Zagreb, Croatia: the land of free wifi, cheap food, and ice!

We left bright and early Friday morning to get to our 8 am bus that would take us to Zagreb. We made it easily on time and after peeing in the most frightening bathroom I have ever been in, we were on our way!  We got stopped on the way and everyone had to pile out of the bus and get our passports checked and stamped at customs. The bus also stopped at a gas station for a 15 minute bathroom/snack break. Well, I guess we took too long getting our snacks, because Olivia and I had to full on sprint back to the bus before it left, Olivia tossing one of her euros in the process. 

We got to Croatia, got our money transferred to the Croatian Kuna, and now all we had to do was find our hostel. Easier said than done. See, street names in Croatia are more of a "sometimes it's called this, sometimes it's called that" kind of thing. Basically, our less than half hour walk turned into two hours of wandering.. in the sun.. with very heavy backpacks.. and no food. We FINALLY found our hostel, settled in, and headed out for dinner. We ate at a local place with chicken and pasta, and they even put a cube of ice in our glasses (Europeans just don't have ice like Americans do). We wandered some more and found a beautiful park with a fountain. We decided to join the locals and lay in the grass soaking up the sun. We spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful city of Zagreb. A small festival was going on while we were there so we got to enjoy lots of little markets, live music, and locals dancing. The streets of Zagreb are BEAUTIFUL at night: cobblestone roads lined with cute shops and restaurants. 

Our hostel!

That night, we came across my personal favorite part of the weekend: The Cookie Factory. SO many good sweet options and good prices. And it's only found in Croatia, so I mean we had to enjoy it twice in one weekend right? We sat in the square for a bit and watched older couples dance the night away. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful except for when a man walked into our room at the hostel in the middle of the night because we forgot to lock the door. Made SURE we locked it the next night!

The next morning, we had intentions to go to Jarun Lake for some swimming and boating, but the unfortunately the weather didn't comply with our plans. Instead, we spent the day wandering the beautiful city. For dinner, we ate at a really cool restaurant called Leonardo, where we all enjoyed eating some good meat instead of our usual pasta, pizza, or bread. Went to The Cookie Factory afterwards, of course. We sat at a table outside for hours sharing stories, people watching, and laughing the night away. We'll have a lot of memories from that night, that's for sure. 

Yummy and cheap breakfast!

Sunday morning we woke up early and checked out of our hostel and headed to mass in the beautiful church in the heart of Zagreb. Enjoyed another great meal for lunch, and walked through some botanical gardens before heading to the bus station and heading home. It was hard for me to leave this beautiful city that so quickly stole my heart, but I'm also glad to be returning "home" to Vienna.

I'm a Wiener now.

-post from Friday 9/20-

As of sometime last week, I am officially register as a resident of Vienna, Austria. For the next three months, this orange apartment is my home.

My first week here was full of exploring and getting to know the city. We went on a walking tour of the city, saw the Hapsburg's palace in the heart of the city and their beautiful summer  residence "Schonbrunn Palace" a few miles away. We hiked to a vineyard and held worship with a view of all of Vienna below us, and even went to Europe's largest mall!

We weren't supposed to take pictures, but Mozart played in this room when he was six years old. Too cool. 

Biggest mall in Europe!

School also started this week. I have class Monday-Thursday 8 am-12:30. Our classroom is in the heart of the city of Vienna and right across from the beautiful opera house. We've been told many times how blessed we are to go to school in a location like we do. We've even had classes that involved walking around the city and talking by the beautiful fountain right outside our school! My homework load on top of trip planning each weekend has proven to be a lot more than I bargained for and I've been a stressed out mess this week. We all have found our one favorite comfort here, however, and that, my friends, is Tichy Eis. It takes us half an hour by subway to get to this amazing gelato place, but we still go almost every night! I've learned there are some things I love about Vienna, and there are some things that make me miss home a little bit more. I've definitely been a little out of my comfort zone here.

Beautiful fountain right outside our school!

Best. Gelato. Ever. 

Last night was my favorite night so far, and I think it is because it reminded of behind home a little bit. We went to the famous amusement park here called Prater. It's open 24/7 and has a Ferris wheel that's 100 years old and the tallest swing ride in the world. We rode the swings and got to see all of Vienna from up in the air. Once I got over how high in the air we were, while SPINNING, I loved it.We rode one of the Ferris wheels, walked around a little more, and of course hit up Tichy Eis before heading home. I loved it because amusement parks are something I'm used to back home, but this one was different- more beautiful to me. It felt like the kind of amusement park you see your favorite characters in movies go to. Just a lovely night!

Tallest swings in the world! It's scary spinning around at the top!

Today, we embark for our first weekend travel to Zagreb, Croatia!

I'm living in a postcard.

-post from September 10th-

Pretty much the only downside of having orientation in a small Alpine village is the lack of wifi. I wasn't able to post any blog posts while we were there, so this is me catching up.

Well, first of all, I have never seen a mountain before this week. We took a bus from Munich to the village of Dorfgastein, and while everyone else on the bus slept, I had my face pressed to the glass and took about 100 pictures as the mountains slowly came into view. Seriously, living in the Alps for a week is the most UNREAL experience. We arrived at Dorfgastein, and it was so precious. Every single window has a window box with flowers, the roads were paved with little cobblestones, and horses whinnied and cows mooed as we drove by. Perfection. 

Pension Lothringerhof, where I stayed.

The view from our porch.

Thursday was spent just settling in and exploring the town. 

Friday was spent hiking about 45 minutes up the mountain to a cheese maker and watching the process of making cheese. We tasted a LOT of cheese (which isn't my favorite but I ate it nonetheless). The view from here was incredible, and there was a cute swingset that overlooked the villages down below. We hiked back down, had a little devo, and had the evening free to ourselves for dinner. Found out later that this hike was about 7 miles, not too bad. 

Saturday was more hiking. This time we took a ski lift to the top of the mountain. Most incredible views of my life. We then hiked about 45 minutes down to Lake Fulseck, a lake on top of the mountains that's about 6 degrees Celsius (40 something Fahrenheit). Another gorgeous view. I only went up to my ankles because I didn't want to be in freezing clothes the rest of the day. Then we hiked to a little restaurant in the mountains and had more bread and meat and cheese (which we have had for almost every meal so far). We hiked maybe 30 minutes to the ski lift which most of the girls took back down to the bottom. I for some reason felt like being adventurous and hiked down the rest of the mountain for about another 2 hours with the rest of the group. Overall, we hiked 12 miles that day. Definitely felt it in my glutes the next day and had a FIERCE sunburn, but sooo glad we did it. 

Lake Fulseck!

Our fearless leader, Fritz. He's 57 and one of our hotel owners, but he was in better shape than all of us 19-20 year olds. I guess living in the Alps has its benefits!

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and took the train into Salzburg, Austria. Got to explore the city and see where a lot of the Sound of Music was filmed and where Mozart was born. We explored a huge fortress overlooking the city and ate a type of chocolate they call "Mozart's balls." Good day, but very exhausting. 

Bridge where lovers attach a lock and throw the key into the river to show their lover is "forever."

Mozart's birthplace! 

Free life size chess in the square!

Awesome Italian food (I swear Austria has more Italian food than Italy).

Might recognize these gardens from the Sound of ,Music!

Monday was a day to relax, and a few of us went to a local village called Badgastein where we could visit one of Europe's largest waterfalls (my group only found the smaller part way above the actual waterfall) and enjoy thermal spas. We visited the town by bus for a few hours. It was cold and rainy so we stopped in a little restaurant and had soup. We decided to try the "frittatesuppe" which is a soup with sliced up pancakes in it. Not my favorite, but not as bad as it sounds. 

Frittatesuppe

Enjoyed some pastries waiting on the bus back to Dorfgastein

Today we are headed to Vienna! (or Wien as it's called here). It will be nice to settle into our apartments and not have to live out of a suitcase anymore. Surprisingly ready for school to start!