Work Study and Apple Strudel

I am participating in the work study program while I'm here in Salzburg since I only have a student visa and a work visa is required if I worked anywhere else. There was 7 different job positions you could have here and us 9 student workers had to make a list of our top 3 choices. My first choice was to work with Frau Strobl, the cook, because she only speaks German so I would be forced to practice German ha. However, a lot of people, including my director, say she can be pretty mean and rude sometimes. I have to work with her for the first time today so I'm hoping that this is not true! When I met her this morning she seemed really nice and sweet, so we will see.

Last night we had a dinner with all the faculty from the UP center. In the  beginning, I was kind of dreading it, but it turned out to be a really interesting evening. At my table was the metaphysics teacher, Herr Zecha, and the theology teachers, Herr and Frau Aussmair (they're married). Herr Zecha and Sam (a very knowledgeable girl in my program) had some really interesting conversations about the differences between American and Austrian culture, including politics, that was super interesting to listen too. Herr Zecha also answered a lot of our questions about Austrian culture. Oh and I had my first Austrian apple strudel--very delicious. And a traditional Austrian drink call Almdudler. It's kind of like a sparkling apple juice.

Nightlife and Friends

Besides all these awesome planned adventures, we (the other students and I) have been exploring the city at night. It’s quite beautiful! We’ve been to a few fun bars, but there seems to be a major cultural difference from the US. People just got to the bars to drink and talk, they don’t (usually) get too rowdy. Even in the beer gardens there will be children and older people all there too. I feel like we have American stamped on our foreheads though. We tend to be a lot louder and there’s usually a lot more of us than any of the locals. Sometimes we get some disapproving looks, but other times, like last night, we meet really friendly people—the bathroom lady who locked us in, or the group Hannah successfully asked in German if they wanted to be our friends. I think a few us are going to start going in smaller groups together. So far all of us 40 students seem to be getting along really well, although it is the first week so if we weren’t I’d be worried. I thought maybe it would be a little awkward with my roommate, Nicole, since we didn’t really hangout much at school, but so far it has been super good. We just kind of fell into how we lived together last year even though we didn’t talk all summer. It hasn’t been awkward going out together either. I’ve pretty much hung out with all the different groups so far which I like cause I don’t want to just hang out with same people all the time. The people I’m most close with so far is Bethany and Issa. But anyways… so far so good.  

Salzburg at night.

Modsee

The last thing we did Saturday was go swimming in the Modsee (see means lake in German).Our bus driver just randomly pulled over on the highway, where there was a picnic area next to the lake, so we all ran across the road to there. But then we discovered there was no bathroom so we had to go back to the bus and change into our suites there—well except for Megan who decided to where no suite at all ha. Not so uncommon in Europe, but still very awkward for the rest of us. Father Mark tried to casually walk away every time she entered and exited the lake and nicely asked everyone not to take or post any pictures. The water was freezing when I first got in but I was definitely glad I did it. Refreshing! Just another good experience. 

Some of girls after swimming.

Hallstatt

One of the last places we visited Saturday was Hallstatt. It was awesome seeing this town cause I had watched a show Rick Steve’s had done on it and wanted to visit it ever since. It was just as beautiful in person! I guess the town was such an attraction for Chinese tourists that they actually built an exact replica of the town in China! They had a church there that I had also seen on Rick Steve’s. It’s on a hill overlooking, the city and the lake, with a cemetery in its courtyard. Inside one of the buildings is a room for the bones of people who were once buried in the cemetery. There used to be so many people wanting to buried there, that you were only allowed to be buried for 10 years then your remains were dug up and your bones stored. Family members and loved ones would clean the skull and then paint it before it was put on display in the room. A lot of my peers were really grossed out by this and didn’t understand why anyone would want their skulls there. But honestly, I think it’s a neat tradition—all the love the family put into the decoration. And to have Hallstatt as your eternal view of the world—it would always be breathtaking.  I wanted to stay longer in Hallstatt! I think I’m going to go back for a day or weekend trip. It’s only like 45 mins away and you can rent a paddle boat to go on the lake for only 11 euros an hr. I’ll just have to find another sunny day to do it!

The city of Hallstatt.

The view from the church.

The bones.

You can see the decorations painted on the skulls. 

Kaiservilla

This was the hunting villa/ castle of one of the former Kaiser’s of Austria. His wife, Elizabeth, is very famous in history here.  She was a very progressive women, she smoked, had a tattoo of an anchor, and worked out rigorously. She also was very vain though and took  a lot of pride in her appearance. She had hair she never cut—it reached her ankles by the time she died—and it would take  3 hours every day for her to just brush the hair and one whole day every week to wash the hair. Her servants had to hang it up by ropes to make it dry! She also was unhealthily skinny—her waist sucked from 55cm to 48in with a corset. Women actually started breaking there ribs to try and follow the fad she started. 

The view if the villa through the trees.

St. Wolfgang

St. Wolfgang is a cute little old town on a lake. We stopped because there’s a church there with a famous wooden alter that is 100’s of years old. The Church was very gothic and intricate, but I just liked walking around the town the best. Like all of the country up here—it was beautiful!

St. Wolfgang Church--the large box being the famous alter.

  One of the pretty views from St. Wolfgang

There directions sign which had a bazillion things on it. Oh the places we can go!

Saltwelten

As I mentioned before the Saltwelten are salt mines that were first to discovered by a Celtic settlement and then rediscovered in the 1600’s and mined by the bishop, making him and Salzburg rich. It sounds kind of boring but it was actually pretty interesting. We actually went inside the mines. We took like a little train up inside the mountain and got to look around, then we went down a long wooden slides to get back out of the mountain! There was also a replica of a Celtic settlement that we toured through. They were pretty advanced for their time—although hygienic problems killed them a lot.

 Us in our jumpsuits were required to wear in the mine ha.

We technically crossed into Germany when we were in the mine. Here's the border ha.

Hohenwerfen Castle

It was hard to believe I was really in a castle all day! But then again there all over up here. I had slept on the bus ride and when we got off the bus I was so amazed by the Alps I didn’t realize there was a castle behind me until we started climbing to it ha! The Hohenwerfen Castle started to be built in 1077, which is weird to think that it’s so much older than the US. It was placed in the Alps at one of the only passage ways people could come through whether from Italy or the North. By placing it here on a hill they could first defend themselves well and second tax those who came through. The castle was also used as torcher chamber for Protestants who denied the catholic faith. The weapons of pain the used were so frightening. It gave me a weird feeling to think that I was in a place that was so many people’s personal hell. In WWII, the castle was also used a training camp for Adolf Hitler and after the war it was used as a Salzburg police school. So much history in one place!

 Me taking pictures of the Alps before I realized there was a castle.

 Carissa and I on the hike up to the castle. We were trying to get a jumping photo but failing haha.

 The Hohenwerfen Castle!

 The view from a window in the castle wall. It would have been used to shoot bows out of in the early ages, then guns and cannons later on.

Salzburg City

We did a scavenger hunt around Salzburg to try and get to know it better. Let’s just say my team got more than a little lost! We went two hours in the wrong direction trying to find the train station only to find out that it was only few blocks from where we lived! When we finally got our bearing and tried to finish the scavenger hunt, we went down in to the Altstadt—the famous down town of the city. Here we found a little kid, about 2 years old roaming the street saying “mama.” Well seeing as we didn’t see any parental figure around, this didn’t seem right so a few of tried to ask the kid where is mother was. We tried in English, German, Spanish, and Portuguese—he didn’t respond to any. Some Italian girls even tried to help Issa ask him in Italian and that didn’t work either. Finally, I saw a guy running down the street looking frantic—it was his father. The mom soon followed hugging the child and crying. It was one of the most moving things I’ve seen—her sadness for losing him and pure happiness in finding him illuminating her expression. By far the best and scariest part of my day. Oh and it turned out the kid spoke Arabic!

 The cobblestone streets of the Altstadt.

 One of the view from the river that runs though Salzburg.

My group for the scavenger hunt with the city and the castle behind us. The castle (Hohensalzburg) is on the hill.

Best Moments So Far

The last few days have been hectic in a good way—I’ve got to see so much already. We’ve toured the city of Salzburg itself, and all over the Salzburg Country (What we consider states are countries in German and what we consider countries are states). We went to the Hohenwerfen castle, the Salzwelten, St. Wolfgang, Hallstatt, swimming in the Modsee, and to one of the Kaiser’s hunting villa’s/ castle.  Here are my favorite moments of each:

I've been slacking on up dates I know! They've just had us so busy since we got here. Today we went to the Salzwelten ( an old Celtic town with historic salt mines) and to a castle, the Hohenwerfen Castle. It was about 80 degrees out (I just know it was 18 Celsius ha) and everything was just beautiful and clear for our outing! I took so many pictures. I'll upload them soon! The Alps were jutting out as a background--that itself could have been a trip on its own! 

When the ground finally cam in to view as my plane started to land it hit me: this is my home for the next 8 months! Its hard to tell a lot about a city you never been to from an airplane, but I tried anyways lol. I kept thinking in my head there's a river! I like rivers! Or there's solar pannels on the roofs! I like saving energy! Haha these were my first impressions! And FYI people drive on the right side of the rode here--just realized that. And there's stoplights not just roundabouts. Besides that and the fact that everythings in German its not all that different at the first look.

There's only 8 of us here right now the rest of the students come tomorrow--my roomate hasn't arrived yet, which is okay with me. I got first pick on the beds ha! Our room is in the "pent house." Or in other words its in a seperate building from most of the dorms. The rooms bigger than the one I had last year and there was three of us in that one! Also, here I have the only room with a coach, although I don't get a balchany which is a big bummer. But I don't plan to be in my room too much anyways. Got to go explore!

The adventure has begun! I just landed in Vienna (Wein in German) after a 9 hour flight from DC :) I met about 7 other students from my school in DC and now were just waiting for our last flight to Salzburg. It still hasnt set in that im here. That I've cross the Atlantic. That I've started this journey. But there's no turning back now :p Only memories to make! :) I'll let you guys know when I get to Salzburg safely!