Stuck in Colder Weather

Pretty, huh?

One of my favorite and least favorite things about Austria is how different the weather is from home.

It's my least favorite because it requires me to wear leggings under my regular pants literally 100% of the time and means my nose is always red, cold, and runny. Oh, throw my eyes in there too! They water constantly. However, that happens regardless of weather. Anywho...

It is my favorite because of the proximity to beautiful mountains begging me to fly down them with skis strapped to my feet. I have been skiing more than a couple times here now and each time I love it more and more!

MONTAFON

BÖDELE

My friend Sean who put up with me saying "Look how Preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty!!!" a lot.

But seriously, look how preeeeeeeetty!

Bus ride home

LATERNS

Mid-ski day Alpine refreshment: Almdudler, which is kind of like apple juice mixed with ginger ale. Not exactly, but that's the best description I've got. By the way, isn't my new ski hat fun?

 The weather could have been better.

 Ski Poles are made to be glove holders, right?

 My friends Aaron and Alex

 Happy little ski family

 My Favorite Picture

Gosh, how have I never lived near the mountains before? It rocks.

A Lesson in Free Time

I love doing nothing. Probably more than anyone should.


Seeing as how my life here is basically nothing but free time...no really, I barely work. I have found ways to fill the vast emptiness of my daily schedule.


Here is a guide should you ever find yourself with exorbitant amounts of free time, however unlikely that may be.


1. Watching an entire series of a television show that the locals are obsessed with.

2. Have a short-lived crazy obsession with really old seasons of Survivor. I may have watched three seasons in a matter of a week and a half. Whoops!

3. Read an entire book series EVERYONE SHOULD READ...twice.

4. Eat WAAAAAAAY more food than anyone looking to fit into a bridesmaid's dress in February should.

5. NAP. A lot. I even napped sitting up for 30 minutes in Vienna's Westbahnhof not too long ago. 

(picture not taken in Austria...but it's a classic)

6. Travel.

7. Write blog posts and read those of others.

8. Interrupt the daily lives of friends and family at home by incessantly calling them on Skype.

9. Drink: beer, wine, tea, hot chocolate, and/or Turkish coffee.

 10. Befriend local livestock.

If anyone has any suggestions of great time wasters, tv shows I should be watching, or books I should be reading...let me know!

Lake Como-Part Uno

So a few weeks back my teachers at my schools asked me, "You know we have fall break coming up, right?"


The answer to that was no. However, I wasn't surprised. This country uses every excuse to relax, take off from work/school, and enjoy life. Not complaining. Those happen to be three of my very favorite things.


Originally, I was going to stay home in Bregenz and just hang out/save money. I had a little discussion with my Betreuungslehrerin (my contact teacher) at my second school that went something like this:


Heidi- "You know we have Herbstferien (fall break) this next week."
Me- "Yeah, I know."
Heidi-"Where are you going?"
Me-"Well, I don't know. I will probably hang around here or head to Munich or something."
Heidi-"WHAT?!?!?! You can go to Munich anytime! You have all that time to travel. You NEED to travel."
Me-"You are right. I should." 


So that is how I decided to take a trip to the Lake Como area. It was so fabulous. I understand why the likes of Madonna, Elton John, George Clooney and Leo DiCaprio (listed in order of importance, naturally) live there.


So I'll write more about that later. But for now I just want to talk about one of the advantages of hosteling it up Europe-style. 


The people.

This is Greg. I hung out with him on Friday. He is a literacy coach from Connecticut living in Florence.

On the left is Kyle, the pro freestyle skier and catholic conspiracy theorist from Colorado. On the right is Echo (aka Pei Ching) from Malaysia but living in Bristol, England who studies town planning and is one heck of a traditional Italian dance dancer. 

Here is Cassie, who also lives and works in Bristol. Behind her is Dee, from China but studying at Rutgers in the US.

Not pictured but of equal awesomeness: Ryan, the master barista from a town outside of Melbourne, Australia with a tattoo of a caffeine molecule on his left forearm. 

I always say, traveling by yourself is great. You have instant friends at hostels that you have no obligations to. You can hang out if you want and your plans for the day align. However, you can go off and do what you please because you have no real obligation to them. It's the best.

So, that is the first thing I have to say about my trip to Como...well, Menaggio. But still.

I'll leave you with pictures of the sunrise I watched every morning from my bed.

It's ok to be jealous. I'll allow it.

Innsbruck

The amazing group of people that is TV (Tirol/Vorarlberg) went on a little trip this past weekend. We all gathered in Innsbruck for a reunion and a celebration of making through our first two weeks of teaching. Most came by bus or train and one came by bike (just a gentle little 7 hour bike ride over the mountains…no big).

After a bit of sightseeing (and declaring that Innsbruck’s big attraction, the Golden Roof, is fairly overrated), my British friend Manny and I met up with another lovely Brit named Alicia for an Augustiner.

Sorry Innsbruck...I'm underwhelmed with this

After that we went and met up with everyone at our friend Lauren’s place. It’s basically a Jugendherberge (hostel) with a Studentenheim (dorm) on the side. Coincidentally, several other mutual friends of TV also live there.  So, it was a good spot…minus the fact that poor Lauren got chewed out the next morning by the ladies at the front desk for having a lot of overnight guests…whoops!

photo jacked from my friend Gemima (not pictured)

We had a very fun (and much needed) night with English-speaking friends.

Men of Vorarlberg with Al Pacino's pizza sign I thought was inexplicably funny

I liked Innsbruck a lot. It’s a real city yet still feels small. Innsbruck also has the added bonus of incredible 360° views. Almost everywhere in that place has a view of snow covered mountains. It’s a dream. 

And now...lot's of pictures

really? I highly doubt my paper cup that had warm coke in it could be considered a treasure.

And lastly, for comedic value, a sticker I found to be amusing...

and no, I have no idea what they meant by that