It has been over a week since our arrival in Austria and a lot has happened since then. The Austria program is a small but mighty (in good Linfield fashion) group, as there are only four of us in the program.
The flight to Vienna took us about 22 hours in total and the only hiccup was with Dane, who missed his connecting flight in Montreal. However, it ended up working out nicely because he got Vienna around the same time the other three of us did; Kara, Delanie, and myself.
In the beginning, the hardest thing to get used to was the 9 hours time change. They say it is always harder going west to east since your body essentially “loses time.”
But we were welcomed into Austria by spending a week in the beautiful Gastein Valley in the region of Salzburg. Most of our time was spent in the small town of Dorfgastein, where we stayed in a B&B and were introduced to a traditional Austrian breakfast every morning. By the end of the week, we all knew how to ask for “Kaffe, Schokolade oder Tee” (coffee, hot chocolate or tea) with our breakfast.
In the morning we had our conversation German classes, while the evenings were filled with traditional Austrian dishes, beer, and schnaps!
One of my favorite and most memorable parts of the trip was the hike on Fulseck, where we encountered killer cows. The mountain belonged to the cows and we did our best to stay away from the animals, though there was one cow that was fond of blocking the hiking trail and not letting people pass.
We also visited Krimml Falls, a waterfall of about 1,246 feet. One thing that is very different here from hiking areas in the U.S. is the placement of restaurants and cafes. Usually, in the U.S., they are at the bottom or beginning of a trail. But here in Austria, they usually are at the end of a trail or on other points of interest on the trail.
We then finished up our week in the city of Salzburg with a walking tour. The tour guide was very helpful in pointing out all the prominent “Sound of Music” locations; though this only made sense if you have watched the movie before. We also got a good view of Fortress Hohensalzburg.
On Sunday, a little over a week after our arrival, we were greeted at the train station in Vienna by our host families. It was nice to finally go home, rest, and get comfortable in a place we will call home for four months.
Bis Später (until later),
Rosario