What language do I speak again?

Monday-Thursday was pretty normal! We just taught our lessons and observed in classrooms!

I was able to observe in the music class! Which is not like music class in America! Most of the children play the recorder, a couple play guitar, one drums (but the drum is a cardboard box) and the teacher plays the keyboard. It was really interesting to observe in this class. At the end the teacher even taught us to play the guitar and the drums with the class! It was so much fun and the kids LOVED us being in there with them! I absolutely love being part of this school’s environment.

On Wednesday we had play practice and it was so much fun! I am teaching all the kids the dances they need to know, and they pick it up pretty well! It has been so much fun getting to know the students outside of the classroom! They are really great!

The lower level classes were testing on Thursday, so the class I was supposed to teach got cancelled, so I just observed in other classes and helped to plan the play.

 Then Thursday night came and three friends and I hopped on an overnight train  from Florence to Vienna, Austria. It was so much fun! I loved being able to experience it and even though we were in close quarters, I still had a blast and was just pretending I was on a harry potter train! It was so great! And I actually did get a pretty good night’s sleep!

 Friday morning we woke up in Austria…pretty sweet! And we were trying to find our way to the hostel, but of course it was raining and cold. We finally found our way after being pretty lost! Then we went to tour a castle, which was absolutely beautiful! So great! It was still raining outside so that was kind of a bummer, but we just kept walking and getting lost and asking for directions. Luckily so many people speak English here. It is great, because German is so hard to understand! It was about 2:30 and we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we were getting pretty cranky, so we decided to stop for lunch and we ordered some Huhnerschnitzel. I was actually really great!! After lunch we went shopping at H&M (duh!), and then just roamed around the city center! It was a very fun evening and we even decided to go to the Opera that night! It was so fun!! We bailed after act one because we were standing to watch it and our feet hurt so bad, but we didn’t feel too bad because we only paid 4 Euros to see it! It was great! We ate dinner and then went back to the hostel!

Saturday: We woke up and were headed to tour another castle, but the train station was having technical difficulties, so we were like “uhhh what do we do??” Luckily an angel from God appeared, in the form of a very nice man who spoke English, and he was heading the same direction as us! He told us exactly where to go and gave us other ideas of places to go see and where to eat, etc. It was amazing and I was so thankful to have bumped into him! (Thanks God! You’re great!) Anyways we had a very busy, but fun filled day of touring and shopping and chilling in parks! It was very cold, but I bundled up so I was just fine!  We took lots of great pictures and had a blast exploring Vienna together!

Today we woke up and went back to the first castle, Schronbrunn Palace (sp?), to take pictures since it was raining the first day and it was beautiful! It even started SNOWING while we were in the Gardens! It was truly spectacular! I loved it so much!

Now we are on the train to Salzburg, and with our Eurail passes we were able to get first class reservations! It is amazing! Caroline keeps telling me to be careful because “Luxury sampled soon becomes necessity.” I know that is true, but duh I will live up this first class train ride!

We arrived in Salzburg and found our hostel pretty easily, which was a relief since in Vienna it was a bit more challenging. We checked into our hostel (which is basically a four star hotel—again with the luxury thing…I’m getting spoiled!!) and then took the Rick Steve’s walking tour of Old Town Salzburg! It was so great! It’s such a cute little town with so much to see! It is much more “do-able” than Vienna, which made us a lot more as ease! So many things are out for Easter, it’s really cute!

I am looking forward to the Sound of Music tour tomorrow! We even watched the movie last night to prepare ourselves for it! So excited to see Salzburg and all the excitement that comes with it!

Please keep me and my friends in your prayers as we travel literally around Europe! It is a very exciting time for all of us, but it is a little nerve-racking to be in a foreign country all by ourselves! We are having a blast and soaking up every minute of it though!

Also I don’t know if anyone is counting, but I have been in Italy for 3 weeks now! I can’t believe it has been that long! It is going by way to fast, but I am also starting to miss friends and family back home! Pray that the homesick feeling goes away, and that I enjoy the time I have here because it is truly flying by!

Love each and every one of you! Thanks for reading!