Squad and Sprachkurs

On the 16th of August I left for a two week language camp- "Sprachcamp" or "Sprachkurs" at Altmunster in Upper Austria. It was close to a very beautiful lake called Traunsee, and was walking distance from another town called Gmunden. Our schedule looked like this:

Monday - Friday: 

7:30- breakfast

8:30- class began

10:00- break

10:15- more class

11:30- lunch

1:00- class again

2:30- freizeit (free time)

5:45- dinner, freizeit

8:00- study hour

10:00- lights out

I was placed in one of the beginner classes with Miss Lady, as she was affectionately called. In the first week, we were plagued with learning nothing but the conjugation of "sein" and repeating "Ich komme aus den USA" until it was ringing in our ears. We also sung songs about being foreigners and not speaking gut Deutsch, which may have been worse. Miss Lady left us Friday and was replaced with Miss Ma'am. In the second week we were able to catch up and learn some more useful verbs and vocab. 

I made some really great friends, and I'm super excited to spend the year with them. "Squad" consists of some of my favorite people in the universe and I love them with all of my heart, regardless of the triggering comments that are constantly made. We woke up to see the sunrise almost every day at 5:30, and it was always worth it. Freddy saw a dolphin, we all saw a double rainbow, we fought about bats and birds, and our presence was always graced promptly at 6:00 am by Old Naked Man taking a morning swim. Squad also did some secret rock-wall climbing and we had daily excursions into Gmunden and Altmunster. We all got body decorations in the form of ironically trashy temporary tattoos, and argued about the differing pronunciations of "penalized" and "pecan". The bad jokes and puns were never ending, along with the imitations of a "pig eating an eclair in a cartoon". There were plenty of naps and forced hugs and Valentino's pizza and extremely explicit story telling hours. We also ate a lot of ice cream, Connor's pasta, and embarked on many pilgrimages to Spar. Bless their souls. But not Claudia's, because she is Sarah Palin.

Squad photo on the last day

one of many sunrise photos - surprisingly, they all look the same

a class picture with Miss Ma'am, courtesy of Gabi's Snapchat story

Chez Connor

an example of a compulsory 'Huggle"

literally do not ever let eight Americans loose in a Spar

Freddy saw a dolphin in the lake and we will never let him forget that no one believes him

we always rose to the occasion

my darling roomies, minus Kylee

The first Saturday we were there we took a walk up a hill overlooking Altmunster. (Fun fact: "walk" in Austria is code for "any hike that is not directly uphill 90% of the time.) The view was worth it, and we spent some time rolling down the hills which resulted in horribly scratched-up legs, and a tarnished flag- thanks, Claudia ;) Sunday we went to Hallstatt. We were warned it would be incredibly tourist-y, and it was. We visited the famous salt mine- Salz Welten, and went down some slides, made way too many salt jokes, and were str8 thuggin in our jumpsuits.

Hallstatt, in all its kitsch-y glory

we were all dying to visit the Binehaus

And now I'm back in Volkermarkt! School starts on the 14th, so until then, I will be hanging out, and extensively learning some Deutsch. We might be taking a trip before holidays end, but no confirmed plans yet. I think that's all about Sprachkurs :) Servus!

Accents and Ascendings

On Thursday, we made another visit to Turnersee, where we swam and relaxed some more. It's been very hot so far, but hopefully will cool down this weekend. I got to meet a few of my host sister's friends Anna and Chrissi, and we ate some really good penne and told some jokes - mostly untranslatable German ones, of course. :) We also talked a lot about culture differences and things for me to expect in Austria, and what Anna can expect when she goes on exchange to Canada on the 26th. We did a lot of pin trading as well! Saturday Anna and my host dad and I took a drive to Eisenkapple Vellach, the southernmost town in Austria. We hiked Hochobir, which was incredible. It literally took my breath away. (I've probably made that joke too many times.) I was able to learn more about greetings in various formalities used in Austria. Fun fact: above 1000m, there is no formal language. As Peter said "it simply ceases to exist".  We then had lunch afterwards from the Eisenkapple Hütte, and it was delicious. That night we went to a barbecue at  Anna's with her dad. It was really great, and we played rotating ping-pong and told some more German jokes, two of which were translatable and I could understand. I'm very excited for language camp and to learn more German. And of course, 'Carinthian' when I come back to Kärnten.

Turnersee

Hochobir

our food from the Eisenkapple Hutte: speck, salami, and assorted käse

with Anna and Eva at dinner last night

Take Offs and Landings

Monday night, my family drove to Billings for dinner and to stay in a hotel before my 6:00 am flight. Saying goodbye wasn't especially fun, but my mom did manage to take some terrible pictures of me waiting in line for security anyway. Some nice old guy was telling me jokes the whole time, so that was fun. I got into Chicago at 10:00 am, and wandered around trying to find Frederick, who was the the first exchange student to arrive that morning. We finally found one another, and did some terminal-hopping to find breakfast and the three other exchange students. At 4:00, our plane to Vienna left. It was a 9 hour flight, but God bless Austrian Airlines and their many amenities. We got into Vienna that morning at about 8:30 am, and managed to get through immigration and customs without any issues. Two of us went to Graz, another to Salzburg, I we

nt to Klagenfurt, and one was picked up in Vienna. I took one of those propeller planes and got to see some very beautiful landscapes.

I arrived into Klagenfurt at about 10:00 am and found my host family, including their dog Semmi. :) They had signs and everything, it was very sweet! We drove to Volkermarkt and they took me to the main square which was beautiful. It's a small town of about 5,000 but it's very charming. I was introduced to the president of the Rotary club at the Apotheke, and we went to the mobile store to get me a new SIM card - if you can't text me (surprise!) that's why. 

After that we went to get lunch at a Gasthaus, which is a traditional restaurant that serves regional food. I had some very good fish, and we sat outside. Then we went to the house which is right on the river. After settling in, we went to the lake which was gorgeous. I forgot to take pictures, but it's the warmest lake in Austria at about 28-30 degrees Celsius. It was surrounded by mountains of course, and we will be hiking them Friday. After swimming and paddle-boarding we went back to the house and I slept for about 14 hours, which was really nice. This Sunday I will be going to language camp in Altmünster for two weeks, so before then we're taking it easy and seeing the sights.

arrival into Klagenfurt - from left: my host dad Peter, sister Eva, mom Martina, and sister Anna

the view from the plane arriving into Vienna

our first family picture, it's very hot and very sunny, so excuse our squinting

view of the river from the living room

(also, because I am pretentious and want everyone to hear Cam's Jamz, I thought I should include a link to an album I've been listening to recently that I feel captures the essence of the days before/during/after my departure. And it's also shares the title of this blog post!! Wow!! Take Offs and Landings - Rilo Kiley)