Arrival in Innsbruck!!!

Well, hard to believe it, but we’re finally in Innsbruck and pretty well settled in. We’ve braved Austrian washing machines, seen the “goldenes Dach,” found an ever-important reasonably priced hair dryer (a surprisingly difficult task), and are able to confidently navigate between Internationales and Rössl (the two student houses we’re living in). Everything is finally falling into place.

Following the whirlwind arrival to Innsbruck, the majority of the group took off on a trip to Krakow, Prague, Dresden, and Berlin. Two other girls and I stayed behind. (I did so intentionally – unfortunately the other two didn’t receive their rail passes in time, and ended up staying as well) Over the next 10 days, we explored the altstadt, learned it inside and out, and did the unthinkable for college students – cooked for ourselves! Usually some form of pasta and sautéed vegetables mixed together and jazzed up with whatever spices we could get our hands on, it turned out surprisingly well.

I live in Internationales, the newer of the two dorms that our program uses. There are three of us in our room…well, it would be much more appropriate to call it an apartment. There is a hallway connecting three separate bedrooms, and our own kitchen which the three of us share. My bedroom is ridiculously large! There is so much storage space and wall space, but 1. I have nothing to fill up the space, and 2. we aren’t allowed to attach anything to the walls. That in combination with the tiled floors makes for a very sterile-looking room. However, it’s seemed much homier since the two roommates have returned from traveling.

The rest of the group (except for one who traveled longer) came back on Sunday, to the wonderful surprise that the Irish had won that past Saturday. Thank god that streak is over! We celebrated properly by having a get-together in Internationales on the following Monday night.