Last Night in Innsbruck (not brook)!

So we thought that our last night in Innsbruck would be relatively uneventful since most everyone has already left, but it turned out to be one of our cooler nights. Mat had mentioned this place that his brother had eaten that was called Senses (can't remember the German spelling, but that's the gist). It was basically right on our walk to school and we now wish we had taken all of our friends to it earlier. Mat had heard that it was all you could eat ribs and wings for 9 euro and you went on this sensory experience where they blindfolded you and took you through different rooms, where they would splash water on you, etc. We joked that maybe his friends were lying to us and we were going to show up, tell them we were ready to be blindfolded, and they would look at us like we were crazy. We didn't make reservations, but the owner was nice enough to set up the tour for us anyways while we had a few drinks. You start in this room where you take off your watches and put away your phones (light aspect) and then you go into a pitch black room. There is a tour guide in the room that can't see you, but can hear you, so you have to speak to him. The first "experience" is the woods, where you are walking along a path with brush. Mat was in the lead since we all know my anxiety was at an all time high before attempting any of this and Liz was in the back, since she falls all over everything in the light. The owner assured us there was nothing to be afraid of. Liz still clutched on to the tie of my shirt because she needed specific walking instructions. After the woods, we went into a "city" where there were stone walls and a bike parked along a wall. All of this was in complete darkness, you couldn't even see the outlines of the people right in front of you. After the city, we looked for a life jacket along one wall and we went onto a bridge (and pretty rocky), where there was a rope. Mat took the rope and was seated on a wooden boat named "Laura." Then Liz and I also got on the boat. The boat actually rocked, there was wind, and it felt like you were on the water. We joked that if all of our friends were there, they'd probably turn on the lights and everyone would have taken their shirts off for a "no-shirt party." Haha, also when he turned the boat on, Liz goes, "She's a motorboat!" and Mat responded she was too young for his liking, 30. After the boat stopped, we were led onto a beach where there was a beach bar (well we like to think so) and you stepped down through sand into a room. There was a table and three chairs. We all sat down and the waiter brought us beers. You have to keep in mind that all of this is being done in pitch-darkness, so it's pretty crazy that none of us have fallen down at this point or wigged. The waiter was really cool and although he couldn't understand total English, knew a lot of what we were saying. After about 20 minutes, Mat was too hungry and wanted to get the waiters attention. We've decide that Mat is a gentleman in the light, but a thug in the dark. The first thing he yelled was something like, "Can we get some food up in here?!" and Liz and I told us he was scaring us. The next thing he yelled was "Yo, Brotha" Haha the second time he yelled Yo, Brotha, the waiter replied, "Yo, Sista!" Before the food came out, we had a long talk about what it was like to be blind. We have a blind guy in our program and it's hard to imagine how he gets around in Europe, since it's hard enough doing it with sight. Liz also wonders how blind people dream when they can't put their thoughts into actual images. We finally decided we don't know enough about the blind, but I think their brain may just do it for them. Mat also teased that he'd really brought us into a "hostel" situation and that he'd probably run if they tried to go for us first and daddy SURE would have run. Haha. When the waiter brought us food, it turned out to be ribs, chicken wings, garlic bread, and corn on the cob...probably some of the messiest foods you could eat in the dark. ALSO with two dipping sauces, which Mat could never find, so we had to keep leading his hand to the sauce. Liz kept trying to hoard the sauces though, per usual. Mat and I were not that full when we left, but Liz was stuffed. She thinks it's because she is a ninja at eating riblets in the dark. We decided it's all you can eat because no one wants to eat that much in the dark. We also figured out that we eat just as much/as quickly in the dark as we do in the light. After dinner was over, we were led back into the restaurant and we figured out that our waiter that was leading us around in the dark was really blind! It was definitely something to think about. We also had to wash off because we had rib sauce all over our hands. At one point during the dinner, Liz told me to grab her hand to lead me to the sauce and I've never felt a greasier hand in my life. Our hands slipped apart when we tried to grasp. The owner of the restaurant was super nice and kept telling us how much he appreciated Americans. He's even throwing some send-off shindig for the undergrads. After dinner, we walked along the river into Old Town for gelato. It was weird seeing everything open so late because we've only been here on the weekdays when everything closes at like 8. Mat is heading back to Atlanta on Monday from Munich as well. We will be seeing him soon for Kings of Leon!

Frey Wille!

So, I'm not sure if I mentioned in previous posts Liz's new European obsession, but its Frey Wille. It's a jewelry store in Europe (and two locations in the US) that we've never seen before. Truth be told, we have been stalking it all over Europe. We first spotted it in Florence while walking home one night and then the next day had to look for it all over the city again. It's super hippie-chic; there is a different "theme" for each pattern, like Ode to Joy, Paradise Moonlight, etc. and is modeled after a different artist. We found the next store in Prague, where they told LIz the ring she wanted was $11,000! So, at that point, she reconciled the fact that she would never own that ring (but we think it was platinum and had diamonds around the band). Turns out, there was one in Innsbruck too, but every time we went by it, it was closed. Today, was our last exam though and we were feeling extra precarious, so we decided to go check out the store and to eat at Magic Kebab. We went in before we ate lunch and Liz made the decision to buy the ring, BUT then we had to mill around over lunch on whether she should get it big enough to fit her middle finger or not (which she did). It was much cheaper than $11,000 and just as cool as the other ring. Anyways, I'm not sure if I adequately explained how much Liz wanted this ring, but she got it and it was a great end to her extra-great vacation. I will be seeing if I can talk Gran-Gran into this crazy double ring and since she reads the blog, its a great way to start, right?

Tonight is our last night going out in Innsbruck. Our art exam went really well (we are pretty sure we over-studied), but Liz is mad at me because last night we were studying in our respective beds and she kept saying that she didn't know anything on our outline and I started reciting cases and page numbers. And since all we do in class is write notes back and forth and play online she thinks I've been reading art law under my covers at night while she is sleeping. She'll never know, but I won't lie, I can tell you some important facts about the importation/exportation of art if you want to send me a private message. Haha.

Who's Crying Now...Europe/Me and Liz

I hope everyone gets the Journey reference in the title. But we really are sad & believe that all this rain is because Europe is crying over Thomas, who left tonight to go to Paris, so he can spend a few days there then fly home to Texas. Of course, in pure daddy-like fashion, half of his clothes were in the wash an hour before he was supposed to catch his train and his room was in disarray. We tried to help in his packing, but found it more fun to play itunes and watch him pack (but we did fold a few things). Ryan and Wilson came in after their exam dtp, so they decided to try out the absinthe myth, since Thomas can't take it back to the US. Violetta (the crazy-looking wife of the owner) gave them a cup of sugar, which they then put on a spoon, poured absinthe over, and lit on fire. It's probably never a good idea to light things on fire inside a hotel room. It's probably a worse idea to let it burn IN the cup and then put your lips to it, but nonetheless, they did all of the above. So far, I haven't seen any of them running around the halls, screaming about imaginary things attacking them, so I'm going to say it doesn't work. But since Thomas isn't here, you never know WHAT he's doing on that train. After Liz and I cried over Thomas leaving (and yes, we did cry), we went to our favorite little Italian place down the street. We decided the only thing that would make us feel better is a Tortellini Mafioso. We also ordered our favorite Caprese appetizer because we were really feeling down and it was the best one we had yet in Europe! So then we realized we didn't even need Thomas to have fun! (hahah just kidding, I know he'll read this and he hates when we say our favorite night out was one when he was sick). But really, dinner was really good and for awhile, we reminisced over Thomas like he might be dead, but we are glad he isn't. Funny story-on the way home I saw this little yellow coin-looking thing on the ground and finally stopped to yell, "What is this!?" because I've seen them all over Europe. Liz laughed out loud for awhile and then told me she wasn't going to tell me since I was so bothered by this mystery, but she broke down of course. Turns out, there is a coffee machine at the university and it dispenses a little cup and this little yellow coin and when you are done drinking your coffee you put the cup and the coin back in and get 10 cents back. I have so many problems with this, one being that all of these little plastic coins they dispense and I find all over Europe are just as bad for the environment as a wasted plastic cup. Another is that this machine probably doesn't even properly wash these cups and people are sharing germs. We'll be glad to get back to the US where not everyone is so green. Liz is acting like she's going to put them under my pillow so I really will freak out. I told her she could find some in the laundry room and she told me not to act like she didn't have tons of them in her purse...coffee addict. Back to Daddy, since this post was for him. We really will miss you-and already do, giant and ryan came in the room to joke about daddy leaving his girls. We then asked Ryan why he hadn't looked at our pics on facebook to see what we were like back in the states and the answer was because he was no daddy and he told us to stop acting like daddy wasn't only looking at his self. Which is true, but we hope he doesn't skip this blog, since he only reads blogs about himself and may not catch that this one is only about him. But seriously, we are glad to have met such a good friend on our trip. Who knew goodbyes were so hard. That might be all she wrote friends.

Winding Down Europe

So we are in our last week in Europe and all too sad about this. However, we have also become weary of all the traveling and going out, so it will be nice to see our family/friends and get back into our daily routines. We're also excited about our new house/roommates this year and ready for school to start (well not TOO ready). BUT, that being said, we are going to miss all of our Texas friends and plan on visiting them this year for either a Texas game or for Oktoberfest. We've tried to make it clear that they aren't going to get rid of us this easily!

Last night, we went to the closing dinner. It's appropriate that it was at the same place we ate on our first night here. They have Augustiner beer, which Tom-Tom told us was the best beer you'll ever have, but it just tasted like beer to us... maybe we aren't that classy, I mean we do bring pink wine to our teacher's shindigs. It was nice though-they had the whole room upstairs set up for us and the dinner was good. We had salad, wiener schnitzel, fries, and gelato. Reamey, the guy in charge of the program, said a few words and we assured him that we would spread the good word about the program (since that's how we heard about it in the first place; from guys who did it last year). The lady in charge of housing (and I do say lady with some exaggeration) was giving out drink tickets and we're pretty sure she was giving the teachers/students mass quantities because at one point there were like 10 random beers sitting on the table. We aren't sure how she still keeps her job because we always see her out partying and late-nighting with the students. Other than that, it was a relatively uneventful dinner. I hate that I missed seeing Liz fall down the stairs, but she hurt her arm, so I can't laugh anymore. One of our teachers just walked by and didn't even offer to help her up. I wouldn't typically laugh at this (but maybe I would) but it's funny because Liz literally trips like 10 times a day. We aren't sure if it is the altitude or what, but I've also been so clumsy in Europe. Our windows open out into our room and I've hit my head on the window itself 3 times. Once, I was pretty sure I was concussed because it took me like 5 minutes to stop reeling. After dinner, we headed to the hofgarten, our MOST favorite spot in Innsbruck. Liz and Tom-Tom decided that if Innsbruck was one of the random places we had traveled on the weekend, they would have loved it, but we just don't know that much about it because we are here for classes during the week and traveling every weekend. The hofgarten was as happening as it always is on a Tuesday night. We chatted/danced and then came home. Tonight, we are going back for the ribs since Ryan owes us dinner-they are the BEST ribs you will ever eat and they will be on the top ten list of things we will miss about Europe.

Rome-Guest Blog!

Well, I’m back for guest blog number two mostly because I might not make it through Lawyering Abroad without some sort of distraction, but also because there are adventures in Rome to fill you in on. Mal’s Rome blog pretty much covers our view of the Vatican and our first day in Rome as well as our first night bar crawling all over Rome. One funny anecdote not mentioned previously occurred during the first night. At about 4 am I awoke to Katie, disoriented and frantic, saying “there are not doors in this room! I will just have to pee right here.” Apparently she could not find the door to the bathroom and had decided there was no place to go, but by the window on a pile of Mal and I’s clothing. Luckily, I woke up just in time and scrambled to the door to the bathroom and opened it for her, but the next day we had to tease her about it because she was so disoriented the night before. Anyway, after a hairy day at Vatican City and a lunch of lean cuisine-esk lasanga on our first day, I decided that we needed to have a day where we made peace with Rome by seeing all the sites and eating delicious Italian food at every stop. Again, Mal was re-charging and probably semi-scared of me all amped up on Cappucino and Frommer’s, so Thomas, Katie and I departed alone. We began by heading to Piazza Bernini. En route to the Piazza, my sandal broke. This has happened to me on a previous Euro trip as well, so by now I am an expert at dragging my foot with a sandal barely attached all over the cobble stone streets. Thomas was more bothered about my shoe than me and he kept insisting that I stop and buy sandals, but when I’m touring a city nothing stands in my way and I refused to stop because who wants to spend time looking for sandals when you’re in Rome. So I hobbled on. Piazza Bernini was beautiful and we loved the fountain. From there we ate lunch at Colique Emille, a Frommer’s recommendation, that was reviewed by the NY times and rated as “about the best pasta in Rome.” It was small family owned restaurant tucked down a back alley, and although I can’t quite say it was the best pasta I’ve ever had, it was homemade and delicious and a huge step up from the lunch debacle the previous day. After lunch, we headed to the Spanish steps and shopped along Via Sistina. After promising “el mundo” to his girlfriend, Thomas was on a mission to find her a sun dress because he had already told her he bought her one. Luckily for him, we found a cute boutique where he was able to find a dress and also the owners, probably thinking I looked semi-homeless, super glued my broken sandal for me. After this we made our way to Trevi Fountain, my favorite spot in Rome. We already had our wishes pre- planned and I made a wish for Mal and myself, and tried to do it at the same time as Katie, but she forgot her wish when it came time to make it. By this time, we were really having a great time and felt as if Rome was apologizing for our first day there. We then proceeded to the Pantheon, which was amazing in that it was built without modern conveniences like a crane. Our final stop was Piazza Navona where we had planned to eat a second, late lunch at Osteria Gallo, a famous Italian restaurant there. On our way to the restaurant I tripped, for the 100th time that day, and my super glued shoe again came undone, so I was back hobbling around town. We were unable to eat at the Osteria because they were closed, so we settled for a beer and olives at a café outside near Piazza Navona. At this point we had traversed most of the city on foot and were hot and tired, and starting to miss Mal so we headed back (in a cab) to our hotel. Once reunited and sufficiently happy with Rome in general, we headed to Trimani wine bar, which Mal described in her Rome blog. We may never stop laughing about Thomas getting his meal in a martini glass. The next morning we departed Rome and made it back to Innsbruck just in time to hop back in our much beloved beds after another solid weekend trip.

Canyoning-Guest Blog!

Hello everyone! There have been many requests, ok well just one, for me to write a guest blog. There’s not a whole lot I can add to Mal’s hilarious description of our time abroad, but here it goes. Last Wednesday a group of us went canyoning over the valley in the town of Otzal. It was one of the few times on this trip that Mal and I have spent time apart, but Mal was on her particular European re-charge cycle and, after our rafting excursion in Switzerland, I was feeling ultra outdoorsy and adventurous. We departed Innsbruck around 3 pm for Otzal, which was about 30 minutes away. Getting the tickets was a little tricky because, not only are we all not accustomed to using public transportation in our normal lives, but we also do not understand German to read the ticket machine. However, with the combined brainpower of five law students and an electrical engineering grad, we managed to figure out how to work the machine in about 10 minutes. When we arrived in Otzal, we were a bit late because the train stopped so many times, but the company was nice enough to come pick us up and transport us to the camp’s base. From there we were taken on a golf cart to put on our gear which included a full wetsuit, with a hood, booties, shoes, a helmet and a harness. Per usual the girls were ready faster than the guys, which our tour guides thought was pretty funny as they proceeded to tease the guys that it looked like they were drinking too much beer over here. After we were suited up, we drove 20 minutes to begin canyoning. If there is one thing I’ve learned from my outdoor adventures abroad it is that there are no rules. In America, anytime I’ve been on a guided outdoor adventure, it’s been fun, but I’ve never felt anything other than totally safe with the guides in control. Europe is just a whole other story. For one canyoning is pretty extreme on its own. It involves climbing through the canyon along the river, repelling down waterfalls, jumping off the canyon into pools below and sliding down rockslides and waterfalls. I think the moment I realized that we could actually get hurt was when I went to slide down a waterfall, clearly not something I’ve ever done or know how to do, and my arms were too short to get in the right position at which point I got pushed by the current down the waterfall standing up instead of tucked in a nice, little ball as I was supposed to. Despite that blunder, we all made it out relatively unscathed and all feeling very extreme for basically scaling a canyon in freezing water. After we finished canyoning, we all headed back to the base to change out of our wetsuits and leave. While washing our wetsuits, our friend Thomas put his wet, cold wetsuit against my back and, in retaliation, the guide helped me hose Thomas down. We then headed to the local burger joint for huge burgers and fries and beers. In true Eurotrip fashion, 2 people were also iced. We returned to Innsbruck at about 730 and met up with Mal and everyone else. I was glad to still be in one piece and, upon careful reflection, I have decided that I am retiring from sliding down waterfalls because one can only be so extreme!

"It's easy to be mad at the Vatican"-Thomas

Our last weekend trip was to Rome (well except when we head back to Munich to fly out). We stayed at the Santa Prassede, also known as the little love nest. We like to call it this especially because Thomas and his sister stayed in one of these rooms too and they are ultra-small, dark, and couply looking and it amuses us. The air conditioning even worked. It was in a pretty central spot and you can traverse all of Rome on foot from here (well except to Vatican City). When we were booking somewhere to stay, all of the places looked pretty grotsky and the reviews were bad. However, we decided the people reviewing them were older and should have been staying at nicer hotels in general and that's probably why they didn't like it. I don't think we've been unhappy with any place we've stayed in Europe, other than the hostel where the Asians lotioned up for long periods of time.

We took the night train to Rome and got in at 9 am. It was too early to check in, so we changed in the bathroom of the hotel and went out to tour the city. As I'm sure I've made clear by now, I hate mass transportation and trains are no exception, but I have to say all-in-all the night train wasn't horrible. We had a sleeper car and it was just Thomas, Katie, Liz, and me, so no random euro-trash. I also slept and didn't feel sick, so I think that has something to do with it. When we were booking the tickets, the lady at the desk kept saying something about Katie having to come back with Thomas to set it all up, but then she told him she could do it without her and we thought we were set. But, per usual, Europe (and especially the Italians) have a way of messing with us and when the ticket-checker came around to collect the tickets, she pointed out that we didn't have a ticket for Katie on the way to Rome, only on the way home. Thomas had paid for it, but she had only printed him out the return ticket. There is nothing worse than being thrown off a train before you reach your destination. I have an inkling it could be even worse on a night train because you never know what creeps are lurking in Bologna (which, by the way, Bologna is supposed to be a 22-year old in a 770-year old's body according to MTV Europe-but we'll never know because we just like hating it). I've been wanting to yell at someone in Europe for awhile. Not like random people, but someone in charge of something having to do with who runs this show; Liz never lets me though. BUT she had already decided that at this point, if they were going to throw Katie off, I could definitely yell. So when she took our Eurail passes (apparently they do that to everyone though) I asked her for her name (a classic American move) and tried to explain to her that this wasn't going to fly. We've decided that the problem in Europe is that there is no supervisor you can complain to. In America, you can always ask for someone's name and number and can complain to someone above them, but it just doesn't work that way in Europe. Anyways, long story short, we woke up in the morning, Katie was still on the train, Thomas didn't have to buy another ticket and we were all good...but it is still the point of the matter.

Day 1: Our first stop in Rome was the Santa Maria Maggiore, a huge church near our hotel. Our tour of the Vatican wasn't till 2:30, so we decided to look around and then head over there by cab. We then went to the Colosseum. Thomas's camera died and I left mine in Innsbruck, but Liz got a ton of pictures of the Colosseum. It was cool seeing how they had half of the floor missing so you could see the tunnels under the floor where they kept the lions (and people-but Frommers says the myth about Christians being fed to the lions here is unfounded.) Then we headed to Vatican city. We had awhile before the tour, so we looked for a place to grab lunch. People stand outside of their restaurants and solicit you with deals like "10 Euro for Lasagna, salad, gelato, and a drink." DON'T let them work you like we did if you find yourself also in this same situation one day. Liz couldn't even finish hers because it was so awful. But to me it tasted like a lean cuisine, which I don't really mind, so I was good. We decided to try somewhere else so Liz could get something better to eat, so we stopped at this little place that had pizzas, salads, snacks, etc. Other than the bathroom being really gross, it was all good until the bill came. For four beers and one TINY pizza, it was 45 Euros. Thats like 55 USD-WHAT the heck. This was a low point in our day. We'd all decided that we hated Rome and would never come back (especially Thomas). But it gets worse...so then we went to the "tour" we had booked for the Vatican. Turns out you pay 40 Euros just to get you past the lines outside and the tour guide doesn't even give you an actual tour; he bounces as soon as you're inside AND to top it all off, there wasn't even a line to skip! If I'm being honest, we were all not impressed with the Vatican/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's Basilica. But I do get how if you were Italian or Catholic, or even just had a huge interest in religion, it could be moving. Thomas, on the other hand, thinks its a tourist trap and is permanently mad at the Vatican. I'm glad we got to see it though because how often can you say you've been there? Don't worry, Rome gets better. We went to this local eatery around the corner from our hotel for dinner. It was a hole in the wall, but the food was good and the conversation was "over the top fun" (as Thomas once described a movie, haha). At one point during our dinner, Thomas said something sweet to Katie and we almost all cried. He's claiming he didn't almost cry, but he definitely did too. After that, we met the bar crawl at the Spanish Steps and headed to the first stop. The leader of the bar crawl said this was the first time in 3 years that it had rained during a pub crawl, so we are convinced that we bring the rain, since this happened in Prague too. There was lots of free beer and pizza and they took us to this club on the river where there were two swimming pools and an outside DJ. Since Frommers doesn't do his job at telling us about the night life, I would recommend going on the bar crawls in Europe, only because you get to see different bars and otherwise, you never know where people will be hanging out

Day 2: Liz will have to update you on what the group did today, because I did my own thing. It's part of my specific Europe-weary re-charge cycle. I checked out the Pantheon, walked to pick up our bar crawl t-shirts, walked into this huge building that Americans refer to as the "cake" because it looks like a wedding cake, and then sat down at a cafe to eat spaghetti and finish reading my book. I can only tour so much before I'm tired of it, but I really enjoyed just hanging out. I also really like people watching and Europe is the ultimate place to do this. Liz promised she would make a wish in the Trevi fountain for me. Liz was talking to her mom today and her mom said that 40 years ago, she was also making a wish in the Trevi fountain and had talked yesterday with the girl that went with her, so we are hoping that will be us in 40 years. We all met back up at like 5, took naps, and then went to try this wine bar, Trimani wine bar, that Frommers recommended. It was supposed to be a hip bistro-style restaurant that had 30 different wines you could choose from and you could pick certain ones to go with your meal. We started off ordering a plate of cheese, which wasn't so bad. We accidently also ordered a fig desert, thinking it was an appetizer that wasn't bad either. The wine was also good, so it wasn't a total fail. The girls all ordered pasta, but we are convinced our parents could have made it better. My favorite part of the night is when Thomas ordered "salmon with avocado" thinking he was going to get like a filet of salmon with slices of avocado. However, he got a martini glass filled with avocado paste and tiny shredded pieces of salmon on top. He tried to act like he liked it, but I think I laughed for like a good 15 minutes just looking at it. It looked like fancy feast. We were all really tired at this point, so we had a slumber party and tried to find MTV on TV before settling on Jurassic Park and going to bed.

Day 3: Our traveling day was relatively uneventful. We had a slow start-per usual when Daddy is around, but we made all of our trains. We realized that Thomas didn't have an extra day on his Eurail pass, so he spent most of his time dodging the ticket-checkers. He's convinced himself he is a ninja, but we aren't fooled. We came back just in time to hit up club Karwendel and Bar 7 for Katie's last night in town. We already miss her and want her to move to North Carolina to live with us!

We're heading to Munich on either Friday or Saturday and then flying out on Monday-reallyyy do not want to leave, but I think we convinced Thomas to come to Munich with us before he goes to London to fly home. He knows he won't have more fun than with us at the Hoffbrauhaus