To Buggery With My Immune System... (plus NEWSSS!!!)

What's this?! Spoilt! Two posts, two days in a row! But I do have some NEWSSS.

As my previous host family was really only a 'temporary host family' (which I did know, but some of you may not have), the exchange organisation continued looking for a family who would like to keep me for the whole year. So they found one!! My new family will be in the wonderful, beautiful, grand state of SALZBURG!!! HOME OF MOZART, THE SOUND OF MUSIC AND THIS MCDONALDS:

Note - one of the only McDonalds without its hideous 'golden arches' slathered everywhere for miles around due to heritage requirements...

With all this being said however, I will be staying in a little town called 'Henndorf am Wallersee', about 20 mins outside the city centre. Because I like having a theme with my little Austrian towns starting with 'H' 20 mins outside the city centre...

Also, this is something I found on a review of someone's trip to Salzburg, which amused me:
"You don't as much fly into Salzburg as drop in. The WA Mozart airport [Note by me - yes, Salzburg's Airport is called Mozart. I mean, can a town get any cooler?] is encircled by mountains, looming ominously out of the dark. One imagines that during the day the white slopes are thick with skiers, hikers, abseilers and lines of von Trapp wannabes, dusted with snowflakes that grow on your nose and eyelashes, looking for that lonely goatherd or a clump of edelweiss."
I, however, will not be flying, but training. Hmm. Maybe training isn't the right word either. But that will take about 3 hours, and I leave on Saturday. All very quickly and sudden, but it was going to happen some time.

Now onto some OLD news.
Some of you may have heard that I was sick within the first few days of my arrival, and some of you may not have, but here's an entertaining read for you all, which clarifies exactly (kind of) what happened to me! Before I start though, I'm sick again (something my entire host family except Georg has had), and so didn't go to school the last two days, but did today, and am slowly getting better. 

SO. The day was Tuesday 11/1/11 (what a lovely date...)

I went to my new school to meet the principal and get my timetable etc, and we decided that I should start the next day. Then Janina, Freya and I went to get my bus pass. We left the car at Carl’s school, got the tram to the train station, got some kind of paperwork at train station, then went to bank to pay for the pass. I had a really bad 'stomach ache' and had forgotten water, so I bought water and I took some nurofen, assuming it would be ok after that. We got the train to subway, and went and got the actual pass. When I walked out I REALLY didn’t feel good and threw up in a bin. I felt a bit better and cleaned myself up etc, then we caught the subway back again. When we got off I felt worse, so sat down on a chair and waited for a bit. I tried to get up and moving, and we got into the elevator, but after that I remember swaying and people catching me. 

I don’t actually remember getting out of the elevator but remember being pushed up against a wall, then getting laid down. It was the weirdest feeling ever, totally losing control like that. I had EXCRUCIATING pain in my stomach. So there I was, crying and moaning, but a guy who helped catch me in the elevator put his hand under my head and was very comforting. It was pretty chaotic, especially with all the Austrians around. It would be bad enough in English! So Janina rang an ambulance, while a bunch of people helped, but I don't really remember a lot.

The ambulance came, and the paramedics put me in a chair (much to my discomfort) and wheeled me through the station, up another elevator to the ambulance. One of the paramedics could speak a bit of English, so that was pretty good. It felt like forever before we actually left. They put a cannula in my arm with painkillers –  a needle was the last thing I wanted at that point, though the painkillers helped.

So blah blah blah hospital. Damn they are boring places... Even worse than airports. I waited and waited and waited, and eventually they took some blood, took an ultrasound, and other wonderful hospitally things.

Basically in the end, I spent about a total of 8 hours in hospital, only to find out that they didn't know what was wrong with me, but it hurt. Disappointing that I couldn't have a diagnosis, but they think it may have been a slight intestine infection/a combination of cold/stress/change/Austria/goodness knows what. But I'll go with the first one, because it's more interesting!

However, after it all, I can say that I collapsed in the middle of a Viennese subway station in my gap yah and got taken to hospital by ambulance. I felt a lot better by the end of the week, but as I said, I have been sick (with more of a cold) again the last few days, which is a bummer...

So now you know the tale, and NOT TO WORRY, because I'm still alive, and don't plan on collapsing again any time soon (at least not until I need something interesting to do.)

Arrival and a Little Pink House

So I’m going backwards here, and going to give you the first few days of my exchange. I left Canberra on Friday the 7^th of January, and was seen off at Canberra airport by my wonderful, amazing family and awesome friends – Corinne, Alex and Anna. 

My awesome friends :) - Corinne, Me, Alex and Anna

 My Mum and Claire ended up flying to Melbourne with me, because Mum basically just wanted an excuse to fly to Melbourne! But it was great having them on the flight. All in all, the flights were good, but loud. In Melbourne, I met up with another exchange student going to Austria for the year – Jess. It was really lovely to have her company for the long haul across the world. We had two stopovers –in Singapore, where we got more fuel, and Dubai, where we actually swapped planes. Dubai airport is a bit AWESOME. We got off the plane onto the tarmac, where some funky bus things came and picked us up, driving for about 15 minutes to the terminal. We spent about 4 hours in Dubai all up, and by the end of it, I was actually kind of ready to get back on the plane… 

Funky bus-things at Dubai Airport!

These guys were the best. I was waiting for Jess, and these guys were literally standing there like that for 10 minutes. Legends.

I thought everyone else should share my enjoyment in this...

The most exciting part comes now: WE SAW NUNS WHEN WE WERE GETTING ON THE PLANE TO VIENNA!! I LAUGHED SO MUCH AT THE IRONY! The fact that I was going to Austria and there were nuns just made any part of the flight that much better. Pity I didn’t get a photo!

Finally, after the long long long long journey (around 36 hours all up…), we got, to VIENNA! It wasn’t very exciting. Because it was just INCREDIBLY FOGGY, so you couldn’t actually see anything. Then it took about half an hour until we could actually ‘dock’ or whatever you call it… Then to cut a long story short – I went home (via a supermarket – which was pretty cool) with my host family. I even managed to stay up until about 7.30pm! Achievement!

My Bedroom... complete with European-style timber framing

The very next day – Sunday 9/1/11, Janina and I went for a walk with Freya and Theo to show me the surrounding area. It was very foggy. As Alex so kindly pointed out at some point: “If the sky got any closer, I would drown”. The best part is though; it actually did get foggier during the week! The walk was wonderful. There was snow on the ground and ice in the trees and it was just pure beauty. It all melted within the next few days because we had a lot of rain, which was a pity. But there’s more where that came from!

Me in the Schnee! And one of the many vineyards...

Icy trees :)

The area is a wonderful little place, and is a wine-growing district. There are about 100 wineries in the district, which is amazing. Each one has a small tree branch out the front with a light underneath - which is only turned on when they're open. And because there are so many of them, they have to take it in turns! 

A 'road' leading to a vineyard...

I live right next door to a tiny tiny little winery (most of them are tiny), in the pink house, which doesn't look (at all) like much on the outside, but inside it's really lovely and homey and modern. Pretty much all the houses have no 'front door', but a big gate (like our glass one on the right), which are usually made of wood. 

Finally - the house

The house consists of 3 stories - a cellar underground, which contains Georg's office, a spare room, a bathroom and a SAUNA. Luxury! The ground floor has the kitchen, dining room, lounge room and Janina's office, and upstairs has another bathroom, and all the bedrooms. The kids all share a bedroom, which is a big 'L' shape, and doubles as a playroom. My room comes off theirs, and my window is the top, right-hand side (see above).
That's all for now!

Family First

So even though it has been a long time coming (I was sick for a week, then my blog would all only appear in German), I have finally started my blog! Hurrah! And with this - I hope to fill you in with my pictures and my musings! Just so you know (in case you didn't already) I'm an exchange student from Australia and I've gone to Austria on exchange for my gap year.

Here's a start on my blog with my new family. They are actually from Germany, but moved to Austria about 5 years ago for work. There is Janina, Georg (who are the parents), Carl (7), Theo (4) and Freya (1 1/2)

Theo and Freya enjoying their gelato from our day in the centre of Vienna

Janina and Georg both speak perfect, beautiful English, which is convenient for those moments I have no idea what they're saying, or if I want to ask a particularly difficult question which is way too hard to figure out in German! Janina is a professional translator, working from home, and also speaks Spanish and Dutch. So that's pretty exciting. We try and speak German most of the time, and I feel I'm learning a little more every day! The kids don't speak English, and Freya's vocabulary is rather limited, but they are all gorgeous, if not... children (i.e. loud and demanding at times)!

Janina with Freya and Theo in front of the National Library in Vienna

Freya being cheeky

The kids tended to stay away from me for the first few days, though apparently Freya is usually super shy, but not so with me! Big hit! At the end of last week it seemed to dawn on them that I wasn't actually at all scary... Janina, Theo, Freya and I went to a 'kinder gym' - where basically there were many many many blond children running around madly with (mostly) their mums. CHAOS!! So Theo and I bonded there, and I a little with Freya.

The gorgeous Freya

Carl and I play 'Fußball', and he is ridiculously energetic and really knows how to nag - for example I have been dreadfully tired of late, but he still manages to persuade me to play with him, mostly because I can't think of a good enough reason not to in GERMAN. English just went straight over his head, but he is also irresistibly cute.  

All in all, I have SO MUCH MORE RESPECT FOR MOTHERS.  To finish off my post, here is a ridiculously cute video of the kids, featuring Carl on 'piano-drums' and Theo on guitar. Enjoy! (P.S. - the second half of the video is better than the first half. And Theo reminds me of a young Timothy I used to know with HIS guitar...)