Exploring Innsbruck and Salzburg!

I can't believe I have only been here one week! It literally feels like I've been here forever. I have already: had orientation for school, set up an Austrian bank account, registered with the city of Innsbruck as a citizen, gotten an Austrian phone, visited the salt mines in Hallein and the beautiful city of Salzburg, and seen my fair share of bars, restaurants, and shops in Innsbruck. I have met people from (literally) every country in Europe. Everyone's names are so different and it was so hard to remember all of them at first! We have a pretty close knit group in our dorm of students from Finland, Turkey, Mexico, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, Hungary... the list goes on and everyone brings something new to the table!


The bar scene here is so different from the US! People don't go out until so late and the bars are open until 4 or 5 in the morning! They also haven't adopted the smoking ban... so every time you go out you come home smelling like an ash tray! Drinks are variable here... some places MUCH more expensive than the US and others you can find for very cheap. If you buy bottles of alcohol at the store, however, it is INSANELY cheap. Huge bottles of baileys for 9euro. Big bottles of Martini Asti Champagne for 2 euro! We usually get a big group of girls and drink beforehand in the kitchen so we don't end up spending much out at the bars. I'll try to break down my first week here for you guys:

Monday/Tuesday

 Orientation at MCI: My school is in the heart of the mountains and it is impossible to pay attention in class with the gorgeous view of the alps staring at you! We got our schedules mapped out and met the rest of the MCI students.

Yes this is my classroom window.

We then had "pub night" where the basement of the irish pub "Galway Bay" was rented out for us and we had a live band sing while all of the international students got to know each other.

Wednesday:

Trip to Hallein and Salzburg: We all woke up at 6 am to get ready and walk to campus to get on our 2 story coach bus that drove us to Salzburg. I got 0 hours of sleep the night before because my sleeping schedule is so thrown off here so I was super tired and sick. After about an hour on the bus I fell asleep and woke up feeling refreshed and fine! We started off in a small town called Hallein, where the salt mines reside. We all dressed up in these ridiculous white suits and hopped on this wagon train that takes you straight into the middle of the mountain... it was exactly like Gringotts riding to your cell if you've seen Harry Potter. I kept yelling "they called it a mine, a miiiiiiiiiiiiine!" (wished my sister was there to crack up with me about it!)

Sweet suits!

The mini train ride!

 Then, we got off of the train and walked deeper into the mines. We had a tour guide going through and narrating about all of the history, but I was mostly fascinated with my surroundings to pay attention. One of the best parts of the tour was going down the wooden slides! It was hilarious to hear everyone's different screams. You literally couldn't think about where you were or you'd have a panic attack.

We went so far into the mountain we ended up at the German border!

The wooden slides we went down to get out

 After we finished the mine tour, we got back on the bus and headed to Salzburg. We had four free hours of free time, so we split into our own groups and explored the city. We went to Hohensalzburg Castle which took up a good amount of time because the hike up there is... excruciating.

the view was SO worth the hike

middle of the castle... reminded me of LOTR Gondor

After the castle we just walked around and enjoyed Gelato and pretzels.... they have every kind of pretzel flavor you could dream of! I chose chocolate (obviously). They also had an entire lineup of horse carriages so I had to be obnoxious and pet them :)

The weekend: This weekend was all about meeting new people and exploring Innsbruck! We went to the ESN pub crawl and went to so many different bars! I have two favorites so far- Haltestelle Shot Bar and Hofgarten Cafe. At the shot bar they had an entire section dedicated to How I Met Your Mother shots so I was in heaven!!

"Haaaaaaaave you met Ted?" Shot!!!!!!!!!!

legen... wait for it...dary

Our group of Rossl girls!

We also did a lot of cooking... had dinner in Panorama dorm with the Florida students (delicious spaghetti!) And we also baked cupcakes for Tulca's birthday! It's been so eventful I'm exhausted constantly, but love it! I will be skiing in the alps for the first time ever soon, just waiting for the next fresh snow! So.... wish me luck on that and on my first week of class that starts Monday! Tschüs!