Alles

I am a horrible, no, good, very bad blogger.. It has been over a week since I updated this thing and for this I am sorry.. but I'm updating it now so you should be happy..

A whole freaking lot has happened this week.. so bear with me..

BBQ:
The BBQ on top of the mountain that I mentioned in my last blog was super fun but super sketch at first. When the guys showed up with their vans we were kind of freaked out. Mama always told us not to get in the car with strangers.. but we did anyway and it was way worth it! Caitlin coined our group's name.. 'Capital T's.' 'T' of course standing for THRILL!! We saw some amazing views and met some really cool Austrians who are also kind of sketch but that might just be an Austrian thing.Classes:
Classes started last Monday! My classes are really interesting! I dropped Food and Culture (but before you think I'm crazy, believe me, it was tons of work and went way too in depth. Besides.. there was going to be very little sampling.. LAME..) German is a heck of a lot of work, but I have already learned so much!! I think it will end up being a good experience. History is AWESOME! My teacher has had a really interesting life, and his lectures are really fun!

(University of Innsbruck)

Tour with Manfred:
After class last Monday, our activites director Manfred took us on an impromptu little tour of Innsbruck. We learned how to Prost! (Cheers!) correctly-- You have to make eye contact or it is 7 years bad sex-- and we learned a little history about the building in Olde Towne that we walk by everyday!

Hiking:
After class last Tuesday, we had to go to a hiking lecture so that we didn't underestimate hiking in the Alps. Apparently the weather can go from perfectly sunny to snowing in a matter of 30 minutes up on the mountain!! On Monday of this week, we went on our first hike up to Rumer Alm which is like 1250 meters up the mountain. It kicked my hiney!! I am still sore!! We also learned that Manfred is a dirty, rotten liar. He said that this was the easy hike...but it wasn't. He also said that it would last about 2 hours.. It lasted FIVE HOURS! I kind of wanted to die...
Soccer:
Last Tuesday night we went to a soccer game! SO EXCITING! The Wackers (that would be us), which is apparently German for Braves, were playing Hamburg is a preseason game. Hamburg was supposed to beat our hineys, but WE WON!! We were sitting in what would be the equivilant of the student section with a whole bunch of soccer hooligans! It was AMAZING!! They were all doing chants in German, few of which I am pretty sure was their versions of 'Who's That Coming Down the Track' and 'If You're Happy and You Know It.'
Trains:
We had our railpass orientation last Wednesday and got our Eurail passes! Afterwards we made the trek to the train station to get our passes validated and to book our cabin on the overnight train to AMSTERDAM!!

Japanese:
Friday night we went to a revolving sushi bar. It was probably the funniest meal I have ever had. Our waitress spoke German with a Japanese accent and very little English. We asked her to take our picture and judging by the product she was also half blind. She also felt very strongly that we clean our plates and would pick up our food and put it on other plates.. HILARIOUS!Dachau/Munich:
Last Thursday we went to a rather graphic lecture about Dachau, the concentration camp we went to on Saturday. The Dauchau trip was extremely emotional and really horrifying. We learned about the human experiments in Barracks 2 and about the prisoners living conditions.
I feel like it say so much about the human will to survive that anyone survived those conditions. I will now personally punch anyone in the face who says that the Holocaust didn't happen. Its just ridiculous. I think the thing that horrified me the most was the lack of remorse on the Nazi side. Even after the war, instead of begging for forgiveness at their trials, they were beging for time to write up their scientific reports on their human experiments. It is just disgusting..

Alright, I know that was a downer..I'm sorry

After Dachau we went to Munich where we spent the afternoon. We stumbled upon a gay festival what was quite, well, a cultural experience.

Through the rainbows we found the Hard Rock Cafe where I had the best veggie burger I have EVER HAD. We eventually made our way to the Hofbräuhaus, which is a really big, famous beer garden. We spent the afternoon playing drinking games we HUGE mugs of beer (or a little beer mixed with a lot of Sprite in my case!).

(my friend Berri at Hofbräuhaus)

I have to go to lunch now, but I will do better about keeping this thing updates and I will try to figure out where I can upload pictures!

Bye for now!