Let's Get Lost

So it is day 4 in Austria and it feels like we've been here two weeks with the packed days that we have! I guess it's good that we're kept busy since it's prevented us from sleeping when our jet lag starts to get the best of us.
I can hardly believe that I get to live in this beautiful place for the next 3 and a half months!
We've already been on a trip to Melk, which is about an hour away from the Kartause in Gaming, where we're staying. We had the privilege of attending Mass in the 1000 year old abbey and then taking a tour to see the beautiful church and buildings. We also got to walk around town a little by ourselves after lunch, which was fun to just see and experience. We probably got some funny looks from people when we kept asking our friend how to say "I'm sorry" in German (in case we bump into someone) because of how many times we then repeated it. Endtschuldideung!

For the past couple days we've been busy with orientation meetings, but today we got some free time which we used to walk to the grocery store downtown, called Spar. We got some chocolate and Tess got some premade waffles which she was pretty excited about and proceeded to pull out of her purse and show to pretty much everyone at random times.

We went on a short tour of Gaming later in the afternoon, which didn't take long because it's so small, but very cute! When we got back Tess suggested we go on a river walk in the creek that runs parallel to the Kartause. We thought, sure that sounds fun! (although the freezing cold water should have tipped us off that it might not be the best idea) We climbed down the slope into the creek--I slid more than climbed, and have the dirt marks on my shorts to show for it. We realized that it was a little (understatement!) cold, but decided to brave the icy waters. At one point Tess ended up on my back and I carried her since she was barefoot (after being kind enough to lend me her rainboots). It all ended up being worth it when we discovered a beat up bike in the river, which was pretty funny considering all the stories we'd been hearing at orientation about finding bikes in the creek that students had used. We dragged it out and carried it back to the Kartause and placed it by the functioning bikes that are provided for us to ride around town. Tess was then brave enough to jump into the creek at the popular "tree stump spot" where students jump off into the creek frequently. She described it as "sucking the air out of her lungs"! I decided to save that experience for another day...

Tomorrow we have our first days of classes! I'm a little scared after seeing how many books we have for some of them, which we got at book pick up today, but  I'm looking forward to having more of a routine and starting our trips traveling on the weekends. We go to Salzburg this weekend!