checka checka check

brother jacobs calls it "the hate stage." i have observed almost everyone in the study abroad group go through it. they will mope around and moan about how they miss their boyfriends and their families and their pools and home-cooked foods. i've felt it too. sometimes i loathe europe and want to scream viva america! and get on the next plane home. but most of the time i want to stay in this magical continent for the rest of my life and never return to the US.

we are going to venice tomorrow. should be amazing, but weather.com is telling me that it is going to rain the whole week. a devastating blow. did you know there are no cars in venice? none at all. just boats. everywhere boats. ambulance boats. watertaxis. waterhearses. watercops. waterwhateveryouwant.

my dad came to visit on friday! it was awesome. we went to all the restaurants i have wanted to go to but couldn't afford. for lunch, the cute outdoor austrian resuaraunt in the garden. for dinner, the thai restuarant that is always crowded in the MQ district. we went to see the Vienna boy's choir which was so lucky because their concerts are few and far between, and tough to get tickets to. anyway, it was celestial.i can't even describe to you how incredible it was to see the vienna boys choir perform IN vienna. checka checka check that off my life to-do list.

mmm what else what else. yeah i donno what else to say. i'm in vienna.

ash and lyss will appreciate this

last night i talked to jordan angelos on facebook chat. hahahahahahaahaha.

too much sex and the city

i wanna be just like SJP. the thing i admire most about her is she is not needy or dramatic. if i were a boy, i would date her. frick.

salzburg

it was good. i went skinny dipping for the first time. i also did a lot of other things that no one really cares about.

kiara and the run

there is something beautiful to be said for bopping around alone in a big city. today after class i busted outta there before i could feel pressured to do something i didn't really want to do with a group of girls i don't really love. i strolled down kartnerstrasse and returned the straightener that did not work and cost me $60. then i blew that money on a new pair of jeans, earrings, and a dress before my fiscally responsible conscience kicked in. i loved shopping by myself in vienna. i love shopping by myself anywhere. right so who knows if the jeans are great or if the dress is flattering or if the earrings are big enough, but i figure all it takes is one person to comment on them for me to be able to drop the "thxiboughtitinvienna" bomb.

then i came home and took my frau's dog for a run. you guys...it was ridiculous. am i living in a fairytale? i cruised up this alleyway which lead me to a staircase which lead me to a vineyard which lead me to a forest trail which lead me to a castle. i sat on the beautifully manicured lawn (i don't sit in nappy grass because crawly spiders reside in nappy grass) and there was an amazing view of vienna. it would have been a perfect moment in my life if the dog hadn't kept eating gross things off the grass like rocks and poo. dogs are so weird.

bratislava

today we went to bratislava, slovakia. i wasn't too excited about it because i thought it was a dirty russian-type city, but it was in all actuality the best day thus far. when we got there some girl turned to our director and said "i'm stickin with you" to which he responded, "no you aren't, no one is coming with me" and mysteriously galloped away. so apparently we were supposed to find our way around the city all day and just meet back at the boat later that night. alex, blake, emily and i quickly formed an exclusive clique and wandered off to see what bratislava had in store for us. we weaved in and out of quiet cobblestone streets shootin the breeze and then went to lunch at a slovak pub which was a european score- cheap, filling, and delicious. we had a smörgåsbord of lard potato cakes (yum), garlic soup in bread bowls, and shnitzle chicken. then we went our separate ways to complete our drawing assignment (we got a sketch book for it and everything), which took me about an hour to complete, then took the hike up to the Bratislava castle which was unreal. followed by cheap gelato, more meandering around, taking a nap inside an art museum before getting kicked out ("nicht stehen sie!"), people watching/fashion critiques, seriously stalking some monks, and the boat ride home to vienna.

observations:

1. not great fashion in bratislava
2. the highschoolers there are tre annoying. apparently protesting all day because one of their friends went to jail? who knows
3. gelato is great but i prefer straight chocolate
4. what purpose do monks serve in this modern age?
5 . bus drivers have the best jobs ever

over all day: A-
(the minus being for the wind and disgusting fish water we got at the pub)

thousand words