I departed early this morning to towards the Tauplitz Alm with Mark and Emily from Bregenz. We accumulated other exchange students as we went. Christina and Nacho got on at the Dornbirn stop, Faith in Bludenz, Rebecca and Juliet soon followed and we had all of the Vorarlberg kids. We took the train together all the way to Linz, where we met up with about 45 other exchange students from eastern Austria. We took a wasteful route, because we had to back track west to get back to Salzkammergut. The train followed the same path as going to language camp, we even passed Gmunden. But we continued on for about another hour past the Traunsee. We were supposed to arrive at 4, but the train was having issues and whenever it began going to fast, the emergency brake would deploy and stop the train for about 2 minutes. We ended up arriving at 4:45ish and met the rest of the exchange students at the Bad Mitterndorf bahnhof. It was great to see all of my friends again, and we were all excited and talkative the whole bus ride up the mountain. We saw some stunning views the whole way up to 1600m above sea level. As we got higher and higher we could see a little snow here and there, and once we got to the Gasthaus, the ground was covered with about 4in of snow! For some people, it was their first time with snow, so immediately a snow ball fight broke out. I watched. We stood outside and were assigned rooms. I was put in the basement room with about 12 other kids, some of them "oldies". Oldies are the exchange students who arrived last January, so they are 6 months ahead of us on exchange. When January comes around, we will be the "oldies". I met a few oldies that were really nice, but the ones in my room I did not connect with. They had the attitude where they were convinced they were superior and needed to haze the newbies. It was like a stereotypical high school movie, with the seniors hazing the freshman. It was incredibly annoying, and I won't do it to the kids who arrive this January. When I met one of the oldies for the first time I shook his hand, and he promptly told me how he had had his hands in his pants just a few minutes earlier. Wow, pretty cool huh? I just ignored anything they said to me, and didn't shake their hands again. But to move on, I went outside with a couple other kids and explored around the area, we saw the sunset, etc. It was truly beautiful. Dinner followed, and all of us squeezed into the cafeteria area of the Gasthaus. Afterward, I went outside again, and went on a night walk with Lucas, Jesse and Lauren. Jesse had lost a friend in Crested Butte a few days earlier so we stopped and honored his memory. Jesse put his initials in the snow and had a moment of silence, then we let her have a few minutes to herself before we walked back to the Gasthaus. I went to my room and got ready for bed, I was super tired from 10 hours of traveling, 9 of them just on trains. But, of course, the "oldies" wanted to watch videos until 12:30 on full volume with the lights on, so I didn't get to sleep until really late.

Christina, Rebecca and Juliet on the train

Passing through Gmunden

The Traunstein, saw it everyday in language camp

Meeting the other exchange students on the train

The lake near Hallstaat, passed by there too

Taking the bus up the mountain

Waiting to be assigned rooms

Crash

A foggy view of the mountains

Having dinner

The dog at the Gasthaus, made me miss Buddy

In my room