Day 20 (6/2)

Monday, June 2

8:30ish am flight from Vienna to Munich, flight from Munich around lunchtime (their time), back around 4:15pm (home time)

Woke up at like 5:45am, cuz not much getting ready to do. I was right ready to go.
Taxi to the airport was just delightful. Not really.
We got there. Checked our bags, I forgot to pour out my nalgene, so they had to dump it for me, I thought they were going to take it away.
And I was spoiled by the expedited airport security leaving home, and forgot was gonna have to take ipad and electronics out, so I was scrambling and rushed. I didn't like that.

We sat around and got some breakfast at the airport, and finally it was time to go. The first flight was short. But they got mad at us for having out our phones or ipads playing games on airplane mode, so then most people just sat quietly.

Then we had a little bit of time at the Munich airport to eat lunch and go through another security or passport check.
When we were waiting board, I was playing with these giant blinds, it was pretty funny.
Then I forgot people around us were American and spoke English. So I made this comment out loud in English about how some lady was using a chair for her purse, and she moved it and offered her seat to our group. Gonna have to get used to not talking about strangers around me again haha

So the flight home was like 10 hours or something really long like that. And not going to sleep was difficult. So I tried to watch movies and stuff, but that didn't really help me at all. I was so anxious, so I just did my cube puzzle 20 or more times over and over. I get really antsy when I have to sit so long and don't have much to do. I tried doing other puzzles and reading magazines, but I was just too nervous.
So finally we landed. I was so thankful.
Customs went really fast, cuz they have computers to take your picture and then you get in another line and they match you up with passport and then you're outta there. Baggage claim took longer than customs, it was like 30-40 minutes we had to wait.
And then I said peace out, and I was outta there. And found my mom and went home.

Day 19 (6/1)

Sunday, June 1
9:30-12 Review of Program
Free afternoon
group dinner

We had a meeting this morning, that was pretty long. Not gonna lie, I zoned out a few times. I had to be doing something with my hands in order to pay attention, so I worked on my cube puzzle.
So then we broke for lunch, and of course, we went to Vapianos! Why not eat your last meal at your favorite restaurant?! I got the diavlo pizza, once again, and it was mind blowingly delicious today, like extra good! I didn't buy a drink, I just got a little glass and was pouring my big Fanta into them haha


So then after that we went to the zoo (Alan, Elizabeth, Jessica, and I), and it was pretty fun, but not extremely exciting or anything, but we got to see them feed the elephants, and it was really interesting, the elephants are so smart!! They were kneeling and turning around in all these different positions to get the food, just in an order that had been previously taught to them, it was way cool.
We also got to see penguins, polar bears, zebras, giraffes, and OTTERS!! I was really excited about seeing the otters! They are so cute!

We left there at 4:45pm, and it took awhile to get out of the castle again, because we had to walk all the way around, and just could not find a short exit.
I finished my big Fanta on the U-bahn.
We got back around 5:45pm to meet the whole group for a last dinner kinda thing. So we took the S-bahn there.
The last rides on the bahns were kinda sentimental ya know, sad...
Anyways, we went to Gangl's for dinner, tucked away in a little corner, it was strange. So anyways, we had everyone sitting in the back corner of the restaurant at these long tables, in a closed room kind of thing, its like the walls were right behind us on all sides, strange set up. Anyways I sat with Jessica and Elizabeth and Alan, and Dr. Mansure and Jacob. I ordered Chicken Cordon Bleu, and it was so delicious!! Oh man it was awesome!! We also ordered some crepes for dessert, they were alright, kinda floppy and soggy.
Then after I finished eating I was rolling coasters down the table at Elizabeth, pretty entertaining...
We left there after eating and went back to the hotel.
Most people were rushing to pack at this point, but I had already organized my stuff, and gotten my Klimt shopping bag this morning as my breakables carry on.
The hard part was not going overweight on my suitcase, repacking and weighing and repacking and weighing took a while, but I got it all in there somewhere.
I went to "gift" food off to other people that I wasn't going to eat before we left. Elizabeth's bed covered with her stuff it was pretty funny, their room was a mess with all their packing. I didn't stay long though because I was so ready to go to bed so that it would be the day I go home already.

Day 18 (5/31)

Saturday, May 31
free morning
Afternoon: Hundertwasser; Prater Amusument Park
7pm Lifeball Festival (optional) [www.lifeball.org]


At 10:15am Elizabeth and I went to the grocery store, the InterSpar. I bought some chocolate for grandma and grandpa, and some other chocolate to take home.
So once we finished that run, we went back to the hotel to get Jessica and Alan at 11am. And we walked over to this restaurant Centimeter 7 across from the u-Bahn station. And we all ordered a burger. It came with potato wedges, and on a cutting board. It was interesting, but really delicious!
They have this ketchup and mayo mix that they call american sauce. It always comes with burgers/fries.
So we hurried back to the hotel to meet the group at 12pm. Then we left for the Hundertwasser. There was an area of town and then a museum. The town area was public housing and a "village" (souvenir shops).


Then we went to the museum part. It was a bunch of abstract almost kind of art. And then there was a photography section, with mostly naked people. So then after that museum, oh, I bought a cool iq cube puzzle! After that, we went to the prater amusement park. We rode the Ferris wheel as a whole group, it was pretty neat to be able to see so much of Vienna.
So, we split off from the rest of the group, and Jessica, Alan, and Elizabeth rode a couple of rides, while I held their bags.
Alan left to try to go to a concert with some other people, and Elizabeth, Jessica, and I ate dinner at this nasty asian place in the park, it looked good, but then the service was terrible and food wasn't great.

We left there, and got back to hotel around 8:20pm.  Ran into Alan on the way, he was mad cuz he didn't get to go to the concert because the tickets had sold out. So I went to my room for a few minutes, then I met the others and we hung out in the lobby for a little bit. Since money was low for most of us, I went across the street to buy a Fanta at the discount superstore. Elizabeth gave me 2,50 euros and said "buy the biggest cola they have for 2,50 euro" soooo I got over there and there was a 2 liter Cola for 3 euro, so I bought it haha, and I bought myself a 2L fanta. That was to last me for the rest of the trip, even at restaurant. (saving money) So i walked around at the Lifeball and everything with my 2L fanta, just drinking right along.
We left for the lifeball around 9:15pm, and took the sbahn to get as close as we could, then walked towards the loud music and crowd. On the Sbahn, someone had spilled something sticky all over the floor and my shoes were sticking to it and it sounded like suction cups pulling off, so then me being me started to pretend to be an octopus or something crazy like that, walking up and down the S-Bahn toward Alan and Elizabeth and back, with my bookbag on the front, and my 2L Fanta sticking out of my bookbag. It was pretty hilarious, I got other people looking at me and laughing, and that isn't usually me to be the center of attention clown. But it was fun because everyone was laughing in an enjoyable way at me, not like a class clown being stupid funny, just plain silly.
Anyways, we finally got to the Lifeball after some walking, and there were stands on the sides and then a bunch of people packed like sardines in the middle standing up, and a stage in the front. So we tried to squeeze in, but it was too close for comfort for me. Some orchestra started playing, but didn't see anything happening, so some of us squeezed out. Alan, Elizabeth, and I stood on some benches just outside of the crowd and entrance, and we danced around, well I danced around when some good music came on, then it was more like a concert, which was really cool. And then we tried to go around the back and stand in the back, and we found the others, and so we had more room to stand, but could still kind of see. There was some good music every so often. Then Bill Clinton randomly came on stage and spoke for a minute, it was strange. This is not my video, but I was totally there!!


So then some more music played, and some was kinda slow cuz it was the background music for a drag queen show or something, but I just was dancin and stuff, embarrassing Alan and Elizabeth, cuz I was gettin kinda wild, but why not! Once in a lifetime chance!
Not my favorite artist, or song, or live performer, but hey she is American and was singing at the LifeBall - Christina Perri - Human

And then one time, I ran up and chest bumped Alan with my bookbag on and he almost fell over, it was pretty hilarious cuz he wasn't prepared.
Anyways, we just hung out there for a while, and left around 11:30pm. Alan had yet to get the chance to rent bikes, so he said "oh man we should bike back!!" and I said "Totally!!" and he kinda doubted himself after he said that, and I said "why not? there isn't any traffic out right now!" So Alan and I rented bikes, and the other lazys waited around for the S-bahn. Alan and I had to figure out how to rent them, and figure out how to get back on roads we'd never been, and we still only got back about 10 minutes after them. By the way, bike lanes just sort of end, and there is no where clear for the bikers to go, so we just illegally rode on the sidewalk. And then this drunk man stopped us to ask for directions, and it was really weird. So when we got back, Alan got McDonalds cuz he hadn't eaten dinner. And then we went back to the hotel. It had been a long night.

Day 17 (5/30)

Friday, May 30
[planned itinerary]
9:30-12: Schoenbrunn
Reading: Palace and Gardens of Schoenbrunn, pg. 206-212
4-9pm Third Man move & Sewer tour; Prater

[what we actually did]
free morning
Schoenbrunn in the afternoon
Third man movie at 10:45pm

We had a free morning! So I met Elizabeth, Jessica, and Katie at 10am to go shopping at Stephan's platz. 

Chilly weather! And rain predicted! 

There were all these stands out selling all sorts of handmade items at Stephansplatz!! They were all so pretty! I really wanted to buy my mom another candle holder, they were even more pretty, but the one I got her the other day is just lovely. Maybe if I have extra money Sunday afternoon, I'll get one. But I probably won't have extra money. I'm runnin low. 

So then after strolling thru there, it was super cold there! And then Elizabeth took us a ginormous bookstore that Dr. Hellenbrand showed her. And it was so awesome!! I could pretty much stay in there forever looking at everything.

So we spent a while in there. There was so much to look at! No empty space anywhere, books books books! And I got more than I planned to! I got Peter Pan (chapter book like my wizard of oz one), Großvaters Geschisten, two peanuts books, and Do you know how much I love you.

And so after a while at the bookstore, we went to find some lunch and ended up eating at a pizza place close by. It was the most american pizza I've had since I've been here. It was so huge, it was alright. Not my favorite pizza here so far, but it wasn't really bad. Elizabeth and I ordered a whole pizza together, and it was so giant. And I ate about 3/4 of my half. It was supposed to be just pepperoni, but it came with a bunch of ham on it as well, I picked most of it off. Pretty much a whole pig on the pizza...

So we finished lunch, and headed back thru Stephan's platz, where I bought a few keychains for some friends.

Then we headed back towards the hotel to meet at 1:30pm. We barely made it on time, but weren't the last ones there. 

So then we left to go to Schönnbrunn with the whole group.  We did a lot of waiting around once we got there, but once we got our tickets. We were released into the castle area, which was huge and so much to do. so Alan, Jessica, Elizabeth, and I went to do the tour in the castle of all 40 rooms. It honestly got kind of boring. there were so many tour groups in the way, and it was packed everywhere.

Once we got thru the 40 rooms, we went outside to the "gardens" and they were nice, but it was chilly and windy and cloudy. So we walked around some to explore. We were gonna save the zoo part until Sunday afternoon. 

So we went into the maze and labyrinth area. It was so fun! We did a hedge maze, and we followed Alan's right hand rule to get thru, and it worked!! And then we went in the labyrinth, and there were little games in there! And there was a 3x3 of metal squares that clinged notes when you hit them. And Elizabeth and Alan just jumped all over it, and then I actually figured out some notes and played Mary had a little lamb. Jessica recorded it. And then we went thru another part, and there were other games as well. 

Then we went to the kids play ground part, there were some really cool structures there. So I climbed up on one that had a metal bird at the top and sat inside. The ropes moved the wings! It was so cool! So I sat up in there and Jessica was taking my picture. And then I decided I was ready to come down. And this perch was probably 2 times or more my height off the ground. So I leaned over to look and said "I'm comin straight down!!" And I didn't mean to lean farther, but I did and I fell...the ropes caught me, and I was flailing around, and they were all laughing. I flipped around some and found my way to the ground. (As the days have gone by since then, I find new bruises and scrapes and sore muscles.) I was slightly disoriented, but mostly just laughing really hard. So we moved right along, to the 4 person seesaw, and that was good fun too. 

Then we walked towards the exit of the castle, but we had to walk wayyyyy far to get out, cuz the doors to the castle were locked and said do not enter. We had to go find some dinner. We went to go eat at cafe Europe, for the 2.5th time. I got a burger, it was so delish! And then I got a few scoops of ice cream! Strawberry, banana, and straciatella! Nom nom!

Oh yeah, there was some protest from turkey goin on close by. We always seem to walk into some kind of "trouble"

So then we headed back to the hotel and sat around until it was time to meet at 10 for the movie.

I also did some little packing. I'm so ready to go!

So we met at 10pm in the lobby to go to "The Third Man." We rode the sbahn there and walked. We got there, and the seats were super pillowy. So I just leaned back and started watching the movie, and next thing I knew it was 12:30am! And I was like whaaaa it's time to go already?! I had definitely fallen asleep. I didn't do it on purpose, it was so late, and I was getting really worn out. The people sitting around me were amazed that I slept because of all of the loud noises and bright lights.

So we walked back, and rode u-Bahn. And since they were running less often, we weren't back at hotel until 1:40am.

Day 16 (5/29)

Thursday, May 29
9:00-12:00: Mapping Groups Working Session III
1:30-4:00 Belvedere & Lehár, The Merry Widow introduction
6:15 (at hotel): Lehár, The Merry Widow operetta


I got up and we had to meet our mapping groups this morning. So we met around 9:30am, but Jacob didn't come down until 9:45am, but we had plenty of time.
So Jacob, little Anna, and I headed to stadtpark, and there was barely anyone there. It was cool and breezy. I was cold. So we sat down to work on our map, and I said "if it starts pouring, what are we going to do?" And so we got up and walked a ways to a mcdonalds by Stephan's platz. We worked on drawing the map there, but Jacob mostly drew it and we made suggestions. So I looked up some history and facts. We left there at 12:08pm. But we finished the project basically. And we looked for somewhere to eat. We had to meet at 1pm in front of Karlskirche. So we walked around, not much open. We ate at a place across from the Stattoper and it was a really good cafe!!! I got ravioli, and it had a white sauce on it.
But we didn't order til 12:40pm and got our food at 12:55pm. And so we shoveled in and booked it to the meeting place, which wasn't a far walk, but we were still 15 min late. Dr. Toub was lecturing about something when we got there, and everyone was like "where were you, oh my gosh!" *freak out over nothing big*
 So then we walked to the Belvedere museum, a fun!!! Art museum, woooo! So we were in there for a while. I hung around Katie and Alan, that was fun, cuz we were just makin' jokes and stuff.

So we went to the other building, it was even more fun. And on the walk there, it was gravel, and I was dancing and I was jumpin over puddles and crazy stufff! Gotta make it fun somehow!
So after the museum, we only had an hour and 45 min to eat and get dressed and ready for the operetta. We just went to eat at Westbahnhof. And I got a 15cm sandwich at subway, some nacho cheese doritos, and fanta. We ate super quick cuz we had to meet at 6:15, and it was 5:30. I just got subway cuz it was too difficult to make a decision on something else.
Oh yeah! And there was a pigeon that was limping around and acting drunk on the window will beside us. I wanted to pick it up and take it outside, but not much time to do so. So we left there and got back to the hotel at 6pm. And we had to hurry to get ready and meet downstairs in the lobby at 6:15pm. And then we were off to the operetta, The Merry Widow. It was funny cuz Elizabeth thought the packet said the merry window, so we were saying that a lot in our funny German voices. So we went to the volksoper to see the merry window. I got to sit with Jessica to my right, and an empty seat to my left. So, I kinda fell asleep through most of the first half of the opera, slept for about 45 min total, resting for the other 30 min. So then we had intermission, and I thought I would fall asleep in the second half as well, but I didn't, and the second half was pretty funny!! Everyone was amazed at how I could have slept through the whole first half because it was so loud and bright. I definitely konked... Jessica said she and Katie were blowing in my face and messin with me, but I don't remember any of that haha ... I didn't go to sleep on purpose, I was just getting tired and worn out from everything on the trip.
Oh yeah! And some one farted real loud during the second half, we all busted out laughing!!! It was pretty funny!
So then we left there and went back to the hotel, but got ice cream on the way! I got a small cone with just strawberry and banana. But it was so delicious!! And I was wearing my new jack wolfskin jacket, so we were walking back and I was hunching over to be careful not to get ice cream on my jacket.
So we got back to the hotel around 10:30pm or so. I went up to my room to shower and such. Then I went in the hallway to attempt to use the wifi, but it only worked a little bit.

Day 15 (5/28)

Wednesday, May 28
All day excursion: Monastery at Melk (meet in the lobby 8am, 2 hour train ride)


An excursion day to Melk. The forecast wasn't look the best, but I knew it would be just fine!!
Some people just always hog the bathroom. so i always end up brushing my teeth after we are supposed to be meeting. so i got downstairs at 8:05. i've been buying cartons of apple juice and drinking those, and eating some apples. so i'm getting probably more fruit than i do at school. enough per say. (that was random, i know) i've done emergen c some. i broke a glass on the first day we were here, so i was scared to do emergen c again until last week. so anyways, i'm staying healthy,  everything is "flowin" like its supposed to haha....so we met and caught the U-bahn and went to the Westbahnhof. and i bought a pretzel at the station, YUM! so, we got on the train, and it only took an hour and 15 min to get there. but i journaled and cracked peeps up on the way. i didn't want to nap cuz i knew i would be more tired. so we got there and it was pouring, and cold. and we had to walk a little ways to get to the monastery. but it was okay, mind over matter!!! i was hopping in puddles! (i lost my umbrella yesterday by the way, the 6 euro one i bought the first week. and tonight i bought another one for 2.5 euro.) so anyways, the tour was alright, some interesting facts, but just cool stuff to see. I mean this was a super old monastery. tour guide was nice. and we were gonna spend more time in the town, but it was rainin and cold. so we met at the train station at 2:15pm.
sometimes i was up and sometimes i was down. i was taking silly pictures. and i always jump in other people's pictures. so we ate lunch at Madar restaurant, that was alright. food bleh. I had a pizza with some icky stuff on it and icky cheese, and icky apple strudel, good cola though!!
and then train ride back, and i tried to feed a bird. and oh! i jumped down on the train tracks to put a penny on there cuz Alan was too scared. and the train ran over it, it was so cool!! I didn't get to retrieve it. so we rode back, and i worked on a puzzle! i think German puzzles are so interesting!! so i bought this one called "nonogram" and it has numbers in rows and columns around the border of an empty grid. and those numbers indicate which to fill, and it makes a picture, but sometimes there is logic involved. I had to read German directions. So then we got back, and stood in the Westbahnhof for a few minutes to use wifi and decide what to do. I just sort of shut down at this point because of how the decision process was going on what "we" wanted to do. And so I didn't talk. Alan and Elizabeth were being the leaders and asking. Because they just sort of fit that position and take it into their hands, which we needed, but the others weren't being helpful and positive. I didn't care much what we did, but I didn't want the complainers to come and I didn't want to just go back to the hotel. The long days are starting to slowly wear me out, I'm ready for a normal routine again. So anyways we decided to walk down Mariahilferstrasse towards Stephansplatz. We stopped at a lot of different stores, Jack Wolfskin, Muller, and some shoe shopping for the girls. I looked at jackets and shirts at Jack Wolfskin. Then at Muller, I bought a lot of my food to take home, corny bars, Haribo gummies, some chocolate and other things. So we finished there around 5:45pm. And did a little more walking, and I said man we gotta eat. But then they were still finishing at the shoe store, so I did my puzzle, and sat with Alan. Then I said we should go to Vapianos, meaning the one at Westbahnhof, and then what do ya know, one appears just as we were walking down the street.
And so we went, and it was gooooood! I looked at the pasta menu, but decided I had branched out enough for the day by getting the "house pizza" at lunch (which was gross). So I just stuck with the diavlo! And it was good as always!! This was the whole small group at dinner, then we split off and it was me, Alan, Jessica, and Elizabeth. We caught the u-Bahn back and rode one stop to the super good ice cream place. I'm finally getting my fill of ice cream, I could barely finish my giant waffle cone with 4 scoops. The usual, strawberry, banana, chocolate, and straciatella. Nom nom! And then after ice-cream, we caught the U-Bahn to Westbahnhof for da weeefeee...and we were there for a little while, and then we went back to the hotel because it was getting late.

Day 14 (5/27)

Tuesday, May 27th

9:30-12:00: Secession

 Reading: Koja, pp. 96-117; PQ #6

 2:30-5:00: Heiligenstadt; Karl Marx Platz, Beethoven’s Wohnung, (Optional: Heuriger)

 Reading (if not already read): Beethoven, pp. 127-129; PQ #3

The secession was kinda boring, so I will not go into that. Modern art is a strange concept for me to grasp. There was a big white square-ish room with a diagonal wall in the middle. Some large letters cut out of insulating foam, and a pair of paint splatter jeans, and I think a shoe. Not much else. And it was to be considered art...I wish I could get paid a bunch of money to draw a smiley face. But hey, I won't disrespect the art profession, it is and has been a highly thought of position for a long time. I just don't jive with it, I'll stick with my music.

We got to see the Beethoven Frieze we had read so much about as well, it was pretty neat.
We ate lunch in the Naschmarkt at a "deli" and I got a hamburger that tasted like taco, it wasn't the greatest.
And then we walked around for minute and I got some ice cream, strawberry and banana!! Then we met the whole group at 2pm. I put the rest of my cone on the lions tooth on the statue. It was pretty funny.
It rained so much this afternoon!! I'm very thankful I wore my chaco's!!

In the afternoon we went to Heilgenstadt, which is north of Vienna. We rode the U-Bahn all the way there.
We were looking at the Karl Marx Hof, which was public housing. While the teachers were talking, I clipped my two caribeaners to the 2 on Jessica's bookbag. (My bookbag was on the front, per usual) And I pulled a little and she and Elizabeth laughed! It was so funny! Elizabeth even took a picture!! Jessica was busting out, I swung her around in a circle!
So we talked about some buildings and stuff, the Karl Marx Hof, and then we walked forever to "Beethoven's Wohnung," a two room museum that didn't have much in there to see. It was where he supposedly wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament. We left there and walked in pouring rain to some wine tasting place. I hopped in lots of puddles on the way. My clothes were soaked. We rode a bus to the wine place Heuriger something or another. I ordered something but didn't drink it. It smelled funny. I didn't eat dinner there like most everyone else did. I just sat for 45 min or so. Then we got on a strassenbahn towards shottentor (in the middle of the city). They didn't tell us where to get off, but said "see you in the morning," so I got out my map to see where the s-Bahn crossed the u-Bahn closest to our hotel. And I told Alan and the small group where to get off. And we got off and everyone followed blindly. Then they yelled and shouted "where are WE going?!?!" "WE are lost!!!" And it's so frustrating because I didn't tell them to follow me. So that was a low point for me. So Elizabeth and I caught the u-Bahn and left them behind to find their way. I sat around in her room for a bit.
So we sat and talked a lot. Listened to others blab and carry on a lot. And so on. Then around 8:30pm, I asked if they wanted to go to westbahnhof. So since I hadn't had dinner, we went to vapianos there and Alan and I split a diavlo pizza, the pizza there is so good!!! We need a Vapiano's in America.
Then we went to use the wifi so everyone could attempt to contact home, however well it worked. Better than the hotel at least.
So then we headed back, stopped at the supermarkt for snacks for tomorrow! Pringles! And candy! YUMMM!
**Oh yeah "yo yo yo yo....f.p.!!" song is in production!!