Settling in

Hey everyone! Gruss Got! So like Alden said, we're here in Gaming though it may not be in the arrival he described it. We were, however greeted by Austrian children who gave us flowers as we came off the bus. It was so cute! There are many children here in the Kartause, where we live, most of them staff's children but they are all very friendly and beautiful. As I am speaking Alden is working to get our Ireland pictures up. There's over 300 I believe so enjoy! We had so much fun in Ireland though getting there was very difficult, with canceled flights and airport hassle you would not believe, traveling for 36 hours straight with only some sleep on a plane to hold us over, losing my ATM card at the machine in Dublin(I have received another one thank God, and thanks to Alden for bailing me out for a week), our bed and breakfast was a 45 minute walk from town, which was the last of our journey. We ached everywhere! But we arrived, and the people in Ireland were so wonderful and friendly. We took our time strolling the coast on Saturday, pub-hopping, and checking out the shops. I decided I'm going to buy my family each their Christmas present from a different country I visit. Sunday we did some tours, saw a neat castle, went under the burren in some caves, and of course saw the Cliffs of Moher. It was all so amazing and beautiful and we were sad to leave. But we arrived in Austria and it is just as beautiful, though very different. The town of Gaming is welcoming and quaint. We'll get some pics up on our new home sometime soon I hope. The monastery (The Kartause) is gorgeous and very old, the architecture is breathtaking, and we're right in a valley surrounded by Austrian hills. I simply love it. The local pub is a fun place to hang out but the food in the mensa(caf) is not so great. But we started classes today and I look forward to learning and incorporating everything together in this wild, unforgetable experience that is my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We're also learning a few words of German too, everything is quite a bit different here but we're getting used to it.

So that's it! We'll be posting and getting pictures up as much as we can!
Miss you all and Ausveerdestain! (may not have spelled that correct...)
-Catherine*