Austria

Hello hello! It's midterm week! Today was art history, which I love. I think it went well. Anyways, enough of the boring stuff. Pausa primavera (spring break) starts Thursday and I still don't have a plan. I am going to tour around Italy and then fly to Spain and spend a few days there. I am doing this on my own. YES, you heard me. Hopefully I don't get rolled when I'm walking in the street by myself... 

Well I went to Austria a couple weeks ago. First was Vienna, which was a blast! It's a beautiful city for sure. And they have this amazing museum called the Belvedere that I had never heard of. If you ever go to Vienna, hit up the Belvedere! I only wish I had more time there. I saw this there...

Anybody know what it is? The artist's Austrian. Oh and they day before I went to a museum in Florence and saw this...

Good weekend, good weekend. Pretty solid. 

I went on the trip with other students through a tour business called Bus2Alps. I was nervous about going without knowing anyone, but I made friends super fast and I'm so glad I went. The weekend was so full of STUFF, it was crazy. I loved it. Here are some of the pictures I took:

 Vienna, Hapsburg Palace

 Vienna, St Stephen's

the famous Sacher Torte

 we went on a Schnaps tour... =)

 The whole group outside Schonbrunn Palace

Salzburg, St. Sebastian. I always think it's interesting to see how artists portray St. Sebastian, who was tied to a post and shot with arrows, and has been depicted that way ever since. 

 Salzburg

 We went on a Sound of Music tour! Me in the beautiful, foggy mountains of Salzburg

 The cathedral where Maria and Captain von Trapp were married in the movie, The Sound of Music.

 The back of the house with the frozen-over lake where the kids tipped the boat. 

 Where Maria sang, "I Have Confidence!"

 Some of us in front of the gazebo where all the magic happens =)

And we went to an Austrian beer hall with amazing food and beer. It was probably my favorite part of the trip! 

While on my trip to Austria, I found out that my Aunt Jane, one of my mom's sisters, died. It's really hard for me to grasp the situation being so far away. I've been having so much fun in Europe and to have something like this happen just doesn't seem to fit into my list of possibilities. But it did happen. And I'm not there to comfort my mom or my cousins or my grandma or my siblings or anyone. If any of my family is reading this, know that I think about you guys all the time and I miss you a ton. I will miss Jane always laughing and playing with her grandkids, or whipping up something awesome in the kitchen. 

I decided a long time ago that as long as I'm here, I'm going to make the most of every single second and have as many experiences and as much fun as I can. It's my way of making my family proud and accomplishing something for myself. After learning about Jane's death, I'm not going to take anything for granted here. Maybe I'm crazy for going off on my own and spending a ton of money on travel, but I'm not scared, and I'm going to live it up.