It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I know that I've previously mentioned how despite the slightly awkward teaching times, I prefer the evening school to the secondary school. One of the reasons for this is that I get on particularly well with one of the teachers there. She's quite young and spent four years in Ireland. With half of my family being Irish, I've spent a fair amount of time in Ireland, so we initially bonded over that and have got on really well ever since. We'd been trying to find time to go for a coffee for the past week, and finally managed to on Monday. There was some confusion about the meeting place, as she wanted to meet at the Leopoldskroner Weiher (pond/lake), which I didn't realise was the Teich (another word for pond/lake) that is right in front of my house! However we managed to uncross our wires, met up and went for a stroll around the lake. (For those of you that have seen The Sound of Music and know the big white house (Schloss Leopoldskron), I live on that lake, which is stunning on a daily basis.

Afterwards, we wandered into the Altstadt and went for a coffee at Cafe Furst. As Mozart himself came from Salzburg, another famous export here is the 'Mozartkugel' - a chocolate ball made with marzipan. Linda (the teacher) explained that there is actually some controversy surrounding the Mozartkugel. Cafe Furst actually made the 'original' Mozartkugel, which comes in a silver wrapper, whereas the more commonly found ones wrapped in gold are just mass-made imitations. Scandal in Salzburg...

The real deal.

Don't be fooled by these guys!

After sitting and chatting for about three hours, we headed back and went our separate ways. It was a very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon; the conversation flowed, the scenery was beautiful (as per), the cake delicious, and, as a bonus, it was all in German!

In a blog post a couple of weeks ago, I'd written that I was still craving a Chinese after the fiasco of the Chinese takeaway in Durham. Some of the other TAs had seen the post, and were thinking along the same lines, so Emily invited us over that evening for a Chinese takeaway and some drinks. Unfortunately, they didn't have either duck pancakes or seaweed on the menu. The food I went for was yummy, but it just wasn't quite right so I think I'll have to wait until Christmas to have the Chinese food I'm used to and craving (which undoubtedly isn't like real Chinese food at all!). As Michael McIntyre had gone down so well with all of the Americans that we'd shown him to so far, we decided to watch his new DVD. Sure enough, everyone was cracking up and I think we converted a few more of the Americans.

On Wednesday, I went to the lecture on trans-cultural communication again. I found it really interesting, and was glad I made the extra effort to sign up to the university classes. Someone in the conversation class on Tuesday had mentioned a 'Stammtisch' that would be taking place on Wednesday evening. Alice, a TA, and I decided to go along and check it out. There was a table full of people that we thought it might be, but instead of approaching them straight away, we had a little wander around the bar just to make sure that it couldn't be anyone else. This was when we saw one man, the man who had mentioned the Stammtisch, sitting alone at a table. We had seen him, and he had seen us, so we had to go and sit down, no matter how awkward the situation could potentially be. He was actually really chatty, so we didn't need to worry at all. Although he was also English, the three of us were all chatting away in German. We stayed for about 45 minutes, which went really quickly, and then went to Emily's house as she had cooked mac and cheese for dinner. We had a nice evening there and I would definitely go to another 'Stammtisch' event in the future, although hopefully one with slightly more people!

On Thursday I headed straight for the Altstadt after the conversation class, as it was the opening of the Christkindlmarkt! The entire platz where it is held had been transformed into a Winter Wonderland. The small little huts sell every and any Christmas ware that you could possibly think of, the square was lit up by hundreds of Christmas lights, and the smell of Gluhwein, roasted chesnuts and freshly baked pretzels was in the air. It was a magical scene. We arrived just in time to see the parade of men in their lederhosen and green hats marching and yodelling along to a brass band. We heard the speeches and watched as the huge Christmas tree was illuminated at the words, "Lichter an". The end of the opening ceremony was marked by a huge cannon and several gun shots, which echoed through the city of Salzburg. It was a special evening for everyone, but especially for the Americans, as this was also the evening of 'Thanksgiving'. I will admit to getting excited about Christmas every year. This year, however, through the build-up of the snow on the mountains, the authentic Christmas markets and the magic of Salzburg at Christmas, I will be exceptionally so!

The parade

Christkindlmarkt

Mmmmmm....

Disclaimer: Photos taken from other TAs as mine doesn't photograph well at night. Hopefully this gives you an idea of the evening, although a photo can't nearly capture how magical it was to be there!

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Although a 7am start the next day meant only 4 hours sleep, that didn't matter, because I was very excited to be heading away for the weekend! As a lot of the American TA's had an event in Vienna this weekend, it was the perfect opportunity for us Brits to go away as well, and so 5 of us made the journey to Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. The journey took about 5 hours and so was a nice opportunity for me to catch up on some sleep. Having not really been to Eastern Europe before, I will admit that I really didn't know what to expect as we crossed the border. In all honesty, I was expecting lots of grey buildings and the city to be quite 'run-down', in keeping with the idea of the 'former Eastern/communist bloc'. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised to find that the city was really quite beautiful, and didn't look all that different from some of the Western European countries I've visited. There were some parts of the city that looked run-down, but they also had a certain charm to them and so, on the whole, it wasn't at all what I was expecting.

We arrived at lunch-time and went straight to the Tourist Information Office. They gave us a couple of maps of the city and circled the places they recommended that we visit. We then went straight to the hotel, dropped our stuff off, and went out in search of a cafe as we were all pretty hungry by this point. Unfortunately, I don't think that we were in the right part of town for cafes as it was quite hard to find one. By the time we'd found one and sat down, they'd sold out of most of their sandwiches so we basically took whatever was left. Nevertheless, the sandwiches definitely filled a hole and the lunch was very cheap as well, (€3 for a sandwich and drink!) so I'm definitely not complaining.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the city, checking off the circles on our map as we came to them. The city is a nice size and we managed to do just about everything that we'd planned too before it got dark. We saw Ljubljana's famous bridges, some churches, the university, the library, the theatre, the list goes on... The highlight for me was one of the last things we did. We were wandering round Tivoli park, and came across a National Geographic Open-Air Exhibition. The photos were absolutely stunning, and the majority of them had been taken in Slovenia. That evening we had decided to try the local cuisine, and so headed out to a traditional Slovenian restaurant. I went for the 'Country Feast', which was a lot of meat and incredibly filling! Afterwards we headed out to a cocktail bar, called Pr'Skeletal. The bar was down a dark side alley and skeleton themed, so as we entered we passed lots of glass cases with ominous looking skeletons inside. They had an absolutely huge selection of 183 cocktails, and as it was Buy One Get One Free, we managed to try quite a few of these! The bar was quite busy so there was a great atmosphere, and I really enjoyed the evening.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the Flea Markets. These were mainly selling antiques/collectibles so I didn't find much, but it was still interesting to look around. Afterwards we walked up to the Grad (castle), and had a look around there. From the top of the viewing tower we had a great view of the whole city, and could recognise most of the stuff we'd seen the day before. We also watched a 'Virtual Tour' video which explained that Ljubljana's mascot, the dragon, is the same one that St. George supposedly slayed! We had a very nice lunch in the castle grounds, before going back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and then back to the train station.

Our train was delayed by almost an hour, which meant that we missed our connection in Villach. However, all was not lost! We went for a wander around Villach, and much to our delight found that their Christmas lights were on and their Christmas markets in full flow! It looked magical and was the ideal end to the weekend.

Ljubljana is a lovely city. Although it's quite small, it's packed full of charm and is really quite beautiful - especially in Autumn. Something I noticed there was that as a linguist, I felt quite uncomfortable not being able to speak their language at all. It felt quite rude, and so I incredibly grateful that they could all speak some English. I've taken some great memories from the trip, and am looking forward to (hopefully) exploring Europe further in the coming months.

Mückenstiche und ein Ball.

On Monday morning I had the usual 6am start, (will I ever get used to this?!). I'd had a dream about a mosquito, that I could hear it in my sleep and had tried to bat it away, but when I woke up I felt that something wasn't quite right with my eye. I went to the bathroom to check the situation and my stomach dropped a little as I looked in the mirror. My left eye was about half the size that it normally was. It turns out that it definitely wasn't a dream and I'd been attacked by a mosquito overnight. My first thought was that the left-hand side of my face had been paralysed (a horrible over-reaction I know, but we must remember how early in the morning this is!), but after checking that I could move my mouth and cheek on that side of my face I knew it was fine. Luckily my host mum was up at that time as well, and happens to be a surgeon, so I showed her what had happened and explained with some rusty 6am German about the mosquito dream. As most of the other bites were also clustered around my eye, she said that it was just a reaction and that it should go down in 2-3 days. As it had shrunk so much, it was quite an effort to keep the eye open and it started to give me a headache. However, I couldn't justify calling in sick to school because of a few mosquito bites so continued getting ready and made my way there. I'm so glad I did, as the first thing someone said to me when they saw me in the staff room was, "What has happened to your face?!". Unfortunately Monday is my heaviest teaching day - teaching the full day at the Gymnasium, and then two lessons in the evening as well, so a lot more pupils saw me in my shrivelled state than I would have wished.  I was pretty self-conscious about it, and tried to keep my right side facing the class as much as I could.

My face must have looked just as bad as I thought it did, as on Tuesday one of the teachers had bought in an anti-mosquito stick especially for me to borrow. It looks a bit like an electric lighter for a candle or hob, and the end heats up. You put the end on the mosquito bite for 10-15 seconds, it stings a tiny bit, and after that the mosquito bite doesn't itch any more - what a great invention! Apparently mosquito bites become ineffective once they come into contact with heat, which is how this device works (my host mum explained it after). I tend to get a lot of mosquito bites so will definitely be looking to purchase this myself. As effective as it was though, we did get a few funny looks as he held this stick to my face in the staff room!

On Wednesday, in keeping with last week's spirit of being proactive, I attended my first university lecture here in Salzburg. As I enjoyed working in the Marketing and Communication department for Zurich in Paris so much, I decided to take a couple of classes in 'Kommunikationswissenschaft' (Communication Science). The class I've signed up to on Wednesdays is 'Transkulturelle Kommunikationswissenschaft' and is broadly about how the marketing and communication techniques should differ, depending on the culture they're aiming to target. As a languages student the element of cultural differences is particularly interesting and I really enjoyed the lecture. I'd say that I understood about 70% of it, which I think is pretty good going considering the amount of technical vocabulary that was used. I was, however, taken a little by surprise at the end when they all knocked on the desks, rather than clapping. I know that that's a German thing to do, but it's something that I've been told about, rather than experiencing myself, so I got to experience a little culture difference thrown in there at the end as well!

On Thursday, I went to the second class that I'd signed up to, which was 'Einfuhrung in der Kommunikationswissenschaft' (Introduction to Communication Sciene). The ideas and concepts talked about were simpler, as it was an overall introduction to the subject, so I'd say that this time I understood about 90% of the lecture. I went to my conversation class at the library afterwards, so was definitely feeling better about having more exposure to and improving my German. Thursday was also the long awaited PAY DAY! As we'd been in Salzburg for the best part of two months without being paid, this was naturally a welcomed event. To celebrate, we all went to the Steiglkeller (a beer hall come restaurant) for dinner and drinks. I had to teach at the evening school first, so made my way there afterwards. Unfortunately, I still haven't completely got my bearings in this city (slight understatement...), but I bumped into two other TA's on the way there which prevented me from getting too lost. I enjoyed some traditional Austrian food, finished off with an apple strudel and, of course, some Himbeere Radler. It was a good evening, and I think it's safe to say that everyone was very happy to have finally been paid.

On Friday I went to my secondary schools' 'Maturaball', with two of the other TAs Alice and Cecilia. This is the equivalent of our leaving ball, except it's much bigger, more traditional and family members are invited. I'd been chatting to some students about it in the week and they explained how there's a committee of 8 students who are in charge of the overall running of the evening, but that everyone in their year gets involved in some way or another. They had been practicing for the opening dance and 'Midnight Surprise' for the past two months, and had even got a professional dance teacher in. Every student had to find at least four sponsors for the event, but instead of the money going to charity, the students get to keep it, and use it to fund a holiday after their exams! We arrived in perfect time to see the opening dance, which was a mixture of traditional dances such as the Cha-cha-cha, and the foxtrot. Once they'd finished, the dance floor opened up and there were grandmothers in dirdnls, dancing along side the sixth form students. The amazing thing was that everyone seemed to know how to dance properly, and some older couples were really whizzing round the dance floor  We explored the venue a bit, and found a chill-out section where the live bands were playing, the disco, and also took part in a win-every-time tombola. The theme for the evening was 'Around the World in a Night', so there were themed bars scattered around the venue as well. The 'Austrian' bar was, of course, serving beer, the 'French' bar serving champagne, and the 'Las Vegas' bar serving cocktails to give you an idea of just a few. The 'Midnight Surprise' was a dance inkeeping with the theme, so there were cowboys/girls, Native Americans, as well as 5 boys all wearing white who turned out to be the Backstreet Boys. Straight afterwards the teachers, all dressed as aliens, came on and had also prepared a dance. It was all really well done and very entertaining. Afterwards we went back upstairs to the disco and danced away until 1am when the coach came and we went home.

Opening Dance

I find this picture hilarious - our heads are so big but our bodies so small! I'm not sure how this happened...

Teachers 'Alien Dance'

Once we got home and had finished chatting etc it was nearly 3am, so we decided to call it a night as we were getting up early the next day for our trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia...

Was fuer ein Schwein!

Week Six

I must be getting better at this whole 'Year Abroad' thing, as coming back to Austria was much easier than when I had to go back to Paris after a weekend at home. The thing that really struck me while I was at home is that my German hasn't really significantly improved yet, despite already having been in Austria for over a month. There are a number of factors contributing to this, but it's been in the back of my mind for a couple of weeks now and was really starting to stress me out. I resolved to be proactive in trying to rectify this, and so as soon as I was home on Sunday evening I made an appointment at the University for the next morning to sign up for some classes.

On Monday morning I made my way to the University and filled in all of the paperwork, which was actually pretty simple as I only want to attend a few lectures, rather than do a full Bachelor or Masters course. I went to the bank to pay my tuition fees for the semester (€17.50 - take note England!!). They told me that the money would take 3-4 days to clear, and after that I was free to sign up for whichever classes I like. I headed home, feeling pretty proud of myself for my first proactive step, when I got a text from one of the other TAs saying, "Are you still coming?". My first thought was, naturally, "Coming to what?". It turns out that in the excitement of going home I'd completely forgotten about the Welcome Event for the Salzburg TAs that we'd been told about a week or so before. I got ready super quickly, ran to my bus stop and made it there right before it was about to start, so wasn't even late! Unfortunately there wasn't really much that was worth rushing for in the end. We were given a talk by the former president of Salzburg which lasted about an hour, had a very quick tour of the 'Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung' (ie. were shown one other room), were given a chocolate biscuit and then went on our way! Afterwards we all went to the Stieglkeller for a drink, which to be fair they did pay for. I, of course, got my new favourite - the Himbeere Radler. A few people went out for dinner, but I had to teach at the evening school so unfortunately couldn't join them.

On Tuesday I went the the conversation course at the library and then to an Italian restaurant with friends in the evening. Ever since I've come to Salzburg I just can't stop craving pizza. I don't know where it's come from or when/if it'll go away but I'm just always in the mood for pizza here! Wednesday was a day for the usual teaching routine. In the spirit of being proactive I also got in touch with The English Centre here, after a friend mentioned going to an English book club, but said that they did one in German as well. I got in touch on Tuesday, and the next meeting was this Thursday, so after renting the book from the library most of my free time before the meeting was spent reading the book to get as far through it as possible. An almost impossible challenge I know, but I gave it my best shot!

On Thursday both of my classes at the evening school had said that they didn't need me this week so after the usual conversation course, I was able to head over to The English Centre, ready for the German book club. In the window, I saw a table laid out with bottles of wine and lots of nibbles and immediately thought of a 'Desperate Housewives' style poker night, but with books. I wasn't far out. I was by far the youngest, the wine was flowing and in general it was a lot more general discussion, than specifically book-related discussion. It was a lot of fun, and in the end didn't matter too much that I hadn't made it to the end of the book. We were there for about 3 and a half hours in total, and as the book was about a truffle pig, there were endless pig puns made throughout the evening. From a languages point of view it was great as well, as most of the women there were native speakers and everyone was so nice that I also felt confident enough to contribute a few things throughout the evening. As promising an avenue as it was, due to the Christmas break etc they only have one more meeting while I'm still here in Salzburg and, unfortunately, I will probably have to teach that evening. Nevertheless, it was a good experience and from a languages point of view 'Every Little Helps'.

On Friday evening a big group of the TAs went to Katie's house for some drinks. We played Mafia, Who Am I, as well as the 'Hat' game that Katie taught us, which is a mixture of Taboo, Charades and something else - but very very fun! It actually makes a really nice change to be playing games just because they're fun, while drinking a little alongside, rather than playing them as 'drinking games' with the sole purpose of getting drunk. However, saying that makes me feel like I'm getting old and boring already, and so I hope that I'll live to see at least one more game of Ring of Fire... All in all it was a hilarious evening, so thanks again to Katie for having us all around if you're reading this.

Before wine...

After wine...

The weather was so lovely on Saturday, that we all went for a walk (the English version of a walk!). We walked through the Hofhaymer Allee, and all of the red and orange leaves on the trees were beautiful. We also saw 'The House' from The Sound of Music, which some people got very excited about. I haven't got round to watching the film yet, so it didn't mean as much to me, but it's something that's on the to-do list.

In the evening I went to the 'Landestheater' with my host dad and Ornella, an Italian girl who also lived with the family. The daughter was in the premier of 'Momo', which is a play written by the same author as 'Never Ending Story', and contains similar themes about time etc. It was pretty confusing in parts, so I'm glad I looked up the synopsis quickly before going to see the play. Although it was all in German, it's a play designed for children, so I was able to follow most of the dialogue, if not all of the subtle themes and meanings. Afterwards we went to the 'After-party' as we were 'with' someone in the show. There were a few speeches, a buffet and it was all pretty sociable. We then headed to a nearby restaurant where we ate dinner with two other families. It was a traditional Austrian restaurant, and the mother ordered something for me which was basically a lot of meat, some sauerkraut and a dumpling. It was a lot of food so I couldn't finish it all, but it was made a nice change to pizza, which I really need to stop eating so much of!

On the whole, I ended the week feeling slightly happier about the language situation, and have definitely made the effort to move it in the right direction. Hopefully after another couple of hours of Google searches and trying out a couple of new things I'll be away and improving, and can stop stressing about it. I took Sunday as a rest/pyjama day so not much to report for the end of the week I'm afraid. 

Briefly Back to the Bubble.

This week was a very good week, because I got to go home!!!

As explained in my last post, I had a shorter working week and so on Wednesday, I packed my bags, headed to Munich and flew back to the UK!

I didn't get in until pretty late Wednesday evening, but always love the feeling of walking off the plane and into the airport, and all the signs etc are back in English. Even though you're still not home, you feel so much more at home already. By the time I'd actually made it home and had a cup of tea with my parents, they headed to bed. I stayed up to catch up on some quality British television, such as Take Me Out, and The Only Way Is Essex. Incredible.

My mother had been in general motherly organisation mode and so the next morning I was booked in for both the dentist and hairdressers. Despite this meaning I didn't get a lie-in, I was actually pretty glad as it meant I wouldn't have to attempt these in German. Although having said that, I did have to go to the dentist in France over the summer as I had some issues with one of my wisdom teeth coming through. I didn't actually have to do that much though, as one of my colleagues had taken me under her wing and organised it all for me. However, I did find that French dentists are not as gentle as their English colleagues...

My mum had also cooked my favourite Tomato and Lentil soup for lunch (so good to be back!), so I had that quickly. By then it was already time to go to the train station to continue my whirlwind tour of the UK and head up to Durham! I arrived there mid-afternoonish, met Steve at the train station and went back to his.  Relatively speaking, his house really isn't that bad, but I must say that I'm quite glad not to be living in student accommodation again this year! As I'd had such a quick turn-over between Paris and Salzburg, and only really had time to pack another suitcase before I was off again, it had been nearly 3 months since I'd seen him properly (a definite downside to this whole Year Abroad malarky), so it was amazing to catch up, but not be on Skype! We went out for dinner to a rustic little restaurant called 'Mrs Mustard', and both had steak and chips which was lovely.

Continuing the Mexican theme from the week before, I met with the usuals for a girly lunch at Chiquito's on Friday. It was so nice to catch up with everyone, and felt a bit like I'd never been away! I went for the full three courses, and so was very full at the end. It definitely felt that we were 'ladies that lunch', as we were there for about four hours laughing, drinking and chatting. Afterwards we all headed off and saw that Starbucks had started their Christmas drinks and were doing a 'Buy One Get One Free' promotion so popped in there quickly as well.

To continue the food theme of the weekend, Steve and I ordered a Chinese takeway, including duck and seaweed, our favourites! I've really been craving a Chinese, as I've only had one since starting the Year Abroad, which was when Katy aka fellow gremlin/partner in crime stayed an extra night in Paris and we ordered one (to the sixth floor of an apartment block with no lift... poor delivery man!). Unfortunately the Chinese was not to be, and it took so long to come (an hour and 45 minutes!), that we were already heading out by the time it arrived. My craving has definitely not been satisfied, so a visit to a Chinese is firmly on the to-do list in Salzburg now.

We went to Varsity to meet the group there and had a nice couple of hours chatting with everyone. Again, so nice to catch up and it really made me realise how different my year is going to be than if I were still in Durham.

On Saturday I had a lazy morning, went for lunch at Cafe Continental (for non-Durhamers it's the epitomy of a cafe, serves absolutely everything that a cafe should, and has such a massive menu that it takes twice as long as normal to decide!) and had a very nice lunch there. We went back, had time to watch the film 'Ted', and it was already time to catch my train home. Again, I got home pretty late, so after a cup of tea with the parents got another chance to catch up on some TV.

On Sunday it was already time to head back to Austria and I couldn't believe how quickly the visit had gone. Luckily it won't be too long before I see either my family or Steve again, and this time it'll be on my new home territory here, so I'm looking forward to that already. My mum has also given me a 'Salzburg' guide book, so I've got no excuses for not putting together a great itinerary for when they come! They'll both be here in time for the Christmas markets, and I'm also very tempted to throw in a hike so they can experience the real 'Austrian culture'...

Breweries and hikes seem to be the order of the day here!

So this week, as the title of this post suggests, involved a couple of breweries and (another) hike.

On Thursday evening, after the conversation class I headed to Sternbraeu with the other TA's. Although it's probably as big as the Augustinerbraeu that we were at recently, its split into different, smaller restaurants, and so has a completely different feel to it. I must admit that I found the atmosphere much more 'restauranty' then 'brewery'. There was a much more 'sensible' feel to the evening with no-one suddenly bursting into song, a lot less 'cheersing', not that many people in traditional dress and the food was much more expensive. However, that's not to say that I didn't have a good night! I spent most of it reminiscing with the other British TA's about primary school games, and teaching the Americans what it means to have had a British childhood. I'm not sure how well we sold it to them, but it was fun nonetheless.

Afterwards, a few of us carried on the night in one of Salzburg's many Irish bars and had an incredible find : Walker's Salt and Vinegar Crisps! In Austria (and Germany too), the flavour 'Salt and Vinegar' just doesn't exist, so this was a cause of much excitement. A few of the other TA's saw some of their students out as well, but as mine are either quite a bit older, or from a village an hour outside of the main city I luckily haven't had this experience yet.

On Friday it was time for the Losers to cook a meal for the Winners of the quiz last week. We cooked them Tortilla Soup, which basically tasted like a fajita in a bowl. It was absolutely delicious. Although it was up to us to cook the actual meal, everyone else contributed to the starters/desserts and drinks, so we ended up having quite a feast. A lot of people were able to make it, and it was nice for us all to be in a big group again.   It was another great evening so thank you to Rachel and Libby for offering your apartment if you're reading this!

In addition to Mozart and The Sound of Music, Salzburg is also famous for its breweries. Due to its close historic and geographic relationship with Bavaria, it is considered by many here to form part of the 'Beer Belt' around Southern Germany. With this in mind, we headed to the second brewery of the week on Satuday. I went to the Stielgbraeuwelt with four other assistants. I'd actually already been there once before, for the Jazz concert, but this time got to have a proper look around the museum. It was pretty interesting to learn about the beer making process, and see the different forms it goes through, and the different machinery used. However, the highlight definitely came after the actual museum tour as we headed to the restaurant area to redeem our three vouchers for beer tasting. In comparison to the other breweries, I'd say that this one finds a happy medium. It isn't overly loud and 'beer-happy' like the Augustinerbraeu, but doesn't have the slightly 'stuffy' feel that the Sternbraeu has, so I'd happily come again and stay a bit longer. We all sampled the different beers and I've definitely got a new favourite - the Radler Himbeer. It's a raspberry flavoured beer and is just so drinkable that it could probably be dangerous!

After the Tortilla Soup the night before, we were all craving a bit more Mexican and so headed out to a Mexican restaurant afterwards. I had 'mixed chimichanga' with a cocktail, and that all went down very nicely. We headed over to Cecilia's house after and on the way it started snowing. It was so cold, but also so pretty and had started settling by the time we got to her house. We spent the evening watching British comedies, like Miranda, Dad's Army and, of course, Michael McIntyre. The American who was with us had never heard of him before, but was crying with laughter with us before the first sketch was over. An absolutely hilarious evening, and it was such a novelty walking to the bus stop through the first snow afterwards.

I woke up to a great amount of snow on Sunday morning. Every year when the first snow comes, my host family drive into the mountains and go on a walk. This year was no exception, and so we joined up with another family and headed out for the day. My host mum assured me that it was just going to be a 'walk' and that I wouldn't even need hiking boots. Needless to say I was skeptical after my past experiences of an Austrian 'walk', and definitely had reason to be! We drove about half an hour to the nearest ski village, and then proceeded to walk UP the ski slopes! It was great fun walking through the deep snow and having snowball fights. We stopped at a little cafe at the top and had a hot chocolate, which was lovely. The owner of the cafe gave the children some spare plastic bags so they slid a lot of way down, which looked great fun. I didn't have any proper snow boots with me so in the end I ended up joining them sliding most of the way down, but that definitely wasn't intentional.

That evening I cooked the family a traditional 'Shepherd's Pie', with the help of Jakob and Nani (the son and daughter). It went down really well and was nice to have some English food as well.

The next week was a short working week as the Thursday and Friday were both Bank Holidays for All Saint's Day. Each school in Austria has 'Schulautonome Tage', which are days off, but they get to decide individually when to use then. My evening school used them to give students the whole week off, but I still had to go into my other school on Monday and Tuesday so an early night on Sunday was in order for my 6am start the next day.