These posts are more than slightly embarrassing. My, how I’ve changed in nine years. And, I totally forgot how sick I was when I had first gotten over there! I’m happy to report that overall, it was one of the best experiences of my life, even though it had a rough start.
Reading guide: AMDG=a “household” (the Franciscan University version of a frat); FUS=Franciscan University of Steubenville
I’m in Love… with Europe. What’d you think I meant? Haha. Finally, after suffering from the Plague, I am adjested and can honestly say that I am throughally enjoying my time here in Europe. Everyone here is so chill, and the food is getting better. I even tried goulash. Who ever would have thought?
Last week was by far the most interesting time I’ve had here so far. Thursday was our last day of classes for the week, so that night, we went out to Ur’s. Since I was still on medication, I couldn’t drink, which was totally fine since I wasn’t really in the mood for it anyway. We got there early and just hung out on the front porch. Well, since it was our first night where we didn’t have to be up for anything, people went a lil crazy. That’s all I’m gonna say. I had a great time staying sober and witnessing the same stupidity many people have seen of me.
Early Saturday morning, we boarded the busses at promptly 8:30. My friends and I insisted on getting toward the front of the bus to avoid another vomit situation like the one from our trip to Vienna. We had to hardcore filter what we were saying cuz two lil TOR Sisters were sitting across the aisle from us, and seeing as they’re nuns and all, it is very easy to scandalize them. Anyway, our first stop on our trip was at the town of Mondsee. We had lunch (which had french fries. THANK YOU GOD), and toured the town. Across from the restaurant is the church from the wedding scene on the Sound of Music. It was under construction but still gorgeous. Also in Mondsee, Lindsay held my hand while I got my ears pierced for the 6th time in my life (they always get infected… perhaps they won’t this time… we shall see). The ear piercer was so damn cute. She barely spoke any English, and kept saying, “You’re okay? You’re okay?” Good times.
After Mondsee, we boarded the busses again to go to Salzburg. Lee, Christie and Katie had made friends with the bus driver, Walter, and he let them play a CD. The CD player was one of those 6 changer things, so Christie was unable to get it out. As a result, Walter stood up while driving a huge bus, to change the CD. My life flashed before my eyes at that very moment. Ohmygosh. So, the first song that comes on was Friends in Low Places, which apparently pissed off the AMDG guys. They proceeded to boo from the back the entire time, while us in the front were having a grand ol’ time. Then, out of no where, we hear THE LORD REIGNITH AND BLESSED BE MY ROCK AND LET THE GOD OF ALL CREATION BE EXALTED… Yes, friends, songs about alcohol apparently offend people because it was drowned out with a priase and worship song. It was oh, so, obnoxious, but quite a stereotypical FUS moment.
Salzburg. Salzburg. Salzburg. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. We got to the disgusting hostel (it looked like a kindergarten room threw up), put our stuff down, and took a walking tour of the city. Once Lindsay and I decided that we had seen enough, we decided to break from the group and do some street-fair shopping. It was SO cool. I got some fresh water pearls, and a painting from a street artist. Later, we found the rest of the group, and went to H&M and Mango with some of the girls. Can I just tell you all in the States how amazing Mango is? Kate and Luea talked about it when they were here, but I had no idea the amazingness of it. I plan on doing a great amount of damage at Mango while I am here in Europe. I love love LOVE it. At this point I was only with Lindsay, so as we were walking out of Mango, Kathleen, Natalie, and Hannae found us. Great minds think alike, huh? We all went to McDonalds for dinner. Yes, I went to McDonalds in Europe. Get over it. Once we realized the time, Kathleen and I realized we had about 10 minutes to walk across the city to get to a Mozart concert. We were late, but we made it, and I’m so glad we did. It was gorgeous. I am a huge classical music dork, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
In one night in Salzburg, I think I have more stories than I can ever tell here. It was memorable, funny, dramatic, and hysterical all at the same time. After the concert, Kathleen and I went back to the hostel where we found Natalie, Hannae, and Linds. We quickly changed, and started to walk to the Augustineer Keller. Let me just say it is a reeeeally long walk. It was a good two miles, but I definitely burned off the McDonalds, so I wasn’t complaining. When we got to the Augustineer, EVERYONE was already there. We drank some beer, had some laughs, chatted some chats, etc. Then, a group was leaving to go dancing at some place called Club Cave. Travis had a GPS on his cell phone, so we just followed him to get there. It did not go well. It took a grand total of 45 minutes to walk less than a mile away. We kept walking in circles, and I was going to kill someone. Luckily, it was a beautiful night, and there was a lot of us, so even the walk itself was quite memorable. We finally got to the Club Cave. Now, the name of this place is not midleading in the least. It was a cave. A LITERAL cave. So, at this point it was Lindsay, Natalie, Hannae, Lee, Christie, Katie, Becky, Travis, Kevin, Vin, and me. Since there was a lot of drama attached to even getting to the Cave, we went straight to the bar and did shots of absinth. No, we did not see green fairies. Then, we went into one of the dance rooms. Let me just say that Europeans and Americans dance COMPLETELY different. In America, people grind, dance in circles of people, you get the point. In Europe, it is perfectly normal to be the only one bouncing on the dance floor. We were in a rave. There were strobe lights, and black lights every where, they placed only gross techno, and every person, except for us, was tripping on something. It was quite the experience. Once we got over the initial shock, Becky put it the best when she said, “Ok, we’re not tripping on anything, so just pretend like you are!” It was hysterical. We danced for hours and had an amazing time.
After the Cave, some people wanted to go back to the hostel, so Lee, Christie, Katie, Travis and me went back into downtown Salzburg to a little Irish Pub called the Shamrock. The cab driver wouldn’t let us all get in the same cab, even after Christie kept telling him “But we have funf! We have funf!” Anyway, we got to the Irish pub and discovered our friends who were in the other cab were sitting with three pretty decent looking guys. So, we sat down with them. Basically, these guys were from Jordan and were Muslim. SO, we had very little in common and called it a night.
Sunday morning rolled around and I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I rolled out of bed, put my hair in a bun, brushed my teeth, and went to Mass with the group. We actually went to the Salzburg Cathedral. Before Mass, there was a huge procession of Austrians in traditional dress who played music and they went into Mass. It was SO cool. The Mass was in German and I didn’t understand it at all, but the overall majesty of the cathedral made the hour of sitting on marble floors hung-over soooo worth it.
After Mass, we ate lunch, walked around, and finally went back to the Kartause. Now, I am extremely back up on homework, and have to get back to it. EMAIL ME, PEOPLE! I miss you all!
Love and Prayers!