Hi Everyone,

After a month and a half waiting for my Visa, and a 27 hour voyage I am finaly in Austria!

When I say a 27 hour Voyage I mean that it took me 27 hours to get from Florida to Austria, and I have learned that this is not normal at all... I changed planes 4 times, and waited the longest hours of my life in airports; 5 hours in detroit, 3 hours in Amsterdam, 7 hours in Vienna!!!(for a 30min flight to Linz).  During all this time I only got about 2 hours of sleep since most of the time I was in an airport and couldnt leave my bags unattended, also most of my flight time was on small unconfortable planes...  The long flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was the only entertaining part of my voyage, since i had my own TV screen and was able to see some good movies (therefore I didnt sleep there either).  During the 7 hours in Linz, I was going literally going crazy... I learned that 7 hours without nothing to do are extreemly long; I tried to read but my eyes were too tired, therefore I went around the airport for a time which seemed endless... I was the happiest man alive as those 7 hours were over.  As I arrived in Linz, my host family was on the roof of the airport with Banners which said "Welcome to Austria!!", I was extreemly happy, and as soon as I got my bags and went out there was the whole family. My host dad recieved me with a hug, and took all my bags not letting me carry any of them.  From Linz to Andorf (the town where my host family lives), there is about 1 hour by car.  When I arrived to Andorf all my exaustion went away, I had energy for 6 more hours, in which I spoke a lot with my host father and mother.  The family is composed of Herbert (Father), Sonya (mother), Katja (11 year old sister), Johannes (8 year old brother), Julia (18 year old sister which comes some weekends because she lives in another city studying medicine), and Eva which is in California as an exchange student also.  When I woke up the day after I got to Austria, I was completely dishoriented, It was 4 in the afternoon but it felt as if it was extreemly early, when I met my family they invited me for a tour around the town; we went by foot and it only took about 30 min, the rest of the day went by quick and by 9pm I was exausted so I went to sleep.

The weekend was great, on saturday Julia came to the house, and she gave a german lesson of about 3 hours, later she introduced me to some of her friends, and in the afternoon all the other exchange studets of this area invited me to a party.  That was Great!! they are from Australia, New Zeland and Argentina.  On sunday I went out with Julia and her friends, that was also great, I learned a lot of German and made new friends.  Monday was my first day of school, I realized that the small amount of german I know is good for absolutely nothing... People here speak a dialect, and they speak it so fast it is a miracle if I understand a sentence.  All the students and teachers speak english though, so they help me to understand a little... Everybody has been very nice at school, the students alfready invited me to go out with them on the weekend, they say they will introduce me to the famous Austrian Beer, which is a huge part of their culture from what i have seen jajaja... they are very proud of their Beer.

On the Second day, the teachers focused all the attention of the class on me... they made me speak spanish, english, the small amount of german I know, and basically tell the class the story of my life.  At the beginning it was terrible, but after a while everybody started asking me questions, and I got to know a lot of the other students... 

When I go back to the house i never get bored, I have developed a good friendship with my host brother and sister, we cant understand each other, but I find something to do with them, either play soccer, or ping pong, tennis, or even Darts. or else I just sit with them and watch German TV. 

Im very gratefull for this opportunity, up to now i have enjoyed every minute I have been here, and it has only been a Week, so I cant imagine how its going to be when I can speak German...

My host family is great, and the place is awesome.

I cant wait for the Winter!

ill send pictures as soon as I can

 

Alejandro