Es regnet

         Hallo!  Currently, I am sitting in a beautiful, old, mysterious building with a few of the other students.  We had a wonderful first day of "classes" (classes, meaning orientation, a brief city tour, and welcome party) and then we had some time to walk around.  I needed to buy a bus pass (sehr billiger, dann ein Pass pro Tag, much cheaper than one pass per day) so one of the other students and I embarked on our journey through our newly acquainted city. 


     Sure enough, as Austria always promises, it started raining. A light, adorable little sprinkle at first.  One drop there, another there, one on my head....no big deal.  We went into the store so I could buy my bus pass and it was so fun!  The man there knew some English but I was prepared with my key phrases.  Oh, you would have been proud of me.  I ordered that bus pass with finesse.  I even managed some friendly banter as he was getting my change and then as we left....ohhh there it was...that monster of a rain that washes every single cobblestone into a shiny, light gray clean.  Thankfully, my wonderful HostMutter (Host mother) prepared me with an umbrella so that I didn't end up taking an unintentional shower.  It was so refreshing there, to walk down the cobblestone, with people passing by, and with the rain...so beautiful.  At the same time, it was somewhat amusing to me to think about the others who did not bring an umbrella, and how I would have been in the same situation if it weren't for Martina (Vielen Dank, Martina!).  As I started to sing "Singing in the Rain" (because I'm a character who has no dignity and doesn't care what others think about me heh) the girl I was with and I decided to take some pictures. We figured that our first day walking around with a big group was a good excuse to look like a  tourist...might as well embrace it!


   It has been a good day so far with meeting a new group of people and with getting to see the city (without getting lost...not that I got lost yesterday or anything...).  It was odd, however, to have so many people around me speaking English.  For the past three days now, I have spoken the majority German, and I had the impulse to respond to my fellow English speakers, not in English, but yes, in German.  The results (in regard to German speaking) of this trip are looking good!  Be prepared oh friends, to have no idea what I am saying for at least the first week before I get used to using English again.  Ich bin sehr aufgeregt (I am very excited)!   


   I hope all is well wherever you happen to be reading this and that all is good!  
With love, from Austria, where es regnet (it is raining).  


Victoria