The last week has been picking up school wise since finals are this week so there is not a whole lot of fun things to report. 

The coming weeks are going to be filled with some amazing adventures so be prepared.

I will catch you up on my last week...

Saturday October 4th, my host mom, my roommate, and I hiked Gaisberg mountain together. Our first "family" bonding experience if you will and it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day and a very pleasant hike.

Hiking has become something that I enjoy much to my surprise. As much of a challenge as it may be to get to the top, when you get there, there is more than enough satisfaction to make it well worth it. Besides when else am I going to get the change to climb mountains in Austria again?

Saturday night a few friends and I also went to the late night at the museums which was a cool way to see some museums and galleries here in town.

Now let's not forget Tuesday's Stammtisch (on the 7th). 

Now we can move to Wednesday, October 8th when the next exciting event took place. As a group we went to the Agricultural school to meet the students and see what they do there. Ended up being a really cool experience. The way the educational system works here is very different than the US, but whose to say which system works better or worse. It's all very much a personal opinion. Of which my opinion will not be shared. :-) This a travel blog not a debate blog after all. ;-) I was able to pet a cow, feed a cow, attempt a selfie with a cow, and pet a horse. The school also makes schnapps, so we got to try samples...which meant taking shots with our teacher. The one time drinking on a field trip was acceptable. Haha

 The weekend was pretty low key. Friday the 10th was filled with homework and writing my research paper for Understanding Austria. I also watched The Sound of Music for the first time which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. It was fun watch the movie and be able to say I've been to so many of the places in the movie.
On Saturday the 11th, a friend and I went over to Europark to shop around a little bit. I ended up purchasing The Very Hungary Caterpillar by Eric Carle in German, which a teacher here is graciously going to teach me how to read so I can then go home and read it to my niece and nephew. Then it was a stop at IKEA in order to buy a suitcase. (I can officially go home when the time comes!)
Sunday the 12th a few friends and I decided it was the perfect day to go see the Gazebo from The Sound of Music. We saw it, took pictures, and then walked in the park. It was a really nice way to spend a Sunday, the weather was gorgeous which was a nice bonus.

 

 

We have now made it to today, Monday October 13th and the start of a very busy week. I turned in my research paper today, and had a quiz. Best part of the day had to be my photography class that started today. I have never been more excited for a class in al the years I've been in school. My requirement for the program I studied abroad was that they had to have a photography course. The first part of the block we work with black and white film and I get to develop my own photographs!! (Yay for dreams coming true and the only time in life when chemistry will be fun!) Then the second half of the block is spent on digital photography. 

On the books for this week is another quiz in German tomorrow, and presenting the information from our research papers. Let me just also say I have never been happier a class is ending because German is kicking my ass big time. I am not the type of person that can study a foreign language in 6 weeks...it doesn't even matter that I'm in the country that speaks the language. It is a serious challenge.

Then on Thursday the 16th we have our German final and then comes our Vienna field trip  Friday-Monday the 20th. After that our fall breaks starts where I will be spending the 21st-31st in Paris, France. Needless to say I am more than excited!! Many life goals will be accomplished in Paris which is just very exciting. 

I won't be posting again until after I get back from Paris so until then thanks for reading and following me along this once in a lifetime journey.