Well obviously this blog is much later than I expected it to be. Due to some family matters I decided to return home a week earlier than originally planned. Trying to get reorganized after coming home has been a challenge, which is the only excuse I have for this blog being more than 2 weeks late.

On Sunday July 28^th I moved to my last host family. The Smoles live on the outskirts of Klagenfurt, which is located in southern Austria in the federal state of Carinthia. The train ride to Klagenfurt was slightly crowded and quite warm as that day was the hottest day to date this year, around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is quite unusual in Austria. Actually the whole week I stayed with the Smoles was above normal temperatures for Austria, often in the 90s, which was warmer than what I had experienced most of the summer, but it also felt a bit more like home.

Unlike my previous 2 host families, the Smole family did not live on a farm, but instead in a small secluded village on the outskirts of Klagenfurt. My host father Helmut works with a telecommunications company and my host mother Karina is a biologist with a non-governmental organization. My host sister Viktoria is 13 and quite active. She takes riding lessons and participates in vaulting competitions, which they explained it is something like gymnastics/trick riding on a horse. She also takes archery lessons, but because I left early I did not get to attend an archery lesson with her. Viktoria is an avid reader and her favorite series is Harry Potter, which is also one of my favorite series (I’ve read the first 4 books literally 10 times), so I knew we’d get along! :) My host brother Matteo is about 2 ½, about the same age as one of my nieces, so we had fun playing together, especially with building blocks. We had a great time hanging out as a family, playing games, and eating. The Smole family is wonderful and I had a really great time with them!

Viktoria practices her tricks everywhere!

Matteo's favorite pastime :) 

They said they didn't want me to worry about starving & I never did!

Kaiserschmarnn with homemade plum sauce!

Making cinnamon-sugar "stick bread" yummy!

There are so many great things to see and visit in Carinthia we had trouble deciding which ones we should do! Carinthia is mountainous and is famous their beautiful lakes. We went to a newly constructed viewing tower not far from the Smoles’ house and got an overview of the valley and the nearby lakes. The view was incredible! We went all the way to the top and then rode the big spiral slide back down to the bottom. Viktoria and I visited “Minimundus” which is an exhibition of famous buildings/sculptures from all over the world built to scale at 1/25 the actual size. We visited the most beautiful cave I’ve ever been to, but unfortunately pictures were not allowed. The stalagmite and stalactite formations and the underground lake were breathtaking – and we went on a very hot afternoon, so it was a pleasant way to beat the heat! A nearby castle ruin hosted a falconry show, which is always fun to watch, and quite near to that was a park where they house Japanese monkeys and we were able to take a guided tour. I also had the chance to spend some time in the “old city” of Klagenfurt to take in some of the local sites.

The new viewing tower 

One of the views from the new viewing tower

Paris in Austria? Ok.

New York or Austria...I just not sure! haha

Had to wear hard hats in the cave because low hanging stalactites.

Holding a kestrel

This monkey knew exactly where the apples where at.

The Lindtworm is the symbol of Klagenfurt.

It was very fortunate timing for me to be in Klagenfurt the week I was there because the European Beach Volleyball Championship tournament was taking place. The best part about it was that general admission was free! There were vendors and activities outside the stadium and inside were lots of bleachers and the sand volleyball court. Because it takes place during the hot part of the summer they use fire hoses to spray the crowd with water! It was a really fun atmosphere and I loved getting to watch good volleyball. There was always an Austrian team and a foreign team; we watched teams from Russia, Italy and Sweden. It was a hot day and Viktoria and I stayed watched for about 4 hours, at the end of which I realized my thighs and even my scalp were pretty red. We were right next to Wörthersee, one of the larger lakes in the area, so we decided to cool down in the water that afternoon. It was a refreshing way to end the afternoon!

Austria is in the red.

YAY VOLLEYBALL!

Chanting after a good block

Women's division.

Of all the things I did in Austria, I think hiking in the Alps was one of my most favorite activities. On Thursday Karina, Viktoria, Matteo, and I went with some family friends to one of the popular peaks in the area. We took a ski lift up to the top and got to watch the para-gliders jump off the side of the mountain! There was part of me that thought it looked absolutely exhilarating, and then there was part of me that thought it looked absolutely terrifying! Then we hiked part way back down the mountain, had a picnic lunch, and took the ski lift the rest of the way back down. Saturday we went as a whole family to some mountains about two hours away to go see a large dam/reservoir with a great “air-walk” viewing point and family friendly hiking paths. We were high enough to be pretty much above the treeline, but again it was unusually warm, especially for that altitude. It really was a beautiful day on the mountain. The view was stunning. The water in the reservoir was a beautiful turquoise and there were little water falls all along the hiking paths which were clean enough to drink from. The rocks in this particular area have minerals in them that make them glimmer in the sun. It was a spectacular place to spend the day!

Why yes, that is his dog he has harnessed to his para-gliding equipment.

WEEEEEEE!!!!!

It was beautiful!

Climbed up off the path for picnic lunch

Drinking from a mountain stream :)

Like a little mountain goat...sort of...never mind :)

That evening on our way home we stopped at some friends’ house. June and Dave are originally from England and became good friends with the Smoles when they moved to Austria 4-5 years ago. So they invited us over for supper. I never guessed I would be having “English tea time” in Austria, but it was a really nice time.

Mmmm...scones!

Would anyone like a spot of tea?

Saturday afternoon/evening was when I decided I should leave Austria early, due to some emails that explained how ill Grandpa Patterson had become. The Smoles were very understanding and very supportive of my decision, but it is not fun to decide to leave such a wonderful place and wonderful people earlier than expected. It is also not fun to try and make last minute changes to your flight schedule. It took several hours on the phone (many of them international, yikes!), a long time on hold, about 5 different emails, a couple of Skype calls, and a quite a few rescheduling fees to get my flights moved up a week.

Because Sunday would be my last day in Austria we had to determine what activity would be best. We had actually planned to spend some time in Italy the next week and I had really been looking forward to that. So, since I was leaving early Monday morning we decided to spend my last day in Austria in Italy! The border is only about 45 minutes from their house, but they wanted to take me to somewhere that was definitely Italian, so we made the 2 ½ -3 hour drive to Venice! It was a hot day and there were a lot of tourists, but it was still amazing! Ok, so sometimes you can catch a whiff of Venice that doesn't smell super awesome, but it’s built on old canals of water, so what do you expect? No matter, it was totally worth it! I ate real Italian pizza, cannoli, and gelato! I saw so many gondolas, and although we didn't ride in one of those, we did take a water bus down the Grand Canal. As we were leaving I wished Venice farewell in proper Italian fashion saying, “Ciao, bella Venezia!”  

Hello Venice!

They really do hang their clothes between houses & windows. So cute!

Eating real Italian pizza!

Some kind of chocolate & orange cannoli...delicious!

There were stores and stores of BEAUTIFUL Venetian masks...some stores wouldn't even allow pictures!

So romantic :)

A famous bridge that I can't remember the name of...

Serenading us while we ate supper

My first ever, but hopefully not my last ever, gelato in Italy! :)

We got back from Italy about 10:00pm, making for a long day, but it was well worth it. I had such a wonderful week with the Smole family! It was hectic and didn’t turn out exactly like we had planned, but it was a blast! Thank you so much for EVERYTHING Smole family!!!!!

Smole Family (L to R): Karina, Matteo, Viktoria, me, Helmut

Since the plans had changed so rapidly those last couple days I still had to pack everything that night when we got back from Italy. I actually left a few things like some shirts and toiletries there because there was simply not enough room to bring everything home. I finally got to bed about 1:00am Monday morning. Then I took a nap for a couple hours and got back up at 3:30am so I could get around and to get to the station to catch my train that was supposed to leave Klagenfurt for Vienna at 4:40am. Although I assumed hardly anyone else would be on the train at 5:00am the train was PACKED because it was coming from Italy. It was about a 4 hour train ride. I spent the first half sitting on the floor in front of a bathroom and the second half on a pull-down seat in the hallway of the train when a few people got off at an earlier station. I can’t complain too much; although it was not the most comfortable 4 hours of my life nothing went wrong on the train and it makes for an interesting story. :) The train was running about 20 minutes behind so I missed the first shuttle from the station to the airport, but the next shuttle came 20-30 minutes later, so I got to the airport with 1 ½ hours to spare before my flight left at 11:55am. Made it to Dublin without an issue and had enough of a lay-over that I didn't have to rush between flights. I was going to send an email to my family to let them know I’d made it to Dublin, and saw an email in my inbox that I was hoping I wouldn't get. I was a little too late to get home to see Grandpa because he’d already passed away. It’s never pleasant to get that kind of news, but I was glad that I was that much closer to home and would be back with my family later that day. The flights from Dublin to Chicago and Chicago to Kansas City also went smoothly and I touched down at KCI just about 10:00pm. Abe was there to pick me up, and after not seeing my fiancé for 7 weeks it was sure nice to hug him again! We got back to my house about midnight (Mom and Dad were waiting up of course), which means with the time difference I had been traveling for over 24 hours. I was exhausted, but I was so glad to be home! I really gained a new appreciation for everyone and everything at home after being gone.

Sitting on the train floor in front of the bathroom

See you later Austria!

Obviously NOT at the airport, but still got lots of hugs several days after I got back :)

My homecoming week was not what I would call ideal. Grandpa’s visitation and funeral were Tuesday and Wednesday. I was very grateful to be able to be home to attend the services.  Unfortunately it didn't stop there…on Saturday Abe’s family in southeast Kansas called to say that his grandfather had unexpectedly had a heart attack and had also passed away. Two grandfathers’ funerals in less than a week was not what I had expected to come home to, but life doesn't always go the way you expect it to.

Regardless of the unfortunate ending, I am so grateful for the wonderful experience I had this summer! Austria is an absolutely beautiful place and I cannot thank my host families the Kührers, the Königs, the Holzingers, and the Smoles enough for taking me in this summer and providing this Kansas girl with such wonderful opportunities! I have made so many fantastic friends and memories this summer! Thank you also to the 4-H and IFYE organizations, the Landjugend clubs in Austria, and all my local sponsors who made this exchange trip possible! I learned tremendous amount this summer about culture, language (even though my German still pretty awful), and global agriculture. Most importantly I gained new perspective.  I would recommend this program to any youth who is eligible and interested.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about becoming involved in the International 4-H Youth Exchange at annie.nicpat@gmail.com.

So for now, so long Austria! I had an amazing time and I hope to come visit you again!

Auf Wiedersehen!