Surprising Mum for her birthday!

This surprise had been a long time in the making. In February, I'd decided that instead of doing the trip I had planned, in which I spent the first two weeks of June travelling along the south of France, I would fly home and surprise my Mum for her birthday. Naturally I had to get some people on board to help me out (thank you to Rachel and Nanny for being my accomplices, I very much appreciate it!) and I decided to continue planning my France trip to use as a cover story for Mum.

By the week before I came home, Mum wanted to know everything about my trip, where I was going and staying, what I was doing...and I managed to put it off as long as possible and be as vague as possible, but I worried she was getting suspicious.

Luckily though, she wasn't. So on 2nd June I flew home and Rachel came and picked me up, having made an excuse to borrow the car that left Mum thinking she was going to pick up a cat she'd bought for Mum's birthday! Thankfully Mum wasn't too disappointed when it was me and not a cat who came through the door :P

I had a wonderful week at home, it was so nice to be back and see some friends and family. Here are a few pictures from my time in Devon:

I spent time with my friend James, and walking on Dartmoor, which I have really missed!

Mum and I got all dressed up for the theatre...

I took Mum and Nanny to see 'Guys and Dolls' in Plymouth for Mum's birthday and it was brilliant - we even had second row seats!

We spent Sunday afternoon at the steam fair

My best bud came to stay for a couple of days and we went to see 'Me Before You' which we sobbed our way through

And I got to catch up with lots of other people who I have missed dearly.

Thank you to everyone for a lovely week at home. It was great to be back, and now I'm off on my next adventure. I am currently in Cubas de la Sagra, just south of Madrid, where I am working as an Au Pair until the end of July. The family are lovely and have made me feel very welcome. I am struggling with the Spanish a bit having spoken only German or English for the last year, but being completely immersed in a language you improve quickly so I'm sure I'll be OK! More updates on my time in Spain to come.

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

Saying goodbye to Austria

I've spent just over eight months in Austria and I honestly don't know where that time has gone. It feels like just yesterday that I was boarding my first solo flight, nervous and excited, and worried that I wasn't going to settle in. I've done so much this year, I've made so many wonderful friends who will never be forgotten, and the experiences I've had this year are incredible. Here are a few pictures from my final two weeks in Austria:

1. I went on the teachers' outing for my other school to Bavaria and yet again we had a tour of a brewery. It was lovely to spend time with the French assistant and to get to know the teachers even better.

2. Charlotte, Markus and I went to a zoo in the Mühlviertel called Altenfelden where we saw a falconry display and got to feed lots of animals. It was the hottest day of my time in Austria - 30 degrees!

3. My wonderful students and colleagues were very generous in giving me wonderful goodbye gifts - lots of traditional Austrian food! And Niki the cat was very helpful while I was packing...

4. My lovely friend and colleague Susi invited me over for a BBQ at her new house, and it was lovely to spend more time with her before I left.

5. A group of us went to see some fireworks over the Danube river in Linz.

6. Another friend and colleague Ines invited me to her house for the afternoon and we went for a lovely country walk with her family and stopped at a Gasthaus halfway for traditional cider and snacks.

7. We had a goodbye meal with a few of the assistants at a Polish restaurant in Linz - and it was very nice :)

8. I made a traditional steak pie for my housemates Charlotte and Michael, Markus and Susi.

Now time for the soppy part...
Over the past year I have gained confidence, language skills, experiences and friends and I am so pleased that I made the most of my time abroad. And it's not over yet! I am off to Spain to work as an aupair this summer and I am determined that after my degree I will be jetting off somewhere else, having enjoyed this year so much. Thank you to everyone, both in Austria and at home, who has helped to make this year so great. I love you all!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Innsbruck and Budapest

Hello everyone!

Last weekend was a long weekend in Austria and I'd just handed in my dissertation, so I thought this was the perfect excuse to go travelling. There were two places I wanted to see before I left Austria: Innsbruck and Budapest. And, being the crazy person I am, I decided we could do them in four days. In theory, this was fine, but the night train from Innsbruck to Budapest isn't something I would do again any time soon!

Thursday
The trip started off in Innsbruck. We arrived at lunch time on Thursday, headed to the hotel to drop our bags and then started out to find some lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day and so we decided it would be lovely to sit outside in the main square.
My first impression of Innsbruck was that is was beautiful. It is nestled in between the mountains, which you can see from almost anywhere in the town, and is very clean. After lunch we decided to purchase the Innsbruck card for 24 hours, which gives you free or discounted entry to many museums and tourist attractions in the city as well as public transport. Most big tourist cities do this, but not all are a good deal, so it's definitely worth looking in to.
There is a mountain in Innsbruck called the Nordkette mountain, which is home to a zoo full of alpine animals and a cable car which takes you to the top of the mountain where you get an amazing view over the city and the surrounding mountains. This is how we spent our Thursday afternoon, and here are a few pictures:

What I found amazing was that we were on top of a mountain in May, when the temperature in Innsbruck was around 18 degrees, and there was snow, but it wasn't cold. My British mind was blown, but my Austrian colleagues looked at me like I was crazy when I told them how amazing that was!

Friday
On our second day in Innsbruck we wanted to see as many sites as possible. We still had our Innsbruck cards, so we did a few tourist attractions first.
We started off at the Hofburg, an imperial palace in Innsbruck which was used sort of as a retreat for the rulers of Austria when they wanted to get away from Vienna, or as a stop off point when they were travelling. Some rulers spent more time in Innsbruck than Vienna, and it was also a favourite of Maria Theresia, the last of the Habsburg line and mother of Marie Antoinette.

After the Hofburg, we went to se St Jacob's cathedral...

...and then chose a museum called the Volkskunstmuseum (a museum of folk art). I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was full of objects like farming tools, nativity scenes, costumes and games from Austrian, and specifically Tirolean, history. It was very interesting, and they also had some reconstructed houses that you could explore.

We then headed off to the Ambras castle in Austria, which is about five or ten minutes by bus outside of the city. By this time the weather was beautiful, and we decided to have a picnic in the sun. Here are a few pictures from our time at Schloss Ambras:

After the castle, we walked back through the town, and saw the arch built by Maria Theresia for the wedding of her son which was celebrated in Innsbruck. The celebration went on for many days, and during this time Maria Theresia's husband died. This arch was built as a celebration for the wedding, but also as a memorial to her husband.

To pass the time until our night train, we decided that going to the cinema would be our best option. So we dropped our bags off at the train station and headed off to the local Cineplexx to grab some dinner and watch 'Batman vs Superman'. Now, I've heard mixed reviews about this film, but for someone who has never watched any Batman/Superman films, I thought it was really good! Plus, they had sweet popcorn, which is rare in Austria, so I was happy!
The film finished around midnight, and then we headed off to the train station to wait for our 1.30am train to Budapest. Unfortunately I'd made the mistake of not booking a bed coach (too expensive), and just getting a seat, which wasn't ideal as I am rubbish at sleeping on any sort of public transport, but I did manage to get a couple of hours sleep.

Saturday
After a not very good night's sleep, we arrived in Budapest. The day didn't get off to the easiest start: we managed to get some money out, took about fifteen minutes to find the metro station because we left the train station out of a side door not the front door, and then when we arrived at the hostel our room wasn't yet ready so we had to wait an hour. That wasn't so bad though, as they had a common room and we went and found some breakfast/lunch in the Subway across the street, which funnily enough was next to a Tesco - I felt like I was back in the UK!
The hostel we stayed in (Astoria Hostel) was actually split between two flats in Budapest, both on the same street but about a five minute walk between them, and if you're not in the flat that houses the reception they don't offer your breakfast. We weren't expecting this, but it didn't really matter. The room was nice and really cheap (€16 per person) so no complaints there.
So once we were fed and showered we decided to go off and explore Budapest. We went off to the north west of the city to an area with botanical gardens, a castle and thermal baths to see what we could find. Here are a few pictures:

The castle that we found, called Vajdahunyad.

Heros Square, where there are statues of many important people in the country's history (although I didn't know any of them...)

We then headed off to meet two other assistants who were in Budapest the same weekend. They had tickets for a cocktail cruise on the Danube river which sounded like great fun, but when we arrived we were told the afternoon cruise was cancelled because of a boat race. So we decided we would go for a coffee instead, and then did a bit of sightseeing around Budapest.

St Stephan's Basilica

The inside of the basilica was very ornate and beautiful.

We also walked along the river to see the Parliament buildings, which were very impressive. 

We also went and had dinner with the other assistants Beth and Maura, which was really lovely, in a local restaurant where we tried some local wine and food.
After that, I was pretty ready to catch up on the sleep I'd missed the night before!

Sunday
Our last day in Budapest got off to a relaxed start by meeting the girls for brunch at a lovely little restaurant in a non-touristy part of Budapest. It reminded me a lot of a traditional English country pub and it was nice to sit out in the garden in the sunshine and relax.
After brunch we headed back into the centre and the girls were getting an earlier train home, so we went our separate ways. We decided that with just a few more hours in Budapest, we'd do a bus tour and get off at the things that we really wanted to see. Here are a few pictures from the tour:

The Donány Street Synagogue is the largest in Europe and seats 3000 people.

The Fisherman's bastion on Castle hill is a viewing terrace which can be explored and gives a panoramic view of Budapest. 

The Fisherman's bastion

We also went to the Castle, which was very impressive, but not like a traditional castle, and we found a food market in the grounds where they were selling local foods. 

The view from the Citadel over Budapest. The citadel was used as a vantage point both to protect and oppress Budapest (and by extension Hungary) over the years.

The Liberty Statue, in memory of all who have fought for the independence of Hungary, was erected after WW2

Before we headed off to the train station, we made a stop at the Tesco across the road from the hostel, and I was very excited to find their final box of PG Tips tea bags - the things you miss on your year abroad!

Thanks for reading!