Dreams Dreams Dreams.

C-i-a-o!

Good morning my fellow Americans.

Last night about 11 pm Bess (other roommate) somehow by chance fixed our plumbing issues. It was great!!

Very much enjoyed my skype sessions with cousin Kelly the other night finally and then with Krob, Rachel, Seigs, and Deanne last night J I hate this time change and how much it affects my skyping abilities L

I could make this one really short about my day, but then I will go into detail of  a few things that I have learned so far over the past 3 weeks. Leave you with some good info since there will be no updates over the weekend.

Well today I had no class. So all I have done today is worked out and showered and just have to pack for this weekend.

Mini Details for this weekend:

Ainsley and I leave at approx. 10pm our time and get into Vienna around 9am. Have time to freshen up and then go on a walking tour of Vienna. Then they take us to The Bermuda Triangle (night life in Vienna). Then wake up Saturday and we have free time before leaving for Salzburg mid afternoon. We are thinking about going to one of the places that is considered a place where Hitler hid out during WWII. I am no world history lover, but I def. love American History and WWII stuff, esp because of my papa J Then they take us to Salzburg to see the night life there. And then on Sunday is a tour and then we can take the optional SOUND OF MUSIC tour, which of course we are because that is our whole reason for going J! The hills will be alive with the Sound of Music and so will we J!! I am so excited and can’t wait to share my photos on facebook and tell our stories on here J We will stick together and be careful of course.

So....... boring day but lets go into what I have learned over the past 3 weeks, at least a few things because I have learned a lot of other things besides these.

So last night I had a dream that I didn’t check my bank account until April and it turned out someone stole my card and I only had 5 dollars left. IT WAS HORRIBLE.

So this morning, major freak out moment and had to check my account. It is okay…… thankfully!

But I looked at it and as you know probably, the euro is $1.37 to the American $1.00. (Aka 1 of the reasons why I will not be living here the rest of my life, I miss my American dollar J haha!) I still have a lot of money left, but as most of you know this is all my money (which i am VERY proud of) with extra from others J (my parents, my lovely friends @ city hall, brother randall, etc. J thank you so much!! So much appreciated!!) and loans.

Anyways, I realized a few things.

Never in my life really have I ever had to stress about my bank account, my parents have told me how to pay loans and blah blah blah. Financially I have always been told what to do and how to do it. Never have I ever really created my own budget or kept track of my account, kept receipts, and so on…..never really needed to. As to where now I do. SO I decided in my down time waiting for alexa to get back to go to the gym. I formulated my own budget as to how much I can spend in a week and each day just in case and then I will keep a little record to make sure I am okay. I was very proud of myself for doing this.

But I also realized a few other things stemming from this budget that I am not afraid to admit and I am actually proud to admit that I realized these things.

Seigs, if youre reading this, skip this, it’s in your email already after our talk last night. Haha

Well, I realized that most of my money will be focused on my traveling. I thought about what is more worth it…. Traveling or clothes/eating out/shoes/accessories/etc. basically material goods.

The memories I have from traveling will stay with me much longer than any other material goods will. I have already admitted I rolled with the big leagues when I decided to go through the SAI program………it’s pricey, VERY pricey. But I WILL/HAVE TO come home with money in my account. I really don’t want my parents to have to watch me have a panic attack in the airport when they pick me up J haha! I’ve never been the little rich girl who could spend all the money in the world and I am totally fine with that. I don’t need to have the best style while I’m over here, nor do I need to when I get home (I never did before, so why start now!! HAHAHA!) I don’t need to shop at the stores equivalent to Macy’s/Nordstrom/etc. (all the rich American stores) when the clothes will probably go out of style soon enough or I just wont like them anymore since I am perfectly fine with the clothes I brought and I already have A TON of clothes at home. I don’t need to buy the expensive shoes when the shoes I brought are perfectly fine (I brought enough haha!) It’s not like I need heels on all this cobblestone anyways!! I don’t need to go out to dinner to all the best Italian restaurants when I get 1 hour of happiness from it, but I will go to the places who offer you wine instead of water. HAHA! I don’t need any more purses…….obviously. haha!

What I do want to spend my money on is traveling. I realized that last week in Rome and Tivoli, I looked out over all of Tivoli and was like wow, I cannot believe for a second that I am here. The memories I have from traveling will stick with me much longer into the future than any other material goods would.

I was very proud of these realizations. Some may think I am stupid, that im over here so why not spend my money, but whatever. Towards the end if I have a lot of money left, maybe I will go buy a few other things besides the souvenirs I’m going to bring home, but until then I am completely fine with the stuff I brought and the food I am already eating. Hell that kabob last night was better than anything, besides my sandwich, and it was perfectly cheap.

SO moral of the story. I am over here for the memories to last, not for the quick, I will remember it for a week and have to look back at facebook or my blog to remember it in the future and I am perfectly fine with admitting it on this. J Hopefully everyone can agree with my points. J

Anyways. You all go back to school, work, etc. and have yourselves a good weekend and I will be sure to come back with stories and photos to share after a great weekend singing to the Sound of Music.

Love and Miss you all!