May 6 : Siena

We were going to have to accomplish a lot this day, as we needed to do laundry and discover the city. Sleeping in until 9:30 did not contribute to the cause, but it definitely contributed to the needed rest our bodies needed. 

Eventually we were on our way into the city, armed with a full bag of laundry. As we arrived at Piazza Gramsci we noticed a huge market on Viale Cesare Maccari, the road leading to our first stop, Piazza de la Liberta in the Fortezza Medicea. I had read that Siena has a Wednesday market and since it was a Wednesday Market, and since it was Wednesday it all made sense. After strolling through that we walked around the perimeter of the fortress which offered stunning views of both Siena and Tuscany. By looking at our city map we identified the sites we wanted to visit, so we strategically headed towards the Basilica di S. Dominico. On the map it looked like a rather gook looking building but from up close it was rather ugly. Conor and I had alternate views - he found the building charming because it made a statement without trying too hard - I thought it did not try enough. We visited a few Basilicas while in Siena and it was remarkable how stark the difference they are from every other one we have seen.

The Siena Basilicas were huge - wooded roofed virtually empty buildings - not quite my style. Perched above the rest of the city is the Duomo. As we approached it, it was obvious that it used the same color scheme as the Florence Duomo. We bought tickets for 10 Euros that gave us access to the Duomo, crypt, "Museo dell Opera" and the baptistry. 

The Duomo was fascinating. It was a little eerie because there were tombs of several "Brothers" in the church. We then went to the museum - we skimmed through the art collection (neither of us are incredibly interested in that) and made our way to the roof for a panoramic view of Siena and its Tuscan environment. I was starved by that point but we first had to maximize our ticket by visiting the crypt and Baptistry. We made our way to the laundry mat, started a wash and then found lunch. I have realized that I become quite unpleasant and irritable when I am hungry. I was much more pleasant after lunch and thanked Conor for his patience. We hung out at the laundry place while our laundry finished up (We didn't want any Italian hooligan making off with our stuff). Since Siena is surrounded by a wall, there are only 8 gated entrances. We walked to a main entrance, Porta Tuffi and then double backed towards Il Campo. By this time we had walked a huge portion of the city but weren't done yet. We headed towards Basilica di S. Francesco as it looked like one of the bigger ones. Just like the first Basilica we visited, it was rather (in my opinion) lacking esthetic value. I don't know if Siena was built quickly as the rivalry with Florence increased, but the buildings seem (the Basilicas) they were built to occupy space and be huge spaces all strategically placed adjacent to the city wall. Their height leads me to believe that they must have been used as defence tactics. We then headed down to another opening in the wall, Porta Olive. Our stomachs were reminding us of their need to be fed so we headed back up the hill. 

Instead of wandering the streets of Siena all night we remembered that our campground had a restaurant, so we left Siena for the last time, bound for the campsite. Dinner was rather exceptional and priced to made our budget happy. All the walking we are doing is being rewarded with beer and pizza, 2 things you can't go wrong with (and can always find). 

We had to pack up our stuff, obviously drink another bottle of wine, and go to bed. We head to Rome early tomorrow morning and need to leave our little cabin by 6:30.

Siena was a great little city full of picturesque buildings and surrounded by stunning Tuscan landscape. We could not have asked for better weather (it was once again beautiful and sunny). Siena is another city that is being added to out list of recommended places to visit.

P.S. I love you Conor.

May 5 : Florence & Siena

As it was our last day in Florence, we needed to accomplish anything we had not done... before 1 p.m. We headed straight for the Duomo, as we had not been inside yet. As we were standing in line we noticed a sign that stated no shorts allowed... We were both wearing shorts. We left that line and walked around a little bit more. As we were heading back towards the Fortezza Da Basso, a big fortress Conor wanted to check out, we were walking by the Duomo. Right beside the Basilica is Giotto's Bell Tower, 414 stairs to the top. For 6 Euros we were able to experience the view of Florence, in shorts, and include the Duomo in them. Speechless is the word to describe the sights. No words can fully describe the sea of tiled roofs that flood the city. We then headed towards the fortress, that turned out to be banned to tourists. 

We hopped on a train bound for Siena at noon and had to transfer in Empori. We arrived in Siena at 1:30. Our directions that the hostel sent us told us that had to head up to the city (it is surrounded by a wall) to catch a bus to the camp ground. With our packs and a grumpy Conor in tow we made our way up to Piazza Gramsci...

Once we caught the bus and realized that it basically retraced our steps back down the hill and to the train station, I had to deal with an even grumpier Conor. Oh well, now we knew where to catch the bus! The driver was kind enough to let us know when to get off the bus. We were literally staying on a campground. There were RVs parked everywhere and little cabins dotted the premises. We were given the key to cabin 13, a cute very tiny two bed shack. We had out own bathroom and fridge - it was one of the nicest places we had stayed - mainly because of the screens on the windows. It was all we needed to rest our heads on at night. Although it was a little far from the city, it was really cool to be surrounded by trees and rolling Tuscan hills with villas. We figured that we should probably head into town for the sole purpose of finding an internet café to search for a place to stay in Rome. We took the bus back and wandered around a bit. We ended up in front of Il Campo, the big bell tower in Siena. We passed a laundry mat and made a mental note of it as Conor was running low on clean underwear...

We eventually found an internet place and successfully booked a hostel, Les Artistes, which is suppose to be close to the train station. After letting our parents know we were alive we headed back to the bus stop. We stopped and had really good pasta before heading back to our little cabin, the bus ride was about 20 minutes.

Since we were able to chill the sparkling wine in our fridge, Conor and I devulged that and basically passed out... Who knew being a tourist would be so tiring!?

May 4 : San Gimignano

This was the day trip we had signed up for with our hostel, 'The Grape Escape'. Since we weren't going to be able to visit any museums, discovering the Tuscan region was a good alternative. We all met at 9:30 at the reception and headed for our bus. We took an hour long ride winding through Tuscan hills and vineyards and learned about the Chianti "Black rooster" and other small facts about the region. We arrived first at the first wine and olive oil tasting, Tenuta Torciano. It was a really cool, out-of-a-movie setting. We tasted 4 wines and 2 olive oils. We then headed to Pietraserena Winery where we were shown how the wine is made and were given a glass of their white wine. 

As a group we ate lunch in the owners garden surrounded by Tuscan hills and olive trees. At lunch we were served two more bottles of wine (per table) - red and rose. Conor was drawn to the wine store and emerged carrying their white sparkling and Merlot, both have to consumed before the end of our trip...

We boarded the bus again and headed towards San Gimignano, a romanti fortified town that sits atop a Tuscan hill. We were given an hour and a half to look around so we headed first to a torture museum. After a lovely twenty minutes we emerged happier that we grew up in the twentieth century. We walked a little and found the highest FREE tower to climb that still offered exceptional views of Tuscany. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL region. It is easy to see how it inspired so much art and culture. We ate some "World Champion" gelato (seriously), took some photos of Piazza della Cisterna and headed back to the bus to head back to Florence.

The day was exceptional and could not have gone better. It was a sunny day and was a definite highlight of the trip so far.

When we arrived in Florence we changed and headed out for dinner. Conor was told about a restaurant "Trattoria 4 Leoni" by someone who bought wine from him in Halifax. Determined we went looking for it. We made a pit-stop along the way to buy reactine for Conor and anti-itch for me, as I had been literally devoured in Venice. Dinner was fantastic as we shared the typical Tuscan dish, Biftecca - a 1.2kg T-bone steak... Fantastic. It is however served rare and I am pretty sure the heart was still beating...

After dinner we took a walk along the Arno and took some stunning photos. We were tempted to go to Piazzale Michaelangelo to climb the tower, but decided against it. Instead we walked through Piazza della Signoria and experienced a Florentine music performer before heading back to our hostel. We booked our stay in Siena and were headed to "Camping Siena Colleverde" the next day. It is safe to say we both thoroughly enjoyed PLUS Florence and would recommend it to anyone.

 

May 3 : Florence

We arrived in Florence at 1:30 and immediately headed for our hostel. As usual, it took us a little time to find our bearings, but as soon as we did we were well on our way. We shortly arrived at our hostel - PLUS Florence. With red carpet leading to the door, we were immediately optimistic. We checked-in and were approached by the PLUS Port staff - a company that arranges tours for the backpackers. We arrived on a Sunday so Monday was going to be our museum day. The PLUS Port guys informed us that all museums are CLOSED on Mondays for cleaning. They swayed us to then go on their organized trip 'The Grape Escape'. So we signed up. He headed up to our room to put our thing down. 

The "David".

Since our one day we had in Florence was not going to turn out the way we had hoped, we had to se some things on the day we arrived. Of all the museums in Florence Conor and I wanted to visit, the Accademia Gallery held top priority. After all, it does house David. The reputation of long lines in Florence had us a bit skeptical but we headed there anyways. The building itself gives nothing away, and the only indication of its resident is a small discolored plaque on the wall. If anything it looks more like a centre for troubled youth because of the graffiti and writing on the walls, a definite contrasts of the art pieces inside. The museum starts by introducing you to paintings, instruments and sculptures. Then, as you turn a corner, you become captivated by this massive sculpture that is David. As there are no cameras allowed we could not take pictures, but the images will remain etched in our memories. It is outstanding that such a sculpture has been granted such attention and survived so much abuse. (I forgot to mention that we walked right in with no line. We also had to go through a metal detector). Every person is captivated with the sculpture, some are jotting down notes while others just stare. It was memorizing. 

Afterwards we walked towards the Duomo and were captivated by that as well. It dominates the square and demands a sense if importance. From there we moved on towards the 'Fiume Arno' - It should be called the 'Dirty River' - to see the collection of bridges. We emerged at the Ponte alla Carraia and immediately searched for the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge with shops and look alike apartments. Decades ago the bridge was occupied by butchers, but since the Medici family crossed the bridge from the Palazzo Pitti to the Palazzo Vecchio they complained about the smell. They quickly had them converted to jeweler shops. We mingled on the bridge for some time and then went to dinner to a little restaurant 'Pino's'. After dinner we ate some famed gelate - waited 1/2 and hour to make sure Conor would make it (severe nut allergy) - and headed back to the hostel. We took a detour and passed by the Duomo (you can't see it too many times) and passed the old "S.S. Annunziata Basilica". Our night was ended with a game of Crazy 8's - we are really good at that now.

Our Grape Escape tour is tomorrow. 

May 2 : Venice

We woke up and looked out the train window to see Italian countryside going by. We had breakfast given to us and arrived in Venice at 8:30a.m. The train ride went by quickly, as we slept for the majority of it. Our sleeps were good, I made Conor take the upper bunk in our cabin, at least he had a railing to keep him from rolling off. 

As we were arriving in Venice, we rode from the mainland onto the island of Venice, driving over a bridge that connects the two. Our plan was to purchase our tickets for the next day to Florence so we would have that already done. Our tickets came to 76 Euros with seat reservations. We had booked beds at a hostel, so after some wandering we finally found our hostel, Absolut Venice. It was reviewed as an awesome and social place to stay in a key location. The location was a definite plus as it was down the street from the train station. We rand the doorbell and were greeted by someone we expected would also check us in. We headed up the stairs - The hostel was on the top floor of the building. We sat at the reception and waited for a staff member for half an hour. It was already approaching 9:30 a.m. and with only one day in Venice, we didn't want to waste anymore time. We asked some of the other hostellers where the guy was and they had no idea. They were still waiting for breakfast. We made a collective decision that this place was not going to do it for us, and we did not want to waste anymore time. The train station had a hotel reservation desk, so we headed there and found a last minute room for 75 Euros just down the street, called San Geremia. 

After we settled that, it was time to see Venice. The train station is right on the Grande Canal so we waited in line for some 'Vaporetto' tickets (Water buses). A 24 hour ticket cost 18 Euros, so we were able to use it to its full potential. We immediately jumped on the #2 and conveniently grabbed seats at the front. We were brought down the Grande Canal for a bit and then along the Canal di Fusina. The skyline of Piazza San Marco teased us the whole (45 minute) trip. I still can't say what was more fascinating - my surroundings of the look on Conor's face as he was trying to absorb his environment. We got off the vaporetto and headed to San Marco (With the rest of the world). Conor was immediately drawn to the Campanile, the huge bell tower that dominates the sky in San Marco. Looking around, it was evident that waiting in line was going to be common, so we stood in the one for the Campanile first. It proved to be well worth it as the views from the top offered a 360 degree view of Venice - an unexplainable beautiful city. Blue water winds through the city and acts as the roads. Waterways are the way to travel - We even saw a water policeboat, ambulance and fire 'truck-boat'. I never saw a car - there would be no where to drive them. There are random beautiful bridges that allow pedestrians to wind their way through the streets. Anyways, I digress. 

Back to to our adventure - We stopped at a café for lunch and had pasta. I don't know if it was the spirit of being in Italy, but Conor claimed it was the BEST past EVER. Since we were still in front of San Marco, we had to see the Basilica di San Marco, regardless of how long we would have to wait. To our surprise, there was hardly a line - compared to that morning. Although it clearly states not to touch anything, Conor needs to touch things. In this case, a small alarm went off - thus only encouraging him to see how many alarms he could set off. After acting like the Paparazzi we left the Basilica and headed on a walk towards the Rialto Bridge. It would be difficult to imagine more people in Venice. Since we travelled in May, there are not too many tourists, but of course the one who are there all went to see the same sites. We fought out way up the bridge and took some mediocre pictures before leaving the crowds. We headed back to our hotel to have some showers and change for dinner. 

We toyed with the idea of taking a gondola ride. We convinced ourselves that it probably wasn't worth it. However, the thoughts were still in the back of our minds. That evening we were winding through the canals on a gondola - we had to! How could we leave Venice and not take a ride! Our guy was great - we named him Alessandro. He told us that in November the gondolas cannot operate because the water levels rise - causing the gondolas to be unable to fit underneath most bridges. When our romantic-Heineken-ride finished we asked Alex where the best pizza in town was. He pointed us to "Casa Mia' - on a side street near Campo dei SS Apostoli. A guaranteed the piazza was fantastic. Complimented by a bottle of wine, our night could not have been better. We returned to the hotel via vaporetto underneath a warm Venetian sky.

The next morning we woke up early so we could return to the Rialto Bridge to take some better pictures. We took some 'frame-able' shots and headed back to pack and head to the train station. Every souvenir place was selling painted masks and we found out that it was because Venice was the first place that hosted the Carnivale - so of course I picked up 2 ceramic masks.

We are on the train now heading to Florence. We have booked a hostel and have high hopes that this one will be more successful than last. We did not get seats together on the train, but we made vows never to complain - We are after all heading to Florence as one of our Italian adventure stops.

May 1.

Our journey begins with a "luxury" overnight train ride from Vienna to Venice. We booked a  private 'sleeper car' (or Schlafwagon) and we were greeted with a little cabin-esque car with fold-out bunk-beds, a sink and closet. Everything we needed - plus the addition of the going awaz present I received from my co-workers. As Conor is brushing up on his Venice tourist points, I made the decision to use this book as the new version of my blog. 

For the next 12 days we are going to be dis-connected from the world, so I will resort to the 'old fashion' way of communicating. We arrive in Venice tomorrow morning for a full day of tourism. 

Neglect

This is well overdue but I am going to use the mayhem of the last few weeks as my excuse. Since I last wrote an entry, Conor and I have traveled from Venice all the way down Italy to Sorrento, we went to Tremblant for a quick visit and I am now back in Halifax for the summer. Pretty hectic.

Although I was unable to make updates online while in Italy, I did keep a detailed journal (So detailed that Conor was not allowed to contribute because I have a method). I am going to copy what I wrote, with some modifications as I have now had the opportunity to reflect on our adventure. I will do it in installments, every city will have its own entry, so the entries are not too long.

I have really liked keeping a blog, and I really hope to continue. I will start a new one for everyday thoughts and little adventures, I will put the link up once I have my life back in order. I am overwhelmed with catching up in class (I missed 2 weeks of school while in Italy) and searching for my next co-op for September.

Anyways, enjoy Italy!

Fast fertig

The big day eventually came – the arrival of Conor. I had this fairytale image of our meeting at the airport and the wannabe princess in me cames out a little bit more after 4 months of being apart from him. I envisioned this romantic movie-like greeting at the airport when I would run and jump into his arms. I had strategically positioned myself so that he would see me no matter what set of doors he came through. Instead, Conor walked through the gates with a look of terrible confusion on him face. He missed me, so I had to chase after him. In the end, I did not have a movie scene arrival greeting, but it was still pretty fantastic to say the least. I do think that the arrival zone of airports is probably one of the happiest places to be in the world, regardless of what airport you are in.

When we finally arrived at my apartment - as good as the Viennese public transit is, the airport is still a pretty hefty journey from anything - Conor was practically a zombie. I could completely relate and remembered how a few months ago I was in the same position as him. After a tasty typical Viennese breakfast, Conor tried to catch up on the sleep he was missing. It is interesting to think that while flying through time zones, you can either gain or lose actual hours of your life. I mean, when flying to Vienna, you technically lose 6 hours of your life because of the advance in time. When we fly back to Canada, we will technically be gaining 6 hours, but not really because the world in fact has not stopped. Something to think about…

Anyways, I let Conor sleep for a little bit, but in order to fully maximize his time in Europe we had decided that we would go to Innsbruck for the weekend, leaving Friday afternoon. I definitely lost girlfriend points that day because not only did he just fly 9 hours to Austria, I was sticking him on a 5 hour train ride - on the same day. I had not bought seat reservations for the train so for the first hour we were separated. With a screaming 3 year old across the aisle from me, I don’t think Conor used the time to catch any shut eye. We were quite impressed with this kid’s endurance. Not only did she not sleep the whole time to Innsbruck, I am pretty sure she screamed 80% of the time. I don’t know who I felt worse for, her or her poor dad.

Innsbruck

We finally arrived in Innsbruck and very conveniently found our hotel directly across the street from the Bahnhof (train station). I seem to always arrive to places at night, and therefore have no clue what my surroundings look like. It was only until the next morning that you realize Innsbruck is a valley surrounded by the Austrian Alps – very cool. Being the qualified tourist that I am now, I know the benefit of sightseeing tours. I know how lame the tourists look in the bus, but seriously, it is so worth it. We found one that stopped right outside our hotel that was more like a hop-on, hop-off bus. We jumped on that and were able to see the Olympic ski jump (Innsbruck hosted the Olympics twice) and skating complex. We decided to de-board the bus at Schloss Ambras and do some touring. Conor has this thing with medieval castles so I am glad that he got to see one up close.

At lunch I was able to use my fantastic A1 level German skills to tell the server that Conor was allergic to nuts. She looked at me like I was crazy because why in the world would there be nuts on a pizza – lesson to all, there are pine nuts in Pesto – a key trigger in Conor’s nut allergies. We sat and ate looking at the famed Innsbruck Goldenes Dachl or, ‘Golden Roof’. I am not exactly sure why it is so famous, it wasn’t that entrancing. We took a little wander through the town and saw the Imperial Palace, Annasäule and what appeared to be a mini Arc de Triumphe.
Upon my request, we headed to the Swarovski Kristall Welten that afternoon. Conveniently they have a shuttle bus that leaves from Innsbruck – obviously at a ridiculous cost but it was worth it. We arrived and did the whole tour, saw that big Swarovski grass head with the water coming out of his mouth (I will put pictures up), and of course took a little stroll through the shop. We had a great dinner that night at the ‘Piano Bar’ in the heart of Innsbruck.

Sunday morning, our last day in Innsbruck, we took the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen (A gondola type thing) to the top of one of the mountains surrounding Innsbruck and the Inn (the name of the river) valley. I saw the snow at the top of the mountain, so I wore a jacket, pants and shoes. The genius that I was with is apparently convinced that all countries other than Canada must feel like summer. He went up the mountain in shorts and flip flops. Needless to say, I was somehow colder than him when we got to the top. After a quick photo shoot and mediocre Schnitzel, we headed back down and to the train station to catch our train. That was the end of Innsbruck weekend.

Conor in Vienna

I have not been able to show Conor around to any places in Vienna yet because I have been working. I have decided that I would take him to the Schönbrunn Zoo and the Belvedere. I send him out on adventures, and I wish I could see the expression on his face when he saw St. Stephans Cathedral for the first time. Still, every time I walk by it I am blown away. Having Conor here is like seeing Vienna again for the first time. For someone who has not been fortunate to travel outside North America, Austria is a pretty good starting point. Conveniently his aunt and uncle are in Vienna right now, so he had some travel buddies yesterday and again today. We met up with them last night and were treated to dinner. They gave us extensive tips for Prague and Italy, as we are heading to those places next week – in fact, on Friday.

In an attempt to convert Conor to the cult of culture that I am now a part of, we are going to the ballet of Romeo & Juliet tonight at the Staatsoper. I am looking forward to it and I honestly think that he is too.

It’s all over

Tomorrow is my last day of work. I have been asked to hand over my key card and ‘handy’ (cell phone), which I am actually sad to do! The past 16 weeks have flown by, and I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience this Euro-adventure. I have been let in on the secret that my colleagues are planning a little good bye party for me. I may not have redone the whole marketing concept at BAWAG, but I have definitely improved their English -something that a lot of people have expressed thanks to me for. If that is the mark that I leave, than at least I will be remembered for something! Part of my co-op report was to summarize, on one page, the company I worked for, the working environment, my goals and how this experience has affected me. On 1 page. I would not even be able to do that in a 30 page report. The skills I have adapted and memories that I have will never leave me. I wish I could hug everyone who has helped me along the way, but it might be awkward as Austrians have a tendency to formally shake hands even in situations where a hug would be way better suited. I had an awkward hug-hand shake yesterday upon saying good-bye to a colleague…

Italy

Although we are both going home on the same day, Conor’s Euro-trip is just beginning and mine is coming to an end – In Italy. I seemed to have forgotten this whole part of my trip because I have been so wrapped up in Austria. Our Italian adventure commences on Friday when we leave for Venice. We have booked one hostel so far, Absolut Venice. We are sleeping in an 8 bed mixed dorm (Conor is WAY thrilled…). Other than that, our sleeping arrangements are non-existent and train tickets have yet to be purchased. I have let go of my organizational and controlling way and am becoming sceptical about this whole ‘Go with the flow’ attitude. We may be sleeping on a park benches (Joking dad).

I will try to update my blog regularly, but I am not making any promises. I do promise though to let you all know I am in fact alive and enjoying life!! 19 days until I touch back down in Canada… At least I am not coming back from Mexico :)

Editor's Note

My last post seemed to stir up some low-key controversy with the comment I made about friendship. In my opinion, a blog is a place to express all feelings and experiences at the exact time it is being written. Throughout my travels, I have made some mental notes about what I want to include in my posts, but it is mostly ad-lib writing and I use random thoughts that pop into my head. When I wrote that post last week, I was having a bummer day and that is how I felt at that exact moment. I am glad I wrote it because I want to remember the struggles and pleasures of living abroad. I do miss ALL my friends and family terribly, and I am immensely looking forward to my return to Halifax for summer and then Tremblant for the end of August. At that specific time last week in my blog, I just wanted to give a shout out to the people who let me know I was missed. I cannot begin to explain how much that was appreciated.

I will be making a one night appearance in Tremblant on May 16th. It is a Saturday night, so I assume you will know where to find me...

Spring skiing rocks my world

I have been slacking the past few weeks when it comes to contributing to my blog. There is a lot going on right now and being in my final days makes me want to maximize the time I have here. This is a double ended sword for me because it means I keep putting off updating my blog but at the same time, I am adding more things to the list of what to write about in my blog. It is a definite lose-lose situation for me. I am going to stop procrastinating and catch up a little bit before it all becomes too overwhelming.

Easter : April 10 – 13

I was unable to recruit any keeners to join me on my Easter adventure, so once again it was a solo mission. I have come to realize that I really do not mind going places by myself but I do feel rather lonely when it comes to eating dinner. It does not faze me to eat breakfast or lunch alone, but there is something about going to a restaurant and eating dinner alone, it is never the highlight of my trips.

I decided that I wanted to go skiing for one last time, to really justify the fact that I dragged all of my ski stuff to Vienna. The hardest part of the whole decision process was determining where I actually wanted to go. Austria offers a wealth of ski areas, all which have been dumped on by snow this season. I decided to head to the town of Zell am See in the Salzburg region. It was a 6 hour journey by train into the Austria Alps. I arrived at night so I was not able to take in my surroundings immediately. From what the maps told me, Zell am See was not a very big town, and had I arrived during light hours, I most definitely could have found my way to my hotel. It was 11:15 p.m., I was tired and I had my skiing wardrobe with me, so I opted for a cab, which took me around the corner from the train station. The best €6 I have spent thus far…

The hotel I stayed at was a really nice, small hotel in the middle of their ‘pedestrian village’. I knew that I had come to ski so I wanted to maximize the time I spent on the ski slopes and not inside any bars… Plus, being alone somewhat deters me from going bar-hopping, not my idea of a good time. On Saturday morning, my first day in Zell am See, I opened the curtains of my room and was immediately confident that I had made a good choice to come here. I was surrounding by Alps and glaciers, I don’t think the smile left my face the entire weekend.

Kitzsteinhorn

The town offers a free ski bus to anyone who looks like they are heading out to ski. Because it was such a beautiful day on Saturday, I made the decision to head to the glacier that was in the area, just in case the weather took a turn for the worse the next 2 days. I eventually boarded the right bus and was whisked away to the glacier, Kitzsteinhorn, in the little town of Kaprun. It is not possible to ski the entire mountain, so they have these panoramic gondolas that bring people to the middle of the mountain (Basically where heaven starts). As I stepped off the gondola I could hardly contain myself, and I wasn’t even at the top of the mountain yet. What I hadn’t realized until then was that Kitzsteinhorn is a sea of snow, with no trees, I guess that is only to be assumed for a 3,202m high mountain. I was literally going to be skiing a glacier for the day, and never had to worry about remotely skiing close to a tree. I don’t think I have a vast enough vocabulary to explain the view from the top of the mountain. I also was not able to pick my jaw off the ground to make an attempt at describing it. I was literally looking out into a sea of jagged mountains, all part of a national park. The whole day was a fantastic adventure, but with a few too many t-bars. After skiing a powerful run, the last thing I wanted to do was keep my balance and continue supporting my weight while sitting on a t-bar. My boots have never hurt me before, and I have always been very comfortable in them. I am not sure if it was the temperature (+25°C at the base) or the altitude but both my boots left huge bruises on my ankles, which made walking in ski boots a little painful, but as soon as I stepped onto my skis, I could have cared less about the pain. By the end of the afternoon I was starting to become a little bit too cocky, which resulted in my almost taking out a few skiers going up the t-bar. I took a few more runs and thought it would be best to cut my losses and head back to the hotel. I really did not want to see how effective my insurance was. Later that night my entire body was in pain. There was even an indescribable pain in my elbows. I think my eyes closed around 9:30 and did not open again until the next morning. I was able to speak to Jodi though, as it was her big 21st birthday… All grown up.

Schmittenhöhe

The next two days I stayed in Zell am See and took advantage of Schmittenhöhe, the smaller, 2,202m, mountain. Since it was the middle of April, snow was beginning to be a little sparse at the bottom of the mountain. I guess that a month of +20°C weather makes it hard for snow to stick around. From the top of Schmitten I could see where I had skied the previous day, and it was absolutely beautiful. Schmitten was still mostly below the tree line so there were actual trails to ski. I was at the mountain before the lifts opened, both days, so I was able to benefit from corduroy trials for a few hours in the mornings. I could not begin to attempt to describe the skiing or scenery. Both were phenomenal and I can only be thankful that the weather stayed fantastic and I walked off the ski hills all 3 days with no broken bones and fully intact.

Spring skiing rocks my world.

Hallstatt : April 17 – 19

This Wednesday, Hannah’s boyfriend is coming home from his semester in Iceland, and on Friday, Conor arrives for 3 weeks. Before the boys arrive and cramp our style (…) Hannah and I wanted to have one last girl weekend.

I had received a magazine when I signed up for SWAP and I remember sitting in Statistics class in October looking at the cover and vowing to visit the little lake-side town. The only problem was that there was no indication of where this place was in Austria. A few weeks ago I showed it to Hannah and said, ‘Can we go there?’ Hannah did not know where my little fantasy town was. One of her friends was over and saw the magazine on our coffee table and said she had been there and that is was absolutely beautiful. She even had the phone number of the hotel she stayed at in her cell phone. It was destiny that we went to this little town named Hallstatt.

Time wise, last weekend was the perfect weekend for us to go. We left work a little early on Friday in order to catch our train and arrived in Hallstatt 5 hours later in the middle of a gentle spring rain. It was the kind of rain that makes the grass look really green and seems to heighten the sense of smell. We were a little skeptical because we could see the town from the train, but it appeared to be on the other side of the lake. We discovered that there was in fact a ferry service that brought us across the lake to this picturesque town. I cannot begin to describe this 900 resident town that is squeezed between cliffs and the lake. You would not believe that this town exists, it is so perfect. Take a look at the newly posted pictures to see what I mean…

After a lengthy 15 minute walk from one end of the town to the other, we found our hotel. We checked in and then headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The owner of the hotel warned us that there was a big group coming in and that there would be music. We thought it would be great to have some music to shake this little town up. We heard some kind of music approaching the hotel, but I shrugged it off and convinced Hannah that it was coming from the speakers… Except that there were no speakers in the restaurant. Then, the owner let us know that this was not just any ordinary group coming, but a bachelor party. Hannah and I exchanged looks as if we both thinking the same thing. Our night was shaping up to consist of music, a group of men relatively close to our ages, and free drinks all night. A strange thing happened after this. It sounded as though a parade was heading down the small streets of Hallstatt.

The bachelor party that was bringing the music turned out to be the local marching band featuring everyone from the oldest member of the community to the young teenagers. We were a little confused. This is apparently the idea of a good time for bachelors of Hallstatt. For 3 hours Hannah and I were subjected to marching band music and old men gawking at us because we were the ‘new girls in town’. It was an interesting night to say the least.

We had hoped to visit the salt mines and/or the ice caves over the weekend. We then learned that everything opens next weekend. Instead of taking the cable car to where the salt mines are, we killed some time by hiking the mountain and in the afternoon we took a little boat ride around the picturesque lake. The only real way to describe the whole weekend is through pictures. (There is now a link on my blog right to my albums.)

It was definitely a perfect way for me and Hannah to spend our last weekend together, before we have to ‘break-up’ as we like to say. I think we are both secretly okay with breaking up, because it means our boys will be arriving.

Friday, April 24.

Conor arrives at 8:30 a.m. this Friday. I can honestly not believe it. I remember writing it in my calendar at work and having to count the number of weeks, and I am now counting the number of days. I don’t know where time goes. We are heading to Innsbruck Friday afternoon, and then embark on a whirlwind week of evening activities. I am taking Conor to the ballet performance of Romeo and Juliet; I am trying to rub some of my new culture off onto him.

My bank account proves how much travelling I have done, and I am perfectly fine with that. Thinking back on these last months, there is nothing I would have done differently. When I fly home on the 15th I will have seen all of the Austrian regions (excluding Vorarlberg) and experienced the Austrian way of life, plus Berlin, Italy, Bratislava and Prague.

Although Vienna is a beautiful city, it in no way encompasses the majestic beauty and generosity that the rest of Austria offers. Like any major city, people live in their own world and it does not reflect the actual way of life of the everyday Austrian.

I can be nothing but grateful for the past four months. I feel that it has been a test of character for me, and has shown me who my real friends are, and those whose friendship with me is out of convenience. It is stark reality check, but I am glad that I have been able to experience it. I guess everyone eventually comes to terms with the realization that friendships change, but it is still difficult to wrap my head around it. For the messages that I did receive, thank you. You have no idea how nice it was to know someone was thinking about me. I am ready though to come home and end the virtual family I have had for four months.

Work

I am entering my last 2 weeks of work. It is hard to believe that 14 weeks ago I stood in this building with so much anxiety and skepticism. I will always remember the colleagues who guided me and took the time to talk to me; I don’t think they realize how much of a help and support they were. My final project is to summarize and finalize my proposed concept for the youth program. The workshop I hosted was fantastic, and I was able to collect concrete and valuable data to contribute to my proposed ambassador program. When I leave next week, I can only hope that the work I contributed may help the youth program re-gain some momentum.

Summer time and the livin's easy...

It was 25 degrees today and 22 degrees yesterday. I NOW love Vienna. It is such a sudden change from a few weeks ago that I seem to forget the gloomy days and weeks of no sun. The flowers are blooming and buds are turning into leaves on trees. The city is coming alive, and I am practically leaving. Very strategic planning on my part! The past weekend was full of a flurry of activity...

Bratislava, Slovakia

A few months ago it was decided that a group of us were going to head into Bratislava the weekend before Hannah's birthday. To my satisfaction, it actually happened! On Saturday, 4 of us were going to take a boat from Vienna to Bratislava and enjoy the landscape of the Danube. The morning was beautiful, 22 degrees, and we were all looking forward to a boat ride to soak up some sun and feel the breeze in our hair... Our dreams were crushed when we were told that the boats gear box was broken and there would, in fact, be no boat going to Bratislava- we had to take a train. Once that fiasco was settled, we met up with one of our friends who was already in Bratislava, and had been anticipating our arrival via boat. We arrived at 3:30 and took a little walk around the town (city?). We walked up to the castle in Bratislava, which is actually featured on the Slovakian flag. Honestly, if this castle is the most exciting thing in Slovakia and is deemed important enough to be featured on their flag, than I have no hope for the rest of the country (Not that a maple leaf is riveting...). The castle was rather boring and ugly. Of course, there was scaffolding covering the ENTIRE thing, so that made it even less appealing. We spent most of our time at the castle looking at the view of the landscape surrounding Bratislava. It is cool to look out onto a never-ending field of those HUGE windmills that cover Europe. One of the guys I was with, Nigel, knows everything about Bratislava so we found out a lot about everything. Back in town, we decided to experience something incredibly Slovakian- the beer. We did have some time to kill before we met up with the rest of the group, so what better past time? The one thing we quickly realized about waiters in Bratislava was how miserable they all were - making them very un-likeable.

Nigel loves the Danube, so we all walked along the bridge to kill some time and were able to catch the remainder of the sunset over the hills, casting variations of pink across the sky and making Bratislava look a little bit nicer. We met up with Hannah and Jody when they arrived and headed to a restaurant for Hannah's birthday dinner. We caught the 11:50 train back to Vienna. There is not much to see or do in Bratislava, so an afternoon trip was plenty of time. It was a nice city, but I can't say that I feel compelled to return and see it all again.

Burgenland

A couple of nights ago I told Hannah my Sunday plans, which were to visit Burgenland, the last region in Austria I needed to visit in order to accomplish my dream of seeing all of them (without counting Vorarlberg). Coincidently, Peter's (Hannah's boyfriend) parents live just outside Eisenstadt, the capitol of Burgenland. Hannah rang them up and they invited us to lunch on Sunday with a whole itinerary for the afternoon. We caught the train this morning and arrived in a little town. The journey was breath taking, we passed through vineyard after vineyard. Peter's dad picked us up and brought us to their house, where we were fed really good Schnitzel and Burgenland wine. It was such a nice day that Hannah and I laid out on their back deck for a little bit, just looking out over fields and the occasional bike riders. I am pretty sure I drifted off for a little bit, you know, while laying out in 25 degree sunshine wearing shorts and a t-shirt at the beginning of April. C'est la vie.

Peter's parent acted as my tour guide and brought us into Eisenstadt (pretty much one street to look at) and then to Neusiedl am See, a town right on the edge of the Neusiedl am See (the lake). It is a huge sailing town and actually hosted the 2006 Sailing World Championships. The lake is not very deep and they were concerned that the water level might not even be deep enough for a sail boat to sail, let alone turtle. However, this year has provided the lake with the most water in 129 years. After a few drinks by the water we were taken to the bahnhof and headed back to Vienna.

It was an absolute perfect weekend, and I could not have asked for more. Work is ending in a very scary 4 weeks, which means Conor arrives in (now) less than 3 weeks, absolutely insane. I decided to make notes about news headlines in Austria since I have been here. The best one so far, "Vienna saw wettest March for 109 years". FANTASTIC! So glad I lived through that, makes this whole trip worthwhile.

Next weekend is the big ski weekend, I am heading to Zell am See for Easter. Apparently the mountains still have around 4 meters of snow, so I hope the snow will stay even with all this fantastic weather.

Completely off topic --

Of all the personal growth I have made while living in Vienna, the thing I am MOST proud of is.....

The fact I have kicked my nail biting habit! I have girl nails now. Finally. It is weird, but I am genuinely proud of myself... I think a proper manicure is needed now to reward myself :)

Falling in Love

I finally had a travel companion for this trip! My new travel buddy, Steph, decided she wanted to see a little more Austria, so she decided to join me. It was nice to have some company, and I think it gave the parents and boyfriend some peace of mind.

Upper Austria

Adding to the growing number of regions I have visited in Austria, we left for Linz on Saturday morning. Linz is the 2009 Cultural Capital of Europe, so we knew that we were going to be visiting some museums and anticipated a culture shock. We arrived and hopped on a bus that took us to the youth hostel. When we arrived, the reception area was closed, so we could not check into our room. We found some lockers and left our stuff in one so we would not have to carry around clothes all day. The hostel was located a little bit out of the city, but I really liked it. A lot of the Hostel International hostels are not located directly in the city centre, but they all have close access to the public transit so it is no problem. Our hostel was very close to the Linz Botanical Gardens (not quite in bloom yet…) and in a very posh neighbourhood. Then again, Linz was made up of what seemed to be rich people, every car was a BMW, Mercedes or Audi. We headed into town and quickly discovered that Linz was not anything like Vienna or Salzburg. It has struggled to compete with the historic backgrounds of the two, and has always been more of an industrial city oppose to a tourist one. I have to admit though; Linz was a very refreshing change from the beautiful, but repetitive, surroundings of Vienna. There were some churches and really old buildings, but for the most part, the city was comprised of new and modern buildings. This has a lot to do with the fact that in more recent years, Linz has stepped up its game and is trying to lure tourists. It worked for me!

On the train Steph and I chose what museums and galleries we wanted to visit. We settled on 3 because of our time frame, and my attention span. We discovered the Linz ’09 card, which cost us €10 and gave us access to over 20 attractions, which was well worth the money. We went to the Lentos Museum of Modern Art first, which is right on the Danube. It is a really cool building, made out of exposed concrete with glass covering the entire building. Steph is an architect student at the University of Waterloo, so every now and then I learn a little about the shapes and purpose of buildings. The Lentos was hosting ‘The Best of Austria’ as part of their cultural capital events. Basically, the museum took art out on loans from some of the best museums in Austria. Viennese museums included the Belvedere and the Albertina. While I was looking around, it struck me that they did not choose the best pieces from any museum, or any well known Austrian painters, such as Egon Shiele. After all, the Leopold museum is dedicated to his work. I told this to Hannah when I got back to Vienna, and she suggested that it was probably because they wanted to showcase the lesser known artists and demonstrate where the heart of Austrian art is. Touché Hannah, touché. I have made up my mind that I enjoy modern art. The only pieces I took interest in were painted after 1990. We opted for some lunch after the Lentos, and the weather decided to co-operate and gave us a beautiful day of at least 15°C, so we had lunch outside in the Hauptplatz. It was fantastic.

Determined to discover Linz, we set out for our second museum of the day, the ARS Electronica Centre. It is more like a kid’s science museum, so it was perfect for me. Very hands on and cool, I even had a picture of the inside of my eye taken. The museum had nothing at all to do with Linz but it dominates the Danube and just looked cool. Afterwards, we headed down Landstraße to the OK Centre for Contemporary Art, which was putting on Biennale Cuvée 09, the world’s best in contemporary art. Instead of paintings, it displayed real pictures and played films.

Steph was looking a little tired after this, I am sure she will never go anywhere with me again because of how much walking I always make her do. It was about 5 p.m. and we decided to head back to the hostel and take our stuff to our room. We went out for dinner to a really good Italian restaurant and drank some good Austrian Riesling wine. Conor (the ever so experienced sommelier) told me that Riesling was the up and coming grape in Austria. We hit the town for a while, and decided that since it was the night we had to change our clocks, we should head in a little early, for a fresh new day of travelling.

We slept through my alarm and ended up being late for check out… Life goes on.

To punish us for having such a nice day the day before, Mother Nature decided she would rain on Sunday. I tried to keep the spirits high, it worked… I think. Steph did decide to continue travels with me instead of going straight back to Vienna. We left for Melk, a small little town on the Danube. If Austria had asked me if I loved it a few weeks ago, I may have given the awkward silent, ‘I like you, too’ response. But while sitting on the train from Linz to Melk, I think I fell in love. I saw a different side of Austria that you don’t have the chance to see while in a big city like Vienna. I think that, as a traveller, you have the tendency to appreciate a place that is different from home, because it is refreshing. I think you only fall in love with a place when you realize that it reminds you of home. The river, farms, mountains and small towns along the train tracks let me see how most people in Austria live, and what their towns look like. Much like home :)

Lower Austria

We arrived in Melk, a town of less than 6,000 people. Although the town itself is tiny, the Stift Melk or Melk Abbey, dominates the town. (See the pictures on facebook) It was a beautiful abbey, but that was about there was to do in Melk, especially on a rainy day. We headed back to the train station with high hopes of continuing onto Krems. We had to change trains to get there, and when we arrived at the station, we realized we were going to have to wait 45 minutes for the train. It was already 4p.m., it was cold, it was rainy and we were not smiling anymore. We got on the next train to Vienna.

Life

I am starting to focus on finishing my co-op report for school; I have to send it within the next 2 weeks to guarantee that it arrives at Dal before May 7th, the deadline. It is a struggle to write because of the length restrictions. Every topic has to be answered on only one page, difficult to do when I am asked to write about BAWAG as a company plus the skills and experience I have gained. How do I fit everything? In one of my university classes, we had a poet come in and talk to us (This was obviously not a business course). She said that when you write poetry, every word has to have a purpose, and I feel that this is relevant to me while writing my report… Having such a small amount of room to write is going to mean I choose my words wisely.

A group of us are heading to Bratislava on Saturday. It is the first day of the season for the boat that goes up the Danube from Vienna to Bratislava, so we are taking it. I am looking forward to it.

I am busy at work organizing this workshop for the BAWAG apprentices. The biggest struggle I have is forming the question to ask them. I know they have to be done right, or I am going to see a lot of blank stares and awkward silence, not quite what I am going for. I am picturing Matt and 4 of his friends and how I would go about making them have a dynamic group discussion that does not digress from the topic at hand, not an easy task!

Conor arrives in 3 weeks; I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by! As much as I can’t wait to see him, his arrival symbolizes the end of my time in Europe, something I wish I could prolong, now that I have fallen in love.

Carinthia & Styria

I made it my goal a few weeks ago to visit every region in Austria, with the exception of Vorarlberg, because it is really far away and apparently doesn’t even want to be a part of Austria anymore. Last weekend, as a solo mission, I tackled 2 of the regions, Carinthia and Styria. I figured that by visiting the capitals, Klagenfurt and Graz, I would be able to absorb as much of the region as I could. I had a fantastic weekend in both cities (towns) and am glad that I decided to stick closer to home instead of travelling to different countries. It should be known that under strict travel advice from my dad, I did not accept candy from strangers this entire trip, I swear. I told Hannah this advice my dad had given me, and she said, ‘Oh, so he knows about the case in Austria from a few years ago?’… What?? Apparently someone had left chocolate on the hood of an Austrian mayor’s car wishing him a Happy Valentine’s Day one year. It turns out the chocolate was laced with poison and the mayor who was given the chocolate is paralysed forever. SO, note to self: No candy from strangers.

Klagenfurt, Carinthia

In order to maximize my time, I left for Klagenfurt on the Friday night. The train ride was 4 ½ hours and I arrived in Klagenfurt at 9:30p.m. I had google mapped directions from the train station to the hostel I was staying at, but in the dark in a completely foreign place, I was not willing to take the chance of becoming lost, so I hopped into a cab in hopes that I would be taken into the right direction, which I was. The hostel was a Hostelling International hostel, which is a member’s only hostel, and has certain standards and conditions it has to maintain. When I arrived I headed to bed, only to find that I was sharing a room with someone else. Out of respect, I did not turn the light on when I came in, so I was not aware if I had any sheets on my bed… The morning revealed to me that I had in fact been sleeping on straight mattress and pillow, I felt a little dirty. I headed into town with my backpack because I didn’t want to have to come back to the hostel before I left for Graz. I had noticed that there were lockers at the train station, so I went there and left my bigger pack for the day. Klagenfurt is a beautiful city/town. Standing in various points in the city, if you look up all you see are the steeples of churches with that onion shape at the top. The look of the town reminded me a lot of Salzburg. I took a bus out to Wörthersee, the lake about 5 minutes from the town. Surrounded by snow capped mountains, it was beautiful thing to see, I imagine it would be really nice in the summer. The sun teased me all day long, coming out for little periods of time throughout the day. It was of course better than being in rainy Vienna. I walked around the town and came across a farmers market, which I have come to love. It can be compared to a huge flea market because of the random junky tables, flower and food vendors. The town is centered around the Lindwurm statue, which legend has that some warrior killed this dragon, and now there is a statue commemorating it. Klagenfurt was a very picturesque town, but by the afternoon I was ready to move onto something a little more exciting, Graz.

Graz, Styria

I took the bus from Klagenfurt to Graz which lasted a little over 2 hours. It was a breathtaking drive and many parts of the drive reminded me of driving through the townships, the Laurentians and British Columbia. I really enjoy travelling during the day, you can actually see the things around you. When we arrived in Graz, you would never expect to be driving into an old city. The newer part of the city has been built surrounding the old town. From the train / bus station I did not believe that I was actually going to see old buildings. I arrived at the hostel I was staying at, which was awesome. It was perfectly located between the train station and the inner city of Graz. I ended up bunking with 3 girls from the States, 2 from Maine and 1 from California. I decided not to stick around the hostel for dinner, so I took a bus into the inner city to walk around. I had read about the Murinsel, which was built in Graz when it was the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003. It is a bar / café that was built and then lowered into the Mur river. It looks like an open seashell and is very cool. When I returned to the hostel, I took a shower and appreciated the fact that I was not charged for the water or towel, services you come to appreciate when travelling. I woke up the next morning to an absolutely beautiful day. Breakfast was a feast of a buffet, all included. I headed out into the city with my trusty map and top sightseeing places, courtesy of the information centre. Graz is filled with romantic courtyards and all you can do is picture what it must have been like in the olden days. At 11 a.m. there is a building in Graz, called the Glockenspiel, on a side street that has shutters that open and two wooden figures come out dancing to a Styrian song. I don’t know whether or not my life has been changed because I saw it, but I am glad that I did. I then climbed to the top of the Schlossberg, the mountain with the famous Graz clock (or course covered in scaffolding) and bell tower. I was up there at 12 and all of a sudden the city started singing this symphony of bells. The bell tower that I was near chimes 101 times every hour, so that dominated the sound, but there are so many churches in Graz that the city literally went into song, it was very pretty. Afterwards, I met up with 2 of Hannah’s friends for lunch; they were in Graz for a film festival. I headed back to the hostel and caught the train back to Vienna at 3:30. I had no clue how long the trip was going to take, which ended up being around 3 hours. Quick Fact: Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up close to Graz.

All in all, the weekend was a huge success, and I really loved Graz, definitely a place that I would want to go back to.

Vienna has started campaigning for their mayor elections, which take place in September 2010. They start campaigning very early because of the fierce competition between the two parties. One of the candidate’s campaigns is based on the notion that he wants to stop immigration into Austria and kick all of the foreigners out of country. The scary thing is that people will vote for him because they base their opinions on the idea that foreigners have taken all their jobs, and therefore kicking out the foreigners will only have a positive impact with their abilities to find jobs… A little scary that people can think like this.

German class continues, and is becoming increasingly more difficult. I can put sentences together now, which is a plus, although I feel like my co-workers expect me to be fluent by now... Ain’t going to happen! There are some people in my class that are just so horrible at speaking German; it literally hurts my ears to hear them talk. It is painful.

My job took a huge turn for the better last week, and I feel that I am now contributing to the well being of the company. Among contributing ideas for the content of the website, I have been put in charge of building an ambassador program for the youth of the bank. The concept behind that is using the current Apprentices at the bank to increase youth involvement and have a constant focus group for product feedback and development. I am currently working on organizing a workshop for 5-10 apprentices, aged 17, for their input. I am approaching it by imagining having Matt and his friends in a room, and ways that I could keep them entertained with the thought of creating a program… I am preparing for a lot of awkward silence. I feel that the work I am doing is having a positive impact and will one day benefit the bank, which is all I can hope for. I cannot believe that I only have 5 weeks of work left; it has gone by too fast, like everything always does.

I am heading to Linz, Melk and Krems this weekend with my friend Steph, and I promise I won’t let her eat candy, or follow someone to his car to see his ‘puppies’… Oh dad.

Funkenfest

Tara does Vienna.

This past weekend my friend Tara, who is from Halifax but doing a SWAP term in Berlin, came and stayed with me and Hannah. She brought a friend of hers from Berlin, and someone that I met while I visited her, Martin, who is originally from Sweden. It was a bit of an international house for the weekend. They arrived at different times on Friday evening, so Hannah and I planned on making dinner for them (I helped plan and buy food while Hannah cooked…). Tara is a vegan, so we racked our brains to come up with a meal that would be edible for everyone. We ended up having fried vegetables with curry and rice, and it was fantastic, kudos to Hannah for having frozen homemade curry in our freezer. We had bought some wine for dinner, and that influenced our decisions for the evening. We had originally planned a big night for Saturday, as the Europeans have no clue what Jager bombs are, I thought I would give them a good introduction. Needless to say, after Friday there were hardly and ingredients left for Saturday. It was a fun night out on the town, and some felt the effects more than others on Saturday morning.

We didn’t have the opportunity to lounge around on Saturday morning because we had tickets to the Spanish Riding School performance at 11 a.m. Being an avid horse lover (sarcasm) I was actually blown away by the performance. The horses literally dances around the ring, and were perfectly in tune with the music. To think that Jodi was actually able to do that in Portugal was pretty cool. However, I will now always have the satisfaction of knowing that I went to the see the real show, and she didn’t… The riders looked old school with their hats and long coats on, and I am pretty sure that the saddles were lined with diamonds, they sparkled profusely. I don’t think Tara quite appreciated the experience, as she was feeling the Jager bombs from the previous night. (German Lesson: Jagermeister means 'hunt master' in English.) After the riding school we headed back to the apartment on request of some of the members in our group, and enjoyed a quiet afternoon watching skiing on t.v.

That night, Saturday, some of Hannah’s friends had planned on going to the Vorarlberg Funkenfest. Vorarlberg is the most western region of Austria where they practice this annual tradition. Every year a different town is invited to Vienna to host the tradition. Basically, they build a huge tower of wood surrounding a pine tree and tie a witch doll, with flashing red eyes, to the top of it and light it on fire. The tradition is to burn the witch, which will in turn scare away winter, not that Vienna had much of one this year. A group of us headed to the 19th district to Am Himmel for the festivities, which is an area on the top of a hill, that you can look out and see all of Vienna. Tara, Steph and I took a picture of ourselves in front of the fire to send to SWAP. They have a lot of contests for participants, so we are hoping that the fact we have all become friends and attended a traditional Austrian event, we will win something! We stayed for a few hours and then all headed back to our apartment for a flip cup tournament (I introduced them all to flip cup too) and a little sing star session.

On Sunday I took Tara and Martin out for a little sightseeing. We went to the Lower Belvedere museum and saw an exhibit by Alfons Mucha. The plan was to go to see an Opera at the Staatsoper, but I had messed up the times, so we opted out of that. We did some sightseeing and then met up with my new Canadian friend Steph and 2 of her floormates in the dorms she lives in. There is a jazz festival going on right now in Vienna so we went and checked out some live performances. The bands were amateur musicians, who were showcasing their work, but they were all very talented musicians and it was a really cool thing to visit on a Sunday night.

Life right now

My weekend schedule is absolutely full with adventures from now on until I leave to come home. It is absolutely insane, but I only have 7 weeks of work left. When I started in January there were 16, it has gone by so fast. I am heading to Klagenfurt and Graz this weekend in my attempt to maximize the amount of Austria that I see.

I had my mid-evaluation yesterday for work. I was able to speak to my career advisor, and he seems pleased with how everything is going. My bosses were very generous with my review and it instils confidence in myself to know that they think I am doing a good job.

Our internet is supposed to be fixed today, which means the return of Skype… Over the past 3 weeks Hannah and I have done a lot of bonding at night, which has been great. I would go as far to say that we have become good little buddies! I spoke to my dad last night; I have figured out that it costs nothing for me to receive calls, so it is a good way to talk to people. Should anyone feel inclined to speak to me, my phone number is 011 43 680 219 7223.

My second Deutschkurs, or German lesson, started last night. Montag und Mittwoch habe ich Deutschkurs von sechs bis Viertel von neun Uhr. We are learning the fundamentals of sentence structure, so I can actually say things now. It is a rather rewarding feeling. We are 9 girls all from different countries, with the exception of 2 who are from Thailand. There is occasional passing around of my translator so we can communicate. This is suppose to be a more intensive version of the course, with only 3 ½ weeks of class oppose to 5. There is one lady from Thailand who wants to buy the translator from me so bad. Every class she eyes it and I feel that I need to have it with me at all times to avoid the potential of it being stolen. She has offered me €200; I think she wants it mostly because it can translate Thai. I will not sell it to her; she just needs to get over it.

I have slowly passed through the homesickness faze. I was spoiled with Skype as it allowed me to speak to my family and Conor whenever I wanted to. It was hard when it was just taken away, but now that some time has passed I realize that I am still alive and that everyone at home is doing just fine. I send e-mails to the parents and communicate with my siblings and friends on facebook, so it is not like I have been cut off completely. It was weird, I could actually feel a certain kind of pain, not that it hurt, it was just a nagging feeling of missing contact from home. However, that is starting to pass. Hannah told me that a study proved that it is around the 2/3 point of being away that the missing feeling kicks in, so I was right on schedule! I do miss you all, but I am glad to be on this adventure and being able to share the experience through this blog has been great.

A Quick Life Update

A quick life update... Without Skype, I am thinking that this blog is going to become my main source of communicating with everyone!

One of my classmates at Dalhousie is doing her Co-op for the Management Career Services, the people who help us find jobs and do workplace check ups. Saying that, I have my mid evaluation on Monday. Most of the advisors visit the work places of the students and meet with them and the employers. Unfortunately, Dal doesn’t have the budget to send my advisor all the way to Austria, so we are having a phone evaluation. The first half hour is done just with my boss, and then the second part is just with me. I think it is a way for Dal to have feedback about how the co-op is going and if there are problems that needed to be sorted.

Anyways, back to my classmate. Part of her job is to profile students for an upcoming MCS e-mail bulletin. My classmate has asked me if I would mind being featured! She asked that I send her information concerning my workplace, living arrangements, any communication mishaps and how this international working experience is going to affect my career path and future career choices. It is scheduled to be sent out in September, so that will be exciting, I am curious as to what information she will use.

After much deliberation, I have decided to declare my major in Business Management. We are given a few options in Commerce, and I feel that this is the area that is best suited to my skill set. Time wise, I could have double majored at Dal because of the fact that I have so many transferred courses from CEGEP, but Dal doesn’t allow double majors in Commerce. It will however allow me to take courses in different fields, so I can continue pursuing courses in marketing on top of my major. We have to start taking courses relative to our majors in the winter of 2010, after our second co-op.

I have decided to go to Zell Am See, Austria for Easter. It is looking like a solo trip for now, which I am actually pretty okay with. I am sure that all this alone time will eventually start taking its toll on me, but I am rather enjoying being able to go where I want. I have been able to realize that I am completely self sufficient and can successfully live in a foreign place by myself. Saying that, I do miss having certain people around… You know who you are.

I think that covers the general highlights of my life to date :)

Salzburg and Mariazell

I know this is very long overdue, but we have not had internet for 2 weeks. I don’t even know where to begin it has been so long… ( I apologize now for the length of this one…)

Salzburg

Two weeks ago I went to Salzburg with two other Swappers, Simon and Steph. We stayed at a youth hostel, Yoho, which was pretty fantastic. It was right between the train station and down town core of Salzburg, so it was very convenient. The rooms were actually quite nice, with 3 sets of bunk beds… It reminded me a little bit of summer in Panorama. We arrived on the Friday night and had dinner at the hostel, some typical Schnitzel, and then headed out on the town. I had read about the Augustiner Brau monastery that instead of producing cheese, made beer. We headed there first. This place was unreal. I think that it could sit about 2,000 people in 4 different rooms. There were 2 options of beer size, a half litre, or litre. We opted for the litre. It was such a cool setting, except that there were pictures and sculptures of Jesus everywhere so you felt like you were committing a sin. We had some fun and met some members of a Scottish stag party, who had all worked in B.C. the past summer. The walk home brought on some adventures, including a few funny occurrences with reference to the Sound of Music, which was filmed in Salzburg (More on that later). We returned to the hostel, only to find the bar busy with an international tour group. We met some of the Canadians who go to Western and Dalhousie.

When we woke up we discovered that Salzburg offers something that is a rarity in Vienna, sun. We woke up to a beautiful day, and realized that Salzburg is basically surrounded by snow covered mountains. We decided that it would be a good idea to visit the fortress that overlooks the city of Salzburg, the Festung Hohensalzburg. It is basically all you can see from anywhere in Salzburg. When we actually arrived at the top, after a short but heart pumping hike, the view was stunning. It was cool to walk around the fortress and try and imagine what it must have been like actually living there. We explored it for a little bit, Steph and I took millions of pictures, while Simon tried to deal with his 2 day old hangover. Looking out from the cannon holes, all you can see are church steeples and mountains, it was quite beautiful. When Jodi and my dad were here this summer, she had taken a really cool picture that captured all the steeples of Salzburg. I desperately tried to find the spot, but am pretty sure that it wasn’t here that she took it. I think I found it the next day. As we walked down, we decided that today would be the perfect day to do the Sound of Music tour. None of us really remembered the movie, or the songs, but we knew that we were in Salzburg and that this was our chance to have a little piece of Julie Andrews. So we put our pride aside and boarded the bus. The best part about these tours is the fact that you learn something, and see things that you have otherwise not known about. The Sound of Music tour brought us to…

Leopoldskron Castle: Where the boat tipping scene was filmed
Hellbrunn Castle: Where the original gazebo has been moved to
Nonnberg Abbey: Where the real Maria was a nun
St.Gilgen and Lake Wolfgang: I don’t think this was in the movie, but it is in the breath taking Lake District. It reminded me a lot of Invermere.
Wedding Church Mondsee: Where the wedding of Maria and the Baron was filmed.
Mirabell Gardens: Where a lot of dancing and singing took place.

The majority of the tour was people like us, but then there was one couple that made the tourist level soar. They gasped and sang and loved every moment of the tour. I vowed to never turn into that kind of couple. And where were they from? The U.S.A.

Feeling touristed out we headed back to the hostel and all fell asleep, for a power nap. We had great aspirations about what we were going to do that night, we wanted to go to a club that hosted a lot of MTV d.j.’s, but we ended up sitting with a group of travellers and played Uno all night. At least we stuck to a budget...

We had to check out by 10 a.m. the next morning, so we put our stuff in a locker and set out for another exciting day of Salzburg sightseeing… Until we realized that we had seen most of Salzburg the day before (it is not very big). We headed up to the ridge that follows the Salzach, the river that flows through Salzburg. We were able to see a panoramic view of Salzburg, and it was incredible. I am pretty sure that this is where I took a picture similar to the one that Jodi has. We headed back into the town; I wanted to buy some of the painted eggs. I am not talking about tie-dyed kids eggs, these are amazing. They are painted by students and housewives, and I just hope I can bring them home without breaking them. Hannah had also asked me to pick some up for her mom. We also walked by the Christmas in Salzburg shop, and I saw a lot of ‘Pyramids’ – These Christmas candle things. I felt inclined to buy one, but reality kicked in and I remembered that I only have 2 suitcases… After that we collectively agreed that we had seen Salzburg to the best of our abilities and headed back to the train station.

That was the end of the Salzburg weekend.

Mariazell

Last weekend, I decided that I needed to go skiing again, to fully justify the fact that I dragged all of my skiing stuff out here. After much deliberation, I decided on the town of Mariazell, which the Pope visited last year. The trip there was almost more exciting then the skiing. I left Vienna at 6:45 a.m. I had to transfer once in St. Pölten (Where the trial is currently being held for man that held his daughter hostage in his cellar for 24 years, raped her over 3,000 times and fathered 7 of her children. She gave birth in the cellar each time, with no doctors). From there I took the ricketiest train to a town 2 hours away. There is so much snow that the train could not go further, so we had to get off and board a bus. A man was putting chains on the tires of the bus literally from the 60s. My first thought – Safe. The ride was alright, except for the kid sitting in front of me who puked the ENTIRE time. That was nice. As you enter further into the interior of Austria, English starts becoming very rare. Luckily, my german language skills kicked in and I was able to figure out what time to arrive back at the station in the afternoon. Skiing was fantastic. All the rain we have been receiving in Vienna has clearly been snow there and I literally skied powder all day long. The mountain still wasn’t as high as I had hoped, but I am waiting for Easter to really take a long journey into the heart of the Austria Alps. Although I do not know what my surroundings looked like because it snowed all day. I had a little 'experience' on the chairlift. I was riding up with someone who clearly did not know what he was doing. As we approached the top of the hill, I tried to lift the bar up, but he would not take his skis off… He did not take his skis off until we were half way around the top pole, heading back down the mountain. We were the chair that made the chairlift stop, and had to jump off. Thanks buddy. The lonely day came to an end; it was a good day, but not talking all day kind of takes a toll on you… Driving back down to the train station (1 hour) you could really see how much snow they still have. Some of the snow banks were taller than the bus we were in. It makes me hopeful that Easter will be fantastic.

My friend Tara is arriving on Friday. We are going to the Spanish Riding School on Saturday, and hopefully the Opera on Friday or Sunday night.

I received an e-mail from Sky Europe saying that they have cancelled the flight from Prague to Venice, the one that Conor and I were suppose to take. Instead, we are leaving for Italy on an overnight train from Vienna 2 days earlier, and taking Budapest off the travel plans. We are going to head to Prague when we return from Italy and before we head home. This way, we can maximize time in Italy, which takes the stress away of needed to be in places at certain times.

Sorry for the long post, my life is just that exciting…

p.s. I will add pictures as soon as we have internet back at our apartment.

Berlin

The biggest adventure to date was definitely last weekend when I ventured to Berlin. I left on Friday the 13th and arrived in Berlin in the morning so I could benefit from a whole day. My friend who is living in Berlin right now, Tara, gave me fantastic directions into Berlin, where she met me at the one café I could understand, Starbucks. We had only met in November after we got in touch through SWAP. We set out on our touristic journey of Berlin, which is very different from Vienna. The people are much more apt to speak English, but they still walk around like they are miserable. Apparently the Germans and Austrians have a love / hate relationship like Canada and the U.S. I haven't experienced the culture long enough to know which one is Canada in this relationship.

Our first sight was the Brandenburger Tor, which is like 'the' landmark of Berlin. It weird to have seen all these places in school textbooks and to see them in real life is pretty cool. Around the corner from there is the parliament building, the Reichstag. According to Tara, I am not taking the blame if this fact is wrong, Hilter organized the fire that burned it down some decades ago. He did this in an attempt to have a reason to go to war, inevitably leading to WWII. This is how a lot of the conspiracy started about September 11th and the involvement of the U.S. government. The building does have a certain presence, and knowing that it was Hilter's old stomping grounds made it a little eerie. Conveniently all of the touristy sights are close to each other, so we just kept walking. Walking up to the Holocaust Mahnmal was a little confusing. There is no real identification describing what it is, but enough books tell you. The ground slopes up and down, and most of the pillars were higher than me. The weird thing is that they are in perfect lines, so you can always see a way out, but the sloping ground and monstrous pillars leave you with a sense of disorientation. The architect never really explained why he did it, and wanted people to derive their own meaning of it. Continuing down the street, there were big pieces of the Berlin Wall in random places. To see the Wall is one thing, but seeing it out of place doesn't seem right. I think it is good to preserve and remember it, but displacing it from the original site makes it lose some of its meaning.

As we were walking, I noticed that all of the sewer tops are actually nice, and have major buildings on it. One of the building on sewer top was the Berliner Dom, which was pretty impressive. It was probably one of the only buildings that resembled the architecture in Vienna. In the photo, you can see the Berlin TV Tower in the background. It resembled a mix of the CN Tower and the tower in Calgary. After that, we made our way to another church that had been bombed during the war. The bomb ruined most of the church by burning it down, but half of the steeple is still standing, making it a very, I will say interesting, but it isn't the word I am looking for. From there we made our way to the Tiergarten, and saw the Siegessäule, the Golden Angel. It was moved in 1939 as part of Hilter's plans to turn Berlin into the capital of the world. Tara and I climbed it, all 285 steps. It was like climbing the Statue of Liberty because of the spiral staircase.

The same time I was in Berlin, the Berlin film festival was taking place. Tara bought tickets for us so I was able to experience something that is internationally recognized. Unfortunately I was a few days late to see Kate Winslet. After that we went to a little cafe / bar and I met some of Tara's past roommates. I was talking to one girl who had gone to Concordia. I asked where she was from in Montreal, and she said that she was actually from the Eastern Townships. I told her about Knowlton, and of course she knew the Knowlton Pub. And she went to Massey Vanier. We decided that we obviously knew mutual people. Sitting in a little bar in Berlin, this complete stranger lists two people we both might know. The names were Nick Cogger and Ryan Stowe. My old sailing coach/I wish my old brother and my first cousin. Yeah Right. It is a seriously small world.

The next day we visited the inevitable, the East Side Gallery. It is a stretch of the Berlin Wall that stands exactly as it was. It was so hard

to vision that this wall split the city of Berlin in two. Years ago, Berlin invited artists to come and paint the Wall, so it is covered in what used to be, unique art. Unfortunately it is now covered in tags and visitors names. I guess it does add to the significance of the Wall but at the same time, it ruins it. I am glad that the government chose to leave this section of the Wall, as it was, instead of doing something creative with it. As a tourist, it makes the experience much more real and gave me the opportunity to understand. After the Berlin Wall we went to the Jewish Museum. The architect built the new part of the museum with a lot of angles and random empty space. Supposedly, the empty areas symbolize the lack of Jews in German society. The museum woke me up and really made me realize, that yes, the Holocaust happened. Not at all to reference that I am a 'Holocaust Denier' but learning german history in school is one thing, but to come to the place that it all started, was a reality check. After that, Tara and I headed to Checkpoint Charlie, where the United States opened a section of the wall in the 1960's. It was made famous by a standoff between the Soviets and the Americans, where some believed WWIII would start.

The next day we hopped on a Tour Bus and were able to hear a little bit of the history of what we were looking at. As touristy as the double buses are, you are given the opportunity to know what is what. After a busy weekend, I was ready to come home.

Tara is coming here in March, so I can return the favor of being tour guide. I have bought us tickets (Me, Hannah and Tara) to go and see the Spanish Riding School, I just felt compelled, at least one of us in the family had to see it, so why not make it the one person who loves horses most?!

I am heading to Salzburg next weekend with another Swapper, Simon. He is in my German classes, so we are turning into little buddies. German is terrifically hard. I am starting to learn the basics and understand what our teacher is talking about. The weeks are very quickly starting to add up, the past week was my sixth week of work. That means I have 10 left, which also means only 10 weekends. Upcoming trips that I am planning are to Krems and Melk, Bratislava, my fingers are crossed for another ski trip, Graz, Linz... I am still unsure about Easter, but my friend who is in Germany wants to go somewhere hot, I wouldn't mind...

Conor bought his ticket 2 days ago, so he is actually coming. Since our flight is out of Prague, we will start there, and our Italian plan is Venice - Florence - Rome - Naples - Pompeii - Capri or Amalfi. Everything is starting to be pretty busy here, I just hope I can fit everything in that I want!