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!