This past weekend I made a second attempt, after failing miserably the first time, to go snowboarding in the Alps! Lucy and I barely made it on the train...seriously running the whole way, but we made it! And we arrived in Innsbruck, Austria, on Friday evening. Innsbruck was soooo adorable! Every building was just so cute! Our hostel was more like a family hotel so that was nice, located right on the river that divides Innsbruck. Friday night we found a cute restaurant in the old part of town and had the BEST Wiener Schnitzel of our lives!!! Everyone in Innsbruck was so nice to us, we were caught off guard because people in Vienna just aren't nearly that friendly! And there was a lot more English there because of all the tourism, so that was weird to hear, but we kept using our German anyway. Lucy is getting so good, our waiter was shocked we spoke such "perfect German!" The next morning we headed out for another long trek up to the mountains. It was super foggy so we hadn't actually seen the mountains yet. Long story short, we ended up running again and convincing a bus driver to let us on the bus that I guess was only for hotel guests, we probably just looked so desperate and confused that he eventually let us get on! An hour and a half later, it was blue skies and mountains all around! The air was soooo fresh it was amazing! We rented some gear and headed for yet another adventure...the first run...5 minutes after getting of the chair lift we were stuck in a steep valley of powder! Lucy had to take off her skies and walk out, then we made it a little farther and it started to get pretty steep so Lucy ended up walking/butt sliding, most of the way down! We took a break after that and sat outside eating soaking up the intense sunshine :) We then took the tram up to the very top which was absolutely breathtaking! I went off flying through the powder, through some trees and by the rock, it was AWESOME!!!! I was smiling the whole way down, until i face planted in the powder that is, and listening to the epic 7th Symphony by Beethoven! God is great :)

Rudolfina Redoute Masquerade

So, last week Monday I went to a crazy cool ball at the imperial palace in Vienna (the Hofburg). Vienna's Ball season is famous around the world, it lasts from December-May, but the real old ones are only until Ash Wednesday so I wanted to make sure I experienced one of the historically significant ones while I was here, and what better than a masquerade?!?! I found a dress for 20 Euro at this hysterical Chinese store, and an awesome mask at the biggest market in Vienna, the Naschmarkt. The night was amazing! I went with my friend Maggie, but there were a bunch of people from my program there as well. We met some Austrian fraternity guys who told us who all the important people there were and taught us how to waltz! We waltzed and polka danced, and did what I call "pride and prejudice" style line dances with lots of curtsying and spinning. By far my favorite was the "running polka." It was definitely a great Viennese experience that I will never forget!

I made a blog!

I've already been living in Vienna, Austria, for almost two months but I figured better late than never! So I'll try to recap so of the biggest adventures thus far and start updating this with all the experiences to come!