Le Jour Dix-Sept (Day 17)

After a huge breakfast this morning, Kelly and I were (once again) the very last ones to the bus. Dr. Mac has even begun just expecting us (mostly me) to ALWAYS be the last one…no, not late…just, never early. And always last. What can I say? I like to take my time. Apparently Dr. Mac’s time is 5 minutes early; I learned that today.

our view from our room...

After a five our bus ride with me sleeping most of the way, we finally arrived in Austria, and before I knew it, it was goodbye warm, quaint, Italian language and culture, and hello to crisp weather and ALPS!!!! After taking a million pictures outside the bus windows and staring jaw-dropped outside, we stopped at McDonalds to eat lunch, and ya’ll, this was not just your typical McDonalds. It was THE most beautiful McDonalds I have ever been to in my life. It was huge, nice, modern, and all of the back windows were GINORMOUS, inviting its guests to enjoy a breathtaking view of the Alps as they eat. Where in the world are we?! Pinch me, I’m dreaming. While there, I got to make faces at these two PRECIOUS blond, blue-eyed little boys that were sitting beside us. They didn’t understand English, so one of the little boys and I played peek-a-boo and practiced our winking skills at each other. He was about 4 years old. SO CUTE! I’m going to be honest, after being so in tune and romanced by all these Latin languages of flow and beauty, I’m having a difficult time adapting to German. It’s not pretty, and I can’t remember any of the words. Blah, this is hard. I’m so bad at it! Family, ya’ll would be amused at me trying to pronounce these weird words. Also, the people here are BEAUTIFUL! Lots of pretty boys; even Brady admitted it today (sorry Brady I had to put this on here). That’s saying a lot.

We moved up to our room on the 7^th floor, and we both have double beds! It’s not our princess room from Nice by any means, but it’s a bit roomier than our last one. And speaking of, the whole three-person ended up working out to be such a God thing. Our third and married roommate, Amber, is INCREDIBLE and loves the Lord. She shared with us her whole marriage story, and it was beautiful and encouraging.

I'm not a dog person, but I LOVE the dogs here

Soon after getting settled, Kelly and I had a wonderful conversation about what we have each learned about each other, and it helped us get to know the other better, how we can encourage each other, spur the other on, and love each other better. We agreed she is more structured and gets thrown off in changing environments, so she is having a harder time adapting; whereas I’m the total opposite. Anyways, after that life chat, we headed downstairs (barely missing the curfew again), and arrived at our three hour orientation meeting. We watched a few group presentations and then listened to the Innsbruck Touring Agency guy speak about his non-profit company, Innsbruck, and his marketing strategies. He is an excellent business man, and he sells Innsbruck to 33 other countries. I can tell he has seen a lot of things in his lifetime of doing business and developing relationships with people. He even told a more personal story about how it could be a hard job as well if you have a soft heart; for instance, one quarter of India spends thousands of money in Innsbruck each year, but the other ¾ who live in the slums will be happy to even get a couple of thousand dollars in their entire lifetime, and he has been to India and seen this take place. He said that you just have to learn to separate your job from wanting to save the world, because it’s sometimes difficult to grasp the fact that you cannot change the world. He quoted, “Enrich yourselves and go abroad, learning about other countries and cultures and never giving up an opportunity to GO!” You got it dude.

 

Once that was over, we were shown all the extreme sports we had the opportunity to sign up for! The environment in the room changed completely at this time, as all the students were SO excited to sign up for their activity of preference. Guys, I’m going out on a limb and am doing paragliding AND canyoning, along with several others of my friends. When am I ever going to get to do these things again? Canyoning is illegal in the U.S., so how can I turn that down to do it here?! EEK! I can’t wait. Afterward, we were STARVING and wanted a really good meal. Dressing in a longsleeve, a scarf, and boots (which is weird seeing as how just a few days ago we were on the beach!), we went to this place in Old Town called Orange, and this was literally the best meal I’ve had since being in Europe, and it was the same for everyone else as well: grilled chicken stuffed with spinach and broccoli, smothered in some cream sauce, and breaded, buttery pasta. OH MY GOSH!!! Satisfied, we went to McDonalds to get wifi, where we talked, blogged, and people watched. I wonder if English sounds so foreign to these people as German does to me…

It’s absolutely breathtaking here. I’m in a town in a valley, surrounded by majestic, snow peaked mountains mixed with very green rolling hills. The Lord’s power has already begun to be revealed to me here, and I cannot wait to embrace it more!