The Adventures of Braun Hilda

Most important fact learned this week:  Sr. Carrie Ann is a brown belt in karate and could totally kick our ass.

Moving on: we only had a two day weekend so a lot of people decided to stay back in Gaming. Friday night a group of us made dinner (we did not want to eat pork in the mensa again.) After dinner, we watched Roman Holiday before we got ice cream and headed up the hill to go stargazing.  It was a little cloudy, but we still saw a few shooting stars, and we only headed in because we had started to lose feeling in our fingers and toes.

Saturday we had made plans to go hike Book Mountain (at the top is a book that everyone who makes it all the way up signs.) Becca had some grand plan to get up by 8:30 to eat breakfast; needless to say this did not happen. We got up only because there was a knock on our door asking if we still wanted to go hiking. We did, so we rolled out of bed and headed to the creek to jump in and wake ourselves up courtesy of the freezing cold water.  A family saw us heading into the creek, and stopped on the bridge to watch us, so I took a bow for them. Sr. Joan Paul came over and watched us jump, and then we took a third jump just for good measure.  Now that our senses were shocked awake, we got ready for the hike and rounded up people to go. Of course we had to stop at spar to get some brie and bread, and milka for lunch at the top, but after that we were on our way.

 This mountain is way steep. I was under the impression that it went back and forth between steepness and flatness…nope it is pretty much straight up. We made it to the first cross after about 20 minutes, and took a photo break, before realizing this was not the top and we needed to keep going.  The rest of the way took about an hour and a half of grueling work up steepness that was not made for my hobbit legs. But we made it =) and just to get a little higher, we climbed the radio tower-

                 (Which is completely illegal and which they tell us not to climb,

but I'm sure practically  everyone does.

Hopefully I don’t ruin any future political career by posting this, 

but since mom is probably one of the few reading this, I think I’m safe)

-from the top of the radio tower, you could see all the surrounding towns, and mountains. I would have stayed up there longer had it not been so cold that high up and had the tower not been shaking in the wind.



 

We ate lunch and talked for a long while, during which an Austrian woman came bounding up (yes bounding, not huffing and puffing and stretching little legs like we were), signed the book and immediately turned and ran back down. We tried to decipher her name from the book, but we couldn’t so I named her Braun Hilda, (Braun Hilda the beast who climbs Everest with not even a walking stick.) When we finally headed down, we ran almost the whole way in true Braun Hilda fashion; this included humming the Indiana Jones theme song. Twice I nearly slid down the mountain when the edge of the trail gave way, but besides that we all got down just fine and in record Braun Hilda time.

After the hike we had decided to walk to the Kebab stand a little while down the road, unfortunately when we got there it was closed-what luck. We ended up eating in the mensa (sad reality compared to the kebabs.)

Quote of the week is from Fr. Ron. “I hope you get all A+s  in your classes, and that you smile all day long, and I hope you get dessert.” Just for him, I ate dessert at every meal =)

Leaving Thursday night for Poland!

The Hills are Alive ♫ ♫ ♫ Salzburg, Munich, and Mondsee

Salzburg
Saturday Morning we were up early and on the bus to Salzburg, Austria. I don't remember much of the ride, so I must have been asleep (I think we watched Gattica though). Once we got to Salzburg, we went to mass at a Franciscan Church; though, I missed part of mass because I thought we had been told 45 minutes to mass, when in fact we had been told 4 to 5 minutes...a very easy mistake, and the line for the WC was pretty long.
            p.s. I think it should be illegal to charge people to use the bathroom...really people, it is a basic necessity of life, and sometimes we just don't have time after a 3 hour bus ride and a water bottle and a coke to rummage through out wallets for .50. Just let us in already.

Right after we finished mass, there was a wedding about to start, boy to Europeans know how to dress for weddings. All the ladies had hats, big hats...Audrey Hepburn hats (MAK- some even had feathers!) and all the men were in coattails. I decided this attire will be required at my wedding. Anyways, after mass we headed to lunch (which was a 4 course meal) and then off to a tour. Our tour guide was one of the professor's dads, I hear what he said was very interesting, but all of us more than a foot away from him could hear nothing. Americans seem to be the best country in terms of projection. We saw the Do-Re-Mi- steps from The Sound Of Music, and the fountain they danced on. We had the afternoon free, so Katie, Martha, Rachel and I went walking around. We went to Mozart's house (the front and the back side), and then wandered around streets -shopping (I got a scarf) and listening to music from the guy with the electric violin- until we met up with Fr. Brad for some Vietnamese Pho. Afterwards we headed of to the Augustiner Brau. Fr. Brad took us on a roundabout way, showing us the smallest house in Salzburg, giving the history of the fountains, and talking to people along the way. The Augustiner was great (Fr. Brad had built up the roasted chicken, so lots of us got that...and it was as good as he promised), at the Augustiner, you ceremoniously chill your mug before getting your beer... it was not as exciting as they made it sound (you hold the mug under a fountain for a few seconds.)

Munich
Sunday morning Katie, Becca and I were going to meet some people in front of the hostel at about 5:30 am to watch the sunrise from the castle. Shame we overslept...oops. We had mass that morning -in German, and with a full choir and orchestra- and then loaded the buses for Munich. I was with Katie, Becca, and Anna for the day. We took a subway to the university where Sophie Scholl and her brother, Hans, were arrested...here's a link about them (http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/holocaust/articles/sophie-scholl-white-rose.2786.htm). We didn't take into account the fact that it was Sunday and the building would probably be closed, which it was. But we looked through the window into the atrium where she stood anyways. Next we went to see the remains of the old Nazi headquarters, and saw the site of the 1933 book burning at Munich's Konigplatz.

At this point in the day a bathroom stop was necessary, and so began our hunt for a bathroom. We came to the conclusion that Europeans do not pee, hence they don't need bathrooms anywhere. (we ended up sneaking into a museum bathroom.) After a gelato break, we went to the Haufbrauhaus. I think I like the Pittsburgh version of the Haufbrauhaus, where dancing on tables and loud singing is allowed...but the beer here is better (lushes, we toasted to you.) We had a difficult time ordering, but I ended up with a bratwurst, which was just fine for me. Oh, and Katie got hit on by an old drunk German guy, it was awkward and hilarious all at once. The best part was we made about 40 euro there...when we paid the waitress for dinner -30 euro for all 4 of us- she only took 10 and gave us a 20 back. We didn't argue =)

Second gelato stop of the day, we ate them on the steps waiting for everyone else to get back. (there can never be too many gelato stops in a day)

Maddie and I at the HaufbrauhausAnna's converse

Salzburg (again)

Katie and I got up to watch the sunrise from the castle (high on the hill, overlooking Salzburg). We didn't know how to get up to the castle, but we found a road and some stairs that led us up pretty far. We watched the sunrise which was beautiful, and right as we were going numb in our toes we headed back.

 

Mondsee

Monday morning, after sunrise and breakfast, we left for Mondsee. Mondsee is famous for their church, where Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married in the movie, and for other scenes shot there (the lake scene I think). We had mass in the church from the movie, and then lunch. After lunch some people went in the lake (the warmest lake in Austria or something like that), but it was still pretty cold. We walked around the lake and the town till it was time to leave back to Gaming.

That's the weekend in a nutshell, now I'm back in Gaming and catching up on homework and making plans for next weekend =)

Austria week 1... (exploring, jumping, and sleeping)

I got to Austria, a little late, but I got there. Tuesday morning I got picked up at the airport with 2 other stragglers. The rest of the school was touring a monastery in Melk, so that's where the driver dropped us off. Days of travel, and all we wanted was to get to the Kartause (car-taow- zuh) and sleep, but off to the tour we went. I really don't remember much of Melk. It was old, baroque style, and very old. After lunch in Melk we went to Durnstein (sp?) where we walked up a very steep hill to a castle at the top (and it was very steep, many an unprepared girls got blisters, and we were all disheartened when the professor's kids tore past us upward.) When we got back to the bottom, we rewarded ourselves with homemade ice cream, which we ate sitting on the side of the road, because we were too tired to move.

Later Tuesday night, we finally got to the Kartause, just in time for orientation meetings. woot woot. I was surprised how close the Kartause was to the town. I was expecting a big field or a long driveway winding up to it, but nope, it’s just sitting there in the middle (which is good because we are a quick walking distance to spar, the grocery store, and urs, the bar...two very important establishments)

A quick intro to some names: my roommates are Anna and Becca. Katie and Maddie (both SOL) live down the hall, and that’s all I can think of now. Also I love Fr. Ron; he's like a big teddy bear grandpa, who loves when Maddie gives him gummy bears and M&Ms.

After orientation and about 3 trips to spar (schpar), for milka and other such necessities, I jumped in the Midderbach with Maddie and Anna. Jumping in the creek is tradition for the students to do. The water is freezing! It was so cold, I forgot how to swim and had to doggy paddle to the side. I have a video of it, but it won't load, I'll try putting it up later.

Friday night, tired from traveling and unpacking, I stayed in with Katie and my roommates Becca and Anna. We had a perfect Friday night with hazole (better than nutella), liebnitz (cracker you spread the hazole on) and peach wine. yum

Saturday we were all up bright and early to go to Vienna. We saw a Hungarian parade outside St. Stephen's Cathedral. No one knew (well...no American knew) what the parade was for.

         In tradition, I did 'the Tina' (tina turner dance move) outside the cathedral (your welcome babbsy)

After a schnitzel lunch, Katie and I followed Fr. Brad and some of the sisters and a random group of students to the National Treasury. Fr. Brad insisted we get some of those phones that tell you what everything is, and he likes to listen to every single thing, so it took us a good while to get through the whole treasury. It was all worth it though, because we got to see Veronica's veil, a room full of relics of the apostles and other saints, and a crown so heavy with jewels it would have broken my neck if I wore it. After the National Treasury Fr. Brad lead us on a roundabout way (he was lost) to the rose garden (it was so full of roses, that all the air around smelled beautiful). Katie and I ran into some friends and meandered around with them till we found kebabs for dinner.

Sunday was a rainy and gloomy day, so my roommate Rebecca and I explored the Kartause. We opened every door we could, though most of them turned out to be cleaning closets (this place has a lot of cleaning closets.) We were trying to find the hidden chapel, though it ended up being a trip planning all the places we could hide for a hide and seek game. We did find the hidden chapel (across the adoration chapel, through the little wooden door, up a spiral staircase). Though we've told about 5 people about it, so we'll see how hidden it stays.

Tuesday = first trip to Urs with Maddie, Becca, Mary, Anna, and Mark (this is a good example of the female to male ratio on campus, the franciscan ratio...or Fratio as some say). We predict many more trips to Urs =)

Now I’m sick (I finally got the roommate plague) and I'm doing everything I can to be better by the weekend (Salzburg and Munich coming up). I'm gargling salt water, drinking tea, watching Gilmore Girls, and using the power of positive thinking to get better. Oh, and sleep...lots of sleep.

proof I stepped foot in Ireland....and that I hung out at the Cliffs of Moher

Hanging out at the Cliffs of Moher

the rest of the pictures you can see on facebook