Hallo!

Hallo Familia! It is sunday night and I am finally enjoying a quiet moment to myself! We have been on the go, go, go! I got to straighten up my room a bit, and am now going to inform you of my most recent happenings :) I think I will mostly post picutures, with little comments below and if one really triggers a story or something cooler I'll write about it. If not I can give the more in depth info when we skype. I will probably not write and describe enough, because I feel like I have been here forever and that you should know whats going on by now! haha so Entschunldigen (sorry) in advance!

Before I do some pictures I will write all my random thoughts. I love my house and my Frau, Esther. I love all the kids on the study abroad, we are best friends already. Austrians are very, very patient and most know English. Much more english than I know of deutsch. I need to know german, I want to know german! It is only the third day but already I feel such a need to know how to speak this language! I can't wait for class to start tomorrow, especially deutsch. The Minerts are amazing. I know that they are a big part of the reason I chose to be here in Vienna. The institut (school) looks so old and I love it! Church today at the Center (church institut building) was interesting. Yes it was german, and no I didn't understand a lot but I liked it. It will be a good place to go and be able to practice german, because they are patient enough to try and talk to us. I have seen much of the city now and I love it! There is so much history here, so much so that you can walk right by it without noticing! Now for some pics!

The airport! All ready for my first international flight!

My first glimpses of Austria!! I didn't know there was so much farming here.

Oh and its a good thing I even got a glimpse of austria... I had to run my freaking butt of in the Amsterdam airport. We had a nice long layover in Minieapolis, only 7 hours, but here we had 1 hour. NOT LONG ENOUGH! Because we had to go through customs, and show our passports, there was a huge line, the guys was asking all these questions I could barely understand, but I eventually got my stamp :) Then we had to have our carryons checked again. And again, like in slc, they thought there was some mysterious liquid hiding in my bag so had to take a second, more closer, and time comsuming look. and of course there was nothing but hey, safety is key. So after I finally got out of there we had to run from gate F to gate B- on the clear other side of the airport. When we arrived they attendants were giving the last call to Vienna. !!! We barely made it!

This is what me and Becca looked like after that 15 minute run. I was soooooooooo hot and sweaty, but hey we made it!

This is the Pension Barroness, a super nice hotel we stayed in our first night.

The view out our sweet austrian style windows, I'll have to post some pics of how cool they are

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in the room

This is the Rathaus, I love the flower in the window boxes.

The Stephansdom Catherdral through the arch.

This is a circus tent set up behind the Rathaus, shows start in like a week! In the distance behind is the Hofburgs opera house, rarely used now for anything other than suuuuper special occasions. Kind of ironic, cirucus and roalty opera house :)

Inside the Stephansdom, I'm sure I'll go there again and write about it in more detail.

Pizza for dinner!! But don't worry, it didn't taste American. It was called Spinaci and had tomatoe, kase (cheese), speck (bacon), onion and spinach. The spinach didn't really taste spinachie though, it was super strong. Markus- the man from the school taking us to dinner- thought it was because of nutmeg. It was good though! Oh and that is my glass of water and bottle of water. The serve wasser (water) in a bottle, not from the tap. So ya it costs :P

Breakfast at the Pension. Delicious!! Dark bread with raspberry jam-so good- fruit that was delicious, orange juice, you could have yogurt, cereal, hot chocolate, rolls with ham and cheese.

Lunch at the Naschmarkt after a full morning of information at the Institut (school). It was called a Kebab and was a falaful (spelling??) sandwich! Who knew I'd eat what Kerri ate! OH and I also got to eat what Paula ate! what I said just before leaving that I thought we would not have to eat in Vienna. Chicken off the bone. It was good though! My host cooked it for dinner, along with vegtables- orange peppers, zuccini, and maybe green onions? and lots of spices and stuff it was really good! and bread, i love the bread here

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My backyard!! Yes there is a pool, and yes I already swam in it! It is so hot here, and very humid. I am always super sweaty when I wake up. Gross i know.

Kiersten

Its so green and beautiful out here, away from the city. I think it will be wonderful to live out here, a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the city. We walk for 3 minutes to the bus stop, ride for 15 mins to Hutteldorf, the last/first U4 station, and take the U4 (underground train) to wherever we want to go. To school that will be about 30 minutes and to the Minerts apt about 1 hr. Its not so bad though, now that we know how to do it!
Saturday night we went to town with Esther, to her sisters art exposition, after a big me and kiersten left to see the city, and make our way home on our own... we did.... eventually :)

Huge Ferris Wheel in the background that I am going to ride on Wednesday!!

We realized where we were soon enough to catch the last few minutes of the opera we had been wanting to see. OH but it was outside so thats ok! haha -In september the opera house puts a huge screen up outside so tons of people can watch the shows. sweet! free opera!
We were a bit scared waiting for our bus, and trying to get off at the right station. We thought we missed our stop so we got off at the mall, about a 1/2 mile away from our house and walked home. This was our funny "we are scared picture", but really I felt safe and okay the whole time. Come to find out we really didn't ride far enough, cause the bus kinda does a circle and then comes back around to our stop. Its all good though cause we found everything alright tonight.

Home safe :)

It has been a crazy few days but like Brother Minert said tonight, we are having many experiences, some good and some bad, but we are learning from all of them. And most importantly we are to Ruhig wieter traumen! Keep on dreaming!

Guten Tag from Vienna!

Hello!! I have made it safely to Vienna! My first glimpse of Austria was of... beautiful farm land! I had no idea there was this much farming here! ah and I love it already! We did a quick walk around the city before dinner and I took a few pictures, but I am mighty tired so I will post them later, with what I learn tomorrow from our institute director. Just wanted to let you all know I arrived safe and sound. Although I did have to run all the way from security in Amsterdam to my connection flight to vienna in the farthest away gate and barely made it in time. :) Can't wait to experience more of this great city! oh, and my checked bag, along with everyone elses from SLC didn't make it, so we'll see if they are here tomorrow! all is well though! Gut nacht from Wien!

I'm heading out!

Its here, its here!! The time has come for me to leave for Vienna!! I can hardly wait. Only 12 hours of plane rides, 8 hours of layovers and a day before I'm there! I can't wait for this adventure to begin!

A special thanks to my mom for helping me get all ready, and to my dad, for ultimately making this trip possible. Thanks parents, I'll miss you!

1, 2, 3 things i love

#1 The Journey and Foreigner Concert

It was so fun to get out with the family and go to a concert! This was only my second concert (sadly I have to admit that good old David Archuleta was my first) and i loved it! Previous to going to the concert I had thought that I knew tons of Journey songs and not so many of Foreigners. NOT SO!! I knew every single one of Foreigners songs, except for one... but it was the not so bueno one anyways. Journey had a few good songs, but I definitely discovered that I love all of Foreigners music!

me and bry just rockin out

My little brother Brandon got to sing back up to one of Foreigners songs! Hes on the right with the 2010 shirt.

#2 Where I am living in Vienna!!

So about last week I found out where and who I will be living with in Vienna! and can I just say that I am even more excited now!! My address while living in Vienna for the next 3 months will be: Hauptstraße 134 1140 Wien. sick!! Actually seeing where I will be living makes everything that much more real! I googled my hosest's name Esther Steirer, and it looks like she owns some sort of Exercise and wellness business. So maybe I will stay in shape while i'm over there! haha I also learned that my roommate will be Kiersten Merril. I'm so excited!

so this is where I'll be living.. I know not too exciting on this map, but on google maps you can see everything!

Kiersten! this smile is so classic!

#3 Paula and the girls are home!

My sister and her two adorable girls decided to come home from Oklahoma early. Yay! I have very much loved having them (Jan and Emily) around to play with, and Paula to chat with. I'm glad they came home soon, cause now I am able to spend more time with them before I leave!

and a #4... Well here is a negative: got my wisdom teeth out. But it hasn't been as bad as last time, so I'm grateful for that! Positive: I will get to see my sister Kerri in just two short weeks! I can't wait to have the whole family together again!

24th of july parade

Lots of car, Loads of sun, and a little bit of TJ

So just two short weeks ago I thought something terrible was going to happen. I thought I was going to be subject to the misery that surely comes to all adults who have a job. I thought I was going to miss a family vacation. To california. I was bummed when everyone started talking about it, but it was so spur of the moment I knew I couldn't get work off plus I was saving my vacation days to go visit my sister Kerri in Wisconsin. But some interesting events occurred in just a few days. First off Bry called and said he wanted to come. Oh man did I want to go then! But no, I am a responsible adult now, and I can understand why staying home to work is important, so I'm sad for a minute then dismiss those feelings. Then Kerri calls mom and says that instead of us coming to visit them in Wisconsin how about we just come down to Vegas when they are there visiting the Heatons. What a great idea! (Since we were having a hard time finding a time the whole family could go). So now my brain really got thinking. If we are not going to Wisconsin to visit Kerri, and Bry is going with the family to cali right now, then I sure as heck better go!! Cause this is going to be our only longish vacation!! agh!! So what do I do?? I call Alyse, this girl who does recalls for our office and ask her if she can work for me. She says yes, at least to two of the four days. Then I call Danielle, my super head manager, since my manager is out of town. I explain to her the last minute decision my family has made to go on vacation and how I really want to go because it is going to be our only vacation this summer, which I had not originally know, and can a please get work off, and I already have this girl alyse who can work for me. And she says "of course, Have fun!" YES!!!! So then I realize the life of an adult is not so bad. A few short phone calls and some nice people can make life a lot better!

So now I am going to California with the family. We decide to go to San Diego tuesday so we can wake up and drive right down to Tijuana on Wednesday. How sweet is that! Mexico here we come! And of course we are only going there because Bry came along, and I am so glad he did. He go to show us all around his mission. It was so interesting seeing all the shops, people, the different smells, the different way of driving ( I loved it, but I dont think dad was too crazy about it! :) . It was just one day but I feel like I experienced and learned a lot. We got to meet a few of the people Bryant baptized. We got to see the humble homes of so many many people. There are just houses everywhere. It is amazing that they live with so little and we always have to be getting something new, something more. I think I learned they really do have all they need, just their families, and they are happy. I'm grateful for my family and the time I got to spend with them on this vacation, no matter how short it was.

We started our trip down to tj here, at the Mexican car insurance place... good thing we didn't need it, but good to have it!

Then it was off to the boarder!

He was sooooooooooooooo excited!! But who can blame him!

This is the mission office

This was Bry's apartment

This is the amazing taco shop we ate at. Really, it was soooo good! I especially loved the Horchata, which I thought I hated.... Only in the u.s. I guess!

Then we hit up the Revolution. Here at the classic "zebras"

Here is us with Francia, her son, and her sister Celeste. They are people Bry baptized. It was so cool to meet them! You could tell how excited they were to see Bry again, and how grateful they are for him. I thought it was especially cool how I could even understand and follow most of the spanish conversations. Although it did also give me the feeling (and Brandon too) of how scary it would be to live in a country and not understand a word people were saying. Oh wait. Aren't I doing that in 2 months?! haha Ya. Needless to say I have been much better about studying German lately... :)

Out the right window is Bry's very first apartment.

This is all in Bry's first area. The whole area was really poor, and just covered with houses. These pictures really don't do the scene justice. It was crazy to see.

Thurday we started off with a tour of the old USS MIDWAY, an aircraft carrier. SO COOL!! It was so much bigger than I could even imagine! Walking around inside there was just always another hallway you could go down, or another door. It was crazy!

It was super interesting learning about how the pilots take off and land on the ship.

Sick picture out the port hole.

Me in the captains chair!

That afternoon we finally hit the Beach!!

Me just havin some fun with the camera...

Brandon just having some fun in the sand...

I just love this picture! We are all so excited, and we really were! This ride was sick!

There were a few rides by Mission beach so we hung out there that night and played around.

Thursday we headed up to La Jolla so people could snorkel.

After seeing this beautiful sight we headed home. What a great way to end the trip!

Thoughts

So here are a bunch of random thoughts about the past weeks...

Work. Lots and lots of working, but I enjoy it and am making new friends. Being with old friends, having fun just like old times. Watching my friend moses play rugby, and discovering I really enjoy the sport (well, at least watching it.) A night with my college friends, so good to see them again! Saying goodbye to the last of my good high school guy friends, they are going to be great missionaries. Skyping my roommates, reading books, watching tv, relaxing, but still working. Summer finally feels like it is here! Having a cookout in the canyons with yummy tinfoil dinners. Getting a letter from missionary friend. Sister having a baby so me getting a Nephew -Cute little Reed! Siblings out of school, me still working everyday, me saving my pennies, me going to Vienna in three months.

Three months. wow so far, yet sooooo soon. I get nervous, excited butterflies every time I think about it!

Some pics to go along with it: