Where in the world is Susan?: January 2006

Ok, so...those are all photos from our awesome Ski Safari in Austria. We met many great people, and made many good memories. I would write more, but it is late, so I am going to let the pictures do the talking. If you have questions, please direct them toward the comment feature, and I will respond as soon as possible. Coming this week...pictures of my adventures in Verona! Love and miss everyone!

Mamma mia!

Last mountain picture, I promise. Maybe...

Pretty awesome views.

Tippy top.

Rodelbahn night!

Stop skiing at 2:00? Sounds fabulous!

who knows?

sweet

Glorious day.

the ski safari group

welcome to new york city

wahooo for billy boy!

hasse chocolate anyone? delicious.

This was like the top of the whole world or something similar.

Ciao everyone!

I have made it to Verona. It is absolutely awesome! I am having a great time. Sabrina has been showing me everything about Verona and also teaching me to speak Italian. She speaks English really well, which is fabulous. I am trying very hard to remember and learn as much as possible, but it is a bit difficult. I am very excited to be able to speak the language though.

Gianna and Sabrina are wonderful people. They have made me feel very welcome. Just like family. Gianna has been making delicious meals and coffee. The coffee here is great! Much better than at home. I still have no pictures, but maybe soon. So far I have been to a beautiful vista of all of Verona. This is also where there is an outdoor theatre in the summer. It was a fantastic view. Sabrina took me out on the town on Friday and Saturday to have an apertivo. You drink this special drink and have something to eat with friends. It is a really cool tradition in Italy. Sabrina's friends are all very nice and have made me feel very comfortable. I have also seen the Balcony of Giulietta, the arena, and many beautiful castles. The old buildings are very beautiful. The arena is similar to the colosseum in Roma, but better. Outside of the arena there was a beautiful star for the Christmas season. It was lit up at night and really pretty. When I was in the city center yesterday, they were disassembling it. I am glad that I got the chance to see it, because it is very famous for Verona.

I have been searching for a school in Verona to learn the language, but have not found one yet. Sabrina is helping me this afternoon to go to the schools and see which one might be the best. She is so helpful. I don't know what I would do without her! There are a few schools that she has found that sound very good, so we will see. So, now I am going to get ready to meet Sabrina under the clock in the city center. I have been riding the bus into the city and it is great! You all know how much I love good public transportation! I am in heaven. I will talk to you again soon, and hopefully sometime soon I will be posting photos!

I must apologize for the lack of stories this week. We have been very busy skiing and rodeling and yodeling and having biers and participating in all sorts of fun Austrian activites. I leave tommorrow morning fro Verona on the train.

So, last night we went rodeling. At Austrian ski slopes, they build trails called the Rodelbahn. It is a narrow track to ride a sled called a rodel down. Sometimes it can be very dangerous and painful, but it is one of the best things I have ever done. It is the most amazingly crazy experience. We took these sleds to the top of a mountain at 9 o'clock at night and proceeded to drink a few schnapps shots and beers. Then, we had a race to the bottom of the hill which is probably 3 or 4 kilometers down this crazy track. Hopefully I will post some pictures so you can get a better idea of what I am talking about. The bottom line is, Austrians are awesome. They definitely know how to have a great time, and they are awesome skiiers as well. We had an awesome trip, and have tons of great stories from our Tirolian experience. More to come later.

Now, I am going to bed in order to get up to make the train tomorrow. I will try to get some pictures online as soon as possible after my arrival in Verona. Ciao!

My first post from Europe! I made it to Klaus's Hotel Enzian safely just before dinner time here. It is evening here now, but I am not sure what time. My cousin Kendall is currently at the bar teaching a German guy the famous, "Livin' single, seein' double, drinkin' triple" chant. Hilarious. We are at the bar drinking some really big beers. They have a constant 80's and 90's music mix going on here. A whole lot of love songs. It is quite hilarious. Right now, "Daniel" by Elton John is playing. It should be a really awesome time here. Everything at the hotel is really nice. We got a huge room, but Kendall may have to sleep on a flip out pillow type thing. If he actually sleeps tonight. I think he is so excited about boarding tomorrow that he may not sleep.

We drove into Landeck today from Frankfurt, and it was beautiful. I slept a lot of the way, but when I woke up the humongous Alps were staring me in the face. It was quite awesome.

Now ABBA is playing. I want to dance.

Tomorrow we are going on the Ski Safari to a place called Venet. It looks pretty nice. I am going to ski. It might be kind of icy, but I will update with the ski conditions tomorrow. I wish I could get some pictures on the blog, but I am not sure if it will be possible. I am going to try to find a way tomorrow.

I miss everybody back home already!

Yum!

Kevin and I went on our last date last night! We had dinner at the Bristol, and then went to see Munich. Kirstin and Steve gave us gift certificates to both places for Christmas! We had a great time.

Workin' at the car wash, yeah...

Good morning everyone!

Sorry for the lag in posting, I have been very busy doing nothing. I went to get my international driver's license yesterday, so that is exciting. I have been trying to start packing, but so far, I have failed. Hopefully I will get to it today!

As you can see in the pictures I have been livin' it up these past few days. Not having a job is sweet! We went out to dinner last night and to see Munich. The movie was awefully, terribly violent. It was good to learn a little bit more about the story of what happened; however, the graphic violence of the movie seemed really excessive to me. That is my little opinion about that. I just wanted to warn people. It was a very good movie if you cna handle lots of violence and angry, crazy people.

Tonight I will be going out with the CQ (Close Quarters) regulars. I am looking forward to our last night "AMPing it up," as Tad would say. I am excited to see everyone once again before I leave. Which is in 2 days! Eeeek! Less than that. I really need to go pack. Ciao for now!

Finally back to posting! We had a wonderful New Year's Weekend, as you can see from the photos below. Kevin totally surprised me with a weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks at a bed and breakfast called the Gardenhouse. My first B&B! It was gorgeous and fabulous. We got to relax and watch beautiful sunsets and sunrises. We also went for an awesome hike at HaHa Tonka State Park. That means "Laughing Water," get it? HaHa, laughing. Tonka, water. It is a great park. We went to JB Hook's for dinner on New Year's Eve and it was so busy we had to wait for an hour and a half. But it was really good, and it was fun to watch all of the people cabitzing. When we got back to our weekend home, Lill had cleaned up our room (we left a mess!) and she had also left us delicious chocolates. We drank champagne and watched the ball drop. Kevin beat me at UNO and also at Mastermind. He is the Mastermind for sure. Not me. It was a beautiful weekend full of fun and excitement. I have the best boyfriend in the world! He's the sweetest. We decided that now we are B&B people. It is so much better than staying at a hotel!

Uncle Bob and Cousin Fritz (the German Short-Haired Pointer) stopped by to visit. We went to La Bodega and had some delicious tapas and then ventured around the Plaza to show Unlce Bob the lights. Then we played Trivial Pursuit late into the evening. It was quite lovely.

I am still working on my Italian, although it is a slow process. I have been worrying about the trip more and more. I really need to get packing. It is so nice to not be working, but I need to get my butt in gear. It is very difficult to get things done when you wake up at 11. I will work on that. I went out to lunch today with Tracy and Chelsea. Chelsea brought pictures from my Bon Voyage party. They were nice. I am going to miss everyone! I am planning on going to visit the people at AMP once before I depart.

Dang that's purty. This was the view from our room at the Gardenhouse B&B. Totally awesome. Here is a link to their website. http://www.thegardenhousebnb.com/