The End of a Glorious Adventure

Tomorrow is my last day in Vienna. Wow. I knew this trip would go fast, but I never imagined that it would go as fast as it did. In a way it feels like I just got here. I have been away from home for over 3 months now. I have no idea what is going on at home and now I am jumping back into it. Vienna, the Schloss and the students have all been my reality, my life and now it is ending. I will never again live in this castle with these people. It feels so sad. I don't even know if I will ever come back to Vienna. I hope to someday. I have become very accustomed to this lifestlye and now it is about to change. When I get home I need to deal with a lot. Things I have been avoiding, like choosing a college for next year. While this all sounds so sad and depressing, there is a positive side. I get to return to a great life! I love being with my friends at Cascade, bringing them home to dinner and being in rehearsals for shows. I have a great supporting family and wonderful friends. I am so excited to return, to see everyone and get millions of hugs:) It is strange how one person can be capable of two completley opposite emotions. I feel like I will go home and love being there, but after 10 days I think I will be ready to go back to the Schloss and get ready for my next ten day. I have seen so much of Europe, but there is still so much more to see! I have to come back some day, I will come back some day. This has been the adventure of a lifetime and I will never forget the lessons I learned or the people I met along the way. I am so very blessed....

The Places I've Been

A Day in Hungary

I didn't have much to do the Friday after Thanksgiving so I decided last minute to go to Budapest for the day. I went with Tiffany and Traci and it turned out to be pretty fun. I am little burned out of traveling everywhere, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity, especially since I am leaving so soon!!! We left the the Schloss at about 7am and took a three hour train ride. On our way we met a really cute old couple from California. They were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in Europe. They told us that they were over here when the Berlin Wall came down in '89 and how everything started to change. When we got to Budapest it was freezing! We spent most of the day outside and it only got colder. I bought a fleece jacket, after that I was wearing seven layers of shirts and coats and I was still cold! I do not know how that is even possible, I guess I will never be a warm one. Oh well. We went to the Christmas markets and tried a really yummy Hungarian pastry that was roasted over a fire. The day went fast, too fast. I know that this next week will go even faster. It's crazy how fast time goes, and it will only go faster from here. Being the optimist that I am, I will try to seize every opportunity that comes my way so I don't miss anything:)

A Walk Through the Woods

This trip is coming to a close faster than I expected. After My second ten day I got back to the Schloss and stepped into chaos. We are having a huge Thanksgiving party and are cleaning and preparing for it all this week. Before all the prep work started I had a free day, it was Monday. There was snow on the ground and I had nothing to do, so I decided to take a walk through the Vienna woods. It was beautiful. Every time I get away from everyone and take a moment for myself, my mind goes insane! I start thinking metaphorically about my past, present and future. Each path I took had an unknown ending and each fork in the road I came to presented a problem. Do I go left or right? Up or down? Will I regret going one way and not the other? will I get lost and not find my way back? At this point in my life there is a lot to wonder about. The woods are directly behind our house and the trails lead uphill. So I decided after a while to just kept going uphill, not having any idea where I was going. I went back up to a meadow I found a few weeks back, where I went to think when I found out about Cascade closing. It was my refuge because it was big and quiet and surrounded by trees with fall colored leaves. It was gorgeous and comforting. When I went back, there was snow on the ground and all the trees were bare. It didn't feel the same. It made me realize that it was a temporary comfort, everything about this trip is temporary. Living in Vienna, in a castle with 47 other students is my current reality and after 3 months I have really gotten used to it. Now its going to change again and never be my reality again. Weird... I am so excited to go home, but I also don't want to leave. I am so torn, in more than one aspect of my life. Torn between choosing Rochester or OC for school next year, torn between Europe and Oregon and torn between my friends here and my friends at home. I just need to be sewn back up! I want answers but I know I won't get them right away. I have to pray. I have to trust.

Second Ten Day!!

This time around I went with my friends Tiffany and Traci to ten places in ten days. We started in Vienna and flew to Naples. I didn't really know what to expect, but I had high hopes. When we got off the bus into the city center there was a torrential down pour, I am not exaggerating. We didn't have any water proof clothing either. The rain was falling hard, and then the thunder and lightning started. Naples apparently isn't the safest city either, and our hostel was in the dangerous part of town. We got temporarily lost but then finally found the hostel. There was garbage everywhere! The garbage men were on strike so there was weeks of garbage on the streets. That night we went to the store and some little punk italian kid came up and hit Traci on the head, for no reason! We were all discouraged and soaked, not liking Naples. However, that night we met Gycela from Columbia and Fiona from Australia. After that everything went great! All five of us went to the ancient ruins of Pompei, the island of Capri, then we took an Italian coastal tour and saw Amalfi, Positano and Sorrento. I swam in the Mediterranean with Traci, it was awesome. Then we took a night train to Milan and spent the next day there. We saw the original Last Supper, it was incredible. That night we flew into Athens. It is one of the biggest cities I have ever been in! It took an hour to get from the airport to the city center. The next day we went to the Acropolis and saw all the major ruin sites in Athens. Then we decided to have lunch on Mars Hill, next to the Acropolis so we still had a panoramic view of the city. And guess who else was there?? Sarah and Mark! and the other couple they travel with, Jordan and Austin. It was awesome! We all had lunch together and then met up again at the Greek sandal shop. The next day we took a ferry to Aegina island and it was the perfect day for it. We took a bus to the most famous beach on the island and had it all to ourselves! Traci and I swam again and the water was even better! We spent the day on the beach and then rest of the time shopping in Athens. It was the most relaxing trip. I really want to go back to Greece, I feel like I could have been there a year and not seen everything there. It just means I have to go back though:) Someday...

Zermatt

So I went to a ski resort town this weekend in Switzerland. I didn't ski because it was super expensive, but I went with my friends Micheal, Matt and Holly to hike it for free. Zermatt is a small town that doesn't even have any cars. There was snow on the ground and a sun in the sky. It was the most beautiful place I have ever been. The Matterhorn Mountain was right above us and we were surrounded by the Swiss Alps. The orange color of the trees contrasted beautifully against the white snow and blue sky. I know it sounds cheesy, but it really was incredible. After our hike we went to lunch and then to a little chocolate shop. Coming back was a hassel though. We left at 6:40pm Saturday night, changed trains about 4 times before we got to Zuruch and then took a night train to Vienna. WE slept in a compartment, it was pretty crowded but I mamaged to get some sleep. Now I am back in Vienna waiting for my next adventure to begin.

When in Rome...Florence and Venice

Italy was just what I imagined! I loved it there. We started our trip in Rome and saw all the main sights; the coliseum, forum, pantheon etc. My favorite was the palantine hill, it had ruins of palaces built centuries ago. Our tour guide was from Portland too, how crazy is that? Next we went to Florence. It was raining there, but I'm used to it. Everyone loved the leather market

and spent a little too much money. After Florence we headed off to Venice which is my personal favorite. I have never been to a place like it before. The first day Sarah and I came upon a bunch of pigeons and played with them, then we saw Christiana! How crazy is that! The second day my friends Kate, Asia, Liz, Randee, Emily and I all went shopping and took a gondola tour down the Grand Canal. It was so relaxing. Then we had dinner on the water, it was a fantastic day. Traveling all around Italy in a week is so tiring! this trip is wearing me out, but in the best way possible:) I love it here but I really do miss being home. I still have Naples and Athens to look forward to! Until next time.