No one told you when to run

Hello, world! It's been ages - nearly 1.5 months - since I updated. I apologize.

Anyway, a lot has been happening around here. Had my awesome Post New Year's New Year's Party - smashing success (weekend of 15th); beer festival, Avatar and all-nighters weekend in Graz (the weekend of the 23rd); the Nacht Slalom (night races) in Schladming - crazy Austrian style partying (Tuesday the 26th); a weekend visit from a friend - always a blast (weekend of 30th); and my epic 22nd birthday weekend in Wien the weekend before my birthday. Needless to say, Jänner was full of partying. And my liver and body can testify to that!

But, this past week was my Semesterferien (semester break). It was much needed... (ha, who am I kidding? I barely work more than 9 hours per week). The exciting part was, however, that my Dad and Grandma O'B came to visit! After spending the Valentine's Day weekend with Frankie in Schladming, I took off for München, to meet my relatives. We spent Monday and Faschingdienstag in the city and had a great time. Although the Fasching (Germany/Austria's equivalent to Mardi Gras) wasn't TOO bumpin' in München, the Hofbräuhaus was crazy on Tuesday and Dad loved it! From there, we took the night train to Vienna, and spent 1 day (Wednesday) there. I took Dad to the Aussie bar :). We woke up and traveled to Salzburg (Thursday), where we walked around for the day and ate at die Weisse, which has delicious Hungarian goulash. After that, we trained it back to Bad Aussee for the night and I got to sleep in my own bed!

But not for long.... Friday morning, we awoke and headed to Tauplitz for a day of skiing. It's the first time I've been in Austria, so I was really nervous at first. But, as my dad says, "it's like riding a bike." Sooo, I just went for it, feet first. And, of course, my daddy was right! It came back really fast and I was just as good as I was 5 years ago (which is not very good at all). And I only fell twice!! Definitely one of the coolest things about skiing in Austria is their concept of drinking during skiing. There are bars that dot the mountain, and we stopped at one halfway down to refuel with a beer (and Kaiserschmarren). Could anything be more perfect?! The weather was great, the sun was sort of shining and it wasn't even too cold! Such a fun day. Dad and I ended it by playing gin (a new and awesome card game I've learned) in the bar with some beers.

The next day (Saturday), we went back to Bad Aussee and I brought Dad around town. It was pretty fun showing off my place - I felt very proud :). We hung around and relaxed all day, watched some How I Met Your Mother and Olympics (saw Vonn get pushed down to bronze.... BUT BY AN AUSTRIAN! yeeeah!) and then went to bed early.

Dad and Grandma left this morning at 11:43, and I'm sad. It's nice to be alone again, but I already miss having people around. Oh well. Soon enough it'll be the weekend and I'll be able to do something fun again!

Anyway, our Easter Break plans fell through. We were going to go to Spain as a big group, but the interest really waned, and it was a bit of money anyway. Now we might go to Russia? I don't know, I haven't looked into the visa situation, but apparently, it only takes 3 days? Hmm, we'll see.

But, on the topic of traveling, I am getting some itchy feet. I'm just now considering I might take off for the weekend by myself to go somewhere new and exciting. Who knows where, but that's part of the excitement, I guess!

Not too much else going on here, just living my über-exciting life :P. Much love to all and miss you all!

Cheers,
Alaina