Melk was fun. The bus ride creeped me out, and I got a little trigger happy with my camera. The lunch we had at Hotel Rose was exquisite. This was where I tried my first European beer. NOTE: HERE IN EUROPE THE DRINKING AGE IS MUCH LOWER THAN IN THE UNITED STATES SO I AM OF LEGAL AGE TO DRINK HERE. The first place we went to was an amazing Marian Pilgrimage spot called Maria Tarfel. It was beautiful, it is on top of a hill and for awhile we could not see the ground below because the fog was below us, so it looked like we were looking out into a sea of a gray abyss. The next place we went to was the Benedictine monastery in Melk. And what a church! All the statues were real gold! It was gorgeous. It was actually hard to pay attention to the mass with all of the paintings and statues looking so beautiful. The museum/tour of it was ok, I was just not feeling it like I should have. but the Library was HUGE and had secret doors to let light in. The view from the monastery was breath taking as well, it looked over the town and the river. All in all a good day.
The next trip I went on was Salzburg/Munich. This was this last weekend. This was our first overnight trip. It took us a little over 2 hours to get to Salzburg and I slept through some of it. The put on a movie about a girl who was part of the White Rose. IT was in the time of World War II, and she was handing out leaflets about how the Nazis are bad, but she got caught. We all thought it was a little saddening and weird to watch before trying to have a good time. When we got there, we were herded straight to mass. My friend Sarah Vink and I did not have a particular desire to go to a weekday mass and had a feeling that if we went, we would not appreciate it. So we strayed away from the group and went to Spar to get some energy and just walked around a little more. I found it a little ridiculous to have to pay 50 euro for using the bathroom, but you gotta do what you gotta do. When we guess-timated the end of the mass, we headed back to where it was. All of us were then herded to where we were going to have lunch, again it was very good food. Right after this was a tour of "old Salzburg". Again, Sarah Vink and I were not interested in it too much so we strayed away from the group but this time with a male companion, Brandon Otto (aka Botto). We did our own little tour of the store that were around and struck to go into a Church we found. It was calledthe "Kollegienkirche" or University Church. It was a beautiful baroque style Church, but how it was different, there was no paintings on the ceilings or walls, except for the HUGE paintings in the altars. The one thing that struck us was this glorious white carving right behind the altar. It was like heaven was pushed through the back wall. My words do not give it justice.
After this we wandered for a little more and found our way to the Youth Hostel. NOW, when you think about Hostels you pretty much think about a Motel 6 in the States; it is cheap and a little run down, but this was different, it was clean, pretty and sort of modern. My room in particular had a beautiful view of the Fortress on the top of the hill. After we got all situated, my friends Sarah Vink, Botto, Elizabeth Michalski, and Christopher Haas (aka Chaas) decided to go on a tour through Mozart's house and found ourselves at the Augustiner. It had amazing beer was HUGE! We ran into a little predicament when we realized that they were all going to the concert that was in an hour and a half and I wasn't. We spotted on of our RA's named Matt and asked him if he was going, he wasn't and they asked if he could take me in because they had to leave. I felt like I was a kid needing a babysitter, it was embarrassing. He was happy to take me in and when my friends left I fell so quiet. I guess he could tell I was a little shy at the moment and did not know what to do so he started talking to me and soon enough, we were friends. (Side note: I was not particularly liking the fact that most of my friends were NOT here with me and I was telling my boyfriend about it. I was trying to tell myself that I would not have any fun while here because I was dead fix on having my best times be with him. He told me straight out to make new friends while here and have the best experience of my life. I still was reluctant the next day, and the Youth Hostel we stayed at had the words "make new friends" plastered EVERYWHERE in and out of the building. it was quite hilarious) He introduced me to his girlfriend Mandy, and soon enough all of their friends - Kelsey, Danielle, Claire, Joesph, Thomas, Mary-anne, and many more - and we became friends, if not very close acquaintances. After the Augustiner, we went to a little Irish pub (I know, an Irish pub in Austria sounds a little ridiculous) and we had more fun there. I found out that the next day was Mandy's birthday and she really wanted me to go out with her for her birthday the next night. We will get back to this later, because I'm going chronologically. I got back to the youth Hostel and collapsed into my bed. Saturday we were off bright and early to Munich, Germany. This time we went to the mass and the Priest began with "I never thought I would ever wear Papal vestments, but here I am..." HE WAS WEARING VESTMENTS THE POPE HAS WORN! I guess they were a gift to the Cathedral. and not only that, it was the POPE'S HOME CATHEDRAL WE WERE CELEBRATING MASS IN! It was amazing, and the recessional song was Marvelous, hearing it made me so happy because it reminded me of four of my amazing friends that are back in Ohio: Emily Pass, Kathryn Ferrante, Timothy Gleeson, and T.J. Kohlrust. After the mass, I ditched the tour, again, with my friends Liz Gauvin, Sarah Vink, Brian Schnak, and Katie Snyder. We went through stores and found ourselves at the Hofbrahaus. It was better than the Augustiner. We all got a liter of beer. The others got a lite of Dunkle, while I got a Dunkle Radler(A Radler is pretty much half beer, half limonade. Less alcohol and it is much smoother). After I was done, they kept teasing me about being a light-weight. I was not fully feeling the effects of the alcohol, but I was really happy I finished a liter of beer so I was being a little silly. After this, we were supposed to go ice skating, but no one else could because of either their knees or their hips, so we didn't go. We did a little more shopping. Liz and I decided to go off on our own for alittle shopping while the other went off themselves. After Liz and I had dinner, we were supposed to meet the others back in the Hofbrahaus, but we could not find them for the longest time. When we did, they were with Matt, Mandy, Kelsey, and Claire. It was weird because my group of friends were mixing so much. but we all squeezed around this table and I got a half a liter of Radler. I felt a little whimpy with it, but I was content with not feeling any effect from the alcohol this time (this was about 3-4 hours later). We moved places after the check(from a waitress that was rude beyond all imagine, she grunted after she got Liz's order wrong and never fixed it. I guess she did that with everyone else too. that is why the whole check was so spendy.). Soon enough it was time to head over to where the buses dropped us off to go back to Salzburg. It was about 9 or 10 when we got back, and I was not really feeling up to going out again, but I did anyways for Mandy but I did not drink anything except a soda. We went from a cute sophisticated looking bar called Balthazar where Mandy was given a little cake and a shot for free (because of her birthday), then we were in and out of Shamrock Irish Pub, O'Malley's, and Roses (each bars) until we came upon this one called Visa Vis. There was a little place to actually dance which we were trying to find this whole entire time. We were fine for an hour or so, then some guy (who I suspect was drunk) decided to mess with Matt (and Matt is a tall built guy, he plays rugby. so I do not know why this skinny short guy tried anything) and we decided to get out of there. We finally ended up in this legit club/bar called Republic. The bouncer made Brian Schnack take off his Munich scarf and German hat (think made me laugh) because it might offend a lot of people in the club already, but we were dancing for a long time there. We were all starting to feel exhaustion run through us and decided to go back around 1:45am.(I realize now that it was a bad idea to stay out that late when we stayed out the night before till about 11 something and we had to wake up to get our stuff out of the Hostel and go to mass the next morning.) We got back around 2:15am and again I collapsed into my bed. I woke up to my roomie getting ready to go, so after a little while I got up as well and packed. I got through breakfast and the walk to Church without feeling too tired. But when we had Sunday mass in the Dom, and the Canon/Priests were only speaking in German, I started to doze. But I stayed awake even if my eyes closed. There was a lot of standing and sitting through it all, there was an Orchestra and a Choir that played/sang magnificently, but it was hard to follow. Even though all masses have the same bare structure, there are many differences. It was a beautiful place though. After this, we were to go back towards the Hostel to get into the buses so we could go to lunch. Before trekking back, I saw Brian playing with the Director of Student Life's kids, Dominic(3) and Ari(6). Liz got Dominic on her shoulders and he pointed to me and said "I want to be higher!" so I experienced actually carrying a kid on my shoulders for the first time I believe.
My messenger bag was about as heavy as him and by the end I was ready to collapse. But he kept my hat on. When we got to the buses, he wanted me to sit with him. I said I would to find that the bus he had to be on was completely full. So Liz and I said we will try next time and could eat lunch with him. We reached Mondsee in no time, but lunch with Dominic did not happen. After lunch (where I had apple strudel! YUMMY!!!!) we went to the church where they actually shot the wedding scene of Sound of Music. It was beautiful and I was curious and stupefied why when I stood in the very back to take a picture of the front of the church, my camera thought there was a face right above all of the Artwork of the altar. I took many pictures to make sure that is wasn't a screw up, and each time they were flipped upside-down. After the Church, we walked by the river and found our way to the buses. Liz and I got onto the bus with Dominic (yay) and he decided to sit with us, on our laps, the entire 2 hour ride back. I guess he thought it was funny how I fell asleep, but when it was my turn to play with him, we found entertainment with the curtains of the bus and with counting, songs, and my jacket. He got really flirty and gave both Liz and I kisses on the cheeks as well as butterfly kisses. He is pretty much the cutest 3 year old I have seen in Europe. What made me freak out quite a bit was him putting his hand on my belly saying "you have a baby in your tummy" (now, this came up because I asked him about his mom who was actually pregnant and I guess his mind set is adult women all have babies inside, which technically is true to an extent I guess) and I was shocked. I was thinking in my head, does he know something I don't? but of course I've never had relations with a man in that way so it couldn't be. So I said "No I don't, why do you think that?" and said, quite enthusiastic and loud I might add, "because you are big and you're a girl." I had to remind myself that he is only 3 and he doesn't know what he is saying to keep myself from getting upset. So I just laughed it off. When we got back to the Kartause, we sent Dominic to his mom so we could get off of the bus, saying goodbye was a little saddening, but I don't think we could have entertained him anymore. And that was the end of a glorious weekend.Now I could tell you about what I did after, like skype TJ, Emily, Tim, and Sean, but except that my night was pretty dull. So I will leave it at that and I hope I remember to write about all of my adventures that are to come.
Have a great day everyone and God Bless.
