☃️My Icy Adventure to Austria☃️

Skiing at Mount Koralpe in Austria......In my case learning how to stay UP!!! Today is the 30th of December, it is a Monday! But let’s rewind back to the Christmas celebrations :).  Last when I updated I mentioned a birthday celebration in Neuberg, turns out there was no snow 😪 nada. Ai fei. It was sad. But the birthday was good I met some more of the family and it’s so trippy how everyone just reminds me of my own family back home. Full of life and energy ahh this past week has made me a bit homesick I’m not gonna lie. They honestly remind me of my family in NZ.  I know mum spent Xmas with my uncle and family then my aunty went to Paeroa with my cousins so I really miss them. Everywhere I have gone here I have enjoyed and learned something new.  Again I find myself incredibly lucky to be placed with my host family.  They are genuine people who want to learn about my culture and I them.  The children speak German in our interactions and I have to be honest its a chall

This is the view from my balcony. A few days after I got here, it snowed and it was absolutely beautiful.  Everything is beautiful and amazing (I think I've used those two words more than any other words throughout this journey because I dont know how else to describe it).  As Landy and Jordan says China is Wakanda welllllllllll I kinda feel the same sentiments "AUSTRIA IS WAKANDA HAHAHAH!!! You like my sexy Olaf!!!   So, this week was my last week of school for 2019.  I came from NZ I had finished school for a week and then I started at a Catholic School for two weeks.  I have had to pay 150 € a month to attend school.  Which is about $250nzd a month, so you work out the math.  I have also had to pay three months worth of bus and tram tickets for me to be able to get to school and home daily.  These were the main things I had to do when I first got here.  Mama organised everything including my sim card bless her.  I have been very lucky because everything was

Some of my cousins in NZ the day I flew out.  Ahhhhhhh after a total of 23 hours in two planes, I have finally made it to Austria. My host parents are super kind, they remind me a lot of my Nanny Libby and Papa Ray back home in Hamilton, NZ.  So I think I am going to like it here, its so beautiful and the scenery is like magical.  I have so much to catch up on but first lets start with the basics.  I basically have my own living quarters, along with a tv with Austrian channels haha go me (by the time I go home i will undestand Austrian German). But before I go on about things I am going to talk about my whole traveling experience. I left Paeroa on Thursday night with mum and nan, we travelled to Auckland stayed with my aunty Jenna and cousins.  My aunty cooked up a feed for me with all my fave island food Lu/Palusami and Ufi.  Which i also ate at the airport before I left.  My cousins were leaving Friday morning on their own adventure so I spent Thursday night playing with th

Pre Departure Orientation Dec 2019. In three days I’m going to Hitzendorf, Austria for three months with the STS programme. I’ll be flying with Emirates to Dubai for 17 hours transiting for four hours, and then departing straight to Vienna on a 6 hour flight.  My Host Dad and granddaughter along with the area rep will be waiting for me at Vienna Airport. STS stands for “Student Travel School” which is a Exchange Programme that started in 1958.  It is a family run business that has grown over the years.  You are given an amazing opportunity to live in a different country and experience variety of different things. The Programme operates in 17 different countries.  France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, UK, USA to name a few. I chose Austria because I wanted to be different. Austria is a German speaking country. I did not need to learn German before going however I will be learning the language when I go to school. A lot of countries you will need to know the basics of the spoken langu