Tyrolean Dinner

We decided a Tyrolean dinner show was a good idea.

Personally, I was really looking forward to it. I remember watching Samantha Brown on Travel Channel (don’t get the wrong idea, I can’t stand her) and she went to Innsbruck and saw a dinner show with the traditional Tyrolean log dancing.

I have been waiting to see it in person ever since.

It did not disappoint! They had all types of dances, instruments, and the food wasn’t horrible either.

We started off with a salad, then a potato casserole type thing with meat in it and a sunny side up egg on top, then a chocolate mousse dessert. I did not get pictures of it because I forgot my camera.

But I have stolen pictures from everyone else I was with that night of the show.

Afterwards we went to Galway Pub, of course!

Baggersee

It has been very warm in Innsbruck lately and we found a lake! It is called Baggersee. It takes me about 30 minutes to get over there on the bus but it is totally worth it!

The lake is gorgeous and you can still see the mountains with snow on them but it is still warm enough to lay out!

The only thing to be aware of is the occasional bold, older woman that will only sunbathe topless and nearly bottomless.

Something else to be cautious of, I got some sort of sun rash for the first time ever. I have lived in Florida since third grade and had some horrible sunburns but I come to Europe and get sun poisoning? My theory is that I am closer to the sun because I am no longer at sea level and it is more intense even though you cant feel your skin cooking like you can in Florida.

So wear your sunscreen kids! This lake is so worth it!!

SURPRISE!

6 April, my birthday. Yay! I was a little nervous about my birthday in Europe. I don’t have any super close friends just yet, my family is not here, Tucker is not here, and I have not seen a red velvet cake yet.

(Every year for my birthday my mom gets me a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting because it is my FAVORITE.)

Anyway, all of the people I have met since being here decided we would go out somewhere. So I went home, went upstairs to see the girls from New York, they had just gotten back from a trip, and took my sweet time getting ready. I was supposed to meet everyone at the Karl Kunst dorm at 8, I think I showed up around 9.

Matt met me outside and Ally came down to open up the door for us. In the elevator I asked who was there and she said just a few people, everyone had already gone out for the night.

They led me into the 2nd floor kitchen to a huge SURPRISE!

A bunch of the people I have met since being here were all in the dining room, with a cake that Rebeka made, from scratch, and balloons everywhere!

I was completely shocked. That was the last thing I was expecting. I had never had a surprise party in my life.

So we had cake, which was great, drank a little, heard a speech from Ally, which began as “I have only known Megan a few short months, wait weeks, wait how long?” I would love to post this video for your viewing pleasure but I believe everyone has been banned from posting this video anywhere, by Ally. Haha

Then we headed out on the town. We went to Moustache, Aftershave, and La Copa before calling it a night.

I had such a great time and I am so thankful for everyone I have met since being here. Love yall!!

Kankle

Friday night started out awesome! I went to Ally’s house and then we went to Karl Kunst, another dorm in the area, and hung out with the girls in their kitchen and had a grand time.

Later we decided to go out to Stadt Café. It is a pretty popular “disco”, as they are called in europe, in Innsbruck. I had tons of fun and met up with some of the other study-abroaders that I know.

It was around 2:30 am and Ally and I decided to go home. I make my way out of the disco, all clear, through the door, all clear, to the stairs, all clear, down the stairs, we have a problem.

My foot did not exactly hit the step flat and I heard a pop. I am probably one of the most clumsy people you will ever meet in your life, I am okay with this. I usually just walk it off and I am fine in two minutes, I roll my ankle at least once a week.

This was different. I immediately sat on the steps. Ally came running to see what was wrong and then the bouncer came over to yell at us in German for sitting on the steps. Ally began screaming at the man “SHE HURT HER FOOT! BACK OFF! WE ARE SITTING HERE, GIVE HER A MINUTE!!!!”

I think he was a little caught off guard and asked if I needed an ambulance. I said no no, just get me in a taxi.

I made it to the taxi, got to Ally’s and she helped me into the house and up the stairs. I decided to ice it and sleep it off, hopefully it would be better by morning.

No such luck. My ankle was MASSIVE.

I hopped to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, called my insurance company, and called for another cab to take me to the Klinik. Ally came along for the ride and as we get closer to the hospital the driver asks me what happened.

I thought this was a little weird, like wtf, are you a doctor? But I just lifted my leg in the back seat to show him my ankle.

One thing I have learned since being in a country that you do not speak the language is visuals are the best. I am going to be a pro at charades when I get back to the states.

So we go to the Klinik and I filled out the paper work and the embarassing questions like “PLACE: Stadt Café TIME: 2:30”.

I noticed that everyone in the waiting room was hopping around with foot injuries. I thought it was weird. I mean shouldn’t someone have a hurt hand or a stomach ache or head ache or something? No everyone was hopping.

Turns out the taxi driver asked what was wrong because the Klinik is divided into sections, my foot was hurt to I go to one area. Which explains all the hopping and hobling that was taking place.

I waited about five minutes and was calle dinto a room, they just asked what happened and looked at it.

Then back to waiting.

Then I heard my name “german german Megan Saunders, funf german german.”

I do know numbers and funf means five so I started looking for rooms. At this point my friend Flurina from Switzerland had shown up and helped me walk over to funf. The woman said something in german and Flurina just looked at me and then realized she needed to play translator haha

The woman just asked my name and then took xrays of my foot.

Back to waiting.

I then told the girls to leave because we were supposed to go to the lake that day and I didn’t want to ruin the day for everyone and we were not sure how long it was going to take.

About 20 minutes after they left I was called into another room. This time there was a doctor and he looked at my foot. He grabbed my shin and then put his other hand on the bottom of my foot and said “I’m sorry, I am going to have to be nasty.” He them proceeded to move my entire foot forward.

It actually did not hurt at all but it was a little shocking to see that your foot was no longer being held in place by anything.

The doctor told me the xray showed nothing was broken and then he said I had ruptured ligaments and I would have to wear a brace for 6 weeks. Had it been any worse, if I had torn the ligaments then I would have to get surgery, but he said I should not need it.

Then He was speaking into a recorded in german and stopped mid sentence, turns to me, and says "Stadt Cafe? 2:30?" grins and continues to speak in german. Rub it in dude, rub it in.

I put on my sweet new ankle brace and waited for paperwork.

I got the paper work, which was in german, and waited for another taxi to take me home.

So in two weeks I should be able to ride a bike but not sports for six weeks. Not that I do any sports but walking to MCI 3 will now be a challenge.

These pictures are from four days after my incident, the swelling has gone down but it still does not look quite right.

Hopefully everything heals up soon!!

Oh yeah, and! A few days later I had someone translate the paperwork for me and apparently after looking at my xray they noted that I had a previous break in my foot but it was from a while ago and was not related to this incident.

I have never broken a bone in my life.

St. Anton Excursion

So on Wednesday (March 30) I had a class excursion to St. Anton. St. Anton is a huge tourist destination in the winter for the skiing and snowboarding, although, it is quite expensive.

So we hopped on a bus for over an hour, again great views, but they are hard to capture through a bus window.

We were taken to a little presentation about St. Anton and all it has to offer.

On a side note, the presentation was a PREZI! I was so excited. I instantly thought of Event Risk Management that I took with Dr. Hogg back at UCF and how he encouraged us to use prezi, the majority of the students had no idea what it was and I felt so ahead of the game for the first time since being in Innsbruck.

For those of you that don’t know about prezi, it is like the new and improved power point of our generation.

Anyway, after the presentation we took a walk through the little village, into the spa,

had a chance to glance at the hunting club type convention that was being held there, and then we walked over to the gondola.

This is not your normal gondola, this is a state of the art gondola. It pulls right up to you and simplifies the entire gondola process. It is completely necessary? Probably not but it is still cool to say I have been on it.

So I previously mentioned I have a slight fear of heights. The gondola ride was not my favorite. There were about 30 people sardine-d in there and I tried getting some pictures but it was a little difficult, again, through a window.

Once we got off we had lunch, the same from the other ski restaurant, cheese dumpling soup and ski wasser! Only difference? About five more Euro.

After lunch we took some pictures.

(Lisa, Me, Matt, Jenna, Ally, and Ola)

Then we headed further up the mountain, we took another, smaller gondola, and then another that could only hold six people at a time! I was a nervous wreck but I convinced myself I am only here once and to get my ass on that gondola.

(I am in there somewhere)

I made it to the top!

Next was Après-Ski! This literally means “After Ski”. It is one giant party, everyone that has spent the day on the mountain heads over there for dancing and alcohol, in full on ski gear.

We were taken to a back room in Mooser Wirt, the owner bought our first round and the gave us a tour of the place. They are currently building a hotel on property that looks like it will be amazing.

You pull into a car elevator, it takes you down to the parking garage and then you enter into the front desk, they even wash your car while you are there! The best part is you can ski right out of your room, not need to go to another part of the mountain.

The only down side is that is about 150 Euro per person per night.

He also showed us how they supply all of the alcohol in a short amount of time. This place is the only place to be between four and I believe he said eight, so they are slammed for four hours and that is it. They had to have an extremely efficient system to get lots of alcohol to lots of people, as quickly as possible.

So everything, and when I say everything, I mean everything, is on tap, every beer, wine, liquor, everything, is on tap. He took us down to show us where it all comes from.

After the tour we all were given free Mooser Wirt hats! Then we headed outside to see the madness that is Après-Ski!

Later that night we decided to go to La Copa! It was Karaoke Wednesday! Again.

(Ally and Lara)

(Arnar and Lara)

(Me and Ally)

(Gylfi, Me, and Oliosha, I am 100% positive I spelled Oliosha wrong)

::edit:: Correct spelling is... Aljose!!