Orientation in Mariazell

What a week! Orientation was just lovely. After I got to the airport (and embarrassed myself as a stupid looking american trying to drag all of her luggage through the airport), I met the group and hopped on a bus to our orientation hostel which is the town Mariazell. It's about 2.5 hours from Vienna, located in the alps, and just gorgeous. Everything was soo nice; the hostel (swimming pool, sauna, fooze ball tables, a bar,  classrooms, ziplines, and a lounge) the people, the views (complete with hanging flower baskets everywhere adorable houses, cows, horses and the mountains), and of course the food! 

     View from the top of the hill at the hostel. 

 Chapel at the top of the hill at the hostel.

 Renovations in the chapel


 View from the chapel


The food luckily, isn't all that different but there are a few strange things. They have cold cuts, cheese, and vegetables available for breakfast (which sounds awesome for this meat lover, but in reality is not appealing at 7:30am). But what I do love is the bread and soup! They have such fresh bread and the soups always tastes amazing. I don't know the names of things I've been eating but I'll get there. I'm slowly starting to pick up german and I have to say it is actually kind of fun! The German teacher is this lady that looks like the Russian orphan lady from Anastasia, but she is awesome. Very german and very nice. The rest of the staff are also awesome. They are so friendly and excited about their jobs which has definitely made me feel good.

The Lake

Thursday was a beautiful day; I went to the lake which was incredible (see pics below) and hiked all the way around it and then sat on the dock and enjoyed the scenery. It was very relaxing and nice to just sit and enjoy my surroundings. (there have been a lot of info sessions and I've needed to do a lot of napping to catch up from being up for 30 hours the first day) The water was crystal clear and quite cold! Being in the alps, the mornings and evenings get really cold and then the afternoons heat up to a normal summer temp.

A typical building in Mariazell

Then, I danced the night away with beginning waltz lessons and austrian bowling. Waltzing was fun but much harder than I anticipated. It's really fast and a workout. All of the boys were required to go and it was pretty hysterical. It was exactly like the scene from harry potter when they're learning to dance for the yule ball. Austrian dancing is very traditional and proper which is fun and makes me feel like a princess. You have to be asked to dance by a male and then escorted to the dance floor and make light conversation. Then you dance very very closely, I was made a demonstration by the instructor with my very very tall partner haha, and are finally escorted back to your seat. Apparently most Austrians have dance lessons in their teenage years which is really cool so all of the staff are very good at dancing.

Austrian bowling is fun but pretty hard. Instead of knocking as many pins down as you can, you have to knock down a certain number of 1's, 2's, 3's (through 9) with your team before the other team. The balls are very small and bounce when you throw them and barely knock down any pins. I can't figure out how to do it well but my team won and I did have a killer 7 one time.

On Friday, I went on a tour of the city of Mariazell. Mariazell means 'Maria', or 'the Madonna' and 'cell' because of a legend involving a monk named Magnus. This monk was traveling through this part of the alps and was followed and attacked by some robbers. He prayed to the Madonna and took out his statue of her and when he cried out to her, a crevice opened up in the rock and Magnus slipped through and was saved. On top of the hill in Mariazell is the Basilika. It's an incredible church that is quite famous. The original statue of the Madonna from the legend is adorned with a big dress and lots of gold in the middle of the alter and the church is quite ornate inside. Gold angels and trumpets everywhere, and a gigantic black organ with gold all over. For years, (and to this day) people have made pilgrimages on foot to this important church because it's in the middle of Europe. We saw about three and they come singing and carrying a crucifix.

 The Basilika at Mariazell

Bones that are stored under a crematorium behind the church. In Mariazell, people used to be buried in a cemetery but the cemetery was so close to the houses that disease would seep into the ground water and increase death in the town

                                                              A small prayer room

Another wonderful part of Mariazell is its gingerbread! We watched how the made it at Pirker's and got to try some, it was pretty delicious. I guess it's world-famous and only the owner knows the recipe. I unfortunately didn't get to try the peach schnapps that they're also famous for.

 

Friday night was a blast! They planned a traditional austrian evening for us which meant dancing! A group of men came in traditional outfits: liederhosen and hats with goat beard hair sticking up from the back :) They are crazy and do a lot of knee slapping, hopping, yodel like yelling, and smacking eachother around. They were hysterical and it was fun to watch. We learned how to do some of the dances but it was not easy. The best part was the camping skit they did. They brought in a log from a real tree, a two person saw, axes, and a real fire in a fire pit! (inside the classroom!) They sang and hacked away at this huge log. It was so crazy and so fun. They ended the night by bringing out their homemade honey schnapps (very strong) and honey bread balls. Delicious.

 Leaving the Alps and Mariazell