First Impressions

I didn't know what to expect. Trans-Atlantic flight? Will I be able to sleep on that? The answer is, barely: I waited and waited until I was so exhausted I passed out for an hour and a half. I was sitting in the very middle of the middle seat, between a middle-aged German and a Russian man in his thirties, so I wasn't entirely comfortable. There was a while there when the bald Russian fell asleep facing me, his mouth agape, and I found it hard to focus on "The Lincoln Lawyer" with his face so incredibly close to me. But eventually I fell asleep and was woken up for a breakfast of a 90 calorie yogurt which tided me over for about twenty minutes. Accomplishment of the flight: I finished Jane Eyre! And I actually loved it! Mr. Rochester has won me over, very much in the way he did Jane, and he is perhaps on my list of top favorite literary heroes...

When I got to Frankfurt, I found Professor Brooks and two other students from Gordon. We got to Salzburg and grabbed a taxi (it was actually a van - did I say I had packed a pretty huge suitcase and a backpack of books?) and drove to the hostel. My roommate Susanna hadn't arrived yet, so I dropped my suitcase off and headed out for a walk to explore and get some much needed lunch. Along the way I passed a huge field full of tall,white, lacy flowers. Ah, Queen Anne's lace, I thought. And then I thought, no! it's edelweiss! I'm in Austria! Nope. It was some kind of weed.

About 3/4 of a mile down the road, I found a grocery store. The doors were glass and opened automatically, so I entered the "foyer" of the store easily, and tried to keep walking straight through the next set of doors. But they didn't open. Then a woman to the right of me motioned and laughed. The door was on the right and I was trying to enter through the exit. She said something quickly to me in German, making a joke, so I laughed in false understanding. Did you know you have to weigh the fruit yourself and print out a receipt for it before paying? Yep. Found that out.

So far we've done a tour of the old part of Salzburg (our tour guide wore lederhosen! yes!) and I actually saw where Mozart was born. It exists. It's a real place. Also, Salzburg is full of tourists! I've never seen a city with so many non-natives. We were trying to find a coffee shop, but no one in my group was willing to ask anyone, so I did. I approached two German-speaking women, but they shook their heads. "We are just tourists," they said, "but you can probably get coffee where it says 'cafe'." Oh well. We didn't find a place for cool college kids to hang out, but we did get some ice cream at an outdoor restaurant. I guess we have five weeks to find where the cool kids are.

Things I've Done/Accomplished: 1) I did pack my sneakers and am anticipating using them, 2) I bought a new skirt, 3) I figured out what books to bring, but I'm almost done with them...uh-oh... 3) Seen Mozart's birth-place and his statue, 4) Sat in the cathedral where Mozart played (there are FIVE organs in there!), 4) Got a beer at an awkward bar, but at least it was less awkward than the first one that we walked in and out of.

Things I Have Yet To Do: 1) FIND A NICE COFFEE SHOP! 2) Go swimming (did I say that the public pool costs 4,20 Euros?!? The public pool! And apparently the river's current is far too fast to swim in, or so they tell me... 3) Start singing. Still have to set up those lessons. Coming soon.