Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Time Flies: A rap up of April. ***updated

It has been longer than I would have wanted since I last posted! But no fears, I'll be thorough in filling you in on April!

A gorgeous tree outside my campus
So I've almost completed two months here in Innsbruck!  Many of the courses are taught by visiting lecturers from around the world. Because of this the classes are condensed, many of them less than a
week long in 8 hour sessions.Classes are intense but well worth it! Because my April class schedule has been so full, I spent most of the month out and around Innsbruck finding ways to entertain myself.





Ditta( Hungary) and I at the lake

The last couple of weeks seems like summer skipped spring this year. One week it was snowing, the next it was 78 degrees with a UV index around 9. Because of the warm weather, many of the exchange students have been spending a lot of time at Lake Baggarssee. It's a small lake and park about a 30 minute bus ride, on the other side of town. It's gorgeous to see. The water is still FREEZING cold despite the warm weather. And it's simply amazing to me that the mountains are still snow capped even though it feels like summer.

It's a little wild to think that it's so warm but there's still snow on the mountains.
Many of the Internationals enjoying the emergence of Spring!

Corndogs: Bringing together the Internationals
       So after two months abroad, it is safe to say that we are all a little homesick! It's the little things we miss, like grocery stores being open later than 7 pm and on Sundays, Reese's peanut butter cups, and of course family and friends (ha ha). We even miss Fair foods. Honestly none of us eat fair foods regularly, but you know what 'they' say: We always want what we can't have.
Fair Night!
       But 'we' say: Where there is a will there is a way! With a 'can-do' attitude, and a spirit of camaraderie many of the American's and I (Of course we included some of our international friends) organized a 'Fair night'. We cooked some American staples like corn dogs, french fries, candy apples, and other things. Fair night was a success and hopefully that can hold us over until we go home this summer!



I'm not greedy.



     So one night, while hanging out in the dorm kitchen, we had an impromptu poker night! Now I've never played poker before, but that was OK because only two out of the group had! The rest of us kept passing around the rule book, before each deciding how exactly we were going to play the hand. To show how 'serious' we were about the college dorm room poker game being played with fake money, we all decided to 'dress' for the part.
Call us Ocean's 6 ...because 11 was just too many.







No seriously... there are flowers everywhere!


    Also in April, Innsbruck had it's first ever color festival. The original color festival is held in India, and is a celebration to welcome the colors of spring. At the color festival, attendees (usually wearing white) are given powdered dyes which they throw in the air or (more often than not) at other attendees. Before coming to Europe I wanted to attend the one in Munich (since India isn't exactly close), but the Munich festival was sold out, and not having to travel out of the country made the Innsbruck festival all the more alluring.

    
Hey, is there anything wrong with my glasses? They feel funny.



Before

Getting my George Clinton on!


After
    I had a great time! How often do you get to enjoy music and friends while throwing powdered dyes at their faces? Answer: Not often, and I'm slightly glad about it, because by the end of the  festival I decided that I was everyone's favorite target.