Friday afternoon, Laura, Shireen, Rote "Henning" and I took the regional bus to St. Gilgen am Wolfgangsee, a pretty little lakeside town in the Salzkammergut region. It was literally the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life. It's so interesting to be sitting on a pier along a scenic, warm lake, yet be surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We spent most of the afternoon sitting at an outdoor cafe directly by the lake and then explored the small town a bit. The bus ride back was fun too; it was a nice little tour of the Alpine villages that surround Salzburg.
I am continually impressed at the gracious and honest attitude of most everyone I meet around here. Strangers are most always so happy to point you in the right direction, and pleasantly curious to meet an American who speaks German (even if it's a little broken). I was really dumb and left a clutch with a little money in it on the bus when we got off at Wolfgangsee. To my surprise, the bus driver turned around, stopped the bus, and ran off to give it to me! In America, the money would have been gone. But here, people are truly very honest, helpful, and kind.
Saturday afternoon, Jeremy, Grosse Zach, Shireen, our new friend Sarah, and I headed over to the Altstadt to enjoy the May Day festivities. It's a national holiday in Austria and no one has to work (even though it fell on a Saturday this year). Many people were dressed up in their Lederhosen and Dirndls, celebrating in traditional Austrian dress. There was lots of food and beer, as well as a band playing in Residenzplatz. It's really funny to watch people get really drunk in their traditional clothing (as we saw later, when we were out late at night). All of the girls were super jealous that we don't have dirndls. Some girls' dirndls are really pretty! But they cost about 150 euro, and we obviously just don't have the money. Maybe I should have brought my freshman year Halloween costume...ha.
After enjoying Maifest, Sarah, Shireen and I met Melissa and her friend Margy (who's visiting from Madrid) at the soccer stadium, where we had tickets to see a game! We actually had front row seats to the right of the goal, which was amazing. The Salzburg Red Bulls are pretty good (yes, the drink was named after the team; Red Bull is a big deal over here). I'd never been to a professional soccer game, and of course, if you have to go to a pro soccer game, Europe's the place to go. The fans are crazy! We were over with the families, not in the cheering section, but you could hear the big mob chanting the entire game. Of course, we also had to ride the bus back with all the drunk cheering fans after Salzburg won. It was pretty hilarious.
A bunch of us went back to Die Weisse last night to party with all the Austrians, but ended up coming back early and chilling in the lobby with people from the dorm. It was a great weekend. Now...I need to do my homework.
May Day sounds like fun! You would have fit right in with your previous Halloween costume like you said... hahaha. The lake and mountains surrounding it sound absolutely gorgeous. I am very envious! I haven't been anywhere near mountains since I was about 10 years old. And I think it's wonderful that your clutch was returned to you. You're right--in America, that bus would have been gone along with your money... Again, the Europeans seem to have it right :P Good luck on the homework!
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