Hi everyone!! I'm so sorry for my delayed posts... I have been busy and by the time i've gotten home at night, I've been really tired. I'm glad the packing is going well! Thanks for the pictures... its sad, but I'm excited for our new house and adventure in Cleveland! I cant believe how much stuff they still had to pack! haha i thought we had cleared it all out already haha

Well since I haven't written in a couple of days this may be a long post so prepare yourself haha

So this weekend was kind of boring... on Saturday we kind of went shopping, but I didn't get anything. Then on Sunday, since all the stores close on Sunday, we went to some museums. We went back to the Art Museum, the Kunsthistorisches. They had an egyptian exhibit which was pretty cool. We also walked really far to go to the authentic Viennese restaurant and I got these like fried dumplings and they were nasty. That was the first thing I had here that I really didn't like. They were like these spongey squares that were like the consistency of soggy french toast and they had a really eggy flavor haha they were gross!

So on Monday we met back up with the group again. We had gone out with everyone a little over the weekend but since none of us really have phones (btw I never actually ended up buying a phone at the airport... I didn't think it was necessary) we have a hard time communicating about plans and such. We met at noon and had class for a little bit at the Institute. We just practiced drawing for a little bit haha and then we talked about stuff we'd do this week and such. We had a pretty relaxed day after that. We rode the U-Bahn out to the Volksoper, which was where we later went to the Ballet... they just wanted us to know how to get there. And we also rode to the train station so we know how to get there for Friday when we go to Salzburg. A couple people actually weren't paying attention and lost the group that day... 4 to be exact. It's just ridiculous because were all adults so none of our chaperones really turn around while walking places to see if we still have everyone, because you know we're all capable of following without getting lost. It's just amazing how out of it some of the people in our group can be that they don't seem to pay attention at all! Anyways so they missed some of the things we did.

After we saw where to go, we went to this place called the Postsparkasse. Its a post office designed by this famous architect named Otto Wagner. Its a huge building and I took pictures so they'll be on Facebook soon. After that, we went home and changed for the Ballet then rode the U-Bahn back to the Volksoper stop! The ballet was really cool! I was kind of nodding off in the first act though. But at intermission, we all went to the bar and got a wine haha so that was cool! So then the second act I was a little more alert haha I really liked watching the dancers! They were amazing! So graceful and so talented! I got a program for you guys to see when I get back... by the way, I've been picking up brochures and programs for almost everything we've been to. Some are in german but a lot of them are in english so you can read about them too!

After the ballet, we all went to this small bar to watch the soccer games. Apparently its the Euro Cup here now so every night there are games on TV, and we always go to the bar to watch. Soccer is so big here and everyone gets soooo excited when there's a goal haha

So on Tuesday, which was yesterday obvi hah, we were on our way to class at noonish and as we were passing the Albertina (a famous art museum across the street from the Institute) we see this camera man and a boom and a small crowd... as we got closer I realized that Jason Segel was there! They were filming him trying a sausage from the stand! Hahah!! It was so crazy! So obviously we took pictures of him like celeb-crazed fans haha

Anyways once we got to class and the excitement died down, we had a small history lesson and practiced drawing some more and then headed over to the Succession, another small museum around the corner from the Institute. We went there to see the Beethoven Frieze which is a large mural done by Gustav Klimt and it has just recently been permanently installed in the Succession. It was cool but I can only look at art for so long before I start to lose interest hhah I swear my favorite part of these museums is the stores ahha they always have the coolest books and small trinkets in them! I am becoming quite the art book freak... I've decided those will be my souvenirs from the trip and I don't want to spend money on clothes or whatever while I'm here.

So we left the Succession and we went to this small furniture store called "das moebil" which literally means furniture. they sold really seriously modern stuff from local Viennese designers. They actually have a small cafe here too where they put new furniture and let people try it out before they choose things for their store! So that place was cool and the best part was I found a book I wanted to buy for 27 euro on sale for 5 euro and the lady there gave it to me for free!! Yayy!

When we left das moebil we went to meet this architect named Juri Troy. He has this really small office here and it was filled with models and drawings and cool projects that he's working on! He gave a presentation about his work and most of it looked similar but it was really cool. He does these small rectangular  houses and other buildings and uses mostly wood so that they are entirely environmentally sound. I took some pictures which should be up on Facebook soon.

Me and my roommates though had to leave early because we were having dinner with our family. Maria made Wiener Schnitzel! Soooo good! And of course she made tons and tons of food again haha we had vegetable soup as an appetizer, then salad, potato salad, rice, schnitzel (which is basically fried meat... we had pork and turkey), fried cheese (basically flat mozzarella sticks but it wasn't mozzarella... i dont know what kind of cheese it was actually!), and fired zucchini. Then for dessert we had apricot and chocolate ice cream again but this time we had pureed fresh strawberries as a topping. Sooo good! And the funniest thing happened! Deanna accidently spilt the bowl of strawberry puree on the table and we were all scooping it off the table and onto our ice cream, but we couldn't get it all. So Mogi (the 7' tall hippie with dreads son of our family) LICKED it off the table!!! hahahaha we were all laughing so hard!

Okay so I haven't yet told you what we did today, but I'm getting tired so I'll have to finish tomorrow. I really am having a good time. I'm not spending all of my money, I'm meeting new friends and learning a lot about Austrian culture! I wish the whole family could come here!! You all would love it. Everyday I find something that I think one of you would absolutely love. Like a restaurant or cafe or museum or store. Vacation next summer maybe???

Good luck with packing and such tomorrow and when you get to Ohio lets skype some! Headed to the violin maker tomorrow and the Opera tomorrow night... so excited!!!

xox Julie

p.s. I really wish I had a camera here like Matt's. I feel like all of my pictures are crappy because I'm using my iphone! Turns out my camera that I brought with me is dead and I brought the wrong charger.  I may look for another one while I'm here but I don't know. I don't want to spend my money on that. I'm saving my money for awesome art books and Matt's graduation gift!