300+ days in Austria

Even though Europe Tour ended, that does not mean I have stopped exploring more of Austria!! The last couple of months have been filled with adventure and making memories for life. I will try and keep everything in order, as I did them. Also during this time I celebrated my 300th day in Austria!!

Rock Climbing with my Host family. We went rock climbing at the Gosau See, about 45 minutes away! It is one of the most beautiful places ever.

the snow on the glacier is really pretty

On the 20th till the 22nd my Rotary Club took me and the other Bad Ischl exchange students to Passau, Germany. Passau, Germany is right over the border, and is home of the worlds largest organ. Passau is also known as the city of three rivers, by Passau three rivers converge and each river is a different color!

an empty street.

hanging out by one of the rivers at night.

looking up at the castle.

because Passau is near so many rivers it often is flooded, on the wall they keep track of high the water is!!! 2013 was one of the worst years yet.

one of the rivers in daylight

part of the worlds largest organ. the organ is actually 5 organs, but you can play them all from the same place.

the party boat

over looking part of the city, taken from the castle.

part of the castle.

we took a boat down the river to leave, you can see how the rivers are different colors, they don't mix for a couple hundred meters down the river!

good bye Passau, Germany.

The following weekend I did not have school on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday ( 26th of May) I went to Hallstatt for a typical parade with the church as well as went swimming and there was a festival going on in Bad Ischl!

hi Hallstatt! its overwhelmingly Austrian and cute!

part of the parade continued out onto the water. It consisted of priests and other people of the church and they go to certain points and pray. Since Hallstatt is so small they also go on the water.

trying hats on!

with my host mom! until next time Hallstatt.

Swimming at the Wolfgang See:

although it was very pretty, it really was not all that warm

festival in Bad Ischl

a nice day for a festival.

Kärnten, Austria: My amazing host family took me to Carinthia, Austria, one of the states that I would have not been able to visit with out them! I had a great time, and so glad that I got to go.

Danke!

first stop: Graz, Austria. We went up to the Uhr Turm, the clock tower that over looks the city.

The Second stop was the chocolate factory Zotter in Austria. I have never tested so much chocolate in my life.

in the process, at this point it was still really bitter.

I don't think anyone will object.

 that's is a lot of chocolate, and not there is no mirror.

Faak am See, we made it to our final destination. Our hotel was only a couple minutes walk away.

On Saturday (28th of May) we went to Mini Mondus. This is where they have tourist attractions from around the world built on a smaller scale. There is over 130 attractions built here, there is  Taj Mahal, Lady Liberty, China Wall etc....

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Schloss Neuschwanstein, Germany. I supposed to come here on Euro-Tour but due to weather it was cancelled. So glad that I got to "see" it.

Took a quick trip to Australia.

In the afternoon we went swimming, taking advantage of the beautiful weather and lake.

looking out into Kärnten

Österreich!!! (Austria)

we went to a bird show, and saw this amazing owl!

and then we went to Affenberg. This was a park where you could walk around and there were monkeys hanging out.

Thanks!!

Danke Gast Familie

Touring Europe.

For the last two weeks I have had the amazing opportunity to travel Europe!!!!!!!! From the 31st of April until the 14th of May I traveled with 80-90 other exchange students through Europe.


STOP 1: Zagreb, Croatia.
We stayed one night in Zagreb, and here we also met up with the Croatian exchange students who stayed with us for the rest of Euro-Tour. Delaney, a girl from Colorado was also there, it was great to be able to spend two weeks with some one from home.

The Church

Hanging out by the church

A cute, but rather empty square

stairs leading to the unknown.

STOP 2: Triest, Italy.

In Triest we only had a couple hours to explore the city, but it was still a lot of fun!!!

canal

pizza, because you know we are in Italy.

parliment

at the ocean, but its a little cold

and the giant cruise is here

STOP 3: Jesolo, Italy.

Jesolo is not a very famous town, but a good stopping point since we went to Venice. We stayed here for two nights and its right on the beach. During the day we went to Venice.

the beach.

Sandwiched by my favorite Canadians.

STOP 4: Venice, Italy.

We spent most of the day in Venice before returning to Jesolo. Venice is a beautiful city and I hope that I will be able to go back one day. To get there and back we took a ship! Unfortunately it was raining so we were all a little wet, but Venice is worth it.

made it to Venice.

a typical Venice photo.

city center, so to say.

STOP 5: Florence, Italy.

Florence was also gorgeous!!!! My favorite part was the church!! We spent one night here, in Florence before we drove about 6-7 hours to Rome!!

the amazing church.

the sky line of Florence.

All the oldies (all the people who arrived in August with me) I am going to miss them like crazy and am not really sure what I will do with out my crazy exchange family.

with two of my favorite girls

STOP 6: "All roads lead to Rome"-I guess it has to be true. I ended up Rome.We stayed three nights in Rome and left earlier on the fourth day.

the Coliseum

Trevi Fountain.......around 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain daily, the money is donated to charities.

this is probably one of my favorite photos ever. Delaney (center) and Paul (right) are both from Colorado and I met them winter of 2014. We are all on exchange, Delaney in Croatia and Paul in Rome, Italy. When Delaney and I were in Rome we met up with Paul!!! Who would have ever guessed that we would be able to see each other half way across the world.

Vatican City, so I suppose this is actually its own country and deserves its own stop, but since I stayed the night in Rome.....

in front of the church......you are not allowed to have bare shoulders or anything above the knee!!! Unfortunately the day I visited it was also 35 Celsius. (85ish Fahrenheit) 

 Rome is an amazing but chaotic city

There are ruin sites all through out Rome, I was lucky enough to visit one. This one had about 150 cats living there though!!! You can either adopt them or just hang out and pet them!!

STOP 7: Lucca, Italy. Lucca is a small but cute touristic city in the near from Pisa, Italy. Lucca is famous for its still intact Renaissance walls, that go all the way around the city. We had about 2-3 hours here.  

the church

the city center

 part of the remaining wall.

STOP 8: Pisa, Italy. We spent about an hour here, I sadly did really explore the city but rather got several photos of the already well photographed tower.

headed towards the tower.

at the Leaning tower of Pisa!!!!!!

it looks a little tippy.....

STOP 9:  Cinque Terre, Italy. We spent the entire day here. To access this group of small towns on the coast one has to hike, take the train, or go by boat. This was probably my favorite city!!! The best part is it was around 35-37 degrees (85-90) so warm enough to go swimming in the rather cold ocean.

Gorgeous

these towns are so cute!!

lets go swimming!! along with 90 other exchange students...

From here you can see that most of the city is actually built on the cliff side, and on the other side it drops down into the ocean!!

STOP 10: Monte Carlo, Monaco!!! So now that we have left Italy we head to the second smallest country in the world. We had around three hours of free time to run around this cute, rich little town. Since most exchange students are rather broke, we decided that Monaco is more for the rich and over 18.

with my 2 best friends!!!!!! no better way to spend a day in Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo

start of the famous race

STOP 11: Eze Village, France. We stopped here for about an hour and a half. This is very small town right next to Monaco, and produces perfumes!! Perfumes such as Channel 5 is made here, before it is put in a super fancy bottle with a three digit price tag.

why are the churches on top of the hill

a lot of perfume stuff.

STOP 12: Lyon, France. We spent one night in this beautiful city!! This was my first time ever being in France and spending the night!!! It was amazing and I can't wait to go back and visit more of France.

sunset

I like the fountains all around the city

what else is there to do on a rainy day in France

STOP 13: Avignon, France. This was probably my favorite town/city in France. We stayed one night here. The Palace of the Popes is here, and is the largest and most important gothic buildings in Europe.

bridges

all of the Ischlers. All of the exchange students that live in Bad Ischl at my town.

one of the oldest churches in Europe!!!!

part of the castle.

STOP 14: Straßburg, France.

We spent two nights here, which I found amazing. Straßburg is called the center of Europe, and the European Council is here. It is right next to Germany, and many people speak both French and German.

council

very typical European place, for a long time I thought that all of Austria would look like this. I was very surprised when I flew into the Vienna Airport and it was all modern.....

trying to get a photo of Notre Dame, the church. It was the tallest building from 1647 till 1874, and its also the highest building built during the Middle Ages.

Flam!!!! a typical dish for Straßburg, they are amazing and a must eat.

Stop 15: Dornbirn, Austria. We stayed here as our last night on Euro-Tour before we went back to our respective homes. Saying good bye at the train stations was just about the hardest thing ever, although I will probably see many of these people again, I am not sure when! The good bye is not forever just until we all get enough money to go and visit each other, but it was still very hard. This is the only time I have ever regretted going on exchange- having to say good bye to all the amazing people I have gotten to meet. So really an exchange is worth it.

a group of exchange students waiting to go back home.

Thank you Rotary and my parents who have made this all possible!!! There are not enough words to express my gratitude for the opportunity!! I can't believe that I have already been here for 285 days and only have 70 left!!

Thanks