Becoming a princess for the day...

Hi everyone!

Despite having no voice and feeling under the weather, it's been a very exciting week.

On Thursday Carissa and I went to a ball at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna! It was amazing! The ball was for the Technische Universität in Vienna but the public could also buy tickets. We were lucky enough to get discount, and so Carissa and I played at being princesses for the evening.

The outside of the Hofburg lit up at night time.

The main ball room with the live orchestra. At the start, the debutants and their partners opened the dancing, and then couples filed on to the floor to dance many different styles: waltz, samba, foxtrot...

Me on the marble staircase!

Another ball room with a live band. There were many rooms playing different styles of music, for example traditional Austrian folk, salsa and jazz.

We had an amazing time, and Carissa got the chance to learn to waltz as well. The Austrian ball season is such a huge part of the culture here, so for us to have the chance to go to a ball, and in the Hofburg palace, I feel really lucky!

I'm now looking forward to my friend Bex from home coming to visit this week. We have some exciting stuff planned which I'll tell you all about next week.

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Winter in Austria: Snow and Skiing

Hi everyone!

In the last two weeks, winter has really arrived in Austria. One morning when I was at the bus stop at 7am, the temperature was -16 degrees Celcius!! I'm not built for temperatures like this!

A few exciting things have happened in the last two weeks:

1. The snow came back! I went to stay at Emma Cate's house in Steyr and we woke up to heavy snow outside. And the snow is still here as well - it's so cold it's not melting, and we had more yesterday!

2. I went to see 'Joy' at the cinema and it was great! A film that makes you feel every emotion at the same time, I'd really recommend it.

3. I've got back into reading again, and I'm on my second book of the year. My first was 'Me Before You' by Jojo Moyes and the second is 'The Little Paris Bookshop' by Nina George. 

4. I taught at the primary school again and we learnt parts of the body, colours and numbers up to ten. Next time, we're going to draw and describe monsters, which I'm very excited about! I'm always amazed at how quickly they pick things up. Some of them can't really read or write yet, yet they are able to memorise vocabulary in a foreign language and even sing songs like 'Silent Night' without ever reading the words!

5. The Student Language Bureau (an organisation which provides jobs for students abroad) are starting up a blog site and are going to feature a blog from me every two weeks!

6. I bought a ball gown for a Viennese ball I'm going to next week - pictures to come in the next blog post!

7. Yesterday, I went skiing for the first time with Carissa. It was great! Not as terrifying as I thought it might be, apart from the final slope we attempted in order to get down the mountain...we ended up being rescued by one of the piste machines because the slope was difficult and they were about to close the slopes! But apart from that, I'm very proud of myself for trying, and I had a great day! Here are some pictures...

Stopping for refreshments in the restaurant

Me in the all-in-one ski suit I borrowed from me housemate!

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)