Tschüss Vienna

9 December Monday

I can't believe today was our last day here.

I studied for my Art History final all morning, and headed to school at 11:45 to take it.

 Last time on the bus through the city 

 The first thing we see every day at school.

The test was alright . . .  we knew it was going to be hard so I was expecting that much.  We haven't had ANY other tests or assignments or papers in this class, so the final is our entire grade.  It was ten essay questions, referencing specific pieces of art and we had to compare and contrast, describe periods of art, and mention other artworks as well.  Not TOO bad except some of the pieces I couldn't remember enough about.  OH WELL!

 Happy to be done.

OH, so today it has been STORMING rain all day.  The wind is insane!  We all got soaked and blown about!  I met up with a few girls and we went to this cafe I've been wanting to go to -- Cafe Alt Wein. They are supposed to have the best goulash in Austria.  And lemme tell ya. . .  it was good.  The inside is decked out in art posters all over the place.  

I also ordered my first Apfel Strudel hahahaha whoops.

 Afterwards, I stopped in some souvenir shops because I don't have anything that says AUSTRIA on it!!!  So I got a t-shirt.  Natürlich.

 Last look at St. Stephans!

I hung out inside a souvenir shop hiding from the rain for a bit, but then the man got mad at me for taking photos inside.  No photo, lady.

Remember what I said about Kilmt's The Kiss being all over???

Freaking Mozart chocolates are EVERYWHERE

Our favorite ice cream spot!!!

Oh my goodness ok, the weather was just too bad today to get more pictures than that.  And it got dark fast!  Especially because of the rainstorm.  I did some Christmas shopping for my favorite boys because I have SO MUCH extra room in my suitcases.  Then I went home and finished up packing.  Oh, that was a joke a second ago, my bags are like, 48 and 50 lbs. hahahaaha.  I'M A MASTER PACKER.

We went to FHE for the last time tonight!!  We had to say goodbye to everybody, which was sad, and even goodbye to the people in our group we won't see again!  I am excited to just get home and be done with the hellish 24 hours of travel that is about to start at 4 am tomorrow morning.

Right now we are finalizing up our bags and cleaning up a bit!  We still need to go through the kitchen stuff . . .  which means we will be stuffing a lot of food in our bags and in our tummies in a few minutes.

-- 20 min later --

Oh Vienna, you've been good to me.  I'll be back soon.

19 Hearts

8 December Sunday

 This is the wonderful little purse I got at the flea market yesterday.

 Sad goodbye to Elder Abbott!!  Another 15 months till he gets home!  I loved being able to see him (at least) once a week.  He's such a great missionary.  They confirmed a sister that they baptized this week!!  He's doing great work here.

We did some packing after church. . .  this folder is full of SO MANY GERMAN WORKSHEETS (that we didn't really do, just used in class kinda).  It is so heavy.  It is all in the trash already.

 Tonight we had schnitzel at the Minert's.  Of course.  And apfel strudel for dessert.  I actually haven't had a real apfel strudel yet . . . only the ones out of the freezer.  So maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

We all studied art for a bit, then we had our last Advent program on JOY, then we went around and everybody talked about their favorite parts of the last three months, plus testimonies, tears, laughs.  It was great.  THEN, we watched this video Stephanie is making of our trip (Monika took all the footage).  It is 25 minutes long and she is still going to add to it!  I'm going to give her my clips too.  it was the best thing to watch.  I can't even believe it.  I love it so much.

Then we put mascara in Jordan's mustache.

 Getting home, I had to pack!  This dumb little bag was hard to zip up, but it is the perfect weight.  We have to use a scale that is in kilograms, and subtract our body weight, then convert it into pounds.  I hate packing, but I like getting organized with everything so. . .  it isn't actually that bad.

I can't believe we are actually packing.  Caelyn and I watched Now You See Me . . . which we have been saying we would watch literally since the first week were here.  Hahaaaa

Our Art History final is tomorrow.  I feel like I know a lot about all the art history, like how to describe the eras, I just need to memorize examples of art and architecture from each period and why they were significant.  I'll get to that in the morning.

Christmas Clairey

7 November Saturday

Today I got to go out on my own again!  I LOVE VIENNA.  The first thing I did was go to the Naschmarkt . . . this is the biggest flea market in Vienna.  I had ONE GOAL: a leather watch.  Amy got the cutest one a few weeks ago.  I had no luck, though.

It was SNOWING!  So after I failed at finding a watch, I went to find that shoe store.  Oh, I did find a cool leather purse at the market, it is wonderful.

So the shoe store was off this random stop I've never been to, but when I got to the address I could not see a shoe store anywhere!  Turns out that whole block was a mall. . .  so I had to go in and find the dang place.  Here are some of the guys' shoes.  SO BEAUTIFUL.

For some reason I just love malls at Christmas time, even though they are over-packed and stressful, there is Christmas music playing and families and kids everywhere!!  It felt like the US, haha.  Santa was there and everything.

Once I got my shoes (yay!!), I headed back to Neubaugasse in the SNOW.  The subway stop was by this highway, and you could go to Prague or Budapest on it, haha.

I ended up in this other mall on accident, and there was this food court, and I got the most delicious noodles!!  I watched her make them: ham chunks and green onions in oil for a bit on the stove, then some creme added with salt, then the noodles, then the leaves and fresh cheese!  So easy.

I went back to the fabric store for one last look. . .  nothing.  Sorry Jan and Mom.  I wandered around that area for the rest of the day, looking in shops, passing antique stores, finding Christmas markets.

I am really going to miss these streets of Europe.  Just look how pretty!  I don't really notice anymore since this is what we see every day, but WOW.  It is so beautiful here!

I found a Christmas market I've been looking for for like a week!  Spittelberg!  It was on a random street, not in a square like usual.  I got some kinderpunsch.  MMMMM.

I headed over by the parliament buildings, and I was planning on looking through the market at the Rathaus, but it was INSANE!  So crowded!  Holiday weekend!  BAD IDEA!  I left quick.

I warmed up at home for a little bit, and then I met up with Amy, Haley, Tanner, and Garrison at Schnitzelwirt for our last schnitzel dinner!  Even though I just got soup because I was still full from lunch, it was great.  The waiters there take shots while they are serving . . . so the night gets more and more interesting, haha.

We got ice cream after at our favorite place by Stephansplatz!  I love these people.

I can't believe it is almost time to go home.