Vienna and Some Other Things

Hello, my dear blogging world!

It's been a little while (or at least it feels like a little while) since I've blogged. And let's face it, my last blog post was a little depressing.

Let it be known that I'm doing SO much better. I'm really beginning to love it here and it's starting to feel like home. I'm starting to really understand what an amazing opportunity this is and that I need to take it in while I can or I'll regret it.

One thing that really helped me come to this realization was traveling to Vienna. This was the first time I've left Innsbruck since arriving, and heaven knows I needed to travel. I love Innsbruck, but I was starting to spend time in my apartment more than the city because I didn't know what else to do. So Marissa and I hopped on a train and visited Wien for a couple days.

We wanted to spend as much time as we could in Vienna, but didn't actually have that much time. Therefore, we woke up at 4:00 am on Friday morning to catch a 5:00 train. The train ride (my first!) was about four and a half hours, and I did my best to sleep the whole way there.

We got to Vienna around 9:30, ate some breakfast in the Bahnhof, and attempted to understand where to go and what to do next. We didn't really have much of a plan other than directions to the apartment we were staying at that night and a list of sites to see that my wonderful roommate wrote down for me.

We ventured outside and found the subway system. It's super easy to use, which was very nice. Our plan was to find the apartment, and then go site seeing. After getting on the wrong subway once, we finally found our way to the right stop and tried to find the apartment by foot. We walked for probably a good half hour, only to find out that we had been walking parallel to the right street the whole time. We backtracked, found the apartment, rang the doorbell...and nobody answered. We resolved that we would just come back at night and go find some sites.

Our first stop was Stephensdom. Man, this place was awesome. We came up the escalator from the subway and immediately saw this HUGE cathedral. It was amazing. We walked inside (equally awesome) and saw that there was an English tour in three hours, so we decided to come back later for that.

We walked outside, where we saw a bunch of horse carriages. We figured we'd be touristy and take a short city tour. Well worth it. Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city. Our driver (is that what you call them?) was a really nice guy that asked us all about where we were from and what we were doing in Austria.

Next we decided to just walk around and explore. We found more awesome buildings, awesome street performers, and I found some hot chocolate because I was FREEZING. Then we made our way back to Stephensdom for the tour. However, instead of THAT tour we changed our minds really fast and decided to take a different tour of the catacombs underneath the cathedral. SUPER creepy, but also really cool. During the time of the plague, they would just throw bodies down there because people were dying so fast. But then it started to stink really bad so they had to clean it up a little, but there are bones of over 11,000 people down there and they stacked all the bones up. There was a little room where the entire wall was just bones. It was insane and so cool.

Then we made our way to Schloss Schoenbrunn, which is a pretty sweet castle. Okay, it's more than pretty sweet. However, everything was already closing by this time so we decided to come back the next morning and instead just find our way back to the apartment.

We found the apartment and people were home this time. (By the way, we stayed with the girlfriend of a guy in the branch here. Her name is Melissa and she and her roommates were so nice and wonderful.) They were having an Institute activity so we went with them and played games with other YSAs and it was really fun. When we got back, some of the YSAs came over and they started to make plaster masks, but I was so incredibly tired that I ended up just going to sleep.

The next day we went back to Schloss Schoenbrunn and spent a good couple hours there. We got a tour of the palace, walked through a maze, got an incredible view of Vienna, and wandered through some gardens. We had to catch a train not too long after we finished, so we just went back to Stephansplatz and walked around until we headed back to the train station and made our way back to Innsbruck.

I really wish we would have had more time in Vienna. It was sooo amazing and there was so much to see that we just couldn't fit in. I definitely want to go back if time and money allow.

One great thing about going to Vienna was coming home and feeling like Innsbruck was home. It was a city I was familiar with. It felt good to finally feel at home here, you know? We got in at around 9:00 pm, I walked home, and promptly went to sleep. It was a great weekend to be sure.

In other news, I had my very first presentation today for one of my classes. I feel like it went really well, and I got a lot of really kind comments afterward. One of my classmates said, "Well, I can't even give a presentation now because it won't be that good." In all reality, I feel like I have a huge advantage because 1) My first language is English and 2) I've been analyzing literature for at least two years. Most of the students in my class can't say that. So, I was able to focus on the text instead of focusing on my English. All I know is that it feels good to get one done and over with. Three more to go! (With four more long papers due as well, but...let's not dwell on those.)

In conclusion, this place is amazing. I got the first hint of "I'm really going to miss this place" this week, which is a good sign. One thing I'll miss for sure is the food. More on that another time. Kudos for reading this far. I'll try to do better about blogging.

I'd post pictures, but I'm falling asleep writing this. They're on Facebook. Check them out there. I'm lazy, I know.

Anyway, I love you all. See you in 7 1/2 short weeks.

Tschüss!

Home Sweet Home

Hey friends. Just a heads up: This isn't really a "Tell you of all my travels" post.


Today has been a homesick day. Only, it's my fault because I haven't done anything but sit in my room and study. It makes life so much easier if I'm out and about doing something in the city or even going to class.


I don't want to seem like a downer. I'll preface this post by saying that I'm so grateful that I'm here. I have already learned so much, and this place is beautiful. I am loving it.

But I'm allowed to have hard days.

Right?

I keep struggling with this. I am in an amazing city, learning a new culture, making friends, and I really am loving it. So why do I constantly want to come home? Why can't I go through one day here without saying, "Alright...I've been here X amount of days, which means X amount of weeks left. I can do this." It is seriously the weirdest mix of emotions. I am in love with this place...but want nothing more to leave it and come home.


How does that work?!

In all reality, if someone said, "You can go home right now!" I don't think I'd go. I have a lot I still have to do here, learn here, and I have to grow a little bit more. (Now if someone said, "We're flying Kameron to Innsbruck!" I'd have no objection. At all.) And in all reality, when people ask me how I'm doing, I can honestly say I'm doing well. Really well. I'll never regret coming no matter how many of these tough days I have.



Time.


The way we view time can a strange thing. This is what I mean:
If I think, "I've been here two weeks." That feels like I haven't been here long at all and that I have forever to go.
If I think, "I've been here half a month." It seems like SO much longer than I've actually been here and I only have to/get to do that four more times...much more bearable.
If I think. "Two more months." That is killer and seems like forever.
If I think "Nine more weeks." It doesn't seem bad at all.


But it's all the same amount of time.


And speaking of time, I know everyone says that time goes faster when you don't count down. But that's like telling someone not to think about a penguin. As soon as you say, don't think about a penguin...they think about a penguin. So, any time I think about NOT thinking about how much time I have left...that's all I think about. But if I say, don't think about NOT thinking about it...well then I still think about it. It's very complicated, you see. Basically, I'm pretty sure I'll be counting down the whole time I'm here. Deal with it.


Now.
Here is where I just talk about Kam. So, tune out if you want.


The hardest part of this whole trip has been to be away from Kameron. I knew it would be difficult. Of course it would be difficult. But I figured that since I only got to see him on weekends anyway, it wouldn't be AS difficult. In some respects, it probably is easier than if I saw him every single day. But this is in NO way easy. I only get to talk with him once a day if I'm lucky, and it has to be at a specific time due to the time change. I miss the simplicity of being able to pick up my phone and text him whenever I want. I wake up every morning in the hopes that I have an email from him or that he's still awake and online late at night. I'm trying not to have my time revolve around when I can talk to him, but...that's hard. I'm quite fond of him. :) But I've been so INCREDIBLY blessed that he has been supportive as he has been. He doesn't ever really tell me if he's having a hard time with it (which, maybe he's not, but I don't think he'd ever let on to it either way) and I appreciate that. I honestly feel guilty for leaving, especially when I know at least six people that got engaged after us that are getting married before us. I feel selfish at times. Because I needed to take this time to learn and grow at his expense. He has to wait for me. And that's a hard thing to stomach sometimes, especially when I miss him like crazy.

The point is, though, that he's been so good about it. It helps me focus on what I need to focus on here. And then I get to go home and get married to him and spend the rest of eternity with him. And the greatest part is that I get that AND I get this experience, all because I chose a man that is willing to put my needs before his own. I'm eternally grateful for him.


To sum things up:

This is is the greatest thing I've ever done.
This is equally the hardest thing I've ever done.
Time will pass, and I'll be home soon.
I'm engaged to the most understanding, kind, loving, incredible man out there.
And he'll be there when I get back. Win-win.

So bring on the next two months.

One Week Down

Oh hey. 

I've officially been in Austria for a week now. Kind of crazy. 

I've finally begun to get the hang of how things work around this place. I still can't understand what anybody is saying around me, but that doesn't really bother me anymore. I'm sure it will be a super weird thing to come back to the States and hear English everywhere. As creepy as this is, I miss eavesdropping. Sometimes people watching is more fun if you understand what they're saying. 

Anyway, on to some adventures. 

Mostly this week has been spent on my feet walking around this beautiful city. I live really close to my favorite part of town, and it's nice to just walk around and look at all of the old, colorful buildings. I've gotten to taste some local Austrian food, which is delicious! I have to be careful because 1.) I need to save my money to travel to more awesome places, and 2.) I have a wedding dress I need to still fit into at home. 

We've done some more exploring as well. Marissa, her roommate and I all ventured to a castle here called Schloss Ambras. We didn't get to go inside because everything was closed, but the grounds are HUGE. It's kind of a hike to get to the actual castle, and there are trees and grass everywhere. The day was beautiful and once we got to the top we could look out on the city. Pretty sweet. 

We also went with our Austrian friend Evelyn up part of the mountain. Eventually I want to take the cable car all the way to the top, but we just took the bus part way up this time. There is also a zoo on your way up, which is something I must see before I leave. Here is a view of my beautiful city:

Yesterday, we went with Elder and Sister Glover to Kristallwelten, or Crystal World. It's the factory for Swarovski crystal, but they have this exhibit you can walk through with a lot of (very modern) art and whatnot. Here we are outside the "Giant" before the entrance. 

As you can see, it's cold and rainy here. Even though it was like 75 degrees the day before. Kind of like home. :)

My homesickness is less frequent now. I still miss home a lot, but I'm doing a lot better. It helps if I keep myself busy. I'll probably be traveling in a few weeks. I still want to get a little grounded here before venturing. School starts Tuesday, so that's good! I'm anxious to see what the classes are like on this side of the pond. It should be an adventure. 

Ten weeks left. But I'm not counting. 

Put Another Shrimp on the Barbie

Dear Blogging world,

Sorry I haven’t been blogging since I arrived in Austria. This will be a long post, for sure.

The truth is this: coming here has been a lot harder than I imagined. I have been very homesick (mostly for Kameron, I think. Sorry everyone else.) I basically came here all by myself, so I felt very alone with very little contact to the world back in the States. Everyone around me was speaking German and it was easy to feel like there was nobody to relate to in this city.

So let’s start back to the first day.

I flew from Salt Lake to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, and Frankfurt to Innsbruck. Loooooong flights. I tried to sleep on my longest flight to Frankfurt, but despite my greatest efforts, it didn't happen. Which would explain why I was (and still am) so jet lagged. I arrived in Innsbruck at around 10:00 am, and was picked up at the Airport by Andreas (our program director here). He is an extremely helpful guy. He helped me buy sheets. But then I was left on my own. I had no internet connection, no phone, no idea where I was, and no roommate yet. 

It. Was. Terrible. 

I have never felt more alone in my life. The internet was the one way I had planned on talking to people once I got here, including the senior missionary couple I had been in contact with. I had no way of telling my mom I was safe, no way of finding the church, and I didn't know what I was going to do about it. I walked all around the city looking for some place with a wireless connection, but no luck. Finally, I came back to my building and found a very nice girl that lives on the floor below me. She let me use her computer to email Kam and my mom, and then let me use her phone to call Elder Glover. So, prayer answered. From there I tried to sleep, but that was off and on. But I had made it through my first day. 

The next day was Sunday, and also General Conference. The Glovers offered to come pick me up and take me to the church. So, I got to watch the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning session...in English! Woo! Conference is amazing. It was nice to be around people as well. The elders showed me that night where to buy a bus ticket, how to get back to the church and how to get to the University the next day. Again, prayer answered.

Monday was the absolute longest day. We (me and the other girl from USU, who has become a good friend now) had to get registered at the school, with city hall, sign contracts for housing, get an ID card, set up a bank account...everything. So we ran around town for most of the afternoon. There were a few issues with the bank account, but hopefully everything is worked out now. I went to FHE that night, and while most of it was in German, it was still nice to be around people and feel welcomed. 

Then yesterday was the best day. We did so much walking and exploring around the city. Marissa, the other girl from USU, had met a girl from Innsbruck on a website for writers. We met up with her in this awesome cafe called Triebhaus. She brought a friend and we talked with them for about 3 hours. They were very nice, offered to help us with anything, and their English was very good. After that, the Glovers took Marissa and I to buy phones, or as they call them here, Handys. We found a good deal, purchased them, and then the Glovers took us on a little tour around parts of Innsbruck. We ate dinner, (I had a Sandwich Kebap, which is hard to explain but also one of the most delicious things I've eaten) got some history lessons from Elder Glover, and then got some gelato. So overall, a very good day. 

School doesn't start until Tuesday next week, so we're trying to find things to do with our time before school starts. More exploring, most likely. I think we're going to wait to travel until we've gotten settled a little bit. It's a lot to take in. I'm getting less homesick, which is good. I still will have waves of it where I miss people and home incredibly much, but overall, I'm doing much better. And it will only get better from here. :)

I love you all, and bless your hearts if you made it through this whole post. It will probably be more of a journal for me than entertainment for you. I've posted pictures on Facebook, so check those out. For now I'll leave you with one or two of my favorites I've taken so far. :)