Another Year.

This past July was offically my one year mark of living in Vienna. I am proud for having made it one year on my own in a far off distant land.

 

Marabelle enjoying the beach.

This past Summer has been filled with a lot of adventure and has been enjoyable. I flew back home to Florida for the first time since I had started living abroad. It was nice to go back and see my family and my dog it was also nice to be surrounded in what is most familiar.

Also it was great to get away from the cold weather and also Vienna's Summers. Funny as it sounds Summer in Florida is much better than Summer in Vinna, here in Vienna air conditioning is not really needed since REALLY hot days are not an everyday thing. South Florida, we have a lot of humidity and the heat can be brutal, but the flip side is, we have ocean breezes, summer showers that last 10 minutes, and oh yeah every building has the a/c cranking and we love having fans everywhere. Drafts in Florida are a must and we grow accustomed to it, for people not used to have fans running all the time the draft may tend to bother them. So all-in-all I was happy to be back.

Marabelle and I soaking up the sun.

Marabelle was overjoyed to see me when I had walked through the doors, she didn't want to leave my side. Well until she figured out that my boyfriend is very playful with her toys. Than she didn't want to leave his side, she would want to play with him from the time he woke up till it was night.

Getting home seemed like if fate would not let me get home. Since my mom worked for an airlines I get flying benefits, but the down side is I fly stand-by and sometimes can't leave from a place that would be the more convienent, like Vienna. So I had to leave from Budapest, Hungary and I figured since I have been there once I will atleast know where to go and just book my stay with the Paprika Hostel that I had stayed with last time. They even had a taxi service to the airport which was about 30 minutes from the hostel for a decent price. So I got there in the afternoon by OrangeWays busline and enjoyed a Langos after carrying my luggage from the bus station to the hostel, during the Summer in Europe is when I hear the most American English so that automatically lifts my spirits since I can strike up a conversation with somebody and not be conserned that my grammer or vacabulary will fail me.
Next morning I woke up early plugged in my iPod at the breakfast table, got ready to leave for my flight and waited for the time to come for my taxi to come pick me up. Well, after going over the check list in my head since I didn't want to forget something I stood outside and waited for the taxi, and I waited. After coming to conclusion that he is now 20 minutes late I would ask the people in the hostel to call him and ask him is he coming. He finally shows up me no getting into a little frazzeled state got everything in the taxi quick and just wanted him to get me to the airport asap.

That was the point where I had needed paper work in my backpack and saw that my ipod seemed not to be in there. Checked my other bags and realized I had never gotten it from the breakfast table. Told the taxi driver, he called the hostel they said yes I had left it behind so we turned around to get it. This was the point where I was so happy that my mom had the Apple store engrave my full name on the back of my iPod, all those years ago. So Now as you probably guess I was going to miss my flight and be late, really late, but no I got there ontime but just in a rush and no time for any mistakes.

Well, since I fly stand-by and since the one day that seemed to have enough empty seats for me to get onto this flight is when another airlines has problems with their engines. Meaning for me, all those passengers are now wanting to switch to the airlines I am supposed to fly with. So after 1 hour of waiting for my name to be called to get on the flight is when all the people waiting stand-by was told to follow this one person. They even made it look like we were getting on that flight. HA.....nope they where just kicking us out and didn't even tell us that we were not getting on to the flight until they pointed to our luggage.

So I got stuck in Budapest had to book a cheap hotel near-by and little did I know that where I was, was so not in the city that it was almost desolet. The hotel had t.v. and all the stations was in a language I could not understand, even though it is sad because I should understand it since my grandmother is Hungarian and I never learned it. They didn't have a computer for guests to use, just wifi, I had no laptop with me, so I had to walk to another hotel just to use the computer to let everyone know what is happening. Little did I know that being stuck in a small hotel room where the T.V. had not many stations and only after 9 at night would they play old english films, and having a bed soild as a rock for 2 nights until I finally could catch a flight back home.

The sense of being back home is truly comforting, and having time to be with my family and also showing my boyfriend a good part of the states was wonderful. My boyfriend and I went down to Key West for one night for his birthday where we took the biggest leap of faith known to man. On his 22th birthday I had planned for us to do something we both would never forget, we both got on a plane and looked at the beautiful keys and how pretty the water was, then decided to....

 

 

 

Yeah we figured jumping out of a plane was a good idea, and it was! I remember when the parachute opened every strap that is holding you tightens even more, and the person hooked onto my back with his South African accent says "I am not trying to touch you in any inappropriate way I am just losening the straps so you are a bit more comfortable." My responce "I don't care just loosen them!" thinking back on how it might come across but when you are being squeezed that tightly 6 miles in the air having someone's hands close to your chest is the least of your concerns. I also remember laughing, and couldn't stop I don't know why just something came over my screaming was not what I was wanting to do but rather laughing.     

So, the next few posts will be more on places in the States to go and see from my last visit mixed in with photos like I am about to post for your visual entertainment. I will also mix it up with a few practical posts on Student Visas since I had to go through that madness again before leaving to the States, and things to that nature as well. Hope you enjoy the pictures, and thanks for reading.

If my parachute failed this was my back-up plan.

It's what the keys are known for and what they do to food down in the South.

 

 

Key Lime Pie+Being deep fryed=This

                                                                                      

Bahia Honda

See Ya Until Next Time!