The weather is cooling down again. Thankfully, no snow. While I like snow, I am happy without it here. It doesn't seem to suite Vienna. At least not right now.
We are on a "long weekend" break this weekend. That means that our program (AHA) cancelled our classes Thursday, so that we could start our weekends Wednesday night and have a long weekend break. This is mostly for student travel purposes! Some people from our group are in Ireland this weekend, enjoying the vast amounts of green hills and lots of old castles and ruins. Others are in Munich right now, which is in upper Bavaria, just north of the Bavarian Alps. A small group headed to Rome to hopefully live up "When in Rome"...and the rest of us are scattered around a few parts of Austria. I think only three of us (Aaron, Jake, and I) are in Vienna this weekend! :) I would be on one of those trips in a heartbeat, but I sprained my ankle earlier this week and can't do much with it. Hopefully that passes quickly!
I've decided to take my current house arrest issue and make the most of it! Jake and Jeff have made it a lot more fun by cooking dinner at my flat twice this week. The first night we had an awesome taco soup, which was basically chili, but better; and last night we had penne pasta with spicy chilli pepper sauce (and I mean SPICY), with meat, fresh italian bread and red and white wines. It was really good! A little on the hot side for me, but the bread and pasta helped calm that down enough to actually enjoy the food! I have to say, we all agreed that we felt very civilized...cooking dinner, eating at the dinner table, and taking our time. We actually used silverware, took our time eating, held some good dinner-table conversations, and sipped our wine. I feel like any other time, we're either grabbing kebaps, bread, or sandwiches from the street vendor, rushing through the Spar ( a grocer close to our school), or making a cheap meal alone at home. Those other times are certainly fine...it's all part of the experience, and I enjoy the change of pace in my life right now; but it was still really fun to have the company and eat a good home-cooked meal. (Thanks guys!)
Since I'm in Vienna for the weekend, my goal is to see another "TOP 10 VIENNA" suggestion. I know it will take a lot longer with my ankle and the stupid crutches, but if I just aim for one thing, I think I can make it doable! I plan on figuring that out tonight or tomorrow morning and making it happen.
I'm currently waiting for LOST (S5 E3) to download from iTunes so that I can watch it. It's being slower than it's been, and I'm finding myself racked with anticipation! I just started the new season today, and gave into buying each episode from iTunes. I thought if I bought the first three, and then found a way to watch the rest, then I wouldn't be wasting my money too much. Besides, it's only 3 bucks, and that's worth it to me! I'm really glad I did this, because it's incredibly intriguing! Of course, I won't give anything away. I feel sorry for the people who never got into the show, though. I'm not a huge advocate of TV, and try to not watch it a lot..but LOST is actually one of the rare shows worth viewing on television these days. I really encourage you to watch an episode if you haven't yet! Or, if you're bored, there's 4 seasons of chaos, mystery, and awesomeness to keep you busy. You know you want to....really. watch it. You won't regret it for a second.
In other matters...
My Uncle Frank just suffered a major stroke earlier this week. He is the only brother of my father that is still alive, and I can only imagine that it's been a really difficult time back at home. Please keep my Uncle and my entire family in your thoughts and prayers! He's a tough guy, and I'm sure he can pull through this. I'll keep you guys posted on this situation as well.
I just want to say hello to everyone following my blog, and that I love you all! I can't wait to bring home great stories, memories, and life-changing events. I have grown so much already, and know there is much more to come!
Take care everyone! See you in the summer!
-Amy
