October

October 2
Right after class I went and cleaned my room because we were leaving the country for the weekend. We used our Eurail passes to get us to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Slovenia is in Eastern Europe, and borders Austria to the east. They are the only Eastern European country to use the Euro, so we didn't have to exchange currency. It was about a 5-6 hour train ride there and many of us are feeling sick. Jesse stayed back at the Schloss for the weekend.
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, and is pretty modern. The GDP per capita in Slovenia is about half of what it is in the US. Just about everything was a little cheaper here than in Austria or Germany. We ate at a really good Mexican restaurant as a big group. With 28 people it took forever to get our food. The first night most people just went to sleep, but Jake, Peter, and I went up to the castle and looked down at the city lights.

October 3
After sleeping in a bit, a group of us went up to the castle. It was locked the night before so we couldn’t actually get in. It wasn’t much of a hike compared to the hike to the castle at Mittersill. It was still pretty tough for Kay who is done with crutches but still has a heavy boot.
I was tired so I took a long nap and got up in time for dinner. We split up into groups of 4 and tried to go to different restaurants. It’s much easier this way than eating together in a huge group. Three groups ended up at the same restaurant, but we sat separately.

October 4
As soon as we woke up it was time to get back on the train for Austria. I was feeling a little sick throughout most of the day and especially once I got back to the Schloss. It’s just some cold/flu symptoms that I should get over in a couple days. Once I got my reading done for class I went to bed and got a nice night of sleep.

October 8
We had a special speaker come in today and he talked for a very long time. It was interesting, but it was almost 2 by the time he was done. We usually get done with class by 12. He talked about the history of genetically engineered food and about how the bible relates to business and the economy. His name was John Hodges, and he worked for the UN for a long time.

October 9
Today was our last day of class. I was supposed to have my German test today, but I was an hour late. Nobody else that was supposed to go today showed up, so I didn’t even have to go. Tom got some grading done, and I get to put it off a little longer.