First Day In Austria (Sorry, long entry)

Yesterday I took flight (3 times in fact) on my way to Austria. I flew from St. Louis and had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, then flew from Chicago to Berlin, which is an 8 1/2 hour flight, then had a 6 hour layover in Berlin. Which was okay because I made a couple of new friends! Since I was flying alone, I didn't socialize much with strangers except a friendly smile in passing. But one girl named Samantha saw me wearing my Rotary blazer and approached me, saying she had been a Rotary youth exchange student to Spain two years before, and she was now headed to Spain to do another year of youth exchange. But first she was headed to Gmunden, Austria to visit her friend. (What a coincidence!) Even though we had only met, we sat together for about five hours during our layover since we ad the same flight to Salzburg, and talked and had a good time. She even made me a necklace! Also during the layover, I made an Italian friend, from Sicily! He was very very nice and we joked a lot about America and Italy. We exchanged numbers so now we keep in touch, along with Samantha!

After my layover in Berlin, my flight to Salzburg seemed really short. So when I arrived, my family was waiting for me, alon with Heinz, my Rotary counselor.

They have all been extremely nice to me and welcoming, I couldn't have asked for a better host family or counselor! Plus, they live in a very nice home and I get my own room with loooots of closet space! They live about 7 or 8 minutes away from the well-known Lake Traunsee. It is beyond gorgeous. I walked down there today with one of their dogs (they're babysitting one while their father is in Turkey) and took lots of pictures.

Here is my view of the Lake Traunsee.

I'm having a blast! I'm so blessed!