Austria

Guten Tag Familien und Freunden! I'm in Vienna! I still can't quite believe that I'm really here. Everything over the past couple days has been a blur, but so exciting! I couldn't sleep very well on the flight over to Austria, but I did end up making a new friend. My seat partner was a guy from Albania named Erjon. We had a blast trying to pass the time on the plane. We arrived here the morning of the 30th and then we spent the whole day walking around the city, trying to stay awake. Vienna was lightly overcast when we got in and we did get rained on a little bit. We also stopped to get some icecream. It was spectacular! Then last night we ate at a wonderful little Italian pizzeria. The food was so good!
We stayed in a hotel last night and this morning, we had a little problem with our clocks. We woke up at 5 and were all ready to go down to breakfast when we realized that we were an hour ahead! Today we have orientation and then we're going to meet our host families! So far we haven't done much in the way of speaking German, but hopefully that'll change once we get with our families.
I've gotta run - it's time for breakfast for real this time. I'll post pictures soon!
Bis spater!

Fun times in Butte!

I can't believe the summer's over already! School's starting and we had our first frost yesterday! We acctually had to scrape the windshield before leaving for work yesterday - and in the middle of August!! I have less than a week left before I fly out to Vienna and I can't wait!
Yesterday, Justin came to visit! I met him in 6th grade when I lived in Vancouver, WA and we were in the same classes all the way through 9th grade. During my freshman year in highschool we hung out all the time, but that summer I moved. We haven't seen or really talkted to each other for 5 years but we were able to "pick up right where we left off."

I had a blast showing him all around Butte and it was so fun catching up on the past 5 years!

Justin was enthralled by how small and quite Butte is... it is a pretty big difference from Seattle!!

Only 19 days until Vienna! I'm soooo excited! I fly out on 29. Aug. 2007. I can't believe that the summer's gone by so fast! I guess life just goes by faster as you get older. I'm officially 20 now (as of last Saturday) and I'm having so much fun teasing my parents about how old they are!
In retrospect, I'm so glad that I came home for the summer. I know I would have had a blast down in Provo, but I've been able to learn so much this summer - about myself. It's really been great getting to work with my dad, too. I feel like I've been able to spend a lot more time with my family (obviously more than I would have had I stayed in Provo) and develop a little better relationship with my parents. I've also been able to focus on developing a sronger relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity.
Last week I realized that, since I'll be in Vienna I won't be able to write to Michael as regularly as I have been (and I won't be in the states to send him something on his 1year mark - Oct. 18) so, I decided to send him a care package now. I actually had a lot of fun putting it together - nothing too extravagant, just a few treats complete with quotes and scriptures. I was also in the mood to draw something and I decided to do one of the temples. I looked at a few and decided on the Newport Beach, CA Temple. I think it's abslutely beautiful. It also happens to be "Michael's temple," so I sent that to him also. I love doing things like that (coming up with cute and creative ideas and sending people care packages) - it's so fun! :D
Now I'm down to the line just trying to take care of some last minute details before I leave. Like packing. I really ought to start soon so I know what I still need... hmmm
Well, there's no time like the present, so I'll be back soon!
Bis bald!