ashleylauren1289

Rome with my class!

We left for Rome at 7:30pm on Sunday April 20th and arrived around 9:30am on Monday. There were 13 girls…including me…and 8 boys and 2 teachers. With 6 people to a sleeping car, that leaves me, 2 boys, and the 2 teachers in one car together. NOT COOL! but i dealt with it. it was okay. we slept. thank god!

Monday - We get to Rome and drop off our bags at the hotel and start with our touring! we traveled by subway to Basilicia San Paulo, where it is believed that the apostle Paul is buried. After we went to the Callixtus Catacombs.  They originated about the middle of the second century and are part of a cemeterial complex which occupies an area of 90 acres, with a network of galleries about 12 miles long, in four levels, more than twenty meters deep. In it were buried tens of martyrs, 16 popes and very many Christians. Then we walked on the Via Appia Antica, an ancient Roman street. We then went to Piazza del Popolo, the name in modern Italian literally means “piazza of the people.” After that it was off to the Spanish Steps, which is without a doubt the longest and widest staircase in all Europe.

Tuesday - We started at the Colloseum, where the gladiators fought and where they could fill the Colloseum with water to hold sea battles! We then went to Mercati di Traiano, Piazzo Venezia and Vicktor Emanuel Denkmal (sorry thats German because I dont know the name in English!) After a long walk, we made it to the Capital. A short walk of 3 minutes and we made it to Forum Romanum, the central area around which ancient Rome developed and where the communal hearth was located. Then it was off to Palatin, where many Emperors had their residences and palaces. Circus Maximus, where the Chariot races were held, was next on our long day of touring. Finally we made it to Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which is the only church from the Middle Ages in Rome and is famous for its mosaic floor. It also holds the Bocca della Verita, the mouth of truth. The most famous myth of the Mouth is its role as a lie detector. Starting in the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one’s hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. Then it was another long walk to Tiber Island…which I swore that our teacher said ”Tea Bar Island” but I guess not. It is a boat-shaped island 
and  the only island in the Tiber River which runs through Rome. And finally ending the day we walked to the Theater of Marcellus.

Wednesday - We started at Piazza Venezia and then walked around the Jewish Ghetto and went to the Synagoge. We then went to Pompey’s Theater, one of the first permanent (non-wooded) theatres in Rome. Then it was off to Piazzo Navona which holds the Brazilian Embassy. A short walk later we were at the Pantheon, a huge circle church for all gods. It has an open ceiling and a sloped floor for the rain water. Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, was next. Piazza Colonna is the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome, Italy. Finally, we saw the Trevi Fountain, the most famous fountain in all of Rome. The Trevi Fountain is at the ending part of the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC. It brings water all the way from the Salone Springs and supplies the fountains in the historic center of Rome with water. On average in one year people throw 150,000€ into the Trevi Fountain.

Thursday - We traveled to Terme di Caracalla, where we saw the Roman baths. Then we took a streetcar/subway to Ostia Antica, the harbour of ancient Rome. There we saw the Amphi Theater that held 4,000 people. After that we finally had an afternoon free. My 2 roommates (Meri and Dragana) and I went to a Chinese Pizzaria in Italy and ate 1 kilo of ice cream together. We sat in the Pizzaria for over 3 hours just talking and laughing the whole time. We were speaking English and this older woman walked by and told us that we were so good at laughing that we could make a living.

Friday - We spent the whole day at the Vatican. We waited an hour and a half to get to the top of the Cupola. We climbed 343 stairs…even though they told us we would only climb 320! It was so beautiful to look down on St. Peter’s Square though. St. Peter’s Square is named after the first pope, Peter, because he was brought there to be crucified but when he saw the cross he refused to be killed that way, saying that he did not deserve to die the same way Jesus did. So the cross was turned upside down.
We traveled home throw the night and finally returned home Saturday morning. It was a great trip but so tiring! We walked so much each day..even though the teachers told us that we could have taken buses!

Ski week in Schladming.
so much fun meeting all the new exchange students but so not fun skiing! i honestly dont know how people ski for fun. so anyway to get to schladming we took 2 trains, a bus, another train, and then finally a bus. it was the longest travel ever! we left at about 10am and arrived around 2:30! so we finally get there and go to our hotel and meet everyone. and then we go and rent our skis. i cant even walk back to the hotel with everything because its too heavy and awkward. another exchange student ended up carrying my boots for me because i couldnt! and then the next day we are woken up for breakfast at 7:45 and ski lessons start at 9. im scared like no other! we walk with our skis and ski boots on to the lesson area and we see the most gorgeous ski instructors ever. i tell another girl if we (the beginners) get at least one of the cute instructors ill be at lessons everyday on time! well….we get 2 of the gorgeous ski instructors! so lessons start. we are on one ski for maybe 2 minutes before i fall flat down in the snow. but im like thats okay…so we put on 2 skis…i fall flat on my behind within maybe 3 minutes. i was the first to fall and the one that fell the most. finally they decide to make us go down a small hill…we nicknamed it the ’snowpile’ but it was actually a mountain to us. and well lets just say i spent most of my time on my butt and not on the skis! one time it was apparent that i was not going to stop so oneof the instuctors caught me and my skis went through his legs and i landed with my face in his crouch! it was awkward but he just laughed about it. and then later he was helping me put my skis back on and i lost my balance and the only place to grab was his butt….haha all in all the first day of skiing was not fun at all. the same ski instructor told me after i had falled on my butt so many times ‘Ashley, this time dont fall on your ass!’ his english wasnt that good but he knew how to express himself! haha
so the next day the instructors decided to take us down the mountain. like actual mountain. scary! and so we are going down…nice and slow. and me and this other girl, Chantel from South Africa, decide that we cant do this. and we tell the instructor and hes mad at us and tells us to try again so we are going down and theres this little drop off on the left side and if you go over it well…its going to hurt. and im going down the mountain and going and going and all of a sudden my skis go straight for the left side. and im breaking and breaking and screaming and i stop about 4 or 5 inches from going over. and our instructor comes over, snaps off my skis, and tells me to go to the top of the mountain and sit and he would bring my skis to me. and then as soon as i start walking up the mountain Chantel actually goes over the drop off. so shes sent up the mountain as well. we had been in our 4 hour lesson for only about 30 minutes. and the instructors decided that they couldnt deal with us anymore and they refused to teach us anymore…so we were done with skiing! finally!
the next night we had a rotary meeting and one of my instructors showed up and the intermediate ski instructor as well. both extremely drunk and so funny. after the meeting we were allowed to stay in the bar/disco to dance for a bit. with our drunken ski instructors. the pictures are so funny. unfortuantly i dont have any of them but ill try to find some and share them. the next day at lessons everyone told us that the instructors were very embarassed for their actions but just laughed at the pictures…and videos that were taken.
on thursday afternoon we went sledding! it was so much fun. to get the where we were sledding we took first a chair lift, then walked a bit, and then 2 more chair lifts. we were at the top of the mountain! very top! down where our hotel was it was raining but up where we were then it was snowing so hard we could hardly see. i first went down with Chantel and it was so much fun. we only wrecked like twice and didnt have any serious injuries. but during one poin we were doing some sweet tricks. we were going along and we started to go right and started climbing up the side of the snow where we should not have been, we were sideways on the mountain and didnt know how to stop or get down without hurting ourselves. so we just rode it out for a while and we were completely sideways on the mountan for about 100 yards before our sled had the mind of its own to get back to the actual path. the second time i went down with Gogga, also from South Africa, and we didnt even make it through the first turn without wrecking. we were one of the first to start going down but the last ones finished! we wrecked and fell off so many times but it was so much fun. we were the worst group to go. so much that our leader told us that i had to sit up front and ster because otherwise we would not make it down the mountain at all. haha we were going down and had to make a left turn but we were going to fast and we knew we werent going to make the turn or be able to stop before going over the side of the cliff and so im like BRAKE, BRAKE, BAIL! and we jump off, she lands on my hip, our sled goes over the side, hits a tree, and breaks. Goggas glove was on the sled the whole time! we finally made it to the bottom without any serious injuries. we were one of the lucky groups. another group of 2 girls was going down and was going to miss a right turn and couldnt stop fast enough and flew over the side snow pile, over the fence, and landed a few feet away. one girl woke up with a log across her lap and her head resting on the log. she has a huge bruise on her leg from it. but now shes okay. no one got seriously hurt sledding. but skiing and snowboarding…well there were about 8 serious injuries. one boy broke his collarbone, another girl dislocated her shoulder, another had a mild concussion, another girl had a concussion and spent 2 nights in the hospital, a few hurt their knees and ankles.
ski week was a lot of fun but skiing was no fun at all!

easter.
i spent easter with my hostmoms family. it was very nice. most things are the same as we celebrate in america. but instead of hiding the eggs, austrians hide your presents and then you have to find your present to be able to recieve it! but they dont hide them in hard places to find. and also there are hard boiled decorated eggs and you have ‘egg fights’ and the loser…well is the loser and gets to eat their egg. but other than that everythings pretty similar. we had schnitzel and potateo salad and bread with lots of different spreads (fish, goat, ham, egg, potateo, and more fish) but everything tasted amazing. and for dessert we had Sacher Torte with is so amazing!

so im getting really restless here because we do the same things everyday. but the other day we were at the trainstation and noticed these 4 guys talking english and they were dressed really nice so we go and ask them where they are from. and they were from like oklahoma, new mexico, and i cant remember the other state. and they were asking us where we were from and what we were doing in austria and we ask them what they are doing in austria. missionaries! hahaha it was seriously the funniest thing. finally after a few more awkward moments lume came and saved amanda and i from anymore random awkwardness.

so nothing is really going on here. just still meeting new people and hanging out with the old ones. we have new exchange students that came in january and ill finally get to meet everyone this weekend when we go to ski week. ughh skiing for a whole week and ive never been before. its scary! then during the 2nd to last week of april ill be with my class in rome for a week and then eurotrip starts in the end of may and i finally come home july 8th!

so theres the update. keep up with the emails please!

Otherwise know as Carnival, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. The day before the beginning of Lent, known as Ash Wednesday. And a day of partying.

On tuesday evening, a bunch of us exchange students went out in costumes to celebrate Fasching Dienstag. Luma from Brazil went as an ”emo” and Amanda from America went as a ”gangsta” Majo from Ecuador went as a ”bunny” and i went as a ”gaaaemo” a mix of emo and gangsta. it was such a fun night. i only got two hours of sleep before having to get up for school. and when i got to school all my classmates just laughed and asked if i had just gotten in from the city becuase i didnt have on any makeup, hadnt brushed my teeth, and i still had lipstick on my neck from the lipprint that was part of my costume. i plainly told them…in the voice i barely had…that no i had had 2 hours of sleep. that made them laugh even more.

yes finally a new host familiy! and i love them. i now live in the city of wel. in a small apartment and i love it. its just me, my hostmom (Dagmar), my 14 year old hostsister (Lea), and our dog (Shiela). i love it!
plus we now have new exchange students (newbies) but we wont get to meet all of them until ski week in march but thats okay we have 2 new rotary exchangers in wels and one from STS. so it good.

Maturaballs.
last week was the maturaball from schaurstrasse. it was fun but a little boring. and then this past friday..yesterday…was the maturaball from my school. it was a lot of fun and lots of good memories! but not a whole lot to talk about. so sorry! hahaha

what kind of magazine sells sex toys along with home appliances and clothes for all ages? ponder please!

well duh! only an austrian one!
yes that was the joy i had today while looking through a magazine with my hostsister looking at clothes and then all of a sudden there are sex toys. all to my surprise. haha

so my birthday was on a thursday and i stayed the night at amandas on thursday and friday night. thursday afternoon she called some people and told them that she and luma (from brazil) were taking me out that night for a few hours and that they should meet us. i figured okay maybe 5 or 6 people will meet us. nope. half my class and a few from amandas class showed up. it was fun. we went to the irish pub and spoke english with the bartenders. hahaha and then after my classmates left to eat chinese…we didnt want any…these 3 boys walked in. and they kept looking at us so i asked amanda if she knew who they were. and well one was in amandas class and the other two went to her school so i went and introduced myself. and such a coincidence it was one of the boys brithdays also! so now i finally know someone with the same birthday as me. a boy from wels,austria, named stefan. nickname : hausie. friday night amanda and i also went out and meet some of my classmates. it was interesting and fun.

but onto new years. which is called silvester is german. the night of the 31st i was playing uno with my hostgrandma…like we do at least once a week now. and in walks my hostbrother, christian, telling me to get my heinie into the other room because they have some important questions to ask me. well little did i know that when i went there the important questions they wanted to ask me consisted of ”what do you think of this (very drunk and unattractive) guy, thomas?” well lets just say i told them ”NO” they were playing cards and drinking and talking and i kind of joined in the conversation but it was hard because they were all around the ages 17-20 so they spoke dialect and slang and i didnt understand most of it. thank god christians girlfriend, nina, sat beside me so she talked some real german and a little english with me. then came midnight! and we went outside and set off fireworks. it was so pretty to see all the fireworks from the city of wels and then also others in the country. very very pretty. we drank sekt and ”prosted” to the new year. ”gutes neues jahr” and then the (annoying very drunk by now) guy thomas asked me to dance. but thank god my hostgrandma saved me from that one. so after about 20 minutes outside we all came back in and sat around the kitchen table talking and just hanging out. until 6:40 in the morning when we finally decided to go to bed. when i had to drag my hostbrother to bed because he had fallen asleep at the kitchen table.
all in all new years was so much fun.

Merry Christmas!
so christmas here is celebrated on the 24th and not the 25th. plus there is no santa claus but the christkindl….or the christ child. also you decorate the christmas tree on the 24th and no sooner! also there are no stockings.
so on the 24th we ate dinner…all of my hostfamily. we ate some kind of meat and rice and potatoes and my hostbrother….the one that has hardly ever talked to me…asked me all about christmas in america and the drinking age and all that fun stuff..then we sat around the table and lit the candles on the advent wreath and prayed. then my hostmom read a story about an advent wreath with 5 candles and in the end the 5th candle turned out to be the christ child. after that my host mom ‘’secretly” snuck into the living room where the christmas tree was and lit the candles on the tree….yes actual candles on the tree. and then she ‘’snuck out” and rang a bell to announce that the christ child had come. then we stood around the christmas tree and prayed again then took pictures and then we opened our presents. and to give out presents its not like one person just hands them all out. you pick up your present for another person and go give it to them. and shake their hand and give the 2 kisses on the cheeks. so my oma got me socks (which i asked for), kiwis, and m&ms. my hostfamily got me a daybook and hand towels. after that we drank sekt and cheered to christmas. then i went to bed because it was almost midnight.
the next day….my real christmas! i had lunch at my rotary presidents house. my hostmom dropped me off. and the only two people i knew were uli ( my rotary president) and her youngest son maxi who is 22. so maxi introduced me to everyone and then brought out the sekt….i dont know if we have sekt in america but its kind of like champagne. and then we sat around and talked for a bit. there were about 25 people there. all her family. so i felt a little out of it because i didnt know anyone. and then around 2 we ate lunch. first course- fish. second course- turkey, an austrian version of stuffing, and red cabbage. third course- dessert, which was two courses in itself. first dessert course- taramasue (cant spell) second dessert course- a light whipped dessert with mango sauce. and with all this more sekt and wine. after lunch we sat around and talked. everyone got more friendly with me so it just wasnt maxi and i talking. one of maxis cousins overheard us speaking english and asked me in very quick dialect german where i came from and maxis sister answered him in german that i was an exchange student and when speaking to me speak slower german. so he asked me in english. and i told him in german to speak german with me. so he asked me again in german. and im like ohio. and he goes ‘is ohio a state?’ im like giving him this dumb look like ummm hello of course! but i politely respond ‘yes ohio is a state. in the north’ (because people always tell me that i have a southern accent and ask if ohio is in the south) with maxis family i talked about myself, where im from, what im doing in austria, if i have done anything special…you know all the usual stuff. then someone asked me about american football. and i was like yes i love american football i miss it so much. and the cousin who asked me if ohio was a state says ‘the british think american football is the girls version of rugby’ and im like ‘ummmm okay…..’
after almost everyone was gone maxis aunt and uncle and little 2 year old cousin show up. little thomas was the cutest! although we didnt speak or play together when it was time for me to go little thomas wouldnt let me leave. he took my hand and dragged me away from the door and then when maxi told him i had to leave with him, little thomas through a fit. he insisted on walking me to the car while holding my hand and then giving me ‘bussi’ (the two kisses on the cheek). he was the cutest! and then maxi drove me the 5km home.
all in all i think i like the austrian christmas a lot but its still not the same as waking up early and opening presents on the 25th.

so we went to salzburg this past weekend with all the exchange students. and we took the train and then a bus to the hostel. and when we were on the bus these 3 guys get on wearing rotary jackets and everyones like ‘omg newbies!!’ and run to meet them. i stayed where i was and applied lipgloss and fixed my hair telling the boy beside me that i would make my impression later. which was true because i spent the whole weekend hanging out with those boys. those boys who are short term exchangers from south africa.
so anyway…we get off the bus at our stop and have to pull out a map to find the hostel. so im holding this map which is longer than i am tall and everyone driving by is laughing. and finally we make it to the hostel. and we have a german test. UTOH! but i think i did pretty well. it was 60 multiple choice questions and then a 200 word text in german about our first 4 months in austria. after that we had a little presentation about salzburg and then we had the evening to ourselves after dinner. i went out into the town to the christmas market with 4 south africans. micheal, jason, anke, and carolee. we walked around and then went to have hot chocolate. which i had to order because i was the only one that spoke any german of the group. and then we were going to go ice skating but by the time we got there they were closing so we had a snowball fight instead. me versus micheal and jason. not fair but yeah. we were back to the hostel by 11 and i was in bed by 2.
saturday. breakfast at 8 and we left the hostel at 9. we walked to the fortress. which was on top of a big hill. and the road we walked was almost straight up and was slippery with ice. but everyone made it. we walked around the fortress for a while and saw a beautiful view of the city. after that we walked back down and through a very old graveyard and then to a sculputure which a local rotarian had carved. it was of the manger and baby jesus with mary and joseph and animals. it was very beautiful. after that we had lunch and then the afternoon to ourselves. jason and i went out into town by ourselves and walked around for about 4 hours. we got lost and found our way and then got lost and found our way again. it was a very nice relaxing afternoon. even though it was about -8C. which is about 17F. so it was very very cold! and then that evening everyone went to a restuarant and we had dinner and then gave presentations about christmas in our own countries. all the americans sang ’santa claus is coming to town’ and then ‘happy birthday’ to jesus. we were at the restuarant for about 3 hours. then we had the evening to ourselves. i went back to the hostel and just hung out with people. i didnt make it to bed until 4:30 and had to wake up at 6:30. but thats okay.
sunday. church. in the big cathedral. catholic. mass lasted almost 2 hours. and i didnt really understand a thing because we were at the back of the church and couldnt hear anything. then we went back to the hostel and ate lunch and took the train home.
ohh and i forgot to add. in addition to the short term south africans (9 of them total) we also had the 9 exchange students from croatia there also. it was so funny because i was introducing myself to them and the one girl is like ‘umm we have already met. at the multi district conference in ohio.’ i was like ‘ohhh yeahh.’ even though i didnt recognize her until she said that.
welp thats it for now
Merry Christmas!

If you haven’t noticed I posted some photos from the first 3 months. Go to the right hand column and down to Albums, then click on one of the Photo Albums to view the pictures.

To read earlier posts goto Archives in the right hand column.

last weekend i went to a maturaball in wels. its kind of like prom mixed with homecoming. it was okay. very different than anything we have in america. i hung out with my classmates most of the time and that was fun because they always love speaking english with me and having me teach them slang! which i love to do! hahahaa
other than that nothing is really going on.
there is a student teacher from america in my school. his name is erik and hes from minnesota. hes 22 and just graduated from college. hes also very nice and invited me to thanksgiving dinner with him and some of his american buddies in linz but me being under 18 cant travel alone so i cant go. but its the thought that counts.