Happy One Year Anniversary

Exactly 365 days ago I started dating Kyle and these past 365 days have been the best and most favorite days of my life! He is so amazing, thoughtful, sweet, smart and just perfect for me :) although these past few weeks have been really hard for us were going to make it through and have another awesome year together :) even though we are so far apart he always manages to put the biggest smile on my face and still make me feel so special :) this morning we got to skype before I had class which made me so happy and started off my week perfectly! just like valentines day he did something so cute for me. He bought a happy anniversary cupcake and wrote I love you and miss you Ashley on the napkin it was on :) I wish I could think of such thoughtful things. Well enough mushiness. Hope your week started off as perfect as mine :)

Love you so much Kyle xoxo NAF

Mauthausen

Hi :) Mauthausen is a very well known concentration camp in Austria. It was a labor camp however, over half the people did die due to living conditions. Here are some pictures from the main things we saw.

Here we were pulling up to the camp

The Quarry where the prisoners worked. The house a little left to the center of the picture is well known as well. A women that lived there during the time that the camp was being used had sent a letter to the police telling them that she was seeing people get shot without reason and could smell the burning of something specific (trying to keep this PG). The police never responded to her letter and it is actually believed that they added in an extra sentence at the end to make her letter seem less serious so that they could get away with not needing to reacting to the issues she addressed.



This is the main area of the camp. Here is where prisoners stood every morning to be counted.

Shower room. After arrival, prisoners were automatically forced to give up their clothes, have their heads shaved and shower here.

Where the prisoners slept. (Bunk beds are not authentic but replicas).

Where the few women prisoners were kept. Clearly there are now graves there.

Gas Chamber

When most people think of concentration camps they think dark, dreary, ugly and so on. None of us could believe how beautiful the landscape actually was from the camp. Here is a picture.

Hope this didnt put too much of a damper on your day. Have a great weekend!

Taking Things for Granted

Ive been here for a little over 2 weeks now so I have decided to reflect and think about things I have taken for granted back in the good ol' U S of A. Im sure my parents will be happy to hear there are actually a lot of things Ive noticed in only 2 short weeks!
- Grocery Bags: When I go to the store I need to bring with my own bags to carry my grocery's home in. Its not that big of a deal and I think it really encourages people to recycle but its something different. Im used to going to jewel and getting a separate bag for my bread, my juice and everything else.
- DRINKS: Having to pay for water here really makes me sorry that I didnt drink every free cup of water thats ever been given to me at a restaurant. I cant face paying money for a tiny glass of water. Also, coke... outrageous at restaurants. In vending machines you can find a bottle slightly smaller than our regular ones for about 1,50 but in a restaurant a small coke is about 2,50. I feel like I am always thirsty because I never have liquids when I am out eating my meals. Drink your free water guys!
- Cereal: No more walking into the grocery store and taking 10 minutes to look at all the cereals.  You need about 30 seconds to look at the "Wellness Flakes," one other healthy option and then one cereal like a cookie crisp. We are so spoiled back home with an entire isle dedicated to cereal!
-Showers: Its only been two weeks and I already hate showering here. The water pressure is terrible. The water drips on you compared to our showers back home. Also interesting fact I learned being here with so many internationals.... everyone except Americans turn the water off when washing their hair and bodies. They only turn the water on to rinse. Id freeze!
- Plastic-ware: They do not sell plastic knives, forks, cups, plates, etc. I asked a sales women if they had plastic silverware. She replied, "are you American?" I said, "yes." She said, "we're not wasteful. We dont use plastic." That was a major wake up call. All the Europeans view Americans as so wasteful. Ive heard it from numerous people.
Well... Im sure theres things Im forgetting and more Ill realize but for now... enjoy your grocery bags, free water, shower, cereal and disposable items :)

Around Linz

Hi! Ive been pretty busy doing tours and things like that around the city. On Monday we went to the Landhaus which in English is like the parliment building. We saw where the diplomats and governor and all them meet and we had an awesome lunch there! Afterward we headed home because it was time for German class! I went to the lower German class and it was soo boring! I slept for 20 minutes during it :) The teacher spoke a lot in English and the things we learned were for people like Heidi's age. Oh well... hopefully it will get better. After class we all came home and got ready for the Carnival! (not one with rides and games and funnel cake). It was so much fun seeing everyone in such creative costumes. Ill post a picture of my "geeky" costume after. Today (Tuesday) we had a tour of the city of Linz. We saw a lot and of course I took pictures. There are some very neat and modern buildings and things here as well as very historic. I love this city. Since today is Fat Tuesday and the last day of the Carnival celebration we saw a parade in the town square and tons of people in costumes! Im not sure if were going out tonight to celebrate but well see! Hope everyones back home is doing well. OH and if youre not on facebook then I have news to share with you :) I have plans for spring break! Me and a friend will be traveling to Rome, Florence, PARIS finally, London and Frankfurt. If it all works out it will be awesome! Talk to you all soon :)

Parliment



My Geek Costume 

Linz

Happy Fat Tuesday :) Carnival!

 Stood in the Daube River today :) Coolest floor ever! The entire rooms floor was this birds eye view of Linz.

And the actual Danube river!

Happy Birthday Nikolaus

Happy Birthday Nikolaus! Hope you have a great party & get lots of presents :)

Steyr

Rathaus or City Hall of Steyr

Oldest Building



Approaching the Castle



Steyr & Enns Rivers are below

This is a record of how high the floods have gotten! Third from the top was just in 2002!

Me & Patty in the Town Square

Schlierbach

Below is the Library

Below is the Church 

The view from our cheese tasting

Unbelievable View 

Our Group :)

Oh My Goodness

Hello! I just got back from my excursion from Steyr & Schlierbach. I saw some unbelievable and amazing things! Ill try to upload pictures as soon as I can. Cant wait to share them all with you :) Check back soon please!

Its Friday!

Hi :) I havent writen in a while. Im starting to slack. Ill try to do a quick catch up on what Ive been doing. Monday night we all went to a traditional Austrian bar. It was really pretty and really fun. We didnt stay out to late though. It was very crowded. On Tuesday we had a welcoming ceremony for out German Intensive Courses that we started this week. They are three hours a day and almost everyday. There are 4 levels and I am in the 3rd highest. After the ceremony there was a cookware auction. The international group that oversees the study abroad students collect students cookware that are leaving and going back home and then auction it off the next semester for charity. I won a tupper ware container and a bowl for two euros :) what a great deal. The auction is such a good idea because we need to either buy or cook all our own meals so we need to buy silverware, plates, bowls, pots, pans, etc. Its a lot for only being here 5 months. Tuesday night we all just stayed in and hung out. On Wednesday we had our first day of German class. We had to take a four page test in my class. The other classes played bingo :/ I scored a 39.5/56... not too good. I did fine on the essay writing and fill in the blanks and all that but when it came to the grammer I didnt do so well. Our teacher said we were going to be learning about the Austrian culture and their school systems, medical systems and so on. That would be interesting and all but its not my listening skills I need to work on, its my grammer. I asked her if I could move down a level because that class is working on grammer. She said no problem. After class me and my friends went to lunch. We may or may not have "borrowed" the silverware from the cafeteria to take home with us :) After we did some major shopping. The stores are only a 5 minute walk from our dorm so thats nice. We bought cookware and things we needed for our rooms and then we went to Hoffer (Austrias Aldi). We had to rush back because it was our friend Nicks birthday and we were cooking him dinner before we went out. We cooked tons of pasta and bruschetta and salad. It was really funny trying to make a huge meal with all our odds and ends. Everyone had to bring their own silverware and plates and any extras they had. People were eating out of pots and pans and all sorts of "college" things. After we all freshened up and went on a bar crawl. It was so much fun! The tram ends at 12:00 a.m. and we hadnt finished our bar crawl yet so we all just haddddd to stay until 4:00 a.m. when the tram started up again. A few of my friends came back here and we were up until 7:00 a.m. It was such a long night! Thursday I didnt do much at all during the day but sleep. At 3:30 we had a training program to learn how their school website works and how to register for classes online. That night we had some time to ourselves until 11:00 when we went out again. We were all so tired but decided to go and check out what it was all about. It was this huge club that looked like a midevil castle inside. It had a about ten different rooms all with bars, DJs, dancers and tons of people. We didnt dance much. We mostly just sat around and people watched. We were all so tired and once again had to stay until 4:00 a.m. because the trams ended by the time we got there. I slept until about 2:00 p.m. this morning and finally got to Skype with Kyle <3 I just cooked some eggs & toast for breakfast and now Im off to pay rent and do a few errands. We have an excursion to Steyr & Schlierbach. Ill take lots of pictures and tell you all about it :) Have a great weekend!

VALENTINES DAY

Today is Valentines Day. No chocolates and no balloon this year but thats ok because this year I have the gift of a lifetime. An amazing boyfriend :) Love you so much Kyle and I wish nothing more than that we could be together today. Have a good one everyone <3

Look what Kyle did for me. He is the cutest and most amazing person in the world.

First Few Days In Linz

Hello everyone! Well Ive been super busy since I arrived here in Linz on Saturday. I stayed in a hotel room Saturday nigth and Sunday night because my room was not ready until today. It was no big deal though because the hotel and the dorm are the same building just different rooms. Saturday night I went out on a bar crawl and see the night life of the city. I had an awesome time  and met so many people. I met an Austrian guy and he was speaking German with me all night. It was so fun. Sunday we all just hung out during the day and caught up on sleep. We went out to dinner Sunday night to an Italian place. I know... Im in Austria and I go to an Italian place. Wasnt my idea :) The one thing I hate here about going out to eat is the whole drink situation. A tiny water costs you almost 4.00 and one coke is the same way. Oh well. Guess its going to be something I get used to. After dinner me and the eight kids I was with went exploring through our room. We found the fussball room, indoor soccer field, swimming pool, sauna and all that fun stuff. This morning we had orientation. I got so much accomplished today. We first sat through and listened to a few speakers  and then introduced our selves one at a time. There are about 100 exchange students so it took a while but you wouldnt believe where people are from! South Africa, all over Europe, all over Asia, its awesome! At orientation we opened our bankaccounts, registered at the school, got out students ideas, got european sim cards, got our monthly stipend and so much more. Very productive! Last night we went out again but this time it was to a traditional Austrian bar. It was very fun but very crowded. Now its Tuesday morning and I haev my German Intensive Course Welcoming today. Uh Oh! Wish me luck :) Miss everyone. Hope youre all doing well xoxox.

OH and also.. at orientation we found out about the trips that we can go on. One is to Prague. One is to Budapest and one is to skiing! Check out the video of where well be skiing and the resort. Im so excited :) http://youtu.be/gyuHyWRv3VM

Pictures from Germany



Goodbye Family Hello School

Hi everyone J Im writing to you from the car. When I get internet I can then post this to my blog. WOW! I have a lot to fill you in on. So lets start where I left off last which was Thursday night. We ended up just staying at Elizabeths until late and then went back to Erikas. At Erikas we watched CSI in German. It was pretty funny. On Friday we did a lot. In the morning we woke up and had our breakfast again. Every morning Erika and Hanz make this homemade juice with oranges, grapefruit, apples and other fruits. It has a thick almost smoothie texture and its awesome! Im going to miss not waking up to that tomorrow morning. After breakfast I showed them pictures from my friends and family back home then we drove to Uncle Jaksch and Tante Annas house (Uncle Jaksch is my Omas brother). My Unlce Lothar was there too. As usual we just sat around the table and talked until lunch was done. For lunch they served…. Duck! Yuck! I felt rude turning down the soup with the ducks heart, liver and etc. in it but I couldn’t bring myself to taste it. Since I turned that down I had to try the duck. It was bad enough that I was going to try duck but the piece they gave me was like a chicken leg. I hate mean on the bone if you didn’t know that about me. Overall the duck wasn’t really that bad but I had only 2 small bites. My lunch consisted of a dumpling and a few bowls of salad. Something interesting about their salad is that unlike ours, it doesn’t have tons of veggies in it and you dont pour dressing over it. I think it might just be something my family and people in the area do but their salad is shredded lettuce with an oil based dressing that they make from ingredients like pickle juice, a little German mustard and things like that. Its very good. After lunch we walked to the house next door that Lothar and his son Lothar bought. Their doing a, “flip this house.” Right now its absolutely disgusting and theres nothing in but broken concrete and dirt. After that we left and went and looked at my first castle. Its called Schluss Egg. It was super cool. After we went to Helmuts house (another one of my cousins) and visited with him. After that we were off to the hospital to visit my cousin Franzie. He will be in until Monday because he has to have a bi-pass on his foot. We went back to Erikas then and ate a quick dinner because we were off ot the theater for a play. It ended up being a lot of fun. I only understood parts of it but it was easy to figure out what they were saying. It was a comedy with ten sepearte acts and half way through there was a break. At the break you could buy these little papers rubber banded shut for .50 each. When you opened the ticket it either said something like better luck next time or it had a number. If it had a number you would take it to the tables with prizes and match your number to the prize. I won two bottles of wine! After that we went home and we watched the German Mardi Gras on T.V. It was so cool to see how close our Mardi Gras at the Rosemont Convention Center is to the actual one here. This morning we woke up and Elizabeth came over. We got an early start and drove down to Passau. I love it there. It has much more city life and rush than Deggendorf. We walked around downtown Passau and looked in the stores then went to the Dom. Its an old church with the world oldest organ that they still play time to time. The detail inside the church was impeccable. We then drove over through the mountains to a restaurant called Blass. You wouldn’t believe the view! It sat on a mountain that overlooked the entire city of Passau. We ate Palachinka there. They were so yummy but not as good as my Omas J Well now were on our way to Linz. 41 km to go. Im so excited to finally get out tonight. Spending these past few days with my family has been great but Im ready to “fly from the nest.” Ive been doing well with communication except when people talk with their Bayrischen accents. Then it sounds like a whole different language. Its funny how a dialect of a language can make it sound completely different. There are quite a few things here that I notice that are different from America like their houses, their hospitals,their street signs and lights, and obviously the people. Somethings are the same like the music. The first day I was here I felt right at home when the radio was on. The first song I heard was by the Beach Boys, then Nsync and then Adele! Well we will be arriving at school soon so Ill right again when I have internet. Oh and Ill catch up on all my promised skype sessions. Miss you all especially Mister Kyle Fred L

IM HERE!

Hallo from Germany! The flight was lovely. Very enjoyable. I only slept about an hour and a half and the rest of the time I watched Bad Teacher, Footloose and The Middle. I also played games on the airplane TV and listened to music. We landed a half hour early in Munich. It took me a while to find my luggage because they had a detour in the airport. Once I found my bags, I found Franzie and Erika right away. We arrived at their house about an hour later and started making schnitzle right away. So German :) After lunch we sat around the table for a few hours and talked. Around 4:00 I layed down to take a "nap" but slept through until the morning. This morning I woke up and we had breakfast. By breakfast I mean bread, jelly, and lunchmeat. Once again... So German! After lunch we came to Elizabeths house and picked her up. We went to a store that sells expensive glasses, plates, etc for less. There I made my first purchase with euros and of course... it was for Heidi :) We then went to this AMAZING glass shop. Everything outside of the store was made of glass. Everything inside was so colorful and hand-made. After that we went to lunch at a Bayern restaurant and ate. I couldnt read the menu! After a while I figured it out and ordered chicken with späzle and vegetables. It was very good. (P.S. Im using Elizabths computer because mine wont connect to her wifi and the Z and Y are switched!!!! If you see typos with Zs and Ys... thats why) After lunch we drove all through the Bayern Forrest. I cannot believe the mountains. Everything here is so beautiful. The houses and buildings are just incredible. All of them are different from one another and surprisingly... I love it! Its snowing very lightly here and is super cold! In a little bit we are going to visit Franzie in the hospital. We just found out that he had to go in because of problems he has been having with his foot. Nothing too major just circulation problems. Im not sure what we are doing for the rest of the night but Ill keep yall updated. Miss you and love you all <3

I'm on the Plane!

Hello :) I'm on the plane! I arrived at the airport around 3:30. Checking my luggage and everything was very way since I did most of the work at home first. Security was pretty slow and a little rediculous but what can you do. My place takes off at 6:06 and I'll arriv there at 9:00 am their time. That is about 2am our time. Saying goodbye to Heidi, my dad and Linda before going through security was hard and caused a few tesrs but a smile was put on my face a few minutes later when my dad sent me a picture of Heidi wheeling to the car in a wheelchair... I'll miss that crazy girl! Well wish me a safe flight and I'll try to post as soon as possible when I finally arrive in GERMANY! I still can't believe this is really happening!

48 Hours

In 48 hours I will be on the plane making my way to Munich Germany! It still seems so surreal! Yesterday my dad threw me a party. It was a lot of fun to just sit around with all of my relatives one last time. I spent today with my mom and jimmy. We went shopping and out to a very yummy dinner. It was a really fun way to say, "see ya later." Tomorrow I will finish packing, go out to lunch with Oma and then I am taking Heidi to see a movie. Tuesday I will hang out at home and relax until it's time to head to the airport. The next time I will write will probably be when Im sitting at the airport all excited and nervous! Cant believe its so close!