Settling In...

This week: Inn River, Innsbruck

Last week: South Florida

     I have officially finished a full week abroad!! In no time at all,I have gone from a girl that has never left eastern United States, to being a girl living across the Atlantic Ocean in a terrain very much different from her own. How does a girl get so lucky?

Me (Florida, USA), Olga (Spain), and Tulça (Turkey) running errands in the city

      I've met a ton of people from all over the world who are here to study abroad, the same as me. Everyone is very nice, and as excited as I am to be here in Innsbruck. We had several mixers to met one another. We've gotten settled in, had orientation,a trip to Salzburg and several errands to run all across town: IKEA, bank, grocer, bank, school, bank...(If you couldn't tell, it takes several trips to set up a bank account).

MCI III Campus

    Even though classes don't start until next week, Me and the other Rosen students (sans Brittany) took a short excursion up the mountain to the MCI III campus so that we would be more familiar with it come next Monday.

Still not used to having Alp mountains in my vistas

View from MCI III Campus

Me and a giant Easter egg, No big deal.

             Now that most of the errands are done, I'm pretty much appreciating the view and getting familiar with the town while I wait for classes to start.

Oh, and before I go... a random  story from the (Mis?)Adventures of Pella the Pilgrim !

It was Tulça's Birthday!

It was Tulça's (Turkey) birthday, so of course I wanted to make her a red-velvet cake! Little did I know that making her a cake would evolve into an adventure of its own. Carly(Nebraska) and I journeyed to a store in a part of town we had yet to visit. Along the walk to the store, we found Elijah (Nebraska). The three of us went to the store and tried our hardest to get the items on the list, but common US items aren't always common Austrian items, and some translations of American terms like "powdered sugar" don't have literal translations (so I have learned).

    So the recipe had some deliberate (and some not so deliberate) substitutions:

Apple-cider vinegar vs white distilled vinegar 

                                       Strawberry buttermilk vs buttermilk (we still haven't mastered our German :P). 

Vanille Butter Aroma vs Vanilla Extract               

 And some how we forgot the food coloring at the store... 

 

Naturally I would replace the chef in the bottom right corner.

      Now, usually when I make these cupcakes, it makes close to 3 dozen cupcakes. I really don't need 3 dozen cupcakes so I reduced the recipe by half. Then I had to convert the conventional recipe to the metric system, because the recipe used cups and teaspoons, while my instruments were in liters and grams. Anyone who bakes knows how small

My handy dandy calculator

variations can effect the taste... or change your cake to cookies. So I was very careful converting the recipe (all the while thinking the "Why Study Algebra" poster that used to hang in my high school Trigonometry class was right. WE DO NEED ALGEBRA!! Though, I have yet to find a real life function for Trig :P). 

CUPCAKES!!!

"Not-so-red-velvet" cupcake making

Carly and Elijah in the midst of baking

This frosting technique should only be attempted by professionals

After baking Tulça's  cupcakes, Carly, Elijah and I trekked to the other Rosen student dorms for a spaghetti dinner. 

                                                                                                                       

The spread

Just a pinch of salt

Hurry, before the fire alarm goes off!...Again

Then after dinner, we went back to our dorm and went upstairs to Tulça's kitchen (which looks exactly like mine). She was surprised by the cupcakes.

Operation Tulça's cupcakes: Completed to Success

-Until next time, Pella