when can i put on my dirndl?!

location: maria alm am steinernen meer, austria
time: 22:45

i sat down today to write in my journal, something i fall out of the habit of doing daily when i am in school and need to get back in rhythm with now that i am a bit freer. it really helps to keep me somewhat saner than i am without it... any how, i meant to write all about the crazy dreams i have been having and to reflect and all i got down was "i've come to realize a lot of things over my 21 years, i just can't remember what they are..." how incredibly apt for how i've been feeling over the last few days and weeks!

it is really in the beauty of this place and the people in it that i find the joy in coming here. although the mountains are hidden by the clouds, rain, and mist at the moment, just knowing they are there is wonderful. ah to be surrounded once again by that majesty! when the sun does make an appearance it shins down from the bluest sky one can imagine and through the most perfect fluffy white clouds you can dare dream of. and what it shines down on is even better. the farm house and the people in that house. my family. the cousins (so distantly and confusingly related that we don't even try to explain) that welcome me into their homes and hearts with such enthusiasm that it's really quite overwhelming. there are tutsi and hans, the grandparents. christian and michi and their kids hanna, flora, jacob, and lorenz (who is turning five soon!), hanna's boyfriend, hanes, and at the moment a lovely british couple, liz and her husband david. and all but the grandparents under one roof. and there is always something going on here! and every catastrophe is handled and chore is done and then discussed with laughter, despite the fact that there may not have been any humor in the situation at the time.

and if that doesn't sound wonderful then let me share some of the things i love most: milk fresh from the cow, accordion music played terrifically by my 13 year old cousin, laughing over homemade bread and coffee in the afternoon, biking in the parking lot with my 5 year old cousin while shouting about something or other, eating directly from the pan (who needs plates!), giggling with the girls about who knows what, and getting dressed up in my dirndl for special occasions... not to mention the horses!!

michi is truly a super woman and i am constantly in awe of all she does. tutsi is the same although tutsi has moved out of the main farm house around the corner to her own house and is no longer as involved in the everyday goings on. these two women guide this gigantic wonderful family with grace and love. michi is such a kind person. i hardly ever see her lose her composure or temper despite the fact that everyone constantly wants and needs something from mama! i could go on for hours but i'll sum it up with a tiny story (you know how much i love those!): i was packing up to leave last summer, which i didn't want to do but had to, and as i was packing i found in the pocket of my backpack a small magnet which said simply "friends are the family we choose for ourselves." now i often feel i'm stuck in an odd limbo, not quite a kid but also not fitting with the adults. michi made and makes me feel like i belong and that i too am important and worth time. it's a skill i hope i have and can work on so that i too can make everyone around me feel their own worth and wonder.

if it isn't apparent, let me say it: i love it here. i am so glad to be back and wish i didn't have to leave again so soon!!

and now it's bed time! i'm toying with the idea of getting up at 0530a to milk the cows on the alm... farmers go to sleep early so off i go! :)

Austria... mustache capital of the world??

Location: Vienna, Austria (!!)
Time: 23:32

My friends!

It is going to have to be a short update as it is quickly approaching midnight and I am exhausted! It's been a busy week since my last update, filled with family, friends, lost socks in freezing mountain streams, eis kaffees (ice coffee but with ice cream which is basically the most delicous concoction you can possibly imagine), Wiener Schnitzel, laugher, reading, and odd dreams.

We left Graz on the 21st and stopped by the home of our distant cousins to visit Tante Claudi, our 100 year old cousin. It turns out she and I have the same birthday which is wicked cool... shes only 79 years older than me! We ate a wonderful lunch with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and then hit the road again. I beleive that I, as per usual, slept in the car until we reached the small town of St. Kathrein am Hauenstein. This was where we planned to meet up with our group of friends to spend the weekend, however we ran into a bit of trouble. It turned out we didn't know exactly where to go because we had been instructed to call when we got there for further direction. Neither of my parents could remember the name of the farmer with whom we were staying. We had tried what we thought was my godmothers cell phone number (turned out it was her landline which did no one any good). After driving around aimlessly for a bit we decided to park in the parkinglot of the towns cemetary as that sat right on the only road from Vienna into the town. We figured they would have to drive down this road and we could flag someone from the group down. Now let me tell you something about my mum folks, she is mighty resourceful. She went for a walk in the cemetary and looked at all of the names on the stones until she saw one that rang a bell. When a local woman walked by she asked her where the family Weisenbacher lived and we were told that they were just a ways up the hill. It turns out we hadn't gone up far enough and that we would have been waiting endlessly for someone to drive by!

the group!

The weekend was passed in wonderful company, eating amazing food (WAY too much!) and chatching up. I always love spending time with this group because many of them have known me since i was a wee thing and there is so much love and joy in each others company that it is hard not to be happy!

the newest addition to my mums "pitchers shaped like animals" collection!

My biggest adventure while in St. Kathrein was losing one of my socks into an ice cold mountain stream... the story goes like this: I was out for a run/hike and stopped along the creek to change the music i was listening to. I keep my ipod in a sock when i run to keep it from getting sweaty and nasty and had put the sock next to me on the rail of the bridge while i did this. just as i was thinking 'i hope my sock doesn't blow away' who should happen by but a gust of wind. I am sure you can imagine what happend next... i cursed because it was one of my favorite dark blue socks, and started to walk along with the sock as it floated along. It finally got stuck and i shouted 'stay there socky!' down to it. I then assessed my options: jump the rail and scale down a wall or run back over the bridge and climb down a less steep wall made of boulders. I chose the second option, got to the bottom, jumped through burnnig nettles (the long pants turned out to be the right choice) and then kicked off my shoes and waded up stream... well what do you know, the sock was gone! I actually stood there in disbeliefe until i realized that my feet had gone numb and that i needed to get out of the water. I followed the creek as far as i could but with no luck. rest in peace in what ever body of water you ended up in my little socky friend!

The family and I returend to Vienna on Monday and have spent the last two days running around like crazy visiting friends and family. It is lovely and there is so much good food but I am also looking forward to my time on the farm!

Well, I said it was going to be a short update but I didn't quite succeed in that goal! :)
Until next time,
A

p.s. i apologize for any and all spelling mistakes. i blame them on not only my dyslexia and the lateness of the hour, but also the fact that this computer is only spell checking German...

p.p.s. pictures to follow!

speck capital you say? excellent!

location: bench outside the Kunsthaus (art museum) in Graz, Austria
time: 1954
memorable moment of the day: eating apfelstrudel at a rest stop on the highway

my friends, the moment has come! i am once again in my beloved motherland! that wonderful country which we with love in our hearts call Österreich... Austria. when i say that this is the most beautiful country in the world, it is not just my bias... i actually believe it will all my being. the mountains and the citys and the people. and the language... not to mention the food!!! i feel like i am meant to end up here and until that happens, i shall content myself with the wonderful weeks i am allowed to be here!

since i was last able to connect to the internet, my family and i left cesenatico for beautiful venice where we stayed in a hostel run by nuns (leave it to my mother to find the nuns!). we spent a lovely day and a half wandering around, marveling at the beauty of this place, and (of course) eating gelato. our last night we ate an amazing dinner at a small restaurant called osteria da alberto. if you ever find yourself in venice, i would recommend eating every meal possible here! the food was delightful and the wine delicious. we would have stayed forever had we not had a 10:30p curfew (as previously mentioned... nuns...).

a short boat ride later and we were back in the car creeping up over the mountains into austria. we stayed over night in hermagor (the Speck (bacon but more delicious) capital of the world! also the location of another historical monument dedicated to the Pirquet who tried to invade cesenatico years later for helping with some other war in the region) and then continued on to graz today. over all i am overjoyed to be in austria again and can't wait for my adventures to start! driving has its place but doesn't leave much time to explore!

until next time!
A

is that an empty glass?? FILL IT!

location: grand hotel, cesenatico, italy
time: 22:38
family activity: polishing off five plus liters of wine after dinner (i expect nothing less...)

the family revelry continues!!

i spent friday fairly jet lagged on a family adventure to cesena, about forty minutes form where we are staying. we visited an old library and saw the worlds smallest book that can be read without a loop. then we wandered around a bit and then went to see the workshop of a craftsman who prints traditional cloth. it was really cool to see how they carved the blocks and printed the fabric itself. we returned, ate dinner, and i headed to bed to try to catch up on sleep.

saturday found the family at a museum in the center of town. a little bit of background to explain why we are here: my great great great grandfather (i think thats right) basically engaged in a hair brained scheme to over take cesenatico... he had fifty something men while the army of napoleon had 1800 men... he went ahead and attacked over the bridge... somehow he lived and won and the emperor was so happy with him that he made him noble and gave him the title "von cesenatico" anyway... here we are! we went to a presentation thing about our family and the battle and then took a family photo and ate snacks and talked.

it was a horribly rainy, windy day so i did what days like that are meant for: napped...

saturday night was our big fancy dinner. everyone got dressed up in their best outfits and we continued the festivities. many important people from the town came to our dinner, there was a flute concert by cousins, delicious food and wine, and lots of talking, looking at pictures, and hanging out. there was cake for a cousins birthday and general frivolity.

despite the late night, we all loaded into a bus bright and early this morning and drove to ravenna, a town about an hour away famous for its mosaics. it was lovely but the tour went on for a bit too long and we were all exhausted by the end. over all though, a wonderful excursion!

tonight was our last dinner all together and despite the fact that dinner has been over for a while, many of us our lingering in the lobby area hanging out and talking. testament to the love this family has for each other! also the knowledge that we won't all be together for at least five years is keeping us here... the wine sure doesn't hurt!

tomorrow the four of us pile into the car and move on to venice. i'm looking forward to having some alone time to sit and journal but i will certainly miss the family!! i have been told i must visit many of them before i leave in june and i certainly hope it happens!

good night my friends, sweet dreams!
A

"I haven't seen you since you were THIS big!"

Location: Cesenatico, Italy
Time: 11:37a
What I would like more than anything in the world at the moment: a kiwi

It was with the usual frenzy (plus some) that this school year came to an end. On top of finishing classes, passing finals, saying goodbye to those graduating and moving on, organizing to get on a plane the day the university closed, and getting all 150 of our buildings residents moved out by 12 noon on May 12th so they could begin demolishing the building as RAs scrambled to get out, the time has flown and I am not quite sure what has happened over the last two weeks! It was during the rush of checkouts that I found myself reflecting on dorms, and college as a whole. We all create lives for ourselves at this place, away from our homes and families, and the building, as much as we complain that it looks like a jail, becomes our safe bases for eight months of the year. And then we are expected to move out for the summer and be done. I only lived in Bullock for a semester, but it became home in that time. And I must admit it was with sadness that I watched workers whip in and scrawl "DEMO" all over the walls and begin to remove furniture and windows. But enough about that!

I got home Wednesday afternoon, had my usual pre-flight panic attack, and then got Micha and myself out the door with minimal trouble. We arrived at the airport, made our way through security, eat a sandwich, and boarded the plane. We flew to London on a HUGE plane which had all sorts of fancy sections (first class and then a section with interesting seating arrangements... i forget what it was really called but in my brain I called it the "party section"). We even got mini toothbrushes and socks in economy... if that doesn't say class, I honestly don't know what does! I sat down and fell asleep, missing the movies, dinner, and breakfast (luckily Micha was up for breakfast so saved me some!). We arrived at London Heathrow, I ate an egg and cress sandwich (if you read this blog last summer, you can probably imagine how much joy this sandwich brought me!!) and drank orange juice with "juicy bits" (haha oh the Brits...).

We then we took a bus to Gatwick to catch our connecting flight. I slept on the bus to Gatwick, on a bench in Gatwick and then on the plain to Bologna, Italy. When it comes down to it, I napped my way from Boston to Italy. Not the worst way to travel!

Our mum and dad picked us up from the airport and we headed for Cesenatico, where the Pirquet family reunion is being held. So far we've eaten good food and met too many people to remember how they are all related to me, but I'm told they are, so until I can sit down and draw a family tree, I guess I'll just have to trust them that they held me when I was a baby and that they can't stand how tall I've gotten.

As far as I can tell, the next few days will be full of sight seeing, eating together, and seeing people I haven't seen in ten years... hopefully at the next reunion I'll remember them! But then again this is my family, so I'm not sure that anyone really knows what is going on :)

Bis bald,
A