Well... I made it!  It took me 2 planes, 3 trains, 15 hours of total travel time (not counting layovers), and an all out sprint to make my connection flight in Amsterdam... but I made it!  One of the best parts, suprisingly enough, was the 10 hour plane ride from Portland to Amsterdam.  I had planned on sleeping durng the flight, but with all the food and movies, I ended up staying awake the whole time.  The train ride was also very cool, as I got to see a ton of the countryside (including several castles)!  Unfortunately, I did finally succumb to fatigue eventually, and slept for the last 45 minutes or so.  Luckily, I woke up just in time to get off at Schladming, the little town where Tauernhof  (Upward Bound) is located.  During my travels, I also got a chance to talk to several people from Germany.  Suprinsingly all of the young people I talked to had an excellent grasp on the English language, which, as I understand, is a huge focus in the schools over here.  The older German folks were about as proficient in English as I am with Deutch though.

My first night at UB, consisted of dinner, orientation, and a plunge into the local (mountain spring fed) river with a bunch of guys.  After everyone was in, we prayed, and dedicated out time here to God.  It was really cool (in multiple ways)!  On the way back, we stopped for a few minutes to watch the world cup, which was being shown on a projector in the middle of the town.  I didn't stay until the end, but I understand it was pretty lopsided.  After getting back to our cabins, we got to witness an awesome thunder and lightning storm!  I'm not sure if it was the humidity, or our nearness to the Alps, but seriously, it thundered and lightninged like I have never seen before in Oregon!  


The next day (today), we all got up at 7:30 and had breakfast.  We then went to lecture, where Martin (pronounced MAH'tin), the school principal, finished going over what to expect here at UB.  At noon, we broke for lunch (a big BBQ on the lawn), during which it alternated between blazing sun and light rain (crazy orthographic precipitation!).  After that, Martin informed us that we would be going on a hike with our small groups.  What he didn't tell us was that the light rain would turn into a torential downpour, and the thunder and lighting we heard last night would come back (seemingly) twice as powerful.  :D  As we were walking down into a valley, a bolt of lighting actually struck a tree not 200 yards (or "meters" as I should say) away!  Luckily, that's as close as the lighting got, and most everyone had a rain jacket, so that was no big deal either.


We finished today off with some dinner, another short lecture, another dunk in the river, and a short workout with a few of the guys.  I think I'm really going to enjoy my next 5 weeks here, and hopefully will grow closer to God as well!  I probably won't be blogging as much as I had initially thought, as we have a pretty busy schedule here at Tauernhof.  My posts may also contain a few typos thanks to these weird Austrian keyboards (among other things, they've got the 'y' and 'z' swapped which is very hard to get used to).  However, I will try to post maybe once or twice a week, and hopefully get some pictures up soon as well!  


Until next time, um... stay green Oregon! 


Globetrotter out.