Bored.

Again class is extremely boring. My professor has a Bangladesh accent so I can barely understand what he is saying which makes it a lot easier to drift off and not pay attention. I have been spending most of class on Pinterest finding recipes of food I want to make before I get my tonsils taken out. I'll have a couple days between when I get back from Europe and when I get my tonsils out and I plan on eating the whole time. I won't be able to eat real food for about two weeks then I head back to Seattle to Manny (our ZTA chef) wonderful, not, cooking.

Anyways, my train leaves at 3:30pm today for Verona! I am so excited! I have yet to pack but I am trying to make mental list of what I need. I also have to stop by the bookstore to get something to read for the train rides then go to dm, Austria's version of cvs, and get some nail polish remover and nail polish. I know Lauren, my sister, would be very disappoint with the current state of my nails. Hopefully I have time to do all of this and get lunch before we leave at 2:45pm!

Oh also I'm starting to think that my accessories are working against me. First, my rebecca minkoff chain got stuck in a picnic table and had to leave it behind. Now my wallet has broken. Basically becoming useless. I'm hoping to find a good leather wallet while in Italy!


Oh yes the prof is letting us out early! Ciao!

Laundry, more Chinese and Dachau

I finally did my laundry yesterday! They do not have washing machines in home4students, they also don't have a laundry service to pick it up for you (poor choice). We are responsible for our own laundry and have to do it the grown up way. So I packed my duffle with about a week and a half worth of dirty clothes and made my way down to the Bubble Point, which is right next to my new favorite chinese restaurant. It definitely took awhile to figure out how the laundry worked at the Bubble Point. There are a ton of machines and a separate place to put your money in. It took about an hour and 8 euros later until my laundry was complete.

I think I have found my new regular spot in Innsbruck. For the third time, this week, I went to Chinese Waldorf. It is just so good! However this time it was packed with UNO students. My fellow classmates have started to discover my secret place! Anyways it was still just as good! I ordered the vegetable rolls, chicken with broccoli, a large beer and a small beer. I don't know if it is just because I am in Austria but beer is good with everything. Maybe its just the German in me that's finally coming out.

soooooo good

Today class was equally as boring. I'm just counting down the seconds until I leave for Verona tomorrow. I was let out early of my geology class to go on a field trip to Dachau. A little background on Dachau, it was the first concentration camp during the Nazi regime. All other concentration camps were based off this one which is a two and a half hour drive from Innsbruck. I was a little hesitant about going but I'm glad I signed up in the end. It isn't a common thing  to see a concentration camp and it is definitely a unique experience. 

       

Aerial view of Dachau

Before we even pulled into the parking lot I started to get chills and just knew we were there. These were chills I had never experience before. It all became very real when we walked up to the front gate with the famous saying Arbeit Macht Frei, work will set you free. This gate is probably one of the most photographed gates ever and I got to see it, touch it and walk through it just like the other hundreds of thousands of men and women did. There were over 200,000 registered prisoners at Dachau and an estimated 50,000 deaths. Walking where they have walked before was speechless and overwhelming. The dirt we walked on was mainly made up of ash from bodies, the plants and trees were once nurtured by their blood. 

Back in the late 1930s

Now

Arbeit Macht Frei (Work will set you free)

The first thing we did after walking through the gate was go to the grave filled with ashes and we all placed a rock on top of the grave. It symbolized protection against anything evil. The genocide professor with the school led us through the tour of the camp.

The barracks in the late 30s and Early 40s

where the barracks would have been now

There are three memorials at Dachau. One for  Protestants, Catholics and the Jewish prisoners. Of the three the Jewish Memorial was so beautiful. It really captured what feelings the prisoners must have had. To enter the memorial you had to walk underground in this all black brick room and there is one small hole at the top of the memorial that lets in natural light. 

We continued our tour by going in the gassing chambers and furnace rooms. Which was a little too much to handle knowing what really went on in these rooms seventy years ago. Then we walked to this wall where they would kill the Russians and apparently had a constant river of blood running along it. 

On a lighter note tonight I am staying in to pack and study for my German test tomorrow. I probably won't post anything until I get back from Italy! 

Ciao until then!

Buses, Cellphones and Flammbinis

These past two years of using public transportation really came in handy when I had to take my first Austrian bus by myself! I got picked up on the F bus out front of the University to take me to the train station. The buses here are a little weird. You don't have to pay to get on the bus. If you do pay its 1.90 euros, but if you don't pay and a ticket guy comes on the bus you can be fined 50 euros. I usually just pay the 1.90.

Once I got to the train station I reserved my seat on the 15:27 train to Verona, Italy on Thursday! We are going there for one night then Friday making our way down to Venice. The eurail pass that I have makes it free for me to get on a train, after paying for the pass of course, but it doesn't guarantee me a seat on the train so I had to reserve one for 3.50 euros.

Then I walked two blocks to the T-Mobile store to pick up a prepaid phone so I don't have to make my mom sell a kidney to pay for my phone charges. It was a totally of 30 euros for the phone, 1000 texts and 1000 minutes to anyone in Austria for a month, which is perfect cause I leave exactly one month from today!

The T-mobile store is right next to this beach restaurant that I had passed by last week and saw they have piña coladas. So after buying my phone I headed over there for a quick lunch, since I didn't want to eat caterpillars for lunch. I got this thing called a Flammbini which is just a folded pizza. It was really good, not very filling which explains why my stomach is rumbling right now, but still good. I accompanied that with a nice piña colada. The combo made a great snack!

This is the restaurant

soooo european!

Meeting some locals

Yesterday was a pretty slow day from recovering from the weekend. Class was boring as usual. I did get an A on my first german quiz! Geology has been getting even more boring. I am sitting in that class right now. All Professor Sarwar does is tell stories that are irrelevant to geology. Every day he asks us what are majors are... I don't really understand why. This is just one of the many things he does to waste our time. Last night we got dinner at a place on the river and I had to best spinach ravioli EVER. I'm craving that now, maybe they do to-go for lunch?

After dinner we met back up with some friends at Home4Students then headed to an Austrian's apartment here in Innsbruck. With our program, which I found out is the largest study abroad program, the students at the University of Innsbruck that are participating in our program can sign up for a buddy program. For the buddy program they pair and Austrian student with a UNO student so we went to a friend's buddy apartment. It was a really cool apartment! Our plan was to hang out there for a while and then head to Weekenders, an disco, but it started pouring down rain and storming. So we stayed there for the night playing drinking games with some local Austrians, one who was on my geology field trip on Sunday. It is so funny how much they love American music. They made us play things like the Cupid Shuffle and Macklemore. And they were so nice. They provided all this wine and champagne. I also had a traditional german Christmas wine called Gluehwein. It was soooo good. I am definitely bring a bottle of that to our Christmas Eve dinner this year. It was a mixture of wine, oranges, fruit juice and I think cinnamon and you heat it up on the stove then drink it.

By the time the rain stopped it was already 12:30am which meant we would have had like 10 minutes at the disco so we just decided to go home instead.

Luckily class is getting out early so I have to go head to the Mensa... gross. Just found out today that some girl on our trip found a caterpillar in her Mensa food. A CATERPILLAR.

So sore

It has been two days since our hike through the Alps, and I can barely walk up and down the stairs. Climbing mountains is the ultimate work out.

Alps, Glaciers, and Hugos.

Today I had my Alpine and Glacial Geology Field trip to Obergurgl, Austria. I could waste a lot of your time reading about my trip so instead I'm just going to post pictures. Just know that it was one of the best experiences ever!

The gondola we took to up most of the mountain

Me after getting off the gondola

the view

SNOW

the glacier we went to

highest point we went to

heading back down

felt like the von Trapps.. climb every mountain. Literally

glacier retreating

nerds doing nerdy things

touching a glacier.. yes Lauren I know I need a manicure.

glacier water, it was freezing

heading back down

celebratory drink when we got back to Obergurgl. It is called a Hugo, sparkling wine, mint leaves and a sugar syrup. yummmm

back on the bus to Innsbruck

My delicious dinner I had at Panini. A restaurant right across from the gold roof in Old Town.

HAILING

Hail, thunder, lighting... oh my!! Innsbruck's weather is not holding back! Let's hope the power doesn't go out.

The University

I thought I would give y'all a digital tour of the University, or at least what I see everyday. Every school morning I wake up get ready for class then head down to breakfast room on the first floor of the Rössl. After that I head to my dreadful three hours of class.

This is the main building of the University. It is very ugly but there are windows that wrap all around the building which creates a great view while I'm day dreaming in class.

Once class is over I make my way towards the cafeteria, or Mensa.

Mensa

Then I make my way back to the Rössl, Home4Students.

Crossing the bridge over the Inn River.

looking left.

looking right.

Home for students. 

Side note, I would really like to buy this house!