Home, Sweet Home

I have finally made it back to my wonderful family. It's so good to be home. Ahh. Sigh of relief.

Knowing me, I will probably write a long, kind of sappy last post. Later. After I've recovered:)

The Grand Finale

I am currently sitting in the Vienna airport waiting for my flight. We had to get up at the crack of dawn. Ok, 5:15. Same thing. I made a stop for one last Almdudler. I could write all day about Almdudler. I will one of these days. Then I hugged Missy goodbye and headed for my gate. This is where the trouble started. Turns out you have to go all around in circles before finding the checkout line for gate B37. I think every get has it's own very specific place. Finding said gate can be a challenge when every airport employee seems bent on making the little American tourist cry. Ha! I didn't, though!

So now I am in the Vienna airport waiting for my little flight to Munich. And writing about our grand finale. That I haven't gotten to yet:)

Missy, Herr Dr. Kai, and I had the most wonderful day yesterday. We slept in and then took a bus and a train along the beautiful country roads to Dürnstein, a tiny village about an hour outside if Vienna. We explored the village and then climbed up to an old fortress on the mountain. The view from that mountain was gorgeous! You can see for miles and miles. Everywhere you look you see mountains and vineyards and tiny cottages. It's fabulous. When I get home I will upload all my pictures. You won't believe it:) While we were up there it started pouring! We ended up ducking into some ancient cave that was part of the fortress that King Richard the Lionhearted was held captive in! How cool is that? We waited out the storm with an older couple from Lindt (yes, as in the chocolate!) They were so sweet an we had fun talking to them, auf Deutsch, of course!

Then came my favorite part. We picked up bikes and rode along the Donau river. We rode on tiny country roads through the vineyards. We rode from little village to little village, stopping along he way to take pictures and eat carrots. It was amazing! Everything is green and luscious. Truly amazing. When it started raining again we ducked into a tiny restaurant to have a little snack. We all ha super fresh grape juice with sparkling water mixed in. Besides Almdudler, that's basically all we drake. Juice with sparkling water. It's so wonderful. We ended our wonderful day with dinner in a quaint little restaurant in Dürnstein. I had a yummy salad. It was beyond words. Let's just say that bacon, goat cheese, and plums were involved. And balsamic vinegar. Yes. I miss it already.

Our little last adventure was a wonderful end to a wonderful trip. I'm so sad to see it ending. Missy and Herr Dr. Kai were so sweet. We already have my next trip planned! Yay! I'll see everybody real soon:)

P.S. It is approximately 2:36 a.m. If any of you are reading this now, go back to bed. Aaggghhh! That means that I should be going to bed! The return of Jetlag!

I may not see you for a very long time.

Now is Later

I realize that most of my favorite followers are probably sound asleep at this moment, but for those of you who suffer from insomnia, here are better pictures. No, I did not enter the witness protection program as my previous pictures may have suggested. Also, I forgot to mention two things in my previous post. 1. I realized towards the end of the day that I had been wearing sunglasses in every single picture. So there is only one without them! Ha! 2. I bought shoes in Salzburg! I really wanted to buy a drindl (native flok dress worn by cool Europeans) but I wasn't sure how that would go over at BJA. So I just bought the shoes that one wears with a drindl. They are almost as cool:)

Sorry about the pictures!

I did not realize the pics were so blurry. That's what I get for trying to use my iPod to post, I guess! I have better copies. I will try to put them up via computer later!

I Know You've Been Waiting on the Edge of Your Seats

I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to talk about Salzburg! It was just so wonderful that I have needed time to process. That is a beautiful, beautiful city. Everything is old and quaint and wonderful. Everywhere we looked we saw churches and houses and statues. We saw the birthplace of Wolfgang Mozart and the birthplace of Mozart chocolate! Both are cool!

Then there was the Sound of Music tour. Let's just say that Missy and I both are now on a SOM fix. We have been watching it and looking for all the places we saw! The houses and lake and hills and churches are even more beautiful in person. I've been singing a lot:) One of my favorite movies is even better now! I didn't think that was possible! We were led by a hilarious guide named Günther! He was a hoot! And believe it or not, I was not the craziest fan there. One lady had even dressed up like Maria. Sadly, I did not get a picture. This is one of the great regrets of my lie. However, enjoy the pictures I do have:)

On Saturday we chilled. Herr Dr. Kai made us a yummy breakfast. Then Missy and I rested and read about all the things we could have been visiting. We were very, very tired. But we eventually realized that we could actually be visiting the places we were reading about, so we got ready and headed downtown. Unfortunately, we barely missed seeing the Dalai Lama. He was visiting just like me!

I have this thing about Catholic churches. They scare me. They really scare me. I think it's all the learning about the Inquisition and watching "Flame in the Wind." But yesterday we went into two churches, St. Peter's and St. Stephan's. They were both so beautiful and yet so sad. It really makes me thankful for the hope that we have.

Today I had a great day with the Hudson family and their church. I will have to write about that tomorrow:) It is so late and I am tired. Enjoy the pics, and I will try to post again tomorrow night!

I have such smart friends!

I am overwhelmed by the response to my spelling issues! I now know how to spell falafel:) thanks, guys! I don't know what I'd do without ya!

We are currently on a train to Salzburg. Our tour start in a few hours, so we will have plenty of time to do what we do best, shop! Then it's SOM time!

Wien, Tag Zwei

Today we began our second day of touring. we stayed up late playing games last night, so we slept in a little this morning. Then we headed to the huge market in Vienna, where we were greeted by people trying to sell us all sorts of German paraphernalia. I love using my favorite words:) I was so glad to have Missy there to help me bargain auf Deutsch, and we got some good deals. After seeing everything that there was to see and getting yelled at by a strawberry selling man, we headed over to one of the many, many food stalls. Every other booth sells about one hundred different kinds of hummus, and they let you try it on yummy warm falafel. I don't think that is spelled right. Anyways, we bought some to take with us and headed over to Schönbrunn castle.

That is an amazing, amazing place. Thanks to Herr Dr. Kai I already knew about the Hapsburg family. On my first night here I watched his favorite movie, Sissy, Forever My Love. It's a terrific movie about Emproer Franz Josef and his wife, Empress Elizabeth, who everyone and their mother love and call "Sissy." Yes, Cole. They call her "Sissy," too! We toured the gardens, ate our lunch, got locked out of a bathroom, climbed to the top of the property, passed one million school groups, and had a fabulous time! It is so beautiful! I made a quick tour of the house, and then it was time for Kaffee und Küchen. YUMMY! So good! We had a lovely little table outside, and we continued our "No-English during times when food is involved" policy!

All this walking and modelling for pictures really wore us out, so it was back to the apartement for a little rest. Herr Dr. Kai soon came home, though, and we headed out for wiener-schnitzel! Finally! We went to a really, really authentic place, and by authentic I mean lots and lots of grease. Herr Dr. said that makes the food takes better. It makes me want a shower. The food was great, though. I had schnitzel, pommes (french fries), German potato salad, and cucumber salad. We also had their version of ketchup. Mom and Dad, you'll be glad to know that I think I'll stick with the non-homemade variety:) Now we're back home getting ready for another busy day...tomorrow is the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg! Hooray!

Ok, I have a hundred and one pictures to post, but I can't really figure it out right now. I will post them later:)

I figured it out:)

Ok, not a million, but here ya go. I will try to do more later. Give me a break! The whole computer is in German! Ha! Enjoy!

Tour de Vienna

Today was our first real day of touring auf Wien! We headed to Todd and Sarah Hudson's house where I met their fabulous kids for their speech lesson. I say fabulous, because they call me "the speech goddess." Yes, they really do. I hope they weren't disapointed! Haha! I talked about Mock Trial and Forensics, and then we did a Spar debate! So fun! Then we had another German-only meal. Those are always adventures:)

After lunch I visited my first German grocery store. I have never seen so much amazing candy in one place! I did find myself wondering why there were so many things auf Deutsch, though! Oh my.

Then we headed downtown to meet Herr Dr. Kai Soltau and pick up bikes. There are rent-a-bike places everywhere that are free for an hour! We rode all around der Ring and saw all the important stuff, as seen by the pictures below. However, being the Margaret that I am, I forgot my camera at the apartment, so these pics are courtesy of Missy's iPhone.

And yes, being an American tourist, I had to get fries at McDonalds and then take a picture of it. Actually, buying something at McDonalds is the easiest way to have access to a restroom, which are in low supply in Austria. I am happy to report that although we are behind Europe in the overall coolness of our atmosphere, we definitely have them beat in the French fry department. Ah, autocorrect. I love people who capitalize my favorite foods:)

MOM AND DAD, I MADE IT TO MUNICH

FIRST LET ME SAY THAT I AM USING AN AIRPORT COMUPUTER THAT IS STUCK IN ALL CAPS. I AM NOT YELLING AT YOU ALL.
SECOND LET ME SAY THAT THIS KEYBOARD IS FUNKY, SO ANY GRAMMATICAL ERRORS MUST BE EXCUSED:)

THE FLIGHT WAS PRETTY UNEVENTFUL. I DID GET TO USE MY GERMAN, THOUGH. I MET AN OLDER ROMANIAN LADY WHO SPOKE LESS ENGLISH THAN I DO GERMAN. I HELPED HER BOARD THE PLANE, FIND HER SEAT, AND THEN GO THROUGH CUSTOMS AND FIND HER GATE WHEN WE ARRIVED AT THE AIRPORT. SHE WAS SO SWEET, AND IT WAS NEAT TO SEE HOW HAPPY SHE WAS THAT I COULD UNDERSTAND HER (SORT OF) AND WANTED TO HELP!

RIGHT NOW I AM STUCK IN MUNICH DUE TO SOME TECHNICAL PLANE DIFFICULTIES. WHO KNOWS HOW LONG THIS WILL TAKE! I ALREADY MANAGED TO GET IN SOME SHOPPING (THERE IS SOCCER STUFF EVERYWHERE! COLE, YOU WOULD BE SO HAPPY!) AND HAVE DELICIOUS GERMAN HOT CHOCOLATE.

I SHOULD FIND OUT SOON WHAT IS GOING ON WITH MY FLIGHT AND I'LL LET YA KNOW!

Today's the Day!

I am finally leaving! After months and months and months of planning, today's the day I will board the flight for my solo journey across the Atlantic. And by solo I mean me and probably one hundred other passengers:)

Here's the itinerary:
1:00ish: leave my humble abode. Moment of sadness. Ok, sadness time is over.
3:00ish: hopefully arrive at the Charlotte airport. I say hopefully because recently, my family has had the strange problem of not being able to get to or from Charlotte without getting lost. Strangely, this problem only seems to be in affect when I am in the car. That doesn't mean anything, does it?
3:00-5:10: all the airport stuff. Security, customs, snack, restroom stop, etc. They tell you to arrive at least two hours before your flight leaves. However, doing all the airport stuff either takes approximately 20 minutes, leaving you to wander around the airport for what seems like forever, or it takes 2 hours and 10 minutes because you get stuck in line behind an older couple, both in wheel chairs, behind a single mom with 7 kids all under the age of 6, who is behind a man who insists on bringing all of his cats with him to El Salvador, who is behind a women whose heart medication made the alarm go off., by which time you have missed your flight. Yes, I'm slightly worried. Can you tell?
5:10-7:50 (1:50 in the U.S.): arrive in Munich, Germany. Go through all the customs stuff again, find something delicious and German to eat, buy my brother and male cousins something soccer-y because that's what you do in Munich, according to Cole.
9:20-10:25: arrive in Vienna! Yayayay!

After that I will simply try to stay awake as I adjust to the time change! I'll keep you posted as I am able:)

So Long, Farewell

I'm involved in a love-hate relationship with something called Mock Trial. This thing called Mock Trial is far too complicated for me to go into at the late hour that I find myself writing this post, so let's just say it's an intellectual contact sport, and leave it at that.

Tonight I had all my fellow Mock Trialers over, as I do on occasion, but tonight was different. I joined the team as a freshman, and since that time I have been privileged to work with the five greatest high-schoolers in the whole wide world. There was only one problem with this set-up. They were a year older. So each year the thought crossed my mind that at some point they would graduate and leave me in high school all alone.

I quickly tried to banish the thought.

Tonight, however, it escaped banishment and came back to the forefront of my mind. I'm sure that this had nothing to do with the fact that we were having a party to send them off into the big, scary, college world.

So tonight we said goodbye. Hopefully not forever, of course, but we said goodbye. And I hate goodbyes. I hate change. I hate not having them to lean on and to talk to and to cry with.

But, I love the lessons they taught me. I love the way they've changed me, made me stronger. And I love the possibilities that lie ahead.

So, let us not say goodbye, but as the French have it, Au Revoir!

And yes, that does mean that I am two for two on the Jane Austen references in these blog posts. Get used to it.

Thank you, 21st Century. It's nice to meet you too.

Please don't tell Jane Austen I'm here.

You've got to admit, I've held out a long time. You've thrown a lot at me. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. Not that I don't think those things are great...for people with a whole lot of time on their hands. :) Something that I, unfortunately, do not have. In fact, I should be researching an affirmative constructive speech about the government's obligation to lessen the rich-poor income inequality gap (more on this later) or writing a speech for my graduation from Youth Leadership Greenville. Not to mention packing for Europe or cleaning my room or doing laundry.

Despite the fact that life is crazy, I am starting this blog for the sole reason of making myself write more. I don't expect to write everyday, but if joining the world wide web can make me set aside time to hone whatever creativity I may have, it will have been a pleasure knowing you.