Day 23 A Night at the Hofburg

How many times can someone say that they attended a Viennese Ball at the Hofburg Palace? For most people, the answer would be none, but luckily for me, that changed today. Courtesy of IES Vienna, I was able to attend the ball for a greatly discounted price. This included a night of fun and fancy, getting dressed up and seeing the gorgeous building, and being one of the other people who knew how to dance to American music. It was a great time overall, and I had a blast. Now it is time for me to get ready for my trip to Germany and Belgium that starts tomorrow. I will attempt to blog on the road, but I am not taking my laptop, so it may be hard. Expect a longer post with many many pictures when I return the second week of Feb.

Below are pictures from the night.

We finally took a roommate picture, after 3 weeks here.

Day 18: Olympics

I know some people have been curious why I haven't been posting every day and the answer is quite simple. Usually on the days I don't post, nothing too exciting happened. Usually I just spent the night in my apartment. Today however was very very different. The IES Center hosted an IES Olympics. A series of physically trying and mentally tasking activities. Although my team did not win the overall trophies, we had some pretty good accomplishments. My personal favorite thing that happened what when I was climbing the hard section of the rock wall. I was at the portion of the wall that is actually more of a ceiling than a wall. I was working my way to the next wall portion when my right hand's rock, which apparently was not very secure, twisted and I lost my grip. Thankfully I caught myself and I was dangling by only my left hand. Because it was the portion of the wall that was further out than the original portion, I had no where to put my feet, so I had to pull myself up with my left arm far enough to be able to grab another hold with my right hand. Then I was able to get my feet in good positions and I continued to the top of the wall. It was great, but my forearms will kill me tomorrow. Unfortunately I do not have any photos of this but I do have several other photos that will most likely be uploaded in the next couple days. Until then however, Auf Wiedersehen!

Day 14 Rather Grimm

Odd title as it may be, it is fitting of my activities today. One of the "must see" attractions of Vienna is the Imperial Crypt. This church housed many of the Hapsburg family. This family ruled Austria for centuries up until the end of World War 1. Here is where they are all laid to rest in their sarcophagus'. It was an eery feeling and afterwards I needed a bit of cheer, but all in all a worthwhile trip. There are all sorts of little interesting things to do in Vienna!

Day 13

I know some of you were wondering what happened to day 9 and why there was nothing posted that day. To be honest, it was like today. Nothing happened. I went to class, I went back to my apartment. Honestly from so much running around, I was exhausted today and just really needed some down time. Which is also why I am going to go to bed at about 10 pm tonight. Get some needed rest.

Day 12 Ice Skating

Another interesting day in Vienna, albeit, not as interesting as other days, but still beats a typical day in Minnesota. Today I went ice skating. Doesn't seem to be too fancy, but it is when you go ice skating in the yard of an extremely nice palace in the 17th district of Vienna. Although the rink was small and the skate rentals were poor, I successfully did not make a fool of myself today. It was a fun time and perhaps if the weather wasn't as foggy as it was, I might have been able to see a nice view of the city. Hopefully someday it will clear up and give us nice weather, but not today.

Day 11 Bus Tour

Today was quite interesting. Mainly because a large portion of the day was occupied by a bus tour of Vienna. This was a great way to see the city and to get to know what Vienna really has to offer. Although it was pretty long, it still was a good time, and I saw a lot of things that I will have to make a point of going back and seeing again at some point. These are some of the pictures I snapped today. Sorry if some of them are blurry, they were taken from a moving bus.