June 24

Today I decided I needed to get out and enjoy myself. We have less than a week before we leave. Part of me wants to stay, and continue exploring the world. Another part of me longs for home, and those things familiar and comforting. The opera workshop class was having a small scale performance at a little café downtown. It was cute—the café and the performance. I got there late because I had gone with the Bellarmine boys to get some groceries at the Billa before heading over to the café. I felt bad, but it was scorching hot inside. I was satisfied to stand in the doorway and attempt to take pictures in the poor lighting. If I put the flash on, the pictures did not look right. But without the flash the pictures would be blurred. After the show, I sat outside with the guys and talked a bit. We were waiting for someone that was supposed to meet them and go out for dinner. Nobody bothered telling me that was the plan. If I had known I would have bowed out politely. I even asked at one point if it was okay for me to tag along for the night. I wanted to be out and about, but I didn’t want to be alone. Ben said it was fine, so I went along.

We waited about ½ an hour or so before deciding the dude either forgot or had not been able to follow Ben’s poor directions. We walked to a cute little Italian restaurant, and took a seat outside at the cloth-covered tables. We began to order, and the dude we were waiting for—Danny—walked up to our table. Danny’s British, has a wonderful accent, and works at the group’s favorite hangout spot: O’Malley’s. It was amazing he found us. Both parties had given up on the other. He took a seat and we ordered and had a grand old time. The guys told jokes, and I laughed. I did not have any jokes to tell, nor am I good at delivering them. And so I was content to listen. Some jokes were silly; some jokes were odd; some picked on the intelligence of the listener. Those jokes are my favorite: the times “the joke’s on you.”

We stayed late, and finally left around 10 or 11. We headed over to O’Malley’s to “finish the night out properly.” We arrived back at the school rather late, I picked a rose from the vine on the wall of the computer lab. I had wanted to pick one from Day 1. I finally did, but the petals fell off too easily. I picked another, this time handling it very carefully. It hangs from a rubber band wrapped around a thumbtack in my bulletin board over my desk. There it will dry out, only to be thrown out the day I leave. There is no way I can take it with me, no matter how much I would like to—one souvenir that must stay.

June 23, 2008

Since I got back from Paris, I haven’t really felt like going anywhere or seeing anything. I really haven’t left the building, except to walk across the road to the little church for choir practice. I need to get out!!! I’ve been working on my project for these few days. It’s starting to come together correctly, but my head hurts from the long hours stuck on my computer. Cutting, pasting, editing, mixing. Does it ever end? It is fun, but I’m starting to get bored with what I have. I’ve taken a few rock songs from my iTunes library and cropped them, and chopped them, and cut them up. After dismanteling and tearing beyond recognition, I cut and sewed and glued to make my very own brand new creation. My Frankenstein.

June 15

We got up about 8:30ish, Leah was already showered and dressed. I had showered the night before so I rushed to get dressed since breakfast ended around 9/9:30. The owner/caretaker of the hostel drove us and a young Australian couple to the dock. We traveled back to the train station and wlaked around that area for a long while, waiting for our train. We stopped at a café and I ordered a bowl of tortellini with fresh spaghetti sauce with fresh basil leaves, and a roll. Oh, so delicious. No one knows how to make Italian food better than the Italians! I also got some sort of pastry with a creamy filling. We walked some more, stopping to feed some pigeons, and pet a dog that seemed to be wandering aimlessly. Soon, it was time to get to the station to catch our train.

Our train was easy to find, and was already parked in the station, an hour before our departure time. We were not allowed on the train for some time as they cleaned the cars. We had one train switch in the midst of our travel back to Salzburg. I slept through most of the first half of the trip, but woke to “ooohh’s!” and “ahhh’s!” We were passing a salt mine. I tried to get a picture, but found my camera too late.

The second station was a non-descript place, and we did not have to wait too long for our next train. We sat in public seats this time, like seats on an airplane or bus. A few of the seats were in groups of four around a table, but we were seated facing front like everyone else.

There were so many photo opportunities of little old villages nestled in valleys at the bottom of the gigantic Alps Mountains. The water here is beautiful: an opaque blue-green, more blue than green. It almost looks like Jade.

June 14

We made it to Venice early in the morning, and hopped in line to get a reservation for our train ride back. We must have waited about 10 minutes, but were turned away at the window because we did not know the train times or anything. We thought they would have helped us like they did back in Salzburg. The ticket people back in Salzburg use their computers to look up trains and where they go and at what times. I tried to refuse to leave the window without getting help, but he refused to help. We had no choice, we had to try to decipher the Italian listing of departures and arrivals. It took us a while, but we figured something out. We stood in line again, I wanted to “cut” because we had already waited out time, but were rudely pushed away. The next teller was more helpful, and actually worked with us, gave us a smile. It was refreshing.

It was raining steadily as we stepped out the door of the train station. I had seen countless people buying ponchos and umbrellas. It didn’t seem like there were many people prepared for the weather. I bought a poncho myself that covered me and my backpack. I did get a few small parts of my jeans wet, but everything else stayed completely dry. The poncho even trapped some of the heat in as well, another bonus. It was worth the 5 euros (about 8 US dollars). We made our way to our hostel, about ½ an hour from the main island of Venice by public transportation: boats! Then about ¼ mile walk from the dock into the island we were on.

We checked in, took a long nap, and prepared ourselves to go back out. We walked around the main part of the city, took lots of pictures, and bought a few souveniers. We stopped at a restaurant in the early evening. We hadn’t had much to eat in a while. We ordered two pizzas, the first was four cheese. It had green stuff on it, I couldn’t tell whether it was pesto or moldy cheese. Probably the latter. The pizza tasted strong, whatever it was, and had a bit of a citrus taste in the back.

The second pizza was pepperoni, and tasted a bit more “normal” as the girls put it. As it started getting darker and we were getting more exhausted we headed back to our hostel. We bought some gelato near our dock, a beer, and a small bottle of wine to celebrate Gaelyn’s birthday. We stayed up playing Uno, talking and laughing. We were exhausted by the time we climbed into our beds, but we still stayed up talking. I finally fell asleep to the other girls still talking.

June 13

After classes Abby, Ashton, Gaelyn and Kathy went to the Bila to get food for our trip to Venice.l WE decided we wanted to eat out at the Chinese restaurant I had gone to before. We went up the stairs and were seated at a round table. The food wasn’t as good as it had been before; but it had also been sitting out longer this time. We return to the school and get tready for our trip to Venice. The girls played Uno while I packed. I joined them when I had finished. I checked my email after a few rounds, and glanced at the clock afterward. It was 11pm, and our bus left a 11:10 for the train station. The other girls frantically ran around trying to pack. By the time they were finished we had missed the bus. We called a taxi, but failed to remember there were five of us, and taxi drivers will only take four in a car. Leah and I hopped in the taxi and took off. While we waited for the girls, they were walking down the street. Finally they called a taxi, and arrived at the train station about an hour later. Luckily, our train did not leave until 1:20. It was so cold outside, and I only had a light sweatshirt on. I was miserable. There was a salsa club inside the station so I stood in the foyer with Abby and Leah for a while. The train came while we were in there, and we came out to board. Ashton and Gaelyn were already out there. They said it wasn’t our train. I didn’t think to ask how they knew, and went back to the foyer. I looked up at the clock and saw it was 1:15. This had to be our train, Gaelyn went to ask the dude that had been standing outside the train the entire time. It turned out to be our train and we boarded not a moment too late. We were barely on the train and getting to our seats before it started to pull out of the station. We had a little cabin-like seating area to ourselves. 3 seats on each wall facing each other, a large viewing window between. We tried to sleep, but it was crowded with five girls and only two couches. I slept on the floor, and the girls doubled up on the couches. The floor was tile, no carpet. The air kept blowing in my face. After a while we discovered the seats pulled all the way out to create a large bed taking up the entire cabin area. It was still tight sleeping, but it was much better.

Day 13 June 10

I worked on making a song titled “destiny.” I love it so far, and I’m making a lot of progress on learning how to use the Acid Studio program. I would rather use Reason because it has much more to offer, but my laptop is not recognizing all the Midi Keyboards that we are using.

Richard also showed us some more videos of independent shorts. I bookmarked the page, it is called "the Smalls."

After a long, hot rehearsal in the crowded student lounge and our weekly meeting in the Library; a lot of us took off down town.

The Eurocup is being hosted in Salzburg today: Switzerland vs. Greece. We were warned against going down town at all, but Michelle and I needed to get some footage for our project. We have decided to do our movie on Soccer in Salzburg. Before going to the city, a whole group of people had dinner at the Thai restaurant down the road. Abby and I decided we wanted continue to be super cheap and head to the Billa on the main road. This particular Billa stays open longer than most Billas (stores in Europe close in the early evening and are closed on Sundays), so we knew we could grab a cheap dinner there. On the way through town the bus came to a complete halt. People were blocking the streets. We were let off the bus before the bus stop so we could walk the rest of the way. I looked out of the window as we were getting off the bus and saw a sea of yellow with blue accents: the Swedish colors. I walked quickly to the side of the road and started recording. There were a few people that would walk up and interact with me, but I could not understand what they were saying. I wish I did so I could respond. There was a small group of scantily clad blue people that seemed to be a great attraction. People walked with down the street with funny hats, tooting horns, and twirling noise makers. It was all jolly great fun. I also had a few people come up to me and hug me. After the parade ended, Abby and I went to the Billa. I bought a drink that was basically store brand Kiefer (a meal enough, since I had bread earlier), and Abby bought a loaf of bread. We decided to share our findings. We both wanted to buy some fruit, but it was all overpriced. As we made our way to the cash out line we realized we would be waiting a while. The line snaked to the side of the small store. There were probably 20 customers in front of us, and only four cash registers. For the length of the line, we did get out of the store fairly fast. We walked towards the stadium area with the huge screens. We had agreed to meet Michelle here. I stopped on the side of the road to check my footage, as I had remembered I had lost some footage that I had tried to record before. I started to rewind, but could not see it. I fairly collapsed against the wall in my huge disappointment. I pushed the play button, and a flood of relief washed over me: my parade was there! Abby and I continued the short walk through the alley ways towards the stadium.

To depart from the subject: I can never tell which are alley ways and which are actually roads. Most streets are cobbled, as are the alley ways. Alleys and roadways run together, it really is hard to tell the difference. And now back to the subject…

We walked towards the stadium and the security check point. For a second I had forgotten we were about to eat. There were raucous crowds outside the security line waiting to get in the area. I took out my camera and started filming the various people that obviously looked like soccer fans—oh, pardon me, football fans! A spotted a couple guys wearing lederhosen, the traditional male garb, but failed to notice that they saw me. How could they not, after all? I had a camera in my hand. They walked up, obviously drunk and still carrying their bottles with them (there are no open container laws). They started talking in German, and I asked the “Sprechen sie Englisch?” It is one of the only complete German phrases I have learned so far. They began speaking in broken English, but after awhile began speaking a bit more fluently. They talked about America, and how we seem to be worried about covering our bodies so much. They were referring to Janet Jackson’s stunt on half time a few years ago, when the guy singing with her ripped off a part of her clothing to reveal her breast. I told them that I did not think it was such a big deal to most American’s. They also spoke of wearing their lederhosen in the US and being called gay. I told them I liked their clothing, and I wished American’s had something similar. After some more banter about the differences in culture (I really do love learning the differences of cultures), they continued on their way and we continued on our way. We looked around the square for a good place to sit. I set up my camera on my tripod pointed towards the security checkpoint, even though it was not in view. We sat and munched and drank our food. A dude with a hose started spraying the street. We thought he would stay far down the street, but he kept coming towards us. We grabbed up our stuff and quickly walked away. I felt small droplets hit my arms as I retreated with Abby at my heels. Just in time. We finished up a bit more of our food, and then headed in through the security check point. The girls were allowed a separate line because the guys would get a pat down, some of them anyway. The female security officers glanced inside our bags, my water bottle was thrown out, and we were let in. It was so much more simple than security lines in the US.

I was surprised that they did not have more security precautions tonight, since the game was in town. There were defiantly a lot more police and army dudes hanging around in their little troops. I walked the crowd trying to find interesting people to film. I filmed a little here, a little there. Then walked to the other side of the stage area and tried another view. Everyone was too still and quiet for a good shot. After ten to twenty minutes I decided I wanted to check out the front entrance again, I usually got some good response from people coming in. I set up my camera and started situating the tripod so it was even. People seemed confused I was filming in such a location. I even had a “real” photographer with his large, amazing camera with a beautiful zoom lense attached walk over and give me a strange look, as if to say “what on EARTH are you doing?” I smiled sheepishly and he continued on his way, so I thought. I turned my head to the right and noticed he was poised to take a picture of me. I smiled and quickly turned away. I wonder what was going through his head. “That girl is going to grow up and become a great journalist: she takes on the untraditional view point.” Or “crazy girl, she has a lot to learn before she fills my position!” There were so many beautiful cameras. It made me want one so very bad.

It is amazing what a camera can do. It captures the action of the people as well as their attention. People were more aware of me while I was recording or appeared to be recording. I think the attached silver tripod made me look a bit more “professional” as well. Thus I was given more attention than a person just holding a camera. I talked with so many people, shouted and cheered. The interaction was amazing. It made me really love my decision to become a photojournalist all the more! I can hardly wait.

I walked through the crowd, back and forth, up and down, in and out; trying to find interesting football fans. People who would interact with the camera, people who would interact with me. It was exciting to see people suddenly light up and would start cheering when they saw my shiny piece of metal. It made me smile every time. I think it made more people want to join the fun as well, and make this silly little girl smile.

I found Michelle, and grabbed her battery since we both miraculously had the same camera. My battery had been threatening to die for a while now. I did not want to miss the good action! (I had already missed a bunch of fans yelling and screaming when the final goal was made on the last game!) Michelle told me she found some good stuff to film, so I told her to lead the way. We found a group of guys in Swedish jerseys (a good portion of fans were in the yellow and blue), they were loud and obnoxious, a perfect combo for a documentary on soccer fans! They started talking to us, and then invited us to join them watching the game. The second game had not yet started yet, so we sat down. I felt as if I was missing important “fan movement” when I was sitting. People were usually quiet and boring while the game was going, unless someone made a goal. So I told Michelle and Abby I would be right back. I was going to try to get some more footage. So I walked around filming more people. I talked to people from all over the place. One group was from Iraq. The put one of their little furry team hats on me and took my camera and filmed me. I laughed, embarrassed to have such a ridiculous looking item on my head, and I was on now my own camera. Ah well.

I returned to Michelle and Abby. My battery was dying, it was getting dark anyway. There was so much more rowdiness during this game then the last. I wanted to film more, but a little image of a battery flashed in the top left hand side of my screen as a warning. I took out my small still-shot digital camera instead, turned on the flash and started taking a few shots. I was so closed in and crowded I did not get very many good shots. There was at least one shot of a side profile of a girl around my age with her cheek painted with some country’s colors. She was a solid block of color while there is blur all around her, showing the intense movement of the crowd.

My absolute favorite part was when they would yell chants. One basically translated as “together we stand as Swedes” There were so many different nationalities there, but most people cheered for Sweden. I tried desperately to learn how to sing it, but I could only get the “ole!” at the end. I caught something that sounded like “fence” once in a while, but could never fully decipher the whole song.

The first goal scored, Sweden, was an impossible shot: There were three players close to the goal (one Greek, two Swedish), and the goalie. Sweden made the shot, but was blocked by the goalie, the ball ricocheting away towards the other Swede. He kicked it awkwardly—almost blindly—towards the goal, the ball just barely passed between the goalies legs and into the goal. The crowd went wild, beer was thrown everywhere. It splashed on me, but I was not hit as bad as some. Not long after Sweden scored again, and again. The game ended 3-0, Sweden was victorious! I was slightly sad because I liked Greece, but could not help myself with all of the contagious joy around me. I yelled—or, rather, mumbled quite loudly, ending with a very loud “oley!”—the lovely Swedish song with the rest of the crowd.

We headed to O’Malley’s to celebrate, and to see if any of our crowd was there as well. It was so crowded one could hardly walk around the pub. So we walked back out, bidding our new found friends adieu. We waited a couple minutes waiting for one of our KIIS friends to catch up with us. We worried that we missed him so we walked out a bit past some of the crowd surrounding the doorway. We bumped into him, and we all headed towards the bus station to home.

The police were out in great numbers now. A convoy of police cars and fire trucks (much taller and bulkier than U.S. fire trucks) paraded down the street, and then back up. Buses were packed tightly and were being redirected to avoid the immense crowd blocking the street, once again. I returned home exhausted. I’m happy, and I’m still smiling. The life of a true photojournalist is amazing, and it shall be so.

Day 12 June 9

Hung around the school trying to get some homework done.

Still having problems with cameras and things.

I’m trying to decide what I want my video for DM to be. I don’t like the church idea, especially since Michelle already said she was going to do something on churches or something. So I’ve been thinking about various ideas such as a trailer-type thing for a movie about a student’s experience in Austria. Perhaps I will do a spoof on a movie that might exist or something like that.

I thought of making a short on the joys and sorrows of the bus route in Salzburg.

I think that one might be my best bet. We shall see.

I’ve been sitting inside for the entire day. I need to get out! I found Abby and we took off to wander the city. At first we had decided we wanted to go to the top of the mountain to check out the fortress. We found the location of the elevator, but I remembered one must pay to use it. I decided it would be good for another day. I wanted to climb the mountain anyway. So we continued on wandering. I decided I wanted to explore on the other side of the river some more, past the little café with the fountains coming out of the ground (it looks quite random at first, but I became used to seeing the fountains). As we walked up the alley we had traveled so many times before I remembered a long set of stairs I had seen along a small roadway connecting to the alley. The road led steeply up the hill side. As we walked up the stairs I could not imagine a car, bike, or mo-ped making its way up the road.

There were life-sized statues inside stone and gated enclosures along the path. They were obviously catholic. There must be some sort of church at the top. The statues told the life of Jesus, and at the end there was a large enclosure of Jesus on the cross with the two others on his left and right. There were the three women at his feet.

We came around a corner, and took in the beautiful view of the city below. The hard, sweaty climb was worth the beautiful view. Abby and I lingered for a while taking in the view, snapping pictures and chatting. We decided to check out the abbey. It was cute, I loved the doors. I have discovered that I have a thing for doors. I love them.

Day 11 June 8

I woke up, got ready for my day, and planned to go out. I thought of a couple things I could do. Got on my computer, checked my email, and saw Abby was still around. I asked her if she wanted to go out and do something. A few people had already disappeared for the day. Some had gone to various locations in Austria or Europe. Almost everyone stayed in Salzburg, though.

Abby and I took off planning to visit Mirabel gardens. It was part of one of the shots in the Sound of Music. The Gardens were much more beautiful than I thought they would be. There was a mini-maze made out of some sort of leafy shrubbery; a mini stage, complete with orchestra pit and seating. My favorite part was a little corner with little dwarf statues in a large circle. Each statue had tremendous characteristics. Abby and I took a long time taking pictures and posing with each statue.

We tried to find the trick gardens we read about in the guidebook I have, but we had walked pretty much everywhere, and could not find them. By the time we started to try to find them we were already pretty tired. We walked on and stopped at a little souvenir booth. Abby bought a couple items, but I did not find anything reasonably priced that looked good. I spotted signs to another tourist shop. After Abby was finished, we walked in and browsed the items. The store was just a small closet with a few stands outside. I bought a bag that said “Salzburg, Austria” with the Austrian flag and symbol. I had been trying to find something with the symbol and the flag. Now , I had something that had both the symbol and the flag. It started to rain as we walked out of the store and onto the street. We walked quickly the few yards to the bus stop and sat underneath the small shelter there.

We were starting to get hungry. I hadn’t had anything to eat, except perhaps a granola bar. So we decided to find a “Billa”—the most common grocery store—and buy ourselves dinner. Abby said she had spotted a fresh fruit market on the way to the Europark (the mall). We rode the bus and stopped there. I bought a nectarine and a large orange, total close to 1.50 Euros. Abby bought 2 nectarines for .99. I must have paid extra for the weight of the orange, it was rather large. We walked a few yards to the closest Billa. This one looked nice, but it did not have the best selection of food. The Interspar in the Europark is the best supermarket choice so far, even with the long ride out.

Last night the Bellarmine boys and I had planned to hang out, but I didn’t want to wait around all day for them to show me where we were going. By the time Abby and I had come back to the school they had already left. They left a note for me, though. Jimmy, Ben, and Michelle had all gone out together and left a note for everyone else to come join them. I got ready to go, and asked a few people downstairs if they were coming. It seemed no one really wanted to go “out” tonight. They had had enough last night. So I took off alone, not exactly sure where to find this building they were talking about. I read my guidebook intensely trying to imagine the author’s directions in my head. I did not know the city too well, and I believe it would be easier if I had been standing and looking at what he was talking about. I wrote the name of the place on my hand “Augustinerbrau.” It is a beer garden or something of the sort. I had a picture of a building we passed on a daily basis to get downtown, and wondered if that might not be it. As we drove by I looked at all the signs trying to find the name of the building. Finally, I spotted “Augustinerbrau” in large letters on the face of the building. “How on earth did I miss THAT all this time?” I had wondered to myself.

I found my little group, or rather they spotted me. They were sitting in the far back of the café-style area. I sat and chatted for awhile before deciding to buy myself a drink. I don’t really enjoy beer much, but I figured I’d need to do it for the experience. This was the famous Augustinerbrau after all! The following is how one goes about buying a drink:

Buy a ticket from the cashier, it costs about 2.50 Euros for a large ceramic mug (don’t ask me if it’s a pint or a liter or whatever…I don’t know liquid measure very well). Take the ticket to the dude who hands out the jars, rinse the jar at the little fountain, then take it to the pourer. He stands behind a counter, a large barrel of beer at his side. Give him a tip, and he will fill your mug properly. The suds poured from my cup as I took it back, grinning, and holding on to the heavy thing to keep it from slipping. The floor all around the area is sticky from all the beer previously spilt, no need to worry about making a mess.

After we sat and chatted, sipping our own cups of beer; we decided to head to a small kebab shop down the street. Ben said these kababs were made of entirely lamb, instead of beef and lamb—as most kebab shops make them. Mmmm! So delicious!

We headed back towards the beer garden to the bus stop. While waiting the 20 minutes I went back to the building to use the facilities. As I walked quickly back to catch the bus, a large group of the KIIS students were walking toward me coming to join our little group. They said they were heading to O’malleys. I told them I did not want to go tonight. So they walked back to the bus stop with me, talked to the rest of the gang, and then took off for our favorite hangout.

My group went back to the school and sat in a little park next door, eating our kebabs, and chatting some more. Michelle and Jimmy went back into the school so Michelle could make a call with her computer (she needed Jimmy’s mic). Ben and I stayed outside and talked deeply, about life and our respective childhoods. Ben is turning out to be another big brother; he’ll be a good one, and watches out for everyone on this trip.

Close to lock-up time we headed in and watched a movie in Ben and Jimmy’s room.

Day 4 (June 1)

I woke up very late, and was afraid I missed my first class meeting. Even though it was Sunday our classes were meeting for half an hour to go over syllabi for class. Something made me think we were all supposed to meet at 1pm to find out where our classes would be meeting. Digital Media didn’t meet until 2pm and choir was directly after at 2:30. In Digital Media those of us who did not already have Reason (a very complicated looking music-making program) installed. Before I had the program completely installed I had to run over to the student lounge in the little building to go to the choir meeting. In the choir meeting we only went over what would happen during the next few weeks. Dr. B also told us some of his traveling plans, such as visiting Dachau.

After we were all done with class meetings, I took my laptop to the library hoping to catch up on journaling and also figure out the new music programs on my computer. Reason is unreasonably complicated right now. There are so many buttons, and bleeps, and bloops. I decided it would be best to work on journaling… I was looking quite frustrated and overwhelmed I am sure. The few people on the computers in the library invited me to go with them to find dinner. I agree, since I missed both lunch and breakfast. I ran up to my room, and grabbed my little bag of “tourists essentials” my camera, sunglasses, my money purse, and an umbrella in case it rains. It is a drawstring bag to prevent pickpockets and it fits snuggly on my back.

We waited for the bus to arrive, and took off downtown. We got off at the first convenient-looking spot. There was a cute pizza place up the street so we decided to walk up there. On the way up we discovered a little alley with a Japanese and Chinese restaurant. They did not open for another hour and a half. So we continued up to the Italian Restaurant. When we got there we found out it did not open for another hour. We debated on what to do. We decided to keep walking down the street to see what other restaurants we could find. Everything was still closed since it was too early in the evening, about 5 or 6pm.

Finally, we decided we were in the mood for some Chinese. We backtracked to the Chinese place, only to realize that the street we were on connect almost directly to the street that had the restaurant on it. Those little alleys are so handy, but it was quite frustrating when we realized we spent so much time and energy to get back to where we had started. We walked a cute little shopping area (it was recommended in a guidebook I had read). A few people in the group got tired and sat down. I wanted to keep walking; to see what else there was along the way. So I told them I would walk back down the other way of the street (we had entered in the middle), and I would be back in a little bit. Apparently, they did not hear me because when I got back they were no longer there. I checked back at the Chinese restaurant and they were there. I figured they would be. It was refreshing to feel independent for a few minutes, and made me think about what it would be like when I did eventually start traveling solo during my future career. I started felling even more excited about this trip, and my future.

After a delicious Chinese buffet (MSG? or naturally wonderful?), we walked around the city. I showed them the pub I had gone to the night before, we walked across the river, and stopped in at a very hip-looking bar. Three of the people in the group ordered drinks since one of them had to use the restroom (it is very impolite to not order something or pay for a restroom, unless it is obvious the restrooms are free).

We walked around after that trying to find an ice cream shop that they had gone to the day before. It turned out to be the cute Habakuk Café! I got a scoop of ice cream for a Euro. It was homemade and well worth it. It was so delicious and soft! We walked up a very small super cute alley. It looked like it was partially residential. I would have loved to live there, but I’m sure it was expensive.

I came back and tried working on figuring out the music programs, and writing in my journal. I was so tired after all the walking around so I went to bed around 11 after talking with my mom.

Day 3 (May 31)

I woke up at 9 am, Salzburg time. A group of girls decided to go to the pool. It has been abnormally and unbearably hot, and the pool was a wonderful relaxer. Some of the KIIS group also went to validate their Eurorail passes (train tickets to get around Europe). I felt as if I was wasting valuable exploration time, but there was no way I could go off alone. However, we did end up exploring the city a bit. We walked around the city, trying to find a place to eat. We walked down a cute little alley (little alleys abound in Salzburg!), and found a nice little café—Habakuk. It was very hot inside, but it was cooler as we walked towards the back. I ordered something simple and inexpensive and “shtill vassa” (water without carbonation).

We finally took off to the pool. It costs 2.40 Euro, but it was more than worth it. We walked around the pool area; it seemed more like a mini-water park if anything. There was an Olympic sized diving/lap pool. People were swimming at the edges of the pool, only a few people were swimming laps. I didn’t swim for long, the water was really cold. I went to lie out in the sun with a couple of the other girls, but I remembered I did not bring a towel. I walked back over to ask some of my friends if I could borrow a towel. I suppose I should have specified that I wasn’t going to dry off with it, but wanted to use it as a blanket. Oh, well. I had to lie on the grass. It was quite uncomfortable and scratchy. I listened to my iPod as I lied in the sun. I quickly fell asleep, but woke up shivering lightly. The entire group of us were in the shade (the rest of the girls had joined us). We all got up around the same time, and decided it was time to go. Diana and Jessica (to girls returning to the Salzburg program) had been planning on taking the first-time girls out and showing us around. They decided this night would be a good time, if any.

We walked back to the school and prepared for a night out on the town. Our outfits were dressy, but casual. We took the bus downtown and hopped off near a cute little Italian family restaurant. We chose our own tables since the place was so small. All the other customers sat outside in the cooling evening air. The waiter was amazing, so gorgeous! I split a meal with a friend because everything was too expensive for my liking. It is a good thing, too—the half of the dish I had gotten was more than enough. It took us forever to finish eating and get the check. I was starting to get antsy, even. I think I like the European tradition of not bringing the check unless it is asked for.

After dinner was over we hopped back on the bus to the center of the city to find the rest of the KIIS group. They had told us they were going to be at an Irish pub, so we ducked into “The Shamrock,” it was loud and very smoky. It was obvious our group was not here. So we walked to the next one, and discovered them there. This pub looked much nicer anyway. We went to the bar in the back and asked for the menu. The bartenders here were twenty times cuter than our waiter we had earlier. I ordered a drink called “A Bed of Roses.” It was disgustingly sweet. I don’t think the guy even put any alcohol in the drink. I also ordered a pear cider beer, and a “Baby Guinness” throughout the night. Everything was so expensive. I did not care for the first two drinks a whole lot, but the Baby Guinness was actually quite delicious.

I had a few strangers come and talk with me. It was difficult communicating because their English was rough, and I do not know any German. Two guys invited us me and another girl to go to a Latin Club, but we said no, unless the rest of the group came. Nobody else wanted to go. My friend tried to pressure me, but I was firm. It would definitely not be a good idea. I saw here considering going alone. So the rest of the night I became extremely alert, worried that she would take off alone. Not long afterwards a few of us ended the night and took a cab home. I believe the driver took a longer route necessary, but I did not feel like saying anything. The total was almost 11 Euros, that’s basically 20 US dollars.

We were locked out, but one of the teachers with the other group sharing the building let us in after teasing us a little. I sat up and waited to make sure other people got back safely, I was mostly concerned for my roommate. The group slowly started trickling back to the school. Someone left the door propped open and sat on the steps to make sure everyone made it inside. My room is the only room located above the back door, the door we all use to enter and exit the building. So I sat on the window seat (one of my favorite spots!!!) and journaled as I watched people. Ashton walked in and told me the girls were going to have a little party in Madalyn and Jessica’s room. So we went there and hung out and talked. After a while we all came back to my room, I stood in the hall for a bit and talked with a few people out there. When I got back into the room the girls and the Bellarmine Boys were arguing. I became peacemaker and the boys apologized on their own accord, sincerely. I continued talking with them, and then the conversation started becoming a little deep, on purpose. So I ran down the steps and sat outside with them and talked for a bit. I love philosophical thinking! Ahhh…it was so refreshing to talk in that manner once more! We stayed up until 4am…what an exhausting eventful day!

Day 2 (May 30)

The sun is coming up way too soon. It has only been about six hours since the sun set. I hardly slept at all—maybe an hour or two. I am so listless. When is this plane going to land? I try sleeping some more, read my book, or watch whatever is on the over-aisle TV—Fraiser. Nothing seems to satisfy my boredom. I have traveled 14 hours in a car, but 9 hours in a plane is so much harder. There is nothing to make you feel like you are making progress when you are flying. There are no passing trees, no license plates to look at, and wonder why they are so far from home. There are only clouds, more clouds, and…more clouds. Once in a while I look out the window and look at the patterns that the clouds make. I play the game of finding shapes in the clouds like I have done so many times before on the ground. The view of clouds above seems so much more different, a sea of bumpy, puffy white.

The smell of coffee wafts from the back of the plane. Breakfast is coming soon; good, a diversion. The captain had visited us at the back of the plane before we took off from Atlanta. He had told us we would have breakfast over Ireland. We are much closer to our destination than I thought we would be. Breakfast is a tray with a bagel, a Nature Valley granola bar, a package with two wheat crackers, a banana, cheese spread, jelly, and orange juice. I was hungry, but not enough to eat everything. I did eat most of what was on the tray anyway, as I did not know what to expect after the plane ride.

I went back to my patterned listless behavior: read a chapter or two of my book, watch the TV for a few minutes, look out the window, repeat. Before I knew it we were instructed to buckle ourselves in; put our tables and seats in the forward and upright position. We descended slowly, too slowly for my aching body. The window and the book have traded positions now. I look out the window more often, and glance at my book on occasion. We finally descend into the clouds, gray and wispy. We remain there for about 10 minutes. The plane finally breaks out into the sunny atmosphere below. The farm country outside of Munich can be seen. I strain to see in front of the plane in search of the city. As far as I can see there are only fields with groups of housing peppered across patches of green and brown. An occasional tree line stood sentry over fields, but there was not city. We started getting closer and closer to the ground. Where was Munich? It looked as if we were landing in a field. We were landing in a field, a few strips of asphalt stretched across it.

In the airport there seemed to be only one gate for people entering the country. Two planes had just landed so we crowded into the small area between the end of the gate and the check point to enter the country. I finally found myself going through the counter gate and on to wait for my luggage. I stood staring at the passing luggage waiting to see the fluorescent green tag on my black canvas duffle bag. Many black canvas duffle bags passed by me, but none that looked like mine. I must have stood there for 20 minutes; the baggage became sparse. I started feeling a little worried I would have to survive a month on my little daypack with a change of clothing and a shampoo/conditioner set I had gotten from Boone Tavern my first night in Berea. Images of me in a worn black t-shirt and shaggy jeans flashed through my mind. Not in Europe, of all places! I thought. I was standing apart from the KIIS group, but now everyone had shifted away and there was a gap between us. I walked towards them, keeping a sharp eye on the conveyor belt for my bag. I expressed my worry in a single look with Abby. I looked back at the luggage spinning and thought I saw my bag. I squeezed my eyes tight, as if it would give me supervision. As it came closer I began to recognize it, but still looked for the fluorescent green tag. YES! It was there. I walked joyously to my bag and heaved it off the belt. Ahh…I began to wish once more I had wheels on this bag. Even though it was much less than the 50 pounds allowed, it was still too heavy to carry long distances. I managed, however, and got to the bus along with everyone else. Soon we were speeding down the highway on our way to Salzburg. At this point I figured staying awake would be in my best interest, but I could not keep my eyes open. Now that I felt the ground passing beneath me I felt a sudden urge to sleep. I tried recording some video of the passing countryside for my Digital Media class. All of the video was not satisfying enough for me. A horrible reflection on the window, and my shaky hands from the lack of sleep were contributions to a very “beginner-looking” movie. I fell asleep despite my efforts to stay awake. I am glad I slept, for the trip to Salzburg seemed a lot shorter than it could have been if I stayed awake.

We arrived in Salzburg in the early afternoon. OH, how I wanted to just fall in bed! There was no time to do so. We were all given enough time to get our stuff into our rooms, freshen up a bit, and sit and relax before we were made to walk the city. I had already felt like I was going to collapse, and now we were trekking all over the place. I was happy to be in a new place and recording my visit with video and pictures. I hoped to use the video I made for my digital media class. I got wonderful footage of a man playing one of those long Tibetan horns I had seen at a convo earlier in the year. His horn was much smaller though, and not telescopic. I tried getting some footage of a man playing a guitar in the middle of one of the wide-open squares, but there were too many people around me talking or walking in front of the camera. I was completely exhausted by the time we were done walking everywhere.

We were given enough time to freshen up again before walking to dinner. Dr. Anne told us there was a “milk festival” down the road from where we would be eating. Those who wished to attend would need to wear white to get into the festival. Despite my exhaustion, I donned a white shirt in case I decided to go. We had a traditional Austrian meal of Wiener schnitzel and shoe string fries. The restaurant was cute, but we sat outside in the shade of a few trees at little café-style tables. Conversation was tremendously minimal. We were all too tired to talk. A few of us started to nod, our sleepy heads almost falling onto our plates. After dinner, we all started to head back home. I decided I was way too tired to go do anything else. A small group of us took the scenic route back to the school: a road next to the lake which was filmed in the movie “The Sound of Music.” We looked across the lake at the large mansion that had also been in a few clips of the movie as well.

As soon as I arrived back to the school I climbed the 3 flights of stairs to my bedroom, put on some pajamas, and got in bed. My head barely settled onto the pillow before I was completely asleep. A few people came in and out of the room while I was sleeping. Almost everyone was up and running around looking at Salzburg. How on earth did they manage? I wanted to join them, but my weary body wouldn’t let me up. Sleep.