Salzburg, Hallstatt, Edinburgh, London, Prague???

Ok, so its been like a month since i updated. but let's be real, i was traveling almost the entire month of october. kind of impossible to update. a lot, a lot, a lot has happened. let's go with what i remember.
- The morning i left for hallstatt (at about 630 in the morning) i fell and hurt my ankle. i called my mom in a panic of crying because i had heart it pop and i was worried it was broken since the pain was excruciating. however, since i called my mom incoherently sobbing she thought something a lot worse had happened and couldn't sleep the rest of the night. i felt bad. i had to hop around for the rest of the trip, basically, which wasn't too fun, but everyone helped me around and they were very patient with me, which i am grateful for. First stop was Mathausen, a concentration camp from WWII. It was the coldest i've ever been in my life. It was depressing. I didn't learn too much more about the holocaust. i feel like i've been pretty well fed information wise on the subject, thanks to my high school. but my favorite part was the series of videos that were playing. this old french man talked about getting beat in the face with a rubber strip filled with lead because he didn't take his shoes off, and to this day he can't see out of that eye. he was so precious, talked about being 5'9" and 68 pounds and what that meant, how hard it was. some women even talked about their periods (which didn't exist during those years) and sex (it could be done). very fascinating. the rooms were bare and cold. i don't even really know how people who were punished and forced to sleep naked outside overnight survived. i could barely handle it in all my layers.


- After Mathausen we drove on the bus to Hallstatt. Let me explain... it's narnia on this earth. its nestled in the austrian alps and a giant lake separates it from other adorable small cities. the snow, the entire two days, was constant and gentle. it was like a dream. the first night we were there, we all went out to grab some food. we found this lovely restaurant where i ordered the kurbiskremesuppe (PUMPKIN CREAM SOUP. BEST THING IN THE WORLD). warm and full, we all left to explore. it was pretty freezing there. after about an hour of wandering, me, daniel, and melinda walked back to our hotel (which was extremely nice, by the way). the entire group gathered in this central living room, and we all shared stories and laughed. i can tell you that that night was one of the main reasons my trip really started to brighten. i felt so close to all my fellow classmates, it was awesome. the next morning after a cup of AWESOME hot chocolate, we went to the saltmines. OMG. OMG OMG. let me tell you... i was terrified and my ankle really hurt, but it was so worth it.





they have these wooden slides inside that you can go down. they are a total blast and well worth it. you get to see how they mined the salt and where, you learn about the body they found their about 300 years ago (that was like thousands of years old) and you get a free miniature thing of salt. so i say, everyone should go. totally a blast. anyway, i'm overwhelmed with all the things i should write, so i'm going to leave this as the first segment in many updates to come.