Margaritas, Frat Skirts, and Igles.

Last night for dinner we went to the one Mexican restaurant, that I know of, in Innsbruck. But got there so late they stopped serving dinner which resulted into a liquid margarita dinner. 

This little margarita was 7.50 euros!

After dinner we went to the hof garden for drinks which was fun until I go my Rebecca Minkoff chain stuck between the wood of the bench I was sitting on. Of course trying to fix it I just made it worse. By the end of the night it was stuck in the bench and the floor. My satchel turned into a clutch that night!

Today I woke up early this morning to study for my german test which I think I got an A on! yay! Then forced Mensa food down my throat. After that grueling process we headed to the mall to get some necessities. We stopped in the H&M and spotted this as soon as I walked in. 

FRAT SKIRTS

When we got back from the mall we changed and took a bus to Igles, Austria where we then hiked through the Alps. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. I would try to describe it but pictures just work so much better. 

Then of course when we got back we had to get some gelato. My new flavor, nougat. I literally jumped for joy from my first lick. NOM NOM NOM

Here are so more pictures of Old Town Innsbruck! 

Casinos, Gelato and Chinese Food.

Thank goodness by the time we left our dorm, Home 4 Students, the rain had stopped and good thing because it took us an hour to find a place to eat. I went out to dinner with my roommate, Michelle, and two of her guy friends from class that also go to Georgia. As we were walking through Old Town we saw this band playing in this pretty courtyard so that took up some time on our hunt for food.

After walking in circles looking for the perfect place for dinner we ended up at a Pizzeria. It was pretty terrible but the beer was really good and that's all the really counts and thanks to my german class I know how to order it. Ein grosses Bier, bitte! (A large beer, please)

After an hour and a half long dinner we made our way back to the dorms because the guys had to change for the casino they were going to later tonight. The Hof Garten was on the way to the casino so they were planning on dropping us off. Because the Hof Garten is in the middle of this park just north of Old Town you can't hear much except for it. So while walking through the park it was oddly quiet which was surprising but made sense when we walked in and no one was there! The night before the place was packed with so many people and last night it was completely empty except for the occasional Austrian couple. But since we were there we decided to at least get a drink before we left.

Since there was nothing going on there and we had no idea where everyone else was we decided to just go with the guys to the casino, add on to their posse. Expect here they are in their stacks and button downs and I am rocking a jean short, sandal, and blouse look. I definitely did not fit into the casino and it was even more apparent by the snarky looks the Austrians gave us when we walked in. The casino was also extremely dead compared to what you think it would be. Once the guys lost all their money it was time to call it a night and we headed back home too frustrated to try a new place.

This a picture of part of the lovely mural they have in the main floor of my university. This is the least disturbing part of this hallway long mural they have. I don't really understand. Today in my German class I learned how to say where I was from, Ich komme aus Amerika, aus San Antonio, südlich von Dallas (I come from America, from San Antonio, south of Dallas), and how to ask questions. The most important one for me, Wieviel kostet es (how much does it cost) or Haben sie washer ohne gas (do you have water without gas). In geology we basically wasted time. I took two bullet point notes. I did figure out that its suppose to rain and snow all weekend where our field is on sunday. Really looking forward to that. Looks like I'm going to need to go buy a heavier coat and some pants to hike in.

Today after class we went to a Chinese place for lunch. You can take the girl out of Seattle but not Seattle out of the girl. It was pretty good for Austrian Chinese food. And I FINALLY got some gelato!

Rain rain go away

I'm sorry, I love the rain and thunderstorms as much as the next girl but seriously? It was sunny all day and as soon as I make plans to go out again a storm starts rolling in! It rains more here than it does in Seattle. I think mother nature is punishing me for not being in America for the 4th of July.

The thunder and lighting just started. Where are my rain boots when I need them?!

First Night Out

My first night out high was quickly destroyed when it started pouring out at 7pm. But we decided to go anyways. Normally I am used to Seattle rain and being able to go out at night. However Seattle rain is more of a drizzle, not tropical weather downpour rain like Innsbruck, and going out in Seattle consists of walking to a fraternity a block away not walking across Innsbruck. We were already soaked halfway to our restaurant so we just decided to go into the nearest restaurant just to wait for the rain to pass. We ended up in a classic Austrian restaurant. 98% of the menu was some sort of meat. Luckily on the specials there was a pasta with pesto sauce, which is what I got. For our drinks we all got a round of radlers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radler, which is half beer/half lemonade. It was soooooooo good. Best drink I have had here!

After dinner we walked to the Hofgarten, a beer garden basically. Mainly crowded with people from my study abroad program, a few locals, and some austrians that just want to hit on americans. The Hofgarten has a really cool setup, it was already in the middle of this park. They have an outdoor area with two bars and a lot of seating area. Then inside they had a dance floor and more bars. Luckily last night they had a special of 6 beers for 10 euros! Apparently it was cheap Austrian beer but anything is better than crappy Rainier beer in Seattle.

I don't know if I look very German but apparently I do here because last night I was approached by multiple people and they all started speaking to me in German. Since I have only learned how to order drinks in my German class I had no idea what they would be saying! Half the time I would just walk away or ask them if they spoke english.

Then of course at exactly midnight all the Innsbruck students started chanting USA USA USA for the 4th of July, as if the Austrians didn't already hate us they do now!

Happy Birthday America!

FINALLY UNPACKED

After three desperate days with no clothes I finally got my suitcase! I will now be able to sleep easy knowing that all my stuff is here, and because now that I have clothes I can finally go out tonight! I have yet to experience Innsbruck's nightlife in fear of making my social debut wearing a v-neck and jeans. Now that I am unpacked and have no homework, thanks to already taking a glacial geology class, I can relax until dinner time.

Shout out to my sister Lauren for supplying most of my closet.

First Day of Class

The photo above is a picture of the mountains behind my dorm as I was walking to class this morning. Classes went really well. It is nice to actually survive a roll call where the professor can properly pronounce my last name! Both classes seem really easy for the most part, especially my geology class. I feel like it is going to be more of a review class than anything. In my german class our professor taught us how to order beer and wine and explained the culture of Innsbruck and Austria. Innsbruck means a bridge over the Inn. The Inn is the river that flows through the city.

After class I grabbed lunch in the Mensa, again very dull and unentertaining food.

After lunch we went on a city bus tour where they took us to unique places in Innsbruck and drove us around the city. We went to two different churches, drove up to ski jump where two Olympic games have been held and then drove around old town Innsbruck. It started pouring down rain during our tour so it ended early and we didn't get to explore as much.

 Roman Catholic church built in 1700s

 Another Roman Catholic Church built in the 1600s

 View from the Olympic ski jump

Innsbruck Parliament built by Hitler during WW II

My first Grocery Trip

Grocery shopping is a lot more difficult in a foreign country than it seems. This morning I ran over to the grocery store next door to pick up a few necessities and something to snack on for breakfast. Maybe after a couple german classes it will be easier. It was challenging just trying to pick out a bottle of water.

Let me begin by saying that I was never a big fan of sparkling water. Because I don't understand German I have only picked out a still water bottle once this whole trip, mainly because I asked. So because sparkling water is all I drink now I have actually gotten used to it! The bubbly texture is more normal now, I mean its not as good as a nice cold bottle of fiji water which I could totally use right now but at least its water!

I wanted to also pick up some food to snack one while in my room. So here I am standing in a german grocery store with this whole isle of snack foods right in front of me. A little intimidating and overwhelming seeing as I have no idea what anything is. Until finally I spy some words I recognize. Thank you Pop and Pattie (my grandparents) for taking me and my whole family to Germany 11 years ago because with out the recognition of Hit cookies and Leibniz butterkeks I would probably still be in that grocery store instead of eating them for breakfast! During my two week family reunion trip I think I ate these cookies more than I ate German food. So thank you again!

Mein Zimmer (My room)

I don't really know what I was expecting of my dorm room to be like before I left. I did not envision it to look like this. I do know that it is definitely bigger than my box I lived in at Lander freshman year. In our room we have our own bathroom (thank you jesus), two very large closets (probably four times bigger than my closet in the sorority house next year), two beds, two large shelving units and a picnic style table. I guess the table serves as a breakfast nook/study space. It is actually quite nice, American dorms should pick up on this whole picnic table idea! We also have three giant windows, which luckily all open because there is no air conditioning in our dorm. The windows look out into a really foresty area and the back of some apartments. You can usually see some mountains but right now its raining, feels just right.

Opening Ceremony

There is no better way to feel awkward then when you are surrounded by 260 kids all dressed in their best summer formal attire and there you are in converse, jeans, and a gap v-neck t-shirt, the same outfit you have been wearing since friday. Luckily the place where our ceremony was held had wifi so I distracted myself with catching up on Facebook, instagram and twitter. And thankful we got free tickets for the bar so chugging a glass of champagne helped the awkwardness subside. The view from where the ceremony was held was the best so far. Innsbruck is breathtakingly beautiful! I love it!

Right now it is 6am, why I am awake? I have no clue. After finally getting one bag last night, which contained all my toiletries, school supplies, and converter but no clothes, I went to bed around midnight. I'm crossing my fingers that my other suitcase will show up today.

Well I'm going to try to get some more shut eye before class!

XO

Traveling for Days

At 3:30am I woke up to a great surprise, my dad had driven from Houston to wish me bon voyage. My long day of traveling started at 6:00am with a flight to Memphis, then to New Orleans, then Atlanta, then Paris and finally Munich. Yes, I had to survive 5 flights to get to Munich where I then had a 3 hour bus ride to Innsbruck. Unfortunately everyone's luggage from our group flight was lost. Before we left the Munich airport our Innsbruck student assistant, Phillip, warned  us to keep our eyes open so we wouldn't miss the beautiful German/Austrian landscape. Easier said than done. I was passed out before we even left Munich. All I remember from our bus ride was waking up every so often to see us driving through the most beautiful mountains I had ever seen. But of course my exhaustion took over and I was back to sleep shortly after. It was when we got to Innsbruck and checked into our dorm rooms that it finally hit me that I have nothing since our luggage was lost. It is now 9:30am and it still hasn't shown up.

After checking in we had about an hour to shower and clean up before our student orientation that was held at the University. I still haven't seen much of Innsbruck but our walk to the school showed how beautiful this country is! We crossed a river with water that looks nothing like the San Antonio River. It is a very pale green unlike the mysterious green at home. When you look up all you see is mountains and they are literally right there. A lot bigger and closer than pictures show. We are basically surrounded by them all around Innsbruck. Of course the student orientation was boring and painful to sit through. The staff just warned us about our 2am curfew, no alcohol in the room, and you can't skip class... well those were the only rules that I remember. And oh ya no jumping off the bridge into the river or you could get expelled.

A free dinner at the Mensa (cafeteria) was after orientation where I got to experience bland cafeteria food. Thank goodness we only paid for lunch and breakfast there. So we can spend our dinners enjoying the food in the city.

When dinner was over I headed back to my room with my roommate. Thirty minutes later I was out cold and didn't wake up until around 12:30am so confused and then actually got ready for bed and went back to sleep. I didn't wake up again until 6am when we had a fire drill. Why? Why would they want to torture all of us with a fire drill for our first morning? And let me just say that alarms in Austria are A LOT more annoying than your average american alarms. After a couple more hours asleep I woke up and had one purpose, to brush my teeth. So I went to the front desk and asked where the closest grocery store was. Luckily there is one next door. Unluckily, all stores are closed on sundays. So no clothes, no toiletries, no nothing until Delta/Air France gets there act together and brings us our luggage. After that failure I got a quick breakfast. Breakfast was just our average spread of cereals, jams, fruits, and breads. Warning make sure your closely read what type of milk you get for your cereal. In Austria they serve hot and cold milk. Hot milk and cereal does not make a good combo, trust me.

Now I am just waiting for my walking tour of the school to begin and going to try to find someone that knows where my suitcase is. Tonight we have our opening ceremony, which is formal dress. I had this cute outfit planned out, Ali Ro dress with DVF wedges, as of right now it looks like I'm wearing my nike shorts (thank god I threw a pair in my backpack before I left or I would be sleeping in jeans) and our complimentary UNO t-shirt, which right now is a life saver.

School starts tomorrow. I have class everyday from 9:30am to 11:30am Monday to Thursday, except for this week we have class on Friday. I am taking Alpine and Glacial Geology and Introduction to German. With my geology class I have to go on a mandatory field trip next sunday, July 8th, so unfortunately it looks like I won't be traveling this weekend unless I want to head back early by myself. For our field trip we are going to some glacier in Austria that I cannot pronounce. It was required that we bring our hiking boots for this trip which worries me a little because this must mean its a serious hike. I thought I was good at hiking but the Texas hill country does not prepare you enough for real mountains. My first weekend in Washington freshman year I went hiking on Mount Si,  a real mountain, and only made it half way. Hopefully this one won't be as bad.

I should probably go find my bags and a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Auf Wiedersehen for now!



XO