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!