A Time to be Thankful

So things have been really busy over here lately.  Classes, excursion trips, social drama, you name it. This weekend in particular has been extremely busy. Only four more weeks until the semester is over and I will be on the plane to Ireland with my cousin Glenna.  So for the time being, I'm just going to stay put in Salzburg and not travel anywhere until my three week Christmas vacation.  Might as well use my four day Thanksgiving break next weekend to catch up on sleep and homework and, most importantly, save my money for a fabulous Christmas in the U.K. and then New Year's in Spain!  Don't be mistaken and view this as "missing out" on my oppurtunities to travel while I'm here!  I have my three week Christmas break coming up and then my three week spring tour of Italy and Greece.  I'm also planning to do lots of traveling during January since it seems to be the most depressing month of the year no matter where you are in the world.  Plus, I've already been to Prague, Paris, Innsbruck, Vienna, Munich, Strasbourg, Ulm, and Reims. So, I'd say I've been getting around quite a bit and there is still a lot more to come!  Afterall, I am going to school here, so I still have to focus on my classes like I would back in Portland.  So that's pretty much my update on life here.

Oh, and another exciting news!  It looks like on the first week of Feburary, my mom and dad are coming to visit me!  They are planning to arrive on February 1st.  For the first few days I'll show them around Salzburg and then on the weekend we'll take the train to Vienna and I'll show them around one of my most favorite cities!  After that, we will go our separate ways.  I'll return to Salzburg and they will continue on with thier first visit to Europe by spending the next week in Italy. I'm so excited!

Last Friday, my group had its excursion trip to KL Mauhausen, a concentration camp outside of Linz, Austria.  It was a gray and rainy day, which made our experience even more depressing.  After reading and learning so much about the horrible events of the Holocaust, I gained a entirely different view from actually being there on the very site where all those terrible things took place.  To get to the camp, we walked up the "Stairway of Death," which the weak and exhausted prisoners had to walk up carrying at least 40 kg. of stone.  And, let me tell you, those were a lot of stairs. We entered the barracks, where lots of horrific pictures and propaganda were displayed.  People were crying.  I myself felt tears dwelling up in my eyes, but mostly I was crying on the inside.  I just kept asking myself, "How could this happen? Why could such an evil and immoral thing like this happen?"  The worst part was going into the gas chamber and crematoria. That's where I just wanted to be sick.  I just don't understand why this all had to happen to such innocent people!  I mean what did these people (i.e. Jews, Gypsies, Romas, etc.) do?  Excuse me for what I'm about to say, but I think all these S.S. Soldiers were smoking something a little more than weed.  How could they all have the courage and power to do such these terrible things? 

All 40 of us learned a lot from this excursion and I think it brought us closer togerther.  We all need to learn to respect one another for our differences regardless of our religions, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, or personal attributes, behaviors, and ideas.  What we don't realize is that we are all different, but also so much the same.  That's one major thing I have learned since I've been here.  We seem to view the Europeans "so differently" compared to us Americans.  Yes they don't all speak English, eat the same food, or celebrate the same holidays as we do, but they do share the same personal behaviors and attributes.  People have the same kind of small talk when they go to the grocery store or clothing store with the clerks there just as onewould in America, joke around with people they know know,  little kids whine to their parents, pre-teens misbehave  immaturely in public, people get stressed out or cranky, people are really nice, and some people are just total jerks.  See, all this stuff is normal among all of us human beings, even if we are of a different nationality, speak a different language, or have different religious and or political views.  But we just need to learn how to accept and respect these differences and notice these personal attributes we share in common with each other as human beings. And that is my personal reflection after my first (and only) experience visitinig a concentration camp and my idea of what would make a more peaceful world. 

To sum this post up, I would just like to list a few thing I'm greatful for now:

1.) For having this incredibly amazing oppurtunity to study abroad in this beautiful country for 8 months

2.) My wonderful family and friends

3.) Music

4.) What the future holds for me

and

5.) JUST EVERYTHING! All the great things that are happening in my life right now and the people who are currently, or have been, a part of my life!

Alles Gute!