Innsbruck - Day 1

So today was our travel day to Innsbruck. We had to be downstairs by 6:45 am to load up the bus and eat breakfast. The drive was pretty long, but not as bad as I expected. We stopped once before lunch, for lunch, and then once after lunch. We travelled through Italy to get to Innsbruck so that was neat to at least see Italy (even though only at rest stops). Which by the way, it is so weird here because at rest stops its not mandatory to pay to go to the restroom, but they have trays set out with the cleaning attendant when you walk in and you are supposed to drop in change. I just find that odd, but I guess thats their job and how they get paid. Anyway, so driving through Italy was alot prettier than I expected. There were alot of mountains with villages and houses just sitting on the mountains. It was kind of funny though because everyone finally got used to saying merci (thank you in French) and then when we stopped we would say merci when buying something, but then remembered we were in Italy so then we would say gratsi. When we were driving into Austria our bus driver (Gee) put on some songs from The Sound of Music which made all of the girls days. Alot of us sang along and we are actually only 2 hours away from where it was filmed, but I dont think we are going to have time to go.


We got to the hotel around 5:30 pm and got all settled. Rachel, Sydney, Brittney, Laura, Jake, and Ben went to eat at a really good restaurant. I got this bowl of potatoes, vegetables, and pork all mixed together and it was only 5.90 euros!! It was the cheapest thing I have gotten so far and it was by far the best. From there we had a business meeting with Nicholas Bokdrucker who is an international marketing manager for Innsbruck. I really liked his presentation and he just explained the different ways of getting markets and how to market the city. We also signed up for outdoor things to do for the next two days. Its supposed to rain tomorrow, but more of a chance on Monday which is why we are trying to do most of the stuff tomorrow. I am going to go paragliding in the morning and then canyoning in the afternoon. Canyoning apparently is illegal in the United States haha. I dont really know the extent of it, but we are in wet suits and an helmet and we slide down rocks in water and jump off cliffs I think. I am really excited about both of them!

From the meeting practically the whole study abroad group went back to the place that I had dinner and ate. I got icecream (which ended up being 4 scoopes) and chocolate syrup and it was only 3.80 euros. Everyone fell in love with that place so I'm pretty sure we will be going back again! After that I just came back to the hotel and now In writingthis journal. Good night!