Vacation in the Alps

 If you haven't been to the Alps, you need to go. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been and soo much fun even if you don't ski.

We stayed in a "Haus" which is pretty much a guesthouse. It was situated literally on the side of a mountain, luckily one of the warmer, green ones though. We got an entire apartment, complete with kitchen, dining room, and two bedrooms. It was soo nice. The guy who ran the place told us where to go to catch the bus to the mountain and also about some thermal spa/ pool place.
So, first thing's first. We needed to ski. The first day we got up super early and caught the first bus to the mountain. Obviously there are tons of mountains everywhere, so we picked one of the biggest ones and skied there the whole time. We all rented skis and equipment and headed to the bunny hill...I went with my friend Kitsa and Matt. I've skied for a long time, and Kitsa has been snowboarding for a while as well...but Matt has never done either...hence the bunny hill. So after yelling "PIZZA" and "SPAGHETTI" for a long time, several falls into the kiddy racing course, and many lifts later, Matt kind of sort of got the hang of it. We decided to go down some slopes on the actual mountain, and he did pretty well. When he took breaks Kitsa and I would go down harder slopes. Since it was so late in the season the snow melted really fast and it got pretty slushy towards the end of the days. Both days were super warm, and I ended up skiing without a coat on...aka just a Tshirt and sweatpants. It was glorious.

Afterwards we decided to seek out the sauna/pool that we had heard about. A "3k walk down the road" turned into a 7k adventure through town complete with various questions asked auf Deustch for directions. Eventually we found it...there were two waterslides outside. Good sign. There was a red one, in which you literally go upside down. (You start in the top, and the floor drops out from under you and you go up and around). And a spiral blue one. The slides were outside, but the entrances and exits to them were inside so they were open for us. Inside, there was a wave pool, a normal pool, and another pool that connected to a pool outside. The outside pool was the greatest...since it was chilly out and the pool was heated, you could see the steam in the air outside. In addition, this place was at the foot of the mountains so we admired the sunset from a steaming pool outside in the alps. Best.
We enjoyed the wave pool as well and some of the hot tubs. Such a great follow up to skiing Day 1. Then we went down a snake slide in the kiddie pool...good stuff. But this place was awesome, and made for a perfect vacation.

The second day it was about 2 degrees colder...meaning I got to ski without a jacket again. This time we went down a harder slope, and since it was so warm the snow was getting all mogul-ly, so ..not the best decision to take a beginner down that, but Matt did pretty well. After that Kitsa and I did a few runs by ourselves and decided to call it a day. It was kind of sad, leaving those amazing views. Every run was absolutely gorgeous and I loved every minute of it. It was such a relaxing break to get out of the city with a few friends and just chill out. I love nature and this made me super excited to go hiking when it gets warm out and running on Danube Island. I'm also thinking of running the U4 but we'll have to see what my shins think about that idea;)

top of the mountain:

 on one of the trails:

 the lodge where we ate lunch:

 the view from lunch:

 the view from where we stayed:

 the sauna/pool place:

 not a bad view to wake up to:

 it was so warm...hence the 90s- coat-around-the-waist thing goin on here:

Midterms? No thanks..

This week is midterms! How much do I want to study on a scale of 0 to 10? Negative ten. How much will I actually study? Probably around a 3. ...I mean...I'm in Europe....
Actually we already had one midterm. The German midterm was Saturday..it was long and grueling but it's done now so I can forget about it and/or hope I did well and all that stuff you do after you take one of those tests in which you cannot gauge at all how it went.

Oh by the way...I hope you all celebrated Pi Day!! (March 14...) Me and my friend Blair decided we needed to do something in honor of the number, and sooooo we got pizza pies, and made a chocolate pie. It was the kind of pie you are equally happy and disgusted you ate. It was great/awful.

So this week I decided to celebrate being done with the German midterm by going to a soccer game with some IES people and Tobi! Rapid Wien is the local team, and they had a home game against Linz on Saturday. Sooo I bought the tickets a few days before online, and got a jersey at the Naschtmarkt, and then headed off to the game a little early. Soccer in Europe is probably the best thing ever...and this was only a local team. We got there about an hour early. There were tents and food stands everywhere, selling beer and giant hot dogs and pretzels..you know. So we found all of the IES people, and eventually went to the stadium. Instead of sitting in our seats we all stood at the top=better views. We weren't in the real fan section...but it was great because we got to see all of the craziness that went on there. They lit things on fire, had fireworks, had crazy cheers. In the second half we decided to go with the flow and got really into the cheers...usually we had no idea what we were saying so that made it even more fun. Sometimes we made up our own with our limited vocabulary...and sometimes we just shouted some of the few sentences we knew how to say (Personal favorite: "I would like to go on a walk with you") But anyways, Europe knows how to do soccer. It was perfect and I loved every minute of it. I can't wait to go again in April when its warmer (cross your fingers).

I also just got back from the Opera-we saw Aida. We got front center seats in the Parterre, so it was a great view. The opera itself was about 3 hours long....really long....and unfortunately the first two acts don't really advance the plot at all. However, the sets and vocalists were uh-mazing, and overall it was awesome. Now I'm back and procrastinating studying by seeing how long I can make this post.

I haven't uploaded any pictures to my computer in a whilllle but perhaps I will do that tomorrow, and add some here.


....time to study, urg

Spring and Schonbrunn

This was actually one of the first weekends I've spent here without anything on the agenda...which is realllly nice. Especially now that it's warmish out! It's been in the higher 50's and soooo pretty out! This week was pretty easy because the school I'm teaching at went on a ski trip (jealous) so I didn't have to intern. I also had my second (gahh) lesson...i made her plan the last 8 lessons to make sure I would fit them all in...hoping that works out. I need 10 lessons for the credit. But anyways, it's been a good week. It's almost warm enough to start running outside, so I won't have to pay for the gym anymore!!:)
Yesterday I went to the first IES solo concert-Everyone here is just soo good, it was a great concert. Then I walked home because it was so nice out, and took the scenic route through the Naschmarkt. Later, I went back with some friends and we go falafel and some hungarian bread type thing that was delicious. After that I decided it was about time I saw Schonbrunn..so I hopped on the Ubahn and went. The palace itself is HUGE....but the gardens are sooooooooo cool. I wouldn't mind being a seasonal hobo there, in the spring of course. But they go for miles (I'm not kidding...miles) and remind me of Alice in Wonderland, especially now because nothing's quite in bloom yet. But even though the trees are kind of dead you can tell they've been cut into square shapes or whatever, and everything still looks amazing. It will be a great place to run when it's warmer. Plus it's free:) The only thing is taking the Ubahn to get there, which is a little pointless if I want to run...but I'd rather run in the gardens then to the gardens and back...
At some point I'll need to make it inside the palace...you have to pay, but I think it'd be worth it. Oh! And there's a zoo in the gardens too, and no I'm not kidding. An entire zoo....so I'll have to see that at some point as well. I've started making a list of all the things I haven't done yet...there are quite a few. I need some time here to be touristy. I feel like there is no way I'm going to see everything I want to...there's so much to do. But I'll tryyyy:)

Paris, Je T'aime

I just spent the most amazing weekend in Paris with my friend Hanna! We left Friday, right from class around 1230, caught a flight at 330, and came back Monday morning on a 7:15 flight (got up at 3:45 to catch that one...fun times) Here's an overview of the trip...yes, overview...I know it's quite long but just bear with me friends:)

It was an awesome trip from the start-our flight went right over the mountains and it was gorgeous. There were clouds and then so many snowy mountain tops too. But anyways, we got to CDG, and figured out the metro. When we got to our metro station we had no clue how to get to the actual hostel. One really nice man came up to us and asked if we were lost, and he gave us perfect directions. He had a cross on his jacket so we're pretty sure he was a priest, or something. But that was such a nice, friendly way to start our trip.

Saturday morning we got up, had fresh croissants for breakfast at the hostel, and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Paris is about 10 degrees warmer than Vienna, so it was about 50 out and the sun was shining. The minute we saw the Eiffel tower from the metro we were excited...not to mention there was an accordian playing busking on the metro, so it was doubley Parisian. When we got to the tower, we took tons of crazy pictures, then headed off to find Notre Dame. We ended up getting sidetracked by some cute shops, and went shopping for a little. We also got lunch at a cute cafe with a really nice waiter...Croque Madames...french food is so good. After that we found the Notre Dame (you can't really miss it..) and walked around inside. From the outside it's beautiful, but if you ever go inside it's even more amazing. The stained glass in there is incredible, and there was a choir that was singing so it was really cool with that soundtrack too.

Next, we were off to find the Berthillon, a shop famous for its sorbets and ice creams. It was on a cute little street on the Ile, and we both got strawberry sorbet-it tasted almost like the actual fruit. We walked to La Seine and ate our ice cream in the sunshine on the river...it was kind of awesome. Then we fed some ducks our cones, but left before too many pigeons swarmed to us. We kept walking, and ended up on a market street, where we were taking pictures of more cute Parisian things. One older guy laughed at us for taking so many random pictures. Then, we got lost around a cute (what other adjective would I use?) church area...we walked back to the main market street and came across the same guy from the market. He asked us how we were liking Paris, and told us to enjoy our stay-then he handed us a bouquet of flowers to share. Totally made our day!
We continued to walk around, passing the Centre Pompidou. We got a bit lost because we were just walking around without any direction, so we figured it out with the metro, and went back to the hostel after the day was done.

Sunday was the day of perfect timing. The first Sunday of the month almost all museums are free in Paris..including Le Louvre. So we woke up early and got in line. The line was supposed to take 1 hour but ended up only being about 30 min, so we got in to the museum for free...saw Winged Victory, a real Sphinx, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Michelangelo sculptures...so beautiful. This is the part where my camera decides it's about to die. And as soon as we stepped in the Mona Lisa room, Hanna's camera also died. I saved the rest of my battery for quick strategic photos during the rest of the day.
We exitted the Louvre and walked through Jardins des Tuileries-amazing area, that place must be awesome in the spring. There's a giant fountain, creperies,  running paths. It's awesome. We sat and ate lunch there then went to the hostel quickly. After resting, we went to Champs Elysees and walked toward L'arc de Triomphe. At the Arc we met Hanna's friend who is studying abroad in Paris, and together we walked back down Champs Elysees and went to the Eiffel tower. The plan was to go up to the tower for sunset.
We stood in line for about 30-45 min, and decided it would be best to go to the second level. By then the wind was picking up and we were already freezing, so we thought the third level would be a dumb idea, plus there was a delay on the second level so we'd be freezing and impatient..not good. We went up to the second level just in time to see the sun set. We walked around the shops inside, and there's also a little spot where you can look down at the ground from the center of the tower..scary but epic and awesome. My fear of heights is almost nonexistent these days :)
We walked back onto the deck of the tower to watch the sunset literally just as the tower lit up the first time that night. And when I say lit up..I mean it actually sparkled. They put on the sparkling lights only once every hour. It sounds not that exciting that it lit up and we saw it, so what, but it was a surprisingly awesome natural high and probably one of those moments I won't ever forget.

After decided we needed to leave because we were insanely cold, we took the elevator back down and went to a nearby cafe. We got quick dinner, and ran back to the Eiffel Tower to meet my friend Natasha, who's also studying in Paris. We met under the tower, and her family was also there, so it was great to see more Americans. We took tons of pictures..some of course to send to our flute studio at home, and then had to go back to the hostel to figure out traveling the next day.

Then there was mass panic after realizing the metro closes at 1am so we had no way to the airport. We asked the front desk staff who said they'd help us call a taxi in the morning. Sooo we got up at 3:45 am, called a cab, and went to CDG. We were there by 4:30 (it was a shorter ride than we thought) and had to wait outside the gates until they actually opened the airport around 5:30. Around 6 we were through security, and I was getting my coffee fix (yes...I have a coffee fix now) at a cafe. Soon enough we were on the flight home...super relieved that we had actually gotten to the airport okay and that our tickets had gone through (we thought for a hot sec that our online booking hadn't worked). We sat by a really friendly Parisian woman, who was flying to Vienna and back in the same day for a business meeting. Her English was great so she talked to us the whole flight about everything Paris, about the Montreux festival and Juan les Pins, America, the economy, politics, movies...it was awesome. There is nothing like meeting a local.

When the plane finally landed around 9:30 we raced out of the airport, caught a train back, hopped on the Ubahn and went home. Hanna went right to class at 11 (props). We were soo tired the rest of the day, but it was soo worth it. This was by far the best trip I've taken yet...if you're reading this and you haven't been to Paris, just go. You won't regret it. Also, it was a great way to review French:) Unfortunately, Professor Summesburger has done her job and now has me using German as my default language, so it was really hard to remember French. By the time it was coming back it was our last day there. ..my gosh I miss that language. It's so pretty and the words are a reasonable length, unlike German. But oh well. I got a lot of looks in Paris because they're not used to blondes, and here in Vienna I can usually pass for an Austrian (which is nice).

But here are some pics! enjoy:)

Plane ride there..

Eiffel Tower

Walking around the city, this is one of the markets we found

And this is the little church..

A fountain near Invalides

Notre Dame

La Seine and the view from where we ate our sorbet

Outside Le Louvre

Champs Elysees...you can see l'arc at the  end of the street

l'arc..

Me on the Eiffel tower at sunset

When the tower lit up:)

Budapest Trip

Last night we got back around 830pm from Budapest!! It was a fantastic trip, that city is awesome.
We stayed at a hostel that was pretty nice-it was basically a huge apartment some guy rented out. The owner was awesome and told us all the perfect places to go in town. Oh and he gave us coupons to a restaurant down the street...we had giant meals for like 6 euro each, it was amazing. There was a guy in the hostel from London who was backpacking from there and hoping to get to Japan, and we met a girl from Australia who is working in Vienna now, so she came along with us on Sunday to sightsee.
Oh...I need to brag for a moment. I got us from the Hungarian train station, through the metro (everything is in hungarian...) and through town to our hostel, without getting lost. So proud:)  ... kay, end paragraph.

On Saturday we walked across the bridge to Buda, and explored there. First we climbed a giant, enormous, steep, insanely tall hill for a while to get to the top of Castle Hill. There were flea markets on top so I got some souvenirs...it was a bonus that Budapest is pretty cheap compared to the Euro-they do Forints. So we bought too many scarves and postcards, took hundreds of pictures of the lovely view, then climbed back down to find lunch. We ended up in the cutest cafe. I got white hot chocolate-and it was basically melted chocolate, kind of awesome.

Side note: Europe  knows how to do hot chocolate. I'm talking thick chocolatey goodness decorated all nice in a glass cup... It's awesome.

Oh and I got a Clark Salad...heh:)
So we went back to the hostel and rested up a bit, then went to dinner at the place the owner told us about (The Blue Rose...if you are ever in Budapest, go there). I had the best drink of my life there, i forget what it was called though. Afterwards our Australian friend took us to this ruins bar. It was called Simpla I think...but it was seriously awesome. The bar is in a house that was bombed in one of the wars, but not fixed back up at all. Walls are torn down, its just concrete, and pretty much looks like crap. And then they added graffiti and fire lamps and disco balls, there's a dj upstairs on a balcony type thing. Sounds awful, but it was really one of the coolest things I saw in Budapest. You have to go there to understand, I think.
After that, the hostel reception guy invited us out to a bar where there was a Carnaval party, so we hit that up too.

The next day we explored Pest. We went to the House of Terror-a museum about nazism and communism in Hungary. It was really interesting but mellowed us all out...sooo next we went to Heroes Square. It took 20 minutes to get there, all on the same road. We could see the giant statue in Heroes Square the whole time, so it felt like we would never get there. But Heroes Square is basically a pavilion in the middle of the autobahn (highway) that has these huuuge statues of Hungarian Heroes-it's quite cool. As we walked towards it we ended up seeing a flea market right next to that, so we went there. That was pretty sweet-we saw cute little Hungarian people making whatever food it is that they eat a lot...that I can't pronounce and could not identify but looked delicious...and some other things. Then we headed back, not before stopping to eat at an Italian pizza place (also delicious). The train ride back was scary at first- a lot of people had reserved seats for this particular train so we got kicked out of our seats 4 times before finding ones. But it was a 3 hour ride back, and it was nice to just rest after the full day of walking around.

Now I'm back in Wien trudging through the busy week. My schedule is insane, but what else is new. I'm currently debating where to go for Spring Break, and every other weekend:) Suggestions welcome!
Now....pictures:

Downtown Budapest

The bridge to Pest

Me at the top of Castle Hill

From the green, going clockwise: Mint white hot chocolate, coconut hot chocolate, white hot chocolate, and peanut hot chocolate...no words.

Budapest

View from the tram thing that we took up the incline

At the top of Castle Hill, near the Hungarian Museum of Art

 It was so nice out:)

 Hana taking a photo

 Kitsa and Melissa when we were trying to get back

 Sweet church

 Coolest bar everr

 Heroes Square

 Up close

Until next time,
Alyssa

And so it begins..

Our first week of classes has officially begun. But first, the last week and a half in review...

German intensive is done! woo! So we had a week off (Over here the schools have their semester until now, and take a week off, then start the summer semester this week, like we're doing..kind of)  and I went on a tour of Germany with IES.
The first day we were in three countries in one day-Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany. We stopped in Prague for a lunch -I am in love with that city. It feels like a small town but it's huge, and the architecture is awesome. I will definitely be going back there in the spring.
At the end of the first day we arrived at our hostel in Dresden. We lucked out, the hostel was more like a hotel and it was fantastic. (Our beds were like treehouses) We spent some time wandering around town, and the next day went on a city walk tour that was cool too.
After that we traveled to Leipzig for a day. We went on a tour around the city and saw a lot of musically historic things-i.e. Bach's church :) We also got lost in the city, go figure. But we made it back to the bus just in time to be on our way to Berlin.

Berlin is almost like the the NYC of Germany, but not. It's a lot cleaner and a little more spread out, plus..it's Europe. Okay, so maybe it's not like NYC. But our hostel was ...mmm....well it reminded me of a place in the movie Across the Universe. But it was really chill inside and we got used to it. I can't possibly write about everything we did while we were there, it would take forever. But SparkNotes version: We went to tons of museums, bus tours, walking tours, got lost, overdosed on Milka bars (the best chocolate in the world), went out dancing, found some of the sketchiest places I've ever seen, explored castles, went to neighboring towns, ate all kinds of crazy ethnic food (they got me to try sushi....not a fan though) etc.   But anyways, it was a great trip and a really good way to unwind after all of those German classes. It was great to come back to Wien and my apartment though. I appreciate our clean bathroom and my bed so much.

So here I am, back in Wien on the second day of classes. My schedule is kind of awesome-Mondays I don't even have class until 3pm. Today I went out searching for a gym to go to. I found one that's a pretty far trek away but is three stories and pretty much the greatest thing ever, so I'll be there tomorrow bright and early.

Here are some pictures, they are not in order at all. hah.

 Museum in Berlin! We had a museum day where we could go to whatever museum and get reimbursed for the ticket. There's a place called museum island...heres one of them.

Berlin Symphony Orchestra! They played Beethoven's 6th and it was SOOOO good.

 Prague!!! View from across the bridge

 Me on the bridge in Prague...loved this city

 In Old Town Square in Prague, lookin for some food.

 My roommates and I in our Dresden hostel...so cool

 Dresden! The wall on the left is the processional of princes in Dresden.

 Our group lunch in Dresden...coolest place ever. In the very back is a round carousel swing...where you can eat if you want, and you sit on swings and the table/chairs rotate as you eat.

 Sideways...Bach's church in Leipzig.

 Part of the Berlin wall.

 Holocaust monument in Berlin. Underneath this is the Holocaust museum.

 Mesopotamian gate in the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin

Our hostel was literally one block away from the Berlin Film Festival...check it outtt

Downtown Berlin at night

-Alyssa