MY BROTHER AND SISTER ARE ALMOST HERE!

OKAY. So, Thursday I basically did nothing. I stepped on glass the night before and my feet were absolutely killing me, so I avoided walking as much as possible.

Friday I basically spent the entire day planning the itinerary for when my brother and sister and everyone comes over here.

Saturday I did one load of laundry. I thought I’d save money that way…but it was a pretty stupid idea. I forgot that I hadn’t washed one of my new black shirts yet, and so everything came out a darker shade than it went in. Lucky me.

That afternoon Gavin and I went into the city. We both got a kebab and Gavin needed to do some shoe shopping so I tagged along. That night there was a barbeque going on at Concordia, so around 10pm, I walked over there. THEN, everyone decided to go to the city, so back I went. We went to Havana Club and Die Burg, and then around 4 we caught a taxi home.

Sunday I got all of my stuff together for the trip. Then I talked to my mom and sister online till super late at night. Didn’t end up going to bed until after 5am!

Today I went to class, then ran to the hauptbanhof (main train station) to check on some tickets for our trip, came back, and packed everything up!

Tomorrow my train leaves at 11:35 pm, stops in Venice at 2:52 am, and then at 5:15 I get back on and make it to Treviso at 5:35 am. My plane doesn’t leave until 12:35 that afternoon, so I’ve got a good long seven hours to kill that morning. …hopefully there is a Starbucks in the area.

So, after getting on my plane, I’ll land in Frankfurt around 1:30 pm, find my hostel, do I don’t know what, go to bed, wake up, go to the airport, and PICK UP MY BROTHER AND SISTER!!!

FROM THERE, here is the itinerary that I’ve been working on for the past couple weeks:
(BY THE WAY, please don’t waste your time reading this. It’s more for my own knowledge. Just in case I happen to get lost somewhere, I’ll be able to get online and figure out where to go and how to get there!)

A General Euro Trip Guide

Wednesday, May 28
6:00 PM – Depart from Chicago.
Duration of flight is 7 hours; there is a 7 hour time change.

Thursday, May 29 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY DANE!)
8:00 AM – Land in London Heathrow airport.
9:50 AM – Depart from London Heathrow airport, terminal 2.
12:20 PM – Land in Frankfurt International Airport.
Andi will be there to pick you up and she is expecting a giant hug from each of you.
3:00 PM – Take a shuttle bus either from the Frankfurt Airport or from the main train station to the Frankfurt Hahn Airport. Bus will cost 12 euro per person. Duration of bus ride is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
If place of departure is Frankfurt Airport (departs at 3:15 PM): Bus-Station, Terminal 1, arrival area in front of hall B, bus-stop number 22.
If place of departure is Frankfurt Main Train Station (departs at 3:00 PM): Bus-Stop at Mannheimer Street. Bus-Stop is marked with a "RYANAIR/Bohr" sign. It is located on the south side of the main-train-station.
4:45 PM – Arrive at Frankfurt Hahn Airport. If we happen to miss the 3:00 shuttle bus, there is also one at 4:00. They depart every hour.
7:30 PM – Depart from Frankfurt Hahn Airport.
9:20 PM – Land in Girona Airport (Barcelona)
10:00 PM – Take the Barcelona Bus from Girona to Barcelona City Center. Bus will cost 12 euro per person for one-way, or 21 euro per person for two-way. Duration of bus ride is 1 hour and 10 minutes.
11:10 – The bus will drop us off at the Estacio d' Autobusos Barcelona Nord (Barcelona's main bus terminal) in Barcelona city centre. From there, we can either take the underground or a taxi to our hotel.
If we take the underground:
- The nearest underground station is the Arc de Triomf. It is a 5-10 minute walk from the bus stop.
- Get off at the Llucuna underground. Walk northwest on Carrer de la Ciutat de Granada for one block until you hit Carrer de Pallars. Turn right. Hotel will be at the end of the second block.
Express by Holiday Inn Barcelona
C/ Pallars 203
08019 Barcelona, Spain
Phone Number: 0034 934 863 991
Check-in is at 2:00 PM.
Abby reserved this hotel so she must be the person to check-in.

Friday, May 30
Spend the day in Barcelona.

Saturday, May 31
3:45 AM – Take shuttle bus from Estacio d' Autobusos Barcelona Nord to airport.
4:55 AM – Arrive at Girona Airport.
6:50 AM – Depart from Girona Airport (Barcelona).
8:35 AM – Arrive in Paris Beauvais Airport.
8:30 AM – Take a shuttle bus from Beauvais Airport into Paris. Bus will cost 13 euro per person. Duration of bus ride is 1 hour and 30 minutes.
10:00 AM – Bus will drop us off at the Porte Maillot (congress center).
If we take a bus to our hotel:
- Take line 62 or 132. Get off at the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand.
If we take the metro to our hotel:
- Get on line 14. Get off at the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand.
If we take the RER to our hotel:
- Get on line C. Get off at the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand.
n From Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand, walk southwest on Rue De Tolbiac to get to our hotel.
Paris Park and Suites Grande Bibliotheque
15, rue de Tolbiac, 75013 Paris
Phone Number: 0033 (0) 8 9268 3000
Check-in is at 2:30 PM.
Abby paid for this hotel so she must be the person to check-in.

Sunday, June 1
Spend the day in Paris.

Monday, June 2
Spend the day in Paris

Tuesday, June 3
6:43 AM – Depart from Paris Nord Station.
Duration of train ride is 2:15 hours.
7:58 AM – Arrive at London St. Pancras Station.
- Take the pink line to the Royal Oak station.
- When exiting Royal Oak, turn right and go under bridge. Hostel is next to the shell station.
London Torquay Hostel
1 Torquay Street
n Via Victoria:
- From the Victoria Station, take bus number 36. There are stops just before, or just after the shell station. Hostel is next to the shell station.

Wednesday, June 4
3:00 PM – Depart from London Victoria Station on the Gawick Express Train.
- Tickets are available at Gatwick Express office in London Victoria and Gatwick Airport. Train comes every 15 minutes.
- Discount prices are available for groups: Four or three adults pay for only two tickets when traveling together between London Victoria and Gawick Airport.
- One single adult ticket is 17.90 pounds for one-way. The entire group would only have to pay for three tickets. Total is 53.7 pounds, or 6 pounds per person.
Duration of train ride is 30 minutes.
3:30 PM – Arrive at Gatwick Airport.
5:00 PM – Depart from Gatwick Airport (London).
8:25 PM – Land in Ciampino Airport (Rome)
– Take shuttle bus into Rome OR take taxi directly to hotel (hotel is 12.4 miles away from the Ciampino Airport).
n If we take the shuttle bus:
9:00 PM (aprox) – Bus departs from Ciampino Airport
Duration of bus ride is 45 minutes. Cost is 5 or 6 euro per person.
9:45 PM – Bus will drop us off at the Roma Termini train station.
- From Termini, take the underground Line B to Tiburtina Station. They come every five minutes between 5:30 AM and 11:30 PM.
- From Tiburtina, take the Blue Bus Cotral to Palombara. This bus comes every 50 minutes. Get off at the Marco Simone area—the bus stop before S. Lucia of Mentana.
- Hotel is north of golf course; Via Pedica delle Ginestre intersects with Via Palombarese. The address of our hotel is:
Residenza Villa Maria
Via Pedica delle Ginestre 16, 00012 Marco Simone
Phone Number: 0039 (06) 80 77 492
Check-in is at 2:00 PM.
Abby paid for this hotel so she must be the one to check-in.

Thursday, June 5 – Spend the day in Rome OR Venice…it’s up in the air.
6:50 AM – Depart from Rome Termini train station.
Duration of train ride is 4 hours and 27 minutes.
11:17 AM – Arrive at the Venezia Santa Lucia train station.
6:36 PM – Depart from Venezia Santa Lucia train station
Duration of train ride is 4 hours and 32 minutes.
11:08 PM – Arrive at Roma Termini train station. Use directions above to get back to hotel.

Friday, June 6
Spend the day in Rome

Saturday, June 7
7:00 AM – Take bus or taxi to the Ciampino Airport. Bus departs from the Termini Station, so use the same directions we used to get to the hotel.
9:35 AM – Depart from Ciampino Airport.
11:40 AM – Arrive in Schonefeld Airport (Berlin)
- Take the train (either the RB14 or the RE7, 18 mins) or the S-Bahn (line S9, 25 mins) from the airport train station to the Ostbahnhof.
- Directly infront of the Ostbahnhof Station, the street Straße der Pariser Kommune begins. You just follow it crossing the square Franz-Mehring-Platz. Then you will find the Pegasus Hostel on the left hand side of the street in a bright yellow house with dark blue oriels. Please note that the Straße der Pariser Kommune continues after the Franz-Mehring-Platz.
Berlin Pegasus Hostel
Str. der Pariser Kommune 35
10243 Berlin, Germany
Phone Number: 0049 30 2977360
Check-in is at 2:00 PM.

Sunday, June 8
8:00 AM – Depart from Schonefeld Airport.
9:15 AM – Arrive at Hahn Airport (Frankfurt)
9:45 AM (aprox) – Take shuttle from airport and get dropped off at the Frankfurt Central Train Station.
- Take the bus line 37 in the direction of Gutleut/Briefzentrum. Get off the bus at the stop Johanna Kirchner-Altenheim. Our hotel on the right hand side. It is about a 10 minute bus ride.
Express by Holiday Inn Frankfurt-Messe
Gutleut Strasse 296
Frankfurt, 60327 Germany
Phone Number: 0049 69 506960
Check-in is at 2:00 PM.
Abby paid for this hotel so she must be the person to check-in.

Monday, June 9—Everyone except for Andi
5:00 AM – Take a train from the main train station to the Frankfurt International Airport. Trains run every 15 minutes and it is only a ten minute ride. Cost is 3.30 euro per person.
5:10 AM – Arrive at Frankfurt International Airport.
7:25 AM – Depart from Frankfurt International Airport.
8:10 AM – Land at London Heathrow airport.
11:15 AM – Depart from London Heathrow airport, terminal 3.
2:10 PM – Land at Chicago O’Hare Airport.

Monday June 9—Andi’s plan
5:00 AM – Go with the group to the Frankfurt Airport.
7:00 AM – Say goodbye to everyone L
7:15 AM – Take shuttle bus to Hahn Airport.
8:45 AM – Arrive at Hahn Airport.
10:50 AM – Depart from Hahn Airport (Frankfurt).
12:10 PM – Land in Treviso.
2:27 PM – Take train back to Klagenfurt
6:04 PM – Arrive at Klagenfurt train station.

I miss home :(

My pops mentioned that I haven’t updated my blog in a few days so here I go! BTW, I love you dad :) And mom, you know I love you too!

Friday was Kintali’s 21st birthday, so everyone celebrated with her that night. Christian came over for a bit as I was getting ready and then we walked over to Mozartheim together. There were so many people there! It was a lot of fun. After a couple hours, we went into the city and went to a couple bars. That was extremely fun too. I went home fairly early though—3am—cuz there was some creepy dude that kept bothering me. Even though he was aware that I don’t speak german, he never stopped trying to talk to me. I was sooo annoyed. So, I walked the entire way home. The fact that I walked is no big deal though. The big deal, is that I walked the entire way home BAREFOOT. I was wearing heels, but my feet hurt soo bad in them. I got home around 4, washed off my black feet, and went to bed.

Gavin and Kintali...or as they like to be called, Americaussie.
Gavin, June, Louis, Me, and Brian (another guy that goes to northern iowa)

Rachael (the texan), and me

Me, Einman, and I have no clue how to spell the other guys name so I won't even try.
The next day, I woke up around 2, and at 4 a girl from one of my classes came over. We had to give a presentation on Monday, so we worked on that for a bit. She left around seven. Then, that night two girls that studied here last year were visiting Clemens, Christian, and Hannes, so I hung out with them in the TV room for a while. They all went to the bars around 1, but I wasn’t really in the mood so I stayed home.

On Sunday, I don’t think I did anything exciting. I went to bed super late though because of course, I procrastinated with my presentation. I woke up early the next morning, after 3 hours of sleep, and finished working on it. Lisa came over at 10 am, and we got everything finished up, and ran through what we were going to say. Then at noon, we went to our Native American class and gave a presentation about The Bureau of Indian Affairs. Not my favorite topic. It went well though.

Monday and Tuesday were basically just boring days. It rained all day and night, so I couldn’t really lay out in the sun. Oh wait, actually, I dyed my hair on one of those days. All by myself. Sorry dad, I know you want it to be natural again, but the roots were so horrible looking.

Last night was yet another UniParty. Beforehand, I went to Mozartheim and watched Manchester United beat Chelsea in a shoot-out! Then, headed over to Concordia. Derek had two more of his Italian friends visit, so there was a bunch of people hanging out with them. Around 1 or so, we all went to the uniparty. Once again, I took my shoes off when I was dancing, but this time ended up stepping on some glass. Stupid me. I went home around 4 or 5, and woke up today around 2. Basically, I spent the day trying to pick the glass out of my feet. I can barely even walk. It’s miserable.
Christian, me, and Stephan in Concordia.
Tonight I am 100 percent homesick. I’d pretty much give anything to fly back home right now. I think I’m regretting signing up for this China thing. If I wouldn’t have, I’d be on my way home in a month and a half. That sounds so luxurious.

I forgot to mention, I’ve been living off of potatoes for the past four days. Today I tried to mix it up, and made some homemade baked lays. Believe me, they tasted nothing like the real thing. Tomorrow I’m going to the grocery store.

OH, and these are the pics from when alberto took me to that tower thing last week. Look at how beautiful my lake is!

This whole thing is entirely too random. Sorry about that.

I can't sleep so I thought I'd blog. I taught my business class yesterday...it went pretty well, but I don't think I want to be a teacher for the rest of my life and I'm very happy that I didn't go to school for that.

I have one thing I'd like to brag about real quick...haha. Two days ago I knocked 31 seconds off of my fastest time from my normal running route. THEN, today I knocked ANOTHER 32 seconds off of that time! So, in four days, I am a full minute faster! Boston, here I come! Hehe, I wish :)

Tomorrow is the day that I would be moving into my new house in Cedar Falls if I were back home. That is pretty depressing to think about. I wish I could be there for that.

My parents brought tuna helper for me when they visited in April. Tonight I decided I couldn't wait any longer and I made it. AND, surprise surprise, I hate the entire thing. At first, I controlled myself, and put half of it in the fridge right away. But, as soon as I finished the other half...I got up, walked straight to the fridge (luckily it wasn't cold yet) and ate the rest. Self-control and I haven't been getting along very well lately.

Oh, another depressing thing...my whole family--and even my grandma--was at my house today getting ready for Dane's graduation party. Too many important events are going on and I have to miss them. Ugh. Oh yeah, and they will be serving BBQ pork sandwiches...one of my favorites.

On Monday Alberto came into my room and said, "I have a surprise." So, even though I had a ton of work to do, I went. He drove me to the other side of the lake and took me to this tower that is like 3000 feet high. Literally. We went to the top and you could see for MILES. It was gorgeous. The tower was so small though...only made for this purpose. There were probably 7 other people at the top...and not many more people would have fit.

Afterwards we went to this super fancy hotel and sat at this restaurant on the lake and drank an Almduler (this austrian soda that is AMAZING). Then we went back.

Wednesday morning I was trying to finish prepping for my business class when all of a sudden the cleaning lady walks in. There I am, sitting on my bed in my bra and underwear. Talk about embarrassing. So she begins cleaning the bathroom, and I put some pjs on. Any other day I would have left the room for a bit, but I had to finish this business thing. I told her she didn't have to clean today, but she insisted, so I just stayed and did my own thing. Not even ten minutes later, 3 other people walk into the room to do I don't even know what. They put like barcode labels on every piece of furniture in my room. Talk about awkward. I hadn't even brushed my teeth.

Today I laid out for 3 hours and then came home and an hour later emptied that box of tuna helper, went for my run, talked on skype to ten thousand people, and here I am. I think I can't sleep cuz I just watched a very intense episode of Lost and now I'm a bit scared. I think I'm just going to have to watch one more and hope that the next one ends on a more cheerful note.

Its already 2:45 am. Good thing all I have to do tomorrow is get a tan.

If it isn't already obvious that I miss you all and wish I was back home with everyone, I'll make it a bit more clear--I miss you all and wish I was back home with everyone.

Love Love Love,

Andi

Wien, Blabi's, and That's About It.

On Monday last week, Natalie, Clemens (Hannes just told me I've been spelling his name wrong!), Daniel, and Christoph all watched A Clockwork Orange. It was an incredibly stupid movie. Afterwards, I cooked a midnight snack for everyone--pancakes! Clemens and Christoph had never had syrup before. They were disgusted that 26% of it was sugar. Haha.

Tuesday night, Christian and this kid named Stephan came over. I cooked skillets for the two of them. I even cut the hashbrowns myself. It took aproximately 10 hours, but they were delicious! A bunch of people got home from the bars and joined us in the kitchen, and then we all went into the tv room and watched Apocolypto--with only Deutsch subtitles. I fell asleep after five minutes.

On Wendesday, Natalie and I spent the night packing and getting ready for the weekend. Then Christian called and said he wanted to come over or go out or something. We told him we couldn't go out cuz we had to be up early in the morning...so instead, we all went to the uni pizzeria around 9 and ate some pizza. Afterwards, he came over for a bit....lol, and then we were bored just sitting around, and so I forced him to let me put makeup on him. hahaha...that was interesting.
Pucker up :)
I guess I went a little extreme with the makeup.
On Thursday, Natalie and I caught our train at 8:48 to go to Vienna. We had to go in order to get our Chinese Visas. We had an empty room to ourselves on the train, so we each sprawled out across three of our own seats and took a relaxing two hour nap. We got off the train around 1:30 and headed towards the Chinese Embasy. We finally get there, just to find out that it's closed on Thursdays. It's only open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. We were pretty mad. So, we went all the way across town and found our hostel, dropped off our things, and then went shopping down the main road in Vienna. I was in no mood to shop. Everything was incredibly expensive too...so basically I just window shopped for about 4 hours.

After all the stores closed, we went and got dinner at KFC. ....fyi, it's nowhere near as good as American KFC. First of all, NO BISCUITS! That's the whole reason for going to KFC. And secondly, no mac and cheese....my favorite.

Anyway, after dinner, we went back to our hostel and Natalie cut my hair in the bathroom. I haven't had my hair cut since December, so it was well needed. She did a good job :)

The next morning, we went straight to the Embasy and got our visas. Luckily we could do it all in one day--you just have to pay an extra 33 euros. But, it was worth it, otherwise I'd have to pay for another train ticket to come back to Vienna in a week to pick it up.

After we had our visas, we went and toured Vienna. Everyone I'd talked to said Vienna is one of their favorite places in all of Europe. But, honestly, it was my least favorite. There is nothing to see. I was bored walking around. Eventually, Natalie and I didn't know what else to do...and our trian didn't leave until 6:30 at night, so we just bought a little tub of icecream from a supermarket and sat in a park and ate the entire thing.
In the midddle of Vienna
At the park where we devoured our icecream.

I loved this....it's an actual working clock.
AMAZING singer.
...he was going for a good minute before I started recording.
At 6:30 we got on a train and went to a town just outside of Salzburg where our friend Blabi lives. He picked us up at the train station around 9, and then we went to his house. We watched the movie Ghost (Nat and I had never seen it) and then went to bed.

The next morning we went grocery shopping with Blabi's mom. She was so cute. She spoke no English...so we had a fun time trying to communicate with the very little German that we knew. She cooked us some real, homemade schnitzel for lunch when we got back. It was AMAZING. By far the best I've had since I've been here.

After lunch, we went hiking with Blabi and his cousin. It was so fun. We went to the very top of the mountain....about a two hour journey. Then we all sat down and ate some candy and strawberries and just enjoyed the view.
Apparently they have something like this on every mountain top here.
A couple of the wild mountain goats we saw.
Me, Christian, and Nat at a park on top of the mountain.
Nat, me, and Blabi.
Later that night, several of Blabi's friends came over and we all went to this huge party. There were several bands playing, and it was just amazingly fun. AND GET THIS! I was standing around with this baseball team, and this one Australian guy started talking to me and asked me where I was from. I told him Iowa and he asked where at in Iowa. I was pretty general and just said central...I knew he'd never know where Colo was. Then, he's like, "well I went to school at Iowa Central for two years!" HOW WEIRD! So, of course he said he'd partied on the hill at UNI, and been to Ames, and all that.
Nat, Blabi's mom, and I before going out.
The whole gang at the party.
Anyway, we went home around 3 am. The next morning, we caught our 10 am train. Natalie went to Munich though, and I went back to Klagenfurt. Nat is meeting a friend in Munich, and then flying back to the states on the 16th.

So, I got home sunday, did nothing, and then Christian called and was bored. So, him and Stefan came over. We hung out in the room, and then went to the TV room for a bit and there were a bunch of people in there so we just talked with everyone. At one point everyone started talking in German to eachother, and of course, since I couldn't understand a thing, I fell asleep. They woke me up when everyone was leaving and I went to bed.

Yesterday (Monday), I worked on my business lesson plan.....it's going okay, but I'm still not done. I also managed to squeeze in a good three episodes of Lost, went for a run, and then surprise, Christian was knocking at my door! Haha, he was bored again, so him Stephan, Clemens, and I all went and watched TV for a bit. But, watching Saw 2 in Deutsch wasn't really my thing, so I left and went to bed early.

This morning I woke up sick. I had a horrible night of sleep. Anyway, today I'm just gonna work on my lesson plan, and sleep as much as possible so that I'm better for class in the morning.

Only 16 days till my brother and sister are here!!!!

teaching ALREADY!

I'm not sure if I have talked about the business class that I am taking over here or not. But, it is a business class for german students that are learning english. The only reason I'm taking it is to get some ideas or lesson plans for when I begin teaching in China. I talked to the professor about it before the semester and she thought it was a great idea. So anyway, it's time for the mid-term exam. I didn't think it would be right for me to take it...and didn't want to be unfair to the rest of the class, so I asked my professor if there was something else I could do to make up for the points on the mid-term. And she suggested I get a head start on teaching, and teach the next lesson! She wants the topic to be either "Business in America," or "Buisnees in China," or both. Oh my gosh! I am so excited! But soooo scared! I'll be teaching next wednesday. My class is about 30 or 40 students.

Normally our professor has us doing lots of fun activities. Like getting in groups...or I don't know, we're just always walking around the room doing something different. So, I would like to do some sort of fun activity and not just have me stand in front of the room and talk by myself. If anyone has any suggestions at all, they would be GREATLY appreciated.

All the students speak great English, but they've been working on random things like...how to write with more formal English words that would be used on resumes, or emails, etc. But, like I said, she wants it to be a culturally based lesson. Alright, now throw me your ideas! :) ....you can always comment on this blog if you don't feel like going through the trouble of sending me an email. Thanks everyone, love you!

My Weekend in Croatia.

Soo...Croatia. I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning....like at 6:30. Then I went to the Austrian version of Sam's club and got a few things--including the biggest bag of gummy bears I've ever seen. Then, I came home, finished packing, and then all of us met at the train station around 10:30. Our train didn't leave until 11:13, so I got a sandwich and then we took off for Zagreb, Croatia (the capital city). It was about a 5 and a half hour ride, so luckily we were all able to be in the same cabin.

The whole gang in Villach (our first train stop). Natalie, Gavin, Kintali, Christian, Me, and Louis.

We got to Croatia around 4:30, and then since I was the only one to look up directions to the hostel, I was responsible for getting everyone there--which is quite the task for a directionally-challenged person, but luckily we made it without any problems.

It was an adorable hostel. The six of us had a room and bathroom to ourselves...which was absolutely amazing. It was all very modern looking and overall, I'd say was the best hostel I've stayed in yet. Anyway, we dropped off our things, and then went off to get some kuna (croatian money) and some dinner.

First of all, the money there is ridiculous. It's called Kuna, and 60 euro is equal to more than 400 kuna. Anyway, we all took out some Kuna, and then found a cute pizza place to eat at. The menu was entirely croatian. None of us spoke the language. Luckily there was a pizza called "Mexico," so assuming it was a taco pizza, I ordered that. It ended up being a ham pizza with a very large amount of sour cream on top. Different, but good. The bill for just my dinner was 59 kuna. It just seems weird to say that. ....my sprite was 12 kuna to put it in better perspective. We decided everything is about 7 times the euro. Talk about inflation.

I felt pretty dang rich with my new kuna money.

Afterwards we went to the grocery store and bought some chips and beer for the night. We heard the nightlife in Croatia is the best in all of Europe, so we thought we'd better see for ourselves :)

When we got to the hostel, we went to the lounge and ended up meeting a kid from New Zealand, so we invited him to go out with us. The seven of us hung out in the lounge for a few hours. We had such a good time. Louis is in a band, and is also a solo artist, and there just happened to be a guitar in the lounge for everyone to play, so we enjoyed listening to him for a while.

Tom, me, and Louis in the lounge.

Louis is so talented! This is my favorite song by him.

A little after midnight we walked to the clubs. We ended up going to about 4. HAHA, Natalie spent 100 kuna at the bar. I only spent 21 kuna (one drink). Even though I knew it was only 3 euro, just hearing 21 scared me so I stopped after that. We left around 4:30 am and caught a taxi home--73 kuna--and then we all went to bed.

The first bar we were at

The bartenders dressed up as cops.

We were all up by ten am the next morning. ....we showered and left the hostel around 11:30. Tom came with us again. It's a good thing he did cuz he actually kinda knew where he was going. We ate lunch at a chinese restaurant. We all ordered way too much food. The portions were huge, and not a single one of us finished. Afterwards we walked, and walked, and walked. There was a flea market going on, so we looked around there, and then continued walking. We went to the old town and just walked around. Before heading back to the train station we sat at some random bar and had a drink.

At the flea market.

Some random rooftop that I was pretty impressed with.

Us.

Nat, me, and Croatia.

The gang.

A few of us got hamburgers and kebabs, and then we picked up our bags from the hostel, and caught our 6:50 train back to Klagenfurt. The train was packed so all of us were split up. We had to change in Villach, and our next one was quite empty so we were all back together again. Then, we caught taxis back to our dorm and that was it.

The seven of us on the tram to the station.

Basically, I loved it. It was such a fun group of people. I never stopped laughing. And, I saved myself from being deported from the country...so that in itself is a success.

Happy May!

So, as most of you probably know, if you stay in another country for more than 3 months at a time, you need to get a visa. Well, I'm going to be here for 5 months, and never got one. I thought I could just slip by without one. But today marks day 1 of me being an illegal Austrian resident.

Natalie is in the same position as me, but she is going home in 15 days for her sister's graduation, so we assume she'll be okay. But, this past week, I started to get a little bit nervous about my situation. So, I went and talked to the study abroad office over here. My only option--leave the country and come back. Then the 3 months thing starts all over. My only problem--I can't just go to any country I want. It has to be one that is not in the European Union. And well...CROATIA HERE I COME! Haha. So yup, that's what I'm doing this weekend. I was able to talk Gavin, Louis, and Christian into going with Natalie and I. We leave tomorrow morning and are coming back sometime on Sunday. This morning I went and un-registered with the police..and when I get back I just have to re-register. So, it's not really all that difficult.

Anyway...some other news--only 26 more days until I have more visitors coming! My brother, sister, chandler, chad, adam bell, grant robinson, jamie olson, and andy are all coming to visit and we're going on a ten day euro trip! I am sooo excited! They are all flying into Frankfurt, and I'll be waiting there to pick them up at the airport. The only thing is, the flight that I got leaves from Venice on the 28th (they land the 29th) and the only way I'll make my flight on time, is by catching a train to venice on the 27th. Which means I have to stay by myself at a hostel in Venice on the 27th, and by myself in Frankfurt on the 28th. I'm gonna be quite lonely for two days. But, it's okay....definitely well worth it. I miss my brother and sister so much!

Alright...a recap on my last week. The only exciting thing is...

Wednesday night Christian, Clemmons, Nat, and I sat in the TV room and watched episodes of South Park and American Dad. In German.

Thursday I don't remember what I did. Apparently nothing too cool.

Friday during the day Natalie, Gavin, and I went shopping in the city. I got a pair of heels for only 20 euro!

Friday night a bunch of the exchange students--like 10 of us--went to the city. It was incredibly fun. Once again, everyone wanted to leave--except for me--so I ended up staying till about 5 am with Hannes (my neighbor) and Daniel (an Austrian that I probably haven't mentioned before). Then we got back here, sat around in the kitchen for a while, met up with markus and another neighbor kid, and went to the lake at 6am to watch the sunrise. Sounds corny I know, but it was fun. I didn't go to bed until about 7:30 am.

Rachael, Kintali, Villy, and Natalie.
Me and Hannes after everyone else left!

Me and Daniel at the lake.
Me and Markus decided to test out the water...let me tell you...it was FREEZING.

Saturday night, Louis, Gavin, Alex, Nat, and I all went out to a club called Stereo for Reggae night. I personally thought it was kinda boring, but everyone else seemed to like it. We ended up going home around 2.

Alex (from Romania and Rachael's boyfriend), Louis, and Gavin.

On Sunday, Gavin, Derek, Natalie, and I all went on a walk around the lake. We were gone for a good 3 hours. It was sooo nice out! We ended up sitting at an outside bar and then found a dock and just laid around and talked for a good hour. On our way back, we heard really loud music, so we went and checked it out. There was some sort of carnival going on with a few rides and a beer garden and a band. Pretty cool, but we weren't in the mood to hang out there, so we just stayed for a couple minutes and then kept walking home.

Nat at the bar during our Sunday stroll.

Sunday night the four of us and Louis all went to the Schnitzelwelt again for a late dinner.

Monday was boring. I went to class, came back, did homework, and went for late night run.

On Tuesday I went for another late night run and afterwards went to the Mozartheim party. Pretty fun...but they are starting to get a bit old. It's the same thing every Tuesday night.

Gavin, me, and Niamh at Mozartheim.

Wedensday afternoon, I went and got a Kebab with Gavin and Louis, and then we went to the train station to look up train prices for our Croatia trip. Then I went to class and then came home. Wednesday night there was another UniParty. We didn't go until after midnight, and stayed until 3:30 or 4. Derek had two of his Italian friends come visit, so he brought them along and we got a chance to meet them--Giovani and Mikki.

Louis during our adventure to the train station.

At the UniParty--this is the Christian that's going to Croatia with me.

Thursday I did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Since I can't watch any tv here, I've started to watch a few things on-line. Since my parents and sister are obsessed with Lost, I decided to try it out. It is amazing. In the past week I've watched the entire first season. Yup, you can call me obsessed. I went to bed at 8 pm, and slept until 10:30 this morning. Call me lazy, I know.