new

Wonderful people, I decided it's time to write again. It's been nearly 5 months since my last post about my arrival in America. I talked about an adventure; a journey. I wrote that the adventure was just starting a new chapter, like I knew for certain that it would be continuing. Truth is, I was pretty scared that coming back here was going to be the end of me--the me that had been me for the previous 7 months. If that makes sense.

Either way, it's 5 months later. It's cold, and the ground is covered with snow and ice. It's December, and I've almost made it through the semester. That part of my life seems to be consuming the others right now as I prepare myself for the final week. It's just school, though. My life is more than just school.

The point of this post is just to let you, the people out there who may stumble upon this, know that I will be returning. These 5 months have gone fast, but at times, they've seemed been grueling. They've felt vague and empty. In general, there has been a lack of meaning. That is, until recently because there are people in my life that don't give up; as I'm sure there are in yours.

I will talk to you soon friends. I love you all. Enjoy the snow and smile.

USA

Hello everybody, I made it back to the United States. Last Tuesday, I said my final goodbyes to the last of my remaining friends in Klagenfurt as I boarded a train to Vienna. It's seemed so crazy that my time there was over, but I think that's how it always seems at the end of something great. If there is any consolation in something like that ending, it is believing in the possibility that something even more magical is about to happen. Those positive thoughts about the future were in my head during the train ride, but they took a back seat to the thoughts of reflection on what I had just done for the past 6 months of my life. A lot of amazing things popped up in that reflecting, but it was really killer to be alone in that train car.

When I left Klagenfurt, I started a new journey that was going to last 3 days, 3 countries, 3 states, and 4 forms of transportation. I took a train to Vienna, where a bus was waiting to take me to the airport. Then I stayed the night in Vienna at a hotel across the street from the airport. At dinner that night, I went to check out prices at the few restaurants in the airport, and as I was reading one menu, a familiar face popped up next to me. Sitting at the table next to me was a man I was used to seeing only on the beach in a swimsuit. David Hasselhof was there, but I was too hungry to talk to him or ask for an autograph.

The next day, my plane left Vienna and landed in Düsseldorf, and 10 hours later, I landed in Chicago. A friend of mine named Jordan picked me up from O'Hare and drove me to Milwaukee because I was going to stay with my sister Megan there. Instead of walking into her apartment to see just Josh, I saw a small little angel. Zoe was there to surprise me along with the rest of my family. We spent the night at a crazy restaurant straight from a horror movie, and the next day we went to the zoo. It was really wonderful to see all of their lovely faces on my first day back in the country. My journey wasn't over though, because the next day, I was flying again from Milwaukee to San Francisco.

San Francisco was my final destination because two friends of mine from YWAM were getting married. I was excited not only because this was the first wedding I was able to attend of a friend of mine, but also because I was going to spend the next two weeks in San Francisco, a city I really love a lot. I think it will be nice to spend my time adjusting to being in America while I'm in this city.

Every time I come here, it seems as if a part of me wakes up that has been asleep for awhile. It's like a breath of fresh air, and it's usually necessary. Soon enough, I will be back in Cedar Falls, and school will start. The crazy adventure will seem as if it has ended, but I know that it will not. I know that it won't because this crazy adventure is all just part of the story title Thomas Panicucci. I'm reading Donald Miller's new book, and it's all about stories. It's about living a life that is worthy of being called a story. That means actually living and creating, not just existing.

I want to live because otherwise I'd be bored.

Hanging out with Dante

Hello my faithful followers (sounds kind of like a cult leader, but i like it anyways), I am currently in Vienna. Across the street is the airport, where I will be boarding a plane to Düsseldorf in 14 hours. You see, today is my last day in Europe. Tomorrow I'll be arriving in Chicago where a friend of mine is picking me up and taking me to Milwaukee. I get to see my sister Megan for a couple hours in Milwaukee, and then I continue my journey to the West Coast. That's the future, though. Right now I'm in a place I think is similar to Purgatory. I'm neither here nor there. I'm in a hotel room by myself after having said goodbye to the last of my friends this morning in Klagenfurt. I'm planning on watching the soccer game this evening to pass some time, but that's about it. Tomorrow morning will be very early with my alarm set at 4:30. I'll land in Chicago some time tomorrow afternoon, and I imagine it will be strange. My experience in England was crazy because it was the first time in a couple months that I could understand everything. I can't imagine what it's going to be like in America when I will even be able to understand the people on the street because they're not talking in a crazy accent. Anyways, the point is that it's going to be weird. I guess I'm ready for it, though. I just want to leave this middle place I'm in right now. I'll let you know what's up in a couple days. It's time to rest and remember what just happened to me over the past 6 months. What a crazy time. I hate to think of the idea of me over time forgetting people, places, and events, but I know that no matter what, the experiences will be mine forever. What a crazy semester.

Soccer, Football, Fußball

The countdown of my time in Austria is coming ever closer to its end. In the past week, my semester exams came and passed, and I saw the United States get knocked out of the World Cup. In spite of the loss, it was great to see the positive effect the team had on a newly-fashioned soccer nation. I did my part from across the sea by cheering loud and being the lone singer of the national anthem among 1000s of Austrians and Germans, a couple Brits found their way into the crowd too. That's right, I stood up and sang our country's song in Klagenfurt's main square where the games are being shown live on a huge screen with lots of local vendors supplying food and drinks. It was fun, and for the first time in awhile, I felt happy to be American. It's not often that I say that, but I guess that's what soccer, football, Fußball does to you.

Other than the World Cup and school, I've been trying to prepare myself for my return back to the US. Of course, I haven't started packing or anything, but I'm getting ready mentally. It's going to be strange, but I think it will be great. For a long time, I kept telling myself that I didn't want to go back. My life in Klagenfurt is wonderful. It's been similar to a 6-month vacation, so I guess it's time for it to end.

In a couple days, I have to move out of my dorm because my time is up. I will then have 7 days with all of my stuff and no place to stay. I might make a trip with a friend of mine to Ljubljana and Venice, but who knows. These 6 months have been an adventure of unknowns, and those 7 days are a great way to end a semester of confusion. I'm excited to see both Ljubljana and Venice because they are so close to Klagenfurt. It's only a couple hours trip to both cities by bus. The weather is really perking up too, so it will be a great last week in Europe.

Lastly, I have to report on the most important thing that happened to me recently. I got the chance to Skype with my family yesterday before the soccer game. This was an extra special conversation, though, because there was a special guest in the office on the other side of the screen. When the video chat started to work, a big smile, with lots of teeth too, greeted me from a very little girl. Zoe was there with her little pig tails. We talked, and at the end, she blew me kisses and gave me a big virtual hug. It doesn't get much better than that. If there is one thing easing my return back to Iowa, it's her big smile. Unfortunately, it is still one month before I get back to Cedar Falls. Before I go back, I imagine a lot of crazy things will happen as I travel around.



10 days. That's it, 10 days. I can't believe it.

Smile

I like to smile, and I often end my posts with a short message telling you guys to smile. Whether you smile buy yourself in your room or to a stranger on the street, you are probably helping somebody with the simple beauty. I found this article on a friend of mine's page, and I think it's worth reading. Smiles really are great, and they really do save

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37670329/ns/world_news/.

3 weeks left in Austria. Crazy.

Hello Hello

Hey hey, I found 100 euro on the ground today at school. It was great because I found it right before I gave a presentation about Iowa (I think everybody wants to visit now). I was supposed to go to Venice last week, but a life-threatening illness (just a bad cold) kept me from swimming through the gondola-filled canals. We had the hostel booked and train tickets bought, so it was a big bummer. Oh well.

I would like to be telling you guys about something exciting I did since the last time I wrote, but there is really nothing to write. Since last Tuesday, I have been forced to stay inside by one of my friends in order to get healthy. It's taken quite some time, and I've been pretty bored for the past week, but I'm finally starting to get better. I need to get better by the weekend because my crazy friend Michael DiMarco is finally coming to Klagenfurt on Friday. He is studying in Italy, and if you've read my blog for awhile, you know that I went to visit him in February. I'm very excited that he's going to come see Austria.

I guess there is one little thing I could tell you about. I went swimming yesterday for the first time in a long time. Klagenfurt is located on a huge lake called the Wörthersee. The crazy thing is that you have to pay to swim in the lake or even lay on the beach. I'm not down with paying for things like beaches (or toilets), so some friends and I went to a little-known river that leads into the lake. It was a hot day, and the sun was shining, so I decided to swim despite being sick. The water was absolutely freezing, but it was a blast. The river was spotted with groups of people also unwilling to pay the fee to enter the beach. There was a tree to jump off of and a rope swing, which we put to great use.

No, that's not me in the bikini. Nor is it me in the water underneath. I'm somewhere else, but those are two friends of mine. We swam for awhile, realized the water was really really cold, then went to the park to enjoy the rest of the sun. I think it was the sun that started my recovery. Everybody needs the sun. It makes you happier. Nobody should ever say their goodbyes to the sun.

That's all for my short update. Actually, here is something I wrote a couple days ago that maybe you would like to read:

One of the things I've been realizing lately, through a number of friendships and experiences, is that no matter how far apart we live, how much our cultures differ, or how different our languages are, it's not the differences that our pulling this world apart, rather, it's the commonalities that are holding us all together.

We need each other in order to live, just like we need the sun. According to my Mother, who paraphrases Alexander Supertramp, happiness is only real when shared. Thank you Mom. I love you. Have a good week.

BUDA BUDA BUDA

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren! I went to Budapest. Some friends and I decided to rent a car and take a long weekend to reward ourselves for all of the hard work we were putting in at the university (we're actually not doing any hard work, ever). But, we found some good deals on a rental car and an apartment in the city center, so we capitalized on the opportunity. We chose to go last weekend because it was a holiday weekend. If you've ever lived in Austria, you should know that there is at least one holiday what seems like every week. Holidays mean no university classes, and we usually go somewhere on the days we have off.

I went with three friends, two girls from Ireland and one guy from England. The drive was a short 5 hours for the American, but it seemed to be devastatingly long for the Islanders who could cover their whole country in that amount of time. We eventually arrived, got lost, asked for directions, received no directions due to our inability to speak Hungarian, yet somehow pulled up to our apartment perfectly on time without a clue how we got there. The flat was wonderful because it had a bathroom, two large beds, a full kitchen, and a beautiful balcony where we spent most mornings and evenings eating home-cooked meals.

The day after we arrived, we wandered through the beautiful architecture of some enormous buildings, which included embassies, hotels, castles, cathedrals, and parliament. I know that probably sounds like every European capital city, and it is, but Budapest is particularly beautiful because of it's location on the Danube River. The view of the river is really something from atop the hill on the Buda side of the city looking toward Pest. I think the two sides were named Buda, for the rich people on the high side of the river, and Pest, for the poor people on the low side. Maybe I just made that up, or somebody made it up and told me.

I think that somebody famous wrote a song about the view of the Danube in Budapest, so it's gotta be beautiful, right? The next day we started out by wandering again, but soon found ourselves caught in the storm of storms, so we took refuge in a restaurant that we thought looked nice. The unfortunate thing was that the restaurant we found was rather expensive, and in order to stay out of the rain, we had to order. Oh well, Budapest's currency is worth considerably less than the Euro. After the storm passed, we headed home.

Most of our time in Budapest was spent in our apartment either eating something unhealthy or drinking tea (the British love tea). We also went out to explore the nightlife one night. Being in the city center, we thought it would be fairly easy to find a place to hang out, and it was. Across the street from our apartment was some sort of outdoor entertainment place. It looked friendly from the outside, so we went in and found out that it was the exact opposite. The unfriendliness of the place that appeared to be so nice turned our smiles upside down, so we decided to go home. At the foot of our apartment building, one of the girls noticed that there was some sort of club/disco filled with people inside. After walking through the security, which consisted of huge men big enough to block the entire doorway with just one body, I felt like I was in a movie. There were crazy lights, music pushing out the walls and windows with every thump, and people who come out from the woodwork at night after spending the entire day sleeping due to their last party. It was like a movie.

After 3 days, the rental car had to be returned, so we made the journey back to Austria. I got the opportunity to drive, even though none of us was sure if it was legal. It was fun, though. The others were tired, so we figured it was best to have the one awake person driving. I got nervous, however, at the Hungarian-Slovenian border because I wasn't wearing any shoes, so we had to switch back. The driving was fun while it lasted, even if I wasn't supposed to be doing it.

The trip to Budapest was one of the longer trips I've made since I've been here, because I usually only go out for a day or two, but it actually seemed quite short. The highlight of the trip was definitely the balcony. We spent many hours sitting in the sun, watching our neighbors across the way, and chatting about our experiences in Klagenfurt. All of our times here our coming soon to an end, and there is a general feeling going around the exchange students that we don't want it to end. Like any good thing, the ends always seem to come too soon. Our main topic of conversation on the balcony was exactly that, how much fun we've had in Austria. Not only have we had fun, but we have loved life. I'm sure that this will be a common theme in my writing from now until the end of the semester, so I will leave space and time for me to think. I have a little over a month left here before I return to the United States. I plan on making the most of it with new friends in new places. Ciao.