Austrian Adventures: May 2013

Yesterday, I went to class for a few hours in the morning and then went to check out a few museums in Vienna that are on my bucket list. I like going to museums by my self sometimes because then I can go at my own pace and see the things I want to see. First I went to the Albertina museum where I saw art from artists like Bruegel, Picasso, and Monet. Then later I met up with Alyson and Kate (exchange students) and we went to the Leopold Museum. That was by far my favorite museum I've seen so far. One floor was completely dedicated to art throughout the ages that has a cloud theme. There was one wall covered in over 200 small paintings of cloud landscapes which was super cool! There was also an installation from Andy Warhol with a room full of silver bags (representing clouds) floating around the room freely. The whole idea almost felt like a childish dream and we were all giddy with the thought of it. The museum also held works from Gustav Klimt, Van Gogh, and Monet. There was also this massive glass window giving a perfect view of the Vienna skyline. We sat for a while and stared at the city that has become our home. It was a sentimental moment as we all reflected on our year, and how we've changed. My time here is really coming to an end, and that makes me really nervous. I want to make sure I spend time equally with school friends, exchange friends, and my host family, and I don't want to leave any loose ends behind. I only have one more week left in school here, and I am actually sad about it. School itself isn't too great, but my friends there make it so worth going. I know it is going to be really hard to say goodbye and I'm so grateful I'll be seeing most of them again in September when the class goes on a trip to the U.S.
I leave tomorrow with my host family and Alyson to spend a few days in Carinthia (the only state of Austria I haven't been to yet) and maybe a day trip to Italy. Then on Wednesday I leave on my EuroTour!!!! I am so stoked to travel the world with the best of friends, but sad at the same time knowing it will be the last time I see many of them. Again, it's going to be really hard to say goodbye. But in the words of Winnie-the-Pooh, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

I'm not sure the last time I blogged, so basically a quick overview of what I've been doing lately:

1. Going to school (good to see my friends, but not incredibly entertaining otherwise)
- We went to the Musikverein (the building with super amazing acoustics) and saw a "dress rehearsal" performed by the Vienna Academy Orchestra which was really beautiful

2. Hanging out a lot with exchange students and exploring Vienna

3. On Thursday, Theresa was confirmed into the church, which is a huge deal and was followed by a massive party at our house with relatives and friends.

Sooo that pretty much catches you up to yesterday! Yesterday was a holiday and Alyson (exchange friend) and I bought train tickets to Budapest for the day. I had to plan the whole trip out so I started by talking to a friend of mine who lives near Budapest. He gave me a huge list of places to see and foods to try. Then I looked up where all of those tourist attractions were and planned out a route for us to follow. We planned to go by foot and just see as much as we could. I wrote down street names and big monuments in the hope that those would help orient me if we got lost. So feeling pretty confident and ready to go, I met Alyson at the train station at about 7:30 where we grabbed a quick coffee and then set off. The train ride was about just under 3 hours and we made friends with a French man sitting next to us. It is pretty typical for us to end up talking to friendly strangers like that, just because they hear us speaking English and want to practice. Anyway, it is a pretty cool way of making friends, and this guy was really intelligent and had traveled quite a bit, so he had some solid advice for us.
Arriving in Budapest, we were already blown away by the size and age of the train station, which got us excited to see what else the city had in store for us. We marched out in the general direction and tried to orient ourselves. After walking for about 10 minutes we finally came across a street name I recognized and I felt safer now that we were on the right track. We walked, and walked, and walked some before, before finally deciding we weren't in the right place. Let's just say the views weren't quite as pretty as what we were imagining, and there didn't seem to be a tourist in sight. So we made a quick pit stop at the mall where I could access free wifi and figure out where we were. It turns out that there are 2 streets with the same name in Budapest, one ending in 'way' and the other in 'hid'. The main entrance to the train station was closed due to construction, and when we went out the side entrance that set us off in the wrong direction. On the plus side, we got some exercise and got to see the not so touristy side of Budapest. I was also feeling confident knowing that even though we took the long way, by following street signs and common sense, we really weren't too far from our destination when we checked at the mall. I felt assured that I can go off to a foreign city and figure my way around without stress or worry. Finally, we set off in the right track and felt that much more accomplished when we finally reached the citadel. By that time, we had been walking for about 2 hours in the hot sunlight, and were feeling pretty low on energy, so we stopped at a humus bar by the university for some lunch. It was by far the best pita and humus I've ever had, not to mention it was really cheap! Feeling re-energized and refreshed we started the hike up the hill to the citadel and liberty statue. Once we were at the top, we had an outstanding view of Budapest in its whole. Magnificent architecture from blended centuries, towering bridges, castles, and a ship filled Danube painted the panorama of beautiful Budapest before our eyes. Being so high up, it was also easier to point out the next few places we'd be stopping at and map our (much shorter) way back to the train station.
We made it down the hill and up another to Buda Castle, another large spectacle of Budapest. It was definitely worth the trek. Old ruins lay next to the castle which was decorated with fountains, statues and flowers. We rewarded ourselves with some ice cream at the top, and again it was probably the best ice cream of my life. It is probably only because we were so tired and hot, but my peach gelato was so exactly what I needed at the time. From the castle we made our way over to Mathias Church. It felt like a Disney castle with white domes and beautiful views. Budapest was exceeding all my expectations. As we went back towards the train station, we went through local neighborhoods before stopping by a few more tourist attractions. It was cool to get a feel of 'real life' versus 'tourist life'. We wandered the streets for a while and made sure to check out a grocery store (it is always cool to see the different packaging, foods, and languages) and then hopped on a train back to Vienna. By the time we left Budapest it was past 9:00 and so we weren't expecting to be back until 11:00. We set an alarm so that we wouldn't sleep past our stop, but when our alarm went off, I realized the train was still in Hungary. I happened to wake up just in time to see two police come in and search every cabin until they finally found who they were looking for. I dozily watched the two criminals get handcuffed and marched off the train. They were literally two cabins away from us. I don't speak Hungarian so I'm not sure what they did, but it must have been rather serious for the police to stop the train and pull them off. The whole ordeal ended up delaying our train for about an hour and I didn't get home until 1:00 last night. Needless to say I'm feeling pretty worn out today but so excited that I got the opportunity to see such an outstanding city, and I get to cross another task off my bucket list! Now I have seen the 3 supposed prettiest cities of Western Europe: Prague, Vienna, and Budapest! I'm a pretty lucky girl! Not to mention I leave for my big EuroTour a week from Wednesday! I can't believe how quickly time has passed!