12 short days to go...

It's pretty crazy to me that in 12 days I will be back in the United States.

I'm excited and really sad at the same time. I've learned so much while studying here in Austria. I learned German, well attempted to haha. We can just say my attempt didn't go spectacularly well. I need more time to understand a foreign language. I've also learned the history of Austria, as well as some European art history, and my personal favorite, photography. My photography course was everything I hoped it would be an more. 

I am so thrilled that I was able to work with black and white film. I'm not great at it yet but is something I would love to continue learning about. Here are a few of the photos I've taken with the film camera. Some with be photos of the actual photo developed and others are from the negatives I scanned into the computer. Which is a cool process as well. 

Our first project consisted around the ideas of time, light, and space.

This photograph is my representation of time. Which ended up being my favorite black and white photograph of the course.

The following photograph is my representation of space.

 I unfortunately don't have a picture of the photograph I developed for light. 

I really enjoyed the class and I'm in the process of completing my final photo project of the course. Which is a little sad because I don't know when the next time I will get to take a photography class will be.

Other than classes the last few weeks we've all gotten in the holiday spirit. We had Phoebe's (The schools director) daughters class come for Thanksgiving to celebrate and experience an American tradition and it ended up being a really fun day. The kids and adults had a really good time and it was a nice break after midterms. 

We know how to get festive for the holiday season.

Rachel and Dan representing the turkey hat crowd. 

 The Grand Hall was turned into our dinning room for the day. 

 The kids we able to do some arts and crafts before we had lunch. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

 Two of four turkeys :-)

 Everyone together and one of my favorite pictures I took of the kids. I was asked to be the photographer for the day which I enjoyed throughly. 

 The photo on the left pretty much sums up our relationship with Konrad. Or as we like to call him, K-Dad and K-Rad.

 Each student made us all a feather and we got to hang them up before we at Thanksgiving lunch.

 The kids had also prepared a song and a skit for us and it was absolutely fantastic.

All of us together celebrating.

 Now Thanksgiving has passed and it's back to work before finals sneak up on us. It's crazy to think that next weekend is my last weekend here in Salzburg but we've been able to make the most of the weekends were in town.

From going to our favorite bar...

 ...to going to the Christmas markets.

 Now I'm gearing up for the last few classes before finals and then unfortunately it will be time to head home to good ole Chicago. But as I've said before this is not a goodbye, just a see you later. 

This journey has gone by rather quickly and I could not be happier with the way it's gone. I have no regrets and there is not a time where I can say, "man, I wish I would have done that." I've hiked up mountains which is something I never thought I would do, I've gone canyoning, I've attempted to learn german, and so many other amazing things. 

Next weekend is our day in the snow where I have the opportunity to ski or snowboard in the alps which is pretty amazing. 

So heres to 12 more days of opportunities and fun adventures. I will soak up everything I can before I depart. I will get to leave Austria with memories that will last a lifetime and stories to share for a long time.