Pope-Mania!!!

So on our latest outing as a group...we actually went to see Pope Benedict in Vienna. It was originally a choice that the group had to make together (kind of an all-or nothing thing), so I consented, and I was definitely regretting the decision when I had to wake up at 4 in the morning on our ONE day off from classes that week...considering that 1. I'm not necessarily a fan of the guy, and 2. I'm not a Catholic, it didn't seem to make much sense to me at the time. However, everyone managed to drag themselves out of bed and do the 45 minute hike to the train station. (At Herr Guertler's speed, mind you, which is about twice as fast as my little legs can go) Btw - on our rather brisk walk to the train station, we passed a club that was STILL GOING from the night before. Yeah, it was THAT early.

Once on the train, several of us were immediately reminded of scenes from Harry Potter (yep, we're nerds) and started reciting lines from the movies. Needless to say, it was a great first experience with the European Railway system!

Once we arrived in Vienna, we had another brisk walk to the "Dom," or cathedral. It was definitely pooring outside for a good part of our walk - Mary didn't have a raincoat of course! Luckily Aaron was nice enough to share his umbrella for part of the walk!

Once we got near the Dom, IT WAS LIKE A CATHOLIC REVIVAL. They were handing out pope bread, pope water, pope ponchos, etc etc etc. There were screens outside because obviously there was no way that that many people would fit in one cathedral. The mass lasted about two hours, entirely in German, and then the pope made a brief appearance outside the dome. I honestly wasn't paying attention to a word he said, which was the case for most of the people around me - we were all scrambling to try and snap a photo while dodging other cameras in the air or the occasional kid hoisted on their parent's shoulders...

After the mass, we were allowed to go out on our own for about three hours. We were starving, so immediately went to a stand and got some Burenwurst and some Sturm to drink. BY THE WAY - Sturm. Everyone must try it at some point in their life. Its a type of white-wine-ish drink that hasn't been fermenting very long so it tastes very citrus-y and is as easy to drink as water.

Even though we knew very well that the next weekend Herr Guertler would be taking us on a tour of the city, we managed to take umpteen pictures of Vienna. It was such a beautiful city, and considering I'm obsessed with statues and such, it was good for me. I even got to take a picture with the man himself...Mozart!

So after a long and tiring day in Vienna (Wien), we somehow managed to make it back to our hotel, the Heffterhof, which we still regard as heaven on earth. (Even though the cleaning ladies STILL have not given us new tissues since we got here!!!) We immediately had to start on our homework for the following day, but it felt great to get off our feet.
Tonight we're studying feverishly for our weekly test tomorrow (Friday)..."wait, i thought plural accusative adjective endings were "e" only??? What does anhand mean again? GAH!", but at least we know that tomorrow evening we take off for yet ANOTHER trip! We head off to Vienna for a tour - Herr Guertler style (which means a lot of talking slowly in LOUD German, followed by a sprint to a new area with another loud quasi-speech - GOD I love the guy! If only everyone could have a Herr Guertler in their life!) and then on Saturday we go to Budapest to hear some lectures and party it up with some Hungarian students. We'll end up back at the Heffty on Tuesday evening (probably with some homework to do...) but hopefully another blog will come soon after our return :) Tschuss!