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.