Been way too long!

Hello! And sorry, sorry, SORRY! i have been seriously terrible at updating this thing. I've been out and about in Europe, and been forgetting to write more entries!

From Septepmeber 11-20 i went to Prague, Krakow, and Budapest, which was a very fun, but long trip....Although by the end, I was ready to return to Vienna.

PRAGUE was a very cool and very old city...many of the buildings just looked like castles. I took a stroll over St. Charles' Bridge, saw my first (and only) European soccer game so far (PRAGUE WON!), and went on an evening river boat ride with my program.

KRAKOW was very different from Prague, in that it was still somewhat run down from Communism. It was very interesting to see first hand, though. We also took a trip to Auschwitz about 45 minutes awaywhich was very powerful and moving. The next day, we took a more lighthearted trip to a famous Salt Mine which sounds really lame but in reality was VERY cool....we went 300 meters below the ground, through 6 levels...and they had statues and exhibits entirely made out of salt...even a HUGE church underground that holds services every Sunday---all made out of Salt!

BUDAPEST was VERY cool. The architecture was similiar to Vienna, but nonetheless a cool city. Budapest was orginially two cities--Buda and Pest, but in the 1800s they merged into one, thus forming Budapest. I saw many Roman Ruins, along with the Buda Castle with a great overlook to the city. Also, I went to one of the famous Turkish Baths which was INCREDIBLE. They were SOOOOO relaxing, which was what I needed towards the end of the trip after being shuffled through many tours and long bus rides.

On September 26, I went to SALZBURG which was great. My friends and I went up to the huuuuge castle on top of the big hill---the castle started construction around 1070 I think! We saw the torchure chamber, which was kinda scary. We also literally took a wrong turn and ended up walking through a famous graveyard, where Mozart's sister and Haydn's brother are buried. Of course, I also saw the WEDDING CHURCH, the ABBEY, and the DO-RE-MI gardens from The Sound of Music and reinacted the movie accordingly. Also, since I went to Salzburg a weekend of the famous Oktoberfest, there was a mini-Oktoberfest there in Salzburg (the main one is in Munich, Germany). My friends and I ate dinner and celebrated with the rest of the Austrians, and watched everyone walk around in their Lederhosen.

Last weekend, I went to the provice of STYRIA in Southern Austria, a very pretty region known for it's wine. I stayed overnight in the city of Graz, the capital of Styria. Graz is a BEAUTIFUL, very Austria town, and also all the people are young as there is a big University there. We had a tour of Graz, and bummed around the city. The next day, we went to a huge wine festival outside of Graz. There were stands everywhere of people selling wine, along with a huge parade, and again everyone was walking around in their Lederhosen. It was a great time--and I was also interviewed on an Austrian news channel for being American and going to the festival! The lady gave me the URL to the website, but I have yet to find the clip on it.

Other than that, I have been enjoying Vienna, attending classes, finding different markets to go to throughout the city, going to cafes, and just enjoying myself. I'm starting to really get to know the city and memorize the metro map, which is really nice. Sorry for the lack of entries, I will try to be more on top of it! And I will be adding pictures soon :)