Salzy - A Time of Reflection

Me, Valentina, Emily, Garner, Abby, Sam, Lucas in the snow:)

What a weekend.
It’s times like these that you realize as an exchange student, the kind of life and experiences you have in such a short amount of time. I have a lot of writing below because of the stress I've gone through these past couple of weeks coming to a head this weekend. Although there was stress, it was not without the good points like seeing my friends and spending time with my host family.
Enjoy
~

Reggie, Jacob, Thomas and I rode an elevator to the top of a building where we got our first views of Salzburg.

There are some really big mountains on the other side:/

The first thing we did after everyone had met up was to talk our half year German test. 

It's hard not to fool around when you finish in like ten min.

Anywhere we go, gotta sign.

This was a good place for pics, I'll try to name everyone.(Jacob)

Sam und Mich

(Right to left: Thomas, Jacob, Jorge, Garner, Me, Oliver.

The Oida squad is difficult to get together. This pic proves my point we're missing like 4 guys.

Snowy bois

In my hostel room late at night, Reggie, my friend Oliver and I were talking. Oliver is a master at talking things through with people and bringing out the understanding deep inside them that they themselves can not realize. I was only able to piece together a quote as he was talking so fast but I thing I captured what was said and the meaning behind it.

"In this year, you reflect. You come to terms with what you like, what you like to do, and what you can do; Exchange is a planned misstep in life. Instead of going on the the next thing, the expected thing, we are here. We are different. 

And we are going to come out better people because of it. "

It sounded damn good at three in the morning and it still makes sense now. It's the kind of thing a lot of us tell ourselves whenever we are struggling with whatever it may be at the time. It has been said to most all of us that it will be a great character building experience. That we will come out so much more different and mature.
No one seemed to mention the difficulty... Or maybe I wasn't listening. 

Frickin' Classic

This was our dinner Saturday night with the South African short terms. They were really cool to talk to.

And this was the morning. (Right to left: Me, Sam, Reggie, Emily, Thomas, Garner, Lucas, Abby, Grace, Valentina, and Jacob.) This is most everyone of the group I hang out with and I am so very thankful for them to be here with me.

Right through lunch, it started snowing hard and we were talked into an obligitory snowball fight.

These are some of my favorite oldies (Southern hemisphere people who got here 6 months before us) that I had to say goodbye to on Sunday. (Right to left: Reggie, Roni, Olivia, Elise, Ivana, and Me.)

I've said lots of rough goodbyes to people I may very well never see again. I think to when we first met our oldies and how I felt about them. How they have lasted for so long and seem to know the rules and "rules". And how they acted as big siblings to us.
I know now that they were never really that different. As I am just over four months in, I know so much and I have grown to think critically to how my actions and words interact with people and how they interact with me.
This weekend I settled beef, and I learned maybe more about some people's character in these two days messing around in Salzburg than in the entirety of knowing them.
It humbles me to learn that I didn't see every side of someone in this time.

Not even close.

Ah the city, where graffiti and protest come together.