus included delicious breakfast. After we made the decision to get a new place our attitude drastically changed. We were excited about Prague, not dreading the whole day about going back to our hostel. On Sunday, we trecked through the crowds on to the Charles's brigde which led us to the Prague castle. On the way up to the castle we stopped in to see St. Nichols cathedral, and ended up walking 300 stairs to the top for a bird's eye view of the castle. It was a horrible climb, but def. well worth it. We then went to the Prague castle, walked around, and actually ran into some people who were also visiting from our school. We then went into the Basillica of St. George and ended up walking up another tower, this one much much worse. It was a tight circle the whole way up the 287 stairs. It is amazing what people were thinking when they built these insane staircases in the early 14th century. We then headed back for dinner and went to bed for our next long day of sightseeing. On Monday, we pretty much just shopped and spent sometime getting to know the city. That evening we went to a really great reasturant called the Louve and then made our way to a black light theater performance downtown. It was an enjoyable evening. On Tuesday, I took a taxi from our hotel and met my friend Anna at the Prague airport. We got on a Sterling plane for 40 Euro and made our way to Copenhagen. The flight was so short, only lasting an hour. Melissa, my amazing friend from Trinity, picked us up from the airport and rode the train with us to town. That evening we hung out, and walked around town. Anna went with her boyfriend, and I back to Mel's apartment. We ened up watching 2 episodes of Lost and falling asleep. She was so nice to share her bed with me. It was a little crammped considering it is a twin size bed, but we managed. This morning, I woke up and am enjoying my time off, while Mel is in class. This evening we are going to do some sightseeing and cherish the day. It is beautiful ourside and about 56 degrees. Well, I hope all is well. Love, Chelsi

Im finally in Prauge

I just wanted to let you know that I made it to Prauge. Its abs. beautiful!!!! I dont have long to type because there is a line for the computer and we have a full day ahead of us. But know that I am safe and doing well. One thing I have learned is that its better to pay a little extra for a hotel. Hostles are just not my thing...but its an experience. I hope everyone is doing well!! I will try to get on soon and let you know all Ive seen and done!! have a great day!! love you!

German Intensive is over!!!

Guten Tag!!

My German Intensive is over!! Very exciting!! After we finished our extinsive exams, we headed down to a place in the 15th distric to sign up for a work out class. Vienna offers a multitude of opportunities for anyone to join a workout class. There are a billion classes to choose from including a wide range from Yoga to Cycling to Gun shooting to Trampoline Jumping... pretty much anything you desire is yours!!! So, I joined a cycling fat burning class on Mondays for 17 Euros. For the past week, I was having a difficult time on deciding which classes to take during the semester, and after a long time of debating, I think I finally found the course load that will work. I will be taking a Vienna Art and Architecture class where one day out of the week we will have the opportunity to explore art museums and old buildings plus get a free museum pass for anytime during the semester to all the amazing places around town. I also will be taking an Art, Culture, and Events Management class which I am also thoroughly excited about. Along with this I will take an International Finance: Euro banking class and International Organizations class plus Elementry German I :) I am excited about each one of these classes, they all seem very interesting. They will begin on Monday the 24th.

So, tomorrow I leave for Prague at 10:00 AM from the South Train Station in Vienna. I should arrive in Prague around 2:00 PM and will stay in a youth hostel down town. I am probably not going to take my lap top, so hopefully I can find a place with computers to keep you updated.

This week has been a good one. It has been beautiful and relatively warm. I went to the Nachtmart on Tuesday with my class to practice German. This is a farmers market that offers a wide variety of fresh ethnic foods. We got to purchase a variety of breads, cheeses, meats, and veggies. When we got back to class, we had to explain to the teacher in German what we purchased and then we were able to make sandwiches. On Wednesday, I went to a local cafe with my German class to practice ordering in German. This was fun because we got to order anything we wanted on behalf of our school. I ended up getting hot chocolate and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with ketchup. Thursday, I aced my oral exam, and today I officially finished my intensive 3 weeks with a decent final. As for this afternoon, my roommates are sound asleep, rejuvenating for this upcoming week, and I have just finished watching the excellent movie, High Crimes. I love this movie... if you need a good movie to watch this is the one. We have a TV but the channels are all in German, which is not pleasurable at all. Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! I hope to write soon, but if I don't know worries, I am just soaking up the memories in Prague and Copenhagen!! I will be back in Vienna next Saturday (the 22nd) at 10:45 am.

Love,
Chelsi

sunny day

Hey everyone!! I hope all is well!! Today went well, the sun was shinning and there was not a drop of rain. It feels like it has been cold and rainy forever, but today was beautiful. I have only 2 more days of German intensive and then I am off to Prauge and then Copenhagen to see my friend Melissa!! I can not wait. I have been studying all day for my oral exam tomorrow. I am a bit nervous about it because we have to draw a topic from a hat and talk about it for 5 minutes.... I don't think I know enough German words for that!! Anyways it will be over soon, and then I get a 10 day break before real classes start. I think tonight I am just going to hang out and relax and try to cram more vocab into my head. I hope everyone's day went well. Love you!!

a great time with the family...

This weekend I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with my wonderful grandparents in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. I left Friday at 12:57 pm from the South Banhof Station in Vienna and arrived in Villach, Austria at 5:45 pm. The trip went rather smoothly, I read a book and listened to the smooth sounds of my Ipod. I am so grateful for who ever invented the Ipod. This little contraption helped to somewhat block out the sound of three screaming babies in my cabin. Once I arrived in Villach, I had some what of a problem finding Opa and Eric. They happened to have been on the wrong platform, which left both parties weary. After 10 minutes of searching, we found each other at the bottom of the stairs between the two differing platforms. When I left Vienna, the day was cold and wet, however, when I arrived in Villach it was clear and pleasant. We packed ourselves in Eric's BMW and traveled through the Alps to our hotel. The hotel that we stayed in was the Hotel Eschenhof, which is rated top in the area. It was a very beautiful hotel that was set close to the village. That night we had a very nice meal. I had veal schnitzel with a cold salad and warm bread. It was so nice to be surrounded by family. I had a wonderful time getting to know Aunt Desiree, cousin Sierra (2nd grade), and Uncle Eric, for it was the first time I had the opportunity to meet them . The next morning we woke up bright and early for breakfast. The buffet was outstanding with a multitude of choices for cereal, bread, juice, fruit, eggs, etc. Sierra and I drank the hot chocolate, I must say it was one of the best hot chocolates I have yet to taste. From this point on Sierra and I had hot chocolate with every meal. From breakfast, we took a bus up to the the top of a mountain to watch the cows come down. It was a celebration that happened once a year, which marked the beginning of winter. All the cows were adorned in flowers and were herded down to the village for a party. A band lead them all the way down the mountain. Once the cows arrived, the party began, a sermon was given and blessings were bestowed. Tons of great food was served and lots of pictures were taken. **As a side note, I am trying to figure out how I can post my pictures on here so you can see what I am experiencing. I am hoping to get them up in the next couple days. Thanks for being so patient.** After we had enough of the celebration we headed back to the hotel for a nice long nap. That afternoon I took an almost 4 hour nap, which was desperately needed. That evening we went down to dinner. I had a balsamic marinated steak with mushroom soup and salad. I have to say that I have had the opportunity to have mushrooms at every meal since I have arrived in Europe, which is extremely nice....Dad, I thought I ate a lot of mushrooms before... but now I eat tons..and they are so so tasty :) Sunday morning, I woke up and ate breakfast and headed for my departure at the train station at 10:20 am. I arrived back home in Vienna at 3:00 pm. Overall, I had an extremely wonderful time and appreciated Opa, Helga, Desiree, Eric, and Sierra's kind hospitality and love. It was such a great experience and it is one that I will always hold in my heart. If you are ever in Austria, Bad Kleinkirchheim is definitely a place that shouldn't be missed. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Thank you again for reading!!! I am going to head to bed and get some rest for another long week of German!!

Its too cold outside...

So, it has been raining for the past 3 days (not to mention) it is under 40 degrees F which makes it extremely fun to walk 10 blocks to the train station twice a day. School has been going well, this intensive German is really making me want real school to start. I can't wait to have other subjects to study besides Deutsch. After class, I have been making the rounds at the fun shops in Vienna in search for a heavy nice coat and warm layers. I have not yet succeeded, but I feel it shall be soon. I did however by my first pair of skinny jeans. Yes, I have turned to the dark side and am starting to dress European. Everyone here wears skinny jeans. This phenomenon was not understood until it began to pour outside and my wide leg jeans could not fit into my cherry red with white polka dot rain boots. Now, I have a pair of black jeans that fit nicely into my Uggs and rain boots without discomfort. This afternoon I have spent writing and rewriting a foreign language for my midterm tomorrow. I am not too excited about it. I have a hard time spelling English as it is, how do they expect me to spell a whole new language right, especially German. Oh well, I will do my best. I am so ready for bed, I am not ready, however for the cold sheets. We have not turned our heater on yet, and our house is not insulated very well, so we sleep in tons of layers. After my test tomorrow, I will take a 5 hour train to Villach to visit Opa and Helga for the weekend. I can not wait. So, next time you hear from me, I will fill you in. Hope everyone is doing well!! Mema, I hope your surgery did miracles and Edward... Happy 17th Birthday!!! Love you all!!

What a night....

So, last night we got all dressed up to hang out at a winery with some of our friends. We scurried to the tram thinking we knew exactly where we were going. 15 minutes later we realized we were back to where we had started, we had been talking so much that we totally missed our stop. So, we rode it again till we got to the right place, then jumped on another tram for the last leg of our trip. Well, this tram ended up going up a huge mountain and we realized that we were going the wrong direction. So, I called my friend and told him to not leave the resturant, because when the tram stopped we would go off and get on the right tram. Well, it didnt stop until it was at the very top of the mountain. As, we stepped off the tram we realized that there was a huge festival going on. A lady figured that we were lost and told us that we might as well stay because fireworks were about to start any moment. So we did and soon found out that we had stumbeled on to a once a year wine festival. I called the guys and told them to not wait for us because we were going to stay there. We bought wine glasses and walked around to all the booths for wine tasting. It was the best wrong turn ever. After the fireworks, we realize it is only 10 and that might as well meet up with the guys downtown since they were nice and had been waiting on us, and then we kind of ditched them. So we jumped back on the tram we had come up on and headed for the 1st district. From there we went to a carnival where the oldest fairist wheel stands. It ended up being a blast, we all walked around and looked at all the fun attractions and then went to a cute resturant to sit and talk before heading home. Today, we all woke up late and made pasta with pesto (would you expect anything else), and did our German homework. I think tonight we are going to try to go to a film festival because it is the last night. Who knows though... we seem to have a hard time of figuring out how to get to places. We for sure still have some learning to do :)

A night on the town....

So, yesterday was Friday. I had my first German test which was harder than I expected. Learning a new language is extremely difficult for me! After the long test, I wondered around downtown gorgeous Vienna with my roommates until we were to exhausted to walk any longer. Then we headed on to the U-bahn (underground train) for our hour long ride home. That evening we all got dressed up and were ready to hit the town. Then one of us had the bright idea of trying to go to our friend's house in a district we had never been. We all thought this would be a great idea, but unfortunately we got miserably lost, and ended up in a whole different territory than desired. Not to mention all four of us were in short sleeves and high heels, and it was 60 degrees F outside. Two hours later we decided to give up and make our way to the center of town. Luckily, we were able to meet up with a large majority of our friends who were also walking around town. We sat outside in the cold for an hour trying to decide where to go. Finally after a long debate we ended up at a British bar at 1:30 am. Did I mention we left at 8:00 pm??? By 1:30 our feet were practically bleeding and we were def. not in a good mood. So, we went to the bar and got a pitcher of bier and really really tried to laugh off the situation (which was very hard). Then we realized it was 2:30 am, and the u-bahn stations all closed at 12:30 pm. So, we asked everyone we saw what the best way home would be. We ended up running to a shuttle that was able to take us to our apt, which was extremely lucky. To say the least we had an adventure for our first time out at night in Vienna. One thing I can say is that we learned the train system quickly.

This morning we woke up around 8:30 am and headed to down town for a delicious breakfast at a quaint cafe. I had ham and eggs and the best cappuccino. You seriously can not beat coffee in Vienna. It is practically the best ever. At 12:00pm we met the rest of our study abroad group at the Opera to get on a shuttle bus for a 3 hour tour around the town. It was such a great experience. The art history teacher was the tour guide. She did an excellent job of narrating. Anyone that can keep your attention for 3 hours is amazing. We were able to see all the fun, historical, and unique spots of Vienna. I cant wait to actually walk around the places that were pointed out. Vienna is such an amazing city, full of culture and adventure. I am so grateful to be here. After we got off the tour we went shopping. I got a really cute pair of loafer type shoes. They are really comfortable and were reasonably priced considering the area I live in. By the time we got home, we were all were exhausted. So, I made tortellini and sun dried pesto sauce for everyone. I must say I have become quite the pasta chef. It is so easy, delicious and cheap. Last night we had pasta with chanterell mushrooms, the night before pasta with capers and tomatoes. Pasta, pasta, pasta :) Oh well, we will eat it till we get tired of it and then someone else is in charge of cooking. Tonight, we are going to a winery that is in our district. It should be fun. Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Miss you all very much.