Ashley and I on the Sound of Music Tour (I must note that this sentence prompted me to look up the correct usage of 'I' and 'me.' I know I've been in Austria too long when I no longer know my own language's grammar!) In preparation for Mom and Donna's visit, I did something unprecedented: I cleaned. I don't just mean a little something here and there; I mean I cleaned my entire apartment top to bottom. And I organized! I'm not sure my room has ever looked so spotless!! Unfortunately, my focus on intense cleaning meant that I eventually sat down and congratulated myself for accomplishing something great, which means that I was up until all hours planning (and stressing about) my lessons today. To see a good example of this vicious cycle, read This is Why I'll Never be an Adult (my credo: I will never be an adult because I am so easily distracted by the internet).
Anyway, part of my giant cleaning/organizing day was trying to go through all of my blogs so that I can update immediately when Mom and Donna are here. So here goes nothing: four days, four blogs.
As the title states, January was incredibly full. I left St. Louis on the 3rd, then Boston on the 5th accompanied by the lovely Miss Ashley Peterson. Ashley is one of my best friends from college, and as a graduation gift her parents promised her a flight to Europe to come visit. She managed to book the same flight back as me, which made life easier in terms of traveling back and forth. Too bad I was jet-lagged the whole time, and too bad the weather really sucked. In the six days that Ash was here we only saw sun once. The rest of the days were cold and rainy.
Regardless, we started out the trip in Munich, back at the very same hostel of the 'do you want me to join you or not?' event - I figured that it was as good as anything, and I'd already seen the rooms and knew that the were nice (as long as there wasn't a crazy Australian there to bother your sleep). The hostel was as I remembered it, though this time we were on the street side which was incredibly noisy with the windows open, and incredibly hot without.
Ash and I explored the city together. We saw the Olympic park and BMW-World, which are right next door to each other. We also explored the Red Bull Crashed Ice course that they were building next to the Olympic park, which seems to be a downhill ice course with twists and turns, where the competitors wear full hockey pads and skates and try not to injure themselves while racing and attempting to injure others. Sounds like fun, right? Unfortunately we arrived on a holiday (the day of the Three Wise Men - who knew this was a big holiday?) which means that many things were closed. We also ran into trouble because Ashley is allergic to gluten, so we avoided the beer halls and tried to find places and things that she could easily eat. Germany and Austria, as it turns out, are hell for individuals who can't eat gluten. Nobody knows what's in their food, and can't comprehend that someone is allergic to wheat products.
The next day we took the slow train back to Salzburg. We got settled, then wandered around the city and hiked up to the fortress to explore and take pictures on our one sunny day. I'm glad we did, because the rest of the days were awful weather - miserable cold rain and sleet. I also had to work every day, which was a huge bummer because it meant that we had less time to hang out. Still, we made the most of it. One day we went to our favorite bierkeller with my friends, another we went on the Sound of Music tour (totally worth it, by the way). But mostly it was just nice to hang out with Ash.
The Olympic pool in Munich
Ashley and the mini car at BMW-World, Munich
So small!
BMW-brand bikes?
My new ride (photo courtesy of Ash)
Ash's new ride
This car fascinated me. The front is actually the door! Seems a little unsafe to me.
Art cars at BMW-World
My future ride
View from the fortress
The two of us at the top of the fortress (photo courtesy of Ash)
Ashley at the top of the Mönchsburg, during our trip to the Museum of Modern Art (photo courtesy of Ash)
The infamous gazebo!
St. Wolfgangsee? I think?
Ashley took off her coat so she wouldn't look like a marshmallow. I should have followed suit.
The church in Mondsee, where Maria and the Baron get married in Sound of MusicThe Friday after Ashley left the assistants and I attended one of my school's Maturaballs. Imagine if a prom and a debutante ball had a lovechild, and that's what a Maturaball is. The seniors prepare a dance and are 'presented' (though we missed this part, so I can't actually tell you what it's like). Everybody else dresses nicely and drinks too much - parents, students, teachers. It's quite the scene!
The real scene of the night, though, happened before we left for the party. Since it was my school, I had picked up the majority of the tickets. Therefore everyone came over to my apartment to get ready at about 7 that night. There were only three of us there - though we were expecting more - when suddenly someone knocked on my door. I wasn't close to the door so I missed the initial interaction, but Dave said it sounded like someone was trying to break in. Figuring that it was one of our awaited friends, he opened the door to find - SURPRISE - my neighbor from downstairs. Without pants on. Apparently we were being too loud and 'keeping her dogs awake,' so she asked us (read: demanded) to keep quiet. I did my very best, stressing the entire time, to keep all of my guests quiet from that point forward. We turned off the music, we didn't jump or anything (she lives directly below me). But I guess we weren't quiet enough. As we were leaving, I discovered that my key didn't want to fit into my lock. How odd. I ran upstairs to my lovely neighbor who has our spare key to see if the key was the problem. It wasn't the key. It was the fact that there was superglue in my lock - a hunch articulated by my roommate Martina, and confirmed by the locksmith a week later. Superglue. Who would superglue a lock shut? My crazy neighbor from downstairs, who wears no pants, talks to her dogs like they're her only friends, and is probably an alcoholic, that's who. Martina and I contemplated telling our landlord, but he's too lazy to do anything about it, and contemplated calling the police, but didn't know what they would do either. So for now, Martina has taken to tap dancing across the floor whenever she can, and has spoken to the crazy lady several times about how strange it is that our door wouldn't open, especially since she was the last person to try and open it.
Getting ready for my Maturaball
The next Wednesday we were off to the Ballet to see a performance of Romeo and Juliet. It was a modern version, which was fairly well done, except that it ended in a rather uncomfortable scene involving water and nude colored underwear. But all in all, I enjoyed it very much!
At the ballet!
Fleur and I at the Ballet
The gang at the BalletAs if we hadn't had enough adventures for one month already, the weekend after my Maturaball was Burns' night - a Scottish tradition in celebration of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. The night included poetry readings, haggis, shortbread, Scottish stew, oat cakes and dancing. I read 'To a Mouse,' which I promptly butchered with my American accent and awful attempts at pronouncing words like 'housie' (it's hooooosie, just so you know).
Haggis!
Katie and the bagpiper
Fleur and Maija sneaking a few pieces of shortbread
Ali ceremonially cutting the (vegetarian) Haggis.
Nick's Brooklyn-esque reading of Robert Burns
At the end of the week my friend Jäger returned to join us for the January birthday celebration (mine included) slash going away party for Fleur, Megan and Katie. During the day we accidentally stumbled upon a crazy parade, full of ridiculous costumes and marching bands. Imagine our shock when we thought we were just wandering around the city on any normal Saturday!
A surprise Karnival parade through Salzburg. Jäger and I stumbled upon this while trying to get something to eat.
The trio at my birthday party/Fleur's going away party
Just a fun addition to the month: this crazy set of long underwear I found in the sports store. Only in Austria would long underwear for skiing look like lederhosen. Oh Austria.
