I lot has happened over the past few days that by the time I got home i was too tired to blog about it! So let’s rewind so I can talk about the past few days!
Wednesday:
Nothing too exciting a lot of paperwork, registration, and errands. I did sign up for the Salzburg trip through the Ebn network. Wednesday night Beth and I checked out the city hall where there is ice skating in front. We didn’t go ice skating but I am definitely going back to do so! Below are some pictures!
Thursday:
Today was the first real event for the orientation program other than registration, speakers, etc. it was a scavenger hunt through the city! I joined up with some other girls, did the activities on campus and as soon as we got onto the train they bailed out. I was so disappointed they would rather go back to their apartment or shopping than the scavenger hunt. So I was left at the train station with no group on one of the nicest days so far in Vienna! I got back on the train deciding to go to the schobrunn palace or something and to not waste the day! Turns out though that I saw other students from wu on the scavenger hunt. I didn’t know any of them but thought it was worth a shot if I could join them! So glad I talked to them because we had a great day exploring the city finding a schnitzel counter, several monuments, parks, and the oldest Ferris wheel in the world! Afterwords, we went out to eat at a Pakistani restaurant. I didn’t think I would like it since I can be a picky eater but it was really good and definitely someplace I would go back! I was the only american in the group, which was a welcomed change be used I learned a lot more and the conversation was interested! The day really turned around to something fun and I am glad to meet new people!
Friday: Today was our first of 2 day trips through the orientation program. My group went to Graz, which is the second largest city in Austria and about a 3 hour bus ride away. We got a city tour, lunch, and then toured a chocolate factory! It was kind of cold, but the city was quite cute with not many cars. Lunch was good and was the first time I tried the traditional Austrian schnitzel! It was good, but not my favorite kind of food because of all of the breading. After lunch, we took a hour long bus ride to the zotter chocolate factory! It was through the Austrian countryside so even though I slept for part of it when I was awake the views were nice. As far as the chocolate factory, I think I won’t be having any chocolate for quite some time haha. I was warned not to eat to much chocolate in the beginning and thought I was fine having only a tiny bit ( about half of a penny size) of only some flavors I would be fine! They have over 170 kinds of things to try! You start trying different sugars they add to chocolate, the cocoa beans, and the bitter chocolate. Then then add more and more sugar so you could see how the chocolate gets better! They had powdered chocolate, running chocolate, chocolate bars, hot chocolate (20 flavors), chocolate milk stuff ( was cold), chocolate with flavors( mango, banana, strawberries, and more)! Overall, I just ate way too much chocolate but it was super fun to try everything! If I wasn’t in the orientation program this isn’t a place I would have found on my own. On the bus ride home it was fun because we had the bottom section of the double decker bus to ourselves. I hung out with the friends that I meet from the scavenger hunt and we played trivia about your own countries. We had trivia from Austria, the U.S., Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, and Finland! To give you an idea my tricky question was true or false English is the only official language in the United States? I enjoyed the trivia and learning new things! ( plus took second place only to a master’s student). Was one of my favorite days in Vienna so far!
Saturday: I went to the nashtmarkt with 5 other friends! Nashtmarkt is one of these test flea markets in Vienna and it was interesting to see it! We walked around got lunch and enjoyed the nice day! We decided to go to a mall outside of town to look for dresses to wear to a Viennese ball! The ball is Monday and it is super last minute but we would love to go! We didn’t find much at the mall, but primark is my new favorite store with so much cheap clothing! After all of the shopping we went back to the apartment and looked up ball gown stores. I figured there would be stores like Macy’s here that would have reasonable gowns but so far I have mostly found dresses for only 150 euros ugh.
Sunday: today was spent cleaning the apartment finally ( it was disgusting when we came)! You would never know we had a house cleaning service we pay for because it is so gross. Sunday’s are a bummer in Vienna because everything is closed so I am figuring out my game plan for getting a dress tomorrow! The ball is tomorrow night so hopefully my fairy god mother is looking out for me! 👠👗
Next time I write hopefully I will be telling you about the amazing time I had at the ball!
❤️Melanie
Smiles from Miles Away 