Munchen Deutschland

9 April:
Packed all day, spent time at the lake and got ready for my adventure! On the train to Munich now!

The second I got off the train.. What do I see on my right hand side? Heaven. Nearly. 

Venit Iced Soy Chai Tea Latte

What a great welcome to Deutschland! 

Shortly after I met my couchsurfing host; Detelin! Wasn't sure exactly how my first couch surfing experience would go, but I was willing to try. I haven't heard a bad thing about it yet! 

Detelin's Place

So about ten minutes after meeting him, I knew this was going to be a blast!

Making dinner

Had a delicous dinner. I told him that I'm a vegetarian, but I eat chicken" He found this hilarious!

But get this, his salt and pepper shakers are basically flashlights!! You push a button on top, a light comes on at the bottom and it grinds the salt/pepper. Insane!

After dinner we went and explored Munich at night. Walked around. Had a drink at a bar and got to know each other better. Once back, we looked up places for me to travel to next. So many options!

10 April:
Explored so much of the city!! Had a blast! Laughed a lot. Took videos, photos, explored explored explored!

Marienplatz

People surf here all the time!

She loved me

Two extremely delicious snacks!

We then decided to take a trip with the Underground over to Olympia park. We entertained ourselves! 

Fight in the subway!

We made it to Olympia Park where the Summer Olympics were in Munich in 1972. They are currently trying to get the Winter Olympics for 2018 which will be decided in July! 

Olympia Turer

 

Where concerts are now held!

BMW Welt

At the top!

View of Munich

After viewing Munich from the top, we then went to BMW world. Insane! Don't tell anyone, but I won a free car.

This one in particular!

We then decided to go to a lake outside Munich! Starnberger See. How did we get there? On the autobahn!  One of many things I've wanted to do on my life! 218kmh... About 140 mph. So fun! 

Starnberger See

Had authentic Italian gelato! 

Detelin's Auto

Returned home and made dinner: chicken soup, salad! 

Researched a bit more and booked my next trip: Faro Portugal! Couchsurfing again! Manager of a hotel is going to host me! Can't wait! 

 Downloaded iLife '11 and Microsoft '11! My new saying is: "Danke Shen once again!"

11 April:
Walked around and explored on my own. Bought an amazing shirt!

Had lunch. Explored. Found another Starbucks. They don't know what skinny means when you order a drink. If anything, my drink had more caramel syrup than anything else, delicious nonetheless. Ate my box of strawberries and sat with some German ladies and enjoyed the sun. 

Skyped with mom again. Trying to plan our European adventure together! Too many options!

Anyhow on the U back to meet up with Detelin. He had to work today, but we are going geocaching! I told him about it. And two minutes later he bought the ap on his iPhone!

We found 2/2 caches!

 Returned home and became a true german, take a look! 

Trachten

CouchSurfing in Deutschland... literally!

 Last night in Munich, but I will definitely be back! How can I not like a city with an underground and Starbucks? And the most amazing host ever. Exceeded my expectations to say the least!

A lot of the day in Munich tomorrow, and then in the afternoon I will take a train out of the city to catch my flight to Faro, Portugal! Another exciting adventure ahead of me!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!

April 6: 

Happy Birthday Kyle and Megan!! Or in german "Alles gute zum Geburstag! I had class in the morning and was excited for our surprise party for Megan that night! I didn't talk to Megan all day in fear or ruining the surprise! Turns out I was the one to get her to the party and had to tell her I was just on the bus and would meet her outside. I had been at the party for nearly two hours before this! She called me and I had to choose the right words to say! I'm horrible at lying and thought I would mess up the surprise! She didn't suspect anything and it was without a doubt a success! 

Birthday Girl!

Delicious cake!

Great friends!

Johanna!!!

After delicious cake and a good time, we all went out to a few bars to celebrate. Mustache. La Copa. Aftershave. Jenna and I were the last of the bunch, had a great time. Definitely a night to remember. Met a lot of new people!

At Mustache

Jenna and I at the La Copa!

April 7: 

Happy Birthday Kaleb!! My nephew turned one today! Got to skype with him which was great. He's so much more interactive now!

Went to lake all day despite very little sleep! Stayed there for quite some time. Enjoyed the beautiful weather. This was the hottest April 7th Innsbruck has ever had; 82 degrees! Glad I took advantage of it!

April 8: 

Started planning my trip today and then decided to go running which turned into hiking with Nathan!  

Glad I finally went hiking!! Have been wanting to since being here, will definitely be doing this A LOT this summer. 

Overlooking Innsbruck

 After hiking for awhile, we made it to a restaurant up on the mountain. Had a bit of food and then continued our back down!

The Restaurant

Our Snack: Berry Juice, Salad, and Apple Strudel!

Making our way back down the mountain

After returning home, I finalized part of my plans for my trip! I'm going to Munich tomorrow for a few nights. Guranenteed to find a Starbucks! I will be couchsurfing which I'm really looking forward to! If you aren't familiar with couchsurfing, check out this link.

 Find out what Couchsurfing is! 

After Munich, not sure where I will going which is exciting! But possibly going down to  Zurich, Switzerland where someone else will host me. Who knows which city I'll head to! Looking forward to quite an adventure! 

Baggersee

3 April:

Well after an exhausting Saturday, a relaxing Sunday was definitely in the plans. I slept in, make some breakfast and rode my bike to lake Baggersee just 5 minutes from my flat. Managed to see a lot of people I knew from school with the same plans!

LakeBaggersee

 We hung out there, learned german, played cards, relaxed, enjoyed the day.

 Will definitely be spending a lot of time here this summer! I didn’t touch the water, but not many were in it so I’m assuming it was rather cold! Bet it will be refreshing in the summer though!

Enjoying the sun with snow on the mountains!

 Oh and someone was paddle boarding most of the day Kat! Wish it was you!!

I swear everyday I like something more and more about Innsbruck. So many things amaze me.


4 April:

Started another new class, International Tourism Management. We are focusing on Crisis Management which is rather interesting. After class had a productive night with school work and made a late dinner. 


5 April:

Another day of class today and then tomorrow is my last class before my big break! Who knows where I’ll end up going! Looking forward to traveling more though! I will do everything possible to find a Starbucks though!

Frühlingslauf Innsbruck

1 April:

Well today didn’t start off good, even though it was a Friday! Rode my bike to school, typical day right? NO! Half way to school, I have to cross this intersection that is very unique to say the least. Did I make it successfully across the intersection? Nein!! A car managed to bump my bike and made me wreck in the middle of the crosswalk! Apparently Austrians don’t know how to drive… well I guess they can drive just not see!!! Thankfully I wasn’t hurt badly or anything like that, it was just a big shock. Had me all shook up for the first few hours of class though.

Guess you should have read what day this post was from! April Fools!! 

I actually made it to class just fine, had a productive day in class and found out some great information. My first visitors have booked their flights to Austria!! Extremely extremely excited to have family here and show them around! My mom and Aunt will be coming in the middle of May for ten days!! Haven’t finalized any plans yet, but we will spend a few days in Innsbruck and travel around Europe some! Very much looking forward to this! And what’s even more exciting? They have never been to Europe before! They don’t know what they are missing!

 And to make my day even better, even though a Friday is good enough in itself, I got my first package in the mail!!! When I was opening it you would think there was a million dollars in it, dumped out everything on my bed! Cliff Bars, granola bars, photos, and Easter candy galore!!! Love you Mom!!

 After all the excitement, I made dinner with friends. We had lots of delicious pasta with veggies. Loaded up on my carbs for my race! Got a good nights rest for my big race the next day!

2 April:

Woke up feeling well rested for my Half Marathon!! Pierre from France and Thomas from Austria both ran the race for me (Half Marathon Virgins!).

Posters I've seen all over town for the race!

Race Map

So this map probably doesn't mean much to you if you aren't familiar with Innsbruck, but let's just say I ended up running from the middle of town (Mark Platz) all the way back to my apartment, turned around, and ran the entire distance of town, past the airport, finally turned around, and then ran back to the finish line in the center center! Wow!

Had the most perfect weather for a race! 24 degrees! 

Everyone doing a warmup!

About to start the race!

And it begins!

Can you find me? Hint... Look to the right. Wearing my sunnies!

And off to run 21.1k!

Had a great time running the race. Stefan managed to find Pierre and I running along the course. He rode his bike alongside us for awhile which was awesome! Our personal trainer! My favorite part of the race is still the water breaks where you continue to run, grab your cup, drink the water like you've never had water before, and then throw the cup on the ground and continue running! 

Ran along the river most of the way, saw parks and everyone enjoying the beautiful weather. People were just sitting along the river, playing guitars, reading books, relaxing, soaking up the sun. And here I was running 13.1 miles. What's wrong with me?

Pierre and I stuck together for nearly all of the race until the last 5k, he was hurting a bit and told me to continue on. Managed to finish the race in 1:49 which I was proud of. My goal was two hours; goal accomplished! 

After the race!

After the race and a much needed shower, I went out to a typical Tryolean dinner with Thomas and Johanna.

Going to the lake tomorrow! Such a perfect weather weekend!

Life's a mountain, not a beach

30 March:
As part of my Alpine Tourism class at MCI, we went on an excursion to St. Anton, a very popular and expensive ski destination over an hour outside of Innsbruck.  We toured the village.

Took a ride on the most modern cable car in the world. 

Modern

 After boarding the gondola, it then attached to a giant wheel (similar to a mini ferris wheel) and then moved it up to the next level where it then goes to the cable and up the mountain. Honestly, doesn't prove much, but it is impressive and creates a wow factor.

We then had lunch near the top of the mountain. There were few vegetarian options, so I got cheese dumpling soup and pancakes. Exactly the combination you were thinking, right?

Pancakes

Dumpling

After lunch, we took a few pictures and then went all the way to the top for a spectacular breathtaking view!

Love this pic!

View from the top

On top of the world!

We then went to Mosser-Wirt in St. Anton which is one of the most famous après ski locations in the entire world! If you google après ski or look up any information, a lot of the pictures are from Mosser-Wirt! 

We first met the owner who took us on a tour bought our entire class a round of drinks. Thankfully so, because my cranberry vodka was supposed to be 12 euro! They have a very innovative technology which pumps all the alcohol up to the bar so that service is faster, and the exact amount. They are able to sell more alcohol in a short period of time. Impressive!

One of many rooms like this

At the end of the day we experienced first hand what thousands of Austrians partake in; après ski.

Après ski is a social activity that takes place after a day's skiing. The origin of the word is French and literally means after skiing. The expression "making the après-ski" refers to the activity of drinking lots of beer, gluvein, and other numerous alcoholic drinks and then dancing and singing to music in complete ski gear, including ski boots and outerwear, at 4 p.m!

A few of my classmates!

The atmosphere was great and it was crowded on a random Wednesday afternoon. A DJ played music while a man on a balcony sang along to the songs and kept the crowd active and entertained. They played both American and German music. 

Loving the guy at the mic!

Everyone was drinking numerous drinks, with the most popular being beer and jagermeister. Waiters were walking around with very large trays with up to twenty drinks at once! 

Après ski is a very unique and important culture to the ski community. It brings everyone together after a day on the mountain so that everyone can share his or her stories and spend time together. Amazing culture!


1 April:
Would like to thank all my followers and all the comments! Glad everyone is enjoying reading my blog!

Half marathon tomorrow in Innsbruck! 74 degrees. 3:00 p.m. Couldn't ask for much better weather! We shall see how it goes! Goal is under two hours. Carb overload tonight!