The Venice Chronicles, day 2.

Sunday, June 12th

9:00 am:

~This morning’s shower was... refreshing; it really woke me up. Next time, the hotel standard will rise just a little bit to require hot water in the rooms.

~Breakfast was filling. We enjoyed the rolls with butter and jam, and if we weren’t awake enough, the citrusy lemon-orange drnk finished the job. We are up and ready for the day!

~Out the door and on our way by about 10 am, we headed for the train station to purchase our tickets for the bus/train back to Salzburg.

~For brunch, we found our third helpings of gelato for the trip. This time, it was something comparable to cream mixed with clouds, topped with heaven. Lunch was a ginormous slice of pizza. :)

~Tickets in hand, we knew we’d have roughly 4 hours before our train left Venice. We set out, as usual, on foot to retrace yesterday’s steps in order to track down the scarf of Melanie’s dreams, a new Italian-english dictionary, and to find a carnevale mask for me. We realized after a short while that we’re incredibly good at retracing our steps. We didn’t find the dictionary, but the scarf was waiting to be purchased right where we’d left it on Saturday. It was meant to be.

~Walking through the streets, it was impossible not to hear the choirs from the churches, either practicing or performing for the sunday pentecostal services. We went into the Rocco church, and sat for a while and listened. I’m pretty sure Italians make the best vocal performers in the world. That small choir is how I imagine the heavenly hosts to sing.

~On the way to the restaurant that we’d chosen the night before, we passed by some beautiful masks, and I found the one for me. Green and purple, it will be a perfect wall decoration for when I get home.

~Lunch at the pizzeria was very Italian: family owned and operated and the pasta, creme brulee and tiramisu were GREAT!

1.00 pm:

~After our lovely lunch, we meandered through the streets of Venice, enjoying the sunshine and wandering toward Piazza Roma to catch our bus back to Austria.

6:30 pm:

~We made it onto the bus safely. It was a good ride, although it was pretty hot outside. A guy who smelled somewhat less than pleasant got on the bus with us. As luck would have it, his seat was directly behind mine. We tried various methods of overcoming the smell in a number of discreet ways, but to no avail. We were stuck with stinky for the duration of the trip.

About an hour into the bus ride, he tapped me on the shoulder and asked where the bus was going. We talked for a short while, and he mentioned that he was just trying to get to Vienna. He was very nice, but seemed nervous. He didn’t have a passport or any form of ID. When we got to the border, the bus stopped, and two Austrian Policemen escorted him from the bus. I felt so bad about the situation. He’s probably been through a lot and is just trying to catch a break. The experience made me think again about how fortunate I am to be here, to be able to fulfill my dreams, and to have all the experiences that I have had. Even having an American passport and knowing who I am is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. I have been blessed with so many opportunities and experiences in life, and it has been a humbling experience for me to see other people overcoming incredible odds, making the best out of what life has offered them.

8:00 pm:

~It’s unbelievable that 25 hours in Venice can change my perspective in so many ways. One trip, one day, and hundreds of experiences.

The Venice Chronicles

This weekend, Melanie and I went to Venice to have a look around, and to have some Gelato. We chronicled our experience, and thought we'd share. It's kind of choppy because we wrote it bit by bit along the way. Enjoy!

Friday, June 10, 2011

~First Train for Saturday fully booked: No space for Mel n Kris.

Saturday, June 11.

7 am:

~Second train: Wrong freaking Bahnsteig. Don’t worry, we were 40 minutes early and still missed the train.

~Got new tickets, and 40 Euro later, we were sitting on the Bahnsteig, waiting for the next train, when Melanie discovered bird poop on the inside of her jacket. It’s gonna be an AWESOME TRIP!

~We’ve cleaned up the mess with baby wipes and hand sanitizer to the very best of our abilities, and we saw some kids show up with full-on backpacking gear, and two moving dollies carrying 13 cases of beer. And one water bottle. Nice, guys. Very nice.

10 am:

~Things are looking up:

We’re sitting on the train to venice, munching on the snacks we bought while we were waiting for the train.

The ticket-checker was kind, and even wished us a nice weekend!

2:45 pm

~We arrived in Venice. On the way down, we had to change trains and then ride a bus. The bus ride was crazy!

We met some Irish girls who are studying in Linz, who were similarly to us, not well prepared for the trip. Just like us, they had no idea where they were going to stay the night, and had no real plans for the day. They wanted to tag along with us, but instead, we just gave them the name and address of the campsit we were thinking of staying at, and went on our merry way.

The most interesting part of the bus ride, though, was the mother with her two children, who were on their way to Rome for the son’s birthday. We spent an hour or so talking to the mother, who told us her story, about how they were going because the son’s (Leo) biggest birthday wish was to see his father, whom he hadn’t seen in years, and didn’t have so much of a picture from him. So the mother gathered her two boys, jumped on a train, and made arrangements to go visit Leo’s dad. She didn’t even know if he was going to show up, but didn’t have the heart to disappoint her son like that. So, off they went. Her other son, Felix was about 11 months old, and was absolutely adorable. Felix’ dad lives in the same city as the family, Graz, and his dad has only seen him twice. Apparently, shortly after he found out that his girlfriend was pregnant, Felix’ dad left and married someone else. It was an eye-opener for me that I am luck

y in so many ways to have the life that I do. Leo and I spent a long time playing rock paper scissors, and making concoctions of espresso and dairy creamer. It was rather gross, but he enjoyed the taste. :/

6:00 pm

~Well, it took us a few self-guided, „get-lost all over the place“ city tours to find a hotel for the night, but we got one. It’s got holes in the wall, and well, other problems.

~Dinner=fail! Freeze-dried tortellinis and canned mushroom risotto with some no-name brand garlic salt... we’ll have something better tomorrow.

~Good news!!! Our hotel is right by the San Marco Church, we think.

11:00 pm

~Good news, confirmed! Our hotel is close to San Marco.

The hotel literally has holes in the walls, but that just adds to the ‚pick-up-n-go’ adventure. Two stars? I’m afraid to find out what one star would look like...

~We went to San Marco Square and it was FANTASTIC! It was twilight, and bands and string quartets started playing at the street cafés.

~We saw the San Marco Basilica and the Palace of the Doges from the outside, but couldn’t go in because they were closed for the evening.

~We jsut got home and looked at a map of Venice to see how much ground we’d covered during the day. Yeah... We went to almost every quarter of the city.

We saw a da Vinci display that portrayed all of his inventions, the Grand Canal, a thousand bridges and side canals, tons of plazas, and lots of other cool things, just by walking around for a day.

2010 in Review

Highlights of 2010:
1. Accepted into an AWESOME graduate program
2. BMW. good times.
3. Graduated from BYU with a degree in history
4. Chrissie and Johnny got married/ road trip to New Mexico
5. ten mile race--we did it!
5a. not BYU football, unfortunately
6. Home time with mom and dad
7. Moved to Salzburg
8. got an Awesome roommate. :)
9. London
10. Vienna
11. Thanksgiving with BG buds
12. Prague and Shannon
13. Christmas with Condies, Lisette, and Sal
14. Sal and Switzerland!

Guitars and Go-Getters

I've been in the City of Mozart for two months now, and I went to my first concert at the Mozarteum today--the School of Music at University of Salzburg. It was a guitar concert that Victor (a student who is studying guitar) invited me to. The first piece was a little bit less that amusing, but as the concert progressed, the talent and creativity of the artists began to show through. The guitarists understood their instruments perfectly, and knew exaclty what to do to manipulate the guitars to produce the desired effects. Just from watching the performance, I learned so much about the guitar and the importance of the tension of the strings, the different ways you can use the instrument to produce sound, and the effects of putting several different sounds together. At the end, the group played a song called, "Staubzucker" that incorporated hundreds of different tones from the strings, the body and the sound hole of the guitar. I give it two thumbs up for creativity and fun with music. Leaving the concert, I noticed a lot of the people clicking their tongues to the beat of the last song, or talking about how they enjoyed that last part of the concert especially well.
I admire those ambitious people who have enough energy, endurance, and excitement to accomplish their dreams, even if it doesn't mean that other people will notice. The sacrifice that is required to excel is so worth it in the end... not that I would know yet, but I'm in the process of sacrificing an awful lot in order to learn German. Some days, it doesn't feel like it's worth it, especially when I compare to how things could be if I just went home, got a job, and lived comfortably among friends and family. The important difference is this: when all is said and done, I would not have been content with that life where I just stopped when things got rough because I was "good enough" at it. I would have added German to my long list of "adequacies," and not excelled at one more thing. This time it's worth it. the language, the culture, and especially the people are changing my life in every way for the better, and someday, I'll be able to say that I stuck with something until it was a success! For now, I'll look to the future and hope for the best.

Living the Dream

First things first: Fact: There are more holidays in Austria than any other country. I love that!

I've been here for about a month and it has been wonderful seeing everyone in Austria and Germany. School started on October 4th, and it has been an absolute adventure since day one. Things are a little different here, seeing as how most classes only meet once or twice a week, and most students don't have class on Fridays--hello 3 day weekends. :) That means, however, that most of the work is student-directed, and I haven't done nearly as much research as I should because I've been so distracted--That leads me actually to my second point. Everything here is so close! I have gone to Munich twice since I've been here, Vienna was last weekend, and this weekend I'm headed to London to meet one of my cousins who is going to be there for work.
There's so much for me to say that I don't really know where to start. I am so excited to be here, and I know that I am so blessed to have an opportunity like this, though I don't know exactly how I deserve it. My roommate here is a girl named Amy. She's a grad student from the same program as me, and we're having a blast! Some of the undergraduates in the group have given her the title of "The kindest person on the planet," and I couldn't agree more. She knows more about music than I ever thought was possible, so I'm learning a lot about history through a musical perspective.
The dorm that I live in is more multicultural than a UN Conference. On my floor alone, there are people from Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Italy, Mongolia, Mexico, USA, (and that's only the people I know so far...). It's a blast to learn about all the different cultures and the varieties of cooking never cease to amuse me. I think I'm gonna like this year.
Another perk: living near the city of music means that there are a plethora of musicians here. there's no denying that there's something amazing about them. they have a different view on life, and add new dimension to a lot of things. So, if anyone is looking for a musical vacation, this city comes highly recommended. :)
With all of the great things that have been happening, I still haven't avoided getting homesick. Last week, I was frustrated and tired--of the party scene here, and of being so far away from people who mean so much to me, not to mention the fact that I don't speak perfect German yet. I hate making mistakes... In any case, after calling several of my family members, and getting a little bit of rest, I realized that I am living my dream. I chose to come here, and it's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live like this and study here where there is so much diversity. One year is not that long, and it's definitely a major blessing to me to understand my strengths and my weaknesses, and to realize that the Lord will help me overcome trials that come in my way.

Last Day

Tomorrow, I will be returning to the country I love--my parents like to remind me how much I didn't write them the first time I lived there because I was always so busy with life there--I'll be living in Austria for 10 months, studying German and working as a teaching assistant, and hopefully interviewing World War II veterans and getting ready to work on my thesis when I come back. The thoughts that are running through my head are giving me a headache. There's still so much to do. I haven't even started packing yet, and my flight leaves in 15 hours. It's like turning another page in the book of my life. I love adventures, and this is nothing short of that.

Blessings Unmeasured

Over the course of the last few days, I've been reminded of the numerous things people have done for me in my life. I went to lunch with some friends from SkyWest Airlines last week and one series of memories that came to mind were the times when I was stranded at various airports throughout the US. I was always able to call Donna, one of the ladies who works with my mom, and ask her to help me airport hop back home. One particularly rough weekend, I had been flying around visiting people before my mission, and I got stranded in Atlanta (go figure) because of inclement weather. As I sat for a few hours with other passengers waiting for some sort of miracle, I heard about their concerns as they tried to find ways home, ranging from altering flight plans to buying a ticket for a greyhound bus. I called Donna, and she found me a route right away, got me out of Atlanta and back home faster than I realized was possible. It's nice to know that people are there to help me find my way home, no matter where I am, or how hopeless the outlook is.
There are so many ways that God watches out for us through the people we know, and He puts us in a position to help each other in ways that we don't consider. In the time that I've been home, I was able to meet an elderly couple in my parents' ward at church. They are the best examples to me of what love and service are. The husband takes care of his wife 24 hours a day, who is ill with dementia--an illness that affects short term memory. He is always so attentive, and though she can't remember things, she remembers everything about him. Seeing what happens when we put others' interests before our own is inspiring. I want to be like that--the kind of person who can put my faith in God, knowing that He'll take care of me as I take care of His children. So far, He has put people in my life who have been great examples of service. They come from everywhere in the world and serve in so many different ways.

The Best is Yet to Be

I've been home at my parents house for six days now, and they have tried so hard to make it nice for me. I appreciate and love them for all that they do. Still, it's hard for me to be stuck in this transitional phase where i'm not part of anything. I come and go as I please, but with that freedom comes a feeling of uselessness. In Provo, I had my place. I contributed to the society in which I lived.
St. George brings new challenges for me. I feel like Lot's wife, looking back at the city she knew so well, friends she must have had, and her life's memories and experiences. It's time for me to move on, but I can't help looking back. There are obvious differences to her story and mine. For example, I'm not turning into a pillar of salt and Provo, UT isn't exactly sodom and gomhorra.
The whole experience reminds me of a talk by Elder Holland called, "The Best is Yet to Be." He challenges us to realize that God has better things planned for us if we are willing to move forward with our lives and not dwell in the past. While we have great memories of where we were and the friends we've had, Elder Holland reminds his readers that we are not through creating memories. There is more to our story, and God has greater plans for us than we know.
There's a great, big world out there, and I know that God is ready to help me see the great things to come. St. George is just a stop on the way to where I'm going, and I need to keep the bigger picture in mind as I prepare to move ot Austria again, and learn more about who I can become and the people I can serve.

Graduation

The time has finally arrived. I am officially a graduate of Brigham Young University. The journey that started Fall 2004 has reached its climax and come to a wonderful end. I began the endeavor planning to finish with a degree in chemical engineering. However, a strange series of events brought me to the history major, where I have learned to write, analyze, evaluate, and inform. The process was accompanied by a lot of dancing and a little bit of singing to get me through the rough parts. All in all, I feel like it was a major success. All the good days, the bad days, the unbelievable semesters of work and study are gone. Something that seemed so surreal and available to so many people, but not to me is now mine. Mission impossible=Accomplished.
Now, on to graduate school. Salzburg, here I come!

Senior Citizens and Social Skills

So, an update on the 101 year old woman who needs a friend... She's fantastic. Her name is Alice and I adore her. I've gone to visit her twice now, and both times I have left feeling uplifted and empowered. Andrea(a good friend) and I were talking about some of the things Alice has lived through, and we made the following list:
World War I
World War II
Vietnam
Korea
Feminist Movement
Great Depression
Blacks receiving the priesthood
JFK assassination
Landing on the moon
invention of the television
development of the automobile
It only took us a few minutes to make the list, and there are a lot of things missing (obviously there are more than 11 world events that happen over the course of a century). In any case, when I went to visit Alice last night, we talked and enjoyed each others' company for a short hour and didn't even talk about one of those events. In that time, Alice brought up the growth of the LDS Church in Southern California, the 'invention' of Disneyland, and a few other things that I had just accepted as existing somehow forever. Alice helped me understand that there are so many questions to ask and so many answers to seek. I learned from her the art of social skills and how to enjoy the simplicity of a conversation without outside distractions. Her age may or may not be a contributing factor to her wisdom and patience, but I am appreciative of that wisdom and patience nonetheless.

Addictions

Addictions are an interesting thing. I know people who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, and some people are even addicted to pain. Pain might be the creepiest addiction in existence--just listen to the Rihanna and Eminem song that's exploding onto the billboard charts. The lyrics are sickening. Anyway, I digress. I think that my preferred addiction, after ice cream, is service. How great would it be to have to help others, as a way to survive?

I walked past the Center for Service and Learning on campus yesterday and one of the service opportunities was: "101 Year-old Woman Needs a Friend." Honestly, how hard is it to be a friend? So, I jotted down the number and called it up. The woman who made the posting was so kind, and we're getting together tonight for a visit. For just one hour, I can make someone's day. Really. And how much is an hour? People waste an hour on facebook every day, or just looking at the clock thinking of something to do. I've even spent a half hour just sitting and not doing anything more than letting my thoughts fly around in my head.

Conclusion: one hour a day or week is easy to give in order to help someone, and I can't think of a better weekly addiction than that of service to others. It helps the person being served, it lifts the person doing the serving, and in the end, there really isn't a downside.

Let's start a service epidemic!

Outta Control

So, I just found out that none of my siblings will be attending my graduation. It's kind of like a kick in the face to me, as it seems to be the biggest thing in my life for a long time coming, and I'm moving to Austria again for a year. Cool. Maybe I'll see you again in a year. REALLY?!
On the other side of the argument, two of them just got new jobs in the last two weeks, and another is coming out to Utah for her brother-in-law's wedding in October. The last one has three kids, and still might be coming. In that light, it's understandable, but it still hurts.
I'm learning how to face the facts with grace, rather than choosing to ingore them for the next 8 weeks until I leave for Salzburg. We'll see which wins out in the end--emotion or self control.

Alas, It's Time to Start Blogging

Well, the time has come. I have avoided the blogging addiction for 4 years since people started telling me to blog in 2006. This will be the blog that I update, and I'll do my best to let everyone know what I'm up to and what my vacation days are for those who plan to visit. If you're interested, I'll even learn how to post pictures to the blog... although I'll let you know in advance: I'm not much of a photographer. For the next year, plan on seeing about one blog a month--if I'm really ambitious.

So I decided to get my very own blog, because it seemed like the "in" thing to do, and I figured it would be a place for me to vent whenever I feel like it. So, here we go with another way for me to tell the world what I think and how I feel.