Moving into Salzburg part 1

I haven't posted since I got to Müchen and was getting ready to get on my train to Salzburg. So this means I have a lot to catch you up on. 

Monday:

One tip when you have been traveling for several days: once you get to your destination just grab a taxi to get to your hostel/hotel. ESPECIALLY when you don't have wifi to supply you with gps. No matter how well you think you looked at the map you are bound to get lost. I tried to be independent. But I gave up after it started raining. I was carrying a lot of luggage and I just didn't have the time for the nonsense that was being thrown at me. 

Once I arrived to my hostel I was ready to fall to the ground and kiss it. I checked in and went up to my room only to find that my roommate was already there waiting for me.

She's pretty awesome. Lucy is playing all the same three roles that I play in Le Nozze Di Figaro.  At the end of the day and a long day of traveling I passed out after I unpacked. 

Tuesday: 

Orientation! Here we were introduced to the faculty of the program and got a tour of the facility. I made friends and we headed off to the grocery store because that was the only place we knew of where we could get food. When we got to the grocery store we were greeted with coffee, liquor, and chocolate.

In Austria liquor is cheaper than it would be in America. You can tell who the Americans are in foreign country. We are the only ones that walk out of a grocery store holding bottles and bottles of liquor. 

Once we finished shopping we found a balcony in our hostel and we sat outside and ate a small lunch and people watched while we drank our wine. I went back to my room to call mom and tell her I was alive. She was happy. I relaxed a little longer and then we went out to dinner. At this restaurant I had my first Wiener schnitzel and rum and coke. 

 I have never been more happier bout a meal. The waitress could tell we were American because one of us was telling everyone else how to order in German. Probably the saddest thing you will ever witness. Let's just say my German has gotten MUCH better since then.

Salzburg Is a small town but everyone walks or bikes everywhere. My mile count is at least 6 miles every day. I swear if I'm not fit by the end of this trip I shall scream.

Four hours of me freaking out in Moscow

Normally when traveling I am very calm, cool, and collect. But I swear Russia tested me today. I had a four hour layover in Moscow after my twelve hour flight. I thought this was going to be a time to relax and maybe get a nap in. WRONG. They changed my gate number not once , not twice but THREE TIMES! Everytime it was on the other side of the airport. Now I'm not a runner but when you only have 5 min to get to your gate you're gonna run. I ran from gate 56 to gate 7. Mind you I have a backpack that weighs about 22 lbs and a purse that weighs too much (I didn't weigh it before I left). I go to the first gate to see that there are still people there waiting for Munich but with the language barrier there was no hope. Either try to communicate or make it to the flight. I at least tried... But I booked it across the airport. Mind you I'm also wearing a maxi skirt and flip flops. You would have thought that someone was attacking me. Normally I'm very pale but once I got to the gate I was cherry red. There were people trailing in right behind me with the same look of exhaustion that I was sporting. They check my ticket and we hop on a bus that takes us right outside were I just ran from.....I love flying with Aeroflot but layovers in Moscow are bad. They were announcing gate changes every five minutes. Once I got on the plane I found my seat and a Russain guy asked if he could help me with my bag. I happily threw him my backpack. He almost fell to the floor with how heavy it was. 

I have noticed something by being in Russia. Everyone here is very proud of their country. Whenever they get the chance they ask me how I like Russia. I can't respond with the answer they want because I hadn't left the airport. How does one respond? 

Russian person: (in broken English) so how you like Russia?

Me: um well I thought the Winter Olympics were interesting....

***INTERSTING FACT***

Everything in Aeroflot seems to be sponsored by the olympics.... Or maybe they just liked how it looked and they just kept it. 

ALSO  the only commercial that would play on the airplane is a Ashton Kutcher look alike (Russian actor obviously) milking a goat with a cereal bowl under it. I can't tell you what this commercial is because there were no subtitles but I think it was about goat selling.... I have no clue.  

The longest 12 hours of my life

Ever complained that a 6 hour flight was too long? Well if so stop. You obviously haven't been stuck on an airplane for 12 hours. Let's start from the beginning. My parents drive me to LAX from Canyon Lake which is about a 2hr drive already. Once I arrive I automatically am lost which is horrible because I go to the airport a couple times every year. I find my airline. AEROFLOT. This is a Russian airline .... But I guess I forgot that I would most likely be the only American on this flight. I wait in line to get my bag checked and I'm already confused because everyone is speaking a different language and it was Spanish. Finally walking to the end of the airport I get to my gate. It's completely quiet except for the Russian language filling the air. The people running the gate spoke very little English. When I walked up they could tell I was American. I almost got a cold feeling from them but when I think about it they were probably just as confused as I was. It's interesting to put two people together who have absolutely no idea what the other person is saying. We take a bus to the plane because our plane is huge. When I walked onto it the flight attendants could tell I was American . Maybe we smell different ...idk. This plane is the biggest I have ever been on. I only wish my family was here to experience this with me. This plane is tall enough to where I look like a midget in here. At my seat I am greeted with presents from Aeroflot. A pillow, iPhone charging station, blanket, eye mask, and even slippers. I start playing with the tv screen in front of me. Free video games, movies and tv shows. This technology is soo advance to where it even shows me exactly where we are flying over. After we take off maybe not even an hour has passed I smell alcohol. Turns out instead of handing out sodas like a normal flight they offer free...I repeat free wine. The other option was juice. I chose the red wine. Shortly after they started handing out the food. I had cod, assorted meat with a bread roll, some cooked veggies, mashed potatoes and A BIG BALL OF CHOCOLATE MOUSSE. Immediately after hey came by with coffee and the green tea. I never felt so full on a plane before. During this entire time I have a lovely lady sitting one seat over who is from Russia but thank God she speaks English. I don't have to do fake sign language then... Damn I practiced all the way to the airport. Maybe it might help in austria. The flights attendants handed out several pairs of headphones to everyone on the flight. This enables us to watch whatever movie we want... Well not whatever movie but you get what I mean. One of the options was "gone with the wind".... That's how long the flight was. I probably will have watched 5 movies during my journey. Currently right now I'm watching "Chicago"

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

So yeah I didn't watch the rest of the movie. I gave up and put my music on and fell asleep. But I woke up to food being handed out. I've learned to just say yes when one of the flight attendants asks me something. This can possibly cause a lot of confusing conversations but I am ready for them. For some reason whenever they give me food they sound like they keep saying chicken but then I end up with fish. Is that what they call fish in Russia or am I just deaf? Either way the food again was filling and I have to say with presentation of food they get an A+.

That orange thing was a murengue ....I think. I know the swirl was chocolate. With the language barrier between me and the flight attendants and everyone else on this flight I was too nervous to ask them. I didn't want to seem like a pesky American who only knew some german and French. If I had WIFI in the sky I would definitely pull up Duolingo and try to figure out what the hell everyone was saying.