Classes are in full forces, people are getting busier, and group projects are taking over my life. That can pretty well sum up this past week. However, even though we are off to a busy start, I still managed to fit in some time for fun (not that I haven’t had enough of that already).
Tuesday night Alan, Will and I went to a fútbol game of Rijeka, Croatia vs. Wien, Austria. The last fútbol game I went to was probably around 7+ years ago when I went on a trip with my cousin, Aunt and Uncle to New York and saw Liverpool play Manchester United. I don’t really like watching fútbol on the TV, but I love watching them in person. Personally, I think it is really exciting and fun, and I know my family would beg to differ… Alan is really into fútbol and told us that Croatian fans get really insane with fireworks, fires, chanting and the whole shebang, and I was not let down. The Croatian fans set off red flares that looked like they opened a fiery pit in the stands and were ready for war! They also were non-stop chanting throughout the game. You’d think they’d get tired after the first 30 minutes, but no, they sang and chanted for the whole 90 minutes. It was actually incredible. We are all planning to go to another fútbol game tomorrow because the two Wien teams are playing each other. I hear it is supposed to be even crazier!
On Saturday I took a long day-trip to Hallstatt (small lake-town 4 hours west of Vienna) with two girls I’ve got the pleasure of getting to know since I first arrived here. We all woke up at 5am for a 6:55am train, spent the day there, and took a 6:30pm train back and arrived home at around 10pm. We had around 7 hours to explore around the city, and I think it was the perfect amount of time. We started off taking a casual stroll around town to gather our bearings, did some last minute research on things to do, then made our way to the south side of town for a Salt Mine tour. The Hallstatt Salzwelten is the world's oldest salt mine, and they also have possession of the Europe’s oldest staircase as well (fun fact). Now taking a tour of a salt mine may not sound like the best of times, but let me tell you that it was the highlight of our trip to this city. Man Hei, Megan and I all agree that it was extremely fun and educational. In the beginning we all had to put on a colored suit, which I assume was just an extra layer because it was 7 degrees C/44 degrees F. This was a great start because we could not stop laughing at ourselves: we looked like a mixture between rappers and prison inmates ready to enter a salt mine. As our tour made our way underground, it got colder and darker, and I’ve seen way too many horror movies/horror video games to realize where we were headed. Luckily we were not in front. In order for us to get deeper into the mine, we had to take slides down to the next layers. Apparently actual miners way back when used these to get around faster instead of elevators! Our guide educated us on how salt mines work, the history of this mine, and a little bit of a background on the town of Hallstatt as well. We got a beautiful light show in the deepest part (that we could visit) with lights reflecting off the salt-water pools. On our way out of the mines we all boarded a small train-like-vehicle and road through the smallest tunnel imaginable. You couldn’t move your head, arms or shoulders without hitting the wall around you. I feel sorry for the taller people… It was a really fun tour thanks to an awesome tour guide (thanks Robert) and we even got a salt sample to take with us! Since the mines start at the top of a mountain, there is also a beautiful outlook with a beautiful sight of Lake Hallstatt and the other city across it. And did I forget to mention that this town is located in the Swiss Alps?
We had lunch at one of the most popular restaurants and continued to walk around the city to find the best places to take pictures. We hung out at a park, briefly visited one of their churches, and finished it off with some crepes. I think that the seven hours we were there is just enough time to visit this city, because towards the end we were running out of things to do. The weather was quite foggy and rainy in the beginning, but started to clear up around 4pm. But the fog did make for some really neat pictures.
Well this coming weekend is my first free weekend of no traveling, so I plan to make use of it to explore some parts of Vienna that I still have yet to see! I also will be making a post about Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU) and how the academic lifestyle is different from America, and the pros and cons of both sides (from my perspective of course).
Check out the gallery section for some more videos I uploaded!