Beautiful People ~ Vienna 2011

"The most beautiful people that we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggling, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These people have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with the compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." - Elizabeth Kubler Ros

Every person has gone through different types of defeats, sufferings, struggles and loss but its how we all get through them that makes us who we are. If we all dealt with it in the same way, life would be pretty boring. Each and every person I have met on my exchange has a past that we all don't know or understand. It has made them who they are. I am happy for all of your pasts, otherwise you wouldn't be who you are today. And who you all are today, are people who have affected my life; you're perfect, please don't ever change. You are all such beautiful people. :)

Friends, family and love. We all need it in our lives; its worth living for. The beautiful people I have met along this exchange are all three. I have met so many new friends who have become my family. I have felt so much love from each and every one of you. One person can affect so many peoples lives without even knowing it. You have all made such an impact on my life and life experiences that I want to thank you. I may not have had the chance to tell you and I might not have had the chance to say a proper goodbye, but it is never goodbye. With all our you its a see-you-later and you will always have a place in my heart and my home.

The times, the memories, the photos, the trips, the laughter, the jokes, the miscommunications, the tears, the joy, the sadness and the love - was everything and more than I expected. I couldn't have asked for more :). Leaving Vienna was hard but it wasn't because of the city, it was because of all of you. I wish you all the best of luck in the future, full of happiness, love and adventure. And I can't wait to see you all in the coming years and see what we all accomplish. Love you all and missing you already! <3 xoxo

" Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. "

Never Goodbye

It never ceases to amaze me at seeing a grown adult riding a scooter around Vienna. I see them everywhere and just don't understand. Maybe because back in Canada scooters are seen as a children's toy but I don't see the point. Does a scooter really get you from point A to point B any sooner? And I am not taking about scooters you sit on and drive, I am talking about scooters that are made out of aluminum, that you kick-push on and can fold up into a smaller version to carry lol. So confused!

Anyways, sorry for the rant. :) This last week was amazing! Megan decided to finish her 5 months of traveling off in Vienna with me; so awesome to see a familiar face from home. We had a crazy week that involved little sleep, an amusement park, shopping and lots of laughing. I have missed that crazy girl! Sounds like she had an amazing trip and I hope the week with me was a perfect send off to back home lol :).

Also this week was GAME 5!!! I am so excited that the Canucks are in the Stanley Cup Finals!! But also, I am really sad. This is the first time being away from home that I have ever gotten home sick. Sounds somewhat of a weird thing to get homesick over (well people here think that lol) but I am a little homesick. Usually I would be back home, celebrating with friends, drinking, cheering, yelling, watching the game at normal hours of the day, and maybe even going to a game in the finals. What I would give to go to a game in this series! Its just hard being so far from it all. I am so proud to be Canadian, a BC'er and especially a Canucks fan right now! Its funny how people here think I am crazy, that I get up at 2 or 3 am and watch hockey all night. SO many people have asked me "Why don't you just watch it in the morning?" WHY?! You can't watch hockey the next morning, I NEED to watch it live; I HAVE to stream it live! Especially when its the playoffs, no way am I watching it the next morning!

Time is winding down here; I booked my flight out of Vienna to start my traveling today. I leave Vienna June 29 and head to Belgium for a week before joining my parents in a car adventure through a bit of France, Switzerland and Austria. They might join me and my friend in Turkey, then I still have Greece and ending in Paris with 3 amazing friends I met here. Going home will be bittersweet; I really hope I will get to see these amazing people lots more in my life - going to be hard to say goodbye. But actually, I won't be saying goodbye, I prefer see you later because I will make sure I see them again xo.

Everything happens for a reason

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets.. So love the people who treat you right.. Forget about the ones who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."

The world is my oyster right now and I am taking full advantages of it :) Being overseas has been amazing! Everything is so close together in Europe that it has been far to easy to travel and spend money :). I just got back from a weekend in Budapest with 3 of my friends. We stayed in a hotel which was muchly needed after so many hostels. We actually got a room that was basically a little apartment. Tons of great memories and laughter.

On Saturday, we spent the day walking around Budapest; starting on the Buda side. We went to the castle and walked around the old town. We then crossed the river over to the Pest side and went to the Parliament building. In front of the Parliament building there were blown up pictures from a photo contest. There were so many amazing photos; many were taken in Romania. On the other side of the Parliament building, along the river, there is a memorial for Jews who were shot. They have about 60 shoes cemented along the rivers edge. It was beautiful yet so simple.

After traveling tons in the last couple weeks, I am finally going to take a break and just travel around Vienna and explore more of the city that I have been calling home for the last 3 and half months. The time has been flying by now! I can't believe it is already half way thru May. I finish school June 24, and will be leaving Vienna around the 28th of June; travel for a month or so. I will definitely miss this place and the amazing people who I have grown to love so much. Will be so hard to say goodbye to everyone and head home back to "reality". Oh how I want to avoid "reality" for longer, but my bank account would never let me ;).

I believe everything does happy for a reason, going back home I feel will show me that. I met the people I met here for a reason; I traveled to the places I traveled for a reason; everything that has happened to me here and from back home, all happened for a reason. I grow, I explore, I learn, I love, I lose, I live, and I laugh. And my laughter will never end, because it keeps me sane <3.

New Beginnings

A long time has passed since I last wrote and a lot has happened. And it's crazy to think that I am already half way done my time in Europe. Everything has flown by!

First of all, Happy Easter to all. I hope family, friends and laughter were present :). I spent my Easter Break journeying through the beautiful country of Italy. Wine, pizza, pasta, gelato was all consumed, walks through magical streets of ancient history, a random stop at the TRL MTV Italian Music Awards, train rides and relaxing beaches.

We started in Trento, next Verona, then Venice, further to Florence for 3 nights, Pisa in 3 hours, and ending in Genoa to finish off before a night train back home; Vienna. The night train was quite the experience. Kristina and I had our own compartment, two beds, with a wake-up call of cappuccinos and croissants; perfect start to a day.

I took The Da Vinci Code with me to Italy and it was the perfect book to read on this vacation. I have already seen the movie but books are always way better.

I forgot how comfortable my bed was here, and how much I missed Vienna till I was back. As much as I loved the getaway with such amazing girls, by the end I was sick of being a tourist and believe it or not missed the sound of German! lol I was way too excited on the night train home. I missed the beautiful and crazy people that are my friends here :). 8 of us went for all you can eat Sushi for Easter dinner on Sunday when we all got back to catch up.

After dinner, Tamara and I stayed up till 5 am watching the Canucks. Was so disappointing when they lost in overtime and we had to go to bed mad lol. Hopefully tonight they can finally take the series and defeat the Hawks. I have an exam tomorrow morning at 830 am so I don't think I will be up to watch the whole game but I might try and catch the end of the game. Which could be a good or bad thing. Good if they win, I'll go to my exam in an extra good mood but if they lose... that might be a problem.

I think I might have actually picked a date to come home. Since I am now in no rush to come home, nothing to rush home to anymore. I told Karin she had to give me a reason to come home, which she has produced :). Vegas for a week for her birthday sounds like a perfect reason to come home. So I will probably see you all in the beginning of August. August 1 is what I am aiming for but depending on flight costs; its not set in stone. But I will be home before August 3.

Night xo

"Smile in your liver"

I don't think I could have brought with me a more fitting book to read; Eat, Pray, Love. I watched the movie a little while ago and loved it; but it doesn't do the book justice. As you read the book you see how Elizabeth Gilbert grows and how she over comes. Her raw, blunt take on different things and how everything affects her. Just last night I was reading and she started ranting about happiness:

"... people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortune enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into the happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it..."

I really like this and think it's very true about happiness. I have already read about Italy (Eat), India (Pray) and am now in the Indonesia (Love) part of the book. We do have control over our own happiness; no matter what happens in our life, we just have to always fight for it. When you give up the fight is when you can lose it.

I came on this trip for many reasons. First, I get antsy in one place for too long and get bored of the same routine everyday. Secondly, I love learning about different culture but would rather see it all first hand. And thirdly, to learn more about me. To see if I can still cope and adapt to new situations like I did back in Belgium. I found the first time, that I learned so much about myself spending a year in Belgium but I wasn't sure if that was just because I was a teenager. What teenager really knows themselves back in high school?

I know a month is a short time but I feel like I am already learning new things about myself and that yes, I can still adapt easily to new cultures. :)

On a different note, I dropped out of my Risk and Financial Management Masters course. My college emailed me back and would credit it as the course back home that I wanted it but if I ever wanted to apply for the CFP, they weren't sure they would count it. Either way, I think I would rather take it back home with my friends and professors I know.

So at the moment I only have language classes. I started my Russian course which I am excited about. But... the teacher doesn't speech English... So I get so confused in this course. She will start going off in Russian, which we try to understand. We, being Jonathan (France) and I. Then she will explain something in German to the rest of the class, which we try to understand. Then turn to us and speech French, which we understand. Then I translate it all into English... So I have 4 languages flying around my head and I don't want to speech cause I don't know what language is going to come out!! lol. But I will make it work. :)

This weekend we are heading off to Prague. I am so excited to go visit other places and Prague is such a beautiful city! All my traveling is starting now. Prague this weekend, Salzburg next weekend and then Amsterdam to visit Matt. I like March.

xoxo

Foreigners

Do we really stand out that much? Do we have foreigner written across our foreheads? Or maybe they just are all starers here? Yes yes that has to be it lol. Everywhere we foreign students go we get stared at by everyone, whether we have spoken English yet or not, they are already staring. And not like your normal stare back home that when you turn, the person staring looks the other way in an embarrassed state. No, here they just keep staring at you making you feel completely uncomfortable and making you the embarrassed person trying to look away quickly lol. This is just one of the many funny yet uncomfortable daily occurances. Even riding of the train to school, alone, not having spoken any English or even spoken for that matter and people stare! I think Ikea was the best though; an old lady standing 2 feet away from Kerstin just staring at her and wouldn't stop lol.

School has started and not yet sure how I feel about my Risk and Financial Management Masters course; only had one class so far but I am also the "foreigner" in that class. To the point that a student asked what they were suppost to do with the new people for groups lol; wow, very funny and embarrassing having them single me out. Should be a challenging yet interesting course; thankfully it's in English otherwise I wouldn't even try and complete that course. Beginner German class has actually been a blast! From one week being the worst at pronunciation, to being told the next week I sound German when I was sick, to Kerstin having the teacher crying in laughter, and to the teacher giving me a picture of Daniel Craig cause she found out how much I love Bond; it's been a great time :)!

Wondering around this beautiful city with fellow exchangies has been interesting and eventful. I even get to practice my french with the frenchmen while listening to people speaking English, Czech, German, Finnish and Spanish just to name a few. I love all the new culture and customs I get to experience from not only living in a different country but by being surrounded by so many amazing people from all over the world! Did you know that in Finnish there isn't a word for please? Us polite Canadian's couldn't believe it lol.

In two weeks we are all heading to Prague for our first trip together. Prague is my favourite city by far in the world. I can not wait to go back! We head in Munich in May together and Croatia in June. Meanwhile, I am planning a trip to see the one and only Matt Cosar in Amsterdam and just planned a trip to Budapest. Easter break we are hoping for Italy but we will see :).

Here I have a weird obsession with taking picture of all the food I cook lol. I think it is because here I actually have time to cook and not be rushed out the door. Most of my courses are night courses, leaving me plenty of time to cook my favourite meal, BREAKFAST! I think everyone back home and here knows how much I love breakfast. I have already made hashbrowns from scratch 3 times and this morning made the hugest omelette that I made Julie (Canada) and Cherryl (Holland) come eat it with me :) and still had left overs. They didn't mind joining me though.

Loves <3

The beginning

This first week has been a worldwind of new people, new culture, and new emotions. The people I have met so far are incredible. Most have been other exchange students from all over the world, who have welcomed me as family :). We have created our own little families here together to give us a home-y feel. Such amazing people that I am excited to create adventures with.

Living in dorms is new to me. When I got in the first night, I knew I would be waking up to a new roommate that I have never met before, it was thrilling yet made me semi nervous. Waking up and meeting her though I realized I had nothing to worry about at all. She is amazing :) a true gem. Her name is Seda and is from Turkey. She took me all around Vienna the first couple days and introduced me to her friends.

On Monday came the first day of orientation. This is where I got to meet everyone and find out about my program in school. Lola also arrived on Monday and spent a week with me adventuring around Vienna <3.

Tuesday, we spent the entire day learning about Vienna, Austria, their culture and their regions. Afterwards, they taught us how to Waltz- Austrian style! My dance partner was the one and only Kerstin, from Las Vegas but goes to school in Hawaii. We drank enough sparkling wine to loosen us up; let's just say we finally figured out how to dance it properly by the end... with some help of course.

All and all the first week was jammed packed but has felt so long at the same time. From visiting Kahlenberg, Schonbrunn Palace, seeing David Hasselhoff, German class, sick in bed for two days, cooking with Romanians, Lola for four days, Austria day, Hundertwasserhaus, Traditional Austrian dinner, dancing and Valentine's day alone- let's just say its been full :).

Soon, I know my trip will start to fly by and before I know it I will be home. I am excited to see what Vienna has in store for me and Europe for that matter but I am also excited to see you all again!!

Gute nacht <3