The End.

Well hello!

As most of you already know - I am officially back in the Good Ole' US of A. I realize that I have slacked off my blog over the last couple of weeks. Let me just defend myself by saying that it was a crazy last couple of weeks for me. However, it was a great end to the semester. But - Let's back track just a little and I will tell you about Munich, Salzburg, and coming home.

Munich:

The weekend after Switzerland we - Amy, Val, & I - headed out to Munich, Germany on a day trip. We headed out early in the morning and caught our train. Once we got into Munich we tried to get our bearings...however - It was raining cats & dogs. It was the kind of rain that if you had to navigate a brand new country in it - you would not be able to see one foot in front of the other. So, we tried to get around for about 30 minutes - until we found a subway station. We needed a rest from the torrential downpour so we headed down into the underground.

The underground was incredible. It was not just a subway station - for certain. It was an entire underground community. Everyone was down there - hiding from the rain. It was like a city street...only under the city street. There was food stands, a food court, shops, etc... There were even entrances to the malls. So, we decided to hang out in this crazy underground world. We ate hot dogs and wandered around the mall area until we ended up back at the train station just as it was time for our train to head out. It was an awesome little trip - despite the awful rain.

Salzburg:

The last week in Vienna was a crazy time for us. With exams and packing, Allison and I needed a break. So, we decided to take our last trip of the semester to Salzburg, Austria. After a short train ride - complete with hot chocolate and pastries – we arrived the beautiful city of Salzburg. We walked around a bit – and got our bearings. We ended up going to the city center, where there was an awesome Christmas Market. We walked around for a bit, got some food, and just generally experienced Salzburg. We explored the catacombs in the mountainside, and watched ice skaters at Mozart Square. We just had a lovely day wandering around. Allison and I headed back to Vienna – after a great little day trip.


The trip home:

Winding down a school year is much different in Vienna. Instead of winding down – we winded up. The last few weeks were filled with last minute trips, errands, shopping, and places to see. In between all of that, we still had to study for our exams. For all of those out there who think that we didn’t study all semester – we sure made up for it on our exams. We studied for hours upon hours. To keep me awake I watched the German version of MTV for pretty much the entire day. In the end – the studying was worth it. We took our last exam on Tuesday and had a final farewell dinner that night at Venizia (our little Italian place down the street). After a final nighttime movie with Allison and Claire, we headed to bed. In the morning we woke up around 7, finished packing, and headed down to catch our bus to the airport.

Our flight to DC was about 11 hours. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be though. Denton and I watched several movies and dozed off every now and then. We flew over Greenland – which is really cool. We got into DC and immediately took out our cell phones so that we could call people. Customs was a breeze – and then we caught our plane to Charlotte. From Charlotte we had a short wait until we got our last flight home to Nashville. There were so many people waiting for us. It was great. I was really glad to be home.

Now that I have been home a couple of days – it has been interesting. I am still trying to acclimate to life here with all the people. However, I am really glad to be home for Christmas time. It has been great.

So, there you go: The Chronicles of my life in Vienna. I went as a Nashville girl having no world experience – and I came back as a Vienna girl with a world of knowledge. IT was amazing. I can’t wait to go back – or rather go somewhere else.

Love from back in Nashville.
Caitlin