Maybe Redundant, My Christmas Card

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well I am a few days late in passing on that greeting, but it might be too early to say Happy New Year. My Christmas break has been great. If I am as productive in the second half as I have been inproductive in the first half, then it will be smooth sailing into the last 3 weeks of my semester.

Last Thursday, Janice and I took a train to Munich, Germany then a plane to Paris, France. Janice is a junior at Ohio State and is also stuyding abroad for the entire year. We decided to stay in Paris for about 5 days with a friend of mine from Wofford, Danielle, who was finishing her semester of study abroad. Luckily Danielle speaks French so we were not completely hopeless in a foreign country.

I saw the Eiffel Tower from a dozen different angles, saw the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre Museum, went into the Notre Dame, and ate amazing crepes and chocolate. I took 350+ pics so as soon as I delete the bad ones, I will post them online for you. Aside from nearly missing our plane home, all went well.

Oh do you want to hear that story?

Well on Tuesday we left the hostel at 6:30am. So maybe I wasn't fully awake at the Lufthansa ticket counter at Charles De Gaulle Airport. Or maybe the miscommunication happened because my conversation with the employee occurred in 3 languages. (We were in France flying on a German airline, and showed him our USA passports. But I remember him saying Gate 68. Well Janice and I got through security no problem and went to Gate 68 where a plane in fact would be going to Munich. We sat and waited awhile. I never checked A) my pass to tell the boarding time B) my watch to see how close it was to our departure time and C) the screen that updates which gate you actually should board from. For future reference, make sure to do each of these and you will be fine. However I didn't so during a pause in our conversation I hear "Ms. Broadwater" being said over the loud speaker. It's not a common name in the US so it is definitely uncommon in France. I listened a second time and it was a "LAST BOARDING CALL" for the two of us. I calmly told Janice to come with me. Then when I heard the announcement say Gate 62, I sprinted, well honestly I just jogged, through the airport to get to our gate.

There was no trouble from then on and following another train ride to Salzburg and a bus ride to my dorm, I was home again. We returned on the 23rd and since then I have talked with family and friends on Skype, watched the entire season of The Office from this fall, and watched 3 movies. I celebrated Christmas by having dinner with other friends in town on Christmas Eve. Following dinner at an Indian restaurant, we went to a traditional mass service. The church was packed which is a common trend in the US as well. But where most churches I go to will bring out more folding chairs if the pews are full, it became a standing room only for those of us who got there early but not early engouh. The music and experience was overall good but I would have preferred not to stand for 1.5 hours while a priest spoke/mumbled in German phrases I don't even know in English.

On Christmas day, I met Sammy and her family, who are visiting for awhile, at the Christmas market in town. We walked around to all the shops that were selling things like candles, ornaments, wreaths, nativity scenes, and food. We went into the main Catholic church in town called the Dom and into a few other churches in the old city. It was snowing so anything to stay warm. Today I intend to be more productive in an academic sense. Goals: finish cleaning room, buy a liter of milk since stores are closed tomorrow, and read 1 of 3 books for school.

Below are two images of what downtown Salzburg looked like with the Christmas market, which officially ended yesterday. Then the other 2 are links to photo albums from Schloss Hellbrunn, a palace in Salzburg with water fountain types of tricks and things. Our professor got a personal key to everything so he could show us around just like a tour guide would. Unfortunately since working there is not his day job he mistakenly got us wet a few times. The videos show how silly and imaginative the creator of the palace and water fountains must have been. A Christmas Market was also held at Schloss Hellbrunn if you can imagine that by blurring the sets of pictures a bit.

Well I hope to post again soon. Still other things to share that I didn't get around to when they actually happened. Hope you will forgive my delay.

From Salzburg

From Salzburg

Schloss Hellbrunn Oct 31

Schloss Hellbrunn Videos Oct 31

Vienna Photos

This may not really count as a blog post. I went to Vienna back in October and am just now writing about it. My comments are included on each picture to describe the trip and make looking through the photo album interesting. Tonight I am flying to Paris and will spend about 5 days there before coming back to celebrate Christmas here in Salzburg. I enjoyed my trip to Vienna so much that I am hoping to go back over the break. It all depends on my getting enough work done to feel like I could reward myself with another trip. Hopefully I will write another post just before Christmas when I get back. If not then I will wish you now a Merry Christmas!

Also for those of you that use Skype, I am also on there. Over the break I would love to talk with you, see you, or chat with you. Let me know if you are interested. Otherwise, being in the dorm when most Europeans have gone home, I will be seriously deprived of human interaction. Enjoy the photos and let me know if the link doesn't work to go through the album.

Vienna Oct 24-26

Salzburg at Christmastime

Salzburg Nov 23 to Dec 6

Well I am in a pretty good mood and I thought I share with you some recent encounters and experiences I have. Hopefully I will be descriptive enough for you to imagine what life in Salzburg is like.

Verena, an Austria student living in my dorm, studies english and math to become a high school teacher. She is a fan of Twilight High School Musical. I know a bit about these 2 things having a teen sister and after hanging out with the youth girls at Hope Point Church. We decided to go see the third movie in theaters. We got a songbooklet along with our movie ticket! The songs were in english with subtitles but all of the speaking parts were dubbed over, an incredibly silly thing because it makes them sound like they are in a tunnel. It doesn't help that I have their original voice to compare it to. To cap off the night we had dinner at McDonalds near the train station. I felt completely American at that point; it was a relaxing evening.

In my last post with pictures I mentioned that the walk from the bus to my dorm is so boring that I will often run home. It is definitely less than a mile, so it's no workout. Well this morning, afraid I was going to miss the bus, I ran all the way from my dorm to the bus stop. Then I stood and waited for 5 minutes because I was early. I'll probably never time it right. But it is such a let down, when I have walked almost to the stop and then the bus comes before I get there. My bus ticket lasts until the end of January. Soon I will buy a bike and then in the spring semester I will just ride my bike everywhere and not worry about the waiting for and timing of the bus

Yesterday I went to a soccer game with 2 other American girls in my program. I am not sure how tough security is in the US for college and NFL football games. But here in Salzburg they don't take any chances. I had something confiscated from my purse. Sammy and Alison got through no problem. The female security guard pats my coat and pants, no problem. Then she pulls out of my purse a book! I brought it to read on the bus ride, which I didn't do. I was so confused, why could I not have a book. She said I might throw it at someone! Really! I mean, it was bizarre. All I could do was laugh to myself and go check it. My clementines were harmless, my water bottle never suspected, and we were given hollow chocolate santa claus figures. If I were to instigate a football brawl, I would definitely have thought to use the book.

Around Christmas time here, there is something called a Krampus that goes around with Saint Nicolas. He is an evil figure that scares kids and me. During the past 2 weeks, there have been parades and events for the Krampusse to show off their fancy scary costumes. They have sticks and hit or chase people or something of the like. Pretty harmless and entertaining if you don't end up with bruises. I have seen the Krampusse several times now. Once intentionally as I went to a parade in a small town south of Salzburg. It was pretty scary but I never got hit, just the people around me. Then I was at a restaurant eating dinner with other grad students and Krampusse came in with Saint Nicholas. They hit Kenny during our meal and I hid in our booth. Then the Krampusse came out at half time of the soccer game. I was so nervous that they would be allowed into the seating area. I don't know if my pictures really show their fierceness, but I will be glad after tomorrow when they go away for a year. They remind me of Lord of the Rings characters.

My name has evolved in Austria. Sometimes I drop the "Beth" and just go by Mary but even then I have to repeat myself. The "a" is not a normal sound they make in German. Maria is a close option but it doesn't really fit me at all. Today two little girls also waiting for the same bus I was and they asked me my name, I said Maria. They asked my mom's name, I said Theresia. Somehow even they figured I was an American, because a few questions later they asked if I speak English. Then they wanted me to say something in English. I told them their matching red jackets were cute. They asked me where each of my parents and grandparents were. I kept answering He or she is in America. They were so cute and fun to speak German with, at least I have enough vocabulary for conversation with 5-year-olds. But then again I met some Austrians at church today and over lunch we did pretty well holding up conversation, so I think it is coming along.

Krampus Video

Short blog, but the photos have descriptions

I have 30 minutes before class, plenty of time to write a blog and post some pictures for the world to see.

Birthday in Salzburg Nov 16

If you click on the picture above it will take you to a photo album. There are descriptions below the pictures so I will spare those details in this blog. Let me know if the links don't work.

Salzburg Oct 31 to Nov 21

The weather here has turned a bit cold. But somedays it is still nice out. I play it safe and wear long johns under my jeans every day. Somedays I don't bring a toboggan but then I regret it when my ears are freezing. Then other days I am wearing a long sleeve shirt and a sweater and long johns underneath jeans and I want to melt because it is so warm out. Oh unpredictable weather. It isn't too bad. Snow has only come once and although a white Christmas would be nice, I am not rushing the cold weather that will eventually come.