Orientation

Well, orientation was good, and exhausting. It’s a smaller group this year than it has been in the past. Salzburg College itself is quite small, so even during the year the number of foreign exchange students that attend are small in numbers. I would say there are between 30 and 40 of us. The pic was taken from our library window at Salzburg College.

After they told us about the program and what to expect, we were introduced to the faculty and then we introduced ourselves. From there they split us up into those who are staying with host families and those who are staying in the dorm (which is really the hostile here in town).

Of all those staying with families, I am the only one without a roommate. I’m still not entirely sure how that worked out, but I’m enjoying it. Martina, Martin and the girls are wonderful.

The tour of town was good, but I’m not sure if it really helped me any or if it just confused me. Salzburg is small enough that with a map and some exploring on my own, I’ll be fine. I also had no trouble with the bus getting to campus and back.

After the tour around town that lasted an hour or two, we were shown where the hostile is because we may have a coaching or lessons there. The hostile is about a 10, 15, or 20-minute walk from the college depends on how fast you walk, and how good you are with walking up the side of a mountain. Needless to say, this time it took forever because we were all already tired from the tour. To top it off, its not all uphill, its downhill some as well… so either way you walk it, it’s uphill both ways.

Once we were up there and she showed us the rooms we could use for practicing as well as the room for the coaching’s, we all walked back down and went to the Republic Café that’s right around the corner from the college. The Republic has free wifi for its customers, so we all had a snack, drink and pulled out our computers. Shortly after we did, the wifi went down (just our luck). We had it just long enough for me to check my e-mail and copy and paste my previous blog entries.

I managed to get home right before the thunderstorm started. Martina had made pizza and a nice salad for dinner. I colored with Lisa for a little while and then it was time for the kids to go to bed. I went upstairs with them and red to Lisa in German (I can read well with good diction, I just don’t know what everything means) but Martina was impressed. Then I sang a couple American lullabies and even sight read 3 or 4 German lullabies that the kids had.

Now I’m relaxing a bit before hitting the sack. Martina had a few books in English, so I think I may start reading Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility.

Gute Nacht.