Ein Berg ist Genug

   It feels like ages have past since I've written something, partially because so much has happened.  The last time I wrote, it was my second day of school and it was raining.  Since then, we have had a Welcome Party in which all of the Host Families met up with all of the students at a brewery with a TON of good food, we have had a functional tour of the city, a historical tour of the city, a music concert, a history of Salzburg crashcourse, oh, and a hike up a mountain.

Yeah.  A mountain.  They call it a hump....because they don't realize that in Iowa, we have no such thing as a mountain...not even hills.  We have fields and perhaps some mounds...piles of extra dirt if you will...piles of extra dirt that are eradicated to make room for more fields.  Welcome to Iowa.  The hump here, however, has a beautifully scenic view from a tragically inaccessible peak that seems like death to a non-hiker such as myself.  No, honestly it wasn't that bad, and the scene was breathtaking (haha, see what I did there??), but it definitely is not something I have done before.   The hike started, however, with an interesting encounter with a guy on his bike needing directions.  I need to learn how to put my smile away, because apparently I looked like just the person to ask.   The conversation progressed into, "Do you go to night clubs??" Me - "No, too old for that. I like my sleep."  "Oh but you look so cute today!  What are you, 17? 18? 19?"   By the end of the conversation, I found out some new "things" about myself - I have a family that I am living with in Austria, with three BIG, older brothers and one younger sister, I have a boyfriend back in America, I don't have a cell phone number that works in Austria, I am at least 25 years old, I hate technology (so therefore I don't have a facebook), and I am Catholic.  Good to know I guess.

After that interesting detour, I met the rest of the students and we went on our hike.  It was truly amazing and wonderful to see firsthand the natural beauty that is available to us (too bad it takes 3 hours to get there.  I'm fairly positive that by the end of this trip I am going to be very much in shape...).  After the hike, we all felt as though we had accomplished some great task and the reward was some shopping (and ice cream, which I proceeded to order for 4 other girls in German).  Shopping wise, I got a beautiful blue and black scarf for only 5 Euros.  Sehr gut und billig (very good and cheap).  It was a great day of making new friends, burning 10,000 calories, enjoying beautiful scenery, and testing my street-smart aversion skills.  I can't wait to see where my next adventure takes me (well, I mean, I know that tomorrow it will take me to Munich...but you know what I mean), and I'm excited to see who I will meet along the way.

Hope you continue to join me!

P.S.  The Sound of Music had NO idea what it was saying when it said "Climb every Mountain"....climb one mountain and then try singing that song.....let me know how that goes.  Ein Berg is genug (one mountain is enough).