Sorry I’ve been delayed on blogging for a few days, but I usually blog at night right before I hit the bed, and the Internet here at our hotel has been less than par the past few days. Not quite sure why. Classes today flew by and German class was entertaining as usual. As soon as we left school, a group of us went to go purchase tickets for the Austria-Wien fussball (soccer) game at their home stadium. We didn’t have great directions to the stadium and ended up getting off the metro bus over a mile before we were supposed to..oh well. We arrived back to the hotel around 2, ate lunch, and then went to the Naschmarkt in search of some jerseys for the soccer game that we had been told were only 10 euro instead of 80, (which is what the stadium store was pricing them at). Although several of the stands at the Naschmarkt sold the purple/white jerseys, I only found one vendor whose sizes were not all for toddlers. Although the jersey doesn’t look completely authentic, it was still a good investment. We left for the game around 630, which was surprisingly more crowded than we had anticipated. If I had to guess, the soccer stadium could seat up to 5,000 fans. We paid 11 euro per ticket and got seats 3 rows up from one of the goals, on the home team side. The game was SO much fun. The fan section for the Austria-Wien team was ridiculous. They had at least 7 cheers that were rotated throughout the entirety of the game. There was never a dull moment that’s for sure! Although the cheers were all proclaimed in German, we still tried to participate as much as possible, which was extremely entertaining. The game ended on a 1:1 tie. This was my first international soccer game and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Hopefully I’ll be able to attend a game in Germany or Spain at some point over the next few months. I’ve heard those games can get INTENSE. After the game, we headed straight to Tichey Eis for our daily dose of delicious gelato, then back to the Hotel, where I got to talk to Florian (the night manager at our hotel, who is awesome and we teach him English slang phrases, which he loves) before getting in bed for the night!
Thursday, we were given the (wonderful) opportunity to sleep in two extra hours because our first class (German) was cancelled til next Monday. Our Professor had to attend a conference in Serbia over the next few days. Getting up at 830 rather than 630 was delightful, to say the least. For our Christianity in Visual Arts class, we took a field trip to the Schatzkammer Museum of Sacred and Secular Treasurers. Our main objective was to see several sacred relics, most notably the Veil of Veronica. This is a Roman Catholic relic, which, according to legend, bears the likeness of the face of Jesus that was imprinted on a cloth/veil prior to Jesus’ crucifixion. Obviously, this story is not Biblical, but has widespread belief to being authentic throughout Catholicism. Interesting to see, but also humorous, simply because The Veil of Veronica is so unrealistic and goofy, to be honest. After a few hours at the Musuem, we headed out to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day in Vienna. Our first stop was to a small gift shop directly next to the Museum. I bought my Vienna patch that I had forgotten to purchase the past few weeks. I’m trying to collect patches from every city/country we travel to as a fun keepsake. Back to the hotel, then went running with Ricki at the Belvedere. She and I run at similar paces so going together is fun and productive. After a 3 mile run, we ate a quick lunch at the hotel then went out to accomplish a few of our “Vienna Visits,” which led us today to Ressel Park and Stadtpark. I can’t get over how beautiful and quaint the majority of the parks are here in Vienna. I could go park hopping all day long and never grow weary of it. Before heading back to the hotel, we got our first helping of gelato for the day at my favorite “Eis” spot in Schwedenplatz. A big group of us went to dinner together at a sushi restaurant inside a shopping center. I’m not an avid sushi eater, but I still love to eat it every now and then. Cari tried sushi for the first time tonight and HATED it. Pretty funny to watch. After dinner, we departed (once again) for Tichey Eis. If you’re wondering why we are eating so much gelato, it’s simply because most of the shops that sell gelato are closing this weekend or by the end of September. In essence, we are committing the sin of gluttony by eating as much gelato as possible til we can no longer enjoy this delicious European delight whenever we please. We all hung out and talked at Tichey Eis for a while then arrived back at the hotel around 11, and went straight up to the Horton’s room where everyone else from the group was watching a movie. I know my blog is vague the majority of the time, and it gets frustrating that I can’t write out every detail of the trip. But, I am just so thankful for everyone here. It’s so beautiful to see everyone come out of their comfort zones and start bonding as if we are one big (happy) family, and the crazy part is that we haven’t even been here 3 weeks! God is good, and His love endures forever. Just a verse that popped into my head. It’s currently 1204 am here. Goodnight!
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