Europe Post #27: Reflections of Europe

So... I still really can't believe I spent 5 whole weeks in Europe.  Overall, IT WAS AMAZING (just in case you couldn't tell from my blog posts).

Here are a few lists that really summarize how I feel.  (Lists describe me much better than paragraphs.)

What I missed about USA:
the olympics
Mexican food
a normal cell phone plan
the people
women that shave their armpits/legs
chicken and veggies
non-dairy coffee creamer
flat sheets
air conditioning
relatively accurate meteorologists
English
my entire wardrobe (as opposed to the week's worth of clothes from my suitcase)
ample wifi
my own space
getting to class in < 45 minutes
salad that wasn't pickled
NOT chemical engineering classes
cheap drinking water
a routine

What I miss about Austria:
walking a lot
hanging out with friends 24/7
biking and hiking multiple times a week
pork and eggs and potatoes in nearly every dish
chocolate and lots of dessert
no school, no stress
fun weekend trips
taking lots of pictures
beautiful architecture
a big breakfast every morning
no distractions
the countryside
no humidity
new places
doing nothing
lack of routine

Europe Post #26: Salzburg

I know.  It's been a LONG time since my last update.  It's been a crazy few weeks.

Recap:

7/31, 11 pm - arrive in Birmingham

pack for rush at Auburn

8/2, 2 pm - head to Auburn to stay at Holiday Inn for rush

8/13 - check out of Holiday Inn, bid day, return to Birmingham

pack to move into apartment

8/15 - move in Auburn apartment

8/16 - class beings

8/17 - help with weekend retreat in Valley, AL

8/18 - return to Auburn from retreat

So I'm finally settled in my apartment and "enjoying" the normality of class.

And so brings me to my blog post on Salzburg, my last weekend in Europe.  WARNING: LOTS of pictures.  We toured the city, went on the Sound of Music tour, and took a cable car to the Untersberg mountain.

Salzburg:

The lake that the SoM children fell in, from the movie:

The Untersberg:

The same lake/ mountain combo in the movie:

The glass gazebo from SoM:

Hellbrun Palace:

The trees that the SoM children climbed in:

The Lake district:

The church in which Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married in the SoM:

The church's interior:

Our tour bus:

Mirabell gardens:

Dwarf from SoM:

Do Re Me steps:

Other side (from movie):

Top of the Untersberg:

Edelweiss:

Inside Hitler's bunker, in Germany:

Mozart foot bridge, from SoM:

The stick-shift that Daddy drove all over Austria.  We only stalled out about 7 times the whole weekend!!

Europe Post #25: A Whirlwind

Well the last few days have been quite a whirlwind.  And not like, "I've been so busy I don't remember what happened" but "I've been studying so much and just hanging out I haven't done much worth noting."  Not really sure if that's a whirlwind or not, but whatever.

With finals this week and the "if I go in another museum I might barf" attitude, everything has just slowed down.  We've spend some time finishing up souvenir shopping, regular shopping, and just spending lots of time eating.  And I don't mean eating for a long time, just turning dinner into a 3-hour ordeal or sitting at a cafe for an hour and a half.  It's really weird to think that I've been surrounded with the same 27 college students for 5 weeks, and we're all going our separate ways (well... okay maybe just to Auburn).  But seriously, I'll really miss seeing some of my friends every single day.

The next few days will be pretty crazy.  Today I'm moving out of my host home, and going to Salzburg for the weekend with Mama and Daddy.  I fly out on Monday afternoon and get home Tuesday night.  And then I report for rush duty on Thursday.

Europe Post #24: Wandering and Schloß Schönbrunn

Sunday:

The plan -- train to Melk, bike from Melk to Krems, train from Krems back to Vienna. Except there was a land slide and the entire train station shut down.  So there goes that plan.  Uh oh.  In Austria, almost everything shuts down on Sundays.  Store, restaurants, etc.  A few museums that cater to tourists are open on Sunday, but not much more than that.  Compound that fact on a rainy day, and we were surprisingly short on ideas of things to do.  Except homework, of course, but who wants to do that?  So after spending the whole morning at the train station, we got lunch and split up for a while.  Hello nap time!  Around 4, John, Scott, and I met up and basically wandered around near the river.  After walking approximately 1.5 hours, we finally found a place to rent the city bikes (Vienna's awesome bike share program bikes.  The bikes aren't the best, but the price is right!), and we biked on the Danube Island for about two hours.  A great way to end the weekend.

Monday:

We toured Schonbrunn Monday morning, walked around the palace gardens, and went to class.  We all went home relatively early to do some homework.

Now for the pictures.

A random park (Donau Park) that we stumbled upon while wandering.

I don't have any pictures from our bike ride, but when we found a zip line on the island (mid-bike ride) we couldn't pass it up!

I will NEVER get over how many men wear capris, socks, and sandals.

Our whole group at Schonbrunn.

Mama and Daddy joined us!

Goofing off.