Dirndl Kaufen

It almost happened today! I almost became an official Austrian! I almost bought my dirndl!!! 

(Just in case you're not aware: a dirndl is the traditional Austrian dress.)

Anyway my friend Emilie told me about this awesome sale in her town on dirndls. Everything was half off!!! Now dirndls-good dirndls-are really expensive. A reasonable price for a good quality dirndl is about 150-200 euros! So I had to take advantage of this deal!! 
Anyway, I took the train to Gleisdorf with Crash and Courtney. These two are hilarious, it was probably one of the silliest weirdest train rides I've ever experienced. We met up with Emilie and her host brother there, and headed off to the dirndl shop. I tried on a ton of different types of dirndls. I had my heart set on getting one with green in it. In older times, the styles, patterns and colors of a dirndl symbolized where you are from, and being from the Steiermark, I had to have a green dirndl. 
Unfortunately none of the green dirndls looked good on me, so I thought it just wasn't my day to buy my dirndl, and I was pretty much ready to be done. But while waiting for the others, I decided to try on a red one that looked kind of cool, just for fun. It actually turned out looking really good! and it was 90 euros!!! Super!! 
But I was still a little skeptic. I had always pictured my dirndl being green, but everyone kept telling me it looked really good on me, and I even got an Austrian boy's opinion on it, and lets face it. that's all that matters. Right? 
Anyway I said I'd think about it a bit more while we got something to eat. So we headed to this American snack shack place and all had milk shakes! My first milk shake in ages I was so excited. Maybe I should't have gotten so hyped up about it, sadly it was kinda a let down. Crash and I, the only two Americans, were both pretty disappointed with them, but all the others thought they were great! Milk shakes are supposed to be thick like ice cream, but these were just like milk put in a blender with some Oreos a literal translation of "milk shake".  
Finally time to make my decision about the dress. I decided It looked good, was a great pries, and if I really didn't like in two weeks, I could always return it so back to the store we went to buy it! 
This was such a big step for me. Finally buying my dirndl! Something the other exchange students and I have been talking about before we even got to Austria. I got up to the cashier  and noticed a sign. It said only "debit and cash only." Crap. I only had my credit card with me. 
So I ended up not getting my dirndl today. The store is hold it for me to buy tomorrow, but it was a little sad going home empty handed today. But my trip to Gleisdorf wasn't a complete waste. I had a fantastic time hanging out with Crash, Emilie and Courtney, and Emilie's host brother is really cool too. Also I got to try Austrian's version of milk shakes, and see Gleisdorf for the first time. Even though it's just half an hour away, I've never been till today, and it's such a cute town. Not too big not too small. And to top it all off, it was the first warm day, we've had for a long time, and I felt so cool walking around with my new aviators on and my hair up! Anyway I had a fantastic afternoon, and I can't wait to get my dirndl tomorrow. Pictures to come soon. I'm going to need all your opinions on it! 

Fußball

Yesterday I finally returned to soccer after a three month break. I was always really scared to go back cause I'd missed a few practices. Then a few turned into a month, than three. But I finally got up he courage to return. Needless to say I'm so outta shape.  But hopefully I'll be back to my usual game in a few weeks, and usual weight.

#exchangestudent

That feeling I get at the beginning of every month when I check my bank account and Rotary has finally given me my allowance!! And I think "I'm rich I'm rich, finally I can buy my self some milka and kabab!!" 

PferdePferdePferde

I went horse ridding today!! In Austria, they ride English style which is so hard, you actually have to do something, not just sit on the horse. Every time the horse steps you have to stand up in the foot things then sit back down again. It's so hard to keep the tempo going while balancing on the prancing horse. Great exercise for the thighs!! But I had am amazing time. And of course hanging out with Laura was great as always!! I'm learning so many cool, new things here. Thanks again Laura and Mirjam for letting me come with and teaching me how to ride a horse English style!! I hope I get to try again sometime!

yet another cool day in Austria!!

Schneespatzieren

My first host family invited me to go 'for a walk in the snow' with them last weekend. So I'm thinking yeah that sounds cool, a little walk in the snow. No! When an Austrian says a walk they mean, lets climb a freaking mountain!! 

The mountain was really steep and of course covered in snow so I couldn't see where I was putting my foot each steep. And Lili kept throwing snow balls at me!! Anyway we spent like an hour and a half going up this thing, not even on the trail, we were hard core trekking straight up the side of the mountain! At least it was really pretty the whole way and had an amazing view of the entire city. 

At the top there was this little farm area place and we saw a deer and a goat! then Lili and I pretty much fell asleep on a playground swing. 

Going down went much faster. we got to slide down on these cool little plastic devices. At some points we were just sliding on rocks and tree roots but its was crazy fun, and impossible to control or slow down. 

When we finally got back to their place we ate an apple strudel and drank hot tea. Then played a few rounds of Uno. I love my first host family so much. I have such a great time hanging out with them still. They were such a perfect match for me. After Uno, We all sat in the living room, I was sprawled out on the carpet, Lili was on the couch above me and out parents were sitting across on the other couch. And just talked to them about everything. About the people in my class, parties, school in America. It's exactly the kind of thing I would do back home with my mommy, sitting on the kitchen floor. I feel so comfortable with them. 

It was a really fun afternoon. I can't wait till next time I get to see them. 

Deutsch lernen

I'm so determined to come back with as perfect German as possible. I know I've learned tons already, and I'd consider myself 'touristy' fluent. But now it's the tiny grammatical rules and cases I really want to get down. German is a pain when it comes to grammar. 

I talked to my German teacher and she's going to start giving me easy assignments to write about, then correct them. I'm so excited to start writing. I've never had to do much writing, it's so much harder to write in a foreign language than speak it. I think all my teachers are starting to realize I'm understanding whats going on now, I had absolutely no clue in the beginning of the year, and are starting to expect more from me. Cant use the in don't understand excuses when I'm feeling lazy anymore. 

I also asked if I could go into the first grade German class once a week. And today was my first day there. It's not first grade like in america, its the American fifth grade, and I help the English teacher every Friday in the same class. It's really awkward being with the little kids. Usually I'm standing on the other side of the desk, not sitting next to them. I'm so tall in comparison. But like rotary said, talking to younger kids is a great way to learn. Anyway I actually understood everything the entire class, which was really cool, and my first German homework is to write about reading, what kind of books I like to read, Authors and so on. I hope I get a good grade on it! 

My German learning curve is coming out of the 'fastest growth area' but I'm so determined not to let it slow down yet. My German's going to be so good when I get back! I'll be able to have super cool secret conversations with myself and Hillary's mom and no one will know what were saying!! 

Tonsillitis

Oh course my teeth had to wait till I was on exchange to go all funky on me! Finally gave in, and went to the Austrian doctor for the first time. I have tonsillitis. YAY!! communicating with the doctor in another language is really hard. I don't even know all those medical terms in English!! The doctor said I should have it operated on as soon as possible. Which is weird, since in America they only remove the tonsils if the person is really having problems, as a last resort. But I have heard that Austrian doctors aren't that good. Huhmm..., I always thought medical technology and practices were more advanced in Europe. 
Oh well, at least I know what it is now. Ever since Laura had mono, then I got sick, I was afraid she'd given it to me. 

MC Hammer

Before I leave Europe, I have to get a pair of harem pants. Harem pants, hammer pants, balloon pants, what ever they're called. There all the rage here, and look really comfy. 
For those that don't know what I'm talking about here's a reference. They come all different amounts of flowines  and saggines, so it's like lake sagging your pants, but not. It's my destiny to wear these! 

Englischschularbeit

Had an English test today!! 
I actually had a really hard time with it. 
I think my English is getting worse and worse by the day, and I don't know if I should be happy or not about that. Hopefully that means my German is getting better and better, but I can't say that's happening for sure. It's like how you never realize how much your hair grows until someone tells you, or until you think back two months ago and remember it was above your solders. But anyway, I'm at that really awkward place now, where I cant speak anything. My German isn't perfect, but when I try speaking English, things come out that just don't make sense, or I slip in a German word or two.
Denglisch is my new favorite language! 

Shake it!

So Started a belly dancing class at school today! I'm pretty sure the teacher has some extra joints or something, cause it's physically impossible for me to move my hips in such a sexy way. 
But It's a lot of fun, and something completely new. I never thought I'd be learning belly dancing in Austria! 
My goal is to get at least a quarter as good as Andres, a friend from Argentina who has the hips of a god, so next Rotary event when we have our dance party I can show off my new moves. 

Die BLÖDE Hunde

So I came home from school today to find a quite distressing mess. 

The entire floor was covered in empty cans, shreds of paper and plastic, and the trash can lay on it's side, completely emptied. "Oh no" I thought, but at least it was just a mess, no harm had really been done. 

WRONG!!!! 

The door to my room stood open a jar.... and my host sister was saying something about my room, so I peeked inside. Everything, absolutely everything edible had been eaten and strewn all over the floor. If I had been storing the things a kid normally has in their food stash it wouldn't be so bad. But consequently, I had been saving a lot of my American food that I got for Christmas too!!! And now all of it's gone. 

The Cup of Noodles Blair sent me, I was saving to eat on my exact middle day in Austria, which isn't that far away, totally gone. 

The seaweed snacks From Gaby and everyone, also eaten.

My last packet of Emergen-C from Hillary, chewed to bits. 

Luna bars from mommy, only wrappers. 

The dog Even found it's way into my closet where I was keeping a whole, brand new bag of sugar for next time I was going to bake, and tore that open. Does sugar even have a smell? How did she freakin find it. 

I miss all my American food. If anybody has a lot of money sitting around and maybe a cup of noodles that they don't want. You know where to send it! -_-

MAaa Du Blöde Hund! Warum hast du das gemacht??!!! Was ist mit dir!!!