We were born before the wind, also younger than the sun

So, I'm really not sure how I get paid for this job. Obviously, this is the perfect job for a lazy person such as myself, ha! This is what I mean: I just had a lovely 5-day weekend, rolled out of bed for my one lesson today which began at 12:30 only to find out that it was the ONLY lesson I have this week. Therefore, I now have a 4-day weekend in front of me! Ahhh, this is the life!! And now I only have 3 days of work in front of until I leave for the United States! But, the one weekend I have no plans for of course ends up being a surprise 4-day weekend! I might go skiing or go to a Maturaball, but I don't know. I had originally thought I'd go to Vienna this weekend, but plans changed a bit...but now I want to go! We'll see...

Anyway, my weekend in Graz was a blast. I drove down with a teacher, which was awesome and saved me €15 and I got to speak German the whole time haha. I stayed with my friend Justin who lives in the same building as my friend Peter, and Dan stayed with Peter, so the four of us hung out the entire weekend. I love those guys. We went out every night with other assistants and Dan and I went shopping on Saturday. Saturday night was a party at an assistant's place, and we played all of the traditional American drinking games - Beer Pong (somehow we had real Solo cups!), Kings and, my fave, Flip Cup. Twas great! And we also spent a lot of time drinking Glühwein and eating roasted chestnuts at the Christmas market, which is an amazing tradition and really put me in the Christmas mood. Imagine: standing outside around a table with five good friends, drinking a hot drink, peeling chestnuts, hearing a Christmas choir or a band in the background of your conversation, Christmas lights everywhere, people everywhere, everyone bundled up. Couldn't be more perfect, if you ask me. Also, I got to eat delicious Chinese food, too! Needless to say, I was quite happy.

So, I'm more convinced than ever that I need to get out of Bad Aussee next year and into a big city. There is a good number of assistants in Graz and they go out together everyday! I want to be able to go out to lunch or have a drink with friends whenever I want. I got back to Bad Aussee Monday evening, and Tuesday was the most horribly boring day I've had here, mostly because I knew what I was missing in Graz (and I'm getting quite anxious and excited to be home). So, I surveyed the assistants in Graz and at least two are for sure staying there next year. Cross your fingers I can get placed there as well! I'm starting to work on my application today, but it's not too intense, just have to write a paragraph in German about why I want to stay/transfer. Should be quite simple.

Other than that, I'm starting to train for a half-marathon... not sure I mentioned it. It's happening on April 18th in Vienna and two other girls (assistants, too) are doing it. Some may laugh (I would at myself for dreaming of running a half-marathon), but I have 18ish weeks and I found a simple training plan, so I should be able to do it! I'm pretty pumped! Just gotta get over my laziness...but now that I have a goal, I think I'll be able to motivate myself, ha!

Alright, that's about it for now! Can't wait to see all you stuck in America VERY SOON!!!
Cheers,
Alaina

My mind's racing from chasin pirates

So my first time hosting Thanksgiving went perfectly! I was so happy to have all of my best friends in Austria at my house and spreading the Thanksgiving love. The entire group was 9 people, including myself. 2 boys, 7 ladies, 4 American and 5 Brits! The Brits really loved our holiday and totally got into it. Especially Nichol, who cooked the entire dinner by herself! I tried to help, really, but she continually shooed me out of the kitchen. I did mash the potatoes though, of course!

After dinner, we went out to the "Krampusumzug." Krampus is an Alpine Christmas tradition in which the men of the town (I believe) dress up at these insanely scary devil characters and run around with leather and wooden whips. Now, I had heard that they whip the women and children, but I didn't actually think they would WHIP you. Boooy, was I wrong! After the parade (they all marched into town), the barriers were suddenly gone and the monsters were everywhere! I was just standing, watching one walk up to me, and then he just whipped me right on my legs with a wooden whip (looked like a broom)! I screamed, and we went home right after that. I still have the marks to prove it...

And I must include that we played an INSANE game of American vs. British charades. It was the most intense charades game I've ever played. Twas awesome.

It's been a good week so far. The class that I hate still never listens to a word I say, but I think they like me anyway. We joked a lot today in class, which is a good sign. I've had to be at school at 8 am for Monday and Tuesday and the same tomorrow. I don't usually have to be there at 8 am everyday, so I'm a bit tired. But, my favorite teacher gave me such a nice compliment today saying that she loves what I'm doing and she's pleased with me and such. It made me happy :). The teachers usually say thanks and stuff, but I'm not sure they actually mean it.

Anyway! I found out yesterday that I have a 5-day weekend coming up! Needless to say, I'm excited. I'm going on Friday to Graz to visit some other assistants and I'm driving down with a teacher! I think she's continuing on to Wien, though, and I considered doing that as well, but I think I'll take the train back on Sunday instead. I want to go to Salzburg on Monday and I think I'll go skiing for the first time on Tuesday in Schladming! Frankie invited me, so if there is snow- why not! It'll be cool to go skiing at least once before I got home.

Speaking of HOME, 2 weeks and 2 days! I bought my train ticket to Munich today- leaving on Wednesday the 16th at 16:17 and arriving at 20:34. Then spending the night in Munich and flying off Thursday morning at 10 am! And landing at 7:42 pm in Detroit (after a layover in HOT-lanta)!!! Woooooo! Soooo excited! I'm getting quite anxious to get home. Can't wait to see everyone and everything!

Well not too much else to say: life's good and can't wait to go home. That's about it!

Until next time...
Cheers,
Alaina

Come away with me, and we'll kiss, on a mountaintop...

Slowly, slowly, slowly I've been getting used to my "new" (in quotes because it's not so new anymore) life. This week, and especially today, I've felt more at home and comfortable here than ever before. I feel like the teachers have officially accepted me - I was told "wir sind sehr zufrieden mit dir" --> we are very happy/pleased/satisfied with you - and I finally got my first invite to go out with students. I don't know if it was me, or the "townsfolk," that has made feeling at home take so long, but I think that may be just how small-town life is: slow.

So, I feel like the students are truly warming up to me. It's hard because I only see each class once a week, it's been nearly impossible for me to learn their names, and they see me as just the "assistant." But, they like me, I think, and I started today to make a true effort to learn their names. I told all my classes today to keep an eye out for me at Salzhaus, the only, local disco, this weekend, which they all found hilarious. Once I buy them all a round, I think they'll really like me!

For some reason, I've seen more students outside of class this week than in the whole time I've been here. And it's quite amazing how many students I see just when I'm grocery shopping! I went to Liezen, which is 40 minutes away, yesterday with Frankie to shop (it was much needed!) and I saw 2 students there!

Anyway, it turns out one of my teachers in the BORG, Barbara, is going to be sick until Christmas. I feel quite bad for her, but this has turned out kind of cool for me. First of all, I got to meet Sandra, the teaching assistant from TEN YEARS AGO, who is from Minnesota and has inzwischen settled down in Bad Aussee with a hubby and a child and she teaches at the Hauptschule in BA. She's taking over the 7th and 8th form classes that Barbara had, so I'm sad I won't get to see them, but I'm essentially taking over the 6th form class! I'm quite excited for that, as they are pretty cool. And I will go with Anita, the other English teacher in BORG, to her classes. So this is cool because: I'm going to get to know an old assistant and I'm almost taking over an entire class! Neat!!

All of this is helping to convince me to stay in Bad Aussee for another year. I know I want to stay in Austria for anothe ryear, but I'm not sure if I want to change location or not. Colin, a friend in Vienna, told me that I should switch to a bigger city, but... I'm feeling really good here right about now and I only think it could get better. We'll see!

Ahh well, so it's been a great last couple of weeks! And this weekend, Saturday to be exact, is the day I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with some American and British friends! I'm so excited! I can't wait to host my first dinner :). I'm making the turkey (with Nichol's help!), mashed potatoes (of course!!), corn and stuffing. I have 9 other people coming: 2 boys, 4 Americans, 6 Brits, and somehow we're all going to fit in my apartment! Everyone is bringing or making a dish! Should be awesome! Nichol, Dan and Jordan are arriving tomorrow late-ish and then we're going out for the traditional pre-Thanksgiving drink fest :).

And this Saturday night starts Krampus, which is this crazy Alpine Christmastime festival during which the men, and boys, of the town, dress up like really scary devils and whip (not REALLY whip, but, ya) children and women in the town. So, we're of course checking that out after dinner. Should be pretty interesting!

OK, that's about it for now. Still have that post in mind about differences between Austria/Germany/United States. As a friend posted in her blog, there is a silent, and sometimes-not-so-silent, war between the two German speaking countries. It's kind of amazing sometimes how adamant the Austrians are that they are different than Germans.

And, btw, check out this Austrian commercial. It's an excellent example of shockvertising and my heart stops everytime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiBjWaYs5cw. I realize it's in German, but you'll be able to understand what's going on.

Love to all! And Happy Thanksgiving!!
Cheers,
Alaina

Schmeiß die Hände in die Luft!

So, the last few weeks in which I haven't posted have included many adventures in the Land of Party and Jäger Bombs. Let's see, I spent the weekend of October 24th traveling around Austria with some Brits (Dan, Rich, Nichol) - we went to Bruck an der Mur (for Emilie's birthday party), came back to Bad Aussee (for my HLW Maturaball!) and then went to Mürzzuschlag (where Rich lives). The weekend of October 31st, I was in Schladming with Frankie. It was Halloween, but nothing cool was going on in Schladming, sadly. I really missed Halloween this year! Then, the weekend of the 7th, I was in Vienna for Nichol's birthday. We all had a great time in the capital - Nichol, Ollie (Nichol's bf), Frankie, Jordan, Peter, Corrie and I had an awesome time on the town Saturday night. The city is absolutely gorgeous - I'm in love! I got a Starbuck's Latte and it was heeeaven! Only 10 Starbuck's in Austria, and they are ALL in Vienna! And finally this past weekend, I was in Schladming again for Frankie's Maturaball and general rabble-rousing. We raved in a cave. Enough said. :)

I have plans for the rest of my weekends before I go home. This Thursday, I'm taking the night train to Neuchâtel to visit Maude, the weekend after that I'm having a Thanksgiving bash at my apartment (which will be interesting...not sure how the food is all going to turn out haha), the first weekend in November, I'm going to Graz for "Fallstival," during which we'll be commemorating a Pagan holiday haha, then I think I'm going to go to Vienna to hit up the Christmas markets and, of course, buy many souveniors....then I'm flying home on Thursday the 17th!!!! And I even have plans that weekend to hit Ann Arbor hard :)!

Anyway, though the weekends are awesome here, the weeks are a bit boring here in Bad Aussee, but that's just how it is in small-town Austria. And I'm really enjoying my job (getting the hang of it and all) and even the really annoying classes are getting on my good side! Also, the good classes just keep getting better! It's cool. I was told by my main teacher that I'm a natural teacher, although I feel like I'm shit, so that made me happy! And my principal said I speak German really well, so that was awesome! I've had some really awesome lessons, such as the Ku Klux Klan, "schockvertising," legalizing marijuana and so on.

So I have some things/differences between Austria/America/Germany that I'm going to write about in my next post (can't be bothered right now....a bit lazy), so keep an eye out for that!

Miss and love you all!
Cheers,
Alaina

ps, "schmeiß die Hände in die Luft" is my favorite part of an awesome German party song "Das geht ab" - the quote translates to "throw the hands in the air!" :)

I, I can remember standing by the Wall...

Today is the 20 year anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Being in Austria, another German speaking country, I thought there'd be a little more celebration, or at least someone talking about it. However, in school, not a word was mentioned. Even the news coverage here has been scarce. Granted, I've been watching ORF all night and they just play American TV series on Monday night, but there wasn't much even on the news. I guess it really just highlights and reiterates that they are two very different countires.

I just so wish I had been in Berlin today. I bet it felt really good in that city today. I'm going in January, but it doesn't feel soon enough...

By the way, the song "Heroes" by David Bowie, which I have used in my subject line, is a love story about two people who met at the Wall.

Well, I know I haven't updated in a while. But I will later this week.

Sending my love to all!
Cheers,
Alaina

It's the 21st century....

I swear I will update this SOON. I even started a post, there is just way too much to fit in now to write it in one sitting, let alone read it. I feel bad for all of you who will try to!....

It's just a matter of trust, for us, for lust

Ended up getting about 4 inches of snow last week. My balcony was covered. The mountains were beautiful and it felt like a fantasyland. This weekend, the snow melted a bit. The mountains still are covered, but it feels like fall again instead of winter. I miss fall, so I would love to actually have fall! I really wish I could go to a cider mill..... cinnamon-and-sugar donuts and cider.... mmmm!

Last Wednesday, I learned how to shoot a crossbow! It was a parent/teacher event, so I was the only "young person." One of the parents said I look like a student, and I was like "Oh, I'm the English Assistant" ha! After I sat for the whole evening, listening, trying to discern what people were talking about, the director asked me if I understood anything. I laughed and answered, "No." I really am starting to hate the dialect around here. I can hear there is a pattern, but I have yet to decipher it... What makes things worse is every city in the Salzkammergut has their own "special" dialect, so I have to deal with different dialects, too. Anyway, I was quite good for a first time shooter. My partner, who was also a first-timer, and I got 5 place out of 10 places, so that's pretty good, eh?

Teaching has been quite good. I'm glad that I'm enjoying it. Teachers usually give me a topic to teach on, which is helpful, and usually I can use the lesson again for another class because I teach two of the same level, usually during the next week. For example, for today, I didn't have to plan anything because I'm teaching classes that I made lessons for last week. Nice.

Frankie visited again this weekend! It was great to see her! She finally got an apartment, so I'll be visiting her next week. Exciting!!

And while BA has been quite lovely so far, I really need to get out. I'm going this Friday to Bruck an der Mur, 2 hour train ride away, for a girl's, Emilie, birthday party. A lot of the other assistants will be there, so I'm really looking forward to it! From there, I hope to go to Ljubljana, Slovenia on Saturday. Andrew suggested I go to Ljubljana - he said it's really beautiful, so I'm excited! I'm 98% sure I have Monday the 26th off, so spending half a day Saturday, Sunday and half day Monday in Ljubljana should be perfect! Hopefully someone else at the party will travel with me, I'm sure it would be much more fun with a friend! But I'm going to go anyway because I just need to get out of this city. I'll be traveling for the next three weekends, so it'll be awesome!

Something else I'm quite looking forward to: NaNoWriMo. Have you ever heard of it? It's short for National Novel Writing Month and it happens in November. The goal is to write 50,000 word of a novel in the month. The quality doesn't matter - the goal is just to get a 175-page first draft of a novel written! I'm so looking forward to it! I think writing with a deadline, or a goal, will really help me get something written. For those of you that don't know, my only, consistent life-goal has been to become a published novelist. I'm excited and already outlining an idea.... :)

OK, well....Happy Monday.....?
Cheers,
Alaina

ps, ONLY 60 FREAKIN' DAYS UNTIL I FLY HOME FOR 3 WEEKS FOR CHRISTMAS! yeeeeah, that's right! That's NOTHIN'. The next three weeks are going to fly, because I'll be traveling and has stuff to look forward to! Wooo!!!

Weird things that I miss right now...

1. Late night/all-night study sessions/paper writing in the dude, the fishbowl or the ugli. Accompanied of course by non-stop Pandora and probably Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Watermelons and/or Arnold Palmers.

2. There was a second thing, but I accidentally payed attention the Sarah Silverman Show in German (and I really hate Sarah Silverman, so I don't even know why it is on), and now I have forgotten it. But I'm sure I will miss it again in a day or two, so then I'll share.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Yesterday, it started snowing. This wouldn't be so shocking if I hadn't been wearing t-shirts last week. Nothing stuck to the ground, but there was a contast snow/slush/rain/hail mix falling out of the sky. Listened to Christmas music as I ate my breakfast. Despite the weather, I went to the park after school to take some photos of the snow. The mountains were covered in it and shrouded in clouds and mystery. I got home from the expedition, turned on all the radiators in my apartment and made some tea. The German news showed a major car pile-up in Northern Germany. I checked outside just before I went to bed - no accumulating snow (but some form of liquid was still coming down).

Fell asleep (and woke up) with some very strange in-between reality-and-dreams thoughts, but I couldn't tell you now what they were for the life of me. Showered, made breakfast, finally looked out the window - one inch of the cold, beautiful, white stuff. I was shocked. And it was still coming down. Finished getting ready and trudged my way to school in the onslaught. All of the teachers in the staffroom were talking about the urgent need for snow tires and the morning's harrowing journey to work without them. Students were late, (blaming their parents tires) and in the 2nd hour, the firehouse alarm kept going off, which caused the students to speculate at the nature of the emergency. One girl shared that there was a suicide on the train tracks yesterday outside Bad Mitterndorf. During the break, I learned that the emergency was in the direction of Grundlsee and was invited to learn how to shoot a crossbow (I think...) this evening with teachers, parents and students. I sure hope I'm not on anyone's "hit list" yet.

Today, I taught about the American school system, interviewing for a job and Feminism/the Glass Ceiling. Really enjoyed all of it, and realized I had a lot more to say about high school than I thought. The students in the "interviewing for a job" class are sweet and quite sharp. In the Feminist class, the boys-in-the-back-of-the-room had more opinions on the topic than the quiet-girls-in-the-front, but I was glad to let them share because they did make some valid points. The teacher now wants to read The Feminine Mystique. One boy asked me if I want to be a manager when I'm done teaching in Austria, which actually made me wonder why all the professions I aspire to are female dominated. I think/thought that I'm quite the emancipated woman, but what does this say about me? Society? - these are thoughts for later, I think. Also realized I'm not too good at explaining things. Hopefully this is a skill that comes with time and practice.

Each time I think the dialect is getting easier to understand, someone comes along and shatters my hopes. I was sitting in the conference room today, drinking a coffee with some other teachers. I never really partake in conversation (I throw in a laugh and a smile here and there), but I mostly just listen and try to discern, so that is what I was doing. I had no idea what one woman was saying everytime she spoke. Previously, I hadn't had trouble understanding her, but today? Oy.

Well, it's still snowing, only outlines of mountains can be seen in the distance and I have to teach in 9 minutes. I'm already obsessing about/craving my daily grilled cheese for lunch (ha.) - almost there!

Until next time.
Cheers,
Alaina

And it stoned me to my soul

My first week started and ended and passed quite successfully. In all, I enjoy being in the school, the teachers are alright and the students are cool (at least, I think they will be once they warm up to me a bit). Although, I was quite happy when I busted out of there on Thursday afternoon, done for the weekend!

Friday, I slept in late and bummed around in the morning. I keep getting more and more mail and on Friday, I got a postcard from my friend in Berlin, a package from "Visit Florida" with travel brochures in it and my pin number for my bank account! All quite exciting! So then, I started cleaning my place, which took a lot longer than I thought it would, but it looked good and then I went shopping for the weekend supplies! I got lots of good junk food- perfect for a girls only weekend!

So, Nichol got to BA around 5:45, and I met her at the station. I gave her the little tour from the station to my apartment, then we dropped off her stuff and went around the town. It was getting a little dark, but it was a nice evening, so it was really nice to walk around. I found some places I had never seen before, maybe because I was feeling more adventurous with an "exploring buddy." I found the gym, the museum, a book store, the library and a DVD rental place. Excellent! Now I have some exciting ways to spend my evenings...

Frankie arrived around 8, and that's when the party really got started- ha. We were all "pre-loading" (as the German word for "pre-gaming" translates to) and chatting about our first weeks. We got all dolled-up to check out the local disco and left around midnight. We weren't exactly sure where Salzhaus was located, but we followed the oh-so-convenient event lights (can't think of the actual word?) shining into the night sky and found the place, right around the corner from my school! For a Friday night, the place was dead. We waited outside as Frankie finished her cigarette and had a laugh at this guy who had passed out on the parking lot ground in the fetal position...hmm, strange. He eventually got up, took out a cigarette, and moved to go inside. However, he didn't quite make it, as he somehow managed to pass out, cigarette in hand, in the doorway. Wow, hilarious and somehow I was impressed at how he managed to do this! Frankie went over to offer him a light and wake him up, and then we all went inside to the bar.

Us ladies ordered some drinks and our pal who likes to pass out in inconvenient places came over to sit with us. Turns out, his name is Mike and his father lives in Morocco and Mike lives in the town over, but comes to BA/Salzhaus on Friday nights although the club is shit (all according to him). Anyway, we all have a drink then Mike goes off somewhere and we all go to the dance floor (seperate from bar). Turns out, Mike had disappeared to the ladies restroom, because Nichol spotted him coming out of there....

But, we find a spot on the dance floor, order some more drinks and just dance, dance, dance. The place is still quite empty and the crowd is a little shady. Mike comes over every so often and then just says, "Später" (which means "later"). Eventually, we get him to introduce us to his friends, but they for sure weren't interested in us, so we decided to get a pizza and leave. Now, getting a pizza was a hassle in itself. I speak to the order-lady all in German asking her what kind of pizza they have, how much it is, etc. and since it was the end of the night, all we had left was change, so we take a minute to count the change out. She starts getting pissy and started making horrible comments to her Austrian coworker about us and how she was going to rip us off, but Nichol told her off (I missed all this because I'm counting out change). So, we get our pizza finally and leave and then Nichol tells us this story and I was quite upset. All the way home, we complained about this girl and the dialect in Austria, which none of us can understand. Then, we ate our pizza and went to bed.

The next day, Saturday, was spent gossiping/chatting, reading Cosmo, eating and watching movies/TV. We decided to watch Center Stage (Frankie was blown away that us American spell center with an -er instead of -re) and ate delicious cheese (we are all cheese fanatics). So we pretty much did nothing all day, which was fine by us because it was raining and we were all just lazy and tired from the week/the night before. We went to bed early-ish because we were all quite tired and Frankie and I talked a little bit more in bed (we shared my bed, while Nichol curled up on the couch).

Sunday, we awoke and had tea. We hung around for a couple of hours and at 12:15 Nichol left and then Frankie got a ride back around 1 pm. Since then, I've been relaxing, listening to music and daydreaming about my next travels, which I can't complete until my first/next paycheck on November 15th.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and although we didn't do much, it was great to do nothing with other people! Plus, I really enjoy Frankie and Nichol's company and we are all quite similar. I'm glad I finally checked out Salzhaus, even though it left a bit to be desired ha. I can't wait to go to Vienna to visit Nichol (she's a 10-minute, 2 Euro train ride outside of the city) and shop, shop, shop, go to a ballet and celebrate her birthday (Nov. 6/7/8)....although the shopping and ballet may actually have to wait until after Nov. 15th when we get paid. Also on the 6th is a reception for all of the US teaching assistants, so it'll be a fun weekend.

Today is rainy and cool and it is now definitely fall in BA. Last week, it was sunny, warm and beautiful, but now the leaves have started to change, the mountains are constantly shrouded in clouds and it's getting cooler. Additionally, it's supposed to snow up in the mountains this week- something I'm not sure I'm ready for. I keep hearing about winter and skiing, and while I think it'll be comparable to winters in MI, I'm getting nervous haha. But it shouldn't be too bad (I keep telling myself).

Alright, well time to really get to work with lesson planning. And I think I'm going to cook some pasta- I'm quite hungry!

Love to all!
Cheers,
Alaina

I've been waiting for this moment all my life

Hey all! It has been a lovely week so far!

The first day of class, Monday, wasn't TOO exciting... It actually started out horrifying when my lead teacher actually kicked me out of the first class of the day and left me with absolutely nothing to do for two hours saying, "I'll meet you in the staff room at 9:50." Hmm. I actually started to read the history book that I had brought along, which I was going to use for the US map in case I actually was going to teach. Anyway, eventually one of the other English teachers found me and helped me out, which was I so thankful for! She showed me around the school a little more, introduced me to some people and got me a key to the building/conference room/bathroom. I taught one class and then ran outta there hoping to get my Meldezettel and pay my rent. The internet told me that the office was open until 2:30, but when I got there at 12:10, the guy was already gone, so I had to leave my stuff and come back the next day. So, since I couldn't get the Meldezettel, I couldn't get a bank account or my residency permit that day. I bought some food for lunch at the grocery store and went back to my apartment to relax. I awarded myself with a nap after a "long day." I woke up, cooked some dinner, watched some American-sitcoms-dubbed-in-German, emailed and such and then went to bed around 11. Bad Aussee- always thrilling!

Tuesday was a much better day at school and was actually a really awesome day in general. I taught a bunch of classes with my "Intro to Alaina/Michigan" lesson (haha) and some classes were good, some were bad. I taught what was a 5th form class (about to graduate, supposed to have really good English) and I was astonished at how bad their English was. But some classes were a lot of fun! It was a good day, in general. I left school and went to go do all my official stuff. I got my Meldezettel and residency permit (which I had to pay 110 Euro for grr) but of course the bank was closed for lunch. So I did some hardcore grocery shopping for the week (something I always enjoy) and then went back to my apartment. To my surprise, HILARY'S PACKAGE HAD ARRIVED! I was so excited I exclaimed and ran up the last flight of stairs. In it were a batch of Emi's famous cookies (still fresh), half of a BFF necklace (aww!), the new Cosmo (w/ Megan Fox on the cover), a sweet mix CD and a pumpkin candle holder (my only Halloween decoration!). It made my good day much much better! Especially the music- something about new music is just so great. So, I got ready to go out again to the bank. It was a bit confusing at first to figure out where to go, but I figured it out. I got led into the office and this CUTE Austrian is sitting at the desk. His name is GERHARD- how great is that? To make a long story short, there was some flirting and when he handed me his business card, he wrote my account number on it and said (in German), "And this is my cell phone number" and I laughed and said "Ooh" and then he said just kidding haha. ....then he gave me his business card again right before I left and said "If you need anything I'm always here" ha. So maybe I'll see him around Bad Aussee again. After that, I walked out of the bank, sent some postcards and it was raining a little bit but to my delight there was a rainbow!!!! I had to walk around the little park and enjoy my amazing mood. After that, I went back to my place, took a nap (waking up at 6 am is really getting to me!), woke up, ate dinner and some cookies hehe, watched TV then went to bed around 11.

Today I woke up and cooked a breakfast burrito with 1 scrambled egg, cucumber, green onion, tomato and parmasan cheese. DELCIOUS. And it was also a good day in school. I went to 4 classes and, again, really enjoyed one of them but the rest were OK. One class wouldn't speak any English and wouldn't shut up. Grrr. But then I went home and cooked the most delicious grilled cheese I have ever had in my entire life. It included red pepper, tomato, cucumber and green onion. Yummmmmmm. Then I took a nap (I'm going to try to break this habit next week....) and just been hanging around. Now, I'm watching Catch Me If You Can in German and relaxing. I don't have class tomorrow until 9:55, so I think I will sleep in a little tomorrow :). Sounds nice! Then Friday is freeeeeee and Frankie is coming this weekend! I keep getting told to go to Salzhaus (the disco in BA) on the weekends, so I'm excited to check it out haha.

Soooooo the dirt on my school- I am teaching a 3 different schools: HLW (a technical school or business and tourism), HAK (a technical school for business/industry) and BORG (I thought it wasn't a "real" Gymnasium, but I guess it is). I tried to go into the school without any preconceptions (thinking the BORG kids would be better in English)....but it turns out they really are. The HLW/HAK students aren't as excited about English, but some classes are. So I guess I can't generalize..... But, whatever. Some classes are really good about speaking English to their teacher and to each other, but some I am constantly saying: "ENGLISH ENGLISH" - mostly because I can't understand a word of German when their speak in their slangy dialect. Punks.

Anyway, in the conference room there is an automatic coffee machine and I'm in love. It's great being able to just press a button and get coffee haha and for free! (You had to pay 40 cents at the school we taught at in Graz haha). All of the teachers are really friendly and they feel the need to remind me that two the assistant in previous history have fallen in love in BA and still live here. Ha. I speak about half English, half German with the English teachers, but if I speak in German they will switch. I've been told a few times that my German is really good, so I'm happy about that :).

And I'm starting to feel really at home and comfortable here in BA. I like the school, the teachers and students seem pretty good and I'm starting to get a feel for the city. Most excitingly: I have found the GYM and the LIBRARY! I haven't been to either, but I know they exist, so I'm quite excited. The gym is only 210 Euro for 6 months....so that's pretty awesome. And I'm pretty pumped to try out the disco! Hope it's worth it :). The only thing that I don't like about being here is missing everyone and everything from home :(.

Hmm....so what else? I think that's about it for now.
Hope all is well!!!
Love, Cheers,
Alaina

Tick tick tick tick on the watch, life's too short for me to stop

Oh man! Tomorrow is the biiiig day! I'm a little nervous and a lot excited, but at this point it's just like "I want to get the first day done!" and then it will all be easy. OK, well maybe I have to get past the first week for it to be easy, but you know what I mean! :)

Last night, I had a dream(/nightmare?) that I got into school, my teacher put me in front of the class, and I didn't have a lesson planned and all of the kids were bored and just staring at me. And I was trying to talk to them and tell them about myself and they didn't like it at all. Then, I went to the next class, and they were even worse because they were just talking to each other and totally ignoring me! In my dream, the whole time, I was thinking, "This isn't how they said it would go at orientation!" hahaha. Ohhhhh dear, let's hope it goes better than that!

I'm kind of afraid I'll just get up there and be like "umm, umm" the whole time. But I guess if I'm prepared, it will be good! And even though I'm not sure if I'm actually teaching tomorrow, I have planned a lesson. It's more for students who have had about 3-4 years of English, so I hope I don't have to teach the 18 year olds or the really young ones....but I think the youngest in my schools have actually had about 3-4 years of English...so we'll see! I kind of feel like my teacher said I'd be observing the first few days, but I don't remember. I would like that. Especially because I have no idea what my schedule is and I have no real supplies- it'd be cruel to make me teach tomorrow. Maybe just introduce myself, but nothing more. EITHER WAY- I'm prepared! :)

BUT! Frankie is coming this weekend and we are going to go to the disco! Yesss, I can't wait! I haven't been there yet, but it's the only one in BA, so I'm bound to run into my students. And Frankie, too, since there isn't a Gymnasium in BA and she teaches in one in the town over. So it should be quite exciting.

But for now, I'm watching Ocean's 13 in German (no Star Wars on tonight haha) and I'm about to drink a glass of wine so that I can fall asleep soon. I'm not really nervous right now, but I know when I lay down, I'll start thinking a million different things and then on the walk to school tomorrow I'll pretty much be crying out of nerves haha. It will be weird because the students will all be walking with me, but I don't know any of them yet, so it'll be kind of awkward...

Anyway, time to relax. I hope everyone is doing well. And please wish me luck! I need it :)
Cheers!
Alaina

With two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard

Hello!!! It has been a journey and back and SO MUCH FUN! I've gone from Bad Aussee to Innsbruck to Freiburg to Neuchatel to Graz and back to BA. Everything was awesome!...and in my last post I wrote from Graz, early Sunday morning.

After updating my blog, I went for a walk around Graz. I crossed the bridge into the Altstadt and got some cell phone credits. Really, it was nothing too exciting but I got a feel for the city. I went back to my hostel, got my room, and tried to contact Jordan, one of the guys from the program that was in the hostel, too. At first, it didn't work too well, so I just took a nap and a shower, woke up and felt a lot better! I again tried to call Jordan, but still didn't work, so I went to get a pizza. I brought it back to the hostel and as I was sitting outside eating it, Jordan showed up with Alysha! We met, started talking, and then some Brits came outside (Frankie and Corrie) and then we went on our way. We found a really nice Irish pub, Flann O'Brien's, and sat outside talking and drinking some beer for a couple of hours. Very nice! Then we went back to the hostel and got some sleep because orientation started the next day!

So we woke up Monday and ate breakfast, very exciting. We went around the city for a bit, found another Brit at her hotel, and then went back to the hostel to pack up for the orientation. We took a taxi across town (there were 7 of us with all of our luggage) and checked in at the nunnery (convent), where we'd be staying for the week. Some people were staying up at the Schloss (castle) so they took a bus up there. Immediately, we started meeting millions of people. It was slightly overwhelming, but we were all just small-talking. At 5:30, we took a bus up to the Schloss for dinner and "opening ceremonies" or whatever. Nothing too exciting, but we met everyone! It was a little hectic.

We took the bus back down to the convent and then Frankie and I met some other Brits (Nichol, Dan and Rich) and we all went out for drinks at a pub down the road from the nunnery. All of the Brits are so nice and hilarious! I learned that mostly all of the Brits are in Austria on their required year abroad (if you study a language), but some of them are graduated. We just chatted over some beer and when the bar closed at midnight, we started to make our way home. However, we just so happened to run into an old man, Heinrich, on the street and he pulled us into his bar. He started pouring us wine and trying to dance with all of the ladies. There was an old man, Wolfgang, sitting at the bar and he tried to tell us he was 28 years old. After a while, it started to seem even more shady than it really was and we got outta there. It was fun, but a little creepy haha. We all parted ways and went to bed.

The next day, I woke up nice and early for breakfast. At 8:30 am, the bus took us all up to the Schloss for a day of seminars. Let me tell you, that 20 minute bus ride up to the Schloss everyday, really early, after drinking, was HORRIBLE. Anyway, we didn't learn anything too exciting day 1.......but the lunches and dinners were delicious! My group, group 2, was really awesome and all of us got along pretty well. Our teacher, Elisabeth, was really fun and helpful!

Anyway, Tuesday in the evening we went on a little tour around Graz with Austrian students. The city is actually very, very beautiful! We ended at Jakominiplatz, which is a major bus and tram stop. We had received 10 Euro for dinner in the city for the night, so we (a big group from group 2...too many to remember who exactly) decided we of course needed to get Döner (a delicious Turkish version of a burrito) and beer. We sat at this bus stop, like true locals, for a good couple of hours drinking beer and just talking. We made our way, once again, to the Irish pub to watch some "football", because some Brits/Scots from our program walked by and we tagged along. The pub was packed! Colin (a second year teaching assistant) and I decided that we both needed to use the bathroom and get another beer (but not an expensive one from the pub), so we walked all the way back to Jakominiplatz to use their 20 Euro cent bathroom (super cheap!) and get a beer from the Döner place. We then walked back to the bar, Colin left and I hung around with people for a while. Eventually, Colleen, Luke and Mike left, and I left with them. Apparently, I was loud and talking a lot, haha. But it was fun.

The next day was little rough/long but we all made it through haha. The day was kind of nice because we learned a lot of fun games to play with students and the Brits taught us all about British slang, which had us laughing and sounding British for the rest of the week (examples include, "Safe, bruv!" and "Brrrrrap!"). We divided up into groups and planned lessons for the next morning, when we would be going into Graz schools and doing our first lesson!!

So, we took the bus back down in the evening and had a little Q&A with some second year assistants, Lizbeth and Colin. I sat in the back with the Brits and some beer and got a little rowdy, as good Brits in the back row do hahaha. I went to the Hauptbonhof with Nichol to get her something to drink and schlep some beer for Rich and then we all drank in the basement of the nunnery (which is actually a chapel), which created a lot of Fritzl jokes (a major joke of the entire week, too) and it was weird to be drinking in a chapel. But it was fun.

Thursday we all woke up super early to go into our schools. Rich, Luke, Justin and myself went to the Akademisches Gymnasium (a school with kids from 10-19 years old) and we observed a class of 14/15 year olds, 3rd year English. It was pretty interesting and Austrian students are actually quite different than English ones....but I'll get more into that when I start at my own school. Then, we taught our own lesson with little 10/11/12 year olds, their 2nd year of English. They were so precious and we played a kind of game with them comparing England and the US. So much fun! I had a really great time in the class and it made me super excited to start Monday. When we asked them who lives in the White House, they ALL went "Ooobaamaa!" hahaha it was so funny! I was actually going for "the President" but it was so cute that they said Obama. :) Anyway, the lesson went really well and it was so fun!

Then, we all had two hours free to do whatever we wanted. First, we hung out at a cafe and then I went back to the convent with Joy, Luke and Justin and we checked out email and relaxed a little. We left a little late to get the bus back to the nunnery (we had to do it on our own) and it was a little hectic. First, we saw some of our students from earlier in the day, so we chatted with them auf Deutsch. Second, Elisabeth told us the wrong bus stop to get off at (but we ended up getting off at the right one) and then we had to climb the "mountain" up to the Schloss in the sun. Joy and I kept talking about Anita Dall, the woman who works with Fulbright who is our coordinator/email contact/etc. etc. We were quite excited to meet her that afternoon after lunch!

Anyway, we all finally made it up the mountain and for lunch. Then.....we met Anita! She pretty much just went over all of the paperwork that we have to take care of, so it was kind of boring. At the end, I cheered her name and all the Brits outside in the courtyard heard it haha. We broke off into groups then and did a kind of feedback and wrap-up survey. Then we had dinner and it was time for the impromptu talent show segment and "closing statements." Dan, Luke, Rich and I (all Brits, except for me-duh) all sat in the back with a bottle of wine, which Fulbright so genorously provided for us. The Brits pointed out that everyone who volunteered their talents were American and it would have been un-British for any of the Brits to get up. They had a picture slide show, and I was unsurprisingly in none of the pictures. Then we all mingled for a couple of hours with wine. I introduced myself to Anita and it was fun. Then Colin sang some German opera for Justin, Rachel, Dan, Luke and myself (he's really good!!!) and then we took the bus back down to the nunnery. Dan, Peter, Justin and I went on a hunt for beer and then a big group of us ended up drinking again in the basement chapel. I went to bed pretty early because it had been a super long day.

Next day, aka Friday, aka today, I woke up, packed and ate breakfast. Everyone was saying bye and it was pretty sad, but I'm pretty sure I'll see a lot of them again (mostly everyone I met is placed in my state- Steiermark- and the farthest away is really not too far because Austria really isn't too big). Frankie and I waited around until about 11 to go to the Hauptbonhof (because we didn't know our train only went every 2 hours and we missed the 9:38 one) and then we got on the train. We talked the whole way to Steinach-Irdning, which was my stop, and it was nice. She is living in Schladming, which isn't too far from Bad Aussee (it costs on 6,20 Euro for me to get to her city and vice versa). The train ride was nice and it felt really good to get back to my apartment. I saw one of my landlords on the street and we talked for a little. I think he speaks most always in dialect, or at least always with a strong accent, and I noticed it was easier for me to understand him! So I think I'm getting used to the dialect/accent :)...hopefully!! Anyway, I went grocery shopping, cooked some food, put a movie on my computer and then accidentally took a nap haha. Now I'm just chilling, watching TV and relaxing. (I'm watching Star Wars: A New Hope in German, and it's funny because now I've seen at least part of all of the "new" ones and now this one- I think the Austrians are obsessed with Star Wars.)

All in all, the week was a lot of fun! Thinking back through it and writing it all down makes it seem really, really short but we did A LOT! I met so many Brits, and they are all hilarious. The Americans are pretty great, too!! It's kind of cool to think that we all came together for a week and now we are scattered across Austria, all doing the same thing. It makes me feel better to know that I'm not alone :). And I'm really happy that I have a friend really close by, (Frankie in Schladming). I already can't wait for my November paycheck, which will be about 2.000 Euro! It'll feel good to have some money haha. I'll definitely go shopping and take a trip maybe to Vienna or something. We joked a little about having a big payday party, but most of me hopes it actually happens :) haha.

This weekend, it'll feel good to relax and get ready for next week! I don't really know what I'm going to do yet, but I guess I should start planning some "getting to know you" lessons haha. I really want to find a hacky-sack or something like it here in Bad Aussee because we used one in our lesson in Graz and it was really helpful!

Anyway, I'll be keeping you all well updated next week because it's going to be a really big, exciting and busy week! :)

Hope you all are doing well and I miss you all!
Love,
Cheers!
Alaina

L'heure est à la fête!

Bonjour mes amis! Oui, je parle francais. Or.... I wish I could ;). But it's improving!

Anyway, it's been a while since I have posted. And with good reason - I have been doing NOTHING exciting since my last post! In Bad Aussee, I've still just been sitting around, and I was so bored, that I watched the MTV Video Music Awards. If you know me, I don't really do that. Soo... yeah. One day, though, my landlords invited me to the lake, Grundlsee, with them. It was a nice day, and we walked around the lake a little. But now, I'm in the middle of my trip around Germany/Switzerland/Austria, so I have some updates!

As reported, I was supposed to leave Friday to go to Bad Neustadt, but as it turned out, Kerstin's family couldn't accomodate me that weekend, so I had to change my travel plans a bit. But it ended up working out really well, because when I thought about it, I didn't want to take the train all the way up to Bad Neustadt. And! On Monday night, as I was walking in my door, there was a woman walking in in front of me and she goes, "Are you Alaina?" And I'm like "....yeah..." "Oh, I'm Eva Speilmann!" - she is my main English teacher at the school! She had to give an interview or something for the TV station based in my apartment building, and then she knocked on my door so we could get to know each other. She spoke English to me, which set my nerves a bit at ease. She is very nice and very excited/exciting, and reassured me that the students are really nice and I have nothing to worry about! It was fun to talk to her. Anyway...so, I left Tuesday for Innsbruck for 2 days, 2 nights.

Innsbruck is a very nice city, but actually not that big. There are Alps all around the city, which is probably the best part. I met a girl from Berlin, which was cool. We hung out the first night I was there and went to an Irish pub (always a good time!) and then hung out in the park a little the next day before she left. We exchanged numbers and emails and she invited me to Berlin, and I her to Bad Aussee. So, I guess she's my first, new, German friend haha. And probably sometime in November, I'll go to Berlin!

The day she left, Wednesday, I spent walking around the city. There is not too much to see in Innsbruck but the Altstadt is very pretty cobbled streets. I went into a pretty church and walked along the river. Then I bought dinner and read in the park. While I was buying a beer at the grocery store, a German asked me if there was any specialty beer from Innsbruck. Of course, I didn't know the answer. And it turns out this dude was staying in the same hostel as me...weird.

So, I went back to the hostel around 8 pm and was checking my email in the common room. All of a sudden, an old German guy starts talking to me. He's got a bunch of bags and a heavy accent and at first I'm just smiling and kind of laughing, not really talking to him since I was checking my email. He changed the channel on the TV to The Gladiator (in German) and then starts commenting on what happens in the film to me, which is something I find annoying. Then, he feels the need to start speaking with some Japanese people who don't understand German and hardly English. The old German guy opens his bags, and what is in there? But a bunch of seemingly worthless historical collectibles, such as newspaper cuttings, postcards, stamps, coins, pictures, etc. He starts trying to talk to the Japanese people about this and I, of course, become the translator. Meanwhile, The Gladiator is still on, I'm trying to watch, and he's still commenting on everything. Cool. Eventually, the Japanese people escape and I am left to watch the movie in peace. (The Gladiator is a very good, very sad movie - I cried!) Anyway, the old guy had fallen asleep, so I wake him up before I leave, and then he somehow gets me to sit and listen to him talk about his artifacts for a good hour. He actually gave me a few coins, which I thought was very nice and friendly of him, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with them. Then, he wanted to send me stuff about Bad Aussee, so I gave him my address and he gave me his and I'm supposed to send him a postcard. In the end, he was a very nice old man and I was happy I sat and talked to him but it was just a little tiring....

Anyway, the next day I woke early and made my way to the train station to go to Freiburg!!! The ticket ended up being cheaper than I thought it would be, which was a relief. I took the train to Munich and then I was supposed to take a train to Karlsruhe but the train to Munich was late, so I took a train to Mannheim, then to Freiburg. And I was on ICE trains the whole way, which was lovely! I got to Freiburg around 6 pm and tried calling Maude, but apparently she had given me her house phone number, so that didn't work too well haha. I decided, then, to just show up at the Guesthouse because I didn't have anyone else's number. As chance would have it, I ran into Mary Catherine (friend from high school and college, who is now at Goethe) on the way to the Guesthouse! She is now living in Sarah's old room, which is pretty funny. We went straight to Nassim's room and everyone was there, just like normal! I gave everyone a big hug, even Alex who I think actually hates me, and I was immediately poured a drink! Apparently, everyone had been partying all day, so I had to play catch-up. It was so nice to see everyone and hang out just like normal! :)

Eventually, Maude and Marilyne got there and we went to get some pizza. Then we all got ready to go out and Maude, Marilyne, Pac-Man and I went to Shooter's before Kagan (everyone else went straight to Kagan). We stayed until 3:30 am and then went back to Nassim's room...just like usual :). Maude, Marilyne, Ice, Nassim and I all slept in Nassim's room and it was hot and crowded, but fun. Ice said he had to take the train back to Heidelberg at 5 am, and it was 4:30 am when he said this, just as we were going to sleep. He said "oh shit!" and then decided to go to the train station right then. Instead, he decided to sleep for a half hour and when I woke up 3 hours later, he was still there haha.

Marilyne woke up and was feeling sick, so she went to sit on the balcony. Eventually, I went to join her because I just couldn't sleep anymore. When we try to communicate, it's really funny because she doesn't speak English and hardly German and I not-even-hardly speak French, so yeah. Then Mary Catherine got up and let me use her shower. Maude and I then decided to have Schnitzel for breakfast (!!!) at about noon. We went out and it was so awesome to be in Freiburg. Really, I love that city. I didn't realize how much until being away from it for a while. It felt so good to just walk around with Maude as we did all summer. Sooo nice!

Marilyne met up with us and we did a little shopping. We started to head back to the Guesthouse around 2:30 and luckily saw Nassim, Ice, Mary Catherine and some new girl Stephanie, who were all heading out to lunch. We said bye to them and all made promises to meet up in Vienna or Heidelberg or Freiburg and then we parted ways. Us girls packed up and then headed for Neuchatel and la "Fête des Vendanges" (after Alex tried to convince us to stay for the weekend haha). La Fête des Vendanges is the festival of the harvest and, apparently, the biggest/best party in Neuchatel!

The drive was easy/nice and it was fun to drive yet again in Europe. When we arrived, Maude's mother made some delicious spaghetti and we ate a lot before going out drinking. It was planned that I would sleep at Marilyne's apartment on her spare couch, so I brought a bag over there, after Maude and I bought some drinks at "la gare" (Hauptbonhof --> train station). The city was crazy alive because of the festival....music everywhere, people everywhere, people drinking everywhere...it was like a fantasy world. They have a lot of parades and people shoot confetti out of big air guns so the ground and the people were covered with paper. It was insane and was a really cool effect at night, it looked like snow on the ground. I got to see one of the parades and all of the marching bands were wearing crazy masks and I thought about what Ferden would have said if we wanted to wear masks while marching and I laughed. There were even families out, with little kids, and all the kids had bags of confetti and would throw handfuls at people walking by.

Maude and I sat by the lake for a little bit and watched drunk people then we headed to this one bar, Fun I think it was called, and we met up with all of her friends that I know. Maude's brother was really quite drunk and could barely stand, so it was kind of funny....but also annoying haha. He left at some point and then Maude decided it would be better for me to sleep at her house instead of Marilyne's so we went to Marilyne's to get my bag and then we left with the bus. Suddenly, Maude cried out "Shit!" and pushed the button to stop the bus as she explained that he brother was passed out on the sidewalk. So we get out, haul his ass up, and he runs away from us, up the hill, home to his house. We get home, change and pass out in Maude's teeny-tiny bed.

The next morning, we gave her brother a lot of shit but he laughed it off and said he didn't remember anything. His mom said, "So now you have a great impression of my son" but in French and Maude translated. There was another parade on Saturday, so Maude and I got ready to go. It was totally different during the day, with more families and little kids and less really drunk people. We saw the parade and I got to see Maude's old marching band, which her little brother is now in. So cool!! There was still confetti everywhere and the sun was shining! Maude and I met up with Marilyne and we got some food (I ate duck for the first time!) and some drinks and sat by the lake, which we could see now because it was daylight. It was a really nice day, and we went back to Maude's house so I could pack.

At 7, Maude and Felix drove me to the train station and I got some food for my 12 hour jounrey to Graz, Austria. I very nearly left my glasses at Maude's house, but her father drove them to the train station for me. I found my track, said my goodbyes and got on the train to Zuerich. It was a quick, stressfree ride. I ate my sandwich in the Zuerich train station (it was tuna and didn't want to eat it on the train near anyone because I'm nice) and then the train pulled up 20 minutes early and I got on and got settled. I shared a compartment with a Swiss-German grandmother and daughter and another man got on in a different city. I actually slept a little but sleeping on a train is really weird. The train switched travel directions a few times, so I was sometimes forced to roll into the wall. The pillow was really crappy, but I managed to get a couple of hours.

I arrived in Graz at 7:40 am and it was actually a pretty nice, crisp morning so I decided to walk to the hostel instead of wait for the bus. My original plan was to check-in and sleep for a couple of more hours, but I can't get my room until 2 pm, which was depressing. I decided to eat their breakfast, which was good, and thank God they have free-wireless internet, so that is how I'm spending some time right now.

So, I've arrived in Graz one day early for my orientation. There are three (I think) other people already here at the hostel, too, so I have to go into the city and buy some credits for my phone so that I can contact them. This hostel is actually really nice and one of the livliest I've ever stayed in - people are everywhere, which is a good feeling.

Anyway, in general, I'm really happy with my traveling. It felt so so so good to get back to Freiburg and see everyone. It was the same as it was all summer and it made me really happy. Everyone was happy to see everyone and we had a great time together. Plus, the city is just perfect - not too big, not too small, can walk everywhere, has everything you need, etc. It's like Ann Arbor, but German. So, a group of friends want to visit me in Austria, in Vienna, and that would be so fun! Ice, who is studying in Heidelberg, invited me (and everyone else) to go to Heidelberg, and I definitely will next time I'm in Germany (probably November). Then, I actually want to make it to Bad Neustadt, Freiburg, Heidelberg and Duesseldorf, because I now know someone there.

Neuchatel was so great, too! I had such a wonderful time at the festival. It was such a different experience than anything I've ever done in the US, and it's something that Maude has done every year since she was born! I wish I could have stayed for last night, too, but oh well!

So now I have today to explore Graz a little and then tomorrow begins my week-long orientation. I'm excited to meet the other people in my program and I know we'll have a fun week here in the 2nd biggest Austrian city :). Then early Friday, I go back to Bad Aussee to prepare for Monday, my first day!!!! I'm a little nervous, but it shouldn't be bad.

Anyway, not much else to say, except that I could really go for a nap........but time to explore a little, I guess. Hope all is well with everyone! Miss you all!!!
Love, Cheers,
Alaina

And you were the sunshine heading my frontline

Hello! How's it going? Here in Bad Aussee, it's just going. Lately, I have been doing absolutely nothing and while I had been looking forward to this downtime, it's starting to get really boring. I spend my days walking around the city (which isn't too big, so that doesn't last too long...), grocery shopping (when needed), watching a lot of really crappy American TV dubbed in German and reading. I have, however, started running again, which is really nice. I'm not pushing myself too much with it, since I haven't run in a very long time, but I'm trying to make a good, healthy habit :).

I also haven't been drinking much caffeine lately, so last week when I had a glass of Coke Light(Europe's Diet Coke) at 10 pm, I was up until almost 5 am, which was kind of funny.

Last Saturday (aka, yesterday), I had wanted to go to to Salzburg for the day. When I checked the train schedule Friday night, it wouldn't load, so to be safe, I set my alarm for 8 am to get up on time. However, my alarm didn't wake me up (I suspect it went off and I turned it off without waking up, because it was set) and I woke up at 9:30. I checked the train schedule and the next train was leaving at 10:17 am and I told myself I could make it. I got ready really fast, and as I was walking out the door, I checked my cell phone: 10:05 am. And I still had to go to the bank. I decided I couldn't make it in time and the next train wouldn't get me there until 3 pm, so I ditched that plan and went into the city.

Saturday morning is apparently a big shopping time for the locals, as everything was alive and crowded. I found an even better grocery store than before, and since I love grocery shopping, I enjoyed that :) haha.

But, tomorrow is Monday. Friday, I am leaving little Bad Aussee for a whirlwind traveling trip. I'll be first going to Munich, spending the day there, and perhaps doing a little shopping then off to Bad Neustadt for the weekend! I'll be there until about Monday afternoon, when I'm going to go somewhere? and spend Tuesday and Wednesday. Either late Wednesday night or early Thursday, I'll be going to Freiburg and spend the evening, probably at Kagan haha, and then Friday, I'm driving with Sarah and Maude to Neuchatel for this big wine festival! I'm pretty excited. From there, I'm going straight to Graz for my week-long orientation! After that, I have a weekend to re-cooperate and prepare for my first day- Monday, October 5th! I'm getting a little nervous so.... we'll see how it goes!

Anyway, I've been doing a little research into volunteering with the Red Cross while I'm here. I won't be starting that up until at least mid-October/early-November, just so that I can give myself some time to adjust to working and to get a little more comfortable with the language/dialect here.

Additionally, my sleeping pattern is getting really screwed up. I usually go to bed around 1/1:30 am and sleep until 11 am/12 pm. This is bad considering I will be working in a school very soon. While I don't know my schedule yet, I am sure I'll be starting around 8/9 am. I was thinking about waking up early everyday this week just to get used to it, but then I realized I had absolutely nothing to do and making the days longer would be somewhat painful. I guess I'll just have to jump right in when school starts...haha.

OK....well that's all from my little life. More than ever, I wish I was in Ann Arbor, especially after this weekend (go blue!!!!). I'm not homesick (you know, that horrible, horrible feeling in your stomach?) but I just wish I was in the States, at home or in Ann Arbor. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I'm coming home for Christmas and I'm getting really excited already. And, by the time I start school, it'll only be 3 months until I'm flying home! Which is a pretty exciting thought. I'm already making plans with friends! And the last two weeks before October will go fast, as I'll be traveling, meeting new people, and having fun.

But, hmm, that's all. Hope all is well with all of my lovely readers! Until next time...
Love,
Cheers,
Alaina

7/4 Shoreline

Yes, it's fall time. School started yesterday in Ann Arbor, and I'm feeling a little nostalgic...even though it's only been exactly 1 year since I was in the same position everyone else is in. It's kind of weird not being there when I know everyone else is there, but I am really glad that I'm not in class- couldn't handle any more of that.

Anyway, here are some things I miss:

• The time in between early Saturday football games and dinner time/going out again time. It was a good time to take a nap, borderline sober up or just keeping drinking right on through.
• I do miss that first day back to class feeling. You know what I'm talking about? The exictement, the prospect of learning something life changing, looking forward to boardening one's mind, hoping to change a little in the next semester...
• I miss brand new textbooks and how they smell. But I definitely don't miss buying them and therefore I am a couple dollas richer than those returning students.
• I miss the campus, and the leaves that will soon change and fall on the ground. I miss the smell of fall. Although I'm sure fall will be similar here, there is just something about Ann Arbor and the campus that makes it better.
• I miss the new fall shows that are starting on TV. And even though I don't watch much TV, I still miss that I could. I can't even watch the TV shows online in Europe! WTF! I have to download whatever from iTunes, which may get expensive and take a lot of time... grr.
• I miss all my friends and just sitting around bullshitting with some beers for hours. Most likely in 1225.
• I miss my old apartment and my cool bed on the floor.
• I really miss my pillows. My pillows here are subpar.
• I have always missed Mexican food but it's just getting worse as time goes on. I just want a damn Big Ten Burrito burrito or nachoes! OMG! Is that too much to ask?!
• I miss Charley's Fishbowls- Purple Rain specifically. mmm
• I miss Dance Marathon! Another year with those people would have been great...
• And I miss Hilary and Emily and Amy so so so much!

So that's that.

Around here, I really haven't done much for the past couple of days. I got internet (I posted some pictures!) and have just been keep a low-profile. I walked around the city a little bit and I have some errands to run (sending those DAMN postcards...) but mostly I've just been resting and sitting around my apartment trying to catch a good dubbed American TV show or movie on the Austrian channels. So far, along the lines of "good" I have seen: Bring it On (haha!), The Professional, Crash, random episodes of House and Law and Order: CI, Catch and Release...blah blah blah. It's helping my German understanding :). I finished my book, Wicked, which, by the end, I didn't like much anymore. The beginning was really good, but once I hit the halfway point it really dragged on and I didn't like it. But I finished it.

I started listening to music again. I didn't realize until my mom mentioned it that I didn't listen to music anymore. I guess I just kind of stopped for the last few months and didn't get back into it, which it is a little weird to think I just stopped listening to music. Like, it's not something you really need to DO.... Hmm. But I put on Broken Social Scene this morning and from just the opening two seconds of their self titled album, instantly I fell in love all over again. I literally stopped what I was doing, listened intently and swooned. So that was good.

So yeah. Today I'm going to try and figure out if there is a gym in the area (I want a treadmill!) and how to get to the nearby Grundlsee via bus. It's been quite sunny and hot around here, so I'd like to go swimming again sometime soon. I'm going to Bad Neustadt sometime coming up, but I'm not sure when because I want to be able to just leave, go to NES, Freiburg and Oktoberfest then straight to Graz for my orientation. So it'll take some good planning haha.

Anyway, that's all for now! Until next time...
Love,
Cheers,
Alaina

Welcome to the Good Life

Grüß Gott!(<-- how they greet in Austria.) Sorry it's been forever and a half since I've written... things have been a little crazy since my last post, and I'll try and recount it all.... *WARNING: this post is very long!!!*

The last week before my mom came to Germany was pretty uneventful. I don't remember anything specific that I did, but I know I went to class everday expect for Friday (when my mom came!) and probably went out a few times. I also went early to the Mediothek quite a bit to study some German and Maude said that I spoke only German all week, which is kind of funny. It was getting really close to the end, so we were all hanging out a bit and just enjoying each other.

So... my mom came on Friday the 21st! I met her at the train station around 1 and definitely skipped class. I brought her to my room, we drank a beer, then we went around the city. Of course, the first day, we had Schnitzel! Mmmmm, so good! The next day, Saturday, we took the train to Basel and went to the Van Gogh exhibit at the Kunst Museum Basel, and it was really, really nice. We walked around the city a little bit, got some food and then headed back to Freiburg. That night, we went out to Thai food (delicious!) and had a nice evening. I left her at the dorm for the night and went out with a group of people...probably to Agar, but I can't remember... Sunday, we were going to go to Baden-Baden but decided against it and went out to breakfast at Uni Cafe. Then, we made our way to the Seepark! So nice, as always! My mom loved it, I didn't get burned and there were not too many naked people- perfect day! We ended the day with half-a-chicken and it was a perfect Sunday.

The last week in Freiburg was nice. I spent about half the time with my mom and half the time we friends. Monday night, I think it was, Sarah, Maude, Pac-man and I went FINALLY to Augustinerplatz to sit and drink a beer. It was a really chill time and I'm glad that I did it before leaving Freiburg! Tuesday night Maude and I went to Stammtisch, only to immediately turn around and leave because it was so packed and hot. We went to Cafe Brazil and had a drink and just chatted and then called it an early night. My mom and I made breakfast everyday but Wednesday, we met Maude in the city for breakfast at Aspekt. Oh my gosh- so delicious! It was the biggest breakfast I had ever seen and so yummy haha. Then, we went into the city to purchase me some new shoes, because my Converses are pretty dead. I got some nice Pumas, but ended up getting them too small, so I had to exchange them the next day (I LOVE THEM!!). Anyway, Wednesday night, Maude, Pac-man and I went to Shooters and had a few drinks and chilled. Some German dudes sat by us and chatted Maude and I up, and we made them guess where I am from. For some reason, they first guessed Luxembourg because of my accent haha. Then, they decided Russia, or some Eastern European country. The US was the last possible country they could guess, and finally they did haha. Sometime during this week, I Skyped with Hilary and Amy it was a lot of fun!!! I miss you ladies so much and hope you're having a good welcome week!! xoxo

Thursday was the last day of class. We watched a movie, "M", which was boring but then my class went to a cafe together for cake and coffee, and it was really nice. Thursday night was a really good night. Fernando, Sabri, Nassim, Aturo, Sarah, Maude, Francesca, Pac-man and I all went out to eat at Karma (which was not that good...) and then Fernando, Pac, Aturo, Maude, Sarah and I went to Shooters and had about 4 Schüttler shots each haha. The "Schüttler" is when you have lemon juice and blue curacao (I think) in two different shot glasses, take them together, and swish them around in your mouth (German verb for this is "schütteln", hence the name) and then swallow. So fun!! After that, we all tried to get into Kagan, but since only the girls were on the guest list (thanks to Sarah!), the dudes couldn't get in and they went home. It was some kind of special night at Kagan, with a singer, so it was super packed! But it was a really fun night- I enjoyed dancing with my girls :) and some dude took pictures of us and they are on some party website now- funny!!

The next day, I had to pack up all the remaining stuff and head out nice and early..... My mom and I were in a mad rush all morning packing, checking out and trying to figure out how to pick up our rental car. Somehow, we managed it all and I even sent my transcripts from Goethe. Finally, by about 12 noon, we were on our way to Bad Aussee! I navaigated us all the way, and my mom drove superbly. The landscape was so cool, especially when we got into Austria (ALPS!!) and it was a really nice and easy ride. ...Except that it was 8 hours long haha. We ended up about 1.5 hours late to meet my landlord, but that's alright since she was still waiting for us.

And- wow- let me tell you: my city is gorgeous! There are the "lower" Alps all around the city and trees and low hanging clouds and lakes and everything is amazing. The town is quiant, but not too small, and I think I will really enjoy it. Also, my apartment couldn't be more perfect! I had a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom- all separate. The bedroom is small, but it has a big bed and a window facing on the most crowded street in BA haha. But it's OK. There is a dishwasher in the kitchen and a clothes washer RIGHT in the bathroom so it's pretty neat. And- the very best part- is that I have a balcony!!!!!!! It's actually like a little deck built on the roof of my landlord's place, but it's outside, has a view and a chair and I couldn't ask for more! My mom helped clean and unpack and decorate a bit so now it actually feels like home!

Anyway, so we stayed in BA (that's what all the license plates say- BA! haha) for approximately 12 hours and then made our way to Vienna on Saturday morning. We didn't have any directions, just an atlas and a small city map in a guidebook, but we found our way all the way to the hotel...somehow...without getting lost! Vienna was a great city. We walked around, met mom's friend Sarah, who married an Austrian and was visiting in-laws at the time, and had a pretty chill time. We went to the big castle, Schönnbrunn, and did a neat little tour! Let me tell you, the Hapsburgs were badasses and liked to show it. I also happened to buy this really cheesy, kitschy display plate with Franz Joseph and his wife Sisi on it hahah- very funny actually. We went up to the hunting lodge and had a beer and then walked back down again, very enjoyable! On Sunday night, we went to a concert of Strauss and Mozart's music and it was so much fun! I didn't think it would be, but I really liked it. The only problem was, we couldn't find the stupid place at first and we were running around the city like idiots, but we finally found it haha. In Vienna, we ate Wiener Schnitzel twice, and it was good. We also somehow managed to get free breakfast both days, even though it should have been €60 all-together haha... ask my mother for the details.

Anyway, on Monday morning, we made our way back to Salzburg. We only stayed there for about 18 hours, but it was well worth it. We went to "Die Weisse" restaurant and got Hungarian goulash, which is somehow actually an Austrian dish and it was very good. Then we crossed the river into the downtown area and just explored, which was very nice! We went back to the hotel and I watched 10 Things I Hate About You in German and it was funny.

We left early-ish on Tuesday and took our time exploring on the drive back to Bad Aussee. We stopped at Dachstein (a mountain peak) and took a cable car up and got some good pictures, then we drove through Halstatt and admired the lake. We got back to BA a little early, which was good. We went grocery shopping and tried to find internet (which doesn't exist in BA, apparently) and then worked on setting up my apartment. We watched House in German, an episode which my mom had previously seen, so she knew what was going on. Wednesday, we wanted to explore the area a little more, so we drove around and went to Altaussee, which is a pretty nice lake, but my mom wasn't too impressed. Then, we went back to BA, tried again to find internet, but instead found the Kurpark and the Mercedes Benz bridge! This park is so beautiful and the bridge is neat! It symbolizes the geographic middle point of Austria and of Europe, but it's kind of strange to have a Mercedes Benz symbol shaped bridge in the middle of such a tiny town haha. Anyway, then we went back to my apartment and watched the Grey's Anatomy season finale in German and even though I didn't understand half of it I still cried and my mom thought it was great even though she understood nothing haha.

Thursday was a really nice day, as we actually made it to a nice lake- Grundlsee. According to my mom, not a prettier lake exists in the world (but I'm not sure, the jury is still out on that one haha). It was really nice, though, and not crowded at all! The water was freezing, but we still swam a little, and it was really clear. The weather was perfect! Then, we went back to my place, had dinner and packed up for Munich the next day!

Friday morning, we drove to Munich! I love this city. We had a difficult time finding the hotel and the car return place, but we ending up with no problems- somehow! Then, the first tourist-y thing we did, of course, was go to the Hofbräuhaus. Yum! I finally saw the sign: "Durst ist schlimmer als Heimweh" (thurst is worse than homesickness) and I think I am going to adopt it as my motto, since I'm already a little homesick and apprehensive for this year. Anyway, we explored the city a little, traveled around via the U-Bahn and had a nice time. We got some really delicious mussels, which made my mom really happy.

We had to wake up at 3:15 am because my mom left the hotel at 4 am. I was very sad. I slept for another couple of hours and it was weird being in the hotel alone! But I woke up and had a really nice breakfast and then made my way back to the internet cafe and I'm about to get ready to go back to Bad Aussee via train.

Phew. So that has been the last three weeks. It was weird leaving Freiburg. I thought I would feel more sad or something, but really it was just like anything else. My two best friends from the place, Maude and Sarah, both live in Switzerland and already are planning to come visit, so that's not too bad. I also already have plans to go back to Freiburg at the end of September, so I won't miss the city too much. I guess it's just another chapter in my life- I took a lot of pictures, have a lot of memories, learned a lot, met a lot of people- but it had to end. Some people I'll stay friends with, some I won't. That's just how it goes. I just can't believe how fast the 3 months went by! I think my German improved a little bit, but not a whole lot. However, I did pass C1 (the highest level) with a "Sehr Gut" (very good) so I should be proud. I know I'll look back on this summer with really fond memories, so I'm glad it happened and I wouldn't change anything.

Being in Austria is weird. I have only been in the country for a week all-together, but when I came to Munich for the last 24 hours, it was obvious how much I missed Germany and how different the two countries actually are. Mostly, I'm referring to language. When Austrians speak, their dialect is so strong, I can barely understand anything. I heard a bunch of young kids speaking, and I was shocked. For example, if they want to say "What is that?" --> German: "Was ist das?" --> Austrian dialect: "Wos ist dos?" Omg! So their vowels sound funny and it'll take a little getting used to, but it'll be hilarious to "impress" my other German-speaking friends with my Austrian dialect afterwards haha. The small town is a little shocking. For one thing, I don't have internet in yet in my apartment. This would be OK in any other city, as bigger cities have internet cafes or T-Mobile hot spots, but Bad Aussee doesn't. So, I have to go about getting internet installed in my apartment...so that should be fun. Oooh, but I do have a cell phone... ask my mom or dad for the number, because I forget it right now.... And, in my city, every other store is a traditional German clothing store- i.e. Lederhosen and Dirndls (I think I spelled that wrong). Plus, I've actually seen people around town dressed in such clothes! Hilarious, precious, and a little weird, too.

I'm also a little apprehensive about living totally alone. Once I get in the groove of things and learn how things go in the city it shouldn't be too bad. The whole thing will take some getting used to, but I'm up for the challenge. :)

Anyway, like I said, I'm going to Freiburg at the end of September and hopefully I'll be going to Bad Neustadt or Würzburg to visit Kerstin. I also really want to go to Oktoberfest, but I have no plans yet...so we'll see.

Blah, OK, this post is long enough. Congrats to anyone who read it all the way through! Hopefully it won't be too long until I post again (meaning, too long until I get internet in my apartment).

Until next time! Love! Cheers!
Grüzi,
Alaina

Head underwater, now I can't breathe

Hey all! This week has been just as quiet as last week, but still quite enjoyable. Tuesday, I woke up early, made breakfast, and did some laundry. This was quite a fiasco because there are more washers than dryers and everyone decided to do laundry this day. First, I ran out of money for laundry. Then, my clothes finished washing, but the dryers were full. So I ended up borrowing a drying rack and using that and the one I have, I layed out all of my clothes- each individual sock and underwear included. After this entire situation, I was quite tired and upset, so I skipped class. :) I used the day to write some postcards and just relax. A friend from my last class (who is from Syria) invited me to have tea, so I drank a glass with him and a girl from Egypt, which was nice. Later that night, Merrill and I got some wine and we drank before we went out to Stammtisch. A big group of us went to the bar, and then left for Agar. We danced all night and had a good time.

Wednesday was a good day. I slept in a little bit on Wednesday, made breakfast and then went to class, like a good student. It was long and boring and really hot. Afterwards, I met Andrew for pizza on the Dreisam, and it was really nice. Also this evening was my school's Sommerfest party, so I showed up and everyone was there. We hung around eating and drinking for a while then made our way back to the Guesthouse. Sarah and I kept our eyes out for shooting stars, as this was the night of the metoer shower and we actually saw one! I made a wish of course :). We hung out in Nassim's room for a bit and then I went to bed because I was quite tired.

Thursday was another hot, hot day in school. Luckily, though, I've learned that the seat next to the window is much better than the seat near the door, so things have gotten better haha. And I think actually that the higher ability of German of my peers is helping me, so that's good. After class, we hung around a bit and then decided to go to Kagan. I hadn't been there in a while, so it was nice. Sabri ended up spending 250 Euro on two bottles of vodka and a bottle of champagne hahaha. He spent so much money, that the bartender brought us all free shots haha. It was pretty nice. I left alone, and ended up meeting Pac and Sarah on the street. We were all hungry, so we ended up cooking at 2:30 am! It was pretty nice and definitely the most delicious rice and butter that I had ever made hahaha. I went back to my room and put on Harry Potter 1 but fell alseep before the opening was over hah.

Friday was another long day in school, but I left class early because Alberto was coming! I cleaned my room a bit and kept watch out of my window for him. I almost didn't see him because of the trees in the way, but I did see him! I brought him around the city and showed him the sights. We ended up going out for Schnitzel, which was really good, as usual. Then we of course got ice cream...mmm. We went back to the Guesthouse, and chilled for a bit until we got Fernando and Pac and went out to Schlappen. It was a pretty good/chill night and we tried to watch a movie after the bar, but I fell asleep, as usual. The next day, we woke up earlyish and I went to go buy some breakfast stuff. I made breakfast and we made our way to the Seepark. The day was absolutely perfect for the Seepark! We got there by noon, there was not a cloud in the sky alllll day and there were a TON of naked people around- we were surrounded by naked people! So funny. We both got quite sunburned, and it was quite funny. Andrew came by with his former roommate and we chatted for a bit.

We left at 5, and I made some dinner then we got ready to go out. I actually couldn't believe that I went out because I looked so funny haha... Anyway, I brought him to the Scholossberg Biergarten and the Feierling Biergarten and, being a true Bavarian, he found the beer not quite up to his standards haha. We returned to the Guesthouse with hopes of drinking Sekt and doing my German homework while drunk, but Alberto passed out haha. I made some food, talked a little with Fernando and then went to sleep.

This morning, we woke late and I made some breakfast. Andrew came by to say goodbye and I made him some breakfast too. Francesca came out on the balcony and Alberto got to practice his Italian. Afterward, we went into the city because Alberto wanted to see the Muenster and my school. I got ice cream, because it was so hot, and Alberto got a Burger King burger haha. We went up the Muenster and Alberto was really scared, but he made it all the way! The view was, as usual, lovely. We came back to the Guesthouse, he packed up and then left- quite sad. Afterward I watched HP 1, as I fell asleep last time, and surprise! I fell asleep again. So I pretty much did nothing all day, but it was nice.

It was a very good weekend, though, and really nice to speak German the whole time. Alberto said that my German has improved since I last saw him (1.5 months ago) but that my accent is still quite American and funny. He liked Freiburg a lot (he had never been here) and said that it's the best German city he's been to (I have to agree). He also really liked that the Guesthouse was so international, and I have to agree that this is my favorite part of being here, too. I'm sad, though, that he didn't get to meet Maude, Sarah, Nassim and Sabri because they were all out of town, but it was a really good weekend anyway. :)

And my mom comes on Friday! Yayyy!!! I'm so excited that she is coming! I can't wait to see her and show her my city! :) Should be a pretty nice time :)

Other than that, not much is going on. Life is life and I'm getting ready to move on, because I know the end is so close. I'm really looking forward to Austria and September in general. An old friend from high school, Chris Blair, is going to be studying abroad in Dresden starting tomorrow, so I'm going to visit him in September- and I'll get to experience Dresden with a friend, like I said I wanted to!- and then we're going to go to Oktoberfest together! I'm so excited that I finally get to experience an Oktoberfest! :) My mom, sadly, will miss it by a week!

Well, let's all for now. I'm going to cook some food and go to bed!

Miss you all! Lovesss
Until next time...
L'chayim,
Alaina

Let's paint the town, we'll shut it down

Hey, Leute! This past week has been somewhat quiet. As previously explained numerous times, all of my American guy friends have left me here, so I've been hanging out a lot with Maude, Sarah and Francesca. Also, I've become friends with Fernando, who was here in June, went home for a while, came back and didn't know my name. Nice. But he's actually really cool. We eat breakfast together haha. And of course there is Nassim, Sabri, Craig, Star, etc... I think I've realized the thing that I don't like the most about my American friends being gone is that almost none of my friends left are native English speakers (only Craig, but we don't converse too much). It's hard getting close to people who do not speak your native language, but it's possible... It's happening slowly for me, but sometimes I just have nothing to say. Most of them speak in French 75% of the time and the Spanish and Italian's understand half of the French and vice versa, so the lone American girl is left alone haha.

Anyway, let's see... Monday, we didn't have class. Maude wasn't back yet, so I helped Sarah move all of her shit out of my room and we hung out all day. We were both quite tired, so when we planned to go get a coffee, we didn't actually do it haha. We hung out on the terrace for a little bit while Fernando played his guitar and I went to bed quite early (I think I watched Keinohrhasen again haha).

On Tuesday, we also did not have class, but it was the testing day for all the new people, so people were moving in all day. Weird. Maude came back and then her, Sarah and I went around town- we went shopping for our outfits for Street Parade and we went to the Goethe, to try and do something?, but it was insane there (because of the new people) so we left. Tuesday night, we all drank on the balcony and Craig brought out his 95% alcohol from Italy. Please trust me when I say never drink something with this much alcohol haha. We danced in Sarah and Maude's room (which is, incidentally, Stephanie's old room) and then Maude and I went to Stammtisch where Fernando and Pacman (he's from Korea and new this month) met up with us. It was pretty crowded even though all of the students are on vacation, but we stayed for about an hour and then left. We all went to Craig's room, where everyone stayed when we left, and then I went to bed.

Maude woke me up at 11:30 the next day and we ate some breakfast. It was the first day of class, so that's always sort of exciting.... Anyway, my teacher is pretty cool but for the first week, I was the only "not-new" person in the class. Everyone else speaks better German than I do, so it's kind of intimidating, but I was on the same level as the other people in my last class, so I don't know what's up with that. Wednesday after class, Sarah drove Maude, Fernando and I to the city center becasue Fernando needed to fix his Wii, but it's that didn't happen so then we just went back to the Guesthouse. Maude and I cooked pasta and it was delish. Then, I had a Skype date with my love Hilary, so we chatted for like 2 hours because my video wasn't working for some reason. Anyway, it's always lovely talking to her- miss you lotssssss :(

Thursday, Maude and I made FRENCH TOAST! and it was amazing. Then, we all actually studied before class! After class, Andrew and I had a date. We went to Uni Cafe and ate some delicious baguettes and then we got some wine and drank on the terrace. Since Andrew is a lightweight, I had to do some work on the wine but it wasn't too bad haha. We watched part of Keinohrhasen (he hadn't seen it before!) and then he left to see off some friends. I went to Francesca's room to hang out with everyone and it was a good, chill night.

Friday after class, Maude and I continued our quest for Street Parade outfits, as it was the next day. It was so strange, at 8 pm on Friday the city like SHUT DOWN and no one was on the streets. Having afternoon class really messes up your day haha. But we got some random french fries and chicken and sat on a bench. That night was the monthly pizza buffet, and for the 3rd time I ate pizza and drank beer without paying haha (but don't tell!). Everyone hung out on the balcony for a bit singing songs while Fernando played his guitar then at 10 pm the Night-Watch-Guy AND the Hausmeister came to bust up the party (10 pm is apparently the new 11, ha). I went to take a shower, and then we all (Maude, Nassim, Sabri... met later by Craig, Star, Merrill, Pacman, AliG, Erhan and half of Goethe haha) went out to Agar. Because the Guesthouse got broken up so early, we got to Agar at 11 pm and NO ONE was there. Anyway, it was quite funny. We chilled on the couches for a bit until everyone started dancing and it was a good night :).

Saturday was the STREET PARADE! and I woke up really early (7:45 am) to make breakfast because we were supposed to leave at 9:30 am. I get ready at 9, and hear someone knocking on the door down the hall..... I look out the door, it's Sabri knocking on Nassim's door, and Nassim is not awake haha. Great. So I finish getting ready and then go chill on the balcony with everyone else. Needless to say, we missed the 10 am train and didn't go to the station until 10:30ish am. There was a huge drama with the tickets, but in the end we got a group price for 43,50 Euro there and back each and left on the 12:55 pm train. In between the purchase and the wait, we went back to the Guesthouse and started the party haha.

The train ride was not bad at all. We (Maude, Sarah, Merrill, PacMan, AliG, Nassim, Sabri and me) got seperated into 2 groups of four, but in Basel we all sat near each other. We continued the party and saw a bunch of groups on the train also going to the Street Parade. So....we finally reach Zuerich. It's a little rainy, but whatever. The second we got off the train, I heard techno music....and it was good. We walked towards the main area of the Bahnhof and it's PURE rave anarchy EVERYWHERE. It was INSANE! So many people, so much trash and so much techno hahaha. Ohhh the rest, I can't even explain.....we went to the actual Parade, on the Hauptbonhofstrasse and the S-Bahn's weren't even running because of the party. There were so many people and it was raining and it was so intense. We just danced and danced and danced as the floats went by and before I knew it, it was 1 am and we were at McDonald's. We tried to find a bar, and we did, but by then I was too tired and I sat outside and fell asleep hahaha. Merrill did too and everyone was in and out and around, it was funny.

We left again for McDonald's at like 4:30 am and just sat there for a while, waiting for 5:30 am to roll around, when we could go to our 6 am train. Apparently, I was being quite funny, as I was so tired. Everyone was laughing at my shoes and my tongue and Nassim and I took some funny pictures haha. We made it to the train and everyone passed out curled on their own two seats. We made it back in one piece (well, eight separate pieces), though it was close....

We got back to the Guesthouse at 8 am, so we all passed out. I, for some reason, woke up at 12 pm and couldn't fall back asleep so I made some food and talked with Fernando. At 3, after many failed attempts to upload pictures, I knocked on Maude/Sarah's door, and they were still sleeping haha, so I left them to wake up and went back to my room. After they got up, we hung out a bit, ate, and then decided to watch Finding Nemo! We went to Francesca's room and watched- nice. Then, Maude, Nassim, Star, AliG and I went to the Greek restaurant and then I went to bed pretty early.

This morning, I did some grocery shopping and had a nice breakfast with Fernando. I finished putting up the pictures and did my homework, like a good student. In class, we had a sub who really sucks and it was a horrible day. But an old classmate finally showed up, so I'm happy! After class, I was supposed to meet Andrew, but he stood me up (!!!) so I got Schnitzel, and it was really good. Then I came back here, went on the internet for a bit then went to hang out with Francesca and her friend, Pedro, who is really funny. After that, I watched a funny mtv show in Nassim's room with some people then retired to my room.

Anyway, like I said, really exciting life nowadays. I wish I could write more about the Street Parade, but wow- there is nothing to say! It was unlike anything I've ever done or seen in my life and just SO much fun! Like one of my friends said, "None of the pictures can convey the fun we were having." And it's so true (but there are some pretty hilarious pictures). So much funny stuff happened and it was just a crazy day, in which we literally danced all day :) outside :) in the rain :) with friends :) and a funny outfit :).

I've realized that 1. my German is getting worse and 2. my English is, too. I think I'm just started to confuse the two languages, or I'm still out of it from Street Parade...who knows. It is perhaps because everyone else in my class speaks so well so now I notice my own mistakes more... Tomorrow is a new day. But! I am doing my homework! And Maude and I are going to study in the library Wednesday morning and make lists of stuff to learn and stuff- sounds good! haha I really just need something to study, ya know?...

My mom comes soon (the 21st!) and I'm getting excited to see her! I haven't asked her yet, but she's going to bring me ranch dressing, Apple Jack's, American Jiff peanut butter, a can of Diet Coke (it's just not the same here!) and some other fun American foods that I miss hehe....

Anyway, today I found myself reading old Livejournals/blogs that I have had in my life. I do this every few months or so, and it's always so funny to read about the old me. I'm definitely going to keep this blog for a while and I hope to use it for more reflective purposes than just writing exactly what I did everyday. When I get to Austria, this will be more possible because I won't be living such a thrilling life... haha. Speaking of, the closer and closer I get to Austria the more EXCITED I am.... heheheh :)

Also, I am OBSESSED with "I gotta feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. Ahhh- it's going to always remind me of Street Parade, because we listened to it before we left. ...same with "When Love Takes Over"...mmm so good.

Also also, my friend Alberto, from the exchange program that I did in high school, is coming to visit this weekend! omg! Ha, it should be interesting I guess.

Phew- I guess I had a lot to say. And it's getting late- time for bed. I want to get up and run tomorrow.... I'm feeling lazy haha. Maude and I are making French Toast again tomorrow and I can't wait mmmm. I've been cooking more lately, and it's nice. Cheaper, more fun and I love making breakfast the best, of course, haha.

OK... Until next time, everyone!
lovess
Mazeltov,
Alaina