Sunday, November 24th, our baking was finally finished and packed for the market that was happening today. The weather was pretty crappy but luckily it wasn't a far walk from the dorms. I headed over with umbrella and camera in hand only to find that it was way smaller than what I thought. They did have this vendor with a bunch of krumpas masks too! They're pretty scary but I am so curious for the big traditional krumpas run for this upcoming Saturday.
All in all, the Christmas market in town that I have been going to is definitely my favorite. However, I did get some free glüwein at this market and I basically created my own movie scene. I stood by the water, in the rain with my umbrella, drinking my wine alone and looking into the distance. Haha.
Monday, November 25th, a day of class and then the Augustiner (the big beer hall) with 2 guys from the program and their one friend that was visiting from their hometown. Of course I got more of that seasonal beer because it is just so delicious.
Tuesday, November 26th, SNOW!
Finally it snowed, and not just on the tops of the mountains. Haha. With no class I walked around the Christmas markets again and later that night a couple of us met up for the Berg film festival starting at 8:30pm. It consisted of 3 films all documentaries about people climbing; the first was a short documentary in English called Shattered, the second was a 20 minute documentary in English with German subtitles called Cold (which was the film we were told about by our professor and what we initially went for), and the 3rd film was a long documentary in French with German subtitles called....oh I have no idea because my French is not that good and my German is just a big failure haha. The festival was really awesome though and I definitely enjoyed Cold the most.
Wednesday, November 27th, more snow!
Then I headed into town to try this mysterious ball of deliciousness I had been seeing all around the Christmas market. It was a ball shapes from these crunchy cookie things (almost like if a funnel cake was turned into a cookie) that was covered in different toppings. I got milk chocolate with nuts. Okay so I purchased my mystery ball and now for the real challenge...how the hell do you eat this thing?!?!? Yeah I had no idea. It was so difficult to break with my hands so then I just bit it like an animal. It was pretty entertaining to say the least. Eventually it started falling apart and I was giving pieces away to other people in the program because this thing was the size of a softball.
Later that night, 4 of us (Sam, Haley, Becky and I) headed out to dinner (Sam treated!). We went to an Indian Italian Austrian place which we had been 2 previous times because it's so good.
Okay so as if I don't talk about all the food I eat here enough, just wait because now I'm up to....
Thursday, November 28th, HAPPY THANKSGIVING (even though it's not a holiday here). We wouldn't be true Americans if we didn't have some sort of turkey to stuff our faces right? Well all of us had lunch reservations at 12pm at a restaurant in town. We were all told that the cooks try to "do their best" with the Thanksgiving meals so we weren't expecting it to be what we are used to from home. Boy were we wrong...
First they started us off with a creamy pumpkin soup. And then the main course started coming out: 2 bowls of peas and corn, 2 bowls of carrots, 2 huge plates of stuffing that was cut into some strange loaf form, a giant tin of mashed potatoes, a huge bowl of gravy, 1 turkey...nope, 2 turkeys....no, wrong again...3 TURKEYS! And then a little bowl of cranberry sauce to end the introduction of the feast that was about to happen for the 20 of us that were there.
Food coma to the MAX! But it's not real Thanksgiving if that doesn't happen. When we thought we were finished, they brought out desert, a piece of apple strudel with whipped cream and vanilla sauce. I think everyone was about to explode. Haha.
Unfortunately I had to go to photo class after stuffing my face and just wanting to go back to sleep but it wasn't bad. And the day ended on a great note because one of my favorite DJs had favorited one of my tweets towards him! It's the little things in life sometimes. :)
Friday, November 29th, more Christmas markets! At around 2pm, 3 of us (Sam, Elliot and I) took the bus (about 45 minute drive) to the Wolfgangsee. Supposedly the markets over there are very beautiful and cute. We got off the bus, walked down to the water and then bought tickets to take the boat from one market to another. This was so worth it and just breathtaking.
We went to all these cute shops and had some schnapps and red wine along our travels and also free samples of schnapps, some sweets and some dips for breads. There were also fire pits everywhere so we got a chance to warm up! Most of the time you would walk along the water too and see this giant lit up floating candle. Sometimes boats that were lit up would go by.
I was able to find some a couple of gifts to bring home which was great. Oh and I almost forgot, we saw a man walking his 2 pet llamas at the market!!!!! Haha! It was one of the greatest things I've seen all day. So of course I had to pet them...
So cute and so soft. I wish they were my pets! :) After our trip to the market came to an end, we took the boat back, then the bus back into town (drank a bottle of wine on the bus between the 3 of us) and were then ready to go out after we dropped out things off. We met a group of Austrian guys who were super funny and I ended up hanging with them for the majority of the night. I ended up separating from everyone at a point but I made some for friends and I met this dude outside of a bar...
He was from Florida so we chatted a bit and then I continued on. Made it back to the dorms safe and sound.
Saturday, November 30th, Christmas market again anyone? Sure why not! I mean especially when Lukas (Haleys man/ my bro) was back in town again! Lukas insisted that I try a typical Austrian food that you could order in 3 ways; with sugar, with cranberries or with sauerkraut. Haley, Lukas and I got the cranberry and sauerkraut ones to split. I don't remember what they were called but they tasted like a light, fluffy, delicious donut. (Thanks for those again Lukas!).
After we stuffed out faces, we hung out in Starbucks to pass by time and get warm. Lukas bought us hot chocolate, americano and his chai tea that he couldn't wait for. (Thanks for the starbucks too again). As we waited, we entertained ourselves with stupid noises, strange conversations and making vines. I think I got Lukas and Haley addicted to vine, such a life changing app! Haha. But then it was time to meet everyone at the bus stop nearby around 5:30 for the Krampus run! When we arrived, we had over an hour before the run started to we stayed warm in a grocery store and then Haley abd myself got some glüewein! Now if you want to learn the history of the Krampus then be my guest and google it, but basically they are these scary looking creatures that are the evil spirits of Christmas or something. At these krampus runs, there are people in Krampus costumes that parade through the streets while people stand behind baracades, and the krampus whip you, scare you, grunt and ring cow bells that are attached to their butt. And when I say whip you, I mean it. I had some welts on my leg for a couple days, Sam's tights were ripped and her knees were bleeding, Judi (another girl in the program) got pulled into the street, along with another girl, people were screaming, but it's all an Austrian tradition. Haha.
After almost an hour, Haley and I were frozen so her, Lukas and myself went into a bar for a drink and some warmth. Lukas and Haley were doing some karaoke at our little table and it was entertaining to say the least. We headed back towards Sissis house (Haley's host mother), waited for Sam, hung out for a bit and then headed off to Shamrocks Irish Pub in town. We met a bunch of people that night and ended up hanging out with a smal group of Austrian guys. Haley and Lukas eventually left but Sam and I continued on with the night with our Austrian dudes. I ended up talking to one dude who I earlier pointed out to Haley and Sam and they agreed that he was exactly my type, so that made my night complete. :) I am pretty sure we didn't leave the bar until 5am but hey, the night was well worth it.
Sunday, December 1st. Damn is it December already? Happy 21st birthday to Sam from back home and Happy 20th Birthday to Linds! It was a long morning, but a good one. After I showered because I was ratchet, Sam and I met Haley and Lukas at the Christmas markets for some Austrian-styled sliced pancakes. Mine was cinnamon, apple and nuts with vanilla sauce on top and it pretty much tasted like heaven!
We ate them by the ice skating rink because it's always entertaining to watch people fall there. Lukas was getting on the 6pm train and it was going to be the last time we saw each other because I am going to be in London when he comes to see Haley next weekend (good thing I'll be home in time on Saturday to see you once more Lukas, one last bromance! Haha). We all walked him over to the bus stop and I said my goodbye, well what we thought was going to be goodbye.
Monday, December 2nd, class and the market. Before and after class, I spent some time at the marke by myself, just strolling around and photographing.
Later that night on my walk home, i headed over by to my favorite farm to see a good view of the mountains and pink nighttime sky.
Tuesday, December 3rd, general assembly at 1pm like always. Tracey (one of the girls in the program) made all of us her homemade family recipe for cheese dip, it was too good! She has the velveta cheese shipped from America just to make it. Then we received out Salzburg college t-shirts that Sam designed. This was one of the better general assemblies we have had in my opinion. Haha. Then I headed back to the dorms and finished editing my photographs for my portfolio class and my other photo class.
Wednesday, December 4th, time to print! We all wore our salzburg college t-shirts today and looked dapper. Becky and I both has maroon hats as well and just similar outfits that wasn't planned, so funny.
Once all the ones in photo were ready, we walked to the bus and headed to our professors studio. It was only about 15 minutes away and was more on the country side, so beautiful.
His studio was absolutely amazing and I was so jealous. Besides it being awesome, it was right in his basement! So lucky! And if you thought the coolness stopped there, you are wrong...he has a nespresso coffee machine in his studio and we had some! We all printed some work and before I knew it, the class time was over and we had to head back. :( I could have printed in that studio all night. It made me excited to go back to Purchase and start producing loads of prints.
We took the bus back to college and the ride back with the sunset was breathtaking.
When I got back to the dorms, I put on my music and started packing for London!
Thursday, December 5th, London time! But first I had things to do. I woke up earlier and went to the Billla by the dorms to get supplies to make Oreo balls to leave for Lukas before I left like I promised him. Some of the Austrians that were coming into the kitchen while I was making them were confused as to what they were. The looks I was given was pretty amusing to say the least. Around 12, they were all ready and in the fridge and I was just in time to gather my things and walk to the bus stop to start my solo adventure. London, here I come!
To be continued....
No comments:
Post a Comment