Goodbye to Vienna, hello Nashville!

During the last couple of weeks in Vienna the Christmas markets were open and the streets were decorated with Christmas lights. I had the chance to go to several, thankfully, before my accident. We just had a couple days left in Vienna after we got back from our community trip to Zell am See, in the Alps. Since I was on crutches I didn’t have to go to school. My professors brought my finals to me because I would have to climb three flights of stairs to get into the institute. I was a little bored and sad the last couple of days. There was so much that I wanted to do and see but because of my leg and how hard it was for me to get around the city. I went out one day to eat at Vapiano’s, an Italian restaurant, and one day I went to get grocery since I couldn’t leave the hotel room. I just studied and kept my leg elevated most of the day. I had to ice my knee periodically and give myself shots of the blood thinner. I watched movies and got my things ready to be packed. But since I couldn’t walk or do much lifting my friend Jordan came to my room and packed all four of my bags. The last night in Vienna, I stayed in the Horton’s room most of the time. The girls and I spent a couple hours with everyone else. We had to get up early the next morning, so we didn’t stay up too late.

The flying going home went fast than the flights going to Vienna. Being in the full leg brace was very tricky but the help given by the airplane company was such a great help, I don’t know what I would have done without it. Also just having the help of my fellow Vienners, was amazing.

Once we were in Nashville, all the students waited for me to get off the plane before they took off running towards their parents. Since I was in the wheel chair I couldn’t run with everyone else. The man pushing me didn’t seem to get the importance of this moment in my life. I was telling him to hurry and to run but I guess he didn’t want me to get to my mom as fast as I did! I could hear the screams and shouts of my friends while I was being slowly rolled towards the doors. A couple minutes after everyone got to their parents, I arrived. I was crying with happiness and excitement. I had missed my family so much and now I was finally hugging my poppy and my mom with all I could.

My skiing Adventure.

While in Zell am See, a group of us wanted to go skiing. Who doesn’t want to go skiing in the Alps? We were all up and getting ready. I was trying to find out as much info as I could about skiing before I got up on the top of a mountain. I had never skied before and was a little nervous. We had to walk to a bus stop from our bed and breakfast and ride up into the mountains. When we got to the ski resort we had to buy a ticket to go up the mountain and then all the equipment needed. We rode up the mountain and I remember being so unbelievably excited. I had always wanted to ski and now I was finally going in the Alps at that! It took us a while to get all of our gear and get up to the top of the mountain. I think I probably spent two hundred dollars on all the equipment. Once I was at the top of the mountain but lessons started. The girls who were more experienced were helping those who weren’t. I also had met a man while I was practicing outside one of the ski shops, he was an export. He was in the US military and was stationed in Germany. I quickly learned how to stop and how to turn. After about ten minutes I decided that I needed to adjust one of my ski boots. When I got up I realized that I was alone. With so many people trying to ski with each other it was easy to just assume someone else was skiing with the rookie. At this point I was falling a lot. I thought I was doing well until I almost flew off a cliff. Apparently in the Alps the skiers are so experienced that they don’t need a wide runaway or guard rails by huge deadly cliffs. After I recovered from my near death moment in my day, I turned to start skiing again. As I was skiing across the mountain, perpendicular to the angle of the mountain my left ski hit mogul. My ski went back to the left up the mountain and my body weight with my knee kept going the other way. I heard a snap and began to fall to the ground. With my leg twisted behind me I started to figure out what exactly happened. I was laying face down in the snow crying from the pain. Two Czech women stopped and asked if I need help, at this point I was begging for my ski to be taken off so I could straighten my leg. I pulled my knee up to my chest and continued lay still in the snow. The women waited with me for about ten minutes until two ski instructors skied by and stopped. The instructors stopped and asked what happened. I told them that I heard my knee snap and that I couldn’t continue to ski. After calling the snowmobile and waiting another ten minutes for the man to arrive. I decided I didn’t want to lay on the big yellow boat thing he was pulling behind him so, I climbed up on the snowmobile with help from one of the instructors. We drove down the mountain. At this point the girls realized that I was missing, some of them were going to go back up the mountain to look for me. We drove right up to everyone because they were standing near the first aid building. When everyone first saw me they laughed because they just assumed that I had just given up on skiing. I was even laughing until I got close, it was similar to the moment when you hurt but you don’t cry until you get to your mother. I started crying and immediately everyone freaked out. As I was sitting in the medical office I realized that the weight of the boot was pulling on my knee. The knee itself felt like it was hanging by a string that was going to pop any moment. After calling my mother and deciding I need to go to a hospital, I was placed in a wheelchair and pushed to the lift down the mountain. The wheelchair was bright orange so I was getting plenty of attention. Once down the mountain I decided I didn’t want to take an ambulance to the hospital because I knew it would cost a ton of money. I rode the city bus back down the mountain and then walked a mile or so back to the hotel. We called a cab and got a ride to the hospital. Within three minutes of being in the hospital and signed in, I was back in the emergency room getting a x-ray. After they knew my bones were okay they started jerking at my knee. The doctor twisted, pulled, and bent my knee. Then he told Melissa Swan, in German of course, that it was my ACL. He gave my some shots of Lovenox 40 mg to inject into my left thigh to prevent blood clots and a full leg splint. After leaving the hospital, I took the cab back to the bed and breakfast. Everyone was eating dinner and socializing when I got back. Of course I had to tell my story over and over but after a while the buzz died down.

Last Weekend: Zell am See

After thanksgiving we had one last weekend together before our finals and our flight home to Nashville. We had all decided early in the trip that we wanted to go together the last weekend. In the beginning we had wanted to go to Switzerland and go skiing. Knowing how expensive it was going to be and the fact that we couldn’t find a house where we could all stay together, we decided to stay in Austria. We went towards Salzburg and then got on another train towards Zell am See. It was a tiny town in the mountains. The first day we all just hung out in the different suites we had in the bed and breakfast. Other than walking to the grocery store to get food, we didn’t do much more than sit around and talk and play games. The teachers and sponsors made us dinner both nights and we all sat together in one tiny room. It was our last weekend together as a family, so we wanted to make the best of it.

Thanksgiving in Vienna

It was my first time being away from home for three months at a time. Not to mention being away on thanksgiving. I felt like I had grown a little from just being away on my own without my family but at the same time I felt like I was a kid again when I wanted to be home for thanksgiving. The president of Lipscomb came to observe our study aboard program. He was spending is thanksgiving break with us and he made plans for us to all go out to eat for a turkey meal. He took us to an “American” restaurant on the Tuesday before thanksgiving. It was similar to a thanksgiving feast but it was the classical American meal. We had mashed sweet potatoes and green peas with actually cranberries instead of sauce. The turkey was good but I missed my mom’s pumpkin pie. On Thursday, with President Lowry gone we were all fending for ourselves. A group of us decided to go to our favorite restaurant in Vienna, which was a tiny Thai place with the spiciest pad thai I have ever had. Instead of turkey I had chicken, instead of dressing I had thai noodles, instead of green beans I had onion sprouts, and instead of cranberries I had peanuts. After dinner we walked past a McDonalds and decided that a Mcflurry could replace our pumpkin pea for the night. We were together, which I learned, is all that matters. My Vienna family and I had our own type of Thanksgiving.

Backstreet Boys

As a group we were fun. We were like brothers and sisters. Every day when we were together as group, trying to keep us quiet and calm was definitely a challenge. One day before classes started Andy Pickle announced that the backstreet boys were coming to Bratislava in a couple weeks. We decided as a group that as Americans we had a duty to our culture to go support our beloved boy bands. We all got together and bought tickets as a group. There were about twenty of us who felt called to go. We all went out to eat at one of our favorite places by our hotel and caught a train out of the city. Once again we were Bratislava bound. I feel like anytime we go anywhere we go through Bratislava. I liked that the flights out of Bratislava were very cheap but I didn’t care for Bratislava itself. I felt like I was in a very scary country’s ghetto. It was kind of creepy and dirty feeling, but we all got over that for our childhood’s sake. I personally hadn’t seen them perform and I was very excited to see them. I had gotten a lot older and so had they. Brian, who of the four backstreet boys who put on the concert, brought his son out onto the stage because it was his birthday. They didn’t have anyone opening up for them so their show was pretty long. They sang and danced their hearts out for about two hours. They played a mixture of mostly old songs with just a couple new ones mixed in at the end. It was so funny to me that we were in some random country in Europe and we were in a tiny gym watching the backstreet boys. I know that ten years ago their concert would have been sold out and in the biggest possible arena. I had so much fun that night. We all jumped around, danced and sang to songs we had known since we were little children.

Italy, again?? Why not!

We had gone as I group to Italy, all 30 plus of us, but there were places that some of us still wanted to see. We wanted to go to Venice and Cinque Terre. That trip was going to include a lot of traveling. We took a train early in the morning to Cinque Terre. Come to find out that the name of the area meant the five cities. There on the Mediterranean coast of Italy where the mountains met the water, there are five little towns. The towns are separated by the mountains and the only way to get from one to another is either hiking the mountain or by train. As a group we decided to make enough time in our day to hike between two of the cities. It was a hot and sweaty two hour hike. But at the end was a beautiful beach with a little Italian restaurant waiting for us. We were by this time almost starved to death and quite dehydrated.

After eating we spent a couple hours acting like tourists and searching through the city looking for things to buy and then hung out on the beach. We walked to the train station where we almost missed the train. As we were running up to the platform my friend Jordan tripped and fell down the flight of stairs that we were racing up. She managed to save her ice cream and also to make it in time for the train. We arrived in the train station in Venice where a bus was waiting to take out of the city a bit to our hotel. Come to find out, the place was beautiful, even better than our hotel in Vienna. And we paid them the next morning to take us back into the city.

We spent the first part of our second day in Italy on one of Venice’s island. The island that we went to was where the hand blown glass that Venice is so famous for is made. I bought a plate and a vase for myself and my sister in law. At the glass blown museum they also had a glass blowing demonstration. The glass was absolutely beautiful and was made in less than a couple minutes with complete easy. I was so crazy about the talent and practice it must have taken to blow glass. Later that day the girls and I paid to go on a gondola ride with a man wearing a strapped shirt and a funny hat. It was expensive but since we all split the money it wasn’t too bad.

I had known that we were sacrificing time in each place by going to both places but I loved our weekend. Later that time after eating and spending the day in Venice it was time for us to leave and get on a night train and head back to Vienna. Every time we would leave some where I would miss it but I would always love to see Vienna again. It really became like home by the end of the trip.

Barcelona

We left Vienna Thursday after class. Rachel, Jordan, Andy, Kirk and I took a train to Bratislava. We were catching a plane to Barcelona. We spent the first night walking around the city, eating, and looking for good shopping places. Our hostel was in the center of the active part of the city. We stayed in a creepy, dirty place. I personally found a bug in the shower and under my covers in my bed. It was the scariest moment of the trip, and after Andy checked my bed for bugs for the third time I decided to sleep there anyway. The next morning, we got up and went to the Dunkin Doughnuts across the street. We decided Spain and America have one major thing in common. We both can’t survive without doughnuts. Thus we decided to start every morning in Barcelona with coffee and a chocolate cake doughnut. It was a good weekend.

We had heard from some of the girls that went to Barcelona over fall break that the bike tours were cheap and fun! So we decided that those were two great reasons that couldn’t be ignored. Our tour guide was Austrian and she had moved to Barcelona with her boyfriend. He was from Africa and was a singer. She took us all over the city. But I do want to say before I get start describing everything beautiful that I saw; that the phrase “it’s like riding a bike, you never forget” is very misleading. I had not ridden a bike since I was pretty young and I didn’t just hop on that huge bike without problems. Turning, stopping and not running into cars and buses were just the beginning of my struggles. If you add in getting started on the bike, the super crowded streets and trying to catch up to my tour guide you can image the difficulty that I had. Not to mention at all, the bruises on my back side for about a week. Thankfully halfway through the tour she stopped at the beach so we could have a break. I didn’t want to sit down at all. We all took silly pictures on the beach and had a coke break. Later we rode by Barcelona’s zoo, park, and where they had the world fair years previous. There were vendors and shops out on the street everywhere we rode. I got several of my gifts here in Barcelona.

At night we went shopping and out to eat. We walked along the big boardwalk and watched the performers and saw huge sand creations that people had made hoping for money. I saw a mermaid, the Simpsons and Santa Claus all made out of sand. It was fun to also walk around and talk to the people of Barcelona.

Sunday when we got out we only had a couple of hours in Barcelona before we had to catch a bus out of the city to the airport. So of course we started our day the way every day should be started, I believe I had a cinnamon and apple doughnut with a large water bottle. I was very sad to leave Barcelona; I had never had an American Indian shop, the beach and a Dunkin Doughnut right beside my hostel before. I didn’t even mention the beautifully warm weather or the fact that the whole city shuts down for a two hour nap time in the afternoon. I believe that the nap rule was in place because they all knew how much naps mean to me. I truly loved Barcelona.

Germany

The next weekend trip was to Germany. The first stop was Salzburg, Austria. Some of the girls and I wanted to go to the Sound of Music Tour. It was a three or four hour tour. After the tour we were going to catch a train to Munich, Germany.

The reason I had picked Germany that weekend right after the Fall Break was because there was so much I wanted to see. I wanted to see the Sound of Music Tour and I knew that if I took a trip longer away that weekend, that it wouldn’t be possible to do both. I also wanted to have a chance to go to tour a concentration camp, because I felt like it was a great opportunity and it was a big part of the history and culture experience. I choose Munich because Dachau was only an hour out of the city, Neuschwanstein castle was a couple hours away, and I could also squeeze in the Sound of Music Tour. As a result I didn’t get a chance to spend too much time in Munich itself. I personally did not care for Munich at all from what I saw. The city seems unsafe and dirty, where I was staying at least. In all the cities I had already seen, if I didn’t absolutely love it I could still find things that I liked or thought was pretty. Munich was a different experience though. The first night in Munich, Friday, after the Sound of Music Tour, the girls and I went to the subway to see where we could go to find something to do for the entertainment of the night. As we were talking about our oppositions, a man walked up and asked if we were Americans. Apparently, he and his friends were in the military and had come to Munich for a hockey game. I asked what game was so important. They told us that the US team was here playing Germany’s team. After the men walked away, we talked about grabbing food and going. We decided that we could at least check it out. The subway was packed. I was like everyone in Munich new a bug game was about to start but us. When we got to the stadium I went up and asked about tickets. They were only 20 euros for student tickets. We flashed our student traveler ids and were in. the game wasn’t packed but I had horrible seats. After about ten minutes we realized that seats right behind the US team were open. During a break, so it was obvious, we snuck down to the closest seats that we could see. The US team won, but the game was very close. They went into overtime and also into a sudden shot out. We went nuts when our country won and the national anthem started playing with our flag being dropped down above the ice. It was beautiful.

The next day we got up early to eat and head out to Dachau. We bought another subway pass and were on our way. Dachau was the first concentration camp set up by the Nazis. They used it as a model for the others. I learned at it was a work camp while some others were used for just killing. The Nazis were killed the prisoners in Dachau also, but only for certain reasons. If prisoners could no longer work or obey, the rest died from starvation, malnutrition, and diseases. I could not make myself take photos. It was sickening just to be there. They had tons of information and I had paid for a head set that told me info while I walked the camp. It was about 20 degrees out and I could just imagine how the prisoners must have frozen without proper clothes and shelter. The camp was set up to show you the housing, work places and torturing. The camp was probably the saddest thing I saw during the whole three months.

The last day in Munich we took a train out into the country and went to see the Neuschwanstein castle and the beautiful mountains around it. We spent the whole entire day there. We hiked up to the mountain and took a tour. Later that night we ate at a little shop on the side of the mountain. The next morning we caught a train but to Vienna. It was a five hour train ride and we all had a German test the next day. We had a way for pushing off studying till the every end of the weekend. We all managed to always learn almost all of the 200 hundred words.

Dublin- Fall Break

Finally we had come to the last part of our almost two week trip. We had lived out of one backpack and reworn dirty clothes for a little too long. We flew out of Edinburgh and into Dublin. We stayed right down in the middle of the city. The streets surrounding our hostel were clean and safe but they were busy during all hours of the night and day. The area we were staying in was pretty touristy and had tons of shops and stores. I found that the people of Ireland were very very welcoming and nice. The first full day in Dublin half of the group (of nine girls) decided we wanted to take some kind of tour. We started asking around and found out about the viking tours. The tours were taken from different kind of perspective. The vikings lived among the celts but did not care for them at all. They had alot of their own seperate history and cultural things in Dublin. The tour was taking while in a big bus type vechical. What was neat about the vechical was that it was from World War One and was a special vechical that could go both on land and water. We took a tour around the city wearing viking helmets and growling at civilians but then later on the tour we drove into the water and began our waterway tour. I really enjoyed learning the history of the viking from their point of view and also with sooo much excitement and etertainment.

The next day was Hallloween. The girls and I had packed small items in out backpacks that help s transform into our characters. I was a mouse. I wore ears, a nose, a tail, and a pink bowtie. Some of the other girls were things like a cheerleader, a cat, a witch, a devil, and a princess. We had tried to get a couple little things that was could take that wouldnt take up too much room but also would be alot of fun! I was surprise at how decorated and dressed up the city of Dublin turnout to be. We all went to eat and shop around during the late afternoon and dinner time of the night. Later, We went into the main part of the city and walked the streets looking at everyone elses customs. The girls and I then decided to play a game. The games rules were as follows, get a partner, assign each partner either the opposite or the match to their custom. Then the first person to locate her assignment and take a picture with assignment won! The streets were crowded and we all split up into small groups to find our halloween patches.

The next day was shopping and traveling home to Vienna. Thankfully we flew out of Dublin and straight into Vienna. Every other plane took us to the airport in Slovockia which is about an hour trian ride away. After gettting into Vienna and settling down, the group came together and celebrated our safe travels and the good feeling it was to get back home to Vienna.

Fall Break----- Edinburgh and Dundee

Edinburgh. From London we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland. A friend of mine from my freshman year at Lipscomb lives there with her family. She came to see us in Vienna one school week and she offered her house to us while we were in Scotland. Her family gracefully opened their arms to nine loud, crazy and goofy girls. The mother was sweet. She insisted on making us breakfast and dinner every night. She fixed some favorites of ours from home and also served us some classic Scottish dishes. One night for example we had Sheppard’s pie and haggis.

We went to the beach near Hailey’s house. She showed us all around her town, where she had gone to school and even church. We also went to a church and a grave yard right off the beach that looked like the ideal of Scotland I had in my head. Hailey took us shopping and to Edinburgh to see the castle and the city itself. Edinburgh was only an hour drive from her house in Dundee but we only went one day. We spent about four days at Hailey’s relaxing, watching movies, and studying. It was a amazing little break within the trip to get to stay in a house.

In Edinburgh, the afternoon while we were there we decided that we wanted to go on a scary ghost walk through town. It was fun to see a lot of the historical part of the city but also have a Halloween spin on it because of the holiday around the corner. Our tour guide took us underground into the vaults of the city. Edinburgh is as deep in the ground as the city is tall. The vaults were scary and spooky. Our tour guide had tons of death and haunting stories. Luckily I had no confrontations with the ghosts of Edinburgh.

Fall Break--- LONDON

The first night in London we stayed in an awesome hotel right beside the airport we flew into. The hotel was a Hilton, I think. We had nine girls and we bought two connected rooms. We snuck in three girls after renting the rooms because there was a limit. Each room had a king sized bed and for cots to have for the “third” person in each room. It was a tight fit but we all got a nice, clean, comfortable sleep. The next morning we woke up early and went into the city. We started our hunt for Broadway show tickets. We went to sellers and theatres, looking for student tickets and deciding which ones we wanted to see. The first night I went to see Wicked, which is a musical that tells the background of the witches in the Wizard of Oz. The musical explained and showed a lot of characters underlying motives to the ‘bad’ things that happened in Oz. This was one of my favorite parts of London. I also found it amazing refreshing to be in an English speaking country again.

We stayed in a hostel that had three level bunk beds built into the walls. All nine of us were in one room with one tiny sink and no bathroom. To shower and use the restroom we had to go into the basement from the third floor. The shower rooms were almost impossible to find also. There were always half naked people running to their rooms from all over the hostel. I think part of that problem was that there were about four ways to get to the basement from every corner of the building, and once you are down there it is so easy to get turned around. The hostel was pretty clean and I felt safe because their security was crazy tight.

The second Broadway show I saw was Chicago. I had seen it from my best friends 18^th birthday in high school but it was so great that I thought I would enjoy seeing it again. The performance was actually as I remembered it; the only difference was that this time I was on the first row. After the show we all waited outside of the stage door to congratulate our favorite cast members. That was quite an experience because the cast acted like they hadn’t done anything. They would walk out the back door and just stroll down the next street. We talked to a man who said something to the extent that each gig was just a job. I guessed when I think of famous or talented people who do what they want with their lives, I don’t think of their passion as a job.

We went to see the things that everyone should in London. Along with shopping around the city, I went to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, and Buckingham Palace. It was so neat to be standing in place that the Queen of London lives and rules from. Later on in our trip we went about thirty minutes on the subway out of the city to Wimbledon. The grounds were beautiful. I wasn’t aware that Wimbledon also had a golf course and many other recreation grounds within the park. I paid too much money to go into the Wimbledon museum and then see the Center Court through a glassed in box. But later all nine of us girls found a security guard that wanted to show off his power and actually take us into the Center Court. I got to go into the stadium and actually sit in the seats. I saw the sixty seats that the royals own at every match.

Paris

We started off the trip on thursday night with a night train. The train went from Vienna to somewhere in Germany the next morning and connected to Paris. On our train over I was in a train car that fix six, with two of my friends and two nice older ladies. It was about ten thirty at night so we had the lights off but later on, one of the ladies was reading so we turned it on. Our seats were the type that hold out so I was trying to get comfortable and I noticed a blanket under the seat. My friend Charlie was sitting beside me and she was staring out into space, under the seats, and noticed that the blanket was moving. She kept brings it up and asked me to check it out. So being the brave one I am, I stand up and kick under the seat in front of me. And then sat back down and looked surprisingly at Charlie and told her that I didnt know what it was because it was hard and not very blankety. I then started to get a little creeped out. I stood up and got on my hands and knees and looked under my seat. At that time a man's face came popping out at me looking completely frightening. Our faces were so close that if he leaned in a bit I think our face might have met. He had short hair, bad teeth and dark beady eyes. I stood up and yelled that there were men under our seats! And after that I hurried the girls out of the cabin. The ladies also ran out pretty fast when they saw how upset we were. I then started yelling at the men to get out from under the seats. I had been told that if people are trying to steal from you that if you made a big scene they would normally run for the hills. The men started yelling back at me and ran out of the cabin and down the train. Luckly we were the second to last train car so they didnt have too far to run to. One of the ladies ran to get the conductor and the men were found in the next car down. Later the police met our train at the next stop and I learned that the men were on the run from the police because of all the stealing and crime they were committing in Vienna. We also found out that the men had knifes on them!!! Scary I know! But we all ended up safely to Paris. I got to see the Effel Tower and went to the Lourve and ate tons of crepes. The trip didnt turn into a bust like we all thought it would. But on the way back to Vienna our train hit construction. We missed our connector train and also missed our tour of Salzburg and the Sound of Music. But we all in all had a good time and saw We started off the trip on thursday night with a night train. The train went from Vienna to somewhere in Germany the next morning and connected to Paris. On our train over I was in a train car that fix six, with two of my friends and two nice older ladies. It was about ten thirty at night so we had the lights off but later on, one of the ladies was reading so we turned it on. Our seats were the type that hold out so I was trying to get comfortable and I noticed a blanket under the seat. My friend Charlie was sitting beside me and she was staring out into space, under the seats, and noticed that the blanket was moving. She kept brings it up and asked me to check it out. So being the brave one I am, I stand up and kick under the seat in front of me. And then sat back down and looked surprisingly at Charlie and told her that I didnt know what it was because it was hard and not very blankety. I then started to get a little creeped out. I stood up and got on my hands and knees and looked under my seat. At that time a man's face came popping out at me looking completely frightening. Our faces were so close that if he leaned in a bit I think our face might have met. He had short hair, bad teeth and dark beady eyes. I stood up and yelled that there were men under our seats! And after that I hurried the girls out of the cabin. The ladies also ran out pretty fast when they saw how upset we were. I then started yelling at the men to get out from under the seats. I had been told that if people are trying to steal from you that if you made a big scene they would normally run for the hills. The men started yelling back at me and ran out of the cabin and down the train. Luckly we were the second to last train car so they didnt have too far to run to. One of the ladies ran to get the conductor and the men were found in the next car down. Later the police met our train at the next stop and I learned that the men were on the run from the police because of all the stealing and crime they were committing in Vienna. We also found out that the men haalmost everything we wanted to.

Italy: Day Six

We were in Florence for the second day now and because of the size of the city and our amount of free time to see it, we all knew our way around. We had an informal walking tour around the city and saw alot of things that we had seen already but didnt quite know the importance of just yet. We went to the Casa Buonarotti, Bargello National Museum and the Uffizi Gallery. The third of the musuems was the biggest one we went to I spent two hours in the building and saw about a sixth of the works. I had to leave that afternoon because this was my only free time to go to the leaning tower of Pisa. It was a hour and a half train ride and then a twenty minute bus ride to get to the big gate. There was a bigger two story building and then poking out behind it was the Tower of Pisa. It wasnt as tall as I had imagined. It was about five-ish stories. But it was leaning alot, like I had expected. This was my first taste of traveling by train on my own. A girl named Ricki and I went and had a blast. There were subpost to be more of us going but some people wanted to be in the museum longer. At this point we had seen about three museums. It really made me annoyed and tired of them all together was I was glad to leave an hour beofre most people. They got to the city of Pisa when it was raining and Ricki and I were eating under a restauarants roof. The girls decided to walk all the way there and that was difinitely bad. They just happen to walk by while we were eating. We took pictures before the rain had came but then other girls weren't soo lucky, I dont think. When we got done eating we traveled back to Florence and to the hotel to sleep. The next day was packed full of excitement.

Italy: Day Five

We got up early like always and had breakfast. We all headed to the train station after to catch a train to Florence. It took a couple hours but not too bad. Once we got into Florence we went to the hotel and got a little break. We met up in the lobby for lunch time and walked as a group down to the city center. It was only about a twenty minute walk and we passed the train station on the way. The city center was home to a huge church, which is called the Duomo. It is covered with marble of green, pink, and white shades. It is sooo beautiful. Next to the Duomo is a huge bell tower that matched the church’s famous design. We had about two hour free time for lunch before we had to meet up and go to museums. By this time I was almost worn out on museums. There was a big tent market that stretched throughout the city and down a couple streets near the city center. I spent my lunch time shopping and bargaining the merchants out of their money. It is a lot easier to do for the girls in our group than for the boys, or so I have heard. After shopping we met up and went to the tombs of the most famous royal family of Florence, the Medici. In one building, which had two chapels, there are the tombs of ten of the royal line. The tombs and chapels were designed by Michelangelo. They were beautiful just like all his other work. After that we went to a museum called Accademia, which is where Michelangelo studied while he was young. The Accademia held his David statue, which was about twenty feet high. It was so very beautiful. I was shocked. Then after that we went to the Church of Santa Croce. Which I don’t remember much about at all and I believe it was because they packed some many activities in each day. Daniel took us to a local restaurant for dinner which again was covered my mom and dad.

Italy: Day Four

Day Four, Wednesday: We got up and had a full free day planned in Rome. The whole group had planned to go see the city of Pompeii so we ask Daniel to take us. We got a train to Naples and then we transferred trains to reach Pompeii. We got on the wrong train by accident and landed in Sollerno, a Mediterranean Sea town. It was so beautiful and so amazing. It was a blessing in a mistake because we were not going to go here or anywhere to see the sea at all. I was sooo excited! It was beautiful. There wasn’t any sand but just huge rocks then the sea and also in view were the Alps that go down the country of Italy also. It was soo beautiful. It was a small beach town and it was really nice to see a small town verses the big city life we have been spending the whole trip in.

Italy: Day Three

We got up and went to the city center and met up with our tour guide. We went to Michelangelo’s house. We didn’t find out till after that it was actually not his house but his descendents bought the house after he had passed away. We later went to the Galleria Borghese and spent the late morning and early afternoon. We had the afternoon free so Erin, Abby and I spent the day shopping and site seeing. I only got a couple things in Rome. My patch and print were musts but other than that there wasn’t really good shopping in Rome. Later that night we all went to a square after dinner and heard loud music so we ran to investigate. There was a big concert and DJ that was sponsored by a Christian outreach group. We had a dance party till we worked off all our dinner in sweat and then decided it was time to go home and sleep!!

Italy: Day Two

We got up early every morning to start off the day site seeing. The breakfasts at the hotels in Italy were not very good at all. They made me very appreciative of the breakfast in Vienna. We went to the Vatican Museum and spent a couple hours there. We saw the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s School of Athens. We also went to St Peter Cathedral. It was huge and amazing. It is the biggest Christian church in the world and on the floor they have markings of where the other big churches in the world compare. After that we went to the Catacombs of San Callisto. We went underground and had a tour. I was walking were they had buried Christians, about 500,000 to approximate. It was a little scary for me because of the dark and also the dark holes where the bodies were kept. The Catacombs were about four stories underground and they had lots of secret passageways and they also had Chapels for worship. After the Catacombs we went back to the hotel and rested. We ended up going out that night in groups and I saw the Pantheon. We also saw Raphael’s tomb inside it, to the right of the main altar. It had tons of lights on it and couples were standing all around taking pictures.

Italy: Day One

We were on the overnight train until about 830 in the morning. We got breakfast and it was pretty gross but I drank the coffee and eat the hard roll because I was so hungry at this point. Once we got into Rome we met our tour guide, Roberta. She was little and kind of crooked but very cute! We went straight to the Baths of Caracalla which were amazing. The Romans used aqueducts for their water supply to drink from but they also used them for the baths. The Baths of Caracalla had exercise rooms, spa rooms, and libraries. There were three different kinds of baths: hot, warm, and cold. After the Baths we went to the Colosseum or Coliseum. Apparently in the different languages there are different spellings. Right in front of the Colosseum there was the Arch of Constantine from when He declared Rome a Christian Empire. The Colosseum was my favorite because in my four years of Latin in high school we learned so much about all the old Roman buildings. Next we went to the Roman Forum, which I have seen a movie about in Latin class; it was very torn down but still impressive. We saw the Arch of Titus, Temple of Vista, Temple of Caster and Pollex. All the ruins in the Forum were very indistinguishable but it was neat to just know what was there and how things were set. After the long tour we were taken to the hotel outside the city a little bit and we had some time to ourselves. We meet up in the lobby later and all went to dinner where our travel agent had set up. His name is Daniel and he helps us with planning our weekend trips and he also changed my ticket so I may go to Greece in December. He had set up the trip to where the money my parents, (Thanks Daddy and Mommy) had paid for program fees took us out four times over the ten day Italy trip. We had two meals in Rome, one in Florence and one in Sienna.

Weekend before Italy

I spent my Friday with my friend Cari names. She is super sweet. She is a full timer Lipscomb, kindergarten which just means that she has gone there since. I find that crazy but interesting I guess. Her grandparents, come to find out, know my Grandparents on my fathers side. What a small world? Cari and I went shopping and out to eat together and then came back to the hotel to hangout with the whole group. We had movie night in the Hortons room, which is the suite on the seventh floor of the old building in the hotel. I say that because since we have been here they have opened their new building to costumers. I stayed up late and did laundry here in the hotel, which isnt aloud but the laundry mats are sooo expensive. I just hand wash my things. I have come to realize that I have too many clothes, I wish I would have jsut brought one small bag.

On Saturday I got to sleep in a bit, I just set an alarm to remind myself of breakfast. I have recently been eating a good breakfast, eat lunch/dinner in mhy room to save money. Afterwards I did Pilates with Leah and then began to pack our bags. We both took showers and loaded up our bags. As we waited untill it was time to walked to the train station for our overnight train the girls and I decided to go shopping. I didnt buy anything but I was a good way to pass the time. While we were out, Leah got her shirt caught on a hanger in a store and ripped a big hole in her shirt. Thankfully it wasnt a favorite shirt. We had happened to be at an H&M was she jsut bought a vneck tee shirt. Afterwards we gabbed some food then we went back to the hotel. I will tell you about our over night train in a seperate post. I will have to speadout my blogging or my fingers will fall off haha.

Week Three

I had I packed week. I didnt have time to blog because I had two test that week and also had to prepare for Italy. I had a good week though. I went shopping at the Maria Hilfer Strasse again which is always good. I also went to a few new places around Vienna. One night to study for my Christianity within the visual arts class, some girls and I went to Kaffe Frauen Huber. I was a older place and I loved the coffee there. I also went to a place my friend from the hotel suggested, Vapiono. It was an awesome Italian place. You can go up to different counters according to what you want to eat and then step my step tell them want you would like to eat. And the prices are pretty good. It is my favorite place to eat in Vienna so for. One day for class we went back to the Art History Musuem, Kunst Historche. We spent the day looking at the different kinds of painting from different periods of history. Then later than afternoon, a group of us went to a new park, Uberlaa. We have been going to different places in Vienna for school credit and also for fun. We go to three new places a week. This park than beautiful flowers and at the top of the hill had lawn chairs that folded all the way down. They were sooo comfortable and the weather was soo fall ish. I spent some time out and about that week but since I had a Bible and German test that week I didnt do as much as I have been really.

High Mass and Oberlaa

Sunday.
I got to sleep in some. It was very very nice. I got up around nine and went down stairs to eat, which is always good. Afterwards, I went to shower and get ready. As a group, we walked to the St. Augustine Cathedral which is on the edge of the Habsberg quarter but closer to the State Opera House and to my school than expected. The high mass started at eleven and we arrived at ten fortyfive and it was still packed. There were no seats and we were preparing to stand the entire time. But a man came and led us down to the front of the altar and around the corner we realized where he was taking us and we were nervous. We were seated behind the altar, between the priests' seats and the altar. I was a little scared because I felt like I was in a holy place and that if I messed up the priest would use his good connection to smite me down or something bad. During the prelude and during the beginning of the mass they had a choir singing and an orchestra that was playing classics like Mozhart and such. The cathedral was made in the gothic style and had the perfect architecture for the sound and music. It was soo beautiful but of course somethings were lost in translation considering I have only been taking german classes for two weeks at this point. I really enjoyed it though.

We have a Bible test thursday and a German test friday but we get to leave for Italy on this Saturday. I am very very happy about that. We will be there for ten days and we will see Rome, Florence and Siena. I have been learning about Catholic history, traditions, and religion throughout history. This trip will be very beneficial to both of my many classes with the Prof Hortons.

FK Austria Wien play SV Josko Ried - My first soccer game in Europe!

A big group of us decided to go to see the local team play. Their colors were purple and gold, hmm seem fimilar? haha They played okay but they werent the best when it came to pressuring the ball and following shots. The teams were both teams in the Austrian league, I dont think they were a big deal but they seemed to have many fans among the Vienna teens and young people. My student ticket was only about 11 euro. The fans were wild and crazy and were proud and annoying. It was great! haha The game ended in a tie, one to one. I was a little dissappointed by that. But all in all it was a great night. And to put a cherry on top a few of us walked to the gelato place by the hotel :) Poppy, after eight(mint chocolate chip) and Schokolade (chocolate) our favorites! I love you and miss you all!

Prague Tour

We started in the morning by going to the Strahov Monastery, it was on top of one of the mountains surrounding Prague. The biggest library is housed there in the Monastery. After seeing that we started walking down the hill towards the town. As we were walking our tour guide told us that the Prague Castle has the biggest castle grounds of Europe because of our all the churchs, stores, and homes. We also saw the palace guards who stand at every enterance like at London. And of course I had my picture taken with one of them haha. On the hill, on our way down to the town, we also saw the replica of the Eiffel, it only 1/3 the size of the actual one though. I also saw the Schuassenberg Palace. It was built in the 16th century. It is done in graffito style. And it was damaged in 1542 by a fire but has been restored since the fall of communism. Our tour guide said that alot of the family palaces and big homes were taken away during communism and finally given back hundred years later to whoever was left in the family, where ever they were, but the palaces who in horrible shape. The European Union paid for most of Prague's expensive up keep jobs. Another thing I learned was that the Czech unemployment rate is only 2.1 %! And that their Independence day is October 18, 1918. Which is only a day and like 81 days from my birthday haha. Within the main palace's inner courtyard was the Kohl Fountain, aka- fertile fountain. The tradition goes that if a woman throws a coin into it within a year she will be pregnant. Maria Theresa threw 16 coins in it, and sure enough she birthed 16 children. Also within the palace walls is the Cathedral of St. Fitus. It is built in the neo-gothic stlye. It is the biggest and longest church in the Czech Republic. One of the windows in the palace is very very famous. It is the symbol of 2nd Prague. In 1618, there was a fight between the Protestants and Catholics. The story goes that the Protestants pushed Catholics out of the 2nd window and the fell to where the cross stands today. But none of the people died, they were just bruised. They believe that Mary saved them. This act started the 30 years war. We also crossed the Charles Bridge the oldest bridge in Prague, it was a walking only bridges bc of the age but there were tons of people selling jewelry and prints. That is when I decided what else I want to collect other than my patches, PRINTS form every city or country! On the other side of the bridge there was the biggest night club in Europe, it was five stories and every floor had a different theme and types of music. I didnt get the chance to go but I got pictures during our tour. Our tour guide said that Prague has a big night life. Soon after that our tour ended and we had a little while to shop. I got a pretty stone necklace and walked around the parts of the city I didnt get to go the day before. On the bus home we all studied for our Humanities test 2, We had an oral exam and I got an A!! Be proud haha

Prague!!!

Day ONE:

We left for Prague at eight in the morning on Saturday and arrived at about noon. I slept almost the whole way, and every time I tried to study or stay awake it was a failed mission. When we got off the bus we had six hours to explore the city. We walked across the Charles bridge, named after Charles the fourth and went into the old town square in the historic part of the city. On the way we passed alot of very exspensive stores such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Lacoste and many more which I had never even seen with my own eyes. I was scary because I didnt want to even get too close to the stores because of how much things cost there. Haha When we came to the square Daniel, who is Lipscombs travel agent said we had 15 mins to go to the restroom and exchange euros for czech krowns, at that moment was when I realized I had forgotten my wallet with my debit card. Leah got extra money out for me on her card and I ended up paying her back in euros. As Leah and I got done with the long line for the money exchange and debit machine, we turned to walk back to the meeting place. Once we realized we were all alone and our group had left us, we started to freak alittle. I decided we would just wonder around and we what we could see and not worry about the group. We saw soo much! We walk for a good hour and a half before stopping for lunch. We went to a little caffe that had amazing food, Mom we had wonderful Quiche and mozzarella n tomato salad and a mini pizza to split. Then later we got dessert, a chocolate eclaire and chocolate mouse! We were soo full than we didnt eat dinner and the meal was pretty cheap because we had walked so far away from tourists. After lunch we walked past a mall that had lots of little shops inside, and I got Addison's christmas gift! A handmade and paint zebra and giraffe! They were exspensive but worth it, about 20 US dollars. Then later walking around I found a Patagonia store, which is an outdoors store similar to Columbia or Northface. But this store was better and special because it was an outlet store, I got a really nice jacket that would have originally been 150 US dollars for about 40 US dollars :) that was a good day! After that, we stubbled upon a church that just looked like any other old church but then when we went inside we realized we were in the Church of St. James the Greater, which is actually a Basillica, not that I know the different. But I did read that the new pope was there just a month before. I got some great pictures. Leah and I began walking again at about five with two hours left till we had to meet up with the group. We came up on a huge group of crazy loud youger people dressed in scary customs, and yes I was pretty scaried of them haha, there were police and people everywhere and loud music everywhere. We asked a cop as we acrossed the street what was going on and we came to find out that I was a carnival of anarchists and squatters. They were drinking out on the street as they were following a parade of huge decorated van with tons of different rock and inappropreiate music. They were yelling horrible things aloud and were dressed in rediculous clothing making fun of the government. They all were huge hibbies with long hair and tiedied clothes. The cops said they were doing this jsut to show that they were free to show their oppinion and get attention. It was like a huge party that was just full of loud nosense noise and scary drugged up people, and they were also dressed with as little clothes as possible. Leah and I watched for a while then continued walking back towards Charles bridge. On the way we saw a modeling shoot going on right in the middle of the crazy people, it was the real deal. I felt like I was watching a runaway show but in real life! Once we met up with the group, we got back on the bus and headed to the hotel where we just all hungout in the lobby until bed time. The next day, Sunday, we took a tour! I will write about that one tom night! love you all.

Touring Museums

Today was a light day. We got to school as normal and had our German class, which has always been good so far, and then as a class our two teachers took us to the Natural History Museum in the Museum Quatier and the to the Kunst Historiches Museum. I got to see a huge collection of Egytian artifacts, Greek, Roman and then also a huge dinosaur collection. In the Natural History Museum I got to see the Venus of Willendorf, which was the first found art work. It is a tiny little statue of a fat, fertile women that the artist must have made to carry around with them at all times. It is the start to what we know now of art. I also saw lots of tombs of Egyptians and parts of really mummies! Super cool!

So on a more sad note some girls and I had ordered our tickets to London for fallbreak then we are going to Ireland and Scotland also. We had look at some papers one of our teachers gave us and it had the wrong date on it, so we havebeen spending quite a bit of time trying to get money back or change our flight plans. I know it will all work out but it just might cost more than we had thought at first. I just know thats really what I want to do for my long trip.

The Ballet

The other day I was running around to different cites with Leah and we stopped to ask about the tickets to the Opera house which is right across from the school. We found out that almost everynight the plays/musicals/operas are soldout because all the big important people buy them first. So Leah and I investigate and found out that if you come about two hours before the show you cant stand in line and fight the crowd to get standing seats. We brought a blanket with us that someone had taken from our flight overseas and sat on that. We waited in line and finally bought each ticket for 4 euros! It was amazing, because they ended up being great seats. We were right behind all the floor seats and under the four story balconies. The Opera House had bars set up for us to lean on and we were in the second or third row of about ten! The ballet was so amazing, it started our more classical and by the end of the second half it was very modern. The skill was amazing. I loved it, and it wasnt exspensive. And with our humanitites class we give to do a certain amount of things around the city and then sketch and write about them.

School and Breakfast info

So, I wrote on my blog for about a hour or so last night and then when I went to submitt it the internet had cut me off and lost it. I was sooo angry that I couldnt start all over again. I wanted to tell you all about my schooling and the awesome breakfast I get every morning. There are big bowls of yogurt and tons of different breads and rolls. They have cerals and room temp milk with big bowls of fruit! They have bacon but its just like thin slices of fat, which isnt good at all so I stay away. Dad, they have dirty eggs like the kind you have made me since I was a kid! I have them every morning! They have about seven different jellys and jams. And DAD, they also have tons of cheese! Now on to school stuff, Everyday I get up about 6:30 to shower then I go eat breakfast and afterwards have about a ten minute subway ride to the American Institute. First we have a 20 min chapel everyday then we have our German class with Mr Wassertheurer, who is a native, then we either have humanities or bible depending on the day. My favorite class so far has been the German class by far. The teacher is so funny and so helpful. I have been learning alot lately and Im trying to put it into work on the streets.

Saturday.
We split up into groups and went to different shopping centers or areas around Vienna. My group went to the Mariahifer Strasse which is compared to the Magnificant Mile in Chicago. It was beautiful because you see tons of shops for miles then you look up and they are in all ancient buildings, totally european! We ate at a pizza place for lunch bc it was cheap and their pizza wasnt too good. We went to the Belvedere Palace, which was given as a gift to the General of the Vienna army that fought off the Turkish back in the good old days it was huge. And I dont remember if I wrote that friday we went to the Schonbrunn Palace, which is where Maria Antoinette grew up untill she later married the king of France. Then after the Belvedere we went to a huge amusement park, the Prater, in Vienna. They have like no regs on the rides so I was too chicken to ride them, but Dad I did get my first country patch! Its an Austrian one of course. Later that night Leah, a boy named Brett, and I got on the subway, the Ubahn, and road around to random places and got off and wondered around! We saw soooo much! It was neat but way different night scene than you would think. The people are very chill and calm but the drinking is heavy, we saw teens just walking around with beers! Scary! But then we got on a above ground train/bus because we hadn't riden one yet. It went into the outs of Vienna and stopped, we waited forever to go back to the city and then when we did we went to bed. What a long day!

Sunday.
Today was amazing. We got on the Ubahn and rode to Stephanplatz and went to the cathedral, Stephansdome. It was a huge gothic style building and absoluting beautiful. We went to catholic mass there and it was unbelievable, the choir was made up of trained professionals and the fact that the cathedral had been around since 1147 when it was built is just mind blowing. I really felt God in that place. Then as a class we went to a festival down the street to eat. It was a Thai festival with great food, my food was too hard to pronounce and really spicy! It had lots of red peppers, Mom! :) Then later we rode the Ubahn out to the end of Line 4, which is the purple line, to a town named Kahlenberg which was a little mountain village type place! We rode a bus to the top of the mountain and took pictures. Then we hiked down the trail through vineyards of purple and green grapes, Dad wine country! We stopped and had a devotional and communion half way down the mountain then made our way back to the village to eat. Leah, Allison, Ricki (whos a girl) and I split a dessert that was like a non sweet version of fried cheesecake fried but then covered with sweet vanilla sauce! It was Beautiful!! We bought fresh fruit, pears and apples, from a lady with a stand on the way down the mountain. I have had such a wonderful weekend, absolutely great. I have decided that I am going to go to the UK with some girls for fall break!

First Night in Vienna

We flew into Vienna at about 10:30 today. After loading our bags onto a bus, we took a drove tour around and then to the hotel, where we dropped off our things. Our rooms werent ready yet so we didnt check in right away, we went to lunch and then walked about the city for hours. Later in the afternoon we were able to move into our rooms and finally shower and brush our teeth!! Leah and Allison are my roommates and of course they are great! We get along well. We went to dinner at a medium size dinner place. I got something that I forgot the name to, it was something like a toasted ham sandwich with bacon, tomato, onions and an over easy egg on top. It was pretty good but I was also pretty hungry haha. Afterwards we went and got icecream and on the way home we got pretty lost. What an adventure?! I am excited about our day tomorrow! I believe we are headed to the school to do somethings

The Night Before Departure

I am staring at mounds of clothes and suitcases, and I am trying to figure out someway to pack for three months! I am very excited and nervous at the same time! I cant wait to just get on the plane tomorrow at one o'clock. I will be flying from Nashville to Charlotte to Munich to Vienna! I will write again soon!

One Week till Departure!

Wednesday, Sept 2nd '09

Today, I'm sitting in the Lipscomb media classroom, very bored and very ready to leave. I am learning that I need to repack and do so lightly. Can't wait to leave!