"We're going on a school trip to Germany"

Yep, you read the title right, we went on a school trip to Germany.  I guess Europeans would be like, yeah, cool, let's go.  It's just another trip for them; but for an Australian, that is pretty bloody awesome.

On Sunday June 23rd, the class of 4PB boarded the train excitedly awaiting the beginning of the journey to Hamburg, Germany.  The train trip would take roughly 12 to 13 hours during the night.  You could say that the train wasn't the most ideal of nights that you could have; we scored some pretty bad luck with the fact that we didn't get sleeping cabins, just normal sitting ones and the air-conditioner in our whole carriage wasn't working.  In spite of this though, we kept up high spirits, because, well, we were going to another country instead of going to school for the next three days.

Train journey

We arrived in Hamburg around 9.30 on Monday morning.  Our first job was to find our hostel and leave our luggage there.  After quite a bit of walking, and taking the wrong exit from the subway station, we found our hostel; or what we thought was our hostel.  Turns out that we were at the wrong one and we had to go to the opposite end of the street we were on.  Off we set again until we finally came across the correct hostel.  I wasn't complaining, the second one looked a lot nicer than the first one.  Leaving our luggage in the storage room, we all headed off for our walking tour around part of the city.  This is where our mini photo war started between me, Sassy and Milli.  What it was, was whenever someone went to take a photo of you, you put your camera up and took a photo of them instead.  I got some pretty hilarious photo's from doing that.

Photo war!!

Afterwards we had free time, so we split off into smaller groups and went and had lunch before doing some shopping.  Meeting back with the whole class, we went back to the hostel (after taking the wrong exit out of the subway station) and went to our rooms.  It took us forever to find our rooms as, the easiest way to explain this, the hostel was like a maze with heaps of different turns and levels and twists and passages.  It was interesting anyway.  That night we were allowed some more free time, so Sassy, Michelle and I went to a bar after walking around for a while.  It was finally time to lie down and get some rest at about midnight.

Tuesday started with breakfast at the hostel and then a visit to a small museum and looking at some buildings and a church before being allowed more free time.  There was a group of about nine of us who went to Hard Rock Cafe (I bought a shirt) and then souvenir shop hopping down one of the main tourist areas of Hamburg.  This is where I got my flag from Germany! (I collect flags from the countries that I visit).  Meeting up with the rest of the class again, we did a boat tour around part of the city and the harbour.  It was so nice to be able to sit and still see a lot of things.

Boat Tour

When the boat ride was finished, everyone except five of us went off to get ready for the musical.  Alissa, Johanna, Linda, Isabella and I went to Maccas for coffee and then walked down the famous 'whore' street in Hamburg.  When they explained to me where we were going, they were like, 'it's a street where all the whores go'; it was so funny.  Heading back to the hostel, we showered before upstairs to the bar; we were right in time for happy hour.  Here we toasted to our last night in Hamburg and having a great summer break.  It was a really nice night spending time with those girls.  Once again it was a late night in bed and my body clock is now officially screwed up.  It doesn't help that it is still light at around 10.30 at night!!  What is this Europe?

Friends and good times

Waking up on Wednesday, a sadness hit us because we knew it was our last day before going home to Austria.  As our school is a design and product management sort of school, so we visited one while we were in Hamburg.  It was so cool to see some of the things that these people do at school.  Afterwards we looked at some other buildings as well as an art museum and then had our last bit of free time before meeting back at the hostel where we picked up our stuff and went back to the train station.  I know that I really shouldn't have, but when your classmates ask you to teach them some Australian slang, you really can't resist teaching them 'wanker' and 'tosser'.  That's what we did while waiting for the train.  Oh and I also threw in 'platypus' and 'bugger'.  We also had a debate about the names of the star signs in English and the pictures that went with them.  I now know that 'the water man' is Aquarius and 'the bow and arrow man' is Sagittarius and 'the little crab' is Cancer.  Our conversation took many strange and different turns while we waited for that train.

Time to go home =(

It is safe to say that we got even less sleep on the way back than what we did on our way to Germany.  There was a lot of laughter in our cabin and it was a really good way to end such a great trip.  Thank you 4PB for another very memorable moment of my exchange year =D

Tomorrow another adventure starts when I head to Finland for almost three weeks to be finally reunited with my evil sister!!!!  Words cannot explain how excited I am.  You will surely hear all about my time there; well, maybe not all about it ;)

I would also like to say Happy Birthday to my Dad for today (Australian time) and tomorrow (my time).  Hope you have a good one.

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Believe you can and you're halfway there

May was a busy month and this also meant that it was great; full of laughter and smiles.  Lots of things happened and one of the events that had the most impact was the German course that Elliott and I attended.  It may have had the biggest impact because it took up the whole month, but it was still really good.

Basically we were in a class of ten people and we were the only Australians, and the youngest.  The other members of the group were from South Korea, Serbia, Japan, China and Iran.  The course was a lot of hard work, and I am sure we laughed a hell of a lot more than what we should have; but it was really fun.  We had a lot of 'blonde' moments when we didn't know the words for things, so we created our own.  The most memorable one was talking about a broken foot and we didn't know the German word, so we used 'kranken fuß', which would literally translate to 'sick foot'.  Or another one was when I had a headache one day and we didn't know the word, so we said that 'mein kopf ist kaputt', which is 'my head is broken'.  The whole course was in German, so explaining words was sometimes a little difficult; we always managed though.  One of the best explanations was for the word 'Unfall', which means 'accident'.  The only student in the class who knew the meaning of the word picked up a pen in each hand and went 'auto, auto, booooossssshhhhh' and crashed them together.  It was a pretty good explanation.  If exchange has taught me anything, it's how to play charades really well.

One of the best classes was when we were in our food unit and Elliott and I decided to introduce our class to Vegemite.  The reactions never get old; they're funny every single time.  Although one of my favourite is still my host mum's ;) and then when she told her friend that 'it tastes like nutella' (I know, evil right?  Not even I did that this time!); but that was another brilliant reaction.  Anyway, we had mixed reactions this time.  Some liked it, and then others clearly did not.

The course seemed to go very quickly and I am a little bit sad that I most likely won't see those people again.  I have great memories from there though and I wouldn't go back and change anything about the past four weeks.

Working hard, or hardly working?

Another memorable event in May was when Sarah and I went to Madame Tussauds.  It is a wax museum at Prater and it was a lot of fun.  You go in and see all of the figures and they have costumes that you can dress up in and take pictures with the 'celebrities'.  There was a lot of laughter that day and we got some pretty hilarious pictures.  A very short list of the 'people' that we saw include Nicole Kidman, Sissy, Elvis Presley, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama, Albert Einstein, Gustav Klimt, James Bond, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Katy Perry, Audrey Hepburn, Pope Benedict, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney; the list goes on and on.

We danced 'Thriller' with Michael Jackson; Sarah got a kiss with James Bond; as did I with Elvis Presley and Leonardo DiCaprio; we read scripts with Brad Pitt and sat down and had a talk over coffee with George Clooney.  As it was absolutely pouring down rain, it was the perfect indoor activity.  The saddest part of the day was when Sarah told me that she had started her last month in Austria countdown before she goes back to America.  Everyone is leaving =(  I am so happy to have made these memories with people though.  This, is living the exchange life.

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Vienna Weekend

The first weekend in May saw the STS Vienna Weekend take place; in Vienna obviously.  Majo and I decided to go together and she told me that we had to be there by 12, I told her, no, we have to be there by 1.  In the end, we went with her time and what do you know, we were the first ones there.  No one ever listens to Tyarna.  Basically we just chilled on the really comfy lounges until the others started arriving.  Soon Katrin and both mine and Majo's area reps arrived, followed by the rest of the students.  We were assigned our rooms before heading off to Schönbrunn castle.

Schloss Schönbrunn is one of the many major attractions that Vienna has to offer.  It dates well back into the 16th century and was home to the Emperor and Empress.  It is really interesting to go through and find out about the everyday life of the people who lived there.  The gardens around the Palace are also so amazing to walk through.

After Schönbrunn, we all went to an Austria restaurant for dinner before going to Siebenhirten for a traditional yodelling course.  It was a very interesting and fun filled night and it was nice to be exposed to more traditional Austrian culture.  Once we got back to the hostel, a big group of us decided to chill out on this massive couch slash bed thingy and just talk.  The area reps came around at midnight and told us to go to bed, so Eve and I went up to our room; there was just one problem, we couldn't get our key to work.  We tried for about ten minutes until one of the area reps, who was staying across the hall, came in.  At first she just laughed at us and then she tried to help as well.  She couldn't get in either though.  In the end, we ended up knocking and getting someone from the inside to let us in.

Giant Bed

Saturday morning saw us head into the centre of Vienna for a sightseeing tour and to look in St. Stephans Cathedral.  After the tour, Jarrad, Eve and I did a little bit of shopping before having pizza for lunch at an Italian restaurant.  It was really good pizza.

He's got the look

 After lunch, the group headed to Prater where we all went off in our own groups to enjoy the afternoon.  Eve, Jarrad, Elliott, Sarah and I all headed to this massive, how do I explain it? Um, it was basically a merry-go-round in the sky.  You had two people per seat thingy and I got stuck with Jarrad.  Anyway the views over Vienna were really, really nice.  While we were still on the ground though, Jarrad decided to make the seat 'swing' and the whole ride we were still swaying around like crazy while everyone else was just going around normally.  Basically he screwed us up for the whole ride; even when we got back down and were waiting to get off, our seat was still swinging around like mad.

Sunnies selfies with Jarrad

How's that for a view?

Saturday night saw our group head off to the theatre to see 'Elisabeth'.  It was a really nice musical, even though it was in German.  There were English subtitles on a screen, but they didn't really make that much sense and they were actually quite difficult to follow.  After the musical, we had a little bit of free time, so Jarrad and I went for a walk to get ice-cream before heading back to the hostel to chill out on the big bed thing again.

On Sunday, the group split up to either go to the Technical museum, or the House of Music.  I chose the House of Music and our group only had five people plus the awesome area reps who came with us. It was a lot of fun doing things around the museum and I only wish that we had of had more time.

Cool carpet

GLOW!!!!

All too soon the weekend came to an end and once again it was time to say goodbye to everyone.  The next time we will all meet is at Farewell Party in June; I am looking forward to going back to the Bad Ischl area for that.

I would also like to say Happy late Birthday to my cousin Balun and my Aunty Nic, hope you had a great day guys!!

Annnnnd, I would like to wish all of my exchange student friends who are currently in Australia a safe trip home next week and hope that you all enjoyed your time in the Land Down Under!

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Things & People - Two Different Things

People have been asking me about the things that I miss in or from Australia, so I thought that I would do a small post about those =D

The things that I miss are really quite small and insignificant when you think about them, but maybe that's only because we have them all the time in Australia, so we don't think about it.  In one of my first couple of blog posts as well, I said that I would tell everyone the things I missed once I was actually on exchange, so here goes =)

Aussie Slang -
I never realised until I left home how much Aussie slang I actually used.  I guess because everyone always used it and understood what you were saying, that you don't really think twice about it.  Over here though, I sometimes have to stop myself from using some words because people just stare at you blankly; and trust me, the hardest thing is trying to explain the meaning to phrases like "fair dinkum"or something along those lines.  There is nothing like hearing a true Aussie say G'day to you!

Target -
Yep, I miss a department store.  I never realised how much easier it was to run into Target to pick something up, whether it be a new shirt, pair of slippers, a DVD; and they were always fairly accessible, which is always a plus.

Tim Tams -
These biscuits in the forms of chocolatey goodness.  Yummmmm

Dolly Magazine -
Yep.  Very teenager-y, but I miss it.

Australian Money -
I don't even know why, but there is something about our Aussie currency that I miss.  Can't explain it.

The Beach -
I didn't really spend that much time at the beach, but the thought of knowing it was only two hours away was pretty cool and if I wanted to go for just a day, it was no problem.

My Job -
My job was really fun and I worked with some pretty awesome people as well!

Hair Straightener -
It was ditched from my suitcase on the morning I left home because "there just isn't enough room" - Mum, there is always enough room for a hair straightener.

MY Ballet Flats -
It has almost been four months and I am still not over the fact that my pair of black, pure leather, very expensive ballet flats did not get to come with me.  "They're just a pair of shoes Tyarna, buy a new pair".  Easier said than done.  Do you know how long it takes to wear in a new pair of flats?  The pain you have to go through before you can actually wear them for a significant amount of time?  I have a problem with shoes.  Cherine, please, no comment.

Shorts - 

I left soooooo many pairs of shorts at home and it has only been in the past week that it has been warm enough for shorts to be an acceptable item of clothing here.  I look forward to seeing all of my shorts again when I get home at the end of December.

Well there we go everyone, those are the things that I currently miss from home.  None of these are enough to stop me from enjoying my time here though!!  The way I see it, these are just things that I can look forward to getting home too.

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Brilliant Times & A Farewell

Wow, so today was my 18th birthday and I could not have thought of better people to spend it with.  I want to start with saying a big, big thank you to my host family for everything!!

The celebrations started yesterday when Jarrad, Patrick and I went to lunch together at this amazing Italian restaurant in Vienna.  The food was great and the company was pretty damn good as well.

The first time I woke up on my birthday was 12.33am when Majo decided to call me.  Granted, I ignored her calls, as I was in no way able to function at that hour of the morning.  This did not put her off though as the next calls started coming through at 5.50am, followed by 7.17am, 9.19am and 9.20am when I finally gave in and answered and got "TY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" shouted at me.  Thank you, Majo =D

My call list from Majo

When I got downstairs I got the biggest hug from my host mum which was so great.  My little host sisters then came in and said "Happy Birthday" and "Alles gute zum Geburtstag" and I got to drink my morning tea from the special 'birthday cup'; a cup in the family that you only get to use on your birthday.

Even though she is on the other side of the world, I got a message from my Mum that made me cry; tears of happiness of course.  It said, "I've been thinking of you all day and we even had birthday cake and sang 'happy birthday' to you".  I miss her so much, but hey, how many Australian's can say they spent their 18th birthday in Austria with the best host family ever?  It's pretty damn cool.  I wouldn't go back and change anything.

Around lunch time, Majo and various other members of my extended host family came around and we sat down and had a big lunch.  After, there were some interesting and slightly embarrassing (for Majo) conversations between me, Majo and my host parents before they brought out the cake and the birthday presents.

This next part almost had me in tears for the second time today when my host parents told me that they had spoken to my Mum and got the recipe for my favourite cake from her, had it translated, and made it for me as my birthday cake.  I cannot describe how that made me feel as I was so happy that they had gone to so much effort for me!!  Sneaky parents going behind my back from two different sides of the world!

Through friends and family, both in Austria and from home, I got so many more presents than I ever thought I would and they are all so great.  So thank you everyone!!!

Es dauerte 18 Jahre um so gut auszusehen!

I cannot express how thankful I am to everyone!  It has definitely been one of the best birthday's ever.

Going back to Thursday now, we said goodbye to one of our own when she flew back to Australia after three months in this wonderful country.  Jarrad, Patrick and I made the decision to surprise Chelci at the airport for one last time before she went home.  Spending those last few hours with her was so good; with Jarrad playing any sad song he could think of, and Patrick constantly reminding Chelci that he wouldn't miss her at all ~ he's such a liar.  That last hug before she walked through security was one of the hardest that I have done since I left home.  It's hard saying goodbye to a best friend; however, we'll see you next year Chelci!!!

Surprise!!

Best Friends <3

These past few days have been so great and so sad all at the same time, but there are so many great things coming up in the next few months!

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

"There's a dead body in my cola"

I honestly do not even know where to start with this.  How do you record absolutely everything that made your week just so amazing?  The truth is, you really can't.  But I'll try to go from the beginning.  Prepare for an insight to the March 2013 STS Intensive German Course...

My train left from Wels at 5:45pm on Monday 25th March.  I met Elliott and Jarrad on the train and after our first stop, Patrick met up with us.  We had a little bit of fun on the train.  The first part was the only group of seats together were in the "quiet" area which we didn't realise when we sat down.  Whoops.  When it was announced that our stop would be the next one, Jarrad decided to go to the toilet and when he came back, we decided to tell him that we had missed our stop; even though the train had never stopped.  The look on his face was priceless.  We then spent the last ten minutes of the trip making fun of the signs that had been translated to English and had either spelling or grammar mistakes.  We then got off in Bad Ischl and met up with Chelci, Hannah and Katrin before heading to Strobl to Katrin's house; where we would be spending the week.

"After actuating..."

Arriving in Strobl, we met Philine and had a beautiful dinner of spaghetti bolognese and salad.  It was a really great salad Philine!!  Elliott and I were the ones who did the "salad challenge" where we finished all of the salad, and this then became a ritual for the rest of the week.  We just decided to hang out for a bit then and catch up.  Going back into talking in fast English was an instant reaction that we all had just from being around each other.  Chelci and I went to bed around 11:30 but, as all girls do when they have a slumber party, stayed up talking until 1:00am.

Tuesday morning was kicked off with breakfast at 8:00am.  It became an unspoken rule that there would be a pyjama party every morning at breakfast.  Following was our first German lesson with our amazing teacher Philine!  I struggled a lot on that first morning, but by the end of the week I really saw an improvement.  It was really good incorporating games into the learning as well, rather than just reading from a book or talking about grammar and verbs non-stop; the games really helped to break that up and to put what we had learnt into practice.

Danach haben wir Mittagessen Pizza gegessen.  Es war sehr gut!  We then had Pizza for lunch and it was very good!  Let's hope that I didn't make a mistake in that sentence!!!  Soon after lunch we set off to our Mozartkugel cooking lesson.  It was interesting to see how the little chocolates were made and we made a production line where we got to make them ourselves.  Afterwards we got certificates; or "Diplomas".

That's right, you all thought my name was Tyarna, well, you're wrong! I'm Tyama!!!!

Once we were back at Katrin's house, we sat around for a little bit before Elliott, Jarrad and I decided to go for a walk.  Our 'walk' turned into a climb when we literally climbed up the mountain at the back of the house!  It wasn't our original plan to climb to the top of the mountain, but we followed a little stream for a little bit and found a waterfall that we wanted to see from the top.  We couldn't find a path, so we started climbing.  It was so hard because of how steep it was and because of all the snow, it took us a couple hours, but we finally emerged towards the top at a roadway that wasn't being used because of all the fallen trees across it.  Let's just say that was a much easier walk than what we had just spent the past two hours doing!!  We had to use our hands to help us climb up and also grab on to trees and sticks and roots so that we didn't slip back down the mountain a hell of a lot quicker than what we were going up. The views from the top were well worth the climb though.  On the way down, we decided to follow the path instead of going down the way we came up!  When we came out, we were nowhere near the house and had to find our way back.  Jarrad assured us he knew exactly where we were going, however I still don't believe him; it was the biggest fluke.

Mountain Climbing =D

When we got back, Elliott, Hannah, Katrin and I played two games of Rummy-O.  Katrin won the first game and I won the second! Woooo!!  Thank you Nanna for teaching me how to play all those years ago!  Elliott and I then landed the job of cooking the meat on the barbecue for dinner.  That was something different.  First we had to heat up our cooking rocks before we could start cooking the actual meat.  It was really quite fun.  And that meat was pretty bloody good if I must say so myself!  The others inside also did a good job of preparing their dishes for the meal.  Chelci and Patrick made a nice salad and Jarrad cooked some really good corn.  All in all, it was a great dinner.  As with the past two nights, after dinner we just sat around and talked.  Elliott also started teaching me the cup song from Pitch Perfect and by the end of the week I had mastered it to the point of us doing it together in Maccas on Friday night.

"My horse is raw"

"Nein"

Wednesday morning we had another four hours of German lessons.  We covered so much throughout the week that it is hard to pin point what we did every lesson.  We followed our lessons with lunch and then headed into Salzburg to explore around there for a while.  Salzburg is a very historical town and was where Mozart grew up!  We walked across this bridge that had heaps and heaps of padlocks on it.  It looked really cool actually.

Salzburg

After having dinner back at Katrin's, it was time we went and experienced our first German movie at the cinemas!!  We saw "Die Croods" in 3D, which was an experience in itself.  From listening quite closely and also watching the actions of the characters, it was quite easy to pick up the story line and what was going on.  Some parts were quite funny and it would be interesting to see the movie in English to fully determine whether it was good or bad.  I didn't mind it though.  Back at the house we went about our usual nightly ritual of talking and practicing the cup song before going to bed.

“There’s a dead body in my cola”

As usual, Thursday morning saw another four hours of German.  I do remember that in this lesson I learnt something that I should have known already about the Austrian lifestyle!  We were focusing on food and ordering at cafes and restaurants when the topic of tipping came up.  As we don’t tip in Australia, none of us had given it any thought, until we found out that in Austria they tip!!  We all felt so bad because we had gone two months without tipping anyone!  We did a role-playing game of customers and a waiter in a café.  Let’s just leave it at it was interesting.  There was a lot of laughing involved and I personally don’t think that the prices were acceptable and would not go back to eat there again.

Lunch once again followed our lessons and we had Austrian sausages.  In the afternoon we went to a small museum that showed Austrian history and also focused on Austria during the Nazi period.  Our guide took us to a tunnel that was built by the prisoners during the war.  It was all very interesting.  To actually see the places where these things occurred is really quite creepy, but makes it all seem that much more real.  That night we had another great dinner before spending the evening at the Thermal Bath in Bad Ischl.  Afterwards we continued with the nightly ritual.  By this point, I was getting quite good at the cup song.

Friday marked our last full day together.  We had more German lessons followed by Kaiserschmarrn for lunch; which was delicious as per usual.  We then headed off to Salzburg where we started our “Sound of Music” tour.  Our tour guide really made the tour a great experience!  He was so funny and even told us a New Zealand joke that we hadn’t heard before!! That is rare.  If anyone wishes to go on the “Sound of Music” tour, I recommend that you watch the movie first.  I’m sure it would make a hell of a lot more sense if you actually knew what happened in the movie.  Once we were finished the tour, we had to clean up our stuff back at the house and start packing up a few things.  It was really sad knowing that the next day would be the last time that the group would all be together.

Jarrad, Patrick and Chelci

Group selfies

The Sound of Music

That night we got to “go away” in Bad Ischl (that is the literal translation from our program for the week).  Some of us decided to have Kebap for dinner and the other half of us had Maccas.  It was raining by the time we got into town and being holidays, there weren’t many people around.  We spent a couple hours just walking around town, which was quite nice and the rest of the time we spent at Maccas.  Elliott and I did the cup song in time with each other and had all of these people look at us, it worked really well though.  Candy recorded it at one point and it was going really well until Elliott decided to throw his cup at me!  I had a Twix McFlurry, which is something that I haven’t had before so it was pretty good.

After doing the cup song

Breakfast was at 7:00am on Saturday!  It was the earliest we had been up all week and we had been out the night before as well, let’s just say that people had trouble concentrating in class that morning.  Once classes were finished we had lunch and then we got our certificates for completing the week.  We were graded on the week and I was so happy with my grade!  I got a 2 which is brilliant because I had convinced myself that I was going to get a 5, 4 if I was really lucky!  I still have a very, very long way to go with my German but the past week helped so much that now I think I may actually be able to achieve it.

Certificate =D

This moment though, marked the end of the week.  It was sad packing our things into the car and driving to the train station.  We said goodbye to the ones who weren’t going on the same train and departed our own ways.

Throughout the week, Elliott and I took many, many selfies and he also did handstands everywhere we went.  It was just what we did!

Elliott and his handstands everywhere =)

Selfies!!!

I would like to say a big thank you to Katrin for letting us stay in your house for the week and also to Philine for being our German teacher!  The week would also not have been the same without the wonderful people that I shared it with.  I’ll see you lot at Vienna weekend!!  Good luck with everything back home Chelci and I hope you have a safe flight.  You better keep in contact with me!  I’ll miss you a lot!

We will finish up with a few more photos from the week =D

Selfies in the street mirror =D

Footprints in the snow =)

Elliott and the Egg

STS!!!

We returned to the same phone booth - this time we won

This amazing group <3

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx