Day 17: May 30th, A Day At The Castle, A Night At The Ballet

One of the biggest differences between Europe and the United States is an extreme lack of castles in the US. This is probably due to the fact the castle building had gone out of style by the time we were a country. So the only time to really see castles is when you visit Europe, and boy do they not disappoint. While we had been to many palaces over the last few days we had yet to go to a stereotypical medieval castle, so you can imagine my excitement when it was announced that we could be going to Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein is a very unique castle for due to various circumstances the castle had different sections that date from various time periods (some as early as the 12th century and as late as the 19th century). The area surrounding the castle is a forrest planted by one of the owners with many trails and ruins (it was romantic at the time to take a walk in the woods and come across a ruin). The castle itself was a incredible place to tour though. Our tour guide of course gave us a lot of information about the castle like how it can to be, who owned it, etc. but the most interesting part for me was trying to imagine how people actually lived there. After all many things were different than they are now. The whole castle was meant for just one lord and his family, so what did the rest of the people do? Where did they stay? Did they just work their entire lives or did other things happen? Wandering the halls may have gave me a better idea about how royalty lived, but it only raised more questions about how others lived. Something we learned about at the castle was that people slept sitting up due to superstition of the dead laying down, and while the Lord's bed looked quite big and comfortable, how did the servants and other staff mange? Today made me think a lot about assumptions. After all we assume people have slept like we did but really laying down is quite a recent fashion. There is so much we assume about our past and other people and its interesting to think about how much they affect our lives. I am not saying assumption are bad by many means, its just he way our brain works, assumptions are the quickest and most effective ways of thinking for our brain. We have to put real effort in if we want to look past assumptions, which is something I have been trying to work on this trip. To see beyond what I think of others at first, whether I ave been successful or not is the real question I guess. Back on topic though something else I really enjoyed about the castle was just how beautiful everything was inside and out. While the views may not have been the most impressive we have seen (peaks of mountains in the Alps is quite hard to beat) there was something beautifully tranquil about the views from the balconies. It was like I could sit there staring out at Vienna or the forest all day. As a whole I enjoyed Lichtenstein and everything it had to offer.

Later that day some people from the trip and I hurried to the Vienna State Opera House to buy standing room tickets to the ballet Giselle. We though we were quite lucky at first since there was no line outside the building yet, but we were quickly stopped by the Usher who said we were not allowed to enter the Opera in shorts. Just goes to show you you should always look into the dress code of buildings before you enter them. However we weren't going to let a pair of shorts stop us from experiencing the beauty of the ballet, so we ran to the shopping district a rushed to find some pants and a proper outfit for the State Opera House. It was in my mind at least a lot like Pretty Women were we went from drab outfits to very pretty ones. After we bought our new clothes we rushed to a bathroom to change and then got in line again. Now standing room is quite nice in theory a cheap ticket to see an experience, but in execution it quite painful to stand as long as you have to. You stand not only for the performance but to get the ticket, to stand in line to get a place, and then if there are not enough places on the rail you get to stand next to the rail with no support. As one would expect in a situation like this people were quite rude to each other in attempts to get a better spot or claim spots that weren't marked. Despite all the negativity I stayed positive and excited about the whole experience, I love and appreciate ballet after years of doing it myself so I was excited to see a world wide recognized company perform, and man did they not let me down. Despite half the stage being blocked by a very tall man in front of me the dancers were phenomenal. The story was simple but the emotion and performance were astounding, after all Giselle is a romantic period ballet which meant it was very dramatic and compelling. Despite no words being used you could just feel the story being told. I loved the performance and was even able to make a friend with someone near me. She was visiting from Spain and had seen many ballets before (we talked quite a bit before the show and she helped raise my sprints considerably). Even though I got home late and was very tired it was worth it to see the ballet in its entirety and to thank the dancers with my applause. Today was a great day to start winding down on my time in Vienna, but I still look forward to my last few days. Until next time! (P.S. Photos will be up later my computer is acting up right now)

Day 16: May 29th, Discussion of Health in Krems

In every system there are advantages and flaws, for there is no system that is perfect and depending on your perspective one system may be better than the other. That is why it is important to examine both our own systems and other systems used in the world. A great example of this is the American Health Care System versus the Austrian Health Care System. Both have their advantages and disadvantages but in the end one has to think of what is better for the people. The Austrian system runs on the ideal mandatory insurance payed on different rates based on income to support everyone equally. This makes healthcare affordable, accessible, and quell to all. Which in the eyes of many including myself is the best system to have in order to improve the health of a nation as a whole. In American we may get to choose how much we want to pay and what kind of insurance we want and to what extent it goes to, but not everyone can have insurance if they need it. So when they do get sick the uninsured fall into debt or even worse situations. The Austrian system is also advantageous because it is possible to do private insurance and care if someone wishes to do it (though their general hospitals are more then adequate). Even if you don't have private insurance you can choose your own doctor and have freedom in your insurance. Overall I think the American System could learn a lot form Austrian in the insurance and healthcare division. There are some things I do think that the American System does better. In Austria there is a clear division between doctors and nurses. Doctors do most to all of the work for the patient when it comes to their health, while the nurse is there more as a caretaker getting food and different things the patients need. There is also a very different level of respect for a doctor versus a nurse. In American we have a varying range of nurses that have different responsibilities in the hospital, and have more respect from society as whole. This helps the patients get better care since they do not always have to wait specifically for a doctor for help. Doctors in Austria on theater hand are often overworked because they have to be extremely hands on with their patients. As a whole I enjoyed learning and comparing the two health care systems and I an glad we were able to visit Danube University.

Another very interesting thing we did while at the University was talk with some of the medical school students. While we didn't really talk much about school we did talk throughly about cultural differences and ideas about the others culture. It was very interesting to see what they thought about Americans and how similar some of our thoughts were. We also found out we had pretty similar senses of humor (at least I thought we did). I also will admit I did not get to talk with them as much as I wanted. Much like our own groups they had their own groups which they preferred talking to. I am usually very outgoing and really excited to talk to other students especially from other cultures, but I guess today just wasn't my day for it. I did enjoy talking with them when I did though. I also enjoyed the House vs. Prof program and discussion (even though I didn't understand much of the medical terminology they used). The doctor that was there to discuss the diagnosis was very intelligent in what he was explaining and I was able to understand the basic idea despite not know the terminology. Another thing we did with a student from the university was go snack and drink (which I did not do) by the Danube River and walk around the city. Krems as a whole is a very small charming peaceful despite the university and prison in its centre. I never felt uneasy there and enjoyed the fair weather. Something I did notice was the face that many of the buildings were quite old, but they were working on and already hadmnay new modern buildings near the University. It was a bit like Vienna where the old and new were colliding but Krems was doing it in a very different way since much of the change seemed recent. Today as whole was very educational and enjoyable and I hope the rest of the week is just the same, until next time!

Day 15: May 28th, A Palace Fit For Complicated Royal History?

The one thing we did as a group today was visit Schonbrunn Plaace which resides in the city limits of Vienna. Now I have to be honest here, I really didn't know much about the Austrian Royal Family before I came here, and I still don't know much. I guess if I had to complain about something about the place it would be the lack of history of the family and what occurred in the palace, not just the purpose of each room. Other than that the tour was quiet enjoyable. The audioguide was very helpful in getting us to understand the history of the construction of the palace and what the various rooms were used for. All of this was done while filling in some important historic points and using many first person sources which I thought was very interesting to hear from. Overall I had fun exploring the different rooms and imaging what it was like for those to live there years ago. I guess I didn't enjoy myself as much as I could due to the large amount fo people there since the Palace is one of Vienna's biggest tourist spots. Also they kind of went a little overboard with the gift shops and souvenirs, and this is coming from a girl who loves souvenirs! I did enjoy some of the history I learned like the fact that many of the heads of the imperial family order remodels to reflect the styles the time. Or how Napoleon's son was separated for his mother and kept at the palace due to his father's actions and beliefs. I did throughly enjoy the gardens attached the palace. The baroque styling of the garden amazed me despite all the construction around it. My friend Kirsten and I even went through the mazes they had in the garden which actually proved to be pretty hard at times. It was interesting to think that even with all the visitors the park didn't seem crowded, which really got me thinking what it would be like with only the imperial family there. Royals sure were lucky in some ways I guess. I do appreciate how the city of Vienna has turned these gardens into parks for the public to enjoy. As a whole I enjoyed the palace but I think I would only want to visit there the one time and maybe return to the garden someday.

While the rest of the day was a free day I knew I wanted to make the most of my time since my time was running out in Vienna. So Kirsten and I went on a adventure to see more of the city. The first place we visited was Prater an amusement park inside the city limits. The whole park felt like a weird thrown together rejection pile for Disney with most of the rides and attractions right on top of each other with no rhyme or reason. Admission was thankfully free but the prices to ride the rides was steep, on average it was 5 euros and there were hundreds of rides there to ride. There were also many carnival games to play and a surprising number of haunted houses. The park was also home to a very historic ferris wheel which while a little overpriced was still a lot of fun to go on and learn the history of. As a whole the park was fun but expensive but I did enjoy getting to the city from so high on some of the rides.

After Prater we went to St. Stephen's Cathedral in the city center. While we had seen the outside of the church several times on our adventures in Vienna we had yet to actually go inside. So with much anticipation we hurried inside the cathedral and basked in the beauty that is St. Stephen's Cathedral. While enjoying the beautiful interior I couldn't hep but think about how much of the church was reconstructed due to bombings during World War II, much like the rest of Vienna. It can really make you be proud of how far Vienna and its people have come and how well they have recovered from the ghosts of its past. I do find the attitudes of Viennise people very interesting. Take for instance my host mom, much like her Vienna is very environmentally and medically conscious. People try nd eat healthy organic foods and save water and energy in the home, but then they turn around do things like smoke everywhere in public. While they act like they are perfect (much like the US does) they still have many flaws about them. Which I think is something we will never be able to escape as a society.

This trip has been an amazing experience for me, and as it draws to a close I have been started how much things have changed for me. I talked a lot about this in my blog yesterday but somethings that happened today have cleared my image of myself. I am learning to stand for myself again, while also learning different kinds of patience I am not used to using. I believe I am changing and learning for the better on this trip. Still there are still couple days left and many adventures left to write about, until next time!

Day 14: May 27th, A Day of Relaxation and Reflection

There's a lot of things I imagined I would learn on this trip. Some of them obvious things like history of the city or how to navigate public transportation in another country, yet the things I have learned about myself are coming at a complete surprise to me. I really didn't think someone could change much in fourteen days, but I have started noticing small changes about myself. It's like this trip and started restoring my self-confidence that has been waning for the past year or two. Before we get too deep though I should probably at least talk about what I did today. While I have noticed that many people feel the need to do everything everyday in order to be happy or complete. I however am quite religious when it comes to designated times where I do nothing and recover from the exhausting days from before. Since we were in Salzburg though we did have to manage to get back to Vienna in time for class Monday. Kirsten and I had decided that we should head back earlier because we both wanted to do laundry and other things back in Vienna. The walk to the train station and the train ride itself were both quite uneventful. I was able to enjoy the beautiful Austrian country side, while also catching and couple Z's. After that I hustled though the hour long commute back home with all my luggage, and arrived home safely. I was able to get my laundry done while also resting up a little in  preparation for my last week in Vienna. I did do a lot thinking though.

Before going on this trip I have to admit I was really nervous about not knowing anyone on the trip. We would be together for three weeks in a foreign country and I was worried about getting along with them. While I still believe today I have trouble being on the same level the others are on I feel like we get along. We can have nice conversation hang out if we want an many other things. They may be very different from me but we are still able to be friends. While this probably seems really obvious to others, this something I have been struggling with a lot not only on this trip but my first year of college. I felt like everyone was too different from me and they were befriending each other much quicker than I was. I still feel this way, which leads me to what this trip has begun to teach me. How to be my best friend and stand by my own side. At college this was harder for me to do since there are so many options of things to do and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but here on this trip I had clear goals for what I wanted to do. This helped reteach me ways to do things I want without compromise. I have been able to do a lot fo things on my own, teach myself new things, and learn new things about myself. I am relearning my strong points as well as learning about my weak ones, and I have learned to unapologetically be me and have fun as myself. Which I feel like I really needed to learn to do again. This trip is prepping me to start making the most of my time at college. Again I can't wait to see what my last week here holds, until next time!

Day 13: May 26th, Salzburg Take Two!

While I am always a person who is welcome to a new adventure in a new city or country I decided against it for my second free weekend and choose to return to Salzburg for the weekend. There were many things that called me to return to the city, perhaps it was the lack of Museum time or the people. It was most likely my obsession with the Sound of Music though if we were being honest. While the tour we went on our first day was very helpful in finding all the landmarks from the film I didn't get to spend near enough time there, and we didn't get to see everything I had wanted to. I was very lucky in the fact my friend Kirsten also wanted to stay so we came together to plan a day of sightseeing for Salzburg. The plan was to try and fit the major Sound of Music spots and hit other sights along the way.

As a whole I can say today was pretty perfect. For the first time since we had gotten into the Alps we didn't have a single drop of rain and it was really warm outside (the first day I shed my hoodie the whole trip). Since we got up early and hurried to all the crowded spots early we were able to get good pictures and enjoy ourselves throughly at each location. We even got to see some great museums like the museums for Mozart at his second residence in Salzburg. The museum was beautifully put together and held a lot of interesting information about Mozart and is family, including his apparently disappointing son. We even got to see some of the same instruments he played in that house. It was really surreal to think about when I think back on it. After that we continued across the view to look for Sound of Music locations and some other interesting sights. One of these was the Museum of Modern Art which while wasn't my favorite I thought was really interesting to visit. Later we found out out that the lookout for the museum was a location for the Sound of Music we didn't even realize was there. After that we got lunch in the farmer's market that was going on, which turned out to be the most American meal I have had so far (a donut pretzel and some fries, how nutritious!). We then explored the churches near the square where we leaned that much like America May is a busy wedding season, this of course was after we walked in on one marriage in progress and several wedding photoshoots. After that we explored St. Peter's cemetery which was surprisingly beautiful. Usually I get freaked out by cemeteries or places that hold dead people but I felt strangely at peace there. Now the catacombs that were in the caves attached to the cemetery did freak me out only because I thought there would be skulls (they were not it was apparently a cave for Christians to hide and worship in). After that we finished up our Sound of Music locations and wandered the city spiking up things here and there and enjoying our time. We retired early to the hotel due to our early morning and relaxed the rest of the evening. I throughly enjoyed returning to Salzburg and felt I experienced the city more throughly today. Tomorrow we return early to Vienna to get work done before we start our last busy week in Vienna. While it is bitter sweet I look forward to making every moment count. Until Next Time!

Day 12: May 25th, The Charming Town of Dorfgastein

When I imagined this trip to Austria I thought we would be running around trying to do as much as possible and experience as much as we could before our time in Europe was up. That image was soon shattered by my first weekend here, and by my day today in Dorfgastein. Dorfgastein is a sleepy little skiing village in a valley in the alps. A place where all the shops shut down for tow hours for lunch and the loudest the town gets is on it's one main road. The view are incredible and the people are some of the kindest I have ever meet. When we first got there I was concerned what exactly I would do in such a sleepy town, but Dorfgatsein held many wonderful surprises for me. As a group we decided to take the gondola up to the top of the mountain. I was reluctant at first due to my disappointment of something else I had hoped to do, but then I though why not I am sure the views are worth it. The views from the top were beyond anything I could describe in words in beauty. While Hallstatt was seeing a valley, Dorfgastein was seeing a whole mountain range. I lived for every moment on top of that mountain. I was even bale to read a few pages from my book the Hobbit which made the adventure seem a little more real in such a fanatical place. The highlight of my day was soon to come however. The previous day Dr. Demers had old me how her and her kids were going to go paragliding in Dorfgastein, and instantly tried to book myself an appointment. Unfortunately was unable to contact them and thought all hope was lost for my dream of flying in the Alps. However I decided to go ahead and put myself out there and ask the man flying tandem with them if he could squeeze me in. At first he seemed quite sure he wouldn't have time for me after Dr. Demers's family went but I was persistent and stayed close to the peak so I could be there at a moments notice if he said I could. I received the great news right before Dr. Demers flew that he had time for one more. I jumped at the chance and anxiously awaited my turn to fly. We decided that he would fly me to the bottom due to the limits of my gondola ticket. An hour passed and then he said I could join him on a flight. At this point a little crowd of hikers had gathered around to see the parasail launch which made me feel a little pressure about looking good, but in all honesty I was more focused that I was actually going to go flying in the Alps. I must be honest and say that I don't think I will be able to accurately describe just how amazing it was to fly through the Alps. It was all I could dream of and more. The view were stunning the feeling was unbelievable. Our flight was gentle and peaceful with a few exciting parts where Louis (my tandem flyer) let me steer and do some deep turns which were a lot fun. I also enjoyed flying over the village nearly brushing the tops of roofs with my feet. The landing was just as exciting as the rest of the ride, it was a lot like a movie where the grass flies up to hit you. Overall I couldn't have imagined a better way to spend my day in Dorfgastein and this experience will definitely be a highlight of my trip. The rest of the day was spent walking around the village enjoying to peace the village had to offer. I have to admit I was sad to see Dorfgastein go and I honestly want to return someday whether it be with family, honeymoon, or really an excuse to see those mountains again. Today was one fr the books, but I still hold excitement for the rest of the trip. Until next time!

Day 11: May 24th, THE HILLS ARE ALIVEEE

As you can guess from the title today was the day of the long awaited Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. Ever since I was a child I've fantasized by the city of Salzburg shown in the film, but I never imagined I would visit it. Yet here I type after a long day of exploring that same city. There is much charm to the city, not only do you get to see your favorite on set locations of the Sound of Music surrounded my picturesque mountains but you also get to see the rich history Salzburg has to offer. salzburg was founded around 800 A.D. as a mining community. It later grew into a wealthy city headed by a Prince Bishop which has resulted in the city having 48 churches. Along with these amazing churches and charming buildings there is the musical history of Salzburg. Home to some of the most famous opera stages music has long since influenced the town even before Mozart made it even more famous. Overall the city has some of the richest culture I have seen so far on this trip and have throughly enjoyed exploring it. It was also fun to to leave the city and view some other sites nearby (this was due to our want to see more Sound of Music sights after the ones in the city). We traveled through many mountain villages sitting next to some of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. These lakes have a unique greenish blue color due to the minerals from the mountain, and are often undisturbed so they show a perfect reflection when you gaze at them. While we were unable to go see the hills that they actually filmed on due to complications we were able to visit the city of Mond See to visit the church that was used for the wedding scene. Mond See rests next to the largest lake in the Austria, Moon Lake in English, which is funnily enough privately owned by someone. The church however was free to visit and was just as beautiful as it was in the movie. While it does look a lot different it was still amazing to walk in the same places as Julie Andrews once did. We also were able to eat some amazing Apple Strudel in the cafes near the church. After that we returned to Salzburg to explore the city more before we headed Dorfgastein. Due to Kirsten and I staying here this weekend I didn't really feel pressured to do much and wandered the city enjoying the food and soaking in the culture.

While I do love most of the city there are parts of the city I do not enjoy. Like any tourist destination the streets are crowded with people rushing to see the sights which can make it hard to walk around and enjoy yourself. I often felt more crowded here than I did in Vienna, probably doe to Salzburg being more concentrated in one place. I also didn't like all the traffic. Compared to Vienna Salzburg doesn't use as much public transportation which means there are a lot more cars than one would like in a city so small. As always though the smoking was intolerable but that really is just a European problem not a Salzburg problem. As a whole though I have enjoyed Salzburg and today and can't wait to go back and explore it more this weekend. I am sorry for the lack of detail with the Sound of Music tour there really isn't too much detail to offer. Until next time!