First day in Vienna

After a long and exhausting eleven hour bus ride from Florence to Vienna, we finally made it into our hostel called Meininger City Hostel around 3:00 A.M. At least the hostel is not too ghetto- there is actually a personal bathroom and SPACE! A lot better than the hostels in Paris and Innsbruck. And the best part is there is free, FAST internet! Woo hoo!

After a very short sleep, I got up around 9:30 and then got ready quickly and ventured down to Breakfast. It actually turned out to be pretty good- I had some delicious tea, some granola and cornflakes with regular yogurt, and a roll with cream cheese. Georgina originally screamed out, "Laura! Look! Its bagels with cream cheese!" I gasped and said, "REALLY!?" (bagels and cream cheese are hard to come by in Europe)and then someone bursted my bubble when they said, "no, its actually just a roll..." oh well. It was still good; I barely made it out though because one of the workers said that I had to pay an extra 1 euro to take things out of the eating area. I just simply explained that I was in a rush and I was taking this to go... she ended up letting me off the hook but said I should come to Breakfast earlier next time haha.

We all met outside the hotel around 10 A.M and then got a one day pass for the metro. Peter (one of our student life guides) took us all around on a walking tour even though it was cold, windy, and rainy. He is really incredible- he knows English, German, and Italian fluently. He grew up in Austria so he knows all the nooks and crannies (haha Chris :-p ) of the area. The architecture in Vienna is absolutely breathtaking. I love it! We walked around the "Ring" (New Gothic Town Hall, Parliament, Theatre, Heldenplatz, Imperial Palace, Spanish Riding School, Judenplatz with the
Memorial to the Jews of Vienna, and St. Stephen's Cathedral). The tour was definitely long, but everything was worth seeing in my opinion. We took a pit stop at a Starbucks, which I was very excited about. I got a
grande nonfat raspberry latte. It was delicious! It was a nice taste from home. Is it sad that I really miss Starbucks? OH man... I am such an American haha.

After walking around a few more hours and taking pictures and stopping at various locations, a group of us went with Peter to a local restaurant and sat down for a lovely lunch. Georgina and I split the famous German/Austrian dish called Weiner Schnitzel. This is like the 3rd or 4th time I have had this dish- I absolutely love it! I don't normally like pork that much, but pretty much anything fried is good (that's probably why the only seafood I'll eat is fried calamari- go figure). We also had a yummy class of wine that Peter recommended.

Once lunch was finished, Georgina and I got directions on how to take the subway back to our hostel because we were tired from the night before and needed a break. The other group went to the amusement park and went on the huge Ferris Wheel. I think this would've been fun to go to- but at that point I just needed some time to relax and take a load off. The normal me 6 months ago would want to be go, go, go but now I have learned the beauty and value of a few hours of pure relaxation.

Once we took the metro back to our stop, Georgina and I walked around our area and peeped into a few shops. They were pretty fun- we went into a mall type place with the most random assortment of department stores. I ended up getting some Loreal hairspray that was much needed, and a cute black/white purse that is big enough to hold all my stuff. I am kind of sick of carrying the same black H & M purse that I have had since the beginning of this study abroad trip. You guys should see my huge collection of purses at home! Its insane... really... After our little shopping adventure we went into a grocery store and got some snacks to have for later. I hate being without snacks; I hate the feeling of hunger and I am more of a snacker than a huge meal eater.

And for the past few hours I have been relaxing, uploading pictures (check them out on face book), talked to Chris on skype, and now I think I am going to take a brief nap before dinner/going out. I think Georgina and I are going to go to a hot dog stand near our hotel and grab a bratwurst or something; something easy to save some money. Food eats up all my money over here! It's ridiculous!

Anyways, that's the main highlights of my day with randomness spilled in. Hope all is well with everyone!

bye bye