If you want to check out some more pictures from my ten day trip, you can follow these links.

Prague Album
Krakow Album
Budapest Album

So the theme of the last few weeks has been Eastern Europe. My roommates and I took a day trip to Bratislava a couple Saturdays ago because it’s only a 45-minute train ride away. The old part of the city was beautiful, but everything else kind of looked like the projects. One important thing to note whenever you visit Slovakia is to never ever place your feet on the seats. Scary Slovakian police may fine you 100 SKK. The following week I had a German final, but right after the test I left for a ten day tour of Prague, Krakow, and Budapest. My favorite city was Prague, mainly because of the astronomical clock.

The astronomical clock, which may have malfunctioned for the first time in like two hundred years the hour we observed it.

In Krakow (a.k.a. “The City of Magic Power”) I learned to never take for granted securely fastened toilet seats. (Hostels that look like mental institutions are never a good idea.) The city center was much nicer however, and we also had the opportunity to experience the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz, a short drive from Krakow. Suddenly, spending a couple nights in a somewhat shady hostel didn’t seem like such a problem.

During their flight at the end of the war, the Nazis burned many buildings, leaving only charred chimneys of the camp where over one million Jews, Polish political prisoners, and gypsies were killed.

During the tour of Buda and Pest (they’re two separate cities—weird, huh), we visited many Roman ruins and a Communist statue park. Artistic propaganda is amazing.

If I could work in a building such as this, I’d so be a member of the Hungarian Parliament.

So Saturday we took a bus tour around Vienna and visited sights such as Belvedere (a beautiful palace with real people now living in the servants quarters), Hundertwasserhaus (a crazy housing complex with lots of bright colors, trees growing on the building, and various window shapes), and Leopoldsberg (a hill/mountain on the outskirts that affords an amazing view of the city). After church on Sunday, an Austrian couple invited me over for lunch. I got to try the Austrian pop, Almdudler (which, by the way, is very fun to say). After the meal I partook in the coffee they served, and I must say I’m very proud of myself. They patiently helped me practice my German as well, so yeah for Austrian hospitality! Today my German class took a trip to the Albertina museum, whose current feature exhibit is on Mozart. (The city’s pretty much obsessed with the famed composer because it’s his 250th birthday this year. I hope one day my birthday is celebrated for a whole year.)

It has been said that this is basically the most wonderful picture of all time. (l-r: Rachael, Erin, Sarah, and me in front of the Upper Belvedere.)

I’ve now been a little over a week in Austria and to sum up the experience so far, we started with a three day orientation in a little mountain town, Mariazell. There was definitely some dancing in Lederhosen and an interesting encounter with a very inebriated (and creepy) 63 year-old pilgrim named Hanzi (sp?). Once in Vienna, we made our way to our a-mazing apartment. I mean, I definitely am a fan of the 15 foot high ceilings (probably a product of the abnormal tallness of the Austrian population in general). Whoever says study abroad is easier/less work than regular school is a liar, but I have found time to do a little shopping. H & M is basically a must because it’s honestly on every corner. Regarding grocery shopping, I’m still not sure what kind of milk I got, but yay for countries that carry more varieties of Nutella than vegetables. Oh, and I’m all about the Naschmarkt (this ginormously long open-air market like two feet from the apartment). Can anyone say dried pineapple?

Still not sure why Hanzi kept repeating, "Mexico City."