Caviar. Crab. Champagne.

Sounds like New Year's to me.
Or Silvester since I'm in Austria now :)

I would like to say sorry that I've been a ghost for the last few months, but I promise I'm still alive.  I have moved into my second host family's house and things are going great.  We had a lovely Christmas and as you can tell, New Year's was also great.

On the 31st we drove to a nearby mountain in the morning and took about an hour hike up the mountain.  Usually when you pass people, everyone greets each other.  When you pass them in the streets, or in the hall at school, or anywhere else you would typically use a formal greeting.  However "once you make it higher than a 1000 meters, everyone is considered equal.  We're all hikers up there."  So I learned a few things and made it to the top of the mountain without any injuries.  (That is probably only because there was no ice or snow to slow me down.)  At the top we had a quick lunch and then found a much more interesting route to take down.  This one had lots of ice to slip on, and we sure made use of it quite often.  Not to mention the mud that was waiting on the other side of the ice for us to fall into... great times.

When we arrived back home, I took a quick shower and got ready for that night.  One of my classmates was having a party and I had promised him and his neighbor that I would help them to set up and that I would bring the brownies that my AMAZING mother sent me so we could bake them!  His parents had offered for us to eat with them instead of eating chili later with everyone else, so we gladly accepted.  However, I didn't realize what we would be having.  And yes, our appetizers were boiled eggs with caviar and a type of crab meat spread.  Usually I like crab, but that is when it is in it's whole form and not a type of pasty spread.  However I survived and the main course was much much better.  Spaghetti with REAL crab meat :)  There was lots of champagne and many toasts for the new year and at 7:00 people began to show up, so we all went down to the cellar.  At midnight we returned upstairs to the back patio to countdown (in German), drink a glass of punsch, and do the waltz as soon as the countdown was finished.  And of course we had to pop the necessary fireworks...

SOFTBALL!

I never thought that I would be excited for softball, but I am learning that everything has a beautiful new spin when you are here in Austria.  Today was my first day of practice with the team that I will be playing with.  I'm pretty sure that we're called the PeeWees, but I'm not too sure about that one.  I was invited to the team by my Ballspiele (Ballgames) coach, Sabine Platte, from the Stift (my school).  She plays for the team and her mother is the manager.  (She also played for the Olympic team last year too.)  Anyways, the team is pretty good here in Austria (not sure how that compares to what I am used to) and last year they won second in the country.  That qualified them to play for the European Cup next summer.  The tournament is in Holland with all of the best teams from all over Europe.  Unfortunately it is in the middle of August and I will be leaving in July.  Otherwise I would be able to travel and play with them, which would be amazing.  Anyways, practice went well.  We practice every Friday until February, when we practice on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Until February we are only conditioning and lifting weights, which is totally fine by me.  The names of the girls that were there are:  Sabine, Katrin, Lisa, Putzi, Sabine (another one), Caro, Kristina, Lili, Karin, and Petra.  The ages range from 16-38... at least that's what I was told.  There were about 3 girls that couldn't make it tonight but they should be there next week.

And last weekend was great fun too.  Jackie came to stay the weekend with me.  She got into Melk at 10:00 on Friday night because she had to go to dance class first, so we just chilled at my house that night.  The next morning we got up fairly late, had a nice relaxed breakfast, got dressed, and walked to the Stift so we could take a tour.  That was the first time I had ever toured the monastery, and OMG..... I would have loved to see that place back when the empress actually stayed there.  It was amazing!  And Jackie was totally jealous.  Afterwards we walked to Spar (grocery store) in order to buy the ingredients to make pancakes for my host family the next morning!  It took us a while to figure out the difference between baking soda and baking powder in German.  We finally gave up and only bought baking soda, I think.  By the time we got back home it was 5:00 or so.  I called the Amis (the 4 other American exchange guys at my school that are here on a private exchange between their school in Minnesota and the Stift) and we made plans to meet at Alt Melk in town at 7:30.  We all just sat around and talked for about an hour and a half until a group of English guys came in.  About half of them were drunk and they were pretty loud, but they couldn't speak any German so they were having a hard time ordering.  When they found out that we spoke English they all came to sit with us... it was pretty crazy, but still a lot of fun.  Sunday morning Jackie and I woke up early to start making the pancakes.  Austria has a dish called Palaschinken that is similar to pancakes, but it is really more of a dessert. It is super sweet and they are more like crepes, not fluffy at all.  So we made our pancakes from scratch and this syrup sauce that Jackie's family makes all the time in Canada.  The sauce was way too sweet for me, so I just stuck the plain maple syrup, but it was still a lot of fun and great to have some good ol' pancakes for breakfast.  The only things that were missing were bacon, scrambled eggs, and COLD orange juice.

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.

OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!

IT SNOWED TODAY!

My host mom took me to school this morning and there was maybe one or two snowflakes, which was kinda cool to see. But during our first class there was actually steady snow and it was so awesome! Unfortunately it was all melted by the time I got outside. But if it is already snowing in October then this winter is going to be very long, cold, and miserable. At least there will be snow though... that is always exciting!

Mailing Address

There have been a couple people to ask me what my mailing address is. Sooo.... here yall go :)

Shelby Bandy

c/o Dumpelfeld - Liebentritt

Maria Ferschl - Weg 1

3390 Melk

Austria

This is not a request for packages or letters at all! I promise this is just information for those that were wanting to know.

Another update is coming soon. I have to finish writing everything in my journal first though. But I have to take my math test in school tomorrow and I don't know anything that the teacher has taught us.... I will definitely fail that test! Luckily it doesn't matter. The teacher actually gave me the choice of taking it, but I thought it would be best if I at least tried.

Two weeks later... sorry guys

It seems that my wonderful ability to keep a blog/journal/diary/anything of that nature is finally showing itself. Last weekend my host family took me to Rosenburgschloss. Schloss means castle and Rosenburg is the town that it was in. It was such a gorgeous day, the weather was perfect, and the castle was very pretty as well. They have a falconry show twice each day so we got to watch that and it was really cool to see all the birds. Plus the setting was beautiful. This past week the other Ammi's (American exchange students from Minnesota) were in our class because their class, 7A, had gone to Cambridge for some intensive English courses. We had a great time and during Latin we got to hang out and do nothing in their "Ammi Klasse." I am now in the full swing of their German classes as well and it is starting to help me a lot with vocabulary. This past Monday was my first day of Ballspiele. Professor Platte, the coach, also play softball in St. Pölten and she offered for me to come play with her whenever I like. I'm kind of excited to see how softball is in Austria. I'm sure there are going to be some differences. Then on Thursday I was so excited because I finally got a good workout in. It sucks so much, because the fields and tracks are always locked unless a teacher has a class out there. So the only time that I can use the track is when we are out there for our Sport lesson. For the first hour of Sport we got to throw javelins which was really cool because I've never done anything like that before. It was a cool new experience. But during the second hour our coach let us choose between soccer or volleyball so I asked her if I could run instead. It felt so amazing to work out again and I just wish I could do it more often. I hate not exercising everyday like I used to have to do back home with softball. (I never thought I would say that, but it's true.) Tonight Marlene K is taking me to a disco in Loosdorf (the next town over) and then I am going to spend the night with her. Tomorrow night Chi Chi has invited me to a party in St. Pölten so I will be there. Next weekend I am going to go visit Jackie for the first time in Wien. Her host dad is taking us to some fishing thing that is supposed to be really cool. I'm excited because it will be something totally different and I'm sure funny to see. After that we're going to go shopping, or at least looking, and then meet up with some of the other exchange students in Wien. Hopefully I'll update again before I go to Wien, but just in case... that's what I'll be doing.

I miss all of yall, but I am loving it over here. It was actually kinda cold today, but I think it was because it was a little overcast. But still, I'm going to have to retire my short sleeve shirts pretty soon. And that means I'll need more long sleeve ones :)

Tauplitz

I have officially climbed my first mountain! Last Friday I took the train to Bad Mitterndorf (a town in Upper Austria) and got to see all the exchange students again. We also got to meet our "Oldies." They are the exchange students here from Australia, New Zealand, and a few of the South Americans. They came in February and will be leaving in January to go back home. Once we reached Bad Mitterndorf, we took a bus to the tiny village of Tauplitz up in the mountains. That night we had free time to chill and get to know each other better. The place we stayed at was like a bed and breakfast, except it held all 65 of us! However we were obviously the only guests for the weekend because who would want to stay there at the same time as 65 exchange students? The rooms were all different. Some held two people, some four, ours held 8, and there was another room that held 16. The girls in my room were Libbi (USA), Mia (USA), Jackie (Canada), Josie (USA), Chantel (Canada), Ellyn (Canada), and Raquel (Brazil). It was up on the fourth floor, which was also the top floor, and we had the most amazing view. Our side of the house looked towards the mountains and we even had a little fire escape that we called our balcony. It was a great place to hang our wet clothes and towels :) When you opened the door of the room there was a small little walkway that went about 10 feet until you reached the wall. On either side there were low shelf/bench things. And on the other side of these were two full size mattresses lying on the floor on each side. At first we were kinda like, "What the hell?" "We're sleeping here?" But we definitely had the best deal because our room was amazingly warm at night and we had more space than we originally thought that we would. Saturday morning we woke up at 7:00 in order to eat breakfast and get ready for our intense hiking trip. We left the hotel/house place at 8:15 and made our way to the foot of the mountain. It took us about 3hours to reach the top of the mountain, but that included a lunch break in the middle. Apparently when you climb a mountain in Austria, everyone says "Berg Heil!" once you reach the top. Don't ask me what it means though. When we got to the top there was a book in a metal box that everyone signs with their name, where they live, what time they reached the top, and on which day. My official time was 11:29 am! Going back down was kind of dangerous due to all the loose rocks and uneven footing, but somehow we still managed to cut the time down by an hour! I think part of the reason was that the majority of the people in my group REALLY wanted some warm food and a couple of the people needed a restroom like crazy. When we made it back to the hotel, Jackie, Josie, and I awarded ourselves by splitting a pizza. Then topped it off with some ice cream! After we relaxed for a while Kieran (New Zealand), Jackie (Canada), Brynn (Canada), Ben (Canada), Nolan (USA), Sebastian (Australia), and I all walked to the small town to see what we could find. Not much. That night after dinner the Rotarians took us on a "night hike." Really though we just walked down to a local pub/restaurant that had a dance hall in the back. It was so much fun because on the way there we were all given torches to hold and it was really cool to turn back and see a long line of fire walking down the windy mountain road. The dance was fun and we all had a great time. Our curfew kind of disappeared that night so everyone was hanging out that night, so long as we didn't wake the family that owned the hotel. The next morning we got up early to have breakfast and pack. I couldn't sleep very well so at 6:00 I decided it was time to take a shower. It cost 1 euro to get hot water for 6 minutes and I didn't have any money so I was contemplating taking an ice cold shower. Luckily I decided to check for hot water first, just in case. I had the most amazing hot shower for a good 15 minutes. Just because it was too cold to get out... We left Tauplitz at one that afternoon to catch our trains back home.

School Schedule

I know that I need to update about my hiking trip this weekend, but this will take much less time and it's about time that yall know what classes I'm taking. I'll write about hiking when I finish my homework.

Monday

7:45 - 8:35 Math

8:40 - 9:30 Physics

9:45 - 10:35 Physics

10:40 - 11:30 German (regular)

11:45 - 12:35 English

12:40 - 1:30 Psychology and Philosophy

Tuesday

7:45 - 8:35 Geography

8:40 - 9:30 History

9:45 - 10:35 No class because it is Latin and I cannot speak Latin

10:40 - 11:30 German (for the American exchange students)

11:45 - 12:35 Biology

12:40 - 1:30 Chemistry

1:45 - 2:35 Protestant Religion

Wednesday

7:45 - 8:35 German (regular)

8:40 - 9:30 Catholic Religion

9:45 - 10:35 History

10:40 - 11:30 English

11:45 - 12:35 Math

12:40 - 1:30 Psychology and Philosophy

Thursday

7:45 - 8:35 Chemistry

8:40 - 9:30 Biology

9:45 - 10:35 Math

10:40 - 11:30 Again no class because of Latin

11:45 - 12:35 Sports

12:40 - 1:30 Sports

Friday

7:45 - 8:35 German (for the Americans)

8:40 - 9:30 English

9:45 - 10:35 Art

10:40 - 11:30 Art

11:45 - 12:35 German

12:40 - 1:30 Geography

Life up to this point...

Last Friday night one my classmates, Beni, invited me to go out with him, Rudi, and some other people from school that I hadn't met yet. We met in town at this placed called Alt Melk. Apparently people from school are here EVERY weekend and I also got to see two of the other American exchange students that are here from Minnesota, Simon and Dan. I met at least 7 or 8 people that night and I only rememeber half the names. But that is partly because there were two sets of the same name... it's so much easier when they are called the same thing. Except then they come up with nicknames that I never recognize because people introduce themselves with their real name. I just now realized that two guys in my class are called by their last name. I had a great time with everyone though. The people here are so friendly and hospitable. Rudi's dad came to pick him up around midnight so he offered to take me home as well.

Saturday was the day of the Matura Ball. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but it wasn't anything that I could have imagined. The only other experience I could think about was Prom and it is totally different from Prom. We arrived at 7:45 so that we could get a good spot in the Kolomanisaal in order to watch the Matura Dance which began at 8:30. When the students were finished dancing their was a band that played music all night long and people waltzed the entire time. Marlene Kienast found me and so we decided to walk around to see who we could find. We ran into Kathi and Chi Chi (two girls from my class) who joined our group and we spent the majority of the evening together. I had such a great time with them! They were all so much fun and really excited that I had never seen anything like that before. At Prom we have one big ballroom with a dancefloor where everyone is pretty much. Then there are some tables set up around and some light refreshments. Here they had the ballroom which was strictly for the waltz, tables set up along an entire hallway, at least 5 different bars and snack bars set up in the school, another room with more recent music (but still not hip-hop, or rap, or pop, or anything like we have at Prom). Then there was an outside beer bar in the courtyard as well as a HUGE room in the cellar set up where people could order food and drink. There were also much more people than at Prom. The entire community is invited so there were parents, teachers, younger siblings, students, everyone. And since the drinking age is 16 over here they were pretty much all drinking. It was really different to see the teachers serving their students drinks. By the end of the night so many people were drunk, it was really funny. But nobody thinks anything about it. It's accepted completely without even a second thought. The ball was scheduled to end at 3:00 am however when we left at 3:45 there were still quite a few people there and the music hadn't stopped.

On Sunday I am very ashamed to say that I slept until 3:00 in the afternoon and that is only because my host father woke me up. We went to Krems that afternoon to have dinner with Lukas, Kristina, and her parents. We ate at this thing called a Heurigen and had a drink called Sturm. It was really different, but I liked it a lot. That evening when we got back to the house, I had an email from my mom saying that I had received my acceptance letter to A&M! I was super excited and I was kinda sad that there wasn't anyone to celebrate with. My host parents and classmates were happy for me, but they don't completely understand the thrill like my friends and family back home would have. Sunday was also my first full month in Austria. I was sad to think that I had already been here for a month because it went by far too quickly. I only have 10 months left and for the majority of one of those I will be on Euro Tour. That means I only have 9 months left to spend with all my new friends here in Melk. It is really disappointing, but I am trying my hardest to do everything and anything that people suggest.

Monday we had a "Wandertag" or off-day from school. Every Monday after Matura Ball the school is closed so that they can clean up the buildings from the festivities which is really cool I think. All the classes make plans to do something together and our original plans had been to go walking through the city and then play beach volleyball and soccer by the Danube. However the weather was not good so we ended up staying in the school gyms and playing different games. It was still A LOT of fun and it was nice to get to spend that much time with the class outside of our lessons. At 12:30 we were allowed to go home. As I was walking out Beni and Rudi invited me to go hang out with them and "Schmatza" (Stefan, a student in our class) for the afternoon. It was a nice change from just going home and working on homework and I really had a great time with them. They tried to teach me things that I should know how to say in Austrian dialect and then asked me what things were like back home.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I went to Ulli's (my counselor) house for lunch. I was able to meet her kids Johanna who is 11 and Valentin who is 8. After lunch Ulli showed me her apothoke and asked me what differences there were compared to the ones in the USA. There are quite a few, but it's a completely different setting so it's hard to compare the two. Next we went into town for an eis (ice cream) and then some shopping! When we reached her flat again it was nearly 6:00 pm so Ulli and her husband invited me to stay for dinner as well, which I was happy to accept. I played with Valentin and Johanna for a while and we tried to have conversations, but they weren't very advanced. Johanna's English is better than my German, but still not very advanced and Valentin's English is about equal to my German. All afternoon we would point things out to each other and ask how to say them in each language. It was really funny! After dinner they took me back home so that I could work on my homework and then get some sleep. I'm already starting to miss precious hours :)

Some Pictures

Matura Dance for the 8th Klasse

Kolomanisaal

(The school ballroom)

no biggie...

School courtyard

Ceiling of the entryway to the Abbey

Snack Bar in the student lounge at school

Ceiling of the Student Lounge

Foosball tables and computers in the Student Lounge

Basically...

School is the definition of amazing! I adore every single person in my class and they are extremely helpful. It's really silly I know, but I was walking home the other day and one of my classmates yelled at me from across the street and told me have to a good afternoon. It made me happy! They are all like that though... everytime I see someone from class they stop to talk to me or smile and say HALLO. I feel kinda bad though because almost everyone in the 7th year knows who I am and they say hi to me, but I don't ever remember meeting half of them. Today I got to meet the other "Amies" (American exchange students from St. John's Prep in Minnesota). It was Harold, Dan, Andrew, and I never caught the fourth guy's name. They are really cool and I am going out tonight with them and some of my classmates. Tomorrow night is the Matura Ball which is basically like prom so I'm really excited to get dressed up. I still don't know for sure what my weekly schedule is because the first couple days this week were mixed up and I never understood when the teacher read it out loud to us. His name is Herr Profesor Pilecky by the way, and he's awesome! I know I promised to upload some pictures of my school, but I haven't really had time to take any yet. I took a couple today, but I want to upload them all at the same time, so give me another week.

It is so cool, because on Monday even though we are scheduled to have school Herr Profesor Pilecky planned an outing for our class (7D). We are skipping lessons all day and walking around the city. We are all bringing a sack lunch and then we're going to play beach volleyball and soccer somewhere near the Danube. Apparently it is common for teachers to plan these sort of days during the school year. My teacher also had the brilliant idea to take pictures of each of my classmates and print them onto a sheet with their names for me. It was very nice and I now know all of their names. Their are 28 students in the class, but we split into two groups for about half of our lessons. In my group there is only one other girl, Katarina, and she is super nice!

Last night while I was shopping for school supplies one of my future host sisters called to see if I had plans. She picked me up and took me into town to get some eis (ice cream) and then we walked through the city and down to the Danube. It was a really great evening.

Oh, another thing. It is already starting to get cooler here! I have to wear a light jacket and scarf when I walk to school in the morning. And at night I sleep with all the windows closed and socks on... it is so CRAZY! Everyone here thinks that it's awful how hot Texas is right now and can't believe that it doesn't get cold until late into the year. It's really kinda funny. I also keep forgetting that I am older than all the students in my class. The 18 year olds are usually in the 8th year class, but that is the year that they take all their insane tests so the Direktor and I felt the 7th year class would be best for me. Whenever someone learns that I am 18 their eyes get really big and they think it's the coolest thing ever... it makes me laugh. They also think it's really cool that I am finished with school back home and that I have been driving for two years. The other night I met the daughter of my host mom's friend, Rosina. She wanted to know if our school buses were really yellow... I guess I never really think about things like that, but everyone over here has an image of the USA from the movies that they have seen.

But basically, I love every second of school! I don't ever want it to end.

First Day of School!

Today was my first day of school and it went well. We only had class from 3:00 - 5:00 because all we did was meet our "homeroom teacher" and find out what our weekly class schedule will be. Unfortunately I didn't understand what he told us so I will have to copy it off the wall tomorrow morning before class starts. My "homeroom teacher" is very nice (I don't remember his name though) and my class seems to really like him as well. For the rest of the year class begins at 7:45 which means that I will leave my house at 7:15 so that I arrive slightly early each morning. I sit beside a girl named Vicky who is very nice and another guy whose name I have forgotten. However before school today I knew one guy named Rudy from some family friends. He is in my class and met me before it started. He introduced me to some of his friends and then to the rest of the students in the class. They are all very nice and were interested to learn that I wasn't a cowgirl... lol.

I will have more to report at the end of the week once I have gone through the entire schedule. I will also try to take pictures of my school because it really is incredibly breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it before and I am still in awe everytime I walk through the halls and different rooms.

Bregenz

Jackie and I arrived in Bregenz Friday afternoon around 3:00 and had to walk to our hotel which was downtown. Unfortunately we went the wrong direction so we walked an extra 45 minutes in the rain with our luggage. We found our hotel shortly after turning around and heading back past the train station the other way though, and then we were able to change into some dry clothes. That evening we took our dinner out to sit by the lake but the second we got there it began to rain. We thought that we would just brave the weather but then it became so windy it was blowing us off the bench as well as all our food. So we decided to run back to our hotel and chill in our amazingly warm room.

The next morning we woke up early to take the cable car up Pfänder, a mountain in Bregenz. The view was absolutely gorgeous and we were able to see Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Austria all at the same time. I guess kinda like the four corners in the USA but this is four countries!

Once we reached the top of Pfänder we walked around the paths for a while to admire the animals and the views. Unfortunately it was FREEZING cold up there so we went into the restaurant for a couple cups of heiss Schokolade (hot chocolate) and to eat our packed lunch. Afterwards we began our decent down the mountain into even colder air because the trees blocked out all the sun. I was soooo cold and I had on a long sleeve shirt with my jacket. Jackie however, who is from Canada, was wearing a short sleeved shirt and was perfectly fine. I think I'll stick to the hot weather, thank you. Anyways we hiked down slowly and made a two hour trip out of it. When we reached the city again we did some leisurely shopping before getting ahold of Zach, another exchange student that was living in Bregenz. That night we met him at the beach to watch the sunset (which was beautiful) and then we met up with some of his new friends after that.
Sunday morning we had to wake up at 6:45 in order to finish packing, eat breakfast, and make it to the train station on time. The whole way home we shared a compartment with this adorable little boy and his father. So I got to play cars with him when I wasn't sleeping... I loved it! He tried to tell me about his other trucks and cranes back at home. I could understand a little of what he was saying because he spoke very slowly and his father helped me on the rest. When I reached St. Pölten I had to catch the smaller train to Melk and then walk to my house because my host father had the car in Germany for the weekend visiting a friend. It was quite a good distance, especially with a heavy backpack and suitcase to carry along...

Pläne für das Wochenende!

I get to go to Bregenz this weekend!

There is another exchange student here from Canada that has invited to me to travel with her to Bregenz for the weekend. Bregenz is a city in Austria that lies directly next to Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Germany so it is a very lively and cultural location in Austria. We will travel by train early Friday morning and arrive that afternoon. Our hotel is in the pedestrian only zone in the heart of the city and is walking distance from the train station, lake, National Museum, and various other attractions. We will spend all day there on Saturday and return Sunday afternoon so that we can prepare for our first day of class on Monday.

I went to meet with the director of my school today and we determined that I should be in Klasse 7D which specializes in math and science. I was really hoping that I would be in the same class as Marlene, however her class, 7A, has many language courses including Greek and Latin which I know nothing of. Yet I will still know one student in my class. His name is Rudy and he is a friend of Simon's, my host brother that is doing an exchange in Illinois, USA this year. I met him for a few minutes about two weeks ago and he offered to help me out at school. My director gave me a quick tour of the school today and the only words to describe it are... HOLY CRAP!!! I think he recognized the amazement on my face because a couple times he mentioned that this must be different from our schools back in the USA. I will be sure to take my camera with me on Monday so that I may show to everyone just how incredible these buildings and rooms are. I felt like a VIP while I was walking around because the section of the monastery that is for the school is barricaded from the public by glass walls and doors. They can see that we are there and we can see them, but the public has noway to get into our area of the buildings. I also have to purchase some "house shoes" to wear while I'm in school. They have six large rooms at the entrance to the school where the students are required to change into their school shoes and may hang up their winter coats. All of the classrooms have wooden floors and apparently there was a problem when pebbles would get stuck in people's shoes and scratch up the floors. So now everyone is required to purchase a pair of school shoes that they leave at school all year long and wear during school hours.

I just got back from school shopping with meine Gastmutter (my host mom) in St. Pölten. It is a city about 15 minutes away from Melk and has a very nice shopping area. I got my school shoes, a rain coat because the weather in Bregenz this weekend is not supposed to be very good, a new scarf, a purse because has a hole in it, some new sunglasses because mine are broken, and two sweaters because it is already becoming fairly chilly when the sun goes down. There are many stores here that are ridiculously expensive but there are also very many that are possibly even cheaper than back at home in Texas.

Sprachkurs was wonderful!

I wasn't able to update my blog while I was at the Sprachkurs (language camp), however I did write in my journal multiple nights so here is a little taste of what you would have seen...

23. Aug. 2009 (Sunday)

I arrived at Language Camp in Altmünster one week ago and already a lot has happened. There are about 40-50 exchange students from both Austrian districts here. We are staying at a boarding school and have classes each day except for Sunday. Our daily schedule is as follows:

7:15 am 8:00 am -- Frühstück (breakfast)

8:00 am - 12:00 am -- Unterricht (instruction)

12:00 am - 1:00 pm -- Mittagessen (lunch)
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm -- Unterricht (instruction)

3:00 pm - 6:00 pm -- freie Zeit (free time)

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm -- Abendessen (dinner)

7:00 pm - 10:00 pm -- freie Zeit (free time)

10:30 pm -- Gute Nacht (good night)

On Saturday we only have classes in the morning, but the teachers had an outing planned for the remainder of the day. We took a boat tour on the Traunsee, which is the lake in Altmünster. During our free time we are allowed to do pretty much anything. Most of us walk down to the lake and sit along the beach all day or we have even walked to the neighboring town, Gmunden, because it is a little bigger and has some good shops. At the beginning of the Sprachkurs I was in the Beginner class, however I was moved up after four days to the Intermediate class. As far as the homesickness is concerned I have been doing really well. This afternoon was the first time that I really missed everyone back home. There were a couple hours that were really hard so I walked into town with a friend that I had met, Jackie, and she helped me to feel better. Earlier today a few Rotarians and our teachers took us to a town about 30 minutes away called Hallstatt to tour a salt mine that has been in use for over 3000 years. The salt mine was really cool and the town was adorable. We were able to walk around for a couple hours before we drove back to Altmünster.

(here are a few pictures)our group taking a cable car up the mountain

walking through the salt mine tunnels

view of Hallstatt as we came down the mountain

28. August. 2009 (Friday)

Today was another great day! I woke up at 6:00 am to work out with Chantel (Canada), Jackie (Canada), Martha (USA), and Josie (USA). During class Doris, our teacher, taught us about the command form and reflexive verbs, two things that I didn't know. Derrick (USA) and Nolan (USA) sit beside me in class and they are excellent at keeping me entertained whenever class gets boring. A few people get fairly annoyed with Derrick because of his constant energy, but he reminds me so much of Mason that I love spending time with him. I'm positive that if him and Mason met they would get along perfectly. They think so alike it's crazy. We received our tests back and I did much better than I was expecting. Most of my errors were because I didn't know the vocabulary and not because of grammar. Unfortunately the vocabulary is going to take monotonous memorization, but I am determined to do it! After class I played volleyball with Ben (Canada), Carlos (Mexico), Jackie, Libbi (USA), Martha, Josie, and Charlotte (Belgium). Then we all walked down to the beach for some amazing Austrian ice cream that is so much better than anything back in the USA. After dinner Zach (USA), Derrick, Libbi, Chantel, Mark (USA), Jackie, Raquel (Brazil), and Martha went to the lake and sat on the dock for about half an hour. Before we returned to the school we decided to have a race so we spun in circles for a minute and a half and then ran to the playground to see who could make it first without falling over. I almost face planted into somebody's bike. By this time it was almost 9:00 pm so the boys were hungry again. We met up with Carlos, Nolan, and Ben on our way to a little cafe where we all ordered baguettes. Once we reached the school we listened in awe while Carlos played piano for half an hour. He is absolutely incredible! As we were walking up to our rooms Jackie and Chantel somehow managed to convince me to sing a Canadian folk song with them in the talent show the following night. The song was in French though so I had zero idea what I was singing about... lol

30. August. 2009 (Sunday)

Today is Mason's 16th birthday! Right now I am sitting back in my own bed at home. Yesterday after class we had a really great time. Even though it was raining and cold, Jackie, Raquel, Libbi, and I decided to walk to Spar (Austrian grocery chain) so that we could stock up on food for our train rides the following day. Afterwards we went to the beach and watched all the ducks and swans on the lake. Once we returned to the school we began to practice fervently so that we wouldn't forget our words later that night during the Talent Show. Our singing group consisted of Chantel, Martha, Jackie, Libbi, and I. Plus Aiyana (USA) was playing guitar for us. Chantel really wanted to get dressed up so we all wore dresses, did our makeup, and put Canadian tattoos on our faces. We actually sounded pretty good except for one line when the majority of us forgot our lines, but everyone loved it. The song was called Un Candien Errant and was really pretty. I have already downloaded it to my iPod. The rest of the talent show went really well. I had no idea how talented and gifted most of those people are. Nearly everyone performed and did superbly. Afterwards we had a big dance party in the girls' lobby and the teachers ended up extending our curfew to 12:30 am which was really nice. This morning Libbi, Jackie, and I woke up at 6:00 am so we could walk to the lake one last time and watch the sun rise. It was beautiful but freezing cold! After breakfast we finished packing and got a ride to the train station where I bought a Summer Ticket which allows me to travel on any train in Austria for free until September 13th. Unfortunately there was damage to the tracks so we had to take a bus to the next station and we ended up missing our train so we had to wait another hour. I was travelling with Bailey (USA), Jackie, and Max (Mexico). This is my last week of summer break before school starts so I need to do some shopping for clothes and supplies before the week is over. I might end up going to visit Jackie in Wien sometime later this week so that we can do some shopping together.

...as for today (Monday) my host parents threw a bar-b-que for me so that I might meet my other host families. All of the parents seem very nice and I got to spend the evening with four of my new host sisters. They are great and took me out into town for a couple hours. They are all around my age and I will most likely be in the same class as one of them, Marlene. I cannot wait to get to spend more time with all of them because they seem really amazing and I've never had a sister before.

Updates... finally

Sorry this has taken me so long to write. I haven't really had that much time though...

My flights from San Antonio and DC went well. I actually slept most of the way to Vienna so I didn't feel that horrible when I arrived. I was met at the airport by my host father, club Counselor, club President, and her daughter. My host mother was still at home setting up for a breakfast that they were having for my arrival. Later that afternoon I went into town to set up my bank account and register with the city. So I think that means that I am an Austrian for the coming year because they said I still have to de-register when I leave! But I don't know...
On Saturday my host parents took me to a small village about five minutes away to see an Austrian folk group perform for the evening. Apparently they were really funny, unfortunately I couldn't understand anything. However there was one point when they performed in English, but the accent was a mess!

Right now I am in Altmünster for my German language course. (That's why I haven't updated in forever). I have been here for a week so far and I'll be here another week trying to learn as much German as I possibly can. I've met some amazing people and I know without a doubt that some of these other students will be my friends forever after this year. I have to go though because there is only one computer and other students are waiting. I'll write more when I get back to my host family's house.

letzten Tag in den USA... (last day in the USA)

Today is my very last day in San Marcos, Texas before I leave for Melk, Austria! I cannot believe how quickly it has come. There are a few things I need to run into town to get, but other than that I am just going to have a swell day. Kaitlin and Rissa are taking me to get Deblazios (YUMMM) and then we're heading out to watch the varsity volleyball game. Andrew is going to tag along so we can give him a hard time, lol. Then my brother promised to make me his absolutely AMAZING hamburgers for dinner, since I'm not sure if I'll find one outside of a McDonalds.

I talked to Katherine (she was the exchange student to Austria this past year) yesterday and had the few questions I had answered. Just talking with her has made me soooo incredibly excited for this experience. Every time I talk to a Rotexer or a fellow outbound student, I cannot begin to describe the excitement and other feelings that well up inside of me. This is going to be the best year of my life and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to live in such a stunning country with such rich history. Hopefully whenever yall see me next time I'll have an Austrian accent and will constantly be going back and forth between English and German.

I want to thank everyone that has made a difference in my life leading up to this point. I have the best family and friends and I love all of yall so very much. Good luck in the coming year. I know most of my friends are going off to college and moving away from home. Yall will all do wonderful this year so don't worry too much. Please keep in touch and let me know how everything is going. I would love to hear about all the horror stories of the weed-out classes and how Atkin's class really was harder than any college class we'll ever take.

AHHHHH...... I am soo excited!

Uh oh...

I just found out today from my Deutsch tutor that she has to make an unexpected trip to Minnesota for at least zwei Wochen on Montag (2 weeks on Monday). This means that my last EVER German lesson will be this Freitag (Friday)! So on Friday we are having a crash course over city terms, grammar, pronouns, and a review covering everything we've done in the past two months. Ms. Laumer has been absolutely amazing and has taught me more than I had even hoped to learn during this short period of time. I know without a doubt that my exchange will be more enjoyable during the first few months because of her time and effort.

I leave in two weeks by the way!!!

15 more days :)

In 15 days, 5 hours, and 45 minutes I will have boarded the plane for Wien and will be looking out the window towards DC for my last time in 11 months. I cannot begin to explain the feelings that I have felt these past few weeks. There have been days of giddy excitement, nervous anticipation, and nearly everyday I have wondered what challenges and incredible opportunities will be awaiting my arrival in Österreich.
As of yesterday I officially have all the paperwork that I need to obtain my VISA once I reach Wien. The final document was a background check that is required for all students over the age of 17. So many people look forward to their 18th birthdays, but how many of these people get the chance to travel halfway across the world to emmerse themselves into a culture without any ties to their family or friends? I am trully blessed and incredibly lucky to have been presented with Rotary Youth Exchange and to have been selected as an exchange student on top of that. I am thrilled to be a student ambassador for the United States, but even closer to home, Texas.

Final Preparations...

So far there isn't much to report. Just that I am a little more than slightly nervous about the coming year. I have been in contact with my first host father multiple times; he and his wife seem very nice and extremely willing to help get me situated into their culture. however I also feel that they will be somewhat strict with my language usage (which is probably going to be beneficial in the long run). In case any of yall don't know the plan, I leave on the 12th of August from San Antonio. I'll fly to Washington DC and then straight to Vienna from there. The town I will be living in, Melk, is about an hour and a half west of Vienna, or Wien, and located right along the Danube River. I will go to the local gymnasium (college prep school - our high school equivalent) called Stiftsgymnasium. My first family has two sons, Lukas and Simon, however neither of them will be at home while I am there so I will be an only child for the first time in my life and they will have a daughter for the first time in their lives.

I can't think of anything else at the moment. If yall have any questions, please just ask. I plan on uploading pictures and I will try my best to keep this up to date. Unfortunately I am not the most diligent at keeping any sort of journal...