Salzburg

As usual, my weekend was amazing! On Friday about fifteen of us exchange students met up in a Vienna train station planning our long travel day ahead. Since we travel in such a big group, we buy group tickets on the cheapest route possible. This is awesome because it is outrageously cheap, however it usually means an extra 3 or 4 hours added to the trip, and there are almost always complications on the train. Luckily, I let my "oldies" (the people who came last January) handle that. However, since they are all going home soon, that's going to have to change! So after our train changing directions twice, waiting in the Linz train station, and then taking a REX (goes way slower than a normal train, but is super cheap!), we finally arrived in Salzburg almost two hours late! It didn't help that the bus didn't have room for all of us to get on and drive to the hostel, so we had to wait for each other, taking twice as long. When we arrived at the hostel we were supposed to take a German test evaluating our language skills, but since we were so late, the test got postponed and we went straight to dinner. It was so great catching up with everyone and I got to meet some new faces too! The kids in Croatia were there with us and will be for Eurotour too! I think it was a little intimidating for them because there are so many of us and only 22 of them! But they were all really sweet and fun, and I met a fellow Coloradan! He knows 12 languages... So smart! Anyways, that night I went down to the river with Crash, Lucas, Johnny and Parker, and we played in the snow and spoke some German!
The next morning we bundled up and headed out into the rainy weather up to Salzburg's famous castle. It was a little difficult to navigate with so many people and in the freezing rain, but there were some beautiful views at the top and a cute Christmas market! We ate lunch downtown at a Chinese restaurant (the best way to feed 150 teenagers) and then had free time until our German test that afternoon. I explored the city with Juliet, Rachel, and Laura, and we had some yummy hot chocolate at a cafe! I was super nervous for the German test coming up, but it turns out, it was WAY easy! We had dinner in a fancy restaurant where we shared Christmas traditions from every country and said an official farewell to the 'oldies' who will be heading home in January. It was an emotional goodbye as I have become close with some of those guys. And I hate having to say goodbye. But I guess that's a big part of exchange. After a long train ride home, I was feeling pretty exhausted. But most of all, grateful for the amazing people exchange has brought into my life. I wrote in my journal that night about wanting to take traits and qualities I admire in my friends and adopting them. I have learned so much from each and every person I have encountered here, and for that I am very grateful!

Pia my favorite oldie!