Auf Wiedersehen Austria. Ciao Italia!

23 March:
Been a week of class. Nothing too exciting.  One question I've been wondering all week. Do they call my class Alpine Tourism because I have to walk up a side of a mountain to class each morning?

MCI III Tourism Campus

By the way,in German a projector= Beamer and a cell phone= handy. Love it.  

 
After class I ran six miles, most of them being uphill! Ran to the town of Rum and continued to go up higher and higher. Eventually found trails in the mountains and ran alongside a trail near the bottom, parallel to the city. Then made pasta for dinner and showered. Karaoke night at La Copa tonight. A lot of my freunde are going! Last day of Alpine Tourism lectures tomorrow. Then a five day weekend will begin! 

Had a great time at karaoke once again. Saw so many people I knew. 

USA all the way!

Eh

Belted it out (not in front of the microphone though) and danced even though no one else was!

24 March:
Wow!!!! I honestly can NOT believe I left USA one month ago. I feel as if I've been here for two weeks at the most. Planning our weekend trip tonight. Most likely going to Italy. 

Well it's official, at this time tomorrow I'll be in Venice! Booked our hostel in Venice and will purchase train tickets tomorrow. Venice for two days. Florence for two days, and possibly Pisa for a day. Back on Tuesday and an excursion to St. Anton Ski Resort on Wednesday to do a SWOT analysis for class.

Looking forward to an unforgettable weekend!

Last night was a killer was a thriller was a good time!

17 March:

After a rainy day of class, how much better could it get than cafe central and a nice warm spicy black chai? Studying for my final that takes place far too early tomorrow!

Cafe Central

18 March:
Earliest I've woken up being here. Took the exam. Not easy. Not impossible. Let's say I haven't taken a history test in about three years.

Returned home and took a nap, on my way to my final class before the weekend! It has rained the past two days down in the city, but the mountains are covered in a lot of snow again!

Best quote I've heard in a long time.
"Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

So apparently each Friday at three pm the church bells ring symbolizing the time and day Jesus died. Our professor was in the middle of explaining to us that in Japan they ring bells for class even at the Universities. Then a few minutes later the church bells ring in the city which was ironic. There was a lot of laughter and an Austrian explained why they rang the bells at this time as mentioned before. A student in class didn't fully hear the explanation and said "Wait..... Who died??" I couldn't contain my laughter.

Got a few necessities at the store after class and will run and go out with friends tonight.

Bad Taste party. Don't even know how to explain how much fun and ridiculous this was! Basically wear the most ridiculous thing possible. Done. 

Bad Taste for sure

Dance like no other allllll night long. Lose camera. Find my friends wallet. Got my camera back and didn't even know I lost it. Found Pierres tie. Dance dance dance. Great songs.

Dance Dance

Jumping up and down. Pick up Pierre, he decides to do a flip. We all fall down. Hysterical. 

Pierre deciding to do a flip!!

Dying laughing because we had no idea what just happened!

Akademikerhilfe Friends!

Sprinted to bus stop so we wouldn't have to wait another hour until the next bus. Success. Much needed sleep.

19 March:

Sleep. Wake up. Go to ikea. Play ping pong. Take a two hour nap. Make dinner. Play cards all night with friends. Attempt to sleep at midnight. Fail. Watch Modern Family. Attempt to sleep. Fail. Eventually fall asleep at three.

20 March:
One of the best days yet! I keep saying this. Woke up at seven thirty. Went over an hour outside of Innsbruck to Obergugl ski resort. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. 

Up the chair lift

Improved my skiing skills again!! Went with over ten people and met many many more there. Had lots of laughs today. Everyone here is always up for fun and enjoying life.

Managed to only fall a few times, mostly because I went too fast at times! No one could believe it was only my third time skiing. Did blue and red slopes all day. 

Had lunch up on the top. Karen and I managed to have free meals. Free pasta, pizza, hot chocolate and gluhwein. 

Restaurant at the top

 

Back to skiing with a full stomach and more confidence. Did Matt do jumps? Multiple times? Yes!!! Too much fun. Fell a few times at the end because I couldn't stop doing jumps. Hysterical. Ate some snow. I was thirsty so it worked out just fine. Hahah! 



Back home to make dinner and get some rest. Alpine tourism class this week!

Mellow in the six zero two o.

Some hilarious moments here so far: 

"Guess it isn't so cold in Iceland."  

Nathan: “At the exact moment I was drunk enough to execute the plan......I want a refund!”

Running wok keeps the wok running hot! 

Stefan- “You gotta risk it to get the bisquick.” 

Johanna- after driving and hearing weird noises, we got out of the car and saw a big piece hanging under the front of the car. "Oh goodness!" 

14 March:  

Rode my bike to school. 

Had lunch in the sun. 

Class- Organizational Behavior. Will be very interesting. Professor is most fluent person I've ever met. Knows 7 languages. He was born in Belgium, lived in the US for 15 years and taught at the University of Michigan. He now lives in Japan.

Room 401. Great view.

 My night consisted of going to the supermarket and finishing homework.

Then ran a 10k with Pierre. Good intense training so far! My goal is to beat my old half marathon time! 

Then did laundry, played cards with everyone and made dinner. Studied a bit and fell asleep watching episodes of Modern Family. 

15 March: 

Woke up, had breakfast got ready for my day. Looked at my iPhone ap with the bus departures and the next one was leaving from my stop in two minutes. I sprinted downstairs, checked my mail (got my bank card!), and saw the bus at the stop I normally get on at. However it is the closest, you have to cross the street which can take time. I proceeded to SPRINT down the street to the next stop. As soon as I arrived the bus pulled up right beside me! Perfect!

Off to another day of class which I'm looking forward to as the professor is great. He's a hugeeee Michigan fan. Is Matt wearing an IL shirt today? Of course! 

Dear sixty-four degree weather and iced chai latte, 

You just made my day. 

Sincerely, 

Matt

Class is great. The Spanish and French in my group apparently think my voice is sexy and I sound like Sylvester Stallone. Hilarious! 

Learned that Mitsubishi means three diamonds in Japanese. 

Made a delicious chicken pasta with fresh veggies and got some much needed sleep. 

Chicken Pasta

16 march: 

Another day of class. Made a quick trip to the bank and now on the bus. Will go running after class and study for my final on Friday. Looking forward to another weekend! Lots of invites to do things: ski, hike, Italy, dance. We shall see what the weekend entails. Probably skiing! :) 

So in between class today I was getting a coffee and thought to myself, "I could definitely live here." Then it kind of hit me, I do live here. 

I love that having a car here isn't very necessary. Living in Orlando without a car is nearly impossible. 

Inn River

 In class today, I found out my strongest motivator is travel.\

After class, I ran a quick 5k, and then had a birthday dinner for Stefan with 8 others on our floor! Shared funny stories and ended it with a delicious cake. Come tomorrow I will have already been out of the states for 3 weeks, how is that possible? Time is going by too quickly already! 

Random blog post with comments I've written down the past few days. Guten Nacht.

Patcherkofel- Skiing Adventure!

11 March: 

Class and presentation went well. Went running along the river and even down right next to it for at least 1km. Pierre Paul and I have decided to run 21.1k (half marathon) in three weeks here in Innsbruck! Very cheap registration compared to states. 

Made a delicious dinner and hung out with everyone for hours at the table just talking. I surpassed my learning of three German words each day. I was making flashcards! Stefan from Bulgaria has been here for one year and is now very conversational in German. This is my goal. I will try my best! 

12 March:  

Going skiing on Patcherkofel today! Let's hope my 13 month old sprained ankle holds up and my bones are stronger than ever! Taking an extra calcium pill for sure. Great adventure to pursue! Pierre has extra equipment and I came prepared with ski goggle gloves and pants so it works out perfectly. He has a car as well so I'm saving money. Mom would be proud.  Sking for like 70% off! 

View from my room/Patcherkofel where we went skiing!

Getting used to the skis!

Lisa, Me, & Pierre

Having fun!

The top of Patcherkofel. Look at the other picture and you can see how high up we were!

View from the top

Pieree & I at the top! About to blow away!

We made our away down the mountain some more! After escaping icy trails and intense wind! 

Skiing the Austrian Alps!

Taking a break!

View from our stop!

Back at the bottom! Safe and sound!

Had a blast skiing!!! Thanks to Lisa thirty minute teaching lesson I was good to go for the rest of the day! It was just a matter of getting used to it again. 

Innsbruck will be hosting the 2012 Youth Olympics. Saw the stadium, ski jump, bobsled, etc.  They were hosting a championship bobsled even that night so we saw them setting it up. Later back at the apartment it was on TV. 

We laughed. We fell. We froze. We lost gloves. We ate snow. We nearly blew away. We stopped the Tbar on numerous occasions. Memories memories memories. 

Can't wait to go skiing again, will be much more comfortable! 

Had another party at our apartment. I just found out that our landlord supplies us with 3,000 € for the semester to use to host parties or buy whatever the entire apartment needs. Just another reasons why I love this place. 

Yolanda & I

Party

Lisa & I

Pow Wow- Singing songs!

Me, Nicole, Pierre

 13 March:  

Had a relaxing Sunday. Going out to dinner with Megan and Johanna.

Went to a restaurant up on the mountain. A good Sunday dinner. Had cheese dumplings which were very filling and delicious to say the least. Finished dinner with a heisse schokolade (hot chocolate).

Dinner table

My entree

Delicious

 Another week of class beginning tomorrow. I start my second class; Organizational Behavior. Professor is supposed to be excellent and my class starts in the afternoon for once! I just might ride my bike to class tomorrow.

Chapel on the Hill

10 March:

Had class this morning. Learned about all the Austrian holidays. There are so many. A lot are on Thursday also, so they take off Friday as well and have a four day weekend! Got a free coffee for finishing the homework fastest and all correct. After we went to another museum showcasing farmers and the rural folks of Tyrol.

View from classroom

Had lunch with Gillen again today. Hot Chicky pita from one of my favorite little restaurants. Ate in the sun and now have the rest of the day free!

Plan on running up the mountain to the Chapel on the Hill.  It's gorgeous and sunny out today. 

My destination off in the distance

Farmland on the way up

View from the top

The Chapel

Better vantage point of how far I went up. I live by the green and blue apartment buildings

For all my jumping picture fanatics!

Ran another 5K after taking a break at the top of the "mountain." Ran along the river and eventually made it back home. Great day!