(me with a lederhosen lad at a club after oktoberfest

Oh, yes. I do have my own Dirndl, in fact this is my second one)

I feel a bit uncomfortable writing this first post. I am not really quite sure what I envision for this blog. I plan to post food pictures of what I am eating but because of my internet usage limit, I might not be as diligent as I'd like. Nonetheless, I thought it might be interesting to show the organic and vegan options in another country.

So, why am I here in Austria? I came here last year as a study abroad student. I study German foreign language ed. and needed to study here. Then I met this one.. (well, these two..)

the one on the left is my boyfriend, Julian and the crazy one on the right is my bests, Ina.

So after falling for Julian, I went crazy and took a year off of school in order to live here and work on my language skills. Or, I stayed to be with him and the language skills is just a coincidence. ;)

 I am currently an AuPair for two little Austrian cute things and I also am taking a few classes at the University here in Salzburg. You might know Salzburg from a little movie called, "The Sound of Music." I myself, haven't seen it but it's the main reason there are always Americans walking around downtown. Oh, that and Mozart was born here, ha. Salzburg is known for selling Mozart Kugeln, or Mozart Balls (haha,) they are some silly marzipan and chocolate thingy.

There are things I love about this place, Gluehwein *spiced wine served warm, Vollkornbrot *super grainy bread that is unlike anything in the states, the mountains and lakes, the dialect and how every apartment or house is filled with Ikea things.

However, there are things I really miss about home such as vegan cheese, my friends and family, americanness *I realize it's not a real word but it's a real thing, Great Lakes beer *rep your city, and just how cheap everything seems to be in comparison to Austria. I mean cheap as in price not value, well...

Anyways, I plan to post as often as I can and since I am not taking classes next semester, I will need something to fill the coming months with. I will also be enrolling in 2 yoga classes starting next week. I have taking yoga before but am really looking forward to these classes. The program is called Yoga in daily life and is offered in countries throughout the world. Sad for America, it is only offered in I think Atlanta and D.C. The mom of the family I work for is a big Yogi and will even be going to India soon for a Yoga seminar. So, being here has reignited my yoga passion. I took one class in place of the mom one time and found the class to be really really invigorating and borderline spiritual.

Oh, I also am very passionate about music. I spend my money on food at healthfood stores, wine, overpriced fairtrade clothes and concerts. It leaves no money at the end of the month but it's worth it. Since I've been here my concert attending has gone down a bit. I did see Animal Collective in Belfast, Ireland, The Kills in Munich, Dinosaur Jr. in Salzburg and my favorite thus far Algernon Cadwallader in Munich. Ahh, I saw them twice at house shows in Cleve and A-kron and then I got to seem them here when they did their first European tour. Aw.

Me smiling like an idiot in the corner at the Algernon show. I screamed every word to every song. 

I also try to see my boyfriend's band when I can but that usually doesn't happen too often because I can't just drop everything and travel all around to watch a show. I know he understands, ha.

Well between food, music, aupair happenings and literary excitements; I am sure I will be able to come up with enough things to fill this little blog up with. I just hope people find it a bit interesting.