Well, This Is Embarrassing

I know I told you guys I was done and I wasn't going to blog any more.  But HELP HELP I've started talking and I can't stop!  Plus, shouldn't you have learned by now not to believe anything you read on the internet?

I am well aware that going line dancing in Tulsa is a little different than going to balls in Vienna, but sometimes sequels are just as good (or better!) than the original.  Right?

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Juggling

Okay, I know I'm not novel anymore now that I'm back in the States, but just in case anyone still reads this baby, I thought I would post my collection of juggling pictures I've accrued over the semester. There are a few more taken by various folks whose pictures haven't seen the light of day (or the world wide web) yet, but this gives you a pretty good idea of the places I've been. Enjoy! (And don't read my blog anymore! I'm done, I promise.)

at orientation in Deutschlandsberg

at the foot of a vineyard at orientation in Deutschlandsberg

In a snowstorm outside of the Hofburg Palace, Vienna (braving pneumonia in a ballgown)

On the way up a bell tower in Bordeaux, France

At the top of the tower

In front of the three fatsos (also known as the three graces) in Bordeaux

At Park Guell in Barcelona

At the port in Barcelona

Climbing a hill in Barcelona

With Emily in Madrid

That's a palace. Madrid

Smack dab in the middle of Boeblingen, Germany

At Boeblingen, Germany's looming "lake"

In front of the "Feuerkirche," Stuttgart, Germany

In front of the Colesseum, Rome

And inside too!

Just a-climbin' St. Peter's, Vatican City

We made it!

Juggling with the gangsters of the Danube Canal, Vienna

Emily, Whitney, and Athena at Vienna Paliament

John Lennon Wall in Prague

Overlooking the Vistula River in Krakow

Dominican church in Krakow

I'm standing in Buda. Pest is on the other side of the river.

Second-to-Last-One

I'm home! I'm home! I'm home! It's beautiful!

But just in case you darling blog readers keep clicking on my blog, I thought I'd give you a quick post-return update, TIME-Magazine-Week-by-the-Numbers-style.  

12 number of girls I lived with

12 gajillion number of shoes of girls I lived with

579% amount my possessions multiplied while I was in Austria, as it seemed during packing

0% amount of clothes that escaped the wrath of our violent washer unscathed, unfaded, or un-dingied

0% amount I want to see the clothes I wore all semester EVER AGAIN

10 number of countries these shoes have been to

17 number of cities they have been to

2 number of stamps my passport got.  Seriously?  

3 TU friends I got to see across the ocean

130 number of days I survived without barbecue, Thai food, or Freckles

14.5 number of jars of Nutella we devoured in one semester to make up for it (9 regular, 5 big, 0.5 little)

6300 number of grams of Nutella that 14.5 jars hold (not kidding)

not telling number of pounds we have gained due to said Nutella consumption, kebaps, beers, bakeries on every corner, Wurstel stands, etc.

1,000,000 number of hours it took me to get home, I am pretty sure

8 number of giant bear hugs I got at the airport from beautiful friends

17 number of people I proooomise I will call next week.  Promise! 

100% amount I am sure I will be back :)

The! Hills! Are! Alive!

Hi my name is Whitney and I think I just might have experienced the highlight of my life.  

It's almost time to say auf wiedersehen to Vienna (AHHHH) so we decided to have one final hurrah by taking a day trip to Salzburg.  Home of the SOUND! OF! MUSIC! TOOOOOOOOOOUR!!!!!!

We took the train to Salzburg and (deciding this was no time to try to not look like tourists) then hopped on a giant bus with Fraulein Maria's singing face on it:

And headed off for the most magical morning of my life.  We saw the Von Trapp villa (wasn't it nice of those geese to float by so picturesquely when we asked them to?):

And the little lane where the Von Trapp children hung singing from the trees:

Frolicked (singing, of course) through the greenest meadows:

And wound up mountain roads through beautiful farmlands and fields with charming spotted cows until we reached the LAKE district:

It. was. amazing.  The tour ended down by the shore of the Mondsee, which was probably just about one of the most peaceful places in the whole wide world.

Then it decided to rain the rest of the day, so for a while we stood under an awning while we ate giant pretzels.  Then we befriended some Europe-trotting retirees from the United States.  (Salzburg is, in fact, a greeeeat place to meet some geriatrics.  They're everywhere.)  And then... then we had to take our very last train ride back to Wien, because we're leaving tomorrow!  

More pictures here :)

I Love Schwester Mary Clarence

You know how I was telling you we have been watching youtube clips of Sister Act obsessively?  Imagine our great excitement when we turned on our TV tonight and the featured evening movie was... you guessed it.  Sister Act-- dubbed in German.  Making it 100 times more amazing, if you can even imagine such a thing.  

You must watch this, at least for just a second.

Hahahahahhahhaa.  I am the happiest girl alive.

In related news, I'm done with my finals!  And I'm going to see the Sound of Music tour on Thursday!  And I will be home on Saturday!  I really am the happiest girl alive!  For reals!  Look at all these exclamation points!  They are gen-u-ine!

!!!!!!!

Itemized List of Study Breaks Taken This Week

In between writing papers and studying, we have:

Watched and sung along to every musical scene 

from Sister Acts I and II

Spent an afternoon in the Wienerwald

Danced, A LOT

Redecorated

Ridden in a giant ferris wheel

Found out Rod Stewart is coming to Tulsa in August

Watched Nikki dance like a leprechaun with a purple beard

Watched the Wien Rapid soccer team SPANK the formerly #1-ranked Salzburg team

Tested our strength

Eaten a copious amount of strawberries

Choreographed a rolly-chair dance

Sasha Fierce Fools The Wieners

As the Week Of Excessive Blog Posts continues (funny how it corresponds with Finals Week, huh), I thought I would share with you this little gem.

Remember how I told you Beyonce was here?  And I was really sad I didn't get to go?  Well, post-concert, I've been assuaging the Beyonce-shaped hole in my heart by ripping out pictures of her concert from the free newspapers from the train station.  That's when I came across this article.  I thought you might enjoy it.

While the real Beyoncé was in Vienna, Austria as part of her Sasha Fierce World Tour, a local radio station accompanied an imposter look-alike around Vienna on Tuesday as an experiment to see how people would act when in the close presence of the superstar.

A prankster from Krona Hit Radio called The Albertina Museum to announce that they would be soon receiving a very famous visitor. Workers at the museum said that half an hour later a limousine drove up, and a woman in wraparound sunglasses emerged surrounded by five beefy bodyguards. Screaming fans were also present.

According to Museum spokesperson Verena Dahlitz, other celebrities like Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt have visited there, so they weren’t entirely taken by surprise at having a celebrity guest. Dahlitz said she had her doubts that the person who got out of the limo was the real Beyoncé, saying that she was too thin and lacked the real singer’s curvy figure. Also, she never took off her sunglasses, avoided eye contact, and “acted strangely.”

During all the commotion at the museum, the real Beyoncé was spotted elsewhere in town. She was shopping at a nearby H&M clothing store.

A few points here.  

1.  Hahahahhaah.

2.  Beyonce shops at H&M.  I shop at H&M.  We're basically fashion soulmates.  (It's good to see someone else is keeping the sweatshops alive and kickin, too.)

3.  Really?  Really?  I title the following picture: "I Could Have Almost Certainly Done A Better Beyonce Impression."

That's just embarrassing.