Mariazell

(Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a nasty cold, homework, and poor weather conditions, Ilsa was unable to attend the hike because she might have died, which would make life miserable, so I forbade her from going, in order to maintain happiness for the both of us)

Friday: such an amazing experience! Woke up early, hopped on a bus, and drove a ways to be dropped off in the middle of a nature park. Along with about 70 other students, we started our walk in what would be a 24 mile pilgrimage to the shrine of Maria Zell, in honor of the pro-life cause. Seriously, this became one of my favorite things I have done since coming to Austria.

To start off the hike, my friends and I sang songs ranging from Mulan’s “Be a Man” to “Lord of the Dance”. We were hiking through the gorge at that time, so we took many stops along the way to admire the beauty of nature that was all around us (waterfalls, river rapids, rolling mountains, etc.). After a while, I was separated from the group for a bit, which turned into a great opportunity for thought and reflection—even took the time to eat my entire apple, core and all, in honor of our trip to Glacier National park last year (this one’s for you Ms. Kuphal ;) 

 The hike went on for about 4 hours when we came across this tiny outpost along the river. No idea how they did it, but it was a restaurant where we could by food and drinks if you needed a small break from the hike. Laura and I wanted to continue on, so alone we made our way up the dreaded never-ending hill that Mr. Pipp had warned us about. Only, we completely forgot about that, so we kept turning the corner expecting it to level out, but it didn’t (this is the hill that neeever ends, it just goes on and on my friiieennnds), so that was disappointing (fight the pain—it’s for the babies!).

Needless to say we survived, and ended up catching up with my old roommate Melanie and Sister Maria Clare. That didn’t last long, though, because they were power walkers and we were tired. We stopped for a stretching break in a rolling meadow (yes, we did frolic—couldn’t resist), then continued on. 

 The last 5K was probably the toughest. By then, I felt like an old man—my knees hurt, the bottom of my feet had blisters, we were feeling muscles that we didn’t even know we had—but  we kept on. The end was composed of highway roads, cutting through a small town before opening up to the home stretch. Somehow, we ended up ahead of Sister M.C.  and Melanie (they took a wrong turn). Together with them we made it through the cold and the rain to the end of the pilgrimage, getting a celebratory scoop of gelato from the town (pretty sure we earned our sweets for the day) and taking a much needed break on the side walk before heading to Mass.  In total, the trip took us 6 hours and 45 minutes (Yes!—under 7 hours!).

This post doesn’t do the day justice, because (as cliché as this sounds) words cannot describe the experience of this hike. Honestly, one of the best experiences ever and couldn’t of be happier that I was blessed enough to be able to take part in it.

So here we are, second post on Linz (who would’ve thought two posts would be necessary to describe our day trip to a randomly picked drowsy city in Austria?)

So I have to admit that I wasn’t quite sold on the museum exhibit that we decided to check out next. As Tess mentioned, we already had decided to turn down a longer weekend trip to save some money, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pay five euro for this “OK tour” (the name doesn’t exactly inspire confidence—not good, not great, just… mediocre?) But I didn’t want to get separated from Tess and Ginny and so I decided to go ahead and join them.

The first room of the exhibit that we entered didn’t exactly alter my uncertainty. We entered a dark room and waited for several minutes for something to happen with some other people touring the exhibit. Then all of a sudden a machine on a pole in the middle of the room lit up and started moving around and shining a beam of light in all directions. Needless to say, we were slightly confused. We waited a while, but it didn’t really do much else and then followed the first family who left the room (I think we were all kind of thinking the same thing and everyone was just waiting for someone else to leave first because most of the room followed us). Only after leaving the room did we realize that the pamphlet we’d been given when we got our tickets had short explanations of each part of the exhibit. The one on the room with the light went like this: “When entering the room the light begins to dance, shining a spot that seems to be curious to illuminate what lies hidden in the dark. The playful struggle for insight is accompanied by the sound of the motors that almost have a musical quality.” So as you can see, it didn’t shine a whole lot of light (yes, I admit, pun intended) on the situation. Or else, I am simply uncultured and unable to appreciate modern art.

We continued through the exhibit, enjoying the sometimes strange, albeit interesting, displays. When we realized we didn’t have a whole lot of time until we needed to head back to make our train, we hurried to what had attracted us to the museum in the first place: the tower with the lookout over the city. After only making it halfway up, I knew I didn’t regret paying the five euro—the view was beautiful! 

We headed back down the tower to the rooftops and across to another part of the exhibit: a sort of dome woven out of bamboo creating a light-flooded space inside.

We stopped to get some gelato on the way out and made it back to the train station with time to spare. We had a (pretty) uneventful trip back to Gaming, missing one train on the way, but thankfully it wasn’t the last one of the night and we didn’t have to wait long for the next one. We’ve been told that it’s inevitable that we’ll miss a train at some point and I don’t think things could have gone much more smoothly than they did when missing a train.

This weekend we are doing a 22 mile hike to Mariazell as a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine. Then on Saturday we’re planning to head back to Linz for a day trip of shopping, since we know our way around now.

Tschuess! (that’s bye in German!)

(This happened last weekend by the way, just haven’t had time to post about it until now…)

First free (no plans, no trips with the school) weekend these past couple days, so what do we do? Stay behind like the true poor people that we are.

Ok, so we’re not that poor, but we are trying to save some money and not bust the bank while we study abroad this semester. Let’s face it: travel is expensive. So Thursday through Friday we hunkered down and got to work on homework (“quiz” for philosophy of the human person, quiz for nursing, paper for Medieval, project for Medieval…) since the rest of the campus had left on their various trips (I think Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia were the biggies). With majority of campus gone and not much to do, things were pretty quiet around here…Until then something spontaneous happened

Friday at midnight we bought a group train pass and on a whim decided to travel to Linz, Austria. Why you ask? It was close, bigger than Gaming, and had a picture of this face with a waterfall coming out of it next to its description in the travel book. 

who can resist this face?? (this isn't my picture by the way, I took it from Pinterest)

The next morning came and we were at the bus stop outside the Kartause at 9:00 sharp. Prof. Newton just so happen to be walking by as we were waiting for the bus, shouting out, “Where are you off to?” (He’s British, so make sure you read with that in mind) “Linz!” we replied enthusiastically. His confused response?

“Why?...”

Oh boy…not a good sign. Not only were we tired, lacking in good judgment, and unsure of ourselves as is, but now our professor had just confirmed those fears in his response. What in the world had we gotten ourselves into?

 Ilsa and Ginny on the train...not really sure what Matt is doing?

We made it to all our buses and trains for the rest of the morning, even surviving the one cart train from Sheibbs to Pochlarn with a little hesitation. Upon arriving in Linz we immediately noticed the sleepy disposition of the town, but didn’t think too much of it, and headed off to explore. We wondered through a park, found a beautiful church, and then headed off to find some food when we stumbled on a real gem: the town was holding a festival that weekend! People and venders from all around came to display their authentic Austrian food and goods. There were crowds and crowds of people, random folk bands playing all around, and even free samples of food that just added to the lively atmosphere of the festival. 

 Random statue we found at a park

 View of part of the fair from on top of a church

We got some food and set out to see the sights. Eventually, the group of us that were traveling together made a split, half wanting to do one thing, half just going with the flow. Ginny, Ilsa, and I went to find this lookout that could be seen high above the city, getting trapped in an electronic store in the process (ok, so maybe not trapped, but when Ginny tried to leave the way we came in, the attendant started yelling at her in German and pointed elsewhere). We escaped, and made our way down another street, away from the fair.  Eventually, after much searching, we came to find that the lookout was a part of an exhibit that was visiting town. So, like the good natured tourists we are, we paid the 5 euro for “OK tours (not good, not great, but OK!) and headed up the stairs…

(to be continued)

Well hey family and friends, it’s been awhile.

Ilsa and I just got back from a weekend in Vienna, so things have been hectic here for sure. We had an early start Thursday morning, arriving in Vienna then heading to Mass right away. After a short tour from Bibet (not sure on the spelling for that one), we had lunch (Mmm schnitzel!) and made our way to the hostels to settle in. Our hostel was located off the main street, through some sketchy back alleys with graffiti eeeverywhere (maybe they think it’s the welcoming to write vulgar English language everywhere? Makes the tourists feel at home. How nice of them.). No worries though because the guys at the front desk assured us (and I quote), “Vienna is a safe city. We are in the worst part of town and it’s still really safe here!” Well now…

But no really, it was sweet. No bed bugs, so that’s always a bonus. We left quickly after to make the best of our free time. First on the agenda was to find a statue that our friend Matt’s great grandfather had carved and was displayed in some random park (how neat is that? That’s pretty neat). Afterwards we ran in and out of a few churches in the area (never gets old) then went to the main part of town to catch the culturally-enriching opera. For the small price of four euro we were able to snatch a spot in the standing-room only area of the theater. We definitely were under dressed for the occasion, but they let us in any way. Because we arrived 5 minutes before the show was to start, the standing room was packed full, making us have to stand in the waiting room for the standing room (well that’s a mouth full). The attendant was a very proper older woman who took her job to the next level. I mean seriously—she was telling me shush every other minute. I would move my feet and my shoes would squeak: death stare from attendant lad; breathing in a little loudly (because I’m currently sick and can’t help it): death stare. I ended up walking out periodically to blow my nose just so I wouldn’t “disturb the show” (cuz you know my nose blowing from the waaaay far back in the standing room would be heard all over the theater and would then destroy the entire performance).  Overall the show was great—good music, beautiful voices, all in some language I couldn’t understand (no worries, I improvised and made up a story). 

 mosaic we found in one of the churches; Ilsa wants one; same size and everything

It was about 8:30 at night by the time we left the opera house, but the night was still young! We stopped by a street vendor to grab some kebobs (kabobs? I guess there’s a difference…) then hopped on the subway (which, by the way, we would have been completely lost on if not for Matt's amazing directional skills--honestly, we'd probably still be wondering the streets of Vienna right now if it wasn't for that kid) to head for the giant Ferris wheel. The view was incredible—city lights, cool breeze, and a chance to sit after a full day of walking. 

  Left my household’s mark on the wall of the cart #rebel

The day ended when we made our way back to the hostel, shared in the company of our friends, even ventured out the window onto our fire escape (OK, so maybe I just crawled through and hung on for dear life, but we were on the 5^th floor, which looks intimidating through the grates of the walkway), all before calling it night sometime after 12.

Day two was pretty similar (packed and amazing), so I’ll just post a couple pictures with captions so you can get the some of the experience (there's more on Facebook if you care to see others):

             Ilsa navigating the subways; also, some random girl posing for the picture

                   ^view part way up while climbing the stairs of St.Stephan's

Hey again, just a random story for you all:

Yesterday, Ilsa and I decided to get a little cleaning out of the way seeing as how room checks are today (I think?). Sounds easy enough, right? False. Here in Austria they really like to be picky about their cleaning. There’ s a lot of calcium in the water, so we’re required to spray and wipe down the shower and sink daily, along with a weekly spray down using this other cleaner  that I hear is dangerous (they said don’t be fooled by its enticing Kool-Aid scent, this stuff is highly acidic). No big deal, we were able to get that done in a matter of minutes, so we moved on to trash. Boy, were we in for a surprise…

Everything here needs to be separated—paper, glass, metal, biodegradable, problem trash, and (if all else fails) Restmϋll. Being the ignorant Americans that we are, our trash had been mixed together and piling up for the whole week. It was a mess—a mess that needed some major sorting. So we grabbed the garbage cliff notes (more like garbage novel) and got to work. Who knew four girls living in a room together could produce so much garbage (and shed so much hair)?? Five piles, moldy food, and a few used feminine products later we had what we thought as the properly separated garbage. Let’s just say this will never happen again. 

                                            ^garbage cliff notes (side-ways because I don't know how to use this blog)

                                                  

Another fun fact, we took a walk into town yesterday. While were there, a car pulled over and two guys started talking to us in German (sounded like they needed directions?). I gave them a confused look and asked if they spoke English. The one immediately switched to English, but was disappointed to learn that we were not locals, so drove off. More importantly the moral of this story is that he thought we were Austrian! Guess we’ve done a better job of blending in with the culture than we thought…