Beautiful Beyond Description

I got to the Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg about ten hours ago. I have already walked around the place and have fallen in love with it. You probably think I fall in love with every place I visit, but no seriously, this place is like no other place I've visited before in my life. I have only been here less than a day and I already feel that I don't want to leave. It's just magical. I feel like I'm in a different time - like a different era. Everything is so colorful, beautiful and has a lot of history to it.

I didn't walk for long because I was tired. I went back to my room to rest for a while and woke up now - 7 hours later. I couldn't tell if it were Monday or Tuesday, but it definitely felt like I had been sleeping for the past whole day. I'm so glad I didn't miss the first day of the program!

The trip from Washington D.C. to Salzburg was long and stressful, but now that I've made it to this gorgeous place, I see it was definitely worth it. After much trouble at the Delta Airlines desk and after being chosen for the "random" security check for probably the 100th time in my life, I finally flew out of Washington D.C. It was so crowded since flights were being cancelled and delayed because of the bad rainy weather. I left D.C. on Sunday, July 27, at 5:54 p.m. and arrived in Cincinnati at 7:20 p.m. I had to catch a flight from Cincinnati to Frankfurt which was scheduled to depart at 7:35 p.m. (This explains why my bags were missing in Salzburg) I can't remember the last time I ran as fast as I did. International flights were on the other end of the airport, so by the time I got there, almost all of the passengers had already boarded. Eventually, I flew out of Cincinnati to Frankfurt on a trip that was 8 hours and 45 minutes long. AAAAA!!! (That's me screaming) That's always the connection I dread the most. Not that I'm afraid of flying, I just feel trapped and so uncomfortable. I killed the first four hours by watching two movies: 21 and Fool's Gold. They were entertaining - kept me awake for the first half of the trip. For the rest of it, I slept like a baby.

The airport in Frankfurt is pretty. It's big, neat and well organized. Signs are all in German and English, so I didn't have a problem finding my way to my last connecting flight to Salzburg. By the time I got to my gate, I had two hours until boarding. So again, I fell asleep. I think it's the first time I actually fall asleep in an airport. Then I slept during the hour and a half flight. At that point, I believe it was night time for me, so I couldn't help but close my eyes.

Now it's almost midnight in Salzburg and my eyes are wide open. Let the fun begin!