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 :)

Hallstatt and Bad Ischl

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since I've written a blog post, mainly because the last few weeks I've been spending my weekends working on my dissertation so nothing all that exciting has been happening. But I thought it was time for an update.

As I said, I've been working on my dissertation recently, so I've been analysing questionnaires, conducting interviews, and I've written 1500 words for a hand-in last week. I've also taken on some more tutoring, so I've been working with a group of final year students on their speaking skills in the lead up to their exams, and also with another pupil to help with writing texts and exam skills.

A couple of weeks ago we had to say goodbye to one of the assistants in Linz, who is splitting her year abroad between Austria and Italy - it was sad to say goodbye, but we had a lovely surprise meal to see her off!

I also went on a cinema trip with my housemate Charlotte and a few of the other assistants here. We went to see two films in an evening ('Colonia' with Emma Watson and 'Hail Caesar') and it was lovely to spend time with her properly outside of the flat!

On Friday a group of us went over to Steyr to have dinner with Emma Cate and a friend of her's from America, and we went for an all-you-can-eat Chinese - it was great! The first Chinese I'd had since coming to Austria!

And finally yesterday, once my dissertation hand-in was complete, I went on another little adventure! I went to visit one of the assistants, Ellie, who lives about a 2 hour train journey from Linz in a town called Bad Ischl. She first showed me around Hallstatt, which is a small town on the side of a lake, which has one road going into it on one side of the lake, however if you are arriving my train, you have to get a boat across the lake to access it! Ellie told me that the town itself is a very old settlement, dating back to at least 800 B.C., which for such a remote location is amazing! Here are a few pictures from our time in Halstatt.

The view from the boat

The view of the Protestant Church from the Catholic Church further up the hill. The whole town is built on the side of a mountain, so it feels like it's all piled on top of itself!

The inside of the Catholic Church 

Our view from the restaurant where we had lunch - I was brave and tried trout for the first time, as it was a local speciality and caught in the lake. It was nice, although I wasn't expecting it still to have its head and tail!

The town square

The view from the boat

Hallstatt is a town known for its salt production, and up the mountain you can visit the salt mines and ice caves, however these were not open yet due to the season, so I will have to go back later in the year to see these!

After Hallstatt we got the train back to Bad Ischl, where Ellie lives, and she gave me a tour of the town, including stopping for hot chocolate and amazing cake in a very fancy cafe! There were chandeliers and everything!

The river Ischl that runs through the town.

Bad Ischl is a thermal spa town, and has a very interesting history. Ellie told me that the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl was the summer home of Kaiser Franz Josef 1 and his wife, known as Sisi. The mother of the Kaiser gave them the home to help Sisi, as she struggled to have children, however Sisi didn't really like it in Bad Ischl. She is and was, though, very popular in Austria. Unfortunately the residence, like the salt mines, was not open while I was there, so I am looking forward to going back again to look around!

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 :)