München.

As of today, I've have officially been in Europe for a whole month! It's crazy how much has happened the past four weeks.

I just returned to Vienna from a weekend trip to München (Munich), Germany. I'll just give you a quick run down.

Thursday - Dachau
Dachau is one of the first and biggest concentration camps used by the Nazis in Germany. Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor in January 1933 and Dachau began operation in March 1933. It was a place of death, terror, and torture for the next 12 years.

                                  "Work makes one free." The words on the gate into Dachau.        

                                                                                                                                                   

                                   

 

The Rathaus (town hall) in Munich.

The one on the right is from when the Nazis took over and on the left is a picture I took a few days ago.

 Some pictures from Dachau I thought everyone should see.

       "May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."

 Parts of the memorial at Dachau. In front of the memorial is an urn filled with the remains of an unknown inmate cremated at Dachau.

Friday - Neuschwanstein Castle

Located in the Bavarian province of Germany, the Neuschwanstein Castle or "New Swanstone" Castle is the castle that Walt Disney used as the source for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. While doing the tour, we picked different Disney princesses and referred to each other using those names for the remainder our time in the castle. Please, call me Aurora. Also, I may or may not have definitely sung "Once Upon a Dream" and waltzed in the ballroom area of the castle. #iregretnothing

Breathtaking. Surrounded by green mountains and a lake.

When we first arrived, it was raining quite hard. The castle was covered in mist and fog. It felt like we were in the middle of a fairytale!

Also - I had the best bratwurst of my life at a vendor stand halfway up the hill to the castle. Thank you Germany.

Pure bliss. Also, my shoulders were hurting. Don't judge me based on how I wear my backpack.

Saturday - Munich

We went back to the Rathaus to watch the glockenspiel play. It was dumping rain, but definitely worth it.

The Glockenspiel.

Liz, Alissa, and I went exploring through Munich. We stumbled upon an old church, a fountain, and a famous archway that are apparently quite a big deal. We found a cafe and ordered schnitzel. BEST SCHNITZEL EVER. We ate it with fry sauce! FRY SAUCE. Sometimes you don't realize what you have until you can't have it anymore. And that holds true for more than fry sauce.

Before.

After.

On our way home to Vienna, we got off the train in Linz just because we could. After doing a little exploring, we found a big outdoor concert going on in the courtyard of a huge church. We went exploring in the crypt of the church as well. The whole building was beautiful! It's amazing how just by exploring the city you can stumble upon some incredible places.

                        

Truly beautiful! Anyway, I made it back safe and sound! I'll post again soon - I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Liebe,

Eryn

                                   

Sprechen sie Musik?

In case you didn't know, learning another language is difficult. I've picked up a few key sentences, but not much more than that yet. I'll get there eventually.

Last night, we went to the LDS Outreach Center for free waffle night. (Even in Europe my decisions are still motivated by food ;) ) There I met a girl from Kazakhstan who was studying chemistry at the University of Vienna. A fellow chemist! Besides our group and the missionaries, there was only one other person there - a convert from Russia. He only spoke Russian and German. After dinner, I started playing the piano and this guy from Russia came over and asked me to play a few songs. He would find the song in the German hymnbook and give it to me to play. I would sight read the song while he sang and as soon as we figured out the name of the song in English, my roommates would look it up and join in the singing.

Soon, the rest of our group joined us as well as the missionaries.

Any bystanders looking in would have seen a small group of people singing while huddled around a piano. What they wouldn't have seen is how music was the only way we could all communicate with each other.

We didn't speak the same language, but we understood the same message when we sang the hymns.

We could speak through music.

Settled.

It's taken a few days, but I feel like I'm finally settled in Vienna.

So much has happened the past few days that it feels like I've been here for a month already instead of only 5 days.

I've conquered the U-bahn (the subway system here) as of Tuesday night when I had to get home by myself after a piano recital in the Musikverein. The U-bahn is actually quite simple to navigate. All lines stop at Karlsplatz so if you're lost, you just have to take the nearest U-bahn line to Karlsplatz and then you can get on the right line to go wherever you need to go. Finding places once you are above ground though - that's a different story. Thankfully everyone here is very nice and willing to help. If you are looking at a map for more than 30 seconds, someone will stop you and ask if you need help. Also, I feel like I'm pretty familiar with the center of the city, so that helps.

Today we visited the apartment where Schubert died. They had his piano in the apartment with a glass case barring the keys and a display sign that read "Bitte nicht berühren!" aka "Please do not touch." The man in charge of the museum only spoke German. He came over, removed the glass and allowed my professor, Dr. Holden to play Schubert's piano! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. This was my chance! Using the Deutsch I learned in class earlier today, I asked the man, "Kann ich spielen?" (Can I play?) He replied hesitated and replied, "Ein bißchen," (a little) to which I promptly replied "Danke schön!" My first real German conversation! I felt accomplished, even if it was only five words long. Schubert's piano was incredibly out of tune, but it was amazing to be able to play such a relic.

Playing Schubert's Klavier (Piano) Can you see the look of pure joy on my professor's face?

Tonight, we (my roommates and I - pictures to come) had dinner with our host family outside in the garden. They are a sweet older couple with 6 kids that are all out of the house. They prepared a traditional Austrian goulash and potatoes for dinner with homemade holundersaft (a juice made from elderflowers) and specialty gelato for dessert. After dinner, we headed back into town to catch the Spain vs. Chile World Cup game. Go Chile!

Watching the world cup while eating Nutella crepes at a Viennese café - It doesn't get much better than this.

Once the game was over, we went to the subway to return home on the U-bahn we thought we had conquered days ago. We were talking on the train when we realized that we had been at this one station for several minutes without moving. They announced that the train was broken and that everyone needed to get off. They gave other directions, but everything was in German, so we didn't completely understand what was going on.

We had the brilliant idea to take a different line (one that we had never been on) to a station where we could connect back up with the line that would take us home. The other train pulled up almost immediately and because our train was still stuck, we hopped on so we could get moving. All of the sudden, the three of us realize at the same time that we were on the wrong train just as the doors slid shut and the train took off. We started laughing which made us realize we all had to go to the bathroom which made us laugh even harder and resulted in one or more of us in tears. (OK, maybe it was me.) We had to catch a train back and switch lines once more, but we finally made it to our stop when we realized that we had all forgotten our keys. We were about to pick straws to see who was going to climb through the kitchen window when we arrived and found the back door still unlocked. Thank heavens! It took us about an hour to get home and it was after midnight when we finally got back, but it was definitely an adventure to remember.

Also, there was a couple that felt the need to squeeze into the middle of our group in the subway in order to make out, so we decided to take some selfies. Enjoy!

Ew. Gross.

They're still going at it??

Uh oh - she finally noticed!

Tomorrow we are attending another concert at the Musikverein where the Orchestre de l'Opera de Paris is performing Symphonie Fantastique. I'll be sure to post pictures!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Eryn

Wien.

Wien - the City of Dreams, my home for the next 2 months, and one of the only German words I know.

I can already tell this is going to be an adventure.

I don't know what the future will hold, but I promise there will be a myriad of stories to tell - some funny, some embarrassing, some inspiring.

Join me for the journey. You won't be disappointed.

13 days until I get to call this beautiful city my home!