Updates on October...

Here is a quick overview of everything that went down this month.
The second weekend I went to visit another exchange student (Jackie) that is living in Vienna, and we had an amazing time!  She met me at the train station that night and we hurried back to her house to get ready for some fun with her school friends.  Saturday morning we woke up early for a full day of shopping in VIENNA!  That was a wonderful day, and I bought some amazing things :)  We also made time to eat at this tiny but superb pizzeria that only the locals know about it, take a couple of pictures of Stefan's Dome, and make it back to her flat in time for dinner so that we could have an amazing meal cooked by her host mom.  Saturday night we met up with the other exchangers living in Vienna (Max, Aiyana, Tommy, and Martha) and went to a disco that a few of them knew about.  Sunday morning another exchange student (Brynn) that lives outside of Vienna met us early and the three of us walked around Vienna stopping wherever we wanted to take pictures...  And there were definitely plenty of Kodak moments.  Everything there is so incredible!

The weekend after that I had another trip to Vienna planned.  However this was with the Rotary program and not a personal trip.  After school on Friday I took the train and then walked a few blocks to the youth hostel we were staying in.  It was so crazy to see all 65 of us together again, but it was wonderful.  And just to set things straight, all of these weekend trips planned through Rotary are completely free.  All we must pay for is the trip to our destination and back home.  So Friday night the Rotarians took us all to the Volks Oper (People's Opera) where we saw Guys and Dolls in German.  The setting was idyllic and the show was great as well.  I couldn't understand what the performers were saying/singing, but that didn't matter.  I loved it very much!  After the opera we were served dinner at this wonderful little Chinese buffet and we pretty much took up the entire restaurant.  I felt bad for the other people that were eating there.  Saturday we had an early morning when they took us all to tour the Parliament building.  It was built with the Acropolis from Greece as a model.  It was very impressive and the interior was pristine.  For lunch we went to this amazing little Greek restaurant.  It had the most amazing food I think I've had since I've been in Austria.  It was unbelievable.  After lunch we were given a tour of Schönbrunn (the main palace in Vienna) and the beautiful gardens that were located in the back.  We were free to leave Schönbrunn whenever we wanted and head back to the hostel where we were meeting so that we could leave for dinner together.  We had dinner at this brewery and it reminded me so much of home.  Dinner consisted of a beef patty and plate full of french fries.  The only thing that was missing were the buns to make it a hamburger.  Once dinner was over we had free time until midnight to do whatever we wanted, legally.  Sunday morning we had a bus tour around Vienna scheduled which was a great thing because many of us were tired from the full weekend that we had nearly finished.  After the tour we all received our vaccinations against meningitis and then packed up our bags to catch our trains back home.

I also celebrated my 2 month anniversary of being in Austria on the 13th of October.  It had happened to be the same day as Kolomanikirtag.  The city's holy man is Kolomon and every year on the 13th of October there is a festival in town to celebrate him.  School was finished at 11:00 that day so that we could attend a school wide church service and once that was over we were free to leave for the day.  The big thing that everyone does on this day is drink Sturm.  It is wine that hasn't sat long enough to actually be considered wine... I think.  Unfortunately the weather was pretty crappy, but everyone still had a great time.  There are tons of little vendors set up along the main streets in town that are selling everything from food to nice jewelry to stuff you would find at a garage sale.  Down near the river there was a carnival set up with a few rides and big tent where they were playing music.  It was definitely a fun and great way to celebrate my 2 months!

Today I am going to have coffee and cake with my 2nd host family so that we can get to know each other better.  I move the weekend of the 21st of November, probably on that Sunday.