Welcome to Vorarlberg

SOOOOOO. This is what I get for getting up EARLY ON A SATURDAY MORNING TO GO TO THE LIBRARY. My purse was stolen. Along with my wallet and its contents and phone. Instead of writing my paper as planned I spent the day filing a police report. And getting kicked off the train at by the VAG kontrollers because right after my purse was stolen they WOULD be doing random ticket checks on the strassen-bahn. My ticket was in my wallet....

Sorry for the tangent, lets get this post back on track.

There are many advantages to studying abroad in Catholic Southern Germany, a major one being all sorts of random religious holidays.  So this week I am on Pentecost break!

Saturday morning Heather, Kevin and I headed to Vorarlberg, Austria to hang out with my family for a long weekend. We were able to get a fantastic deal on the train tickets through Gleisnost, a train travel agency in Freiburg that charges no fees.

Never heard of Vorarlberg? You're not alone. I don't even think Rick Steves has been there.

Bordering Switzerland, Vorarlberg is the western-most, smallest, and 2nd least-sparsely populated province in Austria. Culturally and linguistically, it is closer to Switzerland than Austria. They speak a distinct dialect, Vorarlbergerisch, that is incomprehensible to many German speakers. So I was prepared to do a lot of translating for Heather and Kevin, both of whom speak German perfectly well.

We headed out on Monday on a gray cloudy day, but I had my fingers crossed for better weather. Upon arrival in Altach, Oma Schuster had prepared Goulash with Knödel. Deliiicccioussss.

Later that night we went into Bregenz with William and walked around the harbor by Lake Constance. We then headed to Alexandra's where some of the fam were having a little fest. The wine flowed (maybe a little to much...) and a good time was had by all.

Lake Constance/Bodensee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday we woke up to cheery skies and chirpy birds. It was officially time for a Schuster-led family hike. The eleven of us went on a hike through the mountains near Tante Ilse and Hans' House. The views were gorgeous, needless to say.

Heather living out her Sound of Music fantasy

After the hike we headed back to Ilse's house for a meal. And of course I was super excited to see the tailless cat. Meow!

Unfortunately the weather gds felt they were being to generous as Monday was a rainy nasty yuck day. H, K and I went to the inatura exhibit in dornbirn. Waaay to many crowds and small children, so we didn't stay long. In the evening we headed over to William's for a film abend.

Tuesday was thankfully another beautiful day! We took the train to Bregenz and rented one of those little paddle boats.

It was HOTT outside, and a dip in the sea was exactly what we needed. Heather and I dove in and swam out into the water, which was surprisingly not too cold. It felt wonderful! I had been dying to go swimming for sooo long. Unfortunately I was a little lax with the sun screen and looked like a lobster by the end of the day.

Right were we swam!

Then it was back to William's for the evening. The German translation of Star Wars that we watched was hilarious. Almost as funny as me asking, "are they going to make a fourth episode do you think?"

On Wednesday we had a good chunk of time before our train. H K and I got on our bikes and did a little bike tour along the Rhine. Beeeaaauuutttiiifffuuulllll.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend with amaaaaaaaazing food courtesy of Oma Schuster and great company. Hopefully I will be able to visit again before August comes!

Unfortunately I learned some sad news after getting back. The off-campus studies director at Wooster was killed in a tragic car accident over the weekend. Kim Tunnicliff was one of the funniest and nicest people I ever knew at Wooster, and I was incredibly sad to hear that someone who had been instrumental to me getting to come to Germany had passed away.

That's all for now folks. Come Wednesday papers and exams are DONE!!! I can't wait.