One week down...wait? only ONE WEEK???

So as unbelievable as it seems, one of my four weeks in Salzburg ist vorbei (gone, for those of you who do not speak German)! It seems like I've been here ages, considering how much my understanding of German has improved! There have definitely been times when it has been frustrating, but the group (there are 14 of us from Notre Dame) is such an awesome and fun group of people.

Salzburg is a gorgeous city, even despite the fact that it has rained every day we have been here except for ONE, luckily the one in which we went on a walking tour of Salzburg. This pic is of Herr Guertler, doing his thing - he's a history professor and is also in charge of our program here.

The culture here has taken some getting used to, but it has been VERY educational. Austrians are extremely punctual, but once you get somewhere - dinner for instance - you tend to stay there for a while. I'm starting to think that they love nothing more than having dinner with friends, drinking wine, and talking for hours.

The hotel we're staying at is pretty much fabulous. Every day we have breakfast and lunch provided for us. Lunch just happens to be three courses every day (soup, entree, and dessert), and is better than anything I've ever eaten in my life. Not only that, but if I stand on my balcony, the Alps are visible if I glance to my left. Like last year's group told us, the Heffterhof hotel really IS heaven on earth!

As you probably could have guessed, the group has indeed made a few trips into the Altstadt to have a beer or two, and to further explore the city :) There is a brewery called the Augustiner Brauerei, which also has a Biergarten (we were able to do that on the ONE day without rain...). You pick either a half-litre or litre sized mug, wash it out, and then take it to get filled. Big surprise...I was the only girl who joined the litre club that day!!! In the hallways you can go and buy various things to eat - the most popular of course being the giant pretzels or "Brezen."

Oh...and we DO have class too! It's a bit difficult, but it should help quite a bit once we get to Innsbruck in October. There's a lot of writing to do, but hopefully it will be easier and easier to write...

That's about all the updates that I can think of for right now...we're going to see the Pope in Vienna on Sunday, the following weekend going to Vienna and Budapest, the weekend after that going to Oktoberfest, and then the weekend after THAT we move to Innsbruck and have 12 days free to travel! Needless to say, there will be much more to write about...