All For Julie

Hello,

I have been in Salzburg for almost an entire week and I have already seen almost the best part of it...places that were in the Sound of Music!!

Yes, that is what I said, the Sound of Music. It is super fantastic, and Julie...you need to come visit Salzburg someday because you will LOVE IT! I was able too see all the horse fountains that Maria dances around and the kids sing on. I got to run through the little awning that they all run through when singing "Do Re Me." There are horse carriages everywhere like the one the kids sing in. In addition, this weekend we all get to go on a Salzburg "Albus." They do not look quite like the one in the movie, but it is the same idea! Also, the beautiful scenery they show at the beginning of the movie of Salzburg is what I look at every day. If you watch the movie and the shots of older looking European buildings and a big white fortress/castle...that is exactly where the college is! Even more, the huge house that is used as the family's home isn't just one building. The front where Maria meets the butler is one building, the backyard where Maria comes singing back to is another building, and Maria's room is just a room from the local Hotel Bristol, which is just across a foot bridge over the river from the college. We will get to see inside the big building they used for the main shots like the party sometime soon. My host family has the movie in English, so Esther and I watched it this week. It was wonderful to see all the places and know that we get to walk by them everyday!

Besides the Sound of Music, I have been going to class this week and learning a lot of history and trying to work on my German. It is going to get better I think, but it will take some time. Also, Esther and I went for a really long walk one night. It was really great to be out on a nice evening. On our way back however, there was a little pen on the side of this rather main street with SHEEP in it!! I knew I could smell something on the way by the first time, but neither Esther nor I saw anything, but there was definitely sheep in a little pasture/pen and one ewe even had 2 babies! Also, we were over halfway home and I saw this car pullover up a little ways. When we got up there, this lady in a nice little (very short) dress and high heels was trying to catch a rabbit that was on the side of the street. It was a pet rabbit as it was white w/ a few specks and not brown like a wild one. We got up there and the lady asked for our help. So Esther and I went over and tried to catch this rabbit and hoped it didn't run out into the street when cars went by. I almost had it this one time, but it ran the other way. Then we finally made a little circle around the rabbit (me, esther, and the lady) and I caught it!! It was pretty exciting, I caught a rabbit in Austria!! Then the lady was gonna take it to it's owner, I guess?

Not only did I see sheep and catch a rabbit, I got to go to a Salsa dancing class on Thursday night! It was so fun. Esther's and my host mom told us she was gonna go and we asked if we could. So, we went to this little studio to find that we had an amazingly sexy bodied Latino salsa dancer as an instructor! It was so great to dance salsa (and also look at this Latino man with a very nice body!), but it was a complete workout! While I walk up steps, I can really feel the pain in the thighs! I may continue to go with my host mom, or I may do some dance classes at the college!

That is all that went on this week I believe. Tomorrow (Saturday), I am going with my host dad up a mountain hiking. I guess it is tough and a little dangerous, but I will be super safe and my host dad said if it even gets a little too difficult for anyone who goes, we will turn around. I am really getting some workouts here, so that is good. If I didn't have physical things to do, I don't know what I would do with myself!

Well, I hope everyone is very healthy and safe and happy. I am still having a great time and loving Salzburg.

Later,
Dana